HAMBURG 3 CARDIFF 0

The Secret Euro league has been a hell of a laugh. I did not think for a second that I would be jetting around Europe this year battling out with some of the finest artists across the continent. Hamburg was our last battle, we needed one point to qualify for the second round. To be fair Cardiff pulled out all the stops creating probably their best collaborative piece. As the tournament unfolded everyone has worked better and better as a team. But Hamburg put up a strong fight with a piece that had a dig at the Cardiff teams wall that beat the Germans in Buffalo Bar.

We had fun, a great time in fact, thanks to Yves for hooking us up with Vodka. Many thanks to Terry @ Monorex for sorting the whole thing out!

CARDIFF 2 AMSTERDAM 1

The more times we do Secret Wars the longer its takes me to repaint the boards white. I thought one pot of matt emulsion would easily cover six 8 by 4 mdf boards. Four coats later and still no joy, I had to run to hyper value which has decided to close with out any one telling me. Now on the wrong side of town I have to run back to the other end of Queen St and dive in pound stretcher before it shuts. Underneath buckets of magnolia I managed to find the last tub of white paint, result. Next time I am going all out on some Dulux Paint, 5 coats of paint, no chance.

Anyway I met Mr K Lenny and Sjokojon (sorry if your names spelt wrong) at Cardiff's infamous Blue Dragon hotel. Mr K found a pregnancy test under his bed which read positive, congrats to the lucky lady (what a place to find out your pregnant). The England match was in full swing so we relaxed in the hotel bar and endured England's humiliation whilst eating some free ham rolls kindly donated to us by the receptionist. After laughing at Alan Shearer's complete dismay we headed off to Buffalo Bar to see if the paint was dry and to sink some Ales.

The battle was not overly busy, blame Stevie Wonder, Glasto, England, Students. But it was nice to sit down and watch the art and not constantly be nudged out the way. Amsterdam off started strong. Their stripping sheep in the the red light district, a comical alternative to two often over used stereotypes came across really well. Cardiff started slowly, by the half way point they where trailing to Amsterdam but in the last 20 minutes a combination of bold strong lines pulled them through. The final piece depicted the Amsterdam team on a bad acid trip in Cardiff. Local legend Ninja drumming on a magic mushroom and a old Welsh Pagan Wizard pouring out a mushroom tea.

Another close battle with contrasting styles.

Its always good to see the Amsterdam boys Lets hope we see them in the next round.

Pregnant at 15 and a 2-1 lose

So team amsterdam went to the oh so sunny "up and coming" CARDIFF?.........................for some of the most fun weve had in years!!!

It all started with our 4 hour drive from LUTON? which was so much more convenient and easyer then flying to Cardiff? And then checked into our 5star hotel "The blue dragon!" Which presented us with a number of gifts, including the stereo typical cardiff chav adidas track suit, left for us in our wardrobe, a handful of cummy tissues stuck in the holes of our lovely cieling and just to spoil us they threw in a pregnancy test!.........whilst on the subject if your a 15 year old slag who stayed at the blue dragon this week and are stressing out........ its ok you are pregnant so the benefits will be through your post within the next 8-9months.

Moving on..........so we strolled to the venue bumping into our old friend Denise Black....you know miss July? Anyway so we got to the venue which was a real funky little joint with a cool vibe and had some funky atmosphere it was a little dead but we still had our positive head on after our relaxed check-in. The DJ was serious banging out CLASSICS (mad props to this guy who actually held a record for playing the longest hip hop DJ set of 72 hours!)

After meeting the Team Cardiff who were really cool guys (Except one who when i asked would you like a jaega shot? looked at me as if ide just called his mum a va jay jay) we got off to a nice steady start drinking shit loads of warm/hot beer. Being closely watched by the 20 strong crowed.

We knew we didnt have a chance in hell of winning so went for the ultimate stereotypical insult consisting of a sheep Amsterdam style............... "coz we dont give a $*%T holmes!" It was all based around a sheep strip bar and was pretty strong and really fun to draw! Cardiff came back at us with a portrait of the 3 of us all mashed up like we always are trippin on mushrooms and stuff! But this wasnt a good trip......... it was a bad trip! With the legendary ninja playing the mushrooms like drums and a wizard feeding us trippy tea with sheep surrounding us and messing with our heads!

After being told by a friendly local "mate no offense but your piece is a bit S*%T these guys smashed you!".......no offense taken? We went onto the judging which was suprising with the first judge going our way! 1-0 then it was the crowd vote who went crazy for their home team and then kept very quiet for us even though i offered them £50 for a shout? 1-1 The last vote also went to the home team so a final 2-1 score to Cardiff who all then went home, leaving us to make some new friends who consisted of two girls who claimed they were pretty cool but in reality were far from there desired altar ego. After our eventful day we strolled home with a group of 15year old kids wanting to fight us.

All in all a trip we will always remember soooooo am looking forward to our last game of the round against team London peace......................team Amsterdam.


The blue dragon


Thats right kill them all!


Sjoco Sjon with his new tracky!


Congratulations!


Good dreams!








Lenny would!


Raahaahammed (get it!)


Beer


Cardiffs finished piece


Our finished piece


See ya!

London 3-0 Hamburg 18th June

Whilst we may have suffered a disappointing draw against Algeria in the football on Friday, we came out WINNERS in the Secret Wars stakes!
The Book Club played host to London's pivotal battle against Hamburg with both teams fighting for a win and potential place in the final..
The battle kicked off at 11 and the crowd were eagerly anticipating what might appear on the walls considering England and Germany's long standing rivalry! And what was produced was a mix of pigs, hamburgers, the queen and Mr Gauky's freedom campaign.

A combination of home support from the crowd and two favorable judge votes meant that London triumphed on home ground, securing those all important points and knocking Hamburg down a place in Group 4!

CARDIFF 2 LONDON 1

After a triumphant away win for Cardiff in London, it was time for what was to be the biggest grudge match of the tournament.

Buffalo bar was the venue for a second time running. With the Bank Holiday in full swing punters arrived early to get the party started. The London team rolled deep with there own private bus full of team members and fans alike. At 10.30 the venue was suitably rammed, our host Ruffstylzs called out the artists and the battle commenced. The Cardiff team came through with a good piece that depicted the London bus getting smashed up as it drove over the Seven bridge on its way to Wales. London drew a Welsh Rarebit being served up on a dinner table by a butler, about to be eaten by what looked like a hungry english man. The battle was very close, Cardiff's piece worked well as a whole, London produced an excellent collaboration, the rabbit was my personal favourite.

So to the judging. London won the first vote from Associated Minds head honcho Mayor. He liked the different styles on offer and the clean lines. Then for the crowd vote. This was too close for my liking, Cardiff just pulled through with 1.3 decibel lead. One all. The last vote went to Miguel Pirez a local producer and ex graff head. He called Cardiff.

Cardiff did well to win but London were very close to getting the away win they needed. Too close in my opinion. Over all it was a great nights entertainment. There were a lot of new comers who had missed the previous battle but had heard of the event via Facebook or through a friend. It seems each event is busier than the last and Secret Wars is spreading fast in South Wales.