Author: Andrea Martin-Banks

This is the story of an encounter with a ghost in a small English market town They thought the circus had arrived every time old Jack Bannister rolled into town.             His wagon creaked like bones and his black dog was the devil. Kids chased his wagon, one tried to hitch a ride on the… Continue reading Echoes in the walls

Ed Ricketts was killed by a train which smashed into his beat-up old sedan as he crossed the Southern Pacific Railway track on his way to a market in New Monterey. He was going to buy a steak for his dinner. After he and his car had been impaled on the cow-catcher of the Del… Continue reading CANNERY ROW ED’S FEEL-GOOD RULES FOR HIS ‘ALIENATED’ CHILDREN

A new rocking piece by our resident writer – ERIC LASTICK A knot so quick witted, although a path—-right through the staked heart; and leftest flash of the peace sign…American flag on the back leather, with all aboard & towards that of the flower child rise up— with straight forward of the whole…and that of… Continue reading CAPTAIN AMERICA & BILLY THE KID, GO-TWO-RIDERS OF THE EASY RIDER EXPERIENCE

Assange isn’t a journalist – never will be. Yet we real news people need to stand up for him… UPDATE: Assange has lost his appeal against extradition to the US on espionage charges. The judgment was given privately recently at the High Court. WikiLeaks founder Assange, aged 51, launched the appeal last June after then-Home… Continue reading NOW ALL US REAL JOURNALISTS HAVE TO FIGHT FOR ASSANGE – OR SOMETHING WIKI THIS WAY WILL COME

Manchester in the liberated Sixties and they play pass the parcel with a young boy … he will grow up and hunt them down A few weeks ago I finally shut down my journallistic career … it had served me for half a century! But I’d just remember that I’d forgotten to finish my memoir… Continue reading WELCOME TO THE REAL VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED…

THE REAL WOMEN OF COUNTER CULTURE AND PEACE IN THE 60s The Society’s resident writer Eric Lastick takes a look at the incredible lyricism and powerful women of the time we forgot we couldn’t remember JANIS AT MONTERREY POP…23 & one beaded necklace hanging round circle…loud and hunger, the whiskey voice blue maiden…Texas daughter heart,… Continue reading LADYBUGS, BLUES-BELTS & THE LYRICAL WRITING OF WOODSTOCK

There is something I want to share with you, a terrifying story about money, power, abuse, loss, cynicism, corruption, secrets and lies. But I can’t tell you anything about it. If I do, they will destroy me and my family. It’s a story of crime and flabby gangsters, conmen and shysters, all the worse for… Continue reading I’ve got a story – but I can’t tell you about it because of threats from the good fellas

Just a few thoughts about writer’s block … I was standing in the gentle rain next to my old glinting limousine outside my rented cottage in the heart of once-merry Ol’ England. The cottage has stood for 400 years next to a lake where owls screech at 3am. I was having a cigarette. And I… Continue reading WHY WRITER’S BLOCK CAN BE THE WAY AHEAD FOR TRUE CREATIVITY  

Ooh eck! In the 60s he was booed, heckled and called Judas in Manchester – then the BBC wiped Madhouse tape clean!  But now he might be in Corrie… Ol’ Bob apparently likes nothing more in the evening than curling up in his rock’n’roll slippers and catching up with Coronation Street. And now the makers… Continue reading WHY DYLAN IS POSITIVELY NORTH STREET!

Bears in Slovakia are finally expected to survive long-term – but 10 years ago there were very few, 71 a year were earmarked for death and we were scared of them It’s a grizzly fact but there are dangerous bears in them there hills. And if one turned up looking for food, you can rest… Continue reading TIME TO TAKE THE SLOVAK TRIP… BEAR FACTS OF LIFE