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Strange Things Are Happening

On sale

21st March 2024

Price: £25

Genre

The Arts / Music

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Selected: Hardcover / ISBN-13: 9781399609760

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‘The rainbow reaches right across the sky, for miles and miles, and has landed right in the middle of our field. My­ mother, Alison, is standing at the beginning. I’m sure it’s a beginning, rather than the end, as there’s no pot of gold in sight. The point where everything forms or, perhaps, is not quite formed as yet. That’s my favourite place. A place alive with possibility.’

Strange Things Are Happening
begins with the wonder of that rainbow, and continues with many escapades down the rabbit hole. From punk and the beginnings of the DIY scene, through Acid House, psychedelia, the rise of electronic dance music and much more, Richard Norris has been involved in countless countercultural revolutions. From misadventures in Amsterdam with Timothy Leary, with Sun Ra at customs, and Shaun Ryder in Joe Strummer’s beaten up Cadillac in Tijuana, to his extraordinarily influential output in The Grid and Beyond The Wizards Sleeve, Richard Norris’ story is one of collaboration and community, fuelled by relentless psychedelic curiosity.

Strange Things Are Happening is a record of a life lived in the moment, forever in thrall to discovery, exploration and innovation – the search for what lies at the other end of that rainbow.

Reviews

Wendy Erskine
Continuous joy in sound and people. The book just makes you feel like getting up and doing something
John Higgs
Every bit as fantastic as its cover
Caught by the River
A dazzling psychedelic memoir... one of the great eyewitness accounts of the heroic years of the counterculture
Erol Alkan
Richard's creativity is at the heart of who he is. I sometimes feel like I only know a fraction of his story, so this book is an insight into a gentle soul who I have had the pleasure of working alongside for almost two decades
Tracey Thorn
Richard's stories remind me how motivated we all were, how industrious, how much FUN we had
David Keenan
This book is a revelation: Mr Richard Norris lived the 20th century and beyond like no one else and this is one of the truly great eyewitness accounts of the heroic years of the counter culture. You need this in your life.