I'm releasing an independent EP of my collaborations with Aussie poets and MCs within the next month or two and I'm requesting artists to contribute work for the cover art. I won't be able to offer any money as most of the profits are going to the rainforest protection funds in Tasmania and to help fund direct activism. However you will be fully credited and you'll get free publicity in Melbourne, Tasmania, and England.
Simply let me know that you're interested and I'll peruse your gallery for something suitable. Before anything is finalised I'll treble check that it is a piece you would like promoted.

Black and white pieces are preferred.

The E.P. will be entitled, 'Know Peace, Your Natural State'.

MARCH 27th - The Spring Equinox, 2006...

My name is Kevin Panton. I am a rapper, a poet and an English Literature and Philosophy graduate. After taking my friend Susanna's advice (because my intuition and series of beneficial coincidences were leading me closer and closer to him) I met the guy who believes who calls himself King Arthur. This is the man who stands to get voted as an MP in Winchester on several occasions and publicly supports various road protests in medieval garb. "Who cares what he believes" some of you might ask, "he's clearly insane" yet more of you might say. More to the point 3 Druid orders in England accept him as the current incarnation of King Arthur. Druidry is a pagan practice that involves a worship of nature and particularly in Enlgand the celebration of the Sun on ceremonial days such as the Summer and Winter Solstice. "Who cares what they believe" some of you might ask, "they're clearly mad as well". Well I don't care, the original King Arthur may be a myth, in which case there could be no reincarnation. But the fact is that before he had the support of Druid Order's he was sleeping in a hammock in the woods and campaigning for opening up Stonehenge to the British Public. The fact is that he was camping in and under trees during road protests and he has made efforts and sacrifices for the sake of the trees of England. Due to these facts regardless of his rather widespread reputation as a drunk and a lecherous old man he has earned my respect. He has earned it because anyone can make sacrifices with back-up and support but he did it before he had any of that. Besides, name me a man that isn't lecherous and I'll name you a man who hides his lust well.

Shortly after Susanna had told me about King Arthur at the Synergy Centre (a community arts centre set up by the club night The Synergy Project) in Camberwell the day before New Years Eve 2005/06 I bumped into one of her friends who happened to live round the corner from my parents. This friend of hers Steph is has a practical understanding of spirituality and shamanism. The first time I popped round to see Steph there it was, the book about this Arthur Pendragon and his history. Two days later I'd finished it and knew that we would meet.

I originally thought that the events so far were leading me to interview Arthur for my friend's internet radio station. Not so. After meeting Arthur in Avebury on the weekend nearest to the Spring Equinox I thought that I could convince him to come to Bristol for an interview. Not so. With no fixed abode and no method of contact the only way to organisie it was to meet him at Stonehenge on the actual day of the Equinox and try to do the interview there. Arthur and the Druids would be camping all night, getting on the mead (fermented honey, tastes a bit like Sherry but it's even nicer!) and what Arthur likes to call 'Druid Fluid' (that would be Cider or Mead, the phrase works as well for either.) I didn't know how I would manage to get to Stonehenge, I didn't own a car, or a tent, or a sleeping bag. But I have good friends and there was a momentum building. So I didn't expect NOT to get to Stonehenge, I just didn't know how it would happen.

I didn't bring a dictaphone or a Mini-Disc player with me. I knew that there would be no interview in Stonehenge, I even turned my phone off and took the battery out because the less interference I got during my first time in Stonehenge the better.

I didn't bring a dictaphone or a Mini-Disc player with me. I went to Stonehenge for the Equinox and was raised as a Bard and Shield Knight of the LOYAL ARTHURIAN WARBAND. (By "I was raised", I mean I was Knighted and given a title.)

Now I'm not going to expend too much effort explaining about the rank of a Shield Knight because that would simply be inviting criticism and responsibility, although I will say that it is a recognition of an original incarnation. An unexpected honour? Or simply tosh? It's impossible for me to talk about being Knighted at a ceremony celebrating the return of the sun without alienating people who don't give a shit about anything they haven't seen on Television! So I'm not going to try. Susanna, the only female Battle Chieftain in Arthur's Warband had recommended that I get Knighted for a while, but we both knew it was Arthur's decision (although she probably had an idea what his decision would be.) I just wanted to interview the man until it actually got to the day, then I was just curious about the whole ceremony. He chose to raise me as a Bard and a Shield Knight. I was reluctant for weeks, my strongest intuition was that I HAD to talk to Arthur, I wasn't sure why but the first time I heard about him I knew I needed to talk to him. But the intuition whether or not to pursue getting Knighted wasn't as strong. I was scared at what the responsibility would entail. It was not until I heard with my own ears the oath which one takes that I knew I had to. Funnily enough Kat and Clare thought they had come to Stonehenge more or less solely to watch me get raised as a Bard but had actually come to get raised as Warrior Priestesses, both of them. Funnily enough I was more sure that Kat would get Knighted than I was that I would get Knighted!

For the record the ceremony was great, the statements, proclamations and speeches had a good balance of informality and reverence. Which is what I like about being a Druid the most, the fact that it's informal and practical. They don't just talk about the land and mother nature, they bury themselves in Camp Camelot and stop roads from being built through the land and mother nature. Respect. But there are other places to look to read about Druidism, I'll write the stories that I think no-one else will, I'll attempt to bestow legendary status on those I believe deserve it but when I think someone else can tell a story better I'll let them.

Let's not think KP needs bringing back down to Earth, I'm the same man I was before I was officially recognised as a Bard. But the mission of a Bard is to tell his or her truth and record the stories and opinions of the people which I honestly believe is what I've been doing with my lyrics and essays with or without recognition since... well since I was 11.

KP - Your Hip-Hop Bard, Shield Knight, and Druid.


"What happened in William Blake's time when there was a revolutionary spirit certainly amongst the poets of the time, a whole group of people gathered around Blake at that time. They actually helped him in developing a vision of Albion that was based upon it's ancient traditions. The whole subject of Blake and his poetry is linked to Druidism very directly in the sense that William Blake was considered the Arch Druid of the Isles by all the Druid Orders - at that moment you have a Druidic revival - a renaissance." - Tim Sebastian, Secular Arch Druid of the Secular Order of Druids


Post - Script
For some reason everybody is more impressed when I tell them that Arthur Pendragon's Sword is the Excalibur, the sword from the movie of the same name. Exactly the same sword.
A lady friend of Arthur's saw a sword in the window of a blacksmith's from the back of Arthurs bike (did I forget to mention that he's an ex-biker? Actually sod the 'ex', he's a biker - tattoos 'n' all and his motorbike is his steed.) They wandered in and he was told by the blacksmith who made the sword for the movie that unless the 'Once and Future King' proved he was there he could not relinquish the sword. Arthur had recently changed his name by deed poll, he had the documents and he walked away with the sword. I love true stories

For more true tales of the Hip-Hop Bard check...
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