Sam The Wheels's films of Brixton

April 28, 2010 6:09 AM

Pentecostal minister Clovis Salmon, known in Brixton as "Sam The Wheels" due to his wheel-making skills, came to Britain from Jamaica in the 1950s. From the 1960s to the 1980s he used his Super-8 camera to film Brixton daily life and church scenes, including the aftermath of the 1981 riots.
posted by criticalbill (7 comments total)

Wagon wheels? Bicycle wheels? Roulette wheels? Millennium Wheels?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:58 AM on April 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

What an awesome record. Thanks for posting this. I should add, having Googled, there is a modest flickr stream as well.

This apparently ran at the 198 Gallery in Brixton for some time before going online. Damn. Missed it.
posted by MuffinMan at 7:04 AM on April 28, 2010

The first link has footage of him working on a bicycle wheel.

Interesting stuff, thanks.
posted by Forktine at 7:05 AM on April 28, 2010

The YouTube comments are so rancorous. Is it necessary?
posted by sswiller at 7:27 AM on April 28, 2010

This is great!

Also, I had no idea about the Brixton Riots before the post. Pretty crazy stuff. Found a youtube doc about it here.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:11 AM on April 28, 2010

Also, I had no idea about the Brixton Riots before the post

Interestingly, the death of Blair Peach (covered here on MeFi yesterday) is widely regarded to have been one of the catalysts for the 1981 Brixton Riots.
posted by MuffinMan at 9:15 AM on April 28, 2010

Well it was while looking at Brixton footage for my blog piece on Blair Peach that I came across Sam the Wheels, so it's not a complete coincidence.

This is another good, slightly more partisan, video on the build up to the riots.
posted by criticalbill at 9:26 AM on April 28, 2010