If you are very quick you might just get a free cup of (very nice) coffee at the new Micro Puschka cafe that has just opened within the Microzine shop on Bold St. For now, the coffee and some other drinks is all they have to serve but during the next few days more stuff will be arriving from the main Puschka in Rodney Street. So menu and opening hours are still a bit vague but I believe they should be opening at 8an to catch people on their way to work. Good idea but I'm sticking to 11 o'clock for my coffee break thanks.

Coinciding with the launch of the cafe is an exhibition of the CNPD Stamps by Liverpool-born James Cauty.

James Cauty was founder member of wild pop groups The Orb, The JAMMS, The KLF and art do-gooders The K-Foundation. He also founded the Blacksmoke Organisation, an eco-friendly post-terrorist peacenik art collective, but he resigned his post there in 2005 to spend more time with his stamp collection.

Since the inception of the CNPD (Cautese Nationál Postal Disservice) in October 2005 James Cauty has been working closely with the Aquarium Gallery in London to bring the world the finest in iconic, iconoclastic and topical stampage. This stampage takes the form of real stamps, first day covers and limited edition prints.

Through a series of cunning marketing ploys including rigged pricing, small and cheap editions, and the deletions of popular images, a highly collectible art form has been established for serious collectors.

Microzine MD, Chris Lee, has been a fan of Cauty since the beginning of the CNPD. “I purchased a few of limited edition prints and displayed them in Microzine London, but eventually they had to come down because Royal Mail threatened to sue me for breach of copyright.”

Royal Mail have since accepted the copyright issue, perhaps coming round to Cauty’s way of thinking; “Artists steal or borrow things from other artists and shops all the time its part of the evolution of ideas and normal practice. Copyright was invented by two Belgian lawyers in 1827 as a way of making some extra cash and is now an outdated concept. ”

I usually manage to resist buying things when I'm here to look at the art but not this time. I bought the book (a sort of stamp album - with free stamps!) to accompany the exhibition.

JAMES CAUTY and the CNPD present STAMPS of Mass Destruction - Selected Stampage and New Works at Microzine, Liverpool until August 28th 2006
CNPD Website: www.cnpdonline.com
There's an excellent article/interview in the NW-Enquirer