All Things Considered

Bow Gamelan Ensemble
Posted by Simon Lewin

All of these autumnal pyrotechnics put in my mind of the Bow Gamelan Ensemble who I saw a few times in what must have been (from memory) the mid-late 80s.

In 1983 Paul Burwell, Richard Wilson and Anne Bean formed the Ensemble, described in Burwell's 2007 obituary in The Independent as "a multi-media urban-junk-and-pyrotechnics percussion trio".

Here the Bow Gamelan Ensemble reunite with others to perform on Wilson's boat the Slice of Life (a slice of a tug boat on the river Thames in London). More about the Ensemble

Posted by Simon Lewin on November 7th, 2009

Gavin Maxwell
Posted by Simon Lewin

Caught most of a programme on Radio 4 this morning, presented by Terry Nutkins. I have memories of him presenting Animal Magic and the like.

I hadn't realised he had spent time working with Gavin Maxwell, best known for Ring Of Bright Water - a book about his love for otters and wildlife in general.

The programme was an intriguing and very personal profile of a clearly 'complex' man, but it left me feeling drawn back to the Highlands - but the almost cliff-hanger ending suggests that next week's episode will explore a slightly darker side to the story. This second episode will be broadcast on Friday 23rd October. You can listen to the first episode via the BBC website for the next few days.

Posted by Simon Lewin on October 16th, 2009

Ten Walking Songs
Posted by Simon Lewin

A recent posting over at Caught By The River reminded me of a walk we took on the west coast of Scotland earlier in the year (snapshot below).

In this Tracks for Tracks: Ten Walking Songs post, guest selector Robert MacFarlane lists ten "Songs to keep you company. Songs to learn by heart. Songs to lend a beat to tired feet. Songs to yell from the top of a hill..."

Here's an extract about 'The Road To The Isles'...

"The song is a map, really, of the westwards way, from the Southern Highlands to the Western Isles. Its place-names guide the singer-walker westwards, its melody lures him and its rhythm sustains his progress. The song cites the locations that will bring the singer from Tummel in Perthshire to Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, by way of Loch Rannoch, Lochaber, Shiel, Ailort, and Morar. Singing therefore becomes a means of navigation. In this way, ‘The Road To The Isles’ has a family resemblance to Aboriginal songline cycles, which describe the ‘dreamtracks’ left by the ‘Ancestors’ at the creation of the world. The route of these dreamtracks – and they can run for hundreds of miles – is preserved in the form of songs, in which each note or phrase corresponds to a landscape feature (a claypan or rock outcrop, say, or turn in a creekbed)." Read in full

Posted by Simon Lewin on September 23rd, 2009

David Byrne’s bike racks
Posted by Simon Lewin

Had the pleasure of seeing David Byrne live at The Barbican on Monday. Was very slightly concerned when I saw our fellow audience - if someone had dropped a bomb on the venue, Waitrose's share price (were they listed) would have plummetted.

Anyway, dislike the term as much as I do, I'm inclined to say that he is potentially the 'coolest' man in pop today. Marvellous stuff.

I was going to post a video clip of Byrne or Talking Heads playing live but thought the following might be of interest.

A keen cyclist, Byrne was asked by the New York Department of Transportation to judge a competition for the city's new bike rack designs - and was so inspired that he designed a series of his own...

Posted by Simon Lewin on August 7th, 2009

Andy Lovell
Posted by Simon Lewin

'Dungeness Lighthouse' is a limited edition screenprint by artist printmaker Andy Lovell who we welcome to St. Jude's.

Observational drawing and painting act as the foundation of Andy Lovell's work, imprinting memories from which he creates screenprints, lithographs and monoprints, exploring the layering of texture and colour.

View further examples of prints by Andy Lovell.

Posted by Simon Lewin on August 5th, 2009

Jelly Festival 2009
Posted by Kate Sullivan

The second annual Jelly Festival 2009 takes place tomorrow at Compton Hall, South Creake, Norfolk. This year there will be more stalls, bigger acts, an acoustic stage and camping.

Headlining the festival are The Bays, a group of four musicians who improvise live dance music.

“What drives this band is a need to communicate with their audience in a way not possible with traditional live bands. There are no ‘songs’ as such to perform, there’s no album to promote, and there are no commercial imperatives at play. The Bays only perform live, they never rehearse, they don’t have a set-list and they couldn’t ever do the same performance twice. It’s all about the moment – an experience or an event that exists between the band and the audience for one time only.”

Also playing are 6ix Toys, Yimino, The Sleeping Years, Boy-Com, Peas and Swede Lil Rice and The Three Beards who I recently saw at Norwich Arts Centre – an Eastern European foot stomping Cossack sound.

Tickets are available on the gate from midday at £17.50 (£27.50 camping). Children under 12 accompanied by an adult go free. Contributions are made to the Spinal Injuries Association. Photo of The Bays by Tom Oldham.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on July 31st, 2009

Port Eliot Festival
Posted by Simon Lewin

Our friends from Caught By The River are currently packing their bags in preparation for a trip to the Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall where they're hosting a series of readings, gigs and DJ sets with performances from Will Hodgkinson, Kathryn Williams, British Sea Power, Chris Watson, King Creosote, The Heavenly Jukebox and many more.

The festival runs from the 24th-26th July and full details can be found on the Port Eliot Festival website.

Posted by Simon Lewin on July 23rd, 2009

Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo
Posted by Simon Lewin

We spent Saturday night at the Southbank Centre enjoying an event organised by the team behind the Caught By The River website and book.

Several extracts were read from book, some accompanied by sound recordist Chris Watson.

Lots of thought provoking content, particularly the last piece - a reading by Michael McCarthy of his book 'Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo'. CBTR's Robin Turner summed up the event...

"As Michael read extracts from his book, slowly a picture unfolded of the UK at an environmental tipping point – one where migratory birds have stopped visiting our shore, where they no longer use them as breeding grounds.

You start to think about what the signifiers of the seasons are – birdsong, flowers budding, fruit and veg reaching maturity… and then you realize that these days, from the vantage point of behind a computer screen in a concrete and glass city centre, you don’t really have any idea of what’s going on past the end of the road anyway. I be surprised if any of us are really sure when spring smudged into summer or what’s seasonal to this country anymore – the supermarkets spreading out a bounty plundered from the four corners of the Earth (do we really need to source asparagus from Kenya? Shouldn’t we just eat it when it’s available here?). I walked away from McCarthy’s talk with a vision of a country suffering from a homogeny of seasons, where Britain’s local distinctiveness has been replaced by shelves stacked with foreign bodies and silences on our village greens and hedgerows. And that really scared me."

I must order a copy of the book. The cover is illustrated by Joe McLaren who we're hoping to work with at St. Jude's in the future.

Posted by Simon Lewin on July 16th, 2009

Norfolk Broads
Posted by Kate Sullivan

Recent weekend jaunts with our bikes have taken us to the Norfolk Broads. Starting at Reedham and taking the clunky cable ferry across the River Yare has been a happy reminder of just how beautiful the Norfolk Broads are.

Elegant and timeless yachts float alongside pleasure cruisers. Martham Boats, as mentioned in the Old Town's excellent Evening Star, has a collection of traditional 1950s wooden motorboats and sailing yachts for hire.

I’m quite taken with the idea of discovering some of the quieter Broads waters in a canoe or kayak and combining a days paddling with camping by the waters. I came across The Canoe Man who offers just that.

“Canoeing allows near silent exploration of all but the most miniscule of the Broads Park waterways - you can paddle down miles of quiet, undisturbed tributaries, dykes and streams often never seeing another soul but often seeing some of the Broads best kept secrets - the kingfishers, the bitterns and even the elusive otter”.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on June 26th, 2009

Knockando Woolmill Open Day
Posted by Simon Lewin

If you're anywhere near the north east of Scotland this weekend, you'll have the opportunity to visit the Knockando Woolmill before the restoration work begins later this year.

The Knockando Woolmill Trust has now secured funding for the £3.5 million restoration programme which will save the Mill and allow the skills that have been employed there since 1784 to be passed onto generations to come.

There are still a number of ways in which you can become involved - from joining the Friend's scheme to making a larger donation - St. Jude's are pleased to be sponsoring one of the 40 waterwheel paddles that need to be replaced.

The Open Day takes place on Sunday 28th June between 10am and 4pm. Further details via the Knockando Woolmill Trust website. Please do pass details of this onto anyone you might know in the area.

Posted by Simon Lewin on June 22nd, 2009