Hurray for the weekend! I've finally finished my new film. It's kind of a pop video. The Song 'This is all you have to know' by Helene was the inspiration. It's rather 'pan's people' in interpretation in places but I sort of wanted to tell the story (and really you'd be hard pushed to miss the point.) Anyhow, I just fancied spreading a little!



If you enjoyed that then you may fancy wandering here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsmRAvIfB7U to witness my boyfriend Mickeyshoeshine's Screaming Sausage (Don't Ask!)

I saw a great film last night called 'Waking Life'. The beauty of you tube is that I don't have to try to explain it, I really wouldn't know where to start anyhow.

Last night we traveled to Coventry to see Davey Graham. Davey Graham, for those who don't know, was hugely influencial on the British folk scene in the early 60's. He broke away from the folk purists of the 50's developing his own picking style. Due to a vast knowledge of music he came at his guitar playing from many different angles; traditional folk, jazz, blues, indian, and eastern european music. He was held in high esteem by his contempories, guiding Bert Jansch in his younger years and influencing musicians like Simon and Garfunkel and Jimmy Page. He is also acknowledged as the creator of the DADGAD guitar tuning, therefore leaving his imprint on music to this day.
Approaching Coventry center from the motorway the town looks pretty grim, it has to be said even draber than Leicester, it was badly bombed in the war so I guess that's their excuse (Leicester on the other hand doesn't have one!) We were amused by the complex labyrinth of roads and flyovers, joking that it must have looked great on the model, not so good in concrete.
When we arrived at the gig, in a small club called The Tin Angel I was happily impressed. The place is a real gem. A lovely underground jazz club atmosphere, unfussy decor and as we walked in they were playing Vashti Bunyan, what more could I ask!
When Davey took to the stage at first his playing was a little ropey, he was playing really fast but wasn't quite hitting all the right notes, of course this was excused by the crowd, he is a legend after all. And with a little help from the audience, (their was a lot of love in the room!) he seemed to relax and we were all witness to that 'Davey magic'. He was fantastic he played everything from Bach to Turkish Lullabies including one of my favourite songs 'Raghupati Raghav' (which according to Davey was also Mahatma Gandi's.) To ensure complete silence and the reverence deserved the bar was shut during the show, this was a good idea as it is a tiny place, but it meant their had to be an interval for refills and this I think disturbed the flow of the performance as the second half didn't quite match up to the first. Nevertheless it was great to see him play, and to see him get a little of the respect he deserves. He gave the impression of being a really nice bloke and smiled from ear to ear at the reception he received.
It's funny how things run a full circle, just as Davey and others in the 60's were rediscovering the old blues players of the 20's and 30's, it is now their turn to be rediscovered as the folk heros of the 50's and 60's. Hopefully this will help music move forward a little.
(If anyone would like to hear any of his music I highly recommend the above album 'Folk, Blues and Beyond.')

The moon for Gina (as promised.)

I've been really getting into my film making recently. 'My Green Man' film has recieved some really encouraging comments and the organisers have asked if they can put it on there website, so I'm really looking forward to seeing it up there. This week I've started some animation, it's very ropy animation because I don't have much patience but it has a querky quality that I like. Still working on that at the minute, then I plan to make a pop video for some songs Mick and I have done together.
Here we have a condensed version of my film 'What we did on our Holidays. My friends loved it, so I figured they wouldn't mind me showing a little of it here.
(The last few minutes are just a blank screen, not sure why it has done this but can't seem to change it, it ends at 4.04.)

The promise in my last post to be 'back soon..' has obviously given rise to my stubborn side, the side that refuses to oblige with even the simplest of self appointed tasks, hence it has been well over a week since my last post. My blog writing is becoming increasingly slack but even so I refuse to give up my blog entirely. Blogging has given me the incentive I needed to release some creative energy. Having something to do with it has made all the difference. It doesn't even matter to me if anybody sees it, to just get it out and have it exist, suspended in cyberworld, is enough. Saying that I am thoroughly grateful to those who come here and give encouragement, thanks so much for your time and your patience, sorry if you come here and find only a stationery blog.
To carry on from my last post, that night wasn't as expected an evening's dancing to prog rock, (too many kids on the dancefloor I believe restricted the DJ to less cosmic soundscapes) instead I was suprised by a intense and mind-opening conversation about the nature of the universe and our place in it (not at all what one would expect to find in a working mans club.) I felt somewhat shook by the whole experience the day after but nevertheless reassured that I'm on the right path and that my intuition serves me well.
Today I discovered Jeanette Winterson's website (www.jeanettewinterson.com), I've just finished 'Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit' and have not yet been disappointed by her writing even though I've come to expect so much. I was happy to find she writes a monthly blog there where she speaks, amongst other things, of the joy of jam making and winter fires. She also posts her favourite poetry. Today is national poetry day. On the radio they were discussing the 'point' of poetry, when I came across Jeanette's musings on the matter I figured she had hit the nail on the head.

"I believe that poetry is a user’s manual – a way of defining what things matter, and, as Coleridge put it, ‘keeping the heart alive to love and beauty.’
Poetry is there when we need it, and we need it regularly. Simply, it turns ordinary life into a meditation, and it reminds us that meditation – the ability to settle and focus and concentrate our energies, is a necessary part of ordinary life."
Jeanette Winterson