Reminds me of an appearance on a daytime TV show hosted by Mavis Nicholson some years ago, where the band spent a whole day with a researcher going into the fine details of the band's antecedants, ethics and aspirations, then the only question Mavis asked me on the show was "Tell me Tim,do you have to be a vegetarian to be in this band?"Then followed every TV producer's nightmare with me opened mouthed silent and goldfish like, and another band member jumping in with "No but you do have to be a vegetable. I'm an aubergine".I think he featured largely in Django Bates' Prom appearance the other night.
Friday, August 30, 2013
I'm an abergine"
Watched the TV breakfast news slot with Michael.Thought he did well, footage a bit brief( after several hours filming in rehearsals, about 8 seconds )!
Reminds me of an appearance on a daytime TV show hosted by Mavis Nicholson some years ago, where the band spent a whole day with a researcher going into the fine details of the band's antecedants, ethics and aspirations, then the only question Mavis asked me on the show was "Tell me Tim,do you have to be a vegetarian to be in this band?"Then followed every TV producer's nightmare with me opened mouthed silent and goldfish like, and another band member jumping in with "No but you do have to be a vegetable. I'm an aubergine".I think he featured largely in Django Bates' Prom appearance the other night.
Reminds me of an appearance on a daytime TV show hosted by Mavis Nicholson some years ago, where the band spent a whole day with a researcher going into the fine details of the band's antecedants, ethics and aspirations, then the only question Mavis asked me on the show was "Tell me Tim,do you have to be a vegetarian to be in this band?"Then followed every TV producer's nightmare with me opened mouthed silent and goldfish like, and another band member jumping in with "No but you do have to be a vegetable. I'm an aubergine".I think he featured largely in Django Bates' Prom appearance the other night.
Monday, October 24, 2011
St Pauls protest
Why is it that the news features on the protest at St Paul's always start with "the first time since the Blitz/2nd World War/Hitler's war on Britain that St Pauls has been closed"? It subliminally suggests an association of the action of the protesters with those of an enemy of the state.It starts a discussion of the issues with a prejudicial relationship.It's fairly typical of the majority of news reporting in this area.
But who , or what, is the enemy of the state? The people who have decided to camp outside the cathedral ,or the financial interests and individuals who control a share of the world's assets disproportionate to their number, whose actions have all but brought this country and the western world to it's knees?
The big news feature has morphed from "world financial crisis"to "protesters close St Paul's".It's a bit like states seeking out external enemies and threats to divert the populus' attention from internal problems.
And have the protesters closed St Paul's?The decision was taken after St Paul's Chapter met , and decided on the grounds of that old chestnut, "health and safety".My premiere performance of Colour Beginnings at Tate Britain in 2009 was similiarly threatened because a grand piano placed in the middle of a gallery was described as being a potential health and safety hazard (this despite several grand pianos having come and gone there before).That objection ,along with several others,subsequently evaporated with no explanation.
Could the fact that the chapter is populated with many city executives have any bearing on the importance placed on health and safety?The protesters have apparently set up fire extinguishers, porterloos and were keeping a channel clear for access to the entrance and respecting service times etc.Spokespeople have been keen to say "the protesters have been allowed to make their point",and now its time to move on. As if the problem of world debt, slashing of basic public services( a wheelchair disabled friend of mine was told by her local council she was entitled to one bath per week), shocking inequality , and cavalier profiting on the markets from the difficulties of others, is now about to go away.More likely it will all carry on regardless.
Protests like this are not about giving the masses a short gestalt therapy session, so that the society can carry on its well regulated business unimpeded, its about the populus giving the disfunctioning powers that be a wake up call, other, milder attempts having failed.
Anyone who thinks that in the present communication saturated world , glaring inequalities between neighbours both in resources , opportunities and treatment(like for instance the proportion of your income you pay in taxation), can easily be ignored , needs to take a reality check.How unintelligent do the RBS bankers who picked up 950 millions in bonuses recently think its majority owners ie us , are?
I'm with the protesters.They are the people who want a just , grown up society for all, not one built on a gambling casino financial system.From what I've seen and read, the other lot couldn't give a damn.A Wall St trader said on radio 4 recently that he dreamed of crises like the present one because, "if you know what you're doing" you can make a fortune out of it.Its time for change.
But who , or what, is the enemy of the state? The people who have decided to camp outside the cathedral ,or the financial interests and individuals who control a share of the world's assets disproportionate to their number, whose actions have all but brought this country and the western world to it's knees?
The big news feature has morphed from "world financial crisis"to "protesters close St Paul's".It's a bit like states seeking out external enemies and threats to divert the populus' attention from internal problems.
And have the protesters closed St Paul's?The decision was taken after St Paul's Chapter met , and decided on the grounds of that old chestnut, "health and safety".My premiere performance of Colour Beginnings at Tate Britain in 2009 was similiarly threatened because a grand piano placed in the middle of a gallery was described as being a potential health and safety hazard (this despite several grand pianos having come and gone there before).That objection ,along with several others,subsequently evaporated with no explanation.
Could the fact that the chapter is populated with many city executives have any bearing on the importance placed on health and safety?The protesters have apparently set up fire extinguishers, porterloos and were keeping a channel clear for access to the entrance and respecting service times etc.Spokespeople have been keen to say "the protesters have been allowed to make their point",and now its time to move on. As if the problem of world debt, slashing of basic public services( a wheelchair disabled friend of mine was told by her local council she was entitled to one bath per week), shocking inequality , and cavalier profiting on the markets from the difficulties of others, is now about to go away.More likely it will all carry on regardless.
Protests like this are not about giving the masses a short gestalt therapy session, so that the society can carry on its well regulated business unimpeded, its about the populus giving the disfunctioning powers that be a wake up call, other, milder attempts having failed.
Anyone who thinks that in the present communication saturated world , glaring inequalities between neighbours both in resources , opportunities and treatment(like for instance the proportion of your income you pay in taxation), can easily be ignored , needs to take a reality check.How unintelligent do the RBS bankers who picked up 950 millions in bonuses recently think its majority owners ie us , are?
I'm with the protesters.They are the people who want a just , grown up society for all, not one built on a gambling casino financial system.From what I've seen and read, the other lot couldn't give a damn.A Wall St trader said on radio 4 recently that he dreamed of crises like the present one because, "if you know what you're doing" you can make a fortune out of it.Its time for change.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Has anybody found a large yellow television set ,it's a stage prop for the Nonsense show with Michael Rosen and The Homemade Orchestra, and I lost it somewhere on a four day jaunt to York ,Cleethorpes ,Farnham and Birmingham?My money is on Farnham at the moment but we can't raise anyone to find out.
On Sunday I had a gig with said M Rosen and The Homemade Orchestra , so that morning, the whereabouts of the tele still not known despite exhaustive enquiries, I had to go out and buy an 8ft by 4ft piece of ply wood which I then had to saw into enough pieces so it would fit in the car, in Wickes'car park on a shopping trolley, because although they let you buy the wood off them, they won't cut it for you or let you cut it using their facilities.It was a moment of high farce reaching up to the top of the piece of wood with the saw and laying in to it whilst watching the clock and the amused DIY shoppers (by this time it was 1.00pm and the sound check for the Nonsense gig was 5.00pm in town).By 3.35 I had just about finished the replacement tele, not quite as elegant as the one we commissioned Maisie to make, but OK.
Sonny and me made the gig by 4.40pm, avoiding speed cameras, and the gig was good . The tele was suspended from the ceiling of the marquee and Michael could stick his head in it every time he had to announce the next news bulletin, and scare the hell out of everyone.
Interestingly, York was a women's open prison where we played the Colour Beginnings music with the quartet, which went down pretty well.Cleethorpes was the Jazz Festival where we (Homemade Orchestra and Michael Rosen) achieved the distinction of probably the earliest sound check in touring history (8 am).
Then Nick France and me (with Liam Noble on board) drove south to Farnham, where I found myself playing to an audience which included several members of the ConDem cabinet , which I had been protesting to outside Parliament the previous wednesday, about their recent green paper ,which wants to "reverse the bias towards inclusion"in education , with assorted noble inclusionists the previous wednesday.At one point we serenaded Michael Gove's office from the street for 20 minutes or so.The Green Paper wants to "reverse the bias towards inclusion"in education (which is a fiction anyway).
Personally I'd be happier if they set about reversing the bias towards corruption in government, so delightfully etched out in the current News International debacle.The Guardian claims they were after Gordon Brown for 10 years.I wonder why?
Two weeks till the Southbank Colour Beginnings gig with Kenny Wheeler , and three days till we play it at Sage Centre in Gateshead(thursday).Trying to finish "Dunstanburgh Castle "in time to play it there (its on the north east coast).Strange stuff is happening with it.
11days till we play Turner Contemporary in Margate(22nd)
On Sunday I had a gig with said M Rosen and The Homemade Orchestra , so that morning, the whereabouts of the tele still not known despite exhaustive enquiries, I had to go out and buy an 8ft by 4ft piece of ply wood which I then had to saw into enough pieces so it would fit in the car, in Wickes'car park on a shopping trolley, because although they let you buy the wood off them, they won't cut it for you or let you cut it using their facilities.It was a moment of high farce reaching up to the top of the piece of wood with the saw and laying in to it whilst watching the clock and the amused DIY shoppers (by this time it was 1.00pm and the sound check for the Nonsense gig was 5.00pm in town).By 3.35 I had just about finished the replacement tele, not quite as elegant as the one we commissioned Maisie to make, but OK.
Sonny and me made the gig by 4.40pm, avoiding speed cameras, and the gig was good . The tele was suspended from the ceiling of the marquee and Michael could stick his head in it every time he had to announce the next news bulletin, and scare the hell out of everyone.
Interestingly, York was a women's open prison where we played the Colour Beginnings music with the quartet, which went down pretty well.Cleethorpes was the Jazz Festival where we (Homemade Orchestra and Michael Rosen) achieved the distinction of probably the earliest sound check in touring history (8 am).
Then Nick France and me (with Liam Noble on board) drove south to Farnham, where I found myself playing to an audience which included several members of the ConDem cabinet , which I had been protesting to outside Parliament the previous wednesday, about their recent green paper ,which wants to "reverse the bias towards inclusion"in education , with assorted noble inclusionists the previous wednesday.At one point we serenaded Michael Gove's office from the street for 20 minutes or so.The Green Paper wants to "reverse the bias towards inclusion"in education (which is a fiction anyway).
Personally I'd be happier if they set about reversing the bias towards corruption in government, so delightfully etched out in the current News International debacle.The Guardian claims they were after Gordon Brown for 10 years.I wonder why?
Two weeks till the Southbank Colour Beginnings gig with Kenny Wheeler , and three days till we play it at Sage Centre in Gateshead(thursday).Trying to finish "Dunstanburgh Castle "in time to play it there (its on the north east coast).Strange stuff is happening with it.
11days till we play Turner Contemporary in Margate(22nd)
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
My New Turner Blog
Overcoming extreme technophobia, I have decided to start a blog about my project writing music from JMW Turner's watercolour sketches as Artist In Residence at Tate Britain this year,which is called Colour Beginnings and is due for delivery in performance at Tate Britain Friday Nov 6th (and it's free to get in).
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