Electric Penelope @ The Maltings 21st August 2015
We don’t get out much these days. The lure of the thermos flask, an egg sandwich and a folding deckchair at the side of the A1, are pleasures much sought after. But y’know we’re grateful.
And very grateful to have seen the lovely Electric Penelope + Steinway piano at The Maltings last night. Bloomin’ ‘eck, she wiz gud (trying some local patois there).
Here’s a shot.
Ordinaryson : A shot at paradise
Well, I go to work eleven hours a day. I meet my train friends and we eat soup together and mock the grey race. And then, ‘paradise’ and Ordinaryson takes us away to somewhere else. Moments. They tick, un-noticed. Like the dawn chorus and a golden light through the windows on a wintry day. They make this life, good. Give them a listen…Links here:
Glamour & romance in Berwick-upon-Tweed // @elec_penelope
Reality suspended and held in amber: For a moment, I could imagine going to the bar and ordering a Martini, then expecting to see a yellow cab upon leaving the speakeasy. But, no, it was Berwick-upon-Tweed, The Maltings and instead I lost my footing on a chip.
Electric Penelope, The Scottish Romance Orchestra and the evocation of a place that most definitely wasn’t the northernmost town in England. Here’s a glimpse.
Bridie Jackson and The Arbour / A stunning performance
Belleplates. Voices that reach incredible heights of emotion & pitch. Incredible musicians and beautiful songs. It’s not often that you get to witness a performance like this – although I suspect BJ&TA make jaws drop every time they play….So, in case you missed it, here’s Bridie Jackson & The Arbour with “We talked again” at the 2012 Frontier Festival.
Frontier Festival : It’s quite staggering what can happen on your doorstep
2012 : A new American president perhaps; Fragments of Mars rock being blasted with a laser; Events of an incredible nature happening on your doorstep. This one crept up on us quietly in the dying haze of a rather washed out summer. Into Autumn then, the time in Scotland when you start thinking of a few meagre hours of daylight, snow chains and central heating quite literally going through the roof. The urge for carbohydrates grows and the desire to snuggle under the blankets with a bowl of hazelnuts, a copy of ‘A thousand years of solitude’ and a flask of something warming grows ever stronger. But then this, the inaugural Frontier Festival, emerges out of the Autumnal mist of the river Tweed and surrounds us with great sounds and perhaps more importantly a rather special atmosphere. So many bands to mention and you can capture a flavour here, here and here. I had a great weekend and it was a feeling that lasted well into the grey edges of a working week and actually, stays now. And I didn’t even have a drink.
Here’s Antic Hay.
A postcard from Berwick-upon-Tweed
An interesting and slightly curious place, is Berwick-upon-Tweed. It gives its name to a county which is in a different country, it’s the northernmost town in England and it has the sense of being an outpost…of something. And as far as I know, the apocryphal story of it still being at war with Russia isn’t true. Here’s the video postcard.
Tyres at Dawn / Berwick Film Festival Entry
The fell wind roared outside and clouds, in an urgent hurry to be elsewhere hurtled across the night sky as though caught in a time-lapse. Meanwhile, down in the 80:8 media-lab, fuelled by coffee, biscuits and couscous during an all night editing session, a sudden cry at 3am could be heard “’tis ready Igor!” Well, OK, so I didn’t morph into some crazed, wild-haired scientist but not having blinked for six hours does have a peculiar effect on a persons psyche 🙂
Anyway, enough of this 3rd rate creative writing verbiage, what’s up? Well, we’ve just finished a video for Jason Kyrone– the folk-rock-pop-electronic troubadour from the city of Edinburgh and it has just this minute been entered in to the 2012 Berwick film Festival. This years festival, to quote from the organisers is “..focus on the relationship between the still and the moving image. Entitled Pictures in Motion, the programme will feature work that has been created by artists who have moved from photography into filmmaking, or that has been inspired by photography, whether through use of still image sequences or freeze frames, portraits or landscapes.”
So, there you have it, a simple enough brief. How did it turn out? Quite well I think, though I’ve no idea whether it’s good enough to be considered by such a well-regarded film festival. What does it look like? Well, we can’t show you until it’s been reviewed, rejected or accepted by the festival, but I think we’ll be OK with a little still….Was it fun to make? Most certainly! Even making no-budget films gets you into all sorts of situations and environments that you would never ordinarily consider. And new experiences at all ages are to be savoured.
So, the Film Festival is well worth checking out, it’s on 19th – 23rd September in Berwick and if you fancy submitting then you’ve got until the 29th June to get your entry in. Go on do it.
The don’t make cuffs like they used to / Re-Dress @ Paxton House / Timelapse
Cuff. It’s one of those words that if you say it more than 17 times, ceases to have any meaning whatsoever. I’ve said it 18 times in a row and I now have to resort to Wikipedia :
‘A cuff is an extra layer of fabric at the lower edge of the sleeve of a garment covering the arms. In US usage the word may also refer to the end of the leg of a pair of trousers. The functional purpose of turned cuffs is to protect the material from fraying and, when frayed, to allow the cuffs to be repaired or replaced without major changes to the garment.
Cuffs may be made by turning back the material, or a separate band of material may be sewn on or worn separately attached by buttons or studs. A cuff may show an ornamental border, or have an addition of lace or other trimming.’
Anyway, check this one out. Currently on display at the Re-Dress exhibition at Paxton House. 18th Century I think, from the time when fabrics were luscious and deep, and men were a bit on the small shouldered side. But yes, the exhibition is well worth a visit – it’s on until May 31st and features not only original court costumes but new and cool stuff designed by students from Herriot-Watt University. And there’s a great movie being shown! And the scones are fab!
Also, we managed to sneak in and do a bit of time-lapse while no one was watching 🙂
Easter Street, live @ The Barrels
And finally, here’s our favourite Nova Scotian emigre*, Derek Huffman from Easter Street. The guys played a storming set of songs from their latest album ‘Cause and Effect’ plus a brand new one. There was also some white dude rap in homage to the sad and untimely death of Adam Yauch of The Beastie Boys. Drummers, by their very nature are very excitable and Dan behind the kit was pretty extraordinary to watch and listen to. Add in some twisty bass from Murray (and a great voice), throw in some searing rock guitar and you have a fabulous set from band going somewhere. Here’s a shot…
* Should have said joint favourite with Mrs Huffman 🙂
Le Woodsmen, live @ The Barrels
These guys are really, really good. Great tunes, fabulous guitars, lyrics and vox. It’s difficult to place them musically – sort of Americana with a dash of Northumberland salt, a tinge of country perhaps, a flavour of folk but they kinda swing and rock also. How do they do this? This time around they had a load of new songs that although freshly squeezed sounded pretty wonderful. And it’s all delivered with a laid back and laconic style. Le Woodsmen, check them out when you can. Here’s a shot.
