RESEARCH, RECORDING AND A NICE REVIEW

 Gently nudging a new Bifocals project into action with a nice pint and a natter about books and his new record with Tom James Scott, a visit to Cecil Sharp House in March to look at their journals and articles, and planning a performance of sorts  with DJ Ste Tyson and Sound recordist / musician Damo Rose at Barrow Dock Museum in April.  

Bob Fisher and Alex Blackmore are working on the  Human Organs which will be making appearances throughout the year. And the Walney Sound Calendar project with Natural England and South Walney Infants is up and running too.  Meanwhile, there's a great review of the "Four Short Guitar Tunes .." 45 from Byron Coley in March's  WIRE mag. Cheers a fellow up no end, this. Doubly so as I bash around on dulcimer and plastic keyboard towards some ideas for  another record...looking forward to  tomorrow morning's recording with Cumbrian Traditional musician and songwriter Mike Willoughby.  Good piece on  Aine O'Dwyer in there too, Aine was outstanding at FON in Barrow 2 years ago, and it's an interesting account of where she's been and where she's at.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON / LARKIN

More from the Tupton Archive footage...a song and VHS footage of my old school, before it was levelled.

https://vimeo.com/157384808

EMITEX / CLARIFOL DJ SET AT LAUREL AND HARDY MUSEUM

This one is about the venue as much as the event..very nice to be back at the Laurel and Hardy Museum in Ulverston again, I was really happy with the way it worked for the "For The Record" show in feb and suggested it for the show the other week with Tirikilatops and Some Some Unicorn. It was a great night all round, and before he lit out on the Keswick To Barrow walk,  Ste and Me rolled out  our mix of BBC Sound Effects, Spoken Word and Public Information vinyl and Charity Shop finds including tunes from the Hare Krishnas, Tilsley Orchestral  Petula Clarke, and this Spiderman thing, seen here against my luxurious new rug. Thanks again to Mark at the Museum and to Human Jim from Blackpool for the photo. More about the Laurel And Hardy Museum here...it really is a great venue.

http://www.laurel-and-hardy.co.uk/

Update..Thanks to everyone who helped to make the evening work, and for your support during the whole project. The project site is here, I hope I've missed nothing and no-one out.

http://www.bifocals2013.com/

 

The " Four Short Guitar Tunes Six Iron  Gates" 45 is available from this week. Thanks to everyone whos written in so far, Ive sent a bunch off this week, hope it goes down well.  Its available online here..

 http://www.bifocals2013.com/#/shop/4589880526.

and here where it claims to be a handmade item..

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BIFOCALSMULTIPLES?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Or you could contact me, or say hello in the veg shop or something. This ( below) is Strange Harvest, Neil Nixon's excellent show for Miskin Radio in Kent. Neil has played a fair bit of my music in the past and included a piece about of it in his recent "500 Albums You Wont Believe" book.. Very chuffed to hear that Neil will be playing something from the single this month.

https://www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/radio_shows/501

David Bowie

Banging on about Bowie. Hello Steve Adams Ian Killen Gav Wood Fran Rileyand many more..Me and my great friends Jon and Nivek Snave had a brief but valuable online natter about Bowie in the period between the release of bits of Blackstar and the album proper. Kev was generous as always, while Jon liked it and had been surprised by its impact on him. I was less generous, it sounded (still sounds) like a botch to me after which the warmth and clarity of much of the album was a real relief. There are beautiful songs on Blackstar that will stand and which, hard though it is, you can still hear as a celebration of life and the survival of intelligence rather than a harbinger of the end.

We are fans, Jon, Kev and me ,and since the news came through this morning we’ll have made our lists and recalled a lot of private and public moments when the world would have had a colder and sheerer surface without this music.

Having emerged within a popular artform at a time when self- expression and authenticity were often seen as the sole indicator of value , Bowie built a career around the negation of his own self. It was common in the years of invention, re-invention and character / personae for journalists to ask “Will The Real David Bowie Please Stand up?” Maybe here he is, on Blackstar and the likes of Where are we Now.

That even this much of his last music should be this good is almost recompense for the fact that there won’t be any more. The impact of his career will be measured in the gratitude of the people he pointed towards their own selves.

SWEET CHARITY: LIMITED EDITION CARDS

Two Years of Charity Shop Record buying in 25 cards.  Designed and with text written by John Hall. Packaged in a sturdy Card Jewell box, this is a limited edition of 100 complete sets, signed and numbered . Includes the Pontins House Band  , Alex Glasgow, The Incredible String Band, Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler and a course of Aversion Therapy   The cards are also available in packets of three.

On sale in Suttons Bookshop, Ulverston  at Bookstore Brierlow Bar near Buxton, and online here

http://www.bifocals2013.com/shop/4589880526

Floodtide at Full Of Noises

 Barrow Park Bandstand, Sunday Aug 2, 9.30am. Daniel Fischer and John Eacott are joined by Steve Benn for the opening notes of a 12 hour performance of Floodtide, a work drawing on tidal data from Walney Channel and performed by singers,  harps, drums, brass , woodwinds, Steve's Didj,  violins, harmonium, bells... all either from the local area or featured artists at the 2015 Full Of Noises Festival.
The piece has a lyric drawn from a poem by Kate Davis.

Steve Benn has worked with the Octopus Collective on a couple of projects involving our relationship with the  eco-structure and sonic environment in  his capacity as Natural England's Warden on North  Walney and has been instrumental in our setting up a great working relationship with North Walney Primary School. We are very glad of Natural England's continuing support, and we hope we can work together again soon,  Cheers Steve.

More on Floodtide here  http://www.floodtide.eu/pages/about

and on Natural England  http://www.floodtide.eu/pages/about

and on Full Of Noises http://fonfestival.org/about/