Thursday, November 22, 2007
SECOND THURSDAYS
Here is some video from the first of the new monthly night I am now running in the Montague Arms in New Cross.
This is a video featuring Daren Callow, Fred Lindberg, Victor Mount and myself.
This is a video of Fred
This is a video of me doing some new sketches.
The first night seemed to go very well even though I had a few last minute problems. Charlie Tweed canceled because he had got the dates mixed up for the next Alma Enterprises private view and we realized they were doing performances the same night, would I compete? Did I want to compete with Alma? I had also planned that The Fucks would headline but George Fuck decided he didn’t want to do it any more 2 days before the show and after I had already put about 400 flyers out with their name on. This also made me panic a little. However Daren Callow stepped forward and said he would play an extra twenty minutes and Fred Lindberg from Deviant Art turned up and charmed the audience with some song from The Peace. Victor Mount also put in an excellent performance and in blaze of rock n roll euphoria fell off his guitar amp at the end of the set.
I wasn’t sure how the event would be received as most of the acts usually perform in art galleries and I wasn’t sure how the pub would react to them. There were a couple of moment when I was up on stage reading poems and waving about some fruit and vegetables when I could see the venue managers at the bar at the back and I wasn’t sure what on they were thinking. But it turned out they loved it. They asked if I could do more nights and said to get even weirder acts. They said that New Cross was now full of music venues and the promoters all do the same thing (there was an article in Metro the same day about New Cross becoming New Camden), they want something that is a bit different.
It all worked out nicely in the end.
For the next show I have booked Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer to perform some hip hop in the Queens English and we also have Princess Penang who will be bringing inner contentment to the audience with some marshmallows, acoustic rock, trampolines,and a plastic penis. I also booked my brother Theo’s band Opposite the Hotel to do some of their prog / indy rock, however their bassist Johnny Steele had a bit of a funny turn at a gig last week and has done a runner. However Theo had promised to come on his own and do some songs on his own whatever, it might work out for the best, as I didn’t want to lug their kit down from Norfolk anyway. My advice to young musicians is don’t form a band.
After Christmas Mark McGowan has promised he will perform a piece called Sex with Ghosts which involves ectoplasm.
This is a video featuring Daren Callow, Fred Lindberg, Victor Mount and myself.
This is a video of Fred
This is a video of me doing some new sketches.
The first night seemed to go very well even though I had a few last minute problems. Charlie Tweed canceled because he had got the dates mixed up for the next Alma Enterprises private view and we realized they were doing performances the same night, would I compete? Did I want to compete with Alma? I had also planned that The Fucks would headline but George Fuck decided he didn’t want to do it any more 2 days before the show and after I had already put about 400 flyers out with their name on. This also made me panic a little. However Daren Callow stepped forward and said he would play an extra twenty minutes and Fred Lindberg from Deviant Art turned up and charmed the audience with some song from The Peace. Victor Mount also put in an excellent performance and in blaze of rock n roll euphoria fell off his guitar amp at the end of the set.
I wasn’t sure how the event would be received as most of the acts usually perform in art galleries and I wasn’t sure how the pub would react to them. There were a couple of moment when I was up on stage reading poems and waving about some fruit and vegetables when I could see the venue managers at the bar at the back and I wasn’t sure what on they were thinking. But it turned out they loved it. They asked if I could do more nights and said to get even weirder acts. They said that New Cross was now full of music venues and the promoters all do the same thing (there was an article in Metro the same day about New Cross becoming New Camden), they want something that is a bit different.
It all worked out nicely in the end.
For the next show I have booked Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer to perform some hip hop in the Queens English and we also have Princess Penang who will be bringing inner contentment to the audience with some marshmallows, acoustic rock, trampolines,and a plastic penis. I also booked my brother Theo’s band Opposite the Hotel to do some of their prog / indy rock, however their bassist Johnny Steele had a bit of a funny turn at a gig last week and has done a runner. However Theo had promised to come on his own and do some songs on his own whatever, it might work out for the best, as I didn’t want to lug their kit down from Norfolk anyway. My advice to young musicians is don’t form a band.
After Christmas Mark McGowan has promised he will perform a piece called Sex with Ghosts which involves ectoplasm.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
POST GOLDSMITHS POST
This is my diary of the summer and what I have been up to since the Goldsmith final show.
Frieze Art Fair
This self-portrait was exhibted in the Resonance FM stall at Frieze Art Fair. The drawing was up for sale in a blind bidding auction to raise money for Resonance FM (so it's not like I am really selling out). You could also bid on a private performance in your front room. The auction is organized by Bob & Roberta Smith and also included work by Victor Mount, Leigh Clarke, Harry Pye, The Apathy Band, The Fucks and many others. Over £10,000 was raised for Resonance FM. I have no idea who brought my work. Is this in your living room?
The Blo’ Boys
Following their usual under rehearsed return to the stage at Frogstock the Blo’ Boys were invited to play at Studio 3 in Bury St. Edmunds by Bald Monkey Promotion. As usual we faced an unexpected change of line up 2 days before the gig but we didn’t let this stop us. The change of line-up resulted in a much darker and more disturbing sound. I think the Saturday night regulars who had dropped in for a few alcopops on the way to the Bruzilyuhs nightclub down the street were not expecting that amount of poetry and guitar distortion. Most of the audience left, but the few people who did stay will remember it for a long time. It was one of our better gigs.
Frogstock Festival
Once again hundreds of people descended on our family farm in Blo’ Norton for the Frogstock. The event was even bigger than ever and for the most part everything went very well, apart from a little trouble at the end of the evening. However it is probably the last Frogstock for the time being. Next summer I will be busy getting married. However I now have a set up a new Frogstock spin-off project in the Montague Arms in New Cross, London, where we will he having some of the stars of Frogstock perform on the SECOND THURSDAY of every month.
There are some more photos of Frogstock on facebook...
Vegetable Poetry
In September I was invited by Alex Lockett and Aspex Gallery to do a performance in an allotment in Portsmouth. For this show I wrote poems and drew pictures onto vegetables, I liked the idea of being throwing all the art on a compost heap at the end of the show.
The Quest for Wisdom
In July I was invited to back to the [deviant] Art Festival in Sweden (see July 2006 entry). We decided to travel via Venice Biennale so the [deviant] Arts Festival some of the other artist who had set up installation had been in Trollhatten for a couple of weeks by the time we arrived. The weather in Sweden was not as nice as Venice.
When I arrived I met my friend Charlie Tweed. In Sweden you get two types of beer. The supermarkets can only sell booze under 3.5% Alcohol know as ‘People’s Beer’. The other option is to make a trip to one of the special Off Licences and stock up on lots of extra strong larger and cider. When I arrived in Sweden, Charlie was drinking the strong stuff. He said his tent was full of cold rain water and the only way people were getting any sleep was to get drunk enough booze to pass out for a few hours. By the day of my show at the end of the two week festival most of the people had had enough and gone home if they could. However, I did manage to get the remaining few soggy tired hungover artists to write some poems about Norse Myths in my Poetry workshop and then read their works out at a Poetry Evening I hosted with Swedish poet Johan Lindeblom.
I did some research on Trollhatten using Wikipedia and discovered that the famous Trollhatten waterfall is claimed to be the mythical fountain of knowledge where Odin the Norse God drank and gained his great wisdom. I decided to give it a try myself. Afterward the Swedes said that they all pissed in it.
Frieze Art Fair
This self-portrait was exhibted in the Resonance FM stall at Frieze Art Fair. The drawing was up for sale in a blind bidding auction to raise money for Resonance FM (so it's not like I am really selling out). You could also bid on a private performance in your front room. The auction is organized by Bob & Roberta Smith and also included work by Victor Mount, Leigh Clarke, Harry Pye, The Apathy Band, The Fucks and many others. Over £10,000 was raised for Resonance FM. I have no idea who brought my work. Is this in your living room?
The Blo’ Boys
Following their usual under rehearsed return to the stage at Frogstock the Blo’ Boys were invited to play at Studio 3 in Bury St. Edmunds by Bald Monkey Promotion. As usual we faced an unexpected change of line up 2 days before the gig but we didn’t let this stop us. The change of line-up resulted in a much darker and more disturbing sound. I think the Saturday night regulars who had dropped in for a few alcopops on the way to the Bruzilyuhs nightclub down the street were not expecting that amount of poetry and guitar distortion. Most of the audience left, but the few people who did stay will remember it for a long time. It was one of our better gigs.
Frogstock Festival
Once again hundreds of people descended on our family farm in Blo’ Norton for the Frogstock. The event was even bigger than ever and for the most part everything went very well, apart from a little trouble at the end of the evening. However it is probably the last Frogstock for the time being. Next summer I will be busy getting married. However I now have a set up a new Frogstock spin-off project in the Montague Arms in New Cross, London, where we will he having some of the stars of Frogstock perform on the SECOND THURSDAY of every month.
There are some more photos of Frogstock on facebook...
Vegetable Poetry
In September I was invited by Alex Lockett and Aspex Gallery to do a performance in an allotment in Portsmouth. For this show I wrote poems and drew pictures onto vegetables, I liked the idea of being throwing all the art on a compost heap at the end of the show.
The Quest for Wisdom
In July I was invited to back to the [deviant] Art Festival in Sweden (see July 2006 entry). We decided to travel via Venice Biennale so the [deviant] Arts Festival some of the other artist who had set up installation had been in Trollhatten for a couple of weeks by the time we arrived. The weather in Sweden was not as nice as Venice.
When I arrived I met my friend Charlie Tweed. In Sweden you get two types of beer. The supermarkets can only sell booze under 3.5% Alcohol know as ‘People’s Beer’. The other option is to make a trip to one of the special Off Licences and stock up on lots of extra strong larger and cider. When I arrived in Sweden, Charlie was drinking the strong stuff. He said his tent was full of cold rain water and the only way people were getting any sleep was to get drunk enough booze to pass out for a few hours. By the day of my show at the end of the two week festival most of the people had had enough and gone home if they could. However, I did manage to get the remaining few soggy tired hungover artists to write some poems about Norse Myths in my Poetry workshop and then read their works out at a Poetry Evening I hosted with Swedish poet Johan Lindeblom.I did some research on Trollhatten using Wikipedia and discovered that the famous Trollhatten waterfall is claimed to be the mythical fountain of knowledge where Odin the Norse God drank and gained his great wisdom. I decided to give it a try myself. Afterward the Swedes said that they all pissed in it.
