Let's race the tube...!

Because it's there?! Because it's fun? All of the above... pointlessly fulfilling?

P (h/t Brian P. Smith)

Wide, wide as the ocean...

Come on come on and shake down those shabby bones.
We're tired and torn, creaking and cracked I know.
When did we last make some time?

Spinning with stars, dreams disregarded.
Days are all full, stuffed and congested.
When did we last make the time,
To be scared of the dark,
Where the gods and monsters hide?

Dust ourselves down.

Show me the way to make me a child again.
We'll be amazed by all we can't name and then,
We can at last stop to breathe,
And be scared of the dark,
Where our mind's got space to dream.

Click to download for FREE!

P

Kicking up Good Vibrations...

Terri Hooley is a radical, rebel and music-lover in 1970s Belfast, when the bloody conflict known as The Troubles shuts down his city. As all his friends take sides and take up arms, Terri opens a record shop on the most bombed half-mile in Europe and calls it Good Vibrations. Through it he discovers a compelling voice of resistance in the city’s nascent underground punk scene. Galvanising the young musicians into action, he becomes the unlikely leader of a motley band of kids and punks who join him in his mission to create a new community, an Alternative Ulster, to bring his city back to life.

Good Vibrations is released in the UK and Ireland by The Works UK Distribution on March 29, 2013.

Steve Earle taking a whirl...

Love all the noodling around on the mandolin before Steve launches into the song fully... we now have this as one of the Café Musica repertoire, thanks to a good call by James.

P

Air Canada - In Flight Entertainment...

The Lemon Bucket Orkestra, who describe themselves as "Toronto's only Balkan-Klezmer-Gypsy-Party-Punk Super-Band", were delayed on a flight to Romania... what better way to while away the time than play an impromptu gig right there and then?

P h/t The Wedlocks

You would not believe your eyes...

Video featuring iDrum virtuoso sticksman Dan Abbott along with his pots and pans percussionist Jono breaking out some broad smiles in the metropolis of Londinium with some guerrilla busking. Hailing from my local patch of Colchester iDrum is a drummer's collective headed up by Dan who is also a regular member of Psalm Drummers as well as playing for various bands. Dan stresses that iDrum is primarily about having fun, being a tad different from other buskers and definitely not a commercial masterplan. Love the mime to Owl City's single Fireflies too, pukka performance art!

According to Dan the interaction of the watching crowds makes all the serious effort well worthwhile, with folk saying that stumbling across them playing landed up making their day. Young guns have staged dance offs in front of the band, there have been spontaneous break dances and other pro drummers have stepped up and joined in for impromptu jam sessions. Keep an ear and eye out for them as they perform all over the place, check out the various youtube videos.

Film above created by Timecode Cartel.

P h/t Tim Abbott

Mr Bond, I presume?!

How tough it is for students these days? This was created by the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science... read more about the project here.

P

What's your Blues name?

Thanks to the Huffington Post and some Facebook friends!

Think I'll stick to being Peter Memory Banks ;-)

Which faith suits you?

h/t Peter Ward

Revival comes to West Mersea...

Residents of St. Peter's Road receiving the Wood of the LORD this morning.... a parishioner was encouraged by the new and charismatic preacher saying they would fit in well 'as our services are usually a bit wooden'. We're told the reading was from Isaiah 55:12 along with a relevant chorus.

The good news is the message Sufjan Stevens brings us which I wouldn't have found if I'd not searched for the obvious song!

Hands down for coffee...

P

Some Van Halen Bluegrass Joy...

A brilliant Bluegrass version of Van Halen's epic song 'Jump' sung by front man David Lee Roth accompanied by The John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band on an album I've only just discovered entitled: Strummin' With the Devil: The Southern Side of Van Halen . Although the re-unions with former Van Halen bandmates still happened what is abundantly clear here is how much genuine fun Mr. Lee Roth is having! This is a delightful collaborative re-imagination of classic Van Halen tracks with various bluegrass and US folk music ensembles, love it!

P

Advent music - taking a great idea and...

Taking the idea made famous by Bob Dylan, this video from the small Yupiq Eskimo Village of Quinhagak, Alaska , was a school computer project intended for the other Yupiq villages in the area. Much to the villagers' shock their 'little', project took off!

P h/t Pat Kirby

Making me loud and proud - 1980-f

It is always a brilliant feeling when you hear someone perform your music! I love this exuberant performance, the conductor keeping it vigorous and everyone having a ball, lovely...

Just in case you're wondering, this is what the original sounded like, 1980-f from After The Fire.

P

BBC's Rev Series 2... can't wait!

The new series of Rev returns to BBC2 next week... Episode 1 transmits at 9:00pm Thursday 10th November. Forthcoming episodes feature a trip to the Greenbelt Festival and none other than Ralph Fiennes as the Bishop of London.

P

Fats Domino v Café Musica mashup...

Part of the joy of playing acoustically is the re-discovery of pieces you probably would never consider in an 'amplified' band line-up. Here buddy James and yours truly give Fats Domino's piece 'Be My Guest' the Café Musica treatment at our first ever house gig a few days ago...

And here we play our version of After The Fire's punk anthem 'Time to Think', from ATF's Laser Love album, originally released in 1979.

P

Subway Sandwich Sensation...

We like this... Featuring beatboxer Yuri Lane demonstrating his technique of beatboxing through a harmonica. An advert you actually want to watch!

P

BBC Desert Island Discs... The Challenge

Found I couldn't resist the challenge of trying to come up with just the eight requisite number of pieces of music to post on the BBC Your Desert Island Discs page despite knowing how difficult it would prove to be. So I settled on attempting to pick pieces chronologically that had affected me in some profound way, regardless of whether they were actually real favourites. This meant there were far more that, sadly, had to be dropped and so they simply got away! The final list I submitted, after much deliberation:

The Beatles - In My Life
Wendy (was Walter, at the time) Carlos - from Switched on Bach - Brandenberg Concerto No.3 In G Major 1st Movement
Emerson, Lake and Palmer - from Pictures at an Exhibition - The Great Gate of Kiev
Queen - These Are The Days Of Our Lives
J S Bach - from the St. Matthew Passion - Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder
Peter Gabriel - The Power Of The Heart
Coldplay - Fix You
Sir Edward Elgar - from The Enigma Variations - Nimrod

with the Peter Gabriel track as my favourite

Now, as mentioned these all mean a great deal, even though I appreciate some are very popularist choices and will potentially bring down scorn upon my cultural taste. So to get around the strict eight disc rule here are some more from the shortlist in a similar chronological order:

Easybeats - Friday On My Mind
Fleetwood Mac - I need your love so bad
The Nice - Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite
Carl Orff - from Carmina Burana - Fortune Plango Vulnera
Bob Dylan - When He Returns
Van Halen - Jump
Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek
Arcade Fire - Intervention

Again, even this more esoteric list leaves out many I would love to feature... oh woe!

I have discovered you can see who also picked the songs you selected, quite alarming in some cases! Try out the searches in the section Find castaways and choices.

P

I’m loving angels instead...

Sometimes when attending the theatre you feel you already know something about the story or the author and then it's a further delight the way everything is brought to life in a way you had previously never imagined. Last night's performance of the relatively unknown play 'Assumption' at Colchester's Mercury Theatre meant there were additional unknowns in the artistic equation to engage the audience en masse. Written by established playwright Simon Turley, this is a brilliant romp which manages to trash an array of sacred cows by tackling topics including religion, prejudice, hypocrisy, abuse, misogyny and Irish Roman Catholicism with a robust yet gentle comedic touch.

The script is wickedly brilliant and multi-layered. For example you could interpret the core theme of the justified dig at institutional religion as the overall message or you could readily be seduced by the revelation of something deeply spiritual and therefore more transcendental.

The plot centres on Gabriella, played by Emily Woodward, who is a straightforward, down to earth, 'girl next door' type who falls pregnant 'without having committed the requisite sin'. She then has to suffer the terror of facing up to her busybody, 'never does anything wrong' mother, to 'confess' that the father is actually an angel. Meanwhile her friend, Anna, played by Nadia Morgan, has suspicions that Gabriella is also carrying a torch for Sean (never seen on stage), whom Anna is determined to marry. As a result, during confession, she 'lets it slip' to Father Farrell (also never seen!) about Gabriella's condition. The first act revolved around setting this part of the story, with riveting performances from the compact cast of just five actresses plus a cameo from a young girl.

The pace is consistently sedate, befitting the period the costumes suggest. As always with Colchester Mercury's productions, the standard is exceptional, respect due to Dee Evans for the sensitive direction. The faultless technical production and brilliant lighting design counterbalanced what appears to be a simple set, providing both subtle surprises and one jaw dropping moment early in the 1st act that provoked a collective gasp from the audience. Whilst it is difficult to single out a single performance from the cast, as the seamless combination of them all makes this production really solid, Christine's Absalom's performance as Gabriella's mother was captivating along with Amanda Haberland as the androgynous angel. They formed a counterpoint to the hapless Gabriella who also had to contend with the Reverend Mother, played by Gilian Cally. However, it is Emily's performance as Gabriella that engenders an affection that means you long for things to work out for her and in that respect she is utterly convincing.

As for special moments, there are many. I loved the way the script is an allegory of the Christmas Nativity story and presents Gabriella with similar challenges to the Blessed Mary. The 2nd Act sees Gabriella unceremoniously despatched off to the exploitative Sisters of Mercy for 'correction' from her unspeakable sin ('for the best'). This yielded the most poignant moments, betwixt Gabriella and the subservient nun Assumpta, as the play takes on a further dimension and embeds the audience with unforgettable tenderness. This ability to combine humour and pathos to tackle essentially a religious storyline in a way that oozes charm rather than offense is so special and this production nails it.

I sit and wait
does an angel contemplate my fate
and do they know
the places where we go
when we´re grey and old
´cos I´ve been told
that salvation lets their wings unfold
so when I’m lying in my bed
thoughts running through my head
and I feel that love is dead
I’m loving angels instead

Assumption runs until Saturday 11th June 2011, it's definitely worth making the trip to Colchester to experience that something extra the Mercury's productions have, this is definitely one to see and remember.

P

Archbishop Rowan busts a move...

Another advert and although it's a rip-off of the famous original YouTube wedding entrance video still made me laugh! Plus I used to live in E17... and we will get a holy day...

P (h/t Pat Kirby)

Touch Wood, Joy Of Man's Desiring...

Clearly the profits mobile / cellphone companies make are still excessive enough to employ an agency to build this unique gravity driven installation to play J S Bach's Cantata BWV 147 more popularly known as 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring'.

Once more, with feeling?!

PB (h/t The Wedlocks)