An Unfocused Posting

Alas, there's not enough time to divide events into pocket sized postings! I have to get ready to go to James's to rehearse for Friday, and a half-hour splodge on the sofa is what's needed to gather my thoughts.

Saturday night was about as perfect as a gig could be- minus a few people who couldn't get there either because of the torrential rain, family issues, or it being sold out. People got there early for James's set and thoroughly enjoyed it- there were quite a few guffaws at his lyrics. Poor Performer went down very well too, as I knew they would. It was nice to hear Simon Rivers sing in a higher register than normal- very sweet-sounding vocals. They did a Jake Thackray cover too- very much a man of the moment, as they commented that James's stuff has that influence and people have said that about mine too (and Robert's! The net spreads wide). All those Sunday nights spent with McDad compulsorily watching Jake, with McDad in silent fits of laughter! I bought him a CD compilation when he was in his last months, and he was quite thrilled: I think he had forgotten how much he'd enjoyed him back in the day.

Anyway: less digression, more focus... The Horns played fabulously well on Saturday. They have developed a way to blend that breathes new life into the parts. I've slowed the pace of the songs down a bit so that it's easier to hear how they work together, and that has had the knock-on effect of allowing me to enjoy singing the songs more. It just felt really good to flow through the set like that, with the occasional error that proves that live music is always the best option wherever possible. How great to be able to pick up where we left off, and just do a gig again. I think I can speak for them to say that this is a line-up we all enjoy, and we loved our audience too. Lester Square and Mike Slocombe were there, original members of the band before I realised that I couldn't afford the £5 to get the drum kit to rehearsals, which we got for free because Dave had kept a copy of the key to the jazz rehearsal room (hardly used) at Imperial College after he left. I was living on such a shoestring budget at the time that I was practically counting the grains of rice I put in my dinner! All for the sake of being an independent musician. Anyway- lovely to see lots of artists in the audience (hello Doug Shaw), Karina, who had been at the Calton Studios gig in Edinburgh where a chant of 'Ho-runs, Ho-runs' got us back on stage for an encore, and where we sat for ages afterwards drinking vodka with Muriel Gray and the band So You Think You're A Cowboy, who we'd played with the night before in Dunfermline. Oh happy madness!

Yesterday evening, I went back to The Hub in Earl's Court, where after many conversations and a lot of hard work on Mimi's part and flexibility on Kimberley Gundle's part (she's the current artist in residence), Joan Ashworth's film on Sylvia Pankhurst was previewed. I had no doubt at all that the film would go down really well, and it did. The funniest thing was the crazy descent on to the pizza slices before the screening, but once everyone was settled, the women in the group became completely absorbed. As I watched the film that I've seen grow from just a little seed of an idea ten years ago, I realised the amount of different ways it resonates with contemporary women who are left out of mainstream narratives, and how much it validates the experiences of people who have terrible things done to them because they seek progress rather than regression and control. Sylvia went to prison for her beliefs, and was force fed- tortured- to humiliate her and make her back down. This is exactly what is happening to women in Iran. And she fought against Italian fascism in Ethiopia, supporting Haile Selassie. She supported working-class women who had the most horrendous health problems because of the lack of Health and Safety regulations at the time. Bonfire of regulations, David Cameron? We all know where that led us. It was immensely moving to watch the film amongst a community of women who understand many of these things from their own cultural perspectives. Champagne Friend came with me, and really enjoyed it too.

Mimi, Champagne, me, Kimberley, Joan, Audience member

Then Dan Whitehouse, who I taught at the University of Westminster, and worked with at the (now closed) Barnet Hill Primary School running Song Club, invited me out of the blue to a concert he was doing at the Pizza Express in King's Road. He's been collaborating with retired glass makers in the Midlands, and this show had songs from that collaboration and also an improvised section with a dulcimer player, Max ZT. This was a gentle set of meditative music: there was a lot of subtlety not just in Max's playing but also in the interaction between Dan and Max when Dan sang in response to the bed of dulcimer music that Max created. Dan is in fine voice, and has been travelling around as a songwriter collaborating with working people, including chain-makers, which was a real coincidence because Joan's film features a small section on women chain-makers in the West Midlands. It was really nice to see him again- fifteen years down the line!