Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
It's Hellish for Hellebores
I felt so sorry for them, curled up against the cold wind on the windowsill.
I will have to ask them to leave the bathroom sink later but for now they can stay there.
The bathroom is freezing but not as cold as it is outside. It's almost as windy in here too (the draughts are so strong that one of the internal doors keeps blowing open and I had to sit wrapped in a blanket this morning).
Did you know that snowdrops have a similar chemical in them to anti-freeze?
I will have to ask them to leave the bathroom sink later but for now they can stay there.
The bathroom is freezing but not as cold as it is outside. It's almost as windy in here too (the draughts are so strong that one of the internal doors keeps blowing open and I had to sit wrapped in a blanket this morning).
Did you know that snowdrops have a similar chemical in them to anti-freeze?
Monday, March 11, 2013
In Which Moths Eat The Outside Of One Hat And The Inside Of Another
I forgot two of my hats, which were nestled one on top of the other, and this is what I found yesterday: a hat wriggling and teeming with adult moths who in a matter of four weeks had reduced the hats to dirty, fluffy hat-rubble.
The top hat (not the Top Hat) had been decimated inside; and this, the underneath hat, which was the pride and joy of my 1980s years and which once belonged to a Louisiana Mounted Policeman (and which I bought because it reminded me of a vintage Girl Guide hat), was ruined.
Out for a walk in the bitter northerly wind today, I imagined a fast-forward-type event in which moths ate clothing so quickly that people going about their everyday business suddenly found themselves shopping, perhaps, in nothing but the Emperor's New Clothes. Makes yer think, innit?
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Book Launch at The Bishopsgate Institute
The flow of life meanders in different directions.
Sometimes it's all lecturing, sometimes illustration, sometimes music, and most recently, it's been bookish in direction.
Hilda Kean, one of the editors of The Public History Reader (published by Routledge, and alongside co-editor Paul Martin) invited me to the launch of the book on Saturday at the Bishopsgate Institute.
The iPhone Satnav got me hopelessly lost with a curved and twisted green direction line that looked more like a letter of the alphabet than a route indicator; once I'd decided to defy it I got to this wonderful building that snuggles between two premises in the middle of the City of London and which must make the city itch as though from a flea-bite, being as it is the home to much old fashioned (and refreshing in these times) left-wing activity.
Hilda's talk had started by the time I got there but she was showing a lovely little clip of a man who took ANC leaflets to South Africa in a false-bottomed suitcase. I couldn't find the original film but he made a second clip which you can find here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs1RC5nYB2s
Apparently a museum in South Africa contacted him as he had the only suitcase like this in existence, and he has sent it over to them now (and no longer has a home for his Christmas decorations).
People there had done all sorts of research, from talking to sugar plantation workers to researching Hogarth's London.
The photographer Colin O'Brien was there too and he talked about the cover photograph of two young London lads leaning up against a car as though it's their own. His website is www.colinobrien.co.uk
It was a white day outside- forbidding and cold- and there was something very peaceful about sitting on folding chairs in a bright basement listening to academics talking about the value of public histories, carving out a Gove-free area that values the ordinary as much as anything else. The City was filthy, grimy and covered with litter. It was also very, very crowded, but I managed to snap this corner arcade and the Victorian doors inside the institute.
Sometimes it's all lecturing, sometimes illustration, sometimes music, and most recently, it's been bookish in direction.
Hilda Kean, one of the editors of The Public History Reader (published by Routledge, and alongside co-editor Paul Martin) invited me to the launch of the book on Saturday at the Bishopsgate Institute.
The iPhone Satnav got me hopelessly lost with a curved and twisted green direction line that looked more like a letter of the alphabet than a route indicator; once I'd decided to defy it I got to this wonderful building that snuggles between two premises in the middle of the City of London and which must make the city itch as though from a flea-bite, being as it is the home to much old fashioned (and refreshing in these times) left-wing activity.
Hilda's talk had started by the time I got there but she was showing a lovely little clip of a man who took ANC leaflets to South Africa in a false-bottomed suitcase. I couldn't find the original film but he made a second clip which you can find here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs1RC5nYB2s
Apparently a museum in South Africa contacted him as he had the only suitcase like this in existence, and he has sent it over to them now (and no longer has a home for his Christmas decorations).
People there had done all sorts of research, from talking to sugar plantation workers to researching Hogarth's London.
The photographer Colin O'Brien was there too and he talked about the cover photograph of two young London lads leaning up against a car as though it's their own. His website is www.colinobrien.co.uk
It was a white day outside- forbidding and cold- and there was something very peaceful about sitting on folding chairs in a bright basement listening to academics talking about the value of public histories, carving out a Gove-free area that values the ordinary as much as anything else. The City was filthy, grimy and covered with litter. It was also very, very crowded, but I managed to snap this corner arcade and the Victorian doors inside the institute.
Friday, March 08, 2013
International Women's Day
Women: there are different ways of looking at us- are we a problem with problems, or are we people with needs, rights and plenty to offer the human race?
Anyone who researches issues from a female perspective (whether they are male or female) has to think about these things.
Sometimes you feel negative and sometimes, positive.
I wrote Women of the World in a very positive moment and one day it will be properly completed (I've booked the trumpet player and bass player; still not contacted the drummer and lead guitarist).
You can listen here and download it free if you like it http://www.reverbnation.com/helenmccookerybook/songs
Anyone who researches issues from a female perspective (whether they are male or female) has to think about these things.
Sometimes you feel negative and sometimes, positive.
I wrote Women of the World in a very positive moment and one day it will be properly completed (I've booked the trumpet player and bass player; still not contacted the drummer and lead guitarist).
You can listen here and download it free if you like it http://www.reverbnation.com/helenmccookerybook/songs
Thursday, March 07, 2013
...and I mustn't forget Poor Lass
... a zine from Manchester which I bought and read. Take a look here http://emledger.posterous.com/new-zine-poor-lass-issue-one-the-work-issue
'It's Different for Girls'
It looks to be a fascinating history of the group, told by two of its members, and after I've read it I'll let you know more about it. The more histories like this that make it into print the better.
I'm reading The Resisting Muse: Popular Music and Social Protest (edited by Ian Peddie) before I can get my teeth into "It's Different for Girls" because I'm lecturing on censorship next week.
I have just had an idea for a children's book too, after talking to Wilky on Monday evening. How I wish I had more time to do creative stuff!
Tomorrow is set aside for recording; I have built up a stock of guitar tracks and I plan to record a brand new song tomorrow.
Then I have to learn Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane, for the Jefferson Airplane/Starship night I'm hosting with Acton Bell in April. It will be a fab night!
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Rrrants at the Camden Head
Rrrants events happen in the smallest rooms above pubs in Camden, which gives them an exciting secret vibe and for the performers, an intimacy that makes you feel at one with the audience. This could be terrifying anywhere larger, but it actually makes for a refreshing feeling of authenticity and spontaneity in the London live music scene.
The first act was a three-piece close harmony group, missing the top piece but still beautiful singers. Their a capella style was fortiesish, but they did a cover of Amy Winehouse's Rehab that was very effective. I can't remember their name and I've checked on their poster- I'll find out because they really were very good. It was lovely to hear mature-sounding female voices that weren't desperately reaching for gospel or Britney; their performance was self-assured and I love the way they melted out of the audience on to the stage: Bravo!
After that was a succession of poets (including the Anti Poet who host the show, and who performed their Gentlemen Duellers sketch, my fave, especially because I originally misheard it as Gentleman Jewellers and couldn't understand why there were no diamonds and emeralds in the dialogue). I liked Keith Jarrett's poem about the gay poem (yes, he did).
After a short break, the Caution Horses crammed the stage to overflowing and played their good-natured harmony pop. They nod in the direction of the Byrds and they play with a lovely gentle flow that Matthew's Southern Comfort could learn a lot from (I went to see them a while back and left in disappointment after Matthew's rant about pedal steel guitars and how he hated them; such a pity because the music had been great up till then).
Martin and I took to the stage. We started with Sunny and Blue, then Martin played Stansted Ground and I did Mr and Mrs Songsmith. Most of the songs were from Hamilton Square and Cafe of Tiny Kindnesses although we did the Cannonball Rag and The Airship Song. Martin had never played The Cafe of Tiny Kindnesses live before and he 'sang it lovely'!
We have never played a gig billed as a duo and this was a good place to start. There was the odd stumble and fumble here and there but the audience was on our side and that helped.
Big thanks to Paul and Donna for inviting us to play!
We understand that they made a lot of money for the Bardaid Project that puts poetry books into schools that night. It was an honour to play.
Shouts to Wilky and Karen (and her mates) and everyone who came along to support us!
The first act was a three-piece close harmony group, missing the top piece but still beautiful singers. Their a capella style was fortiesish, but they did a cover of Amy Winehouse's Rehab that was very effective. I can't remember their name and I've checked on their poster- I'll find out because they really were very good. It was lovely to hear mature-sounding female voices that weren't desperately reaching for gospel or Britney; their performance was self-assured and I love the way they melted out of the audience on to the stage: Bravo!
After that was a succession of poets (including the Anti Poet who host the show, and who performed their Gentlemen Duellers sketch, my fave, especially because I originally misheard it as Gentleman Jewellers and couldn't understand why there were no diamonds and emeralds in the dialogue). I liked Keith Jarrett's poem about the gay poem (yes, he did).
After a short break, the Caution Horses crammed the stage to overflowing and played their good-natured harmony pop. They nod in the direction of the Byrds and they play with a lovely gentle flow that Matthew's Southern Comfort could learn a lot from (I went to see them a while back and left in disappointment after Matthew's rant about pedal steel guitars and how he hated them; such a pity because the music had been great up till then).
Martin and I took to the stage. We started with Sunny and Blue, then Martin played Stansted Ground and I did Mr and Mrs Songsmith. Most of the songs were from Hamilton Square and Cafe of Tiny Kindnesses although we did the Cannonball Rag and The Airship Song. Martin had never played The Cafe of Tiny Kindnesses live before and he 'sang it lovely'!
We have never played a gig billed as a duo and this was a good place to start. There was the odd stumble and fumble here and there but the audience was on our side and that helped.
Big thanks to Paul and Donna for inviting us to play!
We understand that they made a lot of money for the Bardaid Project that puts poetry books into schools that night. It was an honour to play.
Shouts to Wilky and Karen (and her mates) and everyone who came along to support us!
Monday, March 04, 2013
Rehearsing
I'm not used to rehearsing songs that other people have written! More rehearsal today. It's the B minors that get me, but that's in my song.
Been sniffing Friar's Balsam to retrieve my voice- might have to ask Martin to take over the lead vocal of Steal You Away.
Rrrants, Camden Head, tonight at 9. Donations to charity that puts poetry books into secondary schools. AntiPoet and others also performing.
Saturday, March 02, 2013
Mind Not On Job
Lyrics propped precariously on biscuit jar, pop shield held in front of mouth like Japanese fan, microphone in other hand. Get up and forget headphones on.
Biscuit jar crashes to floor; crashing sound comes through headphones with Logic Goldverb reverb added to it.
Mind not on job.
Biscuit jar crashes to floor; crashing sound comes through headphones with Logic Goldverb reverb added to it.
Mind not on job.
How Silly
I have set off the washing machine and I was going to record some vocals this morning at the kitchen table studio.
Idiot.
Idiot.
Friday, March 01, 2013
Ukelele Song: Baked Alaska
See here http://www.cafecarbon.net/about/the-gluts/
Bedsit Disco Queen by Tracey Thorn
I have just finished reading Tracey Thorn's autobiography, Bedsit Disco Queen. Gina Birch lent it to me yesterday so it shows what a cracking good read it is.
There are all sorts of episodes that chime a chord- the violence in Hatfield, where the skinheads were notorious for wrecking gigs. I remember the Piranhas coming back and telling us about that. People forget just how violent young people could be in the past- and there's something of a pattern in unemployed young people + Conservative governments= violence. And I really enjoyed the description of the obnoxious Eric Heffer dominating the judging process of the doomed 'Song for Labour' competition.
It describes just how weird a life controlled by the music industry can be (and it surely is). It is perceptive, alarming and funny at the same time, and pulls the same sleight-of-hand that Abba-the Movie did; you're putting on the kettle and slicing up the raspberry cake, and then you suddenly realise that you don't really know anything about them at all. No secrets are spilled, no emotions laid bare.
On the other hand, the ambivalence about fame and its trappings feel very familiar to me.
I was hundreds of rungs further down the ladder (and strangely, just as with Martin and The Daintees, in spite of charging up and down the UK at the same time and playing similar venues, never played on the same bill), but felt that same introvert/extrovert thing and understand it.
She describes the feeling of playing at the Albert Hall, and then a few pages later, feelings of crippling shyness.
I enjoyed her performance on Later...with Jools and will check out her latest music. I have the single Night and Day which was given to me by Mike Alway alongside lots of other Cherry Red releases at the time. I played it a lot: it's lovely. But I never really got into their albums back then so maybe it's about time I did.
Why didn't I interview the Marine Girls for the Lost Women of Rock Music? I almost did, but they didn't cross over the noise threshold. I am glad Tracey has written this memoir because it adds to the interesting and perceptive body of work about and by female musicians.
There are all sorts of episodes that chime a chord- the violence in Hatfield, where the skinheads were notorious for wrecking gigs. I remember the Piranhas coming back and telling us about that. People forget just how violent young people could be in the past- and there's something of a pattern in unemployed young people + Conservative governments= violence. And I really enjoyed the description of the obnoxious Eric Heffer dominating the judging process of the doomed 'Song for Labour' competition.
It describes just how weird a life controlled by the music industry can be (and it surely is). It is perceptive, alarming and funny at the same time, and pulls the same sleight-of-hand that Abba-the Movie did; you're putting on the kettle and slicing up the raspberry cake, and then you suddenly realise that you don't really know anything about them at all. No secrets are spilled, no emotions laid bare.
On the other hand, the ambivalence about fame and its trappings feel very familiar to me.
I was hundreds of rungs further down the ladder (and strangely, just as with Martin and The Daintees, in spite of charging up and down the UK at the same time and playing similar venues, never played on the same bill), but felt that same introvert/extrovert thing and understand it.
She describes the feeling of playing at the Albert Hall, and then a few pages later, feelings of crippling shyness.
I enjoyed her performance on Later...with Jools and will check out her latest music. I have the single Night and Day which was given to me by Mike Alway alongside lots of other Cherry Red releases at the time. I played it a lot: it's lovely. But I never really got into their albums back then so maybe it's about time I did.
Why didn't I interview the Marine Girls for the Lost Women of Rock Music? I almost did, but they didn't cross over the noise threshold. I am glad Tracey has written this memoir because it adds to the interesting and perceptive body of work about and by female musicians.
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