One of the most successful of the first generation of European rock festivals was the Kralingen Music Festival, which was held less than a year after Woodstock and spread over three days in June 1970 (26th, 27th & 28th). The line-up, a stellar mix of the upper echelons of both British and American rock royalty included Tyrannosaurus Rex, The Byrds, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Soft Machine, Family, Canned Heat, Al Stewart, Country Joe, Dr John, headliners Pink Floyd and many more. The festival was filmed for a movie and some, but certainly not all, of the footage originally surfaced on the Stamping Ground video. However Gonzo, who have something of a reputation for unearthing this sort of stuff, have uncovered plenty that didn't ever feature and they have bundled it all together on 'The Dutch Woodstock' (2xCD+DVD) boxset.
I was familiar with the original Stamping Ground movie which was released decades ago, but was not prepared for this swish new version. Being a little bit of a wannabe techie, I decided to contact Harold Houldershaw who cleaned up and formatted this extraordinary new version, and ask him how the flipping blinketty flip he did it.
JON: You’ve been getting some really good reviews for what you’ve done on the Dutch Woodstock. I find the whole thing fascinating, I’m really impressed with what you’ve done.
HAROLD: Did you see the original?
JON: I’ve seen the original, because my ex-wife had a copy 20 years ago, and it was terrible. It had some great music on, but was terrible visually. I’ve seen a review on one of the Pink Floyd fan sites, where it has a still from your version and a still from the original version, and your version looks like a proper rock movie, where the original version looks like a murky fish tank with a few fish you can see swimming in the middle distance.
HAROLD: I had three source copies; three source versions. And they were bad. And what happened was Rob just brought it to me to author and I said – I looked at it and thought I can get this a lot better and so I did a three minute sample and I said to Rob, look at these two versions, and he said ‘wow’ and I said can I tidy it up, it’s begging to be tidied up? So I did, and it took me about a month to do it; a month it time anyway.
JON: Is that all? I thought it would have taken a lot longer.
HAROLD: A lot of it is rendering time, so I don’t spend a month of my own time but the computer is very busy, because it’s wide screen and some of the deep noise filters I applied to it.
JON: It must be quite a technical challenge doing some of this stuff.
HAROLD: Well it was a technical challenge. Yes, because the problem is you’ve got pre-set filters you can pull a filter up and you can decide what you want to do with it, but the danger is, if you overcook it and think that’s done the job and you watch it over again and then you think aargh it has destroyed a certain part of the image or caused a funny effect. So actually there’s some global filtration on it for a start but then the more into it got the more customised way I approached each section segment so you are eventually down to frame level was more the case of eventually working on frame level to remove certain artefacts and things.
JON: The masters you had. What were they? Were they the original masters?
HAROLD:I had three digital tape masters, or three digital masters, and two of them had been on analogue video tape and the colours had gone and everything. The other one was good but the film source it had come from was very degraded. Lots of dirt scratches and a general sort of aura of the film surface degrading itself and going like crinkly, so you had a sort of like a crazy cracked effect all the way through it. So I managed to filter that out. Also there were various versions of it, some with foreign languages and some with sub-titles and things, so from the media I had got I wanted to create a pure US/UK or English version as it were, of the original media so there’s quite a bit of editing, and mixing and matching going on as well.
JON: Was there any material that wasn’t in the original film?
HAROLD:There appears to have been three versions of the original film. As it happens, there is a modicum more in the version we put out than in either of the combinations previously. There are two shorter one-hour versions – going from memory I think one was about one-hour forty and the another at about one-hour twenty-five. The main difference on that was Soft Machine which wasn’t in the shorter version, but that’s in our version.
JON: That’s brilliant. I wonder what happened to the original film…
HAROLD:Don‘t know.
JON: Doesn’t it make you itch for a time machine?
HAROLD: It does, and as you are probably aware, Rob’s done a lot of work with Tony Palmer and it would be nice to find his original footage<laugh> You just think to yourself, ‘wow’ or another thing is in dream world you wish you could have gone back there with a modern camera. Or two or three of them.
JON: That would be wonderful.
HAROLD: I mean they did really well. I presume they showed it on 16 ml but they did really well to actually get out there and film, and they must have had hours of footage and they didn’t have the luxury of anything we have, so the original cut would have been done by hand. So you have to admire the fact that they got out there and filmed it, and that’s something that we can make something of.
JON: One still hopes that somewhere in a Dutch basement there is a box of the original out-takes floating around.
HAROLD: Yes, well hope so, but whether we will find them or not I don‘t know. Things keep coming out don’t they; things keep appearing in general. TV companies find stuff and there’s plenty of stuff keeps surfacing, which is great for us who like to watch it. I did find some Super8 footage from the Dutch Woodstock which I tried to get hold of, but I couldn’t source it, so we might have put an extra on there. But it doesn’t actually show anything that we haven’t got in the main film, and the technical quality is not so good so it would be an extra. But unfortunately I tried to get hold of the people who had it, and didn’t get any joy there. But having said that, there’s nothing particularly in that footage that I saw that isn’t in the main film.
JON: Because the big missing thing that all the Pink Floyd fans are hoping for is – I think it was ‘Set your Controls’ is supposed to be …. There’s a bootleg audio recording of it and it is twelve minutes long and I think it’s three-and-a-half minutes in the film.
HAROLD: Yes the footage is not their whole audio recording is it?
JON: And apparently it’s a pretty ropey audio recording.
HAROLD: It’s a pity. I don’t know, obviously, whether it will be in the can somewhere but I believe the original thing was for a TV broadcast – I think it was made for TV, the original show as a programme. I could be wrong, but that was the idea.
When Rob brought it to me and said ‘what do you think of this?’ and I looked at the names on it, and – you know - it was just so exciting because being born in 1960 this would have been at the start of my teenage awareness, you know what I mean? So I’d be buying, not quite T.Rex that early – in another couple of years I’d be buying T. Rexsingles – so to me it is very exciting to find so much quality stuff and then to be able to work on it. I said to Rob, ‘we can do a lot more with this. I hope you’ve got the media for. I can actually improve this no end. I could have spent about three years on it, mind. <laugh> It came to the point where we said ‘I am going to have to let it go or you’ll never get it out.’ It just justified it, and also for the styles and the fashions and the … I must complement the camera crew that went and got these cut away bits of the swimming and this matey with the two Coke cans around his head (*) and was saying ‘what’s going on ‘ere’, you know. It’s all great stuff and great for the atmosphere.
* If you want to know what Harold is talking about you will have to watch the film...
Check out the trailer HERE |
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| CRIS ROVERSI - A RARE TALENT |
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Cristiano Roversi is an Italian musician, composer and producer. Keyboard and organ player, virtuoso bass and Chapman Grand Stick player and, in 1994, founder member of the new progressive bandMoongarden, very much a vital entity to this day. Over the years he has explored other musical environments in collaborative projects such as SUBMARINE SILENCE and CAVALLI COCCHI, LANZETTI & ROVERSI as well as numerous solo projects, soundtracks and session / production / teaching work. Currently writing and playing keyboards for Mangala Vallis and producing Catafalchi Del Cyber, Cristiano has, in recent years, collaborated with many well known and respected names such as Bernardo Lanzetti, Aldo Tagliapietra, John Wetton, David Jackson, Massimo Zamboni, Flaco Biondini, Steve Hackett, Tryptic, Zef Noise & Mike Ill (ex Sweet Lizard Illtet) Silvia Orlandi, Angela Baraldi, Leonora, Roberto Tiranti and many others.....
About AntiQua: “I had wanted to dedicate myself completely to a solo album for some time now, totally free to go where I might, independent of market or stylistic pressures. A proverbial flight of fancy as it were. An album in which I could let my influences shine through without having to prove anything to anyone and one in which I didn’t have to crank up the volume. AntiQua is a strange land where time flows at a more natural pace, I don’t really know if it’s on our planet, or even if it exists in the past, present or future, near or far…AntiQua manifests when we need it, every time we give in to dreams and forget about the daily grind. It is a goblet of wine in a candlelit tavern. It certainly did me a world of good, a brief trip to land governed by antique ideals of beauty and harmony. I hope it may accompany the quietest and sweetest moments of your existence as it has mine.” |
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JON: Why did you decide to make a solo album?
CRIS: Two reasons basically; the first being that I have always wanted to release something without any conditioning from an existing market, concentrating solely on the type of atmosphere which fascinates me. Not wanting to sound insular but the need to produce something with no outside obligations and the desire to homage my friend Anthony Phillips and his series of 'Private Parts and Pieces' made me want to follow that path.
The second reason is a more practical one as half of my partnership in my Distilleria label suddenly found himself busy with a big name Italian pop star and I didn’t want to spend all summer hanging around waiting for him to return.
JON: How long did the album take to write and record?
CRIS: I wrote the entire album in 15 days, maybe less....I was very inspired and had a very good idea of what I wanted to communicate.....
Recording all the guests took a lot longer of course, so everything had to be recorded around their schedules in my studio www.lasala1.it
JON: Do you write your material in the studio? Or before you start the recording process
CRIS: All of the writing is done in my home studio which is fully equipped and allows me to lay down rhythms, guitar, bass and keys in a basically definitive way.
JON: The album has a very whimsical nature. Are you influenced by your country's folk tales and mythology?
CRIS: I’m fascinated by nature and by my country’s wonderful landscape. Nature and contemplation of the same calms me even in difficult times. My dream has always been to build a recording studio overlooking Garda lake or Porto Venere here in Italy.
I believe that sustained contact with nature in its purest form can change us deeply, keeping many of the modern demons which plague us at bay giving our lives a more natural pace.
I’m also fascinated by northern European atmospheres and the middle ages, antique taverns, madrigals and the simple notes of a lute at night.
JON: Where and how was the album recorded?
CRIS: All of the tracks were written and recorded in my home town of MANTUA, a jewel, a medieval town surrounded by three lakes, first in my home studio and then in the studio I share with a youth organisation known as ARCI.
JON: . What are you planning to do next?
I think the time has come to put the finishing touches to a project I’ve been working on for years, a revisit of Anthony Phillips’s '1984'. I’d like to release it under my own name and I’m hoping that Voiceprint picks it up…fingers crossed!
Thanks for the interest in my work. A big hug from me!
...AND IF YOU WANT TO HEAR A SAMPLE OF THIS REMARKABLE AMBUM, YOU ONLY HAVE TO CLICK HERE |
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A couple of weeks ago, the legendary Mick Farren, the revolutionary man of letters that I have often aspired to be when I have not been aspiring to be something completely different, sent me a copy of his new novel - Road Movie. It is as good as one would have hoped, if not better, and this week thanks to those jolly nice people at Penny Ante editions, I am in the glorious position of being able to publish a chunk of it, exclusively for you.
Ain't life grand? |
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| SHARING RUPERT HAYES' WILD AND WONDERFUL WORLD |
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Many people in Whitstable will remember Rupert. He was like a cross between a New Age Traveller and a garden gnome. He was sort of dangerous, elemental and loveable all at the same time.
He lived in a ramshackle shed down an alley just off the High Street. Stepping into the alley was like entering a secret pathway to another world. Rupert World, where nothing would ever be normal again.
The shed was full up of all the things he collected – lumps of wood, bits of metal, discarded chunks of old scrap – which he would turn into various works of art. He would grind the surface with an angle grinder, glue various things to it, and then paint the object in hallucinogenic colours, like some mad-cap fantasy from a demented child’s overheated brain.
It was like he was trying to redeem the world with his imagination, reclaiming all the objects that the rest of us no longer value, giving meaning and thought to the forgotten detritus of our throwaway culture.
You can see some of the results of his industry at the exhibition. The work is playful, generous, energetic, bold and distinctive. You can tell a Rupert Hayes’ piece from a mile away.
There are scraps of Rupert’s work dotted about all over Whitstable. It was like he was trying to make his mark while he was here, making sure that he wouldn’t be forgotten. He was relentless and prolific, creating thousands of works of art in a short space of time.
You may know that he had a stroke about three years ago, and is now confined to a wheelchair. Perhaps that’s why he was so intense with his work, that he knew he wouldn’t have long to finish it.
He has lost none of his sense of humour, however. I asked him what drove him to create.
“I was like a dog lifting its leg on all the lampposts to mark its territory,” he said. And he cast me this sidelong glance, and a wry, twinkling smile.
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GIRLS AND PROG
by Corinna Downes |
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I was going to blog about this, but my lovely wife Corinna beat me to it..
Being under the impression that Jon and I were going to settle down to watch a couple of episodes of House M.D I wandered into the sitting room the other night, plonked myself down in the chair and proceeded to get to work on one of the Christmas (bah humbug) presents that I am making. I am one of those folks who just cannot sit and watch TV; I have to be doing something at the same time so as not to waste any valuable opportunity to stitch something.
However, Hugh Laurie was not to be (gosh, he is adorable) because Jon was in the throes of watching Prog Britannia – a programme about um… prog rock in Britain.
I decided on a quick snack (being on a diet such things are not indulgent these days. No chocolate, popcorn or crisps for me – yoghurts all the way). Settling back down, with the awesome flavour of a Müller (yay advertising!) vanilla yoghurt bursting on my tastebuds, my ears began to pick up on what was being said on the programme.
Then it happened.
I nearly choked (yes this is possible whilst eating yoghurt, and it is extremely messy, especially when it splutters forth and splatters on the wall) when Phil Collins and Rick Wakeman were explaining that going to gigs was not really a ‘girl’ thing. Something along the lines of ‘the girls would stand looking bemused’. Eh? Now look you two….I know of at least two girls who used to stand (or sit) at gigs back along…..and I can assure you that we did not have looks of bemusement upon our faces. Jon laughed when he looked over and saw my indignant expression at such an outlandish generalisation.
Read the rest here... |
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HAWKWIND NEWS
(The Masters of the Universe do seem to have a steady stream of interesting stories featuring them, their various friends and relations, and alumni). Each week Graham Inglis keeps us up to date with the latest news from the Hawkverse.. |
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Things are fairly quiet on the Hawkwind news front, perhaps because there's only two gigs scheduled for July. Davey C, who's written for Gonzo before, is going to the Holmfirth gig on the 5th and several members of the 'Hawkwind Forum' are going to the Jodrell Bank gig the day after.
The latter's an odd one, as Hawkwind are doing that rarest of things: playing support. And, what might be totally unprecedented is that the main act is a tribute band! OK, the band - Australian Pink Floyd - are a bit of a cut above ordinary trib bands. I gather David Gilmour had them play at his 50th birthday party, and that's quite some endorsement. Nonetheless, some Hawkwind fans have expressed unease, on general principle.
However, one fan commented that "now I know there's a giant dish in a field to shine some lights on, I've changed my mind." That's all very well, but Hawkwind are going to kick off at 8:30pm (or maybe 8:15) so presumably it'll still be daylight for most of the show. Interestingly, Hawkwind have announced that they were originally slated to play a one-hour slot but now that's been extended to 75 minutes, hence the 15-minute doubt as to their start time.
There's no doubt that some Hawkwind fans would like to see the billing reversed, so that Hawkwind play top slot for a full show and then maybe do a 40-minute encore. And maybe that'll actually happen next Saturday... in a parallel universe somewhere. |
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AN EXCERPT FROM ROBERT CALVERT'S FIRST BOOK OF POETRY
now reissued by Gonzo (and typeset by me) |
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CIRCLE LINE
Seeing that I still had eight more stops
to go, and had already read
the maps and advertisements from end to end,
and studied my own double-
eyed, four-eye-browed freak
of a reflected face for far too long; I took
to noticing another. Through a kind
of snooker-shot of glances
aimed against the glass, I could see her
staring; but could not be sure
if it was at me. I smiled,
and saw her turn to speak
to someone next to her. I also turned:
and unexpectedly our eyes engaged
for just the instant that it takes for looks
to rocket through the tunnels
of an unguarded gaze, and arrive
at the real self. Badly shaken
with embarrassment, we both looked back
at our images: safely imprisoned
in the hurtling stillness of the glass. |
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| THE YES CIRCULAR - TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC WHATSITS |
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| The Court Circular tells interested readers about the comings and goings of members of The Royal Family. However, readers of this periodical seem interested in the comings and goings of Yes and of various alumni of this magnificent and long-standing band. Give the people what they want, I say |
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| It has been another interesting week both amongst the Yes camp, and amongst the various alumni who have been in, or involved with, the band over the years. Now the first news story we posted, provoked several cross emails from people who thought that I had made it up. Would I dosuch a thing? The story read "‘They just get fed up with me’: Long-time leader Chris Squire explains Yes’ ever-shifting lineup" You couldn't make things like that up. In the article Squire claims "“I don’t think anyone really has ever been fired from Yes, they just get fed up with me. They can’t stand me anymore, and they have to go.” Hmmmmm. |
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| After that bombshell even the dates for the band's 2014 UK Tour, or Keith Emerson's claim that Brian Lane asked him to join the band after Patrick Moraz left, fades into insignificance. However, there are quite a few Yes http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/days-between-stations-with-peter-banks.html related stories for you over the past week. Rick Wakeman has announced a World Tour for next year, there are bits and bobs about the Days Between Stations album, and news of another Billy Sherwood project featuring Peter Banks in one of his last studio visits. I think, by the way, that this is a far more elegant way of putting it than "more final music from Peter Banks", which is somewhat oxymoronic. And finally we have an interesting viso in which Rick Wakeman tells the story of the mellotron. |
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| I am probably getting a bit OCD about all of this, but I find the Yes soap opera of sound to be absolutely enthralling, and I for one can't wait to see what happens next! |
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you say it is difficult to herd jazz cats
who scratch and itch to be more than one
who come when the moon or east austin call them
who gather desultory in a backyard/loose and casual
i say-can't you see?by the stage and your screen?
how proudly we sing-drums,bass,saxophone!
Guitars are a given-it is the love of unknown
binds us to freedom.Each night alone
we trespass upon collective shared truth
Witnessing/participating for more than FACEBOOK ipads
there is a sound track for all these images
It is the mirror of your best musical meandering
when we walk together in harmonies
no one art can (as yet) encompass
we become us.
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In Victorian times every well-bred Gentleman had a 'Cabinet of Curiosities'; a collection of peculiar odds and sods, usually housed in a finely made cabinet with a glass door. These could include anything from Natural History specimens to historical artefacts. There has always been something of the Victorian amateur naturalist about me, and I have a houseful of arcane objects; some completely worthless, others decidedly not, but all precious to me for the memories they hold..
I used to be a collector of rock and roll memorabilia, but most of my collection went into my solicitor's pocket during my divorce from my first wife, and I never had the stomach to build the collection up again. However, people send me pictures of interesting things such as this. |
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If you are a prog rock fan with a cool £2.25 million to spare. Keith Emerson's house is for sale. And if you are a Peter Pan fan to boot, you will be doubly blessed 'cos J.M.Barrie lived there as well (but not at the same time)
Check it out... |
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On the third weekend of August every year for the past fourteen years we have had the weirdest weekend you can imagine. The Weird Weekend is the largest yearly gathering of mystery animal investigators in the English-speaking world. Now in its fourteenth year, the convention attracts speakers and visitors from all over the world and showcases the findings of investigators into strange phenomena.
Cryptozoologists, parapsychologists, ufologists, and folklorists are descending on Woolfardisworthy Community Centre to share their findings and insights. Unlike other events, the Weird Weekend will also include workshops giving tips to budding paranormal investigators, and even a programme of special events for children. The Weird Weekend is the only fortean conference in the world that is truly a family event, although those veterans of previous events should be reassured that it is still as anarchically silly as ever!
The event is raising money for the Centre for Fortean Zoology, the world’s only full time, professional cryptozoological organisation. The profit from food and beverages goes to a selection of village charities, mostly working with children.
How do you fancy spending three days of high strangeness, good food and great beer, together with the cream of British Fortean researchers in the middle of the glorious Devon countryside? By the way, I am sorry to have to say this, but as this is a fundraising event, tickets are non-refundable, although you are free to resell them should you be unable to attend.
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FEATURED SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Lars Thomas: The Natural History of Trolls
Judge Smith: Life after Death
Jon Downes/Richard Freeman: Intro to Cryptozoology
Nick Wadham: You will believe in fairies; you will, you will!
Tony Whitehead (RSPB): Starslime
Hayley Stevens: Scepticism
Glen Vaudrey : Mystery animals of Staffordshire
Darren Naish: Adventures from the world of tetrapod zoology
Richard Freeman: Expedition repoort Sumatra 2013
Sarah Boit: Orbs from a photographer's perspective
London Cryptozoology club: Bigfoot
Shaun Histead-Todd: Pre Columbian civilisations in america
Ronan Coghlan: Amphibians from Outer Space
Jon Downes: Keynote Speech
Speaker's Dinner at the Community Centre
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| INTRODUCING THE NINE HENRYS |
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| I think Peter McAdam is one of the funniest people around, and I cannot recommend his book The Nine Henrys highly enough. Check it out at Amazon. Each issue we shall be running a series of Henrybits that are not found in his book about the nine cloned cartoon characters who inhabit a surreal world nearly as insane as mine... |
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| CORKY LAING'S SCI FI OPERA |
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Regular readers will remember that some months ago we ran a three part feature on an exciting new project from the Legendary Corky Laing, drum daemon with Mountain. You can read it:
HERE
HERE
and
HERE
Now I have a real treat for you. With the kind permission of the lovely Tuija Takala, here is an exclusive slice of the album; a track called College Girls. And I hope you understand why I compared it to Jan and Dean jamming with Dr Dre.
Listen |
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