| EXCLUSIVE: This probably should have gone in the 'THE WEEK THAT'S PAST' section but it's The Residents innit |
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| The Residents at The Barbican 18th of May 'Wonder of Weird'. |
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| WORDS: Dave McMann PICTURE: Nik Nimbus |
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Taking my seat in the front row of the theatre and looking at the scenery on stage, a christmas theme, which at first glance, looked nice enough, a snowman, Santa's grotto, giant sticks of rock etc, a slight sense of unease came over me, afterall, this is the month of May, how strange, but what I was about to see was far from normal...
House lights were dimmed and the huge screen lit up showing a 20 minute plus film covering the 40 years of The Residents.
I assume that this was meant for the few uninitiated who may have been there, but as the clips went on I found it rather dull having watched them countless of times before, but as drinks were allowed in, most people around me were chatting away.
Eventually the time came for what we had been waiting for, the stripped down trio of The Residents and on they came. No eyeball heads this time, but still in disguise nevertheless. Larry, the singer, was dressed in what can only be described as an evil clown mask and Santa suit. They start with a couple of songs which I can't remember, but the band, albeit without a drummer, is sounding good. Then Larry starts to get a little confused and walks offstage, the band look a little concerned but he is soon back and explains about his sex addiction, his eleven marriages and that his life partner now is his cat Maurice, but the guy looking after Maurice called right before the show saying that Maurice had been hit by a car and is being treated and he is waiting further news. Total silence from the audience, the person I was with said to me 'if this is a joke, see you at the bar later'. But the band plays on as Larry wanders around and starts wrestling with a swivel seat and seemingly getting even more insane. However this gave the other two some of the spotlight wiith swirly synth meeting Zappaesque guitar. This brings a sense of relief in the audience. Larry then lightens up and talks about the first single and how they sent it to Frank Zappa and Richard Nixon and only one replied. That lightened the mood, in fact up until then I thought the narrative was better than the music, he could be a great stand-up comedian (if he isn't already!!). However the music was getting rather incidental and time was getting on...
As I was thinking the above, everything changed direction. Larry gets a call about his cat, Maurice is going to make it, Larry is now happy and we are glad! So he tells us about his fake penis and how he was asked to do a porno. He goes to meet the actress and she is wearing black hotpants and all he can see is black. (Think of the artist in the Fast Show). But he snaps out of that by talking about how we are all marching to death and this is where it all really starts to all us freaks in the audience as they launch into 'marching to the sea' and a couple of others. Next up was pure freak-out acid induced intensity which went on for ages, pure bliss for the sadly demised Snakefinger. An encore which ended with 'Auld lang Syne' complete with an inflating giant snowman with an eyeball for a head.
A very strange show which I wished they would have started and played all through how they ended, but packing 40 years into two hours is not an easy thing to do. I loved it.
Also, a nice band afterwards on the bar stage, Clinic. They rocked.
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| In Memory of my Mum, Mary Stone |
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This is the text of the eulogy I gave for our Mum on the day of her funeral, May 13th 2013.
Mary Stone 1930-2013
This could be the hardest thing I have ever done, to stand here before you now saying my goodbyes to our Mum.
I say “our” Mum, rather than “my Mum”, not only because she belongs to all of us, to all the brothers and sisters here today, to our children and grandchildren, and to our Dad, but also because that is how we always spoke of her, as “our Mum.”
It’s a Birmingham expression. We never talk in the singular in Brum, but always in the plural. So it’s “our Mum” and “our Dad” and “our house” and “our family”. It’s a generous way of talking and it includes all of you here today, even those who are not related and for whom Mum was a more recent friend.
Shall I tell you what it was about our Mum? She never grew old. I remember her saying, only a year or two ago, that she was always surprised when she looked in the mirror, to see that old lady looking back at her, because she didn’t feel like an old lady at all. She said she felt just the same as she always felt, when she was a little girl growing up in Birmingham, under the ever watchful eye of her beloved father, Arthur.
This last year has been very hard for our family. We’ve watched our Mum go from the peak of health to someone who was, finally, bed bound and helpless, incapable of doing anything for herself.
For this reason I say that, while we can’t help but grieve, we should not be sad.
Mum is glad not to be on this Earth any more. She is glad to have escaped the pain. She hated what had become of her body. She hated the humiliation of it. In the end she only wanted to be free. In the end, it is the best gift that we can give her that we let her go.
The last few days with her were a privilege, however. She was at home, which is where she wanted to be. She was pretty well unconscious most of the time, but she did wake up occasionally, and I know that she knew where she was, and it was this fact that gave her the strength to move on.
The day before she died there was a sudden storm as I was driving round to see her. It was really dramatic. The rain burst from the heavens in a veritable deluge, while, at the same time, the sun came out, and, turning the corner into Downs avenue there wasn’t just one rainbow, but two, one above the other right over our Mum’s house. It was the first time I’d ever seen a double rainbow. And then, later that day, there was the most beautiful sunset over the Isle of Sheppey, like someone had set the sky on fire.
Mum always used to say that that was her view. Whenever we got to the top of the hill and looked out on the estuary below, she would say, “how do you like my view?”
So I’m going to say, and no one is going to tell me otherwise, that Mum had arranged that for me, that sunset and that rainbow. It is how I will always remember her. She chose her moment, in a glory of light and colour, like the light that she gave to all of us, which will live now forever in our hearts.
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| THE LOUTH CONCERT FOR THE BEES |
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Sunday 26th May, 2013, 4pm
Playgoers Riverhead Studio Theatre
After reading about the premiere of my new opera The Silence of the Bees: A Science Opera, Biff Vernon, coordinator of The Louth Festival of the Bees, contacted me about the possibility of producing the opera at Louth’s Bee Festival. Taken with the idea of the festival, I immediately agreed. Practicalities and my fondness for recycling my works resulted in a new work. Hybrid Pollination is a musical exploration of bee decline in the form of a cantata. ‘Hybrid pollination’ in biology is a type of controlled pollination in which the pollen comes from a different strain or species to improve or increase biological function. Hybrid Pollination continues my interest in musical hybridity and refers to pollination as a metaphor for communicating ideas. I hope that the work helps to contribute to the enormous amount of work that Biff, Transition Town Louth and others are doing to communicate and raise public awareness of important issues.
Kelvin Thomson Composer
Programme
Extracts from Melissographia
by John Burnside (poet) and Amy Shelton (artist)
Reader: Biff Vernon
Songs of Bees and Flowers (ca. 30:00)
Various
Singer: Kate Witney
Interval
Introduction to Hybrid Pollination
by Kelvin Thomson
Composed by Kelvin Thomson
Original text by Benet Catty and drawn from original sources
Narrator: Kelvin Thomson
Soprano: Danae Eleni
Mezzo-soprano: Sophie Yelland
Tenor: Patrick Ashcroft
Baritone: Andre Refig
Music Direction and Piano: Wyn Hyland
Additional piano: Kelvin Thomson
Oboe, Cor Anglais: Rachel Broadbent
HYBRID POLLINATION
PROLOGUE – Them
A short requiem for bees and a requiem for mankind’s ability to make good decisions. A chant of extinct and endangered species of bumblebees and a nursery rhyme.
PART ONE
Perspectives
Tolstoy’s words remind us of the range of opinions life affords us, particularly in relation to bees.
Facts
The Scientist gives an introductory lecture about bees. Three other characters introduce contrasting perspectives. They are different aspects of her personality.
Memories
Short true-life stories of individual encounters with bees continue the big theme of perspectives.
INTERLUDE ONE
A setting of Jo Shapcott’s poem ‘The Threshold’.
PART TWO
Global
The Scientist’s alter-egos become more dominant, explaining some of the causes of the bee crisis.
Personal
The Scientist’s conflicted perspective on the issues becomes a conflicted sense of herself, for instance regarding her experiments in which she has to harm bees in order to help them. Her story becomes a symbol of the debate over bees.
History
A comparison is made between the plight of bees and the global warming story; that Man goes through the stages of denial, deceit, delay and disaster. The bees’ crisis is shown to be representative of a wider story of human ‘progress’.
INTERLUDE TWO
Settings of Marcus Aurelius and Francis Bacon.
PART THREE SI – Swarm Intelligence
The Truth (As I See It)
The Scientist creates a bee crisis debate in which representatives of Science, Politics, Farming and Art state their cases in a familiar operetta style. Unity seems far off.
Science Fact / Science Fiction
Tensions rise in the debate. Lack of unity turns to seeing communication as a potential basis for progress. Answers lie in unity.
INTERLUDE THREE
A setting of Liz Bahs’ poem ‘Nest’.
EPILOGUE – Us
The epilogue reprises the bumblebee chant and themes of progress are restated.
Kelvin Thomson:
Music director, vocal coach, session musician (piano/keyboards), composer and arranger.
Recent compositions have been performed in London, Athens and Glasgow by Marilyn Wyers, Danae Eleni and Enrico Bertelli; CHROMA; Duologue; and the London Contemporary Chamber Orchestra. LCCO recorded Prelude and Interlude from Cha tig Mor in Dec 2010 and nominated the piece for a British Composer Award 2011 in the Making Music category. Incidental music composed for Theatre Counteract’s production of An Arrangement of Shoes, Indian premiere Bangalore, November 2011.
As Music Director, toured with Celtic Woman, USA (2006) and Riverdance,Europe (2004-5). Assistant Conductor: Southwark Playhouse’s production of John Adams’ Ceiling/Sky at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (1999) and Opera Omaha’s (USA) world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem Variations (1996). West End Associate Conductor, Zorro (2008-9) and Priscilla Queen of the Desert (2009-2011).
Recordings as pianist/keyboardist include: Movie Legends – The Music of John Williams – RPO, (2007);Songs My Mother Taught Me - Lorna Luft (2007); The Isles of Greece a song cycle by Donald Swann (Classic FM’s record of the month 2000); Awakening (1997) and The Music of Life, Joseph Curiale, RPO (2001).
Rachel Broadbent
Rachel studied at Birmingham Conservatoire and studied with Jonathan Kelly (principal oboe Berlin Philharmonic) and George Caird. Whilst at the Conservatoire Rachel was awarded the Rollason prize for performance and won the Birmingham and Midland Institute Woodwind Competition. She gained a 1st class B.Mus(hons) degree and then moved to Guildhall School of Music and Drama to study for a Post Graduate in Orchestral Training.
Rachel is now a busy freelance oboist working with many orchestras around the country, amongst which are the Brandenburg Sinfonia, , Southern Sinfonia, BBC Concert Orchestra, London Concert Orchestra, British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. Alongside her orchestral work Rachel performs as a soloist performing Concertos with various orchestras and working regularly giving recitals with her accompanist Kevin Vockerodt. Recently Rachel and Kevin gave the debut performance of a new work called ‘Songs Eternity’ by composer Kelvin Thomson.
Rachel is actively involved in teaching and encouraging people to learn the oboe. She has recently been employed to teach oboe at Guildhall School of Music Junior Department and also teaches at The Hall School in Hampstead, Haileybury College in Hertford and BeechoodPark School in Markyate, Hertfordshire. She is also a published arranger and an arrangement of hers for 2 Oboes and Cor Anglais is available from Spartan Press. It is an arrangement of Brahms - Variations on a Theme of Haydn and includes the theme and a selection of the variations. In 2012 Emerson Edition will be publishing a further arrangement, also of the music by Brahms. This arrangement is of 3 Brahms Songs and is arranged for Oboe and Piano, Clarinet and Piano or Cor Anglais and Piano. |
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YES IS THE ANSWER
This is a really fantastic idea and I wish that I had thought of it |
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Every morning, I sit down with my cup of tea, and - depending how psychotic I feel - a cigarette (smoking being a habit that I am supposed to have given up five years ago) and settle down to do the daily blogs for Gonzo Multimedia and the CFZ. The first thing I do is to check Google News Alerts into the search engine of which I have entered the names of a whole slew of Gonzo and Gonzo-related artistes, and every day I check to see what new news there is.
The other day I found this article about a new book. And I was so intrigued that I emailed the publishers and asked them to send me a copy.
I then promptly forgot about the whole thing, and therefore had a nice surprise a few days ago when a fat parcel (that had obviously been opened by H.M Customs, who seem to have a habit of opening my post these days) arrived on my door mat.
Read on... |
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| I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND PEOPLE THAT THERE IS A WHOLE SLEW OF PROGRESSIVE MUSIC AVAILABLE ON GONZO FROM BANDS LIKE YES, VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, GENTLE GIANT, GONG AND A SCORE OF OTHERS. CHECK OUT THE GONZO SITES: |
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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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Pleasing news for Hawkwind fans this week is the announcement of a British mini-tour this November. So far, the dates that Hawkwind have announced on their forum are:
Sun 3rd Nov - Bristol Academy
Weds 6th Nov - Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
Thurs 7th Nov - Glasgow ABC
Fri 8th Nov - Sheffield Academy
Sat 9th Nov - Liverpool Academy
These dates are in addition to the ones previously announced for August, in Falmouth, Bournemouth and Shepherd's Bush. And all are part of the general "Warrior On The Edge Of Time 2013" tour, which so far has involved the mid-set performance of that 1975 album.
Rumours of a 2014 USA tour remain, at this stage, merely that: rumours. |
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AND DAVE McMANN WRITES:
Get along to this unmissable gig in the UK:
The Psychedelic Warlords perform Hawkwind's classic live album "Space
Ritual".
May
May 30th - Liverpool, Lomax.
May 31st - Edinburgh, Bannermans.
June:
June 1st - Glasgow, o2 ABC.
June 2nd - Newcastle U Lyme, The Rigger.
June 20th - London, Camden, Underworld.
June 21st & 22nd - Sonic Rock Solstice, BuithWells, Wales.
A celebration of space, time and psychedelic luminosity with Alan Davey,
Vince Cory, Meurig Griffiths, Radio Ray, Rich Om, Julian Hoaxwind, Nigel
Ward and Demolitia the Dancer, this will be something truly special. |
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| Also Hawkwind-related this week was this story about the 40th anniversary of Space Ritual, a link to this introduction to the band, and this extremely rare performance by the late Huw Lloyd-Langton.... |
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| THE YES CIRCULAR - WONDROUS STORIES |
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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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This has been the busiest week in the Yes camp for some weeks, and we have several posts for you, either relating to the band themselves, or to their various alumni.
Starting off with some footage of them on their recent South American tour, we also brought you something called Wikimetal, which this week featured none other than Chris Squire. Whilst on the subject of Chris Squire, there was also an interview with Steve Hackett about their recent Squackett project. |
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But there's more. Such as an interview with Jon Davison and another with Trevor Rabin. There is also an incisivevideo interview with Rick Wakeman about the forthcoming Gloucester gigs. Whilst on the subject of Rick, I would like to thank him for his kind words when Buttons my kitten was run over this week.
And that, boys and girls, was just about that for this week.
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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| WAVY GRAVY AS MY ROLE MODEL |
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he began as a poet
merged /morphed into public peaceful activism-
HOG FARM,excellent art,"breakfast in bed for 400,000"
he was sick of getting beaten up at peace demonstrations'
so he became and remains a clown
nobody fears a clown
my role model=he gives via benefits to aid clear vision in third world countries
he has many musician friends who "get"him and support his work/play
his poetry has become actions and lifestyle
He came to Austin for the launch of his film
and was at our Million Musicians March for peace
I will never forget his mantra
GIMME AN "F"
F!
GIMME A U-
U!
(what do you expect next from a smiling dervish?-
GIMME A "N"=
FUN!
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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.
I have always liked Captain Beefheart, as does my brother-in-law, so if I had a spare £1000 (which I haven't) I have found the perfect birthday present for him.
Read on... |
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| WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE ACID KING? |
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At Christmas my presents included a copy of the Philip Norman biography of Mick Jagger. I have always liked Philip Norman, ever since reading his biographies of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones thirty odd years ago.
In his biography of the latter band he discussed the infamous 1967 drug busts at some length. Undoubtedly the most enigmatic character involved in this unfortunate series of events was a Canadian known as "Acid King" David Schneidermann/Snyderman/Sniderman (take your pick) who disappeared soon after the bust never to be heard of again. Bizarrely Norman insinuated that he was basically a phantasm of the times, a tulpa-like character who sprung into existence for the duration of the Redlands drug busts and then disappeared again.
Despite my Fortean leanings, I always thought that this was somewhat unlikely, especially as in Albert Goldman's scurrilous The Lives of John Lennon published a few years later, Schneidermann turned up as a bit player in Goldman's description of the 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Festival.
Imagine my surprise, when - on Boxing Day, after Olivia had gone home, and Corinna, Mother and I had settled down to our various activities - I discovered that not only had Schneidermann lived for several decades in Los Angeles under the nom de guerre of 'David Jove', but that both Jagger and Marianne Faithfull were aware of the fact. Norman also stated that Schneidermann/Snyderman/Sniderman/Jove was an employee of the security services intent on discrediting The Rolling Stones.
Bloody Hell I thought and had a pootle about on line. I not only discovered that this was now fairly common knowledge, but that other books had been written claiming that he was no spy, but an employee of The News of the World. I began to get rather obsessed, and fair hammered my paypal account buying a whole slew of Rolling Stones books on eBay, until I discovered this: |
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This is a biography of the man by the bloke who was probably his best friend. What's more it turned out that Schneidermann/ Snyderman/ Sniderman/Jove was also a singer songwriter, and a quick go on YouTube showed me that he was a rather good one.
Intrigued, and with a head full of questions I wrote to Ed Ochs, the author...
Read on.... |
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FEATURED SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Oll Lewis: The Murder of the Elephant Man
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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| EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Michael Des Barres |
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I heard through the grapevine that Michael Des Barres had a new radio show, and I wanted to do a story about it. So I had two choices; either I could research the whole topic for a few days, or I could 'phone up the man himself...
MICHAEL: The radio show is just a blessing. I did that movie for David Lynch – Mulholland Drive. Initially it was a pilot for ABC and they passed on it. And a couple of years later it came out as a movie and was critically lauded and was very successful and I played the bad guy. But the point being is that I formed a relationship with this crazy, brilliant, philosopher artist, Lynch, and he’s got this network Transcendental Music which is benefiting and advancing the GM movement all over the world, especially in countries that are riddled with stress, which is just about every country of course, so he asked me to put a show together and I came up with this Roots and Branches thing which I think you would very much enjoy, in that I play two songs back to back and then joke about them. For instance… I’ll play Son House and then I’ll play Jack White and you can see the connections between them. Sonny Boy Williamson and I’ll play Zeppelin, and you again see those influences. Really the show is about what I am always talking about which is authentic rock and roll played in a room or a club; five guys, five girls, three girls, two guys sitting together, standing together looking into each other’s eyes and playing music, you know. Stevie Van Zandt champions or a lot of others champion, because it is in danger of extinction – authentic rock and roll; blues based music – and so it’s both important for the history of it all and incredibly enjoyable to play and share other people’s music other than my own.
Read on... |
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FRIENDS AND RELATIONS
Richard Stellar writes |
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Dear Friends -
As many of you know, my efforts on behalf of the elderly has introduced me to some wonderful artists. I was fortunate enough to see a play directed by Kevin Dobson called "Not Dead Yet". It was a vignette in a collection of one act plays.
It inspired me. I recalled my own mother's transformation from entertainment industry gadfly to a non-functioning shell of what she used to be. However, the journey that Alzheimer's takes you on is punctuated by moments of clarity and spirituality that is extraordinary.
I wrote a blog on this, and on Kevin's play here: http://www.thewrap.com/culture/blog-post/art-alzheimers-93631
Please be so kind as to read it and leave your thoughts in the comments section. I have been honored by the Los Angeles Press Club once again as a finalist in three categories. One for my blog, another for our facebook page AGE: Activists for Geriatric Equality, and again for the much coveted Cause / Advocacy Journalism award.
Friends like you have supported and promoted the efforts of all of us working to improve the lot of the elderly. This has been a group effort that has seen miraculous and life saving results. We are not stopping with our success at keeping the doors to motion picture and television long term care open. With your help and support, and with theatre like "Not Dead Yet", we continue.
If you're in the area of North Hollywood, Kevin's play is showing Tuesday and Wednesday evening:
The Lonny Chapman Group Repertory Theatre on May 28 and 29, 2013
10900 Burbank Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA
(818) 763-5990
Thanks,
Richard Stellar |
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THE BEST LAID PLANS...
This has mostly been a pretty terrible week. Buttons the kitten was killed, Prudence my dog has injured one of her back legs and will probably need very expensive surgery and my car has pretty well packed up. And that's just in my life.
In the wider world there have been atrocities, hate crimes and all sorts of other horrible things which have dominated the world's media all week.
And then you have groovy little online communities like this one. In the wider scheme of things it could well be argued that a free weekly newsletter about what is - even I will admit - niche appeal music, and which is only read by a couple of thousand people isn't very important. But actually, I think that it is.
Music is insanely important. As I said in another review this week: Music is important. It has been important to every culture on earth since before we had a culture, and it continues to be important. And the fact that there is music being made that truly does have a soul to it, and is not just made to sell TV advertising for a vacuous set of TV shows, is important, and the fact that there is a whole community of people who - each week - read and write about it, is even more spiritually important.
Do I sound like an unreconstructed old hippy? Good. |
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There is still likely to be a monthly magazine in both digital and hard copy formats at some point, as soon as I have managed to attract around me more like-minded souls who want to contribute.
We are living in disturbing and strange times, but ultimately they are very interesting ones, and continuing to chronicle the Gonzoverse is an immensely rewarding thing to do. Thank you for reading.
Until next week,
Slainte
Jon Downes
(Editor) |
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