Blog: wordsandmusic

It's been a while... but I have been buried away working on a new project in between the usual annoying illness/fatigue. I have not been to any gigs recently either - but that changes on Friday incoming - 3d February - when I'll be down at the Swan in the Rushes, in God's Little Acre, for a gig headlined by one of my favourite musicians/writers etc. Pete Morton . Who will be supported by Gren Bartley , in what should prove to be a fascinating mix of acoustic styles. Couple of vids on the [...]

Woke up after not much sleep with an appalling hangover but realised that staggering into the hotel breakfast was going to be a good idea... Somewhat refreshed - we talk in relative terms - I scanned the program for the day – and went back to bed. But come 1 pm I was down at the Sallis Benney, determined to bear witness to as much as my knackered-up body could stand. Cat Hawed were first off the blocks – three musicians from Helhesten and Towering Breaker – and played a stunning set, I thought. Starting in chamber [...]

Saturday: strolled somewhatpainfully from the hotel to the Sallis Benney (where the wholefestival used to be held) for the afternoon sesh of film and sonics. Too much walking over the previous couple of days had left mesomewhat hors de combat. I didn't stay for the whole event butcaught Blue Yodel (Fiona Kennedy's solo gig) which cleansed mysynapses suitably. Slew of good films: one that impressed me by itsunsettling weirdness was 'Trypps#6 Malobil' by American Ben Russell. Catch a glimpse here... http://vimeo.com/6975261 A group of presumably white people in strange costumes come out of abuilding in [...]

Lots of distractions this week but the remaining two reviews will go up by the weekend (honest). But just stumbled over this via Anthony Donovan out of Dylan Nyoukis. A reminder not so much of all the great stuff I caught but all the good shit I missed...

Igot down to this new main venue for the first evening of 'Colour out of Space,' The Old Market , picked up my ticket andwristband, checked the schedules, had a drink in the bar and realisedthat: a) I don't really like Peroni and b) I would probably spendmore time between acts in the Conqueror just round the corner, a great old-schoolboozer with a friendly welcome, which I had scoped out onpsychogeographic reconnaissance the previous evening. (Butcombebitter, yum. Double Jack D – cheap. More yum). [...]

Back home in God's Little Acre... oh joy. Had a stroll round the Artist's Quarter and a slow pint in the Unicorn where I had a look at the usual mess of notes I make at festivals. This year's Colour out of Space has prompted even more bizarre scrawls/signs/smears in the old moleskine - given that there was a large theme of sound poetry etc perhaps the ghost of Bob Cobbing crept into my hotel when I was akip and vented his inscribed pleasures on those pages from beyond the beyond... (Stranger things have [...]

Jeez, am I hungover...i But a great afternoon of film and music at the sallis binney venue.

Colour out of space off to great start... limited comments as on phone ... reviews will follow...

Hopefully I am off to Brighton to Colour out of Space tomorrow. Best fest in the UK, for me... No doubt reviews will follow...

A couple of new posts on the book blog - including a review by John Bentham for the Tiger Folk newsletter.

Bert Jansch is dead andthat is both a very sad loss and a great shock as it had seemed that hewas up and about again, recovered from his initial problem with lungcancer. There you go... Bert was a big fixture in my younger life,helping me, (after Bob Dylan) convert to an interest in folk/acousticmusic and an engagement with the Brit folk scene of the sixties whichfor a brief few years was actually a cool place to inhabit, mainlybecause of Bert and his sidekick John Renbourn and a couple of otherfaces from the Soho scene, centred round Les Cousins [...]

Can't really afford it - but now the book has been published, I feel that I should treat myself. And my favourite festival over the last few years has been the Brighton bash: 'Colour out of Space.' Last year it did not happen due to various reasons and there was deep sadness in my autumn. The previous couple of years - see reviews for 2008 here, here and here /2009 here , here and here - I'd gone down to Brighton for stimulating, exciting, weekends [...]

Finally we got there... 'Don Partridge and Company' has just been published and is available online from my storefront on Lulu/RawMusics HERE... Links also on the book blog HERE... Available in either paperback hard copy or digital download pdf. And here's the guv'nor - The Earl of Mustard - in action, 1968

The proof of the book has printed and is on its way - once I've checked it, I'll do another, just to make sure everything is ok - then we should be able to go ahead and publish on 27th September. In the meantime, another teaser on the book blog, here... A couple of rare movie clips about the Albert Hall Buskers' Concert of 1969...

I've had a problem with some of the embedded photo image files in the master document for the book 'Don Partridge and Company' so I've put the publication date back a couple of weeks while it gets sorted. I spent yesterday re-embedding the images and creating a new master document which has gone back to the on line publisher. Assuming no more problems, I still want to run a few test copies through before publishing, just to double check. New publication date (fingers crossed!): Tuesday 27th September.

A buzz going round the extended families tonight - just been sent a vid of Calum Duell, my daughter's young (well, not so young anymore) brother, who is turning out to be an accomplished musician already. He has a YouTube vid up: A lot of poise in one so young...

A couple of clips of buskers, taken from the film 'The London that Nobody Knows,' have been posted on the Don Partridge and Company blog - plus details of the upcoming publication. Due to go on Wednesday 14th September...

Murray Ward of The Lows and the Highs sends this info - grab yourself a bargain! We've now sold out (or have very limited stock) of a number of our early releases. You can now download them for free: HI/LO001 - The (plexus) Collective - Warner/Ward: The Alephs HI/LO002 - dj_spleenbaby - Gone with the Wind vs. The Last Starfighter HI/LO003 - The (plexus) Collective - Warner/Ward: Axiom of Choice HI/LO004 - The (plexus) Collective -Ward: Ekstasis HI/LO005 - The (plexus) Collective - Warner/Ward/Teledu: Differend HI/LO006 [...]

Then there was Stinking Badger ... Dave Teledu, A-Bander and co-member of Plexus with myself and Murray Ward, has a solo album out under this moniker on The Lows and the Highs. Sonic explorations from north of where I am... Soiling Charge...

My head has been down these last couple of weeks. Under the radar, as it were... With the book pretty much finished and almost ready to launch, I've been recharging the batteries. Reading a lot - and one book I just finished, William Gibson's latest, 'Zero History,' made me think of Lustfaust, James Shovlin's conceptual project from a couple of years ago. Then I remembered that one of the people involved with Mr Shovlin, Murray Ward, had just made some material available over on 'The Lows and the Highs,' for whom I sporadically record. [...]