Hydrogen Jukebox

Neil Jenkins of Dandelion Radio is playing Hydrogen Jukebox track "The Garden" on his monthly show.

Hydrogen Jukebox is a duet with Steve Tromans using mainly minimalist music and spoken word. We are both very into this material but gigs are elusive and we're not quite sure where to promote it. However, thanks to Neil Jenkins it is still being heard. The CD is available through Steve's website but we also hope to release it through WM Recordings soon.

If you are not aware of Dandelion Radio I highly recommend checking it out. It is inspired by John Peel and describes itself as independent, inspiring and uncompromising. Long may it last!

Albert Hoffman

Albert Hoffman January 11, 1906 – April 29, 2008.

Birmingham Jazz Youth

This pic is made of pasting two together. This explains the colour difference in the middle and odd liking of balcony above.

Last Saturday 15th saw the culmination of three Birmingham Jazz Youth sessions at the CBSO centre. We did an informal concert of small band pieces and finished it off with a creative big band piece. I will be uploading some of the tracks at www.myspace.com/birminghamjazzyouth very soon so please check them out.

A lot of people are involved with making this happen and it is an amazing community of tutors and young musicians, I am very grateful to be working with these folks.

You can see more pics from the session and sessions at Hamstead Hall at Bobbie Gardner's Blog. Bobbie was one of the tutors on the project.

Music jobs

At some point or other I signed up for emails about jobs from artshub.
It is a website providing information about jobs in the arts. Today there was 23 music jobs listed. However, only 3 of those jobs were actually for musicians. All the other jobs were for interns, directors, admin assistants and all sorts of other titles that did not include the words musician or composer.

I am guessing that pretty much all of these posts are government funded. I also realise that all these people do contribute to making music happen, but I mean like , 3 out of 23 seems to be a bit lop sided, don't you think?

Hybrid Commission

Last Monday at Hotel du Vin in Birmingham I presented a commissioned piece for Birmingham arts group Hybrid.

It was a musical piece developed conceptually on the them of "them and us". The process led me to develop a piece somewhat differently than I would normally do so it was an interesting composition process.

What was also very exciting about it was working with Iranian tar player Mustafa Abassi-Zadeh. Mustafa left Iran after his local Imam banned music and life as a sufi muslim became increasingly difficult there. He is making a living here in UK now but not enough of that comes from his great ability for performing.

Another local musician Frank Moon has been developing his oud playing (another Iranian instument) so I figured to get him involved along with violin, alto sax, guitar, bass and percussion. The effect was pretty cool and certainly went down well with the knowledgeable and arty crowd gathered at the event. I hope to keep this ensemble going and will be aiming for a gig or two in the near future, so watch this space.

As well as the music performance there were presentations by another group of Birmingham based artists. I will endeavor to get information on them up her soon.

Paddy Bashing

I see Ireland's budget airline Ryanair is in trouble with the media again for an advert featuring a model as a scantily clad schoolgirl, BBC article here.

I got my first Ryanair flight a few months ago and it was actually a great experience despite all the horror stories I had read in the media. Unlike many other airlines the plane was new, comfortable and there was plenty of space. Of course there were no frills but for £35 I was cool with that.

Regarding the risque ad I wonder if the "concerned authorities" have noticed the above saucy bunch. The old St Trinians movie got a remake recently and I don't think I heard a peep of complaint. The picture here was taken at a Virgin media ( a wonderful British company ) launch for the film. Now, in comparison don't you think the Ryanair ad furore is a bit of a joke?

Perhaps it's not the crime that matters, but the person who is committing it? I was on a flight BA038 from Beijing to Heathrow in October 2006. As we were landing the turbulence was extreme. Everybody was quiet except for a hostess who was shouting "Oh my god, I don't like this, oh no." - very comforting. Another BA038 flight crash landed in Heathrow lately and in the media we heard time and time again about the great pilots and crew and how they were hero's and praise after praise was heaped upon them, and now it's forgotten.

Along the way of heaping adoration on "Britains favourite airline" the press forgot to mention that someone somewhere had seriously fucked up and put hundreds of lives at risk. Now if that had been Ryanair I'm sure the press coverage would have been altogether different.

The Death of Mr Lazarescu

"The Death of Mr Lazarescu" is a Romanian film by director Chris Puiu. Mr Lazarescu is an old guy who lives in a flat with his three cats and obviously
drinks a lot. The film follows him over the course of a night from his flat to various hospitals as his health condition deteriorates. The film is laced with cynical characters and sarcastic doctors who look down on their subordinates. There is little pity for Mr Lazarescu and many of the scenes reminded me of my time as a hospital porter in London in the late 80's.

This film is described as a black comedy and despite the sadness of the theme you do find yourself laughing at the sarcy wit of the hardened doctors.

As a composer I was aware that this film contained no music. Without doubt this adds to the realism of the movie and enhanced rather than detracted from it. I think that once a movie adds music it immediately moves into a fantasy scenario, it is an attempt to manipulate emotions and does not in anyway portray reality. There is nothing wrong with this of course but I think a film maker should be pretty sure of their intentions before they start adding music. Perhaps more creative ways of using music in a film would be cool, eg car radios, buskers, bands in pubs etc.

Anyway, I'm going off on one, The Death of Mr Lazarescu is a fantastic movie giving a glimpse into the hardness of life in post communist Bucharest. If your renting a movie this week give Hollywood a miss and watch this great work.

Birmingham Jazz Youth Creative Big Band Sessions

Coming up on Saturday 19th January at the CBSO centre Birmingham Jazz are hosting the first of 3 creative big band sessions. If you are interested in being part of a big group of improvising musicians and are aged between 12 and 21 come along. The first two sessions are 12pm-3pm and the final one is 2pm to 6pm and will include an informal concert. Email birminghamjazzyouth@googlemail.com or check out www.myspace.com/birminghamjazzyouth. Its gonna be great!

Taxidermia

The other night my girlfriend and I rented Taxidermia on DVD. It is described by Bizarre magazine as "One of the biggest head-fucks ever committed to celluloid". And indeed it is a most gross and disturbing movie watching experience. But at the same time it is colourful, beautiful, hilarious and inspiring.

This is the second Hungarian movie I have watched recently, the first being Kontroll and both have been quite amazing. Although Taxidermia really is in a league of its own. There is much screaming and eye covering from the viewer throughout and at the end you sort of feel like you are emerging from a bout of the norovirus.

I recommend this highly but be warned it is not for the nervous, blinkered or easily offended.

I intend to blog good art finds this year firstly to keep a note of stuff I enjoyed and also in the hope of making contact with folks of similar tastes. Please comment back if you watch Taxidermia, I'd love to know what you think.

On The Road

My first artistic activity of 2008 was working with Steve Tromans on a musical setting of Jack Kerouac's classic novel "On The Road". This is part of Steve's "Beat Series" project which you can learn a bit more about here.

I was fortunate to narrate Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" for Steve and we had many memorable gigs especially one in the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast where I had met Ginsberg in 1994.

We recorded part of "On The Road" yesterday for the benefits of promoters and maybe a potential internet premier. We will be looking for performance opportunities in 2008 for both "Howl" and "On The Road".

Steve is a Birmingham musician who I had worked closely with before his leaving for foreign shores. He has kept a diary and photo album of his travels at his website along with some of the great music he has recorded along the way.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to one and all. I am intending to be more active on the blog front this year so if let's see if I stick to it. I have a lot of stuff to do and quite a few projects that still need finishing! However, since starting my Phd with Ulster University my focus and work has been gathering momentum so I am intending 2008 to be a very productive year.