Wednesday 31 October 2007

Saimhain

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The first part of this year's calendar. Happy New Year!

Tuesday 30 October 2007

Intro Theme Credits

Introduction theme for Episode 2 onwards:

Creepy laughter and opening are from Paul, The Halloween Boy. He scares me.

The drums are Ashley Tuck of Ibly Dy, from their track And fixed to her face was the kind of smile... recorded live at the Red House,

John Wycliffe had some sensible ideas. I'm reading here from his Conversational Tracts, circa 1380. It roughly paraphrases: "They sell indulgences and compel us, with hook or crook, to buy them all."

Jabberwocky, (Lewis Carrol) is read by Dvortygirl, The Tell Tale Heart, (Edgar Allen Poe) is read by Don Morgan, a LibriVox recording,

and Miss Shine welcomes you to The Room Behind the Bookcase.

~ ~ ~

Introduction theme for Episode 1:

This is: Ibly Dy playing By the Year 2020 we will all ride giant wasps to work, recorded live at the red house. And some of Marching Footsteps recorded by Cognitu Perceptu and Big Door Shut Down by Loofa, from the Free Sound Project. And Sage Tyrtle of Quirky Nomads can't find a remote control. Apparently.

Friday 17 August 2007

Blogging about the Bookcase

Busy. Frightfully busy. From 3rd September my life returns, by degrees, to normality.

I had a desperate want to get Episode 2 out before going to Whitby Folk Week, but time and the North Sea tide have conspired against me. It should be up some time over the bank holiday.

I've just about finished washing off the last of the mud from The Festival at the Edge. An indomitable festival, a delightful weekend, and a big "Huzzah" to anyone else who made it through. If any of you are in Whitby come and say "Hello"!

There's some very exciting projects in the pipelines, and more details to come in this blog, in particular the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight show I'm putting together is starting to build up momentum, more on that as it happens.

Some of you might not be aware of my role in Clara73, the surreal audio play on Quirky Nomads. It's been a pretty exciting project so far and if you've not heard it already it's well worth a listen.

I'll leave with a photo* of me telling at Beyond the Border, taken by the delightful Mike O'Connor. Mike's a cracking bloke, there's something of the fae about him. I told the Selkie Lullaby that I put out in Episode 1 with the usual plea for info, and he came bounding over to tell me about the manuscripts of John McCodrum, he even played the McCodrum family Seal Call on concertina. I would have recorded it, but as Miss Shine points out it would be irresponsible of me to learn a tune for charming seals and not also collected a tune for making them go away again.

I'll see you all soon.



* He took a couple of action shots, and in each of them I'm pulling a silly face or in an odd pose. This is the most normal, I think.

Tuesday 10 July 2007

Beyond the Border and back again

A big "Hello!" to everyone here from Beyond the Border. Wasn't it amazing? My first time at St Donats and it took my breath away. As you can see there isn't much here at the moment, but I'll hopefully have another show out by the weekend. Please leave a comment below, and I'll see some of you again at Festival at the Edge!

Thursday 28 June 2007

Episode 1, of wolves and seals and a free bicycle,

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This is sort of a 'zine, a punk cast. By which I mean it isn't really finished, but I'm putting it out anyway! I really wanted to start getting stuff out, and knowing that people are listening will drive me to better, darker, funnier, more. It's ropey in places, clunky in others, there's a lot of ways I want to take it. Do you want to take it there with me? Then email me!

Show Notes

I suppose you're meant to have some sort of intro theme. Here's Ibly Dy playing By the Year 2020 we will all ride giant wasps to work, recorded live at the red house. And some of Marching Footsteps recorded by Cognitu Perceptu and Big Door Shut Down by Loofa, from the Free Sound Project. And Sage Tyrtle of Quirky Nomads can't find a remote control. Apparently.

~~~

Malcolm Gibbons provides some guitar moods, some of the Dalesman's Lament, a bit of Prokofiev, and some musing melodies. But not in that order. And not all at once.

~~~

I will tell you a story of a girl. A famous girl. Dickens once described her as his first love, saying that he felt that if they could only be wed he would know perfect bliss. See The Christmas Tree. Here is an old version of the story, one that sees her bereft of her iconic headgear, but we are in no doubt as to her identity, and, well Charles, I know exactly what you mean. Traditional.

~~~

About a year ago I had the delight of seeing Danny Spooner perform live. It was brilliant. He's one of those artists whose material you just have to steal, or as it's known in the folk world, collect. This is a piece he learnt from a friend of his mother's, Mrs McCall, whilst sat at their knees as they darned late at night, bouncing stories and songs back and forth. The piece is from Scotland, I'd wager Orkney though I can't be sure. At the bottom of the piece of paper on which he wrote me the words there's a little throw away note that says it tells the story of the MacCudrum family who are descended from seals. If you know anything about this, or if you are a seal get in touch, I'd love to hear more.

Gulls by the Sea recorded by acclivity in sussex, from the Free Sound Project.

~~~

Never ride a bike on the road without a safety helmet and proper reflective clothing.

Freecycle is great for more than just bikes and puns!

The Ski Sunday theme is Pop Looks Bach by Sam Fonteyn

~~~

The closing music is the traditional Cold Haily Windy Night, performed here by the talented Silverwheel, check them out here and here, and be at their up coming gigs at The Holly Bush on the 4th of July and The Red House on the 8th of July. (More gigs listed on the Myspace page!)

~~~

Feedback very much appreciated!

Sunday 24 June 2007

folkin' good tales

I met Tom Garside at Whitby Folk Week at a Storytelling session, year upon year. Then I saw him on a tram in my home town of Sheffield.

And it turned out we lived about two minutes from each other.

Well what else could we do but point video camera's at each other and attempt to bring some folkin' good tales to You Tube?

Here's me, telling an off the cuff version of The Fisherman's Heart, (trad), be sure to check out Tom's shocking acount of a girl who spies on fairies as well.

Thursday 14 June 2007

I aint dead

Crazy times. I've moved house. I've been partaking in an underground storytelling revolution. I've been booked at a couple of festivals, Festival at the Edge and Beyond the Border.

I've been busy. I've dribbled Cthulhu over at Cat and Cthulhu. I've brought a punk rock zombies apocalypse to Quirky Nomads.

But I haven't updated here. That will change.

Monday 15 January 2007

Our world was spun from the Dagda's harp

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The why and the how:
Tibetan_Chant provided by The Free Sound Project

Zozu the robot by Diana Carter, Puffin Books 1976, ISBN 0140307672

The Adventures of Tintin by Herge,

Towersey Village Festival

Four Fools Folk Festival

The didgeridoo is played by Mr Tim,

Digital Advice’s Five Steps to Free Podcasting

Check out blogger and the show notes.

Feedburner is here!

The show was recorded using Audacity with Lame, you guys rock!

PerditaExKnit provided the syndicated livejournal feed.

Now lets get down to business!

All at once she gave birth to three daughters...

The greatest of journeys begins with the first step.

Jiriki is currently sweeping that step.

From The Book of Pages by Dave Whiteland, to the best of my memory.