PASS IT ON 19 weekend walkabout Sunday Supplement, September 24th 2023

SIDETRACKS AND DETOURS

present

PASS IT ON

weekend walkabout Sunday Supplement 19

24 September 2023

Hello: We have news a-plenty today and we hope you will help us to PASS IT ON. Indeed the board of Manchester Music Festival are so grateful to those who receive their news and pass it on so effectively as to have helped this year´s event enjoy a huge success. You can read of their gratitude in the extract from their newsletter. Jazz in Reading deliver their usual listing of live events in the region, as well as detailsd of anew album from local artists. Mr. Bewick is just taking his HOT BISCUITS out of the oven to munch  on as you listen to his jazz show.. Peter Pearson ensures we remain all points forward by taking an overview on recent award-winner, Mary Chapin Carpenter. Ralph Dent look at the new Rolling Stones record and new writer, Alfred Michael, with his preference for a gentler music, brings us news of the North Sea String Quartet and of a Passenger re-packing. Norman Warwick closes the edition with a few Island Insights by looking at what has been a superb wine harvest despite the storm raging over the mountain. He also visited the artisan fiar in Mancha Blanca before moving on to an visual arts exhibition in a home-gallery in Orzola, to look at more new work by his favourite artists.

CONTENTS

MACHESTER MUSIC FESTIVAL

Thank You All

Recorded Jazz Music

TRACES

live jazz music

Bishop’s Court Farm

THROUGH SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER

with Jazz In Reading

Jazz On Air

HOT BISCUITS presented by Steve Bewick

A Reader´s Perspective

ALL POINTS FORWARD by Peter Pearson

The Poetry Of Mary Chapin Carpenter

logo music remembered

THE ROLLING STONES: NEW RECORD

PREVIEW BY Ralph Dent

logo Music News

NORTH SEA STRING QUARTET

PASSENGER

by Alfred Michael

Island Insights

by Norman Warwick

Live music

Another Manchester Music Festival summer season has come to a close.  The Guest Artists and Young Artists have all departed, and Festival House is quiet once again.  We are grateful to our donors, audience members, business partners, sponsors, and volunteers for helping make this a great summer!

We are already hard at work planning for next season.

 

So, as the 49th MMF season drew to a close, Philip Setzer, the artistic director sent out communiqués that extend to all of you and say. ´

Dear Friends, Old and New, what a great honour it is to have been appointed the new Artistic Director of Manchester Music Festival. 2024 will be the 50th Anniversary of this great festival as well as my first as Artistic Director. My colleagues on the Festival staff, the board of directors, and I are already working hard to create a memorable menu of musical delights for all of you next summer´.

MMF@50 will be called “The Romantic Journey”. I have always thought of each program, and especially the series of thematically-linked concerts, as a kind of journey—one that both increases our knowledge and also deepens our enjoyment of these great works of Art. We will explore the definition and roots of Romanticism, experience the passing of the romantic torch from Beethoven to Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms and onward to Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, and more.
The journey will take us all the way to a newly commissioned work, exploring romanticism from the viewpoint of today. We will also present concerts featuring our Young Artists and a special program called “Given a Chance”—romantic works of composers who struggled to have their voices heard due to their gender, background, and/or the color of their skin. We will also present two family concerts for children, informative and fun.

The opening program of the festival, performed by my trio with pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel, will be Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio, Op. 97 and Schubert’s Eb Trio, Op. 100. The remaining programs will take us through the 19th Century and a bit into the 20th. The festival will end with a Grand Finale, still a work in progress, but will be announced soon.  This “Romantic Journey” will be everything one could imagine: exciting, beautiful, deeply emotional, historical, fascinating, delightful, and—yes—romantic.  Please join us next summer!

Philip Setzer • Artistic Director

A MESSAGE FROM OUR BOARD CHAIR

photo Dear Friends,

I´d like to take this opportunity to thank you, on behalf of the Board, for your enthusiasm and support of Manchester Music Festival.  Without you, our audience, donors, sponsors, our wonderful community, we wouldn´t be here and about to embark on our 50^th year celebration.  We have accomplished much, building on all the hard work of those who went before, and yet, there is so much more we can do.  This last year has been one of change.

Earlier in the year we were very fortunate to hire Philip Setzer, a founding member of the Emerson String Quartet , among other things, as our Art Director. Many of you have had the oppoirtunity to meet him on the fewe occasions we were lucky enough to have him at the festival this summer, between the quartet´s final performances:Although phil won´t step fully into his new role at MMF until October,  he is already at work on an exciting programme to celebrate our fiftieth season in 2024.

Expect to be amazed.

Joining Phil at the beginning of October will be our new Executive Director, Jenny Lin.comes os, of course after a more than twenty year career as a pianist. We are so pleased she is bringing her knowledge and experience  to Arts Management for MMF  and is dedicated to working iweth Philk and The Board to launch the next MMF era. We look forward to sharing our plans for our fiftieth celebration as they unforld, and meanwhile offer our thanks to each and every one in our audiences.

TRACES by Jamie Howell

preview by Jazz In Reading

Traces pulls together threads of composer and guitarist Jamie Howell’s memories and influences and spins them into musical fabrics with collaborators. Building on Traces 3 – a trio of guitar, bass and drums – Traces 9 expands this line up with violin, cello, tuba, bass clarinet/flute, tenor sax and trumpet

The music is very personal and reflects Jamie’s interest in the meeting points of contemporary classical music and Jazz.

Simon Price drums  | Paul Jefferies double bass 
Bryony Rawstron cello | Jude Barnby cello |Claire Ellis violin
Michael Wilkins bass clarinet/flute  | Simon Currie flute
Alexander Glyde-Bates tuba |

Stuart Henderson trumpet/flugelhorn
Arabella Sprot tenor sax  | Jamie Howell guitar

Live jazz An Evening With Freddie Benedict 

Bishop’s Court Farm Dorchester on Thames OX10 7HP

Sunday 1 October Doors 6pm | Show 7 – 9pm |

The second in an exciting series of contemporary jazz evenings at Bishop’s Court Farm
With a silky-smooth croon that belies his age, the irrepressible Freddie Benedict has been compared to everyone from Frank Sinatra to Chet Baker, so it’s hardly surprising that he caused such a stir when he embarked on a solo career which has seen him perform everywhere from Carnegie Hall to Ronnie Scott’s.

One of the most exciting talents to emerge from these shores in many a year, Freddie Benedict made his name as the lead singer of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Accompanied by his superb quartet, Benedict will be stirring up an unmistakable mix of ageless jazz standards, Brazilian sambas and contemporary pop songs.

Having received a rapturous reception when he made his Snug Sessions debut last year, we are delighted to welcome him back to Bishop’s Court Farm for what will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of the year.

Freddie Benedict – Vocals / Trumpet
Chris Bland – Piano
Luke Fowler – Bass
Floyer Sydenham – Drums
Jess Bullen – Saxophone

Here’s news of two further great events in the series Jazz at Oaken Grove Vineyard

The Vineyard is located at Benhams Lane, Fawley, Henley-on-Thames RG9 6JG.

Guests are welcome to enjoy drinks on the wine terrace before the jazz starts, Wines from the vineyard as well as other guest wines and local beers will be available to order.

Sunday 24 September
Denny Ilett sings Sinatra & Nat ‘King’ Cole
Gates 12pm, food at approx 1:30pm. Music from about 3pm
£22, child £10, under ten free
Pre-order food when purchasing tickets

With an authenticity seldom heard in this day and age, vocalist/guitarist Denny and his trio will perform an intimate and heartfelt selection of Great American Songbook classics made famous by Frank Sinatra and Nat ‘King’ Cole.

Between them, Sinatra and Cole’s recorded output represents the pinnacle of jazz-infused pop music from the 1940’s through to the 60’s with such gems as Fly Me To The Moon, Mona Lisa and I’ve Got You Under My Skin at the forefront.

Accompanying the music will be the amazing sharing platters made fresh on the premises. Packed with local cheeses from Marlow Cheese and Nettlebed Creamery, fresh charcuterie, crackers, pickles, nuts and more, please order your meat or vegetarian option at checkout.

Gates open at 12.00pm midday after which food will be served at approximately 1.30pm and the music will start at about 3.00pm.

Friday 20 October

Moscow Drug Club

Gates 6:30pm. Music from about 7:30pm £25
Pre-order food when purchasing tickets

Think Berlin Cabaret, Latin Tinge, French Musette, and storytelling – all converging in one magical musical place!

An evening of pure indulgence

Intoxicating and intimate musical experience
Storytelling with music

Enjoy this eclectic evening as you enter the darkly comic world of Moscow Drug Club.Combining their original material with songs by the likes of Jaques Brel, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Eartha Kitt this evening will heighten your senses with world jazz and folk.

Featuring Katya Gorrie, Jonny Bruce, Andy Crowdy, Mirek Salmon, Will Edmunds and Andy Bowen.

Gates open 6.30pm and the music will start at about 7.30pm. Food will be available to purchase on the night and our bar will be open for a selection of wine, beer, spirits and soft drinks.

Jazz On Air

HOT BISCUITS BY STEVE BEWICK

Next week on Hot Biscuits we feature a review of contemporary vocalist Laura Zakian‘s recent CD, `Dreaming life.` An impressive collaboration that promises much more. Dreaming Life adds five new songs to five reprised and sometimes rearranged compositions from Zakian’s first released collaboration with Pyne, the critically acclaimed Minor Moments (2019).

I will be joined by my colleague, Gary Heywood-Everett. and broadcast is carriesa warning from Stephan O’Goodson about Gloomy Sundays.

Nevertheless, we will reach the Top Of The Mercury Lights, a victory march from the Ezra Collective. Geoffrey Keezer Trio will also be playing, with the  `All The Things You Are.`

We take a look at the Buxton International Festival 23 with performances by Dale Storr, solo piano, Shez Raja, and Quiverish.

We will dinally, fade off air with Ni Maxine and Strange Love.

 If this looks interesting, please PASS IT ON  and tune in on www.mixcloud.com/stevebewick/ 24/07

remembered music

STONES´NEW ALBUM & FIRST SINGLE ISSUE

preview by Ralph Dent

The last time The Rolling Stones released a new album, British Prime Minister Tony Blair had just visited President George W. Bush in the White House. Six PMs later (counting Liz Truss’s 50 days), Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood have announced their 28th studio album, Hackney Diamonds, out Oct. 20 on Geffen Records.

The announcement was made by Jimmy Fallon, hosting a press event at Hackney Empire in East London comes with a new single,  Angry,along with a video directed by Francois Rousselet and starring Syndey Sweeney.

photo Hackney Diamonds will feature 12 new songs recorded from a variety of locales including Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles; Metropolis Studios in London; Sanctuary Studios in the Nassau, Bahamas; and Electric Lady Studios and The Hit Factory/Germano Studios in New York. The album was produced by Andrew Watt (Post Malone, Iggy Pop, Elton John):

ALL POINTS FORWARD

A Reader´s Perspective from PETER PEARSON

to poetry awards for lyrics

When I received a request, or was it a command, from our editor, I at first thought  oh no not Mary Chapin Carpenter,  Over the years she has slipped way down my list of favourites and I was fearful I might not be able to match the editor´s  enthusiasm for all things Chapin.

.So I have sought  to remember the good times when I would look forward to her visits and certainly her touring on the back of Ashes and Roses were good times.

Had Norm mentioned Mary Chapin Carpenter to me in 1998 my reaction would be quite different to that now. Why? Because I do not think that she has developed as an artist since then and her albums have been patchy with a couple of good tracks in most cases and a lot of mediocre ones.

Since July 1987 she has released 16 studio albums. My standouts would be Stones In The Road released in 1994 , when I believe she hit her peak, and Ashes And Roses in 2012 when I thought maybe there was more to come after 18 years of what I thought of recording mediocrity.

In the late eighties and early nineties she was a regular visitor to the UK always with a consummate band of musicians ably led by her record producer and guitarist John Jennings.

I always enjoyed those live performances. She had an excellent stage presence and rapport with the audience. But after Stones In The Road those UK visits dried up, as did, in my view, the quality of her recordings. Sadly John Jennings died in 2015 aged 61. With Mary Chapin he produced and performed on at least 8 albums and 11 top ten singles. In essence he was her musical muse.

Her strong point for me has always been her poetic lyrics but she seemed to me to be musically in a rut between 1994 and 2012. In 2007 she experienced a life threatening pulmonary embolism, followed closely by a failed marriage and death of her father. In 2012 she released Ashes And Roses. In my view a real classic on a par with Stones In The Road. In the UK she appeared on BBC TV Transatlantic Sessions 6 featuring some superb duets with Aoife O’Donovan and Karen Matheson. She then toured with the Transatlantic Sessions where I saw her at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, with Eric Bibb and others.

Unfortunately touring with the Sessions means you are one of several guest vocalists so you are restricted to maybe 4 songs in a two hour concert. Her performance was nevertheless enough to whet the appetite for more to come. She led the encore with her rousing cover of Mark Knopfler’s  The Bug.

Sadly ,the 3 non compilation albums since then have failed to impress me and I wonder if she has returned to that musical rut.

It is interesting that her recent ACM award is for her poetry. I was not aware that the Academy of Country Music had such a category of award. I don’t think Garth Brooks is known for the quality of his lyrics. No wonder she was perplexed.

By the way, it was at the Manchester  Opera House in the late 80’s. or early 90’s.. that I saw Mary Chapin Carpenter being supported by John Gorka. I enjoyed his set, though. I felt he spoiled his act by throwing in comedy songs.  I have sent Norm a video link to a John Gorka you tube. I wonder when he hears these songs, whether Norm might agree with me that there is still hope that some American heavyweights might yet mine gold from that Gorka catalogue.

Ed´s note logo  I am aware of the name of John Gorka, and of the high regard in which he is held by several USA artists of his day. However, I am less aware of the songs himself. His work was often on tapes I had until the great flood of Boxing Day 2015

Music News

NORTH SEA STRING QUARTET

by Alfred Michael

North Sea String Quartet have sent us some news to share with you and would love you to PASS IT ON.

Hope everyone had a good summer break! As the fall season settles in, we are excited to share some updates and upcoming events with you.

One Night Music Stand

We are delighted to release “One Night Music Stand,” composed by our violist, Yanna Pelser. It is the second piece of our live recording session at Batavierhuis. Yanna describes it as a “jazz ballad in modern classical style, inspired by composers Henri Dutilleux and Béla Bartók.”

Mark your calendars now for an unforgettable day of musical exploration on November 4th at Het Batavierhuis in Rotterdam. The “Creative String Day,” a one day spin-off of our Academy of Improvising Strings, is a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in a world of creativity, rhythm, and improvisation.

All intermediate and advanced violinists, violists, cellists, and double bass players are welcome, as well as teachers who want to explore an open-minded approach to music and their instrument. Previous experience with improvisation is not required!

We’re very happy to get to play our new program before the recording in December. We’ll be playing at Jazz & the City Salzburg in October, and at the end of November we’re starting our tour in the south-west of Sweden with plenty of concerts and workshops. 

Also, on November 3rd, we’ll launch our album crowdfunding, for which we will need your precious support. But more about that in the next newsletter!

Last July, we had the privilege of performing at the prestigious North Sea Jazz Festival. On Friday, the 7th, we joined forces with Trio Da Kali in a packed hall filled with people eager to dance and move their feet.

photo Two days later, on Sunday, the 9th, we changed registers and joined the soulful music of Samora Pinderhughes. The rich harmonies and meaningful lyrics brought a beautiful energy to the festival. We were going to meet again this fall to play at the Rockit! Festival in Groningen, but unfortunately Samora had to cancel his tour due to an injury. We wish him a fast recovery.

In August, we took off to the enchanting country of Bulgaria, where we had the pleasure of being part of the tenth edition of the Radar Festival. A beautiful and spacious attic of the City Art gallery in Varna served as the venue for our acoustic (and warm) concert. We were honored to meet the Dutch ambassador and share our journey as an improvising string quartet. Later on, we continued to the picturesque town of Veliko Tarnovo, the historical and cultural capital of Bulgaria. To our delight, we met our former member, Karin van Kooten, by surprise. We returned home with new inspirations and a deeper appreciation for the diversity of musical traditions.

Two weeks later, the quartet met again at the Koorzaal of the Concertgebouw, probably the most beautiful basement we’ve ever seen. We played two packed sets and met new NSSQ fans.

Stay tuned for more updates, behind-the-scenes content, and exciting announcements in the coming months. Until then, keep the music alive! Best regards for all NSSQ.

Music News

PASSENGER  RE-VISITS All The Little Lights

Preview by Alfred Michael

In his latest newsletter, Passenger, presents news to excite all his fans.

ALBUM PRE-ORDER LIVE  

NEW SINGLE OUT NOW UK RECORD STORE

SHOWS ON SALE 

I’m beyond delighted to announce that “all the little lights – anniversary edition” will be released on November 10th. This album means so much to me and I know it does to a lot of you guys too It’s a group of songs (one in particular….) that completely changed the trajectory of my career and the shape of my life forever. Over the past 2 years we’ve been busy re-recording every song from the original album from scratch and believe that with the help of our brilliant band, and a few very special guests… we’ve breathed new life in to it whilst also hopefully preserving everything that made it special in the first place.

It´s available on standard and deluxe cd / vinyl and there’s also a brand new range of merchandise which I absolutely love !!!! 

There are all sorts of pre order bundles so make sure you get yourself over to the website and check it all out !!

I’ll be signing a limited number of cds and vinyls so get yours quickly if you fancy a signed copy.

I’m also super proud to share the first single and video from the album with you all “life’s for the living” with the amazing FOY  VANCE is available on all streaming platforms.

And finally – I’m extremely happy to announce that I’ll be doing a little run of gigs around the UK to celebrate the release.

I thought it might be fun to go back and play some of the smaller venues that I used to play around the time of the original release and we´ve teamed up with a bunch of brilliant independent record stores around the UK to help us put the gigs on …

Amazingly most of these sold out in just a few hours but at the time of writing this message there are still a few tickets for Birmingham , Kingston and Brighton …. Get in quick if you wanna come along.

Please spread the word and PASS IT ON to all of your passenger buddies if you can.

Thanks so much for your brilliant support !

Mike xx

Island Insights

STORM RAGES OVER MOUNTAINS

by Norman Warwick

It is an incredible expansive landscape that has seen NASA Astronauts train and acclimatise on it. Even in the bright sunshine we have every day here, the miles of solidified lava flow that is the constant reminder of eruptions that last took place on our volcano field almost three hundred years ago. It is a dramatic for film, tv and commercial advertising companies. There is a long straight road that skirts the east side of what we call Timafaya Mountains, but over the last couple of years, with tourist figures that are now exceeding the pre-covid times, cars and buses are stretch out for the car park in the very bowls at the of the region, five miles back down on to that main road, and thus causing chaos on the main road.

From the car park coaches depart to carry passengers along the circular (well, maybe a figure eight) one way track. This offers photo opportunities to photograph the craters from the very lip, and the ride itself offers all the fun and fear of the fair.

Tinajo Mayor Jesús Machin has insisted that a proposed Timanfaya park-and-ride project goes ahead, and threatened that he will consider closing access to the Fire Mountains if the problem of queues is not addressed. The park-and-ride project would see cars park at Mancha Blanca and tourists then taken to the Fire Mountains on shuttle buses.

His statements follow the recent announcement by Tourist Councillor Ángel Vasquez that the problem of queues will be tackled by introducing fixed time slots and making tickets only available online.

The park-and-ride scheme was proposed in February last year, and strongly supported by Machín, who believes it would reduce queues and bring tourist income to Tinajo. However, later that year, Machín’s party colleague Pedro San Ginés said that a car park and shuttle buses would also be required in Yaiza, as 80% of visitors to the volcanoes travel there by that route. Yaiza Mayor, Óscar Noda, complained last September that no one from the Cabildo or Tinajo had approached his council about the project. 

Island Insights

SUPERB WINE HARVEST 2023 by Norman Warwick

Lanzarote’s wine harvest has surprised producers after low expectations earlier in the year, and has turned out to possibly be the fourth-largest harvest since records began. 

Around 3.2 million kilos of grapes have been gathered, compared to the 1.9 million of last year’s low harvest.

According to Nereida Pérez, secretary of Lanzarote’s Wine Council, heavy rain in February and March arrived just at the right time for this year’s crop, which also benefitted form a natural cycle which brings larger crops every three or four years.

The grape harvest means that local bodegas will be able to restock with wines that many sold out of earlier this year.

Grape producers managed to earn around €3.40 a kilo for their grapes this year, meaning that the new wines are likely to cost from €6.50 to €7.50 a bottle.

Island Insights                                                

The Pilgrimage of Los Dolores 2023:

pilgrimage to Mancha Blanca by Norman Warwick

The Romería de Los Dolores 2023 took place on Saturday, September 9. The pilgrimage to Mancha Blanca in honour of Nuestra Señora de Los Dolores will therefore take place six days before her name day, which is on September 15^th.

What is undoubtedly the great pilgrimage of Lanzarote was not established until the nineteen nineties when the then president of the Cabildo, Sebastiana Perera, incorporated it into the island’s festive agenda. 

The invocation to the Patroness of Lanzarote is related, of course, to the eruptions on the Timanfaya fields which began in 1730 and continued until 1736 and in three months of 1824. With fear in the body of the natives of Lanzarote, according to Alex Brito in his Lanzarote History Blog “Rubicón”, a Franciscan “organized a procession with the image of the Virgen de los Dolores de Tinajo to go to the lava currents; once there they made a vow to build a hermitage to the Virgin of Tinajo if she managed to stop the lava from the volcano. A man with a wooden cross came up and nailed it down; ´the river of lava reached the cross and stopped”. 

I should say here and now that this pilgrimage is arduous to say the least. Whole families, dressed in National Costume, walk to the church from wherever they live on the islands. To reduce distance, and time, they will often take a route as a raven flies and they leave the tarmacadamed road to clamber up mountainous sidetracks and detours. it is, though, a marvellous sight to watch this line of hundreds or people at a time circling the mountain peaks and then to descend down the other side to the church, which as you can see from the photograph seems to in a place of peril, standing as it does at the point where there roads from different directions cross,…or collide !

Almost a century after the famous Fire Mountains eruptions of 1730-1736, which in fact created, what we now know as Timanfaya National Park, another group of volcanoes erupted on the outer periphery of the mountain range in September 1824.  Although their duration was much shorter they gave birth to a legend celebrated every year at the fiesta of Los Dolores.

Suddenly a blazing torrent of lava from Tinguaton volcano broke away and began flowing in the direction of the village of Mancha Blanca which lies just outside the Fire Mountains, threatening it with destruction.  According to legend, the terrified villagers led by their priest gathered together in the church praying for their salvation and emerged carrying an effigy of Los Dolores, the Patron Saint of Lanzarote.  They began marching towards the oncoming incandescent stream of lava and when it was almost upon them the liquid mass changed course and flowed off harmlessly in the direction of the sea.  Since that time, almost two hundred years ago, a fiesta of thanksgiving has been held every year on the feast day of the saint, which is now a public holiday. 

You can read Norman´s review of the Artisan Fair Lanzarote 2023 when it goes live on Monday 2^nd October in Sidetracks and Detours.

Island Insights

EXHIBITION AT A GALLERY HOME 

Preview by Norman Warwick 

In my youth and earlier days of my career I always wondered from what point on may I actually call myself an artist. How successful do I have to be and how much recognition do I have to earn before I dare to say: „I am an artist“? I thought it is a definition by those who look and judge my art. – Today I think differently. For me there is no distinction between Claudie the person and Claudie the artist anymore. And maybe there never was. I just gained a confidence over the years which I did not have then. From the minute I open my eyes in the morning (and even when I dream at night) I am aware of the magic concepts of art around us. For example, a walk at the beach is like a stroll through an exhibition. Patterns left in the sand by the sea, the form waves take in each single drop they are made of, just look at the traces animals leave in the sand … I notice it everywhere, in nature and in life and I love to make others see it too. So „Claudie the artist“ is the creativity within myself on which I live my life by and it is impossible switch it off. No matter if I work as a photographer, create new designs for a magazine, write, paint or draw or even work in the garden. It is always there. I cannot NOT be an artist anymore.

Hermann Hesse. (left) He was a poet, journalist and painter and had a principle for his life, which I find very true: „be in the world but don`t be of the world.

When I am in a working process I completely leave the planet. My art is me and I am my art. I am no person any longer, have no thoughts or troubles anymore. I become the paint, the pencil, the art. It is pure bliss. Maybe like being in the perfect relationship but your partner is a better version of yourself. I feel completely in balance with myself, dive into my own endless ocean and when I come back to the surface I am wiser, happier and super content. Does that sound like a deprivation tank experience? Ha ha … I do not know but it is true, weightless floating.

Poster Claudie, the artist, and speaker of the words above, has become a good friend over the last few years. Nevertheless she remains an artist in our eyes, .. to paraphrase her own thoughts,  how can we NOT not think of her as artist? island if you are the area today why not accept her invitation to visit her lovely home gallery, in the beautiful port town of Orzola in the north of the island. Perhaps you are reading this whilst sitting on the beach there, or over a cup of coffee at one of the harbour side cafés. If so, then Claudie is just round the corner.

Wherever you are on the island, though, tap the address of  Calle Peña Hendida 11, 35541, Orzola into your sat nav and you will arrive there in less than forty five minutes later from wherever you are on Lanzarote, to receive a warm welcome and enjoy  a calm, reflective ambience.

we return to our day job tomorrow, gathering arts news form the sidetracks and detours from Monday to Friday. You can check us out every day as we search foi black lives in music, and learn aboput the upcoming inaugural I love Manchester Awards. We also listen in to when Suzi Q met KT and then met AJ the DJ from Monster Radio. Together they taled up a Perfect Storm and created a great playlist.

We´ll be back home by Friday to continue our work on that bigger bookshelf, as we´re going to need space for a book on the birth of rock and roll. So, we´ll see you somehere round the corner or along the happy trails