Sidetracks and Detours present PASS IT ON weekly walkabout Sunday Supplement 22 Sunday 15th October 2023
Sidetracks and Detours
present
PASS IT ON
weekly walkabout Sunday Supplement 22
Sunday15th October 2023
There´s a bug in the office.. It isn´t a computer bug, but is instead a mind-bending bug that daces on the brain that has seen tricks of the light, vivid mercurial memories, convoluted conversations and nor has it been without iots physical discomfort,. It has been incredibly hot, mid nineties F and a week in bed , with me looking like The English Patient left it impossible to produce a full PASS IT ON magazine this week. I couldn´t even reach out to our fantastic contributors like Peter Preston. However, as you all know our usual Sunday Supplement seems as long as the Encyclopàedia Brittanica from A to Z, so if in reduced form we are confident you will find something of interest to read.
Researching History
Write Well And Carry a Red Pen
essay by MICHAEL HIGGINS
Literature
Someone To Love Us by Terry O´Neill
book review by TONY BRADY
Jazz On The Radio
Hot Biscuits served by STEVE BEWICK
Live Jazz
JIR LOGO LIVE Jazz at Progress
Partners in Time
Stuart Henderson trumpet & flugelhorn, Karen Sharp tenor & baritone saxophones, Leon Greening piano, Raph Mizraki bass, Simon Price drums
Review by TREVOR BANNISTER
Island Insights
Following A Festival In This Age At My Age
by Norman Warwick
Island Insights
Open Studio. Home Gallery Now On Line
by Norman Warwick
Peninsular Promises
Take Care of Your Art At The Adsubian Gallery
preview by NORMAN WARWICK
logo Researching History: essay by MICHAEL HIGGINS
WRITE WELL AND CARRY A RED PEN
to brush away offences of the past
In a recent PASS IT ON I highlighted Bavarian podcaster Teresa Reichl’s campaign to ‘sweep the dust’ from an off-putting school curriculum. Schools, she claims, introduce the young to reading but often the narrow literary canon, chosen by elitist male minds actually puts young readers off the world of reading. The School curriculum is too old fashioned and exclusive, stopping young readers from exploring neither the classics nor new publications. Schools either help reading minds to blossom or stunt that growth with a dreary, boring ‘kaput’.
But there is I feel another threat to the reading young: creeping censorship in the form of ‘sensitivity readers’ employed by major publishing houses to delete or amend words or sentences which may offend the modern reader. Most of the books Reichl recommends for young readers are relatively modern publications, save for Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, and will have taken modern sensitivities in their stride. But most in the traditional classical canon, especially those written in English will not. Hence the news of recent years of Roald Dahl’s stories being toned down to eliminate references to ugliness, fatness, stunted stature and gangliness in his stories , along with words like hag and crone in his depiction of witch- like features and other physical hurtful descriptions that might offend. One shudders to think what sensitivity readers would like to do to the Brothers Grimm’s Household and Children’s tales.
Now Ten Little Indians and likewise the Ian Fleming estate now allows the emendation of ‘men grunting like pigs’ in the raunchy depiction of James Bond in a strip club to less bestial expressions, along with a host of other ‘derogatory terms’ offensive to modern eyes. And of course any supposed ‘racist language’ is taboo. Which dooms Agatha Christie’s 1939 crime mystery Ten Little N…r Boys in which the title, always known as And then there were None in the USA, remained as Ten Little N…r Boys in Britain till 1985. That title came from a supposed children’s ditty coyly changed to ‘Ten Little Indians’ in my day. Alas even seemingly innocuous title could not stand now as the word ‘Indian’ is also now relegated to the language lumber room in favour of the clumsy term ‘First Nation Peoples’.
I have just been reading a history of the American War of Independence as fought on the ‘Indian frontier’( A Company of Heroes by Dan Van Every, 1962)) where the word ‘Indian’ is used exclusively with not a First Nation warrior in sight. Are history books and all the accounts in archives of Native Americans as ‘Indians’ to be erased by sensitivity readers? That would be a lifetime’s job for somebody, or bodies, for sure. And, likewise, all the now considered offensive words in recorded documents.
For me the highlights of accounts of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift (right) are the references to swearing and blasphemies uttered by men under pressure of imminent death. As the Reverend George ‘Ammunition’ Smith is passing out handfuls of bullet from his haversack to each soldier and begging them to ‘stop cussing’ as they may imminently be about to meet their maker, one soldier angrily replies, ‘You send the n….rs to Hell in your way and we’ll damn them in ours.’
Of course, no one at the time commented on the derogatory and racist terms which the surrounding Zulus may have used to blacken (whiten? ) the names of the 24th regiment hurling abuse and bullets at them. Sadly Ammunition Smith’s character was left out of the Cy Enfield film description of the battle in the 1963 film Zulu. As was all the swearing. As was much else for that matter, but that is the movies for you. Not that I condone swearing or racial typecasting; I was brought up in a non-swearing household that abhorred the words I have just been hinting at. To see them in print today can be a shock unless one knows the context. And historical language can seem abusive to modern ears, but were commonplace in their own day.
Today, even the P.G.Wodehouse Estate has let the sensitivity readers loose in amending mild ‘racial references’ in the Jeeves and Wooster stories. And wholesale deletions and emendations are taking place throughout the commercial literary world so that in a short time in seems few of us will be able to read books as originally written by their author if the trend continues. With all the furore directed against JK Rowling and her offhand comments about the fears for the safety of biological women in the Trans debate, one wonders how long Harry Potter and his chums can survive in the world of easy offence and the so called ‘cancel culture’ enacted by organised activists. And what about the stigmatisation of ‘Muggles’ just because we can’t play Quiddich? Will Muggles soon be reduced to boring old ‘ Spell-challenged Humans ’in the seemingly clumsy way spelling activists re-word our spoken language?
Theresa Reichl does not mention cancel culture or British Universities’ penchant for providing students with ‘safe spaces’ where they need not hear unwanted language, terminology or harmful ideas-where an invited speaker to an event can be ‘no-platformed’ at will if enough students can force the issue and where sensitivity warnings are given to the students if a book on the reading list mentions slavery, whiteness, patristic views, misogyny, militarism, marriage et al. Well, that’s just about everything out there on bookshelves at the moment. And yes, Jane Austen is under scrutiny as well.
Theresa Reichl argued that reading should give us confidence and a better understanding of the world we live in. And whatever the protected world of a university might be, unfortunately the outside world harbours all the modes of speech a lot of us abhor. In literature how do we write that world up in a way that gives characters a sense of reality and yet a civilised balance? And if we do this by writing stories with occasional characteristic speech particular to type how do we do it by not offending modern propriety? And if we as writers cannot do this effectively how do we know that in future years some ‘sensitivity editor’ might want to strike one of our beloved phrases or paragraphs for an even more modern reader?
I think back to the unfortunate Florence Kate Upton (left) who wrote her seminal childrens’ story The Adventures of the two Dutch Dolls and Golliwogg in 1895. The wonderfully illustrated ‘Golly’ doll – a friendly warm fuzzy haired black rag doll in a minstrel weskit and bow tie became a world favourite soft toy, eventually championed by Robertson’s Jam. Twentieth century voices delved into its etymology, linking it with black and white minstrel parodies and the associated racial slur of ‘wog’. The fact that it had two ‘gs’ in its name and combined the surprise word ‘Golly’ and half of the word Pollywogg (Tadpole) in its otherwise suggested etymology as well, did not save it from darker slurs and poor Florence became distraught that her innocent doll had been tinged with unwarranted hate. Today one can be visited by the police if one displays such a doll and as for Ms Upton’s books, well as Teresa Reichl might have said, ‘Who wants to read about a black face doll and an eating- disorder, thin stick Dutch Doll these days?
And as for another old schoolboy classic, I bought recently – The Barring out of Billy Bunter– a tale of the very fat public school boy of the early 20th century who is always stealing other lad’s food and doing an awful lot of lying at Greyfriars Public School. The prolific author Charles Hamilton ( said to be the most prolific writer in English) writing under the pseudonym Frank Richards, created the much loved Greyfriars ‘Famous Five’ . Bunter was known as ‘The Fat Owl of the Remove’ and would d not go down well with anyone sensitive about their weight. And who wants to read about fat public school boys in a white man’s world? I am not so sure about Hurree Ram Jam Singh, the Indian classmate. Singh exhibited true public schoolboy honesty whereas Bunter was greedy and selfish. One can read stereotypes into Frank Richards but not exclusivity. Now there is a conundrum indeed. How does one write anything these days without offending someone?
Ah Well, writing has always been a dangerous jungle I suppose. Best to tread carefully, write inspirationally, and despite the tribulations, make sure you do it well.
Literature
Someone To Love Us by Terry O´Neill
book review by TONY BRADY
I have learned today – from my enquiry to The Capel Grange , Nursing Home, Newport, Wales, – that Terry died there on 10th September,2023. I expressed our Thanks to the Nursing Staff and conveyed Condolences to Terry’s wife Pat.
I attempted a visit to Terry on Monday 22nd May this year but visiting was restricted. I spent time with his next-door neighbours of 20 year’s – who put me in touch by telephone with a member of Terry’s family.
It is of deep personal regret that the hiatus between Terry and our Blaisdon connection was beyond my power to heal – as it occurred outside my watch. Even so, I applaud his years of service in our Blaisdon Association: his legacy is in the Archive passed to me when the Charlie Springett & Terry’s personality clash, led to both their irrevocable resignations.
Terry O’Neill was just ten years old when he stood up in court to testify against those, accused of the manslaughter of his twelve-year-old brother, Dennis. Terry and his brother had been taken into care and moved through many foster homes, until they came to live on the Shropshire farm owned by Reginald and Esther Gough in 1945. There they were to suffer brutal beatings and little care or love – they survived as best they could, looking out for each other, until the terrible morning when Terry couldn’t wake his – starved to death – Dennis.
In a time when the country was united by war and struggle, the case shocked the nation and made headlines around the world. Terry, a small figure in the courtroom, captured the hearts of mothers and families everywhere, and the public outcry against the Foster Services led to the instigation of the first provisions to protect other vulnerable children from neglect and cruelty.
Terry O’Neill’s book: Someone to Love Us (right) – is testament to his life and stands as his immortal monument. Both for its graphic, shocking truths and for the direct resulting change in UK law effecting ongoing protections for Children in Care, that flowed from the trial, verdict, punishment, served against brutal foster parents.
Terry was my life-long friend, leading from when I followed him from his happy years in Salesian School Blaisdon Hall, to work on Stud Farm in 1955. I am proud that he honoured me by a commission to proof-read/correct his book in manuscript form, before submitting it for eventual publication by Harper-Collins.
This terrible case of child abuse that inspired Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap features in a new documentary on the legendary crime writer, presented by historian Lucy Worsley.
Footnote:
But what is less well known is that the young boy who witnessed the horrific treatment that led to his 12-year-old brother’s death, and gave the evidence that jailed their cruel foster parents, found the love and care to rebuild his life at a Forest of Dean, Blaisdon Hall, former Agricultural School run by Salesian Priests. Brothers, lay women and men.
ripo logo
Terry O’Neill RIP (13-12-1934) BH-1950-1953
Tony Brady is a good friend of Sidetracks and Detours and if you click his name into search endinge in the archives youw ill find several interesting writings from hima as well as a number of fascinating interviews. He will be on Lanzarote in November and we look forward to catching up with him.
Jazz On The Radio
Hot Biscuits served by STEVE BEWICK
Your Hot Biscuits jazz broadcast next week takes a different route. My colleague Gary Heywood-Everett takes the desk and explores the vocalists who are well known for their swing and scatting but can and do play instrumentally. Such examples come to mind from Georgie Fame, Nina Simone and Diana Krall to name but three of ten pieces Gary has selected and commented on. If this sounds good to you then pass it on and follow us at www.mixcloud.com/stevebewick 24/7 no limits.
Georgie Fame seems a great example of the singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, arranger kind of animal, and I always thought Yeah Yeah was of a higher level of sophistication than most of my pop collection of the time. Nika Simone was perhaps more at home with the jazz she wanted to sing than the gospel many others wanted her to sing, so I´ll be interested to hear what Gary has to say about that, and Dianne Krall (right) sits as comfortably among my Americana artists as she does amongst my jazz favourites. That little sample, of what is going to be a top ten of kinds, sounds very exciting
Live Jazz
Fleur Stevenson & Pete Billington Quartet
Crowmarsh Jazz, preview by JAZZ IN READING
Saturday 28 October
Doors 6.45pm | Show 7.30pm.
Tickets – £15 (£5 concession, details below)
Fleur Stevenson and Pete Billington present a programme of sparkling arrangements from their award winning album ‘For All We Know’ with an evening of music that intersperses delightful interpretations of classic repertoire with piano trio renditions of tunes by the greats such as Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans.
Playful and light-hearted yet with a frisson of melancholy, expect songs such as ‘I’ve Got You Under My skin’, ‘When Sunny Gets Blue’ and ‘Stella by Starlight’.
Fleur and Pete are supported by excellent musicians, bassist Raph Mizraki and drummer Simon Price.
“Fleur Stevenson is a relaxed jazz vocalist with a bright voice, good phrasing and the ability to swing at any tempo.” – Jazz Journal
“Fleur Stevenson has a soft and pure velvety tone that make her performances swing effortlessly.” – Jazz Views
There will be a bar and stone baked pizza on offer. Doors open at 6.45pm and the show starts at 7.30pm.
Venue: Crowmarsh Village Hall, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, OX10 8ED
BOOK HERE: of a singer-songwriter, arranger instrumentalist
£15 standard ticket price. Tickets are reduced to £5 for anyone living or working in adult social care and anyone in receipt of benefits from DWP – please get in touch for details: Email –fleur@fleurstevensonjazz.co.uk
Phone – 07795974
Crowmarsh Jazz pays all musicians properly and supports the campaign for fair pay for musicians.
LIVE Jazz at Progress
Partners in Time
Stuart Henderson trumpet & flugelhorn, Karen Sharp tenor & baritone saxophones, Leon Greening piano, Raph Mizraki bass, Simon Price drums
Review by TREVOR BANNISTER
Any band bearing the hallmark of Stuart Henderson guarantees certain qualities of performance: exciting and neatly arranged jazz at its most swinging; a well-researched and perfectly balanced programme accompanied by Henderson’s informative and good-humoured introductions; brilliant musicians at the top of their game who love the music and relish striking sparks off each other without over-staying their welcome in the solo spotlight, not to mention a built in ‘WOW’ factor that on this occasion threatened to lift the roof of the tiny Progress Theatre. It goes without saying that the sell-out audience responded with rapturous applause as they thrilled to the music.
Henderson also has the gift for working his programmes around an original theme; in this case, ‘Partners In Time’, the classic front-line trumpet/saxophone partnerships that define so much great jazz across a spectrum of eight decades spanning the bebop innovations of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker in the 1940s to the present day.
Henderson picked out a dozen gems from this rich vein opening with a languid interpretation of ‘Pennies From Heaven’ inspired by the majestic pairing of fellow Basie-ites Harry Edison and Lester Young on the 1956 album ‘Pres and Sweets’. An object lesson in economy and relaxed swing, Karen Sharp’s slightly laid-back tenor provided the perfect foil to Henderson’s’ tightly muted trumpet.
Leon Greening’s stunning introduction moved up the throttle by several notches as he led the way into a hard-edged delivery of ‘Out of the Night (Came You)’, a Horace Silver number from his post-Blue Note album ‘Silver ‘N Voices’, giving full rein to Henderson’s burnished trumpet and Karen Sharp’s expressive tenor.
Dizzy Gillespie’s calypso ‘And Then She Stopped’ brought back memories of seeing the quintet which recorded this track in person, with James Moody on tenor and flute, at the New Theatre, Victoria (now the Apollo) when it toured the UK way back in 1965. Ever the clown, Dizzy announced that he would introduce the members of the band. With that, the five guys began to greet each other with smiles, gracious bows and handshakes as if they’d never met before. Dizzy had probably pulled the trick hundreds of times, but it still had the audience falling about with laughter. After the concert, amid a melee at the stage door, a very young Kenny Barron obliged my friend and I with an autograph.
‘And Then She Stopped’ captured all the joyful spirit that I recall from those far off days, as well as providing an outing for Simon Price’s ‘jiggery-pokery’ with mallets on his drums and an amazing duet with Raph Mizraki, who used the body of his bass to conjure incredible percussive effects.
Star soloists Clark Terry and Paul Gonsalves took time out from the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1957 to record ‘Duke With a Difference’ for the Riverside label. This featured eight Ellington standards including ‘Mood Indigo’. The combination of Henderson’s trumpet – wah-wah mute and open, Karen Sharp’s mournful tenor and Raph Mizraki’s bass evoked the full plaintive beauty of this Ellington classic.
Another Duke, in this case pianist and composer Duke Pearson, contributed ‘Duke’s Mixture’ to the prolific Blue Note partnership of Donald Byrd and baritone saxist Pepper Adams. Taking up the monster instrument Karen Sharp blew a storm over Simon Price’s incisive shuffle-rhythm, to be followed by a positive tsunami of invention from Leon Greening – no wonder they are each regarded as the best musicians on their respective instruments anywhere around. Nor should we forget Stuart Henderson who held the audience spellbound as his trumpet soared to the heavens.
Stevie Wonder’s ‘You Are The Sunshine of My Life’ provided the perfect antidote to the previous heart-stopping excitement. It calmed the pathway to the interval with a gorgeous Latin arrangement drawn from Jim Rotundi and Eric Alexander’s 1997 collaboration ‘Jim’s Blues’.
The second set opened with a glorious cacophony of traffic noises – screeching brakes, honks and hoots, interspersed with snatches of the ‘Can-Can’, ‘Marseillaise’ and Gershwin’s ‘American in Paris’ – the colourful introduction to Bud Powell’s depiction of a ‘Parisian Thoroughfare’. Made famous by trumpeter Clifford Brown and his tenor partner Harold Land in 1954, our own Partners in Time kept up the dizzying pace as they raced through the streets of Paris.
‘The Killers of West 1’ brought us closer to home with a scaled down version of Tubby Hayes’ 1964 arrangement for his big band. With its feel for the hip, vibrant scene of ‘Swinging London’ and kicked along by Simon Price’s crisp drumming, this served as a fine tribute to Tubby, arguably the greatest jazz musician Britain has ever produced, and his long-term sparring partner, Scots trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar.
The inclusion of ‘Line for Lyons’, a classic recording by Gerry Mulligan’s piano-less quartet of 1952, gave Leon Greening the chance of a short rest. It was well-earned. ‘I had not heard him before,’ confessed one member of the audience. ‘He is simply amazing!”
Leon clearly took delight in the delicate interplay between Henderson’s trumpet and the sonorous tones of Karen Sharp’s baritone sax, adding his applause to those of the audience at the end of the number.
It’s a measure of the band’s skill and versatility that they could move with seemingly effortless ease from the homely comfort of the Mulligan Quartet to the spacious, other-worldly territory of Wayne Shorter’s ‘Witch Hunt’. Taken from Shorter’s 1964 Blue Note album ‘Speak No Evil’ when Freddie Hubbard partnered Wayne in the front-line, it featured a beautiful bass solo by Raph Mizraki amongst its many highlights.
Given its place in the pantheon of jazz recordings, tunes from ‘Kind of Blue’ are rarely, if ever, played live. Could it be a case of ‘How do you match perfection?’ Leon Greening, with the sensitive support of the rhythm section, set the scene for a sublime and utterly compelling performance of ‘Blue in Green’. Once again, though in a very different context to ‘Pennies from Heaven’, Karen Sharp’s full-toned tenor played the perfect foil to the heart-wrenching muted trumpet of Stuart Henderson – a la Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
Sadly, the ten o’clock deadline drew near, beckoning the return of the hired piano to its home in Hickie’s Devon storeroom. What a pleasure it had been to listen to Leon Greening at his inventive best on such a magnificent instrument. Thank you Hickies!
There was time for one more number; a finale and encore rolled into one. And what better choice than Lee Morgan’s ‘The Rumproller’. Everyone pulled out the stops for a truly spectacular close to a superb evening of jazz – rasping trumpet, wailing sax, two-fisted piano, grooving bass and explosive drums. WOW!
Needless to say, everyone had a great evening and left with a smile on their face.
Our thanks to the members of the band and the Progress team who look after everyone’s comfort and wellbeing with such warm hospitality.
Ed´s note: Look out for a book review from Trevor Bannister of a new biography of Big Joe Turner by Wokingham author Derek Coller who whose bio/discography of the Bluesman has just been published
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Island Insights
Following A Festival In This Age At My Age
by Norman Warwick
We can now offer a complete list of the musical artists who will be appearing at the forthcoming Canari Festival, which we briefly previewed last week. We told you the headline act, The Divine Comedy would be supported by Maika Makovski.
Only 20 years old when she began her recording career Maika Makovski has continually surprised us with each subsequent album. She now has eight of those under her belt and , with the latest, MKMK, released in 2021 was a success with fans and media alike, and was on nearly every list of best albums of the year. In fact it was winner at The Min and + Musica Awards for best rock album. A new single release , Bunch Of Little Burdens, is a raw song about the thousands of little burdens of being alive. With its powerful guitars and energetic piano and her own unmistakable voice, this is an exciting single to bring to the festival that is Canari, that we poke about last week here on Lanzarote Information and What´s On Lanza.
Since then, we have learned in the drip feed fashion that its web site delivers, details of some of the other acts who will be playing.
The group Melanas emerged in 2016 as part of the ´effervescent´ pamplona music scene, and with their reverb-core style quickly became one of the most talked about bands on the national and international indie scene. Melanas´ songs, with guitar, synthesisers and vocal wrapped in reverb, remain
a timeless pop sound with its own fresh style, rooted in tradition of bright melodies, new bass lines, vibrant keyboards and drumming, adorned with crackling phasers wrapped in heavenly vocal harmonies., The Feelies, Stereolab and the fiercest sound of C (& resonate in songs with lyrics for sensitive hearts. In 2012 they released The Polar, the acclaimed version of the eighties hit Eisbaer, by Granzone. This past, and the promising previews that their forthcoming third album will expand their sonic palette with a new richness of textures, through analog keyboards and electronic vibrations, will always offer their love of pop as their main protagonist. Melanas arrives at The Canari Festival, that runs from November 17th to 19th over the four different venues we described in last week´s article, which remains in our archives, to present their new album called simply that. NEW.
Their concerts are sweaty pills of post-millennial courage, with a formula that combines the lo-fi self-confidence of The Monks, the guitar vertigo of Jonathan Richman, the smoked psychedelia of The 13th Floor Elevators and the new garage wave of bands like Strange Boys or Black Lips. With this hilarious live show and a handful of hits, The Parrots managed to invade a large part of the international scene, performing throughout Europe and the United States. Then came their debut, the intrepid “Los Niños Sin Miedo” (2016), an album produced by Paco Loco and released by Heavenly Recordings, label of The Horrors, Temples and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. His reinterpretation of Bad Bunny´s ´Soy Peor´, turning it into a Caribbean-garage hit.
Adora is a duo formed by Fran Sylver and Romi Alter. Both from Gran Canaria, they met my chance in London. Their music is characterized by incorporating vintage influences with some more modern ones, as well as its mix of rock, pop, disco, electronic and Latin rhythms. One of their strongest points are their live shows, which are like a roller coaster that goes through rhythm sections with bongos, guitar solos, pop star dance breaks, electronic drops to get everyone dancing, and further. Always making it clear how good they are at putting on a good show, and reiterating what kind of artists they are. After three years developing their career in the United Kingdom, they are now committed to strengthening ties between Spain and the UK by releasing music in Spanglish.
Zurych was born in Madrid as a result of the creative concerns of Carlos Ortega who was quickly recruited by the record company “El Pescador de Estrellas” with which he recorded Last Call at Estudios Neptar. Around 2007, the transformation of a personal project into a band began to take shape; five musicians from different generations of the Conejera music scene met to complete the formation. They debuted live in 2007 and toured the peninsula, ending in San Isidro in Madrid before thousands of people. Already in 2010 they published their third and last album to date, which led them to the peak of their career. The tour corresponding to the album “From the ashes” took them to important venues such as Scala in London, Primavera Sound or Womad.
Last week, on these pages, I offered a brief preview of the forthcoming Canari Festival, which places musical concert alongside other festival events such as wine-tasting events and fine dining attractions. The truth is, although I have purchased two tickets so Dee and I can attend one of the day´s events, I´m not much wiser about times, seating arrangements, or even which act (s) we might be seeing and at what time(s).
The headline act is The Divine Comedy, who enjoyed critical acclaim, a loyal niche following that follows them to this day and a brief commercial success in the UK in the nineties. There are three other acts taking part in the festival, which is to be held over four days, with each day being at a separate location,
Just because Dee and I are part of the baby boomer generation it should not be assumed by readers that we saw The Beatles at The Stadium, and we were not part of the half a million strong who arrived at Woodstock. Blame it on the mud, mud, glorious mud but we never went to Glastonbury either. So, we don´t really know how a festival work.
Apart for the dates of the three festival days at the Lanzarote locations, the Canari web site from where we bought out tickets gives no further information about whether we will see, one, two, three, four, five or all six of the listed bands performing.
If we do, will that be one long. procedural concert with one band following the other until The Divine Comedy perform. And what time might that be……will we be home in time to feed the cats, and have our cocoa before we go to bed?
The blurb on the web site promises ´the experiences´ are part of the philosophy of Festivals Para Un Territorio. This is the ideal way to discover the richness of each area. These activities link the public with the natural, cultural and landscape heritage in a didactic and sensory way.
Acoustic tastings, wine activities, routes… there is a wide range to make the experience in Canari unbeatable.
Of the gastronomic delights we are told that we will enjoy an experience full of the flavour of Lanzarote to seduce our senses. The wine tastings that have been prepared, along with the best local gastronomy, come together so that we can taste all the flavours of our territories. The event offers a unique environment, accompanied by the best music, so that Canari becomes your favourite festival.
We know that the organisers already promote a very successful annual summer festival on La Geria, but of this autumnal inaugural event they say the essence of Canari extends throughout the entire archipelago. It is its landscapes, the volcanic land, its wild beaches, but it is also imbued with the character of its people, their lifestyle, their accent and a local gastronomy full of flavour and authenticity.
The first edition of Canari will focus on two islands: Lanzarote and La Graciosa. Between vineyards and volcanoes, we will enjoy unique experiences, concerts in natural landscapes and activities linked to heritage to get to know and enjoy the territory from a cultural and sustainable perspective.
They beckon with their hands, and call ´Hedonists, welcome to the perfect plan´ I´ve not been called a hedonist for over forty five years, and if I ever was one, I´m not sure what I did to deserve being called one.
And we are assured that more information about timetables etc will be made available online shortly, so keep your search engine honed in on.
Island Insights
Open Studio. Home Gallery Now On Line
by Norman Warwick
There are three great news to share. ONE: temperatures are going to drop soon but I will prepare the parasol on my terrace anyway. For good news number TWO: open studio coming Sunday, 15.10, we can chill & chat in the shade, enjoy some art and the Sunday together. If you do not wait so long, here comes lucky number THREE: my online shop is just finished. Hop over there and have a look:
https://www.calla-artwork.de/shop
You can shop your artwork and let it be delivered to the continent by postal service, carried to your house on Lanzarote by me and my car (extra price) or come and grab it here in my studio in Orzola.
I wish you a wonderful week and maybe see each other Sunday between 11.00 – 18.00, you are very welcome with family and friends.
Last year November I started to draw my “seaglass fairytales”. I never thought it would make me so happy, just to create them. I never thought they would make so many people smile. Now, wherever I go I have my eyes even more on the ground, searching for seaglass, rubbish, a piece of plastic and such. Most of my other works are recycling too but these works bring such a bliss, I am very grateful for having had this idea and the inspiration I got to make them Some more for you to see now and tomorrow Sunday 15.10 at my open studio. I hope they make you smile too
Elizabeth Warwick (Dutton The Button)
They are beautiful, we sent one to our Granddaughter in South Korea and she love sit. Dee
Claudie Hamburg
Elizabeth Warwick South Korea! Just to imagine my works on the other side of the world just makes me WOW.
Peninsular Promises
Take Care of Your Art At The Adsubian Gallery
preview by NORMAN WARWICK
The Adsubian Gallery is one of our favourite galleries even though at the moment it is an item in our bucket list, that we have marked to visit before we die. I think it is perhaps because everything about the venue that we have learned about on-line and from their newsletters suggest they are a kindred spirit of the The Touchstones Arts and Heritage Centre, where I used to work as a facilitator with my Just Poets educational group. The Adsubia sounds to be as rooted in its community as Touuchstones is in Rochdale. Both Galleries offer art courses, exhibition, talks and superb on line facilities. The Adsubian, and Touchstones, too reach out far and wide through their on-line and marketing facilities.
The Adsubian has sent us newsletters, monthly or thereabouts, for almost five years now, despite being well aware that that Sidetracks and Detours is a small, not-for-profit organisation, and that we are based on an island two hours by air off their coastline and that our readers include artists and art lovers of all genres. I think Aldo and Louise realise that because we send our daily blog out around the world, it doesn´t really mean that coaches of art – loving tourists will head straight for their door, though. On the other hand, here is a platform from where they can announce their wares and events in a way that will one day attract a specially designed arts holiday for a family or a small group. Such niche markets are becoming increasingly popular, and we are sure that a holiday in what sounds a very beautiful village, with warm and friendly artists and administrators at its centre would see many people honing their arts skills.
Enjoy.
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