David Shade: 93-and-a-quarter

This is the slide-show I put together for my father's funeral, 4 years ago - mostly photos taken as and when. There are still a number of queries - we're pretty sure about most of the places, but who are some of these people?

To view full-screen
1) click on 'slideboom' at the left of the control panel
2) on the slideboom page, click on the rectangle at the right of the panel

Weaving webs

Sun 21 Sep
Brighton

Leon at the 100 Club

Sun 9 Nov
100 Club, Oxford Street

A family reunion (Beatrice and Ken, Peter and John, Brian and me) - thanks to the Geni family tree site - and another chance to hear Leon singing some of his current set. I should have posted on his evening at the Komedia in Brighton in May - My Life as a Songwriter or How I Failed to Become Rich and Famous - a wonderful, heart-warming, and very funny show - but here goes, better late than never, as usual.

Leon demands full attention from the listener - he must have the highest syllables-per-bar quotient of any songwriter on earth, so if you're not concentrating, you'll miss half of it. And it's all acutely observed, tightly woven, and witty, and constantly challenging, so it's well worth not missing any of it.

Just as when I saw him in Brighton, and in Lewes last year, I was convinced he sang the last two songs just for me - the Song of the Old Communist and My Father's Jewish World; well, this time, just for us. And The World Turned Upside Down for everyone, of course.

Thanks due to Robb Johnson for asking Leon to do support for his CD launch - as Leon said, it was going to be an evening of contrasts.

* * Coming shortly - Leon and Robb celebrate the bi-centenary of the death of Tom Paine with The Liberty Tree. This show just has to come to Lewes! * *

Listen to Leon's songs on his myspace, and get his records direct from his website.

Apple Day

Sun 28 Sep
Stanmer Park, Brighton

Everything you ever wanted to know about apples. Picking them, eating them, pressing them, drinking them, identifying them, dancing them, and most memorably, smelling them in the orchard - like having cider coursing through your veins! And of course, taking pictures of it all.

Thanks to Brighton Permaculture Trust for thinking this one up.

Season of mists

Sat 11 Oct
Lewes

As seen from my front room. And as seen by John Keats, with a bit of mellow fruitfulness thrown in for good measure. And Autumn Leaves, falling all over the previous Post.

Autumn Leaves

Sun 12 Oct
Sheffield Park

Quite simply the most stunning display I've ever seen. A glorious late summer's day, warm enough to sit on the grass, eat your sandwiches and bask. And leaves beginning to turn, with the low Autumn sun coming through almost horizontal but still strong enough to intensify all the colours and point up the shadows.

Thousands of awestruck visitors, wandering slowly through the park, mostly speechless, often motionless, just standing, gazing in wonder.

And the highest concentration of cameras per head on earth, from pros with tripods, telescopics and lens-hoods to grannies with mobile phones - so there'll be tons up on Flickr by now. So here's 114 more: set 1, set 2, set 3, set 4.

And if you fancy something in a completely different mode, here's Javier Paxariño playing the tune with students from the Salamanca Music Conservatory, earlier this year.

The Sound of Glynde

From the monthly English session at the Trevor Arms, Mon 13 Oct. Some of the old favourites played by some of the old favourites, and recorded in mono on my iPhone. The audio files are hosted at Box.net.

The Seven Sisters Conjunction

Scientists at the North London research institute THoF believe we are currently witnessing what is possibly the first ever occurrence of a phenomenon known as the Seven Sisters Conjunction. This is defined as the moment when the two bodies AFC and THFC appear at the extreme opposite ends of their seasonal trajectories. Researchers refer to these extremes as positions 1 and 20.

The Seven Sisters Conjunction is a special instance of the more general phenomenon known as the Seven Sisters Differential. This is calculated through the formula: (x) AFC :: (y) THFC. At the present time the values of x and y are 1 and 20 respectively (please see Table 1 for details).

This gives the result: 1 AFC :: 20 THFC, so the Differential is currently +19 (see note 1), and the two bodies are indeed in a state of Conjunction.

The Seven Sisters Conjunction is by its very nature temporary. It could last as little as a few minutes, depending on what are known as KO times, or it could be a matter of days, weeks, or even months. The two bodies could slip out of conjunction, and then slip back in again later. However, there is a limit: Conjunction cannot carry through from one season to the next. Were THFC to remain in position 20 for the remainder of the present season, it would find itself relocated to a secondary universe or ‘Division’, and the calculations would have to be done on a different basis (see note 2).

A further point to note is that, were a situation of Conjunction, or near Conjunction, to persist, this could well affect the timing of the annual celebration of St Totteringham’s Day. Mathematically this cannot occur before the mid-point of the season, but observers will no doubt be watching with interest.

We will try to keep track of events as they unfold at the new Seven Sisters Conjunction blog.

Notes
1) You will notice that the Differential is expressed here as a positive value - this is normal. Negative values (ie, where the value for THFC is lower than that for AFC) have been known to occur, but they are atypical and are usually of brief duration.

2) Were THFC to be relocated to a secondary Division, the Differential would have to be expressed in the form: 1.x AFC :: 2.y THFC, and the value of the Differential would depend on the maximum values of these coefficients - for several years now (1) has had a max of 20, and (2) a max of 24.

As an illustration, in the event of a hypothetical situation of 1.1 AFC :: 2.24 THFC, the Differential would be +43 (1::44), and the situation would be classed as a Secondary Conjunction. This is regarded as highly unlikely to happen in the short term, but as the THoF researchers say, “you never know”.

Jeudis de Perpignan

Thu 7, 14 Aug
Perpignan

From 7 till midnight, every Thursday evening through the holiday period, the centre of Perpignan hosts a mini street music festival, with a wide range of traditional and popular music from France and round the world. This year we saw Spi and La Gaudriole do a cracking bal folk set that had the whole of the Place de la République dancing, klezmer, trad jazz, a fanfare from Bénin, songs composed by Catalan women, even a parade of geese led through town by an accordionist.

The final spot on our second night there was the cobla band La Mil.lenaria playing sardanas - what else? - accompanied by a tractor-drawn mobile carillon. The carillonist (?) sits in a cabin at the back at a keyboard, and it's really weird to hear a tune played by a peal of bells moving down the street. Their final piece was Lluis Llach's L'Estaca, the number one Catalan anthem from the 1970s, still going strong, belted out by cobla, carillon and the voices of a couple of hundred spectators, at midnight.

Couldn't happen in England.

Matt @ the Oak

Thu 11 Sep
Royal Oak, Lewes

Matt does his first solo gig, at the Royal Oak, with a little bit of help from Dan. Now it's off to the Traditional Music degree course at the University of Newcastle. Best wishes!