Rockin’ in Croydon

For something a little bit different, last Wednesday (14th) @PodRED and I met @d_ed in Croydon for a metal gig in the Black Sheep.

The boys were very up for visiting their old stomping ground, having shared a flat in Croydon a couple of years ago. This led to much reminiscing and in-jokes and pre-gig revisiting of such tourist draws as The (slightly grungy) Ship. Also, Croydon being Croydon, much squinnying about the trials and tribulations of driving in a town where you share the road with trams.

Proudly proclaiming ‘Members Only’ above the door, I’m told that usually you gain entry to the Sheep by the power of thumb – as rather than cards, they have member fingerprinting tech. Not sure whether I’m pleased or disappointed that this wasn’t up and running on Wednesday, but as a slightly grisly rock venue I really liked it. Cheesy cut-metal flame decorations lined the ceiling demonstrating we weren’t taking the rock venue thing too seriously, and I was immediately taken back to similarly grim, red-lit, student adventures at Loughborough’s SU. If this threatens to put anyone off, don’t be: I had come straight from work and – despite a shift dress, hand bag, and pinned up hair – was in no way made to feel out of place by the slightly more natuarlly punk-looking denizens.

Now, I think its fair to say that my musical tastes – although quite broad – tend to be a bit softer than metalcore… so take all reviews, and indeed genre classifications, with a suitable pinch of salt. The initial draw for me was Terakai, whose vocals are provided by my brother Joe Knipe, but I thought the gig was pretty excellent overall.

The headliners, a band called Proceed, were extremely polished. Softer than either of the support acts, I would still have put them on the metal spectrum but with an electro and almost poppy edge. The second support act were local boys Against the Flood. What I would describe as a straighter death metal act, the vocals were less melodic than either of the other two and so not as much to my taste. They had a pretty solid reception from the crowd though.

Terakai were the first support act on and, as such, faced the unenviable job of whipping up an unfamiliar (and still arriving) crowd - but a task I think they more than met.

A couple of years ago Joe used to be in a band called Tears of Glass. To my mind, Terakai as a sound is more mature and significantly tighter. A good mix of metal vocals with more melodic bridge sections; I’m not a guitarist, but the wall of sound seemed intricate and impressive.

All this is even more incredible given recent sad events. Terakai are currently looking for a new rhythm guitarist as, sadly, Matt Dodd (co-founder and lead guitar) died in his sleep in March.  The rest of the lads are continuing on in tribute; Existing rhythm guitarist Tom Grepne will work to take over Matt’s lead, with current tour dates being honoured with guest guitarist Tom Hollings from band Arusha Accord.

If you know anyone who is serious about this sort of music as a career, and is a skilled guitarist, then check out the Terakai mySpace or get in touch via @terakai – their debut EP is due out in the next month or so.

… no doubt I will feel the need to plug their forthcoming dates as and when

A small bout of self-indulgence…

“No, surely not?” you say, knowing full well that any blog without a clear mission statement is very likely self-indulgent tosh.

Well, guilty as charged. This brief post is entirely dedicated to my having found a new columnist with whose output I am particularly pleased.

So, I thoroughly recommend Lucy Managan of The Guardian. A little bit irate, quite often bemused, and also quite… well, really very *right*. See Scrabble and the Election, Molly Ringwald, or the youthful employees of the local supermarket. I don’t often take the trouble to vocalise my frustrations with the world; it’s quite enjoyable to have someone put it out there for me to consume along with everything else online.

Mostly I felt it a kindness to share this with a single, easily ignored, blog post rather than 25 tweets pointing to individual articles and annoying the arses off my 54 followers.

And, yes, I am working on reception on a quiet Sunday with nothing better to do with my time

So I walked to Cambridge.

So, I survived my pilgrimage to Cambridge and even became a minor celebrity. After a glorious sprint finish*, I had a lovely jacket potato and several too many pints of lager in the Anchor on the bank of the Cam. We received a fabulous heroes’ welcome from Warren Dosanjh (who does the fab I-Spy Syd in Cambridge walking tours) and my lovely friends Charlotte and @AxStaffer.

For the official Syd Barrett Fund blog click here, and if pictures speak louder than words for you please check out our facebook. The walk raised an incredible £2,500 for Escape Artists work to make the arts accessible for mental health service users, and if you haven’t made your donation it isn’t too late. Equally, if you have, thank you so very much. You rock.

You may recall that EA Finance Officer – my mum - was bravely** striding out with us. Sadly, that was not to be. Five of us finally embarked on our training walk along the Thames Path, from the Barrier to Hammersmith (or Albert Bridge if we wimped out early). Well, we made it as far as Surrey Quays. Upon crossing a wooden bridge, Penny slipped and broke her ankle. A big brave soldier whilst the rest of us (read: me) were a mess, she kept a cool head as we phoned 999:

Them: Okay madam, we’ll send someone out to you.

Me: Oh, thank you.

Them: Where are you?

Me: Well, we were walking the Thames Path… erm… we’re on the South Bank and we’ve left Greenwich and we aren’t as far as Tower Bridge and… I don’t really know.

Well, we got them a street name (thanks Jen) and out they came. Only they didn’t. And it was starting to rain. Essentially, their GPS took them down the wrong road looking for us. But eventually Steve and John of the Deptford Ambulances arrived, exceedingly apologetic, very charming, and incredibly capable…

… but with a broken ambulance. The boys started doing tests whilst they waited for another ambulance to come to the rescue, when suddenly there was a distinct tinkle of crunched broken glass. An elderly man across the street tripped up the curb, smashed his glasses, and was bleeding from his face. Well, at least there were ambulance-types on hand.

So, make that an order for two additional ambulances please.

Except that the first ambulance sort of works, just the electrics are shot. Well, they lived near Dulwich and knew where the hospital was so didn’t need the GPS. After a manual cranking of the ramp back in to the ambulance (like, with a crow-bar winder thing) we were away.

Thank you to everyone who took such lovely care of my mum - the fellow walkers who stuck around, the lovely boys from the ambulance, the fab A&E, surgeons, and nursing staff at King’s College Hospital.

Well that’s one way to get out of a walk to Cambridge.

But, not one to shirk her responsibilities, Penny still managed to fundraise in her sparkly pink plaster cast, even putting her x-rays online! My mum rocks.

Flushed with a newfound affinity for some poet or other’s love of nature (except the mud and the creepy crawlies), I plan to keep up this new outdoorsiness. First to try will be the Cooltan Arts‘ Largactyl Shuffle – a guided cultural walk from Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill to Tate Modern, it “uses art, humour, architecture and local history to promote physical and mental well being”. With a different theme on the third saturday of every month, I’m thoroughly looking forward to it this weekend :)

* I ran twice that weekend when I thought that it would in no way be possible. The first was at the end of our 20 mile day on the Friday; we had finished about three miles early in Broxbourne (owing to exhaustion – and a very good job too considering the very scenic remainder would have been a nightmare along the very muddy banks of the aqueduct, not what was needed for morale at that time!), had a lift in lovely John’s minibus (must find the name of his minibus charity and plug accordingly…) back to King’s Cross, only for me to tumble (read: limp) out at Elephant and Castle to see the 176 pulled up 100 yds down the road. I ran. He closed the doors. I gestured pleadingly. He opened the doors. A lovely bus driver and a thoroughly worthwhile burst of energy but I have absolutely no idea from whence it came. The second unexpected burst was at the very end. Despite my smiling face (above) I had pretty much been carried from Byron’s Pool across Grantchester Meadows by Simon Webb, walk organiser and King of the Syd Barrett Fund. Then, suddenly, there it was. The finishing line. The pub. Hurrah! Jen, Astrid, James and myself made a good go of a (slightly limpy) sprint finish. Amazing.

** Not that bravely really. She is something of a rambler and actually knew what a 20 mile walk was prior to signing up – unlike the rest of us idiots.

Tales from the Outside…

Flagrant clogging up of the internets with repeat posting. Very rude of me, but I’m trying to raise money for charity.

Anyway, the original post can be viewed on the Social Arts NEtwork, here.

Long time no blog… oops. My main excuse for this is avoidance.

Yes, avoidance.

See, the London – Cambridge walk gets closer and closer and my levels of training have really not been what they ought. Until last week the most exciting distance I had walked was to London Bridge from our Whitechapel office. This I have done twice, both after the pub (its been quite a late spring and I needed the beer jacket).

But, change is a-foot!

First, I have been spurred on by my lovely supporters: http://www.justgiving.com/abi-walks-to-cambridge

This has been *amazing*. I put up one facebook message squinnying about the walk and people I haven’t spoken with in years or have maybe only met a couple of times have come out in force to support me. You are truly awesome and I’m going to complete this thing for you lot alone, let along the good works we’re doing.

In terms of these ‘good works’, Escape Artists have recently confirmed a new project part-funded by the NHS and working closely with a Mental Health team in a prison and young offender institute.

Lord Bradley’s recent report suggests that there are more people with mental health problems in prisons today than ever before. Not only is prison a really high-cost option for dealing with people with mental health needs, but it is inappropriate as a setting for mental health care and is ineffective in reducing subsequent offending*.

Working with that confidence that comes from engaging with the arts, Escape Artists – supported by the Syd Barrett Fund – hope to provide part of the alternative. Both in prisons and once clients are back out in the community, our primary aim is to assist individuals in the development of literacy and numeracy, and the key social skills that can aid them in the process of becoming an employable, self supporting, and personally fulfilled citizen.

Second in the change to my training attitude, I am being encouraged by (taking part in mutual bullying with?) my training buddy, Escape Artists Finance Manager and my mother, Penny. On Mothering Sunday she came over to my house in South East London and we had a lovely eleven mile walk in the sunshine. Highlights include:

• The Horniman Museum Gardens. These are *lush*, and covered in crocii – purple, yellow and white flowers proving that spring has finally sprung. I am inspired to garden!

• Peckham Rye Common. People get snooty about Peckham. The park and the common are lovely, there are lots of small art spaces and galleries in addition to the South London Gallery… and the shops and market on Rye Lane are awesomely colourful. You could get *anything* there.

• The lovely shops of East Dulwich. The classy side of Southwark, row upon row of independent retailers. Apparently the organic butcher attracts people from across the entirety of Greater London and beyond.

• Sydenham Hill Woods. Very near my house, had *no* idea these were here. There is an abandoned railway station which was once on the Crystal Palace and South Junction Railway, and was once painted by Camille Pisarro! Check out the wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lordship_Lane_railway_station

• Dulwich Park. Which is enormous and *beautiful*. I thoroughly recommend it and can’t wait to see it when its teeming with ickle ducklings, but don’t feed the birds except for in the designated area! Sadly the Dulwich Picture Gallery was closed by the time we got that far in our journey, but its on a lovely site with some grand old houses around the area so I will be sure to go back some time.

Wow. A long post. We are finally doing our Thames Path walk this weekend – hopefully a group of about six Syd Barrett walkers – so I’ll report back soon. I’ve also got some tips stored up for pre- and post- exercise stretching and a story about a pedometer… so watch this space!

* from Diversion: A better way for criminal justice and mental health published by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health 2009 – email admin@escapeartists.co.uk if you’d like more information

Arts 4 Human Rights

Not only are things quite busy with Escape Artists right now, but I’m also moving house.

Still, not content with that level of challenge I had a lovely meeting last Friday with Sarah and Lucia of Arts 4 Human Rights. A fairly new non-profit I recommend taking the time to have a quick look at their website – their vision and energy is really inspiring and I’m going to be helping out with some fundraising for a late spring/summer community arts festival in Southwark. Dates to be confirmed and content under development, any practitioners or artists with an interest in this area or who would like to know more should definitely watch this space for submission opportunities.

PS – Gemma is painting an Elephant (I don’t know why, but I feel like this news deserves a big ‘E’). Seriously, the world should know of this.

New Year’s Resolution?

Shameless viralling really, but this made me chortle. Not to name anyone in particular (*cough* @PodRED, @AxStaffer *cough*), but I suspect there are those in this shiny new decade who would have a mild panic attack at the thought of being voluntarily disconnected!

Anyone know how well this actually works?

The Syd Barrett Centre for Social Arts and Research – The Big Give

Just to cover all the promotional bases… Today (and the rest of this week!) is all about a big push to raise awareness and funds for The Syd Barrett Fund and Escape Artists through The Big Give.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/eabiggive to see our current/upcoming projects and to get your donation doubled. Even the smallest donation really helps.

Big drive to get signups for our London – Cambridge Charity Walk. The plan is to do what Syd did when London got a bit too much and march from Hyde Park to Cambridge over the four day Easter weekend in 2010. Camping/hostelling, arty taster sessions, singalongs and all sorts of good stuff en route. Click here for more info, and donate £20 through The Big Give to register.

The walk (and all other donations) go toward supporting Escape Artists arts education work with marginalised groups and for our ongoing project to open The Syd Barrett Centre for Social Arts and Research, supported by Syd’s sister Rosemary:

I can imagine, something like an old church, I wouldn’t want a modern building because it wouldn’t suit, and it would be wonderful if we could have classrooms where art and various creative things could be taught and then we could have an art gallery where we could show it, a cafe where anyone could just drop in, somewhere that was totally inclusive. It seems in life we separate ourselves too much, and I would really like somewhere where everyone could feel included and everyone was welcome. It’s probably just a dream and couldn’t happen because human beings aren’t like that, but you can aim for it though. I think if you offer people the chance to be creative then you bring the best out of them. I’d like there to be somewhere that people could be creative, in a freeish way, where they could learn and benefit from that.

Syd Barrett, original front-man and songwriter for Pink Floyd, is widely seen as a musical genius and an undisputed pioneer of the sixties underground psychedelic scene – his music and later visual art remains a source of unrelenting fascination for music journalists and fans alike.

Many thanks for your support x

PS – Go retweet crazy @sydbarrettfund @escapeartists @abiknipe

Polaroids in the Park

Wow. So this is an old old post. But still… I like to ramble and I like to share.

Tuesday evening* I went to the preview of Shake It: An Instant History of the Polaroid at the Pump House Gallery in the middle of Battersea Park. Quite enjoyable and worth a look, I was left a little disappointed. I am a fan of the Polaroid and, in fact, still on occasion trot out the black armband. Perhaps I misjudged the aim of the show before going, but I went looking for a celebration of a tactile and/or dynamic medium.  I might have been disgruntled (sadly surprise can have that result with me…) but impressed by an interrogation of the waste of Polaroids or by their being critically situated in socio-political historic context. Intead, I was faced with a white cube space with some Polaroids spaced out. To my mind a Polaroid has the power to affect, to have an emotional (or at least nostalgic) pull.

In short, this did what Tate did for Futurism – dried out whatever spirit** existed in the subject in the name of ontology. At least the Pump House is an interesting and attractive setting – my date at Tate quite justly described the walls in the Futurism exhibition as “Orwell Grey” – though granted not one for those afraid of climbing stairs.

This was followed by much getting turned around in the dark park and emerging at the wrong entrances and nowhere near a pub, but as

1. there were three of us so the likelihood of our being mugged seemed smaller, and;
2. it was a mild, not-currently-raining evening this wasn’t much minded and a good time was had by all.

Worth a look, if passing and interested. For those who are interested in Polaroids, I recommend checking out or getting involved with The Impossible Project (who “aim to re-start production of analog instant film for vintage Polaroid cameras in 2010″) and, for the slightly more maudlin, suggest you follow @mylastpolaroid

So the following week @jodieroadie and I also attended Sophie Calle’s opening at Whitechapel at which I narrowly missed becoming a pool of blubbering fangirl on two counts: Firstly, Ms Calle herself was rumoured to be present… and secondly, the girl on the cloakroom had seen Jarvis Cocker. Me? No. I didn’t see either of them – and zen with this on account of having retained my cool in the presence of the (slightly more middle-to-upper-class than in Bethnal Green) cool art kids.  Thoroughly recommend the show: I saw Take Care of Yourself in Venice and although this is a fairly straightforward retrospective built around that project, it is more than worth the time… and you can check out Goshka Macuga’s Bloomsbury piece whilst there.

On other brushes with celebrity, @PodRED took me to the LFF gala screening of Up in the Air. No George, but the Q&A with Jason Reitman and the female leads was very interesting and, as with Juno and Thank You for Smoking, a very enjoyable soul searcher.

* One Tuesday evening in October, you understand…

** In no way advocating the politics of Futurism, but I suspect anyone who visited the recent exhibition would admit that any visual dynamism that might have existed in the paintings got pretty well stamped out in this context.

Love, thy name is…

Roomba, apparently.

If I didn’t already want one to go with my future-cat, I now want one to do this with:

Mm…

Lovingly fed to me by @PodRED, I’m now off to go and share this with everyone I ‘virtually’ know.

Escapes, Certificates and Musicians (Classical or Otherwise)

I choose to blame my current lack-of-posts on my new job – which is keeping me very busy indeed.

 

Escape Artists have recently joined the steering group for the Arts Alliance – a coalition of arts organisations working in the Criminal Justice System – and we will be attending their annual conference on 18th November 2009. Its in London, free, and lunch is provided. The programme looks interesting (full of stalls and taster sessions and talks) and I’ll be there with a badge saying something along the lines of “Get Your Certificates Here: Accredited Practitioner Training” so with incentives like these, how can you say no?

 

Escape Artists is also busy fundraising for an English language version of a very interesting play by Italian playwrite Adriano Vianello called The Bach and Mozart Project. If successful, we want to put on one week of workshops with institutionalised groups (with a performace) and one week in a mainstream London studio theatre. It will also support Marketing Officer Simon to work on The City Wakes 2 – a cross-arts festival planned for London in October 2010.

 

Talking of the Syd Barrett Fund, today I had an awesome meeting with an exciting newly graduated illustrator by the name of Anna Cooper who is an enormous Syd/Floyd fan. She has made an incredible illustrated childrens book featuring Syd and would like to work with the Fund on the run up to getting it published. She’s also meeting with Rosemary Breen whilst she’s over from the States and its all very exciting. Check out her online portfolio.

 

There’s been lots of other stuff too… including a half-written post on the Sophie Calle opening at Whitechapel and the Polaroid show in Battersea Park, but I’ve got to go and get on with more work

 

… I cannot possible leave without telling everyone about Metro’s reaction to David Beckham’s new bear about a month and a half ago though: “Hirsuites You Sir”   (!)