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Delia’s Fourth Happening
Delia returned to the intimate By Our Own Hands We Make Our Way for its Fourth Happening. The evening began with ambient bliss from C5&C6, followed by a fascinating talk from Caroline Locke about her sound artworks. Headliners, The Low Drift, performed an evocative set of songs about land and place. As ever, host Simon Rudkin tied things together with poetry and storytelling. I love being a part of this community gathering around art and music, and it was fun to see friends old and new and chat about new possibilities.
Sam Morton at Rough Trade
We popped into town for the sold-out Sam Morton release day show at Rough Trade. During the signing, I bonded with local hero Sam about Broxtowe and family loss (she surprised me with the most sincere hug) and chatted with XL boss Richard about his music and why I hope he’ll listen to mine).
I first wrote about the Sam Morton project last year, and previously noted Sam's candid Desert Island Discs interview.
Sam Morton
I love these experimental electronic pop tracks from Samantha Morton (yes, the oscar-nominated actress) and producer Richard Russell for many reasons, not least how bloody good they are.
The collaged music foregrounds what the press release calls “Morton’s mainly autobiographical lyricism” and I particularly appreciate how familiar memories of growing up in Nottingham ooze from this music — “Hyson Green must I roam”.
I’m very glad I took a chance on Morton’s debut and hope for more. Note that it’s vinyl only, and limited to 300 copies. It's sold out on Bandcamp and Boomkat, but still available (at the time of writing) from Rough Trade.
Previously: Sam Morton on Desert Island Discs.
Delia’s First Happening
On Saturday night, we attended the intimate and low-key First Happening from Delia Recordings, the launch of a new project from old friends.
New beginnings. New blossomings. New life springs from the frozen ground. A new record label, a new magazine, a new series of happenings, a new time and place to create, perform, document and make beautiful things.
We enjoyed intimate songs and anecdotes from Huw Costin (Torn Sail, The Low Drift) followed by an inspiring short talk from Raif Killips about his impressive wildlife carvings. Later, there was an engaging spoken word performance from Simon Rudkin with Matt on the Moogerfoogers, and a headline performance of textured melodies from the excellent Brown Fang. Pop-up Crate Mags sold select publications and zines, and the event raised some money for the venue, By Our Hands We Make Our Way in rejuvinated Sneinton Market.
New beginnings and beautiful things. Spring is here, taste the colour.
Bibliomaniac
We took a wet walk to Five Leaves for another talk by Robin Ince. He’s doing a bookshop tour to talk about his previous bookshop tour, which is a very Robin thing to do because he loves books and bookshops and never stops touring.
Of course, Bibliomaniac: An Obsessive's Tour of the Bookshops of Britain, is about much more than just bookshops. It’s about place and connection and meaning. What, for example, does it mean for him to step off the train and walk back into Nottingham? It means Alan Sillitoe, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and his treasured Pan edition (I also have a copy, you’ll see it on my homepage timeline). It means that Nick Cave gig (we, too, were there) where he enjoyed Jubilee Street so much he left bruised after thumping his thigh in time with the rousing climax.
An evening with Robin is intense but comforting. He speaks truth to power, is unafraid to challenge those that punch down, and shares ways of thinking that help us cope with the chaos and cruelty of these times. It’s hard to keep up with his impassioned rambles, and I can barely remember half the authors he references, but I leave feeling a little better — not necessarily optimistic, but reassured because we’re all in it together. I’m reminded that the beauty of the world is there for all of us and that by talking we help each other to heal.
Geri and Robin converse a fair bit and enjoyed a catch-up after the talk. And judging by his TikTok, the exceptional Nanaimo bars she baked for him made the perfect well-earned midnight snack.
A vision for Broad Marsh
Here’s Thomas Heatherwick’s vision for Broad Marsh, the ruins of which are an embarrassing, lingering blight on Nottingham. It’d be hard to deliver on these renders, but he makes all the right points, and I’d love to see us aim this high. Chief obstacles will be a reduction of ambition by committee and increasingly noisy local defeatists.
The humans in this video are great. One woman walks right through someone else and several people appear to stop time. Also, there’s a huge, tame heron that I can't wait to meet.
Sleaford Mods, Dry Cleaning, Billy Nomates
Our first show for almost two years; a big hometown arena gig for Nottingham’s finest, with support from spoken word indie darlings Dry Cleaning and the excellent Billy Nomates.
One year without gigs
It’s precisely one year since we last went to a gig, which means it’s precisely one year since Matt from The National nicked Geri’s phone. What a night that was.
Sam Morton on Desert Island Discs
This interview is incredibly candid and frequently moving. Every moment Sam describes, from her deeply traumatic Nottingham childhood to the highs of Hollywood, is beautifully drawn.
Imminent restrictions
Nottingham now has the highest Covid-19 infection rate in England thanks to idiots like these (I’ve nothing against students, but everything against idiots). It speaks volumes that they are desperate for the “opportunity to hang out in the city centre’s many Wetherspoon pubs.”
A 20-year-old student at the University of Nottingham, out for lunch in the trendy pocket of the city known as Hockley, went so far as to say he and his friends wanted to catch the virus. “It’s a bit of a thing in our house. We kind of just want to get it so that we can stay inside for two weeks and just get it over with,” he said, while the friend he was with added: “It’s just a cold.”
Keep Calm and Carry On Infecting
While events across the globe — from small meetups to significant sporting competitions — are rightly postponed or cancelled, we spent the weekend exhibiting at a print fair.
The National with Jenny Lewis
The one where they played near our house and Matt borrowed Geri’s phone! Plus, support from Jenny Lewis and some huge balloons.
Tomorrow, we strike
Thousands of websites will be unavailable during the Global Climate Strike, with millions of us taking to the streets to demand climate justice and an end to the age of fossil fuels.
Conversations with Nick Cave
For many years, I was only a casual fan of Cave, reducing his songbook to a relatively short playlist. But I always found him fascinating, and it now seems inevitable that I would one day go all in.
Dear Nature book launch
Last night I attended the launch of Dear Nature, an important new work from renowned Nottingham artist John Newling. I was also invited to give a reading from the book.
Convenience Store Human
Thoughts on the uniqueness of the Japanese konbini, the subtle science fiction of Convenience Store Woman, and notes from a recent Q&A event featuring author Sayaka Murata and translator Ginny Tapley Takemori.
Goodbye, Albert Finney
My Mam always joked that in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning—that brilliant kitchen sink drama set in 1960s working-class Nottingham—his Arthur Seaton was “just like yer Dad!”
