On the 25th of July I had the pleasure of attending – unfortunately only a part of – the launch event organised by Think Act Vote (?!X) at The Arch Galleryfor their new book titled The Future We Choose. This book project was initiated by Think Act Vote (?!X) in order to create a new conversation around democracy and how we create the future we choose. Revolving around ‘The Futures Interview’, The Future We Choose brings together over 200 forward thinking voices from the general public mixed in with those more well known, from fashion designers to historians, campaigners to presenters, all of whom share their vision of the world they want to live in with their ideas of how to create it.
Michael Norton on 365 Ways To Change The World. This hugely inspiring man also talked about another splendid book he has written titled Click 2 Change, in which you can find ways to change the world from the comfort of your seat.
The book is now on sale through Think Act Vote’s etsy store, where you can purchase the limited edition that has been printed in the UK on recycled paper. You can request to have your copy signed and personalised too. The Hardback and e-book editions will be available in Autumn. If you would like to request an e-version review copy, please e-mail info@thinkactvote.org
For the past 25 years Jon Young has taught groups and individuals how to create a positive vision for the future through a deeper sense of community and connection to nature. To say I am excited about the opportunity to spend a week learning mentoring skills from Jon Young alongside fellow teachers, Mark Morey and Evan McGown, (a nature based poet and musician who co-authored The Coyote’s Guide to Connecting With Nature with Jon Young) would be an understatement.
I got to meet the sparkly eyed Jon Young – who like me is a big fan of barn dancing as a way of bringing people together – when he visited London a few months ago to give a talk in a darkened room at the top of a pub in north london.
Nature connection works best in a community setting.
Many of us have lost touch with animals and the earth but it’s easy to trigger subconscious feelings of connection. This is not about passing an ecology literacy test because everyone loves trees on an energetic level… but the woods can be scary so we need people with us along the way. How can we recreate these communities?
Greetings customs and rituals matter.
Greetings have been profoundly important for many eons of humanity – sometimes being so elaborate they could take days. Even though you are lucky if you get much of a greeting in New Jersey they have become more careful, sincere and authentic since 9/1, even from those you might expect to be grumpy. Everyone feels that needs to be welcomed and able to express themselves without pressure.
It is possible to create new rituals to suit us today.
The youth today carry the subconscious weight of their woes in over-sized clothes, but Jon has mentored both privileged and deprived children and all of them thrive when given space to express themselves. He recounts the story of a scholar from the best family and school in town, forever struggling to stay the best in his class, and thoroughly depressed as a result. After a few months of mentorship with Jon he tearfully declared that he was finally able to be himself and went on to became a mentor to the younger kids. Greeting customs can forge strong bonds and that is why the elaborate bonding rituals of gangs are so successful.
Everyone needs to feel recognised and blessed, at every age.
Young people need affirmation but so do their parents, many of whom will have missed out on it themselves as youngsters. If all generations are not cared for there are likely to be cultural gaps that can cause problems; for example a whole generation can feel threatened or alienated, and the worst outcome of this could be the sabotaging of change.
Maple Syrup as teacher.
When Paul’s family makes maple syrup they thank the trees with a special ceremony before boiling up the sap. This is a delicate operation that takes 2-3 whole days of pan-watching, for if the sap burns it will spoil, which is tantamount to violating the laws of nature. If this happens it will haunt you, but you will learn. As such it is an ideal teaching tool, especially for young men.
Remember to leave the seeds behind when picking morel mushrooms.
Paul lives life by the seasons, and has just two short weeks to pick morel mushrooms from a special place in the woods – unfortunately it’s impossible to keep his spot secret in a small community. He carries the mushrooms home in knitted orange bags that allow the seeds to fall to the ground; that way ensuring a crop for the following year. So much ancestral knowledge has been lost that some of the kids make huge amounts of noise crashing through the wilderness. Even in Paul’s community there is much disconnection from nature, and he spends much of his time finding ways to empower the elders.
The government can learn from Hurricane Iniki, which hit Hawaii in 1992.
This huge hurricane stripped houses from their foundations and denuded vegetation, yet only six people died. It took the government nine days to get aid out to Hawaii, but instead of panic officials were met by people at the docks who did not want to fix things too quickly, because then they would have to return to work. Everyone was relaxing, taking it easy, having BBQs and helping each other. Because of interwoven cultural relations present before the storm there was a built in community resilience that meant the people responded collectively as one living organism, instead of separate units. Here is a lesson in how to cope during disasters.
Jon was taught to play the bones twenty years ago when he last met Gerry (then working as a labourer on the East Coast), and has since taught Paul how to play the bones too. Here’s a video of the three of them singing together. Cross generational and cultural mentoring in action!
You can read another account of the night here. I am looking forward to learning so much more next week. See you on the other side.
Amelia’s Magazine second post on the Royal College 2010 Show Two deviates from the previous’ focus on Climate Change, adiposity finding ourselves mesmerised by Design Interaction Student, Kjen Williams’ Weather Camera.
A beautiful alternative to the avalanche of public private data currently building within the corridors of the web. The Weather Camera can be used to record a special moment’s atmospheric conditions. Subsequently producing a new method of narration.
Described as a moment of empowerment, Becky Pilditch‘s prothestics showcase how functional pieces of designs can be both a thing of beauty and self expression, that these can be extensions of the wearer’s personality.
Hand 8 the final part of the project, played with ideas of gesture and personality by creating numerous arms that related to the way Holly acted as she spoke.
In Animation I discovered the wonderful sleeplike animation of Lauri Warsta, titled ….. the animation merged the borders between surreal dream and documentary as the calming voice, not too dissimilar to the 1940′s DONT PANIC! voiceover narrated the viewer through the reporting on a global reserves of dreams.
Adnan Lalani‘s experiment with augmented reality caught my eye; the action of turning the pages of a pop up book to read the story is suplimented by additional animation narration appearing on screen placed directly behind the book and inline with the viewers eye.
The eye catching work by Louise O’Conner (Design Interaction); used experimental dance to convey the movement of Atoms as an attempt to connect us to movements beyond our awareness.
A particular lovely idea was the mapping out of the distances of the solar system along Kingsland High Street leading up to Stamford Hill.
Photography by Mark Henderson
You can find the map and information about the project here:
Katrin Baumgarten’s Aesthetics of disgust explore’s humans relationship, both emotional and physical to things that disgust them. Using inanimate objects that we take for granted, such as Light Switches, Kartin has added disturbing features as displayed in the pictures below. In the installation at the RCA a screen documents the reaction of the user.
Intimate touch or sexual disgust is also explored by Katrina
FINALLY on my second trip (yes second, it’s that big and really worth the time) I came across the brilliant work of Sivaprakash Shanmugam’s Expressive Scribble. The idea being to encourage children’s creativity and to “enrich their visual vocabulary.” Children can draw onto the projector screen (ideally this could be the kitchen floor, wall etc…) and through clicking on the ‘movie’ button enable their drawings to come to life, whilst learning a sense of narrative and the multiple possibilities drawing can conjure up….
Part two of the RCA show continues until 4th July 2010. It’s open from 11-8 daily at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU. Admission is free.
Images Courtesy of the Students and addition photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
What is the impact on our relationship to a world where mechanical objects interpret our daily surroundings through a variety of sensor monitors, subsequently producing endless streams of data? Are we moving into the final phrase of Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction? Kjen WilkinsThe Weather Camera. is a response to the designers search for the human presence within this deluge of electronic readings of our environmental surroundings. Instead of taking a photograph to a record of a special moment, the user of The Weather Camera could record the atmospheric conditions instead. In time this may encourage new methods of narration, titled by the designer as “Sensor Poetics” and documented in the image below.
Described as “object of empowerment”, Becky Pilditch‘s prothestics showcase how functional pieces of designs can be both a thing of beauty an extension of the wearer’s personality. Becky worked on the project with Holly Franklin, what I really like about the project is the development of a blog that can be used by other prosthetic limb users to feed back directly into the project.
Hand 8 the final part of the project, played with ideas of gesture and personality by creating numerous arms that related to Holly’s actions as she spoke or moved around a space.
In Animation there awaited Lauri Warsta’s Traumdeutung. A wonderful animation baring the hallmarks (whatever that may mean…) of a “documentary” as the calming voiceover, not too dissimilar to the 1940′s DONT PANIC! voiceover narrated the viewer through the date currently available on the subject of the animation: The Global Reserves of Dreams. Whilst simultaneously bearing the possibility that the entire animation is a dream itself.
The subtle block coloring of the animation maintained a ‘warmth’ more similar to hand drawn animation, that can sometimes be lost in 3D animation. An outcome perhaps of the animator combining ” making the two extremes (3D and Handmade) clash and merge. For example, by bringing the uncontrollable movement of real hand-held footage to an otherwise sterile computer animation”
Adnan Lalani‘s experiment with augmented reality caught my eye; the action of turning the pages of a pop up book to read the story is suplimented by additional animation narration appearing on screen placed directly behind the book and inline with the viewers eye.
Below is the Pop Up Book’s Prototype, Adnan kindly took a few moments to explain the idea behind combining the narrative structure of a pop up book with Augmented reality: “The pop-up book felt like a natural compliment to augmented reality. I was hoping to see how AR could be used in a more tactile, playful context… i.e. take something we already know and play with, and allow it to be enhanced with animation and digital interactivity.”
Eventually Adnan hopes that as we grow more comfortable with the idea of Augmented Reality, ideas like the Pop Up book ” can allow a progression from the magical, novelty nature of AR, into more of a direct tool by which to communicate narratives and story telling”
The eye catching work by Louise O’Conner (Design Interaction); used experimental dance to convey the movement of Atoms as an attempt to connect us to movements beyond our awareness.
A particular lovely idea was the mapping out of the distances of the solar system along Kingsland High Street leading up to Stamford Hill. Eight Shopkeepers were asked if their shop would host one of the planets…
Photography by Mark Henderson
You can find the map and information about the project here:
Katrin Baumgarten’s Aesthetics of Disgust explore’s humans relationship, both emotional and physical to things that disgust us. Using inanimate objects that we take for granted, such as Light Switches, Kartin added disturbing features displayed in the pictures below. Thus bringing these inanimate objects to the forefront of our attention.
In the installation at the Royal College of Art a screen documents the levels of the reaction of each user.
Intimate touch or sexual disgust is and how these feelings can be created “merely by inappropriate behaviours in society, such as touching another person in an intimate or sexual way in public, even though that might comfort the two persons involved and is a part of our human nature.” Is another subject explored by Katrina producing the Intimate Touch Object, an item which enables you to touch another person secretly…
FINALLY on my second trip (yes second, it’s that big and really worth the time) I came across the brilliant work of Sivaprakash Shanmugam’s Expressive Scribble. The idea being to encourage children’s creativity and to “enrich their visual vocabulary.” Children can draw onto the projector screen (ideally this could be the kitchen floor, wall etc…) and through clicking on the ‘movie’ button enable their drawings to come to life, whilst learning a sense of narrative and the multiple possibilities drawing can conjure up….
Part two of the RCA show continues until 4th July 2010. It’s open from 11-8 daily at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU. Admission is free.
Images Courtesy of the Students and addition photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
What is the impact on our relationship to a world where mechanical objects interpret our daily surroundings through a variety of sensor monitors, subsequently producing endless streams of data? Are we moving into the final phrase of Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction? Kjen WilkinsThe Weather Camera. is a response to the designers search for the human presence within this deluge of electronic readings of our environmental surroundings. Instead of taking a photograph to a record of a special moment, the user of The Weather Camera could record the atmospheric conditions instead. In time this may encourage new methods of narration, titled by the designer as “Sensor Poetics” and documented in the image below.
Described as “object of empowerment”, Becky Pilditch‘s prothestics showcase how functional pieces of designs can be both a thing of beauty an extension of the wearer’s personality. Becky worked on the project with Holly Franklin, what I really like about the project is the development of a blog that can be used by other prosthetic limb users to feed back directly into the project.
Hand 8 the final part of the project, played with ideas of gesture and personality by creating numerous arms that related to Holly’s actions as she spoke or moved around a space.
In Animation there awaited Lauri Warsta’s Traumdeutung. A wonderful animation baring the hallmarks (whatever that may mean…) of a “documentary” as the calming voiceover, not too dissimilar to the 1940′s DONT PANIC! voiceover narrated the viewer through the date currently available on the subject of the animation: The Global Reserves of Dreams. Whilst simultaneously bearing the possibility that the entire animation is a dream itself.
The subtle block coloring of the animation maintained a ‘warmth’ more similar to hand drawn animation, that can sometimes be lost in 3D animation. An outcome perhaps of the animator combining ” making the two extremes (3D and Handmade) clash and merge. For example, by bringing the uncontrollable movement of real hand-held footage to an otherwise sterile computer animation”
Adnan Lalani‘s experiment with augmented reality caught my eye; the action of turning the pages of a pop up book to read the story is suplimented by additional animation narration appearing on screen placed directly behind the book and inline with the viewers eye.
Below is the Pop Up Book’s Prototype, Adnan kindly took a few moments to explain the idea behind combining the narrative structure of a pop up book with Augmented reality: “The pop-up book felt like a natural compliment to augmented reality. I was hoping to see how AR could be used in a more tactile, playful context… i.e. take something we already know and play with, and allow it to be enhanced with animation and digital interactivity.”
Eventually Adnan hopes that as we grow more comfortable with the idea of Augmented Reality, ideas like the Pop Up book ” can allow a progression from the magical, novelty nature of AR, into more of a direct tool by which to communicate narratives and story telling”
The eye catching work by Louise O’Conner (Design Interaction); used experimental dance to convey the movement of Atoms as an attempt to connect us to movements beyond our awareness.
A particular lovely idea was the mapping out of the distances of the solar system along Kingsland High Street leading up to Stamford Hill. Eight Shopkeepers were asked if their shop would host one of the planets…
Photography by Mark Henderson
You can find the map and information about the project here:
Katrin Baumgarten’s Aesthetics of Disgust explore’s humans relationship, both emotional and physical to things that disgust us. Using inanimate objects that we take for granted, such as Light Switches, Kartin added disturbing features displayed in the pictures below. Thus bringing these inanimate objects to the forefront of our attention.
In the installation at the Royal College of Art a screen documents the levels of the reaction of each user.
Intimate touch or sexual disgust is and how these feelings can be created “merely by inappropriate behaviours in society, such as touching another person in an intimate or sexual way in public, even though that might comfort the two persons involved and is a part of our human nature.” Is another subject explored by Katrina producing the Intimate Touch Object, an item which enables you to touch another person secretly…
FINALLY on my second trip (yes second, it’s that big and really worth the time) I came across the brilliant work of Sivaprakash Shanmugam’s Expressive Scribble. The idea being to encourage children’s creativity and to “enrich their visual vocabulary.” Children can draw onto the projector screen (ideally this could be the kitchen floor, wall etc…) and through clicking on the ‘movie’ button enable their drawings to come to life, whilst learning a sense of narrative and the multiple possibilities drawing can conjure up….
Part two of the RCA show continues until 4th July 2010. It’s open from 11-8 daily at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU. Admission is free.
Images Courtesy of the Students and addition photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
What is the impact on our relationship with the environment, when we exist in a world where mechanical objects and sensor monitors constantly interpret our daily surroundings; producing endless streams of data? Are we moving into the final phrase of Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction? Kjen WilkinsThe Weather Camera. is a response to the designer’s search for a human presence within a deluge of electronic readings of the environment. Instead of taking a photograph to a record of a special moment, the user of The Weather Camera could record the atmospheric conditions instead. In time this may encourage new methods of narration, titled by the designer as “Sensor Poetics” and documented in the image below.
Described as “object of empowerment”, Becky Pilditch‘s prothestics showcase how functional pieces of designs can be both a thing of beauty an extension of the wearer’s personality. Becky worked on the project with Holly Franklin, what I really like about the project is the development of a blog that can be used by other prosthetic limb users to feed back directly into the project.
Hand 8 the final part of the project, played with ideas of gesture and personality by creating numerous arms that related to Holly’s actions as she spoke or moved around a space.
In Animation there awaited Lauri Warsta’s Traumdeutung. A wonderful animation baring the hallmarks (whatever that may mean…) of a “documentary” as the calming voiceover, not too dissimilar to the 1940′s DONT PANIC! voiceover narrated the viewer through the date currently available on the subject of the animation: The Global Reserves of Dreams. Whilst simultaneously bearing the possibility that the entire animation is a dream itself.
The subtle block coloring of the animation maintained a ‘warmth’ more similar to hand drawn animation, that can sometimes be lost in 3D animation. An outcome perhaps of the animator combining ” making the two extremes (3D and Handmade) clash and merge. For example, by bringing the uncontrollable movement of real hand-held footage to an otherwise sterile computer animation”
Adnan Lalani‘s experiment with augmented reality caught my eye; the action of turning the pages of a pop up book to read the story is suplimented by additional animation narration appearing on screen placed directly behind the book and inline with the viewers eye.
Below is the Pop Up Book’s Prototype, Adnan kindly took a few moments to explain the idea behind combining the narrative structure of a pop up book with Augmented reality: “The pop-up book felt like a natural compliment to augmented reality. I was hoping to see how AR could be used in a more tactile, playful context… i.e. take something we already know and play with, and allow it to be enhanced with animation and digital interactivity.”
Eventually Adnan hopes that as we grow more comfortable with the idea of Augmented Reality, ideas like the Pop Up book ” can allow a progression from the magical, novelty nature of AR, into more of a direct tool by which to communicate narratives and story telling”
The eye catching work by Louise O’Conner (Design Interaction); used experimental dance to convey the movement of Atoms as an attempt to connect us to movements beyond our awareness.
A particular lovely idea was the mapping out of the distances of the solar system along Kingsland High Street leading up to Stamford Hill. Eight Shopkeepers were asked if their shop would host one of the planets…
Photography by Mark Henderson
You can find the map and information about the project here:
Katrin Baumgarten’s Aesthetics of Disgust explore’s humans relationship, both emotional and physical to things that disgust us. Using inanimate objects that we take for granted, such as Light Switches, Kartin added disturbing features displayed in the pictures below. Thus bringing these inanimate objects to the forefront of our attention.
In the installation at the Royal College of Art a screen documents the levels of the reaction of each user.
Intimate touch or sexual disgust is and how these feelings can be created “merely by inappropriate behaviours in society, such as touching another person in an intimate or sexual way in public, even though that might comfort the two persons involved and is a part of our human nature.” Is another subject explored by Katrina producing the Intimate Touch Object, an item which enables you to touch another person secretly…
FINALLY on my second trip (yes second, it’s that big and really worth the time) I came across the brilliant work of Sivaprakash Shanmugam’s Expressive Scribble. The idea being to encourage children’s creativity and to “enrich their visual vocabulary.” Children can draw onto the projector screen (ideally this could be the kitchen floor, wall etc…) and through clicking on the ‘movie’ button enable their drawings to come to life, whilst learning a sense of narrative and the multiple possibilities drawing can conjure up….
Part two of the RCA show continues until 4th July 2010. It’s open from 11-8 daily at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU. Admission is free.
Images Courtesy of the Students and addition photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
What is the impact on our relationship with the environment, page when existing in a world where mechanical objects and sensor monitors constantly interpret our daily surroundings, producing endless streams of data? Are we moving into the final phrase of Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction? Kjen WilkinsThe Weather Camera. is a response to the designers search for the human presence within this deluge of electronic readings of our environmental surroundings. Instead of taking a photograph to a record of a special moment, the user of The Weather Camera could record the atmospheric conditions instead. In time this may encourage new methods of narration, titled by the designer as “Sensor Poetics” and documented in the image below.
Described as “object of empowerment”, Becky Pilditch‘s prothestics showcase how functional pieces of designs can be both a thing of beauty an extension of the wearer’s personality. Becky worked on the project with Holly Franklin, what I really like about the project is the development of a blog that can be used by other prosthetic limb users to feed back directly into the project.
Hand 8 the final part of the project, played with ideas of gesture and personality by creating numerous arms that related to Holly’s actions as she spoke or moved around a space.
In Animation there awaited Lauri Warsta’s Traumdeutung. A wonderful animation baring the hallmarks (whatever that may mean…) of a “documentary” as the calming voiceover, not too dissimilar to the 1940′s DONT PANIC! voiceover narrated the viewer through the date currently available on the subject of the animation: The Global Reserves of Dreams. Whilst simultaneously bearing the possibility that the entire animation is a dream itself.
The subtle block coloring of the animation maintained a ‘warmth’ more similar to hand drawn animation, that can sometimes be lost in 3D animation. An outcome perhaps of the animator combining ” making the two extremes (3D and Handmade) clash and merge. For example, by bringing the uncontrollable movement of real hand-held footage to an otherwise sterile computer animation”
Adnan Lalani‘s experiment with augmented reality caught my eye; the action of turning the pages of a pop up book to read the story is suplimented by additional animation narration appearing on screen placed directly behind the book and inline with the viewers eye.
Below is the Pop Up Book’s Prototype, Adnan kindly took a few moments to explain the idea behind combining the narrative structure of a pop up book with Augmented reality: “The pop-up book felt like a natural compliment to augmented reality. I was hoping to see how AR could be used in a more tactile, playful context… i.e. take something we already know and play with, and allow it to be enhanced with animation and digital interactivity.”
Eventually Adnan hopes that as we grow more comfortable with the idea of Augmented Reality, ideas like the Pop Up book ” can allow a progression from the magical, novelty nature of AR, into more of a direct tool by which to communicate narratives and story telling”
The eye catching work by Louise O’Conner (Design Interaction); used experimental dance to convey the movement of Atoms as an attempt to connect us to movements beyond our awareness.
A particular lovely idea was the mapping out of the distances of the solar system along Kingsland High Street leading up to Stamford Hill. Eight Shopkeepers were asked if their shop would host one of the planets…
Photography by Mark Henderson
You can find the map and information about the project here:
Katrin Baumgarten’s Aesthetics of Disgust explore’s humans relationship, both emotional and physical to things that disgust us. Using inanimate objects that we take for granted, such as Light Switches, Kartin added disturbing features displayed in the pictures below. Thus bringing these inanimate objects to the forefront of our attention.
In the installation at the Royal College of Art a screen documents the levels of the reaction of each user.
Intimate touch or sexual disgust is and how these feelings can be created “merely by inappropriate behaviours in society, such as touching another person in an intimate or sexual way in public, even though that might comfort the two persons involved and is a part of our human nature.” Is another subject explored by Katrina producing the Intimate Touch Object, an item which enables you to touch another person secretly…
FINALLY on my second trip (yes second, it’s that big and really worth the time) I came across the brilliant work of Sivaprakash Shanmugam’s Expressive Scribble. The idea being to encourage children’s creativity and to “enrich their visual vocabulary.” Children can draw onto the projector screen (ideally this could be the kitchen floor, wall etc…) and through clicking on the ‘movie’ button enable their drawings to come to life, whilst learning a sense of narrative and the multiple possibilities drawing can conjure up….
Part two of the RCA show continues until 4th July 2010. It’s open from 11-8 daily at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU. Admission is free.
Images Courtesy of the Students and addition photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
Bands bands bands…. how did I luck out with such a great selection for our Climate Camp Tripod Stage? Well, I can only conclude that the universe conspired to provide so brilliantly because the PRs I speak to about music for Amelia’s Magazine are PRs who share my taste in music. Many of the bands that performed for us were not ones I had heard of before, shop but without exception they all sat on a scale of varying levels of brilliant. Some played exclusively for us – jumping at the opportunity to play at the biggest music festival in the world despite being there on a punter’s ticket or working elsewhere. Others were also due to play the BBC Introducing stage or other much bigger and more prominent stages, and I like to think that we offered a bit of a warm up for them… it was certainly toasty hot on our south facing stage.
First up on Thursday we had Anna Log, erstwhile singer and uke player with We Aeronauts. In September she moves to Oxford, where she will start at drama school and share a house with the rest of her band, who on occasion help out with her solo work. During the set she was highly entertained by the small child who proceeded to climb the tripod whilst she played, but not nearly as entertained as the crowd were when Anna perfectly impersonated an entire horn section in the absence of the rest of her band. We Aeronauts release their first EP later this summer.
Anna’s thoughts on playing at Climate Camp: I was mega-grateful to my brother Mark and Sam for providing some background “Oooooos” and I absolutely loved playing at Climate Camp. It was such a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and no-one seemed to really mind that my suncream-covered hands were producing some extremely interesting and unintentional chords on the uke! I also really enjoyed the ceilidh – it was awesome to see lots of lush people in animal masks dancing about and laughing with each other. (I definitely sound like a massive hippy… that might be because I am…) Anna’s Glastonbury highlights: Laura Marling‘s beautiful set on The Park stage; she really is our modern day Joni Mitchell – and a secret, acoustic Stornoway gig up in the Crow’s Nest. I flipping love Stornoway, they are one of my favourite bands and such lovely people.
She was followed by the best Green Kite Midnight ceilidh of the entire weekend, complete with a man doing hand stands in gold spangly pants.
Then came My Luminaries, who took a very light hearted approach to the gig and caused much amusement with their stage antics. They were the first of many to take a truly creative approach to our semi acoustic set up, and I particularly enjoyed the strategic placement of their diamante keyboard in a wheelbarrow.
At one point the bassist climbed on top of one of our blue painted deck chairs and pretended to stage dive, before we were treated to a rollicking scat from their drummer which proved the ultimate crowd pleaser. Despite claiming a failing voice, lead singer James sounded fantastic, and could be found enjoying our vegan fare on the grass later on.
James liked playing on the Tripod Stage because: it was the complete opposite of the gig we’d just done on the Queens Head stage. The gig couldn’t have been more intimate and we rarely get to do such gigs. His favourite part of Glastonbury was: playing on the Tripod Stage (of course) and on the Queen’s Head stage (the biggest gig we’ve ever done, to 2500 people). Other than that, we met Prince Charles, we danced like idiots to the Phenomenal Handclap Band, and we stayed up all night in the Piano Bar and the Stone Circle.
My Luminaries debut album Order From The Chaos is out now.
