Having a very busy time!
Time for a bit of a catch-up; I've had one hectic weekend after the other this Autumn, beginning with a gig for the Green Party National Conference in Brighton, and moving rapidly on to the lovely Folk21 South West showcase event in the pretty Devon town of Torrington. From there (as the rest of the band headed home) I headed North for a family funeral - my songwriter/musician cousin Mike Silk, whose songs are a beautiful legacy.
Just a couple of days after *that* I was off to Havant with full bags for six very packed days at the Literary Festival. Over this period I did nine hours of songwriting workshops for ages 8 through to adult, and over a dozen assorted performances from headline band in a lovely hall at the Saturday night event (there are some Youtubes up from that evening) to 'town stage' in Davies-the-Chemist's garage on the high street, and a delightful breakfast giglet at the 'As You Like It' cafe on East Street.
I wrote a song about the sycamore tree round which Bosmere School is built, and sang that the following day (on book - shocking!) in the hall of that school; I had some lovely laughter for 'David Attenborough Says', and 'Jane Austen's Tango' was increasingly wild as the days wore on. Someblody dance!
I used to give the setlists here - borrowed the idea from Christo - so I'll see if I can reconstruct the Saturday night set as we performed it. It wasn't *exactly* like the setlist, you'll be unsurprised to learn...
Appleby Fair
Common Bunting (Wasn't going to, but Artist-in-Residence Jules Simmons requested it!)
Second Born
Queen of Spindles
Jane Austen's Tango
Gathering Summer In
David Attenborough Says
Ten Years
All the Birds are Gone
These Roots (the new one!)
Corn Jenny
Grace and Gift
Encore: Belling the Cat
Over the course of my stay I worked out that I sang 28 different songs, many of them two or three times. 'Wild Yeast' for the lady who knew her bread was especially fun, and 'Dangerous Music' flowed naturally out of a breakfast conversation about licensing laws :-)
I sang 'Archetype Cafe' to open a panel on women making history, and was introduced to and by Natalie Bennett, the leader of the Green Party. And I contributed to a limerick contest. And I ate some salmon. And met a lot of wonderful people, including the Breakfast Cat Theatre crew.
I worked pretty damn hard, believe me!
It was a treat to go for a dog walk on Hayling Island with my host P on my last evening there, and I found myself having a run along the beach at sunset, with a friendly dog at my heels. It was lovely. Now I'm catching up before the next adventure...