JasonBlog

This is what Andy does before a gig

He takes pictures of us in the pub for his blog. I'm pleased that I don't do that sort of thing.
Tonight we are playing for a horse related charity do at the Gosforth Park Racecourse. It will be fun. I am told.

Gilbert or Sullivan.

In the world of music there is some confusion over whether Gilbert and Sullivan (HMS Pinafore, The Mikado etc.) and Gilbert O'Sullivan (Clair, Nothing Rhymed, Alone Again Naturally) are in fact the same people.

The answer is, staggeringly obviously, no. No they are not the same people at all, despite the quite similar nature of their names. Gilberet and Sullivan are two peope who are both dead and wrote rumty-tumty style songs with too many words that often inolved Major Generals and pirates. I hate their music with a violence that frightens me. Gilbert O'Sullivan however is very much alive, and performing at York Grand Opera House on 8th November. I like his music with an intensity that shames me.

I've got tickets for the York show, and have eventually found a couple of friends who are confident enough in their image not to be too embarrassed about being seen at the gig. I'm very much looking forward to it. As a kid, I loved G O'Ss voice, and I still think he is an excellent songwriter - even if his subject matter can get a bit cloying and morose. But the tunes, the voice, and the slightly naff nature of the lyrics at times is something rather dear to my heart, and it'll be great to see him on a rare tour.

To learn more about the differences between these two forms of music visit the following lonks: Gilbert AND Sullivan or Gilbert O'Sullivan.

They spoil that cat

This is our little sparky. Not quite so little now, but still a small cat. Probably a teenager in cat terms. And like a teenager, he's in bed until after lunch sometimes. The kids have taken to placing a toy bed in front of the fire, tucking him in with his little cuddly toy cat, and reading him a bedtime story. And he loves it. So would I. Is there any way of swapping his lifestyle with mine. I know the food wouldn't be great, but I think the sleeping or playing the rest of the time would make up for it.

The kids ask if anyone knows where we could get a tiny hot water bottle and miniature breakfast tray from.

UK at Home

Here's a photography project that started this week. Might be an interesting one to be involved in - already done in America. http://ukathome.co.uk/

Why can't you get...

Pre-buttered bread? I know it would be difficult to package, but surely, in this day and age, not impossible. You can get little packets of pre-buttered Soreen fruity malt loaf - 2 slices. Why not bread and butter. Packaged as a pair of slices it would make the whole quick sandwich situation even more rapid, and I'm sure it would go doen well with students and slobs alike.

But, I hear you ask, won't it be awful. Well, my response to that is; do you think that anyone who would even think of buying pre-buttered bread cares all that much how it tastes? Like pot noodle purchasers. They're hardly going to return it because it's not quite as delicious as they had assumed it would be. No. It is a convenience food - and I think there should be more of them.

Regarding the pre-buttered bread problem, one solution is to sell jam and other spreads that have butter already mixed in, and slices of ham and cheese etc. that already have a coating of buter and mayonnaise. Perfect.

What else should there be that you can't get right now? Things that would make low quality quick food even more quick, and not necessarily any higher quality.

Another thing on the subject of rubbish food. Why hasn't anyone done a cook book that is full of recipes that start off with the stuff that a really quick rubbish meal has in it - tin of beans, super noodles, pot rice, fish fingers, can of tomato soup etc -and then show how it can be cleverly adapted into an acceptable meal with the addition of a few simple additional ingredients or clever techniques. For insance today I had a tin of Heinz Tomato Soup, into which I sprinkled a few cubes of Nettle Cheese, and cracked some pepper over the top. Lovely. Suggestions please.

Fun on the beach

Yesterday was the community fun day to mark the end of the Bay Regeneration project. Actually there are still several landscaping bits to complete, but the beach part is now done, and a day of fun was planned to get people together.

We turned up at about 1.30 and there were a few hundred people gathered. Fairground rides on the prom and Church Point car park (free), shuggy boats on the beach (how long since that happened?) and a big sandcastle competition, as well as a brass band in the bandstand. The weather was okay - not exactly sunny, but at least no rain. And the atmosphere was fun and informal.

Chatting to a few of the people from Westminster Dredging and Atkins that I've got to know a bit over the project, I think they've been touched by the strength of community involvement during this job, and it certainly seems to be one of the nicest jobs they've had to do. I think they'll miss the place.

The couple from Tandem TV who have been making a film about the project had a chat with me, and said they were going to come back here for a holiday - so that's quite encouraging! I got interviewed about the web site, and Richard Martin got interviewed too. They're thinking of using him for the voice over - very appropriate!

So that's that. The security fencing is down, the horseshoe steps are open, and the beach is no longer a place where you feel slightly guilty being - fully open to the public at last. The final bits, including the landscaping and planting at the old boat park, and Vernon place, plus the new playground at the Church Point will be completed by the end of next month, and the diggers will leave the village.

Seeing dad

I've just returned from a visit to see my dad. I feel emotionally drained. Not because it was a traumatic visit - it wasn't. His Alzheimer's is advanced enough for him not to know who I am most of the time - and today he didn't even have a glimmer of recognition. He could hardly even focus on me. Which is upsetting.

Not knowing how to cope with visiting him - conversation being very difficult -  I decided today to take in my ukelele and play some music for him. This was a good move. I played him some tunes, and sang a couple of songs, and this seemed to make him happy, and was a lot easier for me than trying to think of things to say. I think I'll take my guitar next time. He said "that was lovely" very politely after every song. If only everyone was like that.

He's had new vinyl flooring put into his room, and it does seem a lot better. He's had a few accidents - in  a couple of senses - recently, and this flooring is much better for him, and his room is better to keep clean and hygienic. He's not too well at the moment - stomach upset (which my mum has too by coincidence) so he was a bit quiet and needed to go to the toilet a couple of times. One time while he was away an old man started talking to me, and we were some way into the conversation before I realised that what he was saying was complete nonsense. It sounded like standard speech, but was just random phrases and words, and as such was quite difficult to respond to. The people who work with dementia sufferers must be  very patient. The staff at Wansbeck Care Home are wonderful -  I have nothing but praise for them. But I wish he didn't need to be here.

What a blessing

Yesterday was a rather special day in Newbiggin. There was a service of blessing for the Couple sculpture that now lives on the breakwater in the bay. Lots of people were there who had had something to do with the bay regeneration work - including funders, councillors, contractors, artists - including the sculptor Sean Henry - and locals. A good crowd turned out, despite constant rain, to see and hear Rev. Judith Grieve bless, and symbolically throw sea salt over the couple.

Before the service, I'd arranged to meet Sean Henry for a chat and an interview. I was away in France the last time he visited Newbiggin, and although we've exchanged emails and telephone calls - mainly related to photographs of Couple that have featured on www.newbigginbay.co.uk - we hadn't met in person. So this was a great chance to have a proper chat and a sit down.

For the early part of our meeting we were joined by Ron Freeman - Newbiggin's own Bognor Birdman and expert hang-glider. He's going to take some aerial photos of Couple, to be included in a book about Sea Henry's work, and he was being briefed by Sean about where the best angle might be. He'll be using one of my cameras - so at some point over the next few days I'll be seeing Ron to show him how to use it! It was decided that it would be safer for him to use my camera than for me to use his powered hang-glider. I agreed. Strongly.

One of the high points of the day for me was Sean seeing one of the framed photographs of Couple I'd taken, and insisting on buying it immediately. That was great - although I didn't take his hard earned money, settling instead for a photo of the two of us with the picture - kindly taken by the lovely and talented Andy Curtis who was at the time engaged in running the shop.

Sean gave us a video interview, which will soon be edited and online - and then we went to the blessing ceremony, and civic reception that followed. Lots of important and highly respected people were there.

And I was there too - gatecrashing actually, but I had been half-asked to take some photos by an anonymous PR Guru, and was tagging along with Sean by this point, so I slipped up to the top floor of the Sailing Club without being challenged or ejected from the building.

The reception was a bit on the short side, and I hadn't really had a chance to down a plate of lovely Northumbrian buffet, or get more than a couple of sips of free booze when we were all whisked off to the Sports Centre to watch a performance inspired by Couple.

The performance consisted of readings of writing and poetry from the writing workshops, lead by Anna Disley from New Writing North, plus dance from Create, and music from LOON and the kids of Moorside First School and Windsor First School. This was all excellent - hard to single out any one thing for particular praise, but the winning poetry was particularly moving. Several peoms will be published next month on a special concertina postcard that will have the poems on one side and 10 of my photographs on the other. I can't wait to see it - I found out a few days ago which shots they'll be using - all of which feature various types of couples photographed in Newbiggin over the summer. I'm delighted to have my photos used in this way, and really proud to be part of this project.

After the performance I gave Sean and his dad a lift to the Pride of Northumbria shop where several of us gathered for a more informal drink and chat to relax after a quite hectic day. It was great to meet up with good friend Pete Allsopp and his friend Beth who was dancing in this afternoon's performance (she was the female half of Couple), and also photographer Mark Pinder, who I've worked with on a few projects with The Samling Foundation, including one with Antony Gormley a few years ago. He's working with Sean Henry on photos of Couple for his book due out next year. There's a good chance the book will also feature the photographs of Derek and Margaret Hobbs, Rebecca de'Wessington and myself - as Sean asked for copies of photos from all of us, which I delivered to him on a couple of CDs.

Back home at the end of the afternoon I shared a wonderful Chinese meal with my family, and we all watched High School Musical 2 - tired but happy.

The Thompsons...

Daaaaa - daaa - daaa - da - daaaaaa - daaa - daaa - da - da - da -da - da - da daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Belting food

Fenwick Food Hall in Newcastle now has a Yo Sushi. Couldn't resist trying it, and wasn't disappointed. A little pricey, but something a bit different and quite fun. Will try it again some time.