The coming week

This week I begin to film my presence on the screen.
Having run through the films so far, I am getting the feeling I should play a lesser role and let the interviewees present the narrative for me.
My script will involve me as the anchor between the interviews, steering the narrative direction and setting up the phases of the film, the characters from the archive and introducing the material from the archive.

Interviews

Thanks a-plenty to Dusty Rutherford, Electra Fortune and Ray Russell for their insightful help this weekend. Some amazing information about the Albion Accord.

Lacey's Machines in action

I had permission this week to record audio and visuals at the Camden Arts Centre for this project. The sonic side of Lacey's work was not really to the fore in this show, however the sound is a really important part and I wanted to record it for my research.
Here is a quick sample...

Lacey Machimes by Russell Callow

Poetry Library

What a wonderful place this is. Spent a happy few hours there yesterday investigating Sound Poetry.
Really helpful staff and an amazing collection of books.

They had quite a number of Bob Cobbing books and texts there which were very useful as well as a number of pointers to other poets from the staff.

The Albion Accord

There were just too many bands, clubs, bars, hotels etc called The Albions, so, I think this new addendum adds a difference and confirms the notion of a group of equal participants. Promotes the notion in one's mind of a left-wing agenda, too.

Web site

It'll probably be a good idea to get an Albions web site up and running in time for the show.
Damn, more work.

The Albions on Flickr

A new Flickr account has been set up for presenting images from the archive and other visual material.
Click here to go to it.

Spike Wilson archive

One of the first parts of the archive I worked on was digitising some of the scores of cassette tapes of the work of Spike wilson. Here are a couple from the SoundCloud page I set up for his work.

Striped Air (Cleaned Up) by spikewilson

The Albions

A week of thinking about this whole project and I realized why it was a bit like walking through treacle... I have no real passion for what I have discovered so far. Certainly, it is interesting and would not bore me, but where will the passion come from?
Thinking about the way in which His Video was received, and the pleasure I got from constructing it, I must get back to that situation again.
Four or five days thinking about this, and an 11 hour drive to Germany gave me new ideas and perspectives.
The project now has arrived. It is The Albions.
A documentary-based environment that I will set up at the final show. The documentary will investigate the little-known artist group called The Albions.
With access to previously unknown archive material, I will report on this group and their work, and in the show, create an environment to contextualise their work and offer an insight into their ways of working.

Bruce Lacey 2

The Bruce Lacey Experience at the Camden Arts Centre in Finchley was my destination yesterday, and what a productive day it turned out to be.
In the same way as I cam to get the Pilgrims' Way project sorted in a day, so too did this exhibition prove to be the catalyst for cementing many disparate ideas I have had for the past couple of months.
This exhibition, through the reasonably eclectic strands of Lacey's career, helped point me to place where my various ideas could work together rather than be the father fragmented things I hitherto saw them as.

Poetics Of The Motorway

Went to quite an interesting post-launch of In the Company of Ghosts: the Poetics of the Motorway, 2012, edited by Andrew Corkish at Beakonsfield yesterday evening.
I find it interestigg as I attend more and more of these, that very often it is a way for panelists to indulge themselves and enthuse about a subject about which they are passionate, without, what I would argue, ios the important thing to include us, the audience, who do not know as much, but by being there could easily be enthused and informed more.
No sonic references!

Mapping

Looking at some Google maps of the Canning Town area, I find there are some interestingly diverse locations there. Having recorded for two days there this week, I am thinking that there might be some way to work within a restricted, or at least defined area. Perhaps look more deeply into the diversity of on area, comparing and contrasting the sonic and filmic qualities.

Isle Of Dogs Skip Hire

Had a great day today at the Isle Of Dogs Skip Hire depot in East London.
I was given permission to record and film for a couple of hours. It is amazing the amount of rubbish they receive and distribute from there every day. Hundreds of tons of Tower Hamlets' rubbish was there today as the borough cannot cope with all the extra pressure from the Olympics.
A wonderfully noisy, hectic and stinky day indeed.

Project

Began filming and recording for some experimental pieces this week around industrial parks, scrap yards and edgelands.

Bruce Lacey

 A retrospective of Lacey's work was at the BFI last night.
Mostly supported, thinly, by an audience with grey hair and a couple of well informed 30 somrthings.
Bizarre, English surrealistic fun and games abounded with some wonderfully awful sound design and highly inspiring ideas of hand-held camera work and the realization that technology must not get in the way of a good idea.
Bravo Bruce.

BFI

BFI membership is proving to be a wise investment. Not just getting me off my arse and out into the real world, but more importantly, the amount of documentary/independent/artist films is proving to be quite a stimulating affair for my work.

Filming

With the arrival of the camera, lens and tripod, I began some filming this week. Really just to get my experience of the kit up to scratch, but once out there, ideas begin to form of what is right and what is not.
I'll keep this experimentation with audio and video recording going this week, and start to compile some short experiments.

Of Time and The City

Got some great ideas from watching Of Time and The City by Terence Davies yesterday.
It's amazing when one gets into something, how there is already an established practice.

Edgelands

Marion Shoard was the inspiration for the poets Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts to write Edgelands. Here is a link to her 2002 essay.

Radio 4 Book Of The Week

Had a listen this morning to the abridged version of Robert Macfarlane's book The Old Ways.
Never come across him before, but the first episode was very interesting.
You can listen here.