Lee Berwick's Inanna on Resonance FM

 

The whole piece will air on Resonance FM on 24th September

Karen's beautiful music

Most of you will know our T'ai Chi friend and fellow boat dweller Karen Grace, but you may not know her wonderful music. She has asked me to share this with the blog readers here. Karen is singing and playing guitar on this song, and Mark features on banjo! Enjoy.

Music by Lee from Tuesday class

Today is the Day that the first five Digidub singles will be available for download online for the first time - EVER !!

The rest of the singles will appear online monthly for the next few months…

They are up on all the major sites - but we like Bandcamp

Bandcamp link here - https://digidub.bandcamp.com/

For anyone who doesn't know Digidub was Lee Berwick's critically acclaimed and genre creating/evading record label.

It was active mainly in the 90’s but releases from the 80’s and the naughties and maybe even more modern ones will be appearing in the coming months…. years…… 

watch this space…

Thanks LEE.

Sound Event

Lee Berwick from Tuesday class in London has an event coming up.

'its called 'The Space Below'

its a collaboration between me and an artist named Emma Critchley 

Its in Greenwich Foot tunnel from the 7th to the 13th March 11am to 6 or 7 daily 

Its a sound installation with aprox 40 speakers made entirely from underwater recordings and it will somehow explore the fact that anthropogenic underwater noise is a massive problem that is causing untold problems for underwater life all around the globe...

There will be an opening probably on the 6th but undecided as yet.'

Happy New year to the T'ai Chi family

The bones of winter trees

A two cormorant day, always a good sign.

Happy New Year to all The T'ai Chi Centre and Great River students and friends. I hope 2019 is peaceful and creative for you. I look forward to being totally fit and well again, and seeing folks old an new at classes and workshops in 2019, we have lots of good things planned...

Here's a few more great books to recommend, not new to some of you, but all kept me amused, intrigued or afloat in 2018.

Women Who Run With The Wolves - Clarissa Pinkola Estes

The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony - Roberto Calasso

What It Is - Lynda Barry

Picture This - Lynda Barry

The Power - Naomi Alderman

Collected Poems - Jack Gilbert

The New Menopausal Years - Susun Weed (buy this for all your female friends and relatives over the age of 35, it should be issued automatically)

A Branch From The Lighting Tree - Martin Shaw

China's Green Religion - James Miller

Dark Mountain 13

Music: having returned to music in October 2017, I have been listening to great things, old and new, here's a few to check out if you don't know them. in no particular order, these have been tickling my ears all year...

Portico Quartet, First Aid Kit, Lisa Germano, Bill Callahan (Smog), Wild Oldham (in all his many guises), Arve Henriksen, The Album Leaf, Atoms For Peace, Bon Iver, Sufijan Stevens, Gavin Bryars, Dead Can Dance, Ida, Iron And Wine, James Yorkston, The Unthanks, Sigur Ros.

Films... none of note, and I haven't been to the cinema all year, strangely. 

TV: much good SF - Altered Carbon, The OA, Star Trek Discovery (yes, I know, but it's good!), The ABC Murders, Homecoming.

Good things: Guppyfriend bag now means my washing doesn't shed micro plastics into the marine environment. Get one...

Extinction Rebellion.

Greta Thunberg

Swans, more swans, cygnets, mandarin ducks....

Landy goes for a dangerous walk. I had to herd him back to the river, stopping the traffic.

But the main highlights of my year have been days spent in nature, time teaching wild materials, drawing and painting more than ever before, doing T'ai Chi outdoors with all you guys, and quiet peaceful time at home on my own or with friends or family. For all this, I am very grateful. More from me in the new Year. Time to drink coffee now...

My friend Sam Masich is doing this gig in Berlin, he's a great musician, as several T'ai Chi masters seem to be... If you have pals in Berlin, send them a link.

Fleet Footing

Quick post, more later when workshop venue cleaned and handed back to scouts...
Sarah Grange is involved in a great project Fleet Footing, taking place today and tomorrow at 2pm in central London and August 3rd at 7pm (I will be at that one).

Go to catherinekontz.com/fleet-footing and listen to LBC radio today at 10.50am when Sarah will be talking about it on the Robert Elms show.

More later, must go catch a bus!

Psychoyogi in South London

very gingerly

'The way I keep in touch with the world is very gingerly, because the world touches too hard.'

Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) in Anton Corbijn's superb short film about him 'Some Yoyo Stuff'.  What an amazing man, artist, musician, human being he was.

I am here in Shetland. A nice small group came for T'ai Chi last night here at The Weaving Shed Gallery, and we will have another session today, storms permitting. But mainly it has been my great pleasure to spend time relaxing in such a wild beautiful place, hanging out with Geoff Jukes, who is a fantastic person, and talk about the Dharma, the Tao and swap stories from life. Also we just watched the great short documentary I have quoted from above. I am slowly getting back to blogging and doing admin, but the phrase resonated with me so, as it is also how I feel about the world. Workshop pics soo I hope... Where ever you are reading this, I hope you are well.

Psychoyogi gig

Good things

I usually round up lots of the things I have enjoyed each year at Christmas. However, my broadband only just got fixed, and for the last 3 months the connection has been super slow, so I was averse to going online at all. It's now fixed. Here's the first go at a list of things I have enjoyed that I'd like to share. I'll fill it out during the next few days.

Arve Henriksen I have loved his music for years, particularly 'Chiaroscuro'. You can listen on Spotify.
Wendell Berry I am reading Paul Kingsnorth's anthology of his wonderful essays 'The World Ending Fire'. I have to keep stopping to put yet another post-it page marker in the book.
John Berger got me through art college without going mad. A wonderful thinker and writer, I have been delving back into his books since he died. I would recommend 'Ways of Seeing', 'Confabulations' and 'And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief As Photos'.
The TV and film work of Brit Marling, particularly 'The OA'.
Some select TV has been good: The Man In The High Castle S2, Falling Water, Mr Robot.
Benjamen Walker's Theory Of Everything. My favourite podcast. If you don't know it yet you have a treat ahead.
Radiolab is still good, but perhaps not quite as good as it once was.
Kate Bush still rules.

Busy with good things

You may be wondering where I have been, as I am rarely online and have missed a few classes...

I have been teaching a lot of 121s this year, which is a great joy. Do get in touch if you'd like one here by the river. Soon we'll be outside in the fresh air without getting chilly. There is always tea and a cosy fire if we do get cold.

Other work has included teaching introductions to T'ai Chi at various events and places of work, which has been interesting and rewarding.

I am in the middle of illustrating a new hardback edition of Paul Kingsnorth's 'The Wake' with the publishers Unbound. It really is a dream commission, as 'The Wake' is one of my all-time favourite novels, and his follow-up 'Beast' is also a must-read, more of which in a later post. I have 6 more drawings to do this week before I feel I have the portfolio pretty much ready. I will tell you more about how you can get involved in the near future. It's going to be a very beautiful colour edition and include a section at the back about how I made the tools, brushes, pens, inks and paints from all natural, pre-Norman conquest available materials. There will also be photos and a bit of text about it in the next edition of Dark Mountain.

I have written the lyrics and melodies, then recorded the parts and harmonies for 4 songs for a Japanese producer called Mojage. There will be an LP coming out this spring. He knew my work with Susumu Yokota and Rothko, and somehow tracked me down - no easy task as I no longer have a music site anywhere on the web, and am erroneously listed as 'a London poet'. 'Yeah, right' is probably the best response to that bit of fake info. I will post a link to the LP details when I get them.

So it's been a busy and creative late winter so far. Looking forward to seeing all the Scots for T'ai Chi this weekend too.

Psychoyogi gig

Here's another gig from Hackney Chris, who now studies in North London with Verne.

Psychoyogi gig

Kate Tempest - Let Them Eat Chaos

If you don't watch anything else on Iplayer this year go now and watch Kate Tempest on BBC2 from tonight, performing her new album. Unbelievable performance, every word real and true. Tears falling as she touched every sore point. What a woman of insight, a shamanising oracle right there in The Rivoli, Brockley - the new Delphi?

Psychoyogi gig

From Chris Sanson...

Psychoyogi are playing at Biddle Bros. on Friday, 30 September, supported by Infernal Contraption and London Beat Club. The whole bimbang kadoozer will start about 20:00 and Psychoyogi will play from 22:00-ish for an hour or so (as ever, all times are ish).

Biddle Bros. is at 88 Lower Clapton Road, London E5 0QR (plenty of buses and trains nearby) and admission is free.

Psychoyogi on this occasion is:
Chris Ramsing (lead vocals, guitar, composer/songwriter and generally Main Man)
Chris Sansom (bass, vocals)
Ravi Low-Beer (drums)
and just possibly Jonas Golland (percussion) though that’s yet to be confirmed

For a taste (with added horns and whatnot - and I’m only playing bass on the latest album, Shrine):
psychoyogi.com

We're also at the Birds Nest on Thursday 10 November, but that’s a way off yet and you’ll hear about it nearer the time.
 

Fear of Music

Apropos of nothing, I have been listening to music again for the first time in a year or so... Just wanted to recommend Bjork's 'Vulnicura', a wonderfully moving album, I much prefer it to the previous LP 'Biophilia'. I am currently listening to Radiohead's 'A Moon Shaped Pool', also very good: channelling Can, Alice Coltrane's 'Journey in Satchidananda', Nick Drake and Debussy, so pretty much right up my street. I have been a fan of Radiohead since uni and Bjork since I was 16. One of the few 12"s I ran out to buy was the Sugarcubes' 'Birthday', (the others were David Sylvian's 'Taking the Veil', and Cocteau Twins' 'Echoes in a Shallow Bay'). A large proportion of our T'ai Chi folk are musicians or huge music lovers, we could form a great scratch band, I'm sure. Great River - T'ai Chi Centre Alt-Orchestra anyone?

Must stop typing and putting off jobs that need doing...
See you later!

Psychoyogi gig tomorrow

Yes, we’re expanding our horizons beyond Deptford with a gig at the Montague Arms, 289 Queens Rd, New Cross, London, SE15 2PA next Wednesday, 18 May.

There are three bands playing, of which we’re last (although we’re only supposed to be doing 35 minutes - we’re hoping to squeeze in a little more): Portia Winters, Rantipols, Psychoyogi. We’ll be playing some time after 22:00. I imagine the whole evening will start between 20:00 and 21:00.

Psychoyogi on this occasion is:
Chris Ramsing (lead vocals, guitar, composer/songwriter and generally Main Man)
Chris Sansom (bass, some backing vocals)
Ravi Low-Beer (drums)

Ten days later - Sat 28 May - we’re back at Biddle Bros in Hackney, then on the 30th we’re at Vinyl record shop in (guess where) Deptford. More details of those gigs to follow.

Music this weekend

Goodbye Mr Bowie

After reading Alexis Petridis' great review in the Guardian I watched Blackstar single on YouTube on Saturday. Now I am listening to Bowie's new LP as I finish my web updates, and just feeling very sad that he has died. Like so many millions of misfits and weirdos the world over, I felt he was a kind of patron saint, and certainly made possible much of the music by other folks that I grew up loving as a youngster. Without him no Banshees, no The Cure, Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush, Bjork, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus; the list is endless. Also just been listening to 'Memory of a Free Festival', my brother's favourite Bowie song, and one of mine. Listening to it today I heard intimations of Damon Albarn's wonderful score 'Dr Dee'. Treat yourself and listen to them both today. Just heard the third track on Blackstar, Lazarus: superb, and strangely early Cure vibe especially in the bass line. The album is full of great, real playing - there's even jazz flute and feedback - hurrah. Bowie's two fingers up to the mundane and the mediocre. Hope he's still doing that, where ever he is now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06whk5g

This lovely funny interview with Marc Riley, 1 hour in to the programme via this link will be listenable for the next 28 days.