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The Simple Story So Far...
Born in Nottingham. Went to Manchester to study oboe. Returned to Nottingham to clear the overdraft. Moved to Weimar to study oboe. Returned to Nottingham. Hated it. Returned to Manchester. Loved it. Worked as a professional musician and teacher. Got restless: diversified. Left music (kinda). Time out / travel. Life of crime. Radio production. Start own music festival. Moving to London, then Japan, then Berlin.
And that's all glued together with friends, good times, gigs, late nights, drinking, food, and the occasional buttery slice of romance. (That last bit's not true, but it sounds nice).
I've retreated here to reflect and make some notes as I plan next year's festival: I'm struggling to find the reason I'm doing it (other than fun... maybe I don't need another reason? Would sure as hell keep things simple). Virb's smart, easy and away from the crowds - it suits me.
I over punctuate: a youthful obsession with Emily Dickinson is to blame.
Blog - see all 6
What's in a name? Oct 13
Wow, so long since I last posted. That's pretty much indicative of the amount of time I've been able to give this project over the past weeks. It's been a hellishly busy time at work, socially I've been away and out a lot more than normal, and where I've had time it's been spent working on my move to London. Good news is that finding work hasn't been any kind of problem (I've got a queue forming, which'll be a challenge to negotiate), in the short-term accommodation won't be a problem, and with work now under control I can now reach up to the hat stand and lift off the smart black fedora marked "THIS".
So what is "THIS"? For as well as the above keeping me physically from working on "THIS", I've been feeling mental constipated about "THIS" because of its lack of name. Venues are booked, I'm talking to people I know about getting involved, the budget's confirmed, but "THIS" doesn't have a name. No one lets a child get to 2 years old without a name; no one starts working on the packaging for a product without knowing what it will be called. I just can't take this very much further until "THIS" becomes "THAT". I'm not one for quoting the Bible but "In the beginning was the Word" - and for the way I generate ideas and the manner in which I work, that is gospel.
My original QtP was rejected as sounding too much like it may have something to do with football. Of course, I was alive to that connotation but it didn't bother me as it added an addition blur to what I wanted to be a deliberately abstruse event title. I'm not particularly attached to the name, as it doesn't quite ring true to the phrase from which I took it i.e."He's queered his pitch / she's queered her pitch". It only appears in the past tense, although conceivably someone can be in the action of "queering their pitch", but the pitch always takes a possessive pronoun, not the definite article. See how much technical know-how goes into this nomenclature?! Well, not enough in that case. But happily the acronym QtP rolls off the tongue nicely.
My other best suggestion - All abOUT the music - was rejected for being a pun on the word "out", which I'm not fond of, smacking as it does of naive left-wing, politically pushy busybodies. Catty.
The trick is to find a title that positions the event for its market, but doesn't alienate one half of the audience because it's gender specific. So anything like - I don't know - Tits on the Radio, would be more likely of use to a female focused music event (it does of course come from the Scissor Sisters song). Actually, they've managed to get away with and become massively famous with a band name that connotes lesbians when there's not a single dyke among them...? I digress.
Last night, I think I hit on it. I was reading through Belle & Sebastian lyrics looking for inspiration - try it sometime, they're beautiful and funny - when into my head popped: Band Camp. It makes me smile again now. This is good.
There are problems with it, but only for those with less irony than a brass tack. Original camp, the camp of the theatre can apply to both men and women, and I've met some very camp women. This notion that camp = sissy/effeminate is the more current understanding of the word, and although the derivation can be clearly traced, when used like this the word can logically only refer to males. I'm pretty sure a woman can't be effeminate...perhaps if you're very butch, you might get a bit camp if you've had a few drinks?!
I like the irony that alt.Q guys who are universally into their bands are "straight acting" with their beards and understated dress. I like the evocation of that phrase which, even if you've not seen the film American Pie, everyone's heard: this one time, at band camp... And the actress who delivered that line went on to play Willow in Buffy, perhaps the most popular on-screen lesbian in history. Just checking out that American Pie reference, I note that band camps are apparently hot beds of geeky sex - picsplsthnx!! And finally, it's punchy - two syllables are we're done. Almost like the old Batman comics with their plosive Bamm! Powww!! Whack!!!
Of course, there's a "I see what you did there" obviousness about Band Camp, but not to the extent that anyone would roll their eyes. I even think it would raise a chuckle with most people. I dunno - but I've got to hang my hat on something soon as I'm getting tired.
Movies
Noir, Gattaca, Rita Sue & Bob Too, Shortbus, Pan's Labyrinth, Hero, Drunken Master, Shrek, Goodbye Lenin,
Music
The Knife, MIA, Imperial Teen, the Smiths, Party Shank, David Sugar, P J Harvey, Betty Davis, Sparky Deathcap, Francois, Brooks, The Hellboys, Tricky, Rose Kemp, Clor, Owen Duff, Joni Mitchell, LCD Sound System, Belle and Sebastian, Suburban Kids with Biblical Names, Regina Spektor, U R Penetrators, I Love Poland, Beirut, Pulp, Art Brut, Burt Bacharach, Noisettes, Feist, Tom Vek, Kawaii, Prince, Interpol, The Kills, Bach, Stravinsky, Britten, Part, Strauss, Berg
Peterloo Massacre says:
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posted Nov 4