we're all going...

...on a summer holiday.
blogging will be suspended from tomorrow as I leave for a long-awaited three-week summer holiday, albeit summer in a different country. That's also explanation for irregular recent posts - trying to get through an epic to do list before I go. Limited success in that regard.
Home to Brisbane, where the worst storms for 25 years just hit on Sunday, and where it is now flooding. The Gap, the suburb one out from where I grew up, was worst hit, and has been nicely summed up below. At least it will be warm.

shiraz touring

steps are being taken to increase the chances of Shiraz, the film score for the 1928 silent film we produced at the 2008 festival, to be resurrected and tour. Working with the composer Sabri and ex-sampad Sarah-Jane Watkinson, we are planning to take Shiraz on the road between Spring and Autumn 2010 to various venues throughout the UK and a few selected international multi-arts and film festivals. If the BFI join us, we may even be able to record it for DVD release. To have the Lichfield Festival as a producer of touring content would be a significant step to take. So far we have received extremely positive feedback from the promoters we have contacted, but watch this space for more information about where the performance might be seen again...

community award

just back from the Lichfield, Sutton Coldfield and Tamworth Business Awards. The Lichfield Festival won the Lichfield Community Support Award sponsored by the Lichfield District Council.
Seems it was worth missing the Guillemots at Gigbeth after all...

double bookings galore

due to a meeting in the festival office last night, I missed the opportunity to check out Clara Sanabras performing at the Birmingham Early Music Festival. Tonight, despite having tickets, I will miss out on seeing Guillemots at Gigbeth due to attending the Lichfield, Sutton Coldfield and Tamworth Business Awards at Villa Park. Tomorrow, due to attending Gigbeth, I will miss out on the launch of Silver Words, the first published anthology of poetry from Lichfield Poets (the group at the heart of Stone Voices at the 2007 and 2008 Lichfield Festivals) at 3pm at the Lichfield Garrick, as well as missing Ex Cathedra performing at the Birmingham Oratory and pianist Alex Wilson performing his salsa at Town Hall.
Next week is worse...

old airs

really nice to see my old friend Roland Peelman and The Song Company last night at Abbotsholme. I had been trying to get them to visit either the Lichfield Festival or Abbotsholme for many years, and was thrilled that they stopped off for the first of only two UK concerts this year (their other one is tonight at the RNCM). In a brilliantly conceived programme about the seasons, we even managed to have the UK premiere of Old Airs by Belgian composer Frank Nuyts setting texts by Australian poet Les Murray. That work segueing into Autumn Leaves by Jacques Prevert was a particular highlight for me. I realise that it was written a very long time ago, but I only came came across Autumn Leaves for the first time as Coldcut's Irresistible Force Remix on Nick Warren's version for the very first Back to Mine album and have been slightly obsessed with different arrangements of it since.