Category: gnuf

Offensive images? You never please everybody… (of course)

 

I was alerted recently to somebody who took serious exception to the album cover image for my band’s second album “Lullabies for Cynics” I was somewhat surprised at this news as when we played at a local festival with a giant banner of the album onstage, the only feedback we ever got was 100% positive! Apparently, an academic scholar in semiotics thought the graphic was “sexist”. If like me semiotics is not a term that is in your everyday language and you are not immersed in the world of academia, take a look here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics 

Personally, I have no problem with people having opinions and have always adopted Voltaire’s position when he famously commented 

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

I’m doing a survey to see how many people imagine that this image fits with one character’s view that it’s essentially little more than “a scantily clad image to sell CDs”  

I appreciate that people can have strong views on all manner of subjects, but did find it truly interesting that such comments are never communicated directly to the person who has supposedly caused offense, but rather to a social media audience, usually of like minds! Again, that’s part of the world we live in these days where people seem to make all manner of public comments possibly not always thinking through such matters and when “fair comment” becomes something entirely different… 

Personally, I’m a big fan of great graphics and we used this album image for some major events. I have only ever had wonderful feedback and comments on the skill of the artist who did the work.  The same artist did the OUS image. The two images below show the album backdrop at the sell out album launch. The one directly below had Jen Birch aka Astraluna join us for the encore.


I may blog further on this as I think such discussion is fascinating and shows that the world is full of all manner of ideas and imaginations. In the meantime, this reminds me that I need to order some more stickers with the album artwork as they have proved to be very popular and I just sent a whole bunch of free ones out to a school recently. I have yet to receive any complaints from any teachers but will keep folks posted and hopefully, no kids will be traumatized by these stickers. 

The above image is the band playing GNUF 2017. Photo by Karen Turner. Image by Max Wootton.

Album review here – https://www.ukeplanet.co.uk/ukulele-music/the-small-change-diaries-lullabies-for-cynics/

CD available here – http://www.smallchangediaries.com/buy-cds-2/

STOP PRESS – I have had a number of people contact me about this and especially when I suggested that if you know the critic please “don’t engage directly” Of course I mean that in the context of this specific discussion, rather than ceasing in all direct communications as that would be supremely daft and I am truly amazed that I even need to clarify that point. The reason for this is that the article here is about how people perceive things differently when they look at them, no more, no less. All opinions are subjective, we filter all of what we see and hear and that determines our beliefs. In my other life, I teach about this subject internationally and IMO it’s a valuable debate and not one to be ignored. Good discussion comes from respecting people’s differences and subjective opinions. I appreciate all the pms and advice on how to heal rifts of opinion, but there’s is nothing wrong with agreeing to disagree on subjects and when people get too emotionally fuelled sensible debate goes out the window!

Hopefully, that clarifies this and I welcome sensible debate and discussion as that is how we all learn, isn’t it? 

That’s Entertainment Part 2

After the last blog which featured male performers, here are some more terrific  entertainers.

Victoria Vox

 Victoria Vox came over to my house with 16 other performers and her husband Jack, this May. They performed a couple of tracks in my kitchen and blew me away. Rarely have I heard such great harmonies and playing. The combination is a bench mark for all duo acts. This is music at its best, smart lyrics, great melodies and terrific playing. That’s entertainment in spades!
 

Astraluna

There are countless female artists online these days, but few who can play and sing at this level. Astraluna is quite exceptional especially live when she is playing all manner of loops, building up a sonic feast. 

 
The set at GNUF on the OUS stage was really exceptional and an example of genuine and crucially original entertainment
 

Katy Vernon

 
Katy is a seasoned performed and this is one of the songs that appeared on the OUS sampler at GNUF 2017. Its very catchy and a great example of how to create a simple captivating tune.  Live she has great skills to engage an audience and creates a really good range of music which is rare these days.
 

Nicole McNally

 
 
This is a great example of a younger emerging artist with a great voice. I have never seen her live, but in my view this clip suggests great things ahead.  One of proofs of a good entertainer is when somebody can play a simple tune and entertain an audeince
 

Conclusion

These are 4 great  entertainers. There are of course many more, but these are the ones that come to mind. They are this time all original artists but that wasn’t the main consideration in picking them. The world is better for such folks.

That’s Entertainment – 4 of the best

Many people will know me for my enthusiasm for Original music, but of course that’s not my only interest in music. The key to any great music and/or performance is whether it entertains and/or inspires. With that in mind here are a few artists that I have found to be excellent and memorable performers

Andy Eastwood

Let me start by saying that I never really warmed to the music of George Formby, BUT I had to review my thinking on this after seeing Andy live and sitting in on two of his workshops. I described him as “a great old fashioned entertainer” and he commented “How come there’s not a lot more of that these days?” Andy is a hardworking professional who seems to be endlessley touring and travelling. He is technically excellent on a number of instruments and has a great manner in interacting with an audience

Phil Doleman and Ian Emmerson

I have met Phil many times and always found him to be a superb teacher with a genuine love of music. I saw him and Ian Emmerson live last year on the GNUF main stage and really enjoyed their performance. It was a great set with lots of variation. This year I saw tham on the GNUF underground stage and they knocked it out of the part. The 20 minute set was a master class in entertainment, just brilliant. The interaction onstage was superb and as well as being technically very skilled they were terrific entertainment. I could have listened for hours. Ian is a supeb performer in his own right “a dark horse” and also a genuine entertainer

Biscuithead and Dean

My bandmate Jessica told me about Dean and Biscuithed and I have seen them a few times. Dean has supported The Small Change Diaries a couple of times, most recently being at The Grove in Leeds. This lastest slot was a brilliant example of entertaining an audience. The songs are smart, witty and melodic and in my view the world is better for such music

Percy Copley

I met Percy a year ago and saw him play the GNUF mainstage. I admit that in “uke world” there are a lots of ok artists, but not a great number that I find captivating in a live situation. Percy is without doubt a real exception and again a genuine entertainer. I was blown away by his set and later when he spent and evening at my house I was amazed at how technically skilled he is as well as how good he is at creating his own material. I suspect years of association with Disney has done him no harm and I highly recommend seeing him live. He also did a brilliant job adding music to “Barter Blues” and we’ll do some more work together.

These are four artists that spring to mind this wet Wednesday morning in Yorkshire. All are very different and have provided what I consider to be excellent entertainment. There are of course others, but these are the ones that came to mind for this blog. All of these folks are true professionals and great musicians with a helpful sense of humour. These are of course all guys, women to follow soon

That’s Entertainment

During The Grand Northern Ukulele Festival aka GNUF I had a brief chat to Andy Eastwood. I suggested to him that with respect he reminded me of “an old fashioned entertainer” and he replied “Yes, how come there’s not a lot more of that around these days?”

I confess to never being a fan of George Formby, but I was totally blown away by Andy’s workshops and his stage performance. Here was a genuine entertainer who wonderfully engaged the audience and clearly had perfected his craft. Yes he was technically brilliant on ukulele, banjo and violin, BUT crucially he was able to interact with the audience and give them a magical experience. This is the hallmark of a true entertainer and give me one of those above anyone who is technically brilliant, but lacks this aspect.

I have frequently blogged about the need for musical events to evolve and continue to attract/engage audiences. The same principals apply and in this internet era people are easily bored. On social media one individual was questioning the stage times at GNUF of being 20 – 25 minutes, suggesting it in his view might be a great deal longer. I pointed out that this exact formula made GNUF different to the standard festivals, GNUF had been successfully running for 5 years, they have over 50 artists in one weekend (many times anyone else) and over 100 artists were declined due to performer demand. This is a winning formula and “That’s entertainment” Over the week I met some amazing performers who have also become good friends including Alan and Terri Thornton, Katy Vernon and Matt Hicks. All these folks are genuine entertainers and gave great performances at GNUF.

In these uncertain times, IMO we all need the best entertainment we can find and I applaud any artists striving to entertain the public regardless of whether this is to my own personal taste. I also hear that this year will be the very last for the Cheltenham Ukulele Festival. Anyone who runs an event for eight years reserves recognition, but as Bob Dylan would say “The Times they are a Changing” and inevitably new events will appear and existing festivals will evolve. Let me also be clear without doubt that festival has provided many with excellent entertainment for many years and kicked off a festival uke trend in the UK

On planet earth in many ways and my hope is that platforms like The Original Ukulele Songs initiative will support and encourage original artists that seek to entertain the public.