Search This Blog

Sunday 25 October 2009

Money, Money No Money OXJAM Freegan Living.

I wasn't able to play OXJAM, as it rained buckets, so couldn't busk for the event, so avoided it, I am traveling to cornwall next week, and doing a little photography project, try and connect my poetry, with images.

 Money "That's what I want".
Ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AutxFgxTshM&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_anbEJsr6s

I am using these songs, and a collection of original Monopoly Money hand printed that we have at home, I shall frame up to make a project Some how. It's an arguement against greed and a reaction to Billionaire Artists not using there money, such as a certain Mr Hirst sueing a fellow, for a box of pencils, he stole from a Ten million pound instilation, for Fifty thousand as its part of the exhibition, silly greedy Damien, if he see's this he may sue me, I like your work leave me be.
http://lairdea.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/monopoly_money_10.jpg

I attempted to live a freegan life, but scavenging was quite hard, I went to some friends houses, got free meals, I'm making brownies from all the chocolate left overs, from the cafe I volunteered at, like slightly stale cookies, but have had to raid the larder, basically you either live it or you don't I guess I'm just not up to the totally cut off from convenience.

Looking at how the 1980's created a recession because of excess living and we didn't learn and had an even bigger recession recently 2009, Got me thinking about survival, how some things we don't need, how we throw away so much food, and pay for heating and silly things.

I quite like Polar Bears and the environment, so I try to be quite ecological I'm not quite on the level of Dick Strawbridge yet, and living in a house of seven its tricky to please everyone, but we spend money we don't really have.

And In the future, we'll get cars and mortgages and have kids get credit cards pay for heating pay taxes.

Basically I felt like all I was thinking about was money and the implications, so thought I'll do an exhibition which will be a humourous look at how we don't need all that much money, make top hats out of news papers, cheap alcohol.


Take quite a nostalgic look at technology to use for it, if showing films, use Tv's that people may through away soonish.

Friday 23 October 2009

Art of Nurture competition

Entering - What To DoOur aim is to involve art colleges and their students in a commercial environment, through sponsorship of an art competition. The winners and runners up of the competition will see their art featured as part of our advertising campaign.

What do you need to do to win?
Provide a piece of visual art that would support and illustrate one of the following themes

Leading the way - we are the leader ahead of our competitors and provide industry-leading products for our clients - we are "ahead of the game.
Working together/support - we team-up with advisors to provide their clients with the right financial solution for their growing business needs - partnership, teamwork and positive relationships.
Innovation/Originality - we meet the ever-changing demands of growing businesses through providing innovative solutions to complex problems.
Flexibility - our financial solutions are flexible and adaptable to meet the individual requirements of our client's financial needs and their future businesses growth.
Sustainable relationships - we have maintained relationships with our clients over long-periods of time - in fact some up to 20 years - we are always there for our clients and are constantly maintaining our relationships.
Expansion - we are constantly widening our range of products and services.
2012 Olympics - we are promoting the 2012 Olympics and showing how we can help prepare athletes and businesses for the opportunities that will come.
Industry sector specialisation - we already have a specialist team for temporary Recruitment companies and will soon have a specialist team for the Haulage/Logistics [road/rail/air freight sectors]
Guidelines
What you produce should be a visual piece that would reproduce effectively in print.
There are no restrictions on technique, materials or style (however work must be 2D and non photographic).
Submissions should be in a form suitable for commercial use in media (both press, direct marketing and online) and dimensions should be A4 minimum, A1 maximum. (Please note work will not be eligible for the competition if smaller than A4 and larger than A1). Existing work completed by the entrant, that meets the brief, can be submitted as an entry.
Art submitted must not have already been displayed in a commercial environment including commercial galleries and must not be submitted for other display or work commercially.
Students are permitted to submit a maximum of two pieces of art into the competition.
The Winning students, original Artwork will remain with Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance as part of their art collection for a period of one year, (from date of the formal agreement which will be issued to winning students). (See terms and conditions).



Submitting Your Work
Entries should be submitted online using the entry form. All submissions must be a digital photograph of your work, no larger than 5Mb (file size). We accept the following file types - JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP and PDF.

All entries must be submitted via the entry form with the following details:

Your name
Your term address
Your e-mail address
Your telephone number
Name of College/University
Your lecturer's name
Your lecturer's telephone number
Theme of submission
Medium
Dimensions
Your 100-200 word statement
By entering the competition you will be accepting the Terms & Conditions.

Tuesday 20 October 2009

Realising what I have Done since being back in Manchester.

I came back to Manchester the last week of August, I went to Leeds on the weekend of Leeds festival, to see some friends played Pinyata Heard Radiohead in the distance, a good day had by all.

Then I Handed out C.V's to all the bars and places I would like to work, avoiding corporate industries like Primark or supermarkets, as being Bi-polar I would rather put my head in an oven(ok that was slightly dramatic.

I have been writing about 4 poems a day some days I'll write like 20 "epic"poems some days none, but when I don't write I get really depressed. So when I'm going on walks to clear my head, or getting the bus I save my thoughts and song ideas as text messages, then when I'm home I will figure out how to edit them make good songs out of them, I played a few open mics whilst job hunting and recording demo's and doodling, and entered a competition to do art work for a band I like called TEN BEARS.

http://www.myspace.com/tenbearsmusic

My artwork is in the final four of the competition.

I went to some meetings about Free for Arts Festival and practiced with Dafydd and James on some very noisy idea's.
 www.freeforartsfestival.co.uk

Also Did some work with Gesampt collective, which is James, Daf and some other Interactive Arts Students, friends all sorts.
http://www.ges.freei.me/

I have recently been working for OXJAM, doing promotional busking and a PR launch and I will be performing on Sunday 25th October 2009. In Various venues in Northern Quarter.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/fundraise/oxjam/aud_event.php?ref=3870&back=aud_search_results.php%3Fday%3D25%26month%3DOct%26year%3D2009%26range%3D3%26event%3D%26postcode%3DM14%2B5JT%26venue%3D%26region%3D%26genres%3D%26types%3D%26offset%3D0

Its been "IN THE CITY" music conference, and I didn't get chosen to play, when I applied I wasn't ready I know that now, I have been doing all sorts of mingling with bands and a couple of promoters, and giving CD's to bands I'm friends with so I can get some slots at gigs.


http://www.inthecity.co.uk/showscreen.php?site_id=30&screentype=site&screenid=30

I went to a lot of the free fringe events, and as soon as I ran out of Demo's I bumped in to Huw Stephens outside Midland Hotel, I'll send him a CD when its good and radio ready and remind him who I am a good press pack, pretty photo of me etc.

I am going on holiday to Cornwall, to see family and whilst I'm there shall go to some galleries, take a lot of photo's that reminds me today I need to buy a camera, I will interview a couple of artists as cornwall is where all the modern artists go to retire.

Lovely stuff, now off to lectures seminars tutorials, busy tuesdays.

Nostallgic technology.

I have been looking at the history of technology recently, How things have evolved, looking at Nostalgic things like BBC computers from the 1980's, and remembering my primary school days, we didn't upgrade at school for years, had an animation game on the BBC acorn PC and a game called Nanas garden which was basically a Y/N game like maze, but somehow you always got stuck by the witch.

Looking at all of the history, made me feel like I must have had aspergers, being able to program a computer at 5 years old.

http://bbcmicro.net/old-8bs/see/bbc16k.jpg

All the games, the bleaps the sounds its amazing.

 Think there must be a theme at the moment at the BBC because a lot of open university programs are about the old ways of technology

This program looks at a very middle class gadget mad family, attempting to embrace life with out all Mod cons, goes from the 1970's, and they go up a year every day till 2000.

It reminded me how we all thought the apocalypse was going to happen because computers would die the milenium bug all that kind of thing, it sounds rediculous now.

When I was younger my auntie won a Nintendo 64, I ran around the house very excited about getting it for christmas, I also got an original BUZZ lightyear, but that is no longer in my possession, I could have made some money from those things.

I think my love of Nostalgia happened when my sister downloaded a Zelda Ocarina of time for her Nintendo Wii. the original N64 version I was so happy, I'm actually terrible at playing games, but was a good bonding exercise or something.

http://bbc.co.uk/i/n90xc/ This is called electric dreams.

I also got in to looking at Synths and how Kraftwerk, re-invented music, and basically having that lack of personality, robotic quality, had a charm all of its own. Gary Numan, "Cars" is one of the best songs and evidence of synths in music and though it sounds historic now, imagine how revolutionary it all was, then.

But a lot of it ended up being watered down pap, The 70's My Dad said he felt embarrassed to be alive, I think If I was born a decade earlier, I would have really not enjoyed the 80's would have attempted to cling to The Smiths, and avoid all that Synth Britania but looking at it in a new light and not having to live through it, you can have a pretend sense of nostalgia, just remember the good bits, if there were any

The 1980's a predominately shameful decade.

http://bbc.co.uk/i/n93c4/

Saturday 17 October 2009

That Green Room Gig was awesome.

Box Kid we're Immense, like quirky pop, gave them a CD to bag some gigs with them possibly, they may hate my CD, but it's networking.

Louis Barrabas and The Bedlam Six, Very good performers, in that Nick Cave, Tom Wait's, Troubadour vein, Gave them a CD, they run a very arty lovely independent label called Debt records based in Manchester, so May give me some nice studio, there all great lads and lasses also, Networking....

Another CD to the very nice Promoter Stuart Avery

And one to my mate and Disco Nasties singer Freddie, who has died his hair pink, there a great local band, maybe they'll let us support them at some point, networking.


Box Kid, used what was good from the eighties, like the jangly pop of The Cure, and put a contemporaryish spin on it, I also loved them because they looked like cartoon characters, The guitarist/singer, could of come out of any New york Jewish Gangster film, a lovely guy though,
Singer like A blond betty boop, blonde individual and Beautiful, the Bassist Like JAWS or the late swayze, then you had Art Garfunkel on Keyboard and SAX, drummer had an amazing curly mohawk and liked to beat the jazzy hell out the skins, I think my image of the band, sounds like a band everyone would want to see, by the way they are all Handsome Beautiful people, who all have charisma, and make beautiful catchy music, and cover dance anthems, everything is right with the world...............

Except! TRAINS, PLANES, AUTOMOBILES, MOBILES, and BURN'T TOAST, oh a lot of diceases and government arguements, I liked my Paraphrased Betjeman quote, read a lot of his poetry and prose over summer, Dad has for some reason changed our living room in to Library, most people in the mid life crisis buy sports cars, join tribute bands, " I will build a Library" Well I guess its a good thing got me reading. HA!.

A New Exhibition in Sheffield

Ok So I got a little lost but heres what that exhibition is actually about.

exhibiton thingy

Between You and Jo Coleman
Jo Coleman 17 October at 21:41
Hey edd,
The exhibition thing i'm doing will be held in december time- about the 12th i think.
what i'm doing is taking the idea of self-injury and looking behind the myths to do with it. I'm trying to challenge peoples' conceptions of self-injury and what it really is.
i'm trying to get Luton Church Education trust to lend me some of their artwork that they had from an exhibition a couple years ago, to get some more artwork in.
What i'm planning on doing is using art/photos, quotes from self-inurers and facts dotted about a room to create an "exhibition" feel. i'm also going to try use some music videos and possibly song lyrics to dot around aswell.

Anyway- what i want from you, is for you to help me create a piece of art that is quite "contemporary" in its style. actually a couple things.
i'm thinking i might also try to a collage with statistics written in it or something too.
However, the main idea is to get a piece of canvas and try do something like the album-art from manic street preachers' album Lifeblood.

you still up for helping me?
pretty please- i promise i won't bite you again *angelic face*
jo
Edd Butt 17 October at 17:26
Yep Got lots of ideas, collage is well up my street its all I do best, so can combine messy canvases and nice framed collages, I'll buy some paints canvas square, and picture frames like clip frames, and bring glue scissors and buy some varnish, and shall take over for a day.

I need this for networking so we're doing each other a favour.

I Know its not an easy Life.

Yes. But I think I'd love it me and a few friends travelling about, would be a hoot.

IN THE CITY. which hopefully If I'm persistant and do some good recordings and gigs shall play one day, then get a nice record deal and have a lovely life in the suburbs, and work all the time doing stuff I love.

I'm going to a gig this evening for my friends Birthday I shall pass out some CD's to my favourite bands and the promoter Stuart Avery hopefully make some new friends, and have a good time with old ones, One of my favourite local Manchester bands are playing this evening called Louis Barrabas and the bedlam six, shall review the gig, later. http://www.myspace.com/bedlamsix

Forgot to take Photos.

But Don't Threat here's a different tea party of some delights me and my friend Helen made a year or so ago.

Friday 16 October 2009

If you ever have time to kill then play... or Bake.

Play on Audiotool http://www.hobnox.com/index.1056.en.html, Its so much fun, my new band and good pals James and Dafydd- forgive my spelling hes welsh, use it a lot as well as looping all sorts of things, we used a bontempi, toy keyboard for mainly percussion, and the pick up I used liked to feedback was fun.

Controlling feedback with an array of guitar effects and other things, trying to mold sound art noise feedback in to good pop music, soon enough when they've finished there huge 3rd year essays, shall be amazing, we'll make rooms vibrate have films projected and make the shows spectacles.

I have a huge grub crawl event happening this evening friday 16th october 2009, I have made a lot of amazing ginger biscuits, and Brownies, photos will be put up as evidence for this event, I made loads I have been busy.

This idea of survival, well food as performance and event is also happening this evening, its a meet and greet for christian union social.

Next Blog I'll show photos maybe films?


Its In The City this weekend,

I think I'm gonna go to the Midland hand out Demo's maybe, To all the performers at venues and promoters, a lot of networking this weekend, I have a few contacts there, so I'll just say think of the potential, because the demo is rough, I think the songs are good, afew James Daf and me will muck about with and make a proper demo, anyway I shall give a demo to BBC introducing see If I can go and do a session.

There's a film Called "Once" Its a simple love story, a film of lost souls and friendships, You could say what its about on the back of a post card "Man Busks, Meets nice cleaning Lady, boosts his confidence, about his songs, about a girl friend he lost, goes to London after her, chases after record deal buys new friend a piano" It's well good thats as you Imagine a paraphrased very simple version of the film.

Thursday 15 October 2009

Exhibiton about Youth Culture.


My good friend Joanne, has asked me to produce some big square pieces, that can be connected to crime, and youth culture, and how music can be a positive way forward for some people, I am painting for an exhibition, shes putting together in Sheffield shes a music student so there will be all sorts of different work, some sound work, but its a collaboration between a lot of students, so think I'm bringing the colour, she said use The Manic Street Preachers albums as Influence, and the work  of Jenny Saville, She also wants big Abstract Pollocks, as Image The Manics have also used, I think she's a big fan, but loves the political messages, also, the exhibition will be exciting as I'm going to be staying In Sheffield quickly doing the work which will make it organicish, as I will be planning it with consultation with her to find out what she actually means, This story came to my attention also.


Manic Street Preachers album cover censored by supermarkets

Journal for Plague Lovers is to be stocked in plain slipcases because its artwork, which features a painting of a boy's face apparently splattered with blood, is deemed 'inappropriate'
Manic Street Preachers Journal for Plague Lovers album coverThere's always arguements, I have a Kinship with the Manics as one of there B side EP singles was my first CD I think it was "Bangkok Novotel, the only music I heard before that was Britney Spears really, I missed Brit Pop and avoided NU metal, so this random CD I bought just because I liked the album art, The song Ballad of the Bangkok Novotel, is freaking awesome, I shall speak about this exhibition, which uses the Manics as an Influence in more detail when I know what is actually going on.http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/Found_That_Soul.jpg

http://d.yimg.com/img.music.yahoo.com/image/v1/video/8206168

Ten Bears Competion,

I am In the final four for a competition I entered to have my work on an up and coming Manchester band TEN BEARS single for there song BRACES, about the teeth straightening things you often have to wear as a teenager.

I like the quirky flaming lips sound of the band and they're lovely people one of the Handsome fellow's works in TROF fallowfield.

I hope I win, mines the one that apparently looks a little like Konnie Huq. from Blue Peter fame.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=154272&id=17472221353&ref=mf

Networking.

In this art lark its who you know, and how you make oppurtunities for yourself.

So I played the Free For Arts Festival PR launch, and then got chatting to OX-JAM, I also got featured on the Blank media blog, getting good reviews. I gave a CD to OX-JAM, and they asked if I wanted to play there press launch and festival, so I did the PR launch on the 14th October, and it went great, played three gigs in a day, one two hour show, an hour then a little open mic with some pals.

I met a magazine and some other lovely people at the PR launch, the magazine editor for 4Q, I'm going to see If I can get some work experience, with them, a very a nice chap.

The open mic was the now derelict S U Bar the huge light boxes empty, making me think, about having a whole exhibition there canvases up using the light boxes.

An empty space at university, they have to let us use it for free, I shall enquire.

Tuesday 13 October 2009

Survival,or Consumption.

I wanted to look at our natural urges, and why we eat, and how we survive, I got thinking about some family friends who live in Norfolk, pretty self sufficcent, almost like Fregans, People who mainly live from food they produce, or by the food that everyone else wastes, like supermarkets throwing out food that has reached its sell by date, Its a political ideal that has some almost romantic ideals, living off the land.

It almost has a family relevance as we live on a small holding, and have an orchard, I am going to do a documentary, based on the predictable 1970's sitcom "The Good Life" and try to collage them together interviewing my eccentric family friends, try and get an interview with Dick Strawbridge from the program "Its not easy being Green"As my auntie works for the BBC so I should have some contacts, there,

The group work meetings want us to show some visual work.

Sunday 11 October 2009

Food. Research

Well we have to research food, this is going to sound strange, but Food annoys me..... quite a lot.

I can bake really quite amazingly, I'll prove it soon enough;my Brownies are immense, and Gingerbread men are grand, but I'm so fussy, that meals for me are awkward, meat and veg, simple food I like.

I tend to hate tomatoes, actually despise them, and only recently started eating food with sauces, like Indian food, its hard to avoid as I live on Curry Mile, so have fought some demons.

So doing a food diary, looking at my diet, only showed that I need to cut down on the bacon, really, and drink less.

Because its the recession all T.V is showing are food programs, because there's no money to do anything else, or they think as its the recession all we do is Eat and Shag, well....

I'm going to look at the food project quite differently I've got some ideas, Film ideas maybe humourous around how terrible my cooking is, burning down houses, and music that could be extremely different Like Ja temme playing whilst I ruin another meal or something like that.

Cafe Culture 

I like sitting in Cafes writing eating Cake, living outside my means, pretending I'm cosmopolitan or something.

Thursday 8 October 2009

Edwyn and Toy Orchestra

This evening I am playing at Gesampt at Mint Lounge for Free for Arts festival, I went to Dafydd and James place and they had a toy keyboard, so they got me thinking about manipulating things to make music with. I researched the Modified Toy Orchestrahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erkV7gOv09M&feature=related and they buy toys for less than £1 and circuit bend them to make music with them, this clip shows it amazingly, Mine will be a little more low key, using the Bontempi keyboard from James and Dafs place, and a Ukulele and afew other things, shall go on the hunt and, well improvise with what I have collected today, going to search Early learning centre, music shops and querky places in Afflecks palace, and then we can muck around with my findings.



I'm also trying to make a film for the event I have one for the thing we did at Sand Bar when we planned an event called 3 minutes, and I banged a drum and screamed performing Be Your Husband by Nina Simone really cut down and tribal, I painted myself white and projected a film of the guiness add backwards, so it was little like drowning, I did the same performance for the PR launch for Free for Arts Festival, just without the film.

So I'm thinking I will start my slot with a couple of films to lets us set up, then bang the drum sorted.

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Now back at University.

Back to things and we have been set the project- Food I decided to research Café culture, performance with food and weird cults.

In the same day we went to the Cornerhouse, to the Bloomberg new contemporaries exhibition, a few pieces were good some bad, some ugly, some trying to break taboo's, Like Paul Knight, on first glimpse, you think thats been done before, Andy Warhol, used to film that in his factory etc etc, but then you see the titles, saying perhaps how long his relationships have been with these people, which is humourous, He says there about sex and the human relationship, I like that they don't look beautiful that you almost feel embarrased when looking at the photographs, and that it looks like the same guy with three different people in long term relationships, one being with a man, so hes experimenting I doubt he's the performer, The reason I find it funny is that there like memories or he got bored with women maybe, not sure..





Paul Knight
1 year, 8 months #01

1 year, 8 months #01
2008, Lambda print, 50 x 40cm
14 months #03

14 months #03
2009, Lambda print, 50 x 40cm
11 months, 17 days #03 
11 Months 17 Days.





  Was that the best relationship because hes counting the days.

I liked Sam Burford's work which was basically embraseing materials, shape and form, trying to be very simple, or mysterious. In the programme he says "I really can't think of anything to say that would support the work adequately.It is what it is". Either mysterious pretentious or lazy, but I liked the work so.... I shouldn't judge really.






Neoset Intense Black

The work that either hypnotised me; or stole the show for me was probably Dean Kissick "Just a Quiet Peaceful Dance for the Things we'll never have" It started slowly and swelled with a dub-step soundtrack that sped up and so did the images, full of subliminal messages, showing art work though out the ages in a slide show iconic images, and recent things afew turner prize pieces and the Foals Album art some architecture, I say hypnotized because you felt like you were falling and couldn't leave the room, and felt exhausted was like a rave in the tate modern.




Just a Quiet Peaceful Dance, for the Things We’ll Never Have…




Dean Kissick


Just a Quiet Peaceful Dance, for the Things We’ll Never Have…
2009, Video, 5 min 38 sec