Makin' some NOISE: Entertainment

oop in them there hills...

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:31:06 GMT

The last days filming for the Gypsy Fair project. I can’t quite believe it’s nearly finished!

After a day back with Simon in Leeds to teach the kids a bit more about interviewing, shot techniques and positioning and it was back up to Appleby to get the group to put into practice everything that they had been taught in the past year. And for some this was the first time that they’d be visiting Appleby without the fair being there. From going back up yesterday I can’t quite believe how much the town changes in that week. The calm and stillness is what strikes you first, and then there’s the lack of dodging wagons and horses…it’s so different.

A mini bus ride away for the kids, and a early car journey for me, Denise, Mick (the cameraman) and Sebastian. Which is the perfect time to do a bit of last minute briefing about the order of the day, and to explain my findings from a few weeks of research.

Something that has really struck a chord with what I’ve been uncovering is that there’s a possibility that there is in fact no such thing as the Royal Charter that decrees that the fair should and will always take place. In fact one source states that the Charter was given back to King James as Appleby didn’t want it, so it was never instated, so many argue that therefore the Fair shouldn’t exist. This new angle can be seen as speculation, so I’m not sure whether it can be used in the documentary, but the question can be asked about the charter- and I wanna see it!

I’m as nervous as ever on shoots that I’ve organised. Eeek!

I’ve had a bit of whoops a daisy already, which saw me bartering at 11 o clock last night for somewhere to stay, but if you ask me in person, I’ll tell you all about it.

On the road to Appleby…it’s the end of February, it’s cold , it’s the crack of dawn, my hearts skipping a beat, but it’s tinged with a fleeting excitement. I love days out me….

Part2

After a quick breakfast…do eggs count as dairy? If so, I’ve proper buggered up this Lent thing. Jesus is frowning.

The first interview is the Sergeant of Appleby Police Force. The group were a bit apprehensive of interviewing a policeman, they saw him as the bad guy - but after listening to what he had to say the kids warmed to him. I cant blame them - he was lovely. Did you know that on average the arrests made during the whole of Appleby fair are less than those made on a typical night out in Carlisle on a Saturday night (trust me this is a good statistic, I’ve been out in Carlisle and it was 60p a drink and I tried to sneak into the castle). This policeman wanted to see that the Gypsy and Traveller culture was better understood by the locals, and that ignorance played a significant part in the tensions that arise year after year.

Why do I turn into a big kid when I’m around these lot? The shoot was in the interview room at the station bang next to the banged up bit ie the cells. Queue vic getting told off for pissing around in the cells.

I had to ask the policeman if it was true that a pregnant woman can wee in a policemans hat if she’s caught short, and it’s all rumours I tell you rumours…

Playing around with handcuffs, and some dinner later and it was off to shoot 2.…

ICA – Music and film showcase night –October 2006- pt1

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:28:06 GMT

The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London is one of these cool places that I’d never heard of before. I think it’s because I’m not that cool. A lot of people have heard of it, it’s quite famous in fact so that just goes to prove that I should stop wasting my time on MySpace and start speaking to ‘real’ people and quit posting bulletins to my pretend virtual life. I’m virtually popular dammit, and it pays nowadays to be web savvy.

As part of NOISE 2006’s month of festival madness, we decided to hold a film and music shindig at the ICA, an idea beautifully brought together by music maestro at the ICA and NOISE curator Nick Luscombe.

We’ve had the fine art, graphic, product design (and all things in between) exhibitions, we’ve got a fashion one next week, so we felt it was only right to show off some of the truly fantastic films and music that had been submitted to NOISE over the last 6 months.

So last night we invited a few friends along to the ICA to gather in celebration to take a butchers at some of the best moving image and music talent in the UK right now.

It all started in Manchester as four relatively fit young girls trekked a few hundred miles with three fat, 4ft tubes of cardboard down to London.

What follows is a story of Reel Creatives, music stars of tomorrow and where not to book a hotel.

ICA – Music and film showcase night –October 2006- pt1

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:27:32 GMT

So last night we invited a few friends along to the ICA to gather in celebration to take a butchers at some of the best moving image and music talent in the UK right now.

It all started in Manchester as four relatively fit young girls trekked a few hundred miles with three fat, 4ft tubes of cardboard down to London.

What follows is a story of Reel Creatives, music stars of tomorrow and where not to book a hotel.

Korova Biennial launch pt2 -still partying!

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 13:53:43 GMT

Cast your mind back to about 3 blogs aearlier when I mentioned that the old dude had been stolen by the street team and was one of the first visitors to the exhibition? He was still here. He was a bit wierd and offered us a place to stay after the party. Somehow we didn't oblige and he was quite offended.

Even if not one member of the public came to the launch party it was great to be sat with all the artists, having a beer and getting to know them better, even the film crew had parked their bums and was enjoying the crack.

Denise, Rosie, Lucy and Annabel had travelled up for the do, and we had a cool very drunken evening.

We'd all worked ver very hard, and with that warm loving feeling, only the end of a project brings I was sad that I wouldn't be seeing these guys much anymore...well for two minutes anyway. I can't believe it was all that for this! I have a sneaking suspicion that this is not quite the end though....

Not quite finished with this one yet.

During my second (or was that third?) galss of champers Kate (the lass who does the gorgeous drippy paintings) whispered in my ear..
"Jack has just proposed and I said yes!'

Wowers the first NOISE wedding and I was the first to know. I like to think we can change lives for the better, help make babies, whatever..

That's when I turned to my boyfriend with a glint in my eye and he looked at me as if to say

"you can f....!"

Biennial Challenge P1 7 August 2006

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 10:01:40 GMT

I’ve never heard of this Biennial. All this talk of NOISE putting on an exhibition at the Liverpool Biennial, I thought it was some sort of crazy venue. I’m learning a lot, slowly thing seem to be clicking.

NOISE is currently planning a number of ‘real-life’ exhibitions, displaying work created by NOISE artists throughout October.

One idea is to gather a group of artists and set them a challenge with a budget of £500 and a month, they must hold an exhibition as part of the Liverpool Biennial, displaying NOISE artwork.

This means they must find a venue, choose all the artwork, sort out all the promotion, marketing and PR, and host a fantastic launch.