Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

NdA's old cobbings

Natalie d'Arbeloff has been presenting some "old sketches" on her blogs recently -- including these two pics of Bob Cobbing from the early 80s.


















Blog(s) plural because Natalie has a genetic cartoon twin, Augustine. The present writer first met Natalie/Augustine at the beginning of the 21st century, introduced through the medium of what seemed a novelty in 2000 -- electronic mail. Both Natalie and Jennifer Cobbing had been sitting with young Apple fanboys in Mac-user groups throughout the late 90s. By the early noughties d'Arbeloff had introduced cartoon character Augustine to her digital world of online galleries and www blogosphere as avatar Blaugustine. Natalie's Blaugustine here is mirrored by Blaugustine's Other Blog here

Augustine's light however is still largely unseen by the neomodern art world because Natalie has lots of other bulbs flashing in multiple microspaces. The oh-so-marvellously-trending neoliberal arts establishment have difficulty with something they can't sell if it doesn't have a publicist's ready-made leftfield value on it: or useful and profitable baits in the hidden abode of promotions and sponsorships behind advertisers' pay walls and issuu-looking information freesheets. So not having brand value, Augustine doesn't appear to have exchange or consumer use value either. If this sounds like screwed-up marxist economics Metro, Stylist, ShortList, NMETime Out freesheets etc., better illustrate developments. Titles with exchange, and therefore use value to capitalism in the 20th century; for example NME and London's Time Out when western youth culture was at its commercial height in the UK. Or another example; the London Evening Standard had one of the world's best syndicated cartoon-strips in The Far Side along with homegrown Bristow and Modesty Blaise -- all worth paying for. But NdA's codes, like theirs, now seem lost in an old pre-world mixed with a post-new-other.

Natalie d'Arbeloff is a social media-savvy artist, feminist, humorist, vocalist, teacher, corporate media competition lay entrant, writer, cartoonist-illustrator, theorist (her Designing with Natural Forms influenced Eric Mottram's Towards Design in Poetry referenced by Adrian Clarke in his introduction to Jennifer Pike Cobbing's Scrunch) and being these things at the same time in London, New York, Paris: and an arts centre masquerading as a Norwegian church in Cardiff -- an itinerant rhizomath.   
 

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

#trending #pending #ending

On September 20 2013 the present writer deactivated EGNEP's Twitter account (presumed deleted thirty days later) documented in this two year old blogspot. The author's 'inconsquential information' at the time linked Twitter "follow me on Twitter" Updates (column right) to an error page "Sorry, that page doesn't exist".

This inspired a free-to-view Home'Baked PDF and a kindle edition. Two years later Twitter Updates (opposite) link to an "Account suspended" page inspiring second kindle edition Sorry, that page doesn't exist.


 

Monday, July 06, 2015

Michael Finnissy's Beat Generation Ballads 2

-- short trailer for longer docu-track on youtube -- see "Veer to Conservatoire and beyond" 

                                  

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

home'baked books blarting in mahu


The present writer is delighted SJ Fowler invited Michael John Weller's Home'Baked Books to celebrate its tenth birthday in Mahu at London's Hardy Tree gallery.

The Enemies Project dedicated online page for June 7 vent here.

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Veer to Conservatoire and beyond

It's five years since MJ Weller's docu-track Beat generation Ballads was first published by Veer Books. Partly inspired by modernist composer Michael Finnissy, the publication rekindled a dialogue between poet and composer for the first time in 45 years. A sort of beat generation ballad bonus track in itself.

Page from M J Weller's Songs Our Teachers Learn Us (free-to-view beat generation ballads e-supplement, 2015) --
Publication of author’s Beat generation Ballads prompted new email correspondence with old secondary school friend, teacher, modern composer and beat ballads' muse, Michael Finnissy. 
                                                                                  

Weller: The email you sent appeared as symmetrical 'word' score. Couldn't resist making page design unit with content and posting back.




Finnissy: […] you appeared to send me my message back asking if it was a musical score (which it wasn't intended to be), or did I misread


In 2013 Finnissy composed a large-scale work for piano entitled Beat Generation Ballads.The work has been described by its premier pianist-performer Philip Thomas on his website as an extraordinary 50-minute work, taking in Bill Evans, Allen Ginsberg, Bach, Beethoven, Irish protest songs, Webern and music by a 16-year old Michael Finnissy.

(note: post update May 29 2015)
The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2014 premiere recording of Finnissy's composition was aired on BBC R3's Hear and Now in April (after this post first appeared). Inspired by an interview with Finnissy featured in the broadcast Weller has made second e-supplement/complement to original Veer Book.

It takes the form of an animated docu-track. Sound recorded from a computer and squeezed onto a YouTube video -- Philip Thomas's beautiful playing ends up atrociously compressed. Until a recording company is able to release Beat Generation Ballads in high resolution Michael Finnissy's recorded five-part composition will fall short of full audio potential.


A parody of original Finnissy/Weller beat generation ballads coming to YouTube soon.