I can already taste the pie

This is a picture of the pumpkins I am growing in my garden – I don’t really have ‘green fingers’ and as you can see there are still some weeds around the pumpkins, but they grow so fast they’ll soon block out the nasty weeds. This picture was taken a week or so ago and as it is so ridiculously hot (for England) at the moment they are growing like crazy. These plants have been grown from the seeds of the pumpkins I grew last year – what about that for self-sufficiency?! I love pumpkins. I grew loads of plants last year though and ended up giving everyone I knew a pumpkin and still having loads left which are chopped up in cubes in my freezer, waiting for me to be bothered to cook/bake. I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin curry and the katsu curry that they do at Wagamama is just delicious; that makes me want to go buy some panko breadcrumbs so I can make katsu curry for my tea. Yummy.

Birmingham on a beautiful summer day

After the Wynton Marsalis concert, the next day we had a wander through Birmingham City Centre, which has some great public art and architecture. All of these photos were taken within a five minute walk through the centre to have breakfast.

This is the edge of the library building (I think) which looked quite striking against the blue sky:


After the library, we saw this statue in the centre of the waterfall in front of the Council House in Victoria Square. I love public art and particularly really big, in-your-face sculpture.

On the edge of Victoria Square was this statue, which looked a bit Egyptian with celtic-style designs on the side:

And after that, was this one, which I think is stunning and is one of the most pleasing things I have seen in a city for a long time:

I have only been to Birmingham once before on a flying visit, and didn’t really explore as the weather was so horrible. I liked the city a lot and thought there was a really good vibe of community unity.

Jazz in Birmingham

On 25 June I went to see Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at Birmingham Symphony Hall. The whole night was amazing. I am no aficionado of jazz or instrumental music as I have never played an instrument, but this is the second time I have seen Wynton Marsalis and each time now I have just been blown away. On this occasion, I particularly enjoyed the tributes to John Coltrane and Count Basie. One of the stars of the show for me was Walter Blanding Jr. who played saxophone and clarinet, and played one of the most beautiful solos I have ever heard. Watching people who are so at the top of their game is truly inspirational.

After the show, all of the orchestra came out to chat to the audience, and I had the opportunity to meet the aforementioned Walter Blanding Jr., Dan Nimmer (a jaw-droppingly amazing jazz pianist), and trombonist Chris Crenshaw, who sang Count Basie’s I Left My Baby so beautifully it was almost tear-jerking. After a while, Wynton Marsalis came out to greet the audience too, and seeing him chat with the youngsters in the audience was lovely. Whilst he has been in the UK he has spent some time working with young people on workshops and to see him chat away so easily with the little ones was great. There is no doubt about his talent, and I’m sure he knows just how good he is, but one-on-one he certainly is a gentleman.

Happy Anniversary Filmic!

I am currently working on a short segment for Ley Bricknell's first anniversary Filmic show on RadioNowhere. For those of you unfamiliar with Ley's show, she plays film soundtracks, incidental music and cues, interspersed with soundbites and trailers from her favourite films. There is a special place in her heart for John Barry, and she also likes the occasional dodgy cover!

Ley has kindly invited her fellow RN DJs to introduce their favourite piece of film music for her anniversary, and as difficult a task as it is to choose, I have finally decided! I'm not going to say what it is - you'll have to tune in to find out!

Ley's show will be broadcast on RadioNowhere on Thursday 8th July at 9pm UK time. Make sure you go along to http://www.radionowhere.org/ for a listen!

I like to read books

I have just started reading George Orwell's 1984, so yes, I am 60 years behind the rest of the world! I have only read 30 pages so far, but already I am entranced... perhaps the book should have been titled 2010. Someone was talking to be about 1984 the other day, and I thought 'I really must read it' so now I am. There are so many things already that anger me about present-day society that I have found explained, like the term prolefeed to describe 'rubbishy newspapers containing almost nothing except sport, crime and astrology' (I see they had The Sun even then!) and crappy entertainment designed to anaesthetise the masses (so they also had ITV4).

I just finished The Comedians by Graham Greene, which is set in 1950s Haiti and really brings to life a vision of living there at such a volatile time in the country's history - obviously fictionalised, but from the Introduction, it appears that Graham Greene spent a lot of time in Port-au-Prince, and made quite an enemy of 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, who tried to discredit Greene's reputation. The themes include love, commitment, status and goodwill. It's a great book, but if, like me, you aren't fluent in French, you might want to have a French-English dictionary by your side, just so that you can get the best from the text.

I borrowed both of these books from the library (yay to libraries) but will probably buy them both anyway as they are well worth another read. Away to zShops...

Storm clouds are gathering

This is a picture of a storm cloud over my garden a couple of weeks ago.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It was my birthday yesterday and I got lots of presents, including a beautiful Momiji 'Dancing Girl' doll ("I like monkeys and movies") and The Specials' 20th Anniversary DVD, which I will watch and watch and watch until my already slightly broken DVD player finally dies. It is sooooooooo good. I also got presents from my friend's 10 year old daughter, who paid for them out of her own money! And about 50,000 cakes.

I also had a THREE HOUR social policy exam ON MY BIRTHDAY - how rude - but it seemed to go OK, so no more studying until October - yay!

Jessica 6 in 1977

You can now hear my 1977 show as a podcast, available here

You can view the playlist here

Next month I'll be in 1958 - requests to jessica6@radionowhere.org or 'tweet' me www.twitter.com/jessica6uk

Enjoy!

Cola Jet Set... Go

I went to see Cola Jet Set, the wonderful Elefant records band, on Saturday at The Buffalo Bar in Highbury & Islington, London. I got to meet Filipe and Alicia beforehand and they were both really lovely and so full of positivity about their music and life in general. And they like cider.

They were on the bill as part of a night put on by Pic 'n' Mixx. Their events encourage people to take along a mix-CD and swap it with someone else's, but I didn't know this and so didn't take one, and so I can't tell you about the wonderful mix-CD that I received from a brilliant stranger. Because I didn't take a mix-CD with me to the show, I was stamped with an unhappy face when I entered the venue. Only those who brought a mix-CD got a happy face stamp. I felt rather sad about this.

I also didn't get any pictures at the show as the venue uses those crappy red lights, and being short I couldn't see much. There are also big columns in the venue, so turning up just before Cola Jet Set went on stage, nursing my unhappy face stamp, I ended up standing near the back feeling a bit sorry for myself. I missed the first two acts because I was talking to two nice men in the pub upstairs. I did know them, I wasn't just randomly talking to strangers - Charly the cat warns us against such things.

This is Charly (he's the one on the right):

The band were fab, and their happy sunny pop was just the thing on what had been a rather drab and rainy London evening. I have a thing about bands who have songs with the band's name as part of the lyric (Sheep on Drugs, Pizzicato 5), and Cola Jet Set didn't disappoint. I was also wearing my purple Elefant badge to show my allegiance to the happiest record label in the world.

We had to leave early to catch the train to Dullsville, so missed the headliners Pocketbooks. I'm sure they were good. And, on the way home, some nice people sat next to us on the train and talked to us about music (of the classical and operatic variety), so I even learned stuff. I now know that Alison Balsom is a rather attractive trumpet player, and that it costs a lot of money to move a Steinway Grand Piano from London to the West Country. I probably could have guessed the last one.

Christopher Laird's interview with Cola Jet Set will be broadcast on The Christopher Laird Show on RadioNowhere on Monday 28th June at 9pm UK time - tune in at www.radionowhere.org

Let's start a war, start a nuclear war!

This was a discarded set list from one of the support acts at The Enterprise last week. I don't know what they were called and I didn't see them so I don't know if they were any good. Sorry.

Tim Ten Yen Take Two

The second wonderful occasion last week was a triumphant and hilarious set from Tim Ten Yen at The Portland Arms in Cambridge, supporting his mate Jim Bob (ex-Carter USM). This is a bad photograph, but I like that Tim looks more sinister than The Sinister Cat:

Forget paying stupid money to see the same old act from stand-ups, just go and see Tim Ten Yen, he's a singing salaryman with a side order of comedy - honestly, I was still laughing about Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers on my way home.

As I said, also on the bill that night was Jim Bob, who was reading from his new book Storage Stories and playing some solo and Carter stuff too. This is a picture from the slideshow that accompanied his reading:


The concept of the reading and the songs worked really well, I thought. There was one guy in front of me, however, who looked over at his friend after the first reading and mouthed, 'What was that all about?', which rather made me giggle. They finished their drinks and left.

The show was up against the Cambridge Beer Festival, which was being held just across the road, so although it was sold out, I think a few people may have found themselves either unable to leave the festival (the magnetic pull of beer) or they tried to make it to the venue but forgot where they were going and got a kebab instead. Earlier in the day, when walking past the beer festival site, I watched a man leave the festival, get on his bike which was parked outside, and immediately crash into another cyclist. I laughed a lot.

I bought Jim Bob's book at the gig and read it the next day - it's really good. It reminds me a bit of Alexei Sayle's short stories, in terms of it's connection to reality, and especially to Martin Millar's Milk, Sulphate and Alby Starvation, which is one of my favourite books of all time. Apparently others have said it reminds them of Chuck Palahniuk, but I wouldn't know as I haven't read any of his books.

You can buy Jim Bob's book in all the usual places - also from http://www.storagestories.co.uk/

Our lovely friend Tim Ten Yen has interviewed Jim Bob about his new book for The Christopher Laird Show, and this will be broadcast, with Jim Bob as Artist of the Week, on Monday 21st June 2010 at 9pm UK time - head over to http://www.radionowhere.org/ for a listen!

If you haven't read Alexei Sayle's short stories, do so now, they are brilliant - first compilation is called The Dog Catcher, second one is Barcelona Plates. Also Ten Sorry Tales by Mick Jackson is a MUST READ - and worth buying for David Roberts' illustrations alone.

Tim Ten Yen Take One

I was lucky enough to see the lovely, the wonderful, the marvellous Tim Ten Yen twice last week - on Tuesday 25th May at The Enterprise in Chalk Farm, London, and on Thursday 24th at The Portland Arms in Cambridge (see next blog entry). The picture above was from The Enterprise.

Also on the bill at The Enterprise was Hafdis Huld, the sweetest person I have ever met who comes from Iceland (actually probably the only person I have ever met who comes from Iceland). She was kind enough to take full responsibility for the volcano, as she informed us that she had been poking it with a big stick.

This is a picture of Hafdis (and Alistair on guitar):

Starfish and Coffee

When I went to the beach recently, this poor little starfish was stranded after the tide had gone out and I felt bad, so I put him into a little pool of water that had been left.

I read later that they can survive for up to 5 days without water, so he probably didn't really need my help at all, and he might actually have been enjoying a bit of fresh air, so perhaps next time I'll just say hello and walk on by.

The School in Shepherd's Bush

Back on 27th March I went to see The School at Bush Hall in Shepherd's Bush, London and I took this picture of their stage set. Sorry about the person on the right hand side - I'm no master photographer, I just like taking pictures! The show was excellent and the venue is just too cute - there are some great photos in the lobby of it when it was a proper bingo hall. The staff there were really nice too and can't recommend it highly enough. It is in a bit of a weird place though, and options for drinks and food nearby are a bit limited. Before the show we went for a drink at a local pub (and I mean local) and while we were sitting there (me with my flat diet coke and my partner with a half - 'just in case it's a bit weird') a rather dodgy looking character came in and approached a man by the pool table - he then produced a flat pack of meat from within his jacket, a transaction took place and the dodgy man left. After that, every few minutes, the purchaser took the meat out of his bag to look at it, and each time looked rather rather pleased with his newly acquired meat.

Also, on the way to the venue, I saw this:

There was a VG store on the road that I grew up on and I rather liked this retro sign. Be aware, I had bought my new camera the week before so I was taking pictures of pretty much anything that caught my eye at that point!

Welcome to my blog!

Hello to anyone who has found me here... you might already know my show on RadioNowhere, if not then do check out http://www.radionowhere.org/ as it is the best online radio station you will ever find! I present the Jessica 6 show on the first Tuesday of the month, and basically I visit a year in music each month in my magic little bubble car (see left).

I have a Twitter page as well (www.twitter.com/jessica6uk), but when I go to gigs or see things that I like, I have often thought that maybe it would be fun to post some photos or just document some of the stuff I sometimes get to do. And books I've read, and music I like and all that sort of thing.

I recently came across Jorge Garcia's blog (he was Hurley in Lost) - http://www.dispatchesfromtheisland.blogspot.com/ - and he inspired me to just get on with it, as so many of his pictures and posts are so funny even though many of them are short. I also got a new digital camera and am crazily taking pictures of stupid stuff that I like and I think maybe other people might like my pictures too. So, here goes...