Last night I went to an event at Snape Maltings featuring Mr. Iain Sinclair, Mr. Alan Moore, and a bunch of other folks (no disrespect intended). It was part of the Faster Than Sound concert series and the particular title of this show was An English Journey: Reimagined (Or EJ:R to be cutesy like Paul Smith). It was certainly an interesting mix of media and performers. I was there mainly to see Mr. Sinclair but found myself very impressed with Mr. Alan Moore, not just for the pink silk jacket he wrote or the shiny maroon boots or his unruly main or gigantic beard or the way he stood when he read. He had a lot of cool things to say, a very interesting approach to telling the history of the place we were in. And what a presence! I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I liked Mr. Sinclair. After going on about his pretentious text, I found the opposite in his live performance. He wasn't hauty and he very nicely connected the dots and took us along with him (would love it if he took the time to do that in his texts too). It was a real treat to be brought along on the journey to connecting references and stories. The two authors played very well off one another. It was a really enjoyable history/story telling, listening and learning experience.
Mr. Sinclair talked a lot of John Clare. He spoke about how J.B. Priestly's work "An English Journey" parallels John Clare's walk and his own work. Some of the questions I came away from "Edge of the Orison" with were answered in this performance. It encouraged me to read more of his work.
There was a film about Orford Ness that they showed by an artist Emily Richardson (she has the same name as one of my best friends!). It really played up to the image of the Ness as this atmospheric, creepy, dark place. I enjoyed most of it. She got some really great footage.
My least favorite part: Mr. Einheit, industrial and electronic musician. If he'd done 30 second sections, that would have been super cool. But each time the noise went on just a little bit too long for me.
More: www.fasterthansound.com/news/an_english_journey_reimagined.html
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