S.A.D. kicked in around mid-September this year. I start falling asleep in front of the telly and can spend the first hour of the day just repeatedly hitting the snooze button and rolling back in to the sack. Stuff brings you down, the news, the weather, celebrity deaths, all kinds of stuff. I was sad to hear that Kris Kristofferson had left the building. Our song S.A.D. in Fleetville is unapologetically Kristoffersonesque – such an inspiration.
In September we made it away for a West Coast adventure in France. I tried the legendary Mère Poulard omelette on La Mont Saint-Michel which was a delight. We stayed near the old market in La Rochelle and found ourselves partying at the cool Bar Colette to the grooviest garage rock ‘n’ roll playlist, which inspired me to invest in some Jacques Dutronc later on in Angers. The highlight in Bordeaux was stumbling on some sweet jazz in a buzzing bar, hep-cool-crazy! Angers was new to us and the castle there is stunning. We also caught the opening of their Festival of Street Entertainments which looked to be quite vibrant – nice place. When journeying between towns we stopped off at delightful, wooded lay-bys for lunch. It all passed way too quickly.
The Old Market, La Rochelle
Skull Puppets headed down to play the wonderful Bees Mouth in Brighton again, this time with local hipsters The Wrong Trousers and the electro grooves of Cosmic Acid. It was a buzzing night and it’s always nice to wake up by the sea, even if the weather is distinctly autumnal!
Skull Puppets at The Bees Mouth - Photo, Justine
I’m going to start a new ‘consequence’ poem for inclusion in an upcoming outdoor exhibition we (St Albans Arts Team) are curating around the theme of Freedom. I instigated one of these poems before and they are dead fun. You basically start a poem off and then forward it to another poet, who adds their lines before forwarding to another poet, and repeat. There’s something lovely about collaborating in that way, just sending some art out in to the world to watch it develop and grow. It also just feels like a good time for some positive multi-national connectivity, lord knows we could all do with a bit more of that going on.
St Albans Times invited me to take on their 10 from 50 challenge which was fun, you can read the results here https://stalbanstimes.co.uk/qa/10-from-50-grae-wall/
I managed to post a couple more ‘Tiny Acts of Rebellion’ on my Instagram and may even be exhibiting some of these in a tiny gallery next year which would be sweet (watch this space). I like that idea of whispered protest, murmurs of dissent – there’s no need to shout! I also like that you can be kind of open and questioning in these statements, just the sewing of thoughts and ideas in the most modest of ways.
Tiny Acts of Rebellion
On the way back to the ferry port from Angers we stopped for lunch at Omaha Beach. It’s such a beautiful and peaceful spot yet still imbued with poignant melancholy, the ghosts of those such young lives, cut down on its shoreline. That some 80 years later we are still losing so many to the scourge of war is the greatest of shames.
Omaha Beach
‘Tell the truth, sing with passion, work with laughter, love with heart, 'cause that's all that matters in the end’.
Kris Kristofferson
Angers Jazz in Bordeaux
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