Speak low, when you speak love...

It is with much enthusiasm that I bring you news of some summer shows. The boys at the Fitzrovia Radio Hour, have kindly booked us for the opening party of a new venue under the legendary Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Friday May 29th. The new venue will be called The Underglobe, would you believe, and promises to be a very busy night with all the usual and not so usual accoutrements to the typical 21st century soiree.

From this, we hope to be starting a residency of sorts in the Swan bar, also attached to the Globe theatre, confirmed so far as Saturday June 6th, and 27th. We will play 2 sets (expect some covers) to the punters that would be spilling out from the Globe theatre after the play ends, about 10.30pm. This will be free entry, and should be quite an experience, with views over the Thames and St Pauls at night.

Perhaps come and see a play at the theatre then take some drinks after and allow us to serenade you. If it's a hot night, we may even be performing on the terrace. On June 6th the play is Romeo & Juliet, and on the 27th it will be As You Like It. For more information regarding the plays, please follow this link:

http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/calendarofevents/thismonthattheglobe/?month=2009-06

We still have some shows in some wonderful venues before the thespian onslaught begins however, the next one being this Tuesday in the West End:

28 Apr 2009 Bourne & Hollingsworth, Fitzrovia, London - Free
12 May 2009 Hope & Anchor, Islington, London - £5
14 May 2009 St Mary’s Church, Stoke Newington - £5
21 May 2009 The Camden Head w/ Joe Worricker (new Rough Trade signing), Camden, London - £5
29 May 2009 The Underglobe, Southbank, London - £TBC
6 Jun 2009 The Swan, Southbank, London - Free
27 Jun 2009 The Swan, Southbank, London - Free

It would be wonderful to see you on one of these balmy nights.

MDH

Mobile Bone

The time has come to stop fooling around with technical gadgets and get on with life. I have pretended for too long that they actually benefit me, make things easier. I have held on to the belief that I need them all to promote my music, but that clearly has no effect whatsoever. So from tonight I will start by consigning my mobile phone to a shut drawer, for one month.

I may of course be wrong about this technology malarkey. It may enhance my life after all, and I am more than willing to admit this fact, should it come to light. I will not however mask my gleeful anticipation at not being interrupted at any moment of the day, let alone the middle of the night.

I look forward with immense enthusiasm to my new lack of responsibility. No longer will I be called upon at 11th hour for anything. I envisage many hours spent in pubs waiting for flaky friends, but with a book and a pint of ale, what more could one need? My eyes will finally be free from the paranoid flickers to the phone display. "Have I received a text but I didn't hear it? Perhaps they rung while I was in transit and I never felt it vibrate in my pocket?"

Is it possible that silence can be as sweet as I imagine it to be? I shall report back in one month on my findings. Happy twiddling.

MDH

Without a shadow of a doubt

Sincerely yours,
Despite the rolling eyes,
That have seen it all before,
And don't wish to see it again,
Well to hell with that and them,
Because I, have finally figured it out...

Without a shadow of a doubt,
Nothing can phase me now,
I even find it hard to imagine how,
I've lived so long, without you on,
My mind. Intervention is divine.
There's nothing I'm more sure about,
Without a shadow of a doubt.

Heathcliffian surly,
Could it be that for her,
I have come too early,
And the paranoid thoughts I foster,
Will expose me as an imposter,
Any minute now, I will be found out

Without a shadow of a doubt,
Nothing can phase me now,
I even find it hard to imagine how,
I've lived so long, without you on,
My mind. Intervention is divine.
There's nothing I'm more sure about,

Without a shadow of a doubt,
Nothing can phase me now,
Save the thought of you running out,
On me, but that can only be,
Confined to morbid fantasy,
There's nothing I'm sure about,
Without a shadow of a doubt.

Written by Marmaduke Dando Hutchings

Everything is free

I had been obsessed with Gillian Welch about a year ago, specifically Time: The Revelator, needing to hear it a couple of times a day. Time wore on, and other stimuli infiltrated my attention. Listening indifferently to it just this week, whilst toiling away at some administrative nonsense, the meaning of one of the songs, Everything Is Free, suddenly became clear. I'd fallen in love with her morose southern drawl and the simplicity of the recordings, not particularly the content of the lyrics.

Everything Is Free seemed to resonate strongly with my own feelings about how music is these days, how the way the world works now. We give everything away for free because we can't beat the pirates. They're too many, we are too few, and our righteous cause of payment for goods and services delivered, is dismissed, let alone even considered. So instead of beating them, we acquiesce, and take money from sponsors instead, directly or indirectly rather than from the listeners themselves.

What I love the most about the song though, is the last verse, which intimates that, if this is the way it must be, then one has no right to demand anything from the musician. Their expression of creativity may well be free for all to hear, but pure. Free from meddling record companies with agendas. The control is placed firmly within the musician's hands.

Whether this is a good thing or not, is somewhat subjective. Some sort of direction, whether it comes from the musician or whether it comes from some svengali type, is always positive. Personally I see both sources of direction as being equally valid, regardless of whether they make money or not. Financial success shouldn't really be linked to purity of expression, or the corruption of it, though it often is. Her two fingers up at all that ironically undermine and yet demand of her, and the stoical nature of her music is something to admired.

Lyrics printed below:

Everything is free now,
That's what they say.
Everything I ever loved,
I'm going to give it away.
Someone hit the big score.
They figured it out,
That we're gonna do it anyway,
Even if doesn't pay.

I can get a tip jar,
Gas up the car,
And try to make a little change
Down at the bar.

Or I can get a straight job,
I've done it before.
I never minded working hard,
It's who I'm working for.

(Chorus)

Every day I wake up,
Come in a song.
But I don't need to run around,
I just stay home.

And sing a little love song,
My love, to myself.
If there's something that you want to hear,
You can sing it yourself.

'Cause everything is free now,
That what I say.
No one's got to listen to
The words in my head.
Someone hit the big score,
And I figured it out,
That we're gonna do it anyway,
Even if doesn't pay.

Listen to the song here:
http://www.myspace.com/gillianwelch

Power Down VII, February 28th, 2009

Power Down VII is upon us, and will be Saturday February 28th at the Islington Arts Factory, 2 Parkhurst Road, N7 0SF. Apologies for the late news of this date, but we had a slight issue with the cancellation of some acts. However, all the troubles are over, and this will be a very special one, i can guarantee that.

If you're new to this and are unsure what Power Down is, it is this:

"Power Down is an irregular night of eclectic musical entertainment that aims to promote sustainability through subtle means. The performers are completely unamplified and the audience is silent out of necessity. The lighting is provided by donated candles and a type of candle that we make ourselves using recycled vegetable oil from the local fish and chip shop. Food and beverages are served which are either organic or locally produced. The nights are held together by the host Marmaduke Dando, and are generally held at the Islington Arts Factory in Holloway, north London.

"The following acts have performed at Power Down in the last 2 years: The Hoosiers, Liam Bailey, Cellorhythmics, Seb Genovese, Ahuman, Portico Quartet, Chris Lyons, Rebecca Jade, Rachel Rose Reid, Rob McCabe, Tall Stories, Sara Mitra, Josephine Oniyama, Citizen Helene & The Racists, Lemond, Chancery Blame and The Gadjo Club, Zoot Lynam and his band, Top Shelf Jazz, The Langley Sisters, Ed Harcourt, and Marmaduke Dando. "

The line-up for this Power Down will be just 3 acts this time, to give you all enough time to drink and talk in between sets, and make the last tubes.

The line-up for Power Down VII will be just 3 acts this time, to give you all enough time to drink and talk in between sets, and make the last tubes.

Cellorhythmics as the Working Classical Orchestra - The progressive cello group who played the first ever Power Down with The Hoosiers two years ago are back with their 10 piece orchestra, the Working Classical Orchestra. Have a listen and look at one of their performances here:


Kat Vipers - Hailing originally from Greece, Kat Vipers is a young pianist with a flamboyant vibrato that croons over everything from gypsy folk, to punk and sinister fifties-era melodrama. Have a listen and look here:


The Boycott Coca Cola Experience - One man on a bicycle playing his guitar while he rides to power a small amp (a momentary power up). Hilariously dry tales of the horrors of the modern world. Take a peak here:


Entrance will be 5 pounds on the door, and doors will open at 8pm. The first performer will be on about 8.30pm. The usual cheap organic drinks will be on sale at the bar.

There are about one hundred buses that stop outside the venue, and there are two close tube stations, Holloway Road and Caledonian Road station. Do not fear if you reside in some far flung recess of London, the entertainment will be finished in time for you to catch your tubes. As this aims to be a low carbon event, we urge the audience to use public transport, bicycles or their own feet to get to the venue, as the performers will also be doing. There are secure places to lock your bikes. If you have to drive, then please don't come!

Enjoy the silence

London is under a blanket of snow. I stayed up late last night looking over it all in wonder. The sky was sodium orange, almost like daylight, the city lights reflected in the flakes. How I imagine daylight on Mars to be, two thirds the strength of Earth light, and with an eerie tangerine glow to it.

This morning, no public services are working of course, and it's too heavy to cycle or walk. There are children laughing, adults grinning, snowmen leaning wonkily, and a silence I've not heard, since, hmmm, my travels through Siberia, and Mongolia.

Not only is it the acoustic quality of snow, that sucks up all sound, and kills reflections, but it's the fact that there are hardly any machines running today. Just a smattering of cars, going very slowly. It's utter heaven. Imagine what London would be like with this few machines? It would be a utopia. Marinetti wouldn't know where to look. The only thing to complete the scene would be to have the church bells playing Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue.

What a wonderful world.

Darkness at noon

I'm just chomping through Darkness At Noon by Arthur Koestler and came upon this little gem:

"A mathematician once said that algebra was the science for lazy people - one does not work out x, but operates with it as if one knew it. In our case, x stands for the anonymous masses, the people. Politics mean operating with this x without worrying about its actual nature. Making history is to recognise x for what it stands for in the equation."