Monday, 18 October 2010

Random Album Cover 1...

Thanks to Graham B: 
1. Go tohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random. The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Then to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album...
3. Follow this with www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days The third picture (no matter what it is) will be your album cover. (This bit didn't work for me at first, but a random photostream from the Swedish Heritage Board came up...)
4. Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.
(then put it in Facebook....)

Tuesday, 5 October 2010

OK, it really is Autumn now...

Two things that mean Autumn to me are spiders' webs and evening classes!
It rained overnight, so the web hanging from garden shrubs (with pink leaves, notice) was dripping with moisture, pulling the strands into a necklace of tiny scalloped-edged beads. Since the end of August I've had that 'caught' sensation when making my way down the garden in the mornings - spider weavings over the doorframe, from bushes either side of the steps. So, OK now I will admit it is getting chilly!
"Retirement Project 3" chair is now de-webbed, uncovered, foamless and stripped of most of the staples stretching the 1970s cover. From tomorrow  evening I can start building it up again, hessian, springs, horsehair, porridge wadding... oh, the tangy language of upholstery! (Fr: rembourrage, Sp. tapicería)

Monday, 4 October 2010

Skolvan...

Sunday 3 October
A trip to Nieppe, in the Nord département, near the Belgian border, to a Fest Deiz with Skolvan, one of the top Breton dance bands. 
I couldn't resist this picture, as we were driving towards Dover. The sun was hidden behind a huge cotton-wool effect cloud, and the lens of my sunglasses made it look spectacular, so i took the photo through them. 
The rest of the day fulfilled the promise... 22 deg C as we emerged from the boat at Calais, sun all the way. Lunch at Cassel (Porc Terrine au Maroilles) and then to La Cabanne Accordeon's afternoon dance; a bit like finding that the Stones are playing in your local village hall in terms of their longevity, their energy, fantastic tunes and pazzaz. 
Grace à 'Stine and Selwyn for the notice of the session (swinging their partners in the pic on the left). 
It was the full 'gamme' - andro, laridé à six, suite plinn, kost a'r 'hoed, loads of suites de gavottes des montagnes, a four-part Loudeac, a cercle circassienne to which these two intrepid dancers below did a chapelloise à deux, the Breton dance of choice when a band calls 'Cercle!' I find... a gentle hanterdro to finish. Just as well they stopped at 1930, as we had to belt up the A25 for the last useful Calais crossing...
the Quartet is 3/4 of the band as formed in ?1989...  Gilles le Bigot, Youenn le Bihan, Bernard le Dréau, and "young" Regis Huiban on accordeon... even J-F (Jeff) Dantin was there, taking pix... expect to see them on his blog soon!
A short film of the last gavotte is on my Facebook entry for today.
Gilles le Bigot + Bernard le Dréau + dancers