Coming out of my weekend fug slightly. School was actually pretty good today. Started the GCSE exam preparation with one group, and everyone did some fab A2 chalk drawings of exotic seed pods. Then year 7 did their comics work, doing awesome black and white pen drawings and then editing their lists of things they see on their journeys to school into focused key frame contents. Next week we’re going to start thinking about frame layouts and actually start the comics. I’m really excited about it. Year 10 photography class were again ace; it’s so weird – give a class of 15 year old boys a computer and they’ll work silently on a task for the whole lesson. Today they were finishing their Keynotes of their own photos and then downloading photos from selected websites and then creating a Keynote of those, explaining why they chose them etc… It’s all going great. Even year 8 were good today, for the most part. And that’s really saying something…
Managed to leave school at 3.15 today too, which was a bonus. I had to drop off a bunch of plasticene models and drawings at the museum for the Animation project, plus another bunch of drawings at the arts centre. They’re installing the exhibits for the Animated Exeter festival at the arts centre, and it looks cool. I’m really looking forward to it this year, the first time I’ve been really bothered. Maybe its because I’ve got kids’ work showing in it, and maybe I just appreciate it more as an art form now, a bit like how a few years ago I discovered how cool comics can be.
Really great exhibit in the museum at the moment all about the city walls. Tons of old maps and drawings of the city hundreds of years ago. I just love all that stuff. There’s an accompanying book published by the University of Exeter Press that I might try and convince the school we should buy as a resource for our maps / journeys project with year 7. Also on show in the museum is an exhibit about bark… sounds riveting, huh? But it’s really cool. Lots of fabulous printed bark cloth with awesome patterns and wild designs based on turtles. I normally hate all that stuff, but today it really impressed me. Maybe I’m turning into an old hippy.
Talking to Meg this morning briefly, and telling her how I felt out of place at the Cavern on Saturday. She said Mike felt the same… he couldn’t wait to leave! Whereas Harriet wanted to stay longer, which I can understand. If I was 17 I would think it was a glorious haven. Except when I was 17 I’d have never stepped out of my bedroom, so, you know… But yeah, I was saying to Meg how it feels awkward, not really connecting to the culture there or anywhere. But it’s always been thus, so why am I still surprised? I think it’s to do with frames of reference as much as anything, and that’s what makes it difficult having dialogue. And having just written that down, I’m like, ‘well, duh… ‘ But hey ho. Also, I think it’s strange as a teacher; I deal with young people every day in a ‘professional’ context, and so therefore trying to overcome that kind of attitude or whatever with young people in a social context (even though they are several years older than those I teach) becomes very difficult. It’s not exactly a case of not being able to stop being a teacher, but somehow that’s always lurking somewhere and I suppose it’s inevitable. And do I resent that? Not really. It’s nice to be able to do my job well, and if that’s a part of the price I pay, well that’s the deal I guess. I mean, maybe it’s just because of the weekend fug, but at lunchtime today I kind of felt I was enjoying my day in school more than I enjoyed my weekend. Something wrong there, surely?!
I love these large coffee mugs they have in Boston now. They are truly voluminous. Can’t quite imagine how a fully caffeinated one would make me behave, but the decaff tastes good. It’s nice to able to chill out here, unwind… otherwise I’d just go home and get stressed about the email I haven’t answered, the CDs I haven’t reviewed, the video I haven’t started, the websites I haven’t built…
Listened again to the Matinee Smiths tribute CD over breakfast this morning. It’s lovely, and is sorely testing my resolve to never again write about that gang of Mancunian popsters who ruled such a large part of my youth. Keith’s sleevenotes are so spot on I wanted to cry when I read them. It was like the complete opposite of the ‘that’s not me’ feeling of the weekend. It’s so unbearably me it’s scary. Also listened to the Liberty Ship album at the weekend, and that’s fine too, although most played record of Sunday was the astonishing collection by Change of Seasons on the Egg records restoration programme. I remember all the other bands on the original Egg records incarnation well, but I never heard these Canadians until now. And it’s mesmerising stuff; beautiful downbeat guitar shuffles like how they used to go in the late ‘80s when everyone was in love with minor chords and the scent of bluebell carpeted forest floors. I’m seriously in love. Someone tell me what they went on to do… and where they are now.
Speaking of Egg records, thanks to Jim for using my sleevenotes for the great Church Grims collection. It’s a great collection of lost sounds, and it’s lovely too to be sharing sleeve space with the genius of Emily Ryan. My only complaint would be the horrible job Amstore make of the printing and packaging process, but then these things are maybe more important to me than to others.
I’m still pondering how best to attack sleeve production for Unpopular. Oddly enough I spent the weekend thinking about getting white card sleeves in the pressing package and then doing laser printed images on stickers or spray-fixed paper… and what appeared in the mail box? A new Airport Girl 7” on WIAIWYA with exactly the same approach. I like the freedom this gives; you can have a series of different sleeves for the same single, change the colours, whatever. And on the Unpop front, I got my delivery of mailers and plastic bags today! Can’t back out now… I need to send off the master for the Lovejoy single and bite the bullet soon! It’s very exciting. And did I mention that July Skies want to do a single for summer release? (well, when else, right?!!) That’s so exceptionally cool. I can’t wait to hear the tracks. Plus I listened again to Everett’s CD of ‘the Legend! plays the songs of Dan Treacy’ on Saturday afternoon / evening. It’s so beautiful, so plaintive and pure and passionate. ‘Sense of Belonging’ just makes me break inside. I’m shivering now just thinking about it.
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