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Beware the Ides of May…
May 10th, 2012So, business as usual after returning from China – almost as if it were some kind of dream or surreal happening… Anyway, I have been doing much thinking about the upcoming shows this month – two solo, one duo, one loud with synthesizers, one quiet and one with tempo. I worry a lot about solo READ MORE
Resurrection and storytelling. Hawai guitar. Idiotic attitudes to piano teaching…
April 18th, 2012Last week we returned to visited Chuxin Zhen and her piano (who featured towards the end of an earlier post entitled Gulangyu – First Encounters) with the intention of trying to gently persuade this moth-eaten instrument to tell us its stories… First, though, tea was made – accompanied by an assortment of snacks whilst Yi Bai READ MORE
Demo Concert – 24/03/12
April 18th, 2012This blog is really a photo album of the curiously-titled ‘demo concert’, held on Saturday 24th March in the beautiful XMNYT theatre, just across the road from my accommodation. Much of the day was spent figuring out aspects of staging, lighting and performance presentation – although there was still time for some fun. The pictures below are READ MORE
Beauty and impermanence: The Guqin…
April 3rd, 2012As the final phase of this six-week residency unfolds, a state of half reflection and half in anticipation of events still to come is prevailing. In fact, that’s what’s been so rewarding about this experience so far; most days I have NO idea what’s going to happen, who I’m going to meet and what surprises READ MORE
Dave and 44 Crew
April 3rd, 2012DJ/producer/’44 Crew’ member and owner of Thank You Cafe, Dave, has been one of the many people responsible for making me feel so at home in Xiamen. Dave is a really fantastic guy and has saved the day on many occasions! I feel that we will be friends for a long time to come. I’ve been going READ MORE
CDs and other perils…
April 3rd, 2012As mentioned in a previous blog post, I have a weakness for boxed-sets. It appeals to the collector/completist in me. I’m a sucker for the detail of the packaging and for any alternate takes/bits and pieces that come with some of the best sets. It also makes me happy that I still have the urge READ MORE
Food
March 31st, 2012A small gallery of food from my trip thus far. Apart from the last two pictures the following are only SOME of the many dishes served up in ONE meal: Boiled Sea Worms in a Marine Jelly with a GIANT Muscle Duck’s Blood Prawn ‘Rice’ / Chicken’s Claws / Peanuts in Balsamic Vinegar and Honey READ MORE
Nanyin, improvisation and my longing for The Fluid Piano™
March 27th, 2012For the last few weeks I have been attending regular rehearsals of the XMNYT (Xiamen Nanyin Troupe), just across the street from my accommodation. Nanyin is one of China’s oldest forms of traditional music, native to this particular area of the country. I had read about Nanyin before my arrival and was keen to experience READ MORE
The Private Archive
March 25th, 2012As some of you may have seen, the long-awaited shop on the website has gone live. Acqiure is a simple division of available recorded output into two pages: Publicly Available and Private Archive. The former is comprised of officially-released recordings, either as a leader/collaborator/sideman – listed in reverse chronological order. Hopefully you will find this straightforward and easy to READ MORE
Exercise. Pneumatic. Sexual. Anarchy: Xiamen…
March 21st, 2012There’s a lot of ‘exercising’ going on in Xiamen, although it’s not the kind of exercise as we know it – based on my observations: people flinging their arms over opposite shoulders whilst walking (this is sometimes augmented by forcibly banging both hands together), slamming fists simultaneously downward upon both thighs whilst sat down, walking/jogging backwards READ MORE