9 posts tagged “cybersonica”

Today I've officially hung up an OPEN for business sign in my virtual shop window.

I've started telling the whole wide world about the Hai Media Group, my London-based agency offering traditional public relations and multimedia communications services to a variety of clients. Find out all about HMG here:

View HMG's launch press release here.

Why hai?

Hai is Japanese for yes. Yes, to me, in any language, is an extremely positive affirmational statement and a simple word I apply to much of my life and the attitude I take to working with clients. Yes opens doors. No shuts doors. The power of the word yes first became pivotal in my life, when I studied improvisational comedy with the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City. My teacher Ari Voukydis explained that whenever you enter an improv situation on stage with a comedy partner, your response to whatever they do should always be yes!

Yes! keeps the show going. Yes! lets the amusing script emerge and yes is a word that overcomes stage fright, welcomes others into your show, and is the absolute key to opening your mind to creative possibilities. For me, I began using the word yes much more often, beyond the stage. The impact was transformational. It was the word YES that got me here to London, when I said yes to my husband Dr. John Fraser Laird Devaney's proposal of marriage. Oh, by the way, the .com URL for calling my company the Yes Media Group was taken. I like hai better anyways. :-)

So, woo hoo! Hip, hip, hurray! And a big fat American-style cheer for the launch today of the Hai Media Group

I'm sipping a bit of champagne right now and giving myself a hard earned huge pat on the back for this committment. I've been working really hard since late August 2007, to get everything I need in place for this moment. I'm now at a point in time where I feel confident enough with HMG to let everyone, even my Mom, know about this entrepreneurial venture. I've been operating as an independent PR consultant since 2002, but my business has grown to include collaborating with other professionals in a variety of exicting fields, and I felt strongly that it was time to hang a brand on what I've been doing. Setting up this business has meant that I've had to spend a lot of quality time with my computer, often on weekends and late into the night over the last six months. In addition to creating the HMG brand and business plan of action, I've been keeping up existing work and personal life responsibilities - and blogging here on Vox.com! I've heard it a million times from independent business people about how working for yourself is a 24-hour job, and I certainly now know exactly what they are talking about. It's like I'm pretty much working all the time! The good part is that pushing yourself to be entrepreneurial and self-sufficient can also be extremely self-motivating.

HMG is allowing me to do a lot of very positive things and has opened up really exciting potential opportunities. While I am the founder and director of this young company, I do not work alone! I've teamed up with some really great media partners, all who I've worked with in some capacity during my career both in the USA and here in the UK. So, here is my big thanks to the following very supportive people who have been encouraging in helping me with the steps I've needed to take with this business:

• Sarah Platt and Ben Styles with Kinura.com
• Barbara Anglisz and Nick Cordua, who run Adept Technologies. Barb, who is among my BFF crew, has been a long term pal who I met waaaay back in my Silicon Alley days, a client, and a very skilled business person I emulate and respect.
• Dr. Richard Barbrook, political science lecturer at the University of Westminster, and author of Imaginary Futures, who early in our friendship and professional association working with Cybersalon and its festival Cybersonica, spotted that I had a blazing creative and entrepreneurial spirit and helped me culture this to better fit the London community. He also figured out that I'm an artist and performer, in addition to my PR profession, and has enjoyed, and encouraged, my occassional impromtu showcases of odd spoken word poetry, improv ballad singing and comedy performance art.
  
• Kate Risker, who, in my opinion, and experience of working nearly 15 years in promotions, is London's absolute most amazing event organizer. She's a delight to be associated with here in London, and in a lot of ways reminds me of myself -- about, well, a long time ago. Her enthusiasm and passion for the event's industry is infectious. She keeps a blog on Vox at www.missrisk.vox.com
• Vijay Chattha who heads the high-tech public relations firm VSC Consulting in San Francisco, and who I've worked with as a virtual 'ambassador' for his company here in London for a few years now. What I most like about Vijay is that he is not at all just a PR guy, he has fantastic intelligence, a big multicultural heart, and entrepreneurial skills and experience that very few PRs possess. Vijay also DJs, and sings, with a fantastic Punjabi-hip hop jazz funk band called Black Mahal, who bring bhangra beats to the masses, and he supports the beautiful charity Project Ahimsa. Did I mention he is a really nice guy as well?
  
• Gerry Griffin, the founder and CEO of Skill-Pill, who truly delivers a very important leadership characteristic of being a person who 'shows' rather than 'tells' as he is freely sharing knowledge with people, and in this way is someone I am learning a great deal from about the business world.
  
• Helen Keegan, who is a mobile marketing expert and writes the popular mobile industry blog Technokitten.com and who I give a heck of a lot of credit to for how I developed the name and branding of the Hai Media Group, as, tough critic though she can be in business, totally steered me in the absolute right direction with what I've been up to in my professional life over the last few years, and continues to be a navigator through what is inevitably the rough, rough, seas in the oceans of start-up business and self-employment
  
• Dan Boultwood, a rising comic book star in Britain, who helped me develop a logo and branding for HMG. I've been his fan since meeting him in my early days of living in London. And got very enthusiastic about his work, as I am a lifelong fan of comic book-style art in all its forms. Look for his comic series Hope Falls, which he produces with the writer Tony Lee, and view his mind-blowing portfolio at: www.shedmanor.co.uk
  
• Steve Double who is a total A-lister portrait photographer. Wow! - check out his photographs at www.double-whammy.com
• Heather Luttrell who is the founder and president of IndieClick.com, based in LA, an amazing digital visionary, who also happens to be a long term BFF (yes, you can have lots of BFFs and I have a few) from back in my Alley days, and a business mentor who has helped me learn a lot about the digital world in the last decade +
  
• My adored friends in New York City: DJ Mark Flynn and my beloved BFF soul sister Karin Louise Mahoney who I am now allowed to tell the whole wide world this news --- Mark and Karin are GETTING MARRIED!
  
• My husband Dr. John Fraser Laird Devaney (a PhD in physics that is!) who is my absolute secret weapon especially in swat team problem-solving IT needs and emotional support for this scary adventure
  
• & many, many, many more people on earth!

I also want to offer a huge thanks to Vox.com for developing a fantastic user-friendly blogging platform that has helped me so much over the last couple years that I've been blogging here. Hip, hip, hurray for Vox.com!

I may try to list all the other people I value (who don't mind being exposed online) in a separate big praising, big love post - all who have offered both really good business counsel and ongoing friendly, trustworthy support. Some of these people even go back to my childhood days growing up in the New York City metro area! HMG is a testament to the kinds of service and creative work I have delivered over the years, but more importantly - it is a beginning for what I aim to bring to the world moving forward.

My simple mission with HMG is to offer sensible service to my clients that makes full use of my two decades of communications experience in traditional PR, while keeping a very alive eye toward the future of how best to reach out to target audiences in ways that hopefully do not feel intrusive, or piss them off. With HMG I'll be folding in new technology marketing approaches where possible with client campaigns, which is why I'm defining my service offerings as being multimedia communications. In my opinion, the best approach to delivering messages is through multimedia that mixes up a variety of tools and tactics. I'll write more about what multimedia communications means to me professionally, but it is basically what ever single one of us live with, use and for the most part enjoy, every single day. Multimedia might mean being struck by an awe-inspiring still photograph, a hilarious YouTube video or an SMS text message that you get on your mobile phone. Multimedia is everywhere and everything around us and is changing every single day.

I'm a participant and creator in the emerging multimedia media landscape -- and so are you.

Welcome to my multimedia garden and I'm looking forward to adventures with my Hai Media Group.

Grow With HMG

You may also notice the plant theme going on here with the Hai Media Group. Nature and plants and the symbol for growth that they represent are central to what I am all about. Green also happens to be my favourite colour. I may live in the big bad city, but in an urban environment it is the green growing plants that mean so much to me -- even if it is just one struggling weed growing up between the cracks in the pavement. That struggling weed is representative of who I am, and what this business is all about. Plants also symbolize so much of my own artistic endeavours over the years, as well as the works of so many of my artistic friends. HMG is here to support the struggling weeds that show amazing potential. We will never STOMP on the growing creative energy that struggles to force its way up through the cracks in the pavement, because to do so is to kill spirit and energy that might emerge to fantastic potential and benefit everyone. HMG is a a watering can, a stake to hold up your business, nutrients for growth and supportive wall you can lean on when the fruits of your labor get a little to heavy to bear.

 

Nevermind Friday night at the pub, The British Library is where people will be gathering this week.

Martyn Ware (founding member of 80s bands Heaven 17 and The Human League) showcases a sonic evening amongst the books this Friday for a Late at the British Library after-hours event. He'll be presenting a collection of artist highlights from The Future of Sound tour sponsored by his Illustrious Company.

Find details for this Friday's event, pasted below.

While you are visiting the library -- you may also want to consider adopting a book. Recently, I adopted Everyday Manners for American Boys and Girls, by Lucy Langdon Williams Wilson, published in 1922. As the proud parent of this book, I can visit it in the archive room of The British Library, where it is safely kept among other historic works of literature. For a minimum of £25, you can select from a collection of books that are part of the library's conservation programme -- and it makes a great gift.

Not just for geeks–libraries just might be the new lounge in town. On a recent visit to The British Library, I spotted a

rock celebrity. Brian May, of Queen, was visiting on a Saturday afternoon. He may have been there to do research, having completed his doctorate in astronmy this autumn, with a thesis entitled A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud. He is also the co-author of “Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe” with Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, which was published in October, 2006.

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FUTURE OF SOUND: LATE AT THE BRITISH LIBRARY
Entrance Hall , The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
Friday, 9th November, 7-10.30pm (performances start at 8pm)
Price: £5 - booking details at www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/whatson/events/november.html
Nearest tube: Euston, Kings Cross

The Future Of Sound is a sonic spectacular that showcases cutting edge artists in music and audio design, performing their innovations and discoveries in surround-sound in the Entrance Hall of the Library, and against a sumptuous projected backdrop. Inspired by the experiments of the 20th Century Avant Garde, the event will present contributions by the infamous Scanner (aka Robin Rimbaud), who recently composed a new national anthem for Europe, the Modified Toy Orchestra and their new electronic instruments created from abandoned children's toys, Tal Rosner's image-scapes to scores by Stravinsky and other composers, and audio/visual/digital band The Sancho Plan. The Future Of Sound is conceived and presented by Martyn Ware of Illustrious Company.

A Late at the British Library event - events that offer you the chance to visit the Library 'after hours' - live performances, extended access to exhibtions, a licensed bar and a unique atmosphere. Performances take place throughout the evening allowing you time to visit the various exhibitions. These events are not seated. This event is part of a programme of events accompanying the Breaking the Rules exhibition.

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Get more event notices like this by signing up for the Cybersalon and Cybersonica mailing list, visit: www.cybersalon.org

This Friday, September 7th, London's animation rock band The Sancho Plan will take the stage at the premiere digital arts gathering, Austria's Ars Electronica.

They join hundreds of artists who make the pillgramage to Linz each year to experience and witness this massive showcase of  the most cutting-edge performances, thought provoking artist presentations and mind-blowing exhibitions of art and technology. For The Sancho Plan to be invited to perform at the opening night's gala, it demonstrates that much of their extreme forward thinking toward entertainment is beginning to catch on among savvy audiences.

Frequently told that they are "ahead of their time" this band doesn't need to wait for the rest of the world to catch up with it - because as trailblazers among lukewarm pop acts, the road they are traveling will likely wind further and keep them druming their way along the path, far, far longer than today's blip-on-the-map tabloid favourites. Girls Aloud will be deaf grannies, their musical career long forgotten in the Google trail of the future, but 30 years from now it is a band like The Sancho Plan that artists and musicians will research on Wikipedia for inspiration.

Instantly engaging, understandable and universally amusing, The Sancho Plan, in addition to live performances, create audiovisual installations that invite all to join in playful, interactive musical adventures. Combining animation, sound and music, they express a fantastical world, with the only motivation being to present entertaining, memorable journeys for audiences to experience. You'll smile watching them thump on a collection of drum pads that respond visually, connecting a varied collection of animated characters displayed on a screen, and mainipulated in real-time. Sonically – each sound they create represents a new personality, emotional expression or humorous situation. Who are The Sancho Plan? They are a result of the award-winning work of animator and musician Ed Cookson, musician and technologist Lewis Sykes and game designer and computer programmer Adam Hoyle. 

I rave about The Sancho Plan, who I've gotten to know personally over the last two years, not just because some of its members are mates of mine - but because the first time I saw them perform, I knew that I was watching the future of live music and entertainment. I first met the band's founder Ed Cookson in early 2006, through Cybersonica, and he attempted to verbally explain to me what exactly The Sancho Plan was. For a time, I got the name confused and kept asking him how The Rancho Plan was doing. This has been an evolving joke between us, with me always annoying him with stupid comments like "hey Ed, 'll bring along the dip when I come see the band, since The Rancho Plan will surely have the chips."  And other dumb ass statements that make me wonder why he puts up with me at all! But I guess it can be good for genius like Ed to have someone around who can dumb things down for the masses a bit now and then.

The fact is - at first, it was hard to visualize what Ed was on about in describing his band - he was talking about cartoon-like creatures that come to life as the band members play drum pads, electronically triggering the unusual characters to move about across giant screens above their head in synch with the musician's druming. Yep, I was like huh? Whhhhhaaaat are you talking about? The Sancho Plan is absolutely one of those things you just have to SEE to believe.

In honour of The Sancho Plan's debut performance at Ars Electonica I dedicate this post to them, and their phenomenal creation. In addition to the performance Friday night, The Sancho Plan has been a favourite guest artist with Ars Electronica. They installed an interactive exhibition for the public last year, one of the most popular attractions of the Ars Electronica artworks on view. The festival adores it so, that I'm told they are keeping it on view for another year, and possibly longer.Below, I have posted full details about The Sancho Plan, and I encourage you to visit the band's website and check out their next gig, now playing mostly in the UK (they were guest artists for the 2007  Future of Sound tour, a new artist collaboration that is led by 80s electronic music pioneer Martyn Ware, a founding member of Heaven 17 & The Human League, and is responsible for the timeless song Temptation). The Sancho Plan currently performs occasional gigs in continental Europe, and they hope to tour stateside in the future, having been a big hit among an American audience when they staged random performances at Burning Man in 2006.  Here's me hoping The Sancho Plan's fanbase expands globally, beyond Austria and the United Kingdom - so YOU can see them live. Be warned, viewing a show once becomes a real addiction.

The Sancho Plan Background

If Jamacia’s sound pioneer King Tubby worked with Germany’s abstract animator, filmmaker and painter Oscar Fischinger and Japan’s video game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi, they might invent The Sancho Plan.  This  London -born  group is  rock 'n roll for the 21st  Century. 

A mix of musicians, animators, designers and computer programmers, The Sancho Plan presents audiences with an unforgettable, interactive entertainment experience. Immersive, surreal and emotionally moving, this rock ‘n’ roll band for the 21^st Century invites its viewers to come for a journey, taking them: Through a dystopian alternate reality of parallel animated worlds that reside somewhere between 'Fantasia' and 'The Animatrix’.

With Oscar Fischinger, Len Lye, Wassily Kadinsky, Salvador Dali, Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Toshio Iwai, Kruder and Dorfmeister and King Tubby as inspiration, The Sancho Plan’s creators have produced a fused representation of animation, music, sound, gaming, technology and live performance to produce real-time audiovisual experiences for modern audiences.

We see ourselves as part of a rich tradition of exploring the combination of distinct art forms to create a single work - in Wagner's words the "Gesamtkunstwerk" or the "total work of art"…fusing different media and genres into new forms of creative expression and transcending the boundaries between art and pop culture. –Ed Cookson, founding member

The Sancho Plan’s creative mission is to:

·   Focus on the live environment – delivering entertainment through physical, skilful and carefully choreographed performance

·   Explore real-time interaction between music, video and live performance and its potential for narrative and storytelling

·   Use cutting-edge technology – but, integrate it in such a way that the complexity of the machinery is almost invisible to the audience

The Sancho Plan performed its first live gig at the prestigious National Film Theatre in London in Summer 2005, and have since been appearing at festivals throughout Europe. They have performed at Ars Electronica (in Austria), Martyn Ware’s Future of Sound tour, The Big Chill and Bloom (in Britain), were commissioned to design a custom presentation for the Umbro European Championship VIP event (in Paris) and were introduced to American audiences at Burning Man 2006.

How The Sancho Plan Magic Happens

Current works use a range of electronic drum pads to simultaneously trigger sounds and control a cast of animated characters and virtual performers on an evolving musical journey through The Sancho Plan universe, where you’ll find: Singing Baritone Snakes, Cartoon Kyoto Drummers, Performing Robots, Amusing Blow Fish and Ball-Shooting Storks.

Center-stage, classically trained percussionists and drummers (one who was recently named BBC Young Musician of the Year) orchestrate sound, direct movements of the on-screen characters and mix in original compositions. Intended to be a narrative story, as much as a musical and visual performance, the audience connects with the adventures of the animated characters as well as grooving to a great show.

The Sancho Plan performances are made possible through striking, audio and visual experiences through a refined synthesis of tightly integrated:

• Sound design and music production

• Flash, stop-frame and 3D animation

• A custom-coded real-time control system that captures the performances of accomplished percussionists and musicians or input from the general public

The Sancho Plan’s Spacequatica

New works have become increasingly ambitious in conception, realization and performance. In 2007, The Sancho Plan have produced a new work for the Future Of Sound – a UK tour of innovative artists organized by music legend and pioneer Martyn Ware, founder of The Human League and Heaven 17.

Spacequatica is a 12-minute travelogue that immerses the viewer in an experiential, 3D, audiovisual journey in an imaginary underwater world. The piece was developed especially to accommodate Martyn Ware’s unique 3D audioscape facility – an immersive, multi-speaker, surround sound audio system.

Visually and sonically, the performance takes the viewer on a journey deep into a musical ocean. Viewers discover an underwater world where schools of small exotic creatures perform, much like xylophones are played. Pulled further, they find that deeper waters are populated by dark robotic sharks. Deeper still, in the world’s pitch black depths, all that can be seen and heard are rare, self-illuminating species, occasionally blinking in the darkness.

The Future for The Sancho Plan

Looking forward, The Sancho Plan plans development of its live performance potential – delivering audience experiences that involve a variety of vocalists, rap artists, dancers and choreographers, lighting, set and costume designers. We see:

·   Deeper, immersive environments, performed as theatrical stage shows

·   Customized instruments for use in performance

·   Addition of live performers spanning popular musical genres

Investment will allow The Sancho Plan to create sophisticated experiences for international audiences that have commercial potential. With goals  of:

• Showing audiences something they have never seen before
  
• Presenting new, real-time applications for technology
  

•  And putting on a damn good show!

 

Blessed by sun, kissed by happy faces and packed with hilarity - the Bloom festival held its 2nd gathering in England's Gloucestershire this past weekend. Lucky with the weather, it brought out a crowd of about 2,000 to hear a mix of funk, soul, electro, house, break beats, reggae, ska and a touch of folk music performances throughout the

non-stop three-day sunny party. On the bill were 90s throw-back favourites Soul II Soul, kicking off what would be a festival celebrating the bygone legends and style of hip hop, pop and soul tunes with a tune that seemed to define the weekend Keep On Moving Don't Stop Now. DJs and performers carried the crowd through several decades of music, triggering many to join in instant sing-a-long joy, while dancing in a field on National Trust land.

The line-up wasn't all oldies but goodies, because although many of the acts clearly lap up retro influences, plenty displayed new concepts backed by stunning audiovisual pieces that made you laugh out loud (loved the rapping sheep cut by Coldcut's audiovisual artist) or be moved emotionally by the imagery's beauty. Among a line up of nearly 200, featured acts also included Aim, Coldcut, Crazy P, Trojan Sound System, The Whip, human beatboxer Beardyman, Pendulum, Ingird Eto (Zero 7), and many more along with two tents filled with DJs and Cabaret acts.

Performers aside, the guests became the entertainment on Saturday night with the scheduled fancy dress party (American translation = costume party). Comedic sillyness rolled out of tents, as guests put on ridiculous attire to dance in the evening sunset.

I saw a Vicky Pollard of Little Britain, a Rubick's Cube, a creepy fly, a glamourous piolt and flight attendant, a lot of 80s street-style attire, and a prevailing theme celebrating old age - with a group of grannies strolling about and many people wearing curlers in their hair. One guy transformed from a young 20-something to become an old man of 70-something and a dancer showed up with his zimmer for support (American translation = walker for the elderly).

By the party's end a few guys decided to transform themselves into scarecrows using the bountiful hay on the site.

Ghost of Tony Wilson Parties With Bloom

During the festival, news broke that Tony Wilson leader of the Manchester music scene of the 80s had died  (American translation = that guy the movie 24-Hour Party People was based on) and his spirit seemed to have decided to stick around and revel with the Bloomers one last time, before moving on to that non-stop party waiting for him in the after-life.

Bloom Seen
The scene leaned toward electronica lovers and many hip hop old-skool fans turned up in full force tribute to  their favourite era of rap and fashion.

I met many New York-o-philes, dressed like they stepped out of Brooklyn in 1982. It gave me waves of déjà vu bringing back memories of growing up in the New York Tri-State area when the era of artists such as Public Enemy, De La Soul, Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five got their start. When the original rap artists first invented the stuff, music critics far and wide predicted it was a passing trend that would never last - all are proven wrong, as hip hop afficinados abound worldwide, especially in England's West Country.  It  felt like stepping back in time and going to a friend's house party where someone decided to try out that new  'scratching trick with a record on the turntable - and I loved it!
 

The Bloom festival market featured an eclectic mix of suppliers and food choices. Popular were the creative re-styled 80s clothing line from RedMutha, who's designer baseball caps began appearing on many punter's heads. Several affordable fancy dress shops offered up supplies for anyone who showed up without attire and my pick for the best food stalls included the Bandanna Burrito van (it is so damn hard to find decent Mexican food in the UK and this was the best I've found in a long while), Chai Wallas groovy 24-hour cafe lounge and the utterly irresistable Choc Star desert selection.

I watched entertainment event organizer Kate Risker in action on her walkie talkie sorting out production management details while decorated in a frilly green and pink polka dot fancy dress number - I spotted the lead singer of Crazy P, one of my favourite festival discoveries, dancing around the car park in silver hot pants during the weekend - she did promise on stage that she was going to party with everyone at Bloom for the weekend, and she was true to form on and off stage.  During an attempt to break a world-record for a mass game of musical statues, I met  Olivia, one of the festival co-founders. Musical statutes invovled about 435 people dancing at the main stage, then freezing in place when the MC stopped the music. Olivia was asking Kate about some production management details, so the two were trying to resolve something via the walkie talkies and had to FREEZE each time the music stopped - must have been confusing for anyone waiting for their response. Both tried to talk without moving their lips or body parts. Bloom came about 50 people shy of breaking the world record for musical statues, but for anyone in attendance it was utter hilarity trying to help them win - if they do it next year, I bet they'll bust that record! Later in the weekend, I got infected with dance fever and couldn't stop grooving to the tunes the other co-founder Frank   was spinning when he took over the turntables in the Funk Bar.

Frank and Olivia have some connection to the BBC, who also supported this event - although no corporate branding from the media giant was apparent.

The only brand clearly visible was an energy drink beverage sponsor called Pussy. This caused much amusement when Kate asked "Do you want to try some pussy?"..."The pussy is really good!"..."I love this pussy!". Later, I cracked up in near tears at what she was saying, and a moment, among many, of uncontrolable laughter ensued. We agreed that we do hate that word - and maybe they just should have gone full rude and lewd and called the tasty beverage cunt.

Kate used to work with Cybersonica, before heading off this year to work the UK festival circuit starting with a job at Glastonbury, and then moving from festival to festival, concluding the season soon with a job she has landed with Mean Fiddler for the upcoming Reading Festival.  In addition to Kate, I bumped into several Cybersonica artist associates, including Leanne Bird, a dancer and Project Producer who works with Ghislaine Boddington and architect/video artist Armand Terruli for body>data>space. I chatted with Ed, an animator and audiovisual artist with Dynamite Fishing. I met a new creative music friend - the head of vinyl trading website and record label DJ Friendly and had a silly photo snapped of us while in full fancy dress Saturday evening.

I attended Bloom with Helen Keegan (aka Technokitten). She chose to check out Bloom this year, rather than go to The Big Chill, which was held the previous weekend. Bloom likely had some challenges filling the site in the face of  so much summer festival competition in the UK - and for being a new gathering, they have smartly positioned this with a certain flair and style that does not dominate other events. I'm interested to see how this grows, and if they stick with pulling in a hip hop/electronica loving crowd which is clearly working out for them. It was great fun dancing all day and most of the night, getting addicted to the Funk Bar's musical mix. With Bloom's smaller size there is no crush at the front of the main stage to see performances, so it was a terrific up-close-and-personal feel in enjoying the artists. Definately not a place for rock fans (the UK has plenty of that already!) which is why my indie rock partner John didn't want to come along. Yeah, being a rocker, Bloom would have pretty much been his idea of hell.

Overall Bloom was a good time, and with the goregeous setting that had the added bonus of ballons floating through the sky because the Bristol Ballon Festival was on. Another natural wonder scheduled was a meteor shower, but clouds blocked much chance for viewing it on Sunday night. With so many bonuses, especially the weather, they couldn't go wrong. It was a treat to see the footwear of choice was flip flops instead of wellies. But as this is a start-up festival, there are some bumps to work out for attendants.

The festival opening was delayed because of a water issue on site - the venue was a day late in turning on water supplies for campers and vendors. Attendants, who did not have cars to leave the site, baked in the sun waiting for water and to get through the gates, with most quenching thirst with cider and beer that could have brought on dehydration issues - but fortunately did not result in casualties. For those without vehicles, transport to the site was difficult to arrange, with no public transport and no buses organized from London or at least from the Bristol or Bath coach stations. A promised cash machine was not available on site and many punters ran out of money, harming profits for vendors who could not accept credit or debit cards.

Lacking was more variety of roaming unexpected performance art displays - that special variety of amusement that makes places like Glastonbury, The Big Chill and America's Burning Man and Cochcella such great entertainment. I  met a circus performer who said she offered to stage on-site acts in exchange for a ticket, but never received a response and other artists told me they would have been willing to do something for free entry. Hopefully next year Bloom will be able to add to the entertainment by comping more performance artists for attendance. It certainly was not void of art demonstration, as graffitti-style artists tagged canvases erected on site and a magical hillside chill-out spot called The Lounge constructed by an artist using recycled materials was built for people to relax and enjoy the view. I overheard two guys at the start of the festival, who thought it looked like a giant fun fair (American translation = carnival), because a ferris wheel and whirling amusement park ride were on site. They were considering asking for their money back because they felt it was a lot to pay for a fun fair venue, hopefully, once the gate opened, they decided to stick around and enjoy it. If you are coming with kids  - be forewarned that a better camping situation for families needs to be sorted out, as they were mixed in with the party people, or had to camp next to the 24-hour cafe in the dedicated family section. And for the childfree, it was a little annoying when some of the kids decided to squirt water guns at passersby in the campsite and one group of adorable Ninja Children shot plastic arrows at strangers.

To Bloom's credit they had an interesting Wellfare station called Wellfairy (American translation = where you go when you are so drunk or messed up on other party toxins and need to pass out and possibly seek medical attention) that  served  as a welcoming and warm late night gathering place, as well as a care taking station. This approach to on-site emergency care gave people a non-judgemental place to take a break and ask for help if they needed it. 

And hey, as a smaller crowd was in attendance, compared to larger more established gatherings, the reasonable size meant that port-a-loos were kept fairly clean and tidy throughout the the weekend!

Helen Keegan over at her Technokitten blog tagged me for this game that circles about the internet, an invitation to post 8 Random Things about yourself and tag 8 other people to join in. I'm not sure if the game intends to be a truth or dare, confessions of a blogger, but I've fessed up to a few things in my list. Here's the official rules of the 8 Random Things tag game:

• We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
• Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
• People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

8 Random Things About Me:

1) I tell people I'm from New York City, but I actually grew up on Long Island, and I feign the truth a bit because it is so embarrassing to be labeled as B&T. My town Lynbrook, was about a 35 minute train ride on the LIRR from Manhattan, and got its name when people from Brooklyn moved out to the "country" and just renamed all the streets after Brooklyn streets and re-arranged the spelling of their former borough.

2)  I'm a blog fan, and before they were invented I had a love affair (and still do) with the many handmade zines that floated around the music and art circles I frequented during my teenage years - and beyond! Working with the Cybersonica festival I became enamoured with two art scene blogs that cover some of the more interesting happenings, exhibitions and experimental projects going on. Do check out BigShinyThing.com and We-Make-Money-Not-Art.com. In the blogosphere, podcast and the general wild wonderful world of the wacky web, I also love Cool Hunting, Gridskipper, Kultureflash, Boing Boing, Londonist, Flavourpill, Salon, Slate, IG Trendcentral, Perez Hilton, Pop Bitch, DailyCandy, TED, Atom Films, IMDB, Craftster, have soft spots for Dullmen.com and Stuff On My Cat...enjoy the antics of The Onion, JibJab, Angry Alien's 30-Second Bunnie Movies and there are 'o so many more.

3) I appeared as an extra on Absolutely Fabulous for a special New York episode in 2003 in which Edwina finds her

gay son. On set, I met comedy divas Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders. In this YouTube video I'm sitting behind them during the fashion show (not likely you'll spot me as a blurry backgrounder) and I can also be spotted in the full episode in a scene with Graham Norton and Rufus Wainwright. I chatted with Rufus's mom on the set to some length and that was also awfully groovy & neat-o.

4) I went to Burning Man with founder of IndieClick Heather Luttrell in 2000 and we attempted to make a giant twister game, but it kept blowing away in the windy sandstorms. Jokingly we said it would be a naked twister game, and both greatly regreted that description of our craft project, when our small campsite began attracting the festival nudists,
who

kept anxiously asking us when we would be hosting Naked Twister. We ditched it, piled on our protective clothing (nope, neither of us were into the nude thing) and left the nudists to get themselves all tangled up with each other's sandy bits & pieces. That was just one of countless amusing moments in our pillgramage to California's festival on the desert playa and I highly recommend that everyone go at least once!

5) Of all my friends I particularly love the name of a friend who I met while living in upstate New York's beautiful New Paltz in the mid-90s - Carl Schlemowitz. It just has a certain ring to it that makes you want to say it again and again with emphasis on SCHLEM. Carl is what I like to describe as a mountain bike artist,