fill your wedding for free - part two

since last weeks post I have spotted another four abandoned chairs, bringing the new total needed to just 138...

but if you've read last weeks blog you will also realise that this proposal has been nixed.

table decorations on the other hand tho.....

now the areas where we agree on what we want for our wedding are very few... to my fiancé's (nearly 8 months later and I think I'm getting used to that now) annoyance, I am what is know in this modern world as 'a groom with a view', I am a husband-to-be that actually cares about my wedding, and not just from a financial perspective, but with my eye for aesthetics and a creative passion that runs through my family, I also care what our wedding looks like.

somewhere amongst the many times when she has made up her mind, only to change it again later, and often without warning, we agreed on something like a homely, shabby-chic style look for our wedding... except it won't be one of those twee shabby-chic weddings that are everywhere right now because the twee shabby-chic look is in, I don't want a wedding look that is 'in' or 'on-trend', I want a wedding that will reflect us.... and what reflects us better than her tendency to be drawn to pretty patterns and details, and my tendency to want to save as much money as possible and get creative at the same time?!?

somewhere amongst the many times when she has made up her mind, only to change it again later, and often without warning, she asked some friends and family to save their empty jars for us.... within a sub-two week period we were inundated with empty jars of differing shapes and sizes and had to ask friends and family to stop saving their jars for us...

we have paid out for the venue, the caterers, the photographer...  none of them were cheap and all of them I have agreed to because I have faith in them and I believe they will be worth it.

but in terms of my own creativity, I was down with this whole 'up-cycling' and 'repurposing' before it was even a thing... and so I spent last Saturday trying out a few different techniques and ideas on a small selection of donated jars, using leftover paints, free wallpaper samples... and my trusty mod-podge.

with 365 days until our wedding, I posted a status on facebook saying that in a years time everyone will be complementing the bride on how beautiful she looks, and complementing me on some interesting tables decorations

Her mum wanted to know what that meant (about the table decorations, obviously), but with a combination of donated jars, beads from a thrown out hanging door curtain, charity shop purchases and a Russian doll/pirate that was another street find all sitting on our dining table serving as somewhat of a dry-run, I think I should fall plenty short of the estimated (and frankly, quite slender) budget we have allowed for table displays....

Anubis approaching

I can't help but feel excited as little pieces of everything (in my creative world, at least) seem to be falling into place.

The resurrection project that began last year has fulfilled its purpose, and then some..

I was genuinely surprised by quite how far along with my music I had come, even if in terms of quantity rather than quality, although that isn't too shabby either, and a full length album didn't seem such a distant stretch of imagination and ambition.

And now I am very proud to admit that the debut Hunchbakk album is at a completely incomplete demo stage.

12 tracks running consecutively that are now just in need of a bit of a spit and polish before they can be unleashed on the world.

As is keeping with tradition, I wanted my girlfriend to be the first person with a copy of the album to listen to... and since the demise of her previous car stereo, we have been rocking a tape deck, resulting in some rather throwback listening experiences and meaning that I had to record my album demo onto cassette for her

She hasn't always been the biggest fan of my style of music, so I was surprised, and I think she was surprised when she actually said that she likes it, probably down to the not quite so heavy presence of the 'soft suicidal' genre of music that I had previously pioneered and she had the good grace of naming.

And while I keep busy with bringing the finished product up to a standard I am more or less completely happy with, I am keeping with tradition in sending my brother mp3s of the full album, so that he is able to toil away on accompanying artwork for the final release.

This is all bloody exciting for me, it may not be the grandest of releases, but it will certainly be a milestone in my creative processes and make what is essentially a hobby feel a little bit more real.

Sound Art Experiment number 10

bloody hell!

well, according to my soundcloud profile, it has been 7 whole months since i graced you good people with any new music, and over a year has passed since the last SoundArt was completed.

considering that the SoundArt project was supposed to be completed within just one year, twelve tracks, one a month since december 2008, this is extremely bad form on my part...

regardless, it is here now, and it almost wasn't here now since i had considered mucking around with it a little longer, but enough is enough, it is ready (to some degree) and therefore i saw fit to debut it over at the byford family blog along with our other creative outputs




when i was given the artwork to create a track for, i originally intended to compose it in the ipad that i had not yet purchased yet had been planning to as soon as the latest model launched, i think it may eventually been march when they finally chose to launch the new model, and then a handful more weeks until i got hold of it, and then a few months where i pretty much messed aroud with it and read comics off it and only glanced at the music apps once in a while to make a little bit of noise and then return to facebook or twitter

the plan was that the ipad would be my idea station, a one stop shop where i could plot out and compose my music and elevate myself to the level of Labrynth and Calvin Harris, heck, things ain't over yet, but so far... so quiet

and yes, the SoundArt that i thought would be composed entirely on an ipad turned out to be an entirely different first for me, it certainly was entirely mixed on an ipad, but only the violin sound that opens the track is courtesy of garageband, the rest is entirely me, albeit recorded into garageband and then manipulated

it is infact the first track that i have ever composed on guitar (yes, i realise it is probably out of tune), played by myself, with lyrics written by myself, and consequently sung by myself (not very well, hence the massive amount of effects layered upon it) and although i originally believed 'Teenaging' to be my first ever song, and although i sung on my cover of the xx's 'VCR' i think i may actually have to retroactivelly adjust my own history to consider SoundArt10 my first ever song, heck, it features me playin three chords on a guitar, so it's gotta be.... right

good!

the first thought when i saw the art provided by my brother was to write something poetic on needing a sidekick, and from there the idea developed to be influenced by that famous little bit of writing about God and the footsteps in the sand, and then went on to be something slightly less religious, yet remaining completely true to my original inspirations depending on how you choose to hear it

and here it is, to hear, whether there is someone by your side or not.....

storytelling

so let me tell you a tale

it is a tale that you may be familiar with

the young Hunchbakk was a bit of a geek (what do you mean, what's changed?) and used to frequent a couple of local-ish comic book shops, one of which was Krypton Komics in Tottenham, just a stone's throw away from Seven Sisters station, my dad would drive me down there pretty much every weekend so that I could spend my pocket money on the latest Bat-titles that had been released

this must have gone on for perhaps a couple of years, until i reached the age where being more social was becoming more important and me and my friends would be out playing football or going to the cinema or going into Enfield Town and buying extra value meals from McDonalds, I can't remember why exactly, but I was reading comics less, and weaned myself off my weekly fix

i'm not saying that I was solely responsible for a downturn in business, but somewhere in the intervening years Krypton Komics disappeared from the High Road, something I duly noted on one of many nightbus journeys home


as detailed before on this blog, my Dad reawakened my inner geek with a Christmas present a few years back, and in this time comics have become ridiculously expensive and I have to sate my appetite for all things superhero with the occasional bargain graphic novel if I am lucky enough to find such a thing, and whatever Enfield's libraries seem to be carrying (currently a couple of Batman/Superman collections and Superman: Secret Origin).

perhaps finally I am getting closer to the point I am trying to make...

as we return once again to Krypton Komics, that had long since carried on as an Internet mail-order service, and which my little brother reliably informed me had recently relocated to an actual old fashioned physical real-world shop in Walthamstow.

so one sunny afternoon earlier this year I impulsively decided that I needed to make a pilgrimage to this new store in search of a specific back issue, I dragged my brother along for the journey and I walked away contended

in my arms I carried Legends, Millenium and a UK reprint Superman comic that is older than I am (with it's free gift of a postcard still attached) which I had paid a meagre sum for considering

and as my brother walked away from Krypton Komics he noted the imposing and run-down building that dominated the opposite side of the road

he stopped to take a couple of photos of the dilapidated building that appeared to be home to some kind of church network,  and now it's image adorns the very first Giles Babel t-shirt

wear Hunchbakk

Or more accurately, wear Giles Babel.

as anyone that pays any attention to this blog will attest to, I have never ever tried to charge a penny for any of the wonderful and occasionally peculiar sounds that I have constructed and concucted.

and to that end, I would like to introduce something that you can actually shell out for if you so wished.

it is my pleasure to present the very first in a collection of Giles Babel t-shirts that accompany my latest EP, "programmed to prevent war", that is to say that there is one image, one t-shirt, per track, all designed in collaboration with my talented little brother, Ian Byford, who has really outdone himself this time.








I'll let you guys in on a little secret, i've seen the trends in topman/river island/burtons/delete as applicable, you know the type, and witnessing the widespread obsession with instagram, I briefed my brother to produce the artwork in a retro-filtered vein to include in my very own online boutique.

it took a couple of back'n'forths to tweak it, including putting a more psychedelic spin on it rather than just manipulating the image to be a simple faux polaroid, but in no time it was ready, and that is the wonderful image that you see before you right now....

I am afraid that, unlike my music, the t-shirt does require payment if you would like it for yourself, but I think you will find that they are very reasonably priced.... (compare to topman if you must) is available in a wide choice of colours, and if you didn't wanna wear it then it is also available to buy as art prints, canvases and all manner of other things, even as a cheap as chips sticker to stick wherever you wish.

but enough of the hard sell

how about a little bit of storytelling

Or perhaps I'll save the story of the this image until another day (what a tease, i'm sorry)

Female Superheriocs in the DCnU and the quest for more boobs

i may not have had time to write about it yet, but i have been making time to catch up on the brand spanking new DC universe that has been ruffling feathers since September '11.

ok, so nothing is further than the second issue as we speak, and i've been working my way through a handfull of the #1s after reading Flashpoint and making the decision to completely bypass Blackest Night and Brightest Day since they haven't even happened now anyway, oh wait, hang on, or have they, bloody hell, all this confusion needs to be saved up for a DC confusion specific post

what i wanna focus on here briefly is the role of females in the new DCnU

forget stuffing them in fridges and depowering them, the females characters that i have read so far have all basically been sex on legs, prancing around in underwear for the titillation of presumably teenage boys and lonely geek men as if they were some kind of 2D stripper, oh, have you read Voodoo?! that one actually is a 2D stripper....

again, i think i'll touch on the bigger problems elsewhere, but lets take a closer look at Catwoman shall we

how close do you want to get....

ok, so that is just the first page.

and since this is the DCnU, this is your introduction to Catwoman.

no wonder people are up in arms about this, we're being flashed more boob than we're seeing face and it kind of sets the precedent for what follows, until things get even more full on...

one thing i don't usually believe in is spoilers, yet i'm unsure if this spoils anything since the issue is low on story and high on the boob count...

so, what happens next, well, she escapes from her apartment, yet still hasn't managed to dress herself properly,   she goes about her business tracking someone down, in disguise, but with her boobs hanging out, and by the end she is humping Batman... seriously, check out this blog for proof

and if you don't mind the prospect of having to burn your own eyes out, stick with me

c'mon, stay with me...

you ready...

aaaaaaarghhhhhhhhhh!!!

don't you just love simpsons fan-art inspired by overly sexualised comics.

i know that i don't.

sorry.

'God bless you'

i have lived most of my adult life as an agnostic theist

and it is alright with me

i don't need to attend church, or fast for religious festivals, or study scriptures or sacrifice my first born or anything like that

i'm quite content to live my life and believe that if i strive to be the best person that i can possibly be then these efforts will not go unnoticed by the universe and whatever higher powers there may or may not be

i certainly have my own personal values that gravitate around the principle of karma, and i do wonder if there isn't really something in afew of these religions that are knocking around, i'll certainly take into consideration anything anyone believes and my even borrow from these beliefs if it suits me, i also went to a Baptist church sunday school when i was younger, and i definitely think it gave me a good grounding in life.


all this is getting away from the point, but may be useful background.


my work has recently involved more and more unreasonable stress, unreasonable customers, a pathetically faltering computer that doesn't make getting anything done any easier, a boss that expects too much and expects it now and a whole host of myriad factors that have made these last few weeks rather depressing.  but i'll live with it, i'll keep going in the hope that things will improve, and most importantly, i need to pay bills.

today was no different at all, worse even, throw in a fax machine that is ever-jamming and in my own personal life, a credit card company that is almost certainly retarded, and it was hardly a thrilling time working 9 til 5.

except one customer kinda made things better towards the end of the day.

i'd helped her out, shown her around a few bits and pieces and told her any information she wanted to know and that i though may of been helpful to her.  she said that she would let her nephew, her daughter and her grandsons know.  i made sure she had our contact details and also handed over a few 10% off leaflets.

i was only doing my job, and i take pride in actually being able to help people when they need it.

she seemed overjoyed at the discount flyers, and thanked me, and said

'God bless you'



now, let me clarify, this wasn't a habitual kind of 'Bless you' that follows a sneeze or anything, i could tell that she was grateful for any effort that i had made for her, and the way that she spoke made it obvious that she had a real belief in God

and it felt good, it felt like being touched by something

i could almost feel a glowing inside of me, as if through some brief verbal communication i had truly been blessed by a deity that i can't even honestly say that i have solid convictions in

this isn't my turning point, this isn't my announcement that i have seen the light.

but it was a beautiful moment that i wanted to share.


credit where it is due:


accompanying artwork, Angel by ~UnKnOwns

'you know that i'm no good'

On Saturday 23rd July 2011, the newest member was inducted into the hallowed halls of the legendary 27 club.

As is the norm these days, most people found out via facebook, twitter or text, that Amy Winehouse had been found dead in her Camden flat.

In the hours and days since, many have commented that Amy Winehouse's death was 'sad news', certainly it was, we have lost a real talent at an unbelievably young age, yet no-one seems to have been shocked by it.

Her problems with drink and drugs were played out across tabloids, paparazzi were there to capture every intoxicated stumble, and increasingly worrying liveshows saw crowds bearing witness to mumbled lyrics, erratic behaviour and a performer in need of serious help.

And sadly it will be these memories and the everlasting lineage of youtube videos that will continue to define her for years to come, creating yet another rock'n'roll legend whose mythology will be as closely intertwined with drugs and tragedy as it is with their musical back catalogue.

It is a shame that with only two albums to here name, Amy Winehouse doesn't leave more music behind, yet it is easy to forget now that these two collections have helped to shape today's musical landscape dramatically.

As always, posthumous sales have rocketed and her past hits are played out as some mourn her passing and others celebrate her life.  

But I'm sure that behind the scenes, the pressure will now be on to polish any demos and unfinished recordings that were being lined up for album number 3.  I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a new Amy Winehouse album rush-released before Christmas, but it is questionable whether her personal demons will have served her well until the end or eventually tainted her natural talent.

If the loss of Micheal Jackson to my generation was comparable to Elvis, then it is possible that Amy Winehouse will now be immortalised as the 21st century's Kurt Cobain; leaving behind a small, yet significant musical body, complete with the the cautionary tale of the dangers of drug-addiction and the tragic trappings of fame.

credit where it's due:

artwork by Timothy Lamb

the barnyard battle

how foolish of me, there i was yesterday, typing up a long-awaited blog post and i only go and leave out something of relevance that i wanted to point readers in the direction of.

instead, you get more apologies and an extra post which i guess makes things look just a little bit more active around these parts.



so.

dubstep.


when i'm writing articles or features for The Enfield Advertiser (or possibly Seeking Susan Boyle or Glasswerk) i try to cover most bases, obviously the paper i try to anchor with local interest to keep it relevant, but i also like to mix in reviews of other artists, be they popular or rather niche, and i try to convey myself in my writing by offering up a number of opinion pieces.

something that i had been giving a fair bit of consideration to was the current state of dubstep, particularly how in the course of a year it went from bubbling on the underground, to spawning it's own 'pop'stars in the form of Katy B and Magnetic Man.

but writing takes a little time and commitment, and when i very rarely have an official deadline to meet for any of the platforms my pieces appear on, sometimes these ideas tend to slide.

so while i have been spending time becoming increasingly bored of social networking and waiting for something new to set a fire under my life, or just sinking my head deeper and deeper into comics, Eddy TM has overtaken me and given his own opinion on dubstep's current standing.

i won't bother to repeat any of it here, since it is well worth a read in it's own right.

and perhaps i'll pull my finger out, surprise even myself, and deliver a complete dubstep mix, aaand a dubstep article this week.

we'll see, eh?

credit where it's due:


accompanying image 'weird mouse' by Leo Loikkanen

journey to perplexity

please, let me explain myself.

i apologise profusely for not yet furnishing your ears with my cut 'n' paste dubstep mix.

a handfull of people of heard it, opinions range from 'tumping' (which i presume is a compliment, and shall take as such), to my girlfriends opinion that it sounded quite amateur, which of course it is, but i had a bloody good crack at it. oh, and i was also told by the friend that the mix was originally intended for, that the asda CD i burnt it on wouldn't play in her car, neither would the previous asda CD we tried, i see a pattern emerging here.

having taken my girlfriend's comments on board, i decided to postpone loading it up for all and sundry to hear and instead shall spend a little longer tweaking...

there are certainly points of the mix that i am not entirely happy with, whilst others are so smooth that few people have even realised when a track has flowed or merged into the next. so it is neither a complete success or a complete failure, it is what it is, a mix that i have cut and pasted together as best i could using acid .

the only thing i shall attempt to change are a handful of sound level issues that are bothering me, and are the reason i have not shared it just yet, the rest shall likely stand untouched, as a testament to what i can and cannot do.

as soon as i find a little spare time to give it the attention it deserves i shall tinker and upload, for now tho, perhaps just check out the artwork that i created for the compilation, and perhaps peruse the other creative outpourings of my family on a day to day basis.

credit where it's due:


accompanying image 'i wanna riot' by butterfly cool

but is it art?

credit where it's due:


lovingly pilfered from Super Punch

music blog?

Hunchbakk - music and musings


although i guess more recently it has been mostly musings, but the musings are mostly music related

but i haven't posted up an awful lot of music, not as much as i'd liked to have done, which had me wondering

is this a music blog?


i always assumed it was because i started it as a way to share my own music other than just having a standard myspace, but then i would also post up any odd curiosities that i stumbled upon that intrigued me and that i thought may have been of interest to other people, and then i would throw in posts highlighting new tracks as and when i made them

i would review the gigs i would go to, and tell you things i was excited about, and post up videos - but i didn't post too much music for fear of it becoming a little bit lost within the clutter and the clatter of all the other music blogs that are out there trying to tip you off about the next big thing, or the next thing that won't be big cos it's too cool to be big, or sharing the same bunch of remixes that do the rounds in the blogosphere

but plenty of time has past now, and i think the blog exhibits enough of it's own identity that i shouldn't be afraid of it being lumped in with other blogs or trying to run with other blogs, it is what it is and i'm gonna endeavour to bring you more music... more downloads, more streams

maybe not loads, but i think it would be nice to mix it up a little bit with everything else that already goes on over here and share some music that may have been overlooked, or lost in the midst of time, or sometimes just whatever i'm feeling, regardless of whether it is new, old or hotly tipped.



this week i thought i may have had a chance to blog on wednesday, as it turns out, i didn't, but i did have a chance to click round a few websites and take a look at number of artists and projects that hadn't been on my radar before... unfortunately i didn't have any speakers on the computer so they kinda remain undiscovered discoveries until i get the chance to investigate further


but i found myself taking a look at J-treole, having been aware of them as someone i knew occasionally plays in their live band, a london based rapper named Loudmouth Melvin and a proposed two disc cover version album of Doves songs that shall be unveiled in October

so keep an ear out for my blog, as i am promising you more music! and maybe sometime soon when my computer has been spared from the clutches of death (again) i shall have more of my own music to bring you!!

but for now i'll leave you with an inspiring track that i heard on the radio this week, which is exactly the type of thing i would love to achieve within my own projects, and has currently got me tuned in to more music by the wonderful Dam Mantle

Theatre by Dam Mantle stream only


credit where it's due:
wow! image found on Geekology
and taken from this pretty amazing set or artworks

sound art experiment number 8

well it turned out to be quite a geek week over here didn't it.

let's remedy that by sorting you out with some free music, the latest installment in the much delayed SoundArt project.

we're up to number 8 and i have already recieved the artwork for number 9 and am brainstorming ideas at the mo, but lets not let this one pass us by too quickly.

may i present to you, the Art and the Sound of SoundArt8



SoundArt8 by Hunchbakk

and for those of you that aren't quite sure what you are looking at, the above piece of artwork was infact a CD case with cassete tape wound tightly inside, to give the impression of something resembling a Reel to Reel, but also looking like a CD at the same time.

which didn't exactly fill me with inspiration.

instead i decided that it would be a blank canvas for me to work with and decide what i was going to do, which was also rather fitting considering the nature of a blank cassete.

so i set about gathering ideas and even up until the last day working on the track i was still adding ideas as they came to me, much like a cassete tape would be recorded onto over and over.

so i sampled tracks that i heard that appealed to me most, i dug through a pile of minidiscs and snatched short snippets of audio from shows i'd recorded off the radio, i actually sampled a very worn out tape which has quite clearly seen better days.

and although the finished item may not exactly sound like a track that has been worked on for a number of months it still stands as an experimental piece drawing inspiration (and samples) from a number of sources and i would like to acknowledge Big Audio Dynamite, Instra:Mental, D-mob, David Rodigan, John Peel, Steve Lamacq, Eddy TM, Jo Whiley, Akira The Don, Thom Yorke, Bill Hicks and Paul Kaye who all unwittingly contributed.

Sound Art Experiment Number 3 (revisited)

Last year Ian Byford Art posted a handfull of my tracks to download that he had designed the sleeve artwork for, this year for Blogmass he has been re-upping this years SoundArt tracks, the first of which originally debuted as part of 08's Blogmass Advent calender.

All the tracks to date are now online to download for a limited period, now there should supposedly have been a new track completed every month, meaning that a full 12 track collaboration album would have been available this december - but some things just don't quite go as planned, instead there are 6 tracks available, including the 'incomplete' SoundArt3



SoundArt3 (unfinished)

SoundArt3 is a short track that i intended to expand when i had got more material to flesh it out, it was conceived as a reflection on the links between music and art and included just a few interview clips cut up over a rather minimal backing

I was thinking that i would do more interviews to broaden the scope of the track and increase the running time, but in hindsight i now think it serves as a short aside, almost a brief interlude while some of the other tracks i experimented with have been surpassing the five minute mark (and then some...) which i very rarely cross with my usual tracks i produce, and this in turn has meant that the when the SoundArt project is complete it may be quite a long listen, so the brevity of the third track may be no bad thing

i may change my mind again, i may expand SoundArt3 to a 17 minute sonic symphony if the fancy takes me...

but in the meantime perhaps you should all be right-clicking and kicking back to enjoy the SoundArt project so far

SoundArt1
SoundArt2
SoundArt3 (unfinished)
SoundArt4
SoundArt5
SoundArt6
Free file hosting from File Den

part of the queue

i didn't expect to be in Bristol this past weekend

i didn't expect to be stood in a queue for three hours and forty minutes either

but this was what was necessary if you wanted to get into the Banksy vs Bristol Museum exhibition that is running until the end of August

we arrived early enough on saturday morning and thought the queue looked reasonable, until we realised it was being filtered and actualy snaked back and forth on itself in an adjoining road, and didn't end there either, crossing the road and trailing down a further, longer road

luckily my girlfriend who had planned the surprise trip had also heard horror stories of three hour waits so we were fore-warned, so, stood on the end of a ridiculous queue we formulated a plan to pass the time, we passed up on the idea of taking it in turns to sit on our own drinking in the wetherspoons opposite the museum while the other held our place in the queue and instead she let me wander off to an oxfam bookshop i'd spotted on the condition that i left her my generic mp3 player and brought back a trashy magazine detailing the latest woes of Jordan, Cheryl, Posh, et al

another thing i didn't expect (and neither did my girlfriend) was to find a Forbidden Planet store on my little wander so when i returned i was in possession of a couple of reduced graphic novels and a copy of reveal

despite the horrendous waiting time everyone seemed to be in quite good spirits as we basked in the midday sunshine, kids waited patiently, old men made hats from newspapers to shield their balding heads from the searing sun, a strategically placed ice cream van took a small fortune as practically everyone grabbed a lolly or an ice cream as the queue passed it, and i got half way through a Grant Morrison penned JLA story (which was a bargain at £4, was published just after i quit reading comics - including JLA - and carries straight on from the Aztek graphic novel i recently read) before we got to the entrance of the museum.

and once inside, the ground floor of the museum has been thrown over to Banksy with room full of a large display of stenciled canvases in Banksy's usual style and used stencils from works that have graced the streets over the past few years and another room full of disturbing 'living' creatures including a monkey, a rabbit, a number of fish and sausages and some newborn chicken McNuggets that all need to be seen to appreciate the true unsettling horror of Banksy's twisted vision and social commentary.




but the whole three story edwardian museum needs to be explored to get the full experience as a number of the sculptures, paintings and displays have been tampered with to bring them to life and give them a modern slant, all just sitting cheekily alongside the museum's usual exhibits, i still don't know if i managed to spot it all but my favourites of the ones i did find include the dildo standing proud among the stalactites and the stuffed beaver awarded a fishing trophy.



i've intentionally not mentioned absolutely everything i saw so that anyone thinking of going can experience it for themselves but i'm sure there are a number of sites that document the exhibition in greater detail, including this one i found

art: a slideshow

there isn't much to say now that hasn't already been said, today is the last day of the three day Form Fest at Bar Form, and those arriving from 6 will be able to view the sculptures created by my brother and a small display of my own photography, as i mentioned in yesterdays post

i'm hoping that is all the reminder anyone will need so i'll leave you with a slideshow that takes a little look inside the creative process my brother undertook as he began work on some new sculptures especially for Form Fest



and just like normal publications and newspapers, i need to print a retraction and apologise for my little moan about The Enfield Advertiser the other day...

for even tho it was the Advertiser that rang me in order to contact Ian, and it was the Advertiser that sent a photographer round, the article was actually printed in the Advertiser's sister paper, this week's Enfield Gazette!!!

a rather well informed and informative article! we got there eventually, eh?



click on the article itself for a larger view, and the eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that one of the sculptures pictured with my brother in the article is the same one started in the above slideshow, it all ties together neatly in the end!

and to see the conclusion of all this hard work, displays of both my brother's scultures and my own photography can be viewed from 6ish til 8ish tonight at Bar Form, Enfield Town

so one last time, for luck, here's that familiar flyer



(click the flyer for a larger view)

everything is borrowed

and since i've dedicated a fair share of this week's posts to banging on about Form Fest at Bar Form i think it's only fair that i allow myself a little time to indulge in self-promotion

at last weeks Sel-Out! when me and my brother were discussing the art exhibition due to take place there was mention that apparently not many artists and fashion types had actually put themselves forward, i don't tend to shout about what i do very often but it started playing on my mind that perhaps i should include some of my photography in order to bulk out the so-called art and fashion shows that so far only had one artist

so i put forward my intentions last friday, got the nod last sunday and then found myself volunteered to exhibit and only having a week to get anything together!

luckily, my life quite often seems to just fall into place and even with such short notice i have managed to pull together pretty much everything needed to put on a competent display of my work that was actually so much better than i imagined it could have been

this post includes afew of the photos that didn't make it into my final choices, i thought i'd put them up as a little taster of what to expect






the exhibition runs from 6 (ish) til 8 (ish) tomorrow at Bar Form, Enfield Town
costing just £2 entry which but will get you in for a whole evening of entertainment including a music quiz and bands playing live



and i'm actually gonna be there tonight in a musical capacity, DJing with the Bubblegum Stomp crew from 10pm

full details of everything goin on can be found here, in a post nabbed from facebook



(click the flyer for a larger view)

read all about it...

Local artist, Ian Byford to exhibit his work at Enfield Town Bar
Sculptures on display at Bar Form on Sunday 2nd August

Ian Byford has been picked as one of a small number of artists to display their work at Bar Form, Genotin Road, as part of Form Fest, a three day mini-festival that will showcase music, art and fashion.

Born in Enfield and currently living in Waltham Cross, Ian Byford, 23, works in a variety of mediums, including sculpture, photography, digital art and writing. Often his sculptures are composed of materials either found or donated, or bought from charity shops and he has recently been working on a multi-media project entitled ‘Distopeian Scrapbook’ that tells the stories of individuals living in a not too distant future that is far from perfect.

The ‘Distopeian Scrapbook’ will be represented by a number of works that will be on display at Bar Form, including new sculptures that have been created especially for the Form Fest exhibition and a limited number of mini-comics have been written and produced that will be available free, exclusively at the event.

More art, works in progress and the Distopeian Scrapbook so far can be viewed on www.ianbyfordart.blogspot.com


Ian Byford will be exhibiting his work from 6pm – 8pm on Sunday 2nd August at Bar Form, Genotin Road.

ok, so The Enfield Advertiser disapointingly overlooked my brother and his exhibition so i thought i'd use my initiative and publish an online article so you all know what's going on this weekend, actually it's more like a copy and paste of my press release which is pretty much what 'journalists' at local papers do anyway

and since Bar Form seemed to be coming up a little bit short on artists i decided that i'd exhibit some of my photography alongside my brother's sculptures (cos he's not the only talented one in the family y'know) to help em out, so i have been hastily putting together my own display, so head down to Bar Form this weekend for a three day mini-festival kicking off tomorrow, featuring the fantabulous Bubblegum Stomp DJing on Saturday and artsy stuff from both me and my brother on Sunday



(click the flyer for a larger view)

i read the news today, oh boy...

and was all that hard work really worth it?

today my brother's face and sculptures were gonna be featured in The Enfield Advertiser as a prelude to his exhibition at Bar Form on Sunday, so i thought i'd rush out and buy one so i could get the feature scanned in and uploaded without having to wait for the paper to be delivered

except the newsagent didn't have it yet either, so i thought, 'sod that feeling of pride when you open a newspaper and see a family member (as long as it's good news), we are living in the future now, i'm gonna get online and read the digital copy'

so i flicked through the digital pages, and i kept flicking, and i even kept flicking when i got to the houses and cars and classifieds and the sport incase it had been misplaced by the editor, and then i went back and flicked through again incase i'd missed it

and i can't see it anywhere


such a shame after i spent the time writing an informative press release complete with examples of Ian's work, and that they rung to speak to him about his influences and even sent a photographer round to get some pictures for the feature.

such a shame they chose to overlook a local artist displaying his works in Enfield Town and spread the word a little in order to support someone putting their heart into what they want to do instead of jus being chewed up by the rat-race

instead you can look at some old people painting and read about an exhibition already in its 61st year that by the looks of the article sounds rather well attended anyway





well done Enfield Advertiser for supporting new talent!!




by way of consolation tho, u can order the pics from the shoot on a get well soon card



if YOU want to support new talent you can come along to the exhibition at Bar Form this Sunday where a number of sculptures will be on display from 6pm, entrance is £2 but that will get you in for a whole evening of entertainment including a music quiz and bands playing live




(click the flyer for a larger view)

and don't forget Bubblegum Stomp will be DJing as part of Saturday nights FREE line-up

Heads Up!! Sel-Out!!

Stuffs is happening at Bar Form in Enfield Town very soon!!

Bubblegum Stomp's very own Selmador is heading up a new live band night next thursday, 23rd July!

of course Bubblegum Stomp shall be DJing, sharing deck duties with members of Retro Crooks!

and there are three live bands, all making their debut performances at Bar Form, they are The Jacks, Ben Darius Ralph and The Fetts!

and incase you didn't understand any of that, here is a flyer that pretty much says the same thing!!



you got that, thursday 23rd, from 8, £4 entry.

good.


and Bubblegum Stomp shall also be joining in the fun of Form Fest, Bar Form's very own 3 day mini festival that shall encompass art, fashion and music.

featuring, among other things, exhibitions, live bands, DJs, a quiz and a BBQ, the Form Fest kicks off on Friday 31st.

among all that cultured goodness shall be an exhibition ofartwork and sculptures from my brother on sunday 2nd, and also DJ sets from Bubblegum Stomp over the weekend.