Chris Gollon, Thurston Moore, Swans…Honours

There are some hard lives out there. I’m always appreciative of how lucky I’ve been in life – without ever using it as a complacent reason to say “this is good enough, no further, no more.” There always seems to be a pull in much dialogue about the world to either say things are awful, or things aren’t bad – my view is things don’t have to be awful to believe that we can look to the future and say we can make it better. I dislike hysteria on the one hand, and defeatism on the other. It seems to be a very British trait sometimes to declare everything to be crap (all politicians, all business, all of the left/right wing, all classes, all people…) as a defensive posture in which an individual gives themselves permission to not engage, not get involved, not even try. Ah well!

In the nice things of my current year – are we really a third of the way through it already? – I was invited to write an entry for the exhibition catalogue accompanying Chris Gollon: Beyond The Horizon, an exhibition at Huddersfield Art Gallery running from 5 October 2019 to 11 January 2020. My connection to Gollon’s work arose directly from the Thurston Moore book We Sing A New Language. Gollon was one of the invited artists who took part in the ROOT project of 1998 and, interviewing him, I was enthralled by the way he spoke of his creative process, the way ideas merged and combined within an overall work – stellar stuff. One thing led to another, David Tregunna – Gollon’s friend and manager – was kind enough to invite me to a showing in London where Eleanor McEvoy performed pieces from her album Naked Music which was entwined with artworks from Gollon…And at the end of the evening I headed off having agreed I wanted to buy an artwork and the connection continued. My only regret is I was trying to be so polite and respectful of Gollon’s time that I didn’t go over and say hi – a chance I’ve lost forever more, a true shame.

https://www.iapfineart.com/nick-soulsby-thurston-moore-house-of-sleep/

Friday I depart for Lisbon for a long overdue few days away from work where I’ll sit in sunshine, work on the upcoming book on Lydia Lunch – and attend the premiere of Marco Porsia’s movie SWANS: Where Does A Body End?

I’ve seen several cuts of the movie over the past couple years and it’s been amazing watching the shaping and crafting that goes into it, the multiple dimensions being taken into account, the energy that Marco has had to put into it. The other amazing thing has been to see a film that many times and always be enthralled – there’s just so much great material, the story is compelling, the way it’s been constructed is hard to turn away from. I’m really looking forward to see it on the big screen on Friday evening. A week later I’ll then attend the showing in Brussels. Keep watching, lot more showings to come:

https://www.wheredoesabodyend.com/new-events

I’ve also been invited to attend the Pop Kultur Festival in August in Berlin – my first ever visit to the city and, typically, my friend who lives there is going to be trekking in Bavaria! I’ll be taking part in a panel at the festival then giving a workshop on oral history and music – really looking forward to putting the work in ready for that.

Pop-Kultur 2021 – It’s happening!

Another odd link back to We Sing A New Language came when Oltrarno Recordings got in touch to ask if I would be willing to take a look at Massimo Farjon Pupillo’s first solo album. The answer was a definite yes. I’ve seen Massimo’s work in ZU – love that band – and he’s been a regular collaborator with numerous groups and individuals inhabiting the ‘out there’ realms of music. Glad I did look at it, two gargantuan twenty minute compositions plus a cover of the always beautiful All The Pretty Little Horses:

https://www.popmatters.com/massimo-farjon-pupillo-review-2635385964.html

I also took time to go back through my front-to-back catalogue of Sunn O))), definitely one of my favourite bands of all time. Life Metal, pleasant, definitely nowhere near as glorious as Monoliths & Dimensions – ‘Alice’ is an immaculate composition.

https://www.popmatters.com/sunn-o-life-metal-review-2635722537.html

Anyways, it’s an honour to get the chance to encounter the people and their works – constant delight.