Cafe Concrete

This month myself and my long time collaborator and friend the artist Soundcube took the opportunity to visit Cafe Concrete, a monthly event for all things Sonic and Performance Art related that occurs on the first Monday of every month upstairs at Plymouth's Voodoo Lounge.First up was Nick Grew a friend and associate from Plymouth Music Zone whose performance was as inspirational and nourishing as his long term leadership at the afore mentioned community youth partnership.Nick took a seat to the right of the stage armed with a music box, (miked with piezzo?), mini-disc, (containing what sounded like edits from Classical or Ballet performances), Kaoss Pad and various pedals. Reminiscent of a cross between DJ Shadow, Anne Dudley (ArtofNoise) and Angelo Badlementini, the dark brooding reverberations that marked the room silencing opening to his improvised set unfurled into a genre eclipsing soundscape that metamorphoses the music box from African thumb piano to Gamelan and focused ones ear on the importance of timbre, rendering at times his fragile beautiful melodies as impotent spokesmen reborn as thunderous harbingers of percussive doom.Also appearing was a local performance arist/filmaker Dan Petley (Liono pictured below) sporting an immaculately manicured moustache, he took to the stage bare chested, with a cardboard megaphone, thumping a garden Gnome across his chest proclaiming "BUH!" as his film was projected onto the adjoining wall.Dada/Flux/Stuckist....awesome.

Installation Category Winner-Media Innovation Awards

On March 14th at a glitzy awards ceremony held in Plymouth'sHoliday Inn, "Darwin's Walk" picked up the winning prize in the Media Innovation Awards, "Installation/Exhibition" Category. Sam and Martin the craftsmen who constructed the metal sculpture , the students involved in the project, Manishima the shadow artist and Soundcube the lead artist , were all present to accept the award for the sonic sculpture that was exhibited as part of Expo youth at the Sonic Arts Networks annual Expo held in Plymouth in the summer of 2007.The award itself was designed and fabricated by a student from the same art college as those involved in the conceptualization, development and execution of Darwin's Walk. The award was accepted as a validation for the students and a timely reminder that learning is a lifelong process to be engaged with between people of all ages and abilities. Not forgetting the inspirational role that established artists can play in motivating those who seek to contribute to the creative landscape that enriches and informs the lives of us all."Long live Francis Dhomont".