PondLife launch party

Vicky and I were up in Glastonbury on Monday (Beltane) for the launch party of PondLife Studios, the new project being launched by John from Wooden Books (who published my little reference book) and Matt Spacegoat (who illustrated it).

We got a chance to see Pok and various other friends. Stevie P was DJing in the upstairs chill-out room (he DJs with his iMac laptop these days!) He excitedly mentioned Lily Allen to me, his latest discovery (heard on Gilles Peterson) a 20-year-old Londoner with a lot of attitude and an extraordinary mix of musical influences (according to her Myspace page: DJ Zinc, Chas 'n' Dave, Jay-Z, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, 808 State, Wreckless Eric...) I've since checked her out, and she's presumably going to be huge...

We had to leave before the end, but we got to see an enjoyable set from Cameron of Altered Native, Tim Invisible leading a choir singing Mayday carols and fertility songs, and best of all, Martha Tilston and band - I've never heard her sing live before, and her rendition of "The Blacksmith" (old folksong) completely transported me - her voice is up there in the Sandy Denny/Maddy Prior/June Tabor/Jacqui Mcshea league...wonderful.

Earlier that evening we got to see a sublime golden sunset from the Tor (I managed to play "King o' the Faeries" on my saz before my fingers froze - chilly winds) and brought home 65 litres of spring water from the Chalice Well and White Spring, some of which is intended to end up being used for mead-making.