CCCU Wintersound 2018

11th-12th January 2018
Sidney Cooper Gallery and Garage Coffee, Canterbury

Event blog

John Butcher played some mindblowing free sax at the Cooper, then I led a You Are Here-inspired walk between venues, doing my best to amplify my voice through a little Pignose busking amp I was wearing. Reading site-specific excerpts as we made our way down St. Peters Street, Stour Street and Jewry Lane, I was able to invoke Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Kevin Ayers, tragically deceased local buskers Taihg and Max, Syd Arthur's Liam and Raven, my old collaborator Tom Holden and Caravan's Richard Coughlan (once publican at the Cricketers). Assembled outside Garage Coffee (the exact centre of the city wall circuit, by my estimation) I explained that fifty years earlier it had been a venue called The Foundry, and blasted a minute of Caravan playing there, a wild, early-Floyd-style rendering of their mates The Soft Machine's "Feelin' Reelin' Squealin'". We then stepped inside for an amazing percussion set from AMM pioneer Eddie Prévost!

Thinking back, I recall that the walk/talk was put together while I was in Istanbul a couple of days earlier, surprised that I had to use Google StreetView to remind myself what order the buildings/junctions appear in down the High Street!

Join us tonight at 7pm at the Sidney Cooper Gallery as Free Range becomes part of @CCCUMPA 's #wintersound Festival! Entry free as usual - 7pm at the gallery before moving to @GarageRoasted for the 2nd half of the show, guided by @SoC_trilogyand his psychogeographic writings!

— Free Range (@Free_Range_) 11 January 2018

Stunning. Also, I'd thought ahead and had a box of books waiting there, of which I managed to sell quite a few.

The second evening's event was entirely at the Sidney Cooper, featuring a touching video installation (about a forgotten burial site in Folkestone) by Emily Peasgood, some wild trombone work from Sarah Gail Brand, and then an ambient sound installation by Sophie Stone (Continuum) during which the audience were encouraged to lie on yoga mats and drift away. I did. Thanks everyone.

Then on to Jacob and Reanne's housewarming party on the Whitstable Road...jams with Emilia, Luke and Matt C.