Ah, but I was so much older then
On time, enjoying the moment, and the joys of retirement – taking in thoughts from Bob Dylan, Japanese culture, Facebook posts and more, and with a note about the late great Brian Patten https://tonyearnshaw.substack.com/p/im-younger-than-that-now
Back to making music
So much to write about and so little time! As activity slowly returns to normal there is a mix of new but yet familiar experiences and the creative efforts of the last few months to cover. For now, a few reflections of the ‘new but familiar’. I sang (and rehearsed) in the open air a […]
Sunlit uplands
We’re well into January already and I’ve struggled to find time to write. Well, not quite. I’ve written a couple of poems, a short play for Valentines Day, and a funding application for the Arts Council which runs to an unbelievable 65 pages. But no blog. Time to remedy that omission. The year so far […]
Hearts for the Arts
We’re thrilled to learn that Mole Valley Arts E-Live festival 2020 has been shortlisted in the National Campaign for the Arts (NCA) Hearts for the Arts Awards, which are to be announced on Valentine’s Day! Tony has a long association with the annual Mole Valley Arts Alive festival, and had two hugely successful events in Arts E-Live […]
Mary Sang
Just a week to Christmas and amid all the noise and controversy I thought I’d share a musical take on the Christmas story with this poem first published in the Mole Valley Poets Christmas Anthology last year Mary Sang Mary sang, a fine contralto, deep and pure.Joseph played bass, metronomic, steady, the beat nailed to the […]
Shades of Grey
I’ve been thinking about black, white and grey recently. Not black and white as in race and certainly not shades of grey as in 50, but more a concern about polarisation. I took the photo above this morning and took the colour out to make it ‘black and white’. Except it isn’t. Rather, it is […]
Creativity in a time of Covid
It’s a strange phenomenon. Theatres are dark, just a few lights here and there, brave venues operating at 30% capacity. Concert halls have musicians bravely playing to empty seats. Stars of the musical theatre are driving vans. Ballet dancers are encouraged to become cyber experts, an encouragement now denied. And yet, in the midst, creativity […]
Arts Alive becomes Arts E-Live
Arts Alive is back – in a different form, as most festivals are this year. At Damn Cheek we’ve now participated in Buxton Fringe and the Saltaire Festival with on line productions and it’s good to be able to add Arts Alive to the list. Three festivals we have existing relationships with, three festivals where […]
The Whistle and the Fiddle
As we face more restrictions on socialising, on numbers at weddings and , for some, on movement, I was reminded of a few verses I penned earlier in the summer after a Damn Cheek performance of Brendan Murray’s play ‘Big Baby’. As part of that production, we were fortunate to have a multi instrumentalist in […]
Relax (don’t do it?)
I suppose the religious analogy is with the ‘last days’ where everything is in a state of chaos and confusion and expectation of the second coming. For us, right now, there are some definite parallels. The chaos and confusion is there, certainly. There are even a couple of candidates for the AntiChrist figure. But the […]