Grammy Award-winning soul diva Joss will be making a special guest appearance to perform with Yes Sir Boss on Thursday, July 12.
The You Had Me singer’s gravelly but lustrous vocals will bring an extra treat to an already great evening of entertainment on Thursday as she joins Yes Sir Boss – the newest signings to her own Stone’d Records label – on the main stage. Continue reading
Rotary Club spokesman David Frampton and his team visited Avebury Sports Field this afternoon (Wednesday), and confirmed that the ground was dry enough to the stage to be erected and for an audience of up to 1,500 people to be granted access to the site on Saturday (July 7).
He confirmed that despite a summer marred by rain and cold weather, 900 tickets had been sold for the outdoor gig, and over 100 people had signed up for an associated 20-mile walk, which will include Wiltshire’s highest concert on top of Mark Hill, the joint-highest point in the county.
Mr Frampton was also able to confirm a last minute addition to the lineup. Swindon signing sensation Jess Hall and her band (pictured), whose track Play Shy has received Radio 1 airplay, will join a line-up that includes Mike Peters, lead singer from rock bands The Alarm and Big Country; Nick Harper local singer/song writer and son of legendary singer Roy; Cy Curnin and Jamie West-Oram of the rock band The Fixx; and acclaimed acoustic duo Swans in Flight. Continue reading
One of the greatest mysteries of the prehistoric world is why Stonehenge was built. But the thinking behind a life-sized inflatable version of the world-famous monument is easier to ascertain – and it might have more to do with nearby Avebury than its younger but better-known cousin.
This morning Festival Chronicle was lucky enough to catch up with Jeremy Deller, the Turner Prize-winning artist behind art-installation-cum-bouncy-castle Sacrilege.
Continue reading
I’ll bet when the Queen visited Salisbury back on May 1 (International Workers’ Day, not that the UK ever recognises it) she never thought her jaunt would be immortalised in graffiti art.
But that’s exactly what happened at the weekend, when Brazilian street artist Chivitz created new works at Salisbury Arts Centre as part of the Salisbury International Arts Festival.
The Queen, who is quite used to having portraits done, although probably never like this, is pictured in the outfit she wore when she visited the city, although the cheeky graffiti artist has her brandishing a spray can. Continue reading
Every music fan has a cool answer to the questions ‘what was the first record you bought?’ and ‘what was the first band you saw live?’ Often these answers are subject to some level of historical revisionism.
For rock critic turned radio presenter Stuart Maconie there is no need to distort the facts: the first band he saw live was The Beatles. Continue reading
I was one of eight contestants, ready to launch their thoughts, arguments and philosophical musings on the Swindon Art Centre audience yesterday.
And, as it turned out, hopelessly outgunned! Continue reading
Roman Krznaric
Oxfam and UN advisor, tennis player, gardener and furniture-making fanatic, Roman Krznaric is the Brian Cox of philosophy, making it fun and relevant.
In the first part of his event at the Swindon Festival of Literature yesterday on the curious histories of how we live, I was reminded of my first year of my degree studies. This was about the Ancient Greeks and their various types of love. How ‘love’ didn’t necessarily mean passion, and how the Greeks actually felt wary of erotic love.
Which made me think that just because we (in the English language) don’t give different types of love their own names, does this mean we don’t have similar concepts? Or does giving them their own names raise awareness, legitimise them? Raise their importance? Or is the multitasking of one word just as good? Hmmm.
And here’s a ‘did you know’: the Eros statue in London’s Piccadilly Square is not the god of romance at all. Nope, it was erected (snigger) as a monument to his twin brother Anteros, the god of requited love and also known as the Angel of Christian Charity.
Ahha! I see what you’re doing there, Swindon Festival of Literature. I’m founding out things and getting a bit of mental exercise. Mission accomplished. Continue reading
Marcus Moore
There’s no doubt that blogging has democratised publishing. Writers – including authors and poets – have been freed from the financial shackles of publishing their material in print, or establishing an expensive website.
During Blog Standard, writer Marcus Moore and poet Hilda Sheehan were on hand to show the audience just how easy it is to start a blog. In fact, within a few minutes of the event starting, the fledgling blog was already taking shape. Continue reading
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