EXHIBITION AT THE FACTORY

You are invited to Open Studios and a Large Exhibition at The Art Factory, Hall Road, Norwich. Some 15 artists exhibiting. Full details on our website

Week 1: Saturday & Sunday May 16 & 17, 10am to 5pm

Week 2: Thursday May 21 to bank holiday Monday May 25, 10am to 5pm

Week 3: Thursday May 28 to Sunday May 31, 10am to 5pm

Further information - rupertmallin@gmail.com

Pink Snow

In a corner where pink snow gathers.

Coastal Erosion and Nudism

Another goal achieved: I've managed to link East Anglia's Coastal Erosion to Naturism. Or rather, because of coastal erosion Waveney District Council is closing Corton's Naturist Beach on November 1st this year. This is one of the oldest naturist beaches in the country and Waveney District promises to explore the possibility of creating another naturist beach nearby. Let's hold them to it. As it were.

Got the T-Shirt

Not a good photo but I've got the T-shirt! The discerning among you will know that a Ductile Warrior is a type of drain... My study (sic) of pavements and drains is how I came into blogging and features in a Mark Sargeant film of my work Goaded Earth.

I've got the T-shirt for rather than spend the odd ten minutes blogging I'll be devoting serious hours each week to blogging from now on.......

Amphitheatre in Park

They're building somekind of amphitheatre in the depths of the woods of Old Catton Park - and it's going to be fantastic!

HAPPY IN RECESSION CITY (POEM)

What brings you to Recession City? Did you mistake us for change in your wallet or the dawn chorus of breaking rocks as you woke?

The dusty wind blew the word Food off the van long ago so it’s just Happy. Each of us tries to time our arrival so that we can set up our stall next to Happy. If not we set up out of view of Happy. If you can’t buy Happy you don’t want to see Happy, you don‘t want to smell Happy. The best spot away from Happy is on the other side of the blue public conveniences up wind of Happy.

What brings you to Recession City? Did you mistake us for change in your wallet or the dawn chorus of breaking rocks as you woke?

I’ve egg on my face and frankfurters are talking back and am glad not to be lonely. My stall is set up next to Happy and I’m happy. Out of my pit I was here before six, before Happy arrived, to be next to Happy. I was first in the Happy queue. Though my eggs and onions were under done who can say this was not the best meal of the day - of all days?

What brings you to Recession City? Did you mistake us for change in your wallet or the dawn chorus of breaking rocks as you woke?

It is raining. Happy has closed early. I’ve not made enough money to cover my breakfast but it was the best meal of the day - all days. I will take up your offer. I’ll pay twice my pitch to be next to Happy everyday. But I’ll have to work harder and harder, and sell more and more of my tat and bric-a-brac. I’ll pay you thrice my pitch if I can sleep under my stall, next to where Happy’s pitch will be. Please, this will make me very happy.

What brings you to Recession City? Did you mistake us for change in your wallet or the dawn chorus of breaking rocks as you woke?

__________

By Rupert Mallin

__________

I'm writing a series of pieces about car boots and booting... The Modern Church

EXHIBITION & OPEN STUDIOS

The Telegraph Celebrates St. George's Day

What a headline! And I thought Class War was a tiny anarchist group bent on class war but was The Daily Telegraph all along!

This is a copy of the newspaper to save: that the editor of The Telegraph is enraged because a 5p rise in tax on those who earn £150,000 p.a. is to be levied next year is incredible, for it also runs counter to the one nation Toryism Cameron is desparately seeking.

Those who earn above £150,000 p.a. number one per cent of the population. Of this 1% I am sure many view the impending tax rise on their earnings as socially and morally justified, so The Daily Telegraph is defending the tiny, tiny minority at the core of the very Elite which has given us this Slump!

And what an hilarious cartoon by Garland! This poor take on the Russian Revolution poster of Lenin shows how far Nicholas Garland has run away from his work published in the New Statesman and Private Eye, and also shows the Elite has to trawl back 90 years to find the imagery of fear such a minor redistribution of wealth poses for their class.

Post modernism is surely dead - as is the end of the 'End of History.' Welcome to the slow motion forward to the past.

Blogging Norfolk at The Forum

Blogger and film maker Mark Sargeant and I met up at The Forum, Norwich, and dropped in on Blogging Norfolk. It was a really good idea, supported by the Writers' Centre Norwich, the BBC and Arts Council England.

However, because it wasn't linked to a real time event or events it didn't really engage a large and active audience.

Mark, I and others will be running an event on the East Coast in September which will use Blogging, Flickr, Facebook and the like to both initiate activity and record it. Watch this space...

Blogging Norolk at The Forum

Here's organiser of Blogging Norfolk n the Big Screen at The Forum.

Blogging Norfolk

Mark Sargeant and I then went walking and talking and snapping around Norwich. There was this sort of English nationalism outside some pubs - but the pubs were empty! Mark and I had put away our cameras when a knight emerged from the Murderers. No one was too impressed.

MAY AT MILESTONES

TOP GUITARIST LEADS FUNKY ORGAN TRIO AT MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB

The next concert at Milestones Jazz Club on Sunday 3 May features a band that captures the energetic spirit and gritty format of the 1960’s Blue Note style - The Nigel Price Organ Trio.

Guitarist Nigel Price leads a funky and hard-swinging band in the spirit of Wes Mongomery, Grant Green, Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff through fiery originals and well-chosen standards.

As guitarist with the standard bearers for the UK jazz-funk and acid jazz movements, The James Taylor Quartet, Nigel spent a number of years recording and touring Europe making him equally at home with modern jazz, funk and blues. Nigel’s fluid and confident voice skilfully fuses flowing bebop lines, the earthy wail of the blues and a will to swing and has made him instantly accessible and popular with jazz audiences. As an established player on the London jazz scene, Nigel often performs in the house band at Ronnie Scott’s club in London and has been spotted playing with the likes of Pee Wee Ellis, Bobby Wellins, Alan Barnes, Peter King and the legendary David Axelrod at the Royal Festival Hall. A long time collaborator with the Acid Jazz label means his discography is large and he can be heard on a multitude of records including those of JTQ and Jennifer Lopez.

At this concert musical petrol is thrown on the fire by the brisk, quick-fire playing of organist Pete Whittaker and drummer Matt Home, leading London musicians in their own right.This concert will also feature material from the band’s current CD, ‘Fool’s Gold’. Not to be missed!

The band’s full line-up features Nigel Price (guitar), Pete Whittaker (organ) and Matt Home (drums).Listen to Nigel Price’s music at http://www.myspace.com/117923069 and http://www.nigelprice.biz/biog.htm the club website at http://www.milestonesjazzclub.co.uk

All Milestones gigs are held on the first Sunday of every month and take place at Hotel Hatfield, Esplanade, Lowestoft with the doors opening at 8pm.Admission - £7 / £6 (concession).NB Milestones Jazz Club takes place in a basement room that requires the use of stairs. If you have a disability please contact milestonesjazz@hotmail.co.uk or (01502) 568684 for more info and help in entering the building.If you need to reply to this message or any others from 'Milestones' then please contact milestonesjazz@hotmail.co.uk

QUOTES:"He stands out as a really class performer…With music as good as that so readily available once you know where to find it this self-deprecating country is not such a bad place to live in eh?"

Humphrey Lyttleton, BBC Radio 2"We all know what an incredible guitarist Nigel Price is, but again the new drums and bass seem to have just supercharged even him and his performance last night was nothing short of amazing!

"Hammondbeat magazine"If it wasn't good I wouldn't have played it!" Campbell Burnapp, Jazz FM

Larkman Way (blogging Norfolk)

Here are two snaps of Larkman Way taken this morning on my walk into Norwich from the Old Bally Shoe Factory, Hall Road, where I have a studio.

St. George's Day (blogging Norfolk)

According to today's Telegraph, everyone across the globe celebrates St. George's Day better than we do ('we' being the English I suspect). I couldn't be more English - born in London and raised in Suffolk - but I've never given St. George's Day a thought in my life, except today for it follows Budget Day. The Darling Budget delivered in the middle of the worst Recession (Slump) since 1929.

So, I got up early and listened to the BBC's business news and analysis... Luckily, the haze is lifting over Old Catton Park and the sun is shining. Happy days.

Up Early

For no particular reason, I got up at 4am this morning. Perhaps it's because today is Earth Day, according to Google; perhaps it's because there's a truly wonderful sunrise over Old Catton Park; or perhaps I felt the need to attend my garden an hour before 'Farming Today' on BBC Radio 4.

I say "garden" when in actual fact my garden consists of window ledges where I grow herbs and sprout seeds (on blotting paper and using the bottle rinse method). Before you damn me with "how sad," sprouting seeds is the oldest form of farming - from mung beans to mustard & cress. Radish, as a sprouted seed, is a favourite of mine. Garden Centres and Superstores suggest sprouting seeds is an expensive hobby but can actually be the cheapest. Seeds can be bought cheaply at pound shops and car boots; and the complicated and costly sprouting jars can be made for nothing - an old jam jar, muslin, a Postie's rubber band and heypresto! Whatever, they taste great as salad or in a sandwich...

Not Working

Here are the barriers at Norwich Railway Station this morning. They were not working and it looks as if running repairs are ongoing...

THE SCULPTURE SHOW

V22 Presents The Sculpture Show, The Biscuit Factory, London. Norwich Artist Simon Lidderment's work forms part of this extensive exhibition.

?

One minute I was watching TV and the next...?

CAPTIONS FOR THIS POST URGENTLY REQUIRED!

ONE
"Although Rupert has given up smoking, the resultant withdrawal symptoms are causing strange behaviour"

TWO
"Mind blowing..."

ARTISTS' WORK

You may well be visiting this site via EBay or elsewhere to find details of these artists' work. I have gathered pages from my blog here:-

Don Rout His life and art. A dedicated blog will be published soon.

Muriel Mallin Her work can be found in my galleries (right hand side bar) but here are further details.


Tom Mallin His art can be found in my galleries (right hand side bar) but here are some further details.

MUSIC BOOK WITH A DIFFERENCE

Last Shop Standing is a music book with a difference. It is the journey by music distributor Graham Jones who recently travelled all over the UK to find the top 50 Indie music shops. At a time when downloads and Spotify are undercutting CDs and the Recession is hitting small retail shops hard, Jones finds two outstanding Music Shops in Norfolk - Lewks Records in Downham Market and Sounds Music in Dereham. Sounds Music is run by John Lawson, who set it up 16 years ago.

John Lawson not only sells music but plays music too (bass player in a big soul band) and is a painter who exhibited at my Pleasurance exhibition, Norwich, last year.

Check out both shops for jazz, blues, sheet music, instruments and much more; and check out the book and Jones' amazing journey. The hard copy of Last Shop Standing is in bookshops on May 5.

The Eye, Great Yarmouth

By Shirley Tolliday

Who Scoffed All The Cakes?

Real Life in The Old Town

From Pigeons to People

We've all seen those roof top spikes on seaside shops placed there to stop pigeons roosting. Well, here are some spikes to stop youths congregating on the steps of McDonald's in Yarmouth town centre - very shiny and clean.

Booting Norfolk

While the Norfolk Open Studios celebrates doing nice, arty things with felt and glass beads (see the brochure!), The Recession, across the county, is witnessing a tidal wave increase in the sales of paste tables and tidy rails.

Blogging Norfolk Project

Blogging Norfolk is an excellent project to be run by the New Writing Centre (Formerly, New Writing Project), the BBC and the Arts Council. It is based on using internet media - Blogger, Twitter, Flickr and all - and will be an April 23rd Event (St. George's Day - ugh).

Given that culture and art from on high is usually non-democratic, it's important that as many of us grassroots Norfolk Bloggers as possible get involved.

I and other bloggers in the East are soon to create a big facebook 'event.' This will be blogging really going live!

And, most importantly, I'm bringing together an international 'e-zine' magazine.

Norfolk -> USA!

A Place For Photography

Even when the Sun disappears along with the people Great Yarmouth is an amazing place for photography and catching glimpses of the unexpected.

Yarmouth at the Coal Face

I remember when... back in the late 1980s when I moved to Lowestoft from Leicester via Bury St Edmunds, the ports and resorts of Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft were the holiday destinations of coal miners from Yorkshire and the Midlands. Wasn't Thatcher who killed off mining in 1985 but Heseltine in 1992 and with that axe blow our East Coast suffered a terrible exodus of working 'visitors.' Our regional press is championing East Coast Tourism now, but where were they in defending miners' jobs then - the jobs which helped keep the Sunrise Coast afloat a generation ago?

Its Own Caption

Getting Really Bad

The Recession is a blight across the country and Norfolk isn't immune. I met this geezer in Great Yarmouth yesterday - over a bin outside Tickles. Bad? It's not only raining over Will's mother's!

LATEST ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT!

I call this installation WAVE II (though it could as easily be WAVE III or IV). The circles are symbolic of wave motions, obviously, and the cloth chosen, carefully positioned over a hand-crafted frame, forms associations with fishermen's tents, the cold North Sea winds and the beach. If this were not art, the less discerning might say my construction is merely colour co-ordinated. Rather, I like to think of the contrasting blue hues as a subtext of what is once again "blowing in the wind." I personally like the painterly qualities of the patterns on the cloth and the...... Is that the time?

Car Boots and The Will

I've only completed 14 car boot sales this season and I'm beginning to lose the will to live!

E-Auctions and All

I've begun regular sales on EBay - of small works by Tom Mallin, Muriel Mallin, Don Rout and Rupert Mallin, togther with items I've collected such as this 1863 first edition of Southey's poems.

Items are on EBay continually.

It's not as easy at it seems but art is selling better than plimsolls right now... not quite a living but the obvious adjunct to car booting!

Original Duck, Unoriginal Caption

PASTON COUNTRY EXHIBITION

Here is a photo of a framed print, The Paston Pipes, by Rupert Mallin and Shirley Tolliday, part of the Paston Country Project - the exhibition of which runs at The Grapevine Gallery, Unthank Road, Norwich to Saturday April 18th.

The print is a green ecological etching pioneered in Norfolk by Annette Rolston. Further details on InPrint's website.

The words are meant to be integral to the organ pipes of Paston Church (yes, the pipes are upside down).

APRIL IS THE CRUELEST MONTH

Apologies for no posts here. So much going on. I mean, survival presently, as you all know, is hard indeed. Lots of blogs here shortly.

And if you're waiting an email or message from me - I'll catch up soon...................................