Rupert Mallin

MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB GIG - FEBRUARY 5: CENTRE-LINE BAND

2012-01-27T09:41:00.000Z

CUTTING-EDGE JAZZ FROM CENTRE-LINE AT MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB

This months concert at Milestones Jazz Club on Sunday 5 February features a powerful quartet of the UK's leading musicians playing contemporary jazz of startling spontaneity and energy - Centre-Line.

Centre-Line was founded on a 17-year musical partnership between saxophonist Russell van den Berg and drummer Darren Altman performing original groove-based and melodic material that draws on the influences of Michael Brecker, John Scofield, John Coltrane, Weather Report and The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Centre-Line always sound like an integrated unit, using a wide palette of colours that grooves and surprises - aggressively rocky one moment, playful and swinging the next, delving into the flexible language of jazz.

The quartet utilises out-of-the-ordinary instruments such as the EWI (Electric Wind Instrument) to create an array of electronic soundscapes that mingle with the more traditional set-up of saxophone, guitar, bass and drums.

As prolific composers all four members contribute to the band's wide-ranging reportoire and are in demand to work with other noted musicians in a variety of styles from respected jazzers like Kenny Wheeler and Jim Mullen to the hit West End show 'The Rat Pack', from Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Debbie Harry to the Ronnie Scott's house band.

The bands members are also lecturers and visiting instructors at the UK's leading music colleges like the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall, Trinity and Purcell Schools of Music and the influential jazz course at Leeds College of Music.

This concert is part of a nationwide tour supported by Jazz Services to promote their new CD, 'A Virtual Joyride', and is their only date in East Anglia.

The band’s full line-up features Russell van den Berg (tenor sax / EWI), Jez Franks (guitar), Jon Harvey (bass) and Darren Altman (drums).

Listen to Centre-Line's music at http://centrelinemusic.com/?page_id=1535 or via 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).

THE HOME OF KITSCH?

2012-01-26T18:49:00.000Z

Find wonderful kitsch items - from the wistful to the weird - at Kitsch Corner on Rupert's Gallery Shop

WORK BY DON ROUT

2012-01-25T14:24:00.000Z

Don Rout 1931 to 1993

Don Rout lived in Lowestoft all his life. He worked for MAFF, studying North Sea Fish, before illness forced him from work’s routine. He had a band, Don Rout and the Pig Trotters, and in the 1970s began painting large murals, primarily for the Theatre Centre (now Seagull Theatre), Pakefield.

During the 1980s his paintings grew smaller and smaller, though he maintained a prolific output. Living on the beach for much of the time, he built a Sun Temple (recognised by the local council as such) and took part in performance on the beach and at the nearby Seagull Theatre.

In the late 1980s he produced small paintings, drawings and college boxes. He also got involved in international mail art. Don was one of Lowestoft’s brightest characters. A park bench overlooks his beloved Pakefield Beach, inscribed ‘Don was here.’ He certainly was.

I am selling some of Don's Collage Boxes. Click here for details.

INTERNATIONAL ART POSTCARD EXHIBITION, SURFACE GALLERY, NOTTINGHAM

2012-01-21T16:36:00.000Z

The International Postcard Show 2012

Open: 25th January – 11th February

Preview: 24th January 6-8pm

Surface Gallery is delighted to present the first exhibition of 2012 The International Postcard Show. Curated by Surface Gallery, this long-standing annual exhibition features hundreds of original artworks connected solely by their 4” x 6” format. The show brings together works by established practitioners, students, new comers and international artists from as far afield as Europe and USA, with each individual postcard acting as a celebration of the diversity in practice and location of the participating artists.

Following the success of last year’s very first Surface Gallery artwork exchange, all participating artists have once again been given the opportunity to receive an original artwork in exchange for their own following the completion of the show. This unique aspect of the exhibition offers artists the chance to connect worldwide through a random and remote exchange system. These original artworks are also for sale throughout the exhibition, priced at just £15. This is an ideal opportunity to discover up and coming artists and to buy some original work for an affordable price.

Before the days of emails, Facebook, and Twitter people would send postcards that time-travelled all over the world as a way to 'keep in touch'. This year we are introducing an interesting interactive aspect to the International Postcard Show as visitors, inspired by the exhibition, you can create your own personalised postcard at Surface Gallery. Come and write to loved ones, estranged friends, or your neighbours and get reconnected by the satisfying process of writing and sending a simple postcard.

***

If Winter Comes by Rupert Mallin, 6 by 4 inches (one of the postcards).

BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK

2012-01-20T16:56:00.000Z

One of my favourite films was on UK TV this afternoon - the 1955 Western thriller 'Bad Day at Black Rock' starring Spencer Tracy. I love the desolation of the setting and Tracy's acting. It's a very moral story. What's happened to that morality in the US today?

LOVE MUSIC, HATE RACISM GIG, NORWICH, JAN 28th

2012-01-18T16:28:00.000Z

Great line up of music & poetry

click on picture for details

A happy occasion...

2012-01-11T18:20:00.000Z

After Kevin Costus managed to unblock the drains at No 23 Willow Lane he changed his name to Rod, Rod Costus, in appreciation of his new found skills. Unfortunately, he had not realised that he would meet a young woman in the Spring and marry her that Autumn. They had a big wedding reception. Rod was a shy dancer. So was Dina. But when their families started shouting out for them to dance - Dina! Rod! Dina! Rod! - they soon got up and danced.

A POEM by RUPERT MALLIN

2012-01-11T16:02:00.000Z

The hotels fell
into the gluey blue lagoons
of the sky,
Granddad hanging on by his trowel.

What else had Pythagoras imagined?

     Rook with an apprentice?
     Crow with a bar?
     Locusts with dessert?

At the end of time again,
mad dogs, slippery lions
and ruminating ravens
face each other across the square
at awkward angles,
working out the distance, the time

     scissors, paper, stone

to who will be at dinner
and who will be all bone?

The hotels are full
of bricklayers’ sores
and moistened mittens
on midnight velvet,
paste gems, costume jewellery,
the status quo from granny’s attic.

And via a whistle in the lift,
inside the caretaker’s hut

     Look!
     A word
     on paper
     hanging from a hook!

_______________________________________________________________

This is the first poem I have written for over eighteen months - at 3am one cold morning last week.

Car Booting and Jumble Sales Around Norwich 2012

2012-01-08T19:55:00.000Z

New Year Car Boots in and around Norwich: Sprowston Car Boot (at Sprowston Park & Ride) is up and running on Sundays (sellers at 7am, buyers from 8am); likewise there are Car Boots at Costessey P&R and Harford P&R at the same times Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Arminghall CB (the biggest around Norwich) will probably re-open in February, depending on the weather.

Jumble Sales are quite sparse but the best place to find them is in the Norwich Evening News (listings rather than classified ads).

THE ULTIMATE GIFT

2012-01-07T19:42:00.000Z

TIGHT KNIT by RUPERT MALLIN

2012-01-07T16:22:00.000Z

Someone threw rice over the couple. The rice was from China. The couple were from Bildeston. At thirteen years of age they were sewn together into old sheets because their parents told them they loved each other and, anyway, this was the tradition in Bildeston. No child was born on the wrong side of the blanket in Bildeston. Never.

The couple had heard of China because there were plates in the village painted with scenes of Bildeston on them and they knew these plates were china. They had also heard of rice. They made rice puddings as children and when hard enough they would mould the puddings with their little hands into little rice dollies. They studied all the local crafts in their school at Bildeston.

When, finally, baby arrived, its umbilical was cut and it too was sewn into the sheets that kept them together in the fabric of the family and the community of Bildeston. Indeed, as Dad Asquith said at the baby’s Wet Towel Confirmation:

Ah Yes, we’re sewn into our shrouds from birth in this wonderful tight knit community that is Bildeston!

With that, they left the baby hanging from its seams and drank a toast to the village, to Bildeston.

__________________________________

NOTE: There are several villages called Bildeston but the Bildeston of this story is so tightly knit that it cannot be identified on a map... If you find the Bildeston in question, researchers at Rupert's Blog would like to know.

GLOOM DESCENDS... BUT HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

2012-01-01T13:02:00.000Z

Happy New Year to You All!

THRIGBY HALL, NORFOLK

2011-12-27T19:24:00.000Z

Thrigby Hall, Norfolk. A great place to visit out of season and with a very reasonable entry fee too!

CHRISTMAS PARTY IN FULL SWING HERE

2011-12-25T22:21:00.000Z

THE 101st OBJECT OF HISTORY

2011-12-24T23:02:00.000Z

THE BEGINNING & THE END

2011-12-24T22:51:00.000Z

From the beginning, the transistor's journey would find it washed up as if history had been rubbed out like the death of a child's most feared spider.

ENLIGHTENED

2011-12-24T22:41:00.000Z

ELM HILL, NORWICH

2011-12-18T16:19:00.002Z

THOUGHTS LIKE VEINS LIKE

2011-12-17T19:21:00.001Z

TESTING MY BONES

2011-12-17T19:18:00.001Z

SANTA HIDING CLAWS

2011-12-17T19:16:00.002Z

What heavens heal hells?

Santa's little helpers

hiding in boxes of shells

SEASONAL WISHES

2011-12-17T19:01:00.000Z

MILESTONES JANUARY 1st GIG: THE PHIL BROOKE QUARTET

2011-12-16T17:27:00.000Z

EAST ANGLIAN GUITAR MASTER PHIL BROOKE RETURNS TO MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB

This month's concert at Milestones Jazz Club on Sunday 1 January kicks off the 2012 programme of concerts with the return of the East Anglian master guitarist - The Phil Brooke Quartet.

Guitarist Phil Brooke has long been the first choice of both local musicians and visiting stars for his tasteful, intelligent playing and sympathetic accompaniment.

But here is a rare opportunity to hear him leading his own band through a programme of standards and jazz classics that explore the rich harmonies, winding lines and direct styles of his main influences - Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow and Joe Pass.

This concert will feature the out-of-the-ordinary instrumentation of two guitars, a combination that leads to be both complimentary and excitingly competitive playing.

Originally from Leeds, Phil is a classically trained musician who is at home in a wide range of styles from the traditional jazz of The Vintage Hot Orchestra to working with modern stars like Alan Barnes and Digby Fairweather.

As well as being an excellent musician, Phil is also a respected teacher and arranger on a number of recording sessions and in recent years released his first album under his own name, ‘Alone Together’.

Joining Phil at this concert will be another great guitarist, Jasper Smith, whose contrasting approach to the instrument leads this band into the unexpected.

Recover from the Christmas and New Year mayhem with some great live jazz from expert musicians.

The band’s full line-up features Phil Brooke (guitar), Jasper Smith (guitar), Mike Harris (double bass) and Brian McAllister (drums).

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).

SUNDAY JAZZ AND FOLK TREATS - TOMORROW 11TH DEC

2011-12-10T18:17:00.000Z

1 - PANGAEA

Improvisation and grooves from 'World Jazz' quintet
3pm, Mariners Rest pub, Rotterdam Road, Lowestoft. FREE ADMISSION

Visit for http://www.davidingham.co.uk/band.htm more info

2 - JONATHAN WYATT BIG BAND, "Swing Into Christmas"
17-piece big band play Christmas favourites swing style
7.30pm, Orbis Centre, Wilde Street, Lowestoft. Tickets £12.50

Visit http://www.jwbb.co.uk/calendar/ for more info

3 - MARTIN CARTHY
The 24 carat English folk legend plays in Lowestoft!
7.30pm, Seagull Theatre, Morton Road, Lowestoft. Tickets £10 / £9

Visit http://www.broadroots.co.uk/events

DETAIL

2011-12-05T18:00:00.001Z

A detail of a recent Box Display.

4,000 MARCH IN NORWICH

2011-12-01T17:34:00.000Z

Up to 4,000 people marched in Norwich yesterday as part of the nationwide public sector General Strike against the government's attacks on pensions (where workers pay more for less pension, which they'll only be able to access after the age of 68).

This was the biggest demonstration in Norwich's history. Across the country, up to 3 million public sector workers were on strike - from teachers to health workers, from job centre workers to librarians. And, to cap it all, it was the biggest strike by women in British History!

But workers weren't just striking and demonstrating against the attack on their pensions but the whole raft of Coalition attacks on working class people, who have seen their incomes fall to 2002 levels this year, while the super rich one percent have given themselves 30 percent pay hikes (and that's just the average).

Protestors were joined by Occupy Norwich and students. Students are in occupation at the UEA because the university is being turned into a cash-for-study establishment, where business dictates which courses run. Hence, on Monday, university bosses closed the popular and progressive music department - despite a 10,000 strong petition and support for the department from the likes of acclaimed musician Brian Eno.

For more on this story - and to get another angle on Norwich - go to the new Look Left Norwich news blog - an excellent project run by students.

WAR! WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

2011-12-01T17:17:00.000Z

Found: Anglia Square Stencil

FRIENDS ALREADY BEGIN TO GATHER...

2011-11-23T16:19:00.000Z

Rupert's Blog is seven years old on January 7th but I'm holding off celebrations to March to accommodate all the strange folk he keep turning up round here wanting a piece of the inaction.

INTERACTIVE BLOG?

2011-11-23T16:07:00.001Z

Click on press in the picture (don't press Press) and put your ear to your laptop or tower. Listen. Distant bagpipes? X Factor rehearsals?

No, the inner workings of cyberspace, taking you to places you'd not imagnined (and wished you'd not imagined).

Who says blogging isn't interactive?

POET LAUREATE BEATEN UP IN OAKLAND

2011-11-20T19:57:00.005Z

I've just heard that the former United States Poet Laureate Robert Hass and his wife have been beaten up by police at Occupy Oakland.

The Occupy Movement is present in over 1,000 cities globally. Oakland and New York Occupy protestors have been beaten up, pepper sprayed and variously roughed up as literally hundreds have been arrested for opposing Capitalism's neoliberalism - the notion that the market is God.

It is excellent that Church of England Bishops have come out publicly against the British coalition's programme of austerity - cutting the jobs of nurses, teachers and public servants to line the pockets of city billionaires. This is what Occupy groups oppose around the world: the utter inequality of capitalist neoliberalism.

***
Since writing this I see the Bishop of Norwich is one of those afore mentioned bishops, quoted in the Evening News today. Many Norwich churches are busy feeding those on benefits facing rising fuel costs on top of high food costs, hence it is entirely right that all religious leaders stands up for those their calling defends.

MARTIN LAURANCE LIFE STUDIES

2011-11-19T20:14:00.004Z

Martin Laurance is one of the region's best contemporary landscape paintings. His early life studies can be viewed and purchased on Rupert's eBay Gallery Shop.

HOLES IN THE SKY, GATHERING

2011-11-19T11:28:00.001Z

Watercolour, November 2012

I WANTED TO FIND SOME COLOUR...

2011-11-19T11:25:00.001Z

But the snow kept falling.

Watercolour, November 2011

OCCUPY NORWICH

2011-11-19T11:13:00.001Z

Occupy Norwich is going strong. Each week they have a series of meetings and talks. This Sunday 20th Nov at 1pm - Occupation Norwich, Hay Hill - Paul Wellings discusses the role of the media. Should be good.

INSIDE SOME SHOPS IT IS SNOWING

2011-11-19T11:08:00.002Z

REG WEBB TRIO AT MILESTONES' DECEMBER 4TH GIG

2011-11-18T20:26:00.000Z

ANOTHER ECLECTIC MIX FROM SINGER REG WEBB AT MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB

The next concert at Milestones Jazz Club on Sunday 4 December heralds the return of a long time club favourite with a new band - The Reg Webb Trio.

Reg Webb is one of the most respected figures on the East Anglian music scene who makes no apology for his eclectic mixture of styles and influences.

A charismatic and intensely soulful singer and keyboard player, Reg Webb is an accomplished musician and one of the most popular singers to appear at Milestones over the last fifteen years, fusing anything from standards by Duke Ellington, the modernism of Herbie Hancock to the grooves of Stevie Wonder or Steely Dan.

"We call it jazz because people need a label. We'd rather just call it music," says Reg, "When we say the music is accessible, we don't mean that it's watered-down elevator music."

He has worked with established names as diverse as John McLaughlin, Shirley Bassey, Lenny Kravitz, Jimmy Witherspoon, Joe Pass, Art Farmer and Roland Kirk, but it is with his own simmering mix of modern jazz - standards, blues and full blooded electric fusion - that he enjoys himself the most.

As well as Reg's adventurous keyboard work and wonderfully expressive voice, reminiscent of a cross between Stevie Wonder and the classic jazz vocalists, the trio also features young bassist Marty Prior and Reg’s long-time sparring partner from The 3 B's, Andrew Dowding on drums.

The trio’s genuinely exciting music contains all the elements of a great improvising group - a constant supply of fresh ideas, shifting rhythms and a sense of bluesy urgency to hold everyone's attention.

The trio will be performing standards and originals, a number of songs from Reg's CD with The 3 B's, 'Blind, Black and Breathless', and one or two newer pieces.

The band’s full line-up features Reg Webb (vocals/keyboards), Marty Prior (bass) and Andrew Dowding (drums).

Listen to the music of Reg Webb by visiting 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).

'WINTER WARMER' FOLK WEEKEND, SEAGULL THEATRE, LOWESTOFT

2011-11-16T12:47:00.002Z

Dec 10th/11th
Seagull Theatre
Morton Road, Lowestoft

MARTIN CARTHY, JOHN and MARIO, RICHARD GRIANGER, HORSES BRAWL, SKIP & FRIENDS

Workshops, Singarounds/Sessions, Winter Market

Over the weekend of December 10th and 11th - a mini festival at the Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft, in what is hoped will be the first of ongoing events to bring more folk and roots music to the area.

Sat 10th
1pm – Winter Market opens with vintage, arts and crafts stalls
2pm – open singaround/session: bring your instrument/voice and join in (it doesn’t just have to be a folk song)

7.30 – Concert with John Ward and Mario Price, Richard Grainger, Skip and Friends
(also folk in the foyer with the Waveney folk club)

Sun 11th
1pm – Winter Market
2pm – open singaround/session
2pm – bodhran, violin, melodeon, whistle workshops

7.30- Concert with Martin Carthy and Horses Brawl
(also folk in the foyer)

Various tickets available; full weekend (which includes a workshop), 2 concert, or 1 concert and workshop only.

For all info visit http://www.broadroots.co.uk/
Tickets available from The Seagull Theatre 01502 589726 http://www.theseagull.co.uk/

Martin Carthy MBE
`Arguably the greatest English folk song performer, writer, collector and editor of them all' - Q Magazine

A music Legend for 40 years, a major influence on Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and inventor of an entire Guitar style.....what more can we say?

Richard Grainger
Highly engaging singer/songwriter from Teesside regularly touring in Canada, USA, New Zealand.
Also a playwright who’s ‘Eye of the Wind’ was made for the BBC with David Attenborough.

Horses Brawl
Norfolk based group Horses Brawl (Laura Cannell – fiddle & recorders and André Bosman – guitars & Indian harmonium)
unearth fragments of medieval melodies and weave them together with elements
of European folk music into mesmerizing and spellbinding new pieces.

“Virtuoso Magpie Musicians” THE TIMES

Skip & Friends
Three excellent East Anglian musicians who bring together a wealth of experience and a range of musical tastes, taking a fresh look at songs and tunes that have become firm favourites.
Melodeon, Whistle and Guitar

John Ward & Mario Price
Bringing their highly eclectic style back to The Seagull. Original and traditional songs on a variety of instruments, played with passion and subtlety. Acclaimed and enjoyed all over the country and beyond
‘Excellent’ – Folk Roots

IF WINTER COMES...

2011-11-11T09:41:00.001Z

Can Spring be far behind?

BEHIND THE TIMES

2011-11-11T07:52:00.001Z

With this latest work I've gone round. Lots more coming up.

NOVEMBER GIG AT MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB, LOWESTOFT

2011-10-25T14:14:00.000Z

YOUNG BAND CREATING A BUZZ ON UK JAZZ SCENE VISITS MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB

This month’s concert at Milestones Jazz Club on Sunday 6 November features a young trio breaking new ground and creating a real buzz on the national jazz scene – Partikel.

Formed in 2009, Partikel are an exhilarating and accessible sax-led trio that in a short time have carved out a reputation as one of the UK’s most in demand bands.

The band's eponymous debut CD released last year garnered great reviews and now Partikel have followed that success with a second album of original material, ‘Cohesion’, and a UK tour that furthers the argument for this fiercely interactive unit as being one of the best.

Influenced as much by music from Latin America, Africa, Hip-Hop and the contemporary New York scene as by jazz masters like John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins and Lester Young, their hard to pin down grooves create new ideas and excitement at every turn.

In the ‘no safety net’ format of having no piano or guitar in the band, Partikel have managed to square the circle of performing challenging, contemporary jazz without alienating an audience that wants swinging, tuneful music.

Their freewheeling but highly melodic improvisations strike just the right balance between structure and freedom, creating a hefty sound from just saxophone, bass and drums.

Partikel members Duncan Eagles, Max Luthert and Eric Ford met at London’s prestigious Trinity College of Music where they started composing and performing together.

"We all have a massive respect for the tradition of the music," says Patikel’s saxophonist Duncan Eagles, "What people like Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Miles Davis were developing is the blueprint on how to play in this style of music."

"What we are doing is mixing their legacy with all of our current influences while keeping to the spirit of the tradition, with creative improvisation and interaction, strong feel and good time."

This is a rare chance to see a nationally recognised band creating new music of the moment, bristling with creativity, playing on your doorstep. Not to be missed!

This concert is part of a national tour supported by Jazz Services.

The band’s full line-up features Duncan Eagles (tenor sax), Max Luthert (double bass) and Eric Ford (drums).

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).

RENAISSANCE MAN RETURNS!

2011-10-21T11:20:00.002Z

After a recent 'scare,' I return to normality and blogging after a considerable absence (the fort was held while I was away). And I return a fully paid up member of the non-drinking, non-smoking fraternity, a man who will no longer suffer the awful taste of such things and these things: butter, pastry, sweets and chocolate.

This is, as it were, a long excuse note for my absence. And, as an aside, apologies for not replying to emails and the like. Over the next couple of weeks I hope to chase up my past and resume in the present...

Though boxed in I am not imprisoned. Or is this the title of my 'Out of The Machine' Display Box above?

ps - actually the above is titled The Broken Baskets

Poet Martin Stannard's New Website

2011-10-21T09:59:00.000Z

Poet Martin Stannard has a new website. You can also find it in the righthand sidebar.

BOXES AT MAGDALEN ST CELEBRATION, NORWICH

2011-09-28T07:03:00.002Z

My Art & Texts in Boxes show at 86 Magdalen Street, Norwich, this Saturday, October 1st 10am to 4pm, alongside others' photos, ceramics and paintings - all part of the annual Celebration

Find out more about the Magdalen Street Celebration.

MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB 15TH BIRTHDAY GIG

2011-09-22T10:47:00.000Z

MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB CELEBRATES 15TH BIRTHDAY WITH JOOLS HOLLAND’S SAX PLAYER

This month's concert at Milestones Jazz Club on Sunday 2 October celebrates the club's 15th birthday and features a band led by a virtuoso musician described as "one of the most versatile saxophonists in the UK today" - Derek Nash and The Chris Ingham Trio.

Derek Nash is renowned on the UK jazz scene for his energetic, passionate and charismatic performances on all four saxophones - from biting alto and honking tenor to sonorous baritone and soaring soprano.

At any one time Derek’s playing can take in blistering bebop, blues, soul and funk and is heard regularly with The Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.

As lead alto saxophonist with Jools Holland, Derek performs over 100 gigs per year including for 65,000 people at the Cardiff Millennium Stadium, over 100,000 at the Glastonbury Festival and in concert and on TV with such greats as Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Solomon Burke, David Sanborn, Annie Lennox, Jamie Cullum, Madeleine Peyroux, Roger Daltrey and Tom Jones.

Derek has also led the saxophone group Sax Appeal for over thirty years, fronts the funk/fusion band Protect the Beat and as a member of the Ronnie Scott's Blues Explosion performs regularly at the world-famous club alongside blues greats like Jack Bruce who invited them to become his regular European touring band.

Born in Stockport, Derek started playing saxophone at the age of 13 encouraged by his father, a respected arranger for the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra for over thirty-five years, before moving to London to join the BBC's sound department.

As much a composer and arranger as a performer, Derek has composed for TV and radio and arranged for David Sanborn, Annie Lennox, Mavis Staples, Alison Moyet, Lulu, Kylie Minogue and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.

Derek also owns and operates Clowns Pocket Recording Studios where his skills as a record producer and engineer on Jamie Cullum’s album ‘Pointless Nostalgic’ won him a gold disc.

‘Joyriding’, Derek’s latest CD with his acoustic quartet will be released in the autumn.

At this concert Derek will be supported by The Chris Ingham Trio on a reportoire of jazz standards and a smattering of Nash originals.

If you like passionate, hard-swinging, blues–soaked excitement then this is not to be missed.

The band’s full line-up features Derek Nash (alto, tenor, soprano and baritone saxophones), Chris Ingham (piano), Andy Doyle (double bass) and George Double (drums).

Listen to Derek Nash’s music by visiting http://www.dereknash.com/music or via 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).

A LIFE: 1928

2011-09-21T20:47:00.000Z

1928 begins badly: the Thames floods and 14 are drowned; Stalin introduces the first five year plan in the USSR and begins to drive down wages; and Coca Cola arrives in Europe, via the Olympics in Amsterdam.

Still, the Women’s Right to Vote is extended in Britain and Mickey Mouse makes his first appearance.

My grandfather’s hands are shaking: the economic tides are turning and his trowel is dry.

Muriel Grace is three and Tom Mather is oblivious to his first birthday.

A LIFE: 1927

2011-09-21T20:24:00.000Z

1927 - West Bromwich’s motto is “Work Conquers All.”

West Bromwich lies five miles north of Birmingham in the Black Country. Here my father Tom Mather Mallin was born on June 14, 1927, the year in which a telephone line between New York and London was first used, British troops invaded Shanghai and Trotsky was expelled by Stalin from the Soviet Union.

Tom was the last child born to Clifford Vincent Mallin and Olive May Mather. Sisters Joan and Mary were born in 1920 and 1922 respectively. Mary was twin to a girl who died in infancy. In fact both twins were born disabled. Mary lived until her mid-teens.

Clifford Vincent Mallin, the grandfather I never met, was born in Staffordshire in 1887 and died on January 5, 1932, at the wheel of his car, possibly from a massive heart attack. So my dad lost his dad when he was four years old.

Tom later told me that the middle class practice of wearing corsets during pregnancy was a contributing factor in his twin sisters’ disabilities. Disability was frowned on in the 1920s and 1930s and Mary, I was told, spent much of her time in a long black pram like a coffin. When visitors called, Mary was gently wheeled into the cupboard beneath the stairs. Whether truth or myth, this was my father’s recollection of his own childhood.

Grandfather Clifford had risen in status from an assistant buyer for Dunlop to became a Steel and Iron Buyer for a Staffordshire Carriage & Wagon Works. He also became a mason of standing. Clifford’s father had been a successful pattern cutter at an iron foundry in Staffs, so metal seems to have been in the Mallin blood.

In 1927 there were bloody riots against the Fascists in Vienna and a rebellion against British Troops in Shanghai, while the US was busy developing TV and the UK enforced strict control of radio frequencies.

A LIFE: 1926

2011-09-21T20:09:00.000Z

On January 16, 1926, uproar was caused by a BBC Radio play about a workers’ revolution! The Russian Revolution was nine years behind and only Trotsky’s ‘Left Opposition’ opposed Stalin’s control of the Soviet bureaucracy but revolution reverberated around the world still.

On May 3, 1926 the British General Strike began. It lasted nine days before the lure of government-TUC negotiations deflected workers away from their fight.

My grandfather in Chicago was a confused Communist supporter. In 1926 the winds of wealth and want were blowing together again: Route 66 was opened that year and TV was an experiment away, but work on large construction projects was becoming less and less secure. Muriel Grace was one year old.

Working class Reds on this side of the family - true Blue Masons on the other…

A LIFE: 1925

2011-09-21T12:40:00.001Z

A Chicago skyscraper is perhaps an odd place to begin an autobiography but I have in my mind my grandfather’s hands and arms all those feet up in the air, a plasterer, applying the skin to the American Dream, 1925. I imagine his arm shaking a little as he contemplated his emigration from Essex, England, to the Windy City as his wife Elsie grew heavy with their first child.

Harold George, my grandfather, had emigrated to the US in the early 1920s as his supply of building jobs began to dry up in England. So it was that on February 18,1925, my mother was born in the United States of America, first daughter to Harold and Elsie Ruth George (nee Adams). My mother, Muriel Grace George.

Already in January 1925, Mussolini had declared himself dictator and Fascist ruler of Italy. However, in the US things appeared to be on the up: the first woman in history became a state governor, The Chrysler Corporation was set up, records were being mass produced, The Great Gatsby was published and The New Yorker produced the first newspaper supplement.

Yet, there was a very dark side to the US of 1925: over 40,000 Ku Klux Klan members and supporters marched in Pennsylvania.

***

My grandmother Elsie died in 1944 and, of course, I never met her. However, I met Harold - “Pops” - a couple of times when I was a child. He had remarried. We drove from Clare in Suffolk to Clacton-on-Sea, where Harold and Marie (pronounced Mar-eee) had a small bungalow. I remember Harold crying, probably because of all the years gone by.

Effectively, my mother Muriel left home when she was evacuated aged fifteen. Elsie died in 1944 when my mother was 19. I always wonder what Elsie was like - my grandmother, the person so influential in my mother’s life.

BOXES FOR SALE ONLINE

2011-09-12T13:51:00.000Z

Out of the Machine Art&Text boxes are now on sale for under a fiver - P&P free - at Rupert's eBay Gallery Shop

POET MARTIN STANNARD GUEST BLOGGER ON 'THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY'

2011-09-04T20:48:00.000Z

Poet Martin Stannard takes a look at English Poetry and England as guest blogger on 'The Best American Poetry.' He writes about England from China and, to be honest, he gets a better perspective of this island from there.

TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY - SEPTEMBER 16

2011-09-01T13:30:00.000Z

'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' will be coming to UK cinema screens September 16th. Adapted from John le Carre's novel, it is directed by Tomas Alfredson and stars Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy and John Hurt...

On the dark walls you may see some paintings. One of the paintings is by my father Tom Mallin. It is a life figure painting, except the figure is really a life-sized dummy! Think it was painted in the early 1960s - at the height of the Cold War...

ONE OF MY FATHER'S PAINTINGS REDISCOVERED!

2011-08-30T16:21:00.001Z

This 1962 painting by my father Tom Mallin adorns a kitchen wall in France. Thankyou for sharing it with me! I was 8 years old when he painted it. I can remember the table and mat...

JOHN WARD & MARIO PRICE GIGS

2011-08-23T12:30:00.001Z

John and Mario

Up and coming concerts

Saturday August 27th – The Cut in Halesworth, Suffolk
Sunday Sept 11th - Charity Ceilidh, Oulton Broad Community Centre, Suffolk
Sept 22nd – Darlington Arts Centre, County Durham
Sept 23rd – Cropton Folk Festival, North Yorkshire

Sept 24th – The Swan, Harleston (Waveney & Blyth celebration festival)

More details on John Ward's website

ENDLESS COLLECTION

2011-08-20T06:52:00.001Z

The struggle is not the collecting of found broken items for my art but the endless sorting and cataloguing.

SEPTEMBER 4th GIG AT MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB - ZOE GILBY

2011-08-19T16:02:00.000Z

GIFTED YOUNG SINGER RETURNS TO MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB

This month’s concert at Milestones Jazz Club on Sunday 4 September features the return by popular demand of an exciting and gifted young singer from Newcastle fast making her mark on the UK jazz scene – Zoe Gilby and The Andy Champion Trio.

Zoe Gilby last appeared at Milestones in 2010 when she entertained a large audience with accessible, exciting music without losing the deeper subtleties of a fine jazz musician.

Zoe has already been praised by Courtney Pine as deserving of wider recognition when he played her debut CD on his BBC Radio 2 show.

Zoe’s is a versatile voice, which mixes great jazz technique and a healthy dose of the blues with a deeply expressive and agile quality.

A childhood steeped in jazz means that her many influences are clear - not only great vocalists like Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Nancy Wilson and Anita O'Day but also revered instrumentalists like Dexter Gordon, Chet Baker and John Coltrane.

"I was brought up on listening to jazz", says Zoe, "I have had this passion passed on to me from my father who worked professionally as a jazz trumpet player and arranger for over 40 years."

In 2007 she released her debut CD, ‘Now That I Am Real’, which has subsequently been broadcast on radio stations across Europe and the US.

While still so young, Zoe has already performed with fine musicians like Louis Stewart and Jim Mullen, at international jazz festivals around the UK and at prestigious venues like Ronnie Scott’s Club in London.

Zoe’s long-time accompanist, the endlessly resourceful double bass player Andy Champion, will lead sympathetic support on a repertoire of American songbook classics, modern jazz standards and originals from her new CD, ‘Looking Glass’.

The band’s full line-up features Zoe Gilby (vocals), Andy Champion (double bass), Simon Brown (piano) and Brian McAllister (drums).

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).

"Deserves wider recognition and a major record deal. An excellent CD."

Courtney Pine, BBC Radio 2

"Sparkling debut by an exuberant singer whose lively personality comes across on every track. Sheer enjoyment throughout."
Jazz UK Magazine

"Modern, mature... swings like a bell."

Carol Kidd MBE, singer

"An impressive performance from a sophisticated young singer. Her voice has real character. Powerfully sultry and expertly handled"

Jazz Journal International

"A wide vocal range, warm timbre and clear diction which she uses skillfully to unveil her moods. It's clear that she's already found her own voice."
All About Jazz USA

NORTH ELMHAM CHAPEL RUINS, NORFOLK

2011-08-04T09:46:00.001Z

Interesting ruins. North Elmham's chapel was once a Saxon Cathedral.

GRESSENHALL MUSEUM, NORFOLK

2011-08-03T16:04:00.001Z

Gressenhall Museum of Rural Life, featuring the Workhouse and Farm, is a must-visit educational tourism location for all to visit. Probably the best museum in East Anglia.

GRESSENHALL COTTAGE

2011-08-03T16:03:00.001Z

As is made clear, Gressenhall Workhouse wasn't the monster of Dickensian shadows. A beautiful prison?

THE OLD SCHOOL DESK, GRESSENHALL, NORFOLK

2011-08-03T16:01:00.001Z

I sat in desk like this at Clare Primary School in the 1950s. These desks occupy the girls' school house in Gressenhall Museum when it was a work house.

THE HORSE, GRESSENHALL MUSEUM

2011-08-03T16:00:00.001Z

Here is the large wooden horse, based on a drawing by April, one of Norfolk's Traveller Children. The horse was constructed by Karl Foster.

THRESHING MACHINE, GRESSENHALL MUSEUM, NORFOLK

2011-08-03T15:59:00.002Z

I remember a huge threshing machine like this but gently collapsing at the back of my parents' house in the late 1950s, Snow Hill, Clare, Suffolk. It was inhabitted by chickens in Mr Gifford's Meadow. Though it briefly retained its name, a small farmer bought the field, Mr Lee, but he was bought out by a bigger farmer as he struggled with a few acres.

My mother left in 1981 and the field is now full of mock Georgian houses...

MAN IN THE GRASS

2011-07-28T18:58:00.001Z

I found a body in the grass today. It was my body. Was my body hiding in my shadow. As the grass grew over me, I thought about burying my shadow. Yet even my shadow was littered with weeds. My shadow was all weeds.

Grass body, weeds for a shadow. A revelation, turning inside out like The News of The World.

WHAT THEY SELL US...

2011-07-26T20:34:00.001Z

BETTER ART IN UPPER GOAT LANE THAN AT THE FORUM

2011-07-26T20:24:00.001Z

This is the best of Norwich! The subversive lineage that is the city's real history.

MATERIAL WORLD of BAYER CROP SCIENCE

2011-07-26T19:55:00.032Z

I was pleased so few top East Anglian Artists submitted art works to the Bayer Crop Science 'Material Worlds' Exhibition at The Forum, Norwich, which is on this month. The global firm has a developmental plant in Norwich and many see this "environmental" exhibition as a means by which Bayer Crop Science can "greenwash" their increasingly dirty agro-chemical-medical image clean and eco friendly.

Among other things, Bayer Crop Science is allegedly implicated in the sudden and rapid decline in bee populations in the US and Europe with huge implications for bio-diversity and our long term health. Hence Bayer need a green image - thereby the exhibition. You can find more details about the campaign Against Bayer here.

Actually, I thought the exhibition was very poor. There wasn't any breadth of quality this year - just exceedingly middle-class 'twinky' notions of the environment on display (More Miss Rosalind of Kids' TV fame than Save Our Planet)

Well done all you artists who boycotted this business-politically motivated exhibition!

WALK IN WATERLOO PARK, NORWICH

2011-07-25T15:02:00.002Z

Though I'm not having what you'd call a real holiday this year, I am takng the odd hour out. Here is my local park, Waterloo Park, in late Sunday afternoon sun.

MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB GIG - AUGUST 7 - THE NICOLAS MEIER TRIO

2011-07-25T15:00:00.000Z

This month’s concert at Milestones Jazz Club on Sunday 7 August features a band playing an exotic mix of exciting and accessible contemporary jazz led by one of the UK’s finest jazz guitarists – The Nicolas Meier Trio.

The Swiss born guitarist Nicolas Meier takes the varied influences of John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Flamenco and Middle Eastern music to create a deeply beautiful and personal take on contemporary jazz.

His trio is a dynamic unit, playing original compositions and jazz standards with a sustained technical virtuosity that also packs a heavy emotional punch.

His personal sound is rooted in a love of playing jazz on acoustic guitar, allowing him to fuse his many diverse influences into an exciting and coherent whole.

As well as the conventional guitar, Nicolas also plays a glissentar, a cross between an acoustic guitar and the oud, an Arabic stringed instrument.

Nicolas first picked up the guitar when he was 12, listening to jazz, classical, Latin, flamenco, rock and pop musics.

At an early age Nicolas earned a scholarship to Berklee Music College in Boston, USA where he immersed himself in the classic American jazz of Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Miles Davis before eventually settling permanently in London.

Since then he has established himself as a rising star of the vibrant UK jazz scene, touring extensively in Europe, sharing the bill with the likes of Elvin Jones, Brad Meldau and Trilok Gurtu and working with Harry Beckett, Dave O'Higgins, John Etheridge, Gilad Aztmon, Renato D'Aielo and Asaf Sirkis.

In 2006 he also won the prestigious Grand Prize Of The Jury and 1st Prize Jazz Guitar at the legendary Jazz A Juan Festival Jazz.

The band’s full line-up features Nicolas Meier (acoustic guitar / glissentar), Paolo Minervini (bass) and Laurence Lowe (drums).

This is a concert not to be missed.

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).

"Meier is elegant in tone and bubbling with ideas... his originality as a writer, a player and a team leader dispatches any doubts", The Guardian

"Since John McLaughlin we have become used to frenetic guitar-led groups. None, however, quite mixes styles and sounds like that of Meier", The Times

"Intense ensemble work over which Meier unleashes fiery but meticulous rapid passages", Downbeat magazine

"...Last night brilliant Swiss Guitarist Nick Meier charged through Turkish influenced originals as if the house was burning down, to a warm reception from an uninitiated and unprepared crowd. The music communicated at such a level, everyone forgot they were uninitiated and unprepared, and just got into it. Excellent...", Bill Bruford, jazz musician

BACONSTHORPE CASTLE, NORWICH

2011-07-22T12:15:00.001Z

My favourite ruin in Norfolk is that of Baconsthorpe Castle, South of Holt.

PINK, AMAZONA ZOO, CROMER

2011-07-20T19:15:00.001Z

The extent of my summer holiday so far, the small but engaging zoo of South American species, Amazona, in Cromer, Norfolk. Excellent facilities.

COMING SOON...

2011-07-07T21:23:00.000Z

I will begin a auto/biography over the summer, the outline of which will appear here. It will cover the lives of Tom and Muriel Mallin, and my life. It has to be completed in 2013 so I better get cracking!

OLD CATTON PARK TODAY

2011-07-03T21:24:00.001Z

Old Catton Park Norwich today. Half photography, half alchemy.

MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB - JULY 3 - JOSH KEMP'S JAZZ PROPHETS

2011-06-19T18:46:00.001Z

HARD-SWINGING, HARD BOP FROM JOSH KEMP AT MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB

This month’s concert at Milestones Jazz Club on Sunday 3 July features a talented young saxophonist delivering driving swing and earthy blues – Josh Kemp’s Jazz Prophets.

Tenor saxophonist, composer and arranger Josh Kemp is based in London and known for his melodic inventiveness, warm sound and grooving swing.

Josh came to jazz at the early age of nine and by his teens his quartet was awarded the Daily Telegraph Young Jazz Band of the Year prize before winning scholarships to study jazz at London’s prestigious Guildhall and Trinity College of Music.

Josh’s lyrical and melodic saxophone style reflects a wide knowledge of jazz from the tender tone of Ben Webster and Stan Getz to the probing thoughtfulness of John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter.

Part of his repertoire and style comes from Hard Bop, the strand of blues and gospel influenced jazz developed by Art Blakey and Horace Silver in the 1950’s.

The Jazz Prophets remix Blakey’s bluesy swagger and the brittle explorations of Wayne Shorter on hard-swinging originals and standards that showcase Josh’s big, round tone.

Josh has already released three CDs to wide acclaim – Kukus, Animation Suspended and Animus, has performed extensively at venues around the UK including Ronnie Scott’s club, The National Portrait Gallery and The National Theatre and is active in jazz education, directing the Cambridge Youth Jazz Orchestra and coaching at workshops and courses.

The band’s full line-up features Josh Kemp (tenor saxophone), Simon Brown (piano), Spencer Brown (double bass) and Pat Levett (drums).

Admission - £7 / £6 (concession).

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.

NO COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL - KR POMEROY'S EXHIBITION

2011-06-17T18:07:00.050Z

I attended KR Pomeroy's 'No Commercial Potential' Exhibition opening in Norwich on Tuesday evening. The Stew hosted the exhibition of work covering KR's deconstruction period - an amazing exhibition space, which is the perfect location for the spacial surprises of KR Pomeroy's work.

Imagine, the two dimensional illusion of painting begins to literally 'break out' into three dimensions. This is one aspect of Pomeroy's work: canvases are pushed and pulled into three dimensional relief; canvases cut from and around their frames; pictures escaping their stretchers; and the third panel of a triptych literally breaking in half as it falls from the white cube wall.

I think the "No Commercial Potential" tag is a quote from Frank Zappa, who is an inspiration to KR.

Pomeroy's work requires space to engage its audience. The Stew Exhibition has provided the artist with the opportunity to break from the linear aspect of the flat surface of painting to explore the spatial reality beyond vertical surfaces. A great exhibition - bulging with potential. Visit the artist's website to catch up with his work...

PROJECT NORWICH

2011-06-15T06:56:00.002Z

GREAT YARMOUTH ARTISTS INTERVIEWED

2011-06-05T21:04:00.000Z

Bruer Tidman, John Kiki, Jason Parr et al interviewed by Bridget Heriz on the East Coast website.

OUT OF THE MACHINE

2011-06-04T18:49:00.000Z

It's kind of end of an era and the beginning of a new one. Open Studios is over and my 'Out of The Machine' boxes project will be stepping up a gear.

Likewise, on Rupert's Blog I'll be stepping up a gear or two over June and July. Also, the sidebar will undergo considerable updating - bringing links to new blogs and websites.

TRUTH

2011-06-04T18:29:00.000Z

A wonderful piece of graffiti in Norwich.

MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB - JUNE - AVALON TRIO

2011-05-26T07:45:00.000Z

AVALON TRIO TAKE JAZZ IN A NEW DIRECTION AT MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB

This month’s concert at Milestones Jazz Club on Sunday 5 June features some of the UK’s most respected jazz musicians taking the music in new directions - The Avalon Trio.

The improvising trio of Tony Woods (alto saxophone/wood flute/alto clarinet), Pete Churchill (piano) and Robert Millett (percussion) takes its inspiration from the short song forms of English composers Delius, Vaughan Williams, Walton, Finzi and John Ireland.

The band will be performing mercurial music from their debut album, ‘Forlana’, which draws on the rich histories of jazz, folk and twentieth century classical music without losing any of the original subtlety, depth or beauty.

Through research and analysis, the Avalon Trio has found harmonic and artistic connections between the music of these great composers and contemporary jazz.

Just as American songbook ‘standards’ have been used as vehicles for improvisation by jazz musicians since the 1930s, so these great melodies of orchestral and chamber pieces are transformed in a modern jazz setting.

The trio is a collaboration of internationally renowned musicians and composers that includes saxophonist Tony Woods and percussionist Robert Millett.

Pianist Pete Churchill has long been recognised as not only a great musician but also one of the UK’s leading jazz educators, teaching at the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Trinity College of Music.

The band’s collective CV includes touring and recording in the UK, Europe and the US and working with diverse artists like Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, Bobby McFerrin, English National Touring Opera, Abdullah Ibrahim, Norma Winstone and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

These musicians have performed extensively in the UK’s most prestigious venues, weather it be Ronnie Scott’s or the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican and Royal Albert Hall.

The band’s full line-up features Tony Woods (alto saxophone/wood flute/alto clarinet), Pete Churchill (piano) and Robert Millett (percussion).

This concert is the only East Anglian date of a nationwide tour supported by Jazz Services.

***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).

"Definitely jazz for the 21st century", Jazz Journal

"Woods is phenomenal - spontaneous but exacting amazing control over his instrument, and as virtuosic as you like without being a show-off", BBC Music Magazine

NO COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL EXHIBITION - KR POMEROY

2011-05-26T07:38:00.001Z

NO COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL

Mostly new work by:

K R POMEROY

STEW GALLERY

FISHERGATE

NORWICH NR3 1SL

15-19 JUNE 2011

10 am - 5pm.

This exhibition explores the notion of painting, its deconstruction and the interface with sculpture.

IMAGES, OBJECTS & TEXTS IN BOXES

2011-05-22T21:24:00.001Z

Our Studio is open Saturday, Sunday and Monday (bank holiday), May 28th , 29th and 30th; and the following weekend Saturday and Sunday, June 4th and 5th - 10am to 5pm.

Work by Martin Laurance and Rupert Mallin

Our Studio is close to the centre of Norwich

Studio 15b

Fitt Signs & Graphics
60 – 62 Pitt Street
Norwich NR3 1DF

TEDDY FLUFF IN A BOX!

2011-05-22T21:22:00.001Z

This is why Teddy must be tucked up in bed EVERY night!

SHARK IN YARMOUTH - IN A BOX!

2011-05-22T21:20:00.002Z

Fact or Fiction?

FACT - that is a wave crashing in Yarmouth
FACT - this guy got washed up in Yarmouth
FACT - there are sharks in Yarmouth

Hooh! Click on image for more proof.

CACTI DANCE - IN A BOX!

2011-05-22T21:19:00.001Z

Another weird British ritual? Click on image to find out.

It's amazing what and how much one can get into a little box!

SAS FANCY DRESS: IN A BOX

2011-05-22T21:17:00.001Z

What a party! Click on the image to read the text (or am I being ironic there, in some odd postmodern sense?)

THIS IS ART! BOX

2011-05-22T21:14:00.001Z

Drew is passionate about his art. You have to shout about it...

OVER 400 BOXES - OPEN STUDIOS

2011-05-20T14:00:00.000Z

Over 400 boxes of objects, images and texts by Rupert Mallin on display at Studio 15B, FittSigns + Graphics, near Anglia Square, part of Norfolk Open Studios. These 'Out Of The Machine Boxes' are as small as 3 inches by 2 inches by 1 inch and the largest are boxes 9 inches in all directions.

The Preview is Friday, May 20th, 6pm to 9pm. Info rupertmallin@gmail.com

OPEN STUDIO

Saturday and Sunday, May 21 and 22 - 10am to 5pm

Saturday, Sunday and Monday, May 28, 29 and 30 - 10am to 5pm

Saturday and Sunday, June 4 and 5 - 10am to 5pm.

***

In Studio 15B you can also see stunning cotemporary landscapes by Martin Laurance and there are studios dotted around Anglia Square taking part in Open Studios. So why not make a day of it?

OPEN STUDIOS: INTERNET CONSPIRACY

2011-05-20T13:57:00.001Z

How the Net really came into being...

400 BOXES: THE POET'S NIGHTMARE?

2011-05-16T21:36:00.002Z

400 Boxes of objects, artworks and texts are now complete for the open studios event (details below). These boxes and lids are pictured during 'production' for an important reason: generally speaking, the actual texts that accompany them are "one offs" and will not be revealed before placed in their box. This is the nightmare of poets!? A text that will never be placed in a book, will never be reproduced!

So, I lose my own words as they enter the boxes in collaboration with the visuals. Some of the boxes are interactive.

Over the three weeks of Open Studios I will be taking lots more photos of these boxes, most of which were created between January and April this year. So, much will appear here shortly...

Most of the boxes are £3 and £5 from The Studio. The larger display boxes are from £25. Incredibly affordable Art and entirely unique!!

NORFOLK OPEN STUDIOS INVITATION

2011-05-16T06:28:00.001Z

Harbour, Gardenstown by Martin Laurance

Open Studio 2011

Preview invitation

Martin Laurance and Rupert Malin warmly invite you and your guests to the preview of our Open Studio

Friday 20th May, 6pm to 9pm - Wine & nibbles

View paintings, drawings, prints,cards and special open studio offers and much more. Also, over 400 'Out of the Machine' Boxes of objects, visuals & texts.

Studio 15B, Fitt Signs + Graphics, 60 - 62 Pitt Street, Norwich NR3 1DF - close to Anglia Square.

Parking is available.
__________________________

Our Studio is Open on the following weekends from 10am to 5pm - Saturday and Sunday May 21 & 22 - Saturday to bank holiday Monday, May 28 to 30 - Saturday & Sunday June 4 & 5.

We are part of Norfolk OpenStudios11 and there is a Norwich 'South of the Water' Trail , which you can also find on the website - so you can make a day of it.

Enquiries:- rupertmallin@gmail.com

Martin Laurance's website here

INTERVIEW ABOUT RUPERT MALLIN'S BOXES

2011-05-11T22:01:00.000Z

A SKYPE PHONE INTERVIEW. TOM HILTON, A STUDENT STUDYING BOOK ART IN LONDON, TALKS WITH RUPERT MALLIN ABOUT LITTLE BOXES.

Apologies to Rupert if my transcript is not exactly accurate - Tom X

TH - Where did the idea of art and texts in boxes originate?

RM - My ‘Out of The Machine’ Boxes developed from a collaborative project between five artists and five poets in the InPrint group, 2003. Poet Lisa D’Onofrio had the idea of turning old cigarette vending machines into poetry vending machines and so the PVM was born - the Poetry Vending Machine.

We worked as artists and poets in couples, providing art work and texts in small jewellery boxes we could vend from machines. The first machine was mechanical and only partially successful. The second machine was electronic and much more successful.

The group would drag the machine to a location - a gallery, an event and once, for a longer stay, to Borders Bookshop, Norwich, where vending went really well.

Vending art is a great idea but very impractical for three reasons: a) the buyer never knows what’s in the box they’re buying; b) there is an obvious dichotomy between selling art cheap and artist’s time; and c) the onset of recession has meant many arts groups have found it difficult to sustain ongoing collaborative activity. The PVM machine hasn’t vended since 2008.

TH - Were you artist or poet in InPrint?

RM - I was billed as a poet coming into the project in 2003 but my first degree was actually in sculpture. Luckily, I worked at first with book artist Jayne Knowles and then Tonia Jillings who trained as a sculptor, so I felt at home in these collaborations. Yet, I was also making boxes on my own - the art work and the poetry.

TH - What were the early boxes like?

RM - The boxes were tiny 10-cig size boxes with lids. Tiny but big enough for print work, paper and card folded and text. Ideal for print. Exploring three dimensions in such a small space was very difficult but I wanted to take the exploration away from the book, the page.

TH - When did the PVM boxes become ’Out of The Machine?’

RM - This was by default really. I had a stock of boxes and occasionally made boxes for Open Studios events at the Bally Shoe Factory Studios, Norwich (2007-2010). These boxes were browsed on tables. They were obviously ’Out of The Machine.’

Then I found a slightly bigger box - 2mm bigger in all directions!

I was also buying lots of materials at car boots and beginning to bring paper ephemera, my own hand made paper and objects together in the boxes. Out of this, I began writing texts specifically for the boxes, rather than drawing on ’poems’ previously written. Indeed, where poetry led the making of PVM vended boxes, visuals and found objects now determined texts.

Also, at this time, I decided that each box must be an original piece of art rather than a machined print edition. While elements (hand made paper background) would be duplicated, the objects, art work and texts would be original to each box.

Having sold the original PVM boxes for £3, how to create non-duplicated works for £3 to £5? “As cheap as a packet of fags” echoes back from my vending days still because, like a book, I am ever pursuing the notion of an art accessible to all. Very difficult. However, something else hit me: what if my exploration is in recycling and what if this art concretely brings the past into what I’m doing?

TH - This is when you met Pete?

RM - Yes. Pete is a car booter who deals in the debris of house clearances. He takes the remains of house clearances, picks out items to sell on, then throws the debris into boxes and charges £1 for all the items one can cram into a carrier bag. So, often, I get 100 items for a pound!

House clearance is interesting because ’clearance’ is for three reasons: death, divorce or financial desperation - the 3 Ds! So, I can access the history and drama of ordinary lives through this debris.

As my boxes are small, I am always trawling for the smallest debris at the bottom of Pete’s boxes - from old buttons to paper ephemera. I have found a diary that ends abruptly in death and I’ve found part of First World War flying goggles. As important are all the toys, artificial flowers, cards, letters and nick-knacks - the entrails of ordinary people’s lives.

It’s almost combing - like beach combing - and takes me back to my road combing of 2003-6, when I brought found objects together with found texts (a sort of mapping) to remake a street, a place. My present work is, for me, more dramatic and certainly more three-dimensional.

In creating the PVM boxes, the poems led the art work. The ‘Out of The Machine’ boxes are led by the found objects and art work, and the text is then written for the box - for each box. Thereby, it’s the opposite process than any poet or writer desires: each text is unique to its box. ‘Out of The Machine’ boxes are single works of art and text. There will be no editions, like books or multiples. So, the whole process is providing rules:

Objects lead and texts follow
Each text is unique
The size of each box dictates the structure of ‘art work’ and text
Recycling is key to this project

I like to think it’s the opposite of Francis Bacon’s notion of “chance” in painting, where that accidental brush stroke is a chosen “chance” which rejects all other ‘chances.’ I mean, I love the ’chance’ of painting but my rejects are either brought into another box, used in later collage work for a box or turned into recycled elements for the box.

In one sense, the boxes are highly manipulated entities. I choose backgrounds for the lids and box bottoms, the objects (often manipulated) and other interventions, out of which the texts arise. Yet, my manipulation is quite small and the texts arrive as if spoken by characters or a narrator or as if a personal letter.

It’s kind of theatre.

TH - Sometimes, it seems to me, your boxes are jokes, seaside postcards with captions or local newspaper headlines…

RM - Absolutely! I owe a lot to postcards (which I collect), mail art and all the nick-knacks dotted around people’s houses which so often carry ‘captions’ - “League Division Three, Runner Up Medal.” And the little bit of history many of the items have seems to predate the Facebook and Twitter Age. Facebook and Twitter promise that everyone is unique but no one speaks uniquely. I’m trying to find a means to state: no one is unique but everyone speaks uniquely.

I think it’s also a way of dealing in cliché without being too clichéd. That’s my hope.

TH - Aren’t you repackaging and reselling mundane mass culture back to the masses?

RM - Hardly the masses! However, if I ’sell’ none of my growing production, I’m giving life to the debris of people’s lives - even if just to say: we can’t land fill or sky fill this fantastic resource of people’s lives!

TH - Sky fill?

RM - Disgustingly, the sky fill of incinerating waste is even worse than burying it in land fill sites. I’m a devotee of the Zero Waste Alliance . ALL manufactured goods can and must be recycled.

We can use paper fibre 7 times as recycled paper before the fibres won’t mat. Then we can use paper powder with clay to make light ceramics. Plastics, all plastics, can be recycled over and over. We can’t recycle Nuclear Waste but we can use all the “rubbish” of consumerism to make the world anew.

TH - Your boxes are fun - light hearted - not political.

RM - I hope my boxes, which I plan to produce for the rest of my life, nudge people into living with the past for the future. Looking back on my terrible schooling I think the only compulsory subject should be history. The human brain is all about using memory for the present. The sound bites of government are specifically designed to deny reflection and memory - in the same moment these terrible people say “let history judge us.” Huh!

TH - Will you keep producing tiny boxes?

RM - Not just fag packet boxes. I’m already producing much larger display boxes. Nothing will ever be bigger than my bag!

The bigger boxes allow me the opportunity to create static theatre, while advertising the smaller boxes. Pockets, boxes, bags - my terrain. Drama in the pocket.

TH - Thanks. The boxes make me laugh - and cringe.

RM - Me too. Thank you Tom.

A NEST OF NESTS IN WATERLOO PARK, NORWICH

2011-04-24T15:45:00.001Z

THE DOCTOR'S SIGNATURE!

2011-04-19T17:43:00.000Z

Dr. Geeber's Signature!

AMAZING ART, SHERINGHAM

2011-04-19T17:42:00.000Z

Dr. Geeber's amazing Office - Sheringham Beach, Norfolk

PEBBLE ART by THE DOCTOR

2011-04-19T17:40:00.000Z

Forget the official art of the North Norfolk Coast. A talented man, The Doctor, has been touring the coast of the UK making incredible pebble sculptures as he goes. Here are some great works on the beach at Sheringham.

More info here

MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB - MAY GIG - JOHN MARTIN QUARTET

2011-04-15T19:29:00.002Z

UP AND COMING MUSICIANS BRING A MODERN TAKE TO MILESTONES JAZZ CLUB

JOHN MARTIN QUARTET

This month’s concert at Milestones Jazz Club on Sunday 1 May features the first local appearance by a young saxophonist leading some of the UK’s finest up and coming jazz musicians - The John Martin Quartet.

London-based tenor saxophonist and composer John Martin performs original material and a smattering of standards from his quartet’s debut album, ‘Dawning’, released on the esteemed F-ire label.

Martin’s full, throaty sax tone works through uncluttered, atmospheric grooves to an intense and joyful conclusion.

His writing has strong melodic content inspired by Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau and Jan Garbarek with a folky European tinge, exploring dark harmonies, unusual time signatures and an embracing of modern jazz’s rich history.

His influences on saxophone include Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins, Joe Lovano and UK players like Bobby Wellins and Julian Arguelles.

"This is a lovely bunch of musicians and the last few gigs have made me very excited about the potential for the future", says John, "I’m very much looking forward to the concert at Milestones so we can push the musical boundaries and see what we can find together".

The band’s collective CV includes touring and recording in the UK and Europe with diverse artists like Tom Jones, Roger Waters, Dave Gilmour, Nick Cave, Lily Allen, Kenny Wheeler and Tim Garland.

John also played on the Mercury Prize nominated album by Guillemots’, ‘Through The Window Pane’.

The band’s full line-up features John Martin (tenor sax), Jonjo Grisdale (piano), Tim Fairhall (double bass) and Andy Ball (drums).

This concert is the only East Anglian date of a nationwide tour supported by Jazz Services.

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).

***
"This is a lovely album (Dawning) with all the players sounding very comfortable with the music and John Martin and the rhythm section all play really well. This album should be heard and bought", Leading jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler

"This is an honest, cohesive and sophisticated release - a band to look out for in 2011", Leading jazz saxophonist Iain Ballamy

I FOUND AMERIKA IN ANGLIA SQUARE 1

2011-04-13T06:49:00.000Z

I FOUND AMERIKA IN ANGLIA SQUARE 2

2011-04-13T06:48:00.000Z

THE 2011 TURNIP PRIZE FOR ART

2011-04-13T06:45:00.000Z

WHITE ELEPHANT BOX

2011-04-02T19:27:00.001Z

Through the long past I am related to 'The Lord Edward Mather Gaylord.' Here he is. 'The Lord Edward' fought life long for his position and used all his charms to marry into a "worthy position." With that "position" he acquired a huge estate, which he guarded and gated, but died in the knowledge that he had bought a White Elephant.

My father's middle name was Mather, which comes down from 'The Lord Edward Mather Gaylord.' This, my friends, may explain why my middle name is 'The.' I am that white elephant. Or black sheep? Or...

Out of The Machine - Art & Poetry in Boxes by Rupert Mallin BIG launch in May.

SMOKING BOX

2011-04-02T19:19:00.000Z

Neighbours called the twins The Grims, which was a little unfair. Robert shared his old shag with Robert but Robert would never, ever let Robert into his purpose built Smoking Den.