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Monthly Archives: August 2008

A few post-greenbelt thoughts

August 28, 2008 by james | 3 Comments | Filed in Life

This year’s Greenbelt programme contained a piece by Maggi Dawn, who sadly wasn’t able to be at the festival. Reading the programme on the tube back from a post-festival get-together, I really connected with Maggi commenting:

Whether Glastonbury or Global Gathering, at their heart, all festivals are actually less about gazing at bands from the back of a field, and far more about the day-to-day encounters we have around the site. We have a fundamental need for these real-life meetings, because without them, we cannot create or sustain community. Yet, strangely, that’s one of the paradoxes of this idea of festival: we immerse ourselves in order to be able to leave it. Showing up is what makes the festival work, but Greenbelt is also all about not being at Greenbelt, about taking the infection away and breeding it in the day to day communities that sustain us.

I love the second-half of the paragraph, but it was the first that really struck me. I had one of those years where I felt like I didn’t really see the festival in the programme sense. I turned up for a few minutes at several gigs, and took a lot of photos (all of which sit on my laptop awaiting editing, I’ll post again when something’s on flickr) but I wasn’t able to really get a sense of what the festival was like this year. And that’s okay.

David Dark and I had a brief exchange about the “deep magic” (I called it magic, he added the deep) that keeps so many of us working at the festival. We run ourselves ragged, get frustrated, and channel it all into conversations about how we’ll fix it for next year. Always next year. (almost) Always hopeful. It’s quite a thing.

The festival may or may not be in perpetual beta, but the feature set is somehow compelling.

Ambridge Acoustic Revue

August 3, 2008 by james | No Comments | Filed in Life, Music

The first of our little musical get-togethers at St. Luke’s went so well that we’re planning to make them a regular fixture under the name “Ambridge Acoustic Revue.”

The next one will be on August 30th and if all goes according to plan will feature Julie Lee, Lobelia Sabo and Aaron Roche. And of course it will once again be ably hosted by Iain Archer.

For those of you who are planning to attend Greenbelt you can think of it as a little afterglow from the festival, and for those who aren’t… well, we suspect it’ll be a highly enjoyable evening of music.

If you’re so inclined you can let us know you plan to attend on facebook or last.fm.

One Hundred Months

August 2, 2008 by james | No Comments | Filed in Environment

The facts of climate change have entered the public consciousness to an unprecedented degree over the past couple of years. But to date there hasn’t been a strong, coherent campaign around which masses could organise. Effective campaigns need clear targets and, ideally, clear deadlines.

I’m hoping that that is what the recently announced 100 Months can offer. Introduced by Andrew Simms, writing in the Guardian, the campaign is based on the idea that 100 months is a very good bet for how long we have until the cascade effects of climate change take us past the final tipping point.

It suggests a series of integrated policies, promises monthly actions for its supporters, and hints that a powerful, deadline-driven coalition may yet emerge. We can only hope (and click, act, lobby, and all the rest).

A brief personal update

August 1, 2008 by james | No Comments | Filed in Life

Last year among many other activities we managed to:

  • sell a house
  • travel round the world
  • move from the USA (Grand Rapids, MI) to the UK (London)

As a follow-up this year, we’re in the process of:

Today was the big day when the removal firm came and moved us out of our rented flat. All our belongings are going into storage until such a time as we can move into the house we’re buying. So for the next couple of weeks while in the US, and for at least a week after that we’re going to be experiencing that safe, middle class form of homelessness known as “crashing with friends.” And very grateful we are too.