The Let’s Colour Project is an initiaitve by some big paint companies to bring colour to grey areas around the world. They have currently worked in Brazil, France, the UK and India with local communities to transform and brighten up grey spaces. Something most of us are all too familiar with. There is nothing more depressing then being faced with grey concrete so I’m all in favour of transforming such areas.

As an example, this has nothing to do with the project, I saw this in London last weekend. A re-development project which opted for making a re-development look interesting and pleasant rather than being faced with miles of scaffolding and yellow boards:

Beats looking at yellow board!

Anyway, back to the project, this video was recently released featuring Jonsi’s Go which highlights some of the work.

About:

Starting in March 2010, The Let’s Colour Project brought colour to Brazil, France, the UK and India. The local communities rolled up their sleeves and joined us in painting schools, streets, homes and squares. These communities include:

The streets of Lapa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where we added colour to homes and a hotel lobby with the local community. It will not only be appreciated by the residents but also the numerous visitors to the famous Lapa stairs.

A council estate in Aulnay-sous-bois, Paris, France. Since the 2005 riots this area has been in constant improvement and development, so it was the perfect area to bring some colour to the regeneration project that was already underway. The Let’s Colour Project had such an impact that it encouraged the local residents to host their own painting event in addition to ours.

Virginia primary school in Tower Hamlets, London, UK. Together with the parents, teachers and children we transformed the school’s playground, hall and a classroom with vivid colour. It injected enthusiasm and joy into everyone, particularly the children who helped us document the painting.

A community square, school and main road of Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. Known as the blue city, we painted in shades of blue, purple and pink leaving this already vibrant city a little more colourful.

Find out more here

Secretly Candian previously announced the release of Antony and the Johnsons’ album and 144-page hardcover book, Swanlights in May. Since then, the date has been changed to October 12th in North America and the 11th in Europe. To the devotees-they assure you its worth the week-long wait!

Björk joins Antony on the album with the duet “Flétta.” The two have already collaborated on “The Dull Flame of Desire” and “My Juvenile” from Björk’s 2007 album Volta.

The Swanlights book and album will allow readers to see the how Antony’s chosen media informs and complements one another. The Swanlights art book includes fragmentary images, drawings, paintings, photography, collage, writings and song lyrics. Each gorgeously-produced hardbound book will also include the Secretly Canadian full-length cd release of Swanlights.

Tracklist for Swanlights after the jump.

1. Everything Is New
2. The Great White Ocean
3. Ghost
4. I’m In Love
5. Violetta
6. Swanlights
7. The Spirit Was Gone
8. Thank You For Your Love
9. Flétta
10. Salt Silver Oxygen
11. Christina’s Farm

Order the book: Antony and the Johnsons: Swanlights

Order the CD: Swanlights

Momentos is a new short film from Nuna Rocha. Nuna wrote and directed it for LG Portugal. The concept, “Life’s good” was the main theme. Despite being made for a commercial company, you could easily be unaware of this. It is both a sad and moving short film, one you would not maybe expect to be used commercially. Enjoy

Following an Irish immigrant carpenter from coastal Queens to the Catskills and beyond,The Builder is an American existential portrait that explores the gulf between the idea of a thing and the thing itself. Having set off to the New York countryside to construct a reproduction of the earliest of American cape houses, the protagonist (Colm O’Leary) finds himself overcome by an inexplicable fatigue. Debts and expectations mount alongside the crudest and most naive of deceptions, that of both self and of family. As the chasm grows the Builder finds himself confronted by the unnerving ambivalence of the world around him.

A subtle, contemplative rendering reminiscent of the films of John Cassavetes and The Dardenne Brothers, The Builder is the first full-length feature directed by R. Alverson, a carpenter and musician from Richmond, VA. It features music by Bon Iver, Gregor Samsa, Pan American, Robert Donne and Spokane (Alverson and co-producer Courtney Bowles’ band, who have released 5 records on Jagjaguwar since 1999). Alverson’s second feature, New Jerusalem, starring Will Oldham (Bonnie “Prince” Billy) and The Builder’s Colm O’Leary, was completed in late winter of 2010.

As a companion to the feature, Jagjaguwar will be offering a collection of songs, Music For The Builder, on the Jagjaguwar web site. This “foundtrack” features new, unreleased and demoed songs from artists like Califone, Luke Temple and Sam Amidon. Amidon offers the first in the series with “Cabin in the Corner,” a faithful rendition of an Irish traditional that features the brother of The Builder’s Colm O’Leary, Eamon, on bozouki and backing vocals. The song’s lyrics — “Don’t care for fine mansions in the earth’s sinking sand/Lord, build me a cabin in the corner of Glory Land” — might serve as a jumping off point for the movie itself.

Trailer:

Interview

DOWNLOADS:

“Cabin In The Corner” by Sam Amidon
“I Couldn’t Save You” by Sharon Van Etten
“Ro” by Califone

The Third & The Seventh is a short film by Alex Roman.

Architecture through the cinematographic lens. The visual fusion between the Third and Seventh arts

– this brief description defines the declaration of aesthetic principles that underlies the “Third and Seventh” project: A full-CG animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already-built spaces. Sometimes in an abstract way. Sometimes surreal. The film is best viewed in full screen

http://www.thirdseventh.com/

I mentioned a little while ago (on facebook) that I was going to be featuring an occasional piece on venues that offer something a bit different and unique. The first place to catch my eye was The Rude Shipyard run by Pete David and Sally Smith in Sheffield. It’s a cafe/bookshop and the sort of place I’d love to have on my doorstep! In their own words:

The Rude Shipyard is a cafe/bookshop run by Pete David and Sally Smith on the offbeat Abbeydale Road in Sheffield. Cloistered around us are antique shops, Italian and Indian restaurants, hardware shops, cafes, an old picture palace and florists aplenty! What makes Abbeydale Rd exciting is that it has never attracted big chains and there is a wonderfully independent spirit to the way shops are conceived and run.

We’re situated between the main set of shops on Abbeydale Road and the Asian restaurants of London Road further towards town. Being slightly set apart has its advantages and disadvantages but it seems to suit us well enough as people have adopted us fairly quickly. May is our 1st birthday and although its been a tremendous amount of hard work, we’re delighted to not only still be trading, but to have attracted so many people into our humble shop.

As well as selling books and food, we also have a regular open mic poetry night called The Shipping Forecast, a monthly book fair, a book club on the last Thursday of every month, and a spattering of gigs that go on in our upstairs room. Acts who’ve played here include Little Robots, Flamingo Love Parade, Men Diamler (pictured above), Mark Wynn, Carl Woodford, The Yellowbellys, Neil McSweeney, Fernhill, Art Terry, Leila Adu, Cuckoo Clocks, Antique Doll, Tom Rodwell, Tom Baxendale, Big Eyes Family Players, and many more I can’t recall right now! To celebrate our first birthday, we’ve got some very exciting gigs. On Sunday 9th May, blues-country stompers Groanbox will be performing from their latest album, The Livingston Sessions, on the back of a four star review in The Guardian. Then on Thursday 13th May, Men Diamler returns to us with his irreverent spirituals and west country field hollers, with support from country picker, Mark Wynn. A week later, on 20th May, a literary cabaret troupe make their way down form Edinburgh with poetry, spoken work, bluegrass and country music and a paper cinema all on the bill! We round things off with a good ol’ fashioned party on 22nd May. Everyone’s welcome and the mic is open for folks to bring a song, story or snippet of something special to our stage.

Future gigs include alt. folksters Rachael Dadd and Alessi’s Ark (July 15th), and the French kitsch pop band, Odland (July 11th), as well as hosting Sheffield City Magicians for an amazing night of magic. We’ll also be involved again in the city-wide Tramlines music festival, with gigs happening all over the city, including The Rude Shipyard. So far, we’ve got Flamingo Love Parade, Big Eyes Family Players and Neil McSweeney confirmed.

In June, as part of the Sharrow Fringe Festival, we’ll be running a Flash Fiction day, in which customers get to to write short stories in the day and read them to an audience in the evening. Then in October, we’ll be getting involved in the Literature festival, Off The Shelf. Details of all our events can be found on the website.

Pete
The Rude Shipyard
0114 2589653
www.therudeshipyard.com

If you’re in the area folks, pay them a visit and if you’re not…make a trip! This place sounds like a dream come true. Built on passion!

That’s right, Colin Meloy of the Decemberists is about to release a series of Children’s books. Maybe not so surprising as some may report though. The series entitled Wildwood see’s Meloy collaborating with his wife, Carsons Ellis, an illustrator. Wildwood is a classic tale of adventure, magic, and danger.

Wildwood is set in an alternate version of modern-day Portland, Oregon, which is a hotbed of musical activity for us as a station so why not for a folkloric fantasy book? Folk music is steaming with tales and Meloy has never been that far removed from the roots of English folk and story telling. This statement may come as a surprise to some, but he is a folk lover! He makes no secret of his adoration for Shirley Collins. He is a bridge for the modern meets the traditonal. He’s the dog’s bollocks! Shakespeare said that…

“Storytelling and rich imagery are hallmarks of Colin’s songs, so writing a novel seems like a perfect next step for him,” said Donna Bray of Balzer & Bray the co-publishers. ” Wildwood is both incredibly original yet timeless – nothing less than an American Narnia. We’re thrilled to introduce such an exciting new voice in children’s literature.”

“The germ of this series goes back a long way,” Meloy said. “For me, this is the culmination of a long-term collaboration with Carson, matching words and art. I grew up on a steady diet of Lloyd Alexander, Roald Dahl, and Tolkien; this is our humble paean to that grand tradition of epic adventure stories.”

Personally I can’t wait! I read to my kids every night…so the chance to read a story by Meloy is, shall we say, a wee bit selfish? OK, maybe it may be a bit early on in their lives…I don’t want to scare the crap out of them do I?

Pursue the knowledge here!

I‘m sure some, if not many of you have come across the work of designer David Owen which continues to attract attention with his amusing, provoking and beautiful folk-related pop art images. The one above features Morrissey as a Morris Dancer.

From September 3rd-5th 2010 David is to have a major installation across the buildings of The Southbank supported by Arts Council England. In David’s own words:

“5000 Morris Dancers” – Lord Coe was certainly being sarcastic when he quipped about what he would have at the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony – he knew that the morris dancer was an iconic English image, but he also knew that the morris dancer is considered by most people to be a figure of fun and ridicule. I’d like to demonstrate that 5000 morris dancers can look cool. 5000 morris dancers can be iconic – can take your breath away – and you can still enjoy the fun inherent in morris.

Watch out for more details coming soon. To buy original and limited edition works by David Owen contact The Stark Gallery at www.starkgallery.com.