the chalky children of evermore

[ashlyme]

 

We live next to the cemetery on London Road; the back windows look over the graves, and I've wandered round both halves (it's bisected by a railway) many times. A Victorian account describes it as having ‘more the air of a gentlemen’s park than a city of the dead’. 

 

In the older half is an Anglican chapel, built in a Norman style, sporting animal-faced grotesques that look both too old and too Surrealist to have been carved in the 1800s. The chapel was renovated a few years ago and is now in use as a community and arts space. Saturday night we went to a gig by two local musicians there.

 

It was advertised on the poster as an evening of 'folkish drones'. The first set was pure magic - an hour of medieval instruments (shawms, recorders, and crumhorns) looped with pedals and synth. It didn't take long to feel I was elsewhen; the fact the performer was washed with aquamarine light only helped to reinforce that. (Her name is Jude Rees; unfortunately she doesn't have a Bandcamp or solo releases out.) I went out for a roll-up in the intermission. There was a tang of bonfire smoke between the old graves; a half-moon peeked through the trees. Afterwards we found a pub in a wasteland of industrial estates and student housing (not including the aptly-named Short Street, a stubby survivor I'd guess of an older neighbourhood). The landlady invited us to attend Kazoo Night.

 

Currently reading Alan Garner's POWSELS AND THRUMS, which is a patchwork of memoir, poems, and essays; often hilarious, sometimes heart-breaking - the chapter on AG's friendship with Alan Turing made me put the book down for a while while I seethed. Get it when you can.

 

Comments

[cmcmck]

My first owned house looked onto a graveyard which included the unmarked grave of James Jershom Jezreel- the local religious nutcase.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Jezreel

[teenybuffalo]

Aw yeahhh local cult leaders! I love knowing about small local cults and their ways; if they left structures, even more thrilling for me. I regret that the tower is long gone. Thank you for telling me about Jezreel.

[cmcmck]

Y're welcome.

Oddly enough, the Jezreelites ended up having a good reputation for honest business dealings in the locality.

[ashlyme]

Oh, Jezreel! I've got a vintage postcard of his tower on the bookshelf. An "interesting" man...

[cmcmck]

He really was and it's a shame the tower didn't survive- we lived in Gillingham for a number of years.

[teenybuffalo]

This chapel sounds amazing, how delightful to go to a show in a cemetery!

Do you have a sense of what Kazoo Night entails? I am picturing all comers just rolling up with kazoos and taking turns leading popular songs. Must be very buzzy.

[ashlyme]

They're showing a double bill of horror films at the Chapel Hallowe'en night, so we might go along to that.

I guess Kazoo Night is like a buzzier karaoke!

[sovay]

We live next to the cemetery on London Road; the back windows look over the graves

This could be the start of a story as well as a Saturday night.

(Her name is Jude Rees; unfortunately she doesn't have a Bandcamp or solo releases out.)

Argh. She sounds wonderful. Dare I ask about Kazoo Night?

Get it when you can.

I'm not sure it's available in my country! I want an international book store. Near me.

I am so happy to read even snapshots of you.

[ashlyme]

*This could be the start of a story as well as a Saturday night.*

I'm not ruling out using the night as the basis for something... As it was I felt as I was in a Mark Valentine story.

*Dare I ask about Kazoo Night?*

The pub orders in a bunch of kazoos and (this was the impression the landlady gave, anyway) they encourage the whole pub to tootle away to pop tunes. I suspect it would be sonic carnage!!

Would you like some tasters of Powsels? I'm happy to send you pictures of some of Garner's poems if you'd like.

*I am so happy to read even snapshots of you.*

Thank you! I'd like to write much more here - I feel disenchanted with saying much on Facebook.

[sovay]

I'm not ruling out using the night as the basis for something... As it was I felt as I was in a Mark Valentine story.

I'm not surprised. The ambiguously surrealist grotesques, though, feel straight out of one of yours.

The pub orders in a bunch of kazoos and (this was the impression the landlady gave, anyway) they encourage the whole pub to tootle away to pop tunes. I suspect it would be sonic carnage!!

Oh, my God. Please report back and also perhaps stock up on earplugs.

Would you like some tasters of Powsels? I'm happy to send you pictures of some of Garner's poems if you'd like.

Do I look like a person who would say no to that offer? Thank you so much! I have Garner on my mind lately; I just haven't had the chance to do anything with it.

Thank you! I'd like to write much more here - I feel disenchanted with saying much on Facebook.

*hugs*

I look forward to whatever more you feel like writing.

[ashlyme]

*The ambiguously surrealist grotesques, though, feel straight out of one of yours.*

I wish I could photos of them here. Never figured out how to do it.

*Do I look like a person who would say no to that offer? Thank you so much!*

You're very welcome! I'll send you pictures a bit later in the morning.

*Hugs* back.

[sovay]

I wish I could photos of them here. Never figured out how to do it.

It's fiddly. You upload images here and then get a list of them here.

You're very welcome! I'll send you pictures a bit later in the morning.

Thank you! And timely. I wasn't paying attention to his dates at all.

*hugs*

[ashlyme]

Thank you!! *Hugs*