Whilst I wasn’t a massive fan of theirs in their day I still liked a few of their tracks, so when the opportunity to see Aswad came up I thought, why not? I’m sure it might be a pleasant evening out. Well, it was much more than that in the end. In fact, it was an excellent evening out all in all.
The sound in the Jazz Cafe in Camden was excellent and Aswad were on brilliant form. They put on a great show and kept the crowd moving throughout the performance. I’m so glad I went now. I had a fantastic time, and I think I’d see them again given the chance.
It’s been a couple of years since I was on the Rail Ale train. It’s a lovely evening on the bluebell railway in Sussex and well worth trying out if you’ve never been. The format is simple. Steam train + Real Ale + Sausage and Mash supper + Jazz band. Easy.
The Rail Ale train, 31st July 2015
The atmosphere is lovely, especially if you have a really nice sunny evening to enjoy as well. The crowd is all there to have a good time and enjoy the beers, of which there were many, and all good in terms of those I managed to sample.
It isn’t the cheapest evening out, but as an occasional outing it’s well worth the money, and of course, as the Bluebell railway is a charity I don’t begrudge them the cash.
A beer voucher from Rail Ale, 31st July 2015
My favourite ale of the evening was called “Piston Broke”, which seemed apt in some ways for a pleasant evening of beer and music.
Pebble Time Watch Faces – Choosing from what I’ve got already
So I’ve been looking for just the right watch face for my Pebble Time. I’ve been looking at the faces on the Pebble store and seeing what works for me and what doesn’t. So here’s what I’ve selected so far.
Pebble Time Watch Faces – This is the one I keep coming back to
This face is the one I use the most. I keep on coming back to it and it ends up being my default. It works. It’s ok. It functions well and it tells the time. In the end that’s the most important thing I suppose.
Pebble Time Watch Faces – The tardis
There are some quite fun faces on the Pebble store. This is great. It isn’t animated, which is a bit of a shame. It would’ve been nice if perhaps the Doctor could’ve popped his head out of the TARDIS every now and then, but no, it’s static.
Pebble Time Watch Faces – LCARS
As a Star Trek fan I liked this one a lot, although it lacks colour, which is a shame for a colour smart watch. But then I found this one …
Pebble Time Watch Faces – LCARS in colour
Which is in colour and is also very cool. However, I think that faces like these aren’t for me on a daily basis anyway. They’re fun every now and then, but that’s about it.
Pebble Time Watch Faces – The Speccy Face
Following on the theme, the speccy face is also pretty cool and retro, but again probably isn’t that good for daily use. It is however, very good at showing old techie friends who remember the ZX.
Moving on I’ve tried some other faces which I thought would be more functional, such as …
Pebble Time Watch Faces – Good for daily use
Which, at face value, no pun intended, actually, pun intended, works very well indeed. My only issue with this, it was a little dull. Not that much fun really. I know I’m difficult to please right! So, next I moved on to …
Pebble Time Watch Faces – Elegant and fairly usable
This, which seemed like it might work, but I couldn’t settle to it in the end and went back to my default watch face, as I seem to do quite a lot.
Pebble Time Watch Faces – A nice simple face
My latest possibility is this face. Which is elegant, simple, has a second hand and the date, and looks very good. I’ll see if this one works out for me.
As an aside I’ve also tried this …
Pebble Time Watch Faces – Binary watch face
Which is a bit extreme, but, if you can master it, is great way to tell time.
So, where does that leave me? I’m still not quite satisfied with the watch faces I’ve got. I’ve still not settled on something that I’m completely happy with. I might find something eventually. I keep on looking.
When I find just the right one, I’ll let you know.
Another great memory from WOMAD days was of Nouvelle Vague. I went to see them in the Big Red Tent and thought they were amazingly good fun. I subsequently bought quite a lot of their tracks. I say their tracks, of course for the most part they are covers, but what excellent covers they are. Truly inspired.
I’d like to see them again, I think they had a good stage presence, but I need seem to see them on anywhere. I think I’d go if I had the chance.
I’ve been noticing that my new Pebble Time has been getting scratches and blemishes on the casing. It’s not encouraging as the thing is only a few weeks old, or rather, I’ve only had it a few weeks, so I’m a little disappointed that it isn’t holding up so well. Of course, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s not great is it.
So I’m considering getting a covering for it to protect it a little better. If I do, I’ll let you know about that.
Back in May I had a rare opportunity to spend some time just listening. Not doing anything else, just listening to an album. It was wonderful. It made me think a lot about how I listen to music on a regular basis, which in turn made me realise just how poor my listening experience is on a regular basis.
So I started thinking about how I listen now, how I want to listen and the gap between those two. It’s a big gap actually, sadly.
For the most part I listen to both music and to audiobooks on the go. Walking, on trains, tubes, buses etc. That makes up the vast majority of my listening experience. It isn’t a great experience at all. Mostly there’s lots of background noise, lots of distraction and it isn’t easy to concentrate particularly, but that’s the way it is. I’m sure it’s the same for a lot of people. What’s missing of course is that deep and focused listening experience. It requires time, it requires space and concentration. The time and space elements are things that I can’t find easily, not these days anyway.
So I need to find a way to bridge that gap, and to have the space to listen creatively. Not easy really. But it will be really worth it if I can. Having that experience, even every now and then is like a little oasis.
As I was thinking about WOMAD I started remembering some of the high points over the years and I thought I’d share them. One such high point was when WOMAD was back in Reading, before it moved to Charlton Park in Wiltshire. I remember seeing Mitsoura for the very first time there. They were amazing. Something truly new and completely different from anything I’d heard before.
I went to see them again after that and bought their only two albums. I was disappointed that they didn’t do more. It was a shame that they only made those two albums, but that’s how it is. Even so, I’m glad I know their music. Glad I had the chance to see them live a couple of times. That was all down to WOMAD.
So this is the second year I’ve been at the Liberty Festival with SoundLab. This year was a bit damp and wet, but fun nevertheless. We still had a lot of people come along and play and enjoy themselves, so it was a good day all in all. I’m glad that I was able to be a part of it.
iPads at SoundLab Liberty Festival 2015
Even though it was wet we had a steady stream of people wanting to try out new ways to make music, and experiment.
I wasn’t able to spend the whole weekend at WOMAD this year, I was only able to go for the day this year. Which was ok. The weather was pretty awful on the Friday, so the Saturday was a good option in the end.
So as always here’s the obligatory photo of the flags. I think you have to take one as part of the terms and conditions of the ticket. I heard a few interesting things on Saturday. Possibly the most interesting was Hannah Peel, who I’ll be listening to some more of soon enough.
It was also good to see Hossam Ramsay doing a workshop at WOMAD this year. Quite a while ago I did a workshop where Hossam taught for a day, and that was excellent. I really enjoyed it.
Hossam Ramsay at WOMAD
So I’m glad I went. It was good to meet up with some old friends and see how the festival has come on in a year. I’ve been going for a long time now, not as long as some of my friends though, and it’s sort of become an annual tradition.
I like WOMAD, but this year it felt a little crowded. I’m not sure why. It was good to go for the day, this year that was enough for me.
I am Ashley Elsdon 