jonnybaker

if you are going to the big chill... or even if you're not

have a listen to bands that will be playing - simple but ingenius

blogs - greenbelt and tom sine join the conversation

tom sine has started blogging. i always enjoy tom's insights and reflections

greenbelt festival have also started a blog and podcast (well revamped their old blog is strictly more accurate). they are going to be uploading a talk fee each month so that's worth looking out for if you like listening to talks. i confess that whilst i think it's a good idea i have probably listened voluntarily to about 2 talks after an event in my entire life! i guess i'm more of a reader to learn...

on the subject of summer festivals we have bought tickets to the big chill and jen's coming this time round

voice of an angel - notes from the chill 2

i mentioned jamie woon in the last post but wanted to say a bit more...

he has an album out soonish apparently - put it on your christmas list now. i first came across his voice via joel in a remix track of wayfaring stranger remixed by burial that is brilliant and made it into the worship tricks list. but wandering past the open air stage on saturday at the big chill i heard a voice i knew that i had heard before and worked out it was jamie who was standing in for someone else. sadly it was his last song so we missed nearly all of his set - matt sent me a link to that track on youtube - spirits which you can download from his myspace. someone said in introducing him later on that he had the voice of an angel which isn't far off.

looking at his hits on myspace he is still a pretty unknown but i suspect not for long...

on the subject of new music the big chill label has a couple of new albums out by animat and john metcalfe, both of which are worth checking out if you like your music instrumental and chilled. i have been a fan of animat's ever since seeing their live rescore of belleville rendezvous...

power of words - notes from the chill 1

one of the surprising things i found myself doing at the big chill was sitting in an afternoon of 2 hours of poetry. i don't really know why - i just fancied it. it was an afternoon celebrating 25 years of apples and snakes, an amazing organisation who encourage emerging poets and wordsmiths in education, prisons and the like. the afternoon was a showcase of their work. they have a cd out which i bought for harry, an emerging poet. i so wished he was there...

the power of words was amazing, perhaps most stunningly demonstrated in the dub poet jean binta breeze who  stood up and lamented, railed against injustice, whipped the powers that be with her tongue, celebrated the poor and women in tender and humourous ways. i was moved to tears and inspired. i felt i had encountered something like an old testament prophet - it really was unbelievable. the other stuff was excellent too - ty was performing his wonderful hip hop that knocks the stuffing out of bling and gansta to reclaim the tradition, jamie woon and zena edwards track in other words was angelic (it's on the cd and is on her myspace page as is the other beautiful track she did solo - healing pool). it turns out the guardian have a podcast from the big chill on the words in motion stuff hosted by ty and jean binta breeze is on it from that afternoon performing third world blues which will give you the flavour. i can't believe that random connection!

it made me want to go and write some songs or poems...

a few links

back from the big chill festival which was brilliant as ever. i'll blog more about that later and edit photos (haven't even managed holiday ones yet!). meantime a couple of links i have meant to add...

25 photography tutorials from round the web

if you are missing the mix tape

what one diocesan bishop did to understand the conflicts around sexuality

the big chill 08

off to the big chill this weekend and can't wait. the line up looks great...

just had a look at my pics from last year to get me in the mood

taken the plunge

well joel and i have got our tickets for the big chill festival this summer...

birthday drink, sacrifice and warming up for tom middleton

joel winning the open dex heat at the big chill bar gets to play a 2 hour set at the big chill bar (as well as competing in the final in july).

so he is playing from 4-6pm on sunday 24 feb at the big chill bar. the next day is my birthday so i am combining it with celebrating with a birthday drink (as is fellow grace friend paul wainwright for whom it is his actual birthday). so if you around and fancy it, come along and join us.

the sacrifice is that chelsea are playing tottenham in the cup final at the same time!!!! so i will have to watch the highlights later i guess...

joel is fairly excited because one of his DJ heroes and big chill legend tom middleton is DJing his top 100 tunes that evening so i guess joel is his warm up act (scroll down the what's on page)

he won!

open dex at the big chill bar, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

cntrst [joel] in the open dex contest at the big chill bar last night. he won!!!! this was heat 1 - he will be in a final in july. the winner gets to play at the big chill festival. congrats joel...

open dex tonight at big chill bar

following last year's performance at the big chill open dex competition joel has entered again and is playing in tonight's round at the big chill bar.

big chill radio for a week

big chill radio for a week

big chill review 2007

it's a bit late but better late than never i guess. time for a review of the big chill festival 2007.

i finally uploaded a set of photos.

we headed off to eastnor on the thursday to set up camp. it gives time to get your bearings, take a wander round the site, play a bit of frisbee, and read through the programme to work out what to do about the clashes when two things you wanted to go to are on at the same time!

in spite of loads of rain in the area in the run up to the festival a dry few days and weekend meant we were spared the potential mud bath. the festival is set in the malvern hills in the grounds of eastnor castle. it really is a wonderful setting with hillsides overlooking the festival and lakes in the valley. it looks almost magical at night with the wonderful creative lighting that enhances the setting. reflected light in the water along with the lights from stages at night and the sounds coming from around the various stages all add to the vibe. the art trail is also brilliant - this year there was a mirror tiled boat being DJed from on the water (it was highly amusing when someone swam out to deliver fish and chips to the captain) which looked great in both daylight and at night, another lake and lit up tubes across it. and there was a tree with lanterns in that were connected to bikes underneath. a lantern would be lit when someone rode a bike - they were lit pretty much the whole time. the decor around the site generally is wonderful. i loved the sculpture women at the entrance to the mind body soul area.

if you've never been, it's not too crowded - probably about 35 000 i'm guessing - it may sound a lot but you can go to pretty much anything and get in ok. there are four stages with artists performing outdoors. the open air stage and castle stage have the bigger names i guess. enchanted garden is a smaller stage with more leftfield acts - i saw jon hopkins and lj kruzer there for example - and the village green is more acoustic. i finally got to see foy vance and a man who could fly! as well as bands performing the stages are also used for DJs - it's such a simple idea and i can't understand why more festivals don't use a stage in that way. then there are two main bars which have outdoor DJ booths. people grab a drink, sit down and listen to music and as the day progresses these become fantastic club venues outdoors. the club tent is huge. then there is a media mix tent with film and all sorts of creative stuff, a cabaret venue, a mind body and soul area and food and other stalls scattered throughout  and probably a load of stuff i have forgotten such as croquet which we fitted in a game of. i think i said this last year but greenbelt is the other fetsival i go to in the summer which i also love but as i help run it i don't get to much and know so many people there that when i am free i'm just catching up with people (which i love). at the big chill it's the opposite. i don't know many people and haven't got to go anything so can just go to stuff and enjoy it.

it's hard to pick out highlights. one of the acts i was most looking forward to were kruder and dorfmeister - i've been a fan of their work for years and never seen them. they had a good set up and DJed for the evening 2 hours each. whilst there were some great mixes it was a bit disappointing. i expected more artists or  creative input. bonobo were brilliant as ever. daddy g and norman jay played great sets, with norman jay drawing a huge crowd as ever for his sunday afternoon set and getting everyone on their feet dancing and having a good time. this is how it looked from the hill behind. ty gave me hope for british hip hop with his no labels approach. the cinematic orchestra were sublime. and i loved abraham wilson and the delta blues project who performed with the london community gospel choir doing the songs from the first ever gospel choir to visit the uk whose name i forget. ben westbeech looked to be having a blast. it was quite a surpise to encounter that there but it just shows how open and eclectic the big chill is.

i took a bunch of photos - i'm really pleased with some of them. i even managed to make the toilets look nice at night! i have linked to them throughout this post. the visual side will give you a better impression than the words i expect. always hard to pick favourites but i love the lantern that is being launched and the open air stage across the lake. the weather was wonderful and we even had a sunset over the stages. it seems to have become an annual fixture for me so i hope to be back next year.

thank you big chill for a wonderful festival.

big chill flying lantern

big chill flying lantern, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

no time to blog yet about the big chill. but we had a fab time. am now on holiday but stopping in to get intenet to catch up on greenbelt and proost. i have been sorting through photos and will upload them no doubt at some point but here's one of my favourites.you could get these lanterns that expanded with hot air and flew magically over the festival into the night. i saw some people letting them off on the hill and was trying to get a shot of one being launched with the festival lights in the background...

Technorati Tags: bigchill

time to chill

time to chill...

big chill tickets arrive

well me big chill tickets have arrived (breathes sigh of relief) and i am very excited about the line up...

warming up for the big chill

amba lifetracks, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

great warm up for the big chill last night with tom middleton aka amba playing with a four piece band and VJs at the national film theatre. fun in the bar after catching up with pete and jonny from ikon, kester and beki from the south london allotment crew and ian from moot...

amba lifeworks

looking forward to this tonight

i am officially a sad dad!

the latest big chill podcast has a feature on the open decks competition at the big chill bar. joel played fantastically when he entered and we all (completely biased) thought he should have won. well he obviously stuck in the memory of the organisers as he is name checked as someone to look out for - so how come he didn't win???!!!! somewhat embarrassingly i also get mentioned as his dad wandering around taking pictures like some sad old guy with no friends. o dear!

open dex at the big chill bar

open dex at the big chill bar, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

joel entered an open dex competition at the big chill bar last night and was brilliant. the winner was a guy playing very leftfield norweigian psychadelia (or something like it). the judges clearly liked that over joel's selection. but joel definitely was up there with his mixing and tunes - a fun night. not sure the big chill bar was used to a crowd of 6th formers turning up either...

joel is DJing at the big chill bar this weds

joel is DJing at the big chill bar on weds night at 8:25pm - it'll be a 20 minute set and is part of open dex. get yourself down there to cheer him on.