jonnybaker

nova chill

the creators of the original big chill festival have a new festival nova festival in the south downs from 5-8 july. i don't think i can make it. the big chill festival was bought by a bigger organisation and pretty quickly lost the wonderful vibe of the oriiginal festival so it's great to see something new landing...

festival annual 2010 first glimpse

you may remember i took photos for festival annual at the big chill festival this year. the launch party is in london on monday night but it has just landed at the designers back from the printer - nick kindly sent me a few snaps. it looks like i have a few photos in there which is great! looking forward to seeing it on monday.

big chill photos

festival goers, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

this year at the big chill i was on a photographer's ticket which was fun and a new experience. i've taken photos for the last few years anyway. this photo was taken for festival annual 10, commissioned by independents united. festival annual is all about the festival goers, the people who make it. lots of fancy dress and craziness all round makes for a lot of fun... this i think is my personal favourite photo out of the many i took.

i added a set of my favourite 25 to flickr. then there are around 165 of mine in this album of big chill photos on festival annual. mine begin in the middle of page 6 of the album with the photo before this one. the others were taken by jess.

highlights for me were seeing thom yorke, roy ayers playing everybody loves the sunshine and spencer tunick's shoot.

then there were the letters the big chill being rearranged | the inevitable sky lantern | a beautiful rainbow | dudey kids | massive attack of course | the beautiful illusion installation | fairies | frogs | gorillas | and other crazy outfits | bubbles and more...

fun times!

big chill moment

back from the big chill - a little bleary of course. one of the unusual things at this year's big chill was that spencer tunick was photographing some art pieces on the sunday morning. his work is photos of people naked in all sorts of settings. volunteers were asked to come forward. harry duly obliged - never one to be short on confidence! people were painted various colours - harry yellow. because i was taking photos for the festival annual i had a photo pass which meant i was in the photographers area (which was a rubbish spot so i moved out eventually!). but there was a very funny moment when harry spotted me and waved and then because the yellows were not being photographed wandered over to say hi. he suddenly realised that lots of camera lenses were pointed in his direction so put his hands to discreetly cover himself and said 'hey dad!' before wandering back. jessie who was the other photographer with the festival annual managed to catch that moment of him saying hi (thanks jessie). it was very funny and i am half expecting to see harry's naked yellow body in some publication or other!

i'll be uploading my photos and they'll be appearing on festival annual's facebook and myspace pages shortly...

off to the big chill

leave no trace, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

well it's my sixth year in a row to the big chill. can't wait! the line up is amazing. fri night i get to see thom york, massive attack and kruder and dorfmeister all in a row - wow :-)

this year i'm going on a photographer's ticket (i.e. a free one). i had some photos published in festival annual last year - a double page spread of sky lanterns drifting across the festival. well this year i have been commissioned by those guys to take photos at the festival. it means i have a photographers pass so can go in the pit at the front etc which will be a new experience. though the photos for the annual are of festival goers and festival moments rather than artists and bands.

joel and harry are also coming as ever. fun times!

exciting news - grace landskapes launch at the big chill house on august 20th

 

join us in the snug at the big chill house on friday august 20th for the launch party of landskapes, the new grace cd. the room has its own bar, sound system and projections. it should be a cracking evening. the room will hold about 150 people max. we want to pack the place. spread the word, forward the invite to friends, and note if you arrive after 10pm you'll have to pay.

big chill announce line up

massive attack, kruder and dorfmeister, roy ayers and so on...

a new season begins...

august is always holiday season for me so the blog reflects that by being pretty inactive but today i'll gradually kick back into action and that includes getting the blog going again. big chill, family holiday in scotland and greenbelt are now all over. photos from scotland will be appearing shortly but (shock horror!) i didn't take a camera to greenbelt as i find i am doing so many things i just can't give taking photos the attention it deserves.

greenbelt was wonderful as ever - it's such a great festival, a hopeful sign on the church map. i didn't actually get to much but the proost events were a real highlight and i must confess i loved inflicting my taste in tunes on people in the wine bar for two and half hours on sunday night!

speaking of festivals here is a movie i made of sky lanterns being let off at the big chill festival - if you are at the start of the year what are your dreams, hopes, prayers? i'll say more about this in a couple of weeks when it has fully landed but it is a bit of a new season for me at cms with some team changes and a shift of focus to more working with training pioneer mission leaders which i am really looking forward to.

sky lanterns magically float across the big chill festival from jonny baker on Vimeo.

maybe the poet - review of big chill 09

there's something about poetry that is close to themes of justice, truth, liberation and 'maybe the voice of the spirit'. it's true of art in general that it has that strain but somehow i'm beginning to think that the poet gets to it quicker or more intensely. maybe because it's just words or maybe because it's more marginal or maybe because you have to say something... i am so convinced about this that i have decided that if you move to an area and want to connect with people into spirituality and justice find the local poets and it won't be far away. i chatted with a guy in lancaster earlier this year about exactly this theme and idea.

this year at the big chill i spent a few hours in the words in motion tent once more hearing the astonishing jean binta breeze. she is the closest i have met to what i imagine a full on prophet/ess to be. and ursula rucker was also inspirational and equally hard hitting. but what amazed me in the tent once again was how many of the poems touched on deep themes from everybody even in the open mic slots... when i was at school poetry was inaccessible - i just didn't get it (how does school manage to make music and poetry a turn off?! weird). but now i'm thinking that walter brueggemann's thesis that it is the language of the poet that we need to hear to voice counter imagination  is more directly about poetry than i was thinking before. i had thought of it as a tone of speech. but no - unleash the poets in your midst or seek them out. if anyone has any favourite poems or poets do add a comment - i'm keen to expand my ignorance.

all that is by way saying a highlight of the big chill was the poetry/spoken word - words in motion. i have added a few photos (i really didn't take many this year) to flickr of this year's big chill. it was a treat to see david byrne - surprisingly i have never seen talking heads. two discoveries were erik truffaz and the white tree - both of whom i'll be seeking out some more music of. listening to laura b play on a stage in the enchanted garden whilst sitting in a hammock was sublime. lamb, norman jay, hexstatic, bonobo, orbital, basement jaxx and so on was all wonderful. seeing a few thousand people dressed as zombies for a film shoot the night before the festival was fairly amusing and harry and joel duly obliged. mr scruff's tea tent proved to be a great hang out with 'music for grown ups' as he described it and great tea - music for the old folks?! seeing sky lanterns going up in droves was also typically magical big chill. but mostly it was nice just to unwind, enjoy glorious unbroken sunshine, hang out with jen for our 22nd wedding anniversary at her first visit to the chill.

the only downer was chris cunningham - the man is a film genius no doubt technically but his opening music video was an assault on the senses so violent and abusive between a man and a woman that i felt physically sick and left - what is going on his head to create that kind of a narrative i have no idea. i looked on the big chill forum and several people cited him as a highlight which i just found bizarre - maybe it got a lot better or maybe i turned into mary whitehouse overnight - i hope so (that it got better) and i hope not (the mary whitehouse part). if anyone in the audience had experienced violence or abuse i dread to think what they felt. there are a lot of families with kids there at the festival - it just wasn't in keeping with the spirit of the festival imho. but hey - we left and recovered though the images have haunted me a several times since...

love the chill. thanks to the organisers who know how to create the most amazing festival. it all ended with a huge zombie bonfire - the purging of demons or something?! this was my fifth year in a row so i guess i'm a regular now...

simon who came with us along with joel and harry has posted a review here

flaming zombie and other big chill photos

flaming zombie, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

i have added a set of photos from the big chill 2009 . this is the huge bonfire of a zombie that had been built in the run up to the festival and looked totally amazing...

i am a happy man...

this is the outlook for the big chill right now...

that makes me happy :-)

if you're wanting a musical warm up, there's a playlist growing on spotify made up of artists who are playing. and there's a thread on the forum with links to download set times

big chill 2009

looking forward to the big chill festival next weekend. the line up looks great. hoping the weather will be kind!

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)