Unsigned Sessions and Mention the Bear (by sarah)

Me and Alaric finally made it out to see some live music - something which has not happened yet this year! We went to the Unsigned Sessions at The Playhouse in Cheltenham. These are run by The Record Shop down by the Norwood pub.

It was the first time we had been in The Playhouse which has a nice light fitting I took photos off to try and sort our how my camera works! I only found the black and white setting after the gig!

The first band was unfortunately ill but a young guy came on and played some cracking tunes - I can't remember what his name was unfortunately.

We then got a band called Red Shift who were a three piece band, a guitarists with two guitars, a saxophonist and flutist in one and the dude at the back with the squeeze box who I unfortunately was not in the right place to photo.

They played some lovely covers - some of which had a depth the original songs never had.

The guitarists voice put me in mind of David Bowe meets Pink Floyd with a little Bon Jovi thrown in.

My one issue was I felt the Gnarls Berkely cover needed more energy, but having it sung by a warm female voice was genius 🙂

Then we got on to our friends' band, Mention The Bear, they were doing a 68 Come Back Elvis Special with guitar cases for percussion and more guitars than you can shake a stick at!

There was some serious hand blurring on the fret board happening and Richard did not disappoint with raw performance - if Elvis and Jim Morrison had had a love child... just watch the video I took!

Neither the film nor photos are as good as I wanted as I was just mucking about with settings to see what I got and some of them I didn't realise weren't quiet there until I got them up on a computer screen!

See guitar case drum!

Guitars galore!

Dan rocking out!

Richard absorbed by the music.

Jumping around time!

I was really happy to have an chance to wear my fifty style skirt I made last year (with modernish heavy metal themed material!) and my ancient blue suede boots 🙂 Though I am still disappointed there was no black leather!

Postcards and Stickers (by sarah)

I decided it was time to get some postcards and stickers made, I used moo.com which isn't the cheapest but is the most accessible for what I wanted plus they had a sale!

I needed stickers for the Poetry Writing Challenge I am running and then I needed postcards for the Science-Art Exhibition I'll be running at Centre Arts in March, plus I wanted to give little copies of my Inspira pictures to friends who were struggling with various things in their lives.

I have been over the moon with them - people have been saying I should be selling them but not entirely sure where to do that for best affect at the moment.

Bristol Mini Maker Faire and My Creativi-Tea (by sarah)

Saturday the 23rd of March 2013 is the Bristol Mini Maker Faire, maker faires are were arts, crafts and technology makers all get together to show off what they have been doing and exchange ideas etc... we are going and a few others people maybe coming with us which should be fun.

I have also been planning a Creativi-Tea event where friends can come over and we can exchange crafty know-how, so I am thinking it would be best to hold it on the Sunday so that friends who are visiting to go to Bristol anyway will be able to hang around for it 🙂

There will be cake and tea and sandwiches and limit of ten people. There has been quiet alot of interests in glass cutting and stuff so that is probably what we will focus on - though it can be tailored to those who come. There will be no charge for resources used but a collection bowl/url for donations to Shelter will be present.

Crowd Sourced Creative Ventures (by sarah)

I love writing challenges and things like #FridayFlash and #StoryStarters on Twitter where there is an open community helping each other and giving writing prompts. So imagine my excitement when Neil Gaiman appeared on Twitter wanting prompts and inspiration for a set of stories!

He tweeted a question for each month with the hash tags #JanTales, FebTales and so on. I tried to stay up (he's in the US so time difference) to get all the months but only made it to July though the next morning I retraced and answered the remaining questions just for my own piece of mind.

I doubt any of my mine will be selected but that doesn't matter because if they are not then I have some prompts for my own writing.

The idea is sponsored by [BlackBerry who have been collecting all the tweets on a hub. And there will be charity calendar produced with crowd sourced art works as well (and yes I am hoping to do some pics for that to enter!).

This is a lovely idea as it draws in people and becomes something more than a story collection - it is in truth already a community - I have picked up one follower who was having issues with his writing prompt generator and I have suggested improvements to it and so on...

Anyway here are the questions and my answers:

Why is January so dangerous?

January is a time of change, the door way between one year and the next, a dangerous edge time #jantales

What is the strangest this to happen to you in February?

The strangest thing that has happened to me in Feb is I passed out in an art gallery & came round staring at a picture #febtale

What historical figure does March remind you of?

Queen Elizabeth the first as it was the first time I heard the legend of the Bisley Boy #Martale

What is your happiest memory of April

my little brother being born after so much waiting - that is the happiest April memory #AprTale

What is the weirdest gift you've ever been given in May?

A shovel over breakfast of a baby stoat in 3 pieces by an eccentric ancient aunt who thought we'd find it interesting. #MayTale

Where would you spend a perfect June?

The perfect June is spent with my family running workshops at festivals #Juntale not very interesting

What is the most unusual thing you have ever seen in July?

segway shopping basket grannies fighting and asking for gin - it was of course the stilt walkers latest get up #JulTale

If August could speak, what would it say?

My gown is covered in berries help me clean them up in time for a new golden gown of leaves #AugTale

Tell me something you lost in September that meant a lot to you.

A friend washed away in a flash flood whilst he was collecting soil samples in a small town near my home #SeptTale

What mythical creature would you like to meet in October? (&why?)

The Bunyip because when I was 4 my Australian aunts told me about it and I've always liked the stories #OctTale

What would you burn in November, if you could?

Hatred #NovTale

Who would you like to see again in December?

Too many people who I can't

New Camera! (by sarah)

I hunted around and got this camera as a late birthday present - my family gave me some money and so did Alaric (mainly I think out of desperation as I kept stealing his phone). It was in a sale so was £40 cheaper than it should have been and infact still is on the manufactures website - this allowed me to get a case for it as well and stick to my £100 budget. It's 14 mega pixels - there was a lovely 16 mega pixel camera but it was only reduced by £10 and I would have had no money for a case.

The above was medium light levels with no flash - it would have come out very dark with the previous camera and grainy.

I am ecstatic with it and am driving everyone potty with it - Jean is now ignoring it!

One of the first things I did was check the zoom and light levels.

The shape of the camera makes it easier to hold without shaking which was a big problem with previous cameras - I am having the problem of zooming in too far and I am still adjusting to focal lengths etc... so am getting a few blurry duff pics. Of course I have not yet read the manual and am 'winging' it which is not the best way but a very Sarah way!