Monthly Archives: October 2011

MVFF International Documentary Award

 

Recently, a film I wrote music for was awarded, and well deserves the Audience Favourite International Documentary Award at the 34th Mill Valley Film Festival in California. The film is entitled Voices From The Shadows and is about M.E. It deals with the extraordinary struggle that sufferers go through with this incredibly debilitating illness.

 

“The film foregrounds the riveting stories of several British families confronting what must be everyone’s worst nightmare: a loved one suffering a life-altering illness that leaves him or her bedridden and in constant pain, with no apparent cure. But what if the medical establishment made the situation worse instead of better?” Read more here

 
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Live Drumming…Who Needs Plasters?

I was recently asked by my friend Chris Budd to stand in as drummer for the covers band he plays in Mangetout at a party they are playing at in one of Bristol’s new music venues The Tunnels.  It’s for a private birthday party and we’ll be playing around an hour’s set.  The music comprises a fair range of styles from Otis Reading and James Brown to The Clash, Pink and Amy Winehouse – good solid party fair.

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The X Factor: What Are We Actually Watching ?

   Time for a soapbox moment…

(Oct 17th 2011)

I know I’m going over well trodden ground here but The X Factor and probably other shows in its genre are in my opinion seriously misleading – by promising us one thing but delivering something very different.  At its inception the producers no doubt thought this show would be the definitive answer to modern day pop chart content – give the chart lovers a chance to initiate the careers of the most popular acts on stage. In theory this concept seems a very democratic selection process, and along the way there just might be an entertaining show for the rest of us whilst acts are routinely eliminated. The concept of a TV talent show of course dates back years, so this is not a new idea but The X Factor is simply the current incarnation.

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