With apologies for the short notice, the legendary Roundhouse are running an auction which concludes TODAY, and which includes two incredible Nick Mason auction items. Firstly, a pair of limited-edition, hand finished Pharaoh Drum Head prints, donated by Nick himself (https://riseupfortheroundhouse.com/lite-ui/?controller=lots&action=showLot&id=6). These drum heads prints are direct copies of the famous painted drum heads used during Pink Floyd’s early tours. The original ‘Pharaoh’ pair were used during the Floyd’s concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in 1969. Only 10 copies were ever made – by winning this lot you’ll own a piece of music history. Nick: “A couple of years ago we were moving all the drum kits and accessories to a new storage facility. Amongst the cymbal cases we found one that contained all the custom painted drum fronts that were painted for me by an artist, or artists, in the early seventies – usually to coincide with American tours. I have pictures of these in place at a number of shows…” Secondly, there’s a meet & greet with Nick’s Saucerful Of Secrets and double pass to their show at London’s Royal Albert Hall on June 29th. (https://riseupfortheroundhouse.com/lite-ui/?controller=lots&action=showLot&id=27) The show will be the band’s final UK concert of their upcoming Set The Controls 2024 tour. Both lots are available for bidding until the end of today, Wednesday March 20th. These are part of a larger silent auction full of top prizes from the music world, for their biannual Gala. They are fundraising for their work with young people aged 11-30, through which they provide life-changing experiences through the expressive arts.
In the latest of our BD visitor contributions, our good friend Dr Kevin De Ornellas, who is Lecturer in English Renaissance Literature, at the School of Arts and Humanities of Ulster University, takes a detailed look at A Theatre for Dreamers, the new book from Polly Samson. The audiobook for this expands on the lockdown broadcasts Polly and her husband, David Gilmour, have done, with new music created by David specifically for the project. Many of you have bought, or are thinking of buying, Polly's book, and indeed some of you will have got a copy when you bought a ticket for the (delayed) evenings hosted by Polly and David, which are also due to include some of the new music. For those curious, Kevin kindly expands on what he found upon reading the book…If you are looking for an easy read, a summer page-turner, this is not it. A Theatre for Dreamers is a difficult book, a book that is highly allusive and sometimes ethereal in quality. Although the basic story is very simple – a woman remembers being on Hydra with a bunch of creative types in 1960 as she coincidentally deals with revelations about her mother – the novel is layered with feeling and complex memory. The plot is not always linear – most of the novel describes memories of 1960 but we start off in 2016 before we go back to the late 1950s and by the end we have stopped off at Paddington Station in 1970 and returned again to the island some decades later. This structure makes sense: memories do not come to us in a neat, linear way so there is no need for this memory-fixated novel to be conveyed in a strictly linear trajectory.There is a large cast of characters: although we see everything from the self-consciously subjective eyes of Erica, the first-person narrator, she is greedy for experience and observation of varied humanity – put simply, she is interested in lots of people. Getting to know these people takes a lot of effort: for example, on page 215 alone we have to engage with the following named characters: Francine, Charmian, Leonard, Marianne, Jimmy, Bobby, Robyn, Bim, Axel, Angela, Marianne, Demitri, Charlie and Edie. Engaging with this novel necessitates commitment. Some of these characters are very significant to the novel as a whole; some are more incidental. It is worth making the effort because this is an intellectually substantial as well as emotive novel.
Happy Friday one and all, I do hope you are having the finest of Fridays. Welcome back to another chatty little sesh with moi and this time I am joined with the lovely Lex Low. Who just so happens to have released his newest single ‘Feel More’ today! So, grab a cooling, refreshing beverage (Ideally, …
Roger Waters This Is Not A Drill 2022 North America tour (https://www.brain-damage.co.uk/2020-tour-zone/index.php) took place last night (July 6th) at the Pittsburgh PPG Paints Arena. This followed what we hear was a dress rehearsal at Bryce Jordan Center, University Park, Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 2nd. Last night saw an enthralled crowd in Pittsburgh taking in the music, in a diverse and interesting set list, the spectacle, and the occasion itself. First nights are always fun, with everyone being in the same boat in terms of no knowledge of what is going to happen and when. Initial reports are that the show was quite an experience, but as always, we value your first hand views on all the concerts – so if you went, please let us know your thoughts! The Pittsburgh show page (https://www.brain-damage.co.uk/2020-tour-zone/july-8th-ppg-paints-arena-pittsburgh-pa-usa.html) has the full set list if you want to check out what was played – what mix of older and newer songs was there? What was the ratio of old Pink Floyd stuff against Roger’s solo material? Any new songs? The answers can be found here (https://www.brain-damage.co.uk/2020-tour-zone/july-8th-ppg-paints-arena-pittsburgh-pa-usa.html), hidden from immediate view as we normally do, so for those who accidentally go on the page, who don’t want to see it, they don’t! We’ve also got some great pictures (already!) which we’re adding to the page; if you have any contributions – a review, brief comments, or pictures – we’d love to see them! Please drop us a line at the normal address: Matt@Brain-Damage.co.uk (mailto:matt@brain-damage.co.uk?subject=BD%20contribution).
