A journal by artist and designer John Coulthart.
Photography
Well I did look for some of Walter’s arcades (or passages couverts as the French call them), assisted by this excellent guide, but the ones I tracked down were closed. This narrow street (the Cour du Commerce St-André) in St-Germain-des-Prés made up for that. Looks better at night when all the restaurants are open but is more difficult to photograph.
Back home again with enough photos to make postings for a whole year. I’ll restrain myself, however, and for now you can see the result of my quest to capture the perfect Eiffel Tower shot. This involved waiting patiently for other tourists at the Trocadero to move away from the one spot on the balustrade that allows a symmetrical view then setting up the mini tripod. For those who appreciate such details, my small Canon PowerShot was shooting at F8.0 with a 4″ exposure. The big arc lights to the left and right were part of some exposition whose construction was in progress around the fountain.
Out again to see world-class drummer Chris Corsano play another stunning improv set. This is his last appearance in Manchester, unfortunately, prior to relocating to Edinburgh. Impossible to describe the full range of Corsano’s performance (although I made an attempt earlier). Suffice to say you really ought to try and see this guy play live if you get the chance.
Photography by Jean-Philippe Raibaud.
Another otherwise fine site spoiled by a slow
(and, in Firefox, unworkable) Flash interface.
Of all the releases I’ve heard so far from the excellent Type record label (who are now based in Manchester), my favourites have been Seawards by Sickoakes and Eingya by Helios. So it was a pleasure this evening to see Helios perform in a tiny and rather crowded bar, even if the enjoyment was compromised by a portion of the clientele who seemed to regard live music as a novel backing for their own chatter. Naomi Kashiwagi gave support with a presentation of her unique DJ set which involves playing antique 78s on equally antique wind-up gramophones.
Keith Kenniff (above) aka Helios (he also performs as Goldmund and Sono) was accompanied by his younger brother with both playing guitars and taking turns with keyboard duties. A laptop provided some pre-programmed rhythms and Keith also played live drums. As far as I could tell they played most of the wonderful Eingya album although some of the musical detail was difficult to hear over the glass-clinking rabble. Here’s hoping they return to Manchester again soon and receive a more attentive reception next time.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Seawards by Sickoakes