Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in ian's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
12:56 pm	Introducing... The  new band I am in, "The Peterboroughs", play our first show tonight opening for Persil at the Cardigan Arms Leeds. (Persil are from Amsterdam. Also on the bill are Container Drivers and This Many Boyfriends. I love all three bands, and couldn't ask for a better bill to debut with.) We only have five songs, one of which is a Go-Betweens cover, another is semi-improvised, but two of the remaining songs are really good, to the extent they sound like someone else must have written them.  I am also nervous about being in a band where I have to play a proper instument (my lovely  accordian). Will let you know how it went afterwards. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
7:38 pm	Ian Cockburn's Interminable Edinburgh Fringe 2009 Review Right, lets see if I can get this damned thing finished. I made the mistake of writing it in the present tense, and when I do that I always keep forgetting I've done it and lapse into the past tense. Never again. Also please excuse my humourlessness when I speak of such humorous things. Thanks to my housemate for letting me use his room and computer, as my computer is still dead. ( LET'S PUT THIS UNDER A CUT ) (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 5th, 2008
10:37 pm	more surreallist parlour games Copied fromdaydreamweaver  Put your MP3 player on shuffle, and write down the first line of the first twenty songs. Post the poem that results. The first line of the twenty-first is the title. Here, In The Night, Love Takes Control When you're a little girl I've got something to say that might cause you pain I was up at midnight to make sure my abstract was perfect You can go to Hell if you think I couldn't tell Oh dear, starting another day I suppose Try to see things my way You talk a lot about nothing at all Oh you make me lovesick, that's for sure Which reminds me of us If everybody had an ocean This room is cold, and it's been that way for several months Bang, there was you Day after day, alone on a hill There's an old Australian bush song Don't stop the night, we rushed to this flat To my old brown Earth I can't stand Johnny Swan, he's anti-static I never went to the tropical island some members of the audience, when they see this kind of set I think my music player shuffle thing doesn't shuffle very well. The three Beatles songs here you might have spotted are all from but one CD, a compilation of Motown Beatles covers. Also two songs for the same Crystals compilation. Current Mood: depressed Current Music: not that big a story (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
10:06 pm	On the Monday (I'm still talking about France), Emilie drove us to the coast, a long way through pretty towns and villages. We went to the beach at Wimereux, which is just outside Boulogne. It made me want to sing "Wimoweh". It was extremely windy, and quite cold, so there were very few people about, except windsurfers. The tide was high so there was not much beach to speak of. The wind made the waves perfom heroic acrobatics. We wandered past all the buildings and cabanas to the unihabited rocks and kept walking until it became a bit boggy. Such walks, where one bounds from rock to rock, are among my favourite things. Then, having explored the town (everywhere was closed, on account of Monday being part of the weekend in France) and at a loose end, we got back in the car and she drove us to the next little town, a more beautiful spot called Ambleteuse. Just a village, but with some beutiful buildings and dunes. I haven't got the photos back for that yet. WHen I will get them, they will be black and white, as they were taken on the black and white film Emilie gave me. We walked and were romantic with each other in the wind, going arround in a circle, then back in the car to Cap Gris Nez, another beautiful coastal spot. Emilie pointed out that one could see England, over a very narrow stretch of the Channel. One more stop and we came to Cap Blanc Nez, with it's huge cenotaph. We were almost at Calais now, but we didn't go there, we just went back south again then Eastwards back to Lille. Emilie got a bit stressed about the traffic and some tricky situations on the way back, and I was no help, but she got us back safe an sound anyway. On my last morning in France, the Tuesday, she made us waffles in a waffle maker. I want one! I am now completely in love with the Northern Gallic way of life, as well as with Emilie. Current Music: Silence (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
10:16 pm	Lille I forgot to mention in the Tournai entry that we also went to the Art Gallery, and a fine comic shop in which I found a comic book version of the lyrics of Jacques Brel... however in the end I bought Le Journal D'Henriette (Tome 2) by Dupuy & Berberian of "Monsieur Jean" fame. The next day we went back into Lille, where Emilie took me to the old quarter, which was so beautiful. I had been led to believe that Lille was France's equivilant to Leeds, but it has far, far more beauty. We went to an indoor market of second hand books and prints, where I bought more comics- Astérix et les Normands, Monsieur Jean and- a real find- a French translation of geniune E.C. Segar original "Popeye" comic strips- one of my favourite comic strips ever. You really don't know Popeye if you've never read the hilarious, thrilling, original run. I also got Colin McInnes's "Absolute Beginners" in French- a favourite novel. Emilie picked some more comic books out for me. Then we went to Lille's Art Gallery, which was disappointing considering it's supposed to be the best art gallery in France outside Paris. But perhaps it's predictable I would say that as it's claim to greatness rests on its collection of paintings by my bête noire Rubens. As far as Flemish art goes, there were too many Rubenses, not enough Bruegel (the elder)s. The Goya exhibition had just closed, and we thought that we would not be able to see the gallery's own Goya paintings which had featured in the exhibition, but we managed to see them in the end, in a darkened corridor at the edge of where the exhibition was. This was entirely due to the persistence and watchfulness of Emilie. Though I was otherwise disappointed with the main painting galleries, I was much more impressed with the lower floors which had a collection of older, more primitive religious art, and a collection of old maquettes of fortified towns: Emilie's cousin Nina was letting us stay in her appartment in Lille that night, so we dropped our bags there, before going to meet some friends of Emilie's. There was a fine atmosphere of laughter and joy as her friend Hélène had some fantastic news, and Emilie was given some birthday presents. We went to the fair, but didn't actually go on any rides. The next morning Emilie let me lie and went and bought us some fresh croissants and a baguette, and coffee, for a proper French petit-dejeuner.  Now, here's some photos of Lille: ( more under the cut ) Current Music: Blonde on Blonde (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 7th, 2008
12:49 pm	Emilie et Ian chez les Belges Got back from France on Tuesday after five and a half days blissful sojourn with Emilie.   I went via London, where I went to the British Museum and saw the fine free exhibition of 20th century American Prints, which Emilie had also seen. I also went to the Cartoon Museum and saw the 70 years of Dandy/Beano exhibition. (I don't think that when I was a child and I was completely obsessed with these comics, I could ever have concieved that there would be a time when I could go to such an exhibition and feel so cool about it, so detatched and distanced from it. I suppose it's because I've never allowed my childhood heritage go. If I had renounced it all at sixteen and forgotten it all, then the sudden recollection of it might have brought a cascade of nostalgic sentimentality. As it is, I have, since my childhood, not only reread some of my old comics from time to time, but also read countless articles about them, which have served principally to impress on me that the artists and writers considered it hackwork and were very poorly paid for their trouble. I got the Eurostar for the first time, from St Pancras to Lille. The biggest train I've ever been in. Very comfortable. It was such a big deal checking in, that I went and queued in the bar/restaurant car, feeling as though I would be on the train for hours. Then I remembered that it was only a 90 minute ride and that Emilie would be waiting for me with homemade food. Emilie was waiting for me, and indeed she had lots of cakes and biscuits and food for me. She drove me to her parents' house in the little country town of Aubers, where I met her parents, who are extremely nice, although I couldn't communicate tehm very well due to teh language barrier. I hadn't made half as much progress in my French as I had let myself believe. I sat through most of the French conversations during my stay in baffled silence.  Emilie said I should have spoken up more, and made it clear when I diodn't understand something, and made more of an effort to try more French phrases myself, but after a while I jsut became paralysed with shyness and fear. Usually when I did say something in French, I pronounced something wrong and met with looks of bewilderment, which didn't encourage me to do so more often. But Emilie's parents seemed very accepting of me, and were very hospitable, giving us lifts, letting us use the car and making vegetarian meals for us. They were all preoccupied by the sudden adventure they had thrown themselves into of buying an apartment for Emilie to live in in Lille. Emilie had been having terrible trouble finding a place to stay for the academic year in Lille, and her parents were looking to invest some money, and it had all come to a head that week. So that was the main topic of conversation. We watched the start of Jules et Jim, which I had never seen before. That was too hard fo rme too understand too, and I was tired from having got up at half past four in the morning, so we went to bed. Next morning, Emilie made cat-shaped pancakes. Then Emilie's friend Nathalie came to give us a ride on a day out to Tournai, over the border in Belgium. ( pretty pictures of Tournai ) ( andmoreagain ) Coming up next time: Photos and menories of Lille! Don't miss it! Current Music: France-Inter (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 21st, 2008
9:08 pm	Some old art Here's the mugs I painted for my mum's Christmas presents, all after Marc Chagall paintings. The photos are courtesy of her partner Peter. And here's my very strange birthday portrait of my mum. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008
9:28 pm	Belated thirtieth bithday weekendathon I know some of you are 17th Century history buffs, so this might be of interest: David Attenborough and Lisa Jardine on Robert Hooke; http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/greatlives/index.shtml The party went as well as could be expected, which is to say  "very very very good indeed." heymilie showed up on Thursday from France and we spent Friday picking CDs to take to the party (most of which i didn't get to play), and putting together our contribution to the buffet. I was overwhelmed by the number of friends who made the trip, as I was expecting the number to be quite small given that it's not in Leeds, it was quite short notice, there's a lot of things going on this summer, and many of my friends now feel a little to old for the sleeping-in-a-bag on-the-floor game. Here are a few of them: I hope Emilie won't mind me stealing her photo, I haven't got mine back yet (back on the 35mm analogue). There was dancing, gymnastics, physical party games, piano-tinkling, some controversial near-nudity (not from me) and a wonderful late night walk up the hill, by severely cloud-shrouded moonlight. We stayed up till three or four (accounts vary) and had a sleep so uncomfortable that it was a relief to get up, get some coffee down us and start tidying up. When everyone had got up, we went for another walk, I met some nice new people, then me and Emilie got the train back to Leeds to see a bit of Hyde PArk Unity day. A bit of it was all we saw, as we had to go home and dispose of our luggage and quickly make ourselves some salad to keep ourselves alive. Then straight back to Unity Day to dance in the mud to the Lonesome Cowboys' set (Hank Williams tribute act with the marvellous David Broad and friends). Then straight to the Library pub to see D'Astro and Bilge Pump, the last two bands at Chris Paul Daniels's "Lion Power" birthday/leaving do spectacular. Both were great, Bilge Pump even causing crowd-surfing, but D'Astro were mind-blowingly good. We went home after that, as we had to get up early on Sunday to see the Klimt exhibition at the Tate in Liverpool. We overslept anyway, and didn't know if it would have sold out by the time we got there, but thankfully it hadn't. We went to the Breton-style crepe shop next door for a surprisingly non-extortionate lunch while waiting for our timed tickets to be valid (we left in such a hurry and flurry we had no time to make packed lunch). The exhibition was great, although I'm not sure all the extra historical material was quite enough to compensate for the lack of many actual paintings. Afterwards we went to the Walker collection, which I last went to while i was still at school. I enjoyed it but afterwards felt that maybe we'd spent too much time indoors at museums instead of really seeing the city. Mind you, we'd both been to Liverpool before. Then we had to hop on the train straight back to Leeds in order to make quiche with the ricotta cheese Chris had found whilst skip-raiding. I didn't play much of a part in this, not knowing how to make quiche, I was merely the assistant. Chris also made a rhubarb crumble for a meal to round off a perfect weekend. Then on Monday night, Emilie already gone, I saw Philip Jeays play. But this is starting to cover too much ground for a single entry. I think I like being in my thirties. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
11:51 pm	Emilie is coming tomorrow. I've got some days off work so we can go places and do stuff, like visit people in Sheffield and maybe Shropshire, maybe Todmorden. There are also two seven inches shows in Leeds in that time. I was supposed to be seeing Bjork tonight but she cancelled again, this time for good. Well, it's extremely disappointing but I could use the money back, and it was good having tonight to tidy the house. Haven't done a very good job of it. So what have I been up to since my birthday? I painted a portait of my mum, went to her 60th birthday party in Shropshire, which the seven inches played at acoustically... The inches also played in Hull, and have been rehearsing lots and learning new songs. I went to two parties in Todmorden, including one at the weird big old union building that I almost moved into but changed my mind. My friend Beth did move there however, and it has a big events hall where, at this party,  there was a cabaret! I played a song in it on Beth's accordian. My mum's birthday party was wonderful, I can't remember another event where there really were so many people I knew in so many different ways- The seven inches were there, of course, and a few other friends of mine from Leeds, plus all these family friends, relatives and neighbours, some of whom I hadn't seen in years. It was great to play them some songs, considering most of them would never otherwise have seen us play. It rained all day, and I soaked my boots and clothed in a useless attempt to get rid of thistles, but it cleared next day for a lovely walk. There were also extremes of wind. I don't feel I am writing about any of this with any great skill, so will sign off. Emilie comes tomorrow! Current Music: Palace music (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 31st, 2008
12:35 pm	Primavera springs prettily in Italy Voici des photographies de Venise, où je suis allé en avril avec ma mère et mon frère. ( etplusencore ) (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 26th, 2008
12:19 pm	As it's a bank holiday I thought I'd finally respond to reynardin's challenge aeons ago to show some pictures of the streets where I live, work and roam, my everyday locales. ( Photos be under the cut ) (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 24th, 2008
3:21 pm	To Market Today But first, a quick inches update Our show tomorrow in Sheffield is cancelled. See our tour dates below for another gig in the city of steel: 24 Jun 2008      20:00     Mugwump @ Sharkey’s with The Rocky Nest     Hull 5 Jul 2008     20:00     Cardigan Arms with the Bonsai Kittens, Beasts and Cowtown     Leeds 21 Jul 2008     20:00     The Red House with The Smittens     Sheffield 28 Jul 2008     20:00     Female Trouble @ Fuel, with The Smittens     Manchester Voila the poster for our next Leeds gig, courtesy the Bonsai Kittens: The principal words I would draw your attention to here are "Free", "cake", "bonsai kittens", "final gig" and "cowtown". The words I would seek to distract you away from are "Frank", "and" and "Walters". Look at the Panda instead. Current Music: France-Inter radio (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 18th, 2008
11:03 am	Well, I was so nervous yesterday, to the point where it was making me miserable, but all worked out very well. Chris gave me a lift to the Primrose at 6, an hour before I was needed there. It was extremely quiet there and eventually all the regulars left and I was alone in the pub except for the occassional staff member wandering in and out. Just as the only person who said they were coming to see me texted to say they weren't coming, the promoter came in and told me he was going to have to cancel as I was the only act that had turned up. It was a great relief. I had two parties to go to, and both were lovely. I was worried about drinking, I didn't want to drink, but I didn't want to not drink. But it was fine, with just a few glasses of wine and punch.... I got to sing my songs at wicker_girl's birthday party anyway, to a more appreciative (and numerous) audience than I would have had at the Primrose. Sang new novelty number "I took a chance on a band name". Her house is beauutiful. Today, after rehearsal, I am going to see Big Eyes and Quack Quack and others at Chinchillafest at the Brudenell. then, I must finally knuckle down and sort my life out. Current Music: Brel- le cheval (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 17th, 2008
3:41 pm	I feel guilty about my last post, it was too cheerful considering half the world is overrun with Horror right now.. Tonight I am nervous about my show at the primrose, everything in the world is happening elsewhere in Leeds, so not expecting anyone to come. I feel quite withdrawn. The nervous feeling one gets when juggling with too many balls in the air. Current Music: Boris Vian & ?- "fais-moi mal" (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 12th, 2008
11:56 pm	Not so long ago I thought my wild and heedless youth was over.... Now I am sure my life is as full, exciting, bewildering and fast as it has ever been. Full of ever so many things. The secret is to let things come so fast that there's no time to worry about them. I think. I have just been to London for a weekend and did tons of things despite having a crushed toe. Including El Jonathan, manhattan Love Suicides and Ladyfest London. The perfect hosts. And the most delicious barbecue with some Davieses. Last week I went to look at an incredible house in Todmorden. It looks like I'm moving there after all! I have a show on Saturday at the Primrose in Leeds, am writing a new song for it. I feel so inspired. So much has not only happened, but is going to happen soon. Mon amoureuse reviendrais à l'Europe le mois prochain! Current Music: Jonathan's new one (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, May 5th, 2008
7:53 pm	It's not up to you Today is bank holiday, I have spent it at home and not achieved very much. I always find it hard to get stuff done at home on days off- I don't know if this due to laziness, a buildup of exhaustion, or other factors (e.g. today being hot and muggy and my room being stuffy). I got out for a walk in the park, made some nice food, and got some inconsequential odds and ends done and listened to a lot of radio programmes. The weekend was spent in Sheffield and Bakewell for  Nigel and Jo's wedding. I was also going to see Bjork play but she cancelled due to unspecified illness. I'm anticipating it being rescheduled The wedding was truly lovely, really informal and in line with the couples' taste. They wed in the Bakewell registry office (I was glad to escape another church service), then after some tea and cake in the pub we all went for a five mile walk, stopping for a picnic. Gareth and Hywel had a very energetic game of frisbee. We all got the bus back to Sheffield where dinner was held at Kumquat May, billed in the invitation as "Sheffield's best (and only) vegetarian restaurant" Nigel and Jo had compiled a quiz and activity sheet for us, and the food was delicious. Afterwards we went back to their house for the spectacular wedding cake, topped by a handmade painted clay model of Nigel wheeling Jo over the threshold in a wheelbarrow. Cake and model were both made by Jo's mother. Both their families were extremely nice and I didn't notice any forbidding-looking suited figures looking askance at the "alternative types". I stayed the night at their house and in the morning there were follow-up visits of congratulations and cake-eating, very laidback, and a few of us went for a walk in Ecclesall woods in the afternoon, seeing the bluebells and the sawmills and the woodworkers' shop. I also paid another quick visit to Heeley urban farm with Nigel. A feeling of happiness engulfed me, as it always does when i visit my Sheffield friends. P.S. Nigel was the original drummer with the Seven Inches (2002-4) Congratulations, Mr and Mrs warner_fitz! As for me, the gallivanting around doesn't stop here, as I am in London at the weekend seeing Jonathan Richman. He has a new album out this week or thereabouts, but he'll probably already be focussing on material from the next one. By the way, The Guardian Guide says we are playing at Trash on Tuesday but this is not the case. can tha spot me? Current Music: Boris Vian (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
8:40 pm	The passion I got back from Venice to a spookily tidy house, an extra fridge, our rediscovered guestbook face-open on the table full of nice encomiums from the band Evangelista who stayed there while I was gone. Venice was a big education. I hadn't realised that, except at the bus station on the edge of town, there are no roads for vehicles at ALL in Venice. Call me completely ignorant, but I manage to miss this fact despite having been there as a kid. Wonderful. I hate cars, as you know, and I like walking and sailing very much. The houses were all very very old and so colourful and beautiful. They don't make houses like that anymore, and why? Why not? They say it's inconvenient and expensive to live there, and i'm sure it is, but surely it could be worth it? If I hadn't mentioned, I was with my mum and brother. We went to some museums and galleries (I hoped to be converted to Venetian painting, but was disappointed. Surprising as it may seem, it was definitely not one of the best cities to go to for art. The modern collections were good though, especially teh Peggy Guggenheim. And the late Titian exhibition wasn't bad, though I despise Titian in general, despite his flashes of genius) we went to the island of Torcello, which was beautiful and had a huge Romanesque church first built in the 7th or 8th century. We went to a concert of operatic pieces in 18th century dress (the performers, not us) and ate out every day as our hotel had no self catering facility. But what a hotel! A small house overlooking the Grand Canal, with big rooms with incredibly tall ceilings, beautiful wood pannelled ceilings at that, and tasteless chandeliers. We also had drinks at Florian's, a famous bar at Piazza della San Marco,  with an live band outside. In fact we went twice, one time they were playing showtunes, the other time light classical. We went into a million dingy churches full of gloomy paintings, with some nice bits. we went into teh Doge's Palace...  and lots of waterbuses. maybe some photos when I get them developed. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 21st, 2008
11:36 pm	off again Didn't get round to updating properly since America, and now here I am off again to Italy. Back on Sunday. I really feel hunger to write. Life is good and I like writing about good things. " Life was good. Why not say so?"- John Porcellino, "King Cat Classix", end notes. We played two alldayers this weekend. I enjoyed the Bradford one more, because the atmostphere at the Leeds one was weird (and because Bradford was generally better in other respects). I made it worse by a particularly acute attack of shyness and paranoia. People don't understand how I can claim to be shy yet regularly make an exhibition of myself on stage. It's different. I'm not as shy about performing as I am about interacting with people, unless they be very close friends. Since I learnt that peope mistake shyness for aloofness and rudeness, shyness leads to paranoia. I would like to write more about this and a hundred other topics but I have to pack and tidy up because Evangelista are staying here while I'm away. Current Music: Toujours Brel (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 17th, 2008
8:50 pm	"It can't be all that pretty" Here finally are highlights of my San Francisco photos: http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h162/iancockburn/san%20francisco/ And here are the highlights of the highlights, chosen whimsically: heymilie lilbitterbug (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
9:04 am	i should know by now that not writing about an occurrence immediately jeopardises one's ever writing about it. Anyhow, the weekend was lovely, walking on catsbells (?) mountain in the lake district, followed by a huge family party in the most luxurious hotel I've ever stayed at. Tonight, as I may have mentioned, I'm recording vocals for several seven inches songs, then I'm going to get over to Hyde Park for a low-key show with Moe Boestern, her of the rousing fishing folk songs and strike reminiscenses. Big weekend for shows this week: ART OF KISSING in Leeds (see poster on the other posting), and at the 1 in 12 anarchist club in Brighton, which I don't think I've been to for ten years since I saw Blyth Power there. Oh, and thatnks to Penny's recommendation, "The Little Things" got played on BBC6 music on sunday by the legendary Tom Robinson! The author of "Glad to be Gay" apparently said he liked my lyrics! Current Mood: busy (Comment on this)