Over the last few months Octopus has been visiting the residents of Station View House, playing records and talking about music, how we experience it and what it means to people . In the coming year we will be working on a project called Voices Of Station View, with the support of our County Council. Today  composer Philip Jeck performed for  the residents,  drawing on records sourced from local charity shops.  At the end of the performance a member of the audience told Philip ” I could have listened to that all day.”

The first event of FON 2011.  Japanese Free Radio pioneer Tetsuo Kogawa presents his Transmitter workshop at Lanternhouse , Ulverston,

Lee Gamble,  Philip Jeck and AGF at Piel View House , Barrow , at work on their pieces for FON 2011.  Lee, Antye and Philip will join Barrow’s own Tom Scott and  Japanese Transmissions Artist Tetsuo Kogawa. Tetsuo presents a Transmitter workshop at Lanternhouse tonight alongside a performance and origami workshop from Ryoko Akama.

Barrow Island Schools Year Six crammed themselves into John ‘s art studio for a live recording as the culmination of  a days Sound, Text and Music workshops . The group produced a series of recordings reflecting on thier camping residential at Ormsgill, and took part in editing, recording music and sound effects , writing and delivering texts with Octopods Glenn, John and Andrew and guest writer Kate Davis. The project was part of the Bifocals EAR programme.  Here’s Megan’s poem The Climbing Wall, with breathy effects and a thumb piano and vocal loop.

The Climbing Wall

Re-Dock’s John O’Shea returns for a further recce of Barrow Park in advance of their FON project.  Here we have Andrew making a test broadcast from the boating lake while John and Glenn, (with Ruth McCullough from AND) test the range from various sites around the park. John also visited our friends at Station View House in Barrow to set up a meeting with residents who will be compiling vinyl for a  FON Desert Island Discs broadcast from the Re-Dock Swan Pedalo.

For the benefit of any younger Barrovians, this is a Record Shop.  Second Layer is in London, just up from Highgate tube, and they stock a huge and excellent array of cd’s and vinyl ranging from what our friend Davydd Pattinson calls Harsh Noise to the English Bucolica of Shirley Collins. They were  among the first friends of FON 2009 and they’re well worth a visit, have a look at their site .

www.secondlayer.co.uk

Elderly Fairport fans will get the reference.  Mary Stark , Ellie Chaney with friends and family in the , er, Octopus garden after thier april Bandstand show.

Purposefully striding towards the kitchen are Octopods Andrew and Glenn and ( red jacket) FON 2011 artist John O’Shea of  RE-DOCK.  John was in the park to have a look at the boating pond which on which the RE-DOCK Swan Pedalo will sail during FON weekend August 5 and 6. John also gave us a preview of  his great film documenting a Workington Uppies v Downies game from a few weeks ago, and his plans for the reintroduction of pigs bladder football into the sporting calendar.

Poulpe

by Octopus

Saturday 26th March, Islington Mill, James Street, Salford M3 5HW

7pm-3am, £7 admission

Octopus members John Hall, Andrew Deakin, Fern Oxley and Glenn Boulter
have developed POULPE as part of a short residency with Islington Mill.

The piece takes charity shop audio books collected in Cumbria and
Manchester as source material for a multi-channel installation
and a series of live performances. Creating a variable audio collage
from fragments of throwaway fiction, POULPE will be presented on
Islington Mill’s upper floors during the Merzman cabaret on
Saturday the 26th March from 7pm.

POULPE is Octopus’ second foray into Schwitters-inspired audio work
following ‘Morsonata’, a radio piece by Mobile Radio that was
commissioned for the inaugural FON Festival in 2009.
‘Morsonata’ saw Schwitters’ ‘Ursonate’ performed
by two Morse code operators from Barrow-in-Furness
Submariners’ Association as part of an hour long transmission
that was broadcast live from the festival’s base in Barrow Shipyard.

POULPE was commissioned by Littoral as part of
MERZMAN: Kurt Schwitters in the North West

www.islingtonmill.com
www.merzman.co.uk
www.octopuscollective.com