While I was in London for Free Range, I popped out from the Truman Brewery early one afternoon and trekked up the road to Haggerston Park in Hackney. There, the
Fence Collective were hosting an acoustic picnic, as part of
Roam London. Roam is the brainsprog of a chap called Robin Turner, who has been taking a converted mobile library around various locations in London, providing a rolling venue for all manner of artists, musicians and speakers; a true roaming festival. Fence's day featured performances from
The Pictish Trail,
Adem,
Player Piano,
Love.Stop.Repeat,
Vio/Mire and others, and talks from
Ian Vince and
Dan Kieran (
The Idler).
The scene was about as idyllic as could be feasible.. a sizeable crowd lounged on the grass in blazing sunshine, plucked notes wafting like stray dandelion seeds over their heads, punctuated only by an occasional "ping!", or perhaps a "pong!", from the outdoor ping-pong table in the park.
Adam, of Fence Beefboard legend and myth, had prepared a special Fence pork pie, which was declared by many present to be the best they had ever tasted. Cripes!
I'd also been asked to somehow perform the Pine Cone Kick audio-book, and so it was that, in the cosy confines of the mobile reading room, with pine cones adorning the front of the small raised stage, a life-preserver marked "Titanic" behind me, and the Pictish Trail helpfully holding up the pictures and making concerned faces to my right, the book received its début public reading.
I had been uncertain about how well the reading would go, but the reception was very encouraging, and good times were seemingly had by all (although Dave from Love.Stop.Repeat did point out that the Yorkshire Puddings hadn't been coloured in in one picture.). Now very much looking forward to presenting the audio-book live again, albeit in a more developed form!
The whole afternoon was absolutely delicious and lovely, huge thanks to Roam (for apparently sending unspecified images from the Hardsparrow Myspace to Time Out, eek!), and to Fence for having the twisted (impaired?) vision to put me on. ;)
The Pictish Trail, being ignored by a sun-dappled and unbothered populace (not really).
Dave from Love.Stop.Repeat brings the noise
