Search results matching tag 'entertainment'

Why you should go clubbing if you work at an agency

2292853 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:15:00 GMT

We all know that the day-in day-out work-a-day world of being in a creative agency is not always filled with euphoric moments of creative epiphany, and that's why nights and weekends should be for seeking out inspiration, sometimes in the form of wild, decadent good old-fashioned 90s-style night clubbing.

If you are pressured to consistently develop creative campaigns, be it digital or traditional, in advertising, marketing, public relations or social media, it is the world around you that is going to give you that jolt of insight for a client. For this I prescribe clubbing. Iggy Pop's song Nightclubbing should be ringing in your head now. Can you hear his lyrics about exploring urban delights until the wee morning hours?

However, your inspiration may come not from dull mega West End night spots, but from the pits of seedy grime in far flung postal codes. I'm thinking about this now, because I went out over the weekend for Halloween, but was a little surprised at the lack of outrageous costumes I found across London, clearly the clubbing generation has changed a lot from my 90s heydays. In fact, most people didn't bother to dress up at all.

I'm told that is because Halloween isn't really big in the UK, and that part (I'm a New Yorker living in London) is one of my cultural learnings here. So, being one of a handful of people who dressed to the nines for Halloween, and felt like more of a spectacle than I expected, I'm encouraging all the young creative people I know at agencies this week to go out clubbing, 90s-style and bring back some inspiration that might apply to a client campaign.

I'm showing my age, as I remember going out clubbing and finding the legendary "club kids" showing off like peacocks like Richie Rich, RuPaul and Amanda Lepore (who some of my friends affectionately nicknamed "Amanda Le Whore".) Back in the 90s club scene, nearly everyone would be out showcasing creativity with outfits, dancing and sometimes outrageous antics. My day job at the time was with a big agency, and unfortunately, a lot of the executives made fun of me for clubbing, as I'd get outted because it was awfully hard to get all the glitter off by Monday morning. Yet, many of those same executives dragged me into numerous brainstorming sessions, when they wanted some creative insight.

Now, mentoring junior creatives, I'm encouraging them to seek out the most creative night club scene they can find and come come back and report in Monday AM meetings. How can you be creative if you aren't living creatively?

Still creativly clubbing now and then,

-Lisa

*Photo of Richie Rich courtesy of Newyorksocialdiary.com

Sing along with Iggy Pop:

Nightclubbing we're nightclubbing
We're what's happening
Nightclubbing we're nightclubbing
We're an ice machine
We see people brand new people
They're something to see
When we're nightclubbing
Bright-white clubbing
Oh isn't it wild?
Nightclubbing we're nightclubbing
We're walking through town
Nightclubbing we're nightclubbing
We walk like a ghost
We learn dances brand new dances
Like the nuclear bomb
When we're nightclubbing
Bright white clubbing
Oh isn't it wild...

Rewarding beyond price

209478 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:32:00 GMT

UK entertainment retailer, HMV, has launched Pure, a customer loyalty scheme that offers members the chance to snap up a range of limited edition or hard-to-find items not available on the high street.

Following a successful trial in the West Midlands and East Anglia, Pure HMV is about to be rolled out nationwide. Money spent either in the shops or on HMV’s website will be added to a user’s account, with 100 points available for every £1 spent.

Examples of items on offer include a guitar signed by Kasabian, tickets for the UK Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen premiere, signed artwork by Paul McCartney and the chance to work as a roadie at the upcoming Download Festival.

‘The Pure HMV rewards scheme will be unique in the market place,’ HMV’s head of CRM marketing Matt Button stated. ‘There is no other card out there that gives people access to such amazing, ‘money-can’t-buy’ rewards. The real beauty of it is that in getting our customers closer to the music, film and games they love, Pure HMV will help us get even closer to our customers.’

Ref. http://www.mcvuk.com/news/34267/HMV-launches-new-customer-reward-scheme

Is Purefold pure gold for brands or pure confusion?

2292853 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:14:00 GMT

Coming soon from Free Scott, the new entertainment venture of Ridley Scott and his brother Tony, is a trippy new sci-fi entertainment project called Purefold that plans to let brand’s sponsor the content, and let the audience drive the plot line using social networking platforms.

Produced by Ag8, the concept will see participating brands “…take an alternative route to brand integration than traditional product placement and embrace invention within a narrative framework.” The project explores transmedia entertainment and will launch off of cross-platform channels. What? Purefold just might represent pure gold for brands looking to reach audiences in an extremely interactive format, but as of now, it has a lot of people baffled as to how it will work, what it will be, and if branded content is a good idea or not.

Discussions about Purefold on Friend Feed, the main resource planned to “harvest” story ideas, are already brewing about the question of what it means to be human, the driving theme behind the story that will be loosely based on Blade Runner. Ag8 is getting people to explore the idea of what “transhumanism” is in the Purefold discussion group on Friend Feed, but the project is often met with confusion, with participants trying to understand what is happening, and what role they will play. For insight as to what people think of Purefold, I’ve been asking around.

A few entertainment insiders were willing to go on the record to share what they think of the project and here is what they had to say: Jenifer Hanen, a blogger from Los Angeles, was wary of the idea of brand’s sponsoring content based on projects she has seen fail, but likes the DIY media side of the project and the idea to have the plot line driven by the audience. Listen to a conversation I had with Jen about Purefold here.

Film Production Designer Tema L. Staig, who is based in Los Angeles, first reacted to the idea of Purefold saying “The project sounds almost like virtual mad libs for content and advertising.” She also had this to say: "Universally, people have always needed to create visual and/or verbal stories and have a cathartic experience through those stories, either through the telling or the viewing. This is what makes us human. This is what connects us across the globe. Historically, unrelated cultures share similar myths and stories, suggesting that we all have a desire to explain the natural, unnatural, and supernatural. It’s our most primal of needs.

It will be interesting to see how Ag8 takes story telling to humanity’s next level. The idea of us, the greater audience being involved directly in the story is compelling in that it creates (in theory) even more empathy for the characters – those characters are a part of us. It’s our baby, even if just a little bit. How will it effect society? Will it bring us together around a global campfire? What new brainstorms might it spark? The possibilities are endless."

Here in London, I asked Mervyn Lyn, who is Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for Sony Music and often gets involved with branded content for the entertainment company, what he thinks of Purefold. At first reaction, he said it reminds him of MTV’s Dubplate Drama that turned to the audience to drive the story line, a show he enjoyed because it made the viewers feel part of the show. As for letting brand’s sponsor the content, he was cautionary about the idea because so often people are suspicious when a company attempts to sell them something through a new medium. “It depends how it is done and if it is trying to lean on branded content then they will have to strike a balance between the brand and the content so that each side doesn’t feel they are losing out,” he said.

They need to be very careful in making it driven by advertising because people see this as being railroaded and people will be cynically asking ‘what are they trying to sell me?’” The approach Purefold is using will be ground breaking in entertainment, according to producers, and it will be distributed according to the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license, giving both audiences, brands and platforms equal use rights through their participation.

According to Ag8’s Tom Himpe, Purefold will be broadcast across a variety of media platforms and spread virally across the Internet. “Most brands are aware of the fact that social media has changed the dynamics of the conversation, and they can't just spell out their message in the same way as with one-way advertising methods,” he said. “We are giving brands the opportunity to create stories over an extended period of time, in collaboration with their audiences and relying on top industry talent in both writing and directing. That's quite a unique package, especially in view of the fact that they can use the audiovisual assets freely across all their platforms and channels, from retail to mobile, from cinema to television.”

For now Ag8 is not revealing who the brand sponsors will be, but based on Friend Feed discussions the writers are already compiling what the story line will be, all set in the near future. The question many have is how brands will fit into the discussion, and for that, Himpe had this to say:

“There are two ways in which we are "guiding" the conversation. First of all, the brand is setting up the framework of the conversation, by defining one or multiple brand propositions they want to explore and picking a story line through which they want to explore that proposition. This sets up the framework within which we harvest online conversations.

So we're not just harvesting random conversations across the entire web, we set out specific parameters with the participating brands. Secondly, while we're listening to what the audience wants to see within the episodes, the ultimate creative control still resides with our editorial team and the Free Scott Directors, who are making creative sense of the audience's input. So there is another level of control there. However, it's very important for brands to understand that Purefold is about creating top quality entertainment, and not about extended the length of their tv commercials.

There's a different balance here, and sure, that's something they might have to get used to.”

Still confused, but ready to watch Purefold unfold,

-Lisa

Is TV more fun when you tweet?

2292853 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:29:00 GMT

Boring old telly has been getting a lot more fun lately, if you are using Twitter. The micro-blogging service is increasingly becoming the back channel of broadcast, where people turn to exclaim delight or disgust about what they are watching. Tuned into Channel 4's My Monkey Baby, and wondering what others are thinking about the parade of monkey loving characters? Popping onto Twitter and searching for the programme title reveals a trail of hilarious tweets, and you can add in, that is, if you actually want to confess that you are watching the show.

A television programme can come alive when you chime in with your own views, and see the intelligent, dumb, off-colour or utterly bizarre commentary of others, adding a whole new layer of entertainment experience. In America, broadcasters are fully embracing the interactive power of Twitter, with even local news stations inviting people to tweet in with updates about the weather conditions, or share views on issues. Political elections were the first and most noticeable examples of how the views of many can be shared using Twitter, as seen when Hack The Debate aired on Current TV in the lead up to the presidential elections.

For broadcasters, the service can be an instant way to guage if programming is having any impact on viewers, or, for the more clever, use the service to ignite interaction with audiences. When a show starts "trending" on Twitter, broadcast executives can know they have a hit, as has happened with Eurovision, ITV's Britain's Got Talent and Channel 4's Surgery Live.

Twitter got noisy surrounding Eurovision, as it sparked hundreds of amusing tweets about the song contest, and gave rise to an alternative tweeting voice when journalist Ewan Spence used Twitter to cover the event from the show's frontline in Moscow, sending tweets, blogging and podcasting from the event. Followers of @ewanspence got treated to extra facts, insights and a few trumpeted early previews of what was to come, as entrants paraded on stage in gladiator costumes, thigh high patent leather boots or full green body paint.

"I decided to offer pithy, humourous, pre-emptive insight of what we were all seeing, and joined 1,000 other press people from around Europe to cover Eurovision," he said.

With viewing figures of 10 million in the UK, and 112 million across Europe for Eurovision this year, Spence thought that 2009 would be the year that millions of fans would tweet about the song contest, based on the growing number of entertainment trending topics he noticed, and recognizing that this year Twitter's popularity has expanded, with estimates of 33 million monthly visits. He out-tweeted much of the official BBC correspondents by speed of updates and depth of information, winning rave reviews from followers. Several said they preferred the commentary of the renegade Eurovision tweet host to the banter of Graham Norton's debut year as Eurovision host.

"The public love it, but mainstream coverage does not match up to the public viewpoint so the Internet's communities are augmenting what they see using Twitter," he said. Listen to an Audioboo interview with Ewan Spence here.

Ewan Spence

While Spence may still be a rare visionary in how he used Twitter as a journalist, the big broadcasters are certainly wading into the water with experiments. Channel 4's Surgery Live invited people to send in questions using Twitter, some of which the show's host Krishnan Guru-Murthy then posed to both the doctors, and even the patient, on live television. Following along with the programme's hashtag of #slive, a rather surreal conversation developed with audience members, with one even asking if the patient's brain tumour was edible. Brave, risky, groundbreaking, Channel 4 proved that entertainment can also be educational, and the show did manage to top Twitter's most watched trending topics.

"What this new generation of social media brings is a networked conversation which is global, searchable, tagable and open. In other words, unlike emails, text messages or phones, you can join in a discussion among numerous people from right across the Uk and beyond -- fellow viewers, experts, medical students, enthusiasts, all manner of interested parties -- live and simultaneously," said Adam Gee, Channel 4's Cross-platform Commissioning Editor for Factual.

Channel 4 has just started a new programme incorporating Twitter, beginning to share updates from documentary film maker Ed Wardel, who is putting his wilderness survival skills to test in the Yukon, for the series Alone In The Wild. The programme airs in July, but Wardle has already started tweeting about his experience.

Using Twitter, and other social media websites, to add interactivity to television watching might just be transforming how we interact with the medium, and Twitter's founders are keeping an eye toward possibilities, with news that a Twitter television show may be in works for the future.

"Twitter's open approach might have the power to transform television -- the dominant communications receiver worldwide. We're very excited to see where these experiments take us," posted Twitter founder Biz Stone on his blog.

In the not to distant future, a new transmedia entertainment venture called Purefold from Ag8, a partnership production with Blade Runner director Ridley Scott and Tony Scott's RSA Films, will see an even more multi-layered approach to integrating social media with viewing experience. Purefold will cull storyline ideas from comments people share on Friend Feed, and other social networking websites. The programme is not planned to air on any maninstream channel, as episodes will be spread across the Internet's video sharing platforms, and brands will be invited to collaborate in the content creation to fund the programming.

Confused? You are not alone. Best stay tuned, and have some fun participating in the 2.0 tool of Twitter, and think of it as training, to get ready to adpot for the entertainment world flashing forward to even more futuristic technologies.

Watching television and tweeting at the same time,

-Lisa

On Trend: Debut of Tropical City, De Tropix Live

2292853 — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:36:00 GMT

Nevermind the depressive recession, and more news that friends and families are losing jobs and homes, there is still affordable fun out there, especially in the city of London this weekend, as joy comes to a boat on the Thames River for the debut of *****Tropical City***** this Saturday evening.

Bright neon lights, a festive crowd adorned in day-glo colours that are sure to flip your switch from winter-blues blah to spring and summer super happy. The musical line-up will inspire the most devoted wallflower to venture out on the dancefloor and get down. There will even be a Krumping dance crew, Funk Physics, popping battles, and teaching a few tricks. This party is a celebration of a mix and mash of urban cultures from warm and cold climates. It is hip-hop and reggae meet electro, for what looks like Miami Vice, and the original UK combination of it all is going to see this boat quaking and shaking into the wee morning hours.

Organized by Fake Ornate, the producers of other creative London parties The Nativity Hoedown, The Human Zoo and Cosmic Disco, this new creation is a kick-off for the group's summer festival tour season. Next stop, Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party and Bloom.

"Tropical City is a ghetto-fabulous themed party, run by Fake Ornate who are inspired by the underground scene, and comitted to bringing the world cutting edge entertainment," said Kate Risker, aka the fabulous Miss Risk. "Think Santogold to grime to Krump battles. Let's get tropical!"

Headlining the evening, and the group that inspired the tropical theme is De Tropix who will get the boat swaying with electro reggae step sounds and deep bass beats that will quiver up and down your spine. Also featuring:

Supreme grime from Conrad The Scoundral,

A.J. Holmes the king of the electric high-life,
The Heatwave - skankin dancehall and tropical tunage from DJ Gabriel Heatwave,

and sweet female vocals from MC Cherry B.

Want to come to the Tropical City?

RSVP through the Tropical City Facebook Group Saturday, May 9, 2009, 8pm-1.30am, £7. Dress Code: Ghetto Fabulous/Tropical/neon. Location: Tamesis Dock (on the Thames) SE1 7TP. Street: Albert Embankment, London, United Kingdom.

More information here.

I'll be on the boat,

-Lisa

How can you make your customers the star of the show?

209478 — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:10:00 GMT

Think like two British radio presenters, who’ve created Fauxshow, a personalised radio shows that put ‘you’ in the spotlight. Designed as an unusual gift experience, Fauxshows are popular for weddings and birthdays, although any request will be catered to. Customers pick a recipient's favourite music tracks and submit anecdotes for the presenters to ‘broadcast’.

Friends and family then ‘phone in’ to Fauxshow and record messages about or for the recipient. Jingles and effects are added in the final stage of recording to make the show sound as authentic. Around three weeks after ordering, the show arrives on CD ready to surprise and delight. Fauxshow is still a tiny start-up, and the presenters welcome calls from customers to discuss ideas. Prices are £200 for a five-song, five-message show, or £250 for eight songs and eight messages. Other options are available on request.

Ref: http://springwise.com/lifestyle_leisure/fauxshow_tuning_into_a_persona/

Brands are looking more and more at Live Brand Experiences as it is the leading platform to connect directly with consumers

1914250 — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:54:50 GMT

Over the next few years brands will up their marketing spend on experiential marketing due to the mass audiences declining to respond to TV advertising. Digital is always on the rise due to new technology, digital plays a significant role in the live brand experience as it amplifies further channels which will gain maximum reach for campaigns. What are your thoughts about the above integration and what the future holds? Marvin

See you @ Convergence of Entertainment (Format/Brands) & Gaming @ Cass Business School, 12Feb, 6pm, discussion with Snr. Director of FremantleVentures, Endemol, VirginGames, Wagerworks (IGT) and CEO of Cryptologic.

1223521 — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:50:50 GMT

Hi All

In case you are interested.

I am hosting next Gambit gathering focusing on convergence of Entertainments (Brands/Formats) and Gaming, we have once again the best of both side of the equation to discuss on the evening.

Hope to see you then!? details & Sign up on the Gambit website: http://www.TheGambit.info

@GarethWong

===
Gambit on Licensing (Brand/Formats)
12th Feb 2009
Gaming gambling (even soft gaming or skill gaming) is essentially FMCG business, like selling Cereals, chocholate bars or insurance/banking/derivative products (for higher stake games like spreadbetting etc.).

Therefore, gaining Trust and maintaining a good following for an operator is key and one best way is to license a brand/format from another medium (TV? movies? Manga/comics? dare I say it Sharon Osborne!??)

However, what is the business drivers behind it, how the deals are stuck, what are the expectations and performance matrix employed to see if it has worked?

To explore these issues and more, as usual, Gambit will pull together a top notch panel of speakers to get to bottom of the licensing jungle..

The audience can decide whether it will be "get me in there", or "get me out of there" at the end of the usual insightful/lively, yet relaxed evening discussion with whos' who of the sector.

Speakers:

* Jurian VanDerMeer, Head of Brand Exploitation, Endemol UK [confirmed]
* Paul Kanareck, Head of FremantleMedia Ventures [confirmed]
* Tom Kenny, Commercial Director, Wagerworks (IGT company) [confirmed]
* Brian Hadfield, CEO, Cryptologic Plc [confirmed]
* Tina Thakor-Rankin, Operations Director, Virgin Games [confirmed]
Register online NOW! http://www.thegambit.info/Purchase.html

It will take place at the Cass Business School:106 Bunhill Row, London EC1Y 8TZ

Timing:

6:00pm Welcoming drinks, tea & biscuits
6:30pm Panel discussion commence
8:00pm Drinks & Networking
9:00pm Proceedings finished at the business school, further networking to a local club/bar
How to book

It is possible to book online: http://www.thegambit.info/Purchase.html
New Business model for 2007
Gambit was launched to bring value, trust and transparency to the sector and help us reach out and explain to Technology, Finance and media/ entertainment sector about our gaming gambling world. It has been free to attend since 2005 until end of 2006. 2007, we will commence charging but its mainly to cover our cost.
Logistics: 1) Once the gambit ticket(s) been purchased, 2) you will be sent a serial number per ticket. 3.) For each Gambit event, one set of serial number (previously not used ) would be required to register a proposed individual's name and company information at time of booking online or via email to GambitEventRegistration@cassalumni.net, 4.) the named person registered can just turned up at the event. 5.) at the door tickets will be sold for £70 cash.

Click here (http://www.thegambit.info/Purchase.html) to purchase annual membership (5 tickets) or more, or indeed for only one Gambit ticket (£58).

Exchanges and returns: Gambit tickets cannot be exchanged or money refunded, unless the registered event is cancelled, in that case, the serial numbers can be reused for future events.

Autumn Fun Time in London

2292853 — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:04:00 GMT

Normal 0 Boo-a-licious, boo-tastic, boo-groovy, it looks like London is getting deep into haunted Halloween fun with everything from zombie crawls to trick or treating to space age mayhem.

If you like a good scare, Facebook seems to be the best place to search for Halloween happenings.

I’ll be joining friends for their Cosmic Disco celebration, a private party. The event will mix traditional Halloween fancy dress with a sci-fi theme, making for a Barbarella-esque experience. I’ll be there as a ghost from the future to present some of the live acts of the evening.

If you are looking for an original goodtime for Halloween, have a quick peek at these picks below:

oOOo

Sunday 26th October
World Zombie Day! - London

On Sunday 26th October a horde of zombies will gather at Marble Arch at noon. Then a slow, shuffle across town with stopping points along the way.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=32300487483
http://www.myspace.com/worldzombiedaylondon

oOOo
Wednesday 29th October
Happy Halloween Wednesday – The Optimist Society
Join the Optimists for some fancy dress trick or treating starting at Soho Square at 6.30pm. An evening of giving out free hugs, being nice to people and making them smile.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=85331830178
http://www.theoptimistssociety.co.uk

oOOo

Friday 31st October
Randy Ape’s & Fancy Dress Meetup Halloween Party
Dress up and dance from 7pm onwards at the Moose Bar. Get there early before we fill it up!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=44209640560
http://www.meetup.com/london-fancy-dress-parties/

oOOo

Saturday 1st November
Dreams and Nightmares – Bring Stuff
Two rooms of good and evil, naughty and nice, righteous and disgusting! Tickets are £10 with all profits going to Camp Cando. Book quickly before they sell out!! The venue will be kept secret until the night with a meeting point near London Bridge.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=40591960154
http://www.bringstuff.com/2008/09/bring-dreams-and-nightmares-cmp-x/

Feeling creepy,

-Lisa

Play It Again Steve Lamacq! Let’s Hear It For Mary Epworth and The Jubilee Band

2292853 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:56:00 GMT

BBC Radio 2’s Steve Lamacq has taken a shine to new artist Mary Epworth , and her Jubilee Band, playing her single The Saddle Song on his Music This Week programme.

The artist and her fans are hoping that Steve will play the tune again – in the meantime, you can view the YouTube video of her new single here. and check out other tracks on her MySpace page.

I caught up for a Quick Peeks oOOo conversation with Mary Epworth, who is represented by the Hand of Glory record label, to find out more about her singing and songwriting ambitions.

oOOo Tell me about The Jubliee Band? The Jubilee Band is the second generation of what originated as The Jubilee Band in 1887, when my Great-Great Grandfather Pumpata/Pompadour Chilvers was a featured artist. They were popular in the Middleton/Blakborough End area, near King’s Lynn in Norfolk. My Great-Great Grandfather was called Pompadour because he used to practice the songs while he was working, going “pom pom pom” to imitate the brass parts. I founded my Jubilee Band in the honour of him.

My band includes Will Twynham, Mark "Horse" Phillips, and Andy Zammit.

oOOo How long have you been singing? I've been singing in bands for approximately 17 years, I can't count my non-inspiring school choir days really, boring as they were.

oOOo What are your earliest experiences with music that you can remember? My brother and I used to listen to a couple of children's records when we were small. I particularly loved "I'm a Gnu" and "Mud Glorious Mud" by Flanders and Swann, "Morningtown ride" and "Puff The Magic Dragon". I also was really fascinated by "Oh My Darlin' Clementine".

The last two are interesting to me because I was always really haunted by the sadness of the stories. Now I'm fully grown I really love sad songs, so maybe that's innate.

Other than that, my Dad used to listen to CSNY, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, and Yes, which all seeped in somewhere for me to revisit later. Plus he used to play Jeff Wayne's "War Of The Worlds" on long journeys, to which I would have strange car nightmares. Love it now though, thanks Dad.

oOOo You are in a quirky new folk rock genre, what is it about this type of music that appeals to you? Am I? Am I fully immersed by this thing? Or are there limbs sticking out? I write what I write, and as soon as I think I am one type of music, my contrary nature conspires against me by making me write something totally unlike. I would say my music has roots in folk-rock, but doesn't quite fit snug in that box. You'll have to hear my album to see what I mean.

I do love folk music, I started off liking American folk, and then had an awakening of a kind, when I first heard Shirley Collins. That was around the time I found out about the old Jubilee band, so these things came together and I suddenly felt a connection to English music and Englishness that I never had previously. Shirley Collins is really wonderful.

oOOo You play the autoharp, an unusual instrument, can you tell me why you picked up this instrument? An Autoharp is a type of Zither, not a harp at all, and is a distant cousin of the Dulcimer, Cymbalom etc.

I picked it up at first because I was resisting learning guitar, and wanted to find an alternative. That was when I was about 15. I then forgot about it until I got into Country music, and then realised it could be useful.

oOOo How did you learn how to play the autoharp? I’m self taught, and have never seen anyone else do it in person, so I may be doing it all wrong. I am aware that I am not fully doing justice to all the possibilities of the lovely beast, but I am, as I said, contrary. I play it like a rhythm guitar, and frequently break strings. I also play Banjo like a rhythm guitar, and according to one guy, play guitar like a drummer.

oOOo What does new folk mean to you? Hmm. I don't know. It makes me think of New Country, which is a bad thing. I would probably say Psych-folk is more what I'm keen on personally. That said, there are loads of fantastic new artists who fall loosely under the folk umbrella, so It's a good time for people like me who into that stuff.

oOOo Who are your top music influences? I have worked with a fantastic woman called Ida Kelarova for a long time. She teaches a way of singing, (not a technique, but an approach) that is something like gospel. She showed me how it's possible to put real feeling into what you are singing, and that way you never sing things the same way twice and It can be a really beautiful experience.

She comes from a background of Roma (Gypsy) culture, and I've been really deeply influenced by Roma music, and my experiences performing that music as part of a choir. I don't perform those songs myself, but I always feel them running through me, like the lettering in a stick of rock.

oOOo What's your ambition? Um, happiness and health for me, my family and loved ones, to earn a living doing what I love, and to meet Van *** Parks and shake his hand. That would do. Of course, raking in millions as a behind the scenes songwriter for teen popstars would also be nice.

Good luck to the quite contrary, psych-rocking Mary Epworth and her Jubilee Band,

-Lisa