Kristin Hersh Drawings Norwich

Tonight I went to Norwich arts centre to see Kirstin Hersh perform her songs, that she say come into her head, but I think they come from her heart and soul. My Boyfriend Robert is a big fan of Kristin and use to see her play in Holland. So he bought me a ticket and was excited about introducing me to Kristin. I was intrigued because when I first met Robert he had her photo on his laptop screen saver. 

My first impression of her voice was like hearing a dutch girl speaking English, but she is from New Orleans. She has a very childlike appearance which is hard to draw but I gave it a go. 

Normally I draw on the floor of gigs but for the first time ever in my history the arts centre had chairs and they were all filled apart from two near the front speakers. This is not good for me with hearing problems, as I thought straight away I would get feed back from the speakers. As soon as she started playing it was hearing a lullaby and the sound quality was the best I have heard in a life time of gigs, although lyrics are hard for me to make out. 

I sketched her as best I could knowing Robert would want to frame these pictures being her big fan. 

Then near the end I went down the back to see her face on, but she was quite far away and I was now sketching in the dark. The audience was middle aged and above which was a first older audience I had seen at the arts centre and it was nice to see them enjoying the show. There was also a little girl with her dad enjoying the show.

Kristin's songs were great and she came back out after a standing ovation and gave three more songs. 

At the end of her show there ques for her CD and I should have gone back stage to meet her and show her my drawings but I didn't have any dinner and was tittering on fainting so I went home and thought she could check them out on line.

As cycled home with Robert waiting at traffic lights at the bottom of Grapes hill, I waited for a guy to cross the road and as I waited I heard him humming Kristin tunes aloud amongst the traffic and he had a little skip in his step. 

We got home and showed Robert the drawings he was happy with the first impression but the others in the dark down the back were not his impression of her. 

Kristin has her songs on line for free or by donation of cash which is nice, because if you were a teenager like me who could not afford to buy records in the 80's and felt alienated by Friends who all bought records and new about music. This can only be a good thing.

Warhol-Factory-reject-party-Norwich!!!!!!!

Mother! photo by Katie Utting!! from Mad dog magazine more party photos at Mad dog magazine, check it out.
Me as Mother!!! Photo by Rod Penn

Mothers Shoes!! photo by Katie Utting.

Party Poster!!



It is just about exactly 40 years since Stonewall happened in America. The stone that rocked the world and took 40 years to get to little Norwich in the UK.

Stonewall was the first gay pride parade in the states, the reason gay men took to the streets to parade in public was because they were constantly persecuted for being different. In those days having a little bit of hair gel in your hair to form a curl at the top was different, playing records that the general mass were not listening to was different, wearing a pink tie was different. For all these little things you could have been dragged out of a bar, beaten and thrown in jail for three months. 

The people that dressed or behaved differently didn't hang out in very public places they hung out in under ground bars but the cops still managed to find them.

So when people are suppressed enough they get together and rise up against the system.

All they did was come out and wanted to be counted, wanted to be apart of society. 

So they came out and paraded through the streets and the cops came out and beat them up again.

The lesbians never hung out with gay men before this they were even more secretive about there difference. They had no interest in men what so ever, but when they saw these men dressed as women being beaten to a pulp and thought hang on there gay and were gay wee going to help them too and help them for the cause justice to humanity of all kinds of difference and diversity.

So in 1969 I was conceived in Ireland where my family lived, but due to my family being different, my Mother and brother and sister got on a boat and train and went all the way to north Norfolk, so my Mum could give birth to me in a little cottage hospital in West Runton. Then she took me back to Ireland after my christening at Blickling hall. Which all of my well chosen God Parents turned up. 

Back in Dublin my father was designing one of the first underground night clubs for the gay community and for David Norris who is now Senator of Ireland and still fighting for the rights of gay people. In Ireland gay people married women and had children and lived a lie to cover there secret. What does this do to the wife's and children? It makes them very angry and dysfunctional. 

 In the UK gay people and marry same sex partners and live a normal life, without discrimination and hatred.

10 years ago I took a flight to Sydney and stayed there and took part in the biggest gay parade on earth and supported the gay community. The parade in Sydney is no longer just about coming out and being gay, its about supporting groups that need support and standing up for all the gay people on a world wide basis. The Mardi gras also brings in tourism and employs thousands of people.

So back to Norfolk my birth place, is about to have its first gay pride parade, if your like colour, diversity, fun, dressing up or your gay come out and celebrate. 

The festival parade needs help to build floats and costumes and is about skill sharing and communicating and supporting causes.

To start the fundraising for the Parade I was invited by my face book friend Nick O'Brian to a party at Take 5 called the Warhol reject party and it was the best night I have ever had in Norwich. I did not feel like a minority person dressed up because every single person made there own costume for the party. Everyone there was good fun and really friendly.

Here is some photos from the party

Nick O'Brian Norwich Pride organizer. Please head down to the Catherine Wheel pub on Wednesday nights to help make Norwich Pride floats and costumes and meet some amazing people.

Crazy costumes! Photo by Rod Penn.

Lovely girls!! Photo by Rod Penn

New friends!! Phil Coles camera.

My family my son on the left, its the first time I seen him since I left him outside a church in Norfolk many years ago. My son turns out to be just like his mother and loves clothes. You can find lots of amazing clothes in the Ship of fools vintage clothes shop on 45 St Benedicts Norwich. Uncle Emma who came out to see what all the fuss was about and had so much fun there is no turning back. Me as mother in Red dress and pregnant Aunt Bowery. Photo taken by Phil Coles

Donna Jane Whitbread. I was taken back by this wonderful attire made with fabulous factory reject fabric.

Photo by Rod Penn

Yes Mother and Son showing off my First prize ticket for the Best dressed Trash. I am so looking forward to hobbling down on the cobblestones to the Ship of fools and cashing this prize in for a frilly frock.

PS. Thank you to everyone who took the photos. I would like to say that they are under there copyright. 

NIGHTHOUSE Australian animation film

The night house an amazing Australian film that makes me feel like I am back in Australia, sleeping in the forest in amongst all the amazing creatures. 10,000 unidentified creatures per square metre and logging company's still chop down this glorious part of the world for toilet paper and junk mail. If only Captain Cook was hung, slung and quartered, before he sailed there.
Nature is fighting back now by drowning or burning people who think there quarter acre block, car and swimming pool is more important then nature and if you don't drown a crocodile will eat you.
The intelligent Australian aboriginal people cared for and looked after this part of the planet for millions of years before a European drunken sailor landed there and savaged land and sea.
Back in the UK were concerned about ID cards, this is nothing new to pommy bastards. The Pommies love tagging anything they have no knowledge of, like the native people to Australia who were tagged with collars right up until the 1970's and treated with no respect like the Brit's treat there own people, creatures and off spring.
There are however quite a lot of younger generation Australians who don't want to live the European way down under and live in the forests, these people the Australian Europeans call Ferrel meaning wild. Well if I had a forest to live in near by I would be living in it too, but in the UK they logged the whole country to send out ships to steal other peoples land. Another what if only they stayed where they were and kept the forests to live amongst.
How do we stop the forests from disappearing like wild fire by logging company's. Any ideas please do tell everyone.
My feelings are show the world how beautiful forests are when still standing then they might get protected by general mass empathy. But the bit in our brains that creates empathy is worn down by alcohol poisoning and as the majority of people drink alcohol how can there be any empathy.
Captain Satan has been developing his music skills for a few decades in Australia and this film shows his hard work has paid off.
The collaboration is with Donna Kendrigan who made the animation. I am a now a big fan of her work and look forward to seeing the next film.

Painting seaweed

6 layers of paint later, the seaweed looks like something that can be put in the children's ward at the hospital.  This is only a tiny section of the Eel station that is going in the waiting area. 

I have been working nights to get it all finished for the big installation day. It is nearly 6 months since the very amazing idea popped into my head. The amount of work that has gone into bringing it to this stage is astronomical.

 

Shed Working

Shed working got in contact with me today, to be in there new book. Have a look at there blog it makes me want to build something amazing outside somewhere. I will let you know later which bit of me is going in the book when its published.