Well, I started the day determined to make a good 'ArtSwarm: Tea' event for Saturday, so prepared a new song 'Redbush City Limits' by Teana Turner, as well as practising my Tea Sonata for piano, a tune by Mister Tea, a guess-the-bag-by-scent game, and a jam-along to a rendition of Flying Teapot by Gong (this was useful to me at least, I created a complex sequence on the MODX, so learned a bit about drum-part creation).
All of that because, as of last night, I had but one confirmed attendee, plus one probable, and of course, Deb and I. I asked around to see who might be coming but, after asking more than 10 people, none could make it for one reason or another, so just before 4pm I made the decision to cancel the event, and end ArtSwarm in the process. I rather liked them, and a few others did too, but it seems that the community is just too scant to make such an event viable, even for personal training purposes at the moment. Only one of the eight live ArtSwarm events broke even in hall-hire costs, and the work of organising them began to fill me with dread. One of my initial aims of a sort of an artistic community hub, or at least some sort of meeting of friends, didn't really work for me because I rarely had time to talk to anyone. Almost all of my conversations took place at the end as I dismantled the equipment, and many people had left by then.
Still, Tea alone has taught me a few performance tricks. I rarely sing and play the keyboard at the same time (my first and only public attempt so far was the Bob Dylan event at Congleton Library last year), and practising this alone has been valuable.
In other parts of the day, I added more to my keyboard stand design, and ordered some screw parts and organiser boxes. I watched a Toyah concert, from 1981. The songs were very amateurish in composition but the show full of joyous theatricality which I loved and love. In some ways it was what ArtSwarm itself was about!
Well, here are the words to Redbush; a commentary on Crewe. Perhaps it's actual composition indicated why it could find to audience! The music is A-Maj (and bluesified into minor) with C-Maj/G-Maj choruses).
Redbush City Limits by Teana Turner
Tea house, coffee house
on the Nantwich Road.
Chips, kebab, pizza,
the sky's the limit!
They call it Redbush: Redbush!
Redbush city limits.
Redbush city limits.
It's a one tea town
and it's caffeine free.
It's a no-horse town.
No-one here but you and me.
They call it Redbush: Redbush!
Redbush city limits.
Redbush city limits.
When apocalypse comes
it'll pass us by,
for their ain't no fire
in this rust-blood sky.
They call it Redbush: Redbush!
Redbush city limits.
Redbush city limits.
