We have some very special guests for May: Mikey Georgson, singer-songwriter from the band David Devant and His Spirit Wife, Shoreham Wordfest co-founder Rosalind Turner plus author John Higgs, best known for his books on the KLF, Watling Street, William Blake, Dr Who and the Beatles. ​

Entertaining Talks on Outsider Music with David Bramwell
(Plus a song or two from David and Jane Bom-Bane)

Why did the world’s worst orchestra split up at the peak of their powers? Who were they? Why did Brian Eno join them on clarinet? Did they really shock the classical world and get banned from the airwaves, despite a Top 20 hit?
This entertaining and thought-provoking talk uncovers the group’s unique history, offers (hilarious) recordings and rare film footage and asks Zappa’s famous question: does humour belong in music?

Poet and musician Ivor Cutler is best-known for his funny, surreal and bittersweet poems and songs. He was also interested in silence, Zen philosophy and nonsense. A lifelong fan of Cutler’s work, in 2018 David presented Ivor Cutler at 90 as a BBC R4 Archive on Four and has twice performed onstage with Ivor’s partner Phyllis King. In this second talk David explore’s what made this dour Scotsman such a unique talent and reveals how his own, strange relationship with Ivor led to his being given access to an extensive archive of Cutler’s work. Expect plenty of pregnant pauses, knees pickled in cheese and a harmonium drenched song or two at the end from David and Jane.

In May we learned about the history of Crawley New Town from Julia Winckler; Adrian Sensicle shared personal stories from the 80s and 90s making music zines, and Pete Fij took us on an hilarious journey into the politics of Eurovision.
We’re returning June 12th with Adam Wide, Susan Sainsbury and Charlotte Ellis (whose memorable talk, The Terrible Knitters of Dent, some might recall)

And we welcome back Jane Bom-Bane with another song or two.

David Bramwell’s The Cult of Water & Vera Zakharov’s Riverine Resurrections: A history and celebration of the Irrepressible Waterways of Sussex

The Cult of Water David Bramwell

Combining music, animation and archive film with a captivating monologue, David Bramwell takes audiences on a dreamy candle-lit journey, in search of the supernatural secrets of our rivers, and a drowned village which has long haunted his memories.

Aided by a witch and the magician-author Alan Moore, Bramwell travels back in time to unearth the myths and rituals of our rivers, and their symbolic association with feminine power.

Can he face his demons and unravel the symbolic mysteries of our ancient ancestors? Who is the mysterious Vulcan? And will there be a pie and a pint waiting for him at the end of it all?

Riverine Resurrections: A history and celebration of the irrepressible waterways of Sussex (30mins)

Whatever happened to Sore and Ūsa, those Sussex sisters who untwined themselves from the lower Weald and snaked down to the sea? They’re still here, cut up and shackled but slowly reclaiming and revealing their old selves.

Humans have an ambivalent relationship with waterways, perceived as nourishers of the body and soul, and yet demonised (much like the deities associated with them) and used and abused as the sewers of humankind.

Vera Zakharov takes a personal, cartographic and queer ecological journey along the abstracted and re-emerging waterways of the local area to discover what nature can teach us of our own liberation.