Gimlet Eyed Mariner's gig

Well that went well.

A huge thanks to everyone that came

To Billie-Daisy and Solly for their cameo roles

and of course to Barry for his intuitive playing .

To David Bond for letting us use the church which was a great venue.

The initiation of my new instrument went down really well and I think this is a new avenue of work and playing, it adds a unique sound and creates a focus for the audience.

I have a recording of the second half of the show if anyone is interested, it does include the new instrument.

Our debut cd has arrived on the slightly off kilter label (http://www.slightlyoffkilterlabel.blogspot.com/)

unfortunately a day late for the gig.

Gimlet Eyed Mariners

The gig, the gig

Tomorrow the 23rd of September is the gig in wiveliscombe at the congregational church at 7.30

The 'must do' event on the calender.

I have made a new instrument to play...not even a pic on the blog it's that new!!!!!

electro acoustamatic improv music

barry witherden and michael fairfax

not to be missed.

Parhelion

Yesterday was the private view of the work at West Coker. Three very lovely girls were helping Simon with car parking and the like, I asked them to have a lie on the cloud bench, this first young lady did and she exclaimed she could see a rainbow,

we all looked up and there wasn't a rainbow in site just a beautiful sunny evening with a scattering of clouds, she insisted she could see a rainbow, so after cajoling I lay on the bench and blow me down if I could see the fragment of a rainbow amongst the cloud base, blimey you are right I exclaimed and we tried to figure out how this might be in a sky with no hint of rain. One of the girls muttered something about rain droplets in the sky, or ice crystals.

Later more people came to lie on the cloud bench which was proving to be very popular, I got talking to a woman as she was waiting and she said, " did you see the Parhelion tonight" of course I had to ask her what a Parhelion was, and very basically it is ice crystals in the autumn cooling sky that gets hit by the sun and produces a spectrum usually in pairs.

Of course I was able to exclaim "yes, you bet" and in a rather over excited schoolboy fashion I blathered on about how we saw it, I then of course went off to find the three young woman and told them of their find. Naturally they were delighted to hear of such a phenomena and that they had seen it.

There are many reasons why everyone should own a 'cloud bench' anyway, but I feel that this has strengthened my position and expect the commissions to rush in: so please email me at michaelfairfax@eclipse.co.uk with your orders.

the wikipedia definition of a Parhelion is:

A 120° parhelion (plural: 120° parhelia) is a relatively rare halo, an optical phenomenon occasionally appearing along with very bright sun dogs (also called parhelia) as ice crystal-saturatedcirrus clouds fill the atmosphere. The 120° parhelia are named for appearing in pair on the parhelic circle ±120° from the sun.^[1]

Cloud Bench at West Coker

The work for West Coker has been delivered and installed.

Simon Lee Dicker working hard to help with the installation.

The 'cumulus cloud bench' in its new formal setting at the Lanes hotel.

Awaiting you to come and lie down and look at the clouds

the stars and moon.

Opening event at West Coker this thursday 6.00 - 9.00pm

at the Lanes hotel and Simon's gallery next door.

Open during somerset art weeks

see

http://underanewsun.wordpress.com/

for details.

The Fish Bass

The latest instrument for the 'under a new sun' show in West Coker. SAW starting next week on the 16th September.

This instrument is amazing to play.

The very heavy piano wire when hit with the felt beaters reverberates around ones body, with a gently agitation of the wood the struck wire produces curious harmonics, it is a joy to behold and so satisfying to play.

To get the agitation one has to sway and so playing is almost a choreography, this is surely going to tempt everyone to the gig at West Coker on the 2nd of October with Philip Heyman viola, Jessica Curry piano, Jules Bushell bass, Tim Hill, saxophone and others, Barry Witherden korg kaosillator, keyboard. Rupert Green vocals, Michael Fairfax, assorted made instruments, guitar, korg kaosillator, ipad, laptop. Starts at 7.30pm. See: http://underanewsun.wordpress.com/about/ for details.