Things you can do in a face mask

So here we are again, the first Friday of the month. In other years this would be the return of Klub Kakofanney after the summer break. When gigs first started being covid-affected, back in February, I really thought that by now, six months on, we'd be back in the Wheatsheaf, rattling the walls and shaking the floorboards.

But sadly, we are not. So here's the next best thing, a set specially recorded for Klub Kakofanney by Emma Hunter and trusty sidekick Tom. This video proves you can sing in a facemask,... you just can't see where your guitar pedal is.

Beware the new Covid regulations

You may have heard that the police have been given additonal powers recently to fine participants in unauthorised events the sum of £100, and to fine the organisers £10,000 and confiscate equipment. Whilst I think the organisers of some of these raves and parties have been highly irresponsible, I can't help feeling that the police also were very quick to exercise these powers and piled in with fines at the earliest opportunity. So please exercise caution before organising a private party or gig.

Can you go busking in a face mask?

Is busking legal now? I don't know. If you are playing out in the fresh air and wearing face masks, one might think it is perfectly safe, much safer than the crowded beaches of Bournemouth for example, but if people stop to listen to your performance, you might be criticised for their failures to observe social distancing. I'm not sure what the situation is in Oxford, but it is refreshing to read this week that Aylesbury is actively looking for buskers to return to the town centre.

Going underground

Buskers are not always the most popular fixtures with London Underground, but to my mind they add so much to the city. If you are ever in a tube or rail station in London and hear fantastic electric guitar riffs drifting through the walkways, make sure you track down the sound because it might just be the amazing Morris, a guy who loves entertaining and always has a smile for everyone. This is a short, fun, pre-lockdown clip of him in one of the London stations. A woman in a white coat is enjoying the music, and her long suffering husband behind her is clearly thinking "Every time,... this happens every time".

Connecting the dots, via Waterloo

Here is a tenuous connection for you. Back in the 2000s, Morris was the drummer in a South London punk band called The Ludes, and one of the people who used to hang out with the band was a young Florence Welch. There was one especially dark song the band played which she particularly liked, and sometimes sang it on stage with them. The Ludes never recorded that song themselves, so when Ms Welch formed her own band, Florence and The Machine, she added that song to her own portfolio. The song is, of course, Girl With One Eye, and it was impressively covered by Klub Kakofanny favourites, The Callow Saints. Here is a clip I filmed of them playing it at one of our club nights back in 2015, on Ruby's birthday.

Stay safe everyone,

4th September 2020
The Lockdown Letters
Klub Kakofanney