We're all going to have to clean it up one day

A recent headline made me look twice: Knob tossing in Dorset cancelled due to danger to human life. The mind boggles. At least mine did. I had completely the wrong idea. It refered to Dorset Knob biscuits, and an annual competition to see who can throw one the furthest. Like so many social events, it has fallen victim to Covid restrictions

Glastonbury's cancellation has also made the news today, although this wasn't entirely unexpected. I hope life will be getting back to normal by the summer, but larger festivals and carnivals need many months of planning and a lot of up-front investment, and right now organisers are saying they simply cannot get the necessary cancellation insurance. Who knows, 2021 may turn out to be a summer of small DIY festivals organised at very short notice on shoe-string budgets.

Cheer up Sleepy Jean

Lockdown is no fun, but we need to buy ourselves time until we see the benefits of the vaccines. Meanwhile, we need to keep our minds occupied and resist the urge to become sleepy couch potatoes slumped in front of the TV. One of our local musicians, Pete Lock, is a busking enthusiast. Obviously busking in the centre of Oxford is not permitted for the foreseeable future so instead he has set himself the task of recording four cover sings each week during lockdown. Here is one I especially like, a cover of Daydream Believer, wrapped up in a great video made by Laima.

Dragging my feet

Another local artist who has featured on Klub Kakofanney Unplugged recently is The Emma Hunter Band. Emma and Tom have been working hard on recording new material and their latest video is for the song "Here I go". You will have heard an early live version of this piece in one of my videos from the archives, but here is the studio version with deliciously rich sound, and a surprisingly dark but compelling video made for them by Siobhan Cox.

She's got her voice inside my head

Last year, singer-songwriter Jewelia embarked on her "Project 2020". Originally from Romania, Jewelia is nowadays based in London, and has previously performed in Oxford at one of our newer venues, The Port Mahon. For Project 2020, Jewelia set herself the task of producing a new song once per month, often with an accompanying video, and releasing them on the 20th of each month throughout 2020. My favourite song from her project is number 10 in the sequence, "Good Girl", not just because it is a great song with a great lyric video, but most of all because the video oozes with character and personality.

Spring cleaning for the mind

For those of us lacking musical talents, there are other ways to keep ourselves busy. I've been busy trying to do some early spring cleaning, but as I do it, I keep getting distracted by a song lyric going though my head, "You can't throw rubbish away". It's a wonderful song about recycling which comes from Cbeebies, and a timely reminder that just because covid dominates the news, the need to save the environment hasn't gone away. But do you recognise the voice of the singer? Yes, it's the multi-talented Claire LeMaster who you might have seen at Klub Kakofanney playing in Moogieman and The Masochists.

So try to keep yourselves busy, creative, and productive. Remember that just like vitamin D, sunflower seeds, and broccoli, a positive mental attitude is good for the immune system. If you've been up to something interesting to ward off the lockdown blues, let me know.

22nd January 2021
The Lockdown Letters
Klub Kakofanney