Guitar George plays Anglia Square

JULY 16th 2005

Question: When is a street performing musician not a busker?
Answer: When he brings his own stage, has his Dad doing the mixing and his mum selling his CDs (that's her in the backround).

He played (and sang) Elvis, Buddy Holly and the Shadows in a performance and presentation that was beyond criticism and owed more to Butlins than to MTV.

It was as if Punk, club culture, post-modernism and every other popular (and populist) trend of the last 40 years had never happened. He belongs to the world where British Variety subsumed and made safe any subversion within Rock'n'Roll. The world where British rock'n'rollers would name themselves after meteological events (Storm, Typhoon, Hurricane) or a synonym for being cross (Wilde, Fury) The world where 16 year old skiffle stars when asked what their ambition was would reply "to become an all round family entertainer".

If you think I am kidding check out his website by clicking here.

The tragedy of it all is that, that for his age, he is very talented guitarist. I could, of course, be completely wrong and be the victim of some dadaist or surrealist prank. There might be a sudden roll of drums and Neil Innes perhaps or some BritArt Brat will reveal it all as a terrific joke at the public's expense.

Sadly it is more likely that Guitar George is in a blind alley that will lead him only to being the warmup act at Dame Cliff Richard's hundreth birthday concert. And that will only happen if Hank Marvin isn't around to play 'The Theme From The Deerhunter' for the umpteenth time.

Hare Krishna Mandolin Player

Another day. Another busker

Sunburst

Sunburst
Originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

SUNBURSTS

The most iconic popular design of Britain in the 1930s; the sunburst. Used on everything from wireless sets (that's what we now call radios) to fabrics to food wrappers. It fell out of favour, supposedly, during the Second World War because of its association with the Japanese Flag.



Its use in garden gates (illustrated) and front doors caused it to become a symbol of Surburban living. Once you start looking for them sunbursts in one form or another become ubiquitous; one imagines future archaeologists digging through the dust of our world and concluding they formed part of a religeous cult.

Earlier examples start to reveal themselves; this from 1912

The confusion with the Japanese flag was not coincidental; the design first came to the fore before the First World War as Japan 'opened up' to the West. There were any number of Japanese exhibitions London. The Japanese flag with its use of a circle for the sun and straight lines for its rays had obvious attractions for cubist and art deco influenced designers.

Note: The 8" Eclipse record was launched in 1931 and was available at only 6d (2½p) from Woolworth's. The recording quality was good, as was the material. To keep the costs down, one side was usually a non-copyright song bought outright from the composer or publisher. All matrices were English, and the catalogue started sensibly at 1 and ran to just over 1000 by 1935 when they were discontinued. There was also a blue-labelled SC-1 series for more serious music.
Iinformation from the excellant British Dance Band Encyclopaedia

Open Gate

Open Gate
Originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

The Blickling Park Pyramid

In the middle of the parkland that surrounds Blickling hall in Norfolk may be found a 45 foot tall pyramid which houses the remains of of the 2nd Earl of Buckingham, John Hobart, and his two wives. Over the portico one can see the Earl's coat of arms.

Brought up on a diet of Enid Blyton and Errol Flynn's film of Robin Hood I have a very fixed idea of what the English greenwood should be like; sadly the reality rarely lives up to the dream. When one finally finds one that could be home to Puck, or Will Scarlet or Julien, Anne, Dick and George you walk through it experiencing a gale force 10 feeling of deja vu. It is completely disorientating, therefore, while walking in such a wood to step into a clearing and discover a pyramid. File under magical or surreal or just plain strange.

Try this links page for more information about Blickling Hall, and the surrounding parkland

Harpist

More buskers

Weekday Buskers in Norwich

I love photographing buskers in my home town of Norwich. There is such a wide range of musical competance and motives why people busk.

Some see it as a branch of Show Business; the bottom rung perhaps but show business non the less. Others -fewer than some loudmouths would have you believe- see it as a semi-legal form of begging. Whatever the reasons street perfomers have an instant way of calculating their appeal; its measured out in pennies. It takes a lot of bravery to do what they do.

I have a number of self imposed rules about photographing buskers

1. I always give them some money first.

2. I then ask permission of them (so the act of giving me permission is not conditional on my giving them money.

3.I only photograph buskers Monday to Friday because weekday buskers do it for one reason and one reason only; the money.

4. The photograph must be the most 'positive' image of the busker that my small skill allows.

A very few buskers -by no means all and DEFINITELY NOT the guy photographed above- are very vulnerable and easily exploited. The decision to say 'no' to having a photograph being taken may be the only decision they are allowed to make that day. They have the right to keep their dignity and I feel I have a duty to preserve it. I am not interested in trying to be an objective observer; I want to be part of mankind.

My series of photographs of buskers may be found here.