Party Time!

 

It was a feature of most Art & Design colleges and Falmouth was no different. The title of Pete Brown & Pibloko's album of 1970 summed it up.  These tickets that we made (I'm pretty certain that Jim Whitehead and myself were involved along with others - Dave Weekes, Allan Green?) suggest that the beer was free...but I may be romanticising it?  I do recall that at one such event we realised the brewery had sent the casks but forgotten to include the spigots.  Cue a dash across town in Colin Hill's car (just about the only student on campus I knew who had one!) with me decked out as King Charles (in fetching heels, velvet pants and brocade jacket) back to The Penwerris.  Here I braved the bar to request  the loan of a spigot to save the day...such sacrifices had to be made!

'Your New Boss' refers to John Elliot, who took over the Presidency of the Students Union, as our year began winding down our social side to concentrate on our final year studies (at least that was the theory).  I've not got a contact for John...I know he had some early success as a painter (see Art UK site) showing in London - but again I don't remember the dealer...  

Squadron Leader & Bomber...

Jim in the studio with (I think) David Weekes with his back to the camera - note the famous VCS3 in the bottom right.  Another great photo from Allan Green.

I'm not sure if Jim Dymond was a Squadron Leader! but I'm fairly sure he had been in the RAF as a pilot and had come to college subsequently.  Being a decade or so older than most of us he provided intelligence & thoughtfulness to a group of youngsters who - and I'll speak only for myself here - sorely needed some of those qualities! In any event prompted by our painting tutor, Ron Smith, one of whose canvases (splendidly replete with his very avant garde cutouts) can be spied in the background, we formed the Ron Smith Group.  Ron was by this time heavily into his saxophone experimentation and encouraged us in our 'freeform jazz' aspirations.  So much so that when he wasn't around we set up a gig - in the lecture theatre - and produced a handbill to announce ourselves.

"Cruisin' with Squadron Leader Jim Dymond and his 'jets' Dave Manley, Allan Green, Jimmy Whitehead (Bomber)
'Mildly Electric' featuring Boy Scouts Night Out formerly the Ron Smith Group.
a) any other moment than this in a total state of experiences - LIVE IN ANY OTHER MOMENT
any phrase has time (length) but we appreciate this now - even memory. The phrase the music is only 'seen' in parts in its own moment - and realy (sic) cannot be considered outside this moment. "START AT THE BEGINNING AND END AT THE END" Sol Le Witt

I say 'we' but I'm fairly certain this was (substantially) the work of 'Bomber' Jimmy Whitehead.  Jimmy had been a pupil at the legendary Moseley Road School of Art, a specialist secondary for talented kids, and was a mercurial individual with an insatiable appetite for going 'out there'.  He has become a distinguished and feted composer with his alter ego JLiat and you can find out more about how this came about here.  The nascent beginnings of his complex philosophical music can be detected in the musings on the handbill - or not!

Jimmy Whitehead (other than on the handbill never nicknamed 'Bomber'!)

The text along the side of the bill runs:

'Tall, dark, straggly haired, middle aged, ex- R.A.F. pilot Jim Dymond leads his highly trained 'Jets' - 'Bomber' Jimmy Whitehead, languid Al Green (so tired of bein' alone) and Boy Genius Dave Manley into the strange moribund darkness of new music from under the wing of 'fledgling rock saxist' Ron Smith'.  Its a mark of Jim's decency that he never objected to any of the epithets and whilst Allan and myself have some decencies inflicted by a lifetime's experience to describe me as a 'boy genius' and he as 'languid' is something of a stretch!

Catching Up...

It's got to be towards the summer of 1973 when the group above posed for this one...we think in the pub at the top of Jacob's Ladder (now called that but not back then?).  This picture comes courtesy of Tom Batty (centre at back) who thinks that I might have taken it - though I don't quite recall it.  Today we met up - our first such meet since that summer!

From left to right around the table are Imogen Pilling, not sure?,Anna Brockett, Allan Green, Jenny Rees, Tom, not at all sure?, Jimmy Whitehead, Dave Weekes and John Elliot.  If by any chance any one of you see this let me know details you can remember after all this time. Allan and Tom I've already written about here but John E became a well respected painter in the early 80's and showed in a commercial London gallery.  Dave W has worked in a variety of contexts including Cranfield School of Management and currently lives in Manchester working mainly (I think) in Illustration.  Jimmy has had a career as a contemporary classical (minimalist) composer (inspired by seeing John Cage at the RAH on a college trip) and Anna has made a career in Film Animation (partly inspired by a visit to college by Bob Godfrey.  We often blather on about 'transferable skills' in University Art Departments nowadays...and most of it is utter tosh.  If the group above proves anything its that the richness of the inputs makes for the more interesting of outputs!

Tom...where have you been?

Alongside those students that arrived at College the same time as me we had several other close pals from other years. Tom Batty was one such and crops up regularly in photos of our group.  Sadly I completely lost touch with him after we finished in June 1973.  Luckily enough I recently discovered he lives not that far off from me in the East Midlands.

So tomorrow I'm off to Melton Mowbray to meet him for lunch...a bit of catching up I guess...after a gap of 44 years...it barely seems plausible!

Adventures In The Studio

Myself & Jim Dymond, in performance...

My recollection is that a handwritten note was pinned to the painting dept. noticeboard simply saying that if you were interested in ‘contemporary music’ you should fetch up in a room that (certainly for me at least) I’d hardly noticed before on the bottom corridor. 

Several of us went along.  We met an eccentric looking Welshman who had an Afro hairdo and a terrific bushy mexican moustache.  He was Howard Rees and looking back I now imagine that he wasn’t that many years older than we were.  He was a terrifically energetic, classically trained musician but with a passionate interest in modern music.  Before he let us loose on the amazing kit (that included Sennheiser Concert Speakers, two Revox four track tape recorders and - the very latest sensational musical gismo the VCS3 that we’d only ever seen Brian Eno play on TOTP!) he insisted we go up to the College music room (a comfortable living room that overlooked the gardens) where he introduced us to KarlHeinz Stockhausen’s Kontakte.  There are few moments that are truly revelatory in life but for me, and several others present I reckon, that was one.  A week later Howard was back and we were in the room again listening to Steve Reich’s It’s Gonna Rain and either that week or the following it was Terry Riley’s A Rainbow In Curved Air.  Those sessions have lived in my head for almost forty five years!

Tom Batty (I think) and myself 'performing' for John Elliot

We went on to play about in the studio, to play about with the kit, to make all kinds of sound pieces and even, with our painting tutor, Ron Smith who was by this time less interested in paintings but obsessive about his saxophone playing form an experimental sound group that variously was called Sticks Mbutto & his Magic Band and the Ron Smith Big Quartet (ha ha…there were five of us).  One of number - Jimmy - who I shall feature in another post soon - was so transformed by these experiences he has made his life in avant garden musical circles.

John Elliot 'fixing' a guitar

What happened to Howard?  I’m not sure but I think there may be a reference to him in the book Cybersonic Arts: Adventures in American New Music.  There is mention in Chapter 11 What We Did Last Summer to the International Carnival of Experimental Sound in London in Summer 1972.  A band with Cornelius Cardew in it called Naked Software also lists members John Lifton, Anna Lockwood, Harvey Matusow and - Howard Rees.  I have also turned up a credit on Harold Budd’s 1978 album The Pavilion of Dreams for Howard Rees as the Vibes/Marimba player in the ensemble.  In addition an intriguing album by the Welsh Argentine Guitar Duo features a finale piece written by a Howard Rees called Goodbye Alun and Thank you-Elegy in Memoriam Alun Hoddinott.  It might be a stretch but Howard was Welsh!  There’s also a listing on Gavin Bryars first take on The Sinking Of The Titanic on Eno’s Obscure label in 1975 of a Howard Rees as ‘director’.  Given his interests there's at least a chance these are our man.

A real longitudinal study...

If there's any purpose to this at all it might be the way in which it could reflect the lives and careers of art students. At a time when the professionalisation of Art Schools (sorry I mean University Arts Depts) has all but drained their entire lifeblood it might give pause for thought...though in the current climate I doubt it.

In this picture I'm mooching about the top floor flat's living room whilst Dave Thomas gets on with some serious painting; in this case an almost life size self portrait.  It's paid off pretty well for Dave!

Cheers!

We say 'bottoms up' from the Ponderosa, the public bar at the Penwerris Inn, Falmouth, Cornwall.