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Gareth Davies-Jones



Last Updated: 10/29/2009

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Status: Single
City: Northumberland
Country: UK
Signup Date: 3/3/2006

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Thursday, October 22, 2009 

Category: Life
Some of you may have taken part in an event to mark the STAND UP ! campaign last weekend. Seems we broke a world record in the process and sent a very clear message to world leaders about their and our responsibilities to the world's poorest people. Here's a part of the press release from the United Nations Millennium Campaign.

GUINNESS WORLD RECORD SHATTERED BY CITIZENS ACROSS GLOBE DEMANDING THAT THEIR LEADERS END POVERTY

More than 173 Million People Gather at "Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!" events, setting new world record for largest mobilization in history

A Guinness World Record shattered this weekend when 173,045,325 citizens gathered at over 3,000 events in more than 120 countries, demanding that their governments eradicate extreme poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). "Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!", now in its fourth year, has been certified by Guinness World Records as the largest mobilization of human beings in recorded history, an increase of about 57 million people over last year.

"The more than 173 million people who mobilized this weekend sent a clear message to world leaders that there is massive, universal, global demand for eradicating poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals," said Salil Shetty, Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign. "In particular, we have seen citizens determined to show their governments that they will hold them accountable for keeping their promises to end hunger, improve maternal health and abolish trade-distorting agricultural subsidies. They will not accept excuses for breaking promises to the world's poorest and most vulnerable people, who have already been hardest hit by the global food, economic and climate crises they had no role in causing."

In Asia more than 100 million people participated (101,106,845); in Africa more than 37 million people participated (37,848,412); in the Arab region more than 31 million people participated (31,394,459); in Europe more than 2 million people participated (2,102,121); in Latin America more than 200,000 people participated (229,371); in North America nearly 200,000 people participated (191,535); and in Oceania more than 170,000 people participated (172,582).

Visit the campaign website here. Thankyou.
Currently reading:
Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence (Comparative Studies in Religion & Society)
By M Juergensmeyer
8:48 AM 
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Wednesday, October 14, 2009 

Category: Life
Anyone who has been to my live gigs will know that I hoover up all things "Lighthouse". So here's a wee gem of an interview with one of the last keepers employed by Trinity House (for the uninitiated - that's the body that looks after the lights in England and Wales). It appeared on last weeks' issue of Saturday Live on Radio 4 - Oct 10th. Click on the link and start listening from 34 minutes in. My thanks to Matt Johnson for making sure I didn't miss it !  

Saturday Live Lighthouse Article

If you listen to the whole programme then you'll also discover the engaging poetry of Kate Fox a fellow North East resident. Check out her own MySpace pages at:-
 
Kate Fox - MySpace Site  

Enjoy !
11:13 AM 
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Friday, October 09, 2009 

Category: Life
I really love finding out something about a period of history that I never knew before. Sometimes it's the large things that I perhaps didn't pay enough attention to when I was studying at school and University. More often it's the small but significant things that tell in their relative obscurity a broader tale of the age.

So.....I've been doing a bit of reading up on the Battle of The Atlantic this last few weeks trying to gain some insight for a song I want to write about the Artic convoys sent from Britain and America in 1941-44 to aid Soviet Russia - who at that time was an ally against the Nazi's. What I found out was that rubble from the blitz in London was loaded up on out-bound merchant ships to the USA in 1940-41 and used as ballast to help them through the journey - most regularly to New York. What was fascinating to me was that then this same rubble was off-loaded in New York and used by the city municpal services as hardcore in the building process for the city's roads and state buildings. It's almost too poetic. Perhaps it's the wreckage of the old world propping up the new or from another perspective maybe it was an early transfusion of suffering from Europe to America in advance of her entering the Second World War at the end of 1941. We do seem a bit pre-occupied in the UK about the 'special relationship' between Britain and the US but .....here it is in a small piece of history tucked away in an old beaten up book from the 1950's about an increasingly forgotten sacrifice.

Ho-hum. Next time .... less about conflict and more info about my forthcoming single release and where you can get it !
1:52 PM 
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Thursday, September 17, 2009 

Category: Life

 

Just a quick post to say that in true luddite style I have finally....after much difficult, thoughful and considered prevarication.......joined Twitter. I've added the stream to the MySpace profile and for those that are even remotely interested in the mumbling minutae of this singing, guitar-playing, allotment holding, activist, songwriter-type.........breath...........then here's the Tweeting details.

I am to be known as @waterandlight and my profile is: http://twitter.com/waterandlight

Best of luck one and all.

12:54 PM 
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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 
I rolled up 10 minutes after my scheduled soundcheck start time. No problem. I was done in a very professional 5 minutes flat with the expert help of Graeme on sound. The Tindalls - who kicked off the evening - went on, finished and before I knew it - there I was on the Brewery Stage at Bromyard Folk Festival well into my opening solo set. The atmosphere was great and the crowd were fantastic. I received such a warm welcome from everyone I met over the weekend and saw nothing but enthusiasm for the music that I and all the other artists were bringing to the various venues and stages. I don't think I can recommend this grand weekend in Herefordshire - tucked away at virutally the end of the outdoor festival season - highly enough. Not only is the line up interesting, varied and enjoyable but the character and asthetic beauty of the surroundings is first class. After the mainstage on the Friday I had three more gigs in and around the sites - they use venues in Bromyard itself as well as a green field site just on the edge of the town. I particularly enjoyed playing at a lovely little venue called The Falcon Mews. Set in what looked to be an old barn or malthouse the acoustics were superb and good enough for a totally acoustic set free from fold or feed back ! It was a joy to sing there and I would have happily played for longer than I had been allocated. In the same venue that afternoon I had seen what turned out to be my personal musical highlight - a trio called "The Young'Uns" from Hartlepool. Now it would be fair to say that sea shanties aren't really my thing but these (relatively young) fellas brought such energy and wit to their presentation of various traditional sea-faring ditties that no-one could fail to be drawn deep into the performance. I hope to catch them again in the North East sometime. Other highlights included Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies, Roy Bailey and Skyhook.

On a different front - special mention to Mark and Tonia who run the Crown & Sceptre where I was residing for the weekend. The accommodation by their own admission wasn't the greatest - they're waiting to have a re-furb after taking over from the brewery and don't officially do rooms at the moment - but nothing was too much trouble. Even when yours truly broke a thumbnail (vital to the guitaring nature of my performing livelihood you understand) Tonia turned up with some super-strength nail glue out of hours to enable to show to go on. Dedicated hosts indeed. And finally......a nod to the finest pizza I've ever had on a festival site. I'm ashamed I can't remember the name of the catering establishment - but whoever they were their Greek Style 7 inch thin crust kept me going on all three days. I'd love to go back to Bromyard sometime and hope that you get the chance to go yourself.    

 
2:11 PM 
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Tuesday, August 25, 2009 

Current mood:  thoughtful
Category: Life
Dust. There was a lot of it in France. From the flats of the Vendee to the coastal clifftops of Normandy. For the first 3 days of our trip we'd travelled along the beaches visiting the sites of the D-Day landings - a concession to my interest in military history - and found much to awe and humble us as we went. We stopped at Pointe Du Hoc where US Rangers stormed a clifftop heavy artillery position at great cost. It's one of the few places still preserved as a battlefield. We stared out at the remains of the mulberry harbours from Arromanches and learned about the history of the conflicts of the 20th century at the Caen Memorial Museum. We visited St Lo where the cathederal church has only ever been partly restored as a permanent reminder of the suffering and destruction that the population had to endure during the battle of Normandy. And, we stood in the British & Commonwealth war cemetery in Bayeaux. A truly moving place as much for the fact that it is very much part of the town (the small ring road runs tastefully between the memorial and the graves themselves with a 20km speed limit) as for the stories and tradgedies behind each and every headstone. The dust gathered on the car. It stayed there until we arrived home some nine days later and where the Northumbrian rain washed it down to become part of the ground around us.

Dust to dust.
9:29 AM 
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Monday, August 10, 2009 

Current mood:  warm
Category: Life
Aaaahh.....it's been too long since I last typed anything of interest and for that I apologise. It's just been a busy old time with lots of comings and goings. I'm just grabbing a few moments back home for a day and half before heading off again. Yesterday I got back at 3.30am from the New Wine Festival down in Shepton Mallet, Somerset where I was the house act for seven nights. I opened up in the ToyBox Cafe venue for a variety of musicians, comedians and speakers such as Nicki Rogers, Tony Vino and Adrian Plass. It was great to be in amongst it all and experience the warmth of the welcome and the atmosphere on site. Well I say atmosphere - there was a fair bit of the old flu knocking about and I did spend a good bit of time avoiding coughing and spluttering souls to preserve the ability to perform ! So far so good. Special mention to the staff at the ToyBox Cafe. They worked their socks off and all in the cause of this fantastic charity that supports street children in Latin America. I have so much respect for organisations like this who bring hope and a future to so many children who would otherwise have nothing and no-one to care for them. Check out their work and if you can please consider helping through either prayer or giving or both.

And so .....in the early hours of tomorrow morning I'm off on a much anticipated family break to France for a couple of weeks. It'll be great to re-charge and come back refreshed and ready for Greenbelt Festival at the end of August and then a series of Autumn solo gigs and appearances and also the small matter of a single release in October. Yes - I've taken the plunge into commercialism (well dipped a toe in anyway) and "Breathe" will be coming out as a downloadable Radio Edit Single on October 5th. I'll post more on this - the where's, and how-much's (!) when I get back from the land of wine, cheese and artichokes. Enjoy your summer - what remains of it and bon voyage if you've yet to take a break !

G.
Currently listening:
Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
By Sigur Ros
Release date: 2008-06-23
4:29 PM 
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009 

Current mood:  breezy
Category: Music


I mentioned my friend the producer Mary Colwell in my last write up and her podcast "The Prisoner & The Budgerigar". It featured a recording of my own vocal and guitar arrangement of the classic carol "In The Bleak Midwinter" woven around the dialogue. Well the fantastic news is that the podcast actually won The Sony Radio Award 2009 for Best Internet Programme. Many, many congratulations to Mary and if you haven't had a chance to listen to the podcast (it's only 8 minutes long) then visit her website here to hear it.

I've been driving up and down the country since the last blog - with gigs in Edinburgh, London and a good few points in between. It's interesting how expert you tend to become in current affairs after long periods on the motorway, almost to the point where you feel you could host your own phone-in programme on MP's expenses, the state of Sri Lankan politics or speculation on England's Ashes line-up. When I finally arrive at the gig and step out of radio land it's almost like going through cold turkey withdrawing from the news cycle. I find myself with an insatiable desire to climb back in the car and find out "what's been happening" even though it might only be a few minutes later and my body still aches from the rigours of 6 hours behind the wheel.

So therefore it's good that next up is a wee bit of a break in Donegal. With a fine view of the Atlantic, the aroma of turf smoke in the air and the taste of sea spray on the lips it's about as far from the hurly burly of current affairs as you can hope to get in these Islands. I shall come back peacefully unaware of most happenings including Newcastle's imminent descent to the Championship. After that it's back to a few gigs in South Yorkshire culminating at The Topic Folk Club in Bradford on Thursday 11th June. If you're in the area then it'd be great to see you.  

Currently listening:
Begin To Hope
By Regina Spektor
Release date: 2006-07-10
10:15 AM 
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Tuesday, April 14, 2009 

Current mood:  calm
Category: Music

I know we're in the season of Easter but bear with me because I wanted to tell you about my friend Mary and track back to Christmas. Mary is a TV and Radio producer. This is what she says about herself on her website: "I make programmes for the BBC and the independent sector. I am also a consultant on the relationship between people and the natural world.  I don’t keep any subject in a box, I think everything can inform everything else, so please explore this site and see how I have combined my special interests in the media and the natural world". In December last year Mary asked me if I would mind recording my vocal and guitar arrangement of "In The Bleak Midwinter" so she could use it for a podcast she was putting together called "The Prisoner And The Budgerigar - An Advent Reflection". I was honoured to be asked and duly recorded the song and sent it off to Mary. The podcast itself is a truly inspiring piece of audio that explores the promise of hope and the change that it wrought in one man's life. It's quite short and you can listen to the audio in full at Mary's Website . And........the latest and best news is that Mary's work has made the shortlist for Best Internet Programme at this year's Sony Radio Academy Awards. You can find out more about the Sony Awards by clicking the link. The results will be announced on May 11th and I wish Mary all the very best.

Speaking of hope..... and birds (a recurring theme in recent blogs).... I was walking along the river the other night and caught sight of some newly returned residents that brought a real smile to my face and a spring to my step. The Sand Martins were back from Africa and were wheeling around chattering away above the nests that they left some 5 or 6 months ago. And ........I'm sure I heard a cuckoo this morning. Things are moving on and looking up.........

G.
 

Currently watching:
The West Wing - Complete Season 7 [DVD] [2001]
Release date: 2006-09-11
1:48 PM 
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Saturday, March 28, 2009 

Current mood:  refreshed
Category: Life
A rare and welcome family day out together - at least all in the same place for longer than 30 minutes. We ambled along the beautiful Long Walk at Gibside in the Derwent Valley, County Durham. The trees stretched out like sentries either side of us on a broad grassy avenue that runs at least a mile in length. The ancestral home of the Bowes-Lyon family. The Queen Mother was a Bowes-Lyon. Before she was the Queen Mother though - so the signs said. Ever had the sense you're being watched ? I looked up and only about twenty feet above us was one of the most impressive wildlife sights you'll see. It was a Red Kite. They are so big up close......and graceful in flight, soaring on the wind and then suddenly pulling up virtually motionless as if suspended in some kind of tractor beam. They never seem to beat their wings.

The thing is I'm sure it was watching us. The kids had brought a tennis ball and we were throwing it to each other as we walked along. The Kite followed us for at least 3 or 4 minutes and seemed to move as we did. Strange. It was almost like being stalked. Then it occured to us it might be the ball. In the end we started rolling it along the ground ahead of us - just to see if it would come any closer. It followed the ball each time (from about 40 feet up). Then finally as we got to the end of the avenue it swooped down to just above head height. What a scene. But just as we thought we were about to witness a large bird of prey kill a small luminous yellow piece of rubber......it wheeled up and away over the trees. It was only teasing. A tennis loving raptor playing throw and fetch with us. A fairly unique moment and one that made the afternoon. Well....that along with coffee and cake in the cafe afterwards.
Currently listening:
Buena Vista Social Club
By Buena Vista Social Club
Release date: 1997-06-09
8:17 PM 
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