The Blue Bear has been working with the distinguished rhythm section of Liz Frencham (bass) and Jon Jones (drums) on a project involving Fred Smith and The Spooky Men's Chorale in a collection of urban sea shanties. Which made a nice change from working on a chunk of sound art involving London's most melodically inclined tube train driver - a unique intercom style - and the trains themselves, duetting with Blake's woodwinds in a piece entitled The Burning Thames, featured at Canberra's M16 artspace in the exhibition The Gathering. The title alludes to the English ballad The Grey Cock aka The Lover's Ghost - another spooky man...

Maintaining the range: Lynne Pilbrow's early childhood music education project Fun Music for Little Kids is coming along nicely, providing an excellent excuse to play a lot of the studio's instrument collection: mbira, banjo, bass clarinet, sax, ocarina, cittern, concertina, harp, zoob tube and ukulele so far.