Rowley Gallery Blog
This is a trailer for my favourite film of 2013, La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), a kind of modern day equivalent to Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, full of gorgeous and spectacular images together with a sublime soundtrack featuring music by David Lang, Arvo Pärt, John Tavener and many more. Continue reading “The Great Beauty”
My first full day in California was a little inclement, in fact it poured with rain morning to evening only allowing a little light relief to get this shot of the iconic bridge. However it’s hard to be despondent in one of the most beautiful and stunningly situated cities on Earth. The following day the sun came out and didn’t stop blazing down for the following three weeks, as further pictures will testify. Continue reading “California Dreaming”
David Hockney made these videos of four seasons in Woldgate Woods by driving slowly down the lane with nine cameras on the car roof. They are now on display in A Bigger Exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Continue reading “Woldgate Woods”
Onze Helden Zijn Terug! (Our Heroes Are Back!) is the title of this flashmob video made to celebrate the return of Rembrandt’s Night Watch to the Rijksmuseum in April 2013. It heralded the museum’s grand reopening after a ten year restoration project. Rembrandt’s masterpiece is now back in place in the Gallery of Honour but pretty much everything else has been rearranged. Continue reading “Our Heroes Are Back!”
For Nelson Mandela. Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra. Suggested by Richard Williams.
Imagine this song by Ivor Cutler as the musical accompaniment for a group of New York’s finest morris-dancers choreographed by the greatest living creative artist in any art form. Put it together with thirteen more of his songs (including the ever popular Beautiful Cosmos), with dancers dressed as children (Ivor Cutler always seemed a child dressed as an adult) in madcap square dances, shape-shifting and pattern-weaving around the playground, and you’ve got one of the four spectacularly life-enhancing performances by the Mark Morris Dance Group last night at Sadlers Wells. All that was needed for a perfect St Andrew’s day was a curtain call with Mr Morris dressed in a kilt.
To celebrate Carla Bley‘s appearance tonight at the Wigmore Hall as part of the London Jazz Festival here’s a recording from 30 years ago when the LJF was known as the Camden Jazz Festival. The Lord Is Listenin’ To Ya, Hallelujah! was written as a tongue-in-cheek gospel showcase for Gary Valente’s gloriously raucous trombone. This performance was at the Roundhouse and I was in the audience that night with a big smile on my face. I’d been a huge fan ever since I first heard Escalator Over The Hill as a teenager and wanted to run away from home to join Carla’s circus. Praise the Lord for Carla Bley!
A lovely film by Myles O’Reilly of Reiseger/Fraanje/Sylla performing in the music department of Ludwig Beck in Munich. I’ve known Ernst Reijseger’s versatile cello improvising for many years, with Trio Clusone, Uri Caine, Tenore e Cuncordu de Orosei and Werner Herzog. Sometimes he plucks, sometimes he bows and sometimes he picks it up and strums it like a guitar. But this trio is new to me; heartfelt collaborations and inventions, full of surprises. They’re playing tonight, November 16, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the same bill as the Arild Andersen Quintet. Continue reading “Ana”
The Moo Man has appeared before on Frames of Reference but now there’s a proper trailer we couldn’t resist another look.
In an attempt to save his family farm, Stephen Hook decides to turn his back on the cost cutting supermarkets, and instead stay small and keep his close relationship with the herd.
Into the woods with Sam Amidon to pick his banjo and holler some crazy music. Could this be Epping Forest or is it Vermont? The album was recorded in the Green Lanes of north London. Sam is playing at LSO St Luke’s tonight, October 26. You might also like to see him At Le Poisson Rouge.