Bardcore - It's a Thing

I like fusion stuff, and if you do too, here's some Bardcore music you might not have come across - Jolene, and Hips Don't Lie:

And one more for good measure:

Enjoy!

Brittle Star and Ely Plot on Furlough

(Okay, this particular brag is directed at those of you who are, like me, not tech-savvy, because the rest of you will doubtless guffaw in derision at my inelegant process - but ya, boo, sucks, I did it any way.)

I was really pleased to have a poem in issue 46 of Brittle Star, particularly because they are celebrating 20 years in 2020.  Normally, they have their launch parties at the Barbican Music Library in London, but this time they have taken a digital route, with a series of podcasts of the poets reading their work, to come out in early July.

And I did it.

I recorded my poem onto my phone, emailed it to my computer, saved it onto my desktop, uploaded it onto WeTransfer, verified I was me and a couple of other adminy sorts of things, and sent it off.  All on my tod.*

Yup.  Pretty proud.

Issue 46 of Brittle Star

* Cockney rhyming slang - on my Tod Sloan i.e. on my own - referring to the American jockey James Forman (Tod) Sloan (1874-1933) who invented the 'monkey crouch' style of horse riding and was the inspiration for the song Yankee Doodle Dandy.

P.S. Ely Plot is still on furlough, but I'll let you know when Chapter 9 ensues.

Shadow Cat

Toby Reflects

P.S. No Ely Plot this week, but more to come.

Build Back Better and Chapter 8

(well, blogs are supposed to have a photo, 

so this one of a wall on Fair Isle is here, just because I like it, 

and maybe there's a very loose connection to the idea of creative building ...?)

This week I'm over an An Awfully Big Blog Adventure talking about the 'Build Back Better' project that the National Museums of Scotland have been running.  And Chapter 8 of The Ely Plot is live here.

Dustyevsky and Chapter 7

Like many, I've been missing singing in a choir, though, even without the pandemic, I wouldn't fit the criteria for this one. But I'm happy to be an enthusiastic groupie (one of many) of the Australian choir Dustyevsky.

From ABC News:

In his impressive fake Russian accent, master of ceremonies for the choir, Mark Swivel, explains: "Dustyesky is the leading genuine fake Russian choir in southern hemisphere.

"We are 28 men, middle-aged, very hairy, and we all live outside the tiny little hamlet of Mullumbimby or, as we call it, Mullumgrad.

"And all of us singing like we know the language and the words."

You can find the full article here.  Dustyesky also has a Facebook page.  As of today, they have one more follower!

And welcome back to Philippa Stevens, reading Chapter 7 of Ely Plot here!

Virtual Launch of Stay at Home!

Join us for the recorded e-launch of Stay at Home! here -

(No Ely Plot chapters this week, but hoping to be back in the thick of it all next week.)

Free Stay at Home! Anthology and Chapter 6

The anthology has landed!

Stay at Home! is a free e-book of stories and poems for children by Scottish writers, edited by Joan Haig, illustrated by Darren Gate, and published by Cranachan Publishing, which you can download from the Books from Scotland website here.

And for your weekly dose of Ely Plot, you can hear Chapter 6 here.