Easy, This is me, PolarBear saying, “Welcome to my interweb home”. I’ll be writing regular blogs; things I’m thinking, liking, hating, eating and chasing on this home page from now on. Click on the buttons to the left to explore the different sections and go over my face for a proper Brummie growl. Nice one
So it’s nearly here. Me and Yael finished working on the script day before yesterday ready for rehearsals to start next week. ‘RETURN’ is going to be alright.
Can’t wait to share this with people.
Feels like my story telling has gone up a level with this and with some hard work it’s going to be a performance piece to remember.
You can get tickets for the Battersea Arts Centre run here
Working with Marie Blunck on the design and Yael Shavit on developing the script and as director is pretty much my dream team. We’re currently booking for the national tour this year and I’ll upload the dates and venues as soon as things are confirmed. For now ‘RETURN’ runs from 2nd to 25th March at Battersea Arts Centre, just up from Clapham Junction. So come down and see what I’m really proud of.
Nice one
I don’t get excited that often. That sounds quite sad but it’s true. Genuinely excited I mean. Not just happy with something or looking forward to something, I mean proper excited.
I am proper excited about ‘RETURN’ for more about the idea click here and scroll down.
It’s gonna be ace. I’ll be doing a full run at Battersea Arts Centre in March 2010 then off on national/international tour after that. I’ll be putting up more details, dates and stuff when things are all in place but for now I just wanted you to know that the thing waking me up at 4am to write ideas down is ‘RETURN” and it’s going to be wicked.
Nice one
So here’s the tracklist for the Bear’s House mix that I rudely omitted from the post.
shame on you polar
This Is How We Do It Montell Jordan
Children’s Story Slick Rick
It’s a shame Monie Love
The World Is Yours Nas
Award Tour A Tribe Called Quest
Get Familiar Bullion
Battling Go-Go Yubari In Downtown L.A. edIT
Parasite Nick Drake
Hate or Love LSK
99-100 daysis
Mars to the Manor Willo Wispa
Splitmilk Malign Intellect
Let Me Be Your Fantasy Baby D
Survival of the Fittest Mobb Deep
Easy Lover Phil Bailey & Phil Collins
Morning,
So the first Bear’s House at The Albany was wicked. Just the atmosphere I was hoping it would be and all the acts delivered sets that left people leaving feeling happy they came out. Thanks to everyone who reached down and the all the acts and The Albany tech staff (who were brilliant). All in all my first proper night went just how I wanted. See you at the next one. I put together some tracks I was listening to. Check it out.
This is gonna be ace. Going all out to make it like coming over to mine to hang out, eat, drink listen to amazing live music and skank to me fighting Berko through songs
Hello. Shop nearly sorted (I promise). In the mean time hears the rough draft of the piece I made for the David Lynch Scratch at BAC a couple weeks ago. You have to play the sound clips and read in between. I reckon it’s the start of a nice idea. Check it out.
‘DALE’ - Draft idea Polarbear
Check this out. (play excerpt1)
That’s me walking in on my brother. God knows what he did with his voice.
I reckon that’s 1995, or maybe 96. Which means I’m like 15 and Nathan must’ve been 18. Which means it can’t have been that long before it happened.
He thought he was Dale Cooper. Wanted to be him. Fucking obsessed. Asking for eggs over hard and crispy bacon, complimenting Mom on the coffee like he knew what he was talking about. I always just found him funny, I mean I know who Dale Cooper is now but I didn’t then. In fact I didn’t even know what Twin Peaks was. I remember Nathan being left in charge when mom and dad were out. Me being about 9 and him letting me stay up and falling asleep on the sofa while we were watching the telly. He used to have a notebook and pencil ready and I never asked what it was for cos he would’ve just told me to shut up and go to bed.
I woke up and it must’ve been halfway through or something cos all I can remember is seeing some guy with a pony tail sat in a wheel chair like in a coma or something and this proper creepy music and being half asleep and the guy in the chairs eyes moving a bit or something and I shit myself. Couldn’t sleep.
Never saw anymore of Twin Peaks after that til I started going through Nathan’s stuff.
I don’t know when he started recording but there’s a box full of tapes, none of em marked or anything and I always just thought they were like mix tapes or something. I played one and it was an early Westwood show so I just left em.
Then yesterday I just felt like it and that’s what I found. That tape and this notebook.
He’d already gone a bit weird by that point. He was smoking pretty much everyday and just locking himself away in his room.
I remember hearing dad call it a phase when him and mom argued about it. That it was, “just Nathan responding to what had happened”. Being that close to something that horrific. So that’s what I said whenever anyone bought him up.
How’s your brother? Horrible what he saw, can’t imagine it.
He’s ok; it’s just a phase.
To be honest I think it’s overrated myself. The full two seasons I mean. The pilot is pretty good and the first season, ok the first season is pretty sick, but after Leyland dies it all got a bit boring for me.
Nathan used to say it was the networks fault. Talk about them like he knew them.
It was them ABC wankers. They didn’t get it. Stories within stories. It could just keep going so long as you don’t reveal everything. Dickheads.
Part of me was jealous. You know? I can admit that. To be into something that much. To completely submerge yourself in a different world. I never did that. Nathan was different.
After what happened he just went further in. Started making less and less sense. But getting more and more routine. Sometimes at night I’d hear him through the wall. Talking to himself. Pacing around.
Every morning he’d come downstairs at twenty to ten. Pretty much bang on. He’d say hello if we were having breakfast and deflect questions from Mom. He’d go out into the back garden and through the gate. Twenty minutes later at ten o clock on the dot he’d walk back in with a folded newspaper and a small package under his arm. Like a Jiffy bag. He’d pour a cup of coffee and go back upstairs and we wouldn’t see him again for the rest of the day. I was pretty sure that was how he got his weed, but god knows who left the packages where and what else was inside them.
Every Thursday he had to go and speak to someone. A doctor. Trauma counseling they called it. The irony is I’m pretty sure that just fueled his mind even more. I imagine him lying there talking to some crackpot psychologist in a garish Hawaiian shirt.
(Take out note)
Acetylcholine neurons fire high, voltage impulses into the
forebrain. The impulses become pictures, the pictures
become your dream. But no one knows why we choose
these particular pictures.
He left that next to my bed. Under my alarm clock. I’m not sure when he put it there, could’ve been there for ages. I didn’t find it til I knocked the clock off.
My brother. Fucking Agent Dale Cooper.
(look at notebook)
I don’t really remember dreams. Never have. I’m not like him.
Which is why I don’t want to open this
It was just a phase. Him responding to what he’d seen.
“LOCAL TEENS WITNESS CORNERSHOP HORROR ATTACK”
I’ve pictured his face. Eyes wide. Flecks of Eddie’s blood warm on his cheek. The silence.
I don’t know what that does.
I never met the girl. I’m not even sure of her name, but her face stays with me. The pair of them and what they saw.
Just a phase.
A phase that
Made him think they were after him.
Made them take him away. Agent Dale Cooper in a padded room.
Something don’t feel right (play excerpt2)
END.
Hello.
A bunch of people have been asking me to make tracks available from the ‘Keep It Simple’ EP that I made with Session in early 2007. The tracks ‘Candlelight’, ‘Seven Thirty’, ‘Keep It Simple’ as well as the first incarnation of ‘Jessica’ in ‘Fade To Black’ will all be available as soon as my programming genius friend Paul says which method of getting them up here to buy is best. ‘Just Talkin’ EP will also be up for download as well as a project produced by AFROSAXON which is alright too. Sorry it’s taking so long but as a child of the 80’s, who doesn’t understand computers unless they have a green screen and buttons that sound like a door closing when you push them, I’m kind of out of my league. Thanks for the interest and below is a link to my myspace page where there’s a downloadable remix from Session of one of the tracks from ‘Keep It Simple’ as a thanks. Thanks
Morning.
So I joined twitter and I actually do use it to tell people what’s going on, you know, in the monent and obviously try to be funny or at least insightful or just slag stuff off etc. check it out here.
In other news I’m getting an album together of musical tracks produced by AFROSAXON. Listen to one of the tracks below.
Sending out demos soon to indies as this self pressing business is long.
Nice one Polar
This Wednesday 19th August I’m hosting the Roundhouse Slam Final. The two heats have been fantastic in terms of quality and audience. Packed Freedom studios have seen the best collection of spoken word artists I’ve ever witnessed under one roof. The 10 highest scoring artists compete this week for the Roundhouse Slam Crown.
I’m not really a slam fan myself. I’ve only been to a few and to be honest it’s always seemed like a bunch of frustrated comedians or bad rappers. This is different. Probably because the artists taking part are not scene-weary performers craving applause, but rather writers who are excited about sharing their work and gaining some recognition. Man they deserve it. I’m the Grinch, I don’t like performance poetry but I’ve loved both nights so far. If you’re around and there are tickets left, come down. It’ll be alright.
Nice one
Polar
Copyright © 2010 Polarbear