#He's very underrated as far as sons of Apollo go but to my understanding

[gingermintpepper]

I know everyone knows the story of Actaeon and how he met a terrible fate by stumbling upon Artemis bathing in her forest but did you know that Actaeon was Apollo's grandson? That his father was Aristaeus, lord of the bees and the rustic arts and his mother was Autonoe, daughter of Cadmus and princess of Thebes?

Did you know he was trained by Chiron? That he was considered a hunter so skilled his talent was considered divine, that he was his parents' only child and that he was loved?

Did you know the grief that consumed the household when word of Actaeon's fate reached them? That Cadmus cut his hair, that Harmonia wept and was disconsolate and that his parents... well, Autonoe walked the length of the forest, keeping a sharp eye out for her son, but all she saw were the scattered bones of a fawn. Aristaeus too, had heard his son was torn apart and so fruitlessly, foolishly searched for the bones of a man. (There was none to be found)

Did you know that it was Actaeon's ghost, unhappy and unburied, trapped on the earth, who leaned over his sleeping father and told him of his fate? "You will not find me as you knew me, gather me as a stag." And Aristaeus immediately woke his wife and told her the truth, and together they grieved all the night long.

(Did you know that this is why Aristaeus abandons Boeotia? He could not stand the sight of it and so he went to Ceos. And there he slayed the dog-star. And there he became a healing wind. All in the name of his only son, that foolish, beloved Actaeon.)

[thepippapotamus]

Cardiff’s Women in Music Exhibition

In 2018 I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute to and exhibit in the brilliant Cardiff Women in Music Week, as curated by the unstoppable and Liz Hunt of The Moon in Cardiff, without whom the Cardiff music scene would be all the more poorer.

Anais Mitchell, Clwb Ifor Bach

Islet, Swn Festival

Gryff Rhys, Clwb Ifor Bach

Y Niwl, Swn Festival

Strange News From Another Star, Undertone

Joanna Gruesome, Swn Festival

Below is my accompanying essay:

Mine is a wandering road through music. There is no real start or end as I’ve been involved in all aspects of making, playing and managing. Photography and writing were always passions of mine and I studied each formally as well just having fun with them. Those, combined with a love of music, a background in opera, a musician mother, partner and friends meant some level of involvement was inevitable. A naturally organised and (ever so slightly) bossy person, I started helping my partner Joshua Caole and others with booking their shows and tours. I enjoyed the romance of packing a car up and driving around Europe on tour with Josh. There was some blagging and bullshitting at first and a very steep learning curve. I put together press packs from guides on the internet to sell these acts to venues and promoters. I started emailing and phoning people blindly and the ones who responded I built working relationships with for future acts. Booking my first tour for a US act (James Apollo) I came up against a very well-respected London promoter who both called me out on my blagging but also respected me for trying so hard to get this band the best shows I could. After a couple of successful tours, more people asked me to book for them. My biggest project to date was a tour for Christiaan Webb, Jimmy Webb’s son, which was crafted with a lot of love together with his Welsh brothers, the Musicbox studios and rehearsal rooms crew. Musicbox is the lifeblood of Cardiff music and without Mark and Bernie we’d all be lost. A big tip. Spreadsheets are a booker’s friend. Many many spreadsheets. For contacts, tour day plans, keeping track of what gear the venue will provide, what length set the band has to play… have one for everything.

As I was already going to a lot of shows, I took my camera. It was a natural progression and felt like a higher level of interaction. Some of my shots proved popular when bands or events shared them online and found their way into the press. Taking photos of bands that you know gets you to the front of the crowd and from there, once you have work to show people, it’s not hard to get press passes or interest from others who want you to shoot them. I would often work as an official photographer at a festival which is where all my Sŵn shots come from. Approaching festivals and asking to take photos for free one year can lead to a more official position the next.

Everything I’ve done, however, including more recently helping a new venue with their programming, has been sporadic due to the fact that I have increasingly severe ME. When I enjoyed runs of moderately good health some years ago I could dip my toe into different waters, just a little - I could book bands, take photos, manage tours - but all in a very limited capacity. Other photographers could shoot all day, every day. I also required huge rest periods after the smallest amounts of activity so even during my best times I could never fully be immersed in music as my health always had to come first. Sadly, as my disease has progressed and I have become far more severely affected, my involvement in the industry has understandably waned. The majority of the last 5 years have been spent in bed, in hospital or in a wheelchair so it means a lot personally that anyone has noticed my contributions to Cardiff music, especially as a person with disabilities. I often worry I disappear from memory when I’m alone in my room, able only to watch the ceiling and unable to move even to the bathroom without help. The rights of those with disabilities is therefore as important to me as gender equality and I’ve been really happy to see projects like Gig Buddies come to Cardiff. Notably, however, whilst venues and promoters are more and more prepared for disabled customers, few are ever ready for disabled people in the industry itself. Trying to make sure my artist parking for a festival was accessible on walking sticks one year was incredibly complicated and issues like these seem to confuse whomever is at the other end of the phone as it’s just not expected. This is something I have had to confront much more often than sexism. Turning up on sticks, in a wheelchair and still commanding attention, trust and respect is distressingly difficult. Whenever I can take photos or interact with music, however, I do. Tenacity is definitely crucial. It has been a while since I could physically push my way to the front of a show and take photos though so these days I’m more of an email warrior.

Photography to me is the urge to capture real moments. I sometimes think this makes me less creative than other photographers who dream up magical landscapes, but that’s just not what interests me. It’s more about documenting emotion and moments in a visually interesting way, especially with live music. For that reason I never cared much for photographing stadium shows and big festivals, despite the visual artistry involved in the production. I prefer small venues and intimacy. Photographers I admire include Lomokev who is a wonderful guy based in Brighton who first came to the fore taking photos at raves on his then very unfashionable Russian Lomo cameras as he crawled through the grass.

I’ve always been able to project a confidence (it’s totally fake) and when needed, a slight arrogance. This has got me through moments where gender could have been a barrier, I think. Especially in photography. My tutor, the unforgettable “Dr Fred(ericks)” told me if you ever worried you didn’t belong somewhere or felt under-experienced for a shoot, turn up with all the gear you have and barge on through.

The relationship between women and anyone identifying as anything but male with the music industry is obviously a troubled one. I believe I possibly take a different stance to some people, however, due to a uniquely multi-generational view. My mother (though she loathes me to tell anyone) was the real trailblazer. She was a session player at some big studios whilst she was still unmentionably young. The stories she has told me; the assaults and assumption of women as complicit sexual objects regardless of their actual involvement in the music are disgusting and have influenced my view of a lot of industry big-hitters. They are also far removed from the still deep-rooted but nowhere near as toxic sexism I’ve encountered. She went and did it all though and lived through horrible situations for the love of music. Today, I truly believe there has been progress. I think it’s sometimes important to just recognise that instead of worrying how far there is still to go. Progress has occurred not just in the role women play in music but in the way in which we engage in discourse about gender, sex and even consent. It is important to remember women have always played key roles in music and sound engineering. There are women in every great rock story who showed up, got on with it and earned respect. Music was never a no-go area for women but we had to prove ourselves to an unjust degree and put up with a lot of shit and assumptions that men don’t have to. I feel like banging the drum incessantly about inequality in music sometimes does an injustice to all those in the industry who support everyone around them and lift each other up regardless of gender. There are some great people out there and they are the only way forward. No path is impossible for women in music; Sound engineers (one particular woman in Hamburg I will never forget), musicians (Liela Moss is one of the most underrated front-people in rock), bookers, tour managers, and the Liz Hunts of the world, who appear to somehow do everything, are making sure the roads that have been forged stay open and flow with more and more talent.

The best advice any woman in music ever gave to me was from Take That’s first booking agent, a wonderfully Ab Fab-esque woman who told me to go out there and “kill them with kindness”. She meant it as an all-encompassing ethos, but I feel it is especially pertinent to women in male-dominated spheres. For example, when the worst kind of promoters think they can walk all over a female tour manager because she’s no way going to stand up for the band and fight for the fee they’re owed that night and you respond with calm but strong insistence rather than shouting or cowering away it is then that you see something really interesting start to happen and they listen.

A great feat this year was to see how female-focussed the Cambridge Folk Festival line up was, without pretence or affect. These were women who simply needed to be there because they were the best. Previously some men may have got their slots through “old boys club” mentalities but we can see this is changing and merit is winning out. It is important to not fetishise women in music, however. I’ve seen awful “Girls with guitars” tours that don’t help anyone legitimise female achievement. Those terrible “female” monikers: “female” drummer, “female” sound engineer, etc, go hand in hand with fetishisation, but, our best way to obliterate them is to go out there, do our thing and educate anyone needing it along the way - exactly what exhibitions like this aim to do. I have come up against some women who demonise men just for being in the music industry and that upsets me deeply as it’s equality we want, not a war, and not positive discrimination. Social media sometimes makes us feel like we are all competing for photos to be seen, shows to be promoted but that’s not how things work. It works best when we all support each other’s endeavours regardless of gender. Community in all things is vital. The biggest challenge facing us is getting people excited about small shows in sweaty rooms and beautiful music again as attendance has dropped and caused the closure of so many wonderful, dirty places.

[imagineonlyproductions-blog]

In One Sitting - Rocky *Spoilers*

Today I watched all 6 Rocky films in one sitting. Shiznits this was a ride!!!!

Rocky (1976)

What a great introduction to a character. I thought that the movie was going to be all training and all fighting. It was great to see the time that was put into developing him as a person. Most of this development was done through quiet scenes of reflection. Rocky walks the streets of Philadelphia throughout the entire film. These quiet moments put us into his shoes as he does the job that he is good at but that isn’t who he is, as he stops at the pet store to talk to Adrian, and as he visits with the various groups of people who hang out on the streets at night. Rocky is a man of the people and that is made abundantly clear during the film’s run time. 

When we finally get to the training and the fighting, we really feel like Rocky has built himself up mentally for this. He needs this opportunity. He needs to be more than he is. He’s not a “bum”.

The fight with Apollo Creed is a tense brawl. Few movies give you such palpable and gritty fighting anymore. 

After all of the build up, we are connected to Rocky as a man. We know what this fight means to him. It means leaving the life of mediocrity and becoming a legend. It really doesn’t matter that he doesn’t win the fight. What’s great is that the filmmakers know this and don’t even try to take away any of his glory. The announcer calls Creed the winner, but this audio is just barely in the background. We hear Rocky yelling for Adrian, they kiss, she says she loves him, and the film ends. Perfection.

Rocky II (1979)

Deezamn! I didn’t think that first movie was going to be topped so quickly! Rocky II is a great follow-up to the first film and is a perfect representation of what is gained from watching a series in one sitting. This movie picks up right where the first left off. This felt like watching the next episode of a television show and it was very appreciated.

What we didn’t care to deal with in the first film, is dealt with here. We see the aftermath of their fight and we see how even though Apollo Creed was the winner, he still lost. The fight is tearing him apart, but as usual, Rocky is being positive. He treats his wife to a new home and fancy clothes. Sure he is spending way too much, but as we’ve seen in the past film, he’s earned a bit of splurging. 

Creed shows his true colors here. I like that unlike in most films, they don’t have a point where they sit down and explain Creed’s tactics of boasting to the cameras. We know he wants to defend his title and even though Rocky isn’t always understanding why Creed is being so aggressive, the film respects us enough to see through the facade. His character is clearly mimicking Mohammad Ali with his taunting. 

Again, when Rocky decides to go back to fight Creed, we see the filmmakers’ ability to trust the audience. There isn’t a point where Rocky talks about how hard it is for him to train knowing that Adrian isn’t happy with him. We get it! When she goes into a coma and comes out of it in full support of Rocky, we see his rise in enthusiasm. More filmmakers need to trust their audience to fill in the blanks without lengthy scenes of dialogue. 

The final fight here is even better than the last. This is the most greasy fighting I've ever seen! I was losing my mind the whole time. I’m not even into sports, but I was jumping around and yelling at the screen like I was watching a real fight. The slow motion was used effectively with the closeups to show us how powerful these punches are, and when that final count is going on, I felt like my soul was going to launch out of my body because the suspense was so palpable! 

I can’t wait for the next movie!!

Rocky III (1982)

THE EYE OF THE TIGER!!!!

They must have paid a lot of money for that song because they didn’t stop saying “Eye of the Tiger” for more than ten minutes in this movie!

Rocky III was good, but definitely suffered from the inability to give us a BIGGER challenge for Rocky to overcome. Technically, Clubber Lang was a more powerful opponent than Apollo Creed. The issue is that the first two films involve Rocky climbing to the top from the bottom. Seeing a man at the top get beat once then win the second time just isn’t as gripping as it was before. 

The final fight was exciting, but when he won, I wasn’t surprised. The stakes just weren’t there because we had seen what he could do twice before.

The real star of this movie was his relationship with Adrian. I love how much they grow in each film. After the awesome montage with that awesome song, we see the two of them in bed singing a song. Their relationship has never felt forced in three movies. I love them as a couple and when she gives him the big pep talk, she solidifies her place in his story. She is the reason he gets up in the morning. She has become such a strong figure from the timid individual she was in the beginning. 

In the end, Rocky III was entertaining, but it has nothing on Rocky II. NEXT!

Rocky IV (1985)

Wow, what a passive aggressive film! 

I see the irony in that statement, yet it stands. This was a very entertaining film in context with the others, but it is clearly fueled by so much passive agression toward Russia that existed at the time. Just having Drago say “He’s not human. He’s like a piece of iron” says it all. Rocky trained like a man. Drago was indoors using machinery AND he’s been doping! 

Speaking of training; that’s like 80% of this movie! The montages are great for sure, but they have twice as many as the previous film. Like I said, in the context of seeing all of these in one sitting, this movie was very entertaining. It felt like an action-packed 4th episode of a TV series. Unfortunately, as a film on its own, it lacked the substance that the previous films had. 

There was little to no character development. Adrian rightfully had no reason to support this needless fight, but comes back later in support of it for no reason. Rocky himself had told Creed that he didn’t need to fight to prove anything. What if Rocky HAD died? Would it have been worth it?

The point of the film was the message toward Russia. Like I said, I enjoyed the fighting, but it was so clearly just about the Russians hating Rocky in the ring even though the Americans booed Drago too. The announcers talked about it like Russians booing was hateful. Then Rocky gives his big speech about change and everybody loves him. 

The level of development was lower than III but the action was about on par, so I’d have to say this one wasn’t all that great unfortunately. There was a lot of distraction. From the long montages to the long musical numbers, they really dropped the ball here. I’m confident that this is just a low point though. They’ll pick it back up!

Rocky V (1990)

ALRIGHT! They really listened! The best parts of Rocky are the characters and the slow moments! This movie was definitely a return to form.

It was odd that Rocky’s son grew like 4 years in the time it took Rocky to fly home from Russia, but I’m glad that he was a major focus of the film. Rocky has been a dad for a while now, but his kid was never a big part of the story. This was a welcome change. I really didn’t mind the additional characters that took up the spotlight here.

I gotta say, I REALLY loved this one! This is the most underrated Rocky movie! This movie gets lower reviews than II and IV! This movie was a great change of pace and was a logical arc for the character. 

The ending fight with Tommy was absolutely perfect. IF they had made him go back into the ring for a big match in front of the world, it would have felt forced and unrealistic. This was the best way to hash out this conflict.

All in all, Rocky V is my third favorite out of this franchise so far. Let’s see if the next and final film can change the order here.

Rocky Balboa (2006)

What a finale! Rocky Balboa was a wonderful conclusion to the series! 

Like Rocky V, the film focused most of its attention on the character an not on the fighting. This film had some of the most powerful moments in the franchise, including the scene where Pauly regrets how he treated the now deceased Adrian.

I’m glad that the fighting and training was done realistically enough. Sure, there were parts here that felt a bit contrive, but in general, I believed that a man his age was able to hold his own in this fight. They didn’t just edit around his age like the Taken franchise.

Rocky Balboa was a thrilling and emotional end to the franchise. I’m very glad that I spent the day binging the series.

Let me know what suggestions ya’ll have for future In One Sittings. I do this because sometimes you have to see the whole story in one to really appreciate it. In my experience movies like Spider-Man 3 and X-Men 3 The Last Stand aren’t even THAT bad when put into the context of a single story. I look forward to the next review. Now I’m going to bed!