Posts tagged music

Lost and Found

My long-time partner / newly wed husband joined an album club. This seems like a pretty old-fashioned idea; you pay a subscription, and you get sent a CD every month.  It’s also a pretty neat idea – you end up listening to music that you just might not otherwise come across. One CD that came was called Europe, by the band Allo Darlin. There is a particular lyric that is resonating with me at the moment:

“These days it’s hard not to measure by what you’ve lost,
            But what you can find”

 

I have had a lot of loss in my life recently; my dad died in May and my Grandma died the week before last. We are about to lose my grandma-in-law. So this lyric has inspired me to make the effort to sit down and think about what I can find.
  • Getting married to the love of my life, my childhood sweetheart, and having the most fun it is possible to have in one day with amazing contributions from family and friends
  • Music, music, music – whether it’s all the amazing new music I found at Green Man (Tuneyards, King Charles, Treetop Flyers) or seeing my new husband jamming on funk bass with his new band, the Africelts
  • Resilience – my Gran had an old-fashioned, grin-and-bear-it type of resilience. My resilience is a little bit different… but there are some times when you just have to keep on going, and I found this from my Gran
  • Brene Brown’s work on vulnerability – the message that courage is not about not feeling vulnerable, but that vulnerability is where your courage comes from. And the title of her blog, Ordinary Courage. This year I have really found my own vulnerability, and not run away from it
  • My superpower, which is exploring opportunities, asking questions to help others gain clarity in their thinking, and see a clear way through that meets with their values and belief. How cool that I can name this now, thanks to my fab colleagues from The You Can Hub. I can’t wait to get on with the important business of sharing this strength with others, with greater awareness!

In these times of economic uncertainty, it’s hard not to focus on the loss – loss of jobs, loss of funding, loss of services for vulnerable groups. What do you do to counter this? What have you found lately?

Lou Shackleton

Change-maker in Chief

Get your Gamelan Groove on!

Cluzion Music and The You Can Hub are very excited about a partnership that is making an instrument accessible to the local community in Cambridge! Dave McKenny is an expert in the Javanese Gamelan, which is best described as a whole room full of gongs, xylophones and drums… we’re pretty sure you won’t have seen anything like it before! The first event will be on Monday 19th December. Take a look at our Gamelan Workshop Flyer December to find out more. You can also complete and return the Gamelan Booking Form 2011.

Dave is keen to share his expertise with anyone interested in making sound. The You Can Hub is excited because the instrument has to be played as a team – so everyone has to work together! We’re also working together with other organisations to make sure the event is a success. The You Can Hub will be there as facilitators, to support anyone with additional needs and make sure that everyone has a great time! We hope to see you there!

Lou Shackleton

Change-maker in Chief

Tiger Blue at Cluzion…

If you missed the Cluzion gig this weekend you missed a real treat. Tiger Blue played a soulful set and looked like they could have kept going all night! Singer Meg impressed all with her beautiful voice, not too mention peacock feathers in her hair. This week there was also a support act giving their first performance! Both bands played a mix of classic covers with a sprinkling of their own compositions.

Cluzion music nights are run by Tony Phillips, with an ethos of encouraging anyone and everyone to enjoy and appreciate music. Tony is great at bringing people in to the sessions and creating a sense of community. Come along to the next one to see if you like the vibe! For full details, check out the Cluzion website.

Lou Shackleton

Change-maker in Chief

New social enterprise making festivals more accessible…

I’m pretty excited because at the StartChange event a couple of weeks ago Lauren Croll of social enterprise incubator UnLtd was talking about some of their recent projects and mentioned FESTAXI. FESTAXI uses golf buggies to help festival goers get around festival sites. The story of its start up, however, is inspirational; the founder tried to go to Glastonbury with a disabled friend and had to give up because it just wasn’t possible to get around. I can’t find any information about this story on the FESTAXI website, so I can’t verify it, but I think it’s a great idea!

From Lauren’s description, it seems that FESTAXI charges people without mobility problems to use the buggies, and this means that people with mobility problems can use them for free. It would be great to see more of this story on the FESTAXI website!

Lou Shackleton

Change-maker in Chief