Available Light #005 - Kathryn Calder - So Easily

Meet Kathryn Calder-she is a Canadian Indie rock musician who performs as a solo artist and is a member of the band The New Pornographers. I came across Kathryn on " Alistair The Optimists " facebook page [ scroll back a couple of posts -to meet Alistair !!] She had left him a message very generously offering to do some backing vocals on the album he is currently working on-Kathryn had written quite simply -my mother died from ALS/MND .
I contacted her and asked permission to post this video on the blog and she was happy for me to do so sending me this link.
Kathryn is a former member of the band- Immaculate Machine, her first solo album Are you my mother was released on August 3rd 2010-The album was named after the childrens book with the same name -it was recorded when Kathryn was caring for her sick mother,the project was put on hold when her mother died , her new album is out on - October the 25th 2011 and is called" Bright and Vivid." I think you will I agree she has a beautiful voice- I love this song-enjoy !! . She will be starting her tour of Europe very soon -please look out for her !

Old photographs and a bit of history

The other day, a rather lovely retired gentleman came into the shop where I work , clutching an old photograph - John the butcher has sent me down to see you - he said........he thought you might be interested in this photograph ! It took me all of two seconds to recognize Andrew [ front row second from the left ] Looking at it - I think it was taken in the early 1970`s , when Andrew would have been around twenty ! [ you can correct me tomorrow if I`m wrong bro ! ] Andrew played in The Prestatyn Con Club- Sunday league team- Looking at it I can identify quite a few well known local faces-can any of you ? If you can name more than 3 faces [not including Andrews of course ] -You win yourself a free MND awareness band !!

The Prestatyn Cons club was founded in 1894-when Prestatyn and Meliden combined supported a population of only 650 people ! The high street then was merely a cart track-dusty in summer and a quagmire in winter,no pavements or street lighting and very few shops. The original club was located on the high street and it wasn`t till 1926 that the club moved to its current site, prior to 1926 the only licence they had was to sell tobacco ! I found this old photograph taken at the re-opening of the club in 1927-Love the hats and the fur coats-weren`t the ladies elegant in those days ?

I have just got back from visiting Andrew- and I stand corrected !! Andrew reckons he was around 16- 17 years of age in that photograph-he also reeled off every single persons name -what a memory- and I struggle to remember what I ate for tea some nights .

Can you name the location and the film ?

Many thanks to Janet T for making a fifty mile trip from her home in order to capture this iconic shot-Hmm any ideas where it is ? Okay , okay I`m feeling generous today so here are a few clues to its location. This location is famous for a battle which took place here in 1836-a 1960`s film was made starring John Wayne about it and later in 2004 Dennis Quaid starred in a film of the same title -get guessing and win yourselves a free MND band !

In The Wake - Alistair The Optimist

Former teacher Alistair was diagnosed last summer with MND .He is married to Alice and has two children Freya aged 3 and Finn aged 7-He writes MND is killing me and it will gradually leave me unable to walk , talk and breathe-I`ll miss out on my kids growing up-There are things that I will no longer be able to do like record and play music I love-Time is running out-I need to finish an album with my band before my muscles stop working-I need this legacy for my family and friends.
This video is of Alistair [on the drums ] rehearsing with his band- and as he puts it - it is warts `n all !!
He apologizes for looking bored in the video but he was in fact totally knackered !! this song they are hoping to record this coming Friday- I love it !! I will definitely go out and buy the album-you can catch up with Alistair at ...... alistairtheoptimist.org/?page
Alistair states- drumming and playing in bands are things I have always enjoyed [ Hmm ? remind you of someone else ?] there is something magical about creating , recording and performing music especially when its with good friends . Good luck with the album Alistair-I`am sure it will be a huge success !

The Alarm/Rain in The Summertime. !

This ones for Andrew ! The title pretty much matches the weather we have been having at the moment !! Andrew was teching for Mike at this concert held in May 2010 at the 02 academy in Liverpool-You can just about get a glimpse of Andrew now and again on the extreme left getting Mike`s guitar ready for the next song-the banner you can see at the beginning and towards the end is me-I buttoned holed some guy who was around 6ft 4 to help me wave it about - after pushing my way to the front-much to Andrews embarrassment [ yup ! it had we -heart - Andrew written on it -what are sisters for eh ? ] I have been visiting Andrew every night in St Kentigerns this week, I took our dog Jess with me the other night-I thought some of the staff might frown on this but in fact they couldn`t have been nicer or more friendlier-Jess had a lovely time ! She wasn`t too sure of Andrew`s air bed-wanting to skim across the surface as fast as she could go rather than walk across it sedately-Andrew scratched her belly while she sat nose in the air and eyes half closed in ecstasy ! Andrew`s room has lovely views out on to fields with horses grazing and at dusk he has been getting a couple of nocturnal visitors-a pair of badgers ! I thought I`d take along some peanuts tonight and scatter them about outside his patio door so he can watch them for a little longer.
There is also a steady stream of feral farm cats passing by-one made the mistake while we were there of stopping and looking in on us -Jess went bananas ! Andrew is going home on Saturday-so not long to go now bro ! enjoy the video and see you later xxx

Travelling bands -and the best excuse yet !! and Chris versus mnd video

A big thank you to Delores for emailing me these photographs for our travelling bands competition and then writing the best excuse yet for not actually making a personal appearance in the photographs herself- actually wearing her bands !!
She writes that the bands were a little tight for her chubby wrists .........[ Hmm.... Okay ] .......and also being on the witness protection system [ never heard this excuse before ] .....she never allows her..... urm......photograph to be taken !!! The bands as you can see have enjoyed a photo journal trip to a couple of major landmarks -not far from where Delores` lives [ no doubt her name has been changed for security reasons too ! ] So go on -have a guess , where does Delores live ? [ Thanks for the chuckle Delores ]

A couple of weeks ago I introduced you all to a lovely man - Chris Boon, who writes a blog Chris versus MND. This video below is on Chris` blog-please take a moment to watch it . The music is by Pink Floyd
Andrew is going into St Kentigerns tomorrow for a week to give my sister in law some respite-so I will probably be downloading a few of The Alarms videos over the next few days for him - [ will pop in and see you tomorrow bro xx ]
Please help by donating just a couple of pounds to buy a band and increase awareness of this dreadful disease- every little bit helps -we really need to find a cure .Thank you .




Visit Chris at .............. http://chris-versus-mnd.weebly.com

Arctic To Desert Challenge Belfast Trailer

It`s another another video from the boys ! Matt,Lee and Jim- I absolutely love this song-I couldn`t resist sharing it.