According to CNN, the organisers of a Wisconsin music festival scheduled for July with the Trumpian title of the COVID Herd Immunity Fest has changed its name this week to the innocuous, though scarcely inoculated, July Mini Fest after a social media backlash. Back here in Blighty, while we can each enjoy safe, socially distanced memories of past Glastonbury Festivals this weekend via broadcast and online media, it seems some people just can’t resist lining up the deckchairs to form a herd community. Is this the new norm? I hope not. The Bournemouth beach massive yesterday looked like the prematurely bad brother of lockdown ease. There you go. I had hoped that we’d come out of all this kinde
Next weekend would have marked a true cultural milestone; the 50th anniversary of the Glastonbury Festival. There might be no camping this year, other than in your own socially distanced back garden, but the BBC has come to the virtual rescue by hosting a number of classic sets across TV, radio and online. Among the choice cuts promised, David Bowie’s 2000 show stands out, not least because it will be the first time this iconic performance has ever been broadcast in full on TV. BBC iPlayer has a new pop-up BBC Glastonbury channel, bringing viewers wall-to-wall iconic sets and highlights from past years while BBC Sounds will serve up top audio moments. BBC Radio highlights include a series of
Scarcely prolific in terms of recorded material, but invariably high on quality, Andrew Maxwell Morris has announced a new album, Save The Light, available now digitally with a vinyl release to follow soon. A criminal lawyer by day, Morris was born in Australia but for some years has settled in suburban Surrey, a mite handier for Waterloo Station. After a promising debut EP in 2007, Upside Down, Morris has built a steady reputation as a strong live performer with a bevy of tuneful songs. He is a regular feature in the Green Fields of Glastonbury, having played the last ten festivals, no less. The new record is self-produced with some sterling help from his friend, Dave Meegan. Morris himself
"Let’s move on." We’ve heard that a lot recently from the UK Government in relation to the travels and travails of one Dominic Cummings while the phrase can now even slip into to discussions about Covid-19 fatalities. Such pronouncements are sweeping only in deference to carpets but in a world where populism is readily fed by two or three-word slogans, should we not worry about how easily they can be swallowed? Earlier in the year, the Trump administration took steps to unwind the healthy school lunch rules brought in by former President Obama and championed by his wife under her, now ironically titled, "Let’s Move!" healthy living campaign. The moving on spin used to justify this seemingly