Hello friends! I trust you’re all very well. I certainly am, thanks for asking. Due to a clerical error at work, I recently discovered that I somehow have seven whole days of holiday allowance which I’d neglected to take last year, and which I now have to take before the end of the month, or else lose forever. And so, on this sunniest of February Mondays, I’ve been enjoying a long overdue day off.
Well, not quite a day off obviously, because I’m writing our OneTrackMinds newsletter, but compared to my usual frantic, stretched-too-thin state on any given Monday, I’m feeling most relaxed. I’ve spent the day kicking around Epping Forest with my 5-year-old, indulging in some extravagant napping, and getting properly stuck into Eleanor Catton’s Birnham Wood (I’m only 100 pages in, but so far, it’s a very very strong recommend).
The big news for you all this week is that our Summer shows went on sale last Wednesday. We’re going to be back at Wilton’s Music Hall on Friday May 31st and then again on Tuesday July 2nd and Wednesday July 3rd. So organised are we this year that we’ve already got most of our lineups in place already, and we’ll be featuring stories from, among others, Elf Lyons, Gethin Anthony, Ella Frears, Joanna Neary, Onjali Rauf and Evanna Lynch. Tickets are available now, and with lineups that strong, you won’t want to hang around…
Before then, of course, we’ve got our March shows, which fall midweek for the first time this year. It always used to be the case - pre-Covid - that our weekend shows were most in demand, as Fridays and Saturdays were when people go out out. Nowadays, thanks to WFH culture, it’s the other way around. All this to say, we’re expecting our March shows - which fall on Tuesday March 26th and Wednesday March 27th - to be in big demand. Certainly, the way sales are going already, we’re looking at a very busy turnout. So if you want to see Doon MacKichan, Alan Johnson, Alice Vincent and Amy Key all share stories about the songs that changed their life, then get your tickets now.
Those of you who know me well will be only too aware of my, perhaps surprising, aversion to large scale live music events, something I keep threatening to expand upon in this newsletter, but never quite get around to. (In summary: I don’t like it when other people enjoy music in an aggressively performative way. Yes, I’m aware that’s a weird opinion to hold. And that it says more about me than it does about anyone else). But, such is my new found infatuation with Baltimore synth-pop masters Future Islands (see last week’s newsletter), that I’ve gone and booked tickets to see them live at the Crystal Palace Bowl on July 29th. Adam and OneTrackMinds-friend and erstwhile co-host Nick Jessup will be coming with me to hold my hand and make sure I behave myself. Who else wants to come? Tickets here.
Consider this an effortless segue in to plugging the latest work from one of our favourite recent guests, BBC Radio’s Robert Elms, whose book Live: Why We Go Out is an in-depth exploration of the joys of live music. I probably ought to read it before the Future Islands gig, but as far as reading homework goes, it’s an assignment I’m looking forward to. You can get a copy from our Bookshop.
While we’re talking about live music experiences, I very much enjoyed this piece on Substack from Hidden Tracks-graduate-turned-OneTrackMinds marketing guru Freya Magee on going to see Canadian singer-songwriter Feist in Paris.
During our recent Matinee show at Wilton’s on February 3rd, we promised to pay £5 to charity every time we accidentally said ‘this evening’ or ‘tonight’ instead of, more accurately, ‘this afternoon’. By the end of the night afternoon, we’d run up a bill of £30, which we’ve just paid to MIND, along with a £100 donation on behalf of Jade Bovingdon, who asked that we pay her fee to that charity to support the wonderful work that they do.
You’ve got a Netflix account, don’t you? Of course you do. In which case, do yourself a favour and block out an evening to indulge in the many pleasures afforded to you by watching The Greatest Night In Pop, a recently-released documentary about the recording of the ne plus ultra of charity pop singles, We Are The World. Among the many many delights sprinkled throughout the film, nothing is quite so endearing as seeing Bob Dylan looking every bit as awkward and out of place as you or I would if we were forced to sing along to that powerhouse of a song while standing shoulder to shoulder with Cyndi Lauper, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen. The fact that impostor syndrome can strike even a nailed-on cultural legend like Dylan is somehow very comforting. (H/T to Josh McNorton for the recommendation).
Tracy Chapman popped up at last weekend’s Grammy awards to steal the show with a performance of her all-time classic Fast Car. If you’ve been wondering where she’s been all these years, The New York Times has the answer.
And check out this absolute belter of a true-crime story in The New Yorker. Empire of Pain author Patrick Radden Keefe investigates the sudden and mysterious death of a young London schoolboy, whose body was found floating in the Thames not far from the MI6 building near Vauxhall.
Right, that’ll do! We’ll be back next week. Until then, stay healthy and happy.
KB.