eye for detail, paul watson and a giant cardboard cheque

October 12, 2014 at 8:40 pm | Posted in midwich, new music, no audience underground | Leave a comment
Tags: ap martlet, aqua dentata, astral social club, bbblood, breather, brian lavelle, chrissie caulfield, clive henry, dale cornish, daniel thomas, devotional hooligan, dr:wr, drone, dsic, eddie nuttall, electronica, foldhead, gerado picho, hagman, hardworking families, helicopter quartet, improv, in fog, joe murray, john tuffen, julian bradley, karl mv waugh, la mancha del pecado, michael clough, michael gillham, midwich, miguel perez, neil campbell, new music, no audience underground, noise, orlando ferguson, panelak, pascal ansell, paul walsh, paul watson, posset, psychedelia, pyongyang plastics, scott mckeating, shameless self-congratulation, simon aulman, the piss superstition, the red cross, the zero map, tom bench, van appears, yol, zn

Regular readers and Twitter followers will know that the 1st of October saw the release of eye for detail – the midwich remixes album.  This Bandcamp download comprises 27 tracks by various no-audience underground luminaries each refiguring some section of my back catalogue.  It totals three hours and forty minutes in length and can be bought for the knock-down price of five pounds.  All proceeds are being donated to charity.  The album has garnered universal love since its birth – making it even better than a royal baby – and has already been hailed as the album of the year by no less an authority than the voices in my head.  The total plays for individual tracks topped 1000 in ten days.  Further details as to its genesis can be read here and notes on its release can be read here.

The cause I have chosen to support is The British Red Cross.  You may be aware of the front line medical help they supply in disaster situations but may not be familiar with the global network they have for tracing missing family members, or the support they provide to refugees in accessing services and adapting to life in a new country.  You can read about what they do here.  It is vital work.

Paul Watson, best known ’round these parts as BBBlood, contributed a handsome mix himself and then went on to earn limitless karma points by enthusiastically badgering punters into coughing up.  In return for his help I somehow agreed to make my initial donation of £100 via one of those giant cheques you see in local newspaper photo opportunities – handshake n’all.  I have to admit to being tickled by the idea and thought I could pop into a Red Cross charity shop and have a bit of a laugh with the volunteers there.  Alas, a little research revealed that The Red Cross do not have such a business here in sunny Leeds and, in fact, their only office is a refugee assistance centre.  A visit was nixed immediately – I’d feel a right knobber interrupting this crucial work by prancing about with my sheet of cardboard.

…and yet I still really wanted to get the felt-tips out and had a giant box that bits of a bed had been delivered in down in the cellar.  What the hell, eh?  I’d make my fake cheque, my 18 month old son Thomas could be The Red Cross’s representative during a symbolic ceremony and I’d do the actual transaction online.

Here are the stats: 25 sales of eye for detail at the time of writing raising £136.23, removing Bandcamp and PayPal fees leaves a donation of £109.01 which was handed over electronically prior to this post being written.  My thanks and gratitude again to all those involved and to all those who have donated money.  The compilation will remain available indefinitely and I will continue donating future proceeds on a regular basis.

The cheque measures 20″ by 38″ (piss superstition CD-r included in picture above for scale) and is now for sale.  If you’d like to own this historic document in  return for a further donation I’ll look into posting it – get in touch.

The Ceremony in pictures:

Visiting dignitaries take their seats.

Thomas takes a few photographs himself whilst waiting for it all to begin.

The presentation!  Thomas is amazed at this princely sum.

The ceremonial handshake – Thomas a bit unsure about the etiquette.

…goes for the fistbump first…

…then the full celebratory shake…

…then subverts custom by presenting his foot to be shaken too.  Kid has flair.

Worrying (with some justification) that Daddy can’t be trusted with money he is eager to get it safe…

…so immediately deposits it in the Bank of Shove-It-Behind-The-Sofa.  Daddy retires to the study to do the real transaction online.  A job well done.  Thanks to Anne for taking the photos.

—ooOoo—

eye for detail on Bandcamp

The Red Cross