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Rediscovering “My Jam”
No comments on Rediscovering “My Jam”Doing some digital housekeeping whilst hiding from the heat this bank holiday weekend I found an old link to the social music sharing service “This is My Jam” that I had fun being signed up to between 2012 and its closure in 2015. That link now redirects to the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20210201150322/https://www.thisismyjam.com/andymstrange Having found it I thought I’d take myself back to the mid-2010s and create a playlist from the songs I’d chosen. Pleasantly surprised…
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My best music of 2025 playlist
It has become my habit that at the end of each year to put together a “best of” playlist of the music that I have been listening to, or has meant something, that year. Again I’ve used the music streaming service Spotify to pull together the playlist. So if you’d like to listen to it here is the full playlist of about three and a half hours of my best tracks of 2025. I realised…
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Stockwood Illuminated 2025
A few photos from this year’s ‘Illuminated’ light show at the Stockwood Discovery Centre.
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Luton in 50 Objects
Last week I went to see the ‘Luton in 50 Objects’ exhibition at Wardown Museum and Gallery. This exhibition is curated by journalist and writer Sarfraz Manzoor. Sarfraz’s memoir, ‘Greetings from Bury Park’, about living in Luton as a British Pakistani teen was adapted into the film ‘Blinded by the Light’. He has recently become Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire. May 2024 was the 50th anniversary of when Sarfraz arrived in Luton and the…
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My best music of 2023 playlist
It has become my habit that at the end of each year to put together a “best of” playlist of the music that I have been listening to, or has meant something, that year. Again I’ve used the music streaming service Spotify to pull together the playlist. So if you’d like to listen to it here is the full playlist of about four hours of my best tracks of 2023. I spent a lot of…
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Hats Made Me
Luton has a history of being associated with hat making and the hat trade. That history, and the contemporary world of hats in fashion and the arts, is being celebrated this year in a major exhibition called Hats Made Me organised by the Culture Trust at the Stockwood Discovery Centre. I’ve been a few times to see it and it is a very exciting colourful and thought provoking exhibition. It has been a real achievement…
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Finland v Germany in the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022
Evening of July 16 2022. Watching Finland lose three nil to Germany in a Group B match of the group stage of the UEFA Women’s Euro championship 2022 at the Milton Keynes stadium. A very hot and sunny day. Goal scorers: Sophia Kleinherne 40′, Alexandra Popp 48′, Nicole Anyomi 63′.
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Steve Dillon Exhibition
Here are some of the photos I took when wandering around the exhibition of work by Luton artist Steve Dillon. Dillon, a comic book artist famous for his work on Judge Dredd, various Marvel comics, and co-creating the character Preacher, died in 2016 The exhibition was put on by the Culture Trust Luton in the basement of the Hat House building with support from the artist’s family. A review of the exhibition from The Guardian.
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Opening of Hat Works
I attended the opening ceremony of Hat Works, the newly refurbished building on Guilford Street, Luton. One of the creative spaces operated by the Culture Trust Luton as part of the Hat District project. Heard a fascinating talk from the owners of the hat making business that had previously occupied the building. “Luton’s oldest hat factory has now been restored for the newest creative talent. Set within the stunning grade II listed building at 47…
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Job opportunities with The Culture Trust, Luton
There are two exciting job opportunities currently being advertised for roles with The Culture Trust, Luton (where I am a trustee). Hurry if interested, closing dates are early next week. Creative Directorhttps://jobs.theguardian.com/job/7302444/creative-director-/ Executive Assistant to Chief Executivehttps://jobs.luton.gov.uk/jobs/executive-assistant-to-chief-executive-lcst00062
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My best music of 2020 playlist
It has become my habit that at the end of each year to put together a “best of” playlist of the music that I have been listening to, or has meant something, that year. Again I’ve used the music streaming service Spotify to pull together the playlist. So if you’d like to listen to it here is the full playlist of about seven hours of my best tracks of 2020. There is a bit more…
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Nothing before the 2020s
This passage – observations of our time from an alternative future – from William Gibson’s Agency has been rather haunting me: … Why aren’t they happy, there?” “The drivers for the jackpot are still in place, but with less torque at that particular point.” He took a seat at the table. “They’re still a bit in advance of the pandemics, at least.” She took the seat opposite. “Nothing before the 2020s has ever seemed entirely…
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Visit to the Panama Hat Company
After a board meeting of the Culture Trust today I stopped in to visit the premises of the Panama Hat Company who are newly occupying a space in Hat House.
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My best music of 2019 playlist
It has become my habit that at the end of each year to put together a “best of” playlist of the music that I have been listening to, or has meant something, that year. Again I’ve used the music streaming service Spotify to pull together the playlist. So if you’d like to listen to it here is the full playlist of about seven and half hours of my best tracks of 2019. You can also…
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Jonny Greenwood Prom
On Tuesday (10 September 2019) evening I traveled into London to go to the Royal Albert Hall for the “Jonny Greenwood Prom”. Jonny Greenwood, best known as a member of Radiohead but also a highly successful composer of film scores, had been asked to curate a programme of music for one of the Proms’ seasons late night Proms. This included a premiere of ‘Horro vacui’ a new composition by him. The programme was as follows:…
