The Cornwall Blog

From Heart to Stereo are playing in Wadebridge on the 1st of November at the Swan Hotel in the centre of town. An excellent band playing very imaginative covers and originals. This video does not do them justice at all, well worth coming down to see for yourself. The set list has a surprising amount of classic eighties tracks in it for a band in their early twenties, showing a musical maturity. It is also very refreshing to see these numbers performed with the energy of this extremely tight three piece.

In October 2008, Padstow Contemporary Art Gallery opened its Autumn Exhibition, featuring work by Gareth Edwards, Simon Gaiger and resident artist and curator John O'Carroll. The gallery was tucked away in an atmospheric alleyway in the centre of Padstow. A few days after the exhibition opened, all the design team from Pickle Design went along to the private viewing, eager to see John O'Carroll's new work alongside the gallery's regular exhibitors. There was a warm atmosphere within the small exhibition space, welcoming as we stepped in from the crisp autumn darkness. The image above is Damascus by Gareth Edwards, which was hung upstairs. His work in the lower gallery evoked the Camel Estuary, and the choice of media gave it the impression that it had formed wonderfully from the boatyards and sands. Simon Gaiger's sculpture drew on nautical mythology. Especially memorable was Charybdis , based on the spokes of a carriage wheel an...

My father in law is always telling me what goes on in Camelford, and, frankly, I didn’t really take much notice as it seemed to be out on a limb. But I went along and took a few photographs and was amazed by the architecture there. It really does have a lot of potential. The Tourist Information Centre supplied us with some details and history of the town and my wife put them together to make a Town Guide on the Eye on Cornwall website. If you are looking for more information on the town, drop into North Cornwall Museum, where the Tourist Information Centre is based.

Devon and Cornwall Film are running a competition for film makers in the South West to celebrate the Free Cinema Movement's 50th anniversary. They focus on the void that is quality cinema down here in the far west. If you are struggling to cope with the vacuous blockbusters and need some mental stimulation, take a look at their web site.

The Eden Sessions were again superb, a fantastic venue and relaxed atmosphere. A friend of mine went to see Basement Jaxx the night before Ian Brown played, and said that the crowd were perfect. Ian Brown was supported by Badly Drawn Boy and British Sea Power, and the whole evening was dedicated to a charity set up to help Kosovo. There was a young woman helping to raise awareness for the charity there, she had survived being shot 19 times. I had not heard British Sea Power before, and was not really engaged by them until their final number. A man dressed as a moth-eaten bear came onto the stage, whereupon the band started to beat him up, and each other; swapping instruments and generally making a complete mess of the stage. That certainly got my attention. I have both of their albums now. Badly Drawn Boy was excellent, but was playing to a crowd waiting for Ian Brown. This definitely affected his performance, but he still made the show for my wife and I. We saw him play at Eden ...