

Snake Davis and Winston Blissett
- The Shed 10 June 2005 Photo © Steve Sowerby
by Charles Hutchinson, Yorkshire
Evening Press June 10, 2005
AS with all the best birthday
bashes, The Shed's thirteenth Birthday Party will stretch into
a second day.
Snake Davis and his band will
have the joint jumping at Hovingham Village Hall tonight and
tomorrow, as Shed innovator Simon Thackray celebrates 13 years
of music and poetry, bingo with jazz drumming, Elvis wigs and
knitting live on stage, Yorkshire pudding boat races and saxophone
playing in a rubbish skip, in Ryedale and beyond.
"I could make more than
one comment about what makes The Shed a success story, but perhaps
the most important thing is how Simon has created a wonderful,
warm space for great art to happen and how The Shed has acted
as a catalyst for artistic relationships to blossom," says
saxophonist Snake, who will forever be cherished in York for
his days in Zoot and The Roots. Choosing his favourite Shed performance,
Snake selects: "The first Great Yorkshire Pudding Race at
Bob's Pond; I had poet Ian McMillan to bounce some magical ideas
off, and then 30 Ryedale kids from the Pied Piper Project came
along to play the show with us."
Simon Thackray reflects on his
13 years of Shed shows. "Thirteen? Lucky for some, and certainly
lucky for me. Some of it has been down to instinct, some of it
is a gut feeling, but above all it's the relationships, the unexpected
artistic relationships, like Ian and Snake meeting for the first
time. That first boat race was quite a melting pot, and it took
us down unexpected roads we continue to travel."
Shed regular Ian McMillan says:
"What makes the Shed a success is that it's a personal project,
the personal imprint of Simon Thackray. The personnel may change
but Simon has been a constant and it's his vision that other
venues would do well to follow. You may as well call The Shed
`The Simon' or `The Thack', which sounds a bit like a shack!"
The Shed's 13th Birthday Party,
Snake Davis Band, Hovingham Village Hall, tonight and tomorrow,
8pm, sold out.
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