NEWS:
20 years of The Shed 1992 – 2012
From the avant-garde to the W.I., the village hall to the V&A, The Shed is celebrating 20 years of cutting-edge and ground-breaking events including knitting, bingo, Fish and Chips, rivers, vans, Yorkshire puddings and the North Yorkshire Elvis Bus Tour. We’re blowing our own trumpet for a party of great music, poetry, comedy and live-art, performed by some of the most exciting artists at work today, for one of the most adventurous and loyal audiences in the UK. Thank you for supporting The Shed!
The Shed’s 20th Anniversary Season is here:
Alan Tomlinson and the River Seven. Event © Simon Thackray Photo: Tony Bartholomew
Tuesday, 30 August 2011 NEW
Just Not Cricket (Berlin)
The Shed has been invited to take part in a new documentary film about British improvised music… Mark Sanders, John Edwards, Phil Minton, Matthew Bourne, Gail Brand and Lol Coxhill are amongst the sixteen musicians taking part in Just Not Cricket, a three-day festival of British improvised music to be held in Berlin (all the above named musicians have previously performed at The Shed).
The film will be directed by renowned artist and film maker Antoine Prum (he represented Luxembourg at the Venice Biennale) and narrated by Stewart Lee – a long-time supporter of improvised music and a regular Shed performer.
Saturday 10 September 2011 NEW
Buy tickets online for Rural Arts ON Tour… NEW
The Shed and Rural Arts have teamed up to take The Shed ON Tour and you can now buy tickets for all ON Tour gigs from The Shed Online Shop. It’s easy to use and all you have to do is print out your booking reference and go!
Bomber Bates and the Airfix Modellers - authentic flying helmet to the rescue!
Saturday 3 September 2011 NEW
Yorkshire Air Museum has kindly agreed to lend us an authentic 70 year old leather flying helmet and goggles for our surrealist flight of fancy. Museum Director Ian Reed said, “I love the ‘daftness’ …eccentricity is what denotes the real Englishman!”
Don’t miss: Bomber Bates and the Airfix Modellers, Saturday 29 October 2pm
REVIEW: Erika Stucky, The Shed, 7 April 2011 NEW
by Charles Hutchinson, The Press, York 9 April 2011
Erika Stucky – accordion, vocals + interactive film (and a shovel)
LITTLE can Mr Hopkinson at R.Yates & Sons in Malton have known what lay in store when he loaned a shovel to Mr Thackray of The Shed in Hovingham. Or perhaps he did, given the media-savvy deeds of this caution-to-the-wind Ryedale arts impresario.Over the past 19 years, Simon has been known to craft artistic happenings out of knitting wool, Yorkshire puddings, council skips, river water and fish and chip queues. He billed Swiss post-modern jazz singer and yodeller Erika Stucky’s Shed debut as “Accordion, vocals + interactive film (and shovel)”, a typically tantalising inducement to discover more.
Gone was the trademark Shed door on stage, replaced by a sofa and screen, but where was Erika, as Simon introduced her for her only British show outside London? We waited, a little nervously, then came a noise at the door, at the window, whereupon she entered dressed louder than clashing cymbals in stripes and wall-patterned trousers, a piece of Hovingham foliage stuck in her hair.
Erika was pushing a beer barrel with the aforesaid shovel, using it percussively while yodelling in an apparently African tongue. Even by The Shed’s avant-garde standards, set by Pere Ubu’s David Thomas, this was off the scale, as she pulled curtains open and shut again and tapped away on a heating grill.
Once on stage, speaking one of her five languages, maybe not all of them from this planet, she explained that hitting a shovel was a “cowboy thing” in the Swiss Alps to chase away evil ghosts. Goodbye shovel, hello accordion; goodbye to her new live album’s jazz covers, hello yodelling – the Swiss blues – to accompany dream-inspired silent movies depicting Erika in dog mask; hula-hooping in Mr Spock ears; and making a “frightening Martin Scorsese home movie” from filling a cup of coffee to the brim with spoonfuls of sugar and then drinking all the sickly sweet concoction, to the accompaniment of Erika’s scatting, running commentary.
Apparently she daren’t show her baby-tossing film in Italy any more, but Finland loves it and so did we Brits, such is our more warped humour. Erika is madly amusing, a wonderful story teller, a remarkable singer, warm and wise too, and Thursday’s 90-minute free-form show will go down as an instant Shed classic.
As for the shovel’s future, “I am not sure if I should take it back or donate it to Tate Modern,” said Simon afterwards. Bang on.
- Van gig, Exhibition Square, York. Photo: Kippa Matthews
Sebastian Rochford’s VAN GIG
10:15am Saturday 25th September 2010 by Charles Hutchinson NEW
“Everywhere you look people have got smiles on their faces…”. Jules Bellerby, Jonathan Cowap Show, BBC Radio York.
THE PRESS – Review + Video: White van man…
Jazz drummer Sebastian Rochford plays to the public from the back of a white van
WHEN was the last time a white van man drew a round of applause?
Step forward Sebastian Rochford, the crazy-haired jazz drummer from Acoustic Ladyland and Polar Bear, who spent yesterday in the back of a Ford box van, bashing away on his drums with the doors shut, in 20-minute spells in Leeds, York, Malton, Pickering, Kirkbymoorside and Helmsley.
Simon Thackray, impresario of all things unconventional at The Shed in Ryedale, had invited Rochford to take to the road for another of his Art Event specialities. This time you could hear the musician, although you could not see him, but put your head against the side of the van, or slide underneath, and you could certainly feel it.
Seb Rochford's Van Gig, York Press, September 2010
Bootham School teacher Richard Barnes and his art class sixth-formers were among those drawn to the noise emanating from the parked van by the fountain in Exhibition Square in York at 11am. “Seeing the van shaking and then seeing people putting their ear to it…when I did that, it became incredibly exciting and rather than being an observer, you became part of it,” said Richard. “You could feel your heart suddenly pumping faster.”
Sebastian has played with everyone from David Bowie to Herbie Hancock, but his Van Gig was a first for him, his solo debut. “I trust Simon. I’ve always enjoyed everything I’ve done with him at The Shed, and I just thought it sounded like a fun idea. I thought, ‘yeah, why not?’” he said.
So it proved. “It’s a quite a strange feeling, not knowing if there’s anyone outside but it’s nice just playing the drums anyway as that’s what I enjoy doing,” he said.
YORKSHIRE POST: Top rock drummer’s one-van show…
(see gigs page for more information)
More about Simon Thackray and his art events here:
Alan Tomlinson and the River Seven. A new art event by Simon Thackray. Photo: Tony Bartholomew
Review: Alan Tomlinson and The River Seven,
Dale Head Farm, Rosedale, North York Moors
Tuesday 23rd March 2010 by Charles Hutchinson.
HOW did you spend your Sunday? How about driving for an hour into ever hardier Yorkshire country; following intermittent improvised signs to the River Seven, down the narrowest of moorland lanes; then watching cars being pushed up a muddy incline to park in a field, before a cross-country trek to a babbling brook.
Why? To see one man and his trombone in the world premiere of his improvised half-hour musical duet with the Seven’s waters, and your reviewer was not alone. Around 100 adults, children, a man from Oxford and cameramen too, had been drawn to the latest live art happening conjured by The Shed’s visionary Simon Thackray.
Glory be, the rain had taken the morning off; instead spring sunshine glinted on Alan Tomlinson’s trombone as he took to the river in waders, summer jacket and woollen hat, while Aron Flintoff, the sound man with the cockerel crown of punk-red spikes, crouched on the bank, his microphone following Tomlinson’s every jagged jazz move.
No bird song could be heard – “I’ve got rid of a few audiences in my time, but birds, that was a first,” Tomlinson said later – as he interacted with the water’s steady tinkling flow, in a series of broken bursts, blasts, squawks and squeaks and whispers, even removing the slide to blow bubbles at the river’s surface.
Alternative water music over, it was time for a Shed Load of soup, cream teas and Shed Bitter on tap at the specially opened Dale Head Farm tea garden. Eccentric England at its Sunday best.
NEW: Hear Alan’s performance on Today on Radio 4 on New Year’s Eve.
More about Simon Thackray and his art events here:
World Premieres 2010.. reviews:
Sebastian Rochford’s VAN GIG
Alan Tomlinson and the River Seven
Daily Telegraph – Stewart Lee, interviewed by Dominic Cavendish..
The Poetry of Pete Morgan – the big gig of 2009.. review + a request:
Reviews archive:
Independent, Guardian, Yorkshire Post, Daily Telegraph…
Creative Yorkshire: (Arts Council England, Yorkshire – premiered at The Shed), Stewart Lee, Fish and Chip van tour, Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race, Hat, North Yorkshire Elvis Bus Tour, The Shed’s Greatest Hits, Clogs and The Books, Ian McMillan and Billy Jenkins, Shichiseikai, Waterson:Carthy, Sevara Nazarkhan, Hank Wangford and the Lost Cowboys, Lol Coxhill in a skip…
Guardian Travel
The insiders guide to the world’s best small music venues.
“The Shed was the inspiration for my tour of village halls around Britain, which I am currently writing up as a book. And, after 235 villages, The Shed is still the loony best.” Hank Wangford, Guardian
Guardian – TRAVEL 13.8.2011 NEW
Weird festivals: mangold hurling, anyone?
Eating onions, racing snails, paddling tin baths, even snorkelling through a black bog … We pick 25 of the most riotous and ridiculous local traditions.
The Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race ®
“I think it could be an Olympic event”. Ben le Vay
(Bradt Guide To Eccentric Britain)
“Soon it’ll be like Woodstock: people will pretend they were there – people will want to say, ‘I was there when it all started’” Independent on Sunday.
Old but new… archive recording (from the dusty shelf)…
The Shed Radio Party
Live from BBC Radio York on 9 June 2005 with Ian McMillan, Snake Davis, Billy Jenkins, Hank Wangford, Simon Thackray and Wendy Moorby (World Champion Fastest Knitter). The recording is six years old now but perfectly captures what The Shed is and does. (Just not quite the same as being there!) LISTEN NOW (requires Real Player)
Guardian – TRAVEL 20.3.10The insiders guide to the world’s best small music venues.
Musicians, DJs and authors reveal their favourite hangouts.
“The Shed was the inspiration for my tour of village halls around Britain, which I am currently writing up as a book. And, after 235 villages, The Shed is still the loony best.” Hank Wangford, Guardian. Read the whole article:
Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy: celebrating the Poetry of Pete Morgan
Review: The Poetry Of Pete Morgan
The Shed @ Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York SOLD OUT
2:35pm Tuesday 12th May 2009. By Julian Cole
FOR his 70th birthday, York poet Pete Morgan received praise from the new poet laureate, a loving and humorous introduction from Barnsley bard Ian McMillan, the musical accompaniment of Martin Carthy, and a full house.
Not bad for a quiet voice who is rarely heard above the babble. Morgan is a hero among other poets, including Carol Ann Duffy and McMillan, who are indebted to his writing and encouragement.
Duffy, fresh from her elevation, proved just why she should be admirably up to the job. What a sharp, funny and yet sometimes cutting poet she is, with razor mind and deadpan wit. Her readings from The World’s Wife were delicious, especially Mrs Midas and Mrs Aesop (in which the racing tortoise is said to move “as slow as marriage”). She returned later for poems depicting the stages of a relationship, which were quieter and, in a sense, more devastating.
As for Morgan, shy and a little stumbling at first, he grew in confidence and stature, his deep voice filling out the auditorium, his poems beautiful cool observations delivered with rhythmic passion; sometimes, arms flung out, he stopped looking like the tallest tree that didn’t want to be noticed, and became almost a human crucifix, or perhaps the smartest scarecrow.
A duet with Carthy was a delight, as too were Brass Monkey. Morgan was visibly moved by it all, so all praise to Simon Thackray of The Shed for arranging this birthday party.
Pete Morgan - POET. Born 7 June 1939, died 5 July 2010.
The Books at The Shed © Mary Thackray
Review: Clogs and The Books at The Shed
Yorkshire Evening Press 01.02.2006
“CLOGS, please meet The Books; The Books, please meet Clogs.
This American musical handshake was arranged by the British champions of the avant-garde, the Contemporary Music Network, and last week the two improvisational bands met up in Massachusetts for the first time, leading to new acoustic-electronic music to open and close a truly uplifting and adventurous night, played out to a Shed full house.”
Lol Coxhill in a skip @ FUSELEEDS ’06 – Concept and photo © Simon Thackray
Lol Coxhill in a skip
Saturday 6 May 
Lol Coxhill in a skip – FuseLeeds06. Concept & photo © Simon Thackray. Broadcast on Jazz On 3 and Pick Of The Week on Radio 4.
Mrs Boyes’ Bingo featuring Mark Sanders – Concept © Simon Thackray Photo: www.davidxgreen.com
The Shed’s Greatest Hits
Yorkshire Evening Press 11.11.2005
“UNDER a slice of moon and stars as bright as American teeth, Hovingham’s queue for the Ryedale fish and chip van’s weekly village run was longer than usual. What’s more, the hiss of batter had a musical counterpoint…”
The Fish and Chip van tour - featuring Alan Tomlinson.
Fish and Chip van tour – Concept and photo © Simon Thackray
Free improvisation gets audience of 1.9 million!
Richard and Judy Show, 6 April 04
“Steve is at the wheel of his van on a damp, not-too-chilly Tuesday night. Behind him is his replacement trailer, funded partly by a Countryside Agency grant. Beside him is a journalist and a trombone player, not his usual companionship on his journey. (Son Steve, mini-Steve in his identical frying gear, is in a following car, driven by The Shed pioneer of improvised arts events, Simon Thackray.”
Sponsored by Sirdar
The Fish and Chip van tour is a live art event. Copyright Simon Thackray. All rights reserved.
Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race – Concept © Simon Thackray Photo © Tony Bartholomew
The Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race
“soon it’ll be like Woodstock: people will pretend they were there – people will want to say, ‘I was there when it all started’” Independent on Sunday.
