DOCUMENTS: Sunday with Me: Performance Lecture (4.3.07)

On 4.3.07 I gave a performance lecture to 9 people in Hayfield Derbyshire, North West England, prompting the following generous responses:

"...at times relaxing, contemplative, moving, insightful, funny and encompassed by a transient, yet heartfelt and welcoming, sense of community" - (Paul Stapleton) / "I felt a part of a wider family, though in a liminal state between family and stranger" - Paul Craddock / "The nature of the day gave it the friendly atmosphere of a group attending a folk music session rather than that of an audience attending an academic lecture or a piece of experimental live art" - Jon Aveyard.

The following extracts describe particular events on the original 12 Sundays between March '06 and March '07:

Lecture on Bridges (Delivered from a small island after wading the River Sett):

30.4.06 / For Robin: I’m walking briskly in the very general direction of Castlefields, Manchester, after a year in the city I’m not sure where I’m going. At the Newsagents near Spar on Oxford Road I buy a birthday card for Robin (it has pictures of bears on), and I turn off at the Temple of Convenience, Towards Peveril of the Peak, past Briton’s Protection, remembering (…) I’m following scribbled directions, despite myself, my way feels almost legible.
I turn down the steps the narrow way by the old canal. As I walk by, not through, not on, the water I see a boy of about sixteen hanging off a wall, a sheer drop of ten or fifteen feet. There is a football floating below him, which he is trying to rescue. I shout at him to climb back up, because I can see back the way I came a point where the ball could be rescued. The boy ignores me, so I wait ten minutes or so whilst he eventually climbs back, feeling that I could not have left him. By the lock I see the Newsreader Jon Snow, who is out for the day with, presumably, his family. I imagined they were going somewhere very nice for lunch, and afterwards, with full bellies, maybe to the theatre (to sleep it off). I am very early. I write in the card Happy 46th Birthday, Robin, and wonder where we will go, what we will see, what we will hear, what we will say.

Lecture on Music (Never delivered):
15.10.06 / For Kate: You will take one of her loose hairs and wrap it around her finger. You will take the other end and wrap it around yours and you will both pluck it, exploring the sounds, making attempts toward rhythm and melody. You will while a few minutes before the hair breaks too short to be played. And she will say, that she is going to get ready. You will shower and wait on the landing standing at the window watching a flag snap in the wind. A few minutes will pass you will ask where she wants to go.

Lecture on Forgetting (Delivered at Twenty-Trees):
10.9.06/ For Yosuke: Yosuke shares his sandwich with me and we talk about our work, and after an hour we go for a walk. We are at a loss for what do, until we arrive at a set of stone steps leading up to the city walls. And our tourism is (inevitably) accomplished quite by accident as we walk around in a circle sharing the narrow walkways with families. We take each other’s picture on his camera phone by a turret. And by fortune we arrive at a little bookshop where he inquires about the English Poet Wordsworth, whom he read as a schoolboy in Japan. He tells me that he loves nature and that when he read Wordsworth he was very moved. He recites the poem by heart.
Weeks later we meet up at the Emergency platform in Manchester, where Mariella is performing. I ask him about the poem again, he recites it. I have an idea (which I keep to myself) to find the poem and recite it, making a recording to send to him when he is back in Japan. I ask him what the title is, but he cannot recall.

Some stills taken by participants:

4.3.07: top-to-bottom:
Wading through the River Sett,
Sign for Public Safety, Nr. Bowden Bridge Campsite, foot of Kinder
Sign for Public footpath to Twenty Trees
Up Twenty Trees (5 of 9 attendees pictured)
Phil & Angie Eating Lasagne


Photographs by writings and accompanying photographs by Paul Stapleton over at www.livearchives.org/sunday-with-me/

DOCUMENTS: Sunday With Me - 2006-07

DOCUMENT 22.2.06:

The Invitation:

From: simon bowes
Sent: 22 February 2006 12:37:12
To: The Emergency Network
Subject: Sunday with Me:
Dear Emergency:
Sunday with Me:
Hello Everyone, it’s me, Simon Bowes!

This is a general invitation to members of the Emergency Network to spend a Sunday with Me in a place of your choosing (Manchester and surrounds) for a short or long while. Your Sunday with Me can explore everyday practices, talking to each other, walking around, sightseeing, lazing in your favorite haunts or visiting attractions. I initially considered meeting individuals but I can meet you in with your companies if you would prefer. I would be interested to discuss / explore any of your working practices. There are 8 opportunities (every Sunday, March through April) so book early to avoid disappointment!
Your Sunday with Me can be documented by either (or both) of us, in any medium (i.e., written notes, time-based A/V recordings, still photographs). Documentation will be produced collaboratively less than one week after our day out, at a time of your convenience. Documentation may form an appendix of my Practice as Research PhD, due for completion by September. Material to be included is negotiable and will be consensually agreed.

Hope to hear from you soon,
Simon B. x

NB. I will be skint through March but flush again in April. Please take this into consideration when suggesting activities. I am a reasonable vegetarian chef and will be happy to cook you tea if you wash up.

DOCUMENTS 3.9.06:

My Photographs on Hilbre Island:








DOCUMENTS 22.10.06:

Ian (22.10.06) Challenged me to find my way out of Trago Mills, by looking for a model railway.
Trago Mills is massive. It took ages. I drew 3 maps and then, later, a list of places we went that day.




(top-to-bottom):
'Maps' Pertaining to the Exit at Trago Mills (Newton Abbott).
Incomplete List of Places
(we started out from and ended up in Totnes).

DOCUMENTS 22.10.06:

Pictures from Sunday with Ian, 22.10.06: Touring South Devon:







(top-to-bottom):
A Goat at Trago Mills Pet Farm
Marbles in the Gift Shop at House of Marbles
Datmoor/Haytor (for the exercise)
Ian's Welcome Mat
Groyn at Dawlish (The Edge of the World)
Shut Bingo at Amusement Arcade
My Wet Socks.

If you would like a Sunday with Me, email neilsimonbowes@gmail.com to say hello.