As previously announced on this site, Caught by the River Avon is an event happening in Bristol in a few days’ time. A bunch of regular Caught by the River contributors will be getting together and talking about their passions. It’s been organised by the artist Nick Hand and the writer Richard King – good friends of ours and themselves regular contributors to this site – and it’s taking place this coming Friday at Centrespace Studio, Bristol BS1.
Advance ticket sales have been popular but there are still some left and a few will be kept back for sale on the night.
Sadly, there has been some change to the line-up. Virginia Astley, whose presence on the bill has naturally created much interest, has had to pull out due to the dreaded unforeseen circumstances. Virginia was coming along to read her poems, not something that she does in public very often, and we’ll fully understand if her withdrawal leaves some ticket holders disappointed and wishing to be refunded. Details on how to do this can be found at the bottom of this post. But before you take any action please spare a minute to consider the quality of the remaining guests – giants one and all – and read a little about a late addition to the programme.
Jonathan Meiburg is a man who described himself to me in an email yesterday as, “an unknown Yank with a bird problem”. From what I now know about Jonathan (which is 100% more than it was two days ago) I definitely wouldn’t argue with that but I do think it’s of interest to add that he’s also the songwriting frontman of the Sub Pop group Shearwater.
As luck would have it, just as we began looking to replace Virginia, Jonathan’s name came up. His publicist wrote us, “Jonathan (Meiburg) is working on a book about the evolution of the wildlife and landscapes of South America, as seen through the eyes of the strange, intelligent birds of prey called caracaras and the prescient, melancholy 19th – century naturalist and novelist William Henry Hudson (one of the founders of the RSPB). He is going to be in the UK next week to do some research for his book. I was wondering if you might be interested in talking to him about his music, his book, his research and his travels? He truly is a polymath of a kind we don’t really see these days”.
So that was Jonathan Meiburg booked.
Here’s a clip that he shot on the Falkland Islands in 2012 (Two young Striated Caracaras investigating unfamiliar objects):
Video 3 (Two young Striated Caracaras investigating unfamiliar objects) from Jonathan Meiburg on Vimeo.
And here’s a great piece that he wrote for The Quietus about that trip to the Falklands.
Still on the bill are regular Caught by the River faces, Cheryl Tipp (field recording), Melissa Harrison (At Hawthorn Time), our poet in residence Will Burns, bird loving Tim Dee and promoter Richard King who will also be stepping up to the mic to read, no doubt, from his latest book Original Rockers. Tom Friend will be our guest DJ for the night.
If, after taking all of this in, you’d still prefer to have your tickets refunded, drop an email headed ‘Avon’ to info@caughtbytheriver.net and we’ll get it sorted. Otherwise, see you on Friday. Can’t wait. (JB)