Being an anomaly

On the 4th of February, The Eldritch Broadcasting Corporation ran an online event called Anomaly. The whole thing has been divided into segments, which you can watch on Youtube – https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgL8NSDkxNIrw-_OZ4vL4mG61BG9MWjgZ 

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the one in the octopus hat, and the thumbnail on the video is my band – The Ominous Folk of Hopeless, Maine.

The segment above is all Hopeless, Maine stuff (massive, sprawling project taking many forms). Those of you who have been following the development of the Annamarie Nightshade song will particularly enjoy this because Keith Errington – the songwriter – is actually performing his song as part of this video. 

We’re looking at getting Nightshade onto the Ominous Folk album, and the conclusion we’ve all come to is that it would make far more sense to have Keith sing it, with the guitar. We also need to record the Hopeless anthem that features in this section.

I do this to people, often deliberately. Susie (far right in the video above) joined a mumming side some years ago in all innocence and I’ve been luring her into increasing numbers of outlandish things ever since. Keith started out writing small, amusing things for the Hopeless, Maine blog and for performance at events, and now… well… we’ve happened to him.

The event as a whole includes a few people I’ve happened to. Last year for the online festival, Pauline Pitchford read something of mine. This year she’s reading something of her own. Last year, James Weaslgrease read something of mine and he too has written his own contribution for this event. This is something I’m particularly dedicated to – opening up spaces where people can have a go, and where there is room to stretch and try things. I love spaces where people who have found their feet then start lifting and supporting other people. Life is so much better when we get rid of the gatekeepers and start holding doors open for each other.