lintonchiswick.org

Saxophonist Dave O'Higgins on YouTube

lintonchiswick — 2011-09-09T16:09:12+01:00

I'm sure I can remember - back when I lived in Hammersmith - standing outside a small pizza place (small restaurant, not restaurant selling small pizzas) on the Fulham Palace Road, now long gone, listening to Dave O'Higgins playing inside. Couldn't afford the pizzas, but the music was always worth the car fumes. Almost 20 years later he's one of the most "together" post-bop players around, with real control and a beautiful tone. He's been posting a series of short films from his own recording studio on YouTube. They're all good, this is exquisite:

Bill Evans - on self-teaching

lintonchiswick — 2011-07-16T20:52:16+01:00

A fascinating video, with Bill Evans discussing the dangers of over-stretching when approaching jazz improvisation and the need to be patient and "keep it real". What a fascinating find. I love the way the interviewer doesn't even pretend to have the self-discipline to take Evans' advice. Refreshing honesty.

Emmerdale - last Monday

lintonchiswick — 2011-07-16T20:48:01+01:00

One of my Emmerdale episodes aired last Monday... complete with bedroom farce opening scenes, given great energy and fun by Nick Miles (Jimmy, pictured), Nicola Wheeler (Nicola) and Sian Reese-Williams (Gennie).

The episode's still available on the ITV website, here.

Vote for Emmerdale

lintonchiswick — 2011-07-01T18:02:13+01:00

Emmerdale - a show I write for and admire for its courage and commitment to good drama - has been nominated in a number of categories. If you enjoy the show, do me a favour, and go here to vote. Many thanks.

Infamous US gangster Whitey Bulger was almost caught in London

lintonchiswick — 2011-07-01T07:59:37+01:00

This from an interesting piece in the Atlantic:

London (September 2002)

Special Agent Richard Teahan of the FBI's Bulger taskforce says that before last night, this was "the last known witness sighting of Bulger." It was also the closest he thinks agents got to apprehending him. "I think we were close then," Teahan said. Bulger was reportedly alone and walking along Piccadilly Square.

Emmerdale, last night...

lintonchiswick — 2011-06-22T17:47:19+01:00

My 16th episode of Emmerdale aired last night. And Ella played hardball. If you're interested, it's here for a while.

Update from an absentee blogger

lintonchiswick — 2010-10-28T18:22:48+01:00

I've an episode of Emmerdale on this evening... and, yes, Nathan's going to be feeling a bit sore.

My episode of Waterloo Road is on iPlayer

lintonchiswick — 2009-12-29T16:48:44+00:00

It aired a couple of days before Christmas. On the whole, I was pleased with it. Tom Chambers - as Max - did a magnificent job as a control freak losing control. Jenna-Louise Coleman was a great Lindsay, and made a few purposefully melodramatic scenes quite emotional (I thought.) Thanks - again - to the script department for loads of support during a pressured and intense development process.

It's on iPlayer... here.

Since then, I've written a couple of episodes of Emmerdale (and I'm starting a third). It's a nice change of pace... gentle humour, drama with a slightly warmer heart, and I'm really enjoying it.

Space, jazz and Afrofuturism, tonight on Radio 3

lintonchiswick — 2009-09-28T14:35:49+01:00

Last week was fun... interviewing jazz writers John Corbett and Graham Lock for a feature, tonight, about jazz during the space race era. It's a short piece on Radio 3's Jazz on 3, timed to play alongside a live concert by ex-Sun Ra alto saxophonist Marshall Allen. I was interested in finding out whether all the cosmic references in jazz in the 50s and (particularly) 60s meant anything... and what the space race meant to jazz. Details here.

Watching David Lynch is good for our brains

lintonchiswick — 2009-09-22T12:12:00+01:00

According to research by psychologists at UC Santa Barbara and the University of British Columbia, exposure to the surrealism in, say, Kafka's "The Country Doctor" or Lynch's "Blue Velvet" enhances the cognitive mechanisms that oversee implicit learning functions.

They call it "meaning threat", and say it motivates us to reach outside our comfort zones to manufacture meaning and sense. It makes us work harder... which is, apparently, a good habit to get into.