September 9th - Day 144

The Fourth Plinth is the name given to the empty plinth in the north-west corner of Trafalgar Square in London. It was originally designed by Sir Charles Barry and built in 1841 to display an equestrian statue. There were not enough funds available at the time to create a statue and so nothing happened, time marched on and the plinth became the "fourth plinth" or the "empty plinth". Since 1998 the plinth has been host to temporary works of art. The current project is Anthony Gormley's "One & other", which will see 2,400 people stand on the plinth over 100 days - that's one per hour, not 2,400 people at the same time for 100 days.

I'd heard that music featured fairly regularly as a plinther activity so thought I'd have a look today. At eleven o'clock Claire was lifted onto the plinth by a yellow cherry picker to replace Janine, who'd been promoting "Save the Children" with her bike. Claire, supporting the Family Holiday Association, was on a plinth holiday. An early burst of "I do like to be beside the seaside" was sadly a little too brief to be considered a live music experience. Claire threw holiday items down to the crowd. After narrowly avoiding being hit by a stick of rock, I went for a coffee whilst Claire wrote some postcards home. When I returned she was calling out bingo numbers. I think one of her "family and friend" entourage won. A couple of Croatian football fans did shout something out at one stage, but I guess Claire didn't know the Croatian for "house". The bingo was followed by the holiday disco. Claire threw herself into this with great gusto (it's probably the bext way to throw oneself when standing in one's swimsuit on a plinth several metres above one of the most famous and busy squares in the world). YMCA was more noticable for its dancing than its intermitent singing (by both plinther and watchers), but "Blame it on the Boogie" had singing and dancing.

A person singing along to a song in a nightclub is not performing a song and I wouldn't consider that a live music experience. A person doing the same, whilst standing on a plinth in Trafalgar Square and encouraging tourists on open-top buses to join in, is performing and, as far as I'm concerned, is creating a live music experience. Discuss.

Thank you Claire!

Family Holiday Association, which works to get disadvantaged families breaks away from home, is at fhaonline.org.uk/

Watch Claire on the plinth at oneandother.co.uk/participants/claire_f

September 14th - Day 149

I arrived at the fourth plinth before six and just in time to see Albert Anglo, survivor of the sixties underground hippy movement, perform the last song promoting his new album. Unfortunately I couldn't hear it because Dave the Bagpiper struck up at the same time, so I watched him instead.

October 4th - Day 169

Diwali On The Square, marking the Hindu Festival of Lights at Trafalgar Square, featuring singing acts (need to double-check names) and also when I was there, astride o' the fourth plinth, a windswept bagpiper called Marc B Chapman.

October 14th - Day 179

Due to children commitments and dentistry, I only had a couple of hours in the morning to catch my music for today. I knew it was the last day of "One and Other" on the Fourth Plinth, so checked the net to see if any musicians were up there before noon. What I hadn't realised was that 100 days ago, when "One and Other" began, it wasn't at midnight, but at nine in the morning. And that was the time that the last plinther was due to be scooped back down to earth by the yellow cherry-picker - the same time I'd be dropping the kids off at school. I decided to go to Trafalgar Square anyway, in case there was a post-plinth party in full swing.

It turned out to be a quite subdued affair. A couple of small film crews were conducting interviews, one of them with Anthony Gormley. Thirty or forty former plinthers were standing about chatting, sharing plinth experiences, none of which involved reprising a musical turn. Behind them all stood the newly vacated plinth looking strangely naked.

I went for a coffee in Pret and wondered what to do. I saw Clive Anderson. It didn't help. Back in the square I watched two Harris hawks go about their daily pigeon-scaring duties. Here's a photo (no photos of Clive Anderson having a coffee I'm afraid):

So, with only an hour to play with, I resigned myself to another trip underground along the tube subways, though since I had to get the tube to the dentist anyway it wasn't a difficult decision to make.
This is...oh, I didn't get his name, but he was playing gentle African lilts on his guitar and singing to match. I listened, gave him a couple of quid (for which he asked God to bless me), took a photo, listened some more, wondered if anyone passing wondered why I'd arranged to meet someone in the tube subways under Waterloo Station and went to the dentist.