May 16th - Day 28

This guy was doing good business in the modern walkway outside the Cutty Sark tube entrance. I added a couple of quid and my mysterious calling card to his pot, and took his photo as he stormed passionately through "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye". He nodded goodbye to me when I turned to leave and I wondered guiltily that, not yet having had a chance to closely inspect my card, he may have been under the impression that I could have a positive influence on the progress of his musical career, so I ran away before he discovered the truth.

May 25th - Day 37

An enticing cacophony of multi-instrument scales and rehearsals spilling out of the open windows of The Trinity College of Music in the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich.

July 26th - Day 99

"Flood Tide" at The Royal Observatory, Greenwich. A live musical performance composed by John Eacott. Data collected using a sensor in the River Thames was processed with a custom computer software into notation, read on computer screens by these six musicians.

"A bit Brian Eno," said Ian.

www.informal.org/

July 30th - Day 103

August 8th - Day 112

Zero to Hero performing solo guitar as part of Thailand's Got Talent at The Thai Festival in Greenwich Park. He was preceded by two break-dancing eight year old boys, one of whose Mum gave the sound bloke the wrong music. Neither won apparently. The winners, I believe, were dance act "single lady and single man" who I missed because I only had ten minutes parking time left on my car. I also missed Vivian the lady boy.

August 9th - Day 113

Yes, it's the Thai festival again, but a different day (honest) and a very different act. These are musicians from the Thai Music Circle, "the only fully-fledged Thai traditional music ensemble in Europe."
More at psulondon.nursepsu.net/tmcukeng.html

September 28th - Day 163

The advertised act at Oliver's Music Bar in Greenwich wasn't playing. I don't know why. The man from Oliver's who broke the news to me gave no indication that there was supposed to be someone playing tonight, but according to their Myspace the scheduled act was Jade Trio. One person called Jade Trio, or three people known as Jade Trio? Maybe I'll never know. A Google search uncovered The Jade String Trio, but they're based in New York. Maybe that's why they weren't there.

So I found these guys busking in the short alleyway that leads from Cutty Sark tube to the town centre. I made a note of the name on the cd they had for sale, but only in my head, and now I'm not sure what it was...M J Jones?

And later on, when I had to change buses on the way home, there was something going on at The New Cross Inn, so I popped in. What initially sounded like a generic punky racket morphed into a rather likeable base-driven escalating punk jam that sounded a bit like early Fall and was the last song of the evening by Hygiene.

October 6th - Day 171

It's a Tuesday. It's church recital day. Today I went to the Old Royal Naval College Chapel in Greenwich to see an organ recital. But I couldn't see the organ - I could only hear it - because it was behind the audience at the back of the chapel, above the foyer (not sure of the official word...quick research suggests maybe the "vestibule" or perhaps the "narthex"...or even that it is called the "foyer". I know it's not the "stern"). I could, however, see and hear six Trinity College choiristers (four blurry ones shown below) and a conductor.

October 11th - Day 176

Few words soon

http://www.admiralhardy.co.uk/

November 14th - Day 210

The Early Music Exhibition in Greenwich is a platform for makers of early instruments to promote and sell their musical wares. The exhibitors were located in two large and ancient areas of The Old Naval College, both with modest names that somewhat underplayed their splendour - Queen Mary’s Ante Room and The Painted Hall (for an idea of what I mean, imagine if The Sistine Chapel was called The Chapel with Pictures on the Ceiling). Throughout the two halls swirled a soothing cacophony of early musical sound. Spinets mingled with shawms, lutes dueted with viols and pipes fought with virginals.

This is Sean Jones, maker of bagpipes. His pipes, made from traditional woods such as maple and which cost up to £1000 each, generally take about a week to make. He has a waiting list of nine months!

This guy looks like he's nicking something...though perhaps he's the exhibitor...

November 29th - Day 225

Today's SLP entry..."Anyone who turns up at the Lord Hood pub in Greenwich when there is no live music can consider themselves unlucky. Six days a week the Hood hosts music of many kinds – modern jazz, swing, skiffle and blues, folk, rock and this afternoon, Sunday, a “Sinatra singalong” around the organ. “Locals show their talent for the songs of swing” says the flyer and it’s not kidding. They’re a talented bunch of crooners down the Hood, Dave the compere in particular giving the session a resounding finale. Free buffet too!"

The Lord Hood, which squares up alongside the legendary Up The Creek comedy venue, is a fantastic boozer - very friendly and with a broad range of talented musicians performing free music including, unusually I have found, on week day afternoons - Thursday (jazz) and Friday (skiffle & blues).

I'm aware that I use the word "friendly" quite regularly when describing pubs that host regular live music. There's something about walking into an unfamiliar pub when there are musicians performing that makes one feel as if one is joining the fray rather than interrupting it...unless of course the musicians stop playing and stare at you and throw plectrums at you. That hasn't happened to me yet though.

lordhood.co.uk

January 23rd - Day 280

This is Ian singing "Amazing Grace" in The Cutty Sark pub along the river from Greenwich. He usually sings "Amazing Grace" at weddings, in Japan, sometimes ten times a day...because he's not Japanese...and when he does so he wears an outfit like Dr Who in The Omen. No, we didn't understand either. He talked us through it twice and it didn't help. He does get paid by the way - it's not a hobby. Today he also sang a bit of Hank Williams. And he re-tuned the five-string guitar I'd brought along especially for him to play, so thank you for that Ian. When he's not conducting peculiar wedding ceremonies, Ian performs and records under the name Myles The Baker and with pop punk band The Dugunder Brothers.

myspace.com/thedugunderbrothers

February 28th - Day 316

An impromptu visit to The Greenwich Royal Observatory led to an unexpected afternoon of entertainment at The National Maritime Museum. A leaflet detailing times for the Planetarium shows in the former also revealed a lunchtime performance of Chinese music, dance and magic at the latter, as part of the Greenwich Chinese Film and Arts Festival. "Hey, who wants to see some magic?!" I asked the kids, cunningly avoiding mention of music. "Yeah!" they both said. So we walked down the hill.

A large audience gathered in the Upper Gallery and waited for the show to start. The barrage of percussive music that signalled the arrival of the performers at the entrance of the museum was so loud it sounded like broadside gunfire from fighting galleons and caused Daisy to cover her ears, throw herself into my lap and sob. Oliver, meanwhile, ran off to see what was happening and came back up alongside the possession. By the time the dancers and musicians had made their way to the show-space, Daisy had recovered and ended up enjoying the performance, though she prefered the beautiful music of the trio in the bottom photo. I believe the instruments are, left to right, a pipa, a guzheng and an erhu; respectively a four-stringed lute-like instrument, a zither-like plucked instrument and a two-stringed fiddle.

And there was a magician.