Happy Halloween! Regulars to Brain Damage over the years will know that our friend Joe Ringus is a hugely talented pumpkin artist, and each year crafts a Pink Floyd themed pumpkin for Halloween (which is celebrated by many, principally this evening, but in a number of places it covers a number of days).
Those regulars will no doubt be as keen as we have been to see if Joe would be continuing the tradition this year, and if so, what design would be picked. The great news is that Joe has been hard at work yet again, and has done a phenomenal job once again! We're delighted to share his incredible carving with you.
Joe said: "The tradition continues! This year's pumpkin goes back to The Wall with the image of the Mother. It's yet another rendition of Gerald Scarfe's creative illustrations. Happy Halloween!"
Thanks Joe - we think you've done another excellent job! It's a great tradition and we know many of our visitors love to see them. If there are any other pumpkin artists out there who have created Floyd designs, we'd love to see them. In the meantime, click the thumbnail to the left to see Joe's hard, and careful, work in more detail.
Earlier this year, Nick Mason appeared at BIMM London for a Masterclass, in front of a keen audience. BIMM is the British and Irish Modern Music Institute and is a group of six independent colleges which specialise in this type of music. Nick talked about Pink Floyd, how he got started in music, and had plenty of advice for the musicians in attendance. Here's an edited video of the event:
Just published in the UK, with an eye catching, suitably coloured cover, is the new issue (dated December 2016, issue 235) of Uncut Magazine. Covering no less than eleven pages, it's a fascinating look at both the upcoming Pink Floyd: The Early Years 1965-1972 box set, and a wider exploration of the early days of the band, with insightful discussions of what happened and why, from the likes of Nick Mason, Joe Boyd, Andrew King, Peter Jenner, and Aubrey 'Po' Powell.
To accompany the eleven page Floyd article are six detailed pages looking at the pair of Desert Trip weekend mega-shows, which were of course headlined on the Sunday (final) night of each weekend by Roger Waters.
Also currently available in UK stores, and in due course in selected retailers outside the UK, is the new issue (dated November 2016, issue 459) of Record Collector. Apart from the 1967-era Floyd picture on the cover, it has an eight-page article looking at the early years of the band.
The article is a mix of the author's own recollections of his early interest in the band, along with Nick Mason's own ruminations of the formative days of the band, covering various blues songs and other things, such as Beatles tracks - they'd tend to learn hits from the Top 20. Nick has some fascinating recollections (although some of which are understandably quite vague due to the passage of time) and it's an interesting look at the early days of the band.
On Thursday evening, 'Syd Barrett – A Celebration', a concert organised by Cambridge Live in conjunction with the Barrett family and estate, took place at the site of Syd's last ever public performance. The Corn Exchange in Cambridge was also the location chosen for a commemorative artwork, unveiled at a VIP reception before the sold-out concert in front of Syd's family and friends. Also in attendance were the remaining members of Stars, the band who Syd played with at his final performance at the venue.
The artwork - on permanent display in the venue - was designed by artists Clare Palmier and Spadge Hopkins with fabrication from Cory Burr. The piece is called CODA and uses reflective surfaces and bicycle components, along with a wheel spinning to reveal LED images of Syd.
As with all such art, a number of decisions as to the final presentation of the piece were required, looking at the balance between practicality and appearance, especially with the work being in a public space (albeit much of the time behind closed doors). Some of the imagery resulted from physical items being built, including a lovely metal silhouette of Syd's head which could be seen rotating at one point in the LED display.
Whilst completely different to what I (and others, it seems) were expecting, the piece is a fascinating and unique piece, that attendees of the venue are sure to find themselves absorbed in. Still pictures do not do the piece justice, as it does need to be seen in motion. Over on our Facebook page you can see a video showing some of the movement and images that drift in and out of sight.
Following the artwork unveiling, the main event was the very enjoyable - and for some, quite emotional - concert featuring Swedish band Men on the Border backed by the 50-piece Sandviken Symphony Orchestra who hail from the same town in Sweden as the band. MotB covered a wide range of Barrett songs, with some dramatic and unexpected symphonic interpretations on offer.
The concert also featured narration from acclaimed playwright, and former school friend of Syd, David Gale, and suitably psychedelic lighting - not just on the stage, but covering the walls, ceilings and even some of us in the audience of the Corn Exchange - by Peter Wynne-Willson, who was responsible for the Floyd's early light shows between 1966-68.
Also helping out, at one point, was Rachel Barrett who assisted on vocals, and can be seen in the pictures below (as can David and Peter).
To see a couple of local news video reports, visit ITV.com, and the BBC website.
Finally, here's some further pictures from the evening, of the concert itself:
Nick Mason will be hosting a global screening of exclusive audio and visual footage from Pink Floyd: The Early Years 1965-1972' box set, which is being released on November 11th. The event will take place at YouTube Space London; the live stream will start on Pink Floyd's YouTube channel at 6.30pm GMT on Wednesday November 9th (or at the foot of this story!).
The live event will include an exclusive unboxing of the package, screening of exclusive remastered footage and a chat with Nick. A very limited number of tickets are available for the event; for the chance to win one of these tickets, go to smarturl.it/PF_YT_comp.
Fans from around the world are encouraged to submit questions online at the official Pink Floyd Facebook page. A selection of these will be put to Nick on the night. The organisers have pointed out that these questions should only be related to The Early Years box set.
The stream itself will be live here at the appropriate time on November 9th:
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