Previous
Guide Cats For The Blind
Added: (Fri Aug 19 2005)
GUIDE CATS FOR THE BLIND Vol 2
THE MISSING PERSIANS FILE
Songs & Poems of Les Barker
A CD released to raise funds for
The British Computer Association of the Blind
http://www.bcab.org.uk Reg SC023234
Les Barker writes strange poems and comes originally from Manchester, but he's now Welsh.
He was an accountant before he became a professional idiot.
Release Date. Monday September 5, 2005
Catalogue Number. OSMO CD 032
Distributor Proper Music.
The Players
John Humphrys, Joss Ackland, Harvey Andrews with John Shepherd, Prunella Scales Timothy West, Les Barker, Emma Chambers, Tom Paxton, Jeremy Vine,
Nonny James, Genevieve Tudor, Ed Stewart, Steve Tilston, Frank Hennessey, Ryan Kelly, Roger Lloyd Pack, Rodney Bewes, Sic Transit, Desmond Carrington,
Gerard McDermott, Trevor Peacock and last but not least The Mrs Ackroyd Band.
Songs & Poems of Les Barker Poet & Professional Idiot
The Stealth Comma - John Humphrys, If - Joss Ackland, A Crufts Conversation - Prunella Scales, Cosmo The Fairly Accurate Knife Thrower- Les Barker (Genius),
I Don’t Like My Boomerang – Emma Chambers, Will the Turtle Be Unbroken - Tom Paxton, My Snails Have Not Yet Arrived - Timothy West & Prunella Scales,
Napoleon’s Circular Retreat from Reading – Jeremy Vine, Lorna the Library Book Burglar – Nonny James, Travel Iron – Genevieve Tudor,
Spot Was Not Like the Rest – Ed Stewart, Dipsticks & Seals – Steve Tilston, Death by Daffodils – Frank Hennessy, Self Knowledge – Ryan Kelly,
Non Sequitors – Roger Lloyd Pack, One Way Cul De Sac – Rodney Bewes, The King of Rome – Sic Transit, The Undead Parrott – Desmond Carrington,
King Harold Was a Ventriloquist – Gerard McDermott, A Very English Thing – Trevor Peacock, The Lemmings Reunion – The Mrs Ackroyd Band.
Les Barker. A short biography from the age of three until nearly teatime.
Les Barker writes strange poems and comes originally from Manchester, but he's now Welsh. He was an accountant before he became a professional idiot.
His poems include Jason and the Arguments, Cosmo the Fairly Accurate Knife Thrower, Captain Indecisive, Spot of the Antarctic, An Infinite Number of Occasional Tables', 'A Cardi and Bloke', 'Up the Creek Without a Poodle' and 'The War on Terrier' to name but two.
Les began his career as assistant to Mrs Ackroyd, a small hairy mongrel who lay around in folk clubs, bit people and became famous. Mrs Ackroyd was the only dog ever to own her own record label.
Since her sad demise, Les is mainly a solo performer, though he has taken to working with humans from time to time.
Les is well known for his cardigans and cuts a dash in the fashion world where he is much respected as a leading exponent of the woollen garment in all its splendour.
If he is not at home when you phone, his ansaphone will tell you that he has gone into Oswestry to have a good time, but do leave a message.
CD Booklet notes by Paul Donovan Radio Columnist of The Sunday Times.
I have a confession. I never thought Guide Cats for the Blind would be a great success. A mixed bag of radio folk reading strange poems by a relatively unknown Mancunian called Les Barker? Happily I was quite wrong. The combination of his extraordinarily clever wordplay, his stature on the folk circuit - even if the London-dominated literary and media worlds have yet to discover him - and the presence of names like Terry Wogan and Charlotte Green, was such to ensure healthy sales. That double CD has now raised over £21,000 for the British Computer Association of the Blind, a charity that helps people across a whole range of visual impairments to get the most out of their computers. In my experience this community, if it can be called that, contains the most erudite and enthusiastic radio listeners anywhere.
That was two years ago. The Missing Persians File is the sequel, again created by Clive Lever. It follows the same successful format: surreal and funny verse from the prolific Les Barker read (or sung) by stars of music and broadcasting. I'm not a member of the BCAB, just a maverick critic, and my personal view is that it's rather better than Volume 1 - the imagery sharper, the music more tuneful, the puns more inventive.
JOHN HUMPHRYS begins it, just as he so often begins the day for Radio 4 listeners. His reading of The Stealth Comma reflects both his own keen interest in punctuation and Barker's hostility to "smart" bombs. Today's senior presenter might also approve of the second poem, If, read by JOSS ACKLAND, which is as savage about lying politicians as it is faithful to Kipling's great work on which it is based.
HARVEY ANDREWS and JOHN SHEPHERD come next, using vocals, jazz piano and whistling to render the title track, and they're followed by the first of two appearances from PRUNELLA SCALES, adopting her best Morningside accent to engage in A Crufts Conversation about dogs. LES BARKER himself follows, regaling for an appreciative live audience the saga of Cosmo, The Fairly Accurate Knife-Thrower in the style of Marriott Edgar's lugubrious classic Albert and the Lion.
EMMA CHAMBERS, best known as the dim blonde verger from The Vicar of Dibley, continues in comic vein with I Don't Like My Boomerang, before American folk legend TOM PAXTON sings - in his beautiful mellow voice and with marvellous string accompaniment - Will the Turtle Be Unbroken.
PRUNELLA SCALES now returns to partner her husband TIMOTHY WEST, she as a French waitress and he as a remarkably patient man who spends his entire life in a restaurant because, as he says, My Snails Have Not Yet Arrived. JEREMY VINE reveals in Napoleon's Circular Retreat from Reading that it was in fact the county town of Berkshire rather than the capital of Russia that engaged Bonaparte's attentions in 1812 - when its hellish one-way system prevented him from getting out of it.
NONNY JAMES, presenter of the blues and folk show, Fretwork, on BBC Radio Shropshire and BBC Hereford and Worcester, paints a sensual portrait of Lorna The Library Book Burglar, a well-read kleptomaniac "who hides James Joyce in the place of his choice", and then her BBC Radio Shropshire colleague GENEVIEVE TUDOR recalls a wandering Travel Iron - again in front of a live audience in Birmingham.
In Spot Was Not Like the Rest, ED STEWART chronicles the travails of an unusual zebra called Spot, a full-stop among barcodes. Folk guitarist STEVE TILSTON nods affectionately towards those who love messing about with rusty old motors in Dipsticks and Seals, FRANK HENNESSY spoofs one of Wordsworth's most celebrated ballads in Death By Daffodils, and RYAN KELLY, the blind actor who plays sighted Jazzer in The Archers, ponders Self-Knowledge.
ROGER LLOYD PACK who, like Emma, is best known for The Vicar of Dibley, has a pair of Non Sequiturs, which he uses for not pruning the roses; RODNEY BEWES lives in a once pleasant road that is now, sadly, a One Way Cul-de-sac; and SIC TRANSIT, the Kent folk duo consisting of Clive Lever and Don Thompson, sing, unaccompanied, the saga of The King Of Rome, who is not a potentate but a pigeon.
The avian theme is maintained by DESMOND CARRINGTON in The Undead Parrot, though this particular bird is one to be avoided, since it comes from Transylvania and eats sparrows by the score.
The partially-sighted actor GERARD McDERMOTT, in the last of the recordings in front of an audience in Birmingham, offers the fascinating but little-known fact that King Harold Was A Ventriloquist and met not only the Normans at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 but also Cosmo the dodgy knife-thrower. That's one in the eye for you, Harold! TREVOR PEACOCK, the third member of the Vicar of Dibley cast to appear, recalls a clifftop picnic interrupted by a man who falls over the edge - in a very English way, of course. The final track is Les's own MRS ACKROYD BAND singing The Lemmings' Reunion, a somewhat sparsely attended event. It's a poignant, harmonious and in its own way rather lovely end to a delightful album.
What Is The British Computer Association Of The Blind?
BCAB is an UK organisation of visually impaired people who use information and communications technology. Their membership ranges from experienced computer professionals, to people who are beginning to explore the use of information and communications technology for leisure, study or employment. Please go to the BCAB web site www.bcab.org.uk/ for further information.
Eye-T 4 All
By Dr. Mike Townsend, Chair BCAB.
Blind and partially sighted people are being left behind when it comes to information technology. Computers and internet connections can be more beneficial to them than for sighted people.
Many blind and partially sighted people experience social isolation. This results from difficulties in getting out of their homes, finding their way around, and getting information including communicating with other people.
Take, for example sending a letter. This presents huge challenges for blind people. Difficulties include: Writing the letter, correcting it, getting an address on to an envelop, putting on a stamp (the correct way up!), finding a post-box and getting to it. When a reply comes, some one must be found to read it.
Blind people just love email. It can be read out immediately through speech synthesis, and replying is just the press of a key.
The vast amount of information on the world wide web can replace a personal library of unreadable print books.
Information technology has so much to offer blind people. The “EyeT4All” programme is being developed to show blind people what is possible, to enthuse them, and point them in the right direction with affordable solutions and training.
The work so far has included seeking and evaluating suitable solutions. This has involved evaluations according to a template indicating usability and affordability. The programme will not give a theoretical technical approach, but a practical solutions based presentation.
A small pilot based on a limited product range, has been run. A one day presentation has been defined and developed.
The programme will be rolled out across various locations in the Autumn. Links have been established with local voluntary societies for the blind who are keen to host the days.
How Can You help?
The BCAB will benefit from any exposure you can offer via press, radio play or word of mouth. Benefits will come to the BCAB and its members in two ways. The first benefit will be financial as all proceeds other than the manufacturing and the very minimum administration costs will see the bulk of all earnings going to the BCAB. The association will also be able to sell the CD direct to the public through their many fund raising activities.
++++++++
Interviews:
To assist with the promotion of Guide Cats For The Blind, Les Barker will be available for interviews after October 4. (USA Tour Aug 19 to Oct 4)
We can also provide Clive Lever the brains and energy behind the whole project and the person who can explain best what the BCAB do. Clive is blind; he has been a member of the BCAB for twenty years and uses a computer in his daily job. (Normal keyboard with speech programme)
Both Ryan Kelly (Jazzer in “The Archers”) Gerard McDermott (Actor partially sighted)
have also agreed to make themselves available for interview.
++++++++
The British Computer Association of the Blind wishes to thank all the artists and everybody involved for your total support of this project in your own time and at no cost.
We would like to thank all those performers who contributed to the original Guide Cats album which has since raise in excess of £21,000.
(BCAB Registered Charity - SCO23234)
++++++++