Howard Sid Thomas | What's going on?

What's going on?
Wyth Hour from sam christie on Vimeo.	Sam Christie has made a film which features my song 'Counsel to girls' in the soundtrack. The result is something special, I think.
Seed leaves	'Seed leaves' by Richard Wilbur is a poet's-eye view of plant development. I thought it would make a good song lyric in the spirit of Sing About Science and Math which, as mentioned below, is an initiative led by my friend Wendy Silk. As a result of our music-making when she and her husband Ron visited at the end of last year, and some follow-up correspondence and collaboration, I have been listed as a colleague on the SASM website. I need to turn my songs on science-related themes into videos before I can become a full contributor. I'm working on it. Anyway - try 'Seed leaves'.
	Blue Tree is performing at the Aberswing Christmas party on Saturday 11 December.
Blizzard of lies	Some other kind of video featuring the 'unusual' sound of me singing the wonderful Dave Frishberg's hymn to cynicism.
Small World	Accompanying Maggie Nicols at Cabaret Night in the Small World Centre, Cardigan, October 26.
Sea jellies video	Some kind of video featuring Sea jellies (see below) is now on YouTube - click on the link.
News Is Dead (and so is Cafe Jam...)	In the era of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and all that Social Media stuff, this kind of passive newspage is history, so I don't intend to expend a lot of effort keeping it updated. I do have a Facebook page, lord help me, and suppose I could stir up some interest through that channel, but I'm an infrequent and sceptical visitor, so I don't expect I'll be any more communicative there than here. Cafe Jam staggered on into 2010 but a combination of waning interest, the long dark Welsh winter nights and sheer lack of time and energy to keep it alive meant that it bit the dust. If anyone would like to try starting up something new, the CJ mailing list is around somewhere. For the record, Blue Tree is due to put in rare appearances in Goginan and Barmouth in the next couple of months - I'll try to find some weblinks for the respective events. I recently discovered that a scratch band I sometimes turn out for during Aberaeron Carnival week actually has quite an organised website. Check out The OTHER Band. I've also made contact with people involved in an interesting initiative called SingAboutScience. It isn't surprising, given what goes on in other parts of this website, that science lurks quite near the surface in a lot of the music I'm involved with. Wendy and Ron, who actively promote SingAboutScience, will visit the UK from the United States later this year and we hope to meet up. The outcome will be reported here.
	Next Cafe Jam session 20:00 Monday 14 December Aberystwyth Arts Centre Theatre Bar More information here
	Blue Tree is performing at a private party on Saturday 5 December.
	Next Cafe Jam session 20:00 Monday 26 October Aberystwyth Arts Centre Theatre Bar More information here
	Blue Tree appears in the Tabernacl, Machynlleth, at the extraordinary Pink Snowball Awards on Saturday 24 October.
Blue Branch on video	Josh Sanger filmed us during our rehearsal at James's. He's posted a terrific video of Here comes the rain again on YouTube. There's also a moody Jazz Noir clip of another number from the same session - Ces petits rien
Track of the month Peel me a grape	Nicky, Barry and I visited our good friend and drummeister James Matthews and used the facilities of his new studio to record several rehearsal tracks. As a taste of what this offshoot of Blue Tree sounds like (we have to be called Blue Branch, of course), here's a great Dave Frishberg song, performed by Nicky with Barry, James and your humble and obedient.
A new venture, for 2009	Next Cafe Jam session 20:00 Monday 21 September Aberystwyth Arts Centre Theatre Bar More information here
Archaeological discovery (May 2009)	I've been rescuing some ancient videotape recordings of this and that and came upon part of a TV show about jazz in Aberystwyth which has a fleeting, and hilarious, view of my gecko-like fingering technique. Piano teachers may wish to show this to pupils as a warning or threat.
Blue Tree, featuring Nicky Burgess	Here are a couple of pictures taken at the recent performance at Rummers. The Tree and Nicky will be back at Rummers on 25 June and 6 August.
Western Arc	The Westies are featured at SpanJazz, Haverfordwest on 8 April 2009. More information here.
Track of the month Ducks on the pond	Andy Parry (guitar), Barry Wise (bass) and I recorded this Andy Parry composition at Spoonbill Studio in November 2008. The band is called Blue Tree and when up to strength will include Sam Christie on drums and maybe various other passing instrumentalists. We play originals, stuff by Pat Metheney, Keith Jarrett, Steve Swallow, Charlie Parker and, well, anybody who takes our fancy. We have also started working with vocalist Nicky Burgess on a nice repertoire of standards, soul-type songs and French chanson. After a quiet 2008, we expect to burst onto a startled world early in the New Year.
Sea Jellies Drums: Sam Christie Guitar: Andy Parry	Songs from the Fossil-Box This is album of music by Sid Thomas, setting words by Richard Marggraf Turley was released at the end of 2007. The CD is distributed by Cinnamon Press and may be purchased online. Track of the year is Sea Jellies, one of the 9 pieces on this album.