Back From Port Eliot

Sigh, sigh, sigh. It was that good. Here are a couple of pictures showing the official start of the Orchestra. Placing steel on shellac is the patron saint of the Arcadia 78 RPM Orchestra Mr John Andrews of Arcadia. Also myself with John, The Magpie and Mike Brett before we rock the banks of the River Lynher at the Port Eliot Festival. Pictures courtesy of Neil Thompson. 

Vital Supplies

A delivery of 600 needles have arrived from Mr John Sleep Gramophone Engineer supreme based in West Pentire, Cornwall.   

We are using 3 grades of gramophone needles to please the crowds over the 4 days alongside the  Caught By The River site.

Soft Tone, the quietest. This causes least damage to the record.

Medium Tone,  For your standard listening experience.

Loud Tone, That speaks for itself.

Mr Sleep suggests that ideally you would replace the steel needle after playing each side but that up to 3 records can be played with little damage

Also pictured is a packet of fibre needles. These need sharpening after every play. Trainee needle sharpeners may apply on the day.

Winifred, Pinetop, Elvis, Buddy & Gene

As the sun goes down at the Port Eliot Festival, giants who strode the musical landscape in the 1950s-from Winifred Atwell to Elvis-will burst forth from our dual gramophones. This will occur on the banks of the River Lynher close to the Caught By The River stage. Prepare for high-grade rock & roll, boogie-woogie and lots of winding-volunteers are welcome to take a turn of the winding handle and, if it gets hectic, to change the needle from medium to hard.

Carmen's Bathtime

Local character Bernie - believed to be Father Christmas by the local children - has supplied the Orchestra with a lovely haul of new/very old records. Among forgotten bands such as Jack Payne and His Hotel Cecil Orchestra, The Savoy Havana Band and the International Novelty Orchestra, I found Carmen Miranda's exotic  I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I like you very much). All of these records were covered in years of dust and grime and needed a good wash. As I'm sure in real life, Carmen Miranda looked great after a bath. 

Matt Sewell's Audible Twitch

The Arcadia 78 RPM Orchestra are pleased to announce the world's very first 78 RPM audible twitch* hosted by Matt Sewell, ornithologist and artist extraordinaire by the estuary during the Port Eliot Festival. Birds recorded onto shellac between the wars – probably by men smoking briar pipes – will be played to those assembled with ears trained to identify the most birds. Matt has offered a beautiful print of the estuary-loving peewit as a prize. Most suitable for the setting.

One of the records to be aired can be viewed below. For security reasons, all important information has been obscured. Skullduggery is acceptable on the day, but only if instigated in a gentlemanly/womanly way. 

* This is a bold claim but for the sake of excitement and controversy we are sticking to it.

The Lark Rotating

Rumours of a cut-out Terrier were confirmed at the weekend when Orchestra colleague Mike Brett appeared outside my Cornish shed clutching a piece of painted hardboard. That hound is for another day. 

It did however prompt me to reveal a few of the delights that can be heard at the Port Eliot Festival this summer when the Orchestra will be haphazardly appearing as guests of Caught By The River