Exeter's Vanished Rock Venues
Radio: From August 2018 I've been broadcasting, originally with co-presenter Ally, programmes of music and interviews associated with Exeter's Vanished Rock Venues on Phonic 106.8 FM. Monthly broadcasts, on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 4 to 6pm, can be heard in the Exeter area or listened to online at phonic.fm. From May 2019 I started another show on Phonic, Between The Buttons, on 2nd Tuesdays from 12 to 2pm. This is a more relaxed show which picks up things that don't fit in EVRV, and other stuff that I want to include. From August 2019 I've been doing a four weekly show Strange Days on Soundart Radio, Dartington which has a Totnesian slant while taking some bits from the Phonic broadcasts. Many of my shows are posted on Mixcloud, eventually. Details are also shown on the EVRV facebook page and twitter feed.
In the beginning ... I started a project to research and produce a 15 minute podcast about Exeter's Vanished Rock Venues. An appeal on the Exeter Memories facebook site generated an enormous response and it quickly became clear that this was a bigger subject than I'd anticipated. As the podcast was intended to accompany a walk, I initially limited its coverage to a walk from the top of Sidwell Street to the Corn Exchange, via Gandy Street and Queen Street.
However, I also put together a collection of images from a wider selection of venues, mainly from the Exeter Memories website with the kind permission of David Cornforth, together with some current photographs taken by me. These images were shown as part of the Exeter's Vanished Rock Venues and other stories exhibition at St Petrocks for Art Week Exeter.
During Art Week Exeter 2018 I added my pictures and descriptions of venues to a map of the city, and encouraged visitors to add their own recollections to help improve the information that I had collected.
I updated the first version of my city centre podcast. However, the project is now on hold and without music and location recordings (it's a simple unplugged guide narration which runs for 14 minutes). The intention was to extend the walking route before rerecording and producing a final 'live' mix with location sounds and music. I was also planning to extend the project to record more detailed recollections of people's live music experiences in Exeter, for broadcast on local community radio.
Exeter's Vanished Rock Venues - Selected Sources (hover and click to access)
Exeter Memories - David Cornforth
Exeter Memories facebook group
Exeter Past and Present facebook group
Destiny One/Exeter Nostalgia - Peter Rice
Searching for the Young Joe Rebel (Louder than War) - Joe Swinford
The Graded Grains web site -John Gregory
The Beatles Bible/History - Joe Goodden
Oh No! It’s Local Rock and Roll … but I like it! (volume 2) - Barry Sowden
Photographs from the St Petrocks exhibition can be accessed here. Brief CVs of the artists and writers who exhibited can be accessed here.