Trashed Organ Fringe: Rob Heron and Tea Pad Orchestra

Sunday saw us along at the Cumberland Arms, which was running its ten year birthday celebration. A packed and lively scene, which included a wide range of musicians performing.

Here's Rob Heron and the Tea Pad Orchestra, although we've cheated slightly and included a number from their set at Trashed Organ.

flâneur a while with the trashed

It's a few days of sensory overload at the moment, with the Trashed Organ Fringe event in full swing. It was also mentioned in the Guardian on Tuesday, where it features as part of the wider Festival of Belonging.

I arrived on Monday evening and it was one of those high speed hotel turn arounds where I had eight minutes from arriving in the room to the point where I had to meet outside a certain theatre at a designated time.

I made it, but the bag wasn't unpacked.

Then it was full on until about one o'clock in the morning and a similar process repeated on Tuesday.

We even managed to get back to the local Chinese take away after it had closed. Almost unheard of.

When I get a few more moments I will post something about the event. Suffice to say it's getting well received critiques from most attendees and some have already been back for extra helpings the next evening.

Monday was 'We're all mad here' - not a stretch for some of us and then Tuesday was a relatively sober themed and enthralling evening encompassing 'Castles, Collieries and Coastlines' mixed with some flâneur.

Today I took off for a while to wander myself both through the city and also the rugged areas described in yesterday's sessions, including the deserted shipyards, a busy North Sea cable plant, part of Hadrian's wall, the fish quay area of North Shields and the lighthouse at St Mary's Island.

And in another hour or so the next evening starts, with us preparing for Siddhartha Bose's Kalagora which is about journeying from the street surrealism of Mumbai to London’s East End via Manhattan. That's at 7pm, ahead of the Trashed Organ event.

Tonight its "Anywhere I lay my head" - a Tom Waits reference, and entirely appropriate.