The Seb & Fiona Blog

It’s hot. So hot it’s hard not to spend a lot of time just staring out the window at the big swaying tree over the road by the Fruit and Wool Exchange. I don’t really know much about tree breeds (is ‘breeds’ even the right word? I doubt it) but it’s one of those classic proud ones you find in the grounds of stately homes and in the backgrounds of BBC period dramas as some white-wigged cad trots past on his trusty steed. It’s too hot not to have a glass of water here next to me but too hot to walk down two flights of stairs to get one. It’s really hot.

So it is that once again we’re looking for enthusiastic interns to come and work with us for 3 - 4 days per week for a period of between 6 weeks and 3 months.

The placement will require the intern to undertake general office duties i.e. deal with incoming/outgoing post, press cuttings, mail-outs and answering the phone. Alongside the office work interns will have the opportunity to work on campaigns, create press releases, sit in on meetings and attend associated events. The successful applicant will have a good knowledge of microsoft office, strong research skills, and an interest in the arts. A flair for writing would be an advantage. We’ll cover travel expenses, but do bear in mind this is an unpaid position.

Those who are interested should send a CV and 100 words on why you would like to work at Seb & Fiona to fiona@sebandfiona.com. Our closing date for applications is mid January.

Fiona

We’ve had some new arrivals in Seb & Fiona towers. There’s Cheryl who is currently helping us out with Spitalfields, and there’s Federica too (pictured below).

We’ll get them to write something here soon, once they’ve settled in. For now here’s a link to Federica’s photography:

Fi

We’ve always been amazingly lucky with our interns. Recently, David Maguire, Misha Agzarian (pictured) and Andrew Gillespie have each in turn proved incredibly valuable to life in the Seb & Fiona office. Yes, there was admin to be done, and envelopes to be stuffed - all of which they carried out with untold panache. But they have also made the most of their chance to get involved in many other aspects of the work we do, and (we hope) they have gotten a lot out of it. Sadly, sooner or later they move on to other things and are replaced by an empty chair.

So it is that once again we’re looking for enthusiastic interns to come and work with us for 3 - 4 days per week for a period of between 6 weeks and 3 months.

The placement will require the intern to undertake general office duties i.e. deal with incoming/outgoing post, press cuttings, mail-outs and answering the phone. Alongside the office work interns will have the opportunity to work on campaigns, create press releases, sit in on meetings and attend associated events. The successful applicant will have a good knowledge of microsoft office, strong research skills, and an interest in the arts. A flair for writing would be an advantage. We’ll cover travel expenses, but do bear in mind this is an unpaid position.

Those who are interested should send a CV and 100 words on why you would like to work at Seb & Fiona to admin@sebandfiona.com. Our closing date for applications is Wednesday 15th August.

Hello World,

I’m David, the newest edition to the Seb and Fiona clan. I exist in this space as a result of Fiona’s rallying ‘Call for Interns’ (see blog post 30th March).

I called back ‘I want your job, please!’ I interviewed, it went well … and I was there.

So far, I believe messrs Seb and Fiona have been most impressed with my authoritative handling of the Prit-Stick and my precise manipulation of the scalpel blade. The Scalpel Blade?

Fear not, your favourite cultural PR company has not developed their portfolio to include the performance of back street surgical acts such as this. The scalpel is instead used in the ancient art of press cuttings cutting, which I am now well schooled in. And additionally, any self-respecting surgeon would surely plump for a stronger adhesive than Prit-Stick when sticking peoples heads back together and such like, Copydex perhaps….?

I will write again soon, If they let me!

David.

No, Fiona hasn’t swapped her blonde locks for brunette! I’m the new Friday addition to Seb & Fiona’s growing empire. Officially I’m here to help out on Seb & Fiona projects, but unofficially I’m here to escape… my mice. What started out as the odd dropping underneath my toaster has become a full scale epidemic. Something along the lines of this!

I’ve tried everything - poison, mouse glue (this stuff does exist), traps, ultrasonic pest repellers… nothing works. And so I’ve opted for natural selection and borrowed a friends’ cat.

Sadly, progress has been slow. Day 1 was spent trying to coax Missy out from behind the sofa. Day 2 she retreated to a dark corner beneath my flatmate’s bed. Day 3 I searched high and low for the agoraphobic moggy, only to find her curled up beneath the bath tub. Hmmm. Worse still, my flatmate is now covered in flea bites. Looks like we’ve swapped one infestation with another!

I would say cats are good for nothing. But that’s not true. Just take a look at this, for example.

Until next time!
Sarahx

(p.s this is a picture of me, and Matt who’s doing a shoot for Led Bib in a couple of weeks.

Intern Placement
3 days per week
(6 weeks - 3 months)

We’re currently looking for interns to come and work with us in our office in Old Spitalfields Market, London.

The successful applicant will have a good knowledge of microsoft office, strong research skills, and an interest in the arts. A flair for writing would be an advantage.

The placement will require the intern to work three days a week for a minimum of 6 weeks. They would undertake general office duties i.e. deal with incoming/outgoing post, press cuttings, mail-outs and answering the phone. Alongside the office work interns will have the opportunity to work on campaigns, create press releases, sit in on meetings and attend associated events.

If you’re interested please send a CV and 100 words on why you would like to work at Seb & Fiona to fiona by March 23rd.

Fi.

Here are some of the things we’re working on over the next few months…

Record Releases

MARCH
12: ‘Gold From Lead’ / ‘La La La’ single by Buen Chico (Faith & Hope Records)

26: ‘Add Your Light to Mine, Baby’ single by Lucky Soul (Ruffa Lane Records)

APRIL
09: ‘The Great Unwanted’ album by Lucky Soul (Ruffa Lane Records)

09: ‘Nocturne: Late Nights at the Whitechapel’ compilation album compiled by the Whitechapel gallery

23: ‘Sizewell Tea’ album by Led Bib (The Babel Label)

MAY
21: ‘Fraud’ album by Fraud (The Babel Label)

JUNE
18: ‘Mesmer’ album by Tom Arthurs & Richard Fairhurst (The Babel Label)

Events & Exhibitions

MARCH
Until 11: Luminaries & Visionaries exhibition at Kinetica, Old Spitalfields Market

7: Sam Buxton talk at Kinetica, Old Spitalfields Market

9: Songs of Nick Drake live event in Falmouth

10: Songs of Nick Drake live event in St Ives

12 (until 7 May): Billboard Project in Basildon

12: Tom Arthurs & Richard Fairhurst play the Vortex, London N16 (with Sylvie Courvoisier and Mark Feldman).

13: Songs of Nick Drake live event at the Roses in Tewksbury

15: Songs of Nick Drake live event at the Electric Cinema in Birmingham

15: Private View for ‘Sound Bites and the Unseen Eye’ and ‘Circles of Ether’ at Kinetica, Old Spitalfields Market

16 (until 30 Mar): ‘Sound Bites and the Unseen Eye’ and ‘Circles of Ether’ exhbitions at Kinetica, Old Spitalfields Market

20: Tom Arthurs and Richard Fairhurst duo play Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester (with support from Ingrid Laubock)

21: Ray Lee talk at Kinetica, Old Spitalfields Market

22: Lucky Soul (album launch) + Buen Chico play Another Music = Another Kitchen at the Proud Gallery, Camden

23: Recognition Awards winners announced

31: Future Sound Of London talk at Kinetica, Old Spitalfields Market
tbc (late Mar): Waltham Litho ‘354 Ideas’ launch

APRIL
01: ‘Here Is The Blues! - The Chess Sessions’ with Billy Jenkins at the Vortex, London N16

15: ‘Here Is The Blues! - The Chess Sessions’ with Billy Jenkins at the Vortex, London N16

19: Tom Arthurs and Richard Fairhurst play an album prelaunch gig at the Steinway Hall, London

22: ‘Here Is The Blues! - The Chess Sessions’ with Billy Jenkins at the Vortex, London N16

29: ‘Here Is The Blues! - The Chess Sessions’ with Billy Jenkins at the Vortex, London N16

MAY
4: Cog Design’s Recognition Day

14 (until 9 Jul): Billboard project in Southend

17 (until 31 Jun): Cybersonica exhibition at Kinetica, Old Spitalfields Market

JUNE
12: Tom Arthurs and Richard Fairhurst play Pizza Express, Soho (with Huw Warren / Peter Herbert)

JULY
14: Tom Arthurs and Richard Fairhurst play South Hill Park (with Huw Warren / Peter Herbert)

AUTUMN
Old Spitalfields Market refurbishment complete

[Colm Roche] “Would you like anything from Eden’s? I’m going to get a sandwich?”
[Hungover, swollen eyed Fiona Wootton] “Yes, lovely. A carrot, apple and ginger smootie please.”
[Fresh faced Seb Emina] “Mh, New Yorker please. Great sandwich the New Yorker.” Pats belly.
11 minutes go by, door swings open. Colm re-enters Seb & Fiona HQ.
[Colm Roche] “There you go.”
[Fiona Wootton] “Thanks.”
[Seb Emina] “Cheers.”
Fiona takes large gulp of frothy orange water.
[Fiona Wootton] “Blergh. Where’s the ginger?” Looks at Seb in hungover accusing way.
“I hate it when they don’t get the measurements right.”
Proceeds to be grumpy for next 5 minutes.
Seb looks on nonchalantly and tucks into tasty New Yorker.

It was my birthday yesterday. It started in Kent (in the Dickensian village of Broadstairs) and it ended in Kentish Town (in a legendary little pub called the Pineapple), and in the middle there was a seabass lunch in the Oxo Tower, which has a splendid view of the Thames. As I walked along the river, I was handed a copy of thelondonpaper and what do I see on page 15? It was the interview with Lucky Soul, and they’d given it a full page.

The photo was taken by Libi Pedder and in this one they’re in the Commercial Tavern which, along with the Golden Heart and the Pride of Spitalfields, is another wonderfully esoteric Spitalfields pub where one can easily while away an evening watching cabbies chat to artists, that kind of thing. The Golden Heart’s whirlwind of a landlady turned on the market Christmas lights this year and was the subject of a big article in the Observer this weekend, while the Commercial Taven stops you dead in your tracks by being decorated so gloriously that it seems more like an art installation deisgned to pay homage to Spitalfields through the medium of ‘pub’ than an actual pub. But a pub is what it is.

I have to go now and read Fiona’s press release for the Whitechapel compilation CD. They’ve made us ‘Associate Patrons’, an exciting fact that I’ll be trying to slip into conversation in an oh-so-subtle fashion at every given opportunity (unlike in this instance). Here’s a pic from their Christmas party last week. That’s Fiona’s friend Sarah on the left, but do also note the mysterious chicken figure in the middle distance. Do I detect the influence of Mark McGowan?

Seb