Reading Roars!

It has taken me a long time – a little more than two months, to be exact – to update this blog.

I can’t explain my absence.  It’s just one of those things.  You stop doing something, and it sticks.  Only that this has a stuck a while longer. 

I’ve actually enjoyed this blogging break.  It’s nice, healthy even, to stop doing something for a while (I’ve been tweeting more regularly instead).  When eventually you do return to whatever activity you did, you see it differently at first before you settle into the usual routine (I find work and travel like that, such as when you return to the UK after a trip overseas).

I’ve also thought about the purpose of this blog and where to take it (if at all).  I’d like to continue producing Roarcasts (=podcasts), beginning with the third I promised in my last post, but I’m also mindful of the fact that 2009 is likely to bring pain to a number of local business owners.  Would it be wrong not to mention the downturn in any recorded conversation?

Without further ado, here is a run-down of things that I should have highlighted in the last couple of months:

• Tutu Melaku of Tutu’s Ethiopian Table won a Pride of Reading award last month in the Restaurant of the Year category (sponsored by The Oracle) for Tutu’s Ethiopian Table.  This is well-deserved, in my opinion.  The food, pleasingly different (Reading restaurants, in the main, offer too familiar food) and service are great.  Tutu’s coffee ceremonies are crowd-pleasing.  Tutu was also my first Roarcast subject recently.  Well done to all other award winners, too, as well as runners up.
   
• Young people and the Youth Engagement Service behind ReadingYouth.com demonstrated the new site to the general public at Broad St. Mall in November.  Like The Vibe, a new radio station aimed at the town’s young people, it’s a cracking initiative.  I hope they achieve success.  
   
• A reader named Charlotte Coad wrote in October to ask whether a creative writing club/group exists in Reading.  I have no idea.  Would anyone know?
   
• Reading Comedy Festival came and went (3 – 19 October).  I didn’t go (I’m not that into comedy gigs, though I was at the FymFyg fairly recently).   How did it go?  It’s exciting to have this sort of thing in Reading. 
   
• The University of Reading is once more placed in The Times Higher Education – QS World University Rankings top 200 institutions worldwide (or top 2.5%).  Not bad!  It was also good to see progress made in climate research (e.g. Oceans may provide clues to future rainfall) and in artificial intelligence (e.g. Machines edge closer to imitating human communication).
   
• Channel 4′s “Eight Minutes to Disaster”, aired in mid-September, followed Reading ambulance 212 around the town.  It was gripping.  212′s crew members did well, I thought, especially when having to deal with drunken idiots.  They really do have tough jobs.

A new radio station is planned for Reading: The Vibe.  The station will be launched to provide young people in the town an opportunity to discuss issues that affect them (anti-social behaviour, knife crime etc.), help local voluntary groups to advertise themselves and encourage the development of new talent.

The individual responsible for this exciting project is Gavin Harris, who is seeking funding from local businesses and organisations.  

If you are interested in taking part in the project (a trial will go live during the October half term), more information can be found on The Vibe website.

I wasn’t expecting it.  I really wasn’t. 

A new three-day event will replace the world music event WOMAD (now staged in Wiltshire) next July in Reading.  It is smashing news, absolutely terrific, and it’s all thanks to the good work of Martin Salter MP, Councillor Graeme Hoskins, Reading Festival organiser Melvin Benn and WOMAD ex-artistic director Thomas Brooman.

According to the Evening Post, there will be two days of music (featuring the likes of Manu Chao, who thrilled at Glastonbury), three all-weather stages (with one for local bands), comedy, discussions and a big barbecue.  The event will be called Heavenly Planet and the theme will be international. 

More details may be released as soon as October.  In the meantime, I will have an international beer or two to celebrate.

We’ve gone list mad.  Top beaches in South-East Asia, top 50 coffee tables, top actors under 30 – the list goes on (ahem).   These lazy lists very conveniently fill hours of airtime and pages of weekend magazines. 

I’ve lazily (it’s Friday evening) produced a list of my own: the top 20 things to do in Reading before you die.  It’s a bit tongue in cheek.  Send me your ideas and together we can create a top 100 list. 

1. Feed the swans by Caversham Bridge
2. Play a traditional pub game at the Reading Beer and Cider Festival
3. Bop along at the Reading Real Ale and Jazz Festival
4. Reading Festival (need I say more?)
5. Eat a pie at Sweeney’s
6. Have breakfast at Workhouse Coffee
7. Play a ball game in Prospect Park
8. Take in a performance at The Hexagon
9. Order one of the speciality beers at Zerodegrees
10. Get intoxicated at the Purple Turtle
11. Tune in to local radio
12. Eat Ethiopian at the Global Cafe
13. Try a feijoada and caipirinha at Pau Brasil
14. Join the London Irish fans at the Three Guineas
15. Enter The Oracle by kayak
16. Watch Shakespeare at the Abbey Ruins
17. Dine at Chronicles, former home of the Reading Chronicle
18. Visit Reading Museum and learn about Reading’s past
19. Roar on Reading FC at the Madejski
20. Let your hair down at the legendary After Dark

It’s the Greatest Event on Earth and it’s happening this week in Be…rkshire (though Beijing, I see, is hosting something similarly attractive). 

Thousands will be flocking to Reading for the world-famous Reading Festival this weekend.  To all of you going: have a great time.  Would anyone have 2 day tickets they’d be willing to sell, as I would also like to go?  Pathetic, I know…

Not too long ago (September last year, to be exact), Living Reading was launched.  Now, covered already by the local press, we have Viva Reading, a bid to encourage buinesses to back cultural activities (Viva Reading and Living Reading, interestingly, appear to have a close connection: viva is a Spanish word, derived from “to live”) . 

Reading Borough Council chief executive Michael Coughlin, who launched the programme with patron John Madejski, described Reading as an “ideaopolis”, which would presumably make London an ideamegalopolis.  Or something.

Full details about the corporate sponsorship programme can be found on the Akaju sesli sohbetReading Museum site.

A warm welcome to Jon and his new blog centred around living in Reading.  According to Jon, the blog is:

A sometimes irreverent but always irrelevant look at what it means to live in Reading, Berkshire.  A lot of people like to slag off Reading and say it’s a dump but I say “hold your horses” – there’s Prospect Park, the Forbury Gardens, Greggs!!!  See, there’s a helluva lot of good … you just have to look for it.

Greggs? 

Anyway, it’s good to see another pro-Reading blog.  There’s more to the town than shopping and a busy railway station…

It’s a few days late.  Finally, I present to you a pic from the Reading Real Ale and Jazz Festival. 

The festival took place over 3 days, 16-18 July, and it was my first.  The Reading Beer and Cider Festival offered many more beers, but there was also a far longer queue to get in.  Entering the Real Ale and Jazz Festival was a doddle and service inside was quick. 

The festival site was also more pleasant, framed on one side by tall poplars.  A small white picket fence, BBQ smell and glorious sunshine gave the festival a quasi-American feel, heightened by the live jazz playing in the background.

The performances themselves were entertaining, though not spectacularly so.  The large dance floor began to fill later in the evening, as they tend to here after people have had a few drinks, and I found myself dragged on to it.

All in all, it was a very satisfying and well-organised event, though some might say a little expensive (tickets were £15 on the gate) for what amounted to just 4 hours of festival time.    

Reading residents are being asked by Reading Borough Council what they think the town needs to make it a “truly cultural” city. 

Interested parties can share their views during an event held on Tuesday 29 July at Reading’s Town Hall, or alternatively submit them via the council’s website.  Ultimately, a new Cultural Strategy will be produced.

So, how can we make Reading a truly cultural city?

First of all, Reading is not a city.  It’s a town. 

Secondly, what is meant by ”cultural” and “truly cultural”?  Culture is a word that’s not easily definable.  It includes music and cinema, art and literature.   We also have “consumer culture” and “binge-drinking culture” (both highly evident in the town). 

There are also more obscure manifestations of culture, such as flash-mobbing and spraying on public walls (both rightly or wrongly).  As such, any expression or product of human work and thought could be seen as culture.

Following on from this, what does “truly cultural” actually mean?  What is it that we want to achieve?  How will we know when we get there (how can we measure this)?

It could be argued that with local “treasures” such as the world-famous Reading Festival, Reading Water Fest, Reading Fringe Festival, Reading Museum, Rising Sun Arts Centre, South Street Arts Centre, Hexagon and Progress Theatre, Reading is culturally rich already.   The town’s ”art scene” is commended in backpacker bibles The Lonely Planet and Rough Guide, with particular mention of Reading Festival and (curiously) WOMAD (indeed, very little else is said about the town).

Would truly cultural mean more events?  A greater diversity of cultural expressions?    

Keeping it simple, I believe that more could always be done to encourage the development of ”culture” in the town, with a particular emphasis on keeping it local (local themes, local artists etc.).

Here are some ideas:  

Put on another annual festival (or two).   Choose from the following:

• Music, arts and dance.  Yes, a WOMAD replacement.  WOMAD was a terrific event that Reading formerly hosted, now staged in Wiltshire.  Please let’s have an equally strong festival to take its place.  Evening Post readers appear to agree, with 59% of website poll respondents voting that they would go to WOMAD this year - but only if it was in Reading.
• Film. An annual film festival showing independent productions (especially locally made) and offering prizes would be brilliant.
• Digital.  Brighton has one (with workshops, discussions and networking opportunities) – let’s have one for Reading, too.  I can see it being very successful, as Reading is home to exciting technology startups as well as established players such as Microsoft and Oracle Corporation. 
• Food. Gastronomy has really taken off in Britain in recent years as a passion.  We have gastropubs, celebrity chefs and food markets all fuelling the nation’s appetite.  In Reading we have a farmers’ market and organic market (Global Cafe).  Let’s develop these into a food extravaganza showcasing food from the region (such as meat and dairy products, and beer).  We could also promote Reading food overseas (and help destroy the perception that all English food is awful!).
• Fashion.  I don’t know too much about this (as you can probably tell by looking at pics of me on this blog), but I’m aware that it has a huge and growing following, thanks to the likes of Gok Wan, Trinny and Susannah, and erm…
• Literature.  Put the reading back in Reading.
• Urban art.  Banksy is big.  Let’s have a graffiti competition in the town (using walls produced for this purpose) to determine who’s the top tagger.  

Create a cleaner, greener and nicer environment.  By this I mean:

• More pedestrianisation and green spaces.  Reclaim Reading’s streets for the people!  Much has been achieved in this area already, which is very encouraging. I’d expect this would draw more people out of their houses and develop new connections.   It should also attract more street artists.
• Commission pieces of art by local artists.   I’d love to see more features in Reading town centre.  At present, the retail aspect is too strong.

Deploy a town-wide WiMax network.  This, too, should attract more people to our public spaces and announce Reading as a ”digital” town.  It would be great for virtual workers and great also for fostering online creativity.

Organise more creative workshops. Let’s offer the town’s young people the opportunity to try something new, such as experimenting with digital media (blogs, podcasts) or musical instruments. 

Designate an annual Culture Day. One day of the year, to bring attention to the town’s cultural attractions. 

Support the independent retail sector.  A “clone town” (for that is what we have in the form of Broad Street and The Oracle) is not especially inspiring, in my opinion, but there is hope.  The Oxford Road (or at least part of it) is a bit of an indie hub, as demonstrated by the likes of Workhouse Coffee, Art Junction Cafe and Moondog Cafe (is it Moondog?), and that can only be a good thing.

What makes a town unique?  It is said that the people make the town.  It is true of Reading, in my opinion, derided by some outsiders who describe it as “soulless” or a “commuter town” (quite a derogatory tag). 

There really is more to Reading than a busy railway station, commercial high street and shopping centres.  There are buzzing personalities who give the town a distinctive identity, through their community deeds for example, or their running of independent cafes and historical pubs.

It is a theme that I am exploring with a new podcast series, Roarcasts.   In this series, I aim to find out through informal conversations what makes busy people (local business owners, artists and community leaders, for example) in Reading tick, why they do what they do in Reading (as opposed to anywhere else) and what they have planned for the future.      

The series begins with a chat with Tutu Melaku of Tutu’s Ethiopian Table, the Ethiopian restaurant and catering service based at Reading’s Global Cafe.  In Roarcast #1, Tutu revealed to me why she started Tutu’s Ethiopian Table, what her most popular dish is, the importance of Ethiopian coffee and more. 

Before going any further, I should add that I was inspired by podcasts giants Nick Saalfeld and Mike Southon with their Beermat Radio podcasts and Alex Bellinger of SmallBizPod fame.  As for the apparently curious name “Roarcast”  (sounding somewhat like “broadcast”), this was wittily suggested by Joff Hopkins of Reading 107 FM.

Without further ado, the running order for Roarcast #1 (11 minutes 10 seconds) is below.  Please let me know what you think.  It’s a first for me, so plenty of room for improvement!  At times you will hear the sound fade out and in.  It’s a fairly crude editing technique for when I want to snip certain sections, but I’m a newbie and expect to come up with something better.

• 00:00:00  Introduction
• 00:00:48  Tutu’s Ethiopian Table: how it started
• 00:02:46  About the food
• 00:03:29  Authenticity, Fair Trade and keeping it local
• 00:05:52  (Ethiopian) coffee and popcorn
• 00:07:30  The most popular dish
• 00:07:57  Global specials: food from other countries
• 00:09:00  Ethiopian music and dance
• 00:10:10  Tutu’s Ethiopian Table opening times

 Roarcast #1: Tutu Melaku and Tutu’s Ethiopian Table [MP3]