thehubinoxford

The Oxford Folk Festival Special

2010-04-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

Do leave a comment if you are listening to the show right now, 9 - 10pm Sunday 25th April.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_oxford/

Here are some links for you:

Alvechurch Morris Side
Bellowhead
The Mountain Parade - a band you can see this Thursday in the Jericho Tavern!
The Half Moon pub, where folk sessions take place in Oxford all year long!
Hips and Haws clog dancers
Bates Musical Collection of Instruments in Oxford (basis for I SPY/I HEAR feature this week!)
Tutorial for creating an optical theremin as featured in I SPY/I HEAR
I wouldn't try googling 'Peanut Smugglers' as you totally won't get the band website of 'The Peanut Smugglers' that Helen interviewed this week!
Anjali dance company - also interviewed by Helen this week
Telling the bees!

Do leave a comment if you enjoyed the show, or if I missed out any important links!

mid-Norman doorway

2010-04-19T00:11:00.001-07:00

mid-Norman doorway
Originally uploaded by felixbadanimal

17.5 points for the amazing mid-Norman era doorway!

I SPY Stocks

2010-04-19T00:04:00.001-07:00

I SPY Stocks
Originally uploaded by felixbadanimal

I SPY Stocks in I SPY History! Seen at Woodstock as part of our Woodstock 900 I SPY / I HEAR extravaganza.

Coaching Horn

2010-04-19T00:02:00.001-07:00

Coaching Horn
Originally uploaded by felixbadanimal

Following our feature on Woodstock@900 last night, here is the Coaching Horn we saw in I SPY/I HEAR in Woodstock!

Extract DNA

2010-04-08T02:25:00.000-07:00

Here are two sides of the sheet from the Oxford University DNA extraction stall, explaining the experiment they were demonstrating and inviting all to participate in. Bearing in mind the precautions they state, you can try this at home!

Public Kitchen

2010-02-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

This week's show featured public art by Martin Leibinger.

His Public Kitchen is coming up...tomorrow (Friday 5th Feb)!! The bike is fixed and the next intervention will start at 11 at the kebab van Parking lot in Broadstreet, next to the Blackwells art and poster shop. It will be at least untill 12 and not longer than 2.

Get your art on and join in the Public Kitchen!

belated performance poetry blog

2010-02-01T13:53:00.000-08:00

As promised, meerkat jamming with Steve Larkin and helping put my audio together for the performance poetry feature!

I SPY a cap windmill

2010-02-01T10:29:00.001-08:00

I SPY a cap windmill
Originally uploaded by felixbadanimal

This is the Windmill featured in this week's I SPY / I HEAR! If you missed the show, you can catch it again at:

BBC iPlayer

CIAO Festival event: Climate Change Conference for Children

2010-01-28T01:49:00.000-08:00

CIAO link: http://www.ciaofestival.org.uk/

I remember the school kids filing out of the numerous busses that were pulling up outside the Sheldonian. Snow was falling, there was an excitement in the air; the stewards were upbeat, friendly and positive; and I was ushered downstairs in what seemed to be a gathering army of press in the basement. Introductions and coffees were made, then soon we were called from this ‘green room’ to emerge via numerous staircases in the Sheldonian itself- it was a bit like doing a gig (one of the other journo’s called out ‘hello Cleveland!’ so it wasn’t just me)! The kids themselves were clearly chuffed to be doing this rather than being at school, and here they were being treated as a ‘generation’ rather than just a class or year. The first talk was from Oxford University, and it was refreshing here to see them presenting an accessible and friendly face. Here, being clever wasn’t enough: they had a challenge of entertaining 11-12 Year olds

Hands shot up immediately at any questions to the floor and there was enthusiasm from the collection of schools from the start, but it was so clear to see what worked and what didn’t… Remote control cars powered by Hyrdogen driving around the auditorium= GOOD RESPONSE wayward reciting of figures and statistical data=BAD RESPONSE. The truth be told, I got as bored as quickly as the kids did, it’s just that we so called adults have learnt to hide it. We journalists would write notes and/or change position in our seats, the kids here would look up at the ceilings full head tilt, or start flicking each other’s ears: it’s so brilliantly clear whether they are engaged or not. Watching the whole audience through a heat camera, in which greenhouse gasses could actually be ‘seen’ was another hit, too. But any sense of feeling sorry for the speakers faded when you were presented with information such as at: www.trillionthtonne.com as it all becomes so painfully serious what this is all about. In metaphorical terms, our children are about to inherit a pile of rubbish that is building by the second. But the conference wasn’t to scare or depress; the idea was to engage with solutions and to inspire the minds that (hopefully) will be more imaginative, more constructive, and more serious about this situation than we have. Emma Howell's intention for the conference worked for me in trying to figure out a human reaction to the (inconvenient) truths: she said that the idea was not to scare but to provide an understanding of the circumstances, and to see ways out. If you know what’s going on at least you are informed, and can find some way through it all…

The ironwork of Arthur Holloway as discussed on I SPY / I HEAR

2010-01-25T00:57:00.001-08:00

The ironwork of Arthur Holloway

This ironwork is one of the things discussed in I SPY / I HEAR this week in The Hub. Other things I saw included this horse brass;

...these bee skeps;

...these hand-clappers for scaring away the birds;

...and this mechanical bird-scarer.

To hear me talking with the Museum's Curator - Roy Brigden - you can hear the whole piece on BBC Oxford's iPlayer. You'll only be able to catch it for a week so do tune in while it lasts! If you want to see the collection at MERL yourself, go to the website at http://www.reading.ac.uk/merl/.

Meerkat knitting on Knit Weekly!

2010-01-18T03:37:00.001-08:00

learning to knit warm goodness
Originally uploaded by felixbadanimal

Here is Meerkat learning to knit, as discussed in The Hub, Sunday 17th January, 2009.

You can hear the feature here and read about the socks that I also discussed in the same episode here.

Last night's show is now up on the iPlayer...

2010-01-18T00:28:00.000-08:00

...you can hear it for one week only here.

Well done for having such a timely window display

2010-01-15T05:41:00.001-08:00

Oxfam window, Summertown, Oxford
Originally uploaded by felixbadanimal

I bet this cheered up a lot of people walking past.

Oxfam window, Summertown, Oxford

2010-01-15T05:40:00.001-08:00

Oxfam window, Summertown, Oxford
Originally uploaded by felixbadanimal

Whoever dresses the window of the Oxfam shop in Summertown has a very good skill at keeping the display a. relevant, b. seasonal. I noticed this while walking to BBC Oxford the other day...

What do you want to hear on The Hub?

2010-01-15T04:09:00.000-08:00

Know about a fantastic art project that isn't getting any publicity in Oxford? A band who do concerts in their own kitchen? Yes? No? If you do, let us know and we'll do our best to cover it... if you don't, tune in this Sunday to 95.2fm in Oxford to hear about some of the hidden cultural gems we've found so far...

We'd love to know if you have an Oxford thing that you want us to feature in the show. Just leave a comment and our keen-eared team will check it out.

Mapledurham Lock

2010-01-14T05:53:00.001-08:00

Mapledurham Lock, originally uploaded by felixbadanimal.

This is one of the views from the I SPY/I HEAR feature created for this week's episode of The Hub. Tune in on Sunday at 9pm to hear wind in the trees, moorhens, crunchy snow and other beautiful sounds in I SPY/I HEAR.

Meerkat gets up close to the headphones

2010-01-14T05:50:00.001-08:00

Meerkat gets up close to the headphones, originally uploaded by felixbadanimal.

Follow the adventures of our knitted Meerkat - created by Heather of NiftyKnits on this series of The Hub.

Coming up this Sunday on The Hub...

2010-01-14T05:19:00.000-08:00

We have music from Alice Russel, Noah and the Whale, G Love and the Special Sauce, Esthian 3 and Q tip.

You can get a sneak preview of Esthian 3 over on soundcloud if you fancy it.

Also Vic catches up with the exciting art activities of Launch Collaborative, Loz meets up with Richard Walters, Felix adventures around Reading in Berkshire designing socks and hunting down a salmon ladder so she can tick it off in her vintage I-Spy book, we check out the children's conference on climate-change organised by Ciao! and there is much joking by the team on such issues as Gong Showers and the rarity of shovels in the current, snowy situation.

Tune into 95.2FM, BBC Oxford, at 9pm this Sunday to hear it for yourself.