Sunday 29th

Irregular New Syd Biography Due In May

Rob Chapman's A Very Irregular Head, a new biography of Syd, promises to ring the changes in that it concentrates far more, and in greater detail, on Syd's formative influences than other tomes. The book's 400-plus pages spend a considerable amount of time dissecting the artistic (both literary and visual) inspirations for Syd's creative world.

We hope to be able to bring you an extract of the book in due course, courtesy of publishers Faber and Faber. In the meantime the book, available on 6th May 2010, can be pre-ordered from Amazon and other online retailers as well as Waterstone's and other High Street bookshops.

Rob Chapman is the former singer/lyricist with Bristol based avant-punksters Glaxo Babies, and moved through broadcasting into full-time music journalism in 1995 when he began contributing to MOJO, having written for a few fanzines, most notably early issues of Syd fanzine Terrapin. After eight years of writing for MOJO, including cover stories on Brian Jones, Keith Moon, Massive Attack, and Brian Wilson's Smile album, Rob moved to Uncut in 2003, returning to EMAP publishing house 2006 in time to write Syd's MOJO obituary. His other books are Selling The Sixties, a history of offshore pirate radio, The Vinyl Junkyard, an alternative history of record sleeves, and his debut novel, Dusk Music, published in 2008.





Sunday 15th

Syd's Shed on eBay

The garden shed from the house in which Syd Barrett spent the last 30 years of his life is currently listed on eBay, with a starting bid of £1,000.

The shed has been painted oxblood and cream inside by Syd and contains furniture he built and painted himself. The door of the shed is painted green with the hinges picked out in a chalk blue colour. Some planks have been replaced with fence shiplap at the far end.

Although the buyer must collect the shed, it will be carefully dismantled so that it can be reassembled without losing any of its unique character.

UPDATE:
The auction closed on Tuesday 17th November 2009. No bids were received.





Thursday 5th

Three Mick Rock Photos of Syd Barrett Auctioned for Fund

Three photographs of Syd Barrett by Mick Rock are to be auctioned on Saturday 21st November. Taken during the 1969 photo shoot for the debut solo album The Madcap Laughs, they will be auctioned by the Phillips de Pury Gallery in London. Two of the photos are black and white, sized 51cm x 60cm: one is a head shot and the other is from Mick's series of Syd in the street. The third, 112 cm x 76cm, in colour, shows Syd sitting on the floor of his Earls Court flat, the location of the 'Madcap' cover shot. Fifty per cent of money raised from the prints will be going to The Syd Barrett Fund, which was set up by Syd's sister Rosemary Breen in 2008 to support arts projects to foster mental wellbeing.

Viewing for the sale begins on Monday 9th November, at Philips' London HQ in Howick Place, London, SW1P 1BB, and lots should be viewable online on that same day; the auction takes place on Saturday 21st November at 5 PM, and bids can be made by phone as well as in person. Full catalogue details will also be on the Philips de Pury Website, www.phillipsdepury.com. The auction will be the first to feature live music, with acclaimed musician Matthew Herbert creating a "sound carpet" to accompany the bidding. Other work to be auctioned will include art from Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Pete Doherty, and Marilyn Manson.





Monday 5th

SydBarrett.com Solves 30-Year-Old Mystery

In various books describing Syd's Abbey Road Studios sessions, it is stated that the recordings of April 17th 1969 featured Humble Pie's Jerry Shirley on drums. Some, including 'The Making Of Madcap Laughs' by producer (and head of the Harvest label) Malcolm Jones, say that Jokers Wild/Quiver drummer Willie Wilson played bass on the two tracks laid down, which were No Man's Land and Here I Go. This information was duly repeated in Brian Hogg's sleeve notes in EMI's reissues of The Madcap Laughs.

Jerry Shirley has occasionally played other instruments, but Willie Wilson is mostly listed solely as a drummer, so it seemed a good idea to check the facts. We got Willie on the phone, and he gave us the story: he had jammed on occasion with Pink Floyd as far back as the days when they were known as the Abdabs, and Syd had often played with Willie's Cambridge bands, frequently on Bo Diddley numbers.

Syd asked Willie to do the session, and Jerry asked to attend as well (Willie & Jerry Shirley knew each other from Cambridge and shared a flat round the corner from Syd). So it was Willie that played drums on No Man's Land and Here I Go, and after the takes with Syd were laid down, Jerry who overdubbed the bass part on No Man's Land. As Willie noted, the bass couldn't be done live because Syd changed the chords in the verse on every take, so Jerry couldn't nail his part live. There is no bass guitar on Here I Go, so that features just Syd and Willie.

So now we know.





Friday 18th

2010 Calendar available from next week

Trying to be ready for Christmas, New Year and any other festivals, Storm Thorgerson Studios have prepared an LP-sized 2010 calendar, which should be available from next week.

The full-colour calendar hangs in double-size, i.e. it makes a 12" wide by 24" high hanging item, with a picture on the top and the days of the month below. It runs from December 2009 to December 2010 inclusive, so any December recipient can start using it straight away.

Some of the featured images are: paintings by Syd, the album covers of The Madcap Laughs and Barrett and the lyrics to Lucifer Sam and Astronomy Domine (illustrated by Finlay Cowan and Dan Abbott respectively).

The 2010 calendar should be available at the Syd Barrett Store from next Thursday (24th September) and also around that date from Internet stores such as play.com and Amazon in the UK (Amazon are offering it now, and we will ask them to update their ship date). We will update availability as and when they know it.

UPDATED CALENDAR DETAILS:
The calendar printers took a bit longer than was expected, but to reassure anyone that has ordered, the calendars are now ready and all orders have been despatched.





Thursday 20th

Rosemary Breen Remembers Her Brother

Click here to read the full text of an interview with Syd's sister that was conducted by Simon Webb of Escape Artists in May 2009. It is reprinted by kind permission of fan site Brain Damage and Matt Johns.





Tuesday 24th

Hoax Bid Inflates Syd Art Price

Sadly, yesterday's story re: the latest eBay bid for Syd's 'Fart Enjoy' proved inaccurate. A hoax bid inflated the figure, which has now stabilised to a still-creditable £12,100. The auction, in honour of The Syd Barrett Trust, ends today at 21:04 GMT; make your last-minute bid here.





Monday 23rd

Bids For Syd Art Hit £27,000 So Far

As mentioned on 5th March, Syd's one-off art book 'Fart Enjoy' is being auctioned via eBay in aid of The Syd Barrett Trust. There has been much interest in the hand-drawn book, which has been donated by Syd's childhood friend Andrew Rawlinson. The auction closes tomorrow, 24th March, at 21:04 GMT, and bidding has reached £27,323 at time of writing.

If you plan to make a bid, or are interested in the auction's progress, please find the link here.

It certainly seems as if The Trust's worthy cause will benefit greatly from the sale.





Wednesday 18th

Rosemary Takes Time To Answer Your Questions

Fan site Brain Damage are running a fan's Question and Answer session with Rosemary Breen, Syd Barrett's sister.

This is part of the build-up to the official launch of The Syd Barrett Trust, which takes place on June 11th in Cambridge. Brain Damage editor Matt Johns says: "There's no guarantee that every one received can be asked, or that Rosemary will choose to answer all of them, but we're sure that a number of you will have some excellent questions, which will elicit some fascinating answers".

Questions should be submitted to the normal e-mail address of matt@brain-damage.co.uk to reach them by the evening of March 30th. Find out more about the trust at www.syd-barrett-trust.org.uk.





Thursday 5th

Syd's Art With A Capital F For Auction

The Syd Barrett Trust stands to benefit from another generous donation; Andrew Rawlinson, a school friend of Syd's, has kindly donated an original one-off book, 'Fart Enjoy', created and illustrated by Syd in 1965.

It will be available for auction on eBay from tomorrow, March 6th, at 8 PM GMT. The auction for the book, which consists of 12 original pieces of art spread over seven sheets of card, lasts for a week, until 8 PM GMT on Friday 13th March.

The Syd Barrett Trust Website has a page featuring all the book's pages, and a moving essay on Syd and the book's origins from Andrew Rawlinson himself. He says: "It's seven sheets of cardboard held together by Sellotape. It's also a little gem and as good a reflection of the man himself as I know – experimental, colourful, wide open and right on the button. Nobody in the rock world has ever integrated words and images like Syd, or produced anything quite as fresh and complete as this. Syd did it in a day or two at the age of 18 or 19".

You can see all 12 illustrated pages and read Andrew Rawlinson's essay here or check out a copy of the limited clothbound 3-disc version of Pink Floyd's The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn – a reproduction of the book is contained therein.





Monday 2nd

Auction Stations – Winner Collects eBay Mosaic

The highest bidder for the unique Syd Barrett mosaic raised a praiseworthy £10,700 for The Syd Barrett Trust, and is pictured here.

Kindly donated by Syd's sister, Rosemary Breen, the mosaic was auctioned on eBay and Rosemary was able to present it to the auction winner, Brian (pictured with his wife Marie, far right), at a private ceremony in Cambridge.





Wednesday 18th

EMI Invent New Syd Portal Page

EMI Records UK have invented a new series of artist-specific Web pages that draw together most of the main Web areas of interest, designating them The Ultimate Fan Page for that artist.

Launched today, their first dedicated 'digital portals' include one for Syd Barrett, as well as David Gilmour, Pink Floyd, and Genesis.

Each page includes some of the more popular Web pages related to each artist, plus a pre-loaded search facility for sites such as Amazon, Wikipedia, Google, and Flickr. It also has an updated news feed from bbc.co.uk and Google, plus a music player. Of course, every individual will want to use the Web in his or her own way, but it does seem to be a convenient way to link together some of the more common pages that an interested party might want to explore.

As each page is refreshed or revisited, the artwork, videos and photos change randomly, the idea being to give the user a different experience each time.

N.B. EMI doesn't edit the content, all of which is already available in Webworld; they merely provide easy but random access to content already carried by legal providers.

There is an overall site at UltimateFanPage.com, but you might prefer to go directly to Syd Barrett, David Gilmour, or Pink Floyd.

Each page has a 'feedback' link, so that you can communicate your thoughts directly to the creators.





Monday 9th

Sweet Sole Mosaic

'Two Warriors', the only known example of a Syd Barrett mosaic, is available for bids on auction site eBay from now till February 17th to raise funds for The Syd Barrett Trust. An early work of Syd's from the 1960s, it has never to date been out of the Barrett family's possession. Funds raised will be used to establish The Syd Barrett Centre for Arts in Mental Health in Syd's hometown of Cambridge.

The mosaic was on prominent display in Cambridge during the recent City Wakes tribute event, and its striking design attracted a lot of interest; measuring around 18 x 24 inches (approximately 45 x 60 cm), it has a thin wooden frame, also made by Syd, and comes with a letter of authenticity signed by Rosemary Breen.

To place bids, click here. The auction ends on February 17th at 4.20 PM GMT.

N.B. The lucky purchaser will own the physical mosaic only – all reproduction rights are retained by The Syd Barrett Trust.





Friday 30th

Tom Up North – Rock 'N' Roll Manchester Opening

Tom Stoppard's acclaimed play Rock 'N' Roll gets its regional premiere at the Library Theatre in Manchester from February 13th onwards, in a production directed by the theatre's Artistic Director Chris Honer.

Set over a period of 22 years, from Soviet tanks rolling into Czechoslovakia in 1968 to a newly free Prague in 1990, the play contrasts the worlds of a group of Czechoslovakian dissidents and that of a Cambridge professor. The action is framed with the music of the time, including Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and U2, and we're told that 'the ghost of Syd Barrett is always lurking in the background'.

Rock 'N' Roll runs from Friday 13th February to Saturday 14th March and stars Graeme Hawley as Czech dissident Jan and Hilton McRae as Max the academic. For ticket information, call the Box Office on 0161 236 7110 or click here.

N.B. The lucky purchaser will own the physical mosaic only – all reproduction rights are retained by The Syd Barrett Trust.





Tuesday 20th

Syd Le Premier En Francais

Fan site Brain Damage reports that a new French language book, Syd Barrett: Le premier Pink Floyd, has just been published. Written by Emmanuel Le Bret, and published by Editions du Moment, the book apparently features 288 pages of biography but also new analysis. We can't answer for the quality of the book, but it can be found via Amazon.fr, who report that the author is a collector and passionate fan of 'Le Swinging London'.