2000

2001

2002

A line created by graffiting the question 'Is God A Cunt' on 25 bicycle route signs along the edge of the A41 between the now non-existent Crows Nest roundabout and junction 20 of the M25.

2003

A line re-created by re-graffiting the question 'Is God A Cunt' on 25 bicycle route signs along the edge of the A41 between the now non-existent Crows Nest roundabout and junction 20 of the M25.

The giving away of 40 bunches of daffodils to total strangers.

It was the making of this film that instigated The17

2004

The giving away of 40 bunches of daffodils to total strangers. 

2005

The giving away of 40 bunches of daffodils to total strangers.

www.greenbelt.org.uk

For further information visit http://www.alandunn67.co.uk/piesnomusic.html

www.nomusicday.com Year one of a five year plan.

2006

The giving away of 40 bunches of daffodils to total strangers.

Infraction 2006 INFORMATION

Further INFORMATION about Infr'action 2006

Resonance 104.FM is an arts based radio station that was in Denmark Street, London. Resonance hosted No Music Day 2006. For the 24 hours of No Music Day 2006, it broadcast no music. Instead its scheduled music programmes discussed various topics including the changing role of music in our society; the jazz show discussed the history of jazz album sleeve art work; the folk programme discussed the collection of folk songs over the last 100 years.

Resonance 104.4 FM can also be listened to online at www.resonancefm.com

Year two of a five year plan.

2007

Scores 18 – 76 is a small book by members of The17 with text by Bill Drummond. Edition of 500 only.

View the scores.

View the scores.

Russian and English language version of site.

BBC Radio Scotland observed No Music Day 2007. This presentation was given to the producers, presenters and other employees of BBC Radio Scotland who were involved with the programmes on air throughout No Music Day 2007.  It was given in the atrium of the new BBC Scotland building.

The members of The17 taking part in this performance were all employees of QUAD. These employees were involved in the realisation of a major city wide performance of SCORE 317 in the summer of 2007.

Warchild

To put up No Music Day sign (412cm X 54cm) on the Scotland Welcomes You sign at the Scottish border by Gretna Green.

Year three of a five year plan.

BBC Radio Scotland hosted No Music Day 2007. They are the national station for Scotland with a listenership of over 4,000,000. For the 24 hours of No Music Day 2007 the station played no music. This not only included the music that would have been played on the scheduled music programmes but all the station idents and jingles. Many listeners complained and made it known that they would be spending the day listening to rival stations for the day. Other listeners asked if they could have a no music day once a week.

The giving away of 40 bunches of daffodils to total strangers.

2008

The giving away of 40 bunches of daffodils to total strangers.

Sao Paulo, Brazil hosted No Music Day 2008. To mark this announcement a number of 21 NOV graffiti appeared around the city over the coming days and weeks.

My Computer was a group show. It featured a NOTICE and a SCORE relating to The17. Text relating to My Computer can be read here. Documentation of My Computer can be seen here

SLICE THROUGH DERBY is the name given to the performance of Score 317 REPEAT performed in the English city of Derby. This work has been commisioned to celebrate the opening of QUAD, the multi-million pound arts centre to be opened in August in Derby. Documentation of this performance was exhibited in QUAD between August 2008 and January 2009. All 100 performances within SLICE THROUGH DERBY are listed on these events pages.  This performance is part of the Coast-to-Coast world tour by The17 and is twinned with a performance of the same score in Jerusalem in 2012.

THE MEANING OF MUSIC includes performances of Score 5. PERFORM with 17 workers at each of the following: A major entertainment retail outlet; an independent record shop; a national radio station; a world-renowned amplification manufacturer; a philharmonic orchestra; a successful record company; a stadium band; an international music publisher; and a leading music college. Each individual performance will have its own entry on these events pages.

The distribution of 500 copies of The First Chapter pamphlet throughout Manchester. Some of these may be on the seats of those attending the 24 Hour Live Conversation at the Cathedral Gardens.

17 a book by Bill Drummond. According to the back cover blurb the book is about: Music, Uncertainty, Bill Drummond, night trains across Russia, girl pop, sitting on a ledge, art, drunken mercenaries on the north sea, starting again, a classroom of 13 year olds, getting everything done before death, a river full of headless eels, waking up to find all music has disappeared & a choir called The17. To read the first chapter click here.

The17 on tour in Siberia. The 7th International Kansk Video Fetival.

Bill Drummond had a Reading & Signing book tour to support the publication of the book 17 at a number of major cities in Scotland and England over a two week period in September. In Liverpool it was only a signing.

The Meaning Of Music - Part Five - A Leading Classical Music Ensemble.

Birth, Marriage & Death is the name given to the performances of scores 9 Welcome, 13 Celebrate, 16 Complement in the the Irish city of Derry, and the documentation of these performances at the gallery VOID, Derry. The exhibition ran from 18 October and 15 November 2008. For further information and documentation visit the World Tour pages of this site.

For further information contact info@eastsideprojects.org or click here.

Bill Drummond delivered a 25 minute talk entitled The History of Music (Part 19) as part of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival. The talk was followed by a Q & A session mediated by presenter Susan Hitch. The talk and Q & A session were broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Night Waves programme on 8 January 2008.

Year four of a five year plan. Bill Drummond was invited by interested parties in Brazil to host No Music Day 2008 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was instructed by his hosts to spend the day handing out No Music Day leaflets (in Portugese) to all those listening to their personal stereos on the main shopping street in Sao Paulo; to apprehend all buskers and tell them that they may want to take a break from their labours for the day and instead re-consider what the position music had in their lives; to enter all the music shop on the cities music shop street and tell them to close their shops and go do something different for the day. He also did numerous interviews with Brazilian magazines, newspapers and radio stations. He doubts that there was even a fraction less music consumed in Brazil on the 21 November 2008 compared to any other day.

Bill Drummond celebrated Saint Cecilia's Day in the streets of the Santa Cecilia district of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

A performance of Score 5 INSTIGATE was performed with the members of the NFA Derby FC.

David Byrne (no, not that one but the other one), tried twice to attend an event at a Waterstone's on the Bill Drummond/17 book tour. Both times he was turned away. The first time because he didn't have a ticket and the event was sold out. The second time he had a ticket but because he was late and Drummond had barred all late-comers, Byrne was turned away. David Byrne thought this to be bad form and let this be known. In response, Drummond agreed to come around to Byrne's place and give him a word for word performance of what he had missed. No date or time was agreed but Byrne said he would be in every Tuesday evening between October and Christmas. Drummond turned up unannounced the second Tuesday before Christmas and did what he promised.

A short statement by Bill Drummond about The17 read followed by a worldwide performance of Score 326 STOP. The Today programme is broadcast between 6am and 9am on BBC Radio 4 each weekday morning. It is the most widely listened to and influential news and current affairs radio programme in the UK. Drummond was invited to appear on the programme by the guest editor Jarvis Cocker. This performance is part of the Coast-to-Coast world tour by The17 and  is to be twinned with a performance of the same score in Timbuktu. 

2009

The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour dates and locations will be added to the 2009 & 2010 pages over the coming months.

Bill Drummond delivered a 25 minute talk entitled The History of Music (Part 19) as part of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival in Liverpool on 2 November 2008. The talk was followed by a Q & A session mediated by presenter Susan Hitch. The talk and Q & A session were broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Night Waves programme.

Bill Drummond gave a talk titled All Recorded Music Has Run Its Course at this year's Transmediale Festival. The talk was followed by a discussion with Martin Conrads. Drummond invited the audience as individuals to perform the score IMAGINE when they wake up in the following night.

Two photographs taken at the event, one of Drummond reading from 17 and the other of him being questioned by Martin Conrads have been added to Flikr.

Conversations is the name of work by artist Sally Lemsford. Lemsford uses conversations as a medium in her practice. These conversations are not documented. The conversation that she had with Bill Drummond in the hire van at the back of QUAD in Derby was begun by Lemsford posing the question 'If "The very urge to make recorded music is a redundant and creative dead-end", what is the motivation to produce hard copy artworks?'

The conversations that are included in Conversations work as a chain. The next conversation in this chain will be between Sally Lemsford, Bill Drummond and Tracey Moberly. Location and date of this conversation yet to be set.

It is announced that Linz in Austria are hosting No Music Day 2009 as part of the city's Horstadt (Acoustic City) initative. Linz is also the European Capital of Culture for 2009.

Surround Northampton Fishmarket was Bill Drummond’s contribution to the four-man exhibition 60 Miles By Road or Rail that ran at the Fishmarket in Northampton between 20 February and 28 March 2009.

Surround Northampton Fishmarket involved the promotion, execution and documentation of a performance of Score 328 SURROUND performed by The17. The performance of this score happened on Saturday 14 March 2007. 

This performance was part of Vocal Invention 2009 (a weekend of musical experiment). The first half of this performance was an introduction to The17 by Bill Drummond, the second half of the performance was the world premier of a new score by Drummond entitled Divide & Combine.

The title of this talk is The History of Music (part 19), and it is also part of Vocal Invention 2009. Drummond first gave a version of this talk as part of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival.

This performance was only open to students at the university.

A performance of Score 328 SURROUND on the 5 kilometre circumference of a circle on the streets of Northampton. The centre of the circle is the Fishmarket. Bill Drummond gave an introductory talk at the Fishmarket at 3pm before the perfomance began. 

Photographic documentation by Mac Canonymous of some of the days events, can be viewed at Flikr

This performance of SURROUND is twinned with a perfomance at the 10th Open Performance Art Festival in Beijing, Chinabe in August 2009. This performance is part of the Coast-to-Coast world tour by The17.

For further information visit Silent Protest Berlin.

This was the world premier of Score 325 North V South. The match was between NFA Derby FC (The North) and Derbyshire Constabulary (The South).  This was only the first half of this performance, the second half was at QUAD on the 24 April 2009.

Bill Drummond gave the keynote speech at the M4Music Conference (2009). The title of the speech was The Meaning of Music. For further information click here

This was the world premier performance of the score NIGHTCLUBBING. For further information click here.  This is the first date on the City-to-City world tour.

Ted Hughes & Me is the title of a short film about Bill Drummond's relationship with the work of Ted Hughes. This was filmed by the BBC as part of their 2009 poetry campaign. It can be viewed here on the BBC site.

Amongst all the exhibits by other artists in this exhibition, there is one framed copy of Score 326 Stop, by Bill Drummond. This score was first performed on the 31 December 2008 on the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4.

"In the ancient world the stars served as markers for the coming of a new year, the changing of the seasons and dawn of a new day and as ‘signs’ they continue to facilitate our punctuation of time. In 2009, UNESCO's International Year of Astronomy, the world commemorates the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of the telescope to observe the night sky. The science, the interaction of glass and light and the development of optical technology has revolutionised our understanding of our place in the universe. ‘Space-Time’ draws together works that capture a moment in space and time, that reflect upon applications of astronomical observations and the role of time in our everyday lives, memory and future."

This performance was for the first 17 people who stuck their names on the sheet of paper at Eastside Projects on the 31 October 2008. They know who they are. No further information.

This is the second part of the performance of NORTH V SOUTH. The first half was on the 23 March 2009. No Further information available.

Calvin & Me is the title of a short film about the influence of Presbyterianism on the life & work of Bill Drummond. This was filmed by the BBC as part of a programme entitled Natural Born Sinners to celebrate the 500 anniversary of John Calvin. It was screened on 14 September 2009 on BBC Four.

Michele Jackson and Bill Drummond made the first complete Cake Circle to ever be constructed in England. It was done over two days in the small town of Newton-le-Willows, half way between Manchester and Liverpool. Documentation of this Cake Circle and its construction is available elsewhere.

This was the world premier performance of the score DESTROY by Michele Jackson. Further details of this score and performance will be made available else where.

Recording first half of spoken word version of the book 17

Photographs of the Penkiln Burn painting floating down the Penkiln Burn. This is part of the of the ongoing photographing of the 25 Paintings. To view the photographs taken to date in this series click here. Photograph taken by Tracey Moberly.

This was the first in the ongoing sculpture The Life & Death Of An Artist. Photograph taken by Tracey Moberly.

Recording second half of spoken word version of the book 17

The UK premier performance of Score 80 HOKUSAI MOTION written by Simon Cullen.

Rupert & Me

Saul Taylor will perform Score 6 CLIMB on the top of Snowdon after he has completed competing in the Welsh 1000m Peaks race. His description will be added to this page once he has written it up. ABANDONED DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS.

As part of taking part in The17's performance of Score 349 DESTROY at Chester University on 6 May 2009, it was decided to retire the website www.youwhores.com. This was symoblically done at the time by Bill Drummond daubing a canvas with the words I WILL FUCK YOU FOR £10,000 and then slashing the canvas. The site was not actually retired until 10 June 2009. It was replaced by the new job You & Me - Me & You. The You Whores site can still be visited but it can only be viewed as an museum peice; it is no longer open for business.

Caught By The River (hardback) is a collection of new writings on rivers by numerous living authors. The writers include Irvine Welsh, Jon Savage, Jarvis Cocker, Chris Yates and Bill Drummond amongst others. Drummond's contribution is called The Penkiln Burn, and an edited extract from this was published in The Times and here is a link to it. Caught By The River is available from Amazon.

All the artists who have previously exhibited at VOID between 2005-2009 have been invited to make a work of art using only a blank side of an A5 size post card. These are to be sold in aid of Void Art School.

A performance of Score 8 TAKE. This performance took place in a field near Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England. The members of The17 were Steve Peck, Ruth Crome, Frances Cavendish, Paul Benney, Rowan Swanson, Lucy Andre, Catherine Lindsay Davies, Ros Coleman, Rob Hawe, Adam Brace, Cally, Jeannie Calloman, Tracey Moberly, John Hirst and Bill Drummond

The photographing of the Get Your Haircut, Open, Paint and Sledgehammers paintings. These four are part of the 25 Paintings series of paintings. To view all those photographed to date click here. Photographs taken by Tracey Moberly.

This was the annual open day at the Curfew Tower, where all can vote for the best piece of work produced by an artist-in-residence over the previous 12 months. In the evening there was a bonfire in the backgarden and a free bowl of curry and glass of wine for all comers. The winner was announced at 11pm.

The17 were invited to perform at 10th Open Performance Art Festival in Beijing, China.

The performance they gave was a version of Score 328 SURROUND. This performance was twinned with a performance of the same score in Northampton, England, that took place on 14 March 2009.

The members of The17 taking part in this performance were made up of 100 Beijing market stallholders or their families.

Read a full account of The17’s performance in Beijing, written by Bill Drummond.

View the 100 Beijing market stallholder members of The17.

View Score 328 Surround in Chinese.

This performance is part of The17’s Coast-to-Coast world tour.

A talk was given by Bill Drummond about The17's performance of the score SURROUND that happened earlier in the day. This talk was for the other visiting artists and members of the public.

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

This is one of the 40 haircuts or shaves had by Bill Drummond, at 40 different barbers in the cities, towns or locations on The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour.

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

A drive from London to Murlough Bay and back via Northampton, The Mull-of-Galloway, Cushendall, Derry & The Penkiln Burn.

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

This is one of the 40 haircuts or shaves had by Bill Drummond, at 40 different barbers in the cities, towns or locations on The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour.

Photographs of City-to-City and Coast-to-Coast paintings nailed to trees. This is part of the 25 Paintings project. To view all photographs taken to date in this series click here. Photographs taken by Tracey Moberly.

Calvin & Me was not thought a sexy enough title by the powers that be in the BBC - so the title was changed to The Scots: Natural Born Sinners. The programme was trailed as a 'lighthearted documentary about the effect of Calvinism on the Scottish psyche, in which a cast of well-known Scots ruminate on growing up under Calvin's shadow.' Bill Drummond has said that if he had known it was to be 'lighthearted' he would not have taken part. He also has made it known that he believes that his contribution was so edited that it lost the meaning of what he had to say.

Photographic and performance event to promote No Music Day in Linz on the 21 November 2009. 

This is one of the 40 haircuts or shaves had by Bill Drummond, at 40 different barbers in the cities, towns or locations on The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour.

A talk was given by Bill Drummond to staff & 6th formers of Kingswood School. And a performance was given by The17. The members of The17 for this performance were the members of staff and 6th formers. This talk and performance were done as a way of introduction to the perfomances that were to be carried out in Kingswood over the following two weeks.

Przedostatnie kuszenie Billa Drummonda (The Last Temptation But One Of Bill Drummond) is a play written and directed by Marcin Wierzchowski for the Theatre Wilama Horzycy, in the city of Torun, Poland. The real Bill Drummond has neither read, seen or had anything to do with the production. There is/was a second run of the play in December 2009.

Over the previous two weeks 24 classes of pupils ranging between year 7 and year 11 (11 to 16 in age) from Kingswood School have become members of The17 and put together a version of Score 7 COLLABORATE. Their performance of this score was played back to them at 2pm on this date. The recording was not deleted immediately

This performance is also twinned with a performance of the same score in early December 2009 in a school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. At the performance in Port-au-Prince, the recording of what was done in Kingswood was  played for pupils there to compare and contrast with what they had done.

Both are part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour.

This was the premier performance of Score 354: RECEIVE/TRANSMIT. The members of The17 performing it were: Jonny Ambrose, Caitlin Desilvey, Sara Gadd, Christine Haven, Caroline Healy, Jessie Higginson, Lisa Lucas, Elizabeth Masterton, Eric Masterton, Hannah Maughan-Robb, Carol Patten, Lizzie Ridout, Bryony Rogerson, Andy Rossiter, Katherine Smith, Adam Stringer & Mike Westley.

For further information about this performance please contatct Elizabeth Masterton info@elizabethmasterton.com

This was the premier performance of Score 354: RECEIVE/TRANSMIT. The members of The17 performing included: Jonny Ambrose, Caitlin Desilvey, Sara Gadd, Christine Haven, Caroline Healy, Jessie Higginson, Lisa Lucas, Elizabeth Masterton, Eric Masterton, Hannah Maughan-Robb, Carol Patten, Lizzie Ridout, Bryony Rogerson, Andy Rossiter, Katherine Smith, Adam Stringer & Mike Westley.

For further information click HAPPIDROME

For further information about this performance please contatct Elizabeth Masterton info@elizabethmasterton.com

This was a performance/lecture open to the public given by Bill Drummond concerning selected aspects of his practice.

This was for students attending the university.

Part of The IPCRESS File

This is also part of The IPCRESS File.

A world premier of Score 329 TWO TRIBES was performed in south Wales between two sides of break dancers - one from Swansea the other from Cardiff. It was performed on neutral territory between the two cities. This performance was to be twinned with a performance of the same score by two tribes in Papua New Guinea.

This is part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour.

100,000 disposable mats used on the trays in McDonald's restraunts in Upper Austria carried information pertaining to No Music Day 2009.

For further information regarding this press conference given by Bill Drummond please contact Pia Leydolt for German language media, or Maija Handover for rest of world media.

For further information regarding this press conference given by Bill Drummond please contact Pia Leydolt for German language media, or Maija Handover for rest of world media.

Public discussion between Austrian musician & writer Rainer Krispel and Bill Drummond.

Live DJ-Set with DJ DSL (Hamburg/Vienna) at Solaris Bar. 

At the stroke of Midnight as DSL's set ended, Bill Drummond welcomed in No Music Day 2009.

Linz is the capital of the Austrian state of Upper Austria.

The following are a cross section of the institutions and businesses in Linz and Upper Austria that, in their various ways, are observing No Music Day 2009:

Church: The Jesuit parish of the Old Cathedral Saint Ignatius will celebrate all masses on No Music Day without organ, choir or any congregational singing whatsoever;

Radio: Upper Austria's  Radio FRO will resist from playing any music for the 24 hours.

Supermarkets: Throughout Upper Austria the 122 branches of the SPAR and 140 branches of the Maximarkt will not be playing piped music.

Schools: The Upper Austrian Music School will be closed. The students will spend the day discussing the future of music.

Shops: The majority of shops along Linz' central shopping mile Landstrasse will not run their instore radio stations or soundsystems, including for example the Diesel flagship store.

Cinema: Moviemento Cinema will be screening films that use no musical soundtrack - further details below.

Venues: The city's culture institutions, concert halls and music spots will host no concerts, gigs or DJs. These venues include the Brucknerhaus, Posthof, Ars Electronica Center (featuring No Music Day on its huge glass front to the city and the Danube), Café Strom, Grand Hotel Café Zum Rothen Krebsen, the OK - Offenes Kulturhaus and the Solaris Bar (playing a central role on No Music Day 2009).

At 6pm Bill Drummond began to make soup in the Solaris Bar. The soup was ready by 8pm. As long as supplies lasted, it was free to all those that turned up and answered one of his questions. This is a Soup Lines International project.

At 6pm Moviemento Cinema screened the first of the evening's two films without music. The first film was "Ten Skies" (James Benning / USA / 2004).

At 8pm Moviemento Cinema screened the second of the evening's two films without music. The second film was "13 Lakes" (James Benning / USA / 2004)

At 10.30pm, Bill Drummond gave a talk about the hows & whys he imagined No Music Day in the first place; the successes and failures of the No Music Day between 2005 and 2009; and what could become of No Music Day in the future.

This was a performance by Sprechbohrer (Talking Drills). The performance was sandwiched by performances by Sprechbohrer on both the 20 & 22 November in the same venue. The performance on the 20th began at 23:00 and ended at 23:59 and on the 22nd it began at 00:00 and ended at 01:00. The performance included recitals of the following works by the following composers:

   Georg Sachse: in dubio 1 (2009 UA)
   Peter Behrendsen: Atem des Windes
   Sigrid Sachse: ZU-VO-EL
   Harald Muenz: de(ux)ChiffrAge
   Stefan Streich: Nr. 1 aus 15 Gesänge
   John Cage: 4'33

The programme on the 20th was constructed to constitute one single decrescendo from "music" via speech-only pieces until reaching Cage's 4'33. This last (and iconic) piece acting as a bridge to the 24 hours of No Music Day.  At 00:00 on the 22nd, the same works were performed again but in the reverse order starting with the hush of 4'33 building up through the speech-only pieces to the crescendo of the "music" pieces at the end. Thus leading the audience and performers back to the world of noise and music. 

Kunst-Station St. Peter, as well as being a venue for art and contemporary music, is an active Catholic Church. The mass taking place on No Music Day was celebrated without the use of music.

For further information visit this site

The Waiting Room (TWR) is a UK-based new music radio programme broadcast on US-based radio station WOXY. Instead of the usual two hour playlist of new releases they had a number of guests in the studio discussing the topics that arise from No Music Day.

The Waiting Room broadcast times are:

Saturday - 1pm GMT / 8am ET

Repeated Sunday - 9pm GMT / 4pm ET

Podcast Monday - 1pm GMT / 8am ET

The Sound of Mu opened at 3pm and stayed open until the early hours of the 22nd. Visit their web site to learn more.

Yet again the singing of Happy Birthday were stopped at the birthday celebrations of Toby Dyter.

Portland, Oregon hosted No Music Day.

At the stroke of midnight DJ Michael Fakesch (Funkstörung/K7) ended No Music Day 2009 and welcomed in the festivities of Saint Cecilia's Day. 

Saint Cecilia is the patron saint of music. In many countries the 22nd of November is the day chosen to give thanks for and to celebrate the existence of music.

Those that supped soup on this occasion were: John Banks, Katie Dixon, Dustin Lyons, Dave West, Geoff Salisbury, Ross, Nicola, Simon Marson, Danny Wilkinson, Tracey Moberly & Bill Drummond. John Banks, the host, would like it known that the Soup Line goes right through his house and that if there was any soup left that he would not be putting it on eBay and that you should check out Bumblepuppy.

From Bethnal Green, London to Mathew Street, Liverpool via Lowton, Lancs and back. The drive featured the head gasket blowing while driving at speed and other incidents.

Bill Drummond performed Score 1: IMAGINE while standing on the manhole cover at the bottom of Mathew Street, Liverpool, three yards in front of what was the entrance of the Liverpool School of Language, Music, Dream and Pun. This performance was twinned with a performance of the same score outside the Brill Buildings, New York. It is also part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour.

Bill Drummond had his haircut by Bert Jackson in 2005. Bert's barbers shop is one of the most memorable that he has ever come across. Drummond was looking forward to having it cut by Bert again and to interview him. On arrival at his shop, Drummond found it closed. He enquired, at the newsagents next door, if Bert was still in business to be told that Bert 'passed away two or three months ago'.

This will still be considered one of the 40 haircuts or shaves had by Bill Drummond, at 40 different barbers in the cities, towns or locations on The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour.

Bill Drummond performed Score 1: IMAGINE while standing on the manhole cover in front of the Brill Building on Broadway, New York.  The performance included Drummond singing Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow to the Brill Building. This performance is twinned with the performance of the same score that happened at 00:23 on the 2 December 2009 on Mathew Street, Liverpool. It is also part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour.

As part of the Ghetto Biennale in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, The17 performed Score 7 COLLABORATE. The members of The17 for this performance were made up of 60 + students from L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat, Rue Chareron, off Blvd Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Grand Rue). This is part of the Coast-to-Coast world tour by The17.

All The17 at L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat holding photograph of The17 at Kingswood, Corby. Both schools performance of the same score were twinned with each other.

Score 328 SURROUND was performed by citizens of the Grand Rue area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

This is one of the 40 haircuts or shaves had by Bill Drummond, at 40 different barbers in the cities, towns or locations on The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour.

Bill Drummond took part in a public discussion called Does It Bleed, along with Myron Beasley, Leah Gordon and other artists and academics taking part in the Ghetto Biennaale. Drummond's brief was to respond to these following words "the dematerialisation of art and the relevences and conflicts this could have for artists in the developing world".

This event was part of the Ghetto Biennale Conference. The conference began at 12:30pm and ended at 6:00pm.

This was to be the site of one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. But it being a Sunday none of the local hardware stores were open to purchase paint and brush. To view all the other graffiti done to date click here.

2010

This is the begining of Volume 1: 100 Answers to 100 Questions. Click here to read the questions and the answers so far.

Between the 1 January and the 31 December 2010 a Cake Circle consisting of 50 cakes was constructed in London.

The performance of Score 7: COLLABORATE at Kingswood school on 16 October 2009 was twinned with a performance of the same score on 15 December 2009 at L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

At Kingswood's morning assembly on 20 January 2010, John Hirst and Bill Drummond told the pupils about their experience with working with the pupils in Haiti. It was also the launch of the appeal to raise funds for the needs of the pupils and the rebuilding and furbishing of L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat. Tracey Moberly, the artist who took the photos at the school, was also there to show the prints of these photos.

Ongoing information about the money raised and what use it is being put to will be documented on these EVENTS pages.

An exhibition of photographs taken by Tracey Moberly of local members of The17 on 15 December 2009 in L'Ecole Guillaume Manigat, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The photographs are hung as large scale unframed prints around the school. They depict members of The17 in formal and casual poses. They are brilliant.

DROP OF THE HAT is an online publication based on a blog that started in January 2009 and ended 12 months later. The blog documented and explored issues arising from a performance based on SCORE 320: CHOOSE. The score was performed by Emily & James Unknown. They also wrote the blog.

This Haiti fundraising event was organised by John Hirst and Karen Reilly. As well as there being a raffle and performances by The Neutrinos, BK & Dad and Death of Death of Discoteque, Bill Drummond lead a short performance of The17 with everybody in the bar at that particular time. This event is twinned with another event at The Bicycle Shop, 17 St Bennedicts Street, Norwich.

Hackney Borough Council's planning sub-committee was in session to vote on planning permission to knock down the Foundry and have an Art Hotel built in its place. Bill Drummond was invited to make a statement no longer than 90 seconds; the thrust of his statement being that Hackney Borough Council should value the contribution given by the Foundry to the cultural life of the Borough over the previous 11 years and they are more than honour bound to help find a new location for the Foundry within the Borough, if planning permission is given for the Art Hotel. Planning permission was given. The full transcript of Drummond's statement can be read at WORDS 59 in the Catalogue section of this site. 

Bill Drummond spent two days in Belfast recording a programme for BBC Radio 4 about his relationship with the city over the past 50 years and how it has influenced his art. The programme is entitled Belfast: Re-Imagining The City and was broadcast at 11:30am on 9 March 2010.

Drummond requested that the programme's producer Rachel Hooper, should pose four questions for him to answer in writing before they met up to record the programme. And that the answers to these four questions would be the four pillars for the programme to be based upon.  The complete written answers to these four questions can be read on the 100 Questions page of this site.

Tivoli's has been at the same location for over 100 years. In that time it has always been owned by the same family. If you are ever in Belfast, get your haircut there. All the other shops in the street are boarded up. Tivoli's has still some of its original fittings. Sadly the original sinks got smashed in the past few years by some lads that broke in. It is not a tourist attraction, it is a barbers.

Bill Drummond gave a performance/lecture at this year's by:Larm festival in Oslo.

Bill Drummond gave a performance/lecture at the Supermarket Art Fair in the Kulturhuset, Stockholm. His performance was part of the Documentation / Non Documentation series of talks and discussions.

Bill Drummond was patron for the Haiti Earthquake Fundraiser @ The Roundhouse. His involvement in the event was undefined. What is known is that he wrote a piece for the event's website - to read it click here. On the night he said a few words and lead the world premier of Score 357: LOUDER & LOUDER.

A drive from Bethnal Green, London to Overstones Farm in the Dark Peak and back to Bethnal Green, London.

A photography session was done with Bill Drummond and Tracey Moberly on the Dark Peak. The photographs taken at this session were to be used to promote the book $20,000 and as one of the photographs for 25 Paintings.

The recording of a radio proagramme entitled On The Map for BBC Radio 4. To be broadcast on 22 March 2010.

Belfast: Reimagining A City is a programme first broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on 9 March 2010.
The programme was written and presented by Bill Drummond and produced by Rachel Hooper. It was chosen to be Radio 4's podcast of the week and was also featured on the station's Pick Of The Week programme. A podcast of the programme may be made available via this site at a later date.

Drummond requested that Rachel Hooper, should pose four questions for him to answer in writing before they met up to record the programme. And that the answers to these four questions would be the four pillars for the programme to based upon.  The complete written answers to these four questions can be read on the 100 Questions page of this site.

In 1995 Bill Drummond bought a work of art by the artist Richard Long. It was a photography & text work called A Smell of Sulphur In The Wind. It cost him $20,000. Richard Long was his favourite artist. The photographic element to the work was a photo of a stone circle created by Richard Long while walking across Iceland from top to bottom in 1994. 24 years earlier in 1970, the 17 year old Drummond and his sister attempted and failed to walk the same route across Iceland. Bill Drummond hung the the newly bought work on his bedroom wall. He was happy.  In 1998 Drummond realised he never noticed the Richard Long work anymore, so decided to sell it for $20,000. And once sold take the money in 20,000 one dollar bills to Iceland, start walking across it from top to bottom, burying the $20,000 in what remained of the stone circle made by Richard Long, take a photo of the now enriched circle, then complete the walk he failed to do in 1970. And on his return to the UK have the photograph framed in an identical frame to the Richard Long work and title the new work A Smell Of Money Underground and hang it on his bedroom wall.

He was going to sell the work to an individual, but then changed his mind. Instead he gridded the work up into 20,000 small rectangles (11.2mm X 4.05mm) and started to give performance sales pitches where he would explore his relationship with art and then cut up with a Stanley knife fractions of the work to sell at a dollar a throw. Between 2002 and 2005 he gave 86 of these performance. By then he had only sold off just over half of the work. He decided to take a break and get on with The17. The break is now over. To coincide with the publication of the book $20,000 he set up his stall in the 'wine bar' of 2010's Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park and where he was open for business and interrogation.

This was the eighth annual giving of 40 bunches of daffodils to total strangers by Bill Drummond. Documentation photographs of the Hungerford giving can be viewed at the PHOTOGRAPHS section of the CATALOGUE.

The back cover blurb of $20,000 reads:

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT:

UNCERTAINTY, MOTORWAYS, MONEY, MEETING STRANGERS, MISSING THE POINT, A DRIVE UP BRITIAN, A WALK ACROSS ICELAND, BILL DRUMMOND, SITTING IN CAFES, STARING OUR OF WINDOWS, THE UNKNOWN, FINDING OUT, CONFUSION, MUSIC, DOING THINGS, RICHARD LONG, CUTTING UP & MAKING A SALES PITCH.

AND IT IS ALSO ABOUT:

Why we make art. And what we want from it. And what it is worth. And why we think about it. And where it is going. And is it ever too big? And is it getting better? And why we buy it. And why it can make us angry. And why do people have to write about it? And what it is for. And is it important? And why sometimes we want to destroy it. And is my art better that your art?

WARNING: To avoid disappointment read the following words before purchase:

This is the second edition of this book, the paperback version. The first edition was titled How To Be An Artist. It was hardback, clothbound and landscape in proportion. It had 90 colour plates and the paper was of superiour quality. It was an object of desire and indulgence. It was also only available in specialist art bookshops and it was published in 2002. This edition is cheaper and easier to hold, shelve and use. It has no colour plates and the paper is pulp. Three paragraphs that appeared in the hardback have been deleted, as they are now irrelevant, some factual mistakes have been corrected. it also brings the story up to date, wiith 15,304 brand new words. The third edition will have yet another title, lots of photographs, more words and be vastly more expensive. The third edition will not be published for some years.

On The Map is a series of 10, 15-minute programmes for BBC Radio 4. The programme is presented by Mike Parker, author of the book Map Addict. The programmes were broadcast between Monday to Friday at 4.45pm in the weeks beginning 22nd and 29th March 2010. And to quote the blurb:

‘The series looks at maps and map-making since the beginning of the twentieth century and will cover the use of maps for everything from leisure and motoring to propaganda and story-telling. It will also include the different approaches which have been taken to the mapping of cities, the use of maps during war, the creation of atlases and the political agendas behind different maps. And it looks at the future of cartography as digital technology opens up mapping to everyone.’ 

Bill Drummond is Mike Parker’s guest for the first of these programmes. Drummond requested that Parker and the programme's producer Jeremy Grange, should pose four questions for him to answer in writing before they met up to record the programme on the 5 March 2010. Drummond hoped that in answering these questions it would focus his mind on what maps have meant to him.  The answers to these four questions can be read on the 100 Questions page of this site.

This is a very intimate weekend literary festival. The performance that Bill Drummond gave was even more intimate. The Boat House in question was the home of Dylan Thomas and Drummond's performance was on the top floor of this house. It being so intimate tickets for this performance sold out immediately and thus tickets bought for the whole weekend would not give access to this particular event. Thus Drummond's name had to be taken off the posters and flyers and published line up. This is a link to what else was available to be taken in at the Laugharne Weekend 2010. 

Read PB Poster 217 40 Posters In Stockholm to know what this event is. It is also one half of a performance of Score 358: TRANSLATE. The other half of this performance was happening in a small area of North East London. It is also part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour.

Bill Drummond performed Score 358: TRANSLATE in central Stockholm and a small part of North East London. This performance is considered part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. Further information and documentation can be found elsewhere.

This performance was rescheduled from its original date on 17 April. This was because of the closure of air space due to the volcanic ash from Iceland, preventing Drummond from flying to Gothenburg.

Bill Drummond constructed The Göteborg/Gothenburg Cake Circle during the Live Action Göteborg - International Performance Art Festival. The ten cakes that he baked to construct this Cake Circle, were baked in the open air in a public square in the centre of Gothenburg. Drummond attempted to answer questions posed by passers by, while he baked the cakes.

Bill Drummond was invited to give a talk and lead a performance by The17 at the 2010 European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Radio Drama Workshop. The EBU is based in Geneva and its Radio Drama Workshop is held in a different European state, every second year. In 2010 it was hosted by HRT/Croatia in Zagreb. The Workshop was 9 - 11 June. The overall title for 2010 was "Listen Again: The Power of Sounds".

The shave was prepared using foam. It was not satisfactory. But the shop was what you would want from a back street barber's shop in Zagreb.

Bill Drummond gave a Performance/Lecture at An Lanntair, the evening before the performance of Score 8: TAKE.

An Lanntair is "a beacon for the Arts in the Highlands and Islands. Bringing you the very best in Arts, Events, Music and Cinema, Food, Shopping and Relaxation all day from 10am until late - Monday to Saturday."

This was the annual performance of Score 8: TAKE. The Callanish Stones are an ancient stone circle in the middle of the Isle-of-Lewis. This performance is also part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour and will be twinned with a performance of the same score, to be performed near Almendres Cromlech, Evora, Portugal in June 2011.  If you want to take part in this performance contact admin@the17.org. Or turn up at the Stones at 7am on the 19 June.

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

This was the third in the ongoing sculpture The Life & Death Of An Artist. 

This was the fourth in the ongoing sculpture The Life & Death Of An Artist. 

Bill Drummond built a large bed out of wood over the weekend. He attempted to answer questions about carpentry while doing it. The bed is for a member of his family. Although Drummond by and large earnt his living throughout the 1970s as a joiner on building sites and in theatres, he is not contemplating in moving professionally back into it as a trade. He is only doing this as Tom Hodgkinson asked him to do something for The Idler’s Academy of Philosophy, Husbandry and Merriment section of the festival and this is what Drummond suggested he could do. It is also Penkiln Burn Bed Three.

Bill Drummond lead The17 through a performance of the UK premier of the score NIGHTCLUBBING at Camp Bestival 2010. The performance included ten sessions with groups of 17 individuals. Each session took place throughout Saturday 31 July at the festival site. The combined performance/recording was played back through the main PA on the Sunday evening.

This performance is part of The17 City-to-City world tour.

This is the annual open day at the Curfew Tower, where all can vote for the best piece of work produced by an artist-in-residence over the previous 12 months. In the evening there was a bonfire in the back garden and a bowl of curry and glass of wine for all comers.

THE FIRST TIME. Bill Drummond did a short interview (15 Minutes) with the BBC earlier in 2010. He had no idea this interview was to form the basis of an hour long programme. Thus unaware when this programme was to be broadcast until two days before it was aired.

This was the first of 25 Paintings each displayed in 25 different Turkish barbers within the London Circle.

The Institute of Music of Oldenburg University invited Bill Drummond to lead a performance by The17 in Oldenburg as part of the Sounding D festival. Sounding D is organised by Netwerk Neue Musik. Sounding D is happening at various cities across Germany including Oldenburg. In Oldenburg the festival is based at the city's railway station and takes on the name Bahnklang (Train Sound). Drummond lead a performance of Score 328: SURROUND

If you are a German speaker and want to know more please visit:

http://www.musik.uni-oldenburg.de/medien/47863.html

http://www.klangpol.de/

This was The17's premier performance in Germany.

Kofomi#15 - KOMPONISTENFORUM Mittersill (Mittersill Composers' Forum) is a nine day forum for contemporary composers and musicians. It is situated in the small Austrian town of Mittersill.  Webern, one of the greatest composers of the 20th-century, lived and worked in the town for the last few years of his life before he was shot.

The first Mittersill Composers' Forum was in 1996. Bill Drummond was the composer in residence for this year's forum. He gave lectures and lead workshops. At the end of the week he also lead a performance of The17, made up of everyone attending the Forum.
 

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

Photography portraits of each of the composers attending the Mittersill Composers Forum 2010 were taken by Kurt Hoerbst

Bill Drummond was a guest lecturer at the Do Lectures 2010. He also lead the performance of three scores by The17. To know what the Do Lectures are visit their site: http://www.dolectures.com/about-do/

As part of The17's world tour Bill Drummond launched a performance of Score 321: SHOW in Milton Keynes, England. On Wednesday 22 September 2010 he elicited the 100 responses needed for this score, in bars and cafes across the city. 

This performance is twinned with another performance of the same score that John Hirst lead in Anchorage, Alaska at the same time.

The 200 collected responses were then used as text on 200 different editions of beer mats. These beer mats were distributed throughout bars in both Milton Keynes and Anchorage.  Written and photographic documentation of these two performances of SHOW were added to the TOUR section of The17 site.

This score was originally scheduled to be performed in Milton Keynes and Anchorage in July but was postponed due to the unforeseen urge to commit graffiti.

Un-Conventions are "international music conferences for the grass roots of the industry". Drummond gave a performance/lecture in Salford Station's underpass at noon on Friday 1 October. He lead a large scale performance of SURROUND across the city starting at noon on Saturday 2 October. He also lead a performance of TWO TRIBES at the Salford Lad's Club at noon on Sunday 3 October, but this performance had to be postponed.  The performance of TWO TRIBES was part of The17's Coast-toCoast world tour.

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

This was the fifth in the ongoing sculpture The Life & Death Of An Artist. 

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

This is a repainting of the first of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. The original was painted in 2008 and subsequently painted over by the local authorities. If this was to happen again, Drummond may return and repaint the graffiti. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

Bill Drummond lead a performance of the Score 360: BEFORE ANY MEAL with members of the crew at The Insomnia Festival onboard the retired whaler Vulcana. This is a new score composed while Drummond was a composer in residence at the Mittersill Composers Forum 2010 in Austria. It was composed to act as both a secular and pan-religious grace that can be performed before any meal.

This performance is to be part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour and is to be twinned with a performance of the same score on a trawler working out of Scotland. This will happen sometime in 2011.

As with all locations on The17's world tour, Drummond made one of the IMAGINE WAKING TOMORROW AND ALL MUSIC HAS DISAPPEARD graffiti, on a bridge in the city.

This is one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

Claudel Casseus as the Penkiln Burn 'You & Me - Me & You' collaborator for 2010 has been making a number of hand painted T-shirts to promote The17 in Haiti. Claudel Casseus is the man standing in the left of the photograph below. These T-shirts are commercially available.

This was the postponed performance of TWO TRIBES that was originally scheduled for 3 October as part of Un Convention. The two tribes included in this performance were members of the Irlam Amateur Boxing Club and members of the Salford Lads Boxing Club, and took place inside the Salford Lads Club. This performance is to be twinned with a performance of the same score with two warring tribes in Papua New Guinea and is also part of The17 Coast-to-Coast world tour.

This reconnoitre to the Runcorn Bridge was done by Drummond to find if it was suitable for a IMAGINE WAKING TOMORROW & ALL MUSIC HAD DISAPPEARED graffiti. It is and will be done when the weather is fine and the schedule allows.

Leah Gordon spent time photographing the 25 Paintings painted on the walls of Port-au-Prince in the Spring of 2010. These 25 Paintings are now fading and being layered with the patina of Port-au-Prince city life. It is in this process that the true beauty of the paintings begin to reveal themselves. The rest of these photographs can be viewed by clicking on the link below and then clicking on PHOTOGRAPHS and then clicking on 25 Paintings (25 TABLO) - The Port-au-Prince, Haiti wall paintings (Leah Gordon photos): Autumn 2010

http://www.penkilnburn.com/catalogue/

This was a talk hosted by g39 and given by Bill Drummond and Tracey Moberly about two spaces - The Foundry and The Curfew Tower. The Foundry was in London and existed for over ten years until it was closed by developers in the Spring of 2010. The Foundry was many things. The Curfew Tower (Cushendall, Ireland), is an artist's residency and you can read about it elsewhere on this site by clicking here 

This event took place in the Milkwood Gallery and not g39's usual home.

This reconnoitre to the Blue Bridge over the M4 was done by Drummond to find if it was suitable for an IMAGINE WAKING TOMORROW & ALL MUSIC HAD DISAPPEARED graffiti. This bridge is not far from Bristol and carries the South Wales Main Line trains. To Drummond's dissapointment, he believes that because of the frequency of highspeed trains over the bridge, an attempt to make a graffiti that would do this particular bridge justice, would be a bridge too far.

HAITI RISING - Haitian History, Culture & the Earthquake of 2010. Edited by Martin Munro and published by Liverpool University Press. Included in this book is a story written by Bill Drummond entitled What Is This Earthquake For?

To find out more about the book click here.

Terminal Convention is a 'music, art, film and discursive event set in the decommissioned terminal at the former International Airport in Cork, Ireland.' The above quote is taken from the email sent to Bill Drummond asking him if he, in his capacity as the leader of The17, might take part in this event. Terminal Convention took place over a period of a week begining 17 March 2010. On Sunday, 14 November, Drummond spent the day walking around the perimeter of Cork Airport to explore the possibilities of it being be a suitable location for an interpretation of the score SURROUND.

The publication of the fifth edition of the book 45 by Bill Drummond. 45 was first published in 2000.

To celebrate and promote the launch of the Haitian Kreyòl version of the website My Death a number of advertisments have been hand painted onto walls around Port-au-Prince. The doing of this has been overseen by Claudel Casseus. The following is the contents of an email sent by Casseus to Drummond on the 21 November.

Bill hello how are you? I hope you are well .... Well I'm sending this
email in photos of three paintings that I already do, I must tell you
also that because of the campaign period I find it very dificult to
open walls in Port-au-Prince, because the government have said they
could not erase or tear the photo,......
and also because of the cholera epidemic currently occurring in the
country a lot of people wonder why I write what I write (prepare'w pou
mouri)? when I tell them that it is a website that gives you the
possibilty to express your last will before you died ... they're telling
me is it because I knew they were going to die especially because that before the
cholera epidemic they used to see similar messages in the same
format.
But anyway I've already made three paintings today and I was fortunate
to find another wall to put the fourth, the work is done ....  I
gotta say that the paintings have a lot of effect on the person who
read them and then a lot of people have promised to visit my death.com

With all my respect and love for you

Claudel

The other photos taken of these wall painted advertisements can be seen at the CATALOGUE section of this site.

Claudel Casseus makes the RANJE KABANN OU (Make Your Bed) wall painting to announce the making of Penkiln Burn Bed Four by Bill Drummond in Guangzhou, China over the following three days.

Bill Drummond was the man making a bed at Guangzhou Live 2010 - International Action Art Festival in the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China. Further details may be found at the MAKE YOUR BED section of this site. The bed made was Penkiln Burn Bed Four.

Bill Drummond had a shave in a back street barbers to celebrate the completion of the making of the bed. It was also the most painful shave he has had in his life to-date.

This is almost one half of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

This is the second half of one of the 40 graffiti being done as part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour. To view all graffiti done to date click here.

2011

I Like The Art World And The Art World Likes Me is a group show at the EFA Project Space featuring work by artists making art about the art world. Bill Drummond's contribution to this exhibition is a 20,000th fraction of A Smell Of Sulphur In The Wind by Richard Long. This is also part of Drummond's larger and ongoing work $20,000.

The exhibition is curated by Eric Doeringer.

Score 360: BEFORE ANY MEAL was performed in Berlin while Bill Drummond was there for meetings with the film director Stefan Schwietert.

Bill Drummond is performing Score 378: SELECT AN ALBUM over a period of seven days on The Offline Peoples blogspot. You are invited to perform this score and email your reports into admin@the17.org

To read Drummond's reports visit The Offline People

DAY ONE:
Seven Albums - Seven Decades - Seven Days

Today, Bill Drummond will be mainly listening to JAZZ BY SUN RA. This was Sun Ra's first album and was released in 1957.  The listening to this album and reporting on the findings of this listening at The Offline People site is part of a performance of Score 378: SELECT AN ALBUM.  You are invited to perform this score whenever it suits you.

DAY TWO:
Seven Albums - Seven Decades - Seven Days

Today, Bill Drummond will be mainly listening to GREEN RIVER by Creedence Clearwater Revival. This was their third album and released in 1969.  The listening to this album and reporting on the findings of this listening at The Offline People site is part of a performance of Score 378: SELECT AN ALBUM.  You are invited to perform this score whenever it suits you.

DAY THREE:
Seven Albums - Seven Decades - Seven Days

Today, Bill Drummond will be mainly listening to MARQUEE MOON by Television. This was their first album and released in 1977.  The listening to this album and reporting on the findings of this listening at The Offline People site is part of a performance of Score 378: SELECT AN ALBUM.  You are invited to perform this score whenever it suits you.

DAY FOUR:
Seven Albums - Seven Decades - Seven Days

Today, Bill Drummond will be mainly listening to OCEAN RAIN by Echo & The Bunnymen. This was their fourth album and released in 1984.  The listening to this album and reporting on the findings of this listening at The Offline People site is part of a performance of Score 378: SELECT AN ALBUM.  You are invited to perform this score whenever it suits you.

DAY FIVE:
Seven Albums - Seven Decades - Seven Days

Today, Bill Drummond will be mainly listening to BERLIN MASS by Arvo Pärt. This was one of his many compositions, and has been recorded numerous times.  The listening to this album and reporting on the findings of this listening at The Offline People site is part of a performance of Score 378: SELECT AN ALBUM.  You are invited to perform this score whenever it suits you.

DAY SIX:
Seven Albums - Seven Decades - Seven Days

Today, Bill Drummond will be mainly listening to THE FAME MONSTER by Lady Gaga. This was her first proper album and released in 2009.  The listening to this album and reporting on the findings of this listening at The Offline People site is part of a perfromance of Score 378: SELECT AND ALBUM.  You are invited to perform this score whenever it suits you.

DAY SEVEN:
Seven Albums - Seven Decades - Seven Days

Today, Bill Drummond will be mainly listening to I'M NEW HERE by Gil Scott-Heron. This was his thirteenth album and released in 2010.  The listening to this album and reporting on the findings of this listening at The Offline People site is part of a performance of Score 378: SELECT AN ALBUM.
You are invited to perform this score whenever it suits you.

This was the ninth annual giving of 40 bunches of daffodils to total strangers by Bill Drummond.

POSTPONED: Due to weather conditions this performance has been postponed until later in the spring.     

This is to be a performance of Score 360: BEFORE ANY MEAL. It is to be performed on the North Sea with the crew of a working trawler out of the Fife fishing village of Anstruther. Drummond will be leading this performance with Johnny Gaunt. They will also be having to work their passage. This will be the first time that Drummond has worked on a trawler since running away from his apprenticeship in 1974. This performance is twinned with a performance of the same score on a whaling boat in Tromsø, Norway  and is also part of The17's Coast-to-Coast world tour.

This day would have been Jack Drummond's (Bill Drummond's father) 98 birthday. It was also the day that Bill Drummond drove with his brother from London to the small border town of Melrose, with the ashes of his father. In the early hours of the next morning along with their sister, they climbed to the top of the highest of the Eildons to scatter their father's ashes. The snow had fallen and the wind was fierce.

Pre Performance Statement

“Shifting Landscapes, a week-long set of workshops at Keele University for refugee and asylum seeker communities in Stoke on Trent (21 February to 25 February 2011), will include a workshop on and performance by The17, led by music lecturer Nicholas Reyland. Participants in the session will include musicians and singers from the University’s Music programme, refugees and asylum seekers. Many of the members of the UK’s asylum and refugee community have had some experience of Higher Education in the countries they have left/been forced to leave; many young asylum seekers and refugees aspire further to develop their education and to access Higher Education in the UK. Shifting Landscapes offers them an opportunity to sample this experience. Workshops range from ‘Basic German’ and ‘Codes and Code Breaking’ to ‘The Politics of Climate Change’ and ‘Beyond the Choir’ – Dr Reyland’s workshop on The17. The session will contextualize The17’s scores and artistic credo within recent experimental art and music traditions, and then offer participants the chance to become The17 for a performance of scores written for The17, including a new score reflecting issues arising from the sharing of experiences and knowledge central to this week of intercultural exchange.”

Post Performance Email:

Dear Nik, Bill & Cally

The17 were wonderful at Keele today.

The participants - a mixture of asylum seekers and refugees, a kid or two,
some music students, a few staff members - performed scores involving
clapping (361 - At the concert), ssh-ing (141 - Circle), spontaneous sound
making (71 - Place), and sound-related story-telling (382 - Joy).

There were some magical moments, and we performed some of the scores
several times, experimenting with different effects and sound qualities.
Circle - the way we performed it, in a circle, with each person shh-ing
and then tapping the next person on the shoulder so they started in turn,
and so on, until everyone was doing it - became an intense experience,
especially near the end of the circle, waiting, eyes closed, hearing the
shh get nearer and nearer.

The sound that emerged for 17 seconds in Place took the group's collective
breath away. And performing the new score was much more successful than
I'd dared to hope. People told affecting, personal stories about fragments
of music, sounds babies make as they breastfeed, childhood memories, what
it sounds like when you go under the rapids when white-water rafting.
There was much misting up going on.

One thing I found compelling about the experience of being in The17 - this
won't be news to you at all - was the sense of community that immediately
forms. The bond was so warm and kind. I'm a big fan of kindness, or
agape/caritas, i.e., the notion of giving of yourself for the good of a
reciprocating community of others, who give a little to you in return
(I've just written a book on the topic, kind of). But it's very rare to
experience it in practice, especially among virtual strangers. This was
one such experience. It made me feel very hopeful.

Which is a rather roundabout way of saying thank you, a big thank you, for
letting me instigate The17 today at Keele, and for all your support these
last couple of weeks. Thanks to for the help from your associates, who set
the text of the new score so beautifully. The posters were happily
received by the group - they all took one home, many having exchanged
e-mail addresses and written them on the back of their scores. I found
that detail interesting: they'd been together all week, but only after
becoming members of The17 together did they take that step of sharing
personal information.

We did take some 'team photos' after the performances, and everyone was
happy for one to make its way to you and onto the website, so as soon as I
get them from the photographer, I'll forward the best one on to you.

All best wishes

Nick Reyland

IMAJINE a book by Claudel Casseus has been published on this day. The launch for the publication was at Eastside Projects. The launch included the making of pancakes by Bill Drummond and the selling of 40 T-shirts hand stencilled by Claudel Casseus. To learn more visit the Eastside Projects site.

40 T-Shirts are for sale by Bill Drummond. To know more click here.

Terminal Convention was a music, art and film event featuring international artists, musicians and academics.  Drummond lead a performance by The17 of specifically composed score entitled ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES in the decommissioned Terminal Buildings at the airport. As yet this score has not been published.

There are to be a number of performances to be given by The17 in major cities across the Middle East during the Spring of 2011. For security reasons, exact locations of these performances are not going to be pre-announced. The performances given between the 21 & 27 March are part one of the Middle East leg of The17's City-to-City and Coast-to-Coast world tours. After both legs of these tours have been completed, selected documentation will be made available on this site.

David Balfe performed Score 378: SELECT AN ALBUM over a six day period in late March 2011. His performance can be read at The Rest Of The World section of the Coast-to-Coast TOUR pages of The17 site.

The afternoon of this day is documented in the story Sparrows that can be found on The17 site by clicking here

This journey is documented in the story The Poppy that can be found on The17 by clicking here and scrolling down.

Drummond had a shave in this barber's shop to celebrate his Forty Minutes (and counting) in the Wilderness