Antarctica – the coolest Live Earth gig in the world
British Antarctic Survey press release no: 11/2007. 12 Jun 2007

What must surely be the coolest gig in this summer’s Live Earth concerts takes place at the British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Rothera Research Station. On 7 July the science team’s indie-rock house band, Nunatak will debut in the global event that features over 100 of the world’s top musical acts. Concerts from all 7 continents will raise awareness of climate change world-wide.

Darkness and freezing temperatures isolate the Antarctic continent during the Southern Hemisphere winter so the only people who can actually go to the Antarctic concert will be Nunatak’s 17 over-wintering colleagues. But an astounding 2 billion people worldwide will get to enjoy the 5-piece combo through broadcasts on TV, film, radio and the internet.

Nunatak’s lead singer Matt Balmer said,

“I can’t believe we’ve been invited to do this – it’s a fantastic opportunity to encourage people of the world to deal with climate change. We expected to spend our Antarctic winter here at Rothera quietly getting on with our work and maybe performing at the occasional Saturday night party. We could never have imagined taking part in a global concert!

Director of BAS, Professor Chris Rapley, CBE said,

“The need to reduce our carbon emissions to avoid serious climate change is one of the greatest challenges humans have had to confront – is a complex issue that will only be solved by us all working together – scientists, politicians and society. Right now, Antarctic scientists and our colleagues in the Arctic are taking part in International Polar Year – the biggest ever globally co-ordinated research effort – to help find the way forward. Hopefully, Live Earth will make a real difference in public awareness and attract talented young people to become scientists – it’s a cool job with a real purpose. I am looking forward to Nunatak’s appearance in the Live Earth concert inspiring young people the world over.”

About the Band

Nunatak (a Greenlandic word): An exposed summit of a ridge mountain or peak (not covered with snow) within an ice field or glacier. These stunning features occur in the most remote beautiful yet fragile and threatened environments on our planet.

Nunatak is the British Antarctic Survey’s Rothera Research Station’s house band. The five person indie rock band is part of a science team investigating climate change and evolutional biology on the Antarctic Peninsula – a region where temperatures have risen by nearly 3°C during the last 50 years.

From April to October – the Antarctic winter – planes can’t fly in because of the cold – the frozen sea keeps ships out. Physically isolated from the rest of the world, the 22 wintering team share their talent and creativity with one another. But now Nunatak will play what must surely be the planet’s coolest gig.

Matt Balmer – electronics engineer with the physics and meteorology team

The 22-year old who cites Led Zeppelin, Oasis, The Verve and Britpop as his musical influence is no stranger to performing. As singer songwriter he played rhythm guitar with Lancaster band ‘Think of Anything’ – a euphoric live act, who in November 2005 recorded the limited edition Bonfire sessions EP released on white label. Matt gets back to UK sometime in 2009.

Tris Thorne – communications engineer

Tris, who manages the satellite technology and IT ensures that Rothera Research Station stays connected to the outside world. The 28-year old from the Orkney island of Sanday loves the sound of long-stroke diesel engines and live mackerel – presumably from his days as a fishing-boat deckhand. He plays his fiddle like a lead guitar and has performed with various bands including Finn Macleod & Kris Drever, Ugly as Sin” with Dom Tucker, “Remedy” with Dan Burgess. Tris leaves Rothera in Spring 2008.

Ali (Alison) Massey – marine biologist

For the next two years going to work everyday for Ali, 28, means kitting-up in dive gear, cutting holes in the sea-ice with a chain saw and plunging into the chilly water to investigate how the rich marine life around the Antarctic Peninsula is responding to rapid climate change. Ali has been playing the saxophone since she was at school. Nunatak is her first band and Live Earth will be her first large audience. Ali gets back to UK in May 2009.

Rob Webster – meteorologist

Former voluntary maths and English teacher Rob, 24, was based in Nepal before taking up the challenge to work in the world’s most exciting place making meteorological observations that will help scientists world-wide understand climate change. A folk and techno music fan he packed his guitar and fiddle when he left for Rothera five months ago. He is Nunatak’s drummer. He returns to UK late 2009.

Roger Stilwell – Field General Assistant (polar guide)

When Roger, 24, is not out using his mountaineering skills to keep science field parties safe he’s listening to Shakira, Britney Spears, The ‘Hoff’, The Village People, Metallica. Nunatak’s bass guitarist played trombone in youth orchestras and University dance bands. During the last six months at Rothera he’s missed cats – non-native animals are banned from Antarctica – but jamming with band, riding his unicycle and socialising with the science team help ease his pain. Roger is due home in May 2008.

BBC produced Hawkwind documentary. 8 parts online.

culture for the people and beware the creeping meatball.

“Colored Lithographs by Manuel Orazi. A rare piece of occultist ephemera, printed in an edition of 777 copies to commemorate magic for the coming year of 1896. Each double page spread mimics the Christian calendar in some respect (name days, iconography). The document is at once a spoof and an attempt to chart the year of magic. Its surviving interest resides in the extravagant and compelling illustrations, especially the full-page right hand plates, by Manuel Orazi.”

Verily.

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McSweeney’s is holding a big sale and auction to make up for $130,000 lost in a distributor bankruptcy. A thousand thanks to everyone who has helped out the past few days. The sale is going great, and we are humbled by all the encouragement and support. We’ve just added one-of-a-kind pieces from Sarah Vowell and Marcel Dzama, and pieces from John Hodgman, Michael Chabon, Art Spiegelman, and Miranda July will be added soon. Meanwhile, every single thing we’ve got is on sale, cheap.

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NOW WOULD BE
A GOOD TIME.

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As you may know, it’s been tough going for many independent publishers, McSweeney’s included, since our distributor filed for bankruptcy last December 29. We lost about $130,000—actual earnings that were simply erased. Due to the intricacies of the settlement, the real hurt didn’t hit right away, but it’s hitting now. Like most small publishers, our business is basically a break-even proposition in the best of times, so there’s really no way to absorb a loss that big.

We are committed to getting through and past this difficult time, and we’re hoping you, the readers, who have from the start made McSweeney’s possible, will help us.

Over the next week or so, we’ll be holding an inventory sell-off and rare-item auction, which we hope will make a dent in the losses we sustained. A few years ago, the indispensable comics publisher Fantagraphics, in similarly dire straits, held a similar sale, and it helped them greatly. We’re hoping to do the same.

So if you’ve had your eye on anything we’ve produced, now would be a great time to take the plunge. For the next week or so, subscriptions are $5 off, new books are 30 percent off, and the entire backlist is 50 percent off. Please check out the store and enjoy the astounding savings, while knowing every purchase will help dig us out of a big hole.

Many of our contributors have stepped up and given us original artwork and limited editions to auction off. We’ve got original artwork from Chris Ware, Marcel Dzama, David Byrne, and Tony Millionaire; a limited-edition music mix from Nick Hornby; rare early issues of the quarterly, direct from Sean Wilsey’s closet; and more. We’re even auctioning off Dave Eggers’s painting of George W. Bush as a double amputee, from the cover of Issue 14. More special items will be appearing as we go, so check back often.

This is the bulk of our groundbreaking business-saving plan: to continue to sell the things we’ve made, albeit at a greatly accelerated pace for a brief period of time. We are not business masterminds, but we are optimistic that this will work. If you’ve liked what we’ve done up to now, this is the time to ensure we’ll be able to keep on doing more.

Plenty of excellent presses are in similar straits these days; two top-notch peers of ours, Soft Skull and Counterpoint, were just acquired by Winton, Shoemaker & Co. in the last few weeks. It’s an unsteady time for everybody, and we know we don’t have any special claim to your book-buying budget. We owe all of you a lot for everything you’ve allowed us to do over the last nine years, for all the time and freedom we’ve been given.

Once this calamity is averted, we’ll get back to our bread and butter—the Believer Music Issue is already creeping into mailboxes everywhere; Issue 24 of our quarterly is in the midst of a really pretty silk-screening process; and in July the fourth issue of Wholphin, our DVD magazine, will slip over the border from Canada, bringing with it some very good footage of Maggie Gyllenhaal and a Moroccan drummer who messes up a wedding in an entertaining way. And then, a couple of months after that, we’ll publish a debut novel from a writer named Millard Kaufman. This book is exactly the kind of thing McSweeney’s was created to do: it came through the mail, without an agent’s imprimatur, and it was written by a first-time novelist. This first-time novelist is 90 years old. His novel was pulled from the submissions pile and it knocked the socks off of everyone who read it. Millard may well be the best extant epic-comedic writer of his generation, and he stands at equal height with the best of several generations since.

Please do whatever you can to help. We thank you a thousand times. We’ll keep updating everybody on how this is going over the next few weeks; for now, pick up a few things for yourself, for your friends, for Barack Obama. More news soon—thanks for reading.”

James Joyce (1882–1941).

BRONZE BY GOLD HEARD THE HOOFIRONS, STEELYRINING IMPERthnthn thnthnthn.
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You don’t?
Did not: no, no: believe: Lidlyd. With a cock with a carra.
Black.
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But wait!
Low in dark middle earth. Embedded ore.
Naminedamine. All gone. All fallen.
Tiny, her tremulous fernfoils of maidenhair.
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Bronzelydia by Minagold.
By bronze, by gold, in oceangreen of shadow. Bloom. Old Bloom.
One rapped, one tapped with a carra, with a cock.
Pray for him! Pray, good people!
His gouty fingers nakkering.
Big Benaben. Big Benben.
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Fff! Oo!
Where bronze from anear? Where gold from afar? Where hoofs?
Rrrpr. Kraa. Kraandl.
Then, not till then. My eppripfftaph. Be pfrwritt.
Done.
Begin!

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