Art, music and film collide in a celebration of beach and street culture - The Happening

The worlds of art, music, and film will converge at a special event called The Happening at Godrevy's The Sandsifter on July 4th.

With a stunning live music lineup of acoustic sets from G Love, Mason Jennings, Matt Costa, Tristan Prettyman, Neil Halstead and local Ruarri Joseph, plus film previews from some of the top surf/street filmmakers and an a broad selection of photography, mixed media and paintings the event will be a rare treat.

Loosely connected with the live Jack Johnson shows taking place over the following two days at the Unleashed site overlooking Watergate Bay, the event consists of an exhibition of artworks, film screenings, with live music to round off the evening.

With G Love (aka Gareth Dutton) heading up the music bill, alongside one of the best kept secrets of the music scene, Mason Jennings, plus Matt Costa's first appearance in Cornwall, the musical element of the event seems too good to be true. Add in our own Ruarri Joseph, US singer-songwriter Tristan Prettyman and Mojave 3's Neil Halstead, credited by Time Out as "One of Britains' greatest songwriters" and you can't go wrong.

Combined with a film preview by The Malloys (who filmed seminal surf movie "Thicker Than Water" with Jack Johnson, and are now well known for their music videos (The Kooks, The Raconteurs, The Shins to name but a few) another by Thomas Campell, who shoots entirely on 16mm film and who's first two full length surf movies, Sprout and The Seedling have received cult status, and the evening transcends into a thing of beauty.

On top of that, there is photography and contemporary painting to look at, ranging from the mixed media pieces of Wolfgang Bloch, who's brooding land and seascapes made from found objects, the graceful abstract paintings, mixed media installations and assemblages of Alex Kopps, plus pieces from the now legendary experimental typographer and magazine designer (he was art director of surf and style magazine Ray Gun from 1992 - 95) David Carson and you get some hint of the diversity of works on show.

For a full list of the artists with a presence at The Happening, check the website www.thehappeninglive.com. Tickets for the event are £18 (stbf) and are available from www.seetickets.com 0871 2200260, wwwhallforcornwall.co.uk 01872 262466 and www.thehappeninglive.com or direct from the Sandsifter. Ticket price includes entry to the exhibition space, all film screenings and the all music performances.

Musical element

Mason Jennings

One of the best kept secrets in pop music, Mason Jennings regularly attracts crowds of 3000 fans in his adopted town of Minneapolis. Recently releasing his sixth full-length album, Jennings is a prodigious songwriter, known for his affable nature and for being a family man (he has two young children). Recording his latest album with the aid of a laptop and two microphones in a hut in the woods, Jennings was keen to take his recordings back to basics. "It was pretty raw but fun” he says, "I wanted to do it quickly in a childlike way. I'd write songs in the morning, record them in the afternoon and finish thm up by night.”

The albums' title comes from his son talking about where he came from before he was born "Ya know dad, when I was in the Ever?”.

Spirituality remains an important part of Jennings' music and indeed life.

"How Deep Is That River” outlines Jennings crisis of faith, and looking for reasons to believe. "I feel kind of uneasy because I haven't found any answers” admits Jennings. "That ambiguity is really hard for me.”

"I Love You And Buddha Too” outlines his inherent belief in the oneness of all religions: "I don't believe anybody is on the outside or excluded,” he explains "We're all a part of things.”

www.masonjennings.com

Matt Costa

With latest album out now Unfamiliar Faces out now, the follow up to 2005's Songs We Sing, this will be Matt Costa's first show in Cornwall. Taking an unusual approach to writing the latest album, Costa got together a collection of treasured possessions, put them on a shelf, then just stared at them and let the memories flow. "That way I could see everything that I loved,” he explains (the collection included his favourite books, a giant wooden pipe, and a box of old 45-speed records from the late 1950s).

Costa grew up next to a pet cemetery, learnt piano and trumpet and focused as a kid more on skateboarding than school in his hometown of Huntington Beach, California. Though he discovered a lot of music through skating, it was an unfortunate accident in which broke his leg, as he was on the point of turning pro, which turned him towards music as he waited for his injuries to heal. He wrote some songs, which he then recorded with No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont, who was a strong influence in this period of his life. "One fo the first things he told me was ‘stop practising so hard and let the feeling come out'”, says Costa " It stuck with me because that's the key to music. The light went on in my head.”

Over the next few years, Costa worked his way across the States in a van, earning a reputation as a man blessed not only with skiful acoustic guitar playing, but a gently artistry that endears him to audiences across the globe. His latest offering contains not only country-tinged acoustic tracks, but also some more introspective material that hints at the darker side of his days kicking his heels after that leg-break.

Costa's world view has a questioning and quirky appeal which is how the different approach to writing inspiration has worked so wee, "Every day I'd look at the same things and find different memories and attach different moments. You can come into a room and every day feel different about it, I feel the same way about songs, each time you listen to them you can find something new,” he muses.

www.mattcosta.com

Tristan Prettyman

Born and raised in Del Mar, California, it may come as no surprise that Tristan was a competitive surfer while still in middle school. Music became an inspiration after she was given a copy of Ani DiFranco's Puddle Dive, which she played constantly. Inspiring her to sneak into her parents room to ‘borrow' her Dad's guitar, Prettyman soon moved to playing songs in front of friends ant their homes and it was around this time that she began to start writing her own material.

It was at one of these mini shows that an employee of The Moonshine Conspiracy, run by surf filmmaker Taylor Steele and professional surfer Chris Malloy heard her and asked Tristan to appear in the film the company was working on at the time, Shelter. Tristan's song, "Anything At All” was chosen to be on the soundtrack.

Having toured with artists such as G Love, Ray LaMontagne, Jason Mraz and Chris Isaac, her latest album "Hello” tells the story of her life in the wake of a painful breakup. Although there are a couple of dark tracks, the album is predominantly one that comes out fighting and glad to be back out there: "I didn't want to waste time being negative. I just wanted to rock out and get groovy and be happy!" she says. With a warmth and laid back breeziness lent to her sound by the Wurlitzer, plaintive pedal-steel guitar, finger picked acoustic guitar, Hammond and strings, Hello explores Prettyman's love of country-blues and folk from the '60s and '70s, artists like The Band, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan. "There's something really pure and uncontrived about what they do," she says. "I really connect with that simplicity, and I think it made me write more bluesy songs."

www.tristanprettyman.com

Ruarri Joseph

Home grown talent Ruarri Joseph has become a familiar face on the local circuit, with his unusually upbeat and sometimes winsome songs, as witnessed on his debut album "Tales of Grime and Grit” and more recently on his own self-produced EP "They Can Rule The World But They Can't Ride A Bike”. Joseph, who looks at the minutae of other people and weaves them into songs like charming snapshots of lives, imbued with a positivity that marks him out from the average introspective singer songwriter.

www.myspace.com/ruarrijoseph

G Love

Philadelphia born G Love (aka Gareth Dutton) is an artist who has become renowned along with his band Special Sauce, for amazing live shows, as anyone who witnessed his appearance last year in Newquay will attest to. Citing influences such as old schoolers Rum-DMC and Beastie Boys as well as Bob Dylan, you get a hint of the melting pot that makes up the inimitable style of G Love. Featuring a then unknown Jack Johnson on his 1999 album "Philadelphonic” had led to an enduring working partnership, Dutton is now signed as a producer to Brushfire (Johnson's label), and is a regular touring partner.

www.myspace.com/glspecialsauce

Neil Halstead

Time Out has called Neil Halstead "one of Britain's greatest songwriters” and NME said he wrote "the kind of hones, heartfelt love songs men are too scared or too cool to write these days”.

Now based in Newquay, the singer and guitarist with Mojave 3 and previously Slowdive, struck out on his own in 2002 with his solo debut "Sleeping On Roads”. Although there was no direct plan to release solo material, Halstead found himself with some tracks which didn't get used on the 2000's Mojave 3 album "Excuses for Travel” so he decided to put them out independently from the band.

After touring the album for three years, Neil returned to Cornwall, converting a building in a field "that stinks of cow shit" into a new recording studio. This was completed in time for Mojave's fourth album, Spoon And Rafter, which came out in 2003. Neil still has plans for a second solo record. As he explains: "Because I've always been in bands - I was 17 when Slowdive signed to Creation records, and then I went straight onto Mojave 3 - it's been really good doing something on my own. I want to do it again."