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You Broke More Than Just Your Mother’s Heart

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Jun 242014

Jasmine Minks release a new single in tribute to a lost friend and colleague, and stalwart of Aberdeen’s early indie/punk scene.

Background

Positivity is required. It’s 2014 and the World Cup. France are flying, England are…. well, doing what England tend to do in World Cup finals… keep everyone on tenterhook’s as to how it will go.

Scotland didn’t make it but we did beat the 2006 runners-up France on their own turf which felt as good as winning the world cup and the Jasmine Minks were there to witness it.

It was to be the last real get together for us with our friend and roadie Mark (aka SCARS). He died not too long after.

This song is a tribute to the Man; he was a soul that shaped us in so many different ways. He was one of us. It’s a song about remaining strong through a time of change and so often to many adversity and worry.

Production rationale

The main constraint to music these days is appetite. What drives us to keep on doing what we do? Positivity that’s what!

We believe in the capacity of (good) music to make a change for the better. We made a positive change. We have for the first time in a career spanning over 30 years included the bagpipes on a Jasmine Minks song.

Think the Minks meet McCartney on a boozed up Mull of Kintyre giving it a “wishing we were Brian Wilson” kind of vibe with some Jethro Tull flute thrown in for good measure with a twist of guitar alongside power drumming and you have a cocktail to provoke the senses that will leave them shaken and most likely stirred too.

Investment rationale

We made a genius move and have invested our lives in building our WALL – this WALL enables us to do our thing despite being in different areas all over the place – it’s a construction of our Work Art Life and Love

We did it ourselves via technology, the internet and the skill set of a group of musicians spread from fields afar such as Norway, Aberdeen and Glencoe to the London outskirts of Sutton to make this positivity happen. We hope you enjoy!

Available via digital download from iTunes, Amazon etc from 22nd June.

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What Will Independence Mean For LGBT Rights?

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Jun 242014

Paul Robertson

By Paul Robertson.

Pride season is upon us and cosmopolitan cities across the world will shortly be celebrating the contributions of their gay populations – from London to Tel Aviv, from Berlin to Toronto.

This year is as good a year as any to go along to one if you haven’t already ticked that off your list.

It’s not all about half-naked male models gyrating on flamboyantly-decorated floats – although that is a particularly enjoyable aspect.

My personal hope is that when Pride Scotia rides into Edinburgh this year, we will take stock of just how far the LGBT community in Scotland has come – from decriminalisation in 1980 to the passage of a bill allowing gay people to marry just last year.

I hope, also, that we will take a moment to consider what the referendum on independence for Scotland might mean for our community.

Amidst a lively debate on independence, it has been difficult consider just what becoming independent might mean for LGBT people living in Scotland. The announcement this week of a draft Constitution for an independent Scotland provides us with that much awaited opportunity to engage as a community in the debate.

Scotland is no egalitarian utopia. Societal attitudes remain stubbornly conservative in some parts of the country and LGBT people still do face discrimination and homophobia in everyday life.

However many in the LGBT community will be heartened to see that sexual orientation has been named in the draft Constitution as a specific grounds upon which discrimination will be banned. Should Scotland become independent and that constitution adopted – our country would be only the second in the world to provide a constitutional protection for LGBT people. That is of enormous symbolic value.

A new Scotland that places protection for the rights of all people at its heart will be an achievement that we can all share in, particularly communities like the gay community which has faced such adversity.

LGBT communities around the world continue to struggle for the most basic of rights. Whilst we in Scotland have spent the last years campaigning to have our right to have our love for each other recognised, LGBT people in Uganda or Russia have been struggling to have their right to even live be recognised.

The struggle for basic human rights for all in the world remains the biggest challenge of the 21st century. It is not a fight that can be won with nuclear weapons or military might. It is expressions of soft power, of exemplary commitments to human rights, and of positive engagements with groups and governments that will move societies across the world to recognise the value of each human life.

From our groundbreaking law on equal marriage to our commitment to enshrining the rights of our LGBT Scots in a constitution; I have become convinced that Scotland has an important contribution to make for LGBT people living all over the world.

What would the foreign policy of a new Scotland be focussed on? Bombing Middle East countries or vociferously pursuing the human rights of the world’s marginalised peoples? Supplying dictators with weapons designed to kill and oppress or supplying groups with the resources needed to bring positive change to their societies?

A mould of a new Scotland is emerging and it is one that we can all contribute to shaping.

I believe wholeheartedly that we as an LGBT community should grasp independence with both hands – not just to secure a Constitution that protects us and offers a final confirmatory victory for equality for ourselves – but so that we can strive to secure those rights for others around the world, too.

LGBT people in Aberdeen have the opportunity to engage in this debate at a special event What will independence mean for LGBT rights? being held in Cheerz Bar on Saturday 28 June, 2pm to 4pm.

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Peterhead Porridge Reviewed

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Jun 162014

Described as ‘Ronnie Barker’s Porridge meets Gene Wilder’s Stir Crazy’, former inmate James Crosbie relates a number of tales of what went on behind the walls of that grim granite fortress once the doors had clanged shut. David Innes reviews.

It’s quite apposite that it’s been published now, with, in recent weeks, the replacement prison in the Blue Toon having had its first riot.

Despite the new prison’s much-acclaimed state-of-the-art facilities, beyond the dreams of the old jail’s cons who populate Crosbie’s book, incarceration and loss of freedom must still be the frustrations that fuel the fire of insurrection.

Peterhead Porridge in many ways lifts the lid on the coping strategies developed by prisoners for whom release seems a far-off fantasy and whose biggest enemies are boredom and apathy.

Content to keep his head down and do his time with little fuss and only occasional ducking and diving, Crosbie cannot hide his admiration for those who use humour, very often of the cruellest kind, to relieve the drudgery and make even just a few minutes less mind-numbing.

So, we’re treated to a litany of background anecdotes on nicknames for fellow cons and their enemies the screws, and a succession of accounts of practical jokes, pranks and little victories against the system, all ways of beating the tedium.

In the hyper-macho world behind bars, one-upmanship is all. To lose face is to invite ridicule and among the best parts of Peterhead Porridge are the droll and amusing accounts of circumstances in which the thinkers hold sway over the boastful and aggressive.

There is cruelty too, but Crosbie has left out anything too harrowing as he learns to cope with his loss of freedom, even becoming a regular petitioner for the rights of his peers.

Even if some of the tales fall into the “you had to be there” (er, no thanks) category, there are belly-laugh moments throughout. The key to survival, in the absence of the key to the front door, seems to be to ensure that no weakness is displayed. The lag who let slip his fear of Peterhead’s fearsome seagulls is a hilarious example of the consequences and the recurring theme of a worthwhile series of tales.

Peterhead Porridge by James Crosbie
Black & White Publishing
£7.99

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Local MP Opens New Peterhead Art Gallery

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Jun 132014

Local artist Elinor Grieve, gallery owner Melissa Arcaro and local MP Eilidh Whiteford.

Eilidh Whiteford, MP for Banff and Buchan, joined Melissa Arcaro at the weekend to cut the ribbon on Arcaro’s expanded Peterhead arts project. With thanks to Paul Robertson.

Arcaro Arts, which previously stood on Kirk Street, has expanded into enlarged premises opposite Morrison’s on Queen Street.

The gallery is set to continue its work in providing an artistic space for local groups, as well as hosting exhibitions and other arts events.

Cutting the ribbon on the new gallery, which hosted an exhibition from self-taught wildlife artist Elinor Grieve on its opening day, MP Eilidh Whiteford commented:

“I am delighted to be able to declare Arcaro Arts’ expanded premises open for business. The new gallery is a fantastic venue in a great location. It will breathe new life into the town centre of Peterhead and offers great opportunities to local artists to exhibit their work and my congratulations and best wishes for the future go to Melissa and the team.”

Melissa Arcaro, who heads the gallery, commented:

“The fact that we have had to expand into larger premises shows what a real appetite there is for this kind of amenity in Peterhead. The stunning new venue is also well-placed to benefit from increased footfall. As well as continuing our arts work with local groups, the new venue will act as a showcase for talented local artists.”

The gallery, on Balmoor Terrace, is open 10am-4pm from Monday to Saturday and 12pm-3pm on Sundays.

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Confessions Of A Scottish Rocker

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Jun 102014

Too old to rock and roll – too young to crochet. Alex Pithie shares his experiences as a seasoned, working musician.

All those years ago on the frosty and otherwise barren rock they call the United Kingdom, when I first picked up a guitar and eventually started making vaguely bluesy noises like Peter Green, Keef and Eric and Jimi, I was stoked enough to go out and bankrupt myself buying a ’69 Fender Stratocaster – a white one just like Jimi’s, but right-handed.

Call it naivety but it never occurred to me that I was doing anything that might make me a fortune or a star one day.

I was getting more than enough buzz off the HH amp, my cool Fender axe, fierce pedals and small town adulation to think seriously about actually making a living doing this. I spent most of my time worrying how I was going to pay for all that ‘hip’ gear.

I eventually spent years as a ‘rock star’ on the road in the UK, and after my last original band – ‘RUDE’ – finally broke up, I got a Marshall 4×12 speaker top cabinet, and a Shure 57 microphone in compensation for my troubles as lead guitarist for more than 300 gigs.

The cash from the 300 or so gigs we did had gone to pay for roadies, strings, petrol, replacement Ford Transit vans, Ford transmissions, food, lodgings and bail.

In them days, anyone in Scotland with an inkling to go the whole hog and try the superstar rat race had to go south to London where the showcase gigs, the record labels and the music press lived. But parochial hicks from the sticks like us were way too modest and humble to embarrass ourselves, and only a few ever made it down there, their ambition and talent overtaking their modesty.

And a few even made it. Well Annie Lennox did OK.

But when you’re a gigging musician even though you know there’s a bigger picture, more money, fame and fortune, record deals, the whole nine yards, when you are in love with music and the gig, the lifestyle, it’s really secondary that success may or may not await you.

Realism prevails, and a lifetime just playing well, practicing, surviving and hoping for the big break, any break, are part and parcel of being where you love to be best – on the road playing.

Sure, you write songs. You demo them. You even do the label tour hawking your songs. But if that fails, you know that you’ve got enough gigs ahead to pay for that sexy guitar you’re eyeing up! Or the new baby! (Or new hairstyle if you’re a drummer!)

you leave your nerves behind you the minute you cross that line on to the stage

Good musos do it all day-to-day, day after day and maybe make a living. The better ones plot for the big time minute by minute, and generally go for it, ending up at least on some Caribbean cruise ship ‘reading’ standards night after night for three months at a time. It’s kinda big time.

Or land a gig as a sideman with a star (Aberdeen’s Dave Flett and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band/Thin Lizzy) or write that hit song that puts them on the map, however briefly (Aberdonians, The Shamen).

But if you ever get on stage and the band really nails it and you play that cover or that groove right on the money, there ain’t no better feeling.

Fact is, you leave your nerves behind you the minute you cross that line on to the stage and into the world of show business where nothing is more important than playing to the best of your ability to entertain the crowds.

After a pint or three of course.

You can impress them too with your skills or chops, but first and foremost – entertain them. You know you are working well when they tap their feet, dance, smile, sing along, cheer and applaud. The applause – what my friend Michael Joseph Kenny calls “spray” – is the most precious commodity in show business after talent (or a drummer who lives in the pocket).

And if the band is not smiling as they play, the spray when they stop will always do the trick – the exceptions being the drummer having a bad hair day or if the singer is pissed that he spilled beer on his new velvet trousers!

Rock on Grandad!

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Tickle All The Senses At Travelling Jazz Supper Club

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Jun 102014

With thanks to Cindy Douglas.

This season people get the opportunity to treat taste buds, ears and eyes at a
unique cultural event organised by one of the UK’s brightest emerging jazz singing talents.

Following its successful launch at the end of 2013, Scottish jazz singer Cindy Douglas’ venture Eat to the Beat has now hit the road, with dates being planned for all around Scotland, kicking off on the 14th of June in the village of Banchory, Aberdeenshire.

Cindy says about the event:

“Jazz is normally an event either performed in a traditional setting like a concert hall or relegated as background music in a bar. I came up with the idea to create ‘pop up jazz supper clubs’ after enjoying the experience of larger city jazz clubs where people can enjoy dinner and jazz at the same time, in intimate surroundings with great atmosphere.”

The first stop on her new Eat to the Beat tour is The Guide Hut in Banchory, on Saturday the 14th of June. Then Birnam Arts Centre in Dunkeld

on the 21st of June. Both of which will be transformed into a sophisticated jazz club and restaurant for that night only. To add to the entertainment mix, both venues also include art exhibitions, which will be open for viewing to supper club attendants on the night; Beatrix Botanist at Birnam Arts Centre and Mel Shand’s ‘A Portrait of the River’ at Banchory.

Cindy took her inspiration for the event from more cosmopolitan venues where similar events take place.

“I think of Ronnie Scott’s in London and The Blue Note and The Village Vanguard in New York. These are places where food is part of the experience that turns going out for dinner into a full night out. The village halls and café’s my event takes place at in Scotland, may be miles away from these venues in every sense but I think we can give people in these communities a great opportunity to socialise and make their night out one to remember for all the right reasons.”

Cindy Douglas, who is based in Aberdeenshire, gigs regularly in Scotland and has developed a broad repertoire that ranges from swing to post-bop and encompasses everything in between. She has studied with some of the world’s leading jazz vocal educators, including Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan, Jay Clayton, Anita Wardell, and Liane Carroll and her singing style has been described as exuberant, mesmerising and versatile.

In 2012, Cindy released her first album, My New Jive, which was recorded in London with pianist Tim Richard’s trio to critical acclaim.

She will also be playing at this year’s Edinburgh Jazz Festival. Debuting her new show ‘Lady Day and The Prez’, paying tribute to the enduring musical legacy of Billie Holiday and Lester Young.

“Singer led jazz with a smile on it’s face.” – The Musician

“The extremely talented vocalist sings with all her heart and soul and her glamorous voice reflects that.” – Jazz Beat, Voice of America

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Cats Protection In Urgent Need Of Foster Homes

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Jun 062014

With thanks to Suzanne Kelly.

Cats Protection needs foster homes to look after a cat until a permanent home becomes available.

Whilst fostering, cats protection provide food, litter and pay all vets expenses.

Some cats find new homes very quickly but others may be in foster care for several months.

All foster cats are vet checked and neutered. We are always looking for permanent homes for the cats we have.

For more information call 01224740699

Father’s Day Supercar Rides At The GTM

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Jun 062014

With thanks to Martyn Smith.

Grampian Transport Museum will be the venue for a special treat for Dads on Father’s Day, Sunday 15th June.

Some of the world’s fastest and most exotic cars will take to the museums purpose-built road circuit, each with a passenger seat waiting to be taken. Just £10 will buy one of our Fathers Day Supercar Rides tickets, giving several laps around the track as a front seat passenger.

An eclectic mix of cars including Ferrari, Lamborghini, TVR, Luego, and Porsche will give Dad a day to remember.

Rides are limited to dads only – who must be over the age of 18 – but the event is a great day out for all the family. Tickets for the rides sessions are £10 if pre-booked or £15 on the day, subject to availability.

Later in the summer children will be able to enjoy a ride around the circuit as part of the ‘Big Stuff’ session, which takes place on Thursday 10th July – or the ‘Fast Car Rides’ session which takes place on Wednesday 23rd July.

The Grampian Transport Museum features a number of exciting and exclusive exhibitions for 2014 including The Great Train Robbery exhibit and multi-million pound HGV simulator. Also, the unique Junior Driving School will be open for younger visitors to enjoy.

Whisky Kisses – A Mature Scottish Musical.

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May 302014

Reviewed by Duncan Harley.

Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s summer offering for 2014, Whisky Kisses, certainly cuts it big time.

A finalist in the 2007 Highland Quest competition, the now finely matured musical is delightfully full of vibrant and highly explosive energy.

Indeed the storyline and musical score tear the heart out of tartan Scotland then put it back together seamlessly.

Inspired by New York’s Tartan Week, the Moray based Rightlines partnership comprising writers Dave Smith and Euan Martin plus Edinburgh based composer James Bryce have taken Sir Walter Scott’s romanticised view of the Highlands to the cleaners.

Indeed Mairi Morrison who plays Mary, the inheritor of the cash strapped Glenigma Distillery, literally hangs Glenigma’s tartan out to dry on the village washing line in full view of the audience while an oblivious pseudo Scot looks on in the form of New York tycoon Ben Munro played by Dougal Lee.

Nessie – the Loch Ness Monster – makes a quite forgivable but thankfully brief appearance as do some empty whisky barrels and there is an oblique reference to ‘President Salmond’.

2014 is after all Scottish Referendum Year so all is forgiven.

The plot follows a brave but narrow path between tartan for tartans sake and tartan because it makes hysterical sense.

The story concerns two cash rich entrepreneurs competing to buy the very last bottle of the 100 year old Glenigma malt in the entire universe. The Scottish Government intervene unhelpfully and the heir to the family fortune must decide how to proceed with the saving of the glen.

Without giving too much away, it is fair to say that it all works out in the end. There are subtle twists of course and a few tear jerking moments including the near demise of Mr Yomo, played by Siu Hun Li, on the slopes of Ben Igma.

As with all Rightlines Productions however, there is a deeper message which in the case of Whisky Kisses is the question of how to live with heritage, how to share it, and how to enjoy it; while also knowing when to let it go, and to stop living in the past.

The opening song ‘I gotta have it’ gives way to the concluding ‘Spirit of Living’ with ‘Alcoholics Synonymous’ and ‘The Road To Love’ in between.

Set design and lighting are slick and vibrant and the Pitlochry Theatre sound is as always superb with not a word missed. Sound designer Paul Hoolihan and Musical Supervisor Jon Beales are to be congratulated.

Whisky Kisses is a polished piece and after a near decade in the making it suffers from very few issues. Perhaps the Brokeback Mountain scene is a little subtle. However all in all, the 100 year old Glenigma malt has matured nicely since its initial 2010 tour of Aberdeen, Moray and Deeside.

Directed by John Durnin and with set design by Ken Harrison Whisky Kisses performs at Pitlochry Festival Theatre until October 18th.

An Interview With Jonny Paterson

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May 302014

Voice’s Suzanne Kelly interviews young Scots Hollywood producer Jonny Paterson.

From the moment Sean Connery first ordered a Martini ‘shaken not stirred’ on the big screen, Hollywood’s love affair with Scottish acting talent has been unshakable. Today’s young Scots actors can be found wandering ‘round Westeros, camping at Beaver Falls, and playing Quidditch with Harry Potter (if not kissing him).

These actors and actresses are representing Scotland’s talent in front of the camera – but there is also an influx of Scottish-born talent getting into Hollywood’s boardrooms.

Jonny Paterson is one such home-grown talent.

Paterson was accepted to the prestigious BAFTA Los Angeles Newcomer program, he’s worked with one of Hollywood’s most powerful and respected executives, and has a whole raft of projects he’s keen to get on with in his own production company. Amazingly, he’s 26 years old.

So how does a guy get from Edinburgh to LA? Aberdeen Voice caught up Paterson to find out.

AV: Jonny, what have you been doing today?

JP: I’m in London right now; my sister is here, and we’re all off out to dinner with my dad.

AV: How did you get interested in production? Many young people who are interested in film seem attracted to roles in front of the camera.

JP: I grew up in Scotland where I studied; I was always interested in the theatre. I decided to go to Carnegie Mellon [a greatly-respected American University] and did a Master’s degree tailored to the entertainment business. I was involved in theatre at school, and I had the business skill set from working in a talent agency and production company in LA – but I figured out I didn’t like either.

I tried being a runner; there’s probably something Scottish about me… I was a bad assistant; I was not very good at organising someone else’s life. I came across some good material and pretty much took it from there; got option on a few projects and started JP International Productions to manage my quickly evolving ‘slate’.

AV: Are there many fellow Scots in Hollywood?

JP: There’s a few of us; we kind of just found each other.

There’s Declan Laird for instance (Laird has just signed to a lead role in an Amazon Video production this week) and we became good friends. He and I are actually developing a TV show together and there’s every scope for him to be involved in one of my upcoming movies.

He’s a real talent.

There’s not too many people from our kind of generation (I’m 26) doing the deal-making/production work though.

AV: Tell me about the BAFTA newcomers and the award

JP: The BAFTA award is different to a lot of other awards; it wasn’t made for any one specific film I’d done. It looks to the business side of the industry and finds people in the corporate world who are forging a path for themselves in that realm. It is show business after all. I told them (BAFTA) I was setting up my own company; it’s really an award based around future potential.

My old boss Paula (former CEO and co-owner of United Artists and Cruise/Wagner Productions ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise, ‘The Last Samurai’, ‘War of the Worlds’, etc.) had championed me, and when you have someone like her in your corner…well, it’s amazing. Paula was fantastic.

This award is a vindication of sorts for choosing the path I have chosen, and shows why l love what I do. Whilst on the talent management side of the business everything was the same; every day was the same; in Lionsgate Entertainment I was in sales; it was formulaic.

With Paula every five minutes was different and a new challenge; she’s a master at working through things; and I thought ‘this is so exciting!’ I learnt a lot from Paula; in a nutshell, if I do make it, then I owe her great deal.

It’s exciting in Scotland in the year of independence; but in LA, well, if I had to describe energy and positivity, it would be top of the list and it’s great. Scotland has punched above its weight in every field; I respond to the atmosphere where everyone is aiming for the top.

AV: What are you doing in Scotland now, and please tell me about football aid and your role

JP: I’m back in land this weekend; between Edinburgh and Glasgow; then I’m going to Spain for a few days. Football Aid is a Scottish charity my dad started it around 12 years ago; I’m a non-executive director.

I was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and my dad started to raise money via football aid – we’ve raised over 5 million pounds so far; Declan Laird will be playing at our Celtic Park event after his parents bought him a position for his 21st birthday this year.

Football Aid is a series of events taking place throughout the month of May at Celtic Park and stadiums across the UK in order to raise funds for juvenile diabetes research and local charities.

Further information can be found here http://www.footballaid.com

Jonny jokes that Declan Laird will make a fool of himself at Celtic Park (Laird is a Celtic supporter, while the rest of his family have different ideas about football team choices). I decide not to weigh in.

JP: I popped into West Ham the other day; Football Aid is all over the UK now and we’re going international [Italy is now onside, as it were with Genoa and Sampdoria the first clubs to get involved].

AV: You’re working with Quinton Aaron, best known for his breakout role as the co-lead in Academy Award nominated film, The Blind Side. It was Aaron’s first film; he starred with Sandra Bullock. (We discuss the happy story of Quinton, who went from unknown, tall, overweight kid about to hit money worries to a much-admired Hollywood star). I hear Aaron features in your current projects – tell me more.

JP: This October we’re filming in the US; it’s called Halfway. Ben Caird is directing; Ben also won the BAFTA newcomer award the year after I did. Ben comes from an entertainment background; John Caird is his dad, Eliza Doolittle is his sister. Quinton stars; he’s best known for The Blind Side; and he’s also my producing partner.

He’s a lovely, lovely young guy and we’re very fortunate to have him. What’s exciting about Halfway is the way in which we’re looking to raise awareness about the film and as a by-product of that, some of the money as well.

Over the past 18 months a precedent has been set in the realm of crowd-funding with high profile movies like Zach Braff’s Wish I Was Here and the film adaptation of the Veronica Mars television show proving that there is an appetite amongst the general public to get involved with films by contributing small donations, as low as £5 in some instances. The key is to offer in exchange an experience or product that money can’t necessarily buy.

Next year, I have The Scavengers – a modern day Bonnie and Clyde set in the Wild West of Ireland. Colin Morgan’s been cast; Merlin is his best-known role; and Sarah Bolger (The Tudors, Once Upon a Time, As Cool As I Am) has been cast opposite him. We’re still packaging it; it’s in its infancy.

AV: I guess like many people I have a stereotyped vision of a Hollywood producer; cigars, Armani suits, limos – and someone a lot older than you.

JP: The age thing is funny to me; usually film producers are older; it’s a by-product of the various skills one associates with the position: high level connections to talent, production companies etc, financing and sales, project managing at a high level – those are the kinds of things traditionally associated with being a Hollywood producer, however I would argue that there have always been people who break the mould and shake things up a bit. I have aspirations and a fairly unique skill set of my own that I believe will lead to success.

AV: How do you feel about film and music piracy?

JP: The truth is our job is to create content that people want to actually pay for. The reality is you can’t beat free, but you can compete with it; if you’re putting your product across in a way that appeals to the consumer… things like releasing film ‘day and date’ in the cinemas, on VOD, and on DVD all on same day it’s released in cinema, you’re giving the consumer choices.

There is still a lot to be said for the experience of going to watch a movie on the big screen in a dark room with a bunch of strangers. It’s part of our culture. If you give people these options, it helps. In 2014, it is becoming evermore apparent that the consumer wants their product instantaneously and seamlessly, on their I-Pad, smart phone etc.

We have to be careful about how best to approach that.

It’s still flawed and we’re going through yet another transition in our industry; the film industry has always been cyclical; the studios rise up and become all powerful and then something in the realm of technology or business change things – whether it’s the 20s with the advent of the talkies or the arrival of television in to homes across America in the 50s – and now it’s a distribution change – DVDs are becoming less and less reliable as a projected revenue stream for movies of all scopes and now we have online platforms such as Netflix and so on.

In time, the studios catch on to what works, but as an independent producer in 2014 we’re at the crux of transformation in this industry. I have the opportunity and in many respects, the responsibility to try something new. Crowd funding would give us more control of the product and we’d be less at the behest of the investors.

After Paterson’s delivered this take on things with barely a pause for thought or for taking a breath, I think this may be the savviest 26 year-old I’ve ever spoken with.

I mention that the Sheffield Docfest is a fortnight away, and that Anthony Baxter from you’ve been trumped documentary fame will be premiering his second documentary in the UK. Baxter’s first film won all manner of accolades around the world.

JP: Documentaries don’t tend to make much money but they have a certain respect in the business.

I am developing both a documentary and feature film inspired by the Koh Panyee Football Club (the club which played on a floating pitch its members created) with partner Tom Pellegrini (‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’).

At this count I make it 2 features, a documentary. a new production company, and this year’s Football Aid he’ll be juggling at present. Well, I’m impressed.

Jonny and I decide to leave it there for now; I’m surprised he’s found so much time to speak to me, all projects considered. I hope I’ll be speaking with him again soon; it seems inevitable that we’ll be hearing more about him as well as from him very soon indeed.

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