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Alex James
While he joined his Blur bandmates for a string of UK festival shows in 2009, including an epic return to Glastonbury, bassist Alex James continues to relish in the quiet life on his 200-acre farm in Oxfordshire, England. The father of five spends his days making cheese (still can’t believe it) and he’s previously divulged all about his cheese-tastic adventures for The Guardian. Now, the 42-year-old musician is planning to bring his two worlds together for his own festival.
The Daily Independent reports that James’ countryside estate will play host to Harvest, a four-day extravaganza showcasing “the very best of the British food scene alongside a soundtrack of the finest bands around.”
“We’ll throw open the farm gates for Harvest this September,” James said. “My family are [sic] looking forward to a celebration of all our favorite things – food, the farm and music. What more could we ask for?”
Kicking off September 9th, attendees will be able to enjoy a variety of restaurants,
cooking classes and “gardening workshops” while soaking up the sounds of KT Tunstall and more. Celebrated UK chefs like Richard Corrigan and Mark Hix, who’ve appeared on the BBC’s Great British Menu reality competition, will also be there. Let’s hope James
— who starred in the BBC America documentary, Cocaine Diaries, a couple of years ago — has his “Blue Monday” cheese on hand.
In other Blur news, NME reveals that guitarist Graham Coxon has confirmed that he, James, Damon Albarn and Dave Rowntree are indeed meeting up and he took to Twitter to share the news. “We are having a meet-up, might get a guitar out.” Hooray! Here’s hoping everything goes well and that the Britpop foursome are inspired to pen some new tunes.
Here’s some “Chemical World” for your Thursday afternoon:
3 Comments
I love u Alex!!!!
He’s interesting and nice guy D
I’m glad to read some nice comments, here, after the vitriol on “The Guardian”; topics of cheese, fields and sustainability, and the greenest thing on the comment boards was the overflow of venomous envy.
I get it: Alex James perpetually looks like a boyish fashion model, skipped around the globe on multiple adventures as the bassist in one of the most famous bands in the world, married a “Julia Ormond” clone and bought “a big house in the country”, where he now spends his days writing clever, poignant books, making cheese, eating strawberries and cream, and running through fields of wildflowers with his adorable babies. It’s a charmed life. But he seems like a genuinely nice and intelligent person and this is a wonderful idea: A celebration of music, food and nature, in a laid-back, unassuming environment. Everyone can’t be Alex James, but Nature and music is for everyone. Both connect and overlap in ways we often take for granted. Go enjoy this, if you can!