Richard Baker

@rchrdbkr.bsky.social

2501 Followers 1726 Following

Composer based in Ceredigion, Wales, UK. Research Fellow @guildhallschool.bsky.social. Weithiau yn Gymraeg. Profile photo: Claire Shovelton Artist website: https://rchrdbkr.com/

Automated message alerting me that a bsky user has added me to the “wrong about VR AI Crypto Smart-Glasses GLP2 NFTs or Bitcoin” moderation list.
Screenshot of Guardian headline "Labour risks election wipeout unless is improves Britain's high streets, study finds" with all words after 'Britain' struck out in red pen
Donald Trump in the robes of a winner of the poetry chair, surrounded by robes members of the Gorsedd of Bards, at an Eisteddfod chairing ceremony
LINES FOR A BOOK I think of all the toughs through history And thank heaven they lived, continually. Their pride exalted some, some overthrew, But was not vanity at last: they knew That though the mind has also got a place It's not in marvelling at its mirrored face And evident sensibility. It's better To go and see your friend than write a letter; To be a soldier than to be a cripple; To take an early weaning from the nipple Than think your mother is the only girl; To be insensitive, to steel the will, Than sit irresolute all day at stool Inside the heart; and to despise the fool, Who may not help himself and may not choose, Than give him pity which he cannot use. I think of those exclusive by their action, For whom mere thought could be no satisfaction- The athletes lying under tons of dirt Or standing gelded so they cannot hurt The pale curators and the families By calling up disturbing images. I think of all the toughs through history And thank heaven they lived, continually.
COMMON/WEALTH MANIFESTO → Fuck capitalism. Fuck theatre. Do it yourself. → Make shows unlike anything anyone has seen before. Experiment and play with form. → Don't be afraid of being political. Respond to the here and now. Charge the work with emotion. → Work with people who have direct experience of the territories you're exploring. They are the creators and editors. Include people new to theatre. There is wealth in your experience, your history, your knowledge, where you come from, the stories you get told, stories you pass on. → Process is as important as form. • Be an internationalist. Listen and speak beyond borders. → Get out of theatre buildings. Sites offer so much - they put you in direct conversation with people you wouldn't otherwise meet. Work with what you have. Build on what is already there. Don't wait for permission. DO IT YOURSELF!
A bald man with facial hair presenting another bald man with facial hair with a framed certificate in a handsome Edwardian dining room.
The OBR said a strong rebound in self-assessment receipts, which declined during the coronavirus pandemic, failed to materialise, leaving the Treasury with only a modest gain. Income from corporation tax and capitals gains tax was also below its own predictions.
Cartoon by Steve Bell depicting former British Prime Minister David, Lord Cameron. In Bell’s caricature, Cameron’s head resembles an inflated condom
Oleana Tyrrell ‘I want her to know it was me’ GIF
Photo of floodlit Frank Matcham-designed Ritzy Cinema in Brixton, London, UK. Nighttime. Hoarding cleared of usual movie listings, replaced with single line of text in Welsh, which translates as ‘Babs, will you marry me?’
David Wojnarowicz said many years ago — I’m paraphrasing — that part of why people and artists struggled so much during the AIDS years was to get past the hatred, the horrors of the world, to go back to what we do best and love doing, which is creating beauty and creating joy. You can’t take creating beauty and joy for granted. There is so much ugliness in the world. So many people threatened by beauty and joy can’t create either. The easiest, cheapest way to feel powerful is to destroy, which is the perfect example of Trump and his cadre of fascists. That’s the only way they have power–the only thing they can do is to tear things down because they’re incapable of making anything beautiful, of having ideas that elevate anybody. Our job is to resist that by constantly doing what we do, which is fighting our way to beauty.
Spreadsheet detailing the ranked choice voting in the final round of the Oxford Chancellorship Election, showing William Hague beating Elish Angiolini by under 1000 votes
Photo of me with big hair and Arran sweater beneath leather jacket, on good tempered demonstration with other Oxford students, against Section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act which penalised the ‘promotion of homosexuality’. A cheery Balliol JCR banner in the background
E-flyer advertising seminar series entitled ‘All New Music’ including talks by composers Lisa Illean and me
View from a cottage ground floor window of a sheep grazing in an adjacent field about a metre away, next to a wooden garden bird table
Shiny Black and Tan Standard dachshund with yellow nylon bone in her mouth
Photo of double page spread in Welsh language literary magazine O’r Pedwar Gwynt
Pink and green-hued northern lights with silhouetted trees
Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #514,117!
Composer pornstache making its debut earlier today
Highlighted text from doctoral thesis by Lawrence Dunn, quote 'There is a sense that, applied now, the term 'experimental music' might have become a meaningless catchall; or worse, a tribal signifier.'
Dixon was alive again. Consciousness was upon him before he could get out of the way; not for him the slow, gracious wandering from the halls of sleep, but a summary, forcible ejection. He lay sprawled, too wicked to move, spewed up like a broken spider-crab on the tarry shingle of morning. The light did him harm, but not as much as looking at things did; he resolved, having done it once, never to move his eyeballs again. A dusty thudding in his head made the scene before him beat like a pulse. His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum. During the night, too, he'd somehow been on a cross-country run and then been expertly beaten up by secret police. He felt bad.