How a quiet afternoon in the office turned into me filming Tony Kaye giving an impromptu concert/art event in Soho for climate change awareness

This afternoon I was quietly clearing my email backlog, posting stuff on the blog and trying to decide whether CR really needed to do an iPhone app when the following email from filmmaker/musician/artist Kaye arrives:

YOU WANNA COME OVER NOW, TO RUSHES, I AM GONNA STICK SOME ART ON THE RAILINGS ROUND THE CORNER/ ART THAT IS NOT REALLY ART BUT POSTERS I GUESS

IT'S "AGITPOP" ART
THAT'S COOL RIGHT
AGITPOP ART
COOL HUH!
NEW GENRE
THEY'RE GONNA BE WORTH BILLIONS
IN A HUNDRED YEARS
I'M MAKING ANGELS
I'M SHRINKING TIME
I'M ON A JOURNEY
THROUGH THE VEINS OF MY SUBLIME
TONY
!
[ I'M BACK ]

Twenty minutes later I'm standing in the street, filming Kaye on my mobile phone as he sings and plays guitar in front of a backdrop of paintings about climate change:

Kaye is currently putting the final touches to a commercial commissioned by the UN (and filmed through Kaye's Above The Sea production company) to raise awareness around the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference which takes place from December 7 to 10. It's all part of Ogilvy New York's Hopenhagen campaign which is encouraging people to sign the UN Climate Change Petition.

In a break from editing the ad at Rushes in Soho, Kaye decided to spread the word further, hence the email to me. So, the two of us carry armfuls of paintings and various artworks round the corner to the railings outside St Anne's Tower on Wardour Street which Kaye decides is going to be transformed into an art space for as long as we can get away with it.

He tapes up various paintings on the railings and unpacks his guitar. Unfortunately, we then hit a bit of a snag: his camera is out of battery. Thankfully, a man named George also happens to be filming on the same street and he gallantly comes to our aid, filming Kaye's performance.

He promises to send on the footage but, for safety's sake, I also film Kaye on my phone (see above).

After two songs, we pack up and scuttle back to Rushes. Sanity returns.

Once the film has been finished, we'll post it up here.

Kaye will continue to pursue his musical ambitions in a reality TV show that he is making for Fox Digital called Excentrics. More on this soon, but here's a taster:

And here's what Kaye emailed me about it:

"EXENTRICS"
IT'S ABOUT ME FORMING A BAND
IT'S ABOUT THIS BAND "EXENTRICS"
REDEFINING THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
IT'S ABOUT MAKING THE PREPOSTEROUS REALITY
HENCE
REALITY SHOW
NOT PREPOSTEROUS SHOW
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

And when he's not doing that, Kaye is working on two books for Phaidon (one on his work, the other a Paul Arden-style self-help manual) as well as being slated to direct two features next year and putting out an album on the Meroke Sky label.

More on Kaye here