Alice MacGregor (vocals)
Peter Farrie (piano)
Rebecca Willson (violin)
Gabriel Collins (drums)
Those are the basic assignments, but we also cover between us 3 x piano!, bass guitar, synthesizer, backing vocals, hand percussion.
Donna Blitz, the band, started as a collaboration between Alice MacGregor (vocals) and songwriter Peter Farrie. They met as a result of Dartington Plus. After a period of rehearsal, and songwriting collaboration, they started to perform at various venues around the South West of the UK in Autumn 2006. Recently they have been joined by 3rd year Dartington music students Rebecca Willson (violin) and Gabriel Collins (drums) and have been recording new material (with David B on bass).
Coombeshead Studios are now looking to take on summer 2008 recording slots. If you are in a band and need a professional recording, we offer sessions at just £12.50 an hour on weekdays and £20 an hour on evenings (after 6pm) and weekends. All this paid time can be spent recording - mixing and editing can be done afterwards at no extra charge. If you wish to arrange a session, please message us and we will give you a list of available dates. Check out our top friends for examples of the recording quality, and the ’music’ section to see who we have worked with!
We also offer CD duplication at between 75p and £1.50 per CD for most requirements. This gets you a case, a print directly onto the CD face (no stickers!) and inlays. Contact us with your requirements for a quote. Recordings do not have to be made at Coombeshead to qualify for this offer - if you already have recordings let us know and we can provide duplication for you!
super songs, and all so different!...all systems go now....must get down your way to experience the Donna Blitz phenonemen (can't spell today but I don't care..) for myself...
WOW! I'M OFFICIALLY A BAND MEMBER, THANKYOU SO MUCH! I FEEL SO FAMOUS, it's fun being famous even if you're not! you treat us like dirt and you can kiss my butt! (that's a lyric from a song by the Bus Station Loonies- (you've got ta hear it)
Hey guys - hope the gig goes well tonight! Maybe see you soon... I'm wending my way down to Somerset tonight and I think I'll be around in the South West over the weekend!
Congratulations Alice! This is sounding fantastic - really looking forward to hearing you guys live and playing with you too. I'm proud of you kiddo. Keep it up xxxxxxxxxxxx
It is time to protest en-mass and stand up for ourselves and our college.
By now, we are all aware of the current situation concerning the imminent destruction of Dartington as we know it. The simple fact is that we are faced with the loss of an experience that has no equal.
There is nowhere else like Dartington. Think of the college, the lecturers, the gardens, Totnes, the creativity, the freedom, the fields/hills/rivers, and most importantly, the students. Where else do you find students like these, and a place like this?
Each and every one of us is going to leave this place knowing that we will probably be the last. Three or more years worth of life/artistic experience – probably the best years of our lives – are going to become a distant, irretrievable memory. We are going to be faced with the loss of the ONLY institution of its kind.
It is vital that our voice is heard further a-field. This is the perfect opportunity to show fellow students, towns people, Trustees and the world in general; how much we care about this issue.
We may not be politicians, millionaires, legal experts or Inspector Gadget, however the one important thing we must do right now is to Shout out that this is not right, as a united body of 580 students.
This is what has been arranged.
The save Dartington festival that has been organised for the 28th January is a huge opportunity to gather the college, and to show that we care, but that is not all we are going to do.
Below is a list of other events, prioritised by a 580-strong march into Totnes.
This leaflet will automatically reach all 1st yrs most 2nd yrs, and some 3rd yrs. Tell everyone else that you know, and better still, make sure they come. Even in the event that all this is not enough to help the final conclusion, the events should make a big impression, and we keep our integrity.
Anyone who ‘can’t be bothered’ to take part, or has some trivial excuse for not involving themselves should ask themselves: Why am I here?
• Sunday 28th January. – Student March
580 students meet on the lawns around the great hall at 12noon, and we then march through Totnes. Banners, instruments and vocal expression are welcome. Show people we care, and show Totnes what it is losing.
• Tuesday 23th January. Banner-Making Workshop.
This will take place in studio 10, the old programmes office.
At five o' clock. Please try to supply your own materials.
As well as using these to protest, we can appropriate the
spaces around college. Hang banners from the walls
and the windows, decorate Higher Close and Foxhole
residencies, etc.
Gather each House of residency, and make a project.
Work together.
• Candlelit Vigil for a Trust event. 23rd January outside the archway at 6.45pm.
Bring candles!
• There are more plans for the future, keep your ears open for more information!!!...
Questions to be asked
• The Trust have made moves to patent the name Dartington College of Arts, so as to take control of the intellectual property and reputation of the college.
Do they seek to create their own ‘Dartington’ experience, of which we have no part?
• The responsibility for the maintenance of buildings on Dartington estate lies with the trust, and yet they have left their own property to rot. This issue has now been forwarded as a reason to get us out.
Has the trust displayed negligence in this issue? We must ask
ourselves if this was a purposeful action, in the hope that the college
would be left with nowhere to turn? Or could it be that the ‘trust’, a
group of individuals with such widespread credentials, could somehow
manage to ‘accidentally’ do the exact opposite of their very reason for
being?
• The situation has been actively kept hidden from students and staff alike, only to be leaked at the last minute, leaving very little time for any positive solutions to be found.
• The trust has removed relevant information from the college library. Documents produced from trust meetings have been taken out of the public domain for 30 years. The only way of accessing these is through the Freedom of Information Act. Ironically, James Cornford is the chair man for the ‘Campaign for the Freedom of Information’! (He is also the chairman of Dartington Trust…)
• Possible abuse of public funding, including massive investment in a new studio complex for lower close: Property which will surely be retained by the trust if Dartington College is forced out.
There are questions to be asked about the exchange of the lease documents, which are believed to still be in the possession of the trust, leaving the college in a difficult position.
Hello beautifal Donna Blitzons - and a Happy New Year to you. I hope you can make it down soon. I am currently knocekd out by Jackson Browne 'Everyman' - delightful LP - 1973!
Any new songs? I love the rendition on your front page! See you soon
