Author: Cole Moreton

Award-winning interviewer, writer and broadcaster.

“Beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth …”

Seven songs found or re-found in the last seven days, just for fun and the sake of it. This latest weekly list is a little more mellow than the last, or melancholy if you prefer. I do. The lonesome note. A wonderful song about Samson; the aching and longing of a tune you may have heard on Wallander; Luke Sital-Singh’s brand new cover of a Travis banger; Michael Stipe and 1 Giant Leap listening to the silence; Cornershop in a new light; Buddy Rich’s 12-year-old daughter stepping up to the mic for the first time and Sheila Chandra’s chilling take on a very old song. Love is a killing thing, indeed. (That’s Hedy Lamarr in Samson and Delilah by the way. She was also a brilliant inventor who helped create the technology behind mobile phones. Fact.)

Have a listen …

My friend George Luke has a show on Chiltern Voice, playing music from around the world on a Sunday night. It’s really fantastic. You can listen to it here. Inspired by that, for the love of music and the fun of it, I’ve started putting together a weekly playlist of seven songs I’ve found (or re-found) in the last seven days. Here’s this week’s playlist featuring a bit of Doors at the disco, a Welsh language singer making a samba record with musicians in Rio, Afrobeat master Tony Allen going all James Bond followed by a track he made with Fela Kuti and the great drummer Ginger Baker, who died today; then there’s a song about love making you want to blow up like an atom bomb, followed by a real (as far as I know) recording of a radio advertisement from the Fifties, telling American kids what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. Duck and cover. That one’s pretty disturbing. Anyway, here it is. Any suggestions for next week? Please do comment and share.

Should the water be up to the windows?

No, of course not. But there I was, singing a song on board a boat on the Thames when I saw the water was undoubtedly, unnervingly, half way up the glass. People were looking worried. They were looking for the exits. I was worried. Wouldn’t you have been? Look at it …

Thanks to Helen Daniels for the picture. This was an alarmingly literal response by the river to the words of the song: “Let your love roll down, like the wave turn.”

We were on the Tamesis Dock, a barge venue moored opposite the House of Parliament, on the day of one of those big crisis votes. No metaphors there about a sinking ship, oh no. All I could think of was to keep singing, with The Light Keepers, the band we formed after David Perry and I wrote a set of songs in response to the novel. Anyway, we didn’t drown. The windows held fast. Stories were told, drink was taken. Fun was had.

There are more events coming up, could you get to one of them? It would be good to see you there.

I promised free stuff, so I’m giving away a pair of tickets to each one, to anyone who can show they have reviewed the book on Amazon, GoodReads or anywhere else. I’ll pick the winners in a week’s time, so you’ve got until then to stick something up somewhere and get in touch. With a bit of luck we’ll stay dry …

Retford, Saturday October 12: Pies Peas and Performance with Paul Cookson

Preston, Friday October 18: The Larder

Salford, October 19: Sacred Trinity

Birling Gap, Saturday November 9: National Trust centre at one of the actual locations of the story.

Eastbourne, Thursday December 5: performance in collaboration with visual artists and album launch at the Towner gallery.

See you there!

Come and say hello!

I’d love to see you at one of the events I’ve got coming up, where I’ll be reading from The Light Keeper, telling the real-life stories behind my debut novel and singing some new songs written to go with it.

PUBLICATION DAY IS AUGUST 15 AND YOU CAN PRE-ORDER HERE

These are the other dates, do please come and say hello:

Friday August 9 at 1.30pm

Words Pavillion at the Firle Vintage Fair, hosted by Much Ado Books

Thursday, August 15 at 7pm

Publication day party at DC1 Café, Eastbourne SOLD OUT

Wednesday, August 21 at 7.30pm

Kino-Teatr, St Leonard’s On Sea, Ted-style 15-minute talk as part of The Bavard Bar

Sunday, August 25 at 5.45pm

Greenbelt Festival, first ever full performance of The Light Keeper readings and songs

Friday, August 30 at 7pm

The Light Keeper at the Wish Tower, a rare chance to see and hear stories and songs inside an historic venue built to defend the South Coast from Napoleon! Tickets are free but numbers are very limited because of the building, so get in quickly for this one.

Thursday, September 5 at 7pm

London launch of The Light Keeper with stories and songs on a moored boat in Vauxhall. Free entry by ticket only. DETAILS SOON

Friday, September 13 at noon

The Light Keeper in the Lantern Room of the Belle Tout lighthouse, exclusive performance for a dozen mailing list members only, sign up here for the chance to win tickets and/or a room for two at the lighthouse that night.

Saturday, September 14 at noon

Waterstones, Hastings, Meet The Author free event with readings, stories and songs

Saturday, October 12 at 7.30pm

Pies, Peas and Performance event hosted by Paul Cookson in Retford

More to be announced soon. If you’d like me to come and talk, read and sing in your front room, church, pub, club, venue or stadium, get in touch colemoreton@gmail.com

Would you like to stay here?

My first novel The Light Keeper is a story of love and hope, grief, faith and longing.

A young woman called Sarah stands on the brink, arms open wide as if to let the wind carry her away. She’s come to the cliffs to be alone, to face the truth about her life and to work out what to do, Her lover Jack is searching, desperate to find her before it is too late. But Sarah doesn’t want to be found. Not yet. Not by him. And someone else is seeking answers up here where the seabirds soar – a man known only as the Keeper, living in an old lighthouse right on the edge of a four-hundred-foot drop. He is all too aware that sometimes love takes you to the edge …

The book comes out on August 15 but you can pre-order a copy here at a special discount or sign up to the mailing list and get the first three chapters to read immediately, for free.

Now the lovely people at the Belle Tout lighthouse are letting me give away a night’s luxury bed and breakfast there for two people, again for free. It’s a stunning location on a cliff in the beautiful landscape near Beachy Head in East Sussex, close to the Seven Sisters. You will never have stayed anywhere like it. And this is the setting for much of the book, so you will have a sense of being right inside the story.

I’ll be reading from the book, telling the true tales behind it and singing some of the songs written to go with the book, in an exclusive event at lunchtime on Friday 13 September. This is in the Lantern Room of the lighthouse, with spectacular 360 degree views of the sea and the Downs. It’s exclusively for members of the mailing list and there are only a dozen places available, so you have to sign up for a chance to win a pair. We’ll choose them at random (by number rather than name) on publication day, and also select the person who will be offered the chance to stay with a plus one that same night, in a lovely room with a spectacular view. If you win and you can’t come, I’ll give you a signed copy of the book and arrange a private reading at a date to suit you.

So if you want the chance to come, put your name down here. You’ll get those first three chapters immediately. And if you want to pre-order a copy (for four quid off) go here.

Thanks for reading, and hope to see you at the lighthouse.

Love and strength,

Cole

www.thelightkeeper.org