If you’ve wondered what’s been going on at The Third Half over the last couple of weeks, the short answer is: quite a lot, and not much of it fits neatly together.
We’ve talked music, soil, cheese, homelessness, grassroots venues, punk and what happens when life takes you somewhere you weren’t necessarily expecting to go. Which, thinking about it, is probably what holds it all together.
Heather Manson
Heather and I went to school together in Airdrie. Our lives then went in rather different directions, before several decades later, The Third Half brought us back together.
Her story takes us from Scotland to America, via dance, Ironman and Street Soccer Scotland, and is a pretty good example of why I started doing these conversations in the first place. You think you know somebody’s story. Usually you know a tiny bit of it.
Ken Deeks and Boycott Your Bed
Ken joined me to talk about Boycott Your Bed and the work of Action for Children. One of the clips looks at a very simple question: where does the money actually go?
Behind the fundraising are children and families facing circumstances most of us would struggle to imagine. Sometimes The Third Half is about interesting people doing interesting things. Sometimes, hopefully, it can help shine a little extra light on something important too.
Fal and The Indestructibles
We’ve had Americana, indie and classical composers, so it felt like time for some punk. Fal is the lead singer of The Indestructibles, and this conversation was great fun: music, attitude, lyrics and the world as seen from a band who aren’t particularly interested in smoothing off all the edges. They’re also our next MOTM.
Julie Cheyney, St Jude’s Cheese
“What is your cheesemaker doing at 3am?” Quite possibly making cheese.
Julie Cheyney makes the wonderful St Jude’s Cheese, and our conversation went into the extraordinary amount of work, care and judgement behind something most of us simply pick up, eat and say “that’s lovely” about. There is farming, craft, food and sustainability in there too. A Third Half staple, obviously.
Mark and the Music Venue Trust
Small music venues are where artists learn, where audiences discover them, and where an enormous part of our musical culture begins. They’re also under huge pressure.
I spoke to Mark from Music Venue Trust about why these places matter, what we risk losing and what can actually be done about it. Given how much music has somehow found its way into The Third Half, this one felt particularly close to home.
Alex and Generation Soil
And then, soil. Although after talking to Alex from Generation Soil, “just soil” doesn’t really cover it.
One teaspoon of healthy soil can contain billions of microorganisms. Under our feet is this extraordinary living ecosystem which affects food, biodiversity, climate and ultimately us. I knew embarrassingly little about it before we talked. I know slightly more now.
Fyfe Dangerfield
And most recently, Fyfe Dangerfield. Yes, that Fyfe Dangerfield.
Guillemots, songwriter, musician and, as I discovered, someone very happy to wander off down all sorts of conversational rabbit holes. We talked about music, creativity, Channels May Change, what happens to songs once you let them out into the world, and plenty more besides. Our little Waterlogged clip gives you a taste. The full conversation is coming.
Third Half Live
And on top of all that, next week is our inaugural anniversary event, Third Half Live. A year of these conversations, in one room, for one evening.
It’s all organised and ready to go, which is a bit of a worry in itself.....
So there you have it
Heather, Ken, Fal, Julie, Mark, Alex, Fyfe. Music, football, cheese, charity, punk, grassroots venues, soil.
There was never really a grand editorial plan for The Third Half. The idea was simply to find interesting people, have proper conversations and see where they went. A year or so in, I think I’m rather glad we didn’t narrow it down.
Because - as Fyfe said before we talked for two hours - you never quite know where the gold is going to come from.