Post "the Duke"

Well, Always nice to catch up with the Duke ( www.dukespecial.com ) at the bizarre venue the Thekla, in Bristol. I got to go with one of me mates (Philly Blunt) and got in on the guest list with our silly code names (dont ask...). Great gig and caught up with some of the guys as well. 'Foreign slippers' were the support act - lush lush lush! Was going for the EP, but it woz sold out :-( (they MUST have been good for me to go to purchase music AT the gig!).
Inspirational....
I NEED to get writing, but i always struggle for material to write about, but now i actually realise that i have all the material right here in front of me!
So...my plan (coz i am crap at writing or at least, getting started...):

1. Use my note book
2. take it with me
3. Use it.
4. write and play my instruments more.

So, my Upright bass will probably stay (i woz gonna sell it) and i will learn a bit more piano....need to play and pick Mr Nick Hydes brain on this one. Also Mr Alvis has a piano, and i shall travel up and try to use it as a lame excuse to hook up, drink beer and walk the walk together (i'll sort a date out with you Al!...).

Till then, check out the track "I wish i were a fisherman" from the foreign slippers....go on... www.myspace.com/foreignslippers

Later dudeos!

illness...

poo... i have been all sniffily/coldy/snotty/sore/bunged up/sinus pain/headachey etc...for too long now. I even had to fight with the receptionist at the GP just to get an appointment...and even then, it is with the nurse!!

BUT I AM A FLIPPIN NURSE YOU DOZEY...ahem....silly woman!

Nevermind - just give me some antibiotics and ill be on me way!..... we will see!
Life is calming down a bit, just preparing for a beatbox/dance assembly at a local school to follow on from a Beatbox after school club.
Should be cool!...

Lots of ideas floating around as well with regards to my work with INSPIRE Arts... The ideas seem to come better when i am rested.
I took the hint when i fell asleep at the dinner table after i had eaten...Carey was speaking to me, Naomi was answering for me...and i was dreaming!!! Cor luvva duck...!

So now its 2.05AM and i'm still up!!???

WHAT!!??

so....g'nite.

Beatbox meets wrestling!

Yes....a wrestling ring....at Bognor....Butlins....to do what????

BEATBOX of course!

There must have been about 600 people who had come to see the wrestling - all hammed up and full of acting. Still very physical mind you...

So me and a breakdancer called Matt were hanging around backstage - which was strange enough...it consisted of the following:

• 2 Sound engineers (one from UK, one from USofA)
• 2 wrestlers - one smallish Brit, 1 Tall/muscle/bald American
• 6 cheerleaders (4 ready to dance, 2 warming up for the match)

Then....5 minutes before the wrestling, we heard,"..please welcome your very own...URBAN ACADEMY!!...." (done in an american, pro-wrestling voice!). That was our cue to RUN on and climb into the ring!!!! Lush!
I divided the crowd into 3 and got each section to make either a kick drum, hihat or snare when i pointed to them. And whats more...it worked!!
Nice!
Then followed a beatbox demo and some breakdancing.
Just another wierd day in my beatbox world i suppose! It could only have got better if i had to wear a wrestling mask....still..there is always time!

People Vs the system...

Well...lots of crisis stuff in the UK at the mo. What with the banks and financial scene in a bit of a pickle - don't really understand it all, other than i pay lots to live. I know God has got my family & me in the centre of his presence so its all good....but what of the system??


2 things struck me recently.

• The first thing was seeing the G20 protests in London. The crowds and sheer numbers of your everyday, average person with average income (i imagine) and ordinary life. We have to vote, fill out paperwork in triplicate, lobby & ask for change, , ask ask ask...and it gets nowhere. So along come the protests and the PEOPLE, who force the change purely by speaking up. Although, the protests turned violent, there was one thing driving them, and it wasn't just the frustration. It was PASSION. Negative passion, I grant that but PASSION never the less.

• I was watching Gary Go's song "say I am Wonderful" on you tube , and I loved the fact that people (average, ordinary folk) would come together and get away from their stiff upper lip syndrome, and actually open up. But in the opening up, they make themselves vulnerable and real...very refreshing as i think we tend to hear only bad news and have fear of others. To see peoples real thoughts and desires just made the point that we all hurt, all have dreams and are just as bemused at life as the next man.

The point is, we all try to order stuff and figure it out but it aint going to be solved by our money, politics or even nice music. We can try to be happy but if we don't get the first thing right, then we are just pratting around!

The first thing to get right is to be restored by our creator -if we dont have this peace in our soul, then we will feel the repercussions throughout our lives.
I'm preaching at myself as well here, so don't think i have it sorted yet - but i'm trying.

Very trying, some would say.

Man...where does the time go?? Sometimes i have so much space, but am so busy that i cant fit stuff in. At times being organised isn't a strong point - i like to be able to have my calendar in my head but that won't work so i have to resort to other things. Things like diaries etc...
Now, the best online application is undoubtably Googlemail. You get a great calendar which is really powerful, but the advantages for me are:

• you can quick add an event - click the day you want to add an event, and you then get a 'one line box' for your event name and time. Thats it.. if you want to add more, then you can but it's very 'fuss free'
• You can access it via your phone, so its great for online and offline. Just have to use it more now!

Anyway...like my Carey says - "write yourself a list". I try, but even my lists are unorganised!
Life is complicated most of the time for me. I always found that a lot of my life was/is spent waiting. When i was nursing in Stockton, Carey would start earlier than me, so i would get a lift in with her - which meant sitting in our fiat Punto (usually when it was cold or raining!!) in the hospital car park from about 6:50am till 8:30am. This saved me from an even longer & earlier journey on the bus. Good, but lots of hanging around. This seems to have hung with me.
Take my beatboxing at butlins in the school holidays - journying by train and bus..finish at 18:45 and get back home at 00:30ish. It is lots of hanging around. I vividly remember waiting at Taunton station for a train, with 40 mins to wait, with just my walkman to keep me company. Quite lonley really - i never thought i would be doing this when i was 15. How much longer will i be doing this?
So, doom and gloom aside, its time to get a longer term plan together. Not sure how but God's working it out - i just wish he'd tell me a bit more. S'pose i should ask i guess!!!
Anyway....today i have hired a car so it makes the hanging around less.
I cant afford another car - not sure i would want to...too much money and hassle. I like the idea of simplifying life and hopefully the clarity that it would bring. Will that ever happen??? its all questions, questions, questions...