Luv Esther kicks off!

LUV ESTHER (click here) has started.
Last night we were in a fantastic venue in Perth (Scotland). I have lots of stories, but i shall spare you them as most of them have a "you had to be there" feel to them.
It was good, and we all shared a good moment with the questions, "Wot was the worst point of the gig and the best point?"
My answers were as follows (if you are interested):

• Worst = Well... i cant actually remember the first thing i said, but i do seem to recall that during one of the scenes, one where i have to basically show my hatred of one of the other characters (played by Rob) because he takes the glory and honour that I should have got, All i could hear in my 'in-ear monitors' was Rico laughing and giggling! Its very strange because i can hear him but I'm probably the only one who can. I thought he was doing it on purpose to put me off (as a bit of an 'in joke'), but he was just acting the part as i realised he was on stage next to me. I think its just strange because it felt as if he was whispering in my ears which was a starnge concept!
  
• Best = The guys who held some responsibility for organising and sorting us motley crew out. People like Laura, Craig and Sarah. Sarah deserves a special mention as it was her Birthday while we were away and she is always such a powerhouse of activity but isn't afraid to get stuck in with things. Things like the crewing after the show.

We have a massive set and its big and heavy (like my wallet. Ahem....sorry...dreaming again...), and so to go with this, we have a fantastic crew! They even let Sarah and me join in with them to 'crew it' after the show. Sarah's done it before and she kind of helped me find my feet when i started (not like i am a pro at this stage) so i am grateful that she did.
The thing is, is that its actually so much fun doing things like that because of the teamwork and just general jokes that go on - it makes up for the long days etc....

Anyway... ill get some pics up soon! So till then...

Dream
Create
Live

(Someone once told me....)

More Graff from an old piece book!...

WoW!

Wot a find!
It was in my shed, in a box, from our house move 3 years ago!
I knew it was around somewhere but i wasn't sure where!

So.... a few posts for ya - retro style!

First.... an airbrush piece with marker outline.

Typical....the old name thing again!
T.U.T (at bottom right) stood for "The Urban Terrorists".
That was the crew i was part of - we would get out and about and get the name up!




Now...."fade out".
A term used when colouring the piece (or doing a fill in).
Just an outline, but a lot of piece books would only contain the outlines. Usually you would know the colour scheme before you got out and painted it somewhere.

So...more to follow, but i will soon share some of the hints, tips and tricks we would use when getting up (painting a piece).

Until then Amigos.....

happiness is 9-5

well...work...wot can i say??

I used to think that it was a "product of the fall", but after reading a few books ("Work-prison or place of destiny?" etc...etc...) i had changed my mind.
I have been on a journey of sorts, and the more i have embarked on it, the more sense it has made.

I got into setting up TEEM180 to not only teach Beatboxing, nut to use it to facilitate team building. I started the journey after attending a "team building" day at an NHS trust where i was working at the time.

Terrible.
We were told off for at least 1.5hrs, because (apparently) we didn't support our illustrious manager. I found out that the facilitator worked for the NHS trust, and basically was making sure we were all singing the same 'tune' (i.e: We love the Trust, we will put up and shut up, please use us and abuse us etc...). I realized that actually we as a team / department, weren't being invested in for our own good at all.
So...i started the journey into teams and work.

The most recent book that sums it all up is this. You can read it free online and it is pure fun and common sense (ok..and a few other things!..) but it is brilliant!

Sometimes i don't understand all this business lingo, but when you break it down into real terms, you realise that its not just for the professionals, but that you can improve things at at a real level.

When you break it down, its really some values that i would call "Kingdom Values".
As a Christian, people think that Jesus was this white, middle class, wet guy who was utterly religious. Actually, the values and the way that he did things were (and still are) absolutely Radical. If he did the same things today, he would make front page news and I'm sure you would love him or (sort of) hate him, coz he would disrupt and turn things upside down!
He said mad things like 'go the extra mile' for people, and to love others like you love yourself.

When you apply his teachings and lifestyle to things like business, you can actually see that to invest in people, as opposed to making as much money as possible (at others expense) isn't such a bad thing after all. The person who feels invested in, then feels like they have some worth and something to contribute to the business. The business then goes from strength to strength etc....and so on....

Anyway, all i can say is READ IT!

Laters.

Art and inspiration

Ok... i gotta admit that i should blog more - why?... well, i used to think it woz a bit pointless (unless my loyal fans demanded it!..) but now i find that it not only helps me understand my thoughts and the process behind whatever it is that i do, but it also adds to the general pot of creativity that can be found on the internet.
I was in London (boo...hiss...) recently and came acroos a great book called "Art by people" which was fantastic. It was really inspirational, and sparked my creative process off again so i have digged out my big canvass and it is ready to paint. I want it to be good as the canvass isn't just a knocked together thing, but is a labour of love and uses parts and pieces that have a story to them. Take the actual canvass material, it belonged to Careys (the missus!...) Grandfather, who kept in the back of his car. When the Car broke and went off to the big scrap heap in the sky, i rescued the material and made it in to a canvass. It was actually in the tool compartment next to the spare wheel, and it was really clean and nicely folded...I think that older folk take care of things better as they probably understand how hard it can be to get hold of items when they are scarce (remember World war 2?..). Today, we are to used to getting 'fast food', 24hr supermarkets and internet shopping - it all goes to making us a throw away society.

Right.... rant over.
Sorry.

But it means that the canvass has more worth than just a piece of material i purchased in haste so i can paint on it. It makes me nervous just thinking about it, but i am excited about it as well because it reminds me that actually, what i 'bring to the table' is also of worth and has stories behind it too. How to convey it though....thats the tricky part.

Anyway, more posts to follow with this theme of inspiration to come, and ill share some of my most influential material to date - its all good stuff!