Would you credit it

Sunday/monday
So there I was having worked out a few bits for J$'s 'run faster' and let me say the bits were not too shabby either. Infact I was quite chuffed. Decided to go to bed and like a prune just shut the whole damn studio down by switching off at the plug. Tit.
later on monday
Try to start up and nothing. Tried again... Nada.
Tuesday
So I pm J$ and pull out of the collab. He (gentleman that he is) says no problem.
Sulk a bit, or a lot depending on your scale of sulking. Veg out to much too much TV.
Wednesday (yesterday) pm
Try the computer again and bugger me blind it starts up sweet as a nut. Go figure. I'm pondering the idea I might have neglected to plug something in, but I did nothing different today than yeaterday. Odd.
So the upshot is I might be in 'Pawnbrokers Daughter' or not.
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Having written a 'Pawnbrokers Daughter' I now realise the title is 'Pawnbrokers Stepdaughter' Gah. I'm wondering if a pawnbroker would refer to his stepdaughter as 'stepdaughter', or just 'daughter'?
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This awful Tsunami disaster has me pondering the insignificance of humanity. We are nothing in the face of nature unleashed. Perhaps we, and by we I mean the human race, should begin to be more aware of this fact.

I loath the phone (1 day special)

I go through patches when I loath the phone, and today was one such patch. I'm sitting down t't tube and the damn thing rings. I don't normally mind as the answerphone picks up after three rings, however I had changed it to seven rings on a whim and damn is the phone LOUD!
Nevertheless I leave it and watch TV.
Later I try and call back my sister and she had the temerity to be out!

Is deep Throat senile?

Deep Throat, the 'person' who comes up with the titles at songfight has done it again. Naff would be my word of choice for this weeks titles.
The first was 'Les Anchois' (Muse sighed in a heavily resigned manner). I swiftly eyed title two which was 'Block City'. So the choice was obvious. I hate Anchovies, have never had anything good to say about them. I don't like them in or on food of any variety, and as pets go they suck. Block City didn't stir me either, So no song... Then -
I discovered www.secondlife.com. I would join in a flash, if only my damn pc was up to spec. It seems like a huge leap forward, and fun to boot (I'm not describing what it is, you'll just have to go and check it out for yourselves). Anyhow, to cut a blitheringly boring diatribe short, It took me a while but I finally came up with a lyrical idea, and a tune which works... Too late to record by the deadline however. Sad, but true. Anyway, here are the lyrics for Block City, which I will endevour to record at some point:

What are you going to do with your second life
You’ve got the building blocks to make it right
You could build a town house or an island retreat
A big block city just seems too obscene

Everybody feels the need to try again
Now we have the place to make
A halcyon life that never ends
Everybody wants to transcend the norm
Become the character they dream about
From dusk till dawn

What are you going to do with your second life
Start a shopping mall or an x rated punk rock dive
Become the artist you’ve always wanted to be
Win a songfight? Oh mamma let it be!

After a long sojourn a New Song is in!

'Piece of my heat' is in... I submitted under Kamakura before I remembered Ivy was supposed to be doing it. It was, as usual, rushed. I can 'see' where it will go when I get the time to record it properly (with a band) and though the genre is probably not what I'm best at I... Quite like it! Here then are the lyrics:

Piece of my heat

Hey there cutey pie
Wanna see what we can do if we really try
My pants are on fire just for a glimpse of you

I’ll give you everything I’ve never possessed
I’ll give you half of the medicine chest
I’ll love you faithfully at least ‘til the end of the night

So you wanna come and play with me?
Join in with the fantasy
Come along and taste a piece of my heat
Come and come and come with me
We’ll trip the light so fantastique
Down ‘n’ dirty take a piece of the heat

Hey there sleepy head
Wanna see what we can do if we stay in bed
You’ve got me riding, riding the edge of my mind

I’ll pledge my heart if it will make you stay
You’ve got my soul if you can banish the grey
I’ll love you faithfully at least ‘til the end of time

Muse Strikes!

HA!
I've written a ditty for the next songfight 'Piece of my heat' which I will offer to my good friend Ivy Vee. Hopefully he will pull his finger out and record it tomorrow.
I wish the titles would become a tad more 'inspiring'. These last few weeks they have been, in my most humble opinion, shite.

The First of December yet again...

Does it ever get easier? I'm beginning to fear it doesn't.
Yet another year rolls towards conclusion, yet another year in which, other than writing a few songs I have achieved nothing of any great import. It makes me wonder quite what the point of it all is. I used to be a thoroughbred panglossian (cheers dude, you know who you are) but now I seem to have become a jaded old fuck, without any of the benefits that should accompany such a grandiose title.
Life seems to be made up soley of struggling to pay endless bills. I remember, in odd moments of lucidity, times when I had fun. These now seem to be fewer and much, much further between.
Perhaps all will become clear... Then again I won't hold my breath.
Even Cat seems slothful and moribund these days, and she's probably a more accurate reflection of my state of mind than anything else.
Hey ho. Onwards and upwards.
I will write another song this year if I have to beat myself over the head with a mallet.

More Blogger Trouble

I move my blogger hosting from blogspot to an ftp server. Then I moved it back again... My entire blog is there but won't publish. Or perhaps I should say I can't work out how to publish it.

----- Edit-------
It's been pointed out that the above is meaningless as it appears 'live' as it were. However when I began this blog Cat persuaded me to sign a contract that states (in a nutshell) 'I will never delete a post for whatever reason'. So here the above remains to point out to the world quite how daft I am.

Oh... Here's a goody. Check it out...
www.fictionette.com has a short story competition: 2,500 words with a deadline of 30th November. Winner gets £500 of books or £300 cash.
I am entering.

Finally!

OK. I'll admit it. I lost my password to blogger. Not only did I lose the password but my logon name as well. I have been trying sporadically over the last three weeks to blog and couldn't. Damn frustrating, and to cap it all now I have finally remembered I'm suffering a distinct lack of anything to say. Except I'm back...

Addendum

So last post I was a miserable git, this one I'm happier.
The cat vanished for two days. High angst and wailing with muttering on the side. She was found on the window ledge of the neighbours house. Lots of bonding with people I don't really want to talk to let alone know (the neighbours) ensued. This involved carrying heavy ladders, oh's and ah's as I nearly dropped the beast, and congratulatory comments.
Back to hating them all, Until today when I spent time driving a mini digger (BIG BIG FUN) and 'Doing' the road.
'Doing' the road is a bi-annual occupation. Simon (No.4) plays scoutmaster, and the rest of us are the pack. We buy 20 tonnes of road plannings and spread them as best as we can up the drive (400 metres). What I would dearly love to know is where the last 20 tonnes have gone in the interim? The road doesn't get any bigger, or higher. Perhaps they evaporate. Or get stolen by tarmac loving pixies... It's a point I ponder from time to time.
Anyhow...
I got Jim Tyrrrell's cover in on time, and he seems to like it. Of course then we all got a weeks extention and I'm thinking of re-recording the harmonies and tweaking a bit.
I entered a song for 'Cold Sweat' which has had mixed reviews, though Bolio seems to like it a lot. I have written an entry for 'As icons of my youth fall silent' which I might or might not get finished in time, and might or might not enter under another name...
So all in all I'm in a more positive frame of mind, and, and I haven't taken any mind altering substances to be here.
I'm starting beginning a project with Kapitano called 'The K Twins'. Must get my act together on this, as he's already demo'd one stellar track 'Does She'. His voice is getting better too, so I'll have to be careful or I stand to look at my laurels!

Torn

Another pointless self recriminating blog entry:
I have a great song to record for a 'Coverfight'.
' Between the Rain' by Jim Tyrrell is the sort of music I love, the sort of music that I could perform well, and yet can I 'get it together' to learn this track well enough to record it? Can I fuck.
I would really like to know why.
And while I'm at it I want to know why I have spent four hours sitting here dicking about in a truly pointless manner rather than achieving something concrete, or at the very least catching up on some sleep.
I did achieve one thing however. I downloaded 'ACID lite' for the PC. This looks like it could be a really useful bit of software... This is of course dependant on my sorting out the PC, and if I get the urge to do that in the next millennium I will amaze myself...
I am supposed to be writing and recording an album with Kapitano shortly. I am on the one hand looking forward to this a lot, and on the other don't really give a damn.
The best laid plans are often thwarted by lassitude, and I am lassitude personified at present.
It's raining outside. Heavily.

'I'm With Steve Now' Pt 2

I spent all day knowing exactly what I should be doing with this bloody song, and being unable to achieve it.
Eveything impedes me:
The room I work in is messy, so I should clean it... Can't be fucked.
I should have spent time 'doing' the garden... ditto
I should have written a long letter to a client, but I couldn't be fucked to do that either. QED I felt, and still feel guilty. Infact mentally it's taking me straight back to my school days where I spent more time coming up with excuses for not doing an assignment, than it would have taken to do the assignment in the first place.
Am I odd? I don't know. Probably.
I've come up with a resonable explanation for being the way I am. It's very simple and goes like this... I think of myself like an onion (btw it works for everyone).
I was born as this little 'nub' of spirt, thing, soul: call it what you will. Each day that goes by, each experience we have adds a layer to this onion.
Ergo the older you get, the more layers have been added, and the harder it is to reach back and connect with the 'nub' that is the real you.
At present I feel like I'm about to be chopped up and added to some peculiar sauce.
I do know that I have to do something about the state I'm in before it gets any worse. The question is what. Cat has no answer.

I've uploaded the finished 'I'm With Steve Now' so at least I don't have to worry about that. It does piss me off that it's not where I want it to be, still in the grand scheme of things does it really matter? Mediocraty rules with Apathy as his queen.

I'm with steve now - Songfight

They do come up with some strange titles. However I have this one sussed and I'm Reggaefying it (perhaps a new word for the OED). I should say white man's reggae, as I'll never get that true island feel in a month of sundays.
Kapitano turned me on to Godfrapp's 'Black Cherry', and it has totally blown me away... It's 'Fantastical'. So I have decided to change my style for a while. To get away from the usual pap I write and 'into' something else.
With the fates willing Kapitano and I are hopefully going to write and record an ep soon.

Tempus Fugit

So much has happened since I last put finger to keyboard and blogged.
Some good things, some bad, and yet I'm still around to tell the tale.
Funny that. I went through a patch were I thought the eaiest way out of the many problems this planet chucks at us is to remove yourself from it. As I write I think that I'm probably wrong. You have to face the day to day shit with girded loins and a large wacking brick, and on the odd second off, count all the things you have to be grateful for. It seems on reflection I have more positives than negatives at present.
I have made a new friend. A friend is a rare thing. You don't have many friends in your life, and to make a new one is something to celebrate.
Cat agrees in her usual laconic way.
As far as songwriting goes I've been both a busy and a very lazy beaver. written a lot, though none have been finished to any degree of personal satisfaction.
Songfight continues and I've now benn involved in 11 fights on my own, 2 with Kapitano, one 1 hour sidefight, and submitted 3 entries to another sidefight entitled 'the one'.
I'll try to keep this blog more current from now on, more as a personal excercise in discipline, than from any hope that it will be read.
There it is then.

What a bloody day it's been

Need I say more?

Teaching Dawg New Tricks

Cat is impressed. I've got a 6.00pm to teach Dawg some html. Cat thinks I should teach Dawg something else entirely (and unprintable), but is satisfied that I will bring her home snacks.
I, on the other hand, am stuck and bereft of ideas for 'Twelve Monkeys'. Damn stupid song title...

'Twelve Monkeys'

Songfight 4 - Title:'Twelve Monkeys'
This time I'm in collaboration with a writer called Kapitno. He writes Electonica, and is creating the Backing, whilst I lyricise (like dancercise but not), vocalise and quite possibly harmonise. then magic will happen and...
Cat is not impressed.

Bloody Banks... and Computers

Nice woman at bank was confused when her computer refused me a loan. "You've got an excellent account sir, I can't understand it!"
Neither can I.
Computers are THE power now. Fuck the 'Terminator' concept that they will become sentient sometime soon. They don't have to be sentient to rule, we just have to invest enough data and voila... No loan for you Sir.
Gates might well be thought of as a nerd, but he's a damn clever one. Either that or he had some damn fine ju ju on his side.

3rd Songfight entry

Submitted to my third fight yesterday. A song with the title 'Talk about your feelings'.
I am obsessed at present with the 'Divine Comedy', a band that is simply brilliant. Cat thinks they play 'old people's music', but what does she know. Bloody Cat. Anyway, to cut a potentially waffling and long diatribe shorter, I wrote 'Talk about your feelings' in the style of one of my favourite Divine Comedy tracks... The sections all work individually, but I'm not so sure if they do holistically (man). Only time will tell.
Songfight critics are very odd ,and,very helpful. There is a huge disparity in points of view, with some liking some bits, others other bits. Like life on a microcosmically grand scale. No totlal negatives yet though, which must be good.
Note to self: You can't please all of the people all of the time... So don't fucking try.
I was chuffed to have submitted to three fights in a row, however I've found that the record is 32 consecutive fights! Phenomenal stuff, considering that generally publishing deals stipulate twelve songs a year!

I played a couple of songs at a pub in Hove (Sussex) on Sunday night. One of those open night things David turned me onto, run by a chap called Clive. Good fun, but a long way to go for two numbers. It was a bit like live kareoke. I was amazed at the lack of original material (especially after hanging out at Songfight for a while). Why cover other peoples songs if you don't have something different to add to them? There were some good musicians, but only two others that played their own material. Very odd.
Afterwards I had several people say how much they liked my material, and one woman Veritably gushed. I'm never sure how to take praise. Criticism I handle well, but praise stumps me. I keep thinking 'what do they want? There must be an ulterior motive here'. I consulted with Cat, but she, just gave me the tail.
She's becoming a bit introverted of late.

*** Latest***Songfight entry in!

Well there it is. My second Songfight entry is in under the title "Take a Pill". Why not check it out and vote?
Because I'm the only prune reading this.
Oh, I'm sure there are more out there!
What, more prunes?
Ummm...
(shouts loudly) Helloooooo...
...a deafening silence.

P.S. Dawg has good sense of music, much to Cat's chagrin. During a lull in hostilities Dawg turned her on to an English songsmith called Lois Turpin. Seriously good. I think she only told me to incite jealousy. Needless to say it worked. He has a voice that is reminiscent of Negro spirituals, though he is a white English man. Odd who God favours... Oh Lordy, can you gimme Hallelujah!

Balls!

Balls! Two numbers on each ticket (I was really hoping for the big shamozz, all six, but would have been happy with five). However, as they say in certain quarters, "Sweet Fanny Adams". Why they say this when everyone knows what it means is a mystery, But you get the gist.
I haven't won anything in... Sweet Fanny Adams (lose 'Sweet', and substitute 'ages' for 'Fanny').
BALLS to your balls. Never again! Do you hear me! Never again!..

Until the next time ^ (';') ^

Lottery

Having just published the previous entry I spied two lottery tickets. One from yesterday, and another from last wednesday. It suddenly stuck me I could be sitting here with a bit of paper in front of me worth several million pounds... Or nothing at all.
Money troubles over? Or not?
It's a mildly exciting way to head for bed. A bit like Christmas eve... Has Santa got me the action doll with pump action virgina or did Santa stay too long in the bar with the elves? See what I mean? Millionaire? Not a millionaire?

Of course if I was a techno nerd I could check on the lottery site... Byeeeeee

Why oh why?

Oh why is it always so late at night when I get the urge to rabbit? Why can't I be normal and go to be at a normal time?
This of course begs the question 'what is normal?' This for me (brain the size of a pea) is far too much of a philosophical question to ask, especially at this time in the A.M.
On another more sanguine note, I have recorded most of my 'Take a Pill' entry for Songfight this week. I think it will end up being rather good (humility personified), though very off genre for me; and because of it quite exciting. Thanks to my super duper 10m phono lead I nabbed a couple of samples from 'Pulp Fiction'. Apologies, in advance to Mr Tarantino. If you want a wee challenge see if you can guess what the song will be about. Duuuh.

Cat said to say hi. She would have done it herself but is far too busy snoozing. Lazy damn thing.

Songwriter's dilemma

What do you do when what you do is not going where you want it to?
Do you stop or carry on if your muse has fled and the cat has gone?
Should one rest when a deadline looms and hope your muse will return quite soon?

Bollocks to it. I'm off to bed... Perchance to dream of faraway lands made available by the largesse of the Lottery... Please oh please your noble Camelotness, just a small jackpot would do. Or failing that, any wee sum you fancy to wing my way.

P.S. Cat doesn't understand lottery, except when I tell her snacks will become abundant.

Today I'll 'Take a pill'

Yaroo! Songfight two. It's got to be in by 9.59am pst on the 27th. This gives me longer as I'm gmt. Is this cheating I ask? But no, how can it be? Alas with Concorde having shuffled off it's mortal coil, there's no way to make good use of time differences except on the net.

The title for this week are: Red 'Take a Pill', Blue 'Fight the Sea' and Green 'A very unlikely occurence.' I was thinking you could have a lyric that goes:
'I'm gonna take a pill to fight
the sea sickness that I feel,
but It's a very unlikely occurrence
That it will work'.
But where would I put it? Could I in fairness submit it to all three?

So assuming a German accent: "Zis veek ve shall be doinge 'Take a pill'." I've written it. Today I'll record it, and tomorrow I vill rule zee verld!

Too much John Cleese, or perhaps not enough. Watched 'The Holy Grail again last night. Cat didn't understand a lot of the humour, but was entranced with the wooden rabbit. So entranced that she had to go and catch one for herself.

Imagine the dead of night, the quiet browsing of the web, the clicking of the mouse. And then LOUDLY, from just under your seat you hear 'SCRuuuuNch!' Leaping up, (as you do when terrified at three in the a.m.) Cat is staring nonchalantly back, whilst devouring the hindquarters of butchered baby bunny.

Cat does this a lot. She says it helps the farmers with the Rabbit problem. I say 'Balls! It upsets my Muse (which it does). I then proceed to remove said bunny, Cat looks peeved, then sulks.

A litter bit of that

Off to obtain litter for cat.
It truly pisses me off that I have to pay for them to crap.
They go outside. They have a garden, lots of glorious fields nearby. But no. They troll about all day, doing what they damn well please, and then they come back to use the litter tray... WHY?
Grizzle bloody grizzle.
"well if you don't want to look after the cat, you shouldn't have the cat"
Yes. Alright already. But why do they have to crap indoors?

Meow'dle purr-avists' rule?

She's at it again. Huffing. She found out (though I tried really hard to hide it) I had been giving IT lessons to Dawg.
Not keen on Dawg at all. Though her time from Dawg zero to tree top is improving rapidly. Might be the weather, though I think on reflection it's more likely the slathering drool snapping jaws that do it.

Cat is miffed (again)

Cat is terribly miffed. Sitting by the mixing desk she yowls at me. I however have the perfect solution to this problem. Headphones. Good things headphones, they keep out all sorts of unwanted noise!
So she sulks off in a huff (cats do huff, although noted journals claim otherwise).

Cat would like me to add here that she thinks I spend far too much time 'Up Myself'. This is her way of saying she doen't approve of computers, mixing desks, and a lot of the time me.

First blog. Oooh I'm proud

Well hey. I'm blogging at last.
I've heard so much about this, created blogs for others (under the disguise of a day job), and now I'm finally doing it. Well when I say I'm, I really mean we're, because cat has driven me to do this. She seems interested in everything bloggish, and will be co-writing this.

So an introduction is in order. Dear blog, I'm Kamakura, a songwriter and have just had my first SONGFIGHT. The title was 'The Puppet's Dream'.

This is a really neat & cool (for the valley crowd) site for songwriters and new music aficionado's. They post three songtitles each week. You pick one and write, record, mix and upload it within the week. Then the battle begins. Big fun. You vote, you critique, you slang, you bicker. It beats the hell out of vegging out to the tube. A bit like Eastenders without the script. Or so cat tells me.

Anyway. I'm off to procure snacks for cat, before she starts up... Again.