Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes. indeedy.

I have done many things since last I journalised:
Firstly I have changed said journal (this 'kin page what you're gawping at) with a different flavour of template. I did this for the sole reason that a change is as good, if not better, than no change at all.
Secondly I have written and recorded an entry for 'When it snowed'. This is my first Song Fight entry of the year. An odd little ditty it is indeed, with most excellent mouth percussion.
Thirdly, and with a hung head, and a pityfully quivering lower lip I must admit to not (that's NOT) getting my tax return finished in time. FUCK.
Still. Never mind eh.

The years roll by

Grant's Birthday today. Another friend gets a year older. Why we aren't born old and get younger is a mystery I'll never fathom. It seems such a sensible way to go.
Cat seems jaded. Must be the weather. I hate winter weather in England. If it's winter it should be cold and snowy. It should be a chore to get the car started, scraping the ice of the windows in gloves and scarf. Instead it's just bleak, damp and miserable. All this and more to come courtesy of good old 'Global Warming tm'.
Now back to trying to sort out my tax. Hey ho.

Is it me, or is modern poetry CRAP!

I get a lot of email from lists that I've signed up to on the spur of the moment and most of which I bin without reading. The arts list is different. It is full of people asking for, and presumably getting finance for the most 'off the wall' projects. Facinating.
Today I got one from www.poetrylondon.co.uk who are looking for a manager, one day a week. Not that I want the job, but interested in the site non the less I check out the 2004 competition. Not one of the poems stir me, and a lot of them don't seem like poetry at all. I'm left wondering, and slightly bemused.

Aghhhh!

The tenth of January... Again.
There it is then.

The trouble with the media

The trouble with the media is that the more you get to see of a disaster the more inured you become. I'm suffering from this 21st century affliction to the nth degree. Switch on the radio
"The distaster worsens as..." Switch on the TV and more of the same with pictures.
Tonight the admass are fed the faces of orphaned children.
"This little girl is hoping beyond hope her Grandmother (close up of a tear rolling down childs cheek) is still alive (dramatic pause) otherwise she will become one more of the many, many orphans of Phuket."
Though I'm sure it's been said a bazillion times before Phuket is a really unfortunate name. I've wanted to go there for the longest time, and yet now I'm not really bothered if I ever see the place. The magic that was the far East has in my mind vanished for good. Sad but true.

Happy New Year?

I have been 'battered' by television pictures of the Asian Tsunami disaster.
The first couple of days they repeated the 'wave coming in' which was shot from a second floor balcony by a tourist. It showed an idyllic beach scene with the wave coming in over a swimming pool, and a few people running. The casualty figures were estimated to be around 20,000, which is vaguely understandable and horrific.
For the last couple of days they have been repeating aerial shots. These I just can't comprehend. Mile after mile after mile of utter desolation. Looking more like satellite photographs, you can see markings of where villages once were, roads vanish underwater only to reappear in the distance, huge boats far inland...
Casualty figures of over 100,000. It is just devastating, and this from the safety of a living room on the other side of the planet.
We are so insignificant it puts all personal troubles into true perspective.
If I believed in God I would think it is his way of saying "You'd better start bucking up your ideas. Or else".
It makes me ponder the point of it all.

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.
--------------
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?