Jazz, Bones & Groove II

Diary Like Entries below. Beware of Boredom!

2006-06-21T19:21:00.000Z

What a week or two huh? For me the past 2 or 3 weeks have been my most busy for ages and i thrived on it. Unfortunately right at the momento is the comedown, back to the general day to day normality but still attempting to keep up on a few important things in my life.

Lets start from the start huh??

Highlights Involve:
[interspersed with all this is generally me working 9 hours at the shop everyday/nearly every day also!!]

My memory lasts most recently starting at about the 29th May. May Day bank Holiday. Gig on Kew Green with the James Hayes Sextet for the charity cricket match. Great fun had. All weather endured. The fabulous one, known by the name of Tori was by my side, watchin us play takin some snaps and generally enjoying the sunshine when it was about. Finishing the evening off with a great japanese meal and some Da Vinci Code movie action!

31st May which was Paul Pace's birthday celebrations at The Spice Of Life. A fun night, hanging out with Mr Liddard, catchin a bit of the legendary HARRY BECKETT playing some trumpet along with others including MICHAEL GARRICK! What an amazing pianist. Great stuff. I was supposed to play a bit but had actually not been able to cart my horn with me that day.....slight disappointment cos id have liked to have been part of the party proper!

3rd June, saturday. Afternoon rehearsal for my band FUERZA. Went pretty well, but lacked some vital members' attendances due to unforeseen circumstances. Still, needed to be done and went fine. Was excited to be heading out in the evening with my girlfriend Tori and my flatmates (whom happen to be some of my closest mates) up to jazzcafe. SNOWBOY & THE LATIN SECTION + Alcohol = a good night had by all. Unfortunately T had to drive, but still was a tops evening. Catching up with Paul and dancing around like idiots is always a good wind down!!!

4th June involved the first rehearsal for a show i am doing called PARADE. a fairly recent musical, kinda strange storyline which i am sure anyone interested will go and google. A Hard blow considering little sleep night before and knwoing that there is an LJC Big Band gig in the evening down in whitechapel. Gig went well. Good fun.

8th June, thursday. Obviously the day of my band FUERZA's most recent incarnation gig at the spice. SUpported by another fabulous band, The Definitions. Great fun band, danceable. Played flugel and bone on that. Then a break. THEN the night had finally arrived and was time for FUERZA to play. CARL ORR playing guitar. Amazing guest spots. Sightreading the pad perfectly. And they aint easy charts! Really did vibe. About 90 people down the spice. Pretty good really. Slightly disappointing to see the lack of LJC people there, but thats just the way gigs go. Cant make evryone turn up! I am still vibing from that gig and am really feeling inspired to get the studio happening and record the stuff. Wanna write two or 3 more newies so we can pick and choose a bit. Stay tuned for the news of the album!! Hopefully ready for me to be able to take to australia with me on a visit in december!!

10th/11th June, Saturday/Sunday - saw the first england match in the world cup. Also my first day of a week off from work! I decided to drive up to my cousins place in Milton Keynes for the arvo footy watching/BBQ action. Good to sit in the sun after the game with a beer or two. Then drove round to Tori's folks' place in Brackley area, managing to bypass all the traffic for the british grand prix at silverstone! Good laughs and food and fun had out there, satying over and then having to head back to london the next day. Unfortunately, leaving at 4pm was a bad idea considering the traffic from the race onto the m40. Pain in the arse really, in the heat too and making me late for a trio gig at Sams Brasserie in Chiswick with my good mate James Hayes. Exhausting couple of days but great fun!

Monday 12th was a horn sectional for a gig the following night. Me, Aaron Liddard and Phil Beverley. Jammed out the parts for 3 tunes and then got home late! Great Larks.

Tuesday 13th saw me grab the car to pick up the sunglasses id left at the pub in whitechapel at the LJC gig. Tori stayed home to do some Pianistic stuff. Back for a late brunch and then straight into town for soundcheck at PIZZA EXPRESS SOHO for the gig horn section with MALENE MORTENSEN. What a great singer. Fabulous. And the band?? Easily one of the best ive ever played with ever. And they are all about our age. Wowsers. Fabulous fun. Head home soon after to pack.

Wednesday 14-Saturday 17th PARIS TRIP with Tori. What a fucking great time was had. Still reeling from it. Amazing. Gorgeous weather. Great place to stay. I absolutely loved my time there. Musee D'Orsay. Eiffel Tower. The Seine. Montmatre. Sacre Coer. The music. We went and saw the trio BFG. Emmanuel Bex. Glenn Ferris and Simon Goubert. Amazingly good. GLENN FERRIS is awesome. Everyone should know of him!! Amazing. What a great few days. to be able to share the experiences with someone truly so very special to me. Perfect....

Saturday 17th, eurostar back into waterloo arrival at quarter to 5 having to jet home and get out to a gig with ruths band hoping to be in beckensfield by 7pm. Stressy stressy rush rush. But indeed we made it by half 7. Hang around in realisation that i wasnt really needed to play till 10pm!!!! Anywho, fun and larks but feeling exhausted and i had a flu. uggghhh.

Sunday 18th June. Malene is staying at our flat. SO 5 of us in there. Wowsers. Warm and cramped. Fun though. Good larks. LJC gig today at spice of life. Yeah, gig went ok. Not great. But it cant always be killing can it. End of holidays. Back to work next day.

Fucking great times had though!!!

=O)

Stay tuned for news soon again!!

Peace out cats.

Gig Post Mortem

2006-06-10T09:49:00.000Z

Click the title above to read about the gig that was fabulously performed on thursday of last!

Paul Pace, promoter of spice jazz had this to say:

'Ecstatic Latin jazz groove caldron overlaid with 'phat' pumping riffs from the wild men of the bristling horn section ala Tower of Power

with a smattering of hot metal guitar :
a joyful blast from young vibrant band to shake up the London scene.'

FUERZA 8th June 2006 @ SPICE JAZZ Soho

2006-05-23T15:46:00.000Z

Due to other circumstance, FUERZA will be featuring the un-missable

CARL ORR

on guitars and effects and other craziness!

A Typical London Morning

2006-03-08T09:43:00.000Z

Morning all.

Why am i in such a decent sort of mood this morning??? Why???

I mean, i nearly got killed by many umbrellas, the bus was taking ages, too crowded, its raining, miserable sort of weather, I am tired, exhausted and should be a fucking surly grumpy shmuck like usual. BUT i feel somewhat positive. There is an air of positivity about me today. Strange. Stranger than fiction. Thats life for you.

Its not like recently ive been having a great time of it. Money is usually scarce. Work has been a pain in the ass (well the politics of working retail environment where certain management teams have no clue as far as treating staff/record retail etc etc etc), been stressed about it all. ON the other hand i have been doing more playing recently, which is great. I am finding my passion for performing returning and just really want something big to come in. I can feel that i should get a chance for something great....shit, i dont care. Just to get on a regular horn section for a pop band would be something. Just so i can get into a band feel, where there is performing/jamming and etc.

Bastien's gig was great, hopefully get to the studio to record some of it soon because it really is beautiful music, lots of subtleties and also very intense. Ive never felt so at home with 3 other musicians as i did for his quartet. Amazing.

London Jazz Collective big band is gigging and rehearsing etc lots which is also great...I am working on some big band arrangements and originals etc. Always thinking.

What a strange old day..................

Bastien Terraz Quartet @ Spice Of Life 19th Feb 2006

2006-02-05T17:29:00.000Z

Calling London Peeps. Come check us out dammit!

Meeting Trombonists

2006-01-21T10:42:00.000Z

So this is Bas, Me, Robert Bachner-Trombonist extroadinaire, and Phil after the Vienna Art Orchestra gig as part of the London Jazz Fest 2005. Amazing band. Nice cats. Great music. Bosch!

Bored after xmas

2005-12-27T19:03:00.000Z

Hola everybody. Long time no post, alas, i havent had internet connection at home for ages in London, and i still dont so dont be wetting yourselves with excitement just yet, its just that i am so ball tearingly bored here at work that i can allow myself this little amount of relief....but to be honest, in a brutal fashion, methinks that i am just as bored now as i was 3 minutes ago when i started writing this. Oh and heaven foffend should i actually tell the truth of what i feel for i know someone shall surely comment that i should be more pro-active and go read a book or something considering we are joined to a bookshop. Well. Nope. I fear that i would fall asleep. I think i am as it is anyways. What an uneventful day this has indeed been.

Musicians for you all to check out:

Booker Ervin. Clark Terry. Bob Brookmeyer. Vienna Art Orchestra. RSL*. Prefuse 73.

The Herbaliser. Jaga Jazzist. All SOUL JAZZ RECORDS releases. Michel Petrucciani.

Mingus Big Band. Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra. Bettye LaVette. Nancy Wilson.

All RUNE GRAMMOFON releases. Frank Rosolino. Lincoln Centre Afro Cuban Orchestra.

Supersilent. Eddie Palmieri. Stan Kenton. Uri Caine.

Thats just a taster of things i can recommend and etc. Anyways. What else to say really??

I have been working at the record shop lots, enjoying it all. Interspersing with gigs here and there and trying to organise a recording for fuerza hopefully very soon! A website wouldnt go astray either i suppose. You know, a site other than this blogging!

Later cats.

2005-09-22T18:56:00.000Z

No Internet Connection

2005-08-30T12:17:00.000Z

Ok cats,

i trust all is well and fine with my old buddies here and abroad and whatever and wherever y'all may be at. Yes indeed as Bec has just mentioned i have been slack in my blogging and online time recently but that is due to the fact that i dont have the net at home, my computer at the moment at home is a pile of shite, and frankly i dont work enough hours to be able to get away with using the net too much without the evil eye co ming from at least one direction!!

The new place is cool, aenjoying being able to bus most places or get on the tube and etc etc etc. Last week i had the week off and spent a lot of time with someone very special to me and have bonded our relationship moreso methinks, and add into that - both sundays getting absolutely drunken like never before, well all was great fun, GOOD TIMES x 3 or 4 Even!!!!

I Have a gig coming up at the spice of life in soho, 29th september. i shall post the flyer for it here asap and generally email everyone whom i think would be able to make it!!!

Other than that, not much news really. I am getting rid of the car in the next week or so, i feel that it will be vbery very liberating to have no car for the first time in ages. I look forward to public transport. Although it may be expensive at times and crowded, it is surely more efficient and cheaper than running a vehicle. I also think that by bus/train/boat/air you get to see different parts of the country/countries which you wouldnt necessarily see whilst driving.; Obvious, the vice versa is true also, but, alas, all is good.

I think i am going to have to find another job also, going full time here at rays has kinda fallen through, much to my dismay but maybe this is the time to find a new job for 2 days or so per week, heck if the right thing came up it might be time to move on, i dont know, but we shall see. I am gonna have to do some soul searching again i think and make a decision about what i want/need to do for the future. I AM actually sick of earning minimal wage when i know if i was given a bit more room to blossom i might actually be able to feel and be useful as opposed to just another minion.

Ok well take care all of you, email me to catch up if you can and i will reply as soon as i can.

=O)

Peace jazz and love

Big CHANGE

2005-08-04T19:19:00.000Z

Hello one and all.

this is the good new news.

I am now living in Camberwell (if you dont know where it is, find it here)
Yep, a modern decorated flat, heya!

whoopeeee.

check y'all laterzzz

things are a changin

2005-07-28T21:02:00.000Z

OHHHHHHHHHH yeah thats right. there is a new period of my life about to start. i do not wish to elaborate just yet as i dont wish to count chickens before they hatcheroo.

But indeed, i like to have a mystique. =O)

will keep you informed as and when.

Bone & Bari

2005-07-25T22:35:00.000Z

I like this shot. Its of Josh Roseman on Trombone, and Gary Smulyan on Bari Sax @ their gig as part of the Dave Holland Big Band. The look on their faces is a classic 'jazz-face' as they are diggin someone's solos.

Hip

Josh Roseman

2005-07-25T22:27:00.000Z

l-r Me ; Josh Roseman

This is backstage at Barbican after the Dave Holland Big Band gig a short while ago. josh Roseman is a big influence on my playing, i am totally into his ideas and he is also a real cool cat. He was only too happy to stand around and chat with Jon and me about trombone nerdy stuff. Check his website out. I fully recommend both of his albums, Cherry aswell as Treats For The Nightwalker.

Sunday Lunchtime

2005-07-24T21:23:00.000Z

Yep, today i saw the Michael Garrick Jazz Britannia Orchestra.

Michael Garrick is an absolute legend of the british jazz scene and deserves a great amount of respect. It was indeed a shame that there was not many people in the audience but those who were, certainly did get their money's worth. with the "sound thermometer" flashing into deep red territory most of the afternoon, the band was swinging hard, with great dynamics and the cats were having fun to boot. The writing was sheer genius, all facets of Mr. Garrick's musical influences profoundly showing their faces through the sounds erupting throughout the downstairs bar of the Spice of Life in Soho. Sheer Joy. check em out. Highly recommended.

Peace

so much music

2005-07-13T17:55:00.000Z

there is indeed lots to listen to.

today i have checked out some really great stuff.

Henri Texier Azur Quintet "Mosaic Man" on Label Bleu records.

Count Basie Big Band "Live at Newport" on Verve

check them out. now. do it, you know its good for you.

oooooh muy controversial

2005-07-12T12:24:00.000Z

2005-07-12T09:00:00.000Z

2005-07-11T08:13:00.000Z

hmmmmmmmmm??

in my soul

2005-07-07T21:38:00.000Z

This is just a little verse i partly wrote in english and part of it in latino.
I decided for it to stay all in latino. Its dedicated to anybody and everybody. It means something different for everybody, to me, they know who it involves. Or do they?? Perhaps?? (Quizas, Quizas, Quizas!! hahaha) For those of you not fully versed in latin american spanish, i suggest you check it out on the beloved babel fish translator or perhaps just enjoy these lyrics/words as they are.
For all my friends.

En mi alma
En mi alma
Como una aguja en un expediente
Profundamente en el surco
Lentamente, Suavemente moviéndose
En mi cabeza
Por siempre en mi corazón
En mi alma
En mi alma
(copyright 2005 benny greenslade-stanton)

ghostly.

2005-07-07T21:35:00.000Z

Is my seanie really a ghost??

No, he is just a great photographer.

Find him here

I Fell Tower??

2005-07-07T21:28:00.000Z

Yep, Top of the Eiffel Tower. Paris a few months back. Beautiful day for it. I was waiting to try some frogs legs. You can see the glint in my eyes.

tHE aNIMAL

2005-07-07T21:25:00.000Z

2005-07-07T21:16:00.000Z

AINT I THE SHITT??

2005-07-07T21:05:00.000Z

Yes, Thats correct everybody. This is me whilst at work, on the 2nd june 2005, approximately 5pm. With some of the cats from Jaga Jazzist. Yep.

From L-R

Me; Anders Hana; Lars Horntveth; Ketil Einarsen; Erik Johannessen(Holding a Paul Rutherford Album)

2005-07-07T21:00:00.000Z

Yep, here is one of me and ruth mid-song from the other night. Yes the fabuloso photography is by a good friend of ours,

Ben Amure

(Check his stuff out by clicking on his name.)

Corazon Espinado

2005-07-07T20:52:00.000Z

Esa mujer me esta matando
Me a espinado el corazon
Por mas que trato de olvidarla

Mi alma no da razon
Mi corazon aplastado
Herido y abandonado
Aber aber tu sabes dime mi amor por favor
Que dolor nos quedo

Ah ah ah corazon espinado
Ah ah ah como me duele el amor

Como duele como duele el corazon
Cuando nostiene entregados
Pero no olvides mujer que algun dia diras
Hay ya yay como me duele el amor

Como me duele el olvido
Como duele el corazon
Como me duele estar vivo
Sin tenerte aun lado amor

Corazon espinado

-Carlos Santana

2005-07-07T20:47:00.000Z

Thats right, here i am in a new pic for those of you that actually read this blog and havent already seen it. I realise that means that maybe ONE person maybe seeing this for the first time but ah well. Here tis anywho!

more performances

2005-07-05T20:38:00.000Z

Yeahp thats right, i saw two gigs yesterday.

TWO. 2. one plus one. not 3 not one, but 2. thats right.

Lunch time took me up to the basement of the virgin megastore on oxford street, in the audio store called sound control to see bass player extroadinaire MARCUS MILLER do a set/masterclass. Man, he has chops. Amazing to watch, phat grooves. Still, i dont know if i can listen to that sorta stuff for long, i stuck round for about 4 songs, that was enough, tends to get a bit much for me after a while, that kinda chops fest is so in your face, and not in your face in a good way to me personally like a big phat latin or big band gig! Nevertheless, amazing to see him play. So relaxed, and looked like everything he was playing was so easy, even though it was technically amazing. The drummer was cool, the saxist was decent with a hard edged sorta fusion sound and the keyboard player looked like a young george duke with this huge afro. Haha they looked cool!!!

Then in the evening, it was off to barbican via the warm and sweaty tube. DAVE HOLLAND BIG BAND with support from the Don Byron Quartet. The quartet was nice, i wouldnt say i fully enjoyed it though. Typical sax player for my money, lots of playing. The band was a little underrehearseed or what seemed a little under anyways. Still fabulous to see great drummer Billy Hart, along with Lonnie Plaxico-another bass legend. The piano player, white boy, had a baseball cap on. I dunno about that, they kinda looked a little under-dressed for the gig, nevermind though. It was the music what we came for, and i am sure lots of people enjoyed it. Interval saw quick walkabout in the foyer and return with anticipation for the Dave Holland big band. Whoa, amazing. The third world famous bass player i see that day, and for my money, the world's best. He is a great composer aswell. The band was awesome. Id have to say that they would be in my top 3 big bands. Probably coming in at #1. I mean, Josh Roseman on trombone, yeah baby. He is my favourite bone player at the moment, and he didnt disappoint in his solo spots. Robin Eubanks, Alex Sipiagin, Gary Smulyan, Steve Nelson, Antonio Hart all deserve great mention. The whole band were great, they were just my personal favourites. The drummer, nate smith, outrageously good too!!! Anyways, my mate, Jon who is also a trombonist, had been emailing josh roseman and mentioned that we would try to meet him. So after the gig, we managed to blag our way backstage, ended up hanging with Mr Roseman himself, saying hi to robin eubanks too, and seeing the cats in the band. Also managed to say hi to DAVE HOLLAND, shake his hand etc etc. Wow!! Amazing!

Other news is that i am playing a gig this friday night with a new band ive recently joined, The Definitions. A band full of monster phat funky grooves based from reggae, soul, funk what have you. I really dig the songs and the cats in the band are great. Hopefully be able to stay with them for a while, do some gigs, maybe a recording. who knows! But yeah, we are playing up in Norwich on friday night, same bill/stage as James Taylor Quatet-infamous british acid jazz band. Should be good fun!

Hmmmmm, just got in the news that some pics from the Ruth Hamilton Sextet gig last wednesday have been posted on the photographer's website. His name is BEN AMURE, and for my money, one of the greatest photographers i know!!! Check out the pics from the gig right HERE. So yeah, check them out. He is one mofo of a picture taker!
There shall be other pics up shortly, as soon as i get ahold of them. Stay tuned for upcoming gigs from my own small group (previously known as whirligig - i am gonna do a revamp on the name) and also more from Ruth Hamilton band.

Take care cats!

Peace, Jazz and Love

review of another gig!

2005-07-01T23:00:00.000Z

Yeah, tuesday night i saw the woody herman big band at ronnie scotts. support band was alex wilson. Wow, such a great nights music, well worth it if you can get down to ronnies tomorrow night. Probably the best night of full on entertainment ive seen at ronnies jazzwise-I loved both bands, both great great great~!

i also found out today that i am pictured in the new latest edition of ronnie scotts in house magazine-performing at my boss' birthday gathering last month. so thats kinda cool that i am pictured in ronnies mag and mentioned. ahhh the exposure i bet my phone wont stop ringing for offers of gigs now. (end sarcasm)

=Op

tardy shout outs!

2005-07-01T22:08:00.000Z

I wanna send a big congrats and hug and mucho love to my very very great friends Mez & Seanie who recently celebrated a one year of putting up with each other in a general kind of girlfriend/boyfriend way! i love you guys!!!

also to the apache warrior himself, big wazzzzza who recently celebrated his 19th birthday.

of course a big thought to mr J, my bro, mate and general guru.

My partner in Lime, Ruthie, we had a great gig, i got many more plans for mucho more stuff, great words have come my way from some cool people in the know that were there so all is good.

the big benny mood happy one goes to my shorty for the phone call surprise today. It really did make my day awesome. i thankyou and look forward to your return mucho my dear ragazza xxx

hmmmmmmmmmmmm cant think of much more to say shout outs wise.

bye byeeeee

Gig post mortem

2005-06-30T22:21:00.000Z

yeahp, so the gig went pretty well all things considered. Big crowd, we got more than the legal amount of crowd down in there so that was good, and we played fairly decently. personally i wasnt at my best, one day i will be back to a decent standard, probably after i start practicing again etc etc etc. But thats just my own bad isnt it. I am gonna be on the money for whirligig gig in september. mark my words!

hmmm other than that, thats life for me. I am gonna get cracking with some new tunes/arrangements for whirligig - speaking of which i think i am going to change the name seeing as we have different members now etc etc.

any ideas for a cool name please email or comment etc!

later cats

oh and i miss my shorty.

"MAKE THE WORLD SAFE"

2005-06-23T21:36:00.000Z

I know they all want you
With your Desdemona's eyes
I'll keep you from danger
Save you from prying eyes

I can make the world safe for you
Come and live over here
I can make the world safe for you
Come and live over here
I can make the world safe for you
Nothing bad'll happen now

I've got a problem
I think you know how I feel
Plans piling up in the corner
Eyeballing me every hour

Got a balconyAnd an orange tree
You can save up and visit New York with me
I can make the world safe for you
Nothing bad at all

You've got no money
So I know how you feel
When you see the glitter
Turn around it's no big deal

I can make the world safe for you
Come and live over here
I can make the world safe for you
Come and live over here
I can make the world safe for you
Nothing bad'll happen now
-Tim Freedman

Tim Freedman in London

2005-06-23T20:58:00.000Z

Yeah, it has taken me half a week to get around to it, but yes, i did see Tim Freedman, lead man from The Whitlams do a solo gig at Ronnie Scott's last sunday evening. My mate who was sposed to come with me, well, she had to pull out for whatever reasons, so i got lumbered by myself. All day i had been doing arrangements, and it got to time to drive into town and i was very half hearted in it. Took me ages to find somewhere reasonable to park, but in the end i fund a spot outside work, and walked 2 mins down to the club. The line was all the way back to the crossroads, as they do like to take their time letting people in there. Something to do with holding power over the punters i reckon. Their security staff are quite scary, good with intimidation. I dont quite know whether its just a front the put on, OR whether it is all seriously run as tight as it is. Who knows.
Anyways, back to the gig. I dont often like to go to gigs by myself, especially sit down gigs where there is lots of people, and yes, it was packed out. 95% ausies in the room yet i didnt know one of them!! haha go figure. I didnt really look aussie that night either. Anyways. I am very glad i did go, he is a great performer, very very witty, i miss that kind of sarcasm here. Lots of people dont know how to have a laugh, at themselves as much as anything. All too serious and based around work work work. But yeah, it was great. Reviving memories of Sydney and Melbourne, newtown cafes and pubs, etc etc etc. I admit to feeling like i miss sydney a bit, i do look forward to having a week or two holiday down there soon!!!

So currently i am listening to Damien Rice, trying to relieve myself of this dreaded humidity heat. My room is like a fucking sauna, the boiler cupbaord is in my room here, lucky old me eh. Aha. yeah my mind is mush now, worked on an arrangement all day which i like the end of, it is basically a section of an overture of sorts of a new composition of mine. A latino section which i decided to segue onto the end of a standard which we will test out at next wednesdays gig. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Yep and i got to watch the new episode of the bill aswell as the rerun on UKTV gold today also, what bliss. AND had a few drinks all day, started with a refreshing ale at lunchtime and kept a contant source of alcohol from then. Very nice indeeed. Ok enough from me. I am out.
[and about to put on a new record. Perhaps some alvert ayler, or maybe the new stan kenton reissue. hmmm so much to choose from.]

2005-06-21T22:13:00.000Z

Ok so wow. its been fucking hot here in london. Very steamy. Ah well, typical that i come half way around the world to somewhere supposedly with weather terrible, but nosireeeee, its disgusting here. muggy, clammy etc. And considering London isnt supposed to be like this, many places lack air conditioning. So yeah its quite nasty. I had to come home from work cos i felt ill the other day. Partly due to the heat. The trains are packed and disgustingly hot too. Argghh.
I have made a choice with shorty that in fact if the summer is like this again next year we will go somewhere much nicer. I said Northern Scandinavia, she said Nepal mountains. Wherever as long as the temperature is decent.

Ok so i have been doing the arrangements, and etc for an upcoming gig. Details can be found:
here
or
here

It is Ruth Hamilton's band gig at Spice of Life in soho. Come along if you want a decent night of music in an intimate and fun setting.

ok sleep is needed. More blog of past events soon.
zzzzzzzzzzz

lucky

2005-06-19T08:08:00.000Z

Yeah, i think i have learnt something important recently. I mean, its just deepish personal stuff but i feel a lot better about myself knowing what i was told and etc. Honesty is really something important. I think i am lucky to even know the lovely lady i am talking about, and i also feel extremely cool to think that perhaps i have been given a little bit of a heads up and a 2nd chance to prove myself!! hahaha Ok Ok so its not about proving myself, but yeah, I just went kinda crazy.
"Everyone has a past."
Damn right, sometimes i become the most self centred bastard know to man, and, dammit, i dont want to. Ok so maybe i am back into over-analyzations but this time it really has hit home. Sitting on the soot stained pavement of Paddington station at 10.50pm, things like this have the strangest times of popping up. Ok so it wasnt the best time or place to go into that conversation but i am glad we did A.
As the funny sikh like man told me yesterday, the fortune teller so to speak. Well he said i had 3 problems with myself in general. I have an open heart being one of them. As someone else said, i wear my heart on my sleeve and although it opens me to being hurt easily, i dont think its too bad. I am not hurt in this current situation, and i know that deep down its going to workl out peachey!!!
End of confusing blog----

events

2005-06-16T22:33:00.000Z

Ahem. Yes i am going to stop myself from barraging my blog with some of the most intense amounts of profanity, which i did in fact slightly go into one via a text message, but alas, forgive me one and all in advance. The story goes like this.....i was opening the garage door to try to get to a book that is still boxed up in storage. I really need to find this novel and get back into it. It is "The Glass Bead Game" by Herman Hesse. Anyways, the door is one of those old tin sorta things, prob about 30-40 years old. Works on a leverage sorta system with two heavy cement blocks acting as counterweights to support whe i lift it up. Anyways, it hadnt been opened for a few months, and well, basically it was catching and stuff but it finally went up. But the cables holding one of the cynder blocks got tangled and messed up. So i am doing a bloody limbo to get in to see what the problem is, trying to take the strain etc, alas, i freed it all a little, but the whole thing shifted suddenly and took aim at my head. Yes, i got a good corker. I need not go into any more details other than to say it hurt like all fuck. So, yes, lesson learnt. Garage Door 1. Benny 0. Didnt even bother searching for the damn book again, i will do it another day. Maybe after i recover and calm down. Hmmmmm.
I am currently reading "The Confidence Man" by Herman Melville. (i must have an obsession with clasic authors who have Herman as their forename???) It is quite a great piece of literature, i havent finished it yet, but i do find it totally engrossing and very entertaining. Apparently it was not highly thought of when published, so its another one of these situations where society appreciates something by an artist well after they have passed or moved on. Ahhh, such is life.
Later Cats.

2005-06-16T22:31:00.000Z

Progressive art can assist people to learn not only about the objective forces at work in the society in which they live, but also about the intensely social character of their interior lives. Ultimately, it can propel people toward social emancipation.

-Salvador Dali

2005-06-16T21:54:00.000Z

"Music is the shorthand of emotion."

-Leo Tolstoy

2005-06-16T21:52:00.000Z

"All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning.

Great works are often born on a street corner

or in a restaurant's revolving door."

-Albert Camus

thought

2005-06-15T01:33:00.000Z

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!

Live the life you've imagined.

As you simplify your life,

the law of the universe will be simpler."

- H.D. Thoreau

PMG in Brighton Travels

2005-06-12T09:29:00.000Z

I saw, for the first time ever, last night, one of the bands that i first liked when i first got into jazz. I guess in a sense they could be held responsible for part of my obsession. They were in thre underlying feelings. Albeit, i have seen Pat Metheny trio before, but, it was really the band, the : PAT METHENY GROUP

Yeah so i saw them down in Brighton, at the Brighton Dome Concert Hall. It was a great looking room, decent sound also. There were parts of the mix which i wasnt so impressed with but i got over that soon enough. I mean, the mix is never gonna be perfect enough for everyone, as everyone has a different style of hearing and listening. BUT yes, they did live up to everything i thought, all expectations were fulfilled. I thought they may only play their new album-The Way Up-a long suite, which they did. BUT then they went on to play for another hour and a half after this. So we got about 2+3/4 hours of music, non stop. Very good. Its hard for me to get really really excited about them because i have liked them for so long, and i do have a few live dvds and stuff, but nonetheless, i wouldnt be able to NOT recommend them if anyone has the chance to see them!!!

The other issue of the day was the company that came with me. I was kind of worried about how it would be, considering i was driving, and my mum and my ex-girlfriend were in the car with me. I mean, way back when we ordered the tickets, we were still together, and everything sounded rosy. It was a nice idea cos my mum really does like the band, and i thought hell, why not take mum with us as a surprise. Anyways, surprise ended as we had to roster days off work etc, and then split up with girlfriend and suddenly everything looks like its gonna be a right "fun trip". In the end, yesterday was fine. I was a little stressed about it, but in factit was better than expected with the whole mother and ex girlfriend thing. Still i dont think id want to do that again too soon. I mean, i had other issues to deal with yesterday also, as a situation had arisen between myself and someone whom i feel very close to and etc. No need to elaborate there, as its not the time or place, but yeah, a lot of shit was in my mind yesterday and i managed to plough through it and still feel positive. I am kinda proud of myself.

My brain is still idling out of control, and i cant see myself feeling any resolutions for a week or so yet. BUT if i can just do the best i can this week, try this new idea of concentrating on the positive parts of what i need to in my psyche, then, who knows. I certainly dont know, but all i can do is hope, think positively to an extent and get on with it. Suck it up so to speak. Spiral Girl has been extremely comforting in some of her words of wisdom lately, so i must thank again.

I am off to get into some more arrangement writings over in the twix right now, bit of a trip. Tonight i am off to see Candido Fabre y Su Banda @ Ronnie Scott's. If you are around london with nothing on tonight, come check it out, should be some great authentic cuban musica. A 14 piece band!!! A quick shout out to Shorty, whom i wish was still coming with me tonight, alas, i do understand why it had to be this way, and look-No Cussing either, wow, but would you really expect anything else of me??

Ok community, take care. Look after yourselves. Have a great day. Peace.
Ciao

Stuffed Up

2005-06-11T12:38:00.000Z

Ok, so i have officially stuffed up again. I think ive shot myself in my foot this time. I know i did. i cannot help it. I am only human and i dont do this crazyness out of spite or any bad vibes. I just over analyse stuff. head is always clicking over, get too intense with everything. I have to slightly change my running on impulse way of living. Well, i like it for most of the time, but i can go over the top and get a little too much. Much of what i dont know, but just over the top with the whole thing. So, i have to edit my impulses better. I am a little ashamed of myself, for i have been trained in this sort of thing - Improvisation, but, i mean ive obviously dropped behind the 8 ball a bit. Blogstead, if you are reading this, Yes, i took heed and remembered all of our Bruce chats yet i still went ahead and went nuts again. Albeit, not as bad as some in the past. I am doing my best to remedy the situation and i am not ready to lay down and die yet. I wish i didnt take everything to heart so much, can i blame it on being a passionate person?? Perhaps. I dont want to blame it on anything though, i understand what has happened and now i need to look forward and make sure i do something else in that situation. I hope i still have a chance. I really do because i feel there could be much happiness in our lives. I need to stop putting up the facade, EJ yeah, i have been doing it recently a little bit aswell-as im sure you understand the whole facade thing. Not as much as "some" but, its still there. I need to be truly myself. I need to relax and just let things be. I am gonna do it. I could always do with the support of my friends too though! I know you are all there for me anyways, but yeah, its gonna be a new Benny. New and Improved model. Take the old benny in for a trade in cos he has done too many miles already this year and the new version comes with air conditioning for that "added cool". Very Hip i reckon. So hip that perhaps it will need to be replaced??
So how does one know truly about compatibility between two people?? I figure it is a kind of combination between first impressions, later impressions, past experiences, knowledge, and most importantly your heart and soul. I am always trying to follow these things, moreso following my heart and soul-what they tell me to do. And thats not always the most fruitful thing either, but heck, it can certainly not be an evil trait. So there is this niggle inside my chest about something at the moment, it wont go away. I am not going to give in and not embrace it. I am sick of putting up facades to make other people happy. to fit in properly. J has recently posted about mind altering substances. And i really like what he had to say. I mean, who is really crazy?? Who is mentally unstable?? It is obviously comparitive to something, and who the hell is to say what is NORMAL or ABNORMAL??? No one. So, embrace everything. Embrace life because it isnt always going to be there, opportunities dont pop back up, and in hindsight (yes hindsight seanie) we are all professors, but in foresight-we are shooting craps. So, we just gotta live. I am just gonna live. If i wanna say something i am gonna say it. When i see people treated badly in public, i will stand up for what i believe in being right. I have no time for some things, and they mainly stem from people's lack of compassion, care, and the lack of world peace.
Ok so i am getting all righteous on "on yo assses" but so what, i am feeling it. Its there and it needs to come out.

Benny Blaghead is back, i need to use the blog as an outlet creatively and diary style. So be ready to be influxed with posts!

Peace out

Unstable???

2005-06-10T10:41:00.000Z

Sometimes i do feel like the most unstable being in the universe. My moods swing from extreme highs to extreme lows. I get paranoid, and then a split second later i am on a joyous high. What the fuck is going on inside my brain??? I mean, its not so bad that there are many outward factors-ie the moods dont come to the surface in my physical being, its all just general mental inside feelings. Sure obviously you can tell when someone is happy or sad by their body language but its not like i am jekyll and hyde, fucking changing person. (Although sometimes it feels like i do that too.) I think i am a classic over-analyser. analysing everything that occurs in my life, every little thing. Always ticking over, brain wont stop working and just relax and let things be. Argghh. I read in the Evening Standard last week that one of the many reasons for such weird scattyness can be that you are in love. Of course eveything the newspaper says is gospel so maybe thats it? It could be just that i am not getting enough sleep. It could be that i am addicted to sugar. Or Caffeine. Alcohol even. Cigs?? Ahhh it doesnt really matter.

BUT then again, with a classic mood change here right before your very eyes, i am still the happy-go-lucky benny that everyone knows and loves. 95% of the time i feel like things are going well. But it is just a certain lack of planning for the immediate future which bothers me. I need to get out of this rut. I feel so inspired recently, just i am lacking the correct facilities to draw that inspiration out into music. Ok so i have been writing some prose, but most of it is just mushy crap. I need to be able to get to a keyboard at any time, be able to channel my thoughts and soul into it all and i cant do that at the moment. Which winds me up.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

The Best Band in The UNIVERSE? Yeahp. JAGA

2005-06-02T10:35:00.000Z

JAGA

I have no qualms whatsoever in saying that this band is absolutely, hands down - the best. I saw them live at the Mean Fiddler in London last night. Fuckin A-Mazing. There is little i can say in words, i cannot sum up the extreme intensity of all things musical that blossomed in that room. I can say that each musician in that band are fucking fantastic. There was elements of just about every style of music i can think of, sounds from all over the place, electronic, acoustic, noise, beauty. they have it all. Ill also make mention of their support band The Shining. Another band with the Jaga drummer, Martin Horntveth. They were much more avant-garde-rock-thrash-pop-funk than jaga. A quartet but a completely great band too.

I must also add that i met Line Horntveth and Martin Horntveth. They were both on the merchandise room when i got there, which surprised me, but heck, they are cool. After seeing Martin play, wow, its amazing really. Easily the most powerhouse drummer ive eer seen. Yeah ahead of Dennis Chambers and Dave Weckl. They are both great drummers, but they are clinically perfect. Martin on the other hand is just a monster. And he can do it all. AND he looks almost devilish when he plays, very much into it, awesome. And a real nice dude to boot. So yeah, more people should be like the guys in that band. They are just cool people, no arrogance, and shit, they have the right to be with that sorta band!!!!

Check them out please. Trust me, you shan't be disappointed.

nb: JAGA have taken over as NUMBER ! in benny's all time fave bands list. Yeahp, radiohead has been relegated to number 2. (they are still number one for rock based vocal bands) but yeah. theres some boring info for you!

Happy again....

2005-05-30T17:41:00.000Z

Ok, well, so what if i am posting a few minutes after the last vicious one.

Believe it or not, i think i am really happy again. Not here at work but with other things at the moment.

I think i have found someone who i feel is so so compatibile with me and she is an absolutely beautiful human being.

So, she knows who she is.

I have recently had lots of ideas musically, and i just cannot wait to get it all happening. I have many ideas for my respective bands and groups and am just excited to be doing stuff.

I am also generally enjoying work. I just want everything to work out cool.

E S T ablished

2005-05-20T23:03:00.000Z

interaction
emotion
grooves
counterpoint to the maximum
subtlety
excitement
group dynamics
music portraying vivid imagery
innovation rooted in tradition

This is my description of what i have just encountered earlier this evening. Swedish piano trio E.S.T, fucking fantastic. Support from Eivind Aarset Trio, who were also fab. Eivind is a guitarist from Norway, and is also well worth checking out-he is the guitars man for Nils Petter-Molvaer. Anyways, to continue, i suggest if you get a chance to see EST live, do so. it is well worth whatever monetary fee you may have to pay out. I notice that they are doing some gigs in AUSTRALIA later in the year. They're out for Wangaratta and also doing one in the Basement. You sydney/aust folks should go if you can!!!(End of october!) Actually i just noticed theyre also playing Brecon jazz fest which i am at this year, aha, so i shall see them again!!!!!!

Ok, now i am off to try to do a mix disc or two. One for a bit of a road trip to a gig im playing tomorrow night, and another for a new friend. The ones for friends are always the hardest methinks. ya gotta try to convey who you are through music, and, i rarely do an entire disc full of pop/vocal based stuff-see i am slightly different to the guys from Hi-Fidelity.....only just though.....=O) instrumentals is my thing mainly, so i should always put stuff that is ME into it, as opposed to what i think someone WANTS to hear. I like to get mix discs from people who compile it from their thoughts/soul. Thats where the real truth comes in. Any Thoughts??

today

2005-05-14T09:31:00.000Z

I need to get out of the house for a while. I am gonna go on a drive later, window open a touch for some fresh air. Might go along the coast, get out for a little walk, take my journal-write some stuff perhaps, take my discman, listen to some stuff too. Who knows. But i feel i need to get out. I am bouncing off the walls in the way that you do when you are ill. Eyes are going nuts from sitting infront of the computer screen for endless amounts of time trying to entertain myself with the constant hunt for knowledge. I have also found that i miss the city. It is strange that i havent had to go into town for like 3 or 4 days now, and it surprises me how much i do like london as a city.

Must also add that ive been having some cool chats online with some new friends, and it is nice and refreshing to find some more people/persons that are like minded. Very entertaining and enjoyable. Thats one good thing to come out of having had to sit at home unwell the last few days. The other thing good coming out of this flu is the fact ive had a chance to catch up on some listening....i havent had a good session of just listening for a long time now. seems like weeks....so that is good. ok im off for now.

Piss off flu right now, you dirty mofo c**t

2005-05-14T06:39:00.000Z

Yeahp, ive had it. I am getting really annoyed with my flu. my body is so stupid. this flu is ridiculous. Today i dont seem to feel any better. I cant handle this, its so crazy. I woke up with that dreading feeling, and i havent felt flu this bad since i dont know when. Actually i do remmeber, its bringing back memories of sitting in high school, feeling like shit, coming out of winter into spring, the temperature changes, room full of kids sniffling, teacher keeps windows shut cos she is cold. stupid biatch. Waking up in the mornings at 6.30, get up, shower, feel like dropping back into bed, covered with a load of tissues, coughing a lung up. Ugghh. At least i dont have to go to some ridiculous class this morning, though i just called in crook for work, which i hate having to do, cos i actually enjoy working where i do.

289875982y4ruhjebndchuj456
mash the keypad,

doesnt help tho. ahh listening to gerald wilson big band. nice.

Beauty On The Train

2005-05-13T18:02:00.000Z

(this is a journal entry of mine, inspiration struck whilst travelling.....)

11/5/05....5.57pm
I am surely looking at the most beautiful woman i have ever layed my eyes upon. I am standing here, Falconwood station, feeling the flu, yet, looking down towards the southern end of the platform, i see this glorious being standing there. Chatting to her mother, or certainly a lady who is about 25 years her senior. They look to be travelling into town for some sort of engagement, the Theatre perhaps?? A classical recital?? Certainly something of culture. As i stub out the cigarette, train pulling in, they are walking towards the same door as i am planning on. What luck.....

I take my seat, exactly behind them. Left hand side of the train, facing forwards-direction we are travelling. The Beauty is on the outside, the mother is on the window seat. My ipod is playing jaga jazzist, then moves onto tom garlings trombone. Wow. I am staring. I am mesmerised by this illuminating girl. Lady. Woman.

I am starting to study her features. take them in. Instill them into my head, photograph her into my mind. She is chatting to the mother figure, so she is turning her head enough for me to see her face. The most engaging brown eyes ive personally ever encountered. A nose that is poignant. This girl is cute. She is going to break some hearts. mine too, i havent even spoken to her yet i am feeling her pull me into her little world. I am surprised i havent caught her eye. I am blatantly staring at her, i cannot seem to avert my gaze...i hope im not seeming rude. Her radiant eyes are enveloped with these very full eyelashes. Very sexy.

I shift my body, looking out the window at Lewisham station. See some kids kicking a football in their little street, its sunny out, i feel ill with the flu yet i am also feeling that everything is ok. I cannot get my mind off of this girl in front of me. I have my ipod on, yet, i can hear faintly her discussions. Just listening to her voice, not listening to the conversation. She sneeze, her arm moves up to cover her face, and the cutest sound erupts from her body. I notice her wristwatch, a small dainty rectangular piece with a thin silver metal band. There is also a silver ring on her right hand fourth finger. Wearing a brown cord jacket, dark blue-navy jeans, i cannot see the footwear. Also toting a leopard skin faux fur handbag/purse.

the train is arriving into London Bridge station, and i must ready for my departure from this trip. I am somewhat melancholic by having to leave this radiance here. The sweetheart is staying on, so she is either off at Waterloo or Charing Cross. Who knows what exactly she is doing. I wish i couldve just let her know my thoughts about her beauty. I estimate her age at around 25, but then again, it is hard to tell. She is oozing appeal to my tastes, attractive, and obviously a smart, creative type. There is a certain class here.

I wonder whether i have made any recognition to her. Did she notice me??? Will we cross paths again??
Farewell my sweet...

Vinyl

2005-05-13T14:59:00.000Z

Yes, well, in the last couple of weeks i have acquired some more great pieces of vinyl-some great jazz stuff. Some was given to me by a friend of mine, and the rest i purchased in a frenzy of vinyl. It has come about through the sheer amount of great stuff available second hand vinyl wise. Found some great stuff, some of it was a little expensive, but i just had to have this stuff. I think its come about also from working where i do, we sell vinyl both new and secondhand and ive recently managed to find and listen to some great stuff.

The point is, i need to get a turntable. I want to get into remastering my vinyl through the computer/soundforge just for my own personal enjoyment.

Any recommendations from anyone who owns a turntable????

The Oscar Rabin Band's "Rock Unit"

2005-05-13T14:49:00.000Z

The Oscar Rabin Band's 'Rock Unit' as featured on the BBC programmes “Go Man Go” and “Saturday Club”. The musicians left to right are: My Grandfather - Arthur Greenslade (piano), Don Honeywell (baritone sax), 'Rocking' Rex Morris (tenor), Ron Prentice (bass guitar), David Ede (Leader - tenor), Freddie Adamson (drums), Don Sanford (guitar), Tommy Hodges (Trombone).

Wheres the phlegm?

2005-05-13T14:46:00.000Z

Ok, so this bastard flu is really dragging me down. it is just one of those relentless fuckers that just wont piss off. I cannot wait until my system decides to show some balls and really kill the bastard bug outta my system, and let it drag the living shit out of these flu bugs.

Yeah, so listening wise i am sitting here, surrounded by tissues - snot laden, coughing my arse off. But thank allah for Albert Ayler. The angst driven through his tenor sax brings out the best in my mood at the moment. Tis weird, he truly is an underrated figure of jazz. Ok, so it is Free Jazz, Avant Garde if you will. BUT, it is awesome. So powerful. its not like some of the other bollocks that you hear from time to time where people are attempting to play this sort of music, but just for the sake of it. Thia is seriously good music. Specific album of fancy of the moment-Spiritual Unity. A classic recording. Has the track Ghosts on it. from listening to this track, a memory triggered in my brain. Ive heard it before. Where-yes thats right. Jazz History, Year 2 of university. Col Hoorweg's class. Talking about a classic free jazz album, tune. It was on the required listening list. Ahh, even then, i didnt really like it. My listening is changing again. Forever opening up to new things. I recently purchased the albert ayler box set of rare stuff, also have the live in greenwich village double cd on implse. Yeah, i am into it now. Its so refreshingly powerful.

Now, i have just changed the album, and i have the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra on. This is a repertoire band if you will, playing the old big band classic tunes. Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey et al. Now, this is where we come to a quandary. I dont especially like to hear small group jazz of standards and classic miles/50s-60s bop stuff in a live setting nowadays. Well, not straight in a repertoire sort of way. I like to hear them arranged and elaborated on, they are great tunes, but i mean, no one will ever be able to top the classic recordings. Id rather sit at home with a beer and chuck on Miles Smiles, or, The Sidewinder, as opposed to going to see a live gig of the exact same tunes...even if the musician is great, surely they can do an arrangement or something. Its weird because i dont mind listening to big band arrangements played by different bands. Albeit, i dont like to hear much of this sort of stuff i am listening to with this album at the moment, BUT, it is great to be able to hear the tnes, original arrangements from the classic bands, and being able to hear each part clearly. Problem with the older big band stuff is a lack of quality through a stereo spectrum, so, it is nice to hear it this way.

in pop/Rock music, no bands will make a living or become famous from playing covers all the time. No bands try to attempt to play The Beatles songbook, in the exact same form as the original recordings. I mean, i suppose that is one good thing about the relentlessly soul-less pop music. albeit, all the songs that come out "sound" the same, yet are different in the words/music. BUT, i mean, the point is, bands such as Radiohead, Muse, Chili Peppers-to name a few of the few rock/pop bands whom i admire, continually do something different and thats why they are still around today. They have been around for a long time and their popularity doesnt cease!!

Anyways, thats just my thoughts on the matter for now.

fuck blogger

2005-05-13T13:58:00.000Z

fuck this bastard of a website.

just typed some awesome post and lo-and-behold. Where is it??
fucked off into cyberspace.
shite

life in a day of

2005-05-12T23:54:00.000Z

Ok, i have the flu. pretty darn badly. feel like shoit to quote any irish friends. Had to take the day orf work today from just feeling so rough. Spose it is just exhaustion ganging up with these damn flu symptoms to make me feel even shittier. I just wanna sleep it out. or drink it out. perhaps drown these bugs. let em swim in beer and tequila with a lashing of lime and sugar on the side??

Ok so i saw Eliades Ochoa & Juan De Marcos Gonzales and The Afro Cuban Allstars yesterday night in barbican. Front row tickets. Thankfully cos i dont trust the barbicans sound sitting anywhere other than the first 10 rows in the stalls. It was a great gig, got up to do some attempts at salsa, although very strange to do it stone sober, and also, with this flu, twas hard to get into. Great bands though, very great to see some classic cuban musicians live. Fabulous musicians allround!!!!

Also, on other news, i saw Ahmad Jamal Trio last week at barbican too. Now this was indeed a different story soundwise, youd think that a hall made basically for classical music would be able to sort out the sound for a piano trio. Nope. Well not where i was sitting. The bass was terribly under, and the drums were drowning out everything else. Idris Muhammad-awesome drummer. Great band. I got there in a bit of a sweat though, basically cos id spent the day in London with my sister and little cousin,. Sightseeing. We went on the london eye with some of my mates who were also in town from Sydney. Jakesy, Tos, Blowsy et all. Entourage. Of course, lunchtime came around and i took them to sample the "delights" of pub food in the wetherspoons in leicester square. Luckily enough, there was a "happy hour" at 2pm. and we enjoyed some fine beers. the fabulous 8.5% duvel had us hooked though. went into work with my sis and cous to introduce them to the boss, old paulie. haha still hd the last duvel in hand, savoring the splendid taste and alcohol content! We went up to madame tussauds, etc, and basically ended up in my being in a rush changing tubes etc to get to fricken barbican!

Hmm, the night before that id seen Enrico Rava Quintet play at St Lukes, near old street. nice venue. very cool indeed. we had 3rd row seats. good sound. Trombonist Gianluca Petrella-Monster. I actually met him in store at Rays the other day, he was in buying some discs. Also met Chucho Valdes when he came in store too. Big guy, can see why he plays piano like he does, huge hands, very powerful!! nice guy!!

anyways, im off. had enough of this all now. its too much for me to cope with typing so much.

Imagine

2005-05-12T09:34:00.000Z

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Thanks John, for such great music.

Arthur George Greenslade

2005-05-04T00:19:00.000Z

My Grandfather, Arthur George Greenslade
Wouldve been his 82nd Birthday today.
Rest In Peace
(Click on his name above to read a short biography from AllMusic Guide)

The Arrival of The Sister

2005-05-02T11:41:00.000Z

Well, My sister arrives for a short 2 week holiday with the family today. Wow, it shall be good to see her again. Hmmmmm, anyways, thats whats happening for now. Wednesday sees itself as being the 4th of May, my Grandfather, ARTHUR GEORGE GREENSLADE's Birthday. May he Rest In Peace. We are having a memorial service down in town, firstly at a church which he sometimes used to go and just sit and listen in, and then a "reception" of sorts in a club in the town, to have a beer or two for him. Shall be nice to have the family all there but alas, as with most family things, there shall be always some sort of grinding between family members. Always some sort of crisis!!!

"Jealous Guy"-John Lennon

2005-05-02T08:37:00.000Z

i was dreaming of a past
and my heart was beating fas
ti began to lose control
i began to lose control
i didn't mean to hurt
i'm sorry that i made you cry
i didn't mean to hurt you
i'm just a jealous guy
i was feeling inscure
you might not love me anymore
i was shivering inside
i was shivering inside
i was trying to catch your eyes
thought that you was trying to
hide
i was swallowing my pain
i was swallowing my pain

2005-04-29T13:23:00.000Z

Bas and Me getting some grooves laid down!

Happenings

2005-04-26T10:44:00.000Z

Hey y'all.

Wow, its been a busy time for me. Much working at the jazz store, and then what with the spice of life gig with Whirligig which was as messy as all fuck, and then a weekend full of rehearsals and driving and hash cookies, well, what can be said other than to explain about the lack of blogging from me! I am seriously looking for property to rent in london and also trying to keep afloat with my playing too. I been making some contacts for bands/performance/gig wise and al looks to be going well. Now if i could just get my playing back up to scratch and get my sound back, then i shall be a happy trrooper!

anyways, hope all is good for all!

new jaga jazzist album was released yesterday!

Minds messiness

2005-04-15T21:46:00.000Z

what is it that triggers an obsession? I feel that today i have been obsessed with procrastinating. Woke up with good ideas for a new arrangement for my gig on wednesday and well....thats as far as it got really. Oh pesh, so what, i did map the chart out in sibelius a minute ago, set it up etc, but bugger it all to death, cos i am gonna be rushed off my arse again when it comes time to sort music out on tuesday night after work.
Indeed my brain may well be doing strange things to me again, as a recurring problem has been keeping me perplexed as to what to do about it. Too much effort and thinking about a lost cause which is wasting my time methinks now, but, that doesnt make sense because it just doesnt. I am flabbergasted at the ignorant way i have been treated by someone recently and it hurts. Itd just be nice to feel just a little hint of respect for me as a human being, but alas....what am i bitchin about. Bigger fish to fry now. Much things going on.....busy busy.

Give Judy My Notice - Ben Folds

2005-04-15T21:33:00.000Z

[I feel this song, i know it. Ben Folds knows his shit. Try changing the name Judy to an ex-lover of yours, and see how smart mr folds is!]

Judy
Could anyone be loved anymore
than I love you
does it hurt you too?

Well, Judy
I've been feeling small too long
I love you so
but something's wrong

and I come running when you want me here
and when you want me to, I disappear
Judy

I knew if I made it easy for you
you'd settle for me, yeah eventually

but Judy
I can't be myself anymore
it's way too hard
being loved by default

and I can't do this any longer
the vacuum left is so much stronger
Judy

Judy you know I'm not mad anymore
at least most of the time
but it could take a while
I've been living just to see you smile
ever once in a while

tears fall
but that don't mean nothing at all
Just cause I said it first
that's why it hurts

And Judy,
I won't be your bitch anymore
and follow you around
and hold the door

i'm not sorry
if you're not sorry
and you're not sorry
till I make you Judy
Judy
Give Judy
Give Judy My Notice
Give Judy My Notice

Greatness

2005-04-13T13:47:00.000Z

Ok all, i am back again. Sorry for the lull in bloggings, because i was working almost a fulltime roster last week, which was quite hectic!!!!! Well, lots has been going on, i feel like ive been real busy, but perhaps now thinking about it, i just havent really. Or maybe i have??? Who knows. I do know though, that i have done some great things in the past weeks so i shall elaborate a little more on them right now......
Hmmm, first thing that springs to mind is the ERIK TRUFFAZ LADYLAND QUARTET Gig that i saw on monday night at jazz cafe. Amazing. I have always been a big fan of his stuff, i loved it. I was, i must admit, a bit adamant about whether or not he was actually much of a trumpeter as he does employ lots of effects and production on albums. I am totally sure he is NOW. the band was great, just a shame that so many great acts play at jazzcafe. I dont like the venue much, its not really about jaz, and the bands always have to be strong. There isnt much room for subtlety there. Its quite expensive and a severe lack of seating. Its more of a non-jazz venue cos of its set up. Ah well, anyways, i managed to get there way early after work so had to sit around on a bar stool for 2 hours in suspense for the band!!!!
Last Night i was at Pizza Express Jazz Club in soho, with my partner in liMe and of course, old paulie, and we saw Antonio Forcione, an italian born guitarist with his band which had a brazilian percussionist, an aussie bassist, a brit cellist, and a russian accordionist. Very international band, it was great music. All sorts of influences obviously!!!!! Worth checkin out if you like guitars, world music, flamenco, gypsy jazz or just appreciate fine music and musicianship!!!
Last week i went to a short film screening, organised by my hip welsh spinster friend whom you can find more out about here It was a great success i think, and it was great to see her own film again. I have had a recent change of taste towards films ive realised, and really did enjoy everything i saw. Also, been thinking about film music, music for film. Certainly interests me!!!! Hopefully maybe get some sort of thing happenin there!!!
Anyways, thats enough for now, check ya all later!
Peace

dont want no sympathy......

2005-03-31T08:23:00.000Z

Ok, so i am down in the dumps. The land of dumpsville. East Shitsville. Just round the river shite from port crap. This is stemming on from the whole Male vs Female thing. I guess in the end, Spiral Girl was right when she said its more like a human Vs Human thing, but i do still think that there are distinct differences in the way the two genders operate. Yeah i am really jaded right now, by the experiences that i endured last night, lets just say i am glad i had had a few pints because in the cold sober world i feel like im in at the moment, i may well have gone onto saying and perhaps doing somethings which wouldve offended and hurt people. its time like these when you need your friends, and indeed, even though most of my best mates are in Australia still, i know that you guys are with me in spirit. Ok, so whats the bare facts?? Lets see now. Well, im back to the world of Bachelorhood, unless something happens from my 'until recent better half', thats where i am at at the moment. And maybe i sound as though i dont care, but, in actual fact i think i care more than she does. you never know, but, i am not holding much hope. perhaps it doesnt mater now anyways, time to move on. just down in the book of experiences. I dont want your sympathy, i got hurt, burnt, but i can handle it. I cannot live in the past, focusing on the past is what has bought me to the place here, and it wasnt even me doing the focusing, so.....for now, i am against that sort of thing. Time to live in the moment again and think about the future. Its a much healthier mentally way of living.

Other news is that i am back to enjoying my life. If i feel that i wanna smoke, then i shall smoke. If i want a tat, i shall get one. I just wanna be myself. Without someone always telling me what to do. I am going to be moving soon, so, its gonna be benny on location and sorting his shit out. Working in my job i like, working on getting my playing together, and working on my composition/arranging etc. Its starting.........

Female VS. Male

2005-03-24T23:20:00.000Z

Will i ever understand women??? I dont think so. Not truly.

Its interesting how you can get along so so well, feeling a bond there, just knowing that the person you are experiencing a conversation with, or etc, and .ahhh i dunno what im rambling on about.

I am just confused. Flabberghasted. How i can say some stupid things, which arent stupid to me, yet sound ridiculous and angry to another human. She gets angry back, and THEN i get angry. It all goes from there. Why??? My humour is based in Sarcasm, gutter jokes and Irony. Im a fucking trombonist for chrissakes, thats just the way i am. I entertain myself. Some people get it. Some dont. I dont wanna offend. Just wanna Love. My heart is in the right place, i feel it, i mean well.....but more often than not, its construed into something else...and i get so down on myself....Is it my fault??? Should i try to not take it personally???

Everyone should lighten up a bit. If everyone could laugh at themselves a bit more, i think the world would live in much more harmony.

All this is just randomness coming through my brain at the moment. Obviously, something happened tonight to make me get like this, but...im just so confused at what happens sometimes. Angry with myself.

I dunno. Bugger me, i am just a sentimental fool.

Whirligig's First gig Post Mortem

2005-03-24T11:43:00.000Z

Ok, well, for the few of you who actually read this blog, and couldnt actually make it to my band's inaugural gig, which i think is all of you cos most of you are in Australia!!, i thought id just let you in on what occurred, what went down-as they say.
[I am using the word festival in the loosest of terms from now on in this post!]
The festival was basically a complete wash-out. I will give credit to the organiser for having a fairly solid idea, but as to everything else that went on......well....i have no respect basically. The venue wasnt in a very good place for starters-Sydney cats, think maybe the north end of pitt street on a sunday arvo(dead quiet as far as people just walking around goes) and i think something like a music concert/festival thing wouldve been much better had there been people to walk in off the street so to speak. Nonetheless, tickets for the festival werent cheap, and my band didnt get paid. Nor did many of the other bands, although i know for certain that some did. And also, the ushers-uni students who did a good job, yet werent needed really, at least to the extent that there were about 50 of them!) got paid also. Now i know gigging in a jazz setting isnt about money, and im not about that. BUT i do feel greatly dishonoured-and also for the cats in my band-cos we had great music and musicians, and had there been lots of people around, and had we not been put on at the same time as probably the biggest act for the 'festival' (american bass player, Ben Allison) we wouldve had a crowd to enjoy our stuff. Basically, my band didnt get a dressing room to ourselves-even though we had lots of kit, and had to be there for most of the day. Nor was there any sort of beverages/food put on for performers. Not even bottles of water. AND then we werent getting any money from it. See my gist here guys?? I feel we were used and i am quite pissed off about that side of things. The fact that the organiser, who i must remind you i was helping out by performing in other bands of his which werent up to even a high school band standard, he didnt even have the courtesy to stick his head in to our room for the gig. It is quite clearly piss poor.

Band wise, and music wise, i feel that we did a good job. Admittedly, in our first set, we had at some stages about 15-20 people in the room watching us, but for the second set, we were playing to just 5 people. 3 of whom were my girlfriend, her buddy, and my best mate who was also spotting for a guest vocal slot.....so......a big total of two people we didnt know!!! BUT i think we had fuin as a band. It was a little loose, but truth is we were a bit under-rehearsed! But we now have another gig coming up, and then hopefully we will keep getting together for jams/playing and do a demo in the next month or two and basically take it from there. Id like to try to get some gigs at jazz venues in paris and other european places. Its not about money, its more about the music, but indeed, travel expenses and some beer/food money is always the minimum i think!

I am about to put the minidisc recording of our performance into the computer and twiddle the sound a bit and then if any of you are interested i may well post some of it somewhere. Ill let you know. =O)

Or if anyone would like a complete cd version, just email me.

There are photos from the gig here

Down and Out in paris and london???

2005-03-23T14:12:00.000Z

Hahaha ok, so we werent down and out in paris or london, although, we did run out of euros on monday morning...but ill explain that in a bit. Anyways, I thought i was being "smart" by quoting a favourite buit of literature of mine, penned by the master George Orwell...nevermind.
PARIS.

FRIDAY morning. Catch train to waterloo leaving gravesend at something ungodly like 4.30am. Im pumping, full of adrenalin wating for the whole exploration and discovery ahead of me, Heather on the other hand is just sleepy! hehehe [She always is!!]
We get through passport control and the x-ray machines, no body cavity searches thankfully! Sot around awaiting to board thy eurostar. Train trip goes by quickly, stopping at Ashford International-through the channel tunnel-stop at calais-frethun and then onto paris. Arrive to a muggy warmth, potentially sunny, Gare Du Nord international station. 10.30am. Still early. Metro(underground train) to Les Halles, walk around towards the Pompidou Centre, then south towards the River Seine. By now the sun is out, people are around, gloriously warm and sunny-cool breeze, shade is nice, sun is nice. all good! Walking west down the edge of the river, and end up at the Louvre. Amazingly huge, i have photos which shall be posted on my bebo website here in the next few days. So we are walking down through the Louvre outer grounds, amazing to see the glass pyramid mentioned in the Da Vinci Code!!! Now through the gardens, towards the Champs-Elysees and i can see the Eiffel Tower off to the right in the hazy distance! I spot a Virgin Music megastore and head into the jazz section-marvelling at the amount of stuff there. Also find a FNAC store, lots of great music. Buy some discs and etc etc! We go to check into our hotel, well, youth hostel. Nice enough for the price, we did it on the cheap but perfect for what we wanted, ive had worse!!!! Dinner-Afro Cuban fare, yummo yummo, Exploration - we are hunting down a few jazz clubs that are in the part of town that we chose to eat in. Crepes for both of us and a stroll back towards the metro station and head back for a night of rest. Lose consciousness to sleep at around 11.30pm. 20 Hours of living!
SATURDAY, we are awoken by the sounds of a Parisienne street, the sun shining through the cracks in the curtain. warmth. So, we head out back to our local metro station of Louise Michel, and head to Chatelet. We are starting off with a walk to the Pompidou Centre. Entry to such a great piece of architecture, its absolutely huge. Hosuing much contemporary art, and many classics among other stuff. Its a marvellous place to check out, do check it out when you are there. I took photos of some of the art (yeah, weird, but cameras are allowed!!). We grab a 'La Brie' baguette and a 'pain-au-raisin' and head to Stravinsky Square, next to Pompidou, and sit around the fountain, basking in the sunlight, enjoying just being there!! Walk back to Les Halles, and find the way to the Eiffel Tower Metro stop. Get out and its a short walk yto the Eiffel Tower. Walking along the sunny paths along the Seine, Arguing. Yes having a real argument. (what is a weekend away without an argument with your girlfriend???) We are yelling at each other, passing by happy families and etc. Something so stupid caused us to argue. Cant remember, it was silly. But indeed it was sposed to be a romantic time and we are arguing. Stopping to discuss the situation. Eventually, we come to a truce (men and women are so different!!) and resume our walk, hand in hand, to the eiffel tower. Upon Arrival, we see the queue for tickets is quite profuse. Heather lines up, I go to hunt out some ice creams for us from the overpriced vendors! The eiffel tickets queue moves quicker than my ice cream vendor and i end up having to hunt down my girl with two double scooped pistachio and chocolate ice creams! The Eiffel Tower is indeed a beautiful thing. We ended up getting to the top around 5.30pm, lots and lots of people, but well worth it. Great views, nice weather, luvvly jubbly. We exit the tower, as we are now very hungry. Head back to the area we had din dins last night and had pizza and pasta. SO SO tired now, probably yesterdays and todays extreme excercise, so we head back for an early night.
SUNDAY
Showered and refreshed, we get on the metro, heading towards Place De Clignancourt. A huge market is our destination. With over 10Miles of walkways of market stalls/antiques etc etc, we are amazed by the sheer size of it. Spread across quite a few blocks of streets etc. We stop in a cafe for some brunch. Cheese roll and coffee for heather, egg/bacon and a heineken for me!! Suddenly, something happens outside, a ruckus. We see some person run round the corner, and then two other guys catch him up and pull him to the wall, a fight at first thought. Lots of interest and chattering in french from all parties, seems the two gentlemen were security guards from the market areas, and caught the guy pickpocketing/stealing! Anyways, after that drama, we move onto exploring more market. Find a few big record/cd stalls, some funky clothing stuff, and lots of afro/carribean art/craft stuff. I purchase a small hand drum from a senegalese man, something ive wanted for a while, bargain price. happy with my purchase but now am lacking funds~! Heather finds some funky pants, crazy colours and patterns, shes happy, im happy. Getting warmer and busier at this market, so we decide to head back to hotel, drop our purchases off, and head back out to the favourite part of paris of Heather's. Montmatre. Wow, it truly is a beautiful place, up the hill, near the church Sacre-Coeur. More like a little mountain village. Lots and lots of people, great views. the church itself inside was beautiful, we walk to the artists square where artists are selling and trying to get portraits done of the tourists/public etc etc. We come across two bands that are like a brass band, drums/perc with tuba/sousaphone and a variety of other horns. Very entertaining. One or two good players, the rest were good, not great players, but it was about the entertainment and fun factors!!!! A truly beautiful area, lots to see! Now we are starving, and i am almost euro-less and my girl is almost out of euros too! We need feeding. We take a chance and head back to a station we havent been to-after a beautiful sugared crepe! We end up being near the Moulin Rouge, and find an italian restaraunt which is obviously catering for the people who want a cheap feed! Pasta pesto style for H, and salami Pizza for B!!! A walk around the area afterwards, and we are yet again exhausted and feel the need to head back to the hotel for rest and respite!
MONDAY.
Today we have to check out, so we are sorting out our packing of our stuff etc etc, and just generally savouring the last moments of our trip. Finally squeezed my little drum into my small pack, and am still having to carry the expensive Vinyl i found (haha a whole 2 euros!). HEading towards Gare Du Nord metro station, we are early waiting our 3.19 pm Deparure. Walk around the general station area, find a nice little cafe and have some food. I write some postcards whilst Heather daydreams out the window a bit!

Anyways, thats basically the story of our paris trip. I think it is indeed a great city, cleaner than london with more historical buildings/architecture to be seen. I think its just a better maintained place. the metro/undergound lines were amazingly reliable, a well oiled machine. Took like 25 mins to get from one side of paris to the other, whereas over here in london, what with the bloody circle and district lines always going down, delays etc. I think there were a lot of Beautiful women in Paris-for those of you who appreciate beauty! there is some funny stuff tho, like the fact that people bring their dogs into restaraunts with them, and theres just dog shit on the pavements/sidewalks all the time! The amount of street beggars is amazing, but it seems they all have decent enough clothing and shoes and dont look like homeless or needy people, and they are just plain rude. They pray on the tourists, and i feel bad ignoring them but in the end, what can you do? the con men in touristy places like the markets and around montmatre were annoying too. But its all a part of the experience. obviously youd get used to all this stuff and learn how to deal with it over time! I recommend it a lot and i know i shall go back there soon too. Hopefully get a gig or two there with my bands!!!!

Au Revoir!

Music - Life stuffffff

2005-03-11T10:51:00.000Z

Well, ok, this is whats happening in the life of ben for the next week and a half.
Today, (friday) i am writing out some final charts[music] for my band WHIRLIGIG who is breaking their performance cherries tomorrow from 8.30pm. Its gonna be good to finally get something happening after months of speculative talking about a band, and waiting on my music to arrive from australia and now it is finally time to start working! ahh its so exciting.
So yeah, tomorrow and sunday is the Generations Jazz Festival where my own band is performing. I am also playing the the university of London Jazz Orchestra and Also the Generations Jazz Orchestra doing a selection of Ellington and Goodman music which is always good fun. The weekend shall be filled with much humour, hanging with mates, seeing some names, performing, jams etc so that is gonna be cool.
Monday sees me and my lady heading up north, to her hometown near Nottingham. (yeah i shall try to meet robin hood in sherwood forest!) So i shall get to hand up there, meet some new people, hear the northern accent in its natural state etc! I was planning to go up to the RATH trombones factory in Huddersfield, but due to a lack of mone to buy the mouthpiece i wanna get, i think i shall stop myself from going! So monday and tuesday and wednesday shall be filled with new things.
Wednesday night sees us catching the marvellous French bass player, Henri Texier and his bands in a performance up in nottingham. I am really interested to see this man play, with his bands from the continent, even a trombone player in his band!!! wow!!
Thursday will see us driving back down to london, taking our time, perhaps stopping in at some interesting looking villages and etc, see what we can find!
THEN, well, early friday morning i am heading to Waterloo station with my girl to get on the eurostar and head to PARIS. Yep, i shall be off to explore some french culture in paris until monda arvo when i return! Does anyone have any recommendations for any music gigs/clubs in Paris between the 18th and 20th?? lemme know of any recommendations!

So yeash, i am very excited by the next week and a half!!!!!!
So i will bid you all adieu for the next week and a half and shall return with some photos to post as well as my tales of adventure! Stay safe friends, dont go crazy!

lovely Sun Ra.

liMe is the way ahead.

Curtis Fuller Gig

2005-03-11T10:25:00.000Z

Ok, so i saw the Curtis Fuller Sextet at Ronnie Scotts on tuesday night with my good mates Jon and Paul. (No not from the beatles). Indeed it was exctiting to see such a legend of trombone performing. I likened mr Fuller in my head to the penguin from batman. Small, waddling onstage. But shit man, he still can play. Amazing.
Although he did play with the bell covering the mic, a technique which i am not fond of whatsoever, the sound really does turn into a woofy load of shite from out front. BUT luckily enough i had a front row table, literally couldve touched his slide, so i could get the acoustic sound a bit too. BUT man, wow. He was pretty good for a 70+ trombonist. On the more critical side of things, i must say that any young up-coming trombonist who saw that gig and took notice of the way he ended solos would be greatly wrong in their approach. Ending solos was as loose as a hooker's snatch and thats being nice. Really not well done but the rest-yes. nice. lovely sun ra.
And DON SICKLE wow great trumpeter. Javon JACKSON, pretty good, too coltraney for me though.
Check em out if you have a chance!

Some music recommendations 11/3/2005

2005-03-11T10:03:00.000Z

Albums ive been listening/purchased lately:

Grachan Moncur III Octet - "EXPLORATION" - Capri records
Glenn FerrisQuintet - "PENTESSENCE" - Naive
Rick Parker Collective - "NEW YORK GRAVITY" - Fresh Sound new talent
Bob Brookmeyer & New Art Orchestra - "GET WELL SOON" - Challenge Records
Henri Texier Strada Sextet - "VIVRE" - Label Bleu
"THE SOUND OF NEW YORK JAZZ UNDERGROUND" - Fresh Sound new talent
Dave Holland Big Band - "OVERTIME" - Dare2 Records
Bebo Valdes - "BEBO DE CUBA" - Calle 54 Records. [A two cd and 1 DVD set!!!!!!]

So thats my small but great recommendations list for you for now. Some nice stuff there for anyone who enjoys big band or trombone stuff set in a contemporary voice!

ALSO must reccomend this novel:

"MY ONE AND ONLY LOVE"
Written by Israeli expat Gilad Atzmon. London based, saxophonist extroadinaire. Funny guy. A good read!!!!

Enjoy

liMe is the way ahead

Benny Performing????

2005-03-01T12:18:00.000Z

My new band:
WHILRLIGIG

is playing soon. check out the details here

and indeed feel free to look at the little bit of info on my professional blog here

Lovely sun ra.

...random thoughts of the moment.....

2005-03-01T01:19:00.000Z

I dont feel that some people have a very open minded way of living.

I think that is a sad thing. Admittedly, i have in the past been narrow minded, pig headed etc. But alas, i try to not be that way about most things. That does not mean that we cannot be strong willed or whatever,.

Everyone has their own agenda and plan for their life, but, ahh i dunno, rambling here, seeing what comes out.

I met John Altman today, fabulous british composer for films, and a great soprano sax jazzer too. Funny, had a big chat to him about the projects he does in L.A for films, etc, and his uncle was one of my grandfathers bandleaders/mates back in the 50s. Small world, and just made me remember so much of the amazing times i spent with ym grandfather back when i was a young tyke. Taggin along with him to his gigs, and his work meetings, rehearsals etc. Overhearing, listening, conversing with him and his friends about what music they really dug, and who thewy thought were full of shite. etc. So much information. I wish i could remember even half of what hed told me. The stuff i can recall, and i do recall a lot of the more recent(after 18years old) but there was certainly a lot of stuff when i was a kid, and looking back, its a classic example of not realising what you have till it is gone, and also the whole immature thing.

Had a great long conversation on msn last week with Sean, my original Brass teacher, and one of my best mates. He lives in New York now, and we were just reminiscing, and also alkin of new happenings, a general catch up. Just reminded me who i owe a great deal to. After my grandfather, sean would have to be the next influence on me musically and in life. A dude who just plays like a mofo, and is serious/focused when needed, but also knows how to have a "lafff" [thats just a little call out to my two fave northerners, The Baroness and my partner in Lime]

anyways, enough of this for now, tis sleepy time.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Snow setlles.....

2005-03-01T01:13:00.000Z

Ok, so it has been snowing in London town for about the last week or so. Now we aint talking heavy downfalls, although it was pretty good about wednesday/thursday last week. I tended to start daydreaming looking at the snow falling outside when i was working up in Foyles. Amazing. Ive never really experienced this sort of thing before. Living where it has the opportunity to snow in winter, yet in summer, get to beautiful temperatures. Global Warming is a problem but indeed it is making some otherwise questionable weathered places become much more beautiful.

Twas awesomely romantic walking down charing cross road with my girlie, Heather, when the first snow was falling so sporadically, but, it was just one of those moments. We had a moment! Then what with later that week, coming back to my car, the roads and said car being covered in about an inch or two of snow, and throwing snowballs at each other! haha Wowsers.

so tis Valentines Day

2005-02-14T15:02:00.000Z

This is my Valentines Day colour for today-funnily enough, it is valentines day so that works out nicely dont it??
Ok, so as i just chatted with my cousin about a second ago, isnt valentines day just another corporate load of bollocks. I mean, i like the sentiment. BUT its not about that anymore. My other cousin asked if i had sent any cards?? Why send a card?? Its not very personal, and not much thought needs to be put into buying a card. Then writing a little dear so and so, etc. Sure you can write a little message but, shit, why waste 4+ quid on a card, then send it or give it to someone. Why not use words, face to face??? Talk, communicate??

So, here on my own blog i am just going to wish a few people a little valentines day message etc, and no, im not being hipocritical to what i just said....but, in the end, it is the thought that counts.

To my girlfriend...H. You are gorgeous, i love ya to bits!

To LIME GIRL (My Partner in LIME) ; Rin, Mon, Jay, Caz, Nat, Ness
i hope you all have a good day and i am wishing you all the love, peace and jazz in the world.

AND also, seeing as i dont think i should stereotype and only offer valentines wishes to my female mates, happy valentines day to all and sundry.

Peace

de ja vu

2005-02-13T23:27:00.000Z

I feel the urge once again to re-iterate how easily my moods change......and it always seems to be based around females. Maybe im a soft - easy target?? I dunno, i feel like i am always being judged by what i say-if someone doesnt understand me well enough to hear sarcasm, or obvious pun/satire i come across as some sort of bigot or crazy man. So what?? Am i not allowed to be angry or unhappy, bad mooded?? Bollocks. I should be allowed to vent my views to my friends and aquaintances?

Bugger it all, i think i am just so bloody exhausted that i am taking everything out of proportion and right at this very minute making a bigger arse of myself again...someone will surely take offense at these seemless words, even though im not trying to infer or influence anyone. I am just venting my mind of stupid randomramblings before i attempt to rest.

I am in love. Perhaps this is what my problem mentally is at this current time. NOPE, thats not a problem at all, it is just my mental and physical triredness and exhaustion. Work just went on and on today, an endless monotony of nothingness. I think i am getting so pissed off with my own company that i get pissed off with myself when i have to spend so much time in this little ox of a room full of my stuff with nowhere else to put it, not knowing where thins are, not ewnough room to get up withut knocking something of my bench or whatever. I am happy to live in a jumble, but a small jumble?? It is so hard. AND travelling is starting to get me down. I love to drive, but to do this whole shit to get to work is totally wearing me down. An entire tank of fuel dedicated just to driving to and from the station i go to to save some money from expensive train tickets. Then pay for parking and train tickets. Still cheaper than going from my closest station BUT, its so time consuming. AND, then if i want to drive anywhere else it is MORE fuel. This is all getting ridiculous. I worked out some figures and realised that id have more in the kitty if i lived closer in london - obviously if i find the right place/rent/people. Someone please give me some sort of confidence boost sooner rather than later.
I feel depressed, and this is all so fucking stupid. I should be extremely happy....i AM, but these issues are also obviously really getting me down.
Also i dont bloody understand why every job i work only pays my wages at the end of eac month. It is such a pain in the arse when i am trying to budget and schedule money shit, i mean, its ridiculous. i feel i cant win right now, i need to sleep and slep of this bad mood.

interesting

2005-02-09T23:51:00.000Z

Hmmm,

Thanks everybody for their comments on my recent post. Indeed, it felt like therapy to say what i did, and feel better for it now. People come and go, friendships may dissipate, but, we must always remember what we did have and what we currently have. Change is cool with me, its all good...people have to deal with their own shit in their own way etc. Just because of my morals and how i live my life, doesnt mean i am right and everyone else is wrong! I didnt mean to sound like that if anyone took it that way!

I must personally thank The Spiral One, and also especially My PARTNER IN LIME!!! Thankyou both for your comments, conversation and thoughts, you two are gems and mean a lot to me.

Ok, now i truly must cacth some zzzzs, early start and i dare say an alcohol fueled finish for tomorrow, soo lookin forward to heading up to hear some northern accents!!! AND try some local brews!

Peace out

Recommendations 7/2/2005

2005-02-07T13:54:00.000Z

This is the latest update of things ive been listening to, reading and generally enjoying:

AUDIO [Artist Name, Album Title, Genre, Other Info]
Pat Metheny Group - "The Way Up" - Jazz - The new release, great full length composition.
E.S.T - "Viaticum" - Jazz - Another great release from this swedish Piano Trio.
The Meters & Funkadelic - Funk/Soul - anything by them, funky, fun soulful grooves.
Charles Mingus - "Oh Yeah" - Jazz - anything of Mingus is awesome!!!
The Beach Boys - "Pet Sounds" - Pop - Classic album.
James Brown - "Soul On Top" - Soul/Jazz/Funk - 1969 Session with Mr Brown fronting a Big Band!!!
Grachan Moncur III - Jazz/Trombone - classic bone plaer, any albums.
Kenny Wheeler - Jazz - Anything by this master of music!
"The Pepper-Knepper Quintet" - Jazz - Fabulous classic album by jazz masters Pepper Adams + Jimmy Knepper
Ray Charles - "Ray" - Rhythm & Blues - Soundtrack from the film. Fabulous compilation.
Young Disciples - "Road To Freedom" - Acid Jazz - Early 90s beginnings of acid jazz/urban hybrid sounds
Tord Gustavsen Trio - "The Ground" - Jazz - New release from norwegian piano trio, beautiful.
Bob Florence Limited Edition - Jazz/Big Band - Any of their albums, a great swinging west coast band!
Rico - "Trombone Man:Anthology 1961-71" - Reggae/Blues - Another brother of trombone!
Ronnie Scott & Tubby Hayes - British Jazz - Anything by these tenor sax greats.
Frank Sinatra - Vox - Anything by the master

FILMS / SHOWS / DVD [Title/Info]
" RAY " - Great film about the master, Ray Charles. Great Music and very Interesting.
" CLOSER " - Interesting movie, deep and melancholic.
" The Simpsons " - Hah, need anything more be said, everyone should watch this.
" Family Guy " - As above, so Below
" Kill Bill Volume 1 & Volume 2 "
" The Bill " - Always watch this!
" Little Britain " & " Only Fools and Horses " - Classic british humour. the best.

BOOKS / LITERATURE [Title/Author/Info]
" Down and Out in Paris and London " - George Orwell
" Quincy Jones " (Autobiography)
" Space is The Place " - John F. Szwed - Biography, life and times of Sun Ra.

ENJOY

Happy though!

2005-02-07T13:38:00.000Z

Yes, believe it or not, to continue on from my last post below, even though i may sound quite unhappy there, i am pretty happy with the other 95% of my life at the moment.

This new job, i work now at Rays Jazz at Foyles. A jazz music (CD/Records) specialist, which is and has been a dead cert on the scene in london here for many many years. It has relocated into Foyles Bookstore fairly recently, and basically, it is like a dream job for me. As thiose of you who know me well enough and know of my record/cd collection!!

I been doing NYJO for a while now, and feel that everyone ive met from doing that is great. I am so honoured to know these cats, and they are all awesome musicians. Also some other music stuff, directing this big band out west, and also just been updated on a new venture in the north east london/essex area which i am real keen for. My small group, the band conitnuation from The Sextet Fiends back in sydney, and what with some of the gigs coming up in march that i wanna see. All looks good.

Also, i must make mention of a few people who are new friends and mean much to me. Firstly, i must mention my LIME partner. Awesome vocalist, actually thats the wrong word. MUSICIAN is what i mean. A good friend and i feel that there will be some interesting music to come of a future collaboration. Now, next up. The Moochin Girl. Also, cannot be forgotten: my good friend who will march down Wardour Street, Soho in Thigh Length hot pink vinyl boots, a tartan one piece mini skirt/smock thingy, with the pink streaked dreds, elton john styled glasses, playing a set of bagpipes. (Come on, that does NOT sound THAT crazee does it??) Also, to get a mention of some others: Big Funk Railroad Jonny, Uncle Paul, and of course, the Pepper-Knepper Brother.

anyways, thats life, thats my life, this ismy life, crazed. Full of citrus goodness. basically LIME tho. The best condiment. salt, pepper, lime, lemon, vinegar.........................

I need to find a new mouthpiece...................

Reliability

2005-02-07T13:13:00.000Z

Ok, i am back to the world of dreams and blogness here...been busy as all fuck with my new job and rehearsals and goin to see gigs and etc etc
Anyways, my point today is that although i have had an awesomely great few weeks, there is something troubling me. It is the fact that i think i want intense friendships, and relationships etc.
Whoa, hang on, that doesnt sound right, not what i mean. I mean, when i have a mate, i expect him/her to be a mate. Do onto others as you do unto yourself. Being a mate means being reliable. Being there for the other. Not going back on plans, organising things and then pulling out of them. Etc. Is this wrong??? I know that if anyone of my good mates has a problem, and they felt they needed to talk or whatever, i would MAKE the time for them. I met someone recently and they seemed a cool person. BUT, i came to reaise that they were indeed not as great a soul as i originally thought. Things like "Oh, I dont have time or energy to deal with 'YOUR' woes and problems"(Lime Numero Dos, they werent the finger marks there!!!! hehe)...what sort of person says something like that?? Totally not interested in anything other than their own little world...BUT then is the attention seeker and wants to talk about their life and troubles. I am flabbergasted that people like this can exist.
Indeed, i know the world is made up of many different people, and personalities etc. BUT that comes down to pure bigotry methinks. I am glad i dont have many friends like that.
What else really yanks my chain is unreliability, and a lack of care. Seems more and more people i know are so into their own little world/life that they dont realise the bigger picture. Perhaps someone, one of their friends, is kind of relying on them for something. BUT, shit, enough of my whingeing, my attitudes have changed and they can all get on with their crap.whatever. Its like i feel that the only reason for our friendship is because i make the effort to talk to them, or hang out, or organise something. I dont hear hide nor harefrom them unless i instigate something. I know a friendship/relationship is a two way thing, but with a handful of people, i feel like its just me....it just jades my views on society even more that some people are like this. They dont even seem to realise they are doing anything weirdly, or, just admit they are like it and think because they admit it, its all ok and everyone else should work around it. I dunno, does anyone understand me???? Any comments???

Australia Day

2005-01-26T11:08:00.000Z

Well, indeed it is australia day here in london now, and most londoners would be thinking this is just another fucking stupid australian public holiday, and tell you the truth, id have to agree with them. Truth is, i dont feel the need to rename australia day to something emotionally charged and feel smug knowing i am so against australia day....For long have i known, that in fact, it is just another excuse to have a public holiday, and mooch about in the sun. (J, theres ya word, it is infiltrating my vocab already!) There has been much discussion over australia day between me and my closer friends from home on respective blogs, and also about vegetarianism etc etc. Go here to see the discussion in all its splendor! To me, i dont give a rats hairy hide about it all, i figure everyone deserves there say and their own opinions. Personally, i am NOT into "changing the world for the better", as there will ALWAYS be something better. I am about changing misjustice, and ignorance. I think ignorance is the key word here, as we as society are getting worse and more close minded. Ignorance is not bliss. (see brother, i dont think so!) BUT, i think some general thoughts and attitudes go too far, or become too easily hipocritical. Indeed, humans arent god, or a higher power, so who are we indeed to judge who/what should live or die? Nevertheless, i am a city boy. I have never much liked the thought of living in the country, etc, maybe that has something to do with what i feel about life. My music is my life, it isnt about other things, and i will not pretend, or do something-follow some plight part time. Whatever my soul tells me, i should give it the respect to follow it. My dreams.

Right now, i feel more inspired. Lucky also. Ive spent the past few weeks basically hangin with an old mate, meeting new people, bit of family stuff, getting a dream job, rehearsals etc, practice, and very recently feeling a very close bond with someone who is special to me. I have been lucky. I am so thankful for my experiences of this month, this year. 2005. If it can stay at this level, well, the skies the limit.

I think i am going to write a suite for my jazz sextet. Actually, i KNOW i am, i have a basic plan in my mind, titles, fels, grooves, etc just need to come up with the "meat" of the music. But indeed, it isnt just another shitty idea of mine, it is all about a basically perfect situation i was in recently, and, well...... i aint gonna Jinx it.

Peace cats

Moods

2005-01-25T13:38:00.000Z

Innit funny how a person has the capability of changing the moods of another person so easily. Just through one little glance, or sideways look or whatever, sometimes from a total stranger can just bring humility and a feeling of everything is alright over you. Then again.the opposite can happen so easily. Of course i am basically talking about the whole sexual divide debate, really, i dont think i will ever understand how women think, or operate, and im certain that the vice versa is indeed appropriately true also.
No matter what, there is always a new surprise around the corner, something tempting, and good....sometimes something bad.
Last night i was drinking quite heavily, Newcastle Brown Ales, great stuff. Lovely. anyways, caught the night bus home, head spinning and i fell asleep. Bus driver wakes me up at the end of the route, and tells me to get off cos we are in Sidcup. I though great, cos thats where my car was parked, Little did i know he meant the outskirts of sidcup, in fact we were in fucking Foots Cray, which, well...i had to walk about 3 miles t get back to my car in the bloody 0 degree centrigrade temperature, head still spinning slightly. Bus comes back and straight past me, what a bastard of a bus driver.
ah well, i learnt a valuable lesson, not to fall asleep on the night bus unless you are with someone else, and preferably said someone else is your girlfriend or whatever, and then you indeed can fall asleep in each others arms on the bus, and then have an interesting walk to wherever your car is, attempting to be keep warm and generally being close............

interesting.

Listening to Archie Shepp album, "Four For Trane". Pretty damn good. Not too crazy like some of his later stuff!!!
Also been listening to the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra recordings, very hip. Nice arrangements and great playing. Really cool arrangement of Duke's Sophisticated Lady.

Inspired now??

2005-01-21T11:13:00.000Z

Ok, so, since the experiences of Wednesday, i have felt kinda refreshed and ready for anything. so what if i am low on cash at the moment?? [cos i dont get paid till the end of the month, but, i can cope] There is very little that can bring my mood down, indeed it sits there in the back of my mind readying itself to rear its ugly head and ruin it all for me....BUT, i have to have more faith in myself, and learn to just relax where all this shit is concerned.
Apache, dig man??? I know ya do.
Back to the real point of this post.
I think inspiration comes from all sorts of experiences, and it is different for different people. I have felt a new lease on wanting to do some practice and write some more stuff, also wanting to just get out and earn some money and enjoy myself. I hope i can keep this feeling.....

Anticipation.

That word was used the other day and has kept in my head. It is meaningful in so many ways, to me it involves excitement. Longing. etc~!

Ok, im off to practice, create and do something real.....

A dream??

2005-01-20T16:45:00.000Z

Wow.

There really are very few words to express how i am feeling at the moment, it is indeed the best sort of natural high....Hmmmmm. Meeting someone and sharing some musical and personal experiences , to me is a big part of getting to know someone.

Pulling an all nighter, ahh the joys of such fun. Meeting at Charing X station, ready for a pre gig meal and drinkies.....Up to a typical student type cheapish chinese buffet in chinatown whilst chatting away about all thoughts on life....Sipping a tiger. ahh. Tube to Liverpool street, stroll towards Spitalfields Markets, and enter the venue. Upstairs, early enough for a front row table, locking eyes. Looking at a being which i feel totally comfortable with, spiritually. Always entertaining and interesting conversation, indeed, much smarter than me. Never growing tired of hearing tales of life, and personally never feeling that there is anything i could possibly NOT talk about. Gig: Polar Bear doubled with The Partisans...awesome. Polar Bear indeed a great band, exactly the sort of jazz/improv music i dig and aim to strive towards! Wow. All part of the F-IRE collective.
All the time digging this awesome soundscape, feeling close to my companion for the evening, through our obvious enjoyment of the music, our company and a sampling of international beers including: Budweiser Budvar(real budweiser), Amstel, Heineken, Corona and another spanish beer which was nice but currently removed from my memory-dont matter, not important.
Gig finishes, post gig chat about music. Lovely. Walk back to catch tube to Tottenham Court Road. What to do now then?? Well, of course, walk the streets of Soho, happiness. Looking for nothing in particular, just enjoying the company. Wasnt an especially cold evening in London, Luckily, so it wasnt too bad. Hand in hand past soho square, no directions needed, nor a taxi thankyou. wandering aimlessly, in a world of my (our) own. Hmmmm, taken into Crowbar, a small pub no less, teaming with people. Fabulous, somehow i felt a little strange entering considering i am not really a metal appreciator in the true sense and dressed like i had just been to a jazz gig no less, turns out everyone is extremely friendly, and like havin a chat. Indeed, an American budweiser for me, and a shot of some strange dark liquid for my pal, strangely sweet and tasty, quite potent no less! Indeed time to get out and chill for a bit, to the cafe across from Ronnie Scotts. Americano and a mocha, table outside under a heater which now methinks about it, was not in fact working or turned on! More chatting, basically just diggin each other, totally interested in what is being said...
Time to move on yet again, this time for a walk. I know the N21 will leave from Charing X stop F, alas, we still walk down old compton to charing x road, heading points south east, through covent garden. Just enjoying the serenity of london at this time of nights. We see a very very short skirt and a chav with it, and i am just in awe at such a ridiculous looking sight. No worry, continue on in our own world, past the Aussie Store up to the market areas of covent garden. Indeed hadnt been there since the big tree was removed, and i am slightly disappointed that Walkabout it shut as i cannot get an ausie beer for us both tonight i realise! Ted, or indeed Virgins Broth, or even a Hahn. No matter, next time.
Find stop F, relise that we dont know when the n21 will be on its way, so now a walk across the road to stand on nelsons column, and near the big lions. Something ive always wanted to do but always lots of people. Not at 3.30am tho, just us. All of Trafalgar Square to ourselves, standing in each of the four directions, contemplating architecture, life, watching Londons late night dwellers get on thier buses and pushing their street sweep carts. Havent felt these feelings of contentment for a long time. Back to stop F, alas, the n323 to london brdge sounds good, wait there for the n21 and its much more peaceful. Sitting at the london bridge bu stop E, awaiting the big red bus to come, close mentally, physically and indeed two souls finding each other in the big mass of life called London.

This all sounds like a dream to me, indeed if this was reality i am a very lucky person, and in fact, i know i am. It was one of the best nights of my life and wow, i need say no more.

(i Still have your coat button my dear, dont fret, it will not be lost!)

Busy Busy

2005-01-18T21:39:00.000Z

Wow, After friday nights gig, i was indeed kinda inspirationally on a high, and as luck would have it, NYJO rehearsal was great fun, lots of people there, and of course a beer or two afterwards. Indeed i needed an early night for sunday was a looooonnggg day. Take dad to the airport leave around 7.30am, from heathrow to westminster, westminster to rayners lane-nyjo gig. food and drinks after gig, back to town, dinner, then attempted drinks after that, but indeed they fell through much to the disappointment of us. So, indeed i went home and got to bed by 11pm.

Crazy.
Work training monday arvo, drink with work mates, up to an interview at 5.15pm to work in a record store part time, then up to ULU for a rehearsal. Good fun, nice drinks-cheap. More new people met, a few more great people to add to the list of friends....

Thats what life is all about, enjoying what you are doing, and feeling that you are interacting with other people properly.

I am excited about tomorrow. A good gig to go catch and also some hang time with a great soul, so i will probably be urged to blog on tomorrow tomorrow.

Later.

Friday Night's Entertainment

2005-01-15T20:32:00.000Z

Whoa, ok, so i wake up at 3pm, realising that i must get moving and organised-have to head back into town. A gig which i am very excited about being in the audience for.

So, get to waterloo east, walk past the eye in shutdown mode, meet up with Johny and head for a pint. Entering Royal Festival Hall foyer, realising there is some free jazz-"Commuter Jazz" as its know, so we grab a pint of the ol' favourite: "Worthington's Creamflow" and generally cop some grooves. Upon tasting of said beer, i realise that it tastes terrible from here. Strange, cos last time i had it at the bar there it was pretty good. Maybe just a bad barrell or something......
Anywhos, commuter jazz finishes, lock eyes with a sultry temptress before she gets up and proceeds to leave....weird. Anyways, laughing at the old drunken man enjoying the jazz so much, that he feels it is a personal insult evertime some member of the public in fact walks infront of him blocking his view for all of 2 seconds. Funny shit.
Feeling peckish, we find ourselves purchasing some chicken laksa, smells great-tasted great. BUT before eating, we are casually strolling through towards the door outside-to indeed make it into the foyer of Queen Elizabeth Hall, when we notice that there is a huge 50% sale at the cd store in RFH. After checking it out, grabbing some great bargains, we move ontofoyer of Q.E.H. Meet up with Jon (#2). Bells ringing, time to get seated.

Wowsers. i am actually seeing Kenny Wheeler with an allstar small band, and indeed an allstar big band for his 75th birthday celebraton concert. Wow.

Kenny Wheeler, Lee Konitz, Dave Holland, John Paricelli, Evan Parker, Barnaby Dickinson, Mark Nightingale, Derek Watkins, Henry Lowther, Stan Sulzman, Norma Winstone, Hugh Fraser.
CRAZY.
EASILY IN MY TOP 10 GIGS IVE SEEN LIVE OF ALL TIME.
Amazing. AND the concert is going to be broadcast on BBc radio 3 on the 28th january. Check it out on the web if you are in australia, they will broadcast it on the jazz part of bbc radio 3 on that date!

Intense. Must say that personally i felt that lee konitz played out of tune, and i think he maybe getting a bit past his prime, nevertheless, great to see him live. Kenny, wow, sounds great for 75, truly perfect. Dave Holland, - MONSTER. Barnaby Dickinson and Mark Nightingale-easily in my top 10 bone players. amazing. Decent sound for a concert hall too, much better than any Opera House jazz gig id ever heard in Sydney!

Well, it was an intense couple of days with lots of awesome music and experiences!
Inspiring

Thursday Night's Entertainment

2005-01-15T20:10:00.000Z

Well, whoa, thursday night was a mind blower, a very great evening of entertainment, friends, alcohol, new people and all other sorts of new experiences. Lets start from the beginning of the day..........
A.M Peak train into town (Westminster) for training, it was food safety/hanling course etc. Learning about all sorts of interesting things like salmonella poisoning, correct heating temperatures for food prep etc. Some of the sickness symptoms sound quite awful, easily enough to put you off eating anything for the rest of your life!!!!
Train home after lunch to relax and recoup, and ready myself for the evening. Problems-Waiting for a train to Gravesend, and then a bus from gravesend to home. End up walking to my Aunts place and then bludge a lift off her to my home. End up with about an hour turnaround - leave on train to Charing X less than an hour after i get home!!! uggh, rush rush.
Meet Johny at Charing X, catch the 24 to camden. walk up a bit, find a decent pub and indeed grab 2 main meals for 5.99-Bargain! Now fed, we head to another pub, somewhat closer to JazzCafe..Cheaper pints, decent enough, trendy lookin place-the "Rat & Parrot".
Meet Cec, and her friend Charlie in said pub, and have a beer or two and chat and etc. Both of them great people! Head to jazzcafe for "Snowboy & The Latin Section". I have heard a bit of their stuff years back on a compilation latin jazz album, then got a few of their albums more recently. Great stuff, reminded me of my times with Mi Tierra, and Club Havana back in Canberra and Sydney respectively. Hadnt salsa danced for a while, great fun, indeed i realised i do need to have had some alcohol intake before i can really get into the dancing!!! Hah
Anyways, awesome gig, see a couple of dudes from the awesome Australian band: The Cat Empire. So, Of course johny and I stay around with vocalist Felix, and his lovely girlfriend and pianist Ollie for a few more bevvies. We leave jazzcafe, find a cab and point south, destination SOHO. Soho square, and we are walking down towards chinatown. No peep shows open, so the four of us are straggling round the streets. Come across a nice chap called Zed, he takes us down to an "r'n'b nightclub" which i must say was pretty cool, very chilled out and relaxed....nice. We stay there, milling around, chatting etc until they kick us out. Now it is about 3.30 and we are lost as to what to do. walking through chinatown, being offered every drug and sexual fantasy under the moon, we decide upon some food. ayhhh bless the 24 hour chinese restaraunts, saving us from the evil golden arches. Hmmm, interesting to see how people act around london at this time of the morning, many different personalities. Must say that zed is a great guide and nice cat.
Anyways, after some chicken and veg, with steamed rice and a large beaker of water, it is now time to leave and allow the next drunk to sit downand have some nourishment.
It is now late enough and we are shattered. Ollie leaves for his room in Kings Cross (Felix had left a while back), and as there is no nightbus to gravesend, i followed johny back to crash on the living room floor at about 5. Awake at 7am, so quiet and serene through london this time of morning, BUT indeed 10 mins later, im on a bus to waterloo and it is indeed peak traffic.
Train home, fall asleep listening to rufus wainright in ipod. Get home, stumble into the shower, and then crash in the comfort of the homely bed.
Ahhhh
a good night

Worthington's CreamFlow

2005-01-11T01:15:00.000Z

Need i say anymore??? Easily one of my top 5 beers on tap of all time. It goes down a fricken treat, and i know mr blogstead agrees wholeheartedly with this statement. What a fun night, Drinks at uni bar beforehand, rehearse half cut, and finale=drinks after rehearsal at uni bar. Meet/become mates with a few great souls that hadnt been on my mate list beforehand, a few excellent people whom i hope ta learn more about in the future....

Ok, head spinning, sleepiness takin over, alcohol content was really too much to drive~whoops!

Love and Peace

Egad, Brain mush

2005-01-10T13:24:00.000Z

Well wasnt that a strange unfocused post last night.

Explanation: Yesterday was a full on day for me. 160 Miles worth of driving. Rehearsal(Including directing, my own bad playing, organising and discussion). Family-Meeting up with MORE of my family that ive not met as an adult. Everyone saying the same thing, they would NEVER have recognised me in a billion years-funny that eh?? that i may change physically from the last time they saw me-nearly 15 years ago!!!!! All day busy busy, brain goes funny!!!

Today, well, another day full of things occurring for me. Currently adding more music to iTunes and my iPod. iPod on Shuffle-best way to listen to stuff you dont often check out, hence i am enjoying my iPod so much. As humans we tend to get into little ruts, have habits in our general ways of life. That goes too for our musical choices, i get into the habit of listening to generally the same cds for the car trip or my discman etc. So i have in fact ripped a few of these to my iPod,BUT generally have put things in it which i havent listened to for a while, or indeed do not listen to very often. Put iPod on shuffle, and bobs your transsexual auntie, time to cop some other music which in fact is great but not listened to often enough. Diversity is the name of the game for me, and i am happy to use my iPod in such a way! I recommend it to all and sundry.....try it. Find your albums that you listen to the least often and put them on your MP3 player. Put a handful of your favourite things to, but id say ratio of 75% new things to 25% favourites. Then also you will find tendencies and similarities in the music!

Hmmm, off to London now. Apple Store. Mole Jazz. Oxford Street. Reckless Records. Soho. Lovely sun ra.
Then to rehearsal at Uni college bloomsbury, then time for brewski's again....ahh the lifestyle of jazz musos!

Forge the path ahead

2005-01-10T01:56:00.000Z

Ah, so here we are again, another post on la blogsite, allowing people to enter my realm of reality in all its grotesque glory. Maybe you cats are just bored-hah well, no luck here really, just more boring self deprecating shite i guess!!! I feel inclined to want to quote some more lyrics from "The National Bank" band:

"There is beauty in life
Given time to look twice
And not at the Euro or Pound"

I like that.

Anyways, i dunno what kinda mood im in right now, contemplative-maybe. Enthralled-in a way. Just trying to get by and understand life. Humans are indeed strange creatures. All so diverse and different, its hard to work out where exactly 'you' fit into this mortal coil. In the end, for this time in the universe, we just gotta seize(?-cant remember if this is correct spelling!!!) the day. Carpe Diem. All that stuff.

Indeed, i must admit i feel fulfilled, this weekend has been getting back into the swing of things, after a long off period, and i am so glad to be back into bands and stuff. I am totally lookin forward to my small group beginnings, some great gigs to check out this week, a few bevvies with the lads, prob a few more!! hah! But, i much prefer to remember my encounters...Though i dont like to remember my immaturity. My pettyness on some topics, but heck, i can't win sometimes, and i have lost out big time. BUT i have learnt. Couldnt ask for anything more can i george gershwin?-In fact i dont want for more. Thoughts of wanting things erased, crap really, dwell on the past-no thanks. My thoughts are indeed on the poor souls who have indeed lost their homes/lives, and no amount of money can replace what these people have lost. It enrages me really, and i feel a rant coming on so i will stop myself. People will just take it the wrong way, offense in anything thats said. Some people, not naming any names for the knowledge that these people dont read my blog anyways-hold themselves in such a light that borders on pure arrogance. Dont matter if indeed we have the shiniest of new equipment or the most expensive so and so, its what you do with it. Expect to get treated the way you treat others. Bird played a plasic sax, he still fucking well blew like a crazy mofo, brilliant. Wicked. Sorted. No bullshit to trawl through. Dont blame your equipment, cos it is indeed the first sign of an amateur. Indeed he REACTED to his surroundings, blew his soul. For every action, there is an equal and opposite Reaction. Is that right there??? I gave up Physics cos i wasnt too smart with the abacus in maths....Confidence is a double edged sword, blank looks, and being too cautious are not helpful, but nor is over confidence with an unwillingness to learn. Forgiveness is important, and understanding is more useful than a poke in the eye. I mean no offense in anything i say, i just try to get people to react a bit. Life is going by at a billion miles per hour, tomorrow i'll wake up at the age of 65 and think to myself "well, where'd that go?" Maybe my sense of humour and personality does indeed take some getting used to, though generally i am well received. Interesting really, just came across this lil morsel:

"A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart."

I have felt this, and indeed feel i have been untruthful and unfaithful to my soul. No more shall this occur. The air is smog filled, full of smoke and music........things are changin! And may we all just take some time to relish our freedom of speech and thought, freedom is important. Alienation Station Benny, not cool and bad vibes to myself for this. Happiness to all, sincerely. (Though i try sincerity and tends to turn into some other kettle of fish! hah!)

Peace

(Directing a big band puts me into a weird mood dont it daddy??)

Honesty

2005-01-07T10:20:00.000Z

Been hangin out with Mr. Blogstead, Australo-Saxophoni Extroadinaire, realised that indeed it has been good to be checkin out London and general areas with an old mate, who indeed has such a whacked sense of humour, i almost feel outdone in areas of funny shit to say.

Nontheless, there has been a lot of thought provoking (In me) conversation, and as hypocritical as this may sound, i have indeed reverted back to some alcohol. Fuck it, ya know what, I am young, i dont need to be worrying about all the others that i may offend...Christ, there is enough bullshit going on in this world without people getting on their high horses over silly, little inconsequential things. Indeed, i am chuckin in the smokes forever now. No more occasional chimney for me. See, and no matter what, i am Pro-Enjoyment from now on. I am sick to death of having my brain overpowering my enjoyment. I have always been like this, often called serious and what have you. (Among many other unmentionable words!haha, A main one being a word beginning with C) .................

_______________________________

I dont wanna be flatlining on the enjoyment stakes anymore. If indeed i feel like a beer, i will have a beer. If i feel like 3 bottles of wine, i shall perhaps think hard and maybe not drink 3 bottles, but then again, i may. It all depends on how i feel. I dont think i am Judge and Jury and i am not ever, nor have i ever wanted to, push any of my theories or morals onto anyone else. Indeed, I dont like alcohol changing my personality to any extremes, but shit, if i spend my life worrying about little things, i will end up just the sort of person i dont wish to be. I also have noticed in some people, a general hypocritical nature. I have been hypocritical in this past week. BUT i find it more generalised in some places.

My point is, I am a musician. I am not a social deviant, alcoholic, obsessive (about anything other than music), etc. I also have a day job where i serve alcohol to people. I see why many people do not drink at all, but i also do notice that the people who allow themselves to drink do seem to enjoy themselves more. Indeed some of the time it is at other peoples expense which is not cool at all, but....in other ways, everybody's gotta live a little.

Now on, i am not worrying about so much, I have a lot of good mates who indeed are like me. Passionate about music and arts in general, and who arent so caught up with themselves that they are uncool. Theres way too much bulshit in this world - Tsunami, Iraq, Bush, Howard, etc etc things that perhaps do need to be worried/thought about, and in the end, it ALWAYS comes down to power and money. Methinks this Tsunami Devastation "SHOULD" worry the shit out of the "world powers", as this ws a natural occurrance, and look at the devastation. Kinda brings everything into perspective dont it? All my bullshittin and Jive worryin about why in fact i got drunk, or, why i did this or that.......Bollocks. I am all for LIVING, and i will not be pushed into a hole to CONFORM or Pander to anyone's so called "Higher Standards"

I suggest you all read Johny F's comment on my blog two below this.

Tolerate (my personal choice of Lyric of the Year)

2005-01-05T23:13:00.000Z

If what you believe in, is so sacred
That you can not love me anymore
Then I’m sorry, that your wisdom
Won’t prepare you for what’s in store

Because this bubble, that you call home
Will when the winds of change pick-up
Burst with a vengeance, and a fury
And disarray your every stone

You’ve got to tolerate
And not just annihilate
Facts of life and facts of fate
And I say this not from hate;

That your hour now is late
So shape up for you own sake!
That your hour now is late
So shape up for you own sake!
Your own sake!

Your ideals, I find amusing
And on most I can agree
In fact we are closer to each other
But eye to eye we can not see

And I’m not perfect, I admit it
I can admit to being wrong
But as a friend, not as a brother
To you I dedicate this song

You’ve got to tolerate
And not just annihilate
Facts of life and facts of fate
I say this not from hate;

That your hour now is late
So shape up for your own sake!
That your hour now is late
So shape up for your own sake!
Your own sake!

Lyrics: Martin Hagfors (Manus 2003) - The National Bank

[I think this is one of the best bits of lyrical goodness ive ever heard. Indeed the tune is very catchy and i been listening to it non stop in the car-well their entire album, but its one of my favourite tunes!]

Gig selector : Life

2005-01-05T14:27:00.000Z

Ok, so i have just awoken from my slumber, and it is like 1:58pm in the afternoon. God, i feel lazy but indeed there is a reasoning behind my excessive sleeping. Obviously, i was TIRED, and think i may have overslept myself into the same state of feeling tired!!!

Ah well, anyways, I went to see Roy Ayers play at ronnie scotts last night. Wowsers, some funky arse grooves i must say, also, to finish the night with a tune called "Poo Poo La La" was quite a treat for those of us left in the crowd who wanted to basically "give it" to the more snobbish people there! The support band was good, the Tony Kofi Quartet. Though i must mention that they always surprise me with the choices for support at ronnies. I dont think this band was the right support. Kofi and partners were playing the music of "20th century composer Theloniuos Monk", indeed one of the greatest and most innovative jazz pianists/composers of all time! But i do have a thing about seeing bands play " the masters' " musics in exactly the same way they were written/recorded back in the period. Indeed it is nigh on impossible to top any of the originals, so i enjoy hearing fresh arrangements or what have you. I dont wanna hear bands playing the exact same arrangements, because inevitably we will end up hearing the same old cliche solos etc. Im not into that, i wanna hear something fresh!
Nevertheless the musicianship was awesome and i will be interested to hear the band doing some originals or a new project!
Roy Ayers, well, he is a master ofthe genre. The genre being Funk/Acid Jazz. Vibes extroadinaire, techinically masterful! His band were absolutely cookin too! Nice one, i need say no more!

Sittin in at ronnies, with Johnny and indeed 2 people who we'd only really just met, made me think of a few things. Indeed, the four of us, Kim, Steph, John and myself are all aussies. The other thing in common was that the four of us are all either musicians and/or real appreciators of the art form of music in general. See, i have often wondered why i dont get along so well with some people, and i really do think it is because they are not in fact true appreciators of the arts. Indeed musicians also have a whacked sense of humour, and i can go into explaining how instrumentalists have different forms/traits of humour, but alas i wont! Thing is, i was getting on with everyone great, i think that generally the people who i call close mates just know that life isnt just about money and wealth. I know personally that money and wealth are not factors that are going to bring happiness and fulfillment......Another thing is that indeed there is no need to get offended at what people say, taing everything as a personal dig at yourself. I have seen that a lot in British people, where everyone takes themselves so seriously, that indeed they are hard to talk to and end up appearing as Pompous, Ignorant snobs. Indeed there is a vast history of the class war in this country, and i have experienced a form of that recently. It is sad really, that people cannot understand how to enjoy life properly, i know that i am always striving for my personal contentment.

Sure, its cool if you want to do a 9-5 job in an office everyday, but i am against the people who are doing it just for the money, and then have the hide to either 1) complain about their miserable life every day
or
2) become arrogant to the point of they look down upon people who may indeed earn less money, have an alternative lifestyle, be artistic.

The arts is an industry where money is irrelevant. I mean true arts. Not pop music, or rubbish writers/artists/film people/music people who do it just for money. There isnt a lot of money in the fields and these people become arrogant, and money driven wankers. Success is not based upon the money we earn........Success to me is being able to get across my thoughts and soul in my music. If it touches one person in my entire life, then i feel i am successful.

Anyways, sorry about the intenseness, but it does need to be said!

If i have offended anyone, well thats just tough bollocks because everything i have mentioned here is truth, and 95% of my friends, who are indeed all musicians/artists and artistic people will agree!
Peace

A thought on life

2005-01-05T14:23:00.000Z

Indeed my good friend, Daddy Daddy Disco, has mentioned a comment on one of my posts and i think it deserves it rightful place right here for the world to see in awe!

"i would rather regret the things i have done, than the things that i haven't"

-JHC (quoting Lucille Ball?)

Such a simple thing, very obvious but it is very easy to lose sight of such things in life when a load of rubbish is occurring. I must remember this one!

Peace out cats

experiments

2005-01-04T02:53:00.000Z

wow, i got to catch a few interesting intense bands tonight. Indeed it was a great venue and the music was very confronting. I really enjoyed 2 of the 4 bands, and the remaining 2 were good, but it just wasnt me, i didnt feel it, nonetheless i respected every musician there, and indeed it takes a lot of balls to bare your musical expression, in free/experimental form. Commendable. If anyone is interested in knowing more, feel free to ask! No johnny, no nightmares apparent, just a severe case of insomnia! hah!

being grateful

2005-01-04T02:45:00.000Z

I owe so much to a few people, close friends whom ive realised that can never be replaced, and indeed will never be forgotten. Trying to fill the gaps that they have left in my life, since my movements to London, is indeed a difficult thing, and i think ive lost a few of the people i thought that may indeed be additional souls.

Nonetheless, i would just like to mention a few names, they will know who they are.

Daddy Daddy Disco; Seano; rinC; Mixalong; Apache; Jon_Bone_head; EJR; Johnny F;

I wish you guys much peace, love, and joy through your chosen artistic passion.

indeed some of these friends may or may not want to relate any knowledge of me, BUT nevertheless, they have all helped me in life in their own ways. I hope i have been able to offer some sort of returns to them also. Maybe/Maybe not.

BUT indeed i wanted to air my appreciation and respect for these guys specifically, but basically in general to all my friends/family/colleagues!

PEACE

getting on with it

2005-01-03T01:06:00.000Z

Ok, well, after having a therapeutic email chat with another pal of mine - the Spirally One & after some therapeutic down time, it is back to benny for now. She is also another fabulous soul - check out her blog, its more interesting than mine!

She pointed out to me that i was very down on myself, i did know that BUT it kinda was different coming from someone else. Ok, so i made a mistake, and i have learnt from it. (i didnt wanna write that cos it sounds so insincere to include such a cliche-but bollocks, i said it now!) Its not even about me, personally its totally about the experience of the people around me, and how it affected them. the big thing about alcohol is that indeed it is a personality changing thing, i used to use it as a crutch, and now its been admitted it is time to move on.

"Remember Benny, we all make mistakes, none of us are perfect, and friends will always forgive because we recognise that fact, because we see it in ourselves....." I like that, a quote from spirally's email. It is so true. I have had to put up with shit from my good friends before, and really, i choose to reword it. "Putting Up With" isnt the right term, its called LIFE, and i notice far too many people, acquaintances, even just general people on the tube etc, who are way too melodramatic. Indeed, if they hate their life, or something about it, then change it. Do something about it. Be proactive. Just letting it pass by unnoticed is a bad step. Ive learnt things, and indeed i hope i still come out of it with a friend (You know who you are!!)
Spirally, i cannot change the past, but i am going to do as you say and embrace the 'present' again. THANKYOU. ( i am so over regrets also, its time to not have them either! On with life....wooooooheeeeeeeeeeeee)

A more focused outlook for my next few months, gotta be proactive playing wise, getting on with earning some money at the eye, indeed also hunt for some teaching work. Also, plans for the big move, daddy knows what i am talking about-as does my crew back in oz. Tis gonna be an interesting few months, there is an absolute plethora of gigs i must see including Curtis Fuller Sextet; Fred Wesley & The New JBs; Snowboy & the Latin Section; Trombone Poetry; Ben Allison & Medicine Wheel; Erik Truffaz Quintet; Gary Bartz & Eddie Henderson..............Wowsers.
And another bit of EXCITING NEWS which i will post up in the next few days-ive told many of you already!! Hmm some travelling methinks also, recordings hopefully, branching out on my stylistic musicianship...yeah yeah. Jam sessions. Meeting more musos. Rightio.

I am certain that these past days have been put into action by something spiritual inside me, a wake up call or whatever, perhaps just a huge kick in the backside. Whatever, its go time. Life is happening, so much to do. No time to waste. Look out for me ....... wooshka.

Peace.
(thoughts to the ALL of the Tsunami victims and their relatives. Not just the british ones, which the british press/media seem to think are the only ones that matter. Wow, we are turning into a rubbish society, only just tailing the USA. love and peace to them all..)

dark energy and bad vibes

2005-01-02T07:07:00.000Z

I decided to steal the title for this from one of my closest personal friends, Seanie, and i hope he doesnt mind. I felt that it is meaningful to my plight the past few days, and indeed i am a little whacked in my head at the moment. Ended up sitting on the edge of my bed, after waking up to a sound which may or may not have occurred in reality. Opened the blinds, and i dont really recall what the sky was like. Strange because i ended up staring out the window for what eventuated to 135 minutes. silence around, sound of the M25 rushing by, just a wave like sound, not crashing waves, more kjust ocean sorta sounds. Doesnt sound much like cars or traffic. Its quite theraputic at times. Anyways, i dont know that id say i was thinking, it was more about just being by myself. Indeed, i am very critical about everything that i do, every facet of my life. It ended up being just thinking of mistakes and regrets. I also did stumble across a profoundly interesting thought, and i turned a light on. Found my photos of my time at University a few years back. Even my last year of school. Just memories. Looking at my photos, remembering, and also regretting things. Sure, maybe i am "getting sentimental over you" [Just to add a stupid jazz pun], but, its cool ya know. I mean we learn from mistakes. I have a thirst for knowledge. Sure it depends on what the topic, who the person orr whatever, it is, but, i suppose at least i can open my mind and realise that indeed i am always going to learn something new. Looking at my photos, and recalling my actions of the previous night, it was like a flashback. I spent a qhile trying to get out of the mental rut i was in back in the past, and i realised that indeed friday night, later that night, my attitude changed to something from those times. Like an Angst ridden child, fucked off with the world for no apparent reason, immature. I am so glad i realised this, and obviously, ive made changes. Said changes are being put into place and my new rules are going to be abided by.

We grow through knowledge. we must always be able to be willing to listen and take input, [the way we Learn]

I do not enjoy having dark energy in me, and bad vibes. Because, as my guru has told me before, if i give out bad energy-portrayed through anger and etc, i am generally going to receive bad vibes and energy back. People do not respond to bad energy. I want response, i like in depth conversations about facets of life, and learning the deepest thoughts and tastes of my close friends. the ones i feel spiritually near to. I certainly do not want to anger or offend anybody...i havent got that sort of harsh personality, although it did appear when very drunk and emotional the other night. Ashamed of it, but have also taken it all to heart.

Focus Benny.

Out of touch with myself

2005-01-01T17:17:00.000Z

Last night, new years eve and my good friend's birthday, i was a total wanker. Idiot.
I became so trashed by about 10.30 that i think i managed to become the most offensive, rude, grumpy piece of crap human in all of the U.K. Of all the times for this to happen, it happens when i am in a new place, with new people......I am indeed a fool. I personally have obviously got (had) double standards. The amount of times i have been somewhere where i am not drinking/drunk and watch people who indeed ARE pissed as farts, and think to myself: "What idiots". Then i go ahead and do it myself?? Hipocrite. It was ridiculous. the word PATHETIC springs to mind. I just didnt know when to stop, that in the end turned me into someone that i am not. I do not like that. I am ashamed of myself, embarassed.

Well, NO MORE... Indeed it is no more alcohol for me full stop. This is not just a throw away new years resolution, i am deadly serious. My behaviour may well have cost me a friend who i think is a great soul, i sincerley hope not!
BUT..who have i got to blame??-MYSELF. I do not usually take fools well, and indeed if i looked in the mirror, i would probably want to ignore myself. The one big bit of mental baggage i carry around cropped up, and well.that was it really. The beginning of the end. Through all the bollocks of my behaviour last night, i do think i managed to exorcise-at least make peace- with this issue; But still, there is no excuse. Hard on myself?? Not as much as i should be.

Wales is a beautiful country-the bits i saw of it, indeed i would've liked to have stayed longer, but...i mean, as long as they let me back into the country i'll be alright. It was absolutely gorgeous, obviously lots of history there. We went for a bit of a walk this morning, then drove up to this desercated church. Looked to be burnt out, deserted. Fabulous. the acoustics inside would be amazing. The people were so friendly, the accent was a bit hard for my ears to get used to .. but in the end i did.

I hope my bad behaviour will be forgiven, apologies to all. (You know who you are.)

Indeed i was so trashed i didnt even wish anyone Happy New Year.
So, here it is again. HAPPY NEW YEAR.

And a special mention for EJR-Hug, Sorry and thankyou.

New Years Things

2004-12-30T22:49:00.000Z

Well,

bye bye 2004 and HELLO 2005.

2005-BRING IT THE FUCK ON BABY!

Indeed 2004 has been an eventful year for me, lots of stuff has gone down. Emigration, New Jobs, New People, Bye Bye to old friends, Music wow! its been good.

And i am going to say farewell to it and hello to the new year in an exploration adventure road trippin light fantastic to my dear friend-The Hip Welsh Spinster's Birthday/New Year Partay! Indeed it is going to be a fun trip, round the M25, down the M4 into Wales (South). See places ive never seen, Go places ive never been, Meet people who are new to me. In fact, my good mate Johnny F is my shotgun passenger and we are in fact going to be the 2 token Aussie jazz cats in wales tomorrow night, and it is gonna be so fun, it will be PHUN. Maybe even learn some welsh eh??

Anyways, take care all,

Peace, Jazz, Love and Happiness to all.

'n ddedwydd 'n grai blwyddyn
(Look daddy, i'm learning to speak Welsh!)

New Years Broohaha!

2004-12-30T22:46:00.000Z

Well, it is in fact that time of the cycle again to relieve ourselves of the year that has been and in fact welcome in something new, exciting and full of opportunity. (Who really knows what the future holds?)
2004
What can i say about it......A lot of shit has gone down this year for me. New country, emigration, musical occurrances, new people, farewelling old friends and people dear to me, seeing family i havent seen for more than 10 years, new jobs, met famous jazz musos..ahhh the gammut has been run of emotion and experience.

I say "2005-BRING IT THE FUCK ON"
I am totally looking forward to my New Years celebrations this year as it involves celebrating a birthday AND new years, exploring, adventure and new friends. Thats right, I am going to Wales (South), road tripping the light fantastic with a good mate Johnny F (Two token Aussie Jazz Musos for my good friend - the Hip Welsh Spinster's birthday/new year party!) and generally exploring the place! Should be interesting for the fact that apparently the ice is quite bad on the roads out there around these times and also possibly snow!

Anyways, i wish you all the best, lemme know what you do on new years and tell us of your stories by commenting!!

Take Care

Jazz, Peace, Love and Happiness!

"'n ddedwydd 'n Grai Blwyddyn"
(Look daddy, im learning to speak Welsh!)