My favourite guitar has died.
The head has split, so the only thing holding it in one piece at the minute are the machine heads.
So this guitar will be sent to the great music hall in the sky, but here’s a life story to send it on its way:
Good bye, I’ll miss you!
Today I finished a web site favour for a friend of my friend Smidge. The web site is for a choir back up North who unfortunately lost the member that handled their web site. I created a wordpress managed site, using a theme which I heavily modified, new images, slight reorganisation and a lot of photoshop work. The site lives at www.northernspiritsingers.co.uk
I never saw the previous site so I am yet to find out if it is an improvement, I hope it is.
I took on the project after Smidge mentioned it in an email spurred on by what my friend Gareth created for the Ex-National Youth Choir of Great Britain web site. Thanks for the inspiration Gareth! Now after a few updates and some training on the use of the WordPress admin section, the choir can update and use the site to its full potential.
So last Thursday I went all Hip Hop on your ass and went to see Cut Chemist of Jurassic 5 fame at the Islington Academy with Ruf, Anun, Hufty, Ruf’s brother Rob (I think…) and his partner Dave.
I was pleasantly surprised and will definitely carry on listening to and buying more Hip Hop, just got to remember to steer clear of all the terrible Gansta Rap and all that rubbish.
Also adding to the quality night was spending time with Hufty and Ruf and managing to get a hangover the next morning.
Something interesting Hufty and I talked about on the way home, apart from much rubbish, was how good a photograph of hundreds of people queuing single file to get on a London bus or Tube train would be. With all the impatient pushy people, I thought it would be a fantastic image to behold. Now just to work out the logistics of creating it… erm… ahem…
After listening to some early Arctic Monkeys live tracks this morning at work, I am tending to agree with The Modes that our songs (Let Me Know by the Modes, and a song (title escapes me) by James Venis and myself) sound EXACTLY like two Arctic Monkey tracks. I wouldn”t normally be suspicious, and fair play to them for making it, but the coincidences that the relevant Arctic Monkeys songs appeared after our songs were made available on sites that linked to each other and that two songs sounded similar to very different songs of ours means I raise an eyebrow a touch.
I would just like to know if we are right, or completely wrong. So come on Monkeys! Tell us if you were a Modes or Hijack the Busker fan once upon a time!! It would be nice to have influenced someone that is successful!
Well, I’m not really in Mexico, but my friend Dan W-H is in America at the moment, and when he looked on a completely random Mexican girl’s iPod he only found the classic song Talk to Me by James Venis (with me on bass and arranging the pretty rubbish drums). Amazing.
So I suppose that makes me a worldwide artist? Should that go on me CV or something, or should I get James back down for more recording sessions and get an album’s worth recorded? Or should I stick to being a geek and save the guitar playing for retirement!!
I’m still in a bit of shock, but it’s nice to know that long recording period of my youth is being appreciated by someone somewhere. I am waiting to hear the reaction of James.