…well, OK, not actually NWA, but Nina Gordon doing a cover of ‘Straight Outta Compton’ – click here to download it – be warned, the language on it is pretty much what you’d expect from an NWA tune, so prolly best not to play it if the lil’ kids are around.
Part III – WTF?
Right, The Matrix part III has just finished, and seems to be have been closer to the 2nd one than the 1st – incomprehensible, OTT and full of plot holes. Anyone care to have a stab at explaining this one???
Sad news
Just received a very sad and shocking phone-call from a friend in Edinburgh to let me know that Duncan Senyatso died last week. Duncan, you may remember, was the Botswanan guitarist and singer that I played with at Greenbelt last year – a fantastic musician and a very generous and patient man, putting up with me taking ages to get my head around the rhythms of his songs, laughing and joking, and being very generous with his praise when I finally got the songs right. He also played a vital creative part in what was one of the best gigs I’ve ever done – my ‘global footprint’ improv piece at Greenbelt, along with Jez Carr, Patrick Wood and Andrea Hazell. He sang and played guitar beautifully, miles outside of his musical comfort zone, but he fell into the a-rhythmic improv setting like a natural.
We’d talked at some length last summer about the possibility of getting British Council funding and taking the same project out to Botswana to tour with it, to do workshops in schools on improvising and music technology, and see how the marriage of the two musical worlds would work. Yet more regrets, to go along with the regret that the Global Footprint gig wasn’t recorded.
Simon, who rang me, was the mandolin player in the band last year, and has known Duncan for more than 15 years, and is flying out to the funeral.
if you click the link above, you’ll see just how highly regarded he was in Botswana. A big loss to the music world in that part of Africa, and a musical partner I shall be sad not to see again.
That’s Duncan on the left, with Rise Kagona in the middle.
Comments down…
The comments are currently not working, so save those pearls of wisdom until further notice. :o)
OK, who the hell is going to explain the 2nd Matrix film to me?
Right, I remember it getting a bit of a slagging when it came out, but I watched the Matrix Reloaded this evening (it was on TV finally) – what the hell was that all about? I mean, other than the fighting and crap attempts at sexual chemistry? Plot? er, no. Any clue? Loads of jumbled up references to the same stuff as the first film – Faith, destiny, fate, sacrifice, the search for meaning… only this time they were crassly squeezed in between the fight scenes, which were all at least 50% longer than they had to be.
Is being cleverly animated enough for a film these days? Was it just me, or was that largely a load of shit?
Internet facts…
From Wadders’ blog –
According to research carried out on behalf of the BBC recently:
40% of the population are not online
27% of households have terrestrial TV only
27% of the population aren’t aware of Digital Radio
15% of the population aren’t aware of Freeview
Only 2% of UK internet users publish a blog
30% of UK internet users haven’t even heard of blogs.
So, go tell a friend about blogging! Feel free to use this as an example. haha!
Recycle Collective press release…
Recycle Collective press release for the gig on May 18th, with Todd Reynolds and Andrea Hazell.
Some MySpace Props…
as they say in the hood.
A few MySpace links to various coconspirators –
BJ Cole – genius of the pedal steel, plays on one track on my new album.
Cleveland Watkiss – Recycle Collective regular, one of the greatest singers I’ve ever heard, let alone worked with.
Calamateur – Scottish singer/songwriter and found-sound experimentalist. Writes really beautiful songs, and we’ve got a duet album coming out some time in the next few months.
Theo Travis – Saxophonist… you know who Theo is by now, right?
Leo Abrahams – guitarist at the last Recycle Collective gig. Bloomin’ marvellous.
Orphy Robinson – vibes/percussion/trumpet/weirdness. An amazing musician and composer.
Trip Wamsley – solo bassist, composer, player and writer of gorgeous music. New album coming out soon.
Jeff Taylor – played at the first Recycle Collective gig. Great singer/songwriter.
There you go, I’ll add some more soon. Click on those, have a listen, if you’re on myspace already then leave a comment, buy the CDs of the stuff you like, and check out their gig lists!
Quick Political comment…
Just a quick political thought or two…
it’s been a pretty disastrous week for the Labour party – John Prescott’s affair with his secretary was gruesome misuse of power (and a sackable offense in just about any other area of work), Clarke letting thousands of foreign prisoners free was laughable for a home secretary of such draconian ideals, and Patricia Hewitt being laughed at and heckled for suggesting that this has been the best year ever for the Health Service, mere days after thousands of job cuts were announced was the icing on the cake…
The party is imploding, the government is falling apart, and even for those of us who think they’re a waste of space, it’s pretty bad timing, given that we’ve got local government elections coming up this week, and one place that a lot of disaffected voters from all parts of the political spectrum seem to be turning is to the BNP. Oh yes, racists seem to crop up all the way from left to far right, and for some reason, the pathetic bunch of political ignoramus convicted violent criminals that populate the BNP seem to be enticing them. The mind truly boggles at the lunacy of such thinking. I mean, even if you’re a racist, surely the Tories offer a slightly more coherent brand of thinly veiled white middle class straight male hegemony than the BNP.
Which brings us to the thing about voting. It’s vital. It really is. Given the profile of the BNP of late we all need to get out and vote for anyone but them. Find out who’s on your council at the moment, and who the nearest challengers are and vote for them if there’s no other sensible option. Anyone but the BNP. The rise of fascism in Britain, however small their actual support base may be, is something that needs to be fought at every turn. Right now we’ve got a government that are implementing a load of laws that if not directly fascist in their application right now, hand a dangerous level of information and power over to whoever happens to be in government. Under UK law, they work for us, they’re trying to reverse that. One look at the rise in popular support for the BNP shows why ID Cards and laws against the right to protest are so dangerous.
We’ll get back to fighting the Labour party on the 5th May. Election day is the 4th, and that’s the day to stop the BNP.
Anyway, head over to The BBC news page about the local elections, find out about your area, vote, and stop the fascists.
OK, The Recording Really Is Finished…
Yup, this time I’ve finished. Got a great version of the title track, Behind Every Word, that co-pilot Shark agrees is marvellous. So now I’m back to mixing. Have been mixing some of the tracks this evening, and they’re sounded great, in my humble opinion.
Currently listening to my tune ‘Scott Peck’, which features BJ Cole on pedal steel guitar. He sounds so great, it’s amazing. It’s tough to pick favourites on the album so far, but the two tracks with special guests – that one and ‘One Step’ with Julie McKee are both pretty special. Though so is the opening track, ‘Blue Planet’, which was the first thing I recorded for this album, and features a bass line loop played on my Rick Turner Renaissance fretless that sounds beautiful. Sod it, they’re all great. ;o)