Sunday 17 April 2011

The Mercurial Mr Clark & His Magic Concert Bus

Last week, my friend - the mercurial - Sebastian Clark announced his latest project, The Concert Bus. A sustainable, mobile music venue that will be funded from crowd sourced sponsorship.

You can read about it all here and there's a great video that Seb has put together.

He lives in Seattle now. When I met him, he was here in the UK on tour and was originally from LA. His concept is pretty amazing. Experimental but well thought out.

It got me thinking too. What an amazing opportunity to do something good. Touring across the United States bringing music, a kind of rolling situationism with the destination board marked, "Even Further".

I want a slice of that particular pie and so am going to try and help Seb in some way with the project. Part of this, I hope, will be to take a trip on the bus. Where the journey will take me, I've no idea but I want to see the project happen. I want to participate. I've talked to a few friends about it and not one of them thought that I was crazy. In fact, everyone just said "do it!".

The United States is a most amazing country. If you haven't been there, then you have no idea of what the definition of a "big country" is until you've seen it. I went to Seattle about three years ago - how time flies - and it blew my mind. Islands, volcanos, mountains,sea, lakes and so much land stretching out. I enjoyed playing the gigs that I did there and had been very fortunate that there was someone at the time who believed in me enough to make them happen.

It left me with a taste for it and I want more. I want to see that country and rock it. I want to film it, to breathe it in and to come back to England as a better BoHo Scarecrow. More than anything, I want to actually DO something rather than talk about it.

I have been trying to get all sorts of projects off the ground with mixed success. I have started promoting, which in truth scares the shit out of me but I seem to be quite good at it and have been learning a lot. Each time it gets better but I want to see the big one come off. I think that I could move a long way forward with a trip on the bus with my writing, recording and just learning how to be a real musician again.

So, it could be a short trip, it could be open ended; the best stories always are. As Edward Fox once said in character of Major General Brian Horrocks "Gentlemen, this is a story you will your Grandchildren, and mightly bored they'll be!"

I have a gut instinct that this is going to fly. In fact, I think more than that it is something that will grow into all sorts of different adventures. Whatever part I play in it, even if its only a very small by writing this blog, the Concert Bus will be one of the most happening happenings ever to hit the road.

If you want to donate, please take a look at the link. Seb will send you fantastic things. He'll hate me saying it, but the man is a visionary. I just hope that he knows how to drive a bus.



What do you get if you cross Kurt Schwitters with He-Man? Sebastian.

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