Scarecrow Manifesto Two

The Boho Scarecrow is more than one man.

BoHo Scarecrow is an event and multi-media rock n roll project.

BoHo Scarecrow uses film, light projections, situationism, theatre and art to compliment the visceral power of rock n roll.

The BoHo Scarecrow invites musicians, artists, film makers, racounteurs and other assorted breeds of creatives to join.

BoHo Scarecrow is intended to demonstrate that ROCK MUSIC IS A LOW FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT CAPABLE OF DELIVERING HIGH ART.

The BoHo Scarecrow is a pin badge, a slogan and a response.

BoHo Scarecrow's ambition is to deliver an environment in which Total Art can be conceptualised, formulated, executed and experienced.

BoHo Scarecrow's anti-thesis is singularity.

BoHo Scarecrow is open to engagement with all available economic systems as long as they enable the realisation of BoHo Scarecrow goals and don't screw either our brothers or our sisters.

BoHo Scarecrow identifies art and music as a WEAPON for the catalysing of spiritual advancement through congregation and the exploration Inner-Space.

BoHo Scarecrow hopes that love will conquer all.

BoHo Scarecrow wants to love you, and hopes that you'll love BoHo Scarecrow too.

The BoHo Scarecrow is flesh and blood.

The BoHo Scarecrow will regenerate...

The November Wave

THERE is something strange for me about this time in November. I alluded to this in my last post. Its about dealing with the echoes of what has passed before and is personally very challenging.

I had something of a moment of epiphany yesterday and was hit by a wave of emotions and memories. Its all part of what I have been trying to feed into The Light Gate for some time. These are difficult moments for me. Self-doubt, fear of abandonment, emotional fragility they all come crashing in to sweep me out to sea. I can barely speak when this comes over me; it is a debilitating experience. I struggle to listen to music, when it comes on. Its a sense of overload. Memory almost full.

I read through the literary prologue that I had written some time ago for The Light Gate and concluded that it simply doesn't work. I wrote it before I put myself in the boots of Edward Sun and must rewrite. It must come from the first person. I am nervous about what I will write. I need a collaborator, an ally. If only I could resurrect my old pal, John Bousfield. He was one of the most spiritually advanced souls I have ever met.



"BEACON #001 Calling Johnny B...come in please..."

The truth is at times like these I am a very demanding soul. I expect too much from myself and others. The walls of my ego are paper thin and crumple under the slightest pressure. I just want to get back to basics, go out and sing someone else's old songs old R&B and soul numbers, not have to play guitar. I'm talking with someone about this at the moment. It will run in tandem with everything else that I do. I am useless unless I am occupied.

So, short of changing my name and running off to somewhere nobody knows me, it seems that I will have to fight my way out from where I am. I've done it before, and I'll do it again. Tie me to the mast, and let the storm come. There's a coda in a song I wrote, that I have sung many times. It fits, doesn't it?! It isn't about the kind of money or currency, you might think of. There is no more valuable currency than unconditional love.

"Well, it wasn't like I didn't try enough,
When I tried to kick all that bad stuff.
But there is only one thing you can do for me,
Please Lord, give me the key,
Or I will get up from this floor,
I will stick my boot right through your door.
Its like staring down the barrel of a gun,
every time I see the sunrise come.

Did you see where my money went?
Did you see where my money went?"




"Taken at the 100 Club, May 2008. These are the moments worth going through the waves and storms for".















"My ex-PA, Jillybean, and Kenny The Ken back in July, two of my dearest friends. If the tectonic plates could suddenly shift to bring Cork back to Crouch End, then all would be well. A couple of rocks! "

Tear Down The Wall

I've been away. Thinking a lot though. These are the best and worst days.

I had intended to post the prologue of The Light Gate opera here last week, as it was the anniversary of the sub-conscious germ that seeded itself five years ago. I felt distracted, in a good way and this might appear over the coming weekend.

What about work? I finished a mix for Beacon ~002. Still some overdubs to do. Had a long, long conversation with my friend Nick Sykes last weeked (aka the legendary Nico No U-Turn). He told me that my Tascam 2488 looked like a science experiment and advised that for a technical dilletente such as I, that I should go out and get Garage Band for a Mac. He's right, of course. I think that I've known this for a while too.

Blues. I have listened to a lot of blues, for the first time in a long while. When my show got cancelled by Monto Water Rats at the last minute, I headed to Charlotte Street Blues, where my friend Garage Thomas was DJing. Nothing like the blues. Its kicked me off again. I love the sheer simplicity of the form, but more than that, the blues comes from the heart. I am not a good blues musician. As Muddy Waters once said, "those white boys sure want to play the blues bad, and believe me, they do."

When I am in my right mind, I feel inspired. Like all apparently narcisstic musicians spawned by the internet age, I am subject to constant doubts about what I do. But I am confident in my convictions. These are not, and never have been, about getting laid. I've spoken in interviews before about the psychological fault lines that drive us performers to the stage. I don't need to restate anything here.

What I have come to realise though, is that my music should be event based. We no longer listen to albums. We skip through songs as though they are fragments cast into the ether of aural pleasure. I have no interest in merely obtaining a cash paying audience (I haven't seen any fucking Austrian Emporers in Crouch End recently), but what I am interested in, is congregation. To, be here now. To share experience.

You see, there are many musicians and writers in my shoes right now superficially speaking. But I can see the specificity amongst us. I can see the differences. I have no issue with taking my own flawed bent in terms of what and how approach music. So, the idea of an event based approach fits. I learnt that from performing Attack Of The Chevron Action Flasher: A Mini Opera in Regents Park. I am doing the same with The Light Gate. You have to be there.

And then there is the day today. I live in a little house. In a well healed part of town. I go to gallery openings and drink wine, whilst passing niceities with whoever I meet. I listen to a lot of bullshit and question motives. The most unsettling feeling, really. You could cut through my motives with a paper knife.

I wonder where the superfical gloss stops and the hearts begin.

But sit down with me, I'll talk mine through with you...you can question my motives anytime, any place. I'll lay them all on the line for you. "Tear down the wall".

What about you?

The BoHo Scarecrow

Show Cancelled

Does exactly what it says on the tin.

Blame Monto Water Rats.

Probably going to post a BoHo Broadcast here over the weekend.

This Friday - Live @ Hoxton Underbelly

Hi,

Just had an interesting turn of events. Monto Water Rats, who promote at 229 have asked to relocate the show for this Friday to Hoxton Underbelly, which is at 11 Hoxton Square.

Doors @ 7pm. Stage time: 7:30pm. Nearest tube is Old Street. Liverpool Street is quite close too. FREE ENTRY FOR BoHo BUDDIES. Just ask me.

I agreed to shift it because it sounds like a better place to play. Better profile. More than that, I can also get an unlimited number of BoHo Buddies in for FREE.

You just need to email me at thebohoscarecrow@googlemail.com, or drop me through a message on the myspace (myspace.com/tommatchett)or add yourself to attend the event on Facebook by clicking here.

Hope that you can make it. Also hope that no-one gets confused with the change of venue.

Your friend,

The BoHo Scarecrow

BoHo Broadcast Three Video Blgo

Please send you comments in. Still struggling a bit with video production...but nonetheless...behold!!! Its BoHo Broadcast Three! Shamelessly self-promoting The BoHo Scarecrow Live at 229 in Great Portland Street, this Friday. 6th November.