I started writing this on my mobile a couple of days ago. Yes, even BoHo Scarecrows have mobile phones, mine doesn't even have a cable to plug into BT!
These are just scratch lyrics. Early starting point. Its about addiction and self-obsession. There's a bit of these in all of us, I figure. I deliberately chose to take an insular line on the profile of each protagonist.
I'm not going to write anything more now. I'm too tired. I need to sleep. I've been writing quite a bit, including a short story about honesty as the defence of the dishonest. Its made me dig quite deep. Graves. Bah!
Your friend,
The BoHo Scarecrow
What's Your Poison?
She works at home in the death of the night,
driven by the fear of her fading light,
there's no threat of delay,
or husband to fight,
Praying she can tick a box,
Or find a plot,
that'll make everything right.
What's your poison?
What's your poison?
He sits by the side,
of the public bar rail,
washing away his pain,
with London Pride Ale,
He'd retrace his steps,
to when he first so gingerly crept,
but he's too drunk to find the trail.
What's your poison?
What's your poison?
They could be hiding together,
on the municipal park bench,
savoring the lost seconds,
of other lives they'd spent,
And on another day,
these moments,
they could've passed away,
but in themselves they're addicted,
And instead they're separately entrenched.
What's your poison?
What's your poison?
She sits and talks to Mary Jane,
safe and hidden from the north western rain,
Laying down the tracks,
oblivious to the oncoming trains,
Dreaming of lost loves,
and the brief touch of fame,
until they are both one, both the same.
What's your poison?
Whether its in the heart,
or in your head,
What's your poison?
What's your poison?
Got to find a way to restart,
or soon you'll be dead.
What's your poison?
What's your poison?
Whether its in the heart,
or in your head,
What's your poison?
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Thursday, 11 February 2010
The Only Ones Who Can Really Hurt Us (Are The Ones We Truly Love)
I've been writing. I've been busy. Shortly after the last post I went to ground for a while. Then came something of a moment of inspiration and now I'm in the middle of a maelstrom of meetings and emails about a fundraiser for the end of 2010.
In the meantime, I've started working on some new tunes. I played one of them, "In The Eyes Of The Storm" to close my gig at Phibbers earlier this week. It was tremendous. I sung it for the first time at the soundcheck. Literally. Then closed the set with it, and my God, it all came flooding back. Love runs deep.
Something prompted me on Sunday to think about how the ones that we truly love are the only ones who can really hurt us. So, I had a hook. Then something else triggered the rest of the words this evening. And now we have a song, here are the lyrics:
The only ones who can hurt us (Are the ones we truly love)
It isn't about money, guns or blood,
The only ones who can really hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
It isn't about money, guns or blood,
or whether you can ask,
“did I try enough?”,
We lose friends and lovers,
like reeds swept away in the flood,
because in a single word,
they leave us in mud.
It isn't about money, guns or blood,
The only ones who can really hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
Because they stand by us,
when push comes to shove,
then fall from our grasp,
to comeback wearing gloves.
It isn't about money, guns or blood,
The only ones who can hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
We tear down walls
to let them into our hearts,
only to find their editing pen,
has deleted our part.
But it doesn't matter
if they turn us to stone,
they remain even once,
they have flown.
It isn't about money, guns or blood,
The only ones who can really hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
Some crave beauty,
wealth and fame,
But I'll keep their love,
and its ice and pain.
It isn't about money, guns or blood,
The only ones who can really hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
You can't hurt me no more,
no one can hurt me no more,
won't let you hurt me no more,
no one's gonna hurt me no more.
The only ones who can hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
The only ones who can hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
In the meantime, I've started working on some new tunes. I played one of them, "In The Eyes Of The Storm" to close my gig at Phibbers earlier this week. It was tremendous. I sung it for the first time at the soundcheck. Literally. Then closed the set with it, and my God, it all came flooding back. Love runs deep.
Something prompted me on Sunday to think about how the ones that we truly love are the only ones who can really hurt us. So, I had a hook. Then something else triggered the rest of the words this evening. And now we have a song, here are the lyrics:
The only ones who can hurt us (Are the ones we truly love)
It isn't about money, guns or blood,
The only ones who can really hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
It isn't about money, guns or blood,
or whether you can ask,
“did I try enough?”,
We lose friends and lovers,
like reeds swept away in the flood,
because in a single word,
they leave us in mud.
It isn't about money, guns or blood,
The only ones who can really hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
Because they stand by us,
when push comes to shove,
then fall from our grasp,
to comeback wearing gloves.
It isn't about money, guns or blood,
The only ones who can hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
We tear down walls
to let them into our hearts,
only to find their editing pen,
has deleted our part.
But it doesn't matter
if they turn us to stone,
they remain even once,
they have flown.
It isn't about money, guns or blood,
The only ones who can really hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
Some crave beauty,
wealth and fame,
But I'll keep their love,
and its ice and pain.
It isn't about money, guns or blood,
The only ones who can really hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
You can't hurt me no more,
no one can hurt me no more,
won't let you hurt me no more,
no one's gonna hurt me no more.
The only ones who can hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
The only ones who can hurt us,
are the ones we truly love.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Escapades In Brixton With The BoHo Scarecrow
THE BOHO SCARECROW now has a splendid new movie camera capable of shooting in Full HD.
I headed down to the indoor market today at Brixton Village for the Spacemakers event to film the day. Everything was very new in terms of familiarity with the equipment but the progression in the DV technology is remarkable. Even mid-range cameras have a huge amount of cleverly minaturised technology packed into their neatly designed bodies.
I enjoy filming immensely. This type of job isn't the kind that you can plan in too much detail for because things change quickly and all you really need are one or two random subjects to crop up to get on camera, and you're streets ahead straight off.
For those of you interested, I will be editing through next week and should have the first of the three scheduled versions put together by the end of next weekend.
On the tube ride home I had a moment to think about what comes next. Its been years since I finished my film degree at Canterbury. I simply haven't had the technology at my disposal since then, because I've spent the money on recording studios, guitars, amplifiers and capos.*
I am already thinking about bigger projects. Particularly my own music projects. We have converged in the digital space, musicians and film makers, that is. I can do both, and its a little like a bomb going off with all these projects that I've wanted to do for years suddenly being tangible.
Its quite simple. Ken Russell. Here is a man who has had budgets ranging from a few coppers to the biggest of all time (circa 1974.). All the man ever needed was a camera and the rest comes together. Ofcourse, people either love or hate Ken, but Michael Powell did the same. Film is balance between content and apparatus. Content is generated within the constraints of one's budget, but the budgetary constraint actually can be a blessing. You just need to be more inventive.
As for sound, you should ALWAYS overdub dialogue in narrative film. If you can't afford a boom or even a simpler arrangement, then you can go for overdubs or non-diagetic sounds. I am a fan of non-diagetic sound. Film is not reality, it is a projection. Quite literally, ofcourse.
So, film is where I am taking The BoHo Scarecrow project. It was always part of the DNA of how things would develop. Still early days and the learning curve is steep, but expect some boho brilliance in the near future.
Your friend,
The BoHo Scarecrow.
*Capos cost about a tenner a go, and I seem to lose them immediately. As I like using capos and play a lot of gigs I have lost a lot of them, often immediately and rarely without finding them afterward hence they have probably cost me more than the cost of a small bungalow in the Outer Hebridies that would be the perfect home for my parents.
I headed down to the indoor market today at Brixton Village for the Spacemakers event to film the day. Everything was very new in terms of familiarity with the equipment but the progression in the DV technology is remarkable. Even mid-range cameras have a huge amount of cleverly minaturised technology packed into their neatly designed bodies.
I enjoy filming immensely. This type of job isn't the kind that you can plan in too much detail for because things change quickly and all you really need are one or two random subjects to crop up to get on camera, and you're streets ahead straight off.
For those of you interested, I will be editing through next week and should have the first of the three scheduled versions put together by the end of next weekend.
On the tube ride home I had a moment to think about what comes next. Its been years since I finished my film degree at Canterbury. I simply haven't had the technology at my disposal since then, because I've spent the money on recording studios, guitars, amplifiers and capos.*
I am already thinking about bigger projects. Particularly my own music projects. We have converged in the digital space, musicians and film makers, that is. I can do both, and its a little like a bomb going off with all these projects that I've wanted to do for years suddenly being tangible.
Its quite simple. Ken Russell. Here is a man who has had budgets ranging from a few coppers to the biggest of all time (circa 1974.). All the man ever needed was a camera and the rest comes together. Ofcourse, people either love or hate Ken, but Michael Powell did the same. Film is balance between content and apparatus. Content is generated within the constraints of one's budget, but the budgetary constraint actually can be a blessing. You just need to be more inventive.
As for sound, you should ALWAYS overdub dialogue in narrative film. If you can't afford a boom or even a simpler arrangement, then you can go for overdubs or non-diagetic sounds. I am a fan of non-diagetic sound. Film is not reality, it is a projection. Quite literally, ofcourse.
So, film is where I am taking The BoHo Scarecrow project. It was always part of the DNA of how things would develop. Still early days and the learning curve is steep, but expect some boho brilliance in the near future.
Your friend,
The BoHo Scarecrow.
*Capos cost about a tenner a go, and I seem to lose them immediately. As I like using capos and play a lot of gigs I have lost a lot of them, often immediately and rarely without finding them afterward hence they have probably cost me more than the cost of a small bungalow in the Outer Hebridies that would be the perfect home for my parents.
Thursday, 31 December 2009
Our Future In Celluloid
WE are working on a film project that has been toyed with for a while, but its only now with a little horse trading that it seems as though we can move forward.
That's right Boys and Girls! The BoHo Scarecrow movie is now go. Said horse trading has been done with business partner over at Kruger One, and I am heading into the movie business. Its going to be a bit like Filth & The Fury meets Magical Mystery Tour.
Film, if not my first wife, was my bedfellow for some yours. I studied it at University, particularly British non-realism and West coast avant-garde. Beyond that, I continued my odyssey on time and process based image projections, with my thesis on Gustav Metzger. I met Metzger and Boyle Family too.
This project has two distinct goals:
1) Produce an engaging promotional film for The BoHo Scarecrow project.
2) Generate video content for live performance projection.
And what of the New Year?
I'm rather keen to go into detox for a few months and have a holiday from drinking. I also want to stop smoking. My body needs the rest, and my pocket needs the money. Not least because I'd like to head out to L.A in the Summer and go on tour.
What a decade its been! My life is unrecognizable. Much better prepared for the new decade. A new epoch, for me I think. This is supposed to be the decade when I finally make a lot of money. In ten years time, I am supposed to be rich enough to start funding other people's vanity projects.
Regardless, Happy New Year.
Your friend,
The BoHo Scarecrow
That's right Boys and Girls! The BoHo Scarecrow movie is now go. Said horse trading has been done with business partner over at Kruger One, and I am heading into the movie business. Its going to be a bit like Filth & The Fury meets Magical Mystery Tour.
Film, if not my first wife, was my bedfellow for some yours. I studied it at University, particularly British non-realism and West coast avant-garde. Beyond that, I continued my odyssey on time and process based image projections, with my thesis on Gustav Metzger. I met Metzger and Boyle Family too.
This project has two distinct goals:
1) Produce an engaging promotional film for The BoHo Scarecrow project.
2) Generate video content for live performance projection.
And what of the New Year?
I'm rather keen to go into detox for a few months and have a holiday from drinking. I also want to stop smoking. My body needs the rest, and my pocket needs the money. Not least because I'd like to head out to L.A in the Summer and go on tour.
What a decade its been! My life is unrecognizable. Much better prepared for the new decade. A new epoch, for me I think. This is supposed to be the decade when I finally make a lot of money. In ten years time, I am supposed to be rich enough to start funding other people's vanity projects.
Regardless, Happy New Year.
Your friend,
The BoHo Scarecrow
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
The Christmas Tide
SO, we've nearly made it through another year. A new decade is just around the corner.
Despite my misgivings, last Sunday's show turned out to be a bit of a cracker. I was joined on stage by Fiddler Dan, who I jammed with at the Underwriter a couple of months back. He trecked all the way up from Croydon to play the gig. Had never heard the songs or rehearsed them. Halfway through the set we were backed by a drummer I found on the night called Jake. Jake turned out to be a bit of a pro.
My voice was shot for most of the gig. It was a show that I really didn't want to play. I felt empty inside beforehand. The cancellation at Monto really hit me hard, and emotionally the last few months have been a bit of a roller coaster.
But it came together as a whole. It was one of the most fun gigs that I've had for a while. The energy was tremendous particularly when Jake joined us. I have edited a couple of the songs together for you. Hope that you enjoy them.
Someone described the video as "magnificent", someone else said that it was "glorious", but most of all, my dear friend Tiff said that it was Buffets style, no rehearsal and all heart. I think that this is what rock n roll is always about. Its the spirit of what I want to do.
I like this type of chaos. When my old band The Light split after a few shows, I think that it had got too tight. The old magnificent madness of musicians getting together and simply rocking out, wasn't there. What BoHo Scarecrow offers is that kind of innocence, it isn't naivity, but the scope to take risks. The risks is where the adrenalin and the energy comes from.
Hope that you enjoy it. It all happens at 1 minute 59 seconds, btw.
The BoHo Scarecrow
Direct Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8oB5ARO9Wk
Sunday, 20 December 2009
So, you thought you might like to go to the show?
NEED to start putting my house in order for tonight's show.
I really have no idea what will happen. Dan the fiddler says that he's going to turn up and play. I have my finger crossed on that one.
I wrote in my last post about viewing this gig with trepidation. I still do. I seem to be running through a crisis of confidence.
But I also have a lot of anger building up in my gut. I hope that I will find a way to channel this tonight. Anger is a poison. I hate it. It needs to be purged.
I may also, finally, meet the mysterious Mobile Oracle tonight. This person I have never met nor know what they look like, might be in attendance. The deal is this, if she's there I have to pick her out of the crowd using only my instinct. Scarecrow senses.
I have no idea what will happen. I do sense the end of an era though. The snow we have in London at the moment, blown in from north is but the second coldest thing in town. The other is harder countenance. Nothing is more frustrating than when people assume they know or understand what drives the artist to make art or what drives the performer to perform. The guess of the dilletente always assumes that trials and tribulations must feed the creative process. It does not. The story goes way, way back. You have no idea. You, have no idea.
"STOP! I want to go home. Take off this Uniform and leave the show. And I'm waiting in this cell because I have to know. Have I been guilty, all this time?"
I really have no idea what will happen. Dan the fiddler says that he's going to turn up and play. I have my finger crossed on that one.
I wrote in my last post about viewing this gig with trepidation. I still do. I seem to be running through a crisis of confidence.
But I also have a lot of anger building up in my gut. I hope that I will find a way to channel this tonight. Anger is a poison. I hate it. It needs to be purged.
I may also, finally, meet the mysterious Mobile Oracle tonight. This person I have never met nor know what they look like, might be in attendance. The deal is this, if she's there I have to pick her out of the crowd using only my instinct. Scarecrow senses.
I have no idea what will happen. I do sense the end of an era though. The snow we have in London at the moment, blown in from north is but the second coldest thing in town. The other is harder countenance. Nothing is more frustrating than when people assume they know or understand what drives the artist to make art or what drives the performer to perform. The guess of the dilletente always assumes that trials and tribulations must feed the creative process. It does not. The story goes way, way back. You have no idea. You, have no idea.
"STOP! I want to go home. Take off this Uniform and leave the show. And I'm waiting in this cell because I have to know. Have I been guilty, all this time?"
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Pause
LOOKING forward to Sunday's show, not without trepidation though. I don't think that my heads been quite right recently about music, but there are cogs and wheels whirring in the background. I think that it will be a good show. Could have some surprises if a few ideas come off.
I have no idea if they or I will come off anytime soon. I seem to have turned into something of a passenger, but with a fair wind I will be fronting a new band as a side project soon and auditioning BoHo Scarecrow drummers over the Christmas break too.
I have put my house in order on a number of fronts in the last few weeks. Part of this was squaring things up with the bank manager, and so I have a lot more freedom of spirit in that direction than I have had for years. But its framework, and now I have to live within it.
I resurected the Lyric Wall over the week on the encouragement of the Mobile Oracle, who mysteriously and benignly seems to be guiding me at the moment. A strange relationship, but good to see what I have written recently next to me up on my wall. It has been an intense, engaging and often inspiring couple of months. Painful though too. I have had disappointments and know that I need simply to push through to Spring and survive.
I am enjoying some simple pleasures. Things like cleaning with my new flat mates. Lovely people. Bright and full of energy. I went out for dinner with my ex yesterday, and had a fantastic mexican nosh up near Covent Garden. It was first rate. I'm blessed to have kept a good relationship there.
The show on Sunday is at the Zenith Bar in Islington. Its a free show with voluntary donations to charity. One song keeps on running through my head, In Portland Gaol, the theme and origin of which I still seem find so painfully relevant.
You know, I have had the most tremendous amount of luck. I was discussing this with the Mobile Oracle a couple of days ago. I really can't complain. Who am I to argue if the package is a little torn. But I miss people. I miss Ken and Jill over in Ireland. I miss ex girlfriends and lovers. I seem to meet a fantastic number of people, but it is very difficult to build robust friendships. Most of all at the moment, I am trying to renew the relationships within my own family. We have been too distant; there is so much madness in the world today, so much pain and anger. I see it in people's faces and wish that I could take it away from them. Maybe not as altruistic as might first seem, I believe that I am seeking to replace my own.
We have snow in London today. Christmas is rapidly approaching and with it the end of the first decade of this millenium. I sit here and wonder what it will bring.
"Will there be music or will there be war, who will walk through the Mirror Door?"
I have no idea if they or I will come off anytime soon. I seem to have turned into something of a passenger, but with a fair wind I will be fronting a new band as a side project soon and auditioning BoHo Scarecrow drummers over the Christmas break too.
I have put my house in order on a number of fronts in the last few weeks. Part of this was squaring things up with the bank manager, and so I have a lot more freedom of spirit in that direction than I have had for years. But its framework, and now I have to live within it.
I resurected the Lyric Wall over the week on the encouragement of the Mobile Oracle, who mysteriously and benignly seems to be guiding me at the moment. A strange relationship, but good to see what I have written recently next to me up on my wall. It has been an intense, engaging and often inspiring couple of months. Painful though too. I have had disappointments and know that I need simply to push through to Spring and survive.
I am enjoying some simple pleasures. Things like cleaning with my new flat mates. Lovely people. Bright and full of energy. I went out for dinner with my ex yesterday, and had a fantastic mexican nosh up near Covent Garden. It was first rate. I'm blessed to have kept a good relationship there.
The show on Sunday is at the Zenith Bar in Islington. Its a free show with voluntary donations to charity. One song keeps on running through my head, In Portland Gaol, the theme and origin of which I still seem find so painfully relevant.
You know, I have had the most tremendous amount of luck. I was discussing this with the Mobile Oracle a couple of days ago. I really can't complain. Who am I to argue if the package is a little torn. But I miss people. I miss Ken and Jill over in Ireland. I miss ex girlfriends and lovers. I seem to meet a fantastic number of people, but it is very difficult to build robust friendships. Most of all at the moment, I am trying to renew the relationships within my own family. We have been too distant; there is so much madness in the world today, so much pain and anger. I see it in people's faces and wish that I could take it away from them. Maybe not as altruistic as might first seem, I believe that I am seeking to replace my own.
We have snow in London today. Christmas is rapidly approaching and with it the end of the first decade of this millenium. I sit here and wonder what it will bring.
"Will there be music or will there be war, who will walk through the Mirror Door?"
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