More Pictures

This picture was taken at a launch event I performed at for http://www.somewhereto.com/ alongside felow Rubix members Sean Mahoney and Bridget Minamore. It was at Shunt and that is me at the very top of the almight Money machine. Yes, it was quite high up there

Music

Gig With Jazz Code

Hello

This is a gig I did back at the beginning of May at the legendary Half Moon in Putney, which has played host to some huge names over the years (including my Dad!) i was to perform with a very talented band called Jazz Code, fronted (whilst at the back playing drums) by the super sick Jake Long. I met these guys through BAC

Performances Over The Summer

I hope everyone is fine and dandy.

 A few people have asked me recently what I'm up to so here's some dates of some performance stuff I'm doing over the next few months.....

Friday 20th May - Phase One Studio Session

This is the first session of this type which Phase One are doing, I'll be part of a live performance which will be recorded and filmed. Their inviting people to comedown and film themselves with a view to contributing footage towards the final cut. I will be performing a few pieces and a very gifted singer songwriter called Nick Evans http://www.nickevans.co.uk/. I've been told there is space for a small audience so if you would like to come just send me an email, particularly if anyone would like to film it!

27th - 29th May - Meadowlands Festival 

http://meadowlandsfestival.com/

This will be the first of a few festivals I'm doing and I can't wait, it's somewhere down in the Sussex countryside and I like the countryside. I'll be in the Bang Said The Gun  tent on the 28th and29th for a short set alongside fellow Rubix members Talia Randal and Deanna Rodger and loads of other big names form the spoken word and comedy circuit.

Sun 29th May - Poejazzi 

http://www.allgigs.co.uk/view/event/393400/PoeJazzi_Volupte_London_29_May_2011.html

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=157376637656239

From the fields to the tall buildings I'll be heading straight from Sussex (maybe via Mum and dads for a cup of tea if I'm lucky) to London to perform at Poejazzi. I feel really honoured to be doing this as it's one of the best nights in London and both the roll call of names that have performed there in the past and the excellent guys that run it speak for themselvs!!

16 - 18th June - Beachbreak Festival 

http://www.beachbreaklive.com/

After the successful 'work in progress' version of show House Party I did with The Rubix at the Roundhouse in March, we will be taking it on the road for the first time to perform at this festival which I'm told is actually on a Beach, in South Wales. the only other time I've ever been to Wales was in 2004 when the almighty Millwall played Man United in the FA cup final, and to be fair, I don't remember a great deal about the day!

8th July - 10th July - Lounge On the Farm

http://www.loungeonthefarm.co.uk/

I'll be performing all 3 days at this one and I think it will be around different parts of the festival in a funky installation type way, it should be fun

20th July - 24th - Secret Gardern Party

http://www.secretgardenparty.com/2011/

I'll be doing the whole 4 days at this one am particularly excited because all the material is specially being written for the 4 days I will be there. I'm proud to be going as part of group including Chimene Suleyman, Dean Atta, Deanna Rodger, Sabrina Mahfouz, Bridget Minamore and Sean Mahoney.....I can't say too much at the minute but all will be revealed!!!

2nd August - 6th August, Richard Pernell at The Hen and Chickens 

http://www.thehenandchickenstheatrebar.co.uk/

I've been asked to support Richard Pernell http://richardpurnell.wordpress.com  who is a doing a 1 man show, he is a very smart and funny man, so hopefully, this will be great.

15th 20th August - Edinburgh festival - The banshee Labyrinth (PBH Free Fringe)

http://www.freefringe.org.uk/

I'll be going back to Edinburgh again this year as part of the PBH free fringe and will be performing at the same venue as the show I did last year with the Roundhouse Poetry Collective. The show is currently being written and is called "three's a crowd".

Well, I think that's about it. if you've got this far, thankyou for reading.

But I made you a mixtape event...

Hello.

I'm looking forward to this excellent event next week. It's a spoken word event put on by How It Ended Productions. It's at a theatre called Jacksons Lounge. It's about music, and I've been asked to write about a song. I love music and could talk about it all day long. I also like performing in theatre studio spaces. I don't get to do it too often, it adds something to the way the words come out. So if you're about, come down, Sean Mahoney, Dean Atta and Zionte (all from Rubix) will be performing too. large up!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=179137585468478

NIL BY MOUTH

This is a something I just started writing out of nothing.I had no agenda with it. I guess it's what some call a freewrite, or a rant, I dunno, it's just me writing stuff.

I came out of childhood confused.

Used to being told what to do,

I understood rules were in place to keep everyone safe,

and made sure that people played fair.

As an adult,

I watch snakes climb ladders.

Alchemists claiming monopolies on properties by manipulating rules to line pockets

in order to create gold.

Politicians too call centre operators.

It's every-man for himself in a culture of targets,

which reward risk takers with gift wrapped pay packets,

as numbers dehumanise the faces of the people they dis-figure,

providing a guilt shield to hide behind.

Then again what I do know.

I try to make noise with a biro that even I don't want to listen too.

News agencies tell me that leaders don't lead by example,

but I struggle to believe what I read because everyone has an angle,

apparently.

I don't know who to trust,

other than my family,

and I thank God I have them because If I didn’t I'd be truly lost.

Maybe I'm just a bit thick.

Unable to strike a balance and forge an opinion,

from this relentless data stream being force fed into my brain

nil by mouth.

Sometimes I wish society would just fuck off and leave me bee.

Turning off the TV aint even enough.

I step out my house and its billboards,

and posters on public transport,

or cocky types with clipboards,

trying to guilt trip me into donating money by direct debit,

when my own head bobs above and underneath the poverty line,

or when I just want a cup of tea,

I'm asked If I want a muffin or some other overpriced luxury I don't want or need.

Bit I don't begrudge these employees trying to earn a living.

I've been there.

I found it soul destroying.

The more I did it the more tempted I became to hit the self destruct button.

I hit it regularly until I was tapping a predicable rhythm like a 44 beat of life.

Getting bolloxed on booze.

For some doods it meant fighting,

as violence reconnected them with basic human emotions not felt in everyday situations,

giving them a sense of control they rarely felt.

Emotions unleashed in distorted outbursts from drunken karaoke to drunken sex.

Repressed feelings buried deep underneath desires to succeed in careers,

attaining firm footholds on slippery property ladders,

or just simply too make it passed the moulded milestones from plasticine childhoods.

Newspapers make people scared to talk to teens,

when most I meet are allright.

Anytime there’s a fight at a football match,

or an inner city stabbing,

cries of broken Britain and a lost generation,

flood the towns and countryside,

predicting tidal waves of crime and immigration will bring armageddon

too an eerily quiet way of life,

until EastEnders comes on,

or Kerry Katona has another breakdown.

I know I'm ranting.

I don't class myself as left wing or right wing either.

I always liked the idea of centre midfield.

You can see the whole game there,

and create opportunities for both sides,

but I lack the clarity of mind to hold that position,

as well as the conviction.

So my instinct is to hide.

Writing rants in an attempt to make sense of the country in which I reside,

and it's complicated.

Maybe I'm still coming at it from a child’s point of view,

I know I've got a lot of growing up to do,

because at the moment,

I aint got a scooby doo.