Gimme a break, I've stuff to do!

Well, its been a while since i've written. But you're used to that now. My poor brain has been awash with pixels and colours and code. The result of a never ending work pattern that sees me chained to the computer both mentally and physically. When all is finished I'm not quite sure if I'll know myself. This FBI work has me beaten down to a shadow of my former self, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the deadline on this puppy can't come soon enough and even then I will worry is the product of my work even good enough. Will I be proud of it. I've been looking at it so hard I can't even see it anymore.

Further more, the depressing chill of autumn has crept up behind us leaving not a whisper of sunsine to warm my cockles. When did this happen and why does the idea of winter fill me with such forbodding. I really don't think I'm of this land and its lack of sunny disposition... i'm feeling terrbly used by a summer that came and went leaving little in the way of sun. If I was a plant I would die. Photosynthesis hasn't worked... I haven't had my fill of light. I'm seriously thinking that a I'll buck with tradition and spend Christmas in a place where heat and warmth come from the sky and not the fireplace.

On a positive note... I took my brain away from the madness for a couple of hours this evening and treated myself to some of the best acting I've ever seen. Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land" was on in the Gate and what a treat it was. Michael Gambon is a revelation, he owns the stage with a simple hand movement or gesture and then when he speaks it fills the room, right to every corner. He's effortlessly good. Not to knock the other actors tho. David Walliams (of Little Britain fame) played his role with scarily sinister tones, which altho made for uncomfortable viewing, it was also brilliant and a far cry from "I'm a laaaaady". The other two actors were great too, polishing off some brilliantly written monolgues with wit and wisdom. I highly recommend it.

It was nice to do something like that. The Dublin Fringle Festival been bringing so much great stuff to Dublin, especially in the Speigeltent and I've not had a moment to enjoy any of it. Damn work. Next year I'm gonna see so much culture it's gonna come out my pours!

So although I sound a bit downbeat... it's just the work and the weather that make me so and really inside I'm good. I've so much live music to look forward to in the next couple of months I could burst. Kings, Bon Iver, Micah Hanson (nod to Nomar for that tip), Fugiya Miagi and I'm sure more.

On that note I'll leave you with this little laughter from Flight of the Conchords... just got the DVD of the first series in the post and I tell ya I think I cried a tear of laughter at one point...

Later mutha ucker's

i think i just opened the cookie jar...

Its amazing how one seed can sew a path of discovery towards new great music. the internet is a musical sweet shop. and sometimes you eat a new sugary gum drop flavour and it brings you down a tanget of great finds. I had a particularly good one today... spawned from a recomendation of new music from my good friend nomar. all of a sudden within 20 mins i had discovered so much good music i wanted to burst.

http://www.myspace.com/rhondaharriscph - they had me at the first 5 seconds.... the littletown is a great starter

http://www.blackcabsessions.com/sessions.php- - simple, great idea with a lineup to die for

http://www.myspace.com/noahandthewhale and http://www.myspace.com/lauramarling - I found them a while back but their black cab session together (see link above) made me go back. It was worth it.


I'll write properly about this wkend but this burst of music reminded me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5Zoxf3G6u8 - I met and had a great converstation with the lads who play with this lady the night before her early afternoon session at EP. They told me their name and I promised to come see them play the next day. I never made it. Oh the regret.


I wish i had the same passion for my job that I had for finding new music... my world would be a better place.

No title - i'm too busy to think of one

Life for the next month or so is gonna be insane. Unfortunately it is work that dictates this. I guess I should have spent more time on being creative and building this website that now sees me tied to my desk till mid septemeber and no doubt beyond rather than tralling the internet for music and other distractions. However, as I sit here at my desk while the clock skips past 8.30pm, the only thing that is keeping me sane is music. I can't mess around looking for it so I'm putting my ears into the hands of Zane Lowe on Radio 1. Some people find him terribley annoying and I agree that his physcophantic attitude towards musicians can be cringeworthy. But to be honest he has an unbounded enthusiasm for music and his tastes are eclectic makes for a good mix of listening.

Anyway the reason for this blog which has already gone on too long, is that he just played Dan Black's Hipnotize (a cover of Notorious Big) . Sometimes a cover of a song, when played so completley differently like this one, make you see the song in a whole new light and listen to the lyrics more clearly. They're simple rap lyrics but they have a different feel and they even sound a bit funny when sung by this guy. For some reason though, I've had it on loop for the last 20 minutes... i just can't get enough of it, and its catchy sample. Love it.

Have a listen.

Back to work..... *sigh*

musical mojo and new beginnings....

So, new day new blog. I was gonna start by apologising for my latest entry and its negative connotations but then I just thought, feck it. It was a burst of honesty that felt like it needed a place to be aired and at the lack of a diary (haven't had one since my travels) it seemed like a good place to vent. It even felt a bit cathartic. Opening up like that on a public domain felt weird afterward though. Like i'd laid myself bare a bit, like a naked work dream. but then again in my very first blog i said "honesty remains the eternal truth"... nuff said.

It was a funny one though, because I was so distracted and pissed off that even music was making me frustrated. I can't remember a time when that has ever happened. There is a piece of music for every state of mind, a soundtrack to emotions that always has a place. That day though I couldn't find it and jumped from artist to artist and track to track in search of some musical prozac. Nothing worked. Eventually I sat in slience with my ear phones still on...silent and a little in despair....... untill after a while I remembered this woman and this song... it kinda represented my mood but at the same time it slowly but surely lifted me out of it. The note she hits and the end and the build up too it remains the single most amazing piece of music i've ever heard.

Right, distractions aside, there are some new things happening in my life in the next month or two. A new home awaits me and I'm dead excited about making just that, a home. I'll be living on my own but I'm kinda secretly looking forward to it. Hell, I might even walk around the apt naked if i want, its the little freedoms that give life its boost and I'm all over them.

Now I actually had lots more to write, but its getting way too late and I'm too excited to sleep so i need some reading time to send me off.... this is what I'm reading btw the way and its a hoot.
David Saderis - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

Music wise, I've had this on loop - it gets better with every listen

And last, i kinda like the sounds of The Flobots too - hit Handlebars first

Night now.

mini rant

I know i haven't written in a while but life has taken over my life lately and blogging seems like an added luxury which time will not allow. however, i'm spent and i need to vent. it seems that the last year has seen a shift in the earths atmosphere. When the f*ck did we all grow up so fast? When did those flies who have dropped or are about to drop become so smug and feel able to give "advice" about my life. I'm sick of hearing it, give me a break and let me make the wrong decision if i want. Life will teach me its own lessons in the long run.

This place in which we live is too small, i need a life raft 'cause I'm drowning in the familiarity and over opinionated waters of it all. I once gave a good friend advice that blogging in the negative seems a shame when they had so much more positives to be sharing about their life. I'm wholeheartedly ignoring that advice today but frustration has got the better of me. Allow me this minor liberty just for now.

Even music makes me frustrated... things are bad.

quick musical blurb...

Hey,

I'm supposed to be working so this is a quick musical entry... Just discovered these guys called The Dodos from San Francisco and i love them so I had to tell you about them now, hit "Fools" first, its great.... plus they're playing th E.P.... i'm beginning to look forward to it more and more... bring.it.on...

Chao

High seas, mind altering art and the causes of a sore bum!

I'm utterly exhausted today. Not the best way to start a long overdue entry in this blog but, say what you feel n all that and... yep, I'm exhausted. It's a tiredness born out of a hectic weekend of outdoor activity rather than excessive boozing which is a good thing really but nonetheless has left me pooped!

It was a big wkend for me this year as for the first time since it began back in the days of its Witnness moniker, I opted not to venture down to Punchestown to battle with the mud and portaloo hell to see what was really a cracking line up of music. I was a little sad, but Oxegen has become a very different place from where it began and its a sign I'm getting older as I avoid the drunken youngsters full of beans and unbounded enthusiasm. I vowed after last years debacle of mud and underage boozing that I would avoid it from now on. It wasn't easy though with a lineup to die for.

So, to keep my mind off it I took to the seas and went sailing for the first time in my life which was great crack, and not just easy sailing, it was a proper race. I hadn't a bog what I was doing but i really enjoyed pulling ropes, avoiding the boom as it swung back and forth and most of all hanging my legs over the side as the boat cruised through the water. Even the rain hitting us hard in the face at one point at a 90 degree angle was invigorating. I'll be back I think. The next day I took advantage of the good weather and climbed to the top of Glendalough with some friends. Memories flooded back to school trips, with bus journey's and packed lunches. A time when the innocence of youth protected us from the realms of the real world and life was a much simpler place to be. For a moment I longed for that time and the safety blanket we all felt wrapped in. Then I was brought back to the the Now as a 99 icecream as placed in my hand and life became a very good place to be!

In other news, a trip to IMMA last weekend proved very interesting as we stumbled across a solo show by a German-Brazilian artist called Janaina Tschäpe. It was a real thought provoker. The photo's initially look like stunning close ups of tropical flowers and plants and then you start to notice hands and feet and faces amongst the colours and textures. It turns out , this exhibition is structured around the genetics of this fabled beast called Chimera from ancient myth, to create a very specific atmosphere. The exhibition focuses on Tschäpe’s recent paintings that embody a sense of the extraordinary through bright and colourful botanical notations. The pictures create a wierd atmosphere of beauty and surrealism which all make for an uneasy feeling. They take you out of your comfort zone by confusing and delighting at the same time. Thoroughly recommded but prepared to feel a little unnerved afterwards.

In further news, I have discovered a new thing... the sciatic nerve. It turns out that it's this nasty bugger of a nerve that has been preventing me from running the last couple of weeks and is the reason why I've been walking like a 70 year old arthritic with a hip replacement. A trip to the physio confirmed this for me and after a some hard massage leaving me with a brusied bum I walked away wishing that I had opted for my car instead of my bike to get there! It's a funny thing though when your forced out of action due to an injury. All I want to do now is run, more than ever. I get jealous of other people running, i look longingly at other runners and wish I could be right there along side them. i-pod in ears! I tell you, never, ever take the things you do for granted because when you can't do them, it sucks. I'll never curse again when I'm getting up a 7am to hit a 10 mile run because, at the moment its all i want to do and I can't...

On the music side of life, I was proud to be the only person at a table quiz over the weekend to get the right answer to the question "Who played bass guitar in the beatles?"... of course it was Paul McCartney but no-one, not even my team members thought I was right... doubters!! I stuck to my guns and we grabbed that much needed extra point. As you can see, this has still effected me... I should probably get over it but surely the little victories should be held on to!

So what am i listening to? Well I'm sharing Nomar's love of the Fleet Foxes, their upbeat harmonies are a joy...

Richie Havens - he's a legend and his voice carries folky depth and a storytelling quality. This gem says it all (ignore the dodgy video). The more I discover of him the more I love him.

The Raconteurs - Their 2nd album was a dissapointment to me after loving the first but I rediscovered it recently and actually, I think I just didn't give it enough time... there are some brilliant tunes on it...this one included.

By for now...