Love, Hope and Skype

Follow our new blog over here, click on picture to find out more!!!!!!

Respect and Peace!

@dam

Off This Wall

Here it is at last, my remix of King Kool’s amazing track ‘Off This Wall’ is was chuffed to bits when I was given permission by Dan Donovan to do the remix! I was doubly chuffed when I managed a very small (but perfectly formed lol), cameo in the video……What do you think?

Respect and Peace!!

@dam

Turning Point

Just a short one today, short but significant. Throughout life we are posed many questions and face many a tough decision, today I’ve had made a very significant choice! This decision will, I’m sure, cause a lot of pain and suffering in the days, weeks and months ahead, but nonetheless it has to be done. I’m not going to share with you the detail of what it is, but I did want to share with you my thoughts behind making this choice.

For too long I’ve succumbed to the will of others, thinking that I was doing the right thing, for the right reasons, but it has dawned on me that I was wrong, an epiphany if you like, so instead of ignoring my own wishes or needs I’ve decided to listen to myself for a change; and do what’s right!!

We all have turning points in our life, many of them too and today is a profound one for me and you know what I’m gonna celebrate the fact that I had the spirit, strength and determination to do what’s right……for me!

If you live a life of oppression or compromise, where others just about determine all that you do, I’d like you to think hard about that, are you ever going to be happy if you are constantly giving in, conceding defeat to others who shout louder than you? Or are you going to let people play games with your life, having you chase your own tail, living a life of doubt and mania?

This is no way to live! Wake up….like I have and be yourself, express yourself as you wish to, if others don’t get it or like it, well tough shit! We only get one shot at this life, think about that!! At nearly forty I consider myself lucky to have realised this now and not another 10 years on like my parents did, you can do a lot of cool stuff in 10 years, achieve a great deal, make something of yourself……………….HAVE FUN!!

The liberation from dictators is topical at the moment and how apt for me right now lol, I’m a freedom fighter, fighting for his life, his destiny and his future……..and I’ll do anything to protect my freedom! I’m armed to the teeth with determination, self belief, and courage to make difficult decisions, by taking control of MY life I’ve suddenly found this secret cache of weapons that will take me to the next milestone in my life’s journey.

If that sounds pretentious or profound, well it’s both and I don’t care what you think anyway lol.

Respect and Peace!

@dam

Not a paint brush in sight!!

I’ve been farting about with a photo editing package and here are some of the results…….Click on the images to see them in a larger size.

Spring

Sunset

Lewis and Jack

Your’s truly

Paradise

Black and White

Sliced Fruit

‘Off This Wall’

Thanks to the ‘Hangout’ over at Grange farm Studios I’ve met some very interesting peeps, one of them was Dan Donovan, a rock musician (guitarist and lead vocals), current band is King Kool a nitro-glycerine fuelled 2 piece that pack a punch!!

We spoke briefly at the hangout, but at length a week later on the blower and he’s an interesting fella. Anyway long story short, I asked him if I could remix one of his King Kool tunes – ‘Off This Wall’ and he agreed. Game On!

Next thing was to contact Isi and ask her to send me the wav’s of Dans tune, Isi produced the album for them and has all the files. I received the files on Saturday and made a start Sunday……..It’s coming nicely and i think he’ll be well chuffed.

I’ll publish tune when it’s complete and you can let me know what you think.

There’s actually another Hangout tonight so I’m really excited, there is live music again, 2 piece folk outfit…..should be an interesting remix there lol.

Actually thinking about it, if you’re interested in a musical collaboration, let me know and we could maybe give it a whirl.

 

Respect and Peace!

@dam

Jungle Music

(click on logo and go to my soundcloud)

I’ve just got down with the kids and got myself a Soundcloud account – not before time I hasten to add!

Anyway the main reason for this is to make life easier, you can now listen to my music here and download my music via the soundcloud link…….Happy Days!!

You’ll find my music on the new Jungle Music page………..HERE

Respect and Peace!

@dam

Involuntary Motion Generators

I’m happy to report that my love affair with music is alive and kickin!! You know my tastes are broad and you’ll never nail me down to any particular genre and with that in mind i have 2 very different tracks for you to (hopefully) enjoy.

I had a great chat with Isi (Grange Farm Studios) about EQ’in and mastering and I actually think i’m starting to get it! This is very exciting for me, because I thought alot of my tunes lacked the warmth and breadth that a nice well mastered bass can add. Although I’m not claiming complete success with this, I know I’ve made a paradigm shift in the right direction.

I’d love your opinion about these tunes.

Simple Harmonic Motion

Islamjam

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Respect and Peace!

@dam

The Magic of Mushrooms

Thanks to the TED community for bringing this to the worlds attention.

Many of you will know how much I love mushrooms and what they can do for us, this video presentation further deepens my love.

Enjoy these magic mushrooms!!

I watched this film with mixed emotions, in one hand excited at the discovery and on the other despondence that we have done far too much damage to the planet!! It’s sickening to think that even after we have perished our waste will linger on, polluting and poisoning all future life.

However, nature has a wonderful way of dealing with bad tenants and will evolve some polystyrene loving bacterium that will happily munch it’s way through our shite and process it into perfectly formed nature nuggets . Of course we’ll be extinct by then and the planet can get on with it’s business, ruing the day it ever let us in.

Respect and Peace!

@dam

Respect and Peace!

@dam

Grange Farm Studios

Thursday I went to Emneth (approx. 15 miles from Kings Lynn) to visit some friends over at Grange Farm Studios. Both Isi and Lucy (sisters) run this gorgeous barn conversion which is  a state of the art music studio as well as their home. It’s in the middle of nowhere and this really adds to it’s character, although abit of a trick to find when using the crap-nav at night!

The last Thursday of the month sees a gathering of musicians from a diverse and eclectic background, some of these musicians are very talented and some, like me, just love the spirit of this place and want to be a part of it. The meeting usually starts with a quick intros and then we discuss music and all the shizzle that goes with it. It’s great for a chatterbox like me.

What’s makes this special is the people, you just don’t know who you’re gonna meet, sure there are regulars and the irregulars like myself, but Isi and Lucy know a lot of people and invite guest speakers to the forum too. Obviously we don’t just sit there and talk all night, we get to listen too. There are short-ish sessions by the artists who turn up, this is arranged a month or 2 in advance and really adds to the occasion.

Thursday saw 2 friends give us their take on prog  jazz / rock and to be honest although it’s not my cup of char, they were very good musicians and improvised alot of their songs around a general song structure. They’ve only been playing together a short time and this forum gave them their first opportunity to play live before an audience, they played out of their skins!

One of the guests of the forum who caught my attention was a man called Dan Donovan, this guys just oozes rock and is the guitarist and vocalist in the 2 piece rock outfit that is King Kool.

Dan and his buddy Pas Struthers (drummer) have released 3 albums as KK and they’re tunes are bangin! Now I’m no rock-o-phile, but I definitely dig this. So much energy and attitude – love it!

Dan’s a greedy chap too, not content with being a talented musician, he’s also a graphic designer, photographer and film maker!

So we talked a little about music and blogging bizarrely, really interesting fella, hopefully i’ll be able to do something with him, maybe a remix of a tune ???

I’ve known Isi just over a year I imagine, I was given her name and number by my brother-in-law and she mastered one of my tunes, that went on to be number one in 26 different countries ( i wish!!!).  Both Lucy and Isi are great people and have a wonderful attitude towards music, definitely my type of people. The hangouts are every last Thursday in the month and you’re more than welcome, see their site for details http://www.grangefarmstudio.com/index.html.

I’m hoping to play my tunes there in December / January and I’m feeling really musically inspired at the moment, this was just the tonic my music needed.

Check these out!  ‘Off This Wall’ by King Kool

Isi is a talented musician and plays far too many instruments, as well as a talented vocalist, although i’m happy to say she doesn’t play them all at once, that would be taking it too far!

Check out some of her tunes over here on myspace – http://www.myspace.com/thismachineuk

Respect and Peace!

@dam

The Journey

I wasn’t sure how or why we went,

I just remember arriving,

It didn’t look that nice to me,

What possessed us to come here?

I asked her and she looked down,

“Any clues?”

“We won’t stop then, lets carry on and find somewhere else”

We started off again,

Full of hope and mindful of where we’d just been.

—————

Respect and Peace!

@dam