MIRROR BALL
If I could light up the sky for you
Banish every cloud and all the city lights
Silence all the sounds invading this night
Every star in the sky would sing and dance for you.
But all I have is my song
My song, my song
And a mirror ball
A mirror ball
Here in this dance hall
A mirror ball
This is my sky
This is my life
The closest to heaven I will get
Mirror ball
My sundown is the last call  -Time please
Unplugging my guitar and falling to my knees
The big bell tolling from the bar
The spotlight eclipsed and starved of power
Praying tomorrow will light my sky
The mirror ball spins
The song begins
Just my song and the mirror ball
Stars journey the walls of my world
And my earth rumbles with bass.
A mirror ball
This is my sky
This is my life
The closest to heaven I will get.
NEWS OF THE NEW SINGLE TO FOLLOW


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“MR GRIMSDALE!!!!!!”

AAAGH! I’m gutted to hear that Norman Wisdom has died! It’s like a huge piece of England falling into the sea. I urge you to get his autobiography even better hear it in his own words by audio book from iTunes. Such a humble little genius who came from a tragic violent loveless childhood and brought joy to so many. God bless the little fella!

It’s 5.33am and i’m downstairs inhaling steam steam because the virus has really got hold of me now. I just managed to get through last nights gig but i could feel myself doing damage to my throat as the night went on. Last time i had this it lasted for ages and i simply cannot afford for that to happen now because i have so much to do. I’m scared to lay down because when i have had this before i have woken up, coughed and not been able to breathe in. There is a terrible feeling of panic when that happens. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. God…. i’m tired but i just can’t risk sleeping.
Today i am signing the contract with ‘Proper Distribution’ firstly for the single ‘Deep and Blue’, then i will be adding the whole album and my back catalogue. The deal will get my songs to a much wider audience. We are a bit behind schedule for the planning of the single release so the distributer will i’m sure put the official date back to around November 1st or 8th.
Artwork for Deep and Blue
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Oh Oh……….Here we go! Sore throat, temperature, headache. Yes an imminent bout of the lurgy is upon me. And no before you say it. Not a bout of Man Flu. I’m in ‘The Dog House’ (My Den) Feeling sorry for myself with a large mug of Lemsip Max. Winter Berries. It smells of Christmas. I brought a DVD box set of Seinfeld as my comfort blanket. Had friends around for dinner and they just left. We watched X Factor or is it called The Crying Game. Sheryl Cole eliminated Gamu Nhengu from her group but I guarantee you all 100% that she will be reinstated. It’s all so predictable. AAAGH!
I had a busy week of gigs last week with just today off and then I’m back with The Angels tomorrow. I went to the pub today and was sitting there watching some of the old guys who come in every day. Some of them are great characters. A dying breed with stories of hard times and true camaraderie and I love to see that glint in their eyes when they talk of being young. When that happens it’s as if the years just roll away and you can see them as a 20 year old, up to no good and chatting the girls up.
I’m meeting up with Lewis tomorrow morning and we are going to asses where we are with the release of my single Deep and Blue. To say we are behind with the marketing plans would be a huge understatement and we are having to fight for every penny that goes into promoting it. But what’s the point of putting all that money time and effort into recording if we don’t match it with getting it out there. I received the distribution deal to sign and it’s like an encyclopaedia but I’ll go through it with Colin tomorrow. Hope you had a good weekend and I’ll leave you with this.
“Life! should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming ‘WOO HOO what a ride!’ “
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What the distributor says

Hi all
Another late one. It’s 2.09am. Just got back from an Angels Gig and i’m having some peppermint tea and some steamed broccoli with sesame oil and soy sauce. Thought you may like to see what The Distribution Company is sending out describing my new single Deep and Blue.
DEEP and Blue is a heartbreakingly beautiful song to shake the stoniest of hearts.John Reilly’s exquisite, intimate vocal performance meanders through his own lyrically dark, poetic dream world where love is not candy coated but real and dignified. The song hints at the taboos of mortality and in an age of celebrity and gloss, Reilly reinforces his core belief that;
“The Song is God. Not the artist!”
Deep and Blue was recorded at Yellow Arch Recording Studios, Sheffield’s hub of culture and creativity and the musical home of Richard Hawley, Arctic Monkeys and Jarvis Cocker.  John’s rolling acoustic guitar and slow burning intimate vocal sails along with the exquisite percussion and double bass playing of Colin Eliot and the aching lap steel and atmospheric guitar of Shez Sheridan both of Richard Hawley’s band. The whole song is underpinned by the piano of Reilly’s co writer, Canadian composer, Lewis Nitikman.
This is the first single from John Reilly’s brand new solo album, which is due for release in April 2011. The album is packed head to toe with beautifully written songs and Reilly’s lyrics are filled with humility, humanity and wit.
“I don’t believe in the concept of fillers! I am determined to release an album where every song counts and that is why I have taken so much time over this new recording. Albums like Tapestry by Carole King, Blue by Joni Mitchell and Maybe you’ve been brainwashed too by The New Radicals are an inspiration to me. Every single track stands up on it’s own.”
Intimate acoustic concerts showcasing the new songs with John on vocals, guitar and percussion and Nitikman on piano have been a fantastic way of trying out the new songs as they were being written and it is an amazing site to see his audience singing along to unreleased songs as well as his established songs written and released by his band Boy on a Dolphin. After years of touring the US and Canada where Boy on a Dolphin were signed and released on Atlantic Records, John is really looking forward to touring Britain and returning to his original town of Liverpool. He was last there performing 2 years ago at his favourite venue The Philharmonic Hall when opening up for Ray Davies of The Kinks. The Deep and Blue single release concert in Reilly’s adopted City of Sheffield sold out in hours and the 2011 Album release is eagerly awaited. But first why not introduce yourself to the voice and songs of John Reilly with the cool, melodic and hypnotic Deep and Blue.

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Curry & Chips

6PM at The Black Bull Aughton. I have a rehearsal room upstairs with a PA, drum kit, bass rig and piano. It’s great because musicians don’t have to bring all their equipment with them but of course they are musicians and what’s downstairs?………..A PUB! You can guess how much rehearsing gets done sometimes! Colin the Landlord makes sure that they bring out huge bowls of homemade chips and curry and put it on the bar, free for the early drinkers. So here i am suckered in with a bowl full and a pint before i’ve even approached the stairs. He’s got WiFi now so i can check my emails and update this new site when i am here instead of waiting until i go home. Lewis and i are awaiting updates from our man in the world of radio. We feel pretty powerless as it’s out of our hands.  We found out today that The Deep and Blue Single release concert at The Hubs is now sold out. Lewis’s Mum is coming over from Vancouver for the show. He’s nervous! It’s the Royal Visit. Can’t believe it. He’s gone on a diet and he’s stick thin. He saw a picture and he said he had a double chin in it! Does a diet of Sambuca and chicken wings work? Have wonderful week.
Peace Love Curry and Chips
JR
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Monday 27th Sept

Hi
I’m sitting in Steve Beighton’s recording studio as he is working on some editing for Paul Carrack. Steve has put this new site together and is showing me the ropes. So i will begin very shortly with my first of many musings.
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Blogs gone by

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I seem to be waking up every morning about 5am………..can’t sleep…..lots of stuff going through my head so i go into the garden and then into ‘The Doghouse’ (my writing/recording room) and i get into bed there, (yes there is a bed) leave the door open and lay there looking at the trees and listening to the birds and that seems to help me to sleep a bit.
I really enjoyed last nights Boy on a Dolphin gig at The Grange. The band was very relaxed with lots of positive banter and lots of people were very supportive, especially the staff and of course Frank who promotes the shows. So a big thank you to you all and a happy birthday to Jon! It’s our second night there tonight. The sun is shining out there in the garden so i may take a drive down to Rother Valley Park next to the lake and do some writing down there and get some sun on my body ready for next week when i fly to Bangkok.
So, what have i been up to since my last diary? Well, on Tuesday we went to Old Trafford to watch England v Hungary. England games have an atmosphere all of their own, so different to the intimidating atmosphere of the 70′s and 80′s when there was always that ugly violent tension there. Now it is very much a family affair and the flag of St. George seems to have been liberated from the hands of right wing nutters and suddenly it’s not frowned upon to be proud to be English. As for the game, most of you will know we won 3-1. As usual, an England manager has waited until just before a major tournament to mess about with the formation…….but enough of that.
Wednesday Steve B and i spent the day in the recording studio working on a song from The Personal Demons musical that we are working on. We invited some kids in to play electric guitars and bass and they did a good job and seemed really happy to experience working in a top class studio. I’m sure that some footage will be on the PD website very soon (www.personaldemons.co.uk)
Well i don’t think i can waste any more of this sunshine so i think i’ll venture out. So speak to you all soon.
29 May. Good afternoon! Not been up all that long after a very late night and long day yesterday. Had a gig in Oxford but had to set off at 12 noon yesterday and didn’t get back til 4am! We did get a chance to look around the place and i really liked it. It has a great mixture of beautiful, old, dignified architecture and a vibrant, young, intelligent, cosmopolitan student population. I would like to go back and stay for a couple of days and take a more leisurely look around. We had dinner in a bar, which i recognized from an episode of Inspector Morse. I had a ‘POSH FISH FINGER SANDWICH’
I’ve got so much to do in the next 10 days before we go away. I really do have to get stuck in and get my head down or i’ll be away worrying about things not getting done. Before i know it i’ll be on a plane to Bangkok. I’m taking Vitamin B Complex tablets which are supposed to ward off mosquitoes…….er……..how? One thing i know that they do, though, is turn pee bright yellow, which can be quite embarrassing when having a Geoff Hurst in a urinal trough in a busy pub……….’YELLOW RIVER, YELLOW RIVER!’
I have also just taken my first Malaria tablet. Oh goody! I’ve just read the long list of side effects, some of which i would like to share with you. Here we go.
Upset stomach/Nausea/Stomach pain/Heartburn/Diarrhoea/Difficulty swallowing (great considering i’m going there mainly to experience their cuisine)/Sore or painful tongue or mouth (double Whammy)/Loss of appetite (oh great!)/Flushing..?/A ringing or buzzing noise in the ear/Soreness and itching of the rectal and genital area……..WHAT! …..I think i’ll stop right there before i cancel the trip. When we do get there we have a few hours to get sorted in the Hotel and then find somewhere to watch England’s first world cup game. After 3 days in Bangkok we fly to Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam and after 3 days there we fly to Phuket for a week of horizontal relaxation. I will update the diary when i am away and post up photos when i get back.  
So, back to the here and now. It’s 3.50pm and i’m going to force myself to go to the gym for an hour. 
Catch up with you later!
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SUBWAY TRAIN
Their legs touched on the subway
He smiled………………….strangers.
Back to back, standing, swaying with the train,
Two people read the headlines near a young man holding a large bunch of carnations and tiger lilies above his head to stop them from being damaged in the crush, his clean white collar dusted with yellow pollen.
Three old ladies with matching handbags chatter, laugh and giggle like teenagers on an outing, disturbing a grim faced man who is trying to read Cannery Row. He looks like he’s eaten something sour!
The subway train takes a corner and a bottle rolls from one side of the carriage to the other, clanking into the door. Heads and eyes move in unison to the bottle like spectators at a tennis match……..and then slowly back to their books or magazines, except for the sleeping man in the boiler suit and welders cap who stirs, but not enough to wake him.
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It’s 8.30 pm on Wednesday and i’m sitting at home watching Donnie Darko again. I love this film. I love its pace and the score is fantastic. A movie you can watch over and over again. The sky is beautiful tonight. I can see it reflecting in the front window from the back window as if it’s projected. Blue, pink and purple.
Singer in the back room.
and then someone sang, out of the silence.
A song about a boy sent off to war.
We knew he’d never come back,
It was a folk song!
They never come back.
We sang along ’bout the lonely girl who waited and missed her youth and the mother who stood on the shore waiting, every day ’til she died.
We sang and laughed and drank some more.
He never came back.
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Take this on.
Lesson 1 is the hardest one to learn!
Don’t go back! – Enough said!
Yours truly,
Pheasant plucker.
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And so to Eurovision! Did you see it? It is now The Eurovision dressing up like a twat contest! Finland – Schminland! Still enjoyed the mad campness of it all…….and Wogan hilarious!
Demolished a huge quantity of Pinot Grigio with our guests and had a really good night.
Went to see The Da Vinci Code on Sunday. The film is very true to the book but the lack of depth in the main characters hampers the movie. Tom Hanks plays such a lame part. I’ve never known a story with such a boring hero!
Was reminded by Steve in the afternoon that The Average White Band were playing at The Boardwalk the same night so I decided to go…..Man dey r funky! And very relaxed. They only played for an hour and a half including the encore though. Came home, had a Caesar salad and a beer and watched Village of the dammed and then some major league baseball. New York   Yankees v The Mets. It’s 1.50am so I think I’ll go to bed in a mo……..after this.
Stingray and me.
In the shallows a stingray glides beneath the light of an old wooden pier 
and a million stars in the heavens shine and one of them will be mine when i fly there. 
I will choose one star from the sky and make it mine and I will fly there. 
I will sit on my star, looking down and wave to the stingray…..and he will stop for a moment and look up to the sky,
Then glide…..glide……glide away….
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So, now it’s 10.30 am. on a miserable, grey, rainy day in Sheffield. The contrast between days when the sun . shines and when it’s like this is immense and it effects everyone’s mood. You can see it in the faces of people on the street. The smile counter ticks sluggishly along and people hide their faces in hoods and brollies and stoop when they walk as if that will keep them drier.
It was good to see so many familiar faces at The Boardwalk last night. It was very much like the last Friday in the month when the Angels play there, so it was interesting to be a spectator for once. The venue seems to be doing really well which is great. Every city needs a thriving venue of that size and it’s a shame that so many cities have lost theirs.
In last night’s dream I was driving a giant hedge, cut into the shape of a train through fields of corn that swayed in the wind like waves. Men on tractors waved and suddenly a bright blue sea appeared on the horizon. I could smell summer! Freshly cut grass and ice cream.
…………..they’re coming to take me away, ha ha, he he, ho ho!
19th May
Greetings everyone. I’m looking down over Rother Valley Park from my lofty perch on a blustery day. Clouds are scooting across the blue sky from left to right as if they are late for an appointment. I have some of those part baked bread rolls in the oven which will be done in 10 minutes and i’ve just read my mail. I was sent a DVD of a dance routine that has just been put together to go with the Demon song that Steve B and i wrote for the musical we are working on………looks quite promising but i’m no expert in the balletic arts!
Another strange dream last night. I looked up and saw two crows grab a seagull in mid air, then all of a sudden loads of seagulls came to it’s rescue. The sky above was filled with seagulls and crows……the crows outnumbered though, then it started raining bird poo! and me and my sister Eileen got covered (not sure why she was there)
Oh the glamour of it all!
Anyway! Back to reality…….ooh this hot bread is good! So we return to The Pheasant tonight after all these years. It’s going to be a strange feeling with all those memories from when we started and i’ve no idea if it will be busy or not as we’ve not advertised it but i mentioned it at The Crucible. I learned so much from our regular stint there. I remember being really uptight and nervous before and during every gig and singing every song as if my life depended on it. I remember the landlady Lorraine throwing rolled up wet dishcloths at anyone who would stand on the chairs. I remember being alone in the concert room just me and her as she lay in her coffin. She had a Frank White T shirt on and photos of me and the lads in the coffin with her. After the funeral a fight broke out in the bar and i stood on a chair and told everyone off. Telling them they should all be ashamed. The room fell silent. I walked to the bar feeling quite proud of myself and then suddenly it all kicked off again……….i’m obviously not cut out for a top United Nations post.
So, what’s on the cards for the rest of the day? I’ve got some gear to pick up to take to The Pheasant, i’m going to the gym and i am going for a massage in the afternoon, then showered, changed and off to the Pheasant and what ever that may bring……..don’t think i’ll be driving though, if you get my drift!
Japanese Girl.
There was a Japanese girl sitting in the bar
Waiting for a friend.
She had a book,
A paperback book, with a picture of a scorpion on the front.
Her friend arrived………..a Japanese boy.
He held a magazine about cycling or motorbikes.
He said something, they laughed and he ordered two beers
and she took tiny sips and held the glass in both hands.
It looked so big in her small hands.
She saw me looking, she smiled, and bowed….

And so did I.
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18th May
Tough on Arsenal but the best team won on the night. Went for a curry with Steve before the game. T’was rather good. I have decided to add some of my strange musings to my diary as i go along if that’s ok with you.
Maldivian Lizards.
Today was a good day.
Reef sharks in the shallows.
Warm wind and waves,
and nothing to get me down.
No phone pulling me back home.
Reading my book – swinging in the hammock.
Great wings of the fruit bat over Gotham Island.
Hermit crabs moving house and mosquitoes away on holiday………………keep away.
Even the Lizards made eye contact.
If we were staying longer they could be good friends.
One could sit on my head keeping lookout!
Do Lizards have Lizard families?
Mum and Dad and the Lizard kids?
Do they go to Lizard church on Sunday to pray for the souls of African Lizards?
Do they talk of tiny relatives in Blighty?
Pond dwelling newts – small but very posh.
On Sundays they take the kids and use frogspawn like bouncy castles when the giants aren’t watching.
Sadly, the English newts can’t travel to visit their colourful cousins……
Anyway, the heat is too oppressive, and they, as yet, don’t have any credit cards or passports, and they would only complain about the heat and the food,
But not for long because they would be eaten very quickly as they lagged behind their rapidly fleeing cousins.
“Wait for me old boy!”
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I am in Birmingham with Steve Beighton being creative. We are staying at The Beaches in Bournville so i visited Cadbury World this morning and walked out with enough chocolate to feed Dawn French for a decade.
Tonight it’s The Champions league final featuring Arsenal, who are the French champions, and Barcelona. My prediction is 2-0 to Barcelona.
Still smarting from Evertons crap season made worse by the success of the team from the dark side.
As i have mentioned before, i have been working on songs for a musical and it has been a revalation. Check out the website www.personaldemons.co.uk 
Did a gig at Old Trafford a couple of weeks ago. Champagne in the trophy room and all that……..it’s a very impressive gaff though and the Angels went down a storm.
Thanks to all the people who came to The Dolphin gig at The Crucible. The response has been great, especially about how well Steve and Liz worked together on Sax and Violin. On Friday (for old times sake) we are playing The Pheasant in Sheffield. Some of you will remember the wild nights we had there years ago and, of course, Mad Mick the landlord or effin’ Mick as my family call him. This Saturday i am holding a Eurovision party. I love it. It’s so crap that it’s brilliant. Shockingly, brilliantly, bad……..marvelous!
Wednesday 1 st March.
This is my third day in York. I’m here in my capacity as creative guru for eminent doctors and surgeons, which is very challenging but great fun. I try to release their suppressed creative juices in a series of tasks, which are well outside their comfort zones. I was originally asked to do this by Dr. Jenny Simpson OBE as a one off. It all went very well and I was asked to do many more all over the country. So here I am in York and I’ll be in Northern Ireland next week.
Although the flu like symptoms of the virus I had have subsided, I still have no appetite or, strangely, any wish to touch alcohol….Man that’s a first! Also I feel like I’m on a real downer and can’t sleep, but I’m reassured by other people who have had it telling me they went through the same thing. After the groups made their presentations to me today I nipped off in the freezing, biting cold to The Minster and just sat there for a while. There is something very calming and humbling about magnificent churches and Cathedrals. Their size somehow make your troubles seem smaller, if that makes any sense?
The Dolphin gigs at The Crucible and Doncaster Dome are now on sale but I’m a bit worried about next weeks gig in Holmfirth, which hasn’t really been advertised. Someone dropped off a DVD of The City Hall Concert, filmed by a loan-wandering cameraman. It’s really very good for what it is and I’m sure we’ll be able to use some footage on the website.
I left a message on the guestbook after I dropped in to The Pheasant Pub in Sheffield, home of Boy on a Dolphin’s early gigs and some very wild nights. I’m still in 2 minds as to whether to do a gig there for old times sake but the response from you good people seems to be ‘YES PLEASE’ so I better get it sorted.
OK. Thanks for listening I’m off to drink a hot Lemon and Ginger Tea.
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No breakfast yet. Just a mug of   INSPIRATION TEA, made with Lemongrass, Orange and Peppermint. Last night in my dream, from what I can recall, I was given the task to guard a cake made by Muslims, which was being kept in a garden shed overseen by a nun. Anyway at some point the cake was vandalised with messages written on it and the last thing I remember was that I was helping them to smooth over the icing so the messages could not be read.
Yesterday ended up being a bit of a pain as I didn’t get the chance to meet up with Andy and James so I went for a drive in the country instead, then watched the first half of the Arsenal v Real Madrid game at The Bull and the second half of Liverpool v Benfica at home and yet again went to bed before midnight. I am just getting over a nasty bout of the virus that is going around. It grabs you first by the throat and makes you feel like you have been hit on the head with a baseball bat. The good thing is that you lose your appetite, so at least I’ve lost a few pounds, which I put on over Christmas.
I’ll be doing some research on the net in a bit as we have just booked to go to HO Chi Min City (formerly Saigon) in Viet Nam.
We are staying there for 3 days, then 3 days in Bangkok (or is it the other way round?) then a week in Phuket. I am a big fan of food from this region and can’t wait to check out the local markets, although I know I will have to steel myself for some shocks as there concept of animal welfare is vastly different to ours. We, of course, hide our animals away so we don’t equate a fluffy lamb with what is nestling on our plate next to a roast potato. So who is right?…not for me to say.
Talking of food, (my appetite is back by the way) I’m taking a break from writing to cook some breakfast. Will report back in a mo!
* A MO*
OK, what did I do? (“Who cares” I hear you say…well tough)
I finely chopped some leak. Skinned a tomato and chopped it, adding salt and black pepper and mixed in some Florida hot sauce.
I chopped some good ham. Not that awful stuff that’s full of water.
Put a small frying pan on a high heat with some olive oil. When it began to smoke I threw in the leaks pretty wet so they cook very quickly in the steam and oil. After 1 min, in went the toms and ham, lowered heat a little and left for another min or so then took pan off heat cracked in two medium free range eggs, a dash of milk, a little English mustard and quickly mixed it all together.
Put it back on heat for another min then covered it with grated double Gloucester cheese and slid pan under very hot grill until cheese bubbled and toasted a little. Served folded on a plate with toasted granary bread and butter. Very satisfying, even if I say so myself.
Now back to business. So the plan now is to get showered and head off to Cary’s house to work on a couple of new songs for tomorrow in Doncaster and Friday at The Boardwalk. Then see if Steve fancies an hour tarting up the recordings we did last week cos I’m taking them into a school tomorrow to see if the kids there can come up with some lyrical ideas for Maria’s song and Danny Boys song from the musical I am working on.
I’ve just realised that there is so much that has happened in the last 2 years that I haven’t told you about and that seems quite daunting. Well, from producing the big Charity show at The City Hall for the likes of Dolphin, Def Lepard, Paul Carrack and many more, to visiting the wonderful Paradise Island in The Maldives, and fulfilling a lifetime ambition of performing to a full house at The Royal Albert Hall..well it seems I’m going to be busy.
Speak to you later… off to get showered!
JR.
Breakfast.
Took a bowl, and stressed by all the choice i proceeded to fill it with Alpen, Pecan and Maple Crisp, Kelloggs fruit ‘n’fibre and some other stuff that looks like mini wheatabix with nuts on. Chucked on some milk and peeled a banana……you see I was still in a bit of a tiz having woken from a strange dream where I decided to float away an a calm current of dark water with a bunch of crows and a few mermaids with normal legs………Anyway! I’m back.
My brain closed the exit door about two years ago, not long after we lost our Dad, and I have been in creative limbo ever since, but lately I’ve heard the hinges creaking and managed to lift the lid and take a look at the world with my own eyes instead of a periscope.
So! Today is rural sports day in India where cows do hurdle races, jumping over bicycles…true ….just seen it on Sky news. Oh and a man having his arse run over by a tractor.
Bird flu! Not reached our shores yet but it’s inevitable.
‘LOCK UP YOUR CHICKENS!’
Anyway, what I’ll do is fill you in on the last couple of years during my new entries and of course it wont be in a normal diary format but a mixture of muse and ramblings
which best sums up the contents of my head. Oh yes! And photos.
Today I am working on a song for a project that will eventually be a musical. Having read the first part of the script of ‘Personal demons’I immediately could see it working as a musical and suggested it and was soon commissioned to write five songs for it. I have enlisted the help of Steve Beighton and will be working with kids from different schools on the creative process. Check it out on the website www.personaldemons.com
Also later today I will be meeting Andy Needham who has been working on our song THE BELL OF HOPE with James so I’m looking forward to hearing what they’ve done with it.
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11.40pm Sunday
Ok, I know it’s been a while and so much has happened but I do this when I want to, or more truthfully when I feel I can.
On Thursday 25th June I travelled from London to Doncaster to play with The Acoustic Angels. It was a good turnout and we had a good night. During the last song I noticed people looking at their mobile phones and texting, which seemed unusual and rude as I thought at the time. I soon found out that Michael Jackson had died and I can only talk about what that meant to me.
Shock? No. Sadness? Yes. I’m not really interested in the circus that has ensued since. I have heard some awful things said about this flawed and frail man since he died and also some cynicism about why I would want to sing some Michael Jackson songs right now.
As a boy surrounded by eclectic music in the house due to the varying tastes of my Dad, Mum and 3 sisters, I was singing my heart out to all kinds of music. Frank Sinatra, Jack Jones, Joni Mitchell, America, The current Top 40, The Sound of Music (Sung from start to finish with my sister Moira in the back of my Aunty Lily and Uncle Leo’s car) Motown, Cat Stevens, then T Rex, Free, Gilbert O’Sullivan (Who I think is a very underestimated songwriter) The list is endless but when I think back at what taught me to sing I now realise it was the joy and challenge of singing along with songs like “Got to be there” “ABC” “I want you back” and “I’ll be there” I will ask you one thing. Get a copy of “Got to be there” and listen to it properly and alone. The purity, honesty and passion in that vocal performance defy the age of the singer. It just should not be possible. I was 8 when I was singing along to these songs and that is the age when things that become important are tattooed on your heart. To me Michael Jackson was a truly great singer, especially before his voice broke. I’m interested in music, not his dancing, his private life or as I said earlier, the whole circus. We could ALL do worse than listening to The Man In The Mirror.
Tonight
I just caught a documentary on the TV about a man called Philippe Petit who is a high wire walker. On August 14th 1974 after 6 years undercover planning, he walked the tightrope between the Twin Towers in New York. You know, there was something so beautiful about the pictures of him up there in the early morning mist looking down on a tiny Statue of Liberty. So brave and graceful.    MAN ON WIRE.
Diary
To prick, or not to prick? That is the question. We are talking sausages here. Does one resist the pricking in the hope that the sausage bubbles away in it’s own juices wrapped in it’s flavour saving cocoon but then run the risk of the explosion….Innards spilling out all over the grill pan, horror movie style or do we take the safe option – the pricking, where a loss of flavour, indeed moistness is balanced with the guaranteed neatness of a smartly displayed savoury treat?
Just one of the dilemmas I am constantly wrestling with……..
Hello my friends. It is 4pm and I am in The Westerwood Hotel, Cumbernauld, Scotland. I have an hour to kill before my taxi comes to take me to Glasgow airport where I have a flight to Manchester then a drive to Sheffield. Cumbernauld has twice been voted the ugliest town centre in Britain, an awful hotch potch of grey early seventies concrete eyesores dotted around a drab and slightly depressing area of a few square miles. It is also home to The Inland Revenue (bless them) and the best shop I could find was Poundland. Its saving grace is that it is surrounded by glorious and stunning Scottish countryside. I have been in this Hotel for 4 days being creative and sampling many single malts from the Highlands, Lowlands and probably the neither up nor down lands. I also had porridge for breakfast. Proper stick to your ribs stuff! But I did have to add loads of honey to make it palatable. The lowlight of my stay was watching England v Croatia last night. Oh my God! What a shambles! I can’t remember a worse performance. McClaren has lost his marbles already, playing so many players out of position.
Tomorrow Boy on a dolphin play a charity concert in Crooks, Sheffield. It seems an age since we last played so I’ll have to spend tomorrow daytime practising.
Blogworthy
30 mins past midnight. Just been stuffing myself with mini scotch eggs with squeezy Hellmann’s mayo and pickled onions. Dumb thing to do before you go to bed. Surrounded by flyers and posters for the dolphin city hall concert that I wish someone would miraculously take from me and display in influential places but that won’t happen will it. Couldn’t promote my way into an analogy that I can’t be bothered to think up….. and that about sums it up.
This is my 1st diary entry for years. It’s interesting isn’t it? Why has this moment become the moment when I am suddenly comfortable or more realistically feel the need to share parts of my life with other people? If I continue with this then I hope you realise that there will be many future entries probably mainly focussing on what is careering towards my stomach lining. I think it must be time for changes when I feel the need to share my thoughts and open the dirty Mac of my musings to whoever may be interested. It’s been so long that it now has a new name. A blog! I am blogging. I blog; Therefore I am a blogger……..who would have thought …..Indeed who gives a toss?
No point attempting to fill in the huge gap in entries cos there must have been a reason why I didn’t do it, as there must be a reason why I reached for my laptop and started a new page instead of looking at Everton related websites or putting random words into google and seeing what comes up. All I know is that I am washing down the acid burning pickles with a mug of decaf tea and I will go to bed in a bit, put my headphones on and listen to an American lady on my Nano and she will speak of meditation and relaxation and I hope that she will induce sleep.
I hope this isn’t a false dawn. I’m quite happy to resume with an innocuous entry such as this. It kind of relates to my delicate state.
Night Night.
Scorchio!
Back again! With messages and thoughts for the big YOU out there. Wherever and whoever YOU may be.
Here I am at Rother Valley with the sun beating down like a stick on a tin. I was dozing and then awoken by the sound of an old man singing falsetto, like a drunk Irish poet. Kind of beautiful and disturbing at the same time. There’s an old dog turning in endless circles….Irony? Symbolism?….One or the other.
And me. My heart whirring like a humming bird and as restless as a retired cop. I come here for answers but they wont land in my lap like a bird who’s heart stops beating in flight and falls like a stone………And who are these people? Mothers and sons, lovers and the lonely, car thieves and con men and the blessed happy who don’t live with their souls in the shadow of their hearts.
I reach through the window of my car and turn on the radio and I’m hit by the sound of a black girl with a voice like a hammer. Her soul flies out through the open window and a swan glides by.
My phone beeps – A message. Someone has bounced their thoughts off a satellite and skilfully landed them in my pocket. The sun blazes and amazingly on the other side of the sky, faintly in the blue, there is a half moon. I turn off the radio, trouble on every station. Geese fly overhead with purpose, knowing instinctively where to go.
I lie down on the grass and begin to invent a place I would like to be.
10 guitars at the back of the bar and 10 shots on a tray. Old Man Dan singing like an Angel, his voice ringing like a bell. Blind Jane, with a voice like a hammer knocking down the gates of hell. Singing ‘The Salamanders Curse’ All for better, all for worse. Driving a stake through the cold dark night. We’re claiming sanctuary at O’Malley’s, I’m starting to feel alright.
The Dostoyevsky twins walk in the room and the band play ‘Believe me if you will’ The barman rings his bell, says we’re all going to hell but the next round’s on Indiana Bill. The twins start clapping, feet start tapping and a tambourine flies through the air I catch it in my right hand and I’m a lefty!
I stand and shout;
“RULE NUMBER 1. Leave your mark.
A TOAST! (Glass in my right hand)
1 For Johnny Miller
1 For Janis J
1 For Eric Morecambe
1 For Curt Cobain.
Mongy
7 mins past 1am
walked in house, been to open mic night in dronfield. Like another house. Everything different. No mongy. No putting him out, no smell, no one to talk to. Cant pick him up, the old fella and take him out for a wee. Held him on my lap 4
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