This time last year…

29th January 2010 Comments Off on This time last year…

At the Player last night we were talking, Pete and I, about this time last year, about how down it was then and how up it is now. Last year the place was quiet, we played jazz and blues as couples snuggled and snogged in dimly lit corners. It felt like the world outside had shut down for the winter, it felt like there was nothing we could do to break through the thick ice and surface. A year later, around the same date, the night before pay day in a five weekend month, in January, in the week of Blue Monday, that faux statistics tell us is the year’s saddest day, we have people, drinking, dancing, screaming, pulling jazz poses with jazz faces, smiles and shoes and stockings and talk of drunken licking. We’re even thinking of turning on the mirror balls, things are that happening. What has changed in between these dates? The economy is supposedly coming out of recession though with even the smallest margin for error there is really nothing but a big flat plain of stagnation. No, it’s the people again, getting on with it, indulging, playing, enjoying every moment, aware that these may be the last days of decadence. It’s Cava instead of Champagne, it’s choosing the cocktail with the biggest bite, it’s shots all round and staying up late because there’s always the night bus to get you home. It’s like us, sitting here surrounded by boxes, about to move to somewhere smaller, because it makes sense, because we’re looking out instead of staying in, shabby-chic and still smiling. This is real and it’s OK.

Allow me this small indulgence.

28th January 2010 Comments Off on Allow me this small indulgence.

Soon I will get back out into the world and shoot things and people in other places. For now, picture this, the last days in Camden, with the new blue stuff, summer-ready.

2000 of…

25th January 2010 Comments Off on 2000 of…

2000 The last thing you need to arrive when you are about to move house is 2000 CDS. But, well, they’re here and like a new born baby, they are a beautiful liability. So they look lovely, sound great, feel good, smell nice. Now all I have to do is sell them.

Mavis

23rd January 2010 Comments Off on Mavis

Who’s that next to Edwyn Collins and Kurt Wagner and Candi Staton and Danielle Moore? Chris Coco on Ashley Beedle’s wonderful new soulful project, coming soon on K7. Nice.

Tiny acts of revolution, small gifts of love

21st January 2010 Comments Off on Tiny acts of revolution, small gifts of love

I found this on the floor by the front door: “Today your fear of the unknown will be lifted and you will feel free.” Then this in my inbox: “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” (George Orwell) Feeling stronger, force of will must prevail.