...I shouldn't blog late at night as my grammar,spelling and typo rate is horrible...
Sorry... x
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Fall Break and Latest Games
17 years ago
Thursday, 5 February 2009
So I just got back...
...from the States. It was my first trip over there since November 2006 which is crazy and to be honest it totally flew by, but it didn't pass me by. I got to do 2 of my favourite things in the world and for that i feel priviliged. I left on Monday January 19th - getting a cab to Paddington from my flat, then the Heathrow express to, well, Heathrow. I got Deltaflight DL9 to Atlanta - It was pretty funny - the plane was quaint and reminded me of being a kid boarding a flight to the Florida with my family; except they don't give you little toilet bags anymore - it seems as things because less of a bonus then the luxeries dry up.
I arrived in Atlanta about 1730 local time, made a friend in a 37 year old cabaret dancer called Renne La Reoux. She was pretty sweet and be chatted the talk whilst waiting for our bags. Atlanta airport is weird- they make you pick up your bags at one baggage claim and then re-check them in as you get the tube to the main terminal where you then wait to pick them up again. From there I got on the Marta line NE to Doraville station where I was picked up by my uncle Alistair and little Thomas, my 3 and a half year old cousin. In the week I spent there we simply all just hung out and caught up. It's funny how you go on a 9 hour plane ride to another country but instead of exploring - all you want to do is reacquaint yourself with people that you miss and that's what I did. I had one day in Atlanta where I wandered aeound the Lennox Square mall and that was wicked. Alistair and I went to see Frost vs Nixon and it was awesome. You need to see it and Cathy and i took a trip to Athens, Georgia on the night of the inaugaration (history, baby!). Athens was like the indie town of my dreams - spawning bands such as neutral Milk Hotel, Devo, REM and The b52's - it seemed untouched by multinational consumerism and had all the cool little theatres, bars, coffee shops and most importantly, record stores, that one could hope for. I'd love to go back there. The south is great, food is good and the people are super nice and it was wicked to get to hang out with Cathy as well. The place was buzzing with the B-Rack O, which I dig. Alistair and I got our obligatory pre-mentioned movie in and got to geek out a bit; we planon taking over the tech world sometime soon. Be scared, Facebook.
And as for Thomas, well, Thomas is amazing.He si without a doubt the smartest, cutest, coolest 3 and a half year old that has ever existed. Although, he about killed me at Monkey joe's. Need to get back to playing the football me thinks - chasing him around was exhausting! I miss the kid and hoepfully it wont be too long till I get to see him again.
On the following Sunday I left Georgia and headed to Maryland, Baltimore to be exact. I had no idea what to expect in Baltimore to be honest. All I knew was that it had a cool aquarium, a harbour, was near DC and that Flood of Red were recording their record there which I was extra excited to be a part of.
Flood of Red are my boys from Glasgow that I manage - I've mentioned them before and the whole experience was one in which I'm extremely delighted with and very proud. We'd hooked the boys up with producer Brian McTernan. Brian is a 32 year old dude that owns Salad Days studios - a state of the art residential studio in the Fells Point neighbourhood of Baltimore - which is like the hip harbour area. The boys had been there since January 3rd and I had joined them for the last week of recording. We were stoked ot be working with Brian before we got there - the man is a legend in our little rock world. personally, he's made 3 of my favourite records of all time and the same thing goes for the boys. The boys and him hit it off straight away and by the time I arrived they were onto the harmonies which was about the last thing that we needed to finish and put us way ahead of schedule. I am so excited about this record it's crazy. It's been an honour watching the band grow up and being a part of this and it really feels like it's a case of all roads have led to where we are now. We get the mixes back tomorrow and then it's go go go so it's going to be an exciting and busy ride. I really need to stop using variations of the word 'exciting', right? We can only but hope the record gets the recognition it deserves and I'll be striving to make that happen.
Whilst in Baltimore we also hung out at some Irish Bars, made some awesome friends, saw some old friends, visited the aquarium and ate at some amazing places. If anyone ever goes to Batimore you have to go to Isabellas. It's a little sandwich shop in the littleItaly district near Fells Point and it's unbelieveable. I saw kelly, which was really cool, just hanging out in a new city and catching up on where our respective lives are taking us. We'll not talk about the journey home, let's just say that London doesn't deal well with snow and the Americans don't like to miss the superbowl.
So now I'm back and that gives me a chance to fire on and look back on a great trip. We've got a lotta work to do in the years to come but I feel that I'm on the right track. The Flood deal is almost done, the record will be amazing and tours and coming thick and fast - watch this space. Astro Firs have a new bass player, a sync in the HBO show Kings bythe dude that created Heroes and will be laying down some new tracks soon, Edgar Prais have a radio 1 session coming up and a pending record release and Sylosis are in Europe again with the album being 3rd most added on college rock radio and 4th most added on CMJ, which is unexpected and really great. I hope I get to spend ore time in the States; It just seems to click with me. 6 weeks to SXSW and counting...
live well. j
I arrived in Atlanta about 1730 local time, made a friend in a 37 year old cabaret dancer called Renne La Reoux. She was pretty sweet and be chatted the talk whilst waiting for our bags. Atlanta airport is weird- they make you pick up your bags at one baggage claim and then re-check them in as you get the tube to the main terminal where you then wait to pick them up again. From there I got on the Marta line NE to Doraville station where I was picked up by my uncle Alistair and little Thomas, my 3 and a half year old cousin. In the week I spent there we simply all just hung out and caught up. It's funny how you go on a 9 hour plane ride to another country but instead of exploring - all you want to do is reacquaint yourself with people that you miss and that's what I did. I had one day in Atlanta where I wandered aeound the Lennox Square mall and that was wicked. Alistair and I went to see Frost vs Nixon and it was awesome. You need to see it and Cathy and i took a trip to Athens, Georgia on the night of the inaugaration (history, baby!). Athens was like the indie town of my dreams - spawning bands such as neutral Milk Hotel, Devo, REM and The b52's - it seemed untouched by multinational consumerism and had all the cool little theatres, bars, coffee shops and most importantly, record stores, that one could hope for. I'd love to go back there. The south is great, food is good and the people are super nice and it was wicked to get to hang out with Cathy as well. The place was buzzing with the B-Rack O, which I dig. Alistair and I got our obligatory pre-mentioned movie in and got to geek out a bit; we planon taking over the tech world sometime soon. Be scared, Facebook.
And as for Thomas, well, Thomas is amazing.He si without a doubt the smartest, cutest, coolest 3 and a half year old that has ever existed. Although, he about killed me at Monkey joe's. Need to get back to playing the football me thinks - chasing him around was exhausting! I miss the kid and hoepfully it wont be too long till I get to see him again.
On the following Sunday I left Georgia and headed to Maryland, Baltimore to be exact. I had no idea what to expect in Baltimore to be honest. All I knew was that it had a cool aquarium, a harbour, was near DC and that Flood of Red were recording their record there which I was extra excited to be a part of.
Flood of Red are my boys from Glasgow that I manage - I've mentioned them before and the whole experience was one in which I'm extremely delighted with and very proud. We'd hooked the boys up with producer Brian McTernan. Brian is a 32 year old dude that owns Salad Days studios - a state of the art residential studio in the Fells Point neighbourhood of Baltimore - which is like the hip harbour area. The boys had been there since January 3rd and I had joined them for the last week of recording. We were stoked ot be working with Brian before we got there - the man is a legend in our little rock world. personally, he's made 3 of my favourite records of all time and the same thing goes for the boys. The boys and him hit it off straight away and by the time I arrived they were onto the harmonies which was about the last thing that we needed to finish and put us way ahead of schedule. I am so excited about this record it's crazy. It's been an honour watching the band grow up and being a part of this and it really feels like it's a case of all roads have led to where we are now. We get the mixes back tomorrow and then it's go go go so it's going to be an exciting and busy ride. I really need to stop using variations of the word 'exciting', right? We can only but hope the record gets the recognition it deserves and I'll be striving to make that happen.
Whilst in Baltimore we also hung out at some Irish Bars, made some awesome friends, saw some old friends, visited the aquarium and ate at some amazing places. If anyone ever goes to Batimore you have to go to Isabellas. It's a little sandwich shop in the littleItaly district near Fells Point and it's unbelieveable. I saw kelly, which was really cool, just hanging out in a new city and catching up on where our respective lives are taking us. We'll not talk about the journey home, let's just say that London doesn't deal well with snow and the Americans don't like to miss the superbowl.
So now I'm back and that gives me a chance to fire on and look back on a great trip. We've got a lotta work to do in the years to come but I feel that I'm on the right track. The Flood deal is almost done, the record will be amazing and tours and coming thick and fast - watch this space. Astro Firs have a new bass player, a sync in the HBO show Kings bythe dude that created Heroes and will be laying down some new tracks soon, Edgar Prais have a radio 1 session coming up and a pending record release and Sylosis are in Europe again with the album being 3rd most added on college rock radio and 4th most added on CMJ, which is unexpected and really great. I hope I get to spend ore time in the States; It just seems to click with me. 6 weeks to SXSW and counting...
live well. j
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
If you know me...
...then you'll know that i'm very close to family and that, simply put, I love and respect my folks very much. However, this doesn't mean that from time to time that I'm not allowed to 'take the mick', so to speak, out of my father; as at every given opportunity I'm 100% positive that he'd do that exact same thing to me. I think my personality and sense of humour grew strong out of being able to keep up with my dads' array fo practical jokes and little tricks but over the years I'd like to have think I've got my own back in several ways - not at least by springing his surprise party onto him under the guise of a night out at the 'fitba club' in Peterhead.
So world, I'd like to bring to your attention a little email I received from father dearest this afternoon; Sorry dad.
"Abody fine, mobile phone ended up in the sewars in Edinburgh though!!
Went to toilet (yes, you have guessed), fell out my pocket and flushed right down toilet. I am awaiting a new one. Some rat is making calls to friends in New York for all you know.
Dadxxxx"
Brilliant!!!
Needless to say take heed in my below illustration.
So world, I'd like to bring to your attention a little email I received from father dearest this afternoon; Sorry dad.
"Abody fine, mobile phone ended up in the sewars in Edinburgh though!!
Went to toilet (yes, you have guessed), fell out my pocket and flushed right down toilet. I am awaiting a new one. Some rat is making calls to friends in New York for all you know.
Dadxxxx"
Brilliant!!!
Needless to say take heed in my below illustration.
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Well...
I'll freely admit to not being overly educated in politics, whether that be within the UK or the rest of the world but over the last 6 months I've became embroiled in the anticipation, anxiousness and potentially life changing events that have surrounded the campaign to become the 44th president.
In my naive and under informed eyes, I've looked upon the race with hope and with an overwhelming feeling that as well as being the obvious Republican v. Democrat and McCain v. Obama competition, I cant get over the sense that it's also become tradition v. ambition and even more simply-put Old v. New debate.
When I was younger I was fortunate to be part of a family with relatives living in New York, to have a girlfriend living in San Francisco and also even more so, to be able to go to Florida several times before my 14th birthday, and I guess it was as a consequence of this that i became subconsciously obsessed with American culture; from film to music to language and to the overwhelming feeling that in America their really were no boundaries to what you could achieve, who you could be and to how you expressed your thoughts and feelings.
But over these past 8 years, as I've made the transition from child to adult and as I've looked on from afar, I couldn't help but feel disappointed; Disappointed, let down and moreover almost disgusted by a group of American citizens who couldn't seem to see past their own noses and they became the antithiesis of the America that instilled so much hope and creativity into my early teens.
For me last night not only once again made me feel proud for America, filled with hope and emotion at 5.30AM this morning that has continued through the day, but it has also for me signalled a change of guard, and not just a change of government in the White House. It seems like politics has finally caught up with the times that our generation has brought to the world; this only emphasised by Obamas' campaign usage of Twitter, Flickr, Myspace, Youtube and Facebook to run alongside his obvious understanding for the change in policy driven by a change to a modernistic and vastly more intelligent/popular viewpoint that the youth (under 50's) can actively relate too.
Two years ago almost to the day I was in New York City and boarded a bus where chance would have it that I sat next to a girl who went to New School in Greenwich. For 4 hours she explained to me her viewpoint on US politics and the George W. era, and that how there had been rumblings that a man named Barack Obama was going to run for power and that in her mind he was about the only man in politics in the US that could save their nation from meltdown and bring it forward, and as a result bring the world forward. And that she thought that he would become the first African-American president. Well now he's there; thank you America, let's hope these next 77 days fly by.
jb x
I'll freely admit to not being overly educated in politics, whether that be within the UK or the rest of the world but over the last 6 months I've became embroiled in the anticipation, anxiousness and potentially life changing events that have surrounded the campaign to become the 44th president.
In my naive and under informed eyes, I've looked upon the race with hope and with an overwhelming feeling that as well as being the obvious Republican v. Democrat and McCain v. Obama competition, I cant get over the sense that it's also become tradition v. ambition and even more simply-put Old v. New debate.
When I was younger I was fortunate to be part of a family with relatives living in New York, to have a girlfriend living in San Francisco and also even more so, to be able to go to Florida several times before my 14th birthday, and I guess it was as a consequence of this that i became subconsciously obsessed with American culture; from film to music to language and to the overwhelming feeling that in America their really were no boundaries to what you could achieve, who you could be and to how you expressed your thoughts and feelings.
But over these past 8 years, as I've made the transition from child to adult and as I've looked on from afar, I couldn't help but feel disappointed; Disappointed, let down and moreover almost disgusted by a group of American citizens who couldn't seem to see past their own noses and they became the antithiesis of the America that instilled so much hope and creativity into my early teens.
For me last night not only once again made me feel proud for America, filled with hope and emotion at 5.30AM this morning that has continued through the day, but it has also for me signalled a change of guard, and not just a change of government in the White House. It seems like politics has finally caught up with the times that our generation has brought to the world; this only emphasised by Obamas' campaign usage of Twitter, Flickr, Myspace, Youtube and Facebook to run alongside his obvious understanding for the change in policy driven by a change to a modernistic and vastly more intelligent/popular viewpoint that the youth (under 50's) can actively relate too.
Two years ago almost to the day I was in New York City and boarded a bus where chance would have it that I sat next to a girl who went to New School in Greenwich. For 4 hours she explained to me her viewpoint on US politics and the George W. era, and that how there had been rumblings that a man named Barack Obama was going to run for power and that in her mind he was about the only man in politics in the US that could save their nation from meltdown and bring it forward, and as a result bring the world forward. And that she thought that he would become the first African-American president. Well now he's there; thank you America, let's hope these next 77 days fly by.
jb x
Barack Obama will be the 44th President of the United States...
...What a brilliant day. I'm completely buzzing about this!
Monday, 20 October 2008
Now I Don't Know Much About Politics..
...But I'm trying to learn more and more every day at the moment as it's starting to fascinate me. I just thought I'd share a couple of videos with you guys to have a look at as i found them pretty enlightening yet disturbing.
Here's Actor Matt Damon on Sarah Palin, the Republic Vice-Presidential candidate.
And here's Palin on Foreign Policy, it's pretty scary stuff when you actually consider what she's saying and how potentially close she would be to actually being president.
I mean; The leader of the freeworld? Seriously?
This made me laugh too.
Needless to say, I'm all for Obama.
Here's Actor Matt Damon on Sarah Palin, the Republic Vice-Presidential candidate.
And here's Palin on Foreign Policy, it's pretty scary stuff when you actually consider what she's saying and how potentially close she would be to actually being president.
I mean; The leader of the freeworld? Seriously?
This made me laugh too.
Needless to say, I'm all for Obama.
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Quick quick quick quick quick
Decided to play around with layouts and that, make this a little more attractive to the eye. I'm gonna start adding some photos and videos and such to brighten things up as I learn myself html and find out what I can actually do with this thing, which i'm sure has endless possibilities. I found this today which I liked; It's a start but a funny enough one I think. Now, back to the chilli I've probably just burnt...
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