Adventures of a creative

Donny Stax & [adj] present...

2012-02-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,

For the last couple of months I have been working with my good friend Dan Stocks aka Donny Stax, hip hop producer and rap master. It started as just a track or two we were going to make to feature on Donny Stax's album, but it became clear quite quickly that we had a good chemistry and could make a lot more music together then just a couple of tunes. So now, two months later, we have 14 tracks in the bag (it's a big bag) and will be releasing an album in the next couple of months.

The first single 'Touched a Nerve' will be available from Itunes very soon, but until then it can be heard on soundcloud, or right here in this blog, just underneath these very words.

Would love to know what you think of it, quite a different direction from my previous offerings. This is my first proper venture into the world of Hip Hop. I have quite an eclectic musical history to my many stage names, but for this project I am going by [adj], the same as my singer/songwriter work of 2011.

We have a facebook page already right here where you can keep up with our musical and visual droppings. We will be shooting a video for 'Touched a Nerve' in a couple of weeks which will be available on all good youtube accounts once it is finished. I'll blog about it when we make it :)

So, just a quick peek at our alien thumbs up logo, which is also our facebook logo atm. This will make more sense once you hear our second single 'Live Up There', but that won't be for a month at least.

Making this album has been one of the most enjoyable music projects I have ever been involved in, mainly thanks to Donny Stax who is both very focused and very open to ideas. We had lots of fun trying out some crazy things, and I tripped balls just by staring at the back wall in his recording booth. I look forward to sharing the fruits of our work with the world, I think the world might enjoy it if it can get past the X factor nightmare that swamps the whole music world at the moment. Remember people, music has been around for ages, it wasn't invented by Simon Cowell to fill a void in weekend TV schedules.

So just to end this little blog, here is a big picture of our single cover.

Peace and infinite love to you all

Andy xx [adj]

It's all going on

2012-02-01T02:57:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,

Quick update for you, I am busy working on an album with my good friend Donny Stax, we are almost finished on the writing part and will hopefully be putting out a single at the end of this month. More to come on that soon.

I came across a great article about success stories that started out busking http://www.rentersinsurance.com/10-musicians-who-got-their-start-playing-in-the-streets - worth a read for any buskers out there, or if you were thinking of giving busking a go. It's hard work, but can be quite rewarding :)

I have a new demo track for you from my Autumn session.

There are a few more to come from that session, but they might get a bit side lined when my shit with Donny starts coming out (it's more polished then my solo efforts).

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

New Year, New Direction

2012-01-16T02:32:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,

Happy (Belated) New Year to all, 2012, the big one for the Mayan's, the end of the age, shifting of humanity and all that jive.

This adventuring creative has been on shut down for the last month or so, hiding away back in the UK waiting for my Beauty to recover from her operation. Now it's time to look forward to what the year ahead might hold.

I have been working on a new musical project with a good friend of mine Dan Stocks aka Donny Stax, it started out as a couple of tracks but has quickly evolved into an album project. I like working on albums, last year I did an album project for the seasons, I still have to do the winter one, but that's on hold for the time being while I finnish up work with Dan. I will get back to my 4 seasons project soon.

I had some computer problems which stopped the releasing of the Autumn album. Before that happened though I did manage to release track 3, Mr. Gnome

Mr. Gnome by [adj]-Andy D Jackson

More to come, I promise :)

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

Work of Passion

2011-12-11T15:32:00.001-08:00

So friends,

We move on to track 2 from 'In the Light of the Goddess', this song is about driving forces, the things that matter to us, our works of passion rather then in pursuit of money. The song is called Work of Passion. I made a weird arty video to go with it...

Work of Passion by [adj]-Andy D Jackson

That's just the song, and here is the arty video to go with it...

Thanks for watching :)Peace and infinite loveAndy

Riot - Track 1 on 'In the Light of the Goddess'

2011-11-30T07:50:00.001-08:00

So friends,

From back on the island I will be releasing my Autumn record, 'In the Light of the Goddess'. That's not on island records, I don't have a record contract. If you want to give me one, or know anyone that wants to give me money for my music, then please email me and tell me.

Anyway, the first track on the Autumn record is called 'Riot'. I wrote this song in reaction to the riots happening in England over the summer, but the general theme of it is conflict so it's not really London Riot's specific. If it had been more specific then I would have named it London Riots.

Riot - track 1 on 'In the Light of the Goddess' by [adj]-Andy D Jackson

This was the first tune from the record to get live airings, having been debuted at the Art show in a Squat Bank (of which video exists on the interweb) and then played as a Duet with Sylvia Ouwens at the old Pothouse in Utrecht. Originally Sylvia was going to record her vocal for the record version, but time and illness meant we didn't get a chance to do it. So I added a female vocal version of myself to it instead.

I made a video to go with it too, showing old riot footage from America. It seems that Riot's are exactly anything very new.

As we move into the winter months, I will release the rest of the record while I start work on the winter album. I already have a couple of idea's bashing around in my head that need to be turned into songs, so the pen and paper are at hand to catch any spilling thoughts.

Peace and infinite love to you all

Andy x

Sudden change of plan

2011-11-22T16:03:00.001-08:00

So friends,

Change is in the wind it would seem. The 11.11.11 came, mixed it all up, and now due to unforeseen illness we are back in the UK. This adventuring creative and his Beauty will be resting and recuperating in the lands of England. Although our journey has ended slightly prematurely, we will bounce back stronger. I will start releasing 'In the Light of the Goddess' at the end of the week, I just need to do a few tweaks to the demo's and then it's good to go.

I guess now that we are back in the UK, we will have little choice but to slip into standard working patterns for a while, until we have enough wonger to go adventuring again. I will finnish up my year albums project here and then work out what to do next. It's my work of passion, so I will continue, regardless of no funding, little to no interest from anyone and a general sense of pointlessness.

I have been making music that people haven't listened to for 15 years now, and I have had amazing experiences through it in that time, because in this life you have to just push on with what your soul resonates with, if you don't, then you will be unfulfilled. That might be total bull-baggings for all I know, but it feels right for me at the very least.

This blog is far from over, it will just be coming from the UK for a bit :)

Peace and infinite love to you

Andy x

In the Light of the Goddess (Coming Soon!)

2011-11-18T15:11:00.001-08:00

Hello friends,

Well, times might be a little on the crazy side, but I have finished recording my Autumn record, 'In the Light of the Goddess'. I put the last guitar and vocal lines down on the final track, and now it just needs some tweaking and checking before it can be released to the world for some listening.

Here is a little more info about it though, because I want to share it with you. The cover looks like this :

Autumn album cover.

The guitar is present as custom on my covers for this year project thing. This time round though, my Beauty is included, as the record is named after her. She looks very pixie in this picture which fits with the themes of the record nicely. The full track listing is as such :

1. Riot

2. Work of Passion

3. Mr. Gnome

4. Hidden with the Secret Stash

5. Oh My Goddess!

6. Old Private Familiar

7. Money Zombies

8. Ignore Them

9. Suitably Convinced

10. Registered Charity

11. Hug

12. Wont Win Any Awards

The last finished page in my precious book.

All the songs have been written in the last few months while I have been in Utrecht. A couple of them were birthed in Amsterdam in August but the rest all came to being in Utrecht. The whole record has been recorded in Henk's kitchen while Beauty has been lying ill above me in our room.

It's been a challenge, but I am pleased with the result. As there is more going on in each song then just guitar and vocals, I will construct some video's to go with them before I release them. They will get soundclouded and bandcamped sooner then that though.

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

Deep in recording lands...

2011-11-17T15:48:00.001-08:00

So friends,

This last couple of weeks has been rather hard, what with the big energy shift of the 11/11/11 thing and a whole bunch of personal weirdnesses. Beauty fell very ill with tonsillitis and we waited longer then we should have to go and get antibiotics. When the money runs dry, something needs to be done in order to remain healthy. It has been stressful, but most of all it has been so heartbreaking to watch my Beauty in such pain and suffering. I tried everything I could think of to help her, but it wasn't until conventional medicine was applied that she started to show any signs of improvement.

I fear that several people may be having themselves tested on physical and metaphysical levels all over the world. At this time as well, I have been recording my Autumn album 'In the Light of the Goddess'. The title refers to my Beauty (I call her Goddess sometimes) so my mind has been occupied with thoughts of her and her well being. The travellers lifestyle becomes crippling when illness sets in, that's why houses have nice big central heating systems in them.

Me in the kitchen recording studio space.

I have tried to do something more with my demo's for this record, I have added other bits and bobs in garage band to spice the songs up, no longer is it just me and a guitar. Just like the last two records, there are 12 tracks, I have averaged one a day in my recording process. I look forward to sharing them with you. I have one more to do, the last track, and it's a biggy.

Anyway, thanks for reading my blog,

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

In the Right Place (Summer Album) Remastered

2011-11-09T15:31:00.000-08:00

So friends,

The almighty 11:11:11 is almost here (or gone now, depending when you read this) and I have the remastered version of In the Right Place available from bandcamp for a small fee.

At the end of the month I will release my Autumn record 'In the Light of the Goddess', but until then you will have to make do with my Summer record again. It has been tweaked a little here and there, but there's not much you can do with just one voice and a guitar.

If you do have a few pennies to spare, I would be most grateful of a sale or two :)

In the Right Place by [adj] - Andy D Jackson

Here is the video version of it in it's entirety. Thanks for listening.

I am currently deep in the recording of the next one, I have upped the anti a bit and am adding extra bits on top of the vocals and guitars...you'll have to wait to hear it though. Then I should be ready to start writing my winter record.

So far this has been an exciting year of creating, and as I get to the final stretch it's refreshing to see what I've managed to do so far to get here. Being an adventuring creative is quite hard at times, emotions can run high and situations can get tense if not properly calmed. I look forward to the reflective nature of winter.

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

My precious notebook

2011-11-08T00:57:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,

In these crazy times where energy seems to be bouncing around, knocking peoples spiritual centres out of whack and possibly evolving our species in the process, I have had my head down in the creative lands. When things start getting bubbly, I like to pick up a pen and let the creative juices flow. I'm not the only one, the same thing happens to my Beauty, although, she reaches for the small glass tiles and PVA glue rather then a pen.

A Vocalizer page in my note book

I have a note book, it has a very nice cover painting. Back in 2009 I did some work under the name Vocalizer. I was singing lyrics over electronica music made by awesome electronica artists. When I was doing this, I used this note book to write up my lyrics. On the left hand page I did my workings, putting ideas down, finding a verse and a chorus. They are usually quite erratic. Once a set of lyrics can be pulled out of the workings, it would be written up on the right hand page. On a lot of them, I also did a drawing related to the song. Some of those songs are available to hear on the internet.

I stopped doing active Vocalizer work last year, and since I have been working on my solo singer/songwriter stuff. These new songs of mine have also gone in my note book, but in a slightly different way. I have been doing the working out stuff in other books or on my laptop (all of 'in the right place' was noted out on my laptop and then written up).

The first page of my upcoming Autumn record.

So why bother telling you any of this? Well, I have been feeling the changing effects of the spiritual rebirthing of humanity, and to deal with the pulsing nature of it, I have sunk my head deep into my precious note book and done lots of drawing. I have been writing songs all year, but done very little drawing - until now, when I have spent lots of time holding pens and finding images to go with my musical outputs.

My note book is precious to me, it doesn't mean anything to anyone else, but to me it means much. It didn't cost much money, a couple of pounds I think, but for years now it has been the collector of my creativity. I have no money whatsoever, but I am the richest man in the world. That's my point.

Have a great day you beautiful creature

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

In the Shed (Spring Album) - Remastered

2011-11-06T05:51:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,

So as November gets well under way, I am in position now to record my next 'In the...'.
I shall begin that shortly, but until then, I thought it would be nice to re-release my Spring and Summer records so that people could buy them for small amounts of cash if they so wanted to.

So if you so want to, please download and enjoy In the Shed, the Spring album of my four seasons 2011. Coming on 11/11/11 is the remastered version of 'In the Right Place', the Summer album, and then hopefully, if I have managed to record it all properly, on the 1/12/11 I will release 'In the Light of the Goddess', my Autumn album.

&lt;p&gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://poml.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-shed"&amp;gt;In the Shed by [adj] - Andy D Jackson&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

In the Shed has been remastered to sound crisper, clearer and a little bit less shed like. You can hear the difference if you compare it to the video version below.

As it is getting colder, playing in the streets is getting harder and more undesirable, not only are people less generous (I guess they are saving for Christmas or the inevitable crumbling of the financial system), but they are also less willing to stand and have a little listen to the red nosed, red guitared singing bearded man. So I am turning my attention online, where people seem to be hanging out most of the time these days.

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

So what comes next?

2011-11-03T03:14:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

At the end of October I had a couple of interesting things happen to me, I will include them in this blog rather then giving them a blog entry of their own.

Firstly, I should talk a little about the Occupy movement. Here in Utrecht there is a small Occupy movement outside the town hall (and the only legal squat left in Utrecht). Henk and I have been there presenting 'Henky and Andy TV' where we had a wooden frame around us so we bring some reality music to the square of Occupation. It was fun, but I don't think we changed the world with our improvised songs.

We went on a march, from the Occupy centre all the way to the Mint, where money is printed here. It was interesting, as we chanted Dutch and walked through town slowly. People who were out shopping gave us one of three reactions, hatred, support or general indifference. The third was the most common.

Straight after the march I rushed up to Amsterdam to play at an art show for my friends Robert and Mirdije. It wasn't in a squat this time, and there were a few artists with work on display. Robert had made a giant paper snail which sat on the wall in the hall as you walked in. He had also made many small paper snails which were displayed coming down a pillar, going across the floor on a zebra crossing, and then up another pillar. I wish I had a photo to show you, but alas, I have lost my phone so am no longer capable of taking pictures of my moments (on the plus side, no more phone radiation, Yei!). I played a set in the main hall section, and then slipped to the back stage area where I drank and smoked and played more guitar outside to the other smoking artists. Good times in Amsterdam.

More copies of my busking album

I had to print up more copies of my busking album for the show, but I failed to sell many.

I have had another focus since then, my upcoming Autumnal 'in the...' record. My Summer record received more reaction then my Spring one. I have remixed both of them and will release them for download (at a small fee) very soon. That will be shortly followed by the release of my new record 'In the Light of the Goddess'.

I am going to start recording them this month, and I expect they will start being released one by one towards the end of this month.

Also, I shall put some stuff up that relates to 'online busking'...coming soon.

So that's what comes next from me, I look forward to sharing it with you.

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

Concert on a Houseboat - the wonders of modern gigging

2011-10-26T05:32:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Thanks to the almighty Couch Surfing community, but mainly the legend that is Piotr Jaworski, I had the opportunity to play a very special and unique concert on Saturday 23rd October. First a little bit of back story... I met Pio at Averecht (the open mic night in Utrecht) while I was there with The Fongster100. Pio is a very active member of the couch surfing community and one of the friendliest and nicest people I have met. We hit it off straight away, chatting about music, travelling, life in general etc.

After my set that night, Pio asked me if I would be willing to perform at a house concert on his houseboat. I very quickly agreed, knowing that it would be something special and a chance for me to play a set longer then twenty minutes. As a street performer my sets come in two forms, the first being the 'on the streets' set, which can be really long (if the security guards leave me alone) and mainly consists of cover songs that people might know and therefor possibly open to giving a little change or at the very least a smile for. The other type of sets is the short sharp in a venue open mic style, these have a maximum of twenty minutes, so I try to cram in as many of my own compositions in these sets as I can.

Pio asked me 'can you put together an hour set?' to which I responded with a resounding 'of course'. Two weeks later and the house concert was a reality.

I set up the corner of the room like my busking spot, with my guitar case in front and my CD's nicely displayed. I had my books rested on the little cat stool thing.

Linda did a support set, singing solo, and I backed her on guitar for one song. After that, I played for an hour, we had a break, then I played for another hour and a half, maybe longer (I'm not sure). There were over twenty people there, all sitting listening and drinking. I managed to sell 8 CD's as well (a new record for me). The evening had such a nice atmosphere, couch surfers are such lovely people, and so multi cultural. I even played some of my brand new songs from my upcoming Autumn record.

After my extra long performance, the event quickly turned into a full on party, complete with loud blaring music and much laughter and merriment. I stayed around for a couple of hours and then caught the last bus back home. I was later informed that the party continued for many more hours and even involved some late night skinny dipping in the water (I am glad I wasn't present for that actually). A fun time was had by all, especially me and Chiana (my guitar).

I would love to do more house concerts should the opportunity arise :)

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

How to write/record/enjoy a new song in 4 hours (with Rick Franssens)

2011-10-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

When Beauty and I first came to Utrecht we had the fortune to meet the wonderful Rick Franssens. He was playing at the very first open mic night we went to at Averecht and we had both been amazed at how good he was on the stage.

We met again at another open mic the following week and spent some time chatting, finding out we had much in common and deciding that we should try doing some collaborative work on music. Rick very kindly invited me to his to see what creative sparks we could make fly.

Once he had come and picked me up from the station in his car, we got to his, had some lunch and chatted about our musical histories. Once the chinese soup and turkish bread had settled in our stomachs, we turned our attention to the task at hand, making up a new song.

Rick at the mixing Mac, guitar having a chill on the seat.

We set ourselves up in Ricks living room, even though he had another room that was already pretty set up to record. Since we were only going to be using Garage Band and a laptop, it seemed to make sense for us to sit in comfort while we created. Now, lyrics have never really proved to be a problem for me, I love writing lyrics and coming up with ideas for lyrics, the music is the part that I struggle more with. Rick, is the opposite it seems. So we played to our strengths for our first collaboration. Rick sat playing his guitar, working out some nice chords and progressions for our song. While he did that, I flicked through my book of lyrics and settled on a set called 'Unordinary Day'. I tried to sing them along to the things Rick was twiddling, but they weren't working out for me (which is probably why I hadn't tried to ever use them myself). I decided, probably better just to come up with some new ones. I flicked to a blank sheet in the book and started musing. There were a couple of trails from planes across the sky, and these caught my imagination to begin with, a couple of lines about that came out. Then I hooked into a different idea all of a sudden...'This fork in the brain, blunts like a knife'...yeah, that worked. From that start point I started to formulate further ideas. All the while, Rick was strumming and picking at the guitar, shaping his sequences.

Rick at the mic, recording some noises.

Rick got a phone call, from a new student of his (he teaches guitar for a living), so began explaining things in Dutch over the phone. I got up and went to sit on the balcony, taking the book with me just incase further inspiration struck. Luckily it did, and the opening lyric to the song was born in the cold air 'Infinity in a grain of sugar'. Once I had that line, the rest just flowed out. I love to rhyme most of the time, at least, in the way that a singer can (by sometimes bending words a bit).

It didn't take us long to piece the song together, Rick had verses, an intro, a transition to chorus bit, and a chorus. I picked through the mess of words I had put down and pulled out the structure. We played it through a couple of times, with me singing and Rick playing the guitar. Once we were happy with the structure we moved straight to recording. Rick recorded the guitar part first, then I did the main vocal line, then Rick added bass and backing vocals. Then I added another vocal line, before we moved on to hitting pots and pans, making shakers from kitchen objects and making silly noises with our mouths.

After 4 hours we had a finished track, and here it is 'Huh!'(Excuse Me) - by Rick Franssens and Andy Jackson.

HUH! (with Andy Jackson) by rickfranssens

It took us about 4 hours to finnish, from conception to final track, not bad for a first track together. I look forward to working with Rick again, on a more serious song next time I expect.

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

Art show in a squat bank

2011-10-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

So on Sunday 9th of October I went with The Fongster100 to Amsterdam to play in an artist's squat on Bos en Lommerweg. There were several open houses/places where art was being displayed, all around the area. We were in a former bank, with a big safe (not full of money though - I wonder if it was a symbol of all other banks!).

Awesome art by Mirdije and Robert

This was to be the first gig that I offered my busking CD 'in the making' to the public, I had only previously had it out on my guitar case while busking (without making a sale) so I was hopeful I might make a few euro. The space was amazing, full of art by both the curators Mirdije and Robert as well as a few other artists (whose names escape me, sorry guys!).

There was a rug set up as a performance space, as well as a cooking station where Robert cooked up some of the best pancakes ever made in the history of art shows in squat banks. There was a calm beautiful atmosphere about the place, and at several points throughout the day I had to go and look around at all the awesome artwork again, and again.

I set myself up just as I would in the street, with my guitar case on the floor, CD's lined in front of my shoddy '€5 only' sign, my hat with some loose change in it, my water bottle and my book of songs (I have far too many songs to remember them all, plus I do like to smoke pot quite a lot). I decided to play it like a busker, to begin with. So I played a few on my own songs and then many of the covers that I have been lining the streets with.

After I played a set for half an hour, The Fongster100 did a set, but he didn't take to the carpet, and people seemed to pass him by. Also, he wasn't amplified, and he only had an electric guitar with him. We rectified that for the set he did later, plugging him directly into the PA system. The sound carried nicely around the space, bouncing back enough to be a warm reverb, but not too much.

Robert setting up the Fongster100 (who is also called Robert)

The day continued with another busking set by myself, and then another by The Fongster100. I managed to sell a total of 6 CD's, not bad for their first airing. I also debuted a new song there, 'Riot', which will be included on my next 'in the...' record. It went down well, and a video of it can be seen on my facebook page.

We checked out the big safe at the back, and decided it would be an excellent place to record, so possibly, if it stays a squat for a little longer, we will get to record in the safe.

The event went so well that I am working out when I can go back there and record a whole busking set, for my new upcoming project 'Busking Online'. More details to come on that one very soon.

More Amazing Art

It rained all day while we were there, spitting rain, not big heavy rain, but still, it got you wet. Lots of people still came through the show though, which just goes to prove that the Dutch are hardcore art lovers, no weather will stop them taking in a bit of culture.

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

Flying Carpet Jam Sessions at ACU - something extra special

2011-10-12T03:46:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Every first, third and fifth (if there is one) Tuesday of the month, there is an excellent jam session at ACU in Utrecht. ACU is a fantastic venue, with a great cafe/restaurant at the front (which serves superb food at affordable prices). The Flying Carpet jam session is run by Monique Veenswijk, and you can check out the website for it here

I was fortunate enough to have the chance to help Monique set up the last jam session. Although I have little to no experience of being a sound engineer, I have spent lots of time either watching or assisting sound engineers with the rigging of studio's, venue's and clubs. It was a great opportunity for me to get a bit closer to the technical side (something that usually freaks out acoustic musicians like myself). Wires and knobs ahoy!

Soulecy rocking out!

After having a spot of (FREE) food, Mo and I headed into the venue, got all of the equipment down from the secret loft hatch, set up the magic carpets, rigged everything, plugged it all in, tested it, put the lights up (not literally, we just turned them from off to on), turned the smoke machine on a few times (because it's fun alright!), sound checked the opening act Soulecy (check them out on facebook! They are hardcore) and patted ourselves on the back for a job well done.

The jam sessions all start with an opening act, so everything is set up for them first. Once they are done, Mo and I had to quickly rig up a couple of instruments, change parts of the drum kit etc. Then it was on to the jamming. Oh sweet Jam, how you come in many shapes and sizes, with many ego's and (hopefully) much talent.

Henk giving us some 'Humble Pie/Occupy'

Most Jam sessions (in my experience) take a while to come together, but at ACU, you can always rely on the legend Henk to kick start things with some power improv singing. With Occupy Wallstreet being high up on the agenda, the songs that were made up across the night all seemed to lean in someway towards the state of the world of money today. Henk is a master at spinning great meaningful rhymes, and the people of ACU were treated to a once only performance of 'Humble Pie/Occupy', which was something special. Henk needs to be on stage, it is a shame that the only chance anyone gets to see him perform is at the jam sessions, but really, you need to see him, he is the jam master.

The night continued to go swimmingly, with some more exciting jamming. I was very focused on the overall sound, wanting to make a good impression as Mo's sound help. The hardest part to control was the guitars, because they were going through their own amplification and were not controllable from the central desk. I kept ninja'ing around the back of the stage and turning them down, to keep the mix right. Guitarists don't like it when you turn them down though, so it was a bit of a constant battle. I took to the stage as a performer a couple of times, and we knocked out some upbeat Blues. I don't have much to feel Blue about at the moment, so I sung the Happiness Blues.

Monique the flying carpet pilot

The swimming goings of the evening turned a little when the toilets flooded (I think someone was trying to flush some Humble Pie). Monique got stuck in fixing them (I won't go into more detail about that, you can imagine for yourself if you really want to) and the jam continued.

The evening wound to a close about 1am, and once everything had been put away back safely in the roof hole, we sat in the bar listening to nice music (mainly chilled Radiohead, Devotchka, Beruit, Elbow etc) talked politics in Dutch (I didn't have much to add as I don't speak Dutch), and patted ourselves on the back for a job well done.

Then to end the night, Henk and I carried a carpet to Monique's place, and then we found a couple of pretty flower heads that had fallen off, picked them up and used them as trumpets the whole way home. I bet we looked like crazy people making up songs with flowers, but the music was still in our souls, and we had to express it somehow.

Not long till the next one now...

Spontaneous music making in the living room

2011-10-12T02:42:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Staying at Henk's pad has meant that live inspired original music flows like wine in an alcoholics wet dream. It's a place where singer songwriters share their wares, not in competition with each other, but in support of each others talents.

The sun was shining bright and although I still had illness in my bones I needed to get out in that sunshine and soak up some vitamin D. Beauty and I had been tasked with doing some gardening, and this was the perfect opportunity to get hands dirty and weeds rooted out. So we took to the garden and started de-rooting.

From up on Henk's balcony, we started to hear voices, which was quickly changed to music, sweet music. Henk was playing guitar with Monique (another great singer/songwriter from Utrecht), and the kids were playing percussion. We went up to join them, and after a quick shower to get all the mud off, we were in and joining in the musical explosion. I would put up a video of our work, but I haven't got approvals to do that so I wont.

Shortly after that came to end, Roy Schneider and Kim Mayfield arrived. They are amazing musicians from Florida, only visiting Utrecht for a day and night before going to play a gig in Den Haag. They had to go and see Utrecht (it would be a crime not to), but they were around for the evening. We decided to have an impromptu singer songwriter circle round at Sylvia's house.

So, Roy, Kim, Henk and myself (later joined by Herijo and Sylvia) sat in a weirdly shaped circle and started to play songs to each other, one by one, going around the circle, with improvised backing for each song by the other members of the circle. I recorded most of the evening on my laptop, and once I've cut it up I might release some of it as a podcast. It's been a long time since I've done a proper podcast (since Products of Monkey Love fizzled out last year), so, if I can get it all together properly then there will be a Singer Songwriter circle from Utrecht podcast coming soon...watch this space (not literally though, this space is just a blog on the internet and it will unlikely change unless the thought police force me to change it, but if that happens they would demand I remove the bit about the thought police, so only this pointless aside would be removed).

With the recent loss of Steve Jobs, my macbook has been feeling sad, so it has been harder to get my musical works done. My ambition often exceeds my grasp, but, I guess that's what keeps me driving forward, even if hardly anyone listens to my music, or reads my blog, or gives two flying shits if I was to live or die. Just so you know, I love you, and a big thanks to you for actually reading this, you have a skill that few seem to possess and you should cherish it. Most people have the ability to hear, but very few ever actually listen.

Me at Trippers Corner back in April

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

Andy Jackson - 'in the Making' (a busking album)

2011-10-06T02:00:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

My busking adventures around Holland have taught me a lot, the main thing being that street performers don't often receive the respect they deserve (but, in this world that's nothing surprising right?!). The best (and worst) street performers tend to have some merchandise available next to their hat for any 'customers' interested in taking something away with them from their street based musical experience. Most often of course the merchandise available is a CD (I have seen cassettes as well believe it or not). So, I have decided I really should join this CD selling trend, since I have been involved in the making of several CD's of original material in my time.

But what should go on a busking CD? This is a tough question. Beauty and I discussed it at length, and decided that probably the best way for me to go with this was to record some of my busking covers, and then add some of my own original songs as well. That way I can pimp my own material on people a bit, but still give them the songs they recognise, know and love.

20 copies of my busking record, all with unique covers

So here it is 'Andy Jackson in the Making', my busking record. Available where ever you find me with my guitar, usually in Utrecht or Amsterdam. For only €5 you can own a unique copy of this very rare, hand crafted record. It contains half busking covers and half originals, the track listing is as such

1. You Can Call Me Al - the Paul Simon classic song, done in my acoustic street performing way. This song often earns me a good wack, so I tend to play it earlier in my busking sets.

2. All You Need is Love - the Beatles original, this one has been in my busking set since I first went round Europe with my friend Ali. It was a good earner back then, and it still is to this day.

3. High & Dry - by Radiohead, my acoustic version of this song makes me a pretty penny on the streets, I think it's because of the high singing bit :)

4. Not a Job - by Elbow, this song isn't that well known, but I do love to sing it, and spread the word of how awesome Elbow are where ever and when ever I can.

5. The Ballad of John and Yoko - the Beatles again, this one is fun to sing as well, but is more well known then Elbow. I make nice money for this song too.

6. Songs of Love - by The Divine Comedy. This song probably isn't that well known either, but it does contain the theme tune to Father Ted as the middle eight, which I always sing in a 'doo, doo', doo' way. It makes me think of Ted :)

7. No Worries - now on to my original songs, this one was from 'in the right place' and is about not worrying about everything if you can help it.

8. Out the Back Smoking - this was from 'in the shed'. I often busk this song as it has a nice walking pace to it's strumming. Makes me nice money too, even though it's about smoking.

9. Another Email - this is my Bob Dylan busking protest ranty song, although I don't busk it that often because it is not that upbeat. I make more money for my upbeat stuff.

10. Prime - I never busk this song, it's from 'in the right place'. I do this at open mic nights and gigs though, it goes down a treat in those environments.

11. Cat Found a Home - The Cat's demanded I put this one on.

12. Count Your Blessings - This is one of the songs I busk from time to time, it makes a euro or two. The chorus is big and bold, and there's lots of strumming involved so it holds it's own on the streets.

13. Salt - Not a song I busk, but one that goes down well at gigs/open mics etc.

14. Sleep - This song I would never even attempt to busk because it is all pretty and high, not bold and in your face. I put this as the last track because the mix I did of it is all spacey and echoes.

So that's it, the full track list of 'Andy Jackson in the Making'. Come and find me, pick up a copy :)

Rose Tinted views of the Past - (lost lyrics)

2011-09-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

I have decided to publish some of my lost lyrics in my blog, since they are just sitting on my screen taking up stickies, maybe someone would like to read one :)

This set was written while I was working my office job back at the beginning of the year, I doubt I will ever 'music' them up as I have covered the idea better in other lyrics since this.

Rose Tinted views of the Past – by Andy Jackson

Staring at the paper moon,

Collecting up the stars in a jar,

Dancing on an ancient wheel,

Fixing the bumpers of a futuristic car,

Rose tinted views of the past,

Human decency doesn’t last,

Mistakes take the same shapes through the ages,

To history pages the die is cast,

Listening to the audio books,

Softly spoken words of wisdom,

Printed on crumbling wood pulp,

A cheaper way to quash some freedom,

Rose tinted views of the past,

Human competency doesn’t last,

Mistakes take the same shapes through the ages,

In history pages it all goes so fast,

Heroes and Villains occupy the same coins,

How can you be special based on your origin loins,

The Kings got this sh*t sown up rather tight,

So many souls willing to die and fight,

To feed the needs of some overweight birth right…what pointless tripe

Rose tinted views of the past,

Human complacency doesn’t last,

Mistakes take the same shapes through the ages,

In history pages the lies reach is vast,

I love this tree :)

...

Back to Busk (tales of a street performer)

2011-09-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

So busking (street performing) is a strange way to try and make money. There are lots and lots of musicians in the world, some are good, and some are very bad and can give us all a bad name. I think I fall somewhere in the middle, I am not a technical wizz capable of playing three hundred notes a second on the guitar, but I do know a bit, enough that I don't look like a total lemon when I play. My special skill is my voice, I have a pretty nice voice when I sing (I got compared to Rufus Wainwright while busking last week!). So I try to make the most of it.

In Amsterdam I had been having trouble making money in the streets, mainly because there are only certain good spots for street performing and they require some kind of amplification and a permit to play at (I had neither). I did okay in a couple of the free spots, but I would spend so long walking around trying to find a good place to play that I was usually tired before I even started playing. For a day of hard playing (interspersed with huge walks between spots) I could make about €15. You may think this isn't that bad, but for a hard days work, it really should be more. This was disheartening for me, so I tended to find excuses not to go and try. It rained a lot this summer so it wasn't hard to be persuaded to not go and play in the wet streets.

The Fongster100 playing in the streets of Utrecht

When I moved to Utrecht I got a new wind in my sails regarding performing in the streets. This mainly came about thanks to Rob Wilfong, aka The Fongster100. I don't think he was quite aware of the impact he had on me, the encouragement to hit the streets again and play for my supper. We went out busking together (playing separately) and we got good responses, in some spots at least. We tried out several spots on different days at different times to find which worked best. There were times when it was excruciatingly slow, playing for twenty minutes without even the sniff of a euro or cent, but there were other times when the cash flow was pretty nice.

Rob has an amazing little street performance amp, small enough that it can be dragged around in a little trolly bag, but powerful enough that you can make quite a noise in the streets. He also has a little mic that plugs in (see picture), and with this set up it is quite easy to make a big impression.

This was the first time I had ever used amplification in the streets, and it made a big difference to the kinds of songs I could perform. My catalogue is made up of both slow plucky songs and loud strummy songs (very technical language there!). When busking the only songs I could get away with playing before were the strummy ones, but with amplification I had to switch to my plucky ones and pull my voice back rather then belting the vocals out. This was fun for a while, but I quickly found I preferred to belt my tunes out without amplification, the main reason for this was my voice. Having to restrain my vocals to not blow the microphone was quite a challenge, and not being able to strum the guitar with a plectrum made me feel a little restrained. The amp and mic set up was perfect for Rob, for he is a blues man (an awesome one at that!) and he worked the amplification well, using it to round his songs out and make them richer sounding. It didn't seem to do that for my songs.

So, after a couple of weeks of playing in the streets with Rob, I really started to enjoy it again. Just like performance of any kind, the nerves kick in prior to beginning. When I was trying to get into it on my own, I had no one with me to encourage me, so I would have trouble starting, picking good spots etc. Going with another performer helped me to get the confidence and spirit to be able to entertain people in the streets (and take the unimpressed sighs from some of the passers by).

I now have found a favourite spot (I hope to find more) in Utrecht, it's very near the station, and just across the market square by a little bank of cash machines. I have done well there, earning about €25 for an hour (although my permit only permits 15 minutes, I tend to push this to half hour before I move).

The biggest competition here in Utrecht are Accordion players, there are loads and loads of them. When I am walking around looking for a spot, most of the good ones are always taken by an accordion player. Saturdays is the best day to make good money, but this last Saturday I was doing well until I had competition just round the corner from where I was. There was a whole flipping classical band, with 3 accordion players! 3 of them! How was I meant to compete with that. I didn't try, I gave up and let them play (knowing that as there was 5 of them they would have to split the earning so I probably made more then them individually). They were selling a CD, which is common practice for street performers. So I am now in the process of putting together my buskers CD.

Here is me performing 'Not a Job' by Elbow (one of my busking songs).

I'll write again when my CD is finished :)

The Bikeshop, Henk of the Hill and The Fongster100

2011-09-23T01:13:00.000-07:00

So friends,

After the great open mic at Averecht, we were scheduled to go onto our next couch surfing host, Henk Van De Veen. Now, this guy has a great profile page on couchsurfing, perfect for any musician looking to make a friendly connection. He is big into 'gigswapping' and is a fantastic musician, and we have been staying with him since we decided to plop ourselves down for a while in Utrecht. He owns and runs a bike shop (see video below), and it's a great place to catch very rare acoustic gigs. I have done a couple of mini shows there now, it's great fun, the bikes hanging up make it feel like a robot surgery, with little internal bike organs found by your feet. The perfect place to be musically inspired.

On our first visit there we were met with smiles and I was told to entertain the customers with some guitar playing. So I did, and here is a bit of it...

Henk gave us keys to let ourselves in at his place, and we left the bike shop. A few hours later he came home and told us that an American was also due to arrive soon. Henk then left us to go look after his two boys and we had some food.

There was a knock on the door, and standing there (bagless!) was Robert Wilfong, aka The Fongster100, Blues master. His bags had been misplaced by the airline and were currently in the land of "unknown whereabouts". We set him up with a temporary bed until Henk could sort out one for him (we had only just arrived ourselves so were a little disorientated).

The following day, Rob played to Beauty and me in the kitchen, it was amazing, and the song 'Ever Since the World Ended' will forever be engraved in my mind.

Thankfully, Rob's luggage arrived a day later, delivered by the airline. He had several guitars in there, as well as street performance gear (amps etc.)

We would go busking together often, but that's the stuff of a blog of it's own...

With so much music around us in such a short time, it seemed like we really had to stay around here, just to give our ears what they wanted.

Seriously (Track 12)

2011-09-22T06:57:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

So we reach the final track on 'in the right place'. I am well into writing the next 'in the...' right now, with 5 new songs written and a couple in semi-existance. This little song used a poem I had written back when I was working in an office. My boss always looked so serious, and that made me feel sad, because life is best taken less seriously in my opinion.

So here it is, the last track on 'in the right place', all recorded back in July in Den Haag.

Seriously by ProductsofMonkeyLove

and the youtube video version as well :)

The musical kiss of Utrecht (swaying us to staying)

2011-09-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

So, Amsterdam was behind us, we were now in Utrecht. It was still raining, lots and lots. The clouds were having pissing contests and we were the receivers of their golden showers. For our first full day in the lovely city, we were treated to a few hours of nice weather, so we took the opportunity to go exploring. Beauty and I found so many interesting things as we walked around, beautiful mosaics, quaint cobbled streets, low level canal spots (you can get right down by the water in Utrecht, unlike the Dam) etc.

Spot the UFO having a little chill on top of the building

Jasper and Liza (our couch surfing hosts) had shown us a list of 100 things to see/do in Utrecht. It can be found on the couch surfing website. We managed to complete a handful of them, the main one that made us chuckle was the UFO on top of a building. Both Beauty and I do love to discuss aliens and strange things in the sky, so it was a hoot to find the UFO, but, as I pointed out, it wasn't flying, so was a UO, but since it was clearly put there on purpose it was identifiable, so no 'U'. It was just an 'O', an object.

Happy that we had located the 'O', we headed back to avoid the falling sky. Jasper is a bassist in a ska band (a really good one at that!) so I took the opportunity to have a jam with him. His fingers were still sore from a marathon session of gigging, so we took it slowly. It sounded great, it was so nice to jam with a bassist.

The following day the skies did nothing but rain down, the weather menu consisted of a drizzle starter, followed by a rain salad and finally a downpour sundae to finnish. We would not be deterred from going out to the open mic night at Averecht that we had heard so much about, whatever the weather. So as evening approached, we got ready and headed out to Averecht. At half seven we left Jasper and Liza's house and wandered through the rain. I had a plastic bag over the top of my guitar, and our umbrella was doing it's best to shield us from the persistent showers. We hid under building entrances and meandered our way down the roads. We made good time, getting to Averecht by about 8pm. We stood at the entrance and were a little perplexed by how very closed it was. On the door were the opening times, and it seemed that the place wouldn't be open till half past nine. Jasper had told us to get there early as the line up filled up pretty quickly, it seemed we were a little bit too early.

Beauty in front of a beautiful wall painting in Utrecht

We wandered around Utrecht, not venturing very far from Averecht, but getting the chance to see some of the canal in the rain, the streets in the rain, the Dom church in the rain and my personal favourite, an old windmill in the rain. We could have probably appreciated these things without the rain, but there seemed to be no telling the clouds that, no matter how hard we shouted at them.

We stood in a doorway near Averecht and had a romantic moment staring out at the rain. We watched the minutes tick away until it was finally worthwhile heading back to Averecht (we had already past it a handful of times as we had wandered, each time hoping it would have opened early). As we arrived we walked in to see a handful of people, the place had literally only just opened so the sign up sheet for musicians was still empty. We spoke with the guy running the night, Dennis, and he showed me where to sign up and told us that there would be lots of musicians likely to come and play. He wasn't lying, within ten minutes the sing up sheet was full. Standing at the bar, waiting to do his first appearance at this open mic night, was an amazing musician called Rick.

Dennis playing 'Pink Moon' in Averecht, blissful

He had a smiling energy about him that made us feel warm (this would later be confirmed, he is such a nice guy). Beauty had a feeling about Dennis, that he was in some way connected to Nick Drake (one of our personal musical hero's). As Dennis kicked off the night to the very full Averecht, he opened with 'Pink Moon' by Nick Drake. Beauty swooned and smiled, "this is our place" she said. I had to agree. Dennis spoke in English for our benefit, it was such a warming atmosphere. A blues guitarist went up after Dennis, he entertained the crowd for a handful of songs, and then it was my turn. I was given a warm reception and Dennis explained to the audience that I was going to be playing my own songs that had been written around the Netherlands. I proceeded to play and I got a kick out of all the people attentively listening (something that rarely happens when busking). When I finished I was given a warm round of applause and returned to my seat. So many people came up to me to chat, it was amazing. We made so many new friends that night. Another act was Renee, she was amazing, such a beautiful voice and touching clever lyrics in her songs. She was followed by Rick, and then a couple, David and Lisa, calling themselves 'the flying transformers' played. It was their first time as well, and they were great too, quirky fun songs, keeping the mood upbeat. They were followed by Herjo (with Dennis helping out), an amazing guitarist and singer in Utrecht. They played some beautiful Simon and Garfunkle, Beatles and a great rendition of 'I could have lied' by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

It was a magical evening, despite the rain. We left Averecht feeling certain that we would be back there again, many times. We were going to find a way to stay in Utrecht...

Salt (Track 11)

2011-09-20T03:52:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Track 11 on 'in the right place' is a little ditty song I wrote about a mix up in a restaurant. I liked the idea of a song about salt since it's a vital ingredient in many foods and maybe doesn't get the good press it deserves. I also do love to write silly little songs every now and then, can't be serious and deep all the time.

Salt by ProductsofMonkeyLove

Count Your Blessings (track 10)

2011-09-17T01:28:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Track 10 on 'in the right place' is probably my favourite one, and a great fun song to play and sing.

It is all about loving yourself in order to be able to love someone else, a very common theme in my musical explorations, but I feel I captured the idea pretty well in this one.

Count Your Blessings by ProductsofMonkeyLove

Couchsurfing to Utrecht (the next leg of the adventure)

2011-09-16T03:25:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

A lot has happened to me since the last update to this blog, I have relocated to a different part of the Netherlands, met a load of great new people, played music in loads of new places, and learnt lots (as always, it's good to keep learning).

At the end of August, Beauty and I were looking for somewhere to stay in Amsterdam, there were not many options available, since it was new student time and there are not many living options in Amsterdam anyway (it's a rather popular place for people who like living in houses rather then just living outside with nature). August had been an interesting month, yet again we had been hit with several days of continuous rain, or "European Summer" as it should probably be called.
It was time to move on and get on with some more creative adventuring.

We were introduced to the idea of couchsurfing by a friend while we were looking for somewhere to stay. Now, if you know nothing about couchsurfing then let me enlighten you a little. Couch surfing is an online community of travelling souls that like to meet up, have a coffee and a chat, and possibly offer up a couch for you to sleep on while you are visiting somewhere. It feels to me like a version of facebook for travellers. Search for 'couchSurfing' in google (or any other search engine) and take a look for yourself if you are interested, I can't be bothered to post a link to it.

Our little secret beauty spot in Amsterdam

Anyway, Beauty and I searched for a nice couch to crash on and some lovely people to meet in Amsterdam. It proved quite difficult as we quickly discovered that people that offer up a couch in Amsterdam receive close to two hundred trillion requests a day (give or take a couple of trillion) and have trouble even replying to tell you to find somewhere else to stay (I don't blame them, I wouldn't respond if I was them).

We met with an amazing American woman called Melissa, she is a travelling writer living in Amsterdam, and she has an amazing way of explaining things. We sat and smoked a few with her and laughed lots.

We decided to look outside Amsterdam and find somewhere else to go explore, and we settled on Utrecht. It wasn't a hard decision thanks to the great profiles the people who couch host in Utrecht have.

So on a cloudy Sunday (after a Spanish birthday party), Beauty and I attempted our first hitch hiking. We walked from Dam square to the south of the city where the big road joins it to head down to Utrecht. We didn't have all our stuff with us (of which we have far too much to be travelling, so every time we have moved location we have had to do it in two trips), but we still had my guitar and a backpack each, as well as a shopping bag full of mini supplies (cheap chocolate, crackers etc.). The rain once again decided to come pay us a visit as we were walking, so we took refuge under a bridge and ate plain crackers and watched the wet people cycling along. Once the rain cleared, we headed out towards the big main road, finding it difficult once we got off the foot path, we decided to turn back and head to the edge of town to try and collect a ride from there, rather then down on the big motorway thing (as you might be able to tell, I know next to nothing about cars and roads).

Trippy lights of Utrecht

Standing at the end of rijnstraat, we had our little 'Utrecht' sign and our smiling faces, but it was already getting quite late and darkness was starting to descend on us. The cars sat at the traffic lights were we standing by as the drivers either stared us out, or avoided making any eye contact whatsoever. After half an hour our smiles were fading and our patience and trust in our abilities to get a free ride to Utrecht were waining fast. We called up Jasper, our couchsurfing host in Utrecht, and explained that we might not be able to make it there so we will crash out for the night in Amsterdam and find a way to Utrecht in the morning. Jasper said it would be fine for us to arrive late, so we took off our defeated faces, plastered smiles back on and headed to the train station to pay for our way to Utrecht.

Ahh the trains in Amsterdam, how fun they are. We were down on the south part, so headed to the nearest station (station RAI) with the hope of getting a single train down to Utrecht. We were a little stoned at this point and our only money was a single crispy €50 note. The ticket machines at station RAI were not giving out change, so there was no way our lovely single note was going in one of them. We headed up to the platform to check out which train would get us to Utrecht. There wasn't one going from RAI to Utrecht, so we asked a Dutch couple which would be the right train to get. The informed us that they too were trying to get to Utrecht and we should get on this train with them. So we did, we got on the train and straight away were approached by the conductor (the Dutch couple had tipped him off that we were looking for Utrecht based transportation). The conductor was a scary looking bald man, someone who would look better suited to the army then train conducting (I assume he was kicked out of the army for being too mean looking). Cowering under his scarytude, I asked him which train we need to get to Utrecht. He explained that we needed to change at blad-de-blah, and then get on another train to slap-de-bak, and then get another one to Utrecht. He then turned and walked off, before I asked anything about tickets (which we didn't have!). The train reached the next station (station something or other), and fearing that we would receive the wrath of army conductor man if were to stay and be caught without tickets, we jumped off the train. He shouted at us from the train "you don't want to get off here, this is the wrong station". We stood staring at the train times, ignoring his gruff tone. The train pulled away and we breathed a sigh of relief.

Crossing the platform to the other side, we decided the best thing to do would be go back past station RAI to station Zuid and try and catch one from there. Standing on the platform (still ticket-less at this point) was a female conductor woman who looked a bit scary, AND a police woman who was assisting the conductor in busting naughty ticket dodging people like ourselves. We boarded the train when it arrived, as did the conductor and police woman. We stood ready to make our case as to why we didn't have tickets, but luckily for us, they walked the other way up the train, not coming anywhere near us. Tensions ran high for the short journey, and once we reached station Zuid we hopped off and quickly ran down to buy tickets (thanks to a small pack of curly fries from BK to split our note and give us change). We went back to the platform and relaxed, safe in the knowledge we were now un-bustable in the ticket department. The next train to Utrecht came shortly after and we were on our way.

Arriving in Utrecht rather later then originally planned, we had a quick smoke and then walked to Jasper and Liza's house, meeting them on the way and starting our couch surfing adventures properly. Jasper and Liza were amazing hosts, so friendly and open, funny and kind. We stayed with them for 3 days, in which time we quickly fell in love with Utrecht (a calmer version of Amsterdam).

The turning point was the spooky goings on at Averecht...but that's a story for another blog...

Quiz Master (Track 9)

2011-09-11T03:24:00.000-07:00

Hello :)

These new tracks are available on soundcloud and youtube if you visit my pages there you can hear the whole record (if you are so inclined).

Track 9 on 'in the right place' was the last track written for it, and probably the weakest (in my opinion). I will try and do more with it when I come to record a proper big version of it, maybe a studio audience or the hustle bustle of a live TV studio floor would inject some tension.

So here it is, track 9 'Quiz Master', the story of a naughty quiz show host.

Quiz Master by ProductsofMonkeyLove

and the video version with my fluffy face playing it :)

Crunch time - oh how enlightening it can be!

2011-08-31T05:52:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Life keeps moving on, as it should, and inevitably will always continue to do. I have been struck by realisation, understanding and most importantly, a bold new sense of adventure (which is perfect for this blogs name!).

Andy and Beauty (or Beauty and the Beard)

My parents came to visit Beauty and me here in the lovely city of Amsterdam, for a couple of days. We have been back here since the beginning of the month and have been feeling a little anxious about what our next move should be. Some limping had been done in the metaphorical sense, and we have been feeling a little drawn out by it all. I have been informed that this is very usual for the fourth month of being away from home. Maybe travellers have a name for it, but I don't know what it is. (if you know it then please put the name in the comments for this blog - thanks, I owe you a beer ;)

With feelings of adventuring fatigue, Beauty and I needed to be seen by my parents so we could see how far we had come ourselves. Perspectives, sometimes helpful, sometimes a hinderance, always present if people are around. For us, it was refreshing and helpful to be seen by people we hadn't seen for such a long time. When you see someone after a period of time, you always notice the changes in that person very clearly. For instance, my mum has been slowly turning her hair blond by a process of streaking, and now she has completely blond hair. This stood out to me straight away, and I had to comment, but if I had seen the gradual change, I wouldn't have been so aware of it. Like a child that you don't see for a few years, change happens fast.

Emerson, wise old cat, loves a belly rub and sitting
on my laptop case. What an amazing kitty :)

Anyway, as far as the relevance to me and adventuring is concerned, I was given an outside perspective on all the ways I had grown closer to Beauty, how we functioned as a "unit" (my Dad's word for us), how my creativity had grown and changed, but most importantly how happy we were. It's true, we are really happy. In a time when many people seem to be miserable, Beauty and I are smiling all the time. Life is great, in fact, it's flipping super mega awesome layers of fudge and creamy fantasticalness on a stick great.

Worries about places to stay and what to do get washed away like the contents on a european poo shelf (oh how I love the toilets with poo shelves). Focus shifts so quickly, and with such electrical energy. After being seen, Beauty and I felt liberated from ourselves. I can't think of a better way to describe it then that, it was a sense of liberation from self appraisal, freedom from self judgement, infinite happiness for the very existence of happiness itself.

When spiritual things happen to me I have trouble writing about them. I think this is mainly because it often looks wrong written down, the words fail to capture the experience with any accuracy and instead create either vastly over exaggerated ramblings or underwhelming word puddles.

I got a sense of what I am meant to do, what it is that drives me and will help me realise my dreams. Beauty got it too, and together we swum in the excitement. Now we go travelling for a bit :)

Peace and infinite love
Andy

Andy and Chiana (the red guitar)

Sexual Definition in the Age of the Swap (Track 8)

2011-08-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hello dear friends,

So here is the next track from 'in the right place'. This one being all about sex changes, and how they can confuse the definition of "sex" a little, all for the better I think :)

Sexual Definition in the Age of the Swap by ProductsofMonkeyLove

Here is the youtube video version with my ugly mug in it :)

The Low Planes and Midget Golf (but no midget in sight!)

2011-08-19T08:11:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

My adventuring continues, I am now writing some more songs (like you do...well, like I do I mean) and soaking up the Amsterdam atmosphere. Also getting back on the blog train and writing out what's a been'a happenin'a (...sorry about that, the spirit of Mario took control of my 'A' key'a).

The main thing we have found recently is Amsterdam's secret mega awesome park that no one seems to know about. In fact, I probably shouldn't be writing about it for fear of everyone and their dog finding out about it's amazingness and all swarming to the beautiful revolving yellow gates.

There is a big sign on one of the entrances that says 'PARK' in huge letters, so I guess it isn't really a secret, just a place that not many people go to, even though it is amazing.

Amstelpark
(Amsterdam's secret garden)

It has become our spot to go for spiritual discussions, energised meditation and future planning. As an adventuring creative, I tend to live life very day to day, my plans are bigger then that of course, but with so much new stuff happening everyday, I can't really plan much further ahead then that. Using my energies in this way has been very liberating, no longer being tied to a routine of repetitive uninspiring menial tasks.

Other things take over the mind, different priorities, different worries and fears. It seems wherever I go, these things find a way to pull on my ankles. The ground keeps me grounded just as my dreams remain dreamy. In Amstelpark there is a spot down by the Amstel river which has an old windmill as part of the view. It is an amazing spot, picturesque, brimming with romance and joy. We sit there and let our imaginations fly with the birds. This moment of bliss is punctured every ten minutes by a low plane, crossing the picturesque scene like a fly doing backstroke in a bowl of nettle and mint soup. The noise splits the sky as the plastic willy with wings lumbers right through the middle of the calm. After a minute it has gone (it's probably not even that long, it just feels like it) and calm returns once more. After another minute the memory of the intrusion has past...and then another eight minutes later the next one comes and bliss is shattered again. I bet kids would love it, but I don't have kids (that I know of) to share it with.

The Dutch have special golf for Midgets, which
is really nice of them :)

I wonder if Midgets would be as excited by the planes as children? I expect not, as excitement level tests have clearly shown that excitement is not linked to height in any way, shape or form. Regardless of that, there is one place in Amstelpark that both children and midgets alike can be expected to achieve relatively similar levels of enjoyphine release. The Midget Golf. Oh yes, a place where midgets are given priority over larger people in the fine game of small white dimply ball hitting into a small hole through a tiny obstacle. I hope that midgets get a special discount, I will try and find out. It is now my dream to see a midget playing midget golf, I would stay the whole course to enjoy the alignment of rightness that it would bring to the universe.

One day, oh yes, one day...

But not today, at least, not when I was there. I'll keep checking :)

Try not to read this last bit if you can avoid it, it contains the word phlegm, and that word can alarm some people.

Cat Found a Home (Track 7)

2011-08-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

So the release continues, they are only appearing here in the blog when the song is out on soundcloud and on youtube.

This song is all about a Cat I met in Amsterdam. At a place we were staying for a month, there was a beautiful kitty called Aiysha, and he helped me write this song for him.

Cat Found a Home by ProductsofMonkeyLove

The video

Thanks for listening, please comment

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

The Buskers Song (la,la,la) (track 6)

2011-08-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

So on to track 6, this one is The Buskers Song (la,la,la). I wanted a track that was just fun and upbeat and bouncy for the middle of the record, plus this was fun for busking, just going "la,la,la" on the street for ages.

Here is the soundcloud
The Buskers Song (la,la,la) by ProductsofMonkeyLove

and here is the video

Prime (track 5)

2011-08-09T06:32:00.000-07:00

So, here is the next track,

Prime is all about instincts, survival, nurture, primal. Also it's about help, for oneself and for others.

Soundcloud
Prime by ProductsofMonkeyLove

and the video version

(break in scheduled programming)

2011-08-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,

A quick break from the release of my new songs to give you an update on this travelling creatives adventures. Beauty and I are now back in Amsterdam, we hot tailed it out of Den Haag after some rather funny business with our landlord. Now we are lodging in the American sector of Amsterdam, just by Martin Luther King Park and President Kennedy Straat (or Assassination junction as I have named it), we are here for the month, then, we don't know...we shall see :)

So I have started writing again, some new new songs on the horizon. I played a gig on a rooftop with an amazing violinist, it was an art show, there was cool bits of art scattered around, and other musicians playing and such. A great day was had, especially in the carpark bit underneath where the reverb was immense! It got me to thinking I could do with a band...so the feelers are out for a new Amsterdam based band :)

Onwards and Upwards...

Me and Chiana (my guitar) in Amsterdam

Another Email (track 4)

2011-08-04T01:40:00.000-07:00

Hello beautiful person,

Here continues the release of my new record 'in the right place'. This is the fourth track, and probably the most political one of the lot. I don't write much political music anymore (something I did too much of before I think). This song has the ranting busker feel I think. What do you recon?

Another Email by ProductsofMonkeyLove

here is the video version :)

Thanks for listening, peace and infinite love to you

Circles in the Crops

2011-08-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,

So track 3 on 'in the right place' is called Circles in the Crops. It's about Mother Earth putting circles in crops...
Here is the soundcloud version
Circles in the Crops by ProductsofMonkeyLove

And the youtube video :)

No Worries

2011-07-27T04:34:00.000-07:00

Here is track 2 off of 'in the right place'. Track 1 was posted earlier :)

No Worries by ProductsofMonkeyLove

Hear it on soundcloud, or watch it on youtube

In the Right Place (Coming Soon!)

2011-07-26T02:01:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

This adventuring creative has been busy beavering away on his new creation for the last month now. That is why there hasn't been many blogs for the last month, that's why there hasn't been much video activity on the improv side, that's why there hasn't been any much of anything else really. I am sure beauty is getting bored of my new songs already!

The Shed, where the first record was recorded.

Before I left England and came to the Netherlands I wrote and recorded a bunch of songs. Now I no longer work for EDF energy I feel I can be a bit more honest about what I did now. I sat at work, being paid rather nicely, and sent emails home to myself with lyrics in them. I would spend a large part of my day constructing these poem/lyric sets and lovingly emailing them home to Beauty to read. I could have my emails open on my screen you see, it was my new way to get back at the internet nazi's. A few months earlier my team at work had been told we were all using the internet to much during work. There was a good reason for this, none of us actually had any work and we all spent all day pretending that we worked. This is true in most offices in my experience, there are just different levels of pretending.

I have decided to go with the title 'in the right place' for my new record. There are 12 songs in total, all the ones I have crafted over June and July. This has been the most exciting writing session of my whole musical career and the reason for this is simple, I had the time to do it. Without draining my soul out in a sweaty office cabin, staring at the clock trying to use mind powers to make time speed up while desperately finding any excuse to get up and walk around just to save my arse cheeks from becoming fussed to my cheap black trousers. Since my adventure began the main thing I have had is the time and space to allow ideas to grow and form properly, rather then trying to sneak a little creativity in-between hours of tedium.

I haven't written much about what I have been up to in the last month, I have been going through a spiritual change with Beauty (I will write about it when I feel comfortable to put it into words) , and the songs I have written in that time reflect my thoughts and feelings regarding a handful of subjects, but not much of it is focused on the change I have been going through. The next set of songs will be I'm sure, that's generally the way it works creatively with me, dust has to settle a little before subjects can be properly written about in song form, otherwise they tend to come out very 'teenage angst'. Age brings with it patience and reflection which allow for creativity to be more focused, the raw materials of creativity are like diamonds in stone, the chipping away of the stone to find the rare diamond in the middle takes time, if rushed then there will always be dirt all over the possible jewel in the centre. I think that metaphor makes sense, but in all fairness I know nothing about diamonds, they probably don't come in rocks for one thing, and I am just to lazy to even check wikipedia on the very computer I am writing this blog. So in my metaphor, this blog is like an unpolished rock, my new songs are the closest I've come to cleaning up sweet diamonds.

The cover for 'In the Right Place'

So the 12 songs will hit the internet soon, track 1 already has (and I imagine probably all of them are out when you are reading this), here is the full track listing.

1. The Facebook Stalker Guide to Love
2. No Worries
3. Circles in the Crops
4. Another Email
5. Prime
6. The Buskers Song (la,la,la)
7. Cat Found a Home
8. Sexual Definition in the Age of the Swap
9. Quiz Master
10. Count Your Blessings
11. Salt
12. Seriously

Each song is about something, I don't tend to just write fluff for fluffs sakes. Some of the subjects are obvious just based on the track name, but some are a little more intricate. I doubt anyone will notice though, no one seems to actually pay attention. Oh well, it wont stop me pumping out loads more stuff for people not to watch or listen to.

Peace and infinite love
Andy x

The Facebook Stalker Guide to Love

2011-07-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

The Facebook Stalker Guide to Love by ProductsofMonkeyLove

The story of Jethro and Jeffrey, chatroulette and the forrest of pink bananas

2011-07-14T02:52:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

It has been bought to my attention that the story of Jethro and Jeffrey remains untold outside of the youtube videos. If you have no idea who Jethro and Jeffrey are, then you are in the majority with almost the whole rest of the world, and this blog will not only introduce you to them, but hopefully will show you how lovely they really are. So without further ado, let me introduce to you Jethro and Jeffrey.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Jeffrey the lanky monkey and Jethro the fat monkey.

Jeffrey (Chris Mace) and Jethro (Andy Jackson)

So here they are, the two monkey puppets that spawned a whole years worth of crazy youtube videos, and even almost got me banned from youtube twice! They are offensive and cheeky, but very loveable with it, truly they are :)

In the beginning, there was chatroulette. I was doing lots of improv comedy training at the time under the guidance of the amazing Maydays (check them out, they are a Brighton based improv comedy troop, very, very funny). I wanted to take these improv skills to the internet in some way, it seemed like the logical use of a webcam, to make up silly shit in front of other random people. It was South Park that first introduced me to chatroulette, if you haven't seen it, there is a very funny episode of South Park in which everyone becomes addicted to facebook. In a bid to make more friends in the episode, Kyle lets Cartman introduce him to chatroulette, a website that links random webcams together from across the world. In the episode, the gag is that chatroulette is just full of blokes showing their penises. I can vouch personally that this is not far from the truth.

Collecting together all the stuffed toys I had around (which was an alarming amount for a late 20's man, but most of them were monkeys that had been bought for me because I called my podcast 'Products of Monkey Love') I sat on the sofa with a friend and started playing about, singing dubstep at random people. From that first toy session was born the Dubstep Sheep and the Dubstep Badger (both very silly, and if you click them you can watch them). These characters would not stand up to more then one video though, they grew tiresome to watch before the video was over. Something less music based was required if it was to have any steam.

Jethro and Jeffrey (behind the puppets)

So, a few days later, while my good friend Macey was round, we tried our hand at it again. Firstly I tried using the Jeffrey puppet (not named yet, obviously) and tried to talk to people. I couldn't get the hang of it, the character wasn't working for me, the monkey was too lanky and I couldn't get the right voice for it. I gave up after ten minutes, threw the monkey down and stood up in a huff. Macey asked if he could try, so he took my place on the sofa and picked up Jeffrey. The recording was running, all the fun was being captured as Macey said hello to random willies and a few real people (who probably had willies, but they were not displaying them). I sat to the side and watched as Macey gracefully mastered the lanky monkey puppet. After clicking 'next' to generate the next random webcam, there is a brief moments pause while the connection is made. Every time someone came up, they may only be there for a few seconds, and in these crucial seconds a monkey puppet can get in a little jibe. People appeared, Macey said 'Hello!' and then they disappeared. Until, after the moments 'next' pause, a party appeared. People were having a party! "Oh look, a party, can I join your party?" Macey asked through his monkey puppet. "I'm having a party too, here, a monkey party" he proclaimed. Sat on the sofa next to him, I frantically scrambled around to find a monkey puppet to make up this little party. I picked up Jethro and thrust him into shot (although initially I think he might have been a girl!) and the monkey party began. We danced and started talking to each other. Jeffrey already had his posh voice, and Jethro's came out initially like a very drunk version of the Queen, and as the party continued, the names were invented. I turned to lanky monkey puppet and named him Kenneth, and he turned back and named me Jethro. We had the dubzone podcast playing away in the background, so we had music to wiggle our monkeys to. The party died out and the 'next' button was pressed. The two monkeys sparked off each other well, with Kenneth being quickly forgotten and Jeffrey talking the names place. After 15 minutes of recording we stopped for a breather. We looked back at the footage and were pleased, something had been born.

Hello!!!

Jethro and Jeffrey episode 1: Monkeychat
Series 1 playlist link
For the next few weeks we filmed many hours of us talking rubbish on chatroulette to random people all over the world. A story started to build, Jethro and Jeffrey were in search of bananas (obviously) and friends, and they would do what ever it took to get them.

56 episodes were made in total for series 1. Each episode is between 6 to 10 minutes long (mainly 9 or 10 mins) and each contains lots of crazy weirdness. Not many individuals have sat through all 56 episodes, only the die hard J and J fans. Some of the highlights of the journey include 'The Nazi' kids from episode 2, The stoner Belgiums from episode 18, 'Peru' from eps 21 and 22, Dr Banana from ep 44, Celebs in ep 51 and the Blocking finale ep 56. The overarching storyline (for anyone interested but not bothered to watch all the maguffin) involves Jethro and Jeffrey sourcing finest quality bananas from around the world, once they have a supplier (Peru from eps 21 and 22) they set up a banana company and sort out distributers. This is only a loose storyline, and there are several other on going gags throughout. Jethro is writing an album called 'Jethro sings the Blues' which is all over dub music, and any opportunity to improvise a song on the spot, the dub gets turned up and the singing begins. The two monkeys fight about their different shapes often, and they are not afraid to comment on what they see.

The other long running gag that would follow through to subsequent J and J efforts was the curse of the Pink Bananas. Every time a willy appeared, Jethro and Jeffrey would comment on it, usually say how small and insignificant it was. They didn't call them willies though, they called them Pink Bananas. It is customary for gags to be recurring in improv comedy, but we took it to a new level with referencing back so far sometimes that even we didn't know what we were trying to say.

J and J had some success (sort of) with a loyal following of children developing over the release of the first forty videos. This was stopped in it's tracks by the gods of youtube, something to do with episode 30 : Holy Shit! Fancy Scat! being far too graphic in the content and not offering any educational value (whatever that means!). While we had been filming, a very lovely German fella had decided to stream us some very disturbing videos of people doing poops. They were long videos as well, and after about seven minutes of showing us these and laughing his head off, he showed himself and we finished the episode up by talking to the provider of the scat videos. When the weirdness started, Macey had wanted to skip on and not watch all the horrible poo porn...but I stayed strong (!!) and said we should push on. Jethro and Jeffrey loved the poo porn, because they love throwing poo, because they are monkeys. So we treated the experience like one long pooing contest. Youtube didn't like that, the video was removed and I got my youtube account suspended for two weeks, in which time all the momentum fell out of Jethro and Jeffrey and people stopped watching :(

Jethro and Jeffrey episode 201 - Death of the Dub

Series 2, no more dub, but there is a dancing banana!

Series 2 playlist link
After a break of a few weeks, we decided to try a different approach. We had been using the dubzone podcast as our soundbed, but we were informed not to do this anymore by Mr king dubzone podcast man. We needed a new soundbed, one we could rely on. But dub had been a staple gag of the first series.

The dub was dead. We started to use the instrumental music we had compiled from the Products of Monkey Love podcast instead, which meant the improv songs we did would be longer and more structured. So hit it up we did, for a further 29 episodes and a second series of wibble.

Series 2 was more punchy, shorter episodes, a lot more of the fat cut out of them. The highlights include episode 4 'Gimp Ninja' (a personal fave of mine), episode 9 'Beautiful Student', episode 11 'Man/Dog Love' and episode 27 'Banana-nana-nana-nana' (which featured the banana character!). The ongoing thread of series 2 focused around the culling of the pink bananas and the hardworking ladies of chatroulette (Hard working Bella's). Almost every episode had a song in it, all made up on the spot.

Our love affair with chatroulette ended there. The website had changed too much and was not very user friendly anymore. We had several botched attempts to record on it but had to give up. We needed to find an alternative if Jethro and Jeffrey were to remain alive.

Look at my SHINEY eyes!

Jethro and Jeffrey on Wocchat
We decided we would attempt a third series somewhere different from chatroulette. We found Wocchat and started recording there. We tried our hand at some chatroom stuff there too, but the quality of the video and sound was not up to scratch, so none of it was put out. There would have been a series 3 done on Wocchat, but other life issues got in the way, and time pressures meant that the majority of that material for series 3 remains unedited and unseen.

So Jethro and Jeffrey had to move to something different if they were to remain around in any sense. So The J Collective was formed.

The J Collective
The J Collective playlist link
What would become Jethro and Jeffreys swan song (unless there is some miraculous return for them) started out as a review show idea. J and J commented on whatever they saw, often very literally, so it seemed logical that they would be good at reviewing films, music, culture etc. Since youtube had been their home it was a good starting point. The idea was that Jethro and Jeffrey wanted to get all of the best 'J' named people (like themselves) together to take over the world.

I found it rather hard to do, mainly because it meant listening to music by such commercial plops as Justin Beiber, the Jonus Brothers and Jessie J! My god, what has happened to music? Did someone take it out the back and tar bath it in caramel? It is so sugar and gloopy I half expected my teeth to rot out of my face just from listening to it. I couldn't take much of it...plus, I was leaving very soon for the Netherlands...

Macey, Jeffrey, Andy and Jethro

Jethro's gone - a short film

We made a short film to say goodbye, and leave it open for possible continuation...

Jethro and Jeffrey had a lot of crazy times sat on the sofa looking at pink bananas, and then later looking at people who acted like pink bananas. For a silly little improv skit on chatroulette to be dragged on for a year is pretty impressive, even by my 'drag jokes until they have scrapped completely away' standards. Macey and I had a lot of fun doing it, and hopefully people enjoyed it. I still get comments every now and then asking when Jethro and Jeffrey are going to be on chatroulette...even though they haven't been on it for over 9 months.

Now, where is that banana?

Peace and infinite love

Andy

The Procrastinating effects of Youtube, Facebook and Peggle

2011-07-02T01:54:00.000-07:00

Oh internet, how you mock me sometimes!!!

Hello friends,

Thanks for dropping by to read my wibble. I have managed to tear myself away from my three main procrastination vices in order to put a blog together about the very vices that keep me from writing blogs and doing important things. I shall deal with them in order, so as to service each one of these cheeky chappies properly. So, onto the first mega procrastination tool :

Oh You Tube, I love and hate you in equal measures.

1. You Tube

You all know about this site, it's one of the biggest in the whole world. It has birthed such lumbering bloated stars and starlets as Justin Beiber and Jessie J. Millions of people have watched Lady Gaga shaking her 'non' arse around while miming her shitty lyrics through her horse face as an advert selected just for you by google appears at the bottom. Oh what a site! It really did use to be something great, before it got bought out by Google of course. Now it is mainly a place for big media companies to share their latest promotional bull-dribble ( X Factor anyone?!) while independent artist like myself struggle to get a hundred views on our latest work because it doesn't get displayed anywhere.

Before googles takeover of youtube, it used to feature new talent on it's front page. This helped people like J Bibbles and Bo Burnham become stars. Their video's were put in prominent places and seen by many people, turning their bedroom songs into world wide hits. I joined you tube too late, by the time I made my own profile and started uploading sweet original video's, Google had crossed the t's and dotted the advertising dollar i's and new user content was assigned to the depths of the internet.

I spend hours on this flipping website everyday. Since I set up the Products of Monkey Love profile and started uploading video's I have been hooked. There are just so many amazing video's to see, not the ones on the front page (which doesn't even really exist anymore thanks to "profiles"), but within the millions of uploads from all around the world. I have made friends through youtube, more so then facebook, because of the comments system. The comments are what make you tube better then TV in all ways. TV keeps trying to catch up with this ability to comment and interact with what you have just seen, but it's well behind and is unlikely to catch up to the internet. I love watching a video, good or bad, and then seeing what comments have been posted about it. Time wasting to the max.

2. Facebook

This bloody website, now just a people made spying network, sucks my time out of me with pointless checking on people I don't even really like to find out what shitty stuff they are up to in the hope it will make me feel like I'm doing something of more worth by checking on them. I don't do this anywhere near as badly as some people I know, some of my friends are proper facebook addicts, borderline obsessive compulsive. I mean, do you really need a facebook farm? Really?

I haven't fallen for any of facebooks many 'super' procrastination tools like the farm, or online poker parties, or tetris marathons etc. I can even most of the time avoid the need to click through peoples photo's and change the tags to be their pets instead of them. It's the news feeds that get me, reading what other people who I know consider to be in some way 'new' information. I do the same though, I post a load of old maguffin on there about what i just did and how special it was, or some amusing programme i just saw has made me want to post a clip of it onto my page like a little badge of "I've seen this"-iness.

Facebook just makes idiots out of us all, the people on there, and the people that think they aren't on there (you are on there, either way my friends). If you have a profile, every other part of the internet now wants to connect with it and merge. Facebook is now an add on to your other internet activities. Are you watching a nice video about kittens on Youtube? Well, why not connect your account up with facebook so you can instantly tell the world what you are watching, as you watch it. Soon everyone will constantly film themselves reacting to things and then post it direct to their facebook page with interesting quips about 'what happens at 3 hours in' and 'I bet you can't guess what film I was watching' type games that make everybody their own mini celebrity in their internet bubbles.

I am a celebrity in my internet bubble, so I have no right to piss on anyone else's chips, I will just piss on my own and be happy with it.

3. Peggle

The greatest Procrastinating tool ever invented.

Damn you Peggle! Damn you to computer game hell! Why are you so addictive? Why?!

If you have never encountered this game then I suggest you avoid at all costs, not because it is rubbish, but because it has an addictive quality that has been scientifically proven to be more soul consuming then heroin, crack or trip inducing cough syrup. Unfortunately there is no alternative, no way to ween yourself off the hard pure peggle hit. Even worse, there is a sequel, Peggle Nights, which is just as addictive and just as potent. Combine these two modern drugs and you are left with a dribbling human being who is only capable of communicating in beeps and bongs with the occasional 'aww' thrown in and grins of pride whenever 'Ode to Joy' starts up.

I have been working on a new album, writing a bunch of songs that I will use to net myself a band of some kind (I figure that worms are bait for fish, so songs are bait for musicians, right?!), and I am now nearing the end of that task, with only one song left to write to finnish the 12 i had set myself. I would have finished this task several weeks ago if it wasn't for Peggle. Shooting the pixilated ball bearing at the blue and orange pegs is so satisfying and easy, it becomes like a juicy birthday cake, you know that one slice is enough, but you could always have another, and another, and another, until the whole cake has gone, it's 4am and your fingers and eyes are hurting. I think I might be getting my metaphors all mixed up here.

Anyway, Peggle (by PopCap) seems like it's a game of luck, but this couldn't be further from the truth. There is great skill involved in becoming a Peggle Master, and many hours must be dedicated to this important training if one if to get the massive gold trophy at the end of the Peggle rainbow. There are several characters to master, some with special powers that seem so lame you wonder why they are sitting at the big table with such masters as 'Magic Hat' Bunny, and the 'Johnny shot' Owl. It's not all animals you have to master either, oh no, one of the characters is a flippin' Pumpkin for jimmies sake. I would have thought the bunny and the owl would have eaten up the pumpkins sorry ass a long time ago, but then there is a Unicorn overseeing the whole thing, and a Dragon which probably helps keep the others in check.

Just writing about Peggle makes me want to play it, I have it open right now behind this blog, waiting to be played at any moment. It claims first prize as 'Ultimate Procrastination Toll' of the year for the second year running. And now I just have to go and play or else...

Till next time ;)

Confessions of a (currently former) gamer

2011-06-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Having now been living in Den Haag for a couple of weeks, inspiration has been all around me. As a creative, I look for new experiences and information from which to build my next set of creative musings. Being in a new city entirely opens both the eyes and the mind to exciting stimuli. The fruits of my work will be aired soon on youtube I imagine.

Gotta love wasting time playing games right?

There is something that still seems to have a strange hold on me from my old life...computer games. I don't understand quite why myself, but I still am fascinated by them. I haven't had the chance to play any new game for a few months now (last one being Dead Space 2, AMAZING GAME!), but I still manage to dedicate chunks of my time to gaming thanks to youtube and (mainly) Gamespot.

Every day there are new videos, reviews, updates, exclusive behind the scenes snippets, downloadable content (DLC for short of course), screenshots, demo's, multiplayer expansion packs, new skins (for your characters in games, not for you), new levels, new challenges, new new new new new new ...

It's an industry that just keeps expanding like the waste band of a former burger junkie on his 'all you can eat' celebration buffet for having lost 40st. There seems to be no end to the new gadgetry, wizardry, special effects-atry and innovation. I am constantly excited like a ten year old boy by the advancements in this area. Take a game that is currently in development that has me a little wet in the pants area, 'Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception'. I was a huge fan of the first game, and the second one improved on the first in every single way (something that games tend to do, but films tend to never do). Games developers tend to listen to their fans wants and desires, rather then just box office sales. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves won lots of game awards in 2009 and raised the bar once again on action adventure games. My favourite section of that game had involved running up a moving train, going from carriage to carriage past beautiful scenery, while being shot at by a big helicopter which has the uncanny ability to destroy the carriage you were just in. The whole section is so immersive that my heart pounded while playing, something that film has trouble invoking in me to anywhere near the same degree.

For Uncharted 3, the developers (Naughty Dog) have listened to the fans of the second game, taken on board any negative comments, listened to all of the praise, and gone away to develop a game that goes further then the second one had. What if films did this? Imagine a film franchise that tried to do this in the past, it rarely, if ever, works out. If the first film in a 'franchise' does well, the second one will usually be a carbon copy of the first, same story just tweaked a bit to play up to the first films strengths. This isn't true across the board of course, but nothing ever bloody well is these days.
Uncharted 3 will be amazing, I am sure. And I won't get to play it for ages I expect, probably not until the 4th game is in development and all computer games are injected directly into your eyes for full immersion gaming experiences. You will buy games in syringes with pretty labels on the side and the sales assistant will be fully trained to administer the eye injection.

Oh well, I shouldn't grumble, the industry is still there getting better, and another break from the gaming world will only mean that when I return (and I WILL return) the games will have advanced yet another leap and I can get all excited over the pixilated loveliness and realistic graphics. Until then I will just waste time watching youtube video's about games. At least when they do a remake in the game world it is usually worth something, unlike in the film industry. For example here, the one game that might manage to bring me back out of retirement early will be the new SSX game.

the new SSX game, OMG this will be awesome!!

I can't remember what SSX stands for, but one of the S's mean's snowboarding, for sure. I know this because it is a snowboarding game. I was a massive fan of the Cool boarders series on the original playstation, but switched to the SSX series of games after SSX Tricky came out. Now that game was amazing, you could do the most insane (and obviously impossible) twists and turns tricks in mid air while throwing yourself down a mountain on a snowboard. I rinsed the game dry, and then did the same to SSX3 when that came out.

Now, you may not know this about me, but I like to partake in the green herb of the gods from time to time, and this "habit" is perfect for gaming (as many, many other stoner games will agree with, I'm sure). With a game like SSX, staring at the screen as the character rides down through the beautiful pixilated mountain ranges kept me from doing much more important life changing duties like studying or house chores or exercise (I'm told that finger exercising doesn't count, apparently!). I did every challenge in the game, with every character, and then I did it all again. SSX has taken so many hours of my life that I could probably sue it for compensation. It would be a difficult court case, but one that might make the headlines at the very least.

SSX, an experience without breaking your knees off.

The appeal of a game like this, and indeed, almost any game, is the chance to do something that you can't do in everyday normal coffee drinking life. I could go snowboarding, I could go tomorrow if I could afford it, but I would not be very good at it. I might manage to bump my way down a small hill, hurting myself countless times in the process, but without huge sums of cash and lots of training I am never going to be able to double backflip out of a halfpipe and land on a rail suspended in the air, which I can grind along, before popping off the end with a spectacular twist and tailgrab before gracefully bumping back onto the snow while an avalanche chases me. In fact, I wouldn't want to do that in real life ever, it would be far to dangerous. The luxury of the computer game in that you have multiple lives, and that avalanche can kill me again and again and again and I could still get up and try it all over again without developing a twisted back from all that flipping about.

To sum up here, I just have to say that the computer game world is amazing, and should be visited by everyone on several occasions. Only in this medium can you get the chance to walk through an imaginary world and interact with it, or ever better, collect tokens so you can level up and get an even bigger sword (although not in snowboarding games, the sword really overbalances the character). The one thing that continually amazes me everyday is the power of imagination. There are so many amazing things to see and hear, and thanks to games, amazing new things you can do, like throwing yourself down a mountain with impunity.

I really can't wait for the new SSX game, I might have to freeze myself...

Living near the Queen, sex shops and the best bakery in the world

2011-06-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

Oh hello friends,

What a crazy time it has been for this adventuring creative. Magical things have been a happenin' on the left, the right and even in the ruddy centre of all places!

If you have been following my adventures you will already know that myself and Beauty (my soul mate travelling creative companion) have been hunting for somewhere to live in Amsterdam so we can have a base from which to stretch our creative branches.

Den Haag, political centre of Europe that is named
after the sound you make when you have something
nasty stuck in your throat. The sound of politics.

So time was ticking, Joe and Jess had Christian Baled on us (they had little choice) and we had an email from some man in Den Haag (the big political city by the sea, 40 mins from the Dam) who had a room in his flat. We were ready to go further afield. We had heard mixed things about Den Haag, but after a long conversation sat on our magic bench (just by a bridge near where we were staying, there were ninja ducks fighting with koots there, it was a fight to behold! The koots kept trying to steal the ducks baby! Someone should make a soap opera with ducks, call it a "duck soup opera") and one or two "jazz fags", we decided that we should give it a go, we had nothing to lose except our shoes.

A skype call was arranged, something that no scammer had been brave enough to do. This was a good sign, this dude might be a genuine person with a genuine room to rent in a genuine house. Positive vibes were floating around us, we made tea (as is our right as English people) and sat on our bed on the floor to speak to our possible future housemate. Rauf answered, and a long conversation followed.

Now, Beauty and I had a very particular set of things we wanted from our abode, and these were the reasons we had little success up until this point. So, chatting to Rauf in Den Haag we went through our list of particulars. Big bedroom - yes, Furnished - yes, Garden? - yep, Washing machine - you bet ya, Funky kitchen with super over? - oh hell yeah!, internet without parental control? - of course.
With so many things having been ticked off, many jokes shared and positivity felt from both ends of the skype phone, we were left with just one final big one... Smoking??? (this is the one that is almost impossible to find, thanks to the European smoking bans no one wants to be within 100 feet of a smoker, let alone let one live in their house!)... we weren't sure how to ask, how do you share your socially crippling habit with a voice over the inter-phone?

Me smoking at the time...of course.

We were smoking at the time of course, there was no camera. For all we knew, Rauf was doing the same, puffing away safely behind the screen, or, he could have been painting an anti smoking banner on his floor ready to go and protest outside a tobacco factory, we had no way to know, all we could see was a little smiling picture of Rauf's face (or, at least some voice pretending that the picture was them).
So, spit it out I must (not literally, that would burn the carpet!), so Rauf, err, just one last thing, one pretty big last thing...erm, well, you see the thing is that...we, are, well, we are both smokers...
...
...
"Me Too, I smoke like a chimney"!
Oh the sweet relief to know that we would be able to slowly kill ourselves one smoke at a time in the comfort of our own home. This place sounded perfect.

So off to Den Haag we came, met Rauf, spent the evening looking around the city, then headed back to Amsterdam to go and get our stuff. The house was everything we had asked for, down to the littlest details.

Life just moves at breakneck speeds sometimes. We have been living here in our lovely new place in Den Haag for over a week now, and life is starting to settle down. I am deep in the writing of my next set of songs, and our job hunts have been going okay. The place we are living in is so close to everything we could need, and a whole load of stuff we don't really need but it's nice to have near anyway...like a sex shop. A shop that sells lovely sexy based things to cater for a wide variety of interesting perversions, subversions, conversions and sexiness.
The sex shop is on the end of our road...and on the other corner opposite it is the best bakery in the world. So a nice loaf of bread and a fresh dildo are always just at the end of the road should I require them, of course, there is always more need for one over the other.

This creative continues to adventure...although for now, it is in Den Haag.

House hunting, levelling up and Avalanche management

2011-05-31T04:51:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

An adventuring creative such as myself sometimes just needs to calm down and let life do it's thing without attempting to interfere and mix things up. The river continues to flow regardless of my actions.

The last week has been a very interesting one, lots has happened. At the beginning of the week, Beauty and I were still in the position of desperate house hunting. We had hooked up with another couple who had just come over from the UK. Joe and Jess. Joe was from Sheffield and Jess was from New Zealand. Much like Beauty and myself, they had decided to come and try living it up in Amsterdam for a while.

Joe and Jess during a internet house-hunting binge

The Ballad of Joe and Jess

Beauty had found Joe and Jess by searching though wanted ads on the internet that were in someway connected to Amsterdam. We had extended our own search to include some more 'creative' thinking and this connected us up with Joe and Jess. We made contact with them just before they left the UK to come to Amsterdam.

We hooked up with them the following day and had a good time sharing stories, smoking in the Dolphin, laughing, drinking and general merriment. We also decided to give a try to finding a house that would be suitable for two couples rather then just focusing our search on single rooms for couples (as this was already proving to be difficult). We also set up a facebook group 'Help the travelling ones find a home in Amsterdam'. Using all our facebook skills we set about telling people how very nice we all were and how we would respect the hell out of any property that we should find ourselves in.

Days were passing and things were not advancing as hoped. Beauty and I were in free accommodation as we were staying with friends, but Joe and Jess were in youth hostels spending out every night for a bed. We felt really bad for them, and we kept trying to find them temporary free places to stay, but still time was ticking (as it always does, unless you are some kind of timelord, which I doubt you are).

Rembrandt Park in Amsterdam, amazing place.

We all went and looked at a lovely place right in the middle of Rembrandt Park. The flat was beautiful, but the rooms on offer were both very small and the friendly man renting them out said they were one person per room. It was well outside our budget and left me thinking that we were all hitting a bit out of our weight with what we were asking for. Borders needed to open and looking further afield became a necessity. But still Joe and Jess were stuck in the centre having their money drained out of them by the Amsterdam canal goblins. The next best thing to do was go and find somewhere nice to have a beer and smoke a big phat Amsterdam Lemon Haze wonder-stick.

House hunting can drive you a bit mad. Trust me, after five hours of staring at descriptions of rooms, pictures of alcoves and lists of facilities included, you start to think strange thoughts. You want to invent things, create better ways of living with the simple stroke of a gherkin, build mountains out of napkins and cocktail sticks, count the hairs on your left arm and see if it's more or less then your right arm, see if you can stare out your reflection in the window, organise your very overfull email inbox into subcategories, try and speak backwards for ten minutes...the list goes on. Madness takes hold. So you need a game.

Level 1

Jess invented it, and I don't think even she knows the ramifications of it. It doesn't have a name (at least, not one I can remember) and as far as we are aware there are only 100 levels, but there could be more.

The first level involves drawing a house. This can be done in one pen move without taking it off the paper and without going over any line twice. Jess set the task and we managed to waste quite some time working it out. Much laughter followed as we one by one completed the task, all on a single sheet of kitchen roll I might add.

The work of art had begun, now with all of the challengers having completed the first level, it was time to take this up a notch and invent a second level to rival this most challenging first one. It took all of our collective stoned brain power to invent something even more mind bending.

Level 2 - all with one pen stroke ;)

We sat back and admired our awesome creation. It would take humanity years to work out how to complete this level without taking the pen off the paper and without going over any line twice.
We may have not had anywhere to live, but by god we were at the cutting edge of creative thinking at that very moment.

From there, the levels spewed out of us like fans at the end of a thousand Elvis's concert (what is the collective name for Elvis's? err, a record of...na, a jumpsuit of...hmm,nope, a religion, yeah, a religion of Elvi). Some of the levels are riddles, some are jokes, some are simple musings on which one should ponder over a cup of tea. They are all located on the sacred napkin, which Jess has in her possession. They offer the key to enlightenment, and the chance to "Level Up" into a higher way of living. None of us completed it all, for even us the humble creators are not worthy of ascending.

See, madness. It set in, and we ran with it. It was the only way to cope.

Time continued to slip away, things were getting very desperate. We had created so many awesome things for the universe, yet our goal seemed out of reach. There was nowhere. Desperate times called for desperate measures, we sought out an estate agent, someone professional, to get some much needed advice. We very quickly discovered that what we were looking for didn't exist in Amsterdam. We had to go further afield, but even that didn't seem promising. Joe and Jess had hooked up with a Canadian traveller called Mark, he was an Avalanche manager who is travelling for the summer months until the big Avalanches come back and he can go and manage them. What a legend. How do you manage an Avalanche?! I've known managers that couldn't manage three highly educated people, let alone a flipping giant wall of tumbling snow that kills people. Mark had hash he wanted to smoke up before he left, so we agreed to assist in that task and headed to Funky Munky for some rest and relaxation away from the house-hunting nightmare.

It all unravelled and changed so fast. We didn't see it coming. Beauty and I picked up a lead for a lovely apartment share in Den Haag that was within our price range and looked amazing. We got excited about this and went to tell Joe and Jess online. We logged in to discover that they were packing up to go back to England right then! : (

They will be back though, soon I hope. With Level 101.

My adventure continues in Den Haag...but that's for another blog...

Scammers in Amsterdam(ers)

2011-05-28T02:49:00.000-07:00

Dear blog,

Our efforts to control the universe have been both fruitful and confusing. Adventuring creatives closed down their lives in one country (in this case the UK) to open up a new life in another country (in this case the Netherlands). The planning was all in the dream, very little concrete. Dreams aren't made of concrete, if they were we would need more heavy duty pillows and neck braces.

So far so good. We are here, that was the first step. So, the next step is the one that is proving to be a little allusive at the moment. For the last year Beauty and I have been discussing what we wanted when we got to Amsterdam. We had always spoken about finding a nice little place for ourselves (just ourselves, no housemates) and living on our own schedules as artists. Simple plan.

The house with a magical washing

machine from the future!

Not so simple when you get here though. Oh no.

First there are the scams, so many fricking scams!

"Hello, I have a flat to rent in the centre of Amsterdam, it has a huge bedroom with balcony, kitchen, living room and lift to the roof terrace, close to all shops and museums, super-fast mega internet, a washing machine from the future, three toilets (shared shower), free boot cleaning every Wednesday, fully furnished with extra furniture (5 sofas!), 400 euro a month, please email me for more details at scam@youidiots.com"

Oooo, now that looks nice, I especially like the sound of a washing machine that's from the future, imagine what technology has done to the washing process in the future! I bet you don't even need any detergent, the clothes are probably cleaned by just being in the presence of the magical washing machine. So I send off an email expressing interest in this nice flat and it's futuristic technologies.

Reply comes back quickly, with a sob story attached.

"My name is Georg and I am from the Ukraine. I had to leave Amsterdam very fast because my mother is sick in my home town and there is no one to take her care. My sister was taking her care but husband has been made no job and need to move for new work. I have key with me for house. The house is still available for rent, you like I send you key in mail, please transfer one months rent plus one months deposit (total £1000) into my Western Union account so I know I can trust you, thankyou bye"

Hmm, really? Right, so what assurances are you going to give me Georg?

"I send copy of passport for prove of my house. My lawyer will draw up contract and send you to sign. Please sign and send money via Western Union."

Well the passport check out, the person in the picture is called Georg. Now let's send him all our savings so we can go and live in his fictional house in the middle of Amsterdam. Oh, one last thing Georg, could we come and view the house before sending you all our savings?

"No, I am in Ukraine."

Oh, okay then. Well, how about any friends? Do you have any friends in Amsterdam that could show us around?

"No, I have the keys with me. You send the money and I send the keys. I promise, you can trust me, I have an email account, only trustworthy people have them."

...and so on, and so on until I tell Georg to go stick his scamming head into a bowl of animal guts and hold it there until he drowns.

These scammers come in many types, but they always use the same scam. You get a sob story about how hard their life is at the moment due to circumstances worthy of a hollywood script, then a lovely long description of the (imaginary) property, followed by a request for money as a show of good faith. We have even spoken to one of them on skype, via the text only, but still, that was one persistent scammer. Called themselves 'very friendly one' to hide the fact they were actually a bulging arse-bubble.

Our hunt continues...

When in writing mode...

2011-05-21T04:32:00.000-07:00

Friends, you are here, good.

So, this little adventuring creative has now been in Amsterdam for almost 4 weeks. Still trying to find somewhere to live, but otherwise having a great time. Adapting to new cultures is an interesting thing, I have been surprised by how quickly I have taken things in. When you are listening to different languages from your mother tongue on a regular basis you can't help but start to pick up little bits and bobs. I expect I will write about language quite a bit in this blog since it is a subject that fascinates me (even though I am English and therefor genetically predisposed to be terrible at learning other languages).

In writing mode anything can happen...even this!

But this blog is not about language, it is about writing. I have previously stated in this blog that I am a writer, an unpublished outside of the internet (ahh, thank you self publishing enabled interweb of love) and a couple of letters in magazines many years ago. I did write for my college magazine, and had a play put on when I took a year off before dropping out of a university writing course. I have written several film scripts (all un-filmed), sketch comedy skits (all un-recorded) and even a couple of musicals (all un-performed, un-polished and un-funded). I have also attempted novels (rubbish ones) but really my main writing skill is lyrics.

With credentials like that, you can be well assured that I have very little knowledge about what I am about to write about as if I were some kind of wise truth teller on the subject. I am not. I personally think this makes my opinion of some worth, as it is taken from experience.

I am currently in writing mode. It's this special place you take yourself when you are channeling creativity. Some people build these spaces for themselves in strange places. I am quite happy in a variety of locations now (not true in the past) and I happily sit here tapping this blog out with my laptop on my lap (literally), sitting on our mattress on the floor. Beauty is sat next to me looking for flats and listening to Gogol Bordello on her laptop. Oh technology, how easy things are made for us. It would have been hard to write like this in the past, ink stains bedsheets very quickly. Also, on a laptop (or desktop for that matter) it is so easy to edit. With a typewriter if you muck up a bit then the whole thing is effectively ruined. Not so with the laptop and the magical spell check. I love spellchecking, without it even I wouldn't know what I had written. (spellcheck does sometimes have trouble with the words I feed it, and on several occasions I have been forced to change for another word as I can't work out how to even get the word close enough to the right spelling for the almighty spell checker to be able to correct it!)

This is some of my art, just to make the page a little bit
more interesting to look at

My current writing assignments (given to me by myself of course, freelance, for free) are a new set of lyrics to make another album for my in the... series, and this blog. Other then that I might write out the address of somewhere I need to go, or the occasional shopping list or note on my hand. Most of this writing takes place on my laptop (except the last few things mentioned) and my eyes always end up feeling like they are trying to retreat into my skull to escape the constant glare of the screen. I don't blame them.

Deep in writing mode so many things can happen (hopefully though, writing will occur). For the inspiration to actually make something that might be at least a little bit new in structure or thought one requires stimulus. You can't write about nothing (although I appear to be doing a good job of that so far right here). For my current set of lyrics I have decided to write about things that interest me. For my last set (in the shed) I was leaving my job and preparing to move to Amsterdam, that had a big effect on the songs I ended up writing, there are themes of skin shedding, change, adventure, hateful office work, wants and desires and happiness. These were often directly linked to me so a lot of first person lyrics pepper the record (e.g Blank Hole Memory, Do it With You). For this next one I am currently writing, the themes are quite different so far, given that I am not living where I wanted to be and doing what I wanted to be doing, I can now cast my eyes out at the world and give some lyrical comment.

To give you a little sneak peek of the things that have tweaked my creative interests in the last week, here are the titles of a couple of the finished lyric sets : "Circles in the Crops", "Quiz Master" and "The Facebook Stalkers Guide to Love". I look forward to sharing them with you in song form :)

So, to get into writing mode you need something you want to write about.

Peace and infinite love

Andy

La la la la la la busker (as in Labumba)

2011-05-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Hello carbon based life forms,

So now three weeks into the Amsterdam adventure and things have been moving forward. Yesterday I went busking for the first time in about seven years...

(Now for a quick Andy busking history lesson) - When I was just 19 years of tender age, I went busking around Europe with my good friend Ali Nicholls. We were fresh faced and eager to explore the world, so with that naivety we threw ourselves face first into the deep end. I had no money. Not a penny.

Me (Andy) and Ali with our mouths wide open in 2006

Really, none. I hadn't been working for a while and had spent anything I had saved up.
I went to the bank and arranged a new account so I could have an overdraft.
£400 overdraft which got spent on a train ticket that would get me around Europe.
No spending money, no rooms booked, nothing.
Just two teenagers and two guitars.
It was one of the best months of my entire life, I still fondly tell stories of our travels. We busked in the streets with varied levels of success in Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Italy and France.

Amsterdam :)

Lessons learnt from that experience : firstly, cover songs are a good idea. Ali and I had a whole bunch of our own songs (see previous blog entries for more details). We mainly played them to begin with. Our first stop off point was Amsterdam (where I am right now). On our first day here we got up early and went to find a busking spot. We chose an underpass bit, with one little shop in, but otherwise it was just a walkway through the shopping district. We set up our stuff and then nervously began playing through our songs. We played for about an hour if I recall correctly, all our own material and managed to earn about 12 euro. Not bad for a first go. We celebrated by spending all our earnings on weed (like you do). From that time onwards we had varied success, sometimes we would play for an hour and only earn a couple of euro (which for a teenager desperate to get high was a real problem).

Some artwork from The Little Man days

[[ Rule 1 of busking : Play songs people might know. Now I am a musical snob in so many ways, I turn my nose up at covers, my main reason being that they never have the same gusto as the original versions (there are so many exceptions to this that I am ashamed of my music snobbery as I type this). I have never been in a covers band and only ever do my own sort of rendition of songs that I really like, which generally means they aren't all that well known. I need to sort this out about myself if I want to make big bank busking. ]]

Ali and I decided it would be a good idea to add some covers to our set to help increase our weed fund. We went in an internet cafe and quickly copied down the chords to a couple of tracks by The Beatles. Later on, when we had moved on to Rotterdam, we bought a cheap Beatles covers book and went about playing them.
Our most successful song was always 'All You Need Is Love', especially in Germany (we later found out that the song was being used on some German advert at the time so we were sucking people in with cheeky advertising tricks that we didn't even know about!).
We did still play mainly our own songs though, because we could only be bothered to play songs that were right in front of us, and we weren't going to be wasting any more valuable drink and drug money on songbooks!

[[ Rule 2 of busking : Pick a spot and work it. This one I also failed to follow on my new busking adventures. Staying in one spot and playing there for a period of time, returning to that spot and building up recognition is key to being successful. ]]

So Ali and I wandered around places, looking for spots to busk. This happened everywhere, but the funniest time it happened was in Salzburg, Austria. We were in need of some funds badly. We hadn't had a proper meal for a few days, surviving on a baguette with a pack of salami and cheese from the local supermarket, we needed some tasty tourist monies. There is a bridge in Salzburg that goes over the river and connects the new and old parts of the city. We were staying quite near that bridge in a youth hostel on the new side. We crossed the bridge into old town and straight away I stopped and turned to Ali, "Mate, this is perfect, let's stop here right by the entrance". Ali shook his head and asked that we continue walking about to find a better spot. So we did, we walked up the road, found another spot, same problem, not what Ali was looking for in a busking spot. We walked around the whole of old town, up and down, Ali turning down every spot I offered. Eventually I got fed up and stopped, proclaiming that I was going to play regardless of Ali liking the spot or not, telling him that he could join me when he's ready. I sat down and started playing, Ali quickly joined me. We finished playing a song (one of our own) and were taken back by a big cheer and clapping. There was a semi circle of people standing around us applauding. We played for about half and hour and made loads of euros. When we left we discovered we had been playing at the place I had stopped right by the entrance to old town.

Now all these years later I am doing the same thing, spending too long looking for a good spot and then just playing my own songs. I need to change this if I am to be successful at this. Stay tuned for more updates on my progress :)

So, busking can be hard work, if you make mistakes like I do.

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

This is me in the shed

No longer feels like a holiday

2011-05-12T04:01:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Having now been in the beautiful Dam for almost three weeks now it is starting to dawn on me that this isn't just a little holiday from the office job, this is now my life. That is an exciting feeling, the first glance of which came on Monday morning when the people we are staying with had to get up and go to work! Not me and beauty, we stayed in bed and had another spliff :)

I have been playing my guitar lots, mainly because i have the time, but also because people like hearing it. I am preparing myself to once again enter the world of the busker. I think I'm ready, only time and tarmac will tell. I think I will probably be rather selfish and play mainly my own songs, since I know them and have a terrible habit of completely forgetting how to play covers about a third into them. Hopefully people will throw euro's in my hat as if it were a 'make a wish' fountain (i'll let them rub my belly for luck as well if they put a note in the hat).

Beauty had her first lesson on a bike yesterday, she really enjoyed it and was bombing around like a right little ninja. Once we are on bikes then we really will start to feel our inner Dutch-ness.

I have started working on some new lyrics ready to make another record. Following on from the shed and the apartment I am now planning to collect together another albums worth (probably 12 or 13 songs) and then pick somewhere nice in which to record it. More to follow on this I imagine.

The improv songs of the week continue, they can be seen on my youtube channel here

I am no longer on holiday, this is my life, and this is my blog. Thanks for reading :)

Peace and infinite love
Andy

in-between...

2011-05-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

So friends,

The adventure continues, I am a day late recording my improv song of the week, so that's what i should be doing right now, but instead I am procrastinating a bit. Facebook is one of the greatest procrastination tools, I have wasted many an hour just reading pointless rubbish, liking things, sharing things blah blah blah. The sad thing is that I used to think my face was quite interesting and maybe worthy of a word or two, but the book about it is just bloaty and full of fake farms.

So, I am now in the in-between...

in-between

some things about songwriting that i've learnt

2011-05-07T02:56:00.000-07:00

So friends,

Still weaving my away around Amsterdam, playing guitar in Vondelpark (pronounced Fondlepark...teh heh), smoking such lovely week that each time I take a drag I have to go 'yummmm' as if I were savouring the most delicious of meals (maybe a curry...yum, i love curry, with mango chutney!).

The creativity bug has grabbed me by the face sack, full of all the energy of moving to a new country I have been bursting at the seams (not literally, that would require a hospital visit and some extensive "seams" reconstruction surgery that would take hours to recover from rendering me unable to blog).
In the apartment that we stayed at when we first got here I wrote 4 songs.
Products of Monkey Love in the Apartment - hear them here.

Sometimes I find that inspiration grabs me more readily then other times. For example, the rush of new information from being in a new environment seems to stimulate the creative juices quite considerably. I am almost starting to sound scientific when I say that change + songwriter = new songs. This equation has been peer reviewed and tested in labs all across the world, soundlabs they are known as.

In my lifetime, when things seem to be going rather regular, all normal and straight and stuff, I am lacking in creative lubrication, my gears seem a bit metal solid and edge rustic. Inspiration comes from stuff, things happening, moments of somethings followed by confusion and cake (yum, I love cake too). When I was preparing to leave my mundane office job I was hit with a flood of inspiration, and out of me poured songs about 'shedding', 'change', 'adventure', 'growth' etc.
Without any hint of irony (and only sort of realising it afterwards) I recorded this collection of songs as 'in the shed'.

I never used to write love songs, before I met beauty. Since then, I have written a few soppy numbers, often with some comedy thrown in to stop the cheese levels reaching moon size. The trick I have found to crafting songs is to say what you want in as short a time span as possible. If I 'love you baby', then I only really should be 'loving you baby' about eight times at the most, and even that is quite a lot. I need to find ways to express that baby lovin' vibe without just repeating myself (as say, Justin Beiber does). Having a hook in the chorus is always a good idea, it becomes like an earworm for people who hear the song (for example, a good earworm is 'All you need is Love' by The Beatles and a bad earworm is 'Baby' by Justin Baby-er). But still the main trick is to not make the songs toooo long. It's easy to slip an extra verse in here, a couple of choruses there, maybe a second bridge, middle 8, middle 9, extended solo section etc. but I find it best to keep it short. There are notable exceptions to this rule of thumb, if the song can hold up to five choruses and still be interesting then I will do it, but this is rare, not a common thing.

But, what do I know, I haven't had any hit singles like Justin Beiber, and I haven't had anywhere near the youtube hits. So I should probably just shut the hell up right?

Peace and infinite love

Andy

in the... (brief history of a songwriter)

2011-05-05T04:05:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

So, as previously mentioned, I like to write songs. I have done this since I was 12, my first offerings being rip offs of other people (truly awful rip offs as well). I used to write songs with my cousin, he would draw album covers and come up with song names, and then he tasked me with writing the songs. I think I managed a couple of lame efforts and we did one or two together...that quickly fizzled out.

I formed my first proper band when I was 14, we were called 'Frenzy' and consisted of myself on vocals (reluctantly) and guitar and a friend on drums and another friend on keyboard (I have not given their names to protect their identities...and my faulty memory). We trialled several bassists and vocalists, but none stuck. We were 14 for crying out loud, what the hell did we know about music?! Well teenage drama saw to the destruction of that dream rather quickly, drummer running off with singers girlfriend (yeah that usually does it). Cue several teenage angst songs about broken hearts and shattered dreams.

Anyway, after that I started working with James Uren, and we wrote shed loads of songs both separately and together. We formed a band called 'Purple Tadpoles' and later 'Gilboa'. James and I wrote far more songs then the band could possibly play, but we did at least do quite a few gigs and recordings before we were struck by teenage drama and split up.

Then I worked with Ali Nicholls, the guitar legend. We formed an acoustic duo called 'The Little Man' and we even got signed to a local label. We wrote bucket loads of songs as well, we busked them around Europe (which was my first visit to Amsterdam, my new home). We had fun, wrote funny songs, happy songs, silly songs, scary songs, dark songs, light songs, sing along songs, song along sings, ding-a-long a songs, cheese scone songs, deep thoughtful songs blah blah blah
We managed to put out two EP's and a fully finished album!
Find a link to our old last.fm page here - The Little Man on last fm

The Little Man split up as well, not teenage issues this time, 20 something issues, like marriage and moving to London and blah blah blah. I put down my guitar for a bit and focused on lyrics.

Products of Monkey Love was born then, based mainly around the silly improv songs I used to make in my kitchen with my brother Nick and friend Macey. I approached Martin Uren (producer for The Little Man) and we recorded 10 episodes of the fake radio improv silliness that is the Products of Monkey Love podcast. You can still download for free all the episodes we put out here

Half of the songs I completely improvised the vocals on (Crocodile, Internal Organs External, Leaving (Piano) etc.) and the other half I took away the improvised music and wrote lyrics to go over the top of it (Bestest Friends Forever, Creatures:Special Features, Cake etc.). This was challenging, but I really enjoyed coming up with loads of silly lyrics. I have always peppered my music with comedy songs, but poml was all about trying to be funny (don't know how often I succeeded with it...but, there you go).

I also did Vocalizer for a bit (I may do it again in the future), where I took electronic music made by my good friends Oxynucid and Mrs Jynx and wrote vocals over the top of them. I also got my first chance to perform in front of large crowds with Oxynucid in Germany and Belgium.

Which brings us up to the present...if you are still reading then well done, the story of some bloke who wrote loads of rubbish songs isn't that exciting, I applaud your reading abilities. I now am doing Products of Monkey Love phase 2. It's just me at the centre and then other musicians will help out and who knows what in the future.

POML phase 2 began with the improv song of the week. In preparation to move to Amsterdam, Beauty and I moved out of our house and in with some good friends. I recorded the first improvised song of the week in the shed. Gus and I sorted out the shed so it would be a space that music could be made in. Gus is a percussionist (an amazing one at that) so needed space to fit his vast array of instruments.

I had only one month left of my skull numbing office job and wanted a distraction from it. I said to Gus that we should record an album in the shed before I left, so that's what we did. I sat and wrote the lyrics out for 12 songs, then wrote all the music over a couple of weekends, and then recorded the whole thing in one afternoon with Gus and my brother Nick on bass.

So now I am back on the guitar, making guitar based music once more, for all the world probably not to hear. I have already recorded the follow up to 'in the shed' which is called 'in the apartment' on the first week that I was in Amsterdam (last week). Expect several more of them to follow...

Peace and infinite love

Andy

now where did I put my shark tank?

2011-05-04T00:37:00.000-07:00

So...

does anyone know?

the answer : it's joined the other fish tanks in the fish army.

the beginning of the adventure

2011-05-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hello internet friends,

I used to do lots of blogging, load and loads of it, on the old myspace (before it became some weird portal of facebook-rip-offiness). I used to write little ranty articles about sex, drugs, beliefs etc. Well, I am not quite the same hot headed rant machine that I use to be.

Let me introduce myself to anyone that has no idea who I am (so...all of you, right, okay) my name is Andy Jackson, I originate from Brighton in England, but now I am living in the Netherlands with my amazing partner (who shall be known hence as 'beauty'). We moved here, without much, just our creative skills and a bag full of stuff each. Beauty is a mosaic artist, and I am a musician/singer/writer blah blah blah. I do loads of stuff, nothing that has had much impact on the world, but still, I've produced whole bundles of maguffin.

For the last few years I have been working under the names Products of Monkey Love & Vocalizer. Products of Monkey Love (poml) was originally a podcast, but now it is in phase 2 and has been developing since. This blog will be punctuated with bits of poml I am sure. The first part of phase 2 of poml is the improv song for the week. I have already done this for 7 weeks now. Here is the first one recorded back in the shed.

The second phase of new poml is the 'in the ...' series. I used to write lots of guitar songs, but since my band The Little Man split up in 2007 I have been focusing much more on my vocals (hence Vocalizer). I have picked up the guitar again and started writing some new songs, quickly. These will be released in video and music form as and when they are ready. More on that in subsequent bloggings...

here is the link to the Products of Monkey Love youtube page should you want it now POML youtube page

So, now I am sitting in a Guesthouse with beauty in the centre of Amsterdam, an artist trying to work out what to do...it's exciting, and a bit scary as well.

This blog is to capture some of the interesting things that happen to me, in a more writey way. Also it will accompany my 'improv song of the week' thing that I have going on at the moment. I hope you enjoy it :)

Peace and infinite love

Andy x

Andy in the shed (April 2011)