'Separately' - Together we do better

Hello friendlies,

Straight off the metaphorical bat, here is the song 'Separately' by Donny Stax & [adj], lovingly encoded for the internet by soundcloud angels.
You can continue to read this while the song is playing, so don't be shy, press the little play button above right now if you haven't already done so. I know you might be eager to rush ahead on this here blog and skim read the waffly bits to get to the golden nuggets of information, but you can still have a little listen at the same time. This kind of 'reading' and 'listening' exercise stimulates parts of your brain that are usually out having lunch with other unused parts of your body.

So 'Separately', well, what can I say about this song that hasn't already been said a million times before? Lots and lots, because not many people have heard it and I've never said anything about it here in this blog. This is our best shot at a big chart single in my opinion, so we need to get it some exposure.

This song needs to be taken to a park and forced to stroll around in a trench coat, flashing innocent passers-by and inquisitive dogs. It needs to be rolled up and spitballed into little girls hair. It needs to be injected directly into the temples of all major religions while being consumed in liquid form by the obedient servants of Atheism. It needs to be placed in the inside of every ear in every country on every planet in every universe ever discovered. I will not rest until this task has been completed, I shall remain at my post diligently until everyone has heard it, I shall not be broken by any distractions...or...hmm, what's that on my finger? I need to sleep.

This song that you should still be listening to, unless you are a really slow reader or didn't press play, has been played many times by my good friend Benjamin Stubbs on redshiftradio. Ben even made it his record of the week a couple of weeks ago. Winning!

'Separately' has been nominated for a total of 0 awards and it has so far won everything it has been nominated for, which is quite an achievement for a song by unknown artists. Please vote for 'Separately' in the upcoming imaginary awards in my brain, there are still some seats available if you would like to attend the main event, just write your name on a sponge and i'll get back to you.

You can buy a copy of it along with it's summer album brothers and sisters from http://howboutthatrecords.bandcamp.com/,

When you hear this song at lunchtime on the radio in the future, think back to this time of listening to it while reading the stupid ramblings of an adventuring creative, it will help create an infinite timeloop with you in the centre of it, this song as the backing track, and the memory cemented in the mysteries of time itself. Well done, you have progressed to the next level of existence and are entitled to pick any item from the table that you desire to take on your next adventure.

Now spread the word....err......hmm....let's see...ummm........err....ok, got it, now spread the word 'Goatfiddle' to everyone you encounter who is carrying a goat under their right arm. Good luck

Peace and infinite love
[adj] - Andy D Jackson

Busking this week? Weather says 'NO'

Hello friends,

What a beautiful existence we get to enjoy here on planet Earth, it might be a low level, sometimes thick as week old porridge, struggle at times, but it sure does beat not existing at all.

So a quick hooray for existing, and now we can move on to the bulk of this here blog. As an adventuring creative type such as I am, I like to do some adventuring from time to time, in-between bouts of intense creativitude. The summer had some lovely adventuring, but this week, the weather has turned which has put quite a crimper on my busking exploits.

Me busking (with a fully strung guitar)

Busking is good fun, sometimes it can be tough, sometimes it flows in ways you wouldn't expect. People like to talk to buskers, sometimes to give a friendly 'Nice One', sometimes to give advice on how to not sound so terrible and sometimes just some good old fashion jibberish direct from planet crazy. One woman once came up to me and told me I needed strings on my guitar if I wanted to make anyone happy (my guitar obviously had strings already!), she then offered to show me how to play, trying to snatch my guitar off of me. When I refused the impromptu lessons on the instrument I've played for 15 years from a woman with leaves in her hair and at least one dodgy eye, the woman proceeded to shout at the top of her voice "Don't give this man any money, he hasn't got any strings".

Well, I couldn't busk this week, because it has rained every single day. The rain has varied in size, from super mega power shower, to marble sized hailstones, to that ninja rain that you aren't sure if it's actually raining or not and the only give away is how damp your face is. This has been a lovely long week of rain punctured with small bursts of the sun peeking through and saying 'Remember Me?'.

I remember you Sun, and I hope you will be out to play again soon.

Peace and infinite love

[adj] - Andy D Jackson

Autumn season 2012 - Countdown to the End

So friends,

Summer is almost done, I know we are all hoping for an extension on it, and if we are lucky then we may just get it. Regardless of the weather status, there will be much musical loveliness to wish away the hours to. There are literally thousands of awesome musically talented people making amazing music right this very second while you are procrastinating on the internet, how brilliant is that?

It's very brilliant is the answer, very, very brilliant.

I did a radio interview with my good friend Benjamin Stubbs on red shift radio back on the 13th of September. Here is the listen back link

The Midweek Uplift - 13th September 2012 - One World Special with Andy Jackson by Themidweekuplift on Mixcloud

So coming up this Autumn, expect some new songs from Donny Stax & [adj]'s third album for the year. We have quite a few, and most of them are pretty epic in their scale. We have been working on a slower more chilled out track as well though, it will hopefully be our strongest musical outing of the year, following on from our previous two albums.

We have been getting lots of radio play of late, which is doing wonders for our ego's and hopefully is paving the way for some bigger outings of musical splendour. Mr Stax has been doing some excellent work which is opening more door as you continue to procrastinate on my blog.

Also coming in the Autumn will be songs from my first electronica album 'Sounds for Drowning Robots', it will go out under my [adj] branding, even though it has no guitar or folky leanings. Here is a sample track from that upcoming record
And a video I made to go with it as well...
So the Autumn season will see more original musical exploits, just the same as the Summer and Spring did. Winning!

Also, lots of live appearances in the pipeline, expect to catch Donny Stax and a whole heap of other How Bout That Record's crew live shortly. I am also performing as part of Swingtech http://www.hypno-techarts.co.uk 

I have my very own performers page on there too :D

Peace and infinite love

[adj] - Andy D Jackson

So what you doing?

So friends,

What's going on with me I hear you not asking? Well, let me tell you...

I have been busking on the streets of Brighton for the last week, a full blog about that to come with picture and video evidence to back up my blogging claims. You can trust me, I couldn't afford any expensive green screen technology or any actors to come walk across it and make the expensive green screen all dirty so I would have to hand over more cash i don't have to get the damn thing cleaned!

Anyway, moving on... There are gigs in the pipeline, I've called an experienced plumber to come and dislodge them from the pipes, at which time I will inform you of the dates, until then, just know they are pipelined up. One of dem gigs is a circus :D Things are about to get wild people!

Mr Donny Stax and myself are still in the studio crafting our third album for the year, now we are aware that most musicians knock out one album every three years, but we wanted to do it the other way around, so three albums in one year it will be god damn it! We have about 8 tracks in some form already, and we will write a couple more, expect to see the album before the year is through, with some punchy radio singles to boot. We have continued to get radio play for some of our tunes, 'Separately' from our second album 'Free Music (Donate Now)' {which can be downloaded for FREE from http://howboutthatrecords.bandcamp.com/ } has been played by my good friend Ben Stubbs on his radioshow on redshiftradio a few times {Thanks Ben}. Winning!

So here is the complete soundcloud link for Donny Stax & [adj]'s 2012 exploits so far, have a listen and enjoy (if you so desire, if not, just skip past it, ignore it, don't press the purple play button of pure pleasure, don't, don't, don't press it, NO! Please, think of the childrens limbs!)
There will be more Donny Stax and [adj] to come very soon.

In the meantime, come and catch me busking in Brighton if you get the chance.

Now smile, life is awesome.

Peace and infinite love

[adj] - Andy D Jackson

Everything is OK (Surprise workshop with Danny Shine)

Hello friends,

So, while at One World this year in Reading, Abi and I got a surprise workshop exclusively for us with Danny Shine. Danny is the man behind the 'Everything is OK' series of street performance video's that are quite popular on youtube. His channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/spiritualentertainer and it is well worth a visit to see many of his funny and crazy video's.

Danny Shine has been a regular One Worlder for a while, and I remember him from 4 years ago (which was the last time I went to One World, before this year). It was an absolute pleasure to spend time with him this year, he is a very funny guy. He put on a workshop called 'Friends of Bill W', which began as a big performance piece in which Danny and Joao (the main guy running One World) switched identities. This was mainly done to confuse people, and it worked a treat, many people were utterly perplexed by it. Both Abi and I knew Danny enough to know that it was one elaborate ruse sent to screw with peoples minds, so we went along for the ride, knowing it would be worth it.

'Friends of Bill W' was about addiction, and the 12 step programme, which Bill W was the creator of. No one in the group present knew this, so we sat in a room all laughing confused at the situation as it unfolded. Once Danny revealed the purpose of the group, he invited us to leave, so Abi and I left.

On the last day of the festival, we met Danny on the main field in the afternoon. He was trying to drum up some people to go into Reading with him to make an 'Everything is OK' video. No one wanted to go, except for Abi and me. So into Danny's car we got and into Reading we drove. It was the funniest car journey I have ever been on, with Danny on top form, jokes flying left right and centre. We disobeyed the sat nav and went on an exciting round trip of Reading, before parking in the centre.

We exited the car park and walked up the road a tiny way, turning the corner and being right in front of Reading train station. Danny had his megaphone, I held his 'Everything is ok' sign, and Abi filmed the whole thing from across the pavement.

This is what happened....
After the Jesus brigade, Danny turned his attention to the suspicious yellow drinks being handed out
The camera ran out of juice, but the adventure didn't end there. A guy from the Mountain Dew company came over and started filming Danny, getting shirty with him and storming off back over to the giant radioactive looking van. We followed him across and had a discussion with the police that were standing there. Abi and I both got into the spirit of it and helped Danny question the police about the situation. The police kept staring at Abi and me, thinking we were filming them, or recording them, but we weren't. It was a powerful moment, and on the way back to One World, Danny dropped us off near the festival and shot off to another festival.

We got back to One World and quickly got ready for the cabaret ending to the whole thing. It was a crazy day, but one we won't ever forget.

Big props to Danny Shine for challenging convention.

Peace and infinite free radioactive drinks

[adj] - Andy D Jackson