Donny Stax & Mr. Jackson - Re:fine - available now!

So friends,

You can now get your virtual hands on a copy of the re:mastered, re:tweeked, re:twiddled first album by Donny Stax & Mr. Jackson which was originally called 'Fine', so the re:done version is called 'Re:fine' (get it?! How clever is that!, not very, but still, it's done now).

The re:done cover to Re:fine

With that overload of punctuation out of the way, we can delve into the record and find out some fun facts. Firstly, originally Mr. Jackson was known as [adj]. The original release of Fine had that as his name, but in the years that have passed since then it has become itunes policy to not accept square brackets in artist names, so to be able to even re:release this record the [adj] had to be changed, so Mr. Jackson it is now. Donny Stax has always been an acceptable name as far as itunes is concerned, so that didn't need to be changed.

The last time this album was released it had some skits scattered amongst the songs, they have been removed because they were silly. The re:issue contains only the songs.

The remastering process took a few months and was not overseen by Phil Collins.

So to tempt you into purchasing at least one copy of Donny Stax & Mr. Jackson Re:fine (from itunes, or amazon, or spotify, or where ever you like buying music) I present to you 'Live Up There' from the very record. This song is about going and living in space, also aliens and stuff, you know, the usual song themes.

When we released Fine the first time, this song was played on radio quite a few times, it never made us rich though, or famous, or indeed anything, it didn't even make us a cake or biscuit. With your help though (and money) it could one day.

Here is the amazon link Donny Stax & Mr. Jackson Re:fine
Here is the itunes link Donny Stax & Mr. Jackson Re:fine

So there you have it, re:fine. Get your copy now while download stocks last (they can run out apparently, or so my mate told me)

Spare canisters of air on standby,
Peace out
Mr. Jackson

So what happened to the time? (The gnomes stole it!)

So friends,

The time has come, or has it? How does time come? Isn't time always there, right by your side like a loyal dog ready to catch the stick? I don't know. Time seems to have many properties that make it the perfect subject for poetic examination, hence it's inclusion in almost all creative endeavours throughout human history. Some of the most fantastical pieces of art took lots of time to make, time was playing the long game on those ones, helping massage them into history, giving them a timeless quality.

Monkeys for hire, they protect you from time gnomes.

In fact, the more time that is invested into something, the more timeless it becomes. Or is that just stupid? It probably is, but only time can truly tell. Time is the holder of all the secrets and mysteries of the universe, and given some gentle persuasion we might be able to trick time into giving up some of it's vast wealth of knowledge. I wrote a song about time, it's on my record 'Tea in Paradise', you can buy it if you like, it would be a timeless gesture in this chaotic world (whatever that means) (( it's on itunes and amazon and spittlefy etc.))

Here is an acoustic video of 'Where's the Time?'. I recorded it at home with the sea waving behind me. I think a time gnome may have snuck in and stolen a few minutes, see what you recon.

So the time gnome theory. What is it?

Well inquisitive words, the 'Time Gnome' Theory, or, complete load of non-sense I'm about to write, to give it it's full title, goes into some deep quantum physicsal holes and comes out the other lemon. Time has no physical substance and cannot be manipulated through normal physical type means, but there are beings that CAN manipulate it as if it were a mouldable palpable thing, these are the Time Gnomes.

They might not be gnomes in the normal everyday garden variety way, they are more like inter-dimentional beings that we can't ever hope to understand, so stop even trying. There are several recorded cases of time being stolen from our dimension by these beings, often is it put down to simple things like excessive alcohol consumption, or a lack of good healthy naked sleep, but really it is the Time Gnomes coming in and stealing it from us.

This is a common 'time gnome' distraction technique,
Be Warned! He is stealing your time as you look at him.

These time gnomes can shift their size and time stealing capabilities, there have been sightings of times gnomes that stretch miles up into the sky and carefully pick time off of passing planes and helicopters (time is easiest to harvest when humans are distracted, and for some unknown reason, plane food is one of the preferred seasonings of the huge time gnomes). They also can be microscopic, capable of only stealing a fleeting second or two of your time, but this is enough to feed a family of tiny time gnomes for several weeks.

On a recent secret expedition to the mountains of Tibet, a Time Gnome cave storage room was discovered by a group of monks trekking through the mountains during a Lord of the Rings historical reenactment. The cave was said to contain almost 150 years worth of stollen time, the monks were able to bring almost a whole year back with them, but to this date no one has yet recovered anymore of the time. Unfortunately, the time required to go and retrieve the stollen time requires conversion into money, because as well as know, time equals money. This simple math reduces us to the paradox that the money we would invest, as well as fresh time, would cancel itself out eventually and make the whole thing pointless, so let's not do any of that.

So if you see something flickering in your sight, it could be one of them pesky time gnomes taking a minute or two away from you. Please pay attention.

This has been fun, plus I got to kill some time writing it. I tied the time up, gagged it and sat back to see if any gnomes would come and try and steal it. I think they must have snuck round the back of me because before I knew it I had lost a whole bunch of time.

Damn you time gnome-ingtons!!!!

Peace and infinite time
Mr. Jackson (Andy)

Fake Plastic Trees - Mr. Jackson acoustic summer part 1

Hello friends,

It is the summer, Horray! At last the summery times have come with the sun and the tanning can commence. Commence tanning... go...

So, I've been doing some acoustic recordings of songs from my summery record 'Tea in Paradise' (available on iTunes by the way, if you were interested), I shall release them shortly, across the summer times. To kick start it though, I thought I would add in one of my busking songs that I had not felt confident enough to record until now. So here to start the acoustic summer season, is me, Mr. Jackson, performing 'Fake Plastic Trees' acoustic style for you. The original song is by Radiohead and is one of my favourite songs of all time ever in the history of everness.

Coming up in part 2 will be a summery acoustic version of a track from my record 'Tea in Paradise' which I wrote and made with my body (mainly my fingers and voice). You can buy it if you like (I would really like it if you did). Just have a little amazon search for 'Tea in Paradise' by Mr. Jackson, you will be amazed what comes up!

This is the album cover to look out for when you are buying
your media online, tell them I sent you, they'll know what
that means, please buy a copy, you will be doing your bit,
it's sort of like a cheap 'get into heaven' free card if you
worship at the church of good music.

Also, once it's finnished processing, you will be able to purchase the remastered version of 'Fine' by Donny Stax & [adj]. I'll post the links when they are there.

Look out for time gnomes as well, they have been stealing peoples time while they aren't paying attention. I have witnessed it on several occasions now and I am worried that if we don't do something about it as a species, that we may lose all of our time to those cheeky gnomes. Be vigilant people, if the human/gnome time war begins, be ready to pick your side (I recommend picking the Human side, as the gnome side is mainly for gnomes and fairies and other creatures of the imaginative realm).

You are a fantastic person and I wish you all the best today and every day that follows.

Kisses

Andy Jackson (Mr. Jackson [adj])

The 2015 plan (and how it's coming along)

Hello friends,

We are already a nice chunk into 2015 (and if you are reading this in the future it is quite possible the whole year is long since finished and the ants were successful in taking over the planet, all hail the Ant overlords!) so it's time to share the plan.

Note to self :
Remember to breath.

If you have come here hoping for some insider information into the workings of the world, then you are in the wrong place, this is a big plan, but it's not a global conspiracy kind of plan, it bares little to no resemblance to any secret sinister cabals working in underground bunkers, and it contains very little information about the impending insect uprising. This is more of a personal plan of what I (Andy Jackson) will be doing this year.

Just to quickly bring anyone new here up to speed, this year has already been a cluster-crumpet of things happening (to me). The first part of the year has been mainly spent creating new material, which is still not in any state to share with the world, it's just taking a shower, then it's probably going to take a few months to get dressed and sort out it's make up before strutting out onto the world stage. Estimated time of arrival : August this year. More details to follow.

The other first part of this year has seen the release of my mini-album 'Tea in Paradise'
This is available to buy on iTunes, Amazon, Deezer and the like. You would be doing me such an honour if you bought a copy of it, and obviously you would be putting your money into an independent musical tributary rather then the main-stream (little water gag for you there, free of charge, unlike water).

There are 8 original songs on the record, including the massive hit single 'Otherwise' (it was a massive hit in an alternative dimension, trust me). It was all made independently by independent people (mainly me, and some production assistance from Mr. Donny Stax).

This leads me nicely onto my the next bit of the plan. Since 'TiP' is available I plan to release some acoustic busker versions of the songs, not all the songs (some can not be done acoustic), but there will be me and my red guitar versions of 'Take it Easier', 'Love Defined', 'Where's the Time?', 'Your Decision' and 'Fish Gotta Dream'. The title track 'Tea in Paradise' was written around an improvised organ piece so doesn't really translate well into a guitar song, and 'Otherwise' sounds really empty and boring on guitar (in my opinion, and since I'm the one recording them, I get to decide, so meeeh).

Coming up next month is the release of Donny Stax & [adj]'s remastered record 'Fine - Special Edition'. Originally released back in 2012, 'Fine' represents the forming of How Bout That Records and contains 12 original hip hop with a chorus guy tunes. Donny Stax and myself (under my artist name [adj] rather then Mr. Jackson) have used the skills we have picked up in the 3 years since making the record to go back in and tweek it up to a new level. More details in the upcoming weeks.

Right, I had better get back to practice and let you get on with your day, thanks for your time, love ya.

As a treat for being so nice and reading this far, here is an acoustic cover of Space Oddity by the amazing David Bowie.
Peace and infinite love
Mr. Jackson

Tea in Paradise available from all good online music stores (and some bad ones too)

Hello friends,

So, Tea in Paradise, the record by Mr. Jackson (that's me, the guy writing the blog) is available to buy from all good online music stores (and several bad online music stores too). I would love it if you bought a copy for yourself, and then get several more copies for your friends and family, also maybe get a couple of copies for your pets (the album has tested positive with most species of house pet, including but not limited to: cat, dog, bird, lizard, house monkey, albino snails, rodents (both wild and lab variety), and of course the tiny hippo).

So, with purchasing up to 25 copies in mind, here are the relevant links:

Itunes - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/tea-in-paradise/ - Itunes is the most famous place to get music from these days, or so I am told by this iphone that stalks me in my dreams. If you go to itunes and search for 'Tea in Paradise', it will come up, because it's there (i've seen it with my own nose).

Amazons - (link not available yet, it's coming apparently, or so the monkeys tell me)

Googles - GooglesTeainParadiselink don't forget, Google sees all you do, they know everything so we might as well just surrender and buy a copy of Tea in Paradise from them directly.

If you're a total Geezer and like to use Deezer then you need this link here http://www.deezer.com/album/10166304 - apparently it's album number 10166304, which is such a high number I don't even know how you say it, but I think it might be a lucky number in some cultures.

Tea in Paradise is also available in loads of other places, ones that you probably know more about then me, so next time you are browsing the spotification napmaster mp3land just give 'Tea in Paradise' a little purchase, every time you do a kitten is saved (it's some agreement thing going on, I can't really discuss it here).

So what are you getting for your hard earned dollar? Well my friend, you will be getting this:

 Tea in Paradise - by Mr. Jackson

This was the album I made last year, who am I? well, my name is Andy Jackson, and I make music, I've been doing it for a long time, this is a mini album (think midgets) I made last year. It has 8 songs on it, all of which I wroted myself using my brain and that.

I also made a video for the song 'Otherwise', it can be found later on in this very blog, be warned though, the video will entice you in further and may cause you to purchase as many as 300 copies of the record (it has been known).

So that itunes link you were looking for is right here by clicking the word here or there

also Tradio has a page of my music http://tradiio.com/mr-jackson-adj

Wow, so many links, so little time to buy so many copies of the same record, you had better get cracking. Thank you for your time.

Oh yeah, just quickly, I forgot to tell you that you are AMAZING and you need to remember that, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, they don't know anything, take it from this random blog by a busker with smelly feet.

Here is the 'Otherwise' video I promised you earlier, go buy a copy of Tea in Paradise, peace out.

Mr. Jackson
(more blogs about new things coming soon, I promise...love ya)

The genuine for real 'Tea in Paradise' cover - Album coming very soon

Hello friends,

First off, I am deeply sorry for having not posted much lately, it has been a time of much creative mulching, ideas have been bubbling away in a large metaphorical pot of imagination stew, it is smelling lovely, but it's not quite ready to be served.

In the meantime however, I am going to actually release the record I did last year 'Tea in Paradise'. Here is proof positive, the album cover!

If that isn't proof enough for you, then here is the back cover as well.

So, as you can see, there are 8 tracks. You can preview hear much of it right here on my reverbnation player thing.

Learn how to get your music heard at ReverbNation.com

I'm just ironing out the itunes process, working out who best to release with and all that maguffin, but it shouldn't take too long and then it will be available for everyone in the world to buy, which I am quite sure they will. It will probably crash the internet with how popular it's going to be when it arrives, I am expecting to top the world charts, probably even the galaxy charts, hell, if things go my way I could even win a universal music award (I've heard on the nap vine that I am a shoe in).

So prepare yourself for a world changing music event - Mr Jackson 'Tea in Paradise' coming to an internet near you (probably the one you are using right now)

Thanks for your time
Love you
Mr Jackson [adj]

5 Shocking facts that will change your life forever

Hello friends,

We all want meaning, something tangible to hang our experiences on, shocking revelations that will free us from our personal prisons, liberate us from our burdening questions and deliver us to some place  new, wiser and less prisony. You have come here for facts, shocking ones that will change your life forever... so here they are...

1. Truth is a lie

Anything you think is true, isn't. It just isn't true, you think it's true, but in reality all truth is merely a guess, filtered through a device, in this case, you. Human beings are tools to experience existence, and truth is relative to the tool experiencing it.

2. Nothing is real

That's right, none of it, not a single thing is real. Everything is the same, it's all energy spinning around, jiggling about, bumping into each other and creating further energy to join the dance. Our reality is motion that never stops moving. Reality is just another human truth/lie

3. You are usually right

Even when you are horribly wrong, you are usually right. You are always both wrong and right, there is no separation, both of these are just human truth/lies. Every decision we make is the right one, the outcome might not be favourable, but it will always be the way the energy intended to jiggle.

4. Pay attention more

This energy dance gives out lots of clues, like a giant complex puzzle waiting to be solved. Pay close attention, especially in the moments that you usually switch off, that's when the magic happens, when you aren't paying attention.

5. Don't pay attention to me

What do I know? Nothing, well, nothing really worth knowing. I'm just an explorer on this planet spinning around the sun, like you. Every second is filled with so much energy jiggling, and I can only observe a tiny fraction of it in one tiny section of this massive planet in this massive galaxy, what real knowledge could I ever amass from this minuscule vantage point? Nothing, that's what.

A sink, not an eye...

peace and infinite love
Andy

Still hibernating

Hello friends,

Quick message from hibernation, just to let you know that I am indeed still alive, just very very sleepy. I find winter to be the best time for quiet introspection, taking the time to check in with myself and make sure everything is working properly and all set for some adventures later in the year when it's warmer and less ice rainy.

I want to shift my creative focus somewhat this year, still making music but leaning more towards film making. It's been a long time since 'Otherwise' got painstakingly pulled into existence, and it turned out pretty good. It's time for further exploration of the form.

I want to one up myself this year, make better animated video's, and start to make some proper live action stuff too. Abi and I want a proper camera, a big fat juicy HD recording lovely film style camera to make big epic awesome film things. Also we want to start mixing the art forms together, it's all in it's early stages at the moment, it's all pre production behind the scenes style stuff right now, since we don't have the camera yet, but soon, soon my friends, there will be something new.

Until then though, it's still hibernation station, writing, preparing etc.

Also also, I have been working with Mr Donny Stax to remaster and restore the classic tracks we did together a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. How Bout That Records will re-release the 3 albums 'Fine', 'Free Music (Donate Now)' and 'Self Aware' with bonus tracks and goodies etc later this year. It's gonna be a big year (technically it will be the same size year as every other year that has gone before, but metaphorically it's going to be a BIG one).

Back in your hole birdy

So don't watch this space at the moment, nothing much is happening here, but in a few months it will be back up and kicking out the new videos and songs and who knows what (mainly the first two, it's hard to say much about the 'knows what' right now).

Peace and infinite love to you

Mr Jackson (Andy, [adj])

- now returning to nap mode.