Well what can I say?

Hello friends,

Nice to see you, have you been well? I hope so.

Here is another sneak peek cell from my upcoming animated video.

I am still in animation land, seems like I've taken up some kind of residence here, it's alright, not quite what I had dreamed it would be, but it's very colourful. I'm not ever doing this again, not for free anyway.

I have always loved drawing, it's not something I will ever win any awards for, and my art is probably in line with any first year college student with a box of crayons and an empty note pad of dreams. As a form of creative expression though, it is certainly a very therapeutic one. Every time I pick up a pencil and start converting a blank sheet of paper into something else I get this weird infinity connection. The very act of creating in such a fashion connects me in with every single instance of pen in hand creation that I have ever had in my life, right back to when I was a tiny youngling scribbling outside the lines of a picture of a harmless bear having tea with a harmless lion (my guess is, they were both heavily sedated and forced to pose for this childish outline abomination) all the way through to my final drawing of a clown on fire with worms for eyes that I will draw the day before I pass away many many years from now.

It is a peaceful feeling, unlike any other, which is probably why I love returning to it again and again through my creative adventure. When I write music, I mainly do it with pen and paper STILL, even in this digital age of smart toilet phones and talking maps. It's what works for me, and already makes me feel old even though I am only in my early thirties. The very fact I spelt out 30's there just goes to show how out of touch with the modern world I am. Still, the pen is mightier then the sword, except in a sword fight, then the pen don't stand a chance, unless it was a pen knife, the ultimate combination of pen and sword!

2013 has been the year of things taking much longer then they should, and now that we are nearing the end of it, I am ready for the next year which I am dubbing, the year where things happen much faster then expected. Patience is a virtue for sure, but next year it is all going to go off in a big way, I've upgraded my pen to the modern penknife and am ready to stab this metaphor till it bleeds in rhyme almost all of the time...that's fine.

The video will be finished in a couple of weeks, for realsies, I promise. Then I will release it and get back on with being an adventuring creative, rather then an animating creative, which is kinda the same thing but much much slower, like a snail version of a creative.

Here's some music for you, enjoy :)

Learn how to get your music heard at ReverbNation.com

Peace and infinite love

Andy, Mr Jackson, [adj]

Doh! - Best laid mice scuppered

Hello friends,

A couple of months ago I thought, hey, wouldn't it be fun to make some kind of scrapbook animated video.

Well, it's ended up feeling more like work then fun. I do enjoy having a bit of drawing time, sure, it's fun to hold your pencil and scribble one out sat at the table. It's even fun to do some colouring, you know, like you once did all the time as a kid. It's the logistics of making some kind of animation that has proved to be the 'work' element to which I previously alluded. I wouldn't mind so much if I had more time to sit around and deal with the annoying technology.

Actually that's not fair, it's not the technologies fault, it wasn't built to take such a beating. Using home grade hardware to scan imagery over and over and over and over again, without so much as a bulb break or chance to stretch it's metaphorical legs, is going to inevitably lead to some kind of meltdown. It's like an office worker being overloaded with responsibility being forced to take on yet another analogy and crumbling under the weight of the metaphorical mess he or she finds themselves in.

What I'm telling you here, is that my scanner has gone to the dogs, put a bet on, and lost a whole heap of money. It's currently being hunted for unpaid loans by some rather shady looking characters who seem like they fell out of a Coen brothers remake of a 1930's broadway musical. I can't do any scanning for now...I have quite literally gone back to the drawing board.

This problem shall be resolved, and I appreciate all the letters you guys have been sending me about how devastated you've been by the loss of the simple pleasure of handwriting a letter to someone. I don't want to rain on anyones parade, but emails are better.

The video will be with you soon, and I also endeavour to update the blog much more frequently once the video isn't sucking up all my free time.

Here is another still from it. The song is still called 'Otherwise', and you can still hear it for free on this very blog, on the last post I did about how long this video is taking. Click here

Peace and infinite love to you all

Andy Jackson (Mr Jackson, [adj], Products of Monkey Love)  

'Otherwise' update and general goings ons and suchiness

Hello friends,

I'm sure you already know this, but just in case you haven't yet been made privy to the exciting information about the release of the How Bout That Records mixtape, then let me be the one to enlighten you to it's existence and Free download-ability. Just click the link below and download it for whatever price you like, including the limited time offer of 'Nothing'.

http://donnystax.bandcamp.com/album/how-bout-that-the-collective-mixtape-part-1

You should get it soon, because when I become mega famous it won't be free, it will cost you several thousand future dollars, and you will need it to complete your future collection of my material. Trust me, I'm not a doctor.

On a purely ego centric note, you will find a total of 10 songs on the mixtape, including 3 which include me in conclusively. Track 2 'Otherwise' is me doing my solo thing (more to come on this song later in this thrilling blog), Track 4 'OK Chaos' with Donny Stax and Truth, and Track 10 'We Survived the End of the World' with Donny Stax. I provided guitar duty on 4 and 10 as well, getting all picky and plucky on the fret board of love.

So if you avoided clicking that link above earlier, I offer you another opportunity to get these 3 songs, as well as 7 others for FREE by simply clicking the word squabble-knockers

Right, back to business. I have been busy, pretty busy for a lazy monkey such as myself. I have been making an animated video to go along with the aforementioned song 'Otherwise'. The music for the song was made with a little keyboard by me while I sat on my bed eating chocolate and drinking tea.
I have had help making the video by Abi and Mel, the dream artist team. It looks sweetly awesome, but it taking a loooooooooong time to do. I thought it might take some time, but it's taking some more, quite a bit more in fact, probably more then it should, it's being very greedy with my time. Naughty video, on your rug!

Here are a couple of still images from the process just to prove to you that I haven't just been sitting on my toosh doing sweet nothings with my time.

The song is available already to listen to, as previously mentioned in this here very blog right here. But if you are too lazy to click a simple word such as squabble-knockers then maybe you could click the little play button below instead.

Upload your music for free at ReverbNation.com

Give me a few more weeks and it will be finished, I promise (to myself more then you). I will have new exciting music and other creative exploits for you all very soon. Thanks for being patient, it will be worth all the waiting.

Peace and infinite love

Mr Jackson (Andy, [adj], poml, Vocalizer etc)

Good News everyone! A special weekend is approaching

Firstly, hello my lovely friends,

You are amazing, probably one of the best human beings alive in my humble opinion. I really love you for being you, keep it up, excellent work so far :)

Right, onto the actual Good News (as mentioned in the title of this here bloggington), on Saturday the 7th of September 2013 the little label 'How Bout That Records' will be releasing it's very first collective mixtape. ''What's a collective mixtape?'' I hear someone asking (probably not you reading this, someone else, in another room or something), well, a collective mixtape is a free to download ''collection'' of songs by the artists working under a label banner, in the case of the particular mixtape that this blog is in existence for, the aforementioned 'label' is 'How Bout That Records' and the 'artists' are the people who made the music and that. So it's like a compilation, you know, like the best songs of the month from around the world, except these songs all come from around the road, rather then the aforementioned 'world'. (I've got a bet on that I can slip the word 'aforementioned' into a single blog 7 times without anyone noticing, I'm doing alright so far, got it in twice...thank god no one ever reads the bits I put in brackets)

The artists that are gracing the aforementioned collective mixtape are : Donny Stax, Achille, Lil Blak, Jovivva, Rhys Christian, Kagey-Constance & me (Mr Jackson, formally [adj], or Andy Jackson if you like, just call me whatever the frack you like) with special guest appearances from DGAFM's Truth and Jipsy Magic's Mace. There you go, lots of names for you to remember, I expect you to know them all intimately by the time I release my next blog. There will be a test.

So, this mixtape contains my first solo effort of the year, I am currently beavering away on stuff in the background, but now I get to show you some of my work. I'm excited, I've got goosebumps thinking about it. My solo tune is called 'Otherwise', and I am currently deep in the (very slow) process of making a video for the aforementioned song. Here is the opening still to prove it (I wouldn't lie to you, I haven't lied to you once...except for the goosebumps bit, I didn't really have them)

See, there is no way I could have mocked that up in a couple of minutes, none at all. The video will be along as soon as we get it finished, it will be here first in this very blog (well, NOT this blog obviously, another instalment of this blog, stop taking me so literally okay!). You will be able to hear the song on Saturday the 7th of September, unless you are reading this after the aforementioned release date in which case, you can listen to it now, if you want. You might as well, you managed to read this far down my stupid waffle.

I'm also present on two other songs on the aforementioned mixtape, 'Ok Chaos' with Truth and Donny Stax, and 'We Survived the End of the World' with Donny Stax. Time to get excited, if you weren't already.

Now take a deep breath and give someone a hug. Make sure it's a big one, the aforementioned hug.

Peace and infinite love

Andy Jackson

Coming soon in a big way - out of the superhuman closet

Hello friends,

I've been doing a lot of waiting recently, waiting for things to happen. I'm done with that now, I'm changing my attitude from waiting to doing. I'm going to be doing a lot of doing from now on. I think there has been some fear holding me back from my doings, fear of my dreams coming true. I have big dreams, always have had them. Even when I was a youngling darting around the playground like an ecstasy fuelled raver with ADHD (Advanced Dream Handling Device), I dreamt BIG.

(Flashback to me as a kid) - I was Magic Andrew. I had powers beyond the wildest of dreams. I could fold space, travel through time, shoot energy beams out of my hands (or plastic sword, accessories permitting of course), create anything out of nothing, read minds, read feelings, know the future and most importantly I was the master of my own universe. I had to save my brother many a time from the clutches of monsters from other dimensions (he was like a Dr. Who assistant, always in danger!). No matter the perils I would always prevail and save the day. I was a kid, it was my duty to do so.

(Flashforward to me now) - I am still Magic Andrew, but now, I have to keep my powers secret, so secret in fact that even I have forgotten about them. I no longer fold space or time travel just for my own amusement, I've given up the energy beams and matter manipulation. I still have these powers, but like any superhuman I have to keep it a secret, for the world is still not yet ready to be full of superhumans, it would most likely cause an X-Men style mega catastrophe in which humans try to wipe out superhumans before they get too supery.

Or...maybe that's the fear that holds me back. The fear of something bad happening. It's all over the internet and the news, bad stuff is happening all over the place all the time, some of it to celebrities! I don't want to come out of the superhuman closet for fear of what other humans might think, how I may be judged. But ultimately it is only me sitting in judgement of myself. Gotta hold it all back, just in case.

Well I am now saying 'screw you' to the fear, Out of the closet I jump, with my head held high and my proudest boots on. I am the master of my universe, and you are a beautiful expression of being within my universe. I am an expression within your universe too, the fact you are reading this right now makes that so. I am eternally grateful that our universes have met, that we have achieved one of the highest achievement known within this collected universe - a connection. We have a connection, and that bond propels us both into new areas of existence and coexistence. In the case of this blog it is probably only a small connection, but from small seeds come the biggest of trees. Who knows what our connection could blossom in to, one day down the line we could both be sitting either side of our very own universal tree.

If you know me personally then it is much more likely that such a connection could occur, we stand a better chance then, our connection tree is already on the way, growing, strengthening, becoming a metaphor to recon with. If you are someone that doesn't know me personally then don't worry, we have a connection too, and it is possible to grow it into something special.

There are over 7 billion universes on our very planet, at that's just the human ones, each human with their very own infinite universe of possibilities, playing out an infinite amount of scenarios and exchanges.

I appear to have gone off topic, what was it that I was writing about? Hold on, let me re-read this thing...Oh yeah, dreams.

Dreams, big dreams. My universe if full of them, and they are all coming true right now, slowly and at the right time for me to process and experience them. You get to be involved too, I can't contain it any longer. The wait is almost over.

I have a couple of new singles coming out next month, both of them will have video's to go with them. One is called 'OK Chaos' and features the stylings of Donny Stax and Truth, the other is called 'Otherwise'. They are both present on the upcoming 'How Bout That Records Mixtape' which features all the artists from our small independent record label (which is called 'How Bout That Records' for anyone who hadn't worked that out from the title of the mixtape).

That was all I came here to say really, thanks for your time, you are a beautiful expression of existence, keep it up, you are what is right with this world.

Peace and infinite love
the rambling Mr Jackson

In the pipelines...

Hello friends,

It has been quite a while since I blogged, and I have my reasons, many varied reasons. The main one of these varied reasons in that I haven't got anything new to share with you, and I am not one for blogging for the sake of it. I usually have a new video, or song, or something, that I can embed in the blog to make it an interactive experience of some kind, but right now, all my new creative materials are 'in the pipeline'.

The pipeline is this magical creative place where adventuring creatives such as myself like to construct material. I don't know why we do it in a pipe, I guess it has good acoustics and a steady supply of caffeinated beverages. It's also a really big pipe, so that my friends and I can all fit in there with our instruments and what not. So, right now, I am in the big old creative pipe doing creative like things.

There is also room in the pipe for practicing. I have been doing lots of that too. I could be gigging or performing somewhere to some audience or other, but instead I am in the pipe practicing. There are gigs coming up, for one thing, I shall be performing at the One World festival in Reading on the 13th of August, as well as DJ'ing and ting and stuff and all thatness.

In this pipe I am also working on an album with my good friend Ashley 'Cito' Carter from DGAFM. It's based around the folk style songs I wrote whilst travelling around the Netherlands back in 2011, plus there are a handful of new songs in there as well. Can't wait to share that with the world. It will be a proper proper album for sure, with loads of musicality all over it's face. Watch this blogging space for further updates as the process continues.

Things have been pretty draining of the last few months, this being "alive" malarky can get quite tiresome after a while. I have been working since the beginning of the year, and it should have come to an end by now, but instead it has been extended into the foreseeable future. I am just praying to any entity that will listen now, I need out of this and on the road to success please, sooner rather then later.

The How Bout That Records Mixtape is scheduled for a September release, and I have a couple of solo tunes of that beast, as well as some sweet collaborations with the likes of Mr Donny Stax & Mr Truth, watch this space for more info on that too...


Here's Truths now video...check it out, it's awesomeness :)

Peace and infinite love

Mr Jackson

Nobody Does It Better - lazy online busking part 6

Hello friendlings,

Continuing on with the lazy online busking, here is 'Nobody Does It Better'. The original song was composed by Marvin Hamlisch with a lyric by Carole Bayer Sager, made famous by Carly Simon as the theme song for the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.
This is my acoustic cover of it


I hope you have been enjoying my lazy busking series, it's been easy to make, and pretty lazy of me really. In my defence though, I am busy working on other musical, less lazy, projects. Expect plenty of new material soon.

You can catch me singing and musicing over on Donny Stax's album 'Wasted' with a whole bunch of my other musical buddies, including the almighty Jipsy Magic and the awesomeness that is Truth, as well as many many more.
Here is the link to hear it all over on the How Bout That Records blog http://howboutthatrecords.blogspot.co.uk/

Peace and infinite love to you all

Mr Jackson