As a freelance journalist I sometimes get the chance to meet interesting people. One such instance was a week or so ago when I met up with Andy Lewis, a musician currently playing in the Paul Weller band. He was a very nice chap and interviewing him was doddle. Afterwards he kindly talked to Mr Weller who allowed me to stay and watch their rehearsals for a new world tour.
I remember thinking on my way to the studio that morning, while listening to Weller's last album '22 Dreams', that at 51 years old he'd probably not be able to perform songs like 'Eton Rifles' 'Town Called Malice' and all the other high energy Jam songs with anything like the fury of his youth. Instead maybe the concert would be a more mature, laid back affair. As I settled onto the top of a large flightcase to watch the rehearsal the band struck up and to my great surprise this aging star leap straight into his stage show with full commitment and vigor, outshining all the younger fellas around him.
What was even more surprising was that this was the first song of the first rehearsal. No warming up, or feeling his way into the morning, instead BANG! you're off! For the rest of the set that I saw before they broke for lunch Weller was driving the band on, throwing himself into every word and chord, determined to wring the most from each song. What he must be like onstage with adrenalin pumping and a crowd cheering him on would be something to behold.
Then it struck me. He's a professional. Sure he's been playing for years and has earned his place in the hall of fame, but this is what he does. Therefore he does it to the best of his abilities. Maybe that's the difference between the likes of him, a legend, and some of these new bands coming along who play scrappy sets, sing out of tune, and then head off to party some more. They're in it for the ride. But when you see someone like Weller in action you realise he's in it because it matters.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
It's a long way to the top...
Monday, 9 March 2009
Playing with purpose
My wife comes from an outdoorsy family who like nothing more than to go for strolls in the countryside. When they cheerfully invite me along my initial thought is always the same 'Well, where are you walking to?' You see I've never gotten the whole walking for the sake of it thing, it's just a means of getting somewhere rather than an activity in its own right.
Now I realise this might make me sound a bit of a curmudgeon, but I'm really greatly appreciative of nature. Sitting by the sea, hearing the gentle lapping of waves is a pleasure I partake of far too infrequently for my liking. I'm also fascinated by animals and even served as a volunteer keeper at London Zoo for a spell, enjoying the experience immensely. So if the natural world isn't the problem what is?
As a journalist most of my working month revolves around finishing articles before deadlines. I've found this to be an excellent way to motivate myself and haven't missed one in nearly 4 years of professional writing (mainly because as a freelancer you lose your job if you do!). But a disturbing pattern has started to emerge. On months when I haven't yet been allocated work, and therefore no deadlines, I find myself strangely unproductive. It's not that I have nothing to do, quite the opposite, but just a lack of drive to actually get it done.
I started to look at my life in general and noticed that most of my leisure activities involved some kind of goal that could be achieved. Books could be finished, guitar parts mastered, video games had levels to complete, even twittering and podcasting had statistics that let me know how many people listened or replied. Has my life really become a case of word-counts, time scales, and achievable targets?
I took my daughter to a toddlers playtime at our church last week and as I sat and watched Holly play I saw a game emerge between her and a friend of hers called Louis. He would go and sit on a step, she would go sit next to him, then he would move to another step and she would follow, both laughing as they did it. They repeated the game for about 10 minutes, obviously enjoying it very much indeed. I laughed at how cute but pointless the whole thing was, but since then it's stuck in my mind. The point of them playing was just to have fun, not to actually get anywhere, score any points, or arrive at a deeper understanding of the nature of humanity. It made them laugh and that made it worthwhile. It struck me that maybe somewhere along the way I'd simply forgotten how to play.
In amongst the busyness of working, looking after a family, and pursuing personal ambitions such as music, writing and podcasting, I seem to have stopped having fun. Now I'm not moaning, my life is wonderful and I thank God for it on a regular basis, but I think it might be time to adjust some of my attitudes and reinstate some lost old values. I can't remember the last time I danced with passion, or simply sat down to listen to a piece of music just for the sake of enjoyment. It seems obvious all of a sudden that I've packed my life with so many things to achieve, that I've never got time to do anything. So I've decided to change that today. Fun is back on the menu, and for no other reason than the simple fact that it's fun. The clue's in the name.
I'm off out for a walk now, don't know where. Do you want to come along?
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
High Street Blues
It seems you can't open a newspaper these days without hysterical headlines about the impending financial apocalypse. Jobs are being lost daily, businesses in dire straits, with the retail industry in particular facing the brunt of it. You'd think then that high street shops would be working extremely hard to ensure they don't lose customers to the harlot temptress that is the internet, using the time honoured skills of customer service, expert knowledge, and the occasional cup of tea. Sadly, at least in my recent experience, this is not the case.
Last week I journeyed up to London's West End in search of a cheap and cheerful acoustic guitar. Denmark street is famous for its wall-to-wall musical instrument shops so it seemed the logical place to go. In the first shop I found what I was looking for. A budget brand guitar for £119 that played well and sounded half decent. After testing it out for 5-10 minutes I was convinced that this would do splendidly, but there was one problem. The man who ran the shop had been quite moody with me, and gave the distinct impression that I was a bit of an inconvenience. I could understand this if there had been a horde of customers waiting to try £1000+ instruments which they eagerly wanted to buy, but this was a Tuesday afternoon and in the entire time I'd been in the shop no-one else had come in. I was torn, the guitar was what I wanted, but I didn't want to give this guy my money. In the end I decided to go with my heart and left him and his guitar to their own solitary devices.
I went next door and what did I see? The same model of guitar but going for £30 more. I quickly asked the shopkeeper if he price-matched, he said he did, overjoyed I told him how much it was going for next door and he kindly offered me a price that was £10 more than that! Now, I don't know about you but to me that's not quite price-matching. More, price-nearing. Already annoyed at the first guy I thought sod it, walked out and went home, only to find the same guitar online for less than the both of them.
The problem for me is this. I went to these shops specifically because I know that they're struggling. I wanted to support them, do my bit to make sure they continue to trade because in the end it's just really nice to go and try a product before you buy it. Something the internet can't offer you. Instead of the welcoming environment all I got was an attitude that pushed me away. If the first fella had been friendly, hell even polite, I would have flashed the plastic and been away with a shiny new guitar. If the second guy hadn't so openly tried to penny-pinch me I'd have happily bought from him. So the real question this poses is - 'If I'm trying to buy from them and they treat me like this how are the more casual buyers going to react?' What possible motive can there be to buy from people who can't even be bothered to try and act professional, and whose goods are more expensive than a rival who will deliver them to your house?
Napoleon once called Britain a 'nation of shopkeepers', the way it's going I think we're more likely to become a nation of postmen, delivering happiness in boxes marked Amazon. Maybe we have been conquered after all....
Monday, 10 March 2008
And the award goes to...
While researching an article on Sci-Fi awards recently I discovered some rather unusual facts. It seems that large awards like the HUGO, NEBULA, ARTHUR C CLARKE, or even LOCUS, have little or no effect at all on the sale of books in the UK.
Publishers said that due to the Sci-Fi/Fantasy market's niche appeal, most of the buyers were already aware of which books were good or not and had already read them before the awards were handed out. The only real gain from a publishing point of view was that award winning books were easier to sell into other countries, making the potential worldwide audience for the author larger.
They did say that from an author's point of view winning an award acted as a great compliment and encouragement, which in itself could be a better prize than a few more sales. But the whole thing got me wondering.
When Oprah Winfrey chooses a book for her 'Book Club' you can pretty much chalk up an additional 1 or 2 million extra sales. Over here in the UK daytime chatshow hosts 'Richard and Judy' have copied the idea and also now have the power to turn a novel into a bestseller. Is it just the nature of having a popular TV show promoting a book, or are their audiences more easily lead when it comes to choosing reading material?
If, apparently, no-one in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy world has the power to 'make' an author via recommendation, is that because we (as SFF fans) are more informed and aware of the marketplace? Or are we locked into certain sub-genres with little interest to read outside of the authors we already know?
I know in the last year I've decided to catch up on classic Sci-Fi from the 50/60/70s which has opened me up to books that I've previously thought 'old fashioned'. The result has been a revelation, and I'm enjoying reading again for the first time in a few years. It makes me think that maybe I've been too rigid in what I've looked for in the past. Even the podiobooks I've been listening to recently are mainly sci-fi/tech based, with fantasy not appealing that much even though I've loved ones that I've read.
Am I getting old and predictable? Oprah once said that a friend of hers bought her a Pulitzer prize winning book for her birthday each year - no matter what it was, and Oprah found them to be consistently excellent. Maybe I should start picking up the Hugo and Nebula winners - regardless of what they are, and move outside of my self-imposed confines.
Comfort zones can also be intellectual prisons - albeit with comfy surroundings and fine Tea on offer.
Life on a page....
As is quite often the case, I received a link this week from one of our 'Tribe' on Twitter. On opening it I found a deadly website that will no doubt now eat up most of the time I should be writing or working on new songs for the upcoming album.
The site in question was www.bitstrips.com and allows you to make up comic strips quickly and easily. I've already knocked up a couple, as have other members of the tribe, and spend rather too much time now thinking up others.
Still, it's not like I had much to do anyway right?
Here's a sample of the kind of thing we're doing. If you like it why not come along, we all need a good laugh.
Thursday, 7 February 2008
A right royal mashup!
One of the joys of being a freelance journalist is getting to explore subjects that might never have crossed my path unless I'd had to report on them. The latest of these experiences happened recently when one of my editors asked me to investigate 'mashup' websites.
Now, I'd heard the term used about a type of mixing that urban DJs used, but websites?
It turns out that mashups were simply sites that combined features of other sites to form a hybrid. They mainly seem to involve Google Maps, but a bit of searching revealed some very useful and unusual ideas. One of my favourites was Flickrvision, which has since become a place to go when I need to relax and think. Here's a brief description.
Flickrvision - http://flickrvision.com
This fascinating site mixes Google maps with Flickr to form a real-time guide to the photos people are posting from all around the world. You can't do anything other than watch, so it performs like a screen-saver really, but the unusual mix of photos and locations makes it absolutely mesmerizing.
Where else would you see a Greek family eating lunch, followed by a Colombian salsa class, and a woman taking an axe to a teddy bear?
The world is a strange and interesting place....let's watch.
Sunday, 3 February 2008
The Small, Quiet Voice in the Dark.
A little over a year ago I developed a series of debilitating headaches that were diagnosed as 'Chronic Daily Headaches' - a condition similar to migraine. They came on a daily basis, hence the name, and required me to retire to a darkened room and wait for them to leave, which could take several hours. During this time reading was impossible, as was work, and playing with my two young children (thank God for my wife Naomi who shouldered this heavy burden with amazing patience and grace).
To fill up the hours spent in the darkness, as I was rarely able to sleep, I turned to podcast novels. The idea of being able to 'read' made me feel less desolate about the hours that were being wasted. Soon after making my way through Scott Sigler's 'Ancestor' I moved hungrily onto the '7th Son' trilogy by JC Hutchins and found that the spoken word, as opposed to music, eased my headaches and helped me to focus on characters and plots rather than the pain.
With a mixture of drugs, osteopathy, pilates, gym work, and prayer, the headaches are more under control now. although sadly still a problem, but the addiction to podcasts has only increased. I'd like thank those voices that helped carry me through the darkest part of the illness and the ones that continue to pick up the pieces now when the headaches rear. To Scott, Hutch, Mur, Tee, PG, Nathan, Seth, and all the others I will no doubt listen too in the future, a big thank you.
Also to Evo and the guys at www.podiobooks.com, not to mention Steve Eley over at Escapepod, the service you provide is of immense value to people like me. Gathering all these fantastic authors together in one place and then distributing their work for free has opened up the podosphere to me and blessed me immensely.
To see people like Scott and Hutch sign book deals at the end of the year was really special, and I firmly believe only the beginning. So please, will you raise your glasses and be upstanding for the magic that is podiobooks! Hip hip Horray!
