Taking Five

"You've got a lot of gear there," said the dour-looking man who'd just stepped out of the pub to smoke a cigarette in the rain, watching me unload the car.

"That's the problem with being a drummer," I explained. "We're rehearsing here tonight."

"How many in the band, if you don't mind me asking?" he said.

"Five."

He thought for a moment.

"Dave Clark Five," he said, his face smiling broadly, almost laughing. "You probably don't remember them."

"Yes, I remember them," I said, also smiling.

"Bits and Pieces, eh?" he grinned, doing a passable imitation of Dave Clark's drumming style.

"Yes, Bits and Pieces," I nodded.

"Have a good one tonight!" he said.

And we did.

Like A Bestseller?

The final rewriting and tweaking of my novel Like A Flower is now done. It would have been done sooner but a lot of life got in the way.

Now it's just a question of agents and publishers fighting over the rights to it... Well, not quite. More a case of my doing everything I can to get one of them to see that it's worth all the work that has gone into it.

I'm already indebted to my friend, colleague and published author Matt Rudd who made some great suggestions about the book and how to sell it. And to a number of other journalists who have given me promising contacts.

And if you're an agent/publisher... Like A Flower is a page-turning thriller about life, death, love... and gardening...

Summer Affective Disorder

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is usually thought of in terms of the dreadful, dark days of winter.

It now seems just as applicable to the dreadful, dark and rain-sodden days of the British summer. In short, just about everyone who is stuck here is miserable.

SAD mainly brings people down because they don't get any sunlight. It was bad enough when Britain was sunless for four or five months between October and March. Now Britain seems to be becoming a permanently sun-free zone.

Festivals are cancelled, roads are closed, people aren't going out... And as a result, the economic gloom just gets gloomier...

Time for a sun dance?

Austral Whacks

Drummers are always on the lookout for new sounds. One of the world’s oldest types of drum enlivened the Henley Festival at the weekend — and was completely new to me. An ensemble of Torres Strait Islanders played their “warups” to accompany the dancing of the Purple Spider Dance Group (above).

The Purple people were not only dancing for the first time in the UK, but for the first time outside their homeland.

The Torres Strait Islands are between Australia and Papua New Guinea, and are part of Queensland; their people have a culture that is relatively untouched by outside influence.

And their drums, one of which I was honoured to have a go on, had a wonderful power. About four feet long and fashioned from a hollow log, the drums are topped off with an interesting head — made from iguana skin. Not something you can get down the Charing Cross Road. 

But the really eccentric and clever bit is the fact that blobs of beeswax are fixed to the centre of the head to give an extra resonance and vibration — a bit like an antipodean snare drum.

I did have misgivings about whacking a waxed iguana... but it’s a hell of a sound.

Young, Gifted And Jazzers...

Policeman have been looking younger for quite a while. But when you start finding jazz singers looking younger... 

A few days ago, I was playing in a band backing the amazing Ceri Wood (above) who looks so young but sounds so full of experience and deep emotion.

And three days later, at a Sound Connections networking event for musicians and music teachers, I met Vilija Leitanaite (below) whose youthful appearance belies her feel for the music.

So are jazz singers getting younger? Or am I getting older? Both, I fear...

A Particular Waste?

That's very good news about the Higgs Boson particle, isn't it? Even more exciting than the human genome project was perhaps. And what momentous changes do these remarkable achievements in unpicking the fabric of life bring to the daily activities of humanity?

Is it churlish to suggest none at all? As with so many human pursuits, aren't we in danger of exploring and escaping down the back alleys of knowledge, entertainment and ambition and missing the big picture of actuality?

Looking unwaveringly at our selfishness, greed and fear might change something. But it's easier to find a Higgs Boson...

On Tooting Broadway

Remember festivals? They were free and they used to be about music, peace and love, right? Well, only for about five minutes or so in the 1960s. After that they became businesses just like every other business. The ticket prices got higher. And so did the fences.

Tootstock is a (very small) festival which has just been staged in Tooting, south London, for the seventh time. There was free entry, free parking and free food. The only thing you had to pay for was your drinks. And there were nine bands, all playing for free.

I've been involved in this event from the beginning, and despite the fact that it can drain the last bit of energy from you, it can also give you the highest highs, especially when people of all ages from all walks of music get together and sincerely enjoy each other's playing and each other's company.

We had a capacity audience this year and a truly warm atmosphere that was definitely something to do with peace and love.

Tootstock doesn't make money. But it makes magic.