It's not often

you get the listen to a concert of a twelve string guitar and nothing else.

On the day her album

came out she invited us all down to Rough Trade in Talbot Rd. for a bit of a concert. 

Chalk Farm folk

with Sam River 

Mahoney and the Moment (no idea whether she is Mahoney or the moment)

and Bernard Hoskin

Ghost music

 released their debut ghost album and presented in Rough Trade (Brick Lane branch)

and Charlotte Campbell hosted the songwriters circle with Fayre (amongst others).  

Arrows of Love

were wildly 

flying 

 through

space.

Girls to the front

 This time Miri 

 RoseRed and the Butterflies 

 Emma McGrath

 Megan O'Neill

 Jess Morgan

and Zoe Konez made it all the way to the front. 

I wish I could have put it better myself

We are just two lost souls

swimming in a fish bowl

year after year

Running over the same old ground

what have we found?

The same old fears

(Pink Floyd, Wish you were here)

And sometimes you blink, and the bowl turns into something else. Sometimes it turns into a puddle in the middle of the living room floor. Sometimes in turns into a frozen pond behind a small wooden hut overlooking the fjords. Sometimes it turns into a London telephone box. But whatever it turns into you are trapped. You are covering the same old ground, staring the same old fears in the black soulless eyes. 

So the best thing to do is grab a camera and go searching for souls, hoping one of them will show you the small crack in the fish bowl, and maybe, just maybe, it will b big enough for you to make your escape . 

She was the entertainer

of the band.

Solitude in North Kensington

I was half asleep as I heard the wood gently crackling in the fire

 dreaming about the stories my grandfather used to tell me at bedtime

about the adventures he and his two best friends used to have while camping in the desert

telling each other stories and laughing in the good old times, in a century long gone

I opened my left eye as I smelt plastic and rubber burning

for a moment I thought I was 14 once again, back in the camp in Lebanon

where we burnt old tyres and our plastic toys - that we loved so dearly only a month ago 

but suddenly felt no need for - to keep that little warmth escaping our bruised bones

I opened both of my eyes as the thick grey smoke came rolling through the windows 

that I always leave open during the warm London summer,nights

letting in the fresh air and the lively sounds of a town 23 floors below

reminding me of everything I left in a world so far away, in a century long gone

I heard someone in the distance yell:Help! Water! Water! 

and I thought I must be dreaming all this smoke and crackling fire 

I was back underneath the rubber dinghy that had just capsized

with 79 people on board, 75 of whom were in the water for their first and last time 

I leaped out of bed when I saw the fire flash underneath my bedroom door

I opened the door, fleeing for my life once again, leaving everything behind as I did years ago

I rushed from the flat and hit the stairs drowning in smoke, a clear memory of the bombs and fire 

and people screaming, sirens waling, from a time long gone rushing through my head 

The last in the line of survivors in my family, 

this time I woke up to catch my death. 

This is a story from a notebook full of started stories and semi-finished poems linked to that day, that I constantly carry around with me and none of which I seem to be able to finish. After long months I decided to post this excerpt here, just to put at least something from the little black notebook out there. As the walks, everything in the notebook is in remembrance of the people who perished during that night.

I seem to be going

to quite a lot of these singer/songwriter evenings. This time I saw four friends, who if I got it right, are all studying songwriting at uni (now there is a course I would love to do). Nata (from Moldova of all places) started off the evening for us

and Conor Riley followed her.

Leah Bryant was the first act of the second half of the evening and the only one of the night I have seen before

And Richard Fairlie brought the evening to an end. 

The Waiting Room

in Stoke Newington (now there is a part of London I haven't been since summer, and it was my first time in the Waiting Room). But I was invited or rather called to do a favour and come and see a few bands or performers there on this Wednesday night. First off was Harry Strange (who isn't really strange, even though he does think that Ed Sheeran has ruined it for all ginger singer songwriters playing the guitar (hence the keyboards))

  Then came Up down go machine, which was the only real band of the night (I mean, you know, like all the instruments and stuff), but the bass player found it a bit hard to keep awake during the concert (I know, I bet he is so good that playing a middle of the road bass line is just not good enough for him - so please lads give him the chance to come up with a totally awesome bass solo, he might remain awake throughout the gig if you do)

 And the evening was brought to an end by Gecko, who I enjoyed the most (even though this was the second time I have seen him this year - and it is only 10th January). He has fun lyrics and he likes interacting with the public and keeps you entertained throughout - but hey you will need to think of some new jokes for all those peeps who will come to more of your shows.

Starting the new year the way I hope to continue it

With live music of course (well I do also really really miss performances of all kind as I haven't done a lot of them lately - so help me make it happen). But anyway, to get back to the first day of the year. As I walked into the Monarch (in Camden) Dave Giles was coming to the end of his Nashville fundraiser (you wouldn't believe how many English singer/songwriters go to Nashville to record their LPs), so I didn't get to hear a lot of his songs, but heard a few and I wish him all the best in his endeavours.

He was followed by Gecko and his excellent sense of humour presented in an extremely dry way. He got us all to sing along which can't be bad...

and then Nick Parker took us all on an epic journey to Germany with the four German phrases he knows.

 And Sean McGowan brought the evening to an end with a couple of dark ones.