North for Easter

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So another Sunday rolls around and Miki and I have decided to take time out from the Street Gallery this week to try and catch up on all things Goodaboom. You will see we have a new Song of the Month for April, Funkktion, which recently received GarageBand.com's Track of The Day Award, and our Photos and comments from our recent European jaunt will be appearing in the Travelogue. Miki also publishes a new "Give me a title" painting today. Being as Easter is almost upon us, Miki and I put our heads together(not easy when there's about 2 feet difference in height) and came up with an idea for a little eggstreme fun. Its Kev's Easter Eggsibition, and its now showing in our 3D Gallery, featuring a collection of daft egg-inspired cartoons and hideous puns all accompanied by a murderous rock version of Irving Berlin's Easter Parade all created by yours truly,and Mildew Bookworm insisted on introducing and hosting the whole thing. We think he's getting a bit pushy, but well, we did invade his planet, so we let him have his own way sometimes.

Tomorrow morning I fly to the UK and face a busy week seeing my Dad, catching up with old friends, seeing family and having pre-production meetings with Graham Oliver for our forthcoming album project, which I'm very excited about. Hopefully I'll get to make some entries while I'm over there. Miki joins me there next Sunday, and the following week we fly to Brittany to tour France for some days in the Boomobile! So we'll have lots to tell you in the coming weeks!

The Rain in Spain (stays mainly in Albir)

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Drip, drip, drip...Yes, a little taste of England has been with us here in Spain for a few days now. I refer to the seemingly endless downpour to which we have been subjected. I shouldnt moan, it throws the glorious days of sunshine into sharp relief! Anyway, onto more exciting things! For the second time in a few weeks, I've been lucky enough to become recipient of the Garage Band website's track of the day award for my song "Funkktion". My last funk offering, "A Cat called Caramel" grabbed the award too, so I'm well pleased. Caramel's currently No.33 in their chart, and Funkktion's entered at 44. It's also garnered some good reviews. It's a painful process sometimes, when your songs get slated, but either way, its good to get feedback on your music, and a lot of the comments really do prove useful and constructive. You should be able to check out Funkktion on Goodaboom shortly, as I think we'll be making it track of the month for April! Also, look out for our Easter surprise, coming soon!!

Purification

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So there we were, Miki and I, enjoying the sunshine, minding the Street gallery on a windy Sunday afternoon, when I hear Miki whisper, terrified, under her breath, "I dont want to talk to that woman!!" Now Miki is normally quite sociable with the passers-by and prospective clients, so I was a little surprised by this outburst, until she told me about the woman purposefully heading our way. Unfortunately, she didn't tell me about her until after the event...

Miki pulled her cap down firmly over her face and did a good imitation of being part of the lamp post against which we were sitting. The woman came to me, pointing at Miki's Bullfight paintings and wailing "No bien, No bien!" I grinned at her. I'm good at that. "Espanol?" she asked, rather desperately for my liking. "No!" I replied quickly, for once relieved to be English. She continued to remonstrate about the paintings, saying they should be destroyed. "They're only paintings," I said helpfully, with another, hopefully annoying, cheery smile. She proceeded to burst into tears and head across the street.

Miki miraculously returned to life. "Her name is Puri, short for Purification" she said, "and she believes she's been sent by God to purify the human race."She went on to tell me that Puri apparently has a relationship with a guy, but he's in heaven. Bummer.She's well-known for scrounging cigarettes and alcohol from people on the basis of being, well, loony I guess. I understand she's had a few one-night purifications, too. Care in the community's a wonderful thing. I guess she's really taken her name to heart, living up to the maxim of ritual cleansing:"To Remove guilt, sin or uncleanliness". Except she seems to have got it confused with tomming around and cadging cigarettes and booze out of people. And she sometimes appears normal if she thinks people suss her out.Dont you just LOVE the holier-than-thou brigade? I know one thing, it's given me fresh impetus to finish The Heretic's Song. Every cloud has a silver lining. I wonder if its the one her fella lives on?

There's another definition for Purification in the dictionary:
The Process of ridding oneself of something, harmful, inferior, or unwanted yes, Puri, I'll remember that next time you approach the street gallery!

Disclaimer: The author of this piece strongly advocates the treatment of mental health within the confines of a secure and stable environment. He performed many free concerts for patients in a Mental Health Hospital in his youth.

We're Back!!

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After completing a massive circle around Europe, taking in 3 countries,3 hotels, and every conceivable form of weather from unseasonable 20+ degrees sunshine in Germany to frankly scary -6 degrees snowdrifts in the Pyrenees, we are back in Albir to begin the task of chronicling the journey, and hopefully entertaining you with our words and pictures. Keep checking in to see new stuff, as we'll be adding items daily. My daughter Hollie has just released her first video with her band Theft of a Doll Its called Blood On Powder Blue, and as her Grandad has just come through a serious but successful operation in England, I'll dedicate it to him...

Baring your Soul

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I've recently begun publishing some of my music on a site called GarageBand. Its a bona fide site for the promotion of bands and musicians, with an advisory board chaired by Sir George Martin, no less. I've also been fortunate in receiving 2 track of the day awards, and a number of favourable reviews. The review system generates a chart, and its all cleverly set up to encourage you to review other bands material.And thats when things can get a little stickyI've received a couple of killer reviews, likening my music to "swimming around in the contents of someone's gut" and "aw! this is boring!...the band makes me cringe!"
Now, they are small minority, the rest of my reviews, I'm more than flattered by, but why is it that the odd bad one punctures our self esteem so effortlessly, that we deflate in moments?
...
I'll tell you why. Its because as songwriters, we bare our soul. Even if the subject matter is not always drawn from real life experience, the nature of drawing on the depths of your being to create a piece of music leaves us vulnerable and undefended. Then we put our work out there, naked, for the world to gawk and point at. Some would say you need to develop a thick skin to deal with this, but then I think you would lose something essential to the creative process. I need to feel elation when someone gets what Im trying to do, and if the price of that is misery at the few brickbats that come my way, well, I guess I'll pay it.
I've given a few bad reviews on Garage Band. I'm guilty of forgetting there's a human being at the other end of the line who has to read my criticisms. Now, I always make a point of thanking the reviewer if they've given me a good, or even unfavourable yet insightful review.
Today, I got a message from a guy whose song I reviewed a few days ago.

No matter how harsh the comments are, I feel the song is better for it. Thanks again.
Dominik

I had made many suggestions about how he should change the song, I didn't pull too many punches. He wrote to me to tell me he'd acted on a few of my comments prior to putting the song out on a new CD. The CD is to help the children of fallen American Servicemen. Dominik was a big man to take the criticism, and a big man to make this CD. It's worth baring the soul sometimes.

More than a Feeling

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Friday brought the news that one of the most recognisable voices in rock was no longer with us. Brad Delp, Founder member of Boston along with Tom Scholz, was a big part of the soundtrack of my youth, with what many believe to be the "perfect" single, More than a Feeling, released in 1976.


His soaring vocals were almost beyond belief. Possibly only Queen could rival them for the sheer perfection of production and performance, and we listened to the song, in awe, over and over again. The album was not a disappointment. Track after track of classics assailed our ears. Long Time, Peace of Mind. Boston had just raised the bar impossibly high.

Rest in Peace, Brad. The angels have some serious competition.

A Brush with Poetry on the Road

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Yesterday, I headed north up the coast to Denia, where we had been invited to present our "Brush with Poetry" show at The La Sella Golf Resort (see photo)
as part of the International Women in Business Day. I was accompanied by our gallery assistant Stephanie, as Miki was busy finishing a portrait for Dutch clients who have to leave for home some days earlier than originally planned, and we simply didn't have enough hours in the day!

We arrived to a bustling main conference room, with a myriad of stalls and displays, and a large stage in one corner. It's certainly a challenge narrating poetry and displaying the corresponding pictures to a room virtually on the move!
I wandered in wearing my trademark multicolour print silk shirt, skull head T shirt, bleached jeans and red timberlands. I stood out a bit. Most of the women, dressed in evening wear, looked at me like I had two heads! Nevertheless, my fashion statements notwithstanding, the paintings and their accompanying music and poetry were very well received.

Back on planet Goodaboom today, we were re-visited by our Norwegian friends, collecting the CD of Faerie Tale. Needless to say, they were unable to resist buying yet another of Miki's paintings, and, although their walls are full, they have now begun to plan where to hang it in their SUMMER house! They have a name for their summer residence; "Blahuset" which means "The Blue House" in Norwegian. I think this painting will fit very well!