Chandramoon's Blog Chandramoon's Blog The Best Place To Be Seen, New album just released - Full Circle, Drumming, Gigs, Festivals, Travel, Songwriting, Lyrics, Art, photography, songwriting, music, travel and friendly chat from Bristol UK. You can buy my album direct on my blog. Articles
My House
2008-01-01 00:00:00 People seemed quite interested in my house pics so here are some with actual colour. Actually I prefer to see the place full of people and in a nice mess ha ha! [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/LivingRoom.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/Kitchen1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/Kitchen-1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/Hallway.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_3244.jpg[/IMG] I'll do upstairs another day - ie bedrooms and my studio. More About: House
End of an amazing year - here's to 2008 - Come to my BP!
2008-01-01 00:00:00 I've had the most amazing year - too many things to list here and regular readers already know about them. It's been a mix of tragedies and achievements, losses and gains, ups and downs. Mostly though - it's been amazing and I feel I'm a very lucky person in this life. In 2008 I want to continue focussing on my creative life, especially my music. I'm terrified but looking forward to my first big gig on February 1st to launch the album then I want to sell it online and get it out to people who'd like to listen to it, improve my live performance, work with new musicians, record the rest of my songs and write some more if the inspiration comes. I'd like to do a tour round to meet as many of you as I can in "real" life at some point though that might have to be 2009! I'm very, very lucky to be blessed with great health and tons of energy, a wonderful family and brilliant friends both on and off line. Thanks to everyone for being there for me through thick and thin. So her... More About: Amazing , Year
Jamming Today
2007-12-29 00:00:00 [IMG]http://www.efx2blogs.com/uploads/c/C handramoon/1699.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.efx2blogs.com/uploads/c/C handramoon/1700.jpg[/IMG] Jamming in my living room with my good friend Alphonse today. This evening I went to Hush Hush with my son and some friends to see DJ Derek - an old white Jamaican guy who plays mainly reggae. A good time was had by all. Just off to bed now so night night! More About: Today
Boxing Day
2007-12-28 00:00:00 Hi Guys - I had a lovely Christmas with my family - good company, nice food and a chilled out time. We played cards, chatted and watched a bit of TV which makes a change for me. We watched that old faithful film The African Queen with Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart - great stuff. Today my nephew left and went back to London and my son arrived from London and I had open house and at least 30 friends and neighbours turned up and and came and went till latish this evening - I'm now in bed with Mac doing this quickly before crashing out - I'm quite tired now. The place is a tip but never mind - I'll sort it all out tomorrow! So, good night for now - hope you're all well! More About: Boxing , Boxing Day
Happy Christmas and Thankyou for being there!
2007-12-24 00:00:00 [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_6258.jpg[/IMG] To all my dear blog friends [FONT="Arial Black"][COLOR="Red"][SIZE="4"]A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT] Whatever you're doing this holiday, whoever you spend it with, I hope you have a peaceful and happy time. You are all very special to me and I appreciate your friendship and support more than you can imagine. Thanks for a great year here at Efx2blogs - especially those behind the scenes who've kept it going. Bye for now - with love Chandra More About: Christmas , Happy , Happy Christmas
Holiday Greetings to Everyone *tongue in cheek*
2007-12-23 00:00:00 (I shamelessly copied this from someone's myspace but couldn't resist it) I wanted to send some sort of holiday greeting to everyone, but it is so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So I met with my lawyer yesterday, and on his advice I wish to say the following: Please accept with no obligation,implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of ot... More About: Holiday , Tongue , Holiday Greetings
Shopping Madness
2007-12-21 00:00:00 Phew - well I survived some grocery shopping today! This morning I went to a wonderful shop we have here in Bristol called the Sweet Mart. It's an Asian shop which (as the name implies) started life as an Indian sweet shop but now sells just about everything exotic you can imagine - plantains, fresh spices, popadums, organic vegetables and bread, sauces from everywhere in the world, weird and wonderful juices, sacks of every kind of rice, beans and lentils. The very smell of the shop makes my mouth water! I then braved the queues in Tesco (shudder) and bought the other stuff like beers, wines etc, boring things like toilet paper blah blah. It took an hour to get out with the huge queues of people with achingly full trolleys - anyone would think we were stocking up for the end of the world not a few days' holiday. Mind you, it was the same for me as I have a house full of people arriving starting tomorrow till nearly New Year so of course much food etc IS required. I bought all... More About: Shopping , Madness
Poster
2007-12-20 00:00:00 Today I actually did some of the dreaded Christmas shopping - I don't know what possesses me but I just want to go home and give up before I even start! Tonight I'm going to a Rozabella (Patrick Duff's young band)'s gig on The Thekla (floating club in Bristol). Here's the poster for a gig I've been asked to do in Weston Super Mare on January 3rd. Three people will do a 30 minute set of original music solo each and before each person they play half an hour of songs of our choice to show what music has influenced our writing and music. [IMG]http://www.efx2blogs.com/uploads/c/C handramoon/1650.jpg[/IMG] More About: Poster
Lady Visine
2007-12-19 00:00:00 [URL="http://etainne.efx2blogs.com/32159/ F...ml?#c42800"]http://etainne.efx2blogs. com/32159/F...ml?#c42800[/URL] If you know Lady V do leave her a message at this difficult time. Thanks. More About: Sine
Dad and Gig!
2007-12-15 00:00:00 I've had a great couple of days. Yesterday, my dad and his a wife arrived for a night's visit and they left after lunch today. Last night, I cooked a nice veggie lasagne for them and today we had a pub lunch together. It was lovely to see them as they live quite a long way away so I don't get to seem them too often! Here's my dad playing my piano in my hallway! This afternoon I practiced a bit for tonight's gig at the Demi Lune. I played four songs for the first time with Paddy the new guy I've got playing with me - he's very good and plays keyboards, whistles, fiddle and percussion. Today I played one song on piano with him playing whistle and then three guitar songs with him playing keyboards. It felt so different playing with someone else but it went really well for a first go and everyone seemed to enjoy it! There are no photos of me but here are some of the other artists who played tonight: Tomorrow, I'll do some housework, practice some more and then I'm ...
Tennis Tournament
2007-12-14 00:00:00 Today, I played in my tennis group's annual Christmas tournament. We play in an indoor "bubble" which is basically like a big fridge at this time of the year and it took some time to warm up and I got cold a few times in between games. [B]The Bubble[/B] We play four 20 minute sets to a whistle, with sudden death instead of advantages after deuce. After each set the number of games won are written down and at the end totalled up to get the winners. I did quite well for me though I never come near winning ha ha! [B]The Coaches[/B] After the games, we had a lunch and presentations of prizes for the winners and best improvers which was good fun. I saw quite a lot of people who play on different days to me, so it was good. [B]Lunch[/B] This afternoon, I went to songwriting and this evening I had a practice with Paddy (my keyboard player) for a gig we've got on Friday evening. It'll be our first time playing out in public together, so I'm looking forward to it. It's a songw... More About: Tennis , Tournament , Amen
Mastering
2007-12-12 00:00:00 Today I drove a couple of hours down the motorway to Ascot to Torch Music Productions and had my CD mastered professionally by a very pleasant sound engineer! He didn't have to do too much to it but what he has done has made a big difference to the overall sound of the album. Now all the tracks are of an even volume, nothing suddenly jumps out at you, the EQ is properly balanced, the spaces between the tracks are how they should be (some tracks fade into each other for example), the artwork has to have a couple of last tweaks and then all go go go! It won't be ready by Christmas now but will be produced by mid-January in good time for the launch on Feb 1st. I was too tired to go to drumming tonight but I did get to Presence (the open no mic night at The Miners Arms) and played a couple of tunes there. Tomorrow I play in my tennis group's tournament first thing so I imagine I'll play abominably bearing in mind I'm pretty tired ha ha but it's got to be done! So good night E... More About: Erin , Aster
Gigs
2007-12-11 00:00:00 Just arrived home after a slightly strange evening. Actually, today was quite long and not really like a Sunday. This morning I had a meeting with T who's helping me organise my launch gig on Feb 1st, then we had a Silver Star meeting THEN I went to St Georges Brandon Hill to see my friend singing with the Gas Works Choir who do a concert twice a year. This evening, after a quick hour at home, I went first to a gig at the Beacon Centre where I sang three songs - the sound was diabolical and the foldback monitors dreadful - really hard to hear what I was doing then down to the Tantric Jazz Cafe with my friend T and we managed to do a couple of really long sets. All good practice! Tomorrow I'm playing tennis in the morning then have a load of things to do in the afternoon! Tuesday I'm off to Ascot to get the CD mastered, Wednesday I'm in a tennis tournament then songwriting in the afternoon. Thursday my dad arrives for a day and a night so that we can all see each other befor...
The Music Club
2007-12-08 00:00:00 I had such a great night this evening! I was playing flute and percussion for my friend Suzy Condrad at the Bristol Music Club and everything just gelled perfectly. The sound was excellent - my flute's just been serviced so it was a joy to play and everything just went right. [URL="http://www.myspace.com/suzycondrad" ]http://www.myspace.com/suzycondrad[/URL] After Suzy's set, Katey Brooks sang a wonderful set playing with a marvellous violinist. [URL="http://www.myspace.com/kateybrooks" ]http://www.myspace.com/kateybrooks[/URL] It was a truly inspiring and wonderful evening. Tomorrow I'm having a day off from music to do some housework and start thinking about some Christmas preparations. Though knowing me, I'll end up playing music anyway. I've been asked to do a 30 minute set in Weston on Jan 3rd (solo) so I need to practice. More About: The Music
Final Artwork For Album
2007-12-07 00:00:00 Here we are then - the final artwork for the album. On Tuesday I have to take the artwork files and hard copies, plus the music WAVs and CD to another studio in Ascot, Berkshire for the final mastering and production. I can't believe all the ground work is done - just a couple more weeks or so and I'll have the finished product in my hand and ready to start selling and sending to radio stations etc! To be honest I'm absolutely exhausted but very pleased with what we've done - it took two whole days to do the artwork but next time (hee hee) we'll know what we're doing! More About: Artwork , Final , Album
Weekend
2007-12-05 00:00:00 I'm having a busy weekend (what's new?? ha ha). Yesterday, my daughter and hubbie arrived from Kent to go to [URL="http://www.myspace.com/patrickduff" ]Patrick Duff's[/URL] gig at the Arnolfini. Some of you who know your music might remember him from a band in the 80s called Strangelove which got pretty popular till they broke up. He went solo and produced an album on EMI last year called Luxury Problems and the gig yesterday is his next project. The gig was called The Mad Straight Road and was filmed for a DVD to be released soon instead of another ordinary album. It was a great gig and there were loads of people I knew there from my songwriting group (which Patrick runs). Today, I went for a curry lunch (strange with a hangover but somehow made me feel better surprisingly) with my godmother and her now grown up kids who I grew up with and hadn't seen for donkey's years! Tonight, we're going to another gig/party of a friend who's just been naturalised and is celebrating h... More About: Weekend
What a Weekend!!!
2007-12-05 00:00:00 I'm not quite sure where to start with blogging about this weekend! As you know, the weekend started on Friday with the arrival of my daughter and her husband to go to the one and only Patrick Duff's gig. Saturday morning I got up with a hangover and went for a curry with my godmother and her family with the hair of the dog sorting out the hangover combined with the almighty curry! Yesterday, I phoned my good friend N and dragged him off for a night of parties!!! We started off at the most amazing party of an Egyptian friend who has succesffully applied to be naturalised as British. I'd never been to a celebration of citizenship before and it was lovely! Rasha is a musician and was dressed up as an English Queen in full regalia and she and another friend who had also been naturalised, stood on the stage while we all sang the national anthem and waved flags! Then lots of old English songs were sung as well as a lot of new ones by Ian Dury etc! Rasha and mad friends! From th... More About: Weekend
CD
2007-11-28 00:00:00 It's finished it's finished it's finished it's finished!!!! Dec 11th I go to a studio in Ascot to get the final mastering done then off it goes to be burned burned burned. *skip skippety skip* I've put 5 new mixes up on Myspace if you want to listen to some better versions!! [URL="www.myspace.com/chandramoonsmusic"] www.myspace.com/chandramoonsmusic[/URL]
London Trip etc
2007-11-28 00:00:00 Despite a late night on Friday, I managed not to wake up too late on Saturday and at 7.30am I boarded the Bristol to London Megabus and headed off for my day trip to celebrate the upcoming 50th birthday of Prem Rawat (Maharaji) my spiritual teacher since 1972. It was an uneventful journey and a very pleasant afternoon with talks and DVDs at a hotel in London. I saw old friends I've known for over 30 years and it was a very inspiring day. I had half an hour to kill before the programme so I went to see the new St Pancras International link at Kings Cross. These pictures show the restored station and the champagne bar on the platform. [U]Eurostar Train[/U] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_6128.jpg[/IMG] [U]Champagne Bar[/U] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_6129.jpg[/IMG] [U]Station Concourse[/U] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_6132.jpg[/IMG] At the end of the programme, Rhymester and I spent ... More About: Trip
The Prom
2007-11-24 00:00:00 Just got back from a gig at the The Prom Music Bar. The guy who's produced my album was playing a gig with his band whose name I have shamelessly forgotten! Tomorrow morning I have to get the 7.30am bus to London for a programme to do with my meditation group and then I'm meeting Rhymester for dinner before getting the bus back to Bristol at 9pm tomorrow night. I shouldn't have stayed out so late as I have to get up so early but I just can't help myself.
Blah blah
2007-11-23 00:00:00 blah blah blah. Sorry - ha ha - nothing much to say today. I went to the cinema with a couple of friends this evening to see Brick Lane but it was sold out so can't tell you what it was like ................. It was a frustrating day - still trying to sort out A's visa which they're still trying to turn down and send him back to the Cameroon despite all his good work in the community - apparently that all counts for nothing!! Last ditch attempt to overturn this ridiculous ruling - we're complaining to the Ombudsman about the mal-administration and unfair treatment. It's all so exhausting and annoying and time wasting instead of getting on with the community work the organisation was set up for in the first place. Anyway ........... last night I slept from 1.30am to about 5.30am - not too bad - then dozed till 8 ish so could have been worse. Tonight I'll try an early night and see what happens. More About: Blah , Blah Blah
Recording Finished
2007-11-21 00:00:00 I can't believe it, but today we finished the LAST bit of recording for my album! We started in March and it's been full on since then. We did a new bass line for Rocking Horse and a new vocal for Can't Touch The Sky! I feel weird actually - kind of empty but pleased at the same time. I can't explain it really. Tomorrow a knowledgeable friend is going to go through the tracks with me to make some last suggestions for the mix then it's a question of getting the sleeve design finished and printed and getting the CDs burned and start distributing them online etc and finishing the planning for the Feb 1st gig. Tonight, after drumming (yes I'm a real glutton for punishment) I went to the local no mic night and sang two songs, but it was so late by the time I went on I didn't do a very good job of it - never mind - most people were too sloshed to notice including me. Anyway - I'm hoping to sleep OK tonight - I'm still really suffering with insomnia at the moment - I don't ha... More About: Recording , Nish , Cord
Happy Monday
2007-11-20 00:00:00 Just a quick post. Not sure what to blog about today. Last night I went to the Tantric Jazz Cafe (my usual Sunday evening haunt) to play at the open mic there. I went with two good friends who are also musicians and they both played too. It's a weird place - sometimes there're quite a few people there eating and having a few drinks and other times it's like the grave yard shift - but however many people there are or aren't there - it's good practice to get over any nervousness about playing live. I've started actually enjoying playing now. This evening, a guy's coming round who's interested in playing guitar with me, so that's exciting. I play well enough to accompany myself but I need someone to do the twiddly bits! It's cold, rainy and murky today - pretty much like my mood. Never mind, I keep on going and cracking on with it all - I'm working on my mailing lists at the moment etc. Here's a picture of me from last week at my house! [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com... More About: Happy , Monday
Mark Thomas
2007-11-19 00:00:00 I just got back from a great evening watching Mark Thomas at the Hen and Chicken Comedy Club. Really, he's not so much a comedian as a very funny political activist - he was hilarious but also making very justifiable points about the gradual erosion of our rights to protest in Britain in the wake of terrorist actions. He's very well known and has made a lot of radio and TV programmes. The government has made it very difficult to protest nowadays and have demonstrations in London - you have to seek permission in advance and he's been carrying out a campaign to change the law to something more sensible and there is now talk of change at last. The ridiculous laws currently in place make it very difficult to exercise our democratic right to protest without lots of petty bureaucracy and would do nothing to prevent terrorism anyway - in the same way as the ludicrous ID card proposals will do nothing either. Anyway - it's too late at night to go into a rant but it was a good and th... More About: Homa
Music Group and Gig
2007-11-16 00:00:00 [SIZE="3"]Hi guys - what to blog about today? Monday night I played flute, djembe and tambourine (not all at the same time ha ha) at a friend's gig at Joe Public's and it went quite well - though I didn't feel I'd played as well as the previous time I supported her- I found the sound there strange - the drum sounded so loud in the monitor and I couldn't tell what it sounded like for the audience and had to just play even though it sounded too loud to me! Last night I went to my regular djembe drumming group. We'd been asked to compose a rhythm and take it to the group for people to work out parts and play together. I just hadn't had time to do one but two of the group came up with brilliant rhythms that really worked well - I was impressed! After drumming, I went to an open mic night at the Miners Arms (it's actually an open [U]no[/U] mic and everyone really listens) and played a couple of songs. It's an inspiring evening with people of all levels having a go. There's ... More About: Music , Group
Comments
2007-11-14 00:00:00 I just read an interesting post by Birdshit (sorry Birdsnest) about whether people always leave comments or even read the people they're subscribed too and it made me think. I had a quick look through which of my posts attracted the most comments and it was hilarious - the post about the big show I did at the Colston Hall - a really significant event I'd worked towards for 6 months and which I put photos and everything up for - got 5 comments. A post I wrote which only said "I've got a cold ewww" got 26 comments!!!! Ha ha ha!! It just goes to show (I don't know what it goes to show but something). I love blogging - you just never know what tickles people or gets them commenting or interested! Sometimes the throwaway posts get the most interest anyway. I'm just back from a gig where I played flute and drums for a friend (not at the same time I hasten to add) then we went for a few drinks at a local pub. Back in the studio tomorrow - no rest for the wicked. More About: Comments
How I write my songs
2007-11-14 00:00:00 [SIZE="3"]Mothman asked me a really good question in a comment and I thought it would make a good post Quote .."Hey... can I pick your brain for a sec? When you write a song... do you think of the lyrics first, and then create music to fit it? Or do you have a melody in mind already and write lyrics that fit it? Or is it neither of those?..." Good question Mothman - well in my case, I almost always get a rhythm first, a beat in my mind which is often quite irritating at first! What normally happens then is words come and attach to the rhythm in a tuneless kind of way. With me, once the words start they stay in the front of my mind almost like an obsession, sometimes in a very short time the whole thing will come to me or other times it may take a few days. Once I have the words, a tune starts forming and I'll pick up the guitar and fiddle around till something starts to materialise based on the original rhythm and new words. Very occasionally, I'll get a riff or a tune fir... More About: Songs , Write
New Song
More articles from this author:2007-11-10 00:00:00 [SIZE="3"]I've just written a new song so if anyone's interested the lyrics are on my other blog (see link right Song Lyrics) - it's called Shadow Puppets and is about insomnia, which has been a problem for me recently! This morning I played tennis and then popped in to see my mum for lunch, which was good. I'm not sure what I'm doing this evening yet - may even stay in and wash my hair as they say ha ha! Have a great weekend whatever you're doing.[/SIZE] Just re-posted this as some nutter re-posted the blog wide thing again! More About: New Song 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
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