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
Wednesday
2007-11-08 00:00:00 Today I went to my usual Wednesday songwriting group, which is always inspiring. Then I popped round to one of my flats and met the new tenants before heading off to pick my friend up to go to an acoustic night at The Lansdown Inn. It was a quite well set up evening with several people playing half hour slots. What I couldn't understand though, was that despite having paid to get in, most people were talking very loudly over the music so you could barely hear the songs. Bearing in mind it was an acoustic evening it kind of defeated the purpose of being there. I went mainly to see a guy called [URL="http://www.myspace.com/theryaningli sband"]Ryan Inglis [/URL] whose music I like a lot and who plays guitar like a dream. Tomorrow I'm off to the studio to listen to some of the final mixes of my tracks etc. See you soon!
Autumn Photos
2007-11-06 00:00:00 I've been reading some blogs from the US and already some of you have snow. Here in Bristol, we've had an incredibly mild autumn and the trees are only now dropping their autumn colours. I took these pictures yesterday morning and I have done nothing to the colours - this is exactly as they are in nature at the moment. Glorious. [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_6096.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_6092.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_6093.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_6090.jpg[/IMG] Today, I'm catching up with a load of paperwork and chores and tonight I have drumming and I may do an open mic at the Blue Lagoon. The trouble there is that half the audience are drunk. Last week, during a quiet song, some idiot fell off a stool in the middle of my performance - all very distracting but good practice I suppose! More About: Photos , Autumn
Fireworks on the Downs
2007-11-05 00:00:00 Although we don't really celebrate Halloween here (well maybe a few parties and trick or treaters) but we go overboard on the nearest Saturday to November 5th for Guy Fawkes Night. Surely only the Brits would celebrate an ancient plot to blow up the Houses Of Parliament! Call it our independent spirits, not always believing the government is right just because they're there or whatever - we enjoy building a huge bonfire and putting an effigy ("The Guy") on top and publicly burning it! [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/Bonfire.jpg[/IMG] Then off go the fireworks to huge crowds here in Bristol with very loud music to accompany them. It was spectacular and noisy - the weather has been very mild and virtually no wind so all in all a marvellous sight! Afterwards we went for a pint at a local pub. The streets were literally teeming with people at the end of the fireworks and the pubs were heaving! The fireworks go on every day all over the place. People will... More About: Fireworks
Multi Coloured Eyes
2007-11-05 00:00:00 This is my second post but this one is to show you that it's true that I have blue AND brown eyes - I always have had! [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/Eyes 1.jpg[/IMG] Nearly like Bowie eh? More About: Multi
Musician
2007-11-02 00:00:00 Today I had the first batch of new tenants move into one of my flats so I've been working my socks off getting the flats ready! It all went smoothly and they already have it quite homely! This afternoon I had a debrief meeting about the big show King Cotton, that I was in the other week and tonight I met a really nice guy who'd replied to my add for musicians to play live with me. He came round and brought along an assortment of flutes and whistles, an electric guitar and an electric violin plus he plays keyboards. We did a quick whistlestop tour round the songs and he's very good and seemed to like the tunes. We're going to meet again next week and focus on two or three tracks to start with, decide which instruments to play on what and plan to do some gigs - exciting! My cold is virtually gone now so I'm feeling almost 100%. More About: Musician
Endless Love
2007-11-01 00:00:00 Woo hoo!! Guess what - today I recorded the LAST track for my album!!!! It's called Endless Love and is a 'devotional' song which I wrote about my spiritual teacher when I went to Australia last year! It's a very short song which will be the final track on the album. I've put the unmixed version up on [URL="http://www.myspace.com/chandramoons music"]http://www.myspace.com/chandramoon smusic[/URL] The next stage is to decide on the track order (an impossible task), design the sleeve, which we've started, master all the tracks and get them burned professionally onto CDs and start selling them!! The gig's well on the way to being organised for Feb 1st but the actual album still should be available before or around Christmas. This project has been massive for me - people who've read this for any time knows how recently I started writing and playing and how much time I've invested in this project. Your support has been amazing and your helpful comments and encouragement helpe...
Normal Day
2007-10-29 00:00:00 Hurray - a normal day. After a slow start and almost not going, I jumped in the car, drove the hour and a half to Salisbury for a wonderful day's drumming with Nansady Keita. Marvellous - a very tricky but fascinating rhythm. Then this evening, after a meal of fish fingers (yea I know, lazy - but quick) I headed off to the Eldon House pub in Clifton, Bristol and sang a couple of songs at the bi-weekly open mic there. It was my first time there and it was a lovely atmosphere and the people were really listening to the songs. The other performers were good and there were quite a few people I knew there. Tomorrow, I have an early start - I have to supervise cleaning carpets at my flats which are both empty and have new tenants moving in at the end of the week. So - thankfully - back to normal. Still a bit of cold about me but it's on its way. So - phew.....bye for now! More About: Normal
Still Home
2007-10-29 00:00:00 Well now I am REALLY fed up. I've pre-paid for a weekend of drumming near Salisbury and I woke up this morning still feeling like the proverbial shit. It's not that I'm really ill - just a heavy cold but I have absolutely no energy and a head full of gunk. So another boring day looms ahead - I haven't been out of the house for days and I haven't seen a soul in what feels like ages. I ought to enjoy the peace but I'm a very sociable animal! I'm not lonely - just frustrated. Pathetic of me I know as there are so many people who really do have something to complain about and this is just a whinge. I don't even feel like reading and I can't practice my songs as my voice is all weird right now. *moan moan whinge whinge* At least reading everyone's blogs helps keep me amused!:) More About: Home
Cold
2007-10-27 00:00:00 Still feeling shitty - am now at the proper streaming phase. I'm supposed to be going away in the van this weekend drumming for two days but unless there's a miraculous improvement I'll have to give it a miss :( Never mind, I've cancelled the last couple of days/nights and just lolling about the house keeping warm and looking after myself. It's only a cold, not the bubonic plague but I'm not a pretty sight right now so keeping a very low profile..................... I couldn't sleep last night and have written the beginning of a new song so.... maybe something good will come out of it all. More About: Cold
Museum
2007-10-24 00:00:00 Well today I decided to try and stay at home and do good things like cleaning and ironing. I got as far as the ironing, put the washing machine and dishwasher on then found myself tempted beyond endurance to jump in the car and go to the main museum in Bristol to see the slave ship exhibition (I know, I know, I know I hear you shouting - can't you just have a boring day............) NO I CAN"T!!! The exhibition was quite interesting - the guy had shaped out a slave ship from petrol cans which each represented individuals. We're lucky here too as it's a free entry museum so I go quite often as they regularly change the exhibitions. La Bouche du Roi 15 September - 28 October 2007 [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/mask.jpg[/IMG] A sculptural installation by Benin artist Romuald Hazoumé, La Bouche du Roi translates as ‘The mouth of the King’. Over 300 masks made from petrol cans are arranged to evoke a slave ship, based on the late 18th century print of ... More About: Museum
Weekend So Far
2007-10-21 00:00:00 [SIZE="3"][FONT="Arial"]I'm sitting here quite late - the weekend's been interesting so far. Last night I played flute and djembe for a friend from my songwriting group [URL="http://www.myspace.com/suzycondrad" ]http://www.myspace.com/suzycondrad[/URL] at a regular gig called Gimme Shelter and it went really well - I played on three tunes to help make the set varied. The band on after us was very good and John The Mod (DJ) span 60s tunes for the rest of the night. [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/Gimmeshelter.jpg[/IMG] This morning I had a meeting about my Feb 1st gig and this evening I went to a show with a couple of friends. There were two plays - the first, Slave Ship, was written in the 60s by a guy called Amira Baraka and he was there to answer questions at the end. He was inspirational and a marvellous poet as well as playwright. The second play, Land, was written by a local guy called Edson Burton. Both plays were on the theme of slavery and o... More About: Weekend
Long Day
2007-10-18 00:00:00 Well today seemed to go on forever!! I spent the whole day in the studio working on the last track for the album (yippee). Next stage is final mix/mastering, designing the sleeve notes etc, printing, getting the CDs burned then telling people how to get them if they want one! Then tonight I had a rehearsal for tomorrow's big show at the Colston Hall - you might remember - it's called the COSTA (commemoration of slave trade abolition) King Cotton show and it's a community show telling the story of the cotton trade, Bristol's links with the slave trade etc. The show has music from school children, community groups, a jazz band and Alphonse's band Helele. I'm playing djembe in the show and I'm quite nervous as it's Bristol's biggest venue! This evening I did the open mic at the Blue Lagoon and played three songs. I'm getting less and less nervous which is the whole point of doing them of course. Tomorrow we have rehearsals all day before the big show in the evening. I'll ... More About: Long
COSTA King Cotton Show at the Colston Hall
2007-10-18 00:00:00 Phew..........the show is over, the rehearsals done, the people came and went, the after party rocked!! What a day, what a night - I'm pooped but it was worth it. We spent most of the day rehearsing with the kids who'd been involved in the project over the last 6 months. Several primary schools, one secondary school, a group of the elderly, a school for the deaf (who made puppets), our djembe group, a community choir, a dance group all have been working towards last night's show. [B]Children Rehearsing[/B] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/ChildrenRehearsing.jpg[/I MG] The aim of the project was to bring people from diverse backgrounds and situations together to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Slave Trade Act here in Bristol - a city that was built originally on the wealth generated from that horrible trade. [B]Eating Together Before The Show - Very Noisy and Excited!![/B] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoo... More About: King , Hall , Costa , Cotton
Ireland
2007-10-16 00:00:00 I had a fantastic time in Ireland - I've just got back and am very tired but here's a little vlog I did at Carlingford. The castle there was beautiful against the bright sky - it was so warm it was almost spooky! I took LOADS of photos - way too many to put up here so instead here's a link to some of them if you would like to see them. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=177 25&l=8dd60&id=637503707 On the first day my friend Mary took me all round Dublin then we went to stay at her delightful cottage in Omeath, in the Cooley Mountains. What spectacular landscapes - breathtaking. We also visited DonDalk (don't think this is spelt right) a local market town. On Thursday night we went to Warren Point and I played at an Open Mic night which was tremendous fun and a high standard of acts. They had a decent sound system and proper lights, which all added to the atmosphere. I discovered I love Guinness! [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_5946.jpg[/IM...
Birthday
2007-10-16 00:00:00 After a quiet start I had a nice birthday - I spent the afternoon with my mum and she'd made a trifle and a cake with candles, which was really sweet. [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/Cake-2.jpg[/IMG] In the evening, some of my friends from songwriting group went to a city centre open mic night and had a laugh playing and messing about. There weren't many punters there - but it was fun anyway. I can't believe how quickly the years are whizzing by - it's what makes me feel so focussed on what I want to do with the rest of my life. More About: Birthday
Off to Dublin + second Vlog
2007-10-09 00:00:00 See you on the weekend - I'm off to Dublin with my friend Mary for a few days - I'll have a Guiness and toast you lot while I'm there! I leave you with this which I recorded the other day - it was inspired by the summer floods in the UK and Africa. Bye for now xx More About: Vlog
Song Lyrics
2007-10-09 00:00:00 Now that Keith has kindly made the extra page content available again (woo hoo) I've added a link to the right "Song Lyrics " should anyone be interested. Today has been very much a work day drawing up tenancy agreements, organising gas safety checks, a work meeting for an arts organisation I work with etc. I'm really looking forward to Wednesday as I'm off to Dublin for a few days. I've never been there before - any suggestions for places to visit. See you soon ;) [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_5769.jpg[/IMG] More About: Song lyrics
Street Party and Open Mic Night
2007-10-08 00:00:00 Well - what a day! I'm pretty shattered but never too tired to quickly tell you about my day. This morning I showed people round one of my flats as both lots of my tenants have bought houses and are moving out so I had to find new people. Thankfully, I've already found two couples for the two flats so problem solved. This afternoon I played three songs at a local street party in Bristol and it went really well - a friendly, receptive audience. [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_5785.jpg[/IMG] Then after a quick curry, me and a couple of friends headed into the centre of Bristol to an open mic night where I sang four songs and then at the end of the night they asked me to play again so I played another couple of songs. [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_5846.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_5844.jpg[/IMG] Here's my friend Terry from our songwriting group who also played a set [IMG]ht... More About: Party , Open , Night , Street
Friday
2007-10-06 00:00:00 I can't believe another week has whizzed by! The days just seem to go past faster and faster! Yesterday, I went out and bought myself a nylon stringed guitar to play my more picky pieces and although I prefer my steel stringed Fender, this new one is actually much easier to play! [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/IMG_5766.jpg[/IMG] A friend from songwriting group came round last night and after eating, we played music together which was really fun. She wants me to play some flute on one tune and the djembe on another so I have quite a bit to practice. On October 17th I'm in a big show in Bristol playing djembe called COSTA Project (commemoration of slave trade abolition act 200) and I'll tell you more about that nearer the time! [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2 53/chandrajmoon/COSTAatChallflyer.jpg[/IM G] I've also started going out doing open mic nights to get more used to playing in public before the big gig on Feb 1st to launch the album. ... More About: Friday
Vlog - Sad Song
2007-10-04 00:00:00 Here's a video of me playing a sad song - I'll do a happy one next time! Sorry to dial up people - I'm not going to start vlogging - I much prefer writing to video but this is just an experiment after seeing Jeremy and Chica's vlogs! More About: Song , Vlog
WOZZA in London and other amazing happenings!
2007-10-03 00:00:00 Hello there! Well I don't know where to begin as I've been jaunting around since Thursday and got back at about midnight last night. I think I'll start at the end and work backwards just to be different! Monday evening, I ended up having a lovely time with our own Wozza enjoying good nosh and excellent company. Wozza is the sixth blogger I've met through Efx and I wasn't disappointed. We hit it off straight away and the couple of hours we spent chatting over pizza and naughty deserts flew by. I was very glad to hear his gran is on the mend and despite me being rather ancient in comparison we had plenty of interests - especially music - in common. Here he is scoffing a TRIPLE chocolate desert! Earlier, I'd spent the day with my son at his Manor House warehouse where they live in extraordinary style. It's more or less like a commune and there are constant happenings there. The International Love Collective, which he's a member of, were having a rehearsal of their ve... More About: London , Amazing , Happenings
Whitstable
2007-09-30 00:00:00 I'm in Whitstable just got here from a good couple of days in London. Am meeting Wozza on Monday so photos to come!
Ozric Tentacles
2007-09-27 00:00:00 Just got home from a great gig on the Thekla, a floating club in Bristol. The Ozric Tent acles were very popular in the early 90s and do psychedelic prog rock - all instrumental and very dancey. In fact, I danced my head off!! As usual, I forgot my camera but I took a couple of shots with the phone While I was dancing, I left my jacket, a cardigan and scarf on a seat and some b*****d nicked them all so it was freezing coming home. No point freaking out about it but very annoying. Anyway - I'm off to bed now - I keep staying up till 3am and wondering why I'm tired all the time. Tomorrow I'm off to London for a few days and to see my daughter and her hubbie's new house in Whitstable. See you soon. xx
Malmesbury
2007-09-27 00:00:00 Yesterday, I went for a lovely afternoon out in Malm esbury with a friend, as we'd never been there. It's a small market town about an hour from Bristol in Wiltshire. We visited the Abbey, which is ancient. It's one of those towns full of strange shops you never see in cities - proper old fashioned hardware shops, home-made jam etc. There were some really good clothes shops and I bought a great skirt and top. The abbey door: The outside: The library with bibles from the 15 C: This is one of the pubs and I'm very pleased with this photo: Today, I had an Alexander Technique session this morning, did my tax return this afternoon (yay I finished it for another year!!) and this evening I went to my djembe class then came home and started to sort out Barrie's blog for him. I'm off to bed in a minute. Bye for now xxx
Tennis in the Wind
2007-09-24 00:00:00 I've blogged about many things in my life here but I don't think I've ever blogged about tennis. Whenever I'm in Bristol, I play twice a week on Monday and Friday mornings. It's really good exercise, a nice social group and a chance to get out in the fresh air. We usually start off with some warm ups then some coaching, team games and at least one competitive set. The coach tries to match us up so we're reasonably equal players which makes for some good rallies. The sessions are two hours so it's a good workout. I've made several friends there and I've been playing for maybe three years now. It's the only formal exercise I do so I try hard not to miss it. Here I am warming up and the last picture's the coach. This afternoon a friend and I are going to visit Malmesbury and I'll take some photos. It's desperately windy today - there have been tornadoes in Britain today which is hightly unusual. It was nearly impossible to play tennis today with the wind so I hope... More About: Tennis , Wind
Quiet Sunday
2007-09-24 00:00:00 Well today I'm having a quiet Sunday - reading the Observer, doing a bit of housework and later popping round to visit a friend I haven't seen in a while. I've also finished up here I think and sorted out a few links etc and updated my blog address on the various blog feeds etc. I've added my son and daughters' music and blog links etc. Hope you're all enjoying your weekends. Technorati Profile More About: Quiet
Old Posts and Colour Scheme
2007-09-23 00:00:00 First a zillion thanks to Keith for restoring my old posts. Now it does feel like home again! I've twiddled the codes and got my pic up etc and blue fonts. At first I was going to go back to blue background and white fonts but firstly I want to know from readers if this is ok to read for you? I find the blue quite soothing but if you lot find it difficult then of course it's no good as the whole point is that you want to read what's here ha ha! I want to keep the overall look simple and clean so is this ok for you or would you all prefer white font on blue? I had a great meeting just now with the guy who's helping me to organise my album celebration/launch and we had fun starting to think about how we're going to do it. Will almost certainly be on February 1st so anyone near Bristol will be welcome. This evening I have no plans so far so will actually have a quiet night in and an early night. I actually slept a bit better the last couple of nights and I think it's because I... More About: Colour , Posts , Chem
It's Over So Quick - New Mix
More articles from this author:2007-09-23 00:00:00 I've put up a much better (nearly final) mix of It's Over So Quick today on Myspace after a good day in the studio with Richard (producer). New vocals and effects, harmonies, guitar parts etc!:laugh: I'm happy with the way it grooves along now - I wrote this song originally on a djembe which is why it has a good beat and B (Rhymester) and I worked out the drum track together a couple of years ago. I got Richard to faithfully duplicate it for this to keep it as close to the original feel as possible and I'm very pleased with the result. www.myspace.com/chandramoonsmusic then click It's Over So Quick if you want to hear it (if you have broadband that is). Hope you like it too. That's 10 tracks done already - I can't believe it. The next stage is finalising the last 2 tracks and designing the album cover and organising launch party and how to promote and distribute it! I'm hoping to have the party on Dec 14th - got to check the venue I want is available and that the other m... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
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