deep sky divers blogathon

2006-02-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

THE BREEZE ON BEACHY HEAD

Visited Beachy Head for the first time last weekend. I was with my mates Basil and Pete on tour down in the south of England. We had an afternoon to kill, so drove eastwards along the contours of the South Downs. Beachy Head is where the South Downs abruptly end in a 534ft wall of chalk.

The breeze I refer to is the one I remember from a poem - the poet who's name I forget. Because there was no breeze whilst we were there. For early february it was remarkably mild. And, considering this is the UKs most notorious suicide hot-spot, everyone we met was remarkably jolly.

What a very civilised way to spend an afternoon.

2006-01-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

BIG SKIES

First weekend of the year and I whisked the whole family off to North Norfolk - the northern coast of England's East Anglia - or Britannia's shield if you are more into coinage than geography. The weather forecast didn't bode well. But it was OK. Mild for the time of year etc...

It was meant to be a romantic suprise for my wife. A return to the area we honeymooned in over 13 years ago. But when push came to crunch, I just couldn't bear to leave the kids behind. They had similar dilemmas when it came to leaving the playstation behind - so we took that too. At least it kept them quiet. Well it would have done if they'd had 1 each.

The weekend was a mix of walking on windswept beaches (it wasn't that windy actually), 10-pin bowling (while I can still win) and Pink Panther DVDs. Let's see if any of this shared experience inspires some future music.

Jon

2005-12-31T02:59:00.000-08:00

"GOOD NEWS IS... the airbag works...!!!"

It was the day before Christmas Eve and I'd just got stuck into my last minute Christmas shopping. When I got one of those dreaded phone calls from the wife. "The good news is the airbag works." What's the bad news then...???

Fortunately, Julie was OK. She was taken to hospital for tests but everything was fine. The car was a mess though as you can see. And my last minute Xmas shopping plans were in turmoil. Christmas Eve morning saw me trudging round the shops.

Julie's car insurance company (mentioning no names - OK then, it's DIRECT LINE...!) decided to leave the car where it was over the Xmas holiday. Where it was crashed into again, vandalised, then eventually stolen by some very sad people who clearly had nothing better to do over the Christmas period.

To be fair, we found this whole debacle mildly amusing. But the sad thing is, this was no ordinary 12 year old Volvo. On 30th september 2003, our youngest son Adam was born in it. So Julie was quite attached to it as you can imagine. I'm sure all of you out there who have delivered your own child in the passenger seat of your own car will understand exactly how she feels...;o)

Anyway - HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all. Best of luck for 2006..........
Jon

2005-12-22T06:11:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR

I'm sure it comes around quicker every year. All part of getting old I suppose. I'm quite glad to see the back of 2005 really. It's been a rubbish year in many respects. Lots of bad things happening really - on a global scale. What with tsunamis in Asia and hurricanes in the USA and suicide bombers in London. And in my own little World, my dog died which was sad. And I haven't really been able to get going with new music. 2005 is the first year for 5 years I haven't released a new CD...! Too busy trying to scrape a living...

Oh well. Maybe 2006 will be better both locally and globally. I hope so.

I haven't been totally idle in 2005. I have done some new music - I just haven't finished anything. The most exciting thing has been an embryonic collaboration with Michael Allison, an extremely talented California based musician a.k.a. DARSHAN AMBIENT. Michael has been far more productive than me in 2005 having released 2 excellent CDs on the Lotuspike label. Hopefully, in 2006, we will find an outlet for our new music which is starting to sound really exciting.

OK - sneak preview time. I have made 4 demo tracks available via my website - 2 by me and 2 collaborations between Michael and myself. Visit www.deepskydivers.com to hear them.

(These are accompanied by some of my favourite photos from 2005 - featuring my family and places we have visited during the year.)

Some background info on the tracks.

COOKIN' ON BORROWED GAS - is my first experimentation with Ableton Live; music built around a lo-fi bass loop I recorded using my '71 Fender Musicman (a more lo-fi bass there never was). The title - well me and my mate Pete like to mix our metaphors and each morning we wake up and count our lucky chickens. This is one of Pete's and I think it is a good metaphor for 2005.
IMPRESSION: SUNRISE - with 3 kids, it's not often I wake up in a morning. I usually get woken up. Do you know what I mean. Anyway, "I woke up" one day in november 2005. It was a really serene morning. I watched something on TV about French impressionism. And in the afternoon I wrote the music.
LUMINOSITY - this was a simple 4-note piano motif. I sent it to Michael who breathed life into the music with some rhythmic and textural ideas of his own. I moved it on a little further - and that's where we are at right now.
BLISS DECAY - a beautiful idea from Michael which I just listened to in a loop - round and round and round - for days. I added some ideas and some percussion and kept the length down to 13 minutes. A 3-day long MP3 = lots of bandwidth.

I hope you enjoy this new music. Hopefully in 2006, we will be able to develop these ideas into a really special CD or 2.

With love & best wishes for Christmas and 2006

Jon XX

2005-09-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

THE ASHES CAME HOME

Wow...! What a day to be a cricket nut. England forced a draw in the 5th test at The Oval to win the 5-match test series against the Aussies 2-1. That is the simple fact - but the truth of the matter goes way beyond the boundary of my skills of explanation.

Congratulations to Michael Vaughan (captain and fellow Sheffielder) and the whole England cricket team. Not only did they compete with the Aussies but they won. I read a great quote from an Aussie fan essentially saying that as a country they are young, don't have much history and the only people they have to hate are those who sent them over in the 1st place. This England team earned both respect and visible affection from the Aussies. And that takes some doing...

England lost the first match by some distance. The subsequent 4 matches were inceredibly tense and exciting - the most exciting series of 4 matches there have ever been. It has been a wonderful if stressful summer. And my productivity during this time has been very very poor...

Thank God it's over. Normal service can be resumed...

2005-09-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

When The Levee Breaks

It looks hellish in New Orleans. I was searching for news the other day and found this amazing satellite image on the ABC news site:

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/neworleanssatellite/index.html

Amazing...! Looks like most of the French Quarter has escaped being on higher ground next to the river. Zoom in and check out the flyovers dipping in and out of the water. A real life nightmare - I feel so sorry for people whose home town this is.

Oh well. No such problems here I'm pleased to say. Kids last day of the summer holidays today and I decided it would be apt to head for high ground. So I took them on the trip of a lifetime. North America. Left Sheffield at 2pm. A 10 minute drive and a 1 hour walk later we were there. North America Farm - a derelict group of buildings on the south side of Langsett Reservoir. We needed the exercise, though none but me appreciated it at the time. Aren't my kids lucky... (not)... With a dad like me, who needs a wicked stepmother...

2005-09-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Katrina and New Orleans

I spent a week in New Orleans in 1997 and so have been shocked to see and hear the news reports of devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina. My thoughts are with all who have been affected by this disaster as they come to terms with its effects on their lives.

I know there are a lot of musicians who make their living in New Orleans and who must now be facing up to terrible hardship. And I think I have a tough time every now and again. When did I last lose a gig due to the weather...? I can't remember. Perhaps never...

Once again, I count my lucky chickens...

In other news: Liam learned to ride his bike yesterday. Which meant I had to spend £32 I hadn't got on a playstation game I didn't want him to have...! A promise is a promise - even a rash one.

2005-08-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

Sport in the Context of Life

For my sins, I am a passionate English cricket fan. So, for the 3rd weekend in 4 my ability to function normally has been severely restricted by the remarkable goings-on in the test series between England and Australia. The Ashes...

Having dominated the game for 18 years or so, the Aussies are now being tested by a resurgent English side. As a result, the last 3 test matches have been absolutely remarkable. England have largely dominated; Australia have fought back incredibly hard, saving one of the matches and narrowly losing the other 2. It is impossible for me to describe the tensions and emotions that go with cricket to people who have not grown up loving the game. But, imagine if you will; a test match is unusual amongst sports as it goes on for up to 5 days. The drama unfolds just like real life. Some test matches are excruciatingly boring and largely ignorable. But, not this summer.

2005-08-28T23:45:00.000-07:00

More real life drama

So, last thursday I was doing a gig with Pete (Morton) in Edinburgh. And Pete elected to phone his heavily pregnant (1 week overdue) wife to see how she was. To find that her water's had just broken. And Edinburgh is 250 miles away from where we live. We did a shortened set, packed our gear away, and hastened back down the A1 to Yorkshire.

Louis Morton was born almost 24 hours later as it happened with proud father in attendance.

You never can predict these things. Our 3rd son (Adam) caught us completely by surprise. He arrived much more quickly than we expected - and was infact delivered by my wife in the car as I drove like a demon towards the hospital...!

2005-08-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

Ronnie (march 2002 - august 2005)

Music in the context of life (I said in my last post). And straight away life has thrown a curve-ball.

Today, I lost my best diving buddy. Ronnie, our black labrador, suddenly got ill over the weekend. To our horror it turned out to be some really severe liver disease and we had to have him put to sleep. Only 5 days ago we were romping along on our favourite local walks with years ahead of us. Now he's gone - only 3 years old - and only memories remain. I feel like the little fellah in "The Yearling". We are all gutted and our house seems much lonelier without him.

I didn't even think it worth mentioning on sunday - what a difference 2 days make...

2005-08-21T23:41:00.000-07:00

Music in the Context of Life

For the 2nd sunday in a row, I have spent time writing and recording music. And it is good. I have done precious little in the way of new music this year. Just some long-distance collaboration with Michael Allison (Darshan Ambient) earlier in the year - which will hopefully see the light of day later in the year. Now, I am experimenting with Ableton Live 4.1 and finding it very inspiring. I often use a loop-based approach to creating music - so "Live" is perfect for me I think. Looking forward to lots of fun in the coming months.

Also, for the first time ever, I made some jam...! You know - sticky stuff, lives in a jar. We have a plum tree - lots of sweet little yellow plums. Usually the birds eat them - or the rabbit (when they have fallen off the tree of course). But not this year. I collected them up and made some plum jam. And it's really nice...!

So, I decided to start a weblog. To record the making of new music (and hopefully a new album) along with the life that goes with it - music in the context of life as always. I plan to make demos available as mp3's as I go along, both to illustrate the development process (at least I hope "development" is the right word) and to gain feedback on musical direction/scope etc...

That's done it. I've nailed my flag to the mast. Let's see how it pans out...