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Stream Of Consciousness No. 2

After holidaying in the south of France and the attempts to further one's French studies that inevitably went with it, it got me thinking about the English language, and since reading a few books I have picked up on a few words that I have decided I must use more if I can. I've also included a list that I feel the opposite way about.

4 Words that sound cool:
Compelling
Syndication
Disenfranchised (this one I am proud to say I have used before!)
Broadcasting

4 Words that make you feel dirty when you say them:
Corporation
Magnanimous
Sellotape
Affluent

Something I also learned recently is that the Chinese words for 'problem' and 'opportunity' are the same. No wonder they're so optimistic and productive.

You know when you're not as young as you were when you start enjoying certain things more than you know you should if you want to stay cool. I found myself tightening up the hinges on all my kitchen cupboard doors last night and could not get enough. I also bought a Carafe during my time away and eagerly await using it at the dinner table. These are sad stories but ones that I promise are true.

A few other facts/bits:
- In lighter news, David Cameron did a fantastic job of alienating Pakistan. SPECIAL THUMBS UP for Dave!!! (at some point I must take a picture of myself or someone else doing the 'special thumbs up' so people are on the same page with this).

- The 'American Anthems' compilation album is dominated by male singers, at least the first CD is. We'll see if the trend continues.

- Every time I hear my email client do its 'you've got a message mate!' sound I get excited. Unfortunately most of the time it's spam going into the 'Mark Holland Music Mailing List' junk box. The 'ding' goes once the email has been received JUST before it's put into the junk box. Frustration 2.0.

Emotional quote of the decade/century: 'we will always be with each other through the eyes of our children' - Chris Evan's father to his wife upon hearing he had terminal cancer. What an awesome man.

That stupid email 'ding' just went again, armed with its trademark false hopes!!! Does anybody know if I can do anything about this? I still want the sound. I guess I want to have my cake and eat it.

'Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window' - Steve Wozniak.

Videos

Today I thought I'd share a couple of videos. The first one is a cover of an artist I think deserves a lot of recognition - Amos Lee. Be sure to check out his stuff. The second is me playing Summer In London Town, just because.

Mid-March Same-As-Always

I'm starting this blog having no idea what to write for the first time since beginning to blog. Let's just see what happens...

On Sunday I visited my family for Mother's Day (yes, I took flowers too). We went to a pub for lunch and I was very happy to see that it sold Proper, Traditional English food - as a Proper, Traditional English pub should do. I get really annoyed when I go to what looks like a Proper, Traditional English (hereby referred to as PTE) pub and find weird things on the menu. Such as 'Pan-fried East-Indonesian Something with Lobster seasoned and part-baked in Micronesia'. Ok, so I'm exaggerating a bit, but hopefully you see where I'm coming from (needless to say, I have no issue with Eastern Indonesia, nor Micronesia. I was simply using countries miles from here as examples to put my point across). That is simply not PTE.

No, on this menu we had roast (beef, lamb, pork and chicken), pie and the other choices we hope to find, sourced locally in typical PTE style. There is certainly nothing wrong with pie, that's for sure. Unless it contains something random like Elephant, or Aardvark. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I think Plato said that. I would just like to say before moving on that Elephant pie might actually taste good... not sure about Aardvark though. Anyone tried Aardvark?

I'm enjoying rambling so I'll continue.... think think think...

I'm thinking about starting to video blog too, but not sure what on earth I'd vlog about. I hate the word 'vlog' with a passion. I have no idea why I just said it. It took my immune system a while to build up enough to sufficiently combat 'blog', so you can imagine the amount of Vit-C I'm going to have to start taking now (not such a bad thing, I really like those effervescent blackcurrant flavour things). Maybe I could 'video-blog' (I can cope with that) about new songs or lyrics or artists I like, or even PTE pubs. I think the last one sounds most appealing, as I believe there are lots of others like me who sometimes just want a simple steak and chips with a pint of ale, done and done. Maybe I could just video-blog about ale.

Thanks for reading, now I'm going to go back and see what I wrote! This has been like free-running but with words. I'll be doing it again sometime.

Mark

Freezing February

On the weekend I was sitting with my guitar, allowing myself to play whatever came along. In an interview a few mornings back, I heard Corinne Bailey Rae described her writing process as a stream of consciousness. This was kind of like that I suppose. Anyway, what came out was different to most of the material I've written so far. Though it was just an idea, I think the next few songs I write will be based on different principles. Much more simple, much more driven by the atmosphere of the song as a whole than any 'hook' or lyric in particular. I like the idea of trying to put into music the feelings and emotions that everybody has, but can never really be explained with words alone. Nostalgic memories, underlying thoughts behind the simplest things. See? Now I find myself trying to explain it! It's not going to be 'Trendy-Arty', don't worry. Hopefully the music will do the talking.

Thanks for reading, as usual. Come to see us play later this month, we'll be performing some of the older songs along with some new stuff too.

Mark.

Good Morning, 2010

Welcome to my first blog in a little while. The festive period took my mind and showed it how to not think for a while (or at least, think about non-music things), which means I'm having to re-immerse myself. That's definitely a good thing, by the way.

How Do I Say

So this week I finished a new song. It's called How Do I Say, and you'll be able to hear it live in the new year, along with some other new material I'm working on - stay tuned for more updates on this!

I'd also like to officially welcome a very good friend of mine on board - Mr. Darren Roser has started accompanying me on guitar. You may have seen him at the Live Lounge last week, or at The Halo on Tuesday. Thanks to everyone who attended those shows.

We have 5 gigs booked in for December, so come see us at some point to enjoy some music and drink to Christmas! I'll certainly be doing so. Drinking, that is. Not enjoying music. I don't enjoy music.

Take care everybody.

Small Blog Update

So at the gig on Sunday I met a couple of interesting people. If you like hearing new music, check out Jenna Colquhoun, a songwriter from Australia with nice melodies and hints of Cranberry (yes, the band!), among others. Also if you like acoustic music you should check out Acoustic Jim. He plays good guitar, and Life 2.0 is a great name for a CD.

I'm working on some fairly significant changes this Autumn, which I'll reveal as they happen. Enjoy the nostalgic build-up to Christmas everybody!

Summer In London Town - studio part 2

An update via the medium of amateur video.

Summer In London Town - studio part 1

Just an update, I decided to take my camera along so I could.. uh.. take some photos as we worked...

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The scientist and the studio

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Caught on camera

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The result of long work hours

Recording

Hi everybody

Summer In London Town - the new song I've been working on the last few days. We're in the studio next week to record it! I'll keep you updated

Writing In Progress