Hours of creative activity achieved in last 24 hours: 8
Watching / Listening: Have soared through Breaking Bad Season 2 and Mad Men Season 5 already this month. Middle-class Guardo-reading box-set perfection. / Peter Grimes, for inspiration.
Hair Day: crammed under a pink beanie. Brrr.
Yeah, screw that ole January-is-the-crappest-month-Blue-Monday nonsense. I love January! New projects, new resolutions (I have sensible ones that I have to complete at some point in the year, rather than any stupid read-every-day-eat-alfalfa-do-zumba sort of ones) and cultural fun. You've got to stomp through that snow in your most unashamedly nerdy stout walking boots (I have new ones - they are old-fashioned brown leather ones, like Wainwright would have worn on his travels. Fashionable if you're in Keswick. Not so much if you're in Camberwell.) and DO STUFF.
CREATIVE STUFF has included laying down a lot of material with producer maestro and 2013 collaborator of choice, MaJiKer, for my debut You Are Wolf album, featuring the birdlore set. I have a got a truly special guest to sing a little something for it too. Excitement!
My big project for the next few months is my community chamber opera Woodwose. I wrote the libretto whilst snuggled in front of a log fire up in the Yorkshire Dales at Christmas, and now am knuckling down to it at home. I'm quite proud of my ability to not look at the internet until mid-afternoon - I really CAN live without cat videos and Fantasy Football League after all!
SOCIAL STUFF has included being jostled at Brixton's Hootenanny, as is par for the course, and enjoying rather more the lovely vibes up the road at Mango Landin', which is ten times less skanky. DOLLYman had a very fun time playing a charity gig there and went down a storm. We're extremely excited about our gig at the Vortex on Feb 21st!
I popped to the PRSF party earlier in the month; it wasn't quite as fun as last year's - the Scala was a bit soulless really - but it was nice to see (a slightly sleepy) Sam Lee and band play, as well as Ayanna Witter-Johnson. Speaking of Sam, I am proud, and a little sheepish given the company, of having done a remix for 2012's Folk King, which is part of a free and downloadable EP here!
Last weekend, Platform 33 had their 1st birthday party in a cool (and COLD) railway arch in Waterloo. The night, always designed to be super-eclectic, crammed in a brass ensemble, South African township funk, sword dancing, and razor-sharp recorder quintet Consortium 5, who played my badluck birds pieces. Here's a lovely review!
ACTIVE STUFF has been on the QT, BUT I reckon I redeemed myself slightly by going to Covent Garden's Oasis and swimming very, very fast in their outdoor pool with a temperature of -1 outside and many gulpfuls of snow. YES!
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