Original @ MindSay 
story
I've had this video in my VHS tape for years, and I've always wondered how I can put this damn video online. Well, after getting the Dazzle Video Creator Plus, HERE IT IS:
Now be nice, and be honest. I was younger, and maybe a little drunk. What do you think?
If you're from Houston, or you live in Houston, see if you can catch some familiar references.
But this video makes me smile, though. It brings back some memories, good and bad. And the audience enjoyed it. Playing for drunk people can sometimes be a plus! :p
Like I used to say, when I used to play at Open Mics, "The more you drink, the better I sound." :p
Here is the second of two collaborations with "Ulf Pettersson". That excellent Swedish composer. The title of this one is "I wanna see". This is a song I wrote as a bit of a parody, but then Ulf heard it and requested to do the music for me. I accepted of course, and this is what he came up with. I think it sounds better than the original version I recorded.
This song is not on my album "Sight Or Sound".
I look forward to possibly getting involved in a few more collabs with ulf. He is a musician I have a lot of respect for. He is very much a fan of my material, but we are both quite busy at the moment. I'm beavering away with my own music, and Ulf is involved in composing for TV and Film. It's likely that you might have heard something by him without even knowing it :)
This is "I wanna see":
This is the next installment of bits frmo my Dad's life.
My Dad. Part 9.
I think I pointed out previously that my father knew some less than upstanding individuals. I had a variety of friends before my father was a part of my world. I was to find out later that some of those meetings were not by accident. As a person, I do not judge people. I never have. If somebody was friendly to me, then I spoke to them. Some of my friends advised me more than once that I should avoid mixing with some of the people I met. I saw no reason to adhere to that. These people treated me well, and nothing untoward happened in their company. I found it amusing how people feared some of the individuals I kept company with. I can honestly say that that is something I never felt. Fear was something that was lost on me. They didn't give me any reason to fear. I always believed that if a threatening situation came along, then you dealt with it. There's no point worrying about the prospect. It turned out that my father knew all of those questionable individuals. Even some of those I'd worked with when I left school.
I'm going to say this next bit is alleged. A tale from Cowgate road. It's something my father told me, and something that was confirmed by a number of other family members. It involves a certain superstar called "Tom Jones". I'm going to assume you've heard of him. Apparently he had sex with a 14 year old in a field by Cowgate road. Pregnancy followed, but the poor girls life was cut short, because she died from leukemia. It's likely that she gave consent, but that kind of act was still illegal. I can't say for sure if this story ever got out. It's certainly controversial, but probably not unusual in the sixties. A number of my family members are not exactly fans of Tom, but after knowning that story, it's not really surprising.
To be continued.......
My album release has stirred up a bit of interest. It will be another 2 months before it's available in all digital outlets. It's currently on CDBaby, Itunes and Amazon. You can find out more on my website at:
You can get to Ulf Pettersson's site via my links page. There are also a number of free high quality downloads of some of my other songs!!
It's time for those Youtube numbers again.
The subs are almost there. Tantalisingly close to the 1k mark at 992.
The channel views have raced forward to 23,296, and the total overall video views are 397,648. They've increased their daily rate over the last few days.
Last, but by no means least....
That's the batch of originals out of the way. Now for a few cover songs. Coming up is my rendition of "Lost" by "Coldplay". I've been asked many times to do this one over the last month.
Now for some stuff written by me. This is the first of a string of original songs that didn't make it to the album for some reason or other. You can listen to clips of some of the album tracks for "Sight Or Sound" at:
It's also available on Amazon and Ruckus so far. I've uploaded ten of the album tracks to Youtube over time, but there are five on the album that don't feature there.
The title of this one is "Tell me why". It's another composition from a few years ago. It's about a relationship that breaks up with very little explanation. Something I'm sure that many can identify with. I did like this song, but I thought the chorus was a little weak, and there were better songs to choose from for the album.
You can check it out here:
Now for the continuation of events in my Dad's life.
My Dad. Part 5.
As I mentioned before, he spent a lot of time around a place called "Cowgate road" in Greenford, West London. In his mother's residence. Music is something he was crazy about. So it was no surprise that he got into the scene. His tools of choice were the Guitar and Harmonica. He joined "The frasier chorus". It was a 4 piece harmonica band, and my father played the chromatic. They didn't end up cutting any discs, and their achievements were very limited. On the upside, they got to tour with some bigger names.
Being a part of the scene, meant that he mixed with a number of people that you might recognise today. I've been told a number of stories about them. One or two of them seem pretty shocking. Even by todays standards. I suppose it wasn't so much of an issue in the 60's. I can't be one hundred percent sure that this occurred in Cowgate road, but it's a tale of Brian Poole from the Tremeloes and Lulu. My father never really liked Lulu. He had a few names for her but none of them are repeatable here. He informed me that Lulu used all the tools at her disposal in order to achieve fame. I don't find that sort of thing surprising. Many people did that. Don't quote me on this because it was my father that told me that Lulu and Brian Poole were having sex behind my grandmother's settee. Floors are cold and hard. Well this one was. Why didn't they use the couch. It would have been far more comfortable. Unless someone else was sitting there :)
To be continued.......
As always. Here are the Youtube figures to up to the time this was posted.
My subscriptions have increased to 953.
The amount of viewings for my channel are 22,268.
Aggregate video views are now 374,240.
Another original next that was a result of a suggestion.
At last, I have edited and uploaded all the videos I've been meaning to post from my "From Nebraska to Texas and Back" session with
Twee Vu on Youtube. Here's our cover version of Natalie Imbruglia's Torn: You know what, I'm just gonna go all out. Here's the whole playlist of all the 5 songs we recorded on video that day (it includes the video above, and an original):
What songs are in the playlist (in no particular order):
- Our cover of Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn"
- Our original composition called "Sorry For"
- Our acoustic rendition of Jocelyn Enriquez's "Do You Miss Me"
- Our cover of Evanescence's "My Immortal"
- Our acoustic rendition of The Scorpion's "Rock You Like A Hurricane"
Open Invitation: If you have a YouTube account, subscribe and add me as a friend if you like. I promise add and subscribe back.
I made a decision to look for local musicians to get involved with my album project.
The biggest issue I have with my songwriting is on the music side. I believe that I write good songs, and that's been backed up by countless musicians and industry professionals.
I'm very happy with my lyric writing, and the general melodies. The issue comes when I convert the song from my mind, into reality. Because I only play a bit of guitar, I cannot seem to get the expression I want out of the instruments. Like I do with the vocals. I'm sure that I will in time, but I really want to get this album out before the end of this year.
I was chatting to a friend of mine who goes to the odd karaoke, and I discovered that he was in a band. He has requested my company a number of times at an open mic night. So I finally went on wednesday.
I ended up getting up and doing 2 numbers, with the help of a guitarist.
I must admit that I really enjoyed the night. The venue sort of reminded me a bit of the cavern club (of beatles fame). It was underground, and all arches. The acoustics were fantastic because the long arches acted like funnels for the sound.
At the end of the night, I was approached by a few of the musicians. Who asked me to come down and perform again. So I said I would learn one of their songs if they would learn one for me. We were all in agreement. So it looks like I'll be doing it again soon.
This experience sparked an idea. I could visit a number of open mic nights and get chatting with some of the musicians. Then see if any of them are interested in helping me out with developing my album. I'll make a CD of a few songs for them to listen to. If they like it then we will take it from there :)
I'm going to be putting more about this in my blog, as it happens. I found 2 potential musicians on wednesday, though nothing is in concrete until they are sitting in my studio, recording with me.
OK. So what's been going on on my Youtube channel. They have a habit of changing things, and this time they've removed the total video views from their statistics. So I had to do a manual count up. Here's the latest:
My subscribers are up to 746.
Channel views have increased to 17,049.
After a long counting process. I can tell you that my total viewing figures are 262,877.
You can visit my Youtube channel at the following link:
Now I have to go and learn "Afternoons and coffee spoons" for my next appearance at the open mic night :)
It's all good fun.
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