In Concert

I was very pleased to take part in the NGhaSaid concert last October. It made me think of other times I have performed live sets, in music events around South East England. I used to perform my music live much more regularly than I have done in recent years.

I now mostly perform once a month at St. Mary's Church Informal Music Evening. I recently came across notes I'd written in the early nineties when I used to perform my songs about once a week at various folk clubs in and around London, on my own mostly but also with other people, other singers, a guitarist and a flautist.

I find performing in public, my music or anything else is a bit stressful, however if you do a good job and other people appreciate it, it can make you feel quite satisfied and pleased with yourself. These pictures showcase my music making on both sides of the millennium.

Beatle Dreams



 

I didn't know much about the Beatles until John Lennon died. After he died his music and the music of the Beatles, seemed to be everywhere. I was soon a big fan, falling in love with songs like A day in the life, Strawberry Fields Forever, Eleanor Rigby, Blackbird, Penny Lane, In my life, Tomorrow never knows, Here comes the sun, the list goes on and on. I won the 1984 Feltham Art competition with this  painting of the Beatles in their Sergeant Pepper outfits. Below is a picture of my small collection of Beatles' memorabilia.

 

 

These are two copies I painted of the 'Illustrated Beatles' lyrics 'You won't see me' and 'There's a place' and also a sketch I drew of John Lennon which I'm quite fond of.

 

  

 

 

 

In the cafe

Amy and I discovered the fun of animation after a visit to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green in 2007 and having a go on the magic lantern, creating a mermaid swimming and a girl eating soup. I translated these moving images onto the computer using GIF animator and then put the images together using movie maker, adding my songs in the soundtrack. The mermaid swimming formed the basis of 'Gone Swimming' featuring 'River Child' and Amy's 'girl eating soup' features in the above short film 'In the Cafe' which is set to my song 'Island of Happiness'.