It has been a busy 10 days. Last Monday I started my new job as a……… traffic warden. Quite funny I know. I am doing carparks, 9 to 5, in a uniform with a Teepee (the machine you use to give tickets out with), my own boss, sneaking the Jazz classics into my brain all the while with a sly MP3 player. It is ok really- I just have to walk and walk and walk (my boss estimates 10 miles per day in what I consider school shoes) and give out the odd ticket. Ok money. Have already been told that I am too scruffy but what can they do, tuck my shirt in like Mrs Roberts used to? The only trouble is that by the time I get home I am knackered and can’t really do much in the evening, except for play my Clarinet, which I am now taking SERIOUSLY. SERIOUSLY (with capitals) would mean more serious than I think I could take anything except world wide revolution, but certainly serious with a capital S. At the moment I am aiming to
a) relearn the Mozart clarinet concerto that I blagged for A level. This is because next year in US I have to audition to even get LESSONS, and my prospective teacher is Mark Brandenburg, surely of the Brandenburg concerto lineage, and its not a chance I am ever going to get again (certainly not for $150 a term) and if I am serious about being a MUSICIAN (this time capitals justified) then I need to get my classical tits in gear. Apparently he doesn’t teach jazz. And if you can play classical you can play anything, right?
b) get my scales as sharp as Scottish josh’s one liners
c) learn the clarinet solo on Messiaen’s ‘quatour pour la fin du temps’ (quartet for the end of time) which is soooooooo beautiful, but am dubious to its technical significance.
Once those are done I can send off my audition tape and get on with funking it up.
But anyway, traffic warden, I must admit I have a bit of bias when it comes to fucking spotless Land Rover Discovery 3s that are 10 minutes out of time over messy skoda s with a kids seat in the back. But its cool and I execute my job with professionalism. Much better than a job selling deckchairs or ice cream, which I was planning to do at one stage.
But I was only there 3 days (enough to complete my training) before disappearing off to the World of Music and Dance otherwise known as WOMAD. It isn’t really a world of dance, cos everyone is middle aged with kids and has too much money in their pockets to shake their booty effectively (Mbira queen stella chiweshe had to positively cajoled the audience into standing up during her second set) HOWEVER, it was certainly a world of music and was I think the best festival I have been to (possibly with the exception of Glastonbury with Radiohead, sigur ros, and belle and Sebastian etc) in terms of music. I won’t bore you with lots of superlatives about bands I already like, but I will give you the name of ‘Think of One’, a Belgium afro-beat/funk/summer vibey fusion band led by a delightful 67 year old Eritrean lady. OOOh and Stella said (in that superb deep Zimbabwean female husk) ‘listen….we are all talking about forgiving each other….isn’t it about time we forgave ourselves?’ I know a few people who should listen to that lady.
It was sunny the whole time except for when FEMI KUTI (fela kuti’s son but a wicked musician in his own right and a very beautiful man) played, when the rain belted down. After my radical haircut the backs of my ears got very burned.
My cousins were also there, 17 and 15, very much into getting wasted the whole time, made me reminiscent. Met a great chap called Joe from leeds there, I was recycling with him (15 hours emptying bins and giving out bags and I got a free ticket) and we talked solidly for 3 hours about everything in one of those FAST HARD connections you make with someone. He had recently given up weed cos it was shooting him through. It seems to be making more and more sense to follow him.
And then another overpriced ticket home with GNER before sound wave. For those that don’t know, it is a one day free festival run by and for young people, that each year is a bit of a miracle (that it happens and is successful) and an event that I have been as involved as I can be in for the past…4 years. This year it was being almost entirely organised by 16 year olds and below (understand the logistics of putting on a whole festival) and, although there weren’t as many people as usual and in my opinion the music wasn’t as full of gems as it usually is, it was cool and a nice vibe. However, I was really tired after WOMAD and my playing- with Protocol (Mbira for sam’s band), Ozzy’s new band (sax) and as myself with Billy Bass and burgeoning young MC Jo was average at best. I was hoping to really engage the crowd with my Mbira, especially with Billy’s wicked beats, but I just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe I was just dehydrated, too stoned/not stoned enough and tired, but I walked away unhappy.
And now for the best snapshot of my life at the moment (which, after all, is what this blog is for, both for you and me), I have to go cos I have a million things to do, not least go to sams for a spliff and jam.
See you
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