That was the week that was

Right, I'm getting all the namedropping out in the first couple of paragraphs so those who find it unattractive can skip right past to the next bit. I've had a really interesting week (although I make no promises that it will make interesting reading, but I'll try!). I'm back at home in brum, having done an interview with Charlie Brooks this morning at her flat. She's very nice, and her take on her experience of working on Take 3 Girls (the movie I'm making a making of documentary for) was interesting - she had some interesting points to make about the difference between being in an incredibly organised and slick tv show like Eastenders, and an Anglo-Indian co-produced movie. Guess which one involves the more waiting around? However she said that that had meant that some fantastic bonding had taken place between the cast. She seemed to have really enjoyed doing the movie, which is cool.

The next bit of namedropping is brief - last Thursday I went to see Karen David at acoustix at the Bedford in Balham. Sat at our table and also there to see Karen was Rollo from Faithless. Fantastic. He didn't seem to mind me going up to him and gushing about Mass Destruction. In fairness, it was very hearltfelt gushing, as I do think it's a fantastic tune.

Apart from my brief brush with dance superstardom, the night at the Bedford was fantastic. Many of the cast and crew of take 3 girls were there, and it was very nice to see them again. The format of the night was 4 or 5 fantastic acts doing 2 songs each in both the first and second halves. So you'd see 2 songs by each artist, then get an interval, then get 2 more of each afterwards. There was an incredibly eclectic mix, and the highlights for me were Karen and an INCREDIBLE jazz band called Del Rosario. I'm sorry this isn't proper journalism and I can't name any of the band, but there was a guy who was the lead singer and lead guitarist, who had an incredible voice and some mad jazz skillz on the ol' fretboard. There were two female singers who sang beautifully, an awesome drummer, fab bassist and wicked keyboard player. Check them the whole heck out if you ever get a chance. Their songs were fantastic too - one of the things I really liked about them was how grown up the themes of the songs were, and indeed the way in which those themes were explored... The other act that went down very well, and which I found interesting, but not my cup of tea was Lily Fraser. I'm sure she's fed up with being compared to Kate Bush, but her voice and the angsty and personal themes of the songs probably make it inevitable. She was backed by a drummer, harpist, cellist and double bassist, and had an incredibly tight and interesting sound, but it was just a little too angsty for my tastes.

Acoustix at the Bedford is every Thursday night and is free, and also (and I think this is awesome) - it's webcast via that site. How wicked is that? I'm gonna be checking it out from time to time I think. The MC made a big point of saying that it was free to get in, but they ask you to pay more expensive than money - attention. He ensured silence for each act and asked people to go out to the bar if they wanted to chat - this did mean there was a lot of attention for the artists, even if it lent the mc a slightly fascist air...However it made for an excellent musical experience all round.

So yeah, that was great. But the best things that have happened to me have been that I've come up with a strategy to try and pitch my movie (more on that later) and I'm gonna be paid to edit my documentary, and then to make a documentary about the next film (Mirror, mirror) which I'm also gonna get paid for. So I'm a film maker. It hasn't quite sunk in yet, but it's the best thing that's ever happened to me in terms of work and career and stuff. I've done stuff I'm incredibly proud of before (particularly two videos I was involved in making called Positive Affirmations and Key Principles for Growth) but I've never been able to do it for a living.

This evening I went with Phill to see Rich (aka Ideosphere) as Phill was interviewing him for a forthcoming article on the Black Country page on the BBC website as part of the preperation for a different kettle of fish at the sunflower lounge (come one, come all, it's free and will be awesome!) 

In the past week I've also read a script, been to a casting session, been to an editing suite and then to a film processing lab to try and help sort out a bit of confusion, solidified some professional relationships which I think will develop in the future, clarified my short term future, seen my oldest friend after ages and ages, been a secretary for my dad and generally learned a great deal. It's looking good, but I'm glad to be home so I can do some work on solidifying the spiritual, mental and physical platform I'll need to do all these things...

love and peace and all good things to all...

 
p.s. Check out this article on BBC Birmingham, with words by Phill and photos by Katy!