End of an amazing year - here's to 2008

I've had the most amazing year - too many things to list here and regular readers already know about them.

It's been a mix of tragedies and achievements, losses and gains, ups and downs.

Mostly though - it's been amazing and I feel I'm a very lucky person in this life.

In 2008 I want to continue focussing on my creative life, especially my music. I'm terrified but looking forward to my first big gig on February 1st to launch the album then I want to sell it online and get it out to people who'd like to listen to it, improve my live performance, work with new musicians, record the rest of my songs and write some more if the inspiration comes.

I'd like to do a tour round to meet as many of you as I can in "real" life at some point though that might have to be 2009!

I'm very, very lucky to be blessed with great health and tons of energy, a wonderful family and brilliant friends both on and off line.

Thanks to everyone for being there for me through thick and thin.

So here's to a great 2008 to you and yours!

Cheers! *clink clink*

Jamming

Jamming in my living room with my good friend Alphonse today.

This evening I went to Hush Hush with my son and some friends to see DJ Derek - an old white Jamaican guy who plays mainly reggae. A good time was had by all. Just off to bed now so night night!

Boxing Day

Hi Guys - I had a lovely Christmas with my family - good company, nice food and a chilled out time.

We played cards, chatted and watched a bit of TV which makes a change for me. We watched that old faithful film The African Queen with Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart - great stuff.

Today my nephew left and went back to London and my son arrived from London and I had open house and at least 30 friends and neighbours turned up and and came and went till latish this evening - I'm now in bed with Mac doing this quickly before crashing out - I'm quite tired now.

The place is a tip but never mind - I'll sort it all out tomorrow!

So, good night for now - hope you're all well!

Happy Christmas and Thankyou for being there!

To all my dear blog friends

A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Whatever you're doing this holiday, whoever you spend it with, I hope you have a peaceful and happy time.

You are all very special to me and I appreciate your friendship and support more than you can imagine.

Thanks for a great year here at Efx2blogs - especially those behind the scenes who've kept it going.

Bye for now - with love Chandra

Happy Holiday - *tongue in cheek*

I copied this shamelessly from someone's Myspace but couldn't resist it!

I wanted to send some sort of holiday greeting to everyone, but it is so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So I met with my lawyer yesterday, and on his advice I wish to say the following:

Please accept with no obligation,implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that the UK is necessarily greater than any other country) and not without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting the following terms:

This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Disclaimer: No trees were harmed in the sending of th

Shopping Madness

Phew - well I survived some grocery shopping today! This morning I went to a wonderful shop we have here in Bristol called the Sweet Mart. It's an Asian shop which (as the name implies) started life as an Indian sweet shop but now sells just about everything exotic you can imagine - plantains, fresh spices, popadums, organic vegetables and bread, sauces from everywhere in the world, weird and wonderful juices, sacks of every kind of rice, beans and lentils. The very smell of the shop makes my mouth water!

I then braved the queues in Tesco (shudder) and bought the other stuff like beers, wines etc, boring things like toilet paper blah blah.

It took an hour to get out with the huge queues of people with achingly full trolleys - anyone would think we were stocking up for the end of the world not a few days' holiday. Mind you, it was the same for me as I have a house full of people arriving starting tomorrow till nearly New Year so of course much food etc IS required.

I bought all sorts of naughty yummy things I don't usually buy like cream, and cakes, and bikkies, and cakes, and puddings mmmmmm cakes!

Tonight I'm supposed to be going to an open mic night but guess what folks - f**k it - I'm going to open one of the bottles I bought, tuck into some goodies and enjoy my last quiet evening in for some time!

*cheers folks*

Poster

Today I actually did some of the dreaded Christmas shopping - I don't know what possesses me but I just want to go home and give up before I even start!

Tonight I'm going to a Rozabella (Patrick Duff's young band)'s gig on The Thekla (floating club in Bristol).

Here's the poster for a gig I've been asked to do in Weston Super Mare on January 3rd. Three people will do a 30 minute set of original music solo each and before each person they play half an hour of songs of our choice to show what music has influenced our writing and music.

Dad and Gig!

I've had a great couple of days. Yesterday, my dad and his a wife arrived for a night's visit and they left after lunch today. Last night, I cooked a nice veggie lasagne for them and today we had a pub lunch together. It was lovely to see them as they live quite a long way away so I don't get to seem them too often! Here's my dad playing my piano in my hallway!



This afternoon I practiced a bit for tonight's gig at the Demi Lune. I played four songs for the first time with Paddy the new guy I've got playing with me - he's very good and plays keyboards, whistles, fiddle and percussion. Today I played one song on piano with him playing whistle and then three guitar songs with him playing keyboards. It felt so different playing with someone else but it went really well for a first go and everyone seemed to enjoy it!

There are no photos of me but here are some of the other artists who played tonight:









Tomorrow, I'll do some housework, practice some more and then I'm seeing a girlfriend in the evening.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Test

I'm having problems with my photobucket - this is a test to see if it's a problem with them or me

Blogging

Hello anyone who still reads here!

I'm posting nearly daily at http://chandramoon.efx2blogs.com as it's all working beautifully again.

There are post and comment alerts and a very active and friendly community (with the odd drama thrown in too).

I'm still working hard at my music and the album is nearly completed and should be available before Christmas!

Hope you're all well - see you at my main blog if you want to keep up. xx

Blogging at Efx2blogs.com

Hello - now that efx2 is up and running again I'm blogging there again. There's a link to the right if you want to come and read my news and I'll keep visiting those of you who aren't at efx.

I'll double post here sometimes but it's too much effort to put posts with photos up twice so I'll be over there mostly.

I'll keep this place live as a back up though

Bye for now xxx

Quiet Sunday

Well today I'm having a quiet Sunday - reading the Observer, doing a bit of housework and later popping round to visit a friend I haven't seen in a while.

I've also finished up here I think and sorted out a few links etc and updated my blog address on the various blog feeds etc. I've added my son and daughters' music and blog links etc. Hope you're all enjoying your weekends.

Gig

Just got home from the cabaret gig I played at tonight. It went really well and I was very relaxed for a change so I actually really enjoyed playing. I think I played a lot better than usual which was encouraging! The other acts were good and once I'd done my set I was able to sit back and just enjoy the rest of the evening. Tomorrow I have a planning meeting for my album launch gig which I'll probably do in the new year though the album should be available this side of Christmas online. Anyway - have a great weekend. Night night xxx

Hopi Ear Candles, Visions and Fiery Hoop!

Where to start? I had an amazing experience at the End of The Road Festival that I want to write about - but it’s weird! Maybe you’ll think I’ve gone mad or been on too much whacky backy but anyway………………..

Maybe I’ll start by saying I’ve remixed the new track Fiery Hoop for you to listen to on www.myspace.com/chandramoonsmusic which is a lot better than the first one. It was really hard work in the studio today as the computer kept misbehaving and it all took twice as long as it should but we got there in the end. My producer’s away for a couple of weeks now so I’m having a break from recording and going to focus on playing live as I have a couple of gigs over the next few weeks and I need to practice!


Anyway - back to the weird experience - I think I’ll write this as if it were a journey as that’s what it felt like. I’ll set the scene……. I was at the festival and there was a beautiful healing area in a field within the main site. There were many alternative practitioners doing all kinds of therapies such as Indian Head massage, Reiki, Chakra balancing (? don’t ask me?), deep tissue massage etc etc and including Hopi Ear candles. Because of all the drumming and music I listen to I suffer a bit with tinnitus and I thought the ear candles might help and I’d also been told they’re very relaxing during the treatment. He lay me on my side in the lovely tent which had Indian drapes all round, incense burning etc and placed the first candle in my left ear and lit it………………..

……….peace and quiet, the slight sound of fizzing as the flame flickered, the breeze sighing outside sounding muffled, faint tinkling of piano keys and female voices singing. My eyes are shut and I focus inside on the quiet space in my head………..and suddenly before me I see the profile of a native American Indian with two feathers pointing down at the base of his skull. Very proud he was gazing into the middle distance - a completely benign presence. The image faded and a stag materialised silhouetted against dark branches and foliage. As I watched the stag I realised I could no longer distinguish the Indian from the stag and that they had become one, waves of purple light were pulsing in my head - simply beautiful ……… my awareness came back into the tent as the first candle had burned down. I turned over for the second candle no longer expecting any further visions and at first I was aware again only of the ambient sounds in the distance - laughing voices of people passing by, the sound check on the nearest stage penetrating into my space. Then suddenly I saw the eye of the stag looking at me - and I knew that the Indian was gazing at me directly through the eye of the stag - again waves of purple light and peacefulness until the second candle had burned down………………

Of course, I told the therapist what I had experienced and amazingly it turns out he is a shamanic practitioner and his “guide” is an Indian called Two Feathers who represents the stag!! I couldn’t believe that somehow I had picked up on his energy so powerfully that it had actually manifested as a powerful and bright image!

I really can’t say what I think this was - I don’t know if I actually believe in spirit guides and that that guide somehow was communing with me or whether I psychically picked up on the image channeled through the therapist. I have no idea but it was a completely real and amazing experience which left me feeling elated and full of well-being.

I sense a song coming on from this but I don’t suppose it will make any sense to anyone ……… what do you think? Have you experienced any weird visions like this? I must ask Woman of Feathers.

Anyway - I hope you like the track - bye for now.

Hi all - ok so I'm back at Efx2blogs.com and praying it stays stable.

I'm going to post in both places and keep the list of links on both sites so hopefully won't go through that awful feeling of losing touch with you guys again!

If you're back on efx2 and I haven't visited you yet please let me know your efx address so I can add you to my list over there too or let me know your blogspot/blogger address if you're not on my list here yet. Thanks.

I'm just back from a lovely festival called End of The Road and will blog about it and put some pics up soon.

Bye for now.

http://www.chandramoon.efx2blogs.com

New Efx Site

Well I've had a go at setting up a new efx blog at the Wordpress thingy and so far I HATE IT!!!! Rant grrrrrr gnash of teeth. I'm sick of starting new blogs and I want my old blog back boo hoo!!!

I think I'll blog here for now as at least it's easy to use and stable but if anyone has a blog at the new efx please leave me the address. A few of you have commented over there but I can't work out how to find you there. I'm not thick - I rather pride myself on my computer knowledge but I've really run out of steam.

I want to spend time writing in my blog not starting a new one every damn day or two.

I've just got back from a lovely festival in Dorset called The End of The Road and I'll post some pics later.

I had a hopi ear candle treatment and had an amazing experience I'll write about soon.

That's all for now folks - I need to get back in a good mood before I can write everything up properly.

Fiery Hoop

Well after another busy day in the studio I've managed to get a rough mix of the next (11th) track of the album for your ears only ha ha!!!! Let me know what you think - well not the mixing issues as it's only rough - but the general idea - it's quite a dancey one I think.

I'm off first thing to a festival with my kids so see you all again next week.

Looks like Efx will be back soon on Wordpress.

Bye for now xxx

Listen to Fiery Hoop

Subscribing to Your Favourite Blogs

Hi - someone kindly pointed me in the direction of Bloglines where you can easily subscribe to your favourite blogs. Not quite as easy as efx but it does work xx

Rhymester

Hi - just a line to say I've set up a link to Rhymester so go and say hello to him if you want to encourage him to stick up his poems etc! See Links to right....

Songwriting Group

Today was my usual Wednesday songwriting group which went well. In the morning we go round the group and spend about 5 minutes each talking about our week musically/creatively speaking. You learn a lot sharing and listening to what other people go through in the process of songwriting and producing.

Then you play a song or read lyrics etc once each before lunch and in the afternoon there's another round of songs. Today there was a puppeteer at the group - we've had magicians and dancers, poets and rappers - all sorts. You also get a chance to hear about each other's gigs and collaborate on each others' projects. I've been invited to play a couple of songs at a gig in Bristol on Sep 21st and I was able to invite people to play at a Bristol street party where I'm playing in October.

I've also found someone to help me organise the gig/launch party for my album which is a HUGE relief - it's just all too much for me to do on my own!

This evening a good girl friend of mine came round and tomorrow I'm off to the studio to finish off Fiery Hoop then only one more track to go before we do the mastering of all 12 tracks. It's so exciting but scary at the same time. I've been working on this pretty much full time since March.

It feels weird blogging here - like I'm not in my proper home but at least a lot of my blog friends seem to be in touch here. Does anyone know how to contact Legs or Rubicon?

Anyway - I'm going to try and get to sleep before 2am tonight - I'm so tired from lack of sleep that my eyes actually feel physically peculiar.

Night folks xx

Studio and General Musings

Today was manic. I was up till 2am fiddling about here and trying to find you all and get this wretched place sorted out. I don't like not having alerts, I hate not knowing who's visited or whether friends have posted. I really haven't got time to go and check everyone every day - the alerts were so brilliant. Having said that I'm so glad I can at least keep in touch this way but I so hope Keith can get efx up again. Does anyone know how to contact him?

The studio session went well today. We're working on a song I wrote called Fiery Hoop - oh of course you haven't got my lyric pages now either grrrrrrr so excuse me while I go and find them somewhere else grrrrrrr.........

.....ok I'm back - here are the lyrics to the next song which is drum and bass styley!!

The Fiery Hoop

I feel the fear, I’m terrified
Can hardly turn a page.
My heart stands still, it’s petrified
Can’t walk out on the stage.
I wanna jump onto a moving train,
Turn the handle walk through the door,
Dance naked in the pouring rain,
Do something never done before

Break this endless loop
Break this endless loop
Break this endless loop
Break this endless loop

I’ve been let down, I’m all alone,
No-one understands,
I sit all day by the telephone
Staring at my own hands.
Every minute feels like an hour,
Every hour feels like a day,
All the good things have turned sour,
I wannna throw it all away

Break this endless loop
Break this endless loop
Break this endless loop
Break this endless loop

The world’s at war, full of hate,
No-one knows right from wrong.
It looks as though it’s way too late -
The trouble’s gone on too long.
I believe that we can’t change a thing
If we're feeling disempowered.
I know we need to grow new wings
Rise from our darkest hour...

Take a leap of faith
Through the fiery hoop,
Take a leap of faith
Through the fiery hoop.

I feel the fear, I’m terrified
Can hardly turn a page.
My heart stands still, it’s petrified
Can’t walk out on the stage.
I believe that we can’t change a thing
If we're feeling disempowered.
I know we need to grow new wings
To rise from our darkest hour...

Take a leap of faith
Through the fiery hoop
Take a leap of faith
Through the fiery hoop
Through the fiery hoop
Through the fiery hoop........(fade)


© Chandramoon Dec 2004

Dyrham Park Part 2

Thought I'd try the Blogspot video link thingy - here is a short video clip from yesterday!

Enjoy


More photos

Dyrham House

I had a great weekend in Salisbury drumming with master drummer Seckou Keita. He taught us a really difficult but brilliant rhythm called Konkonda or something like that!

On the way home today I visited the National Trust property Dyrham House which was beautiful here are some photographs

Facebook Photos of Dyrham Park

I haven't worked out how to make this place look nice and I'm fed up having to start again so hopefully Efx will be up again soon.

xxx bye for now.

Took this photo today so I'm testing if I can post it ok here!

Calling All Efxers!!

Hi please can any of you from Efx that aren't yet on my list of links who'd like to be added please comment here as I'm trying to track you all down - I don't want to lose touch with my Efx family PLEASE xx

Efx down

Well I didn't think I'd need to blog here but here I am for now anyway - came back from a great weekend to find efx down. What a bummer I don't want to start from scratch again.

Still Blogging at Efx2

This is just a back up account - I'm still blogging regularly at http://chandramoon.efx2.com