Category: personal journal

Leopallooza Festival 2023.

After listening to weeks of the radio building up to/looking back at Glastonbury festival (of which I am not a fan), it occurred to me that I hadn’t been to a music festival for a decade or more and I really fancied returning to that happy place after such a long hiatus. So I began searching for cheap, local festivals and came upon one only an hour and a half away in Cornwall, called Leopallooza.

There were several bands I liked or wanted to see, along with a good selection of unknown musical pleasures to enjoy, so I booked a ticket and collected some simple camping gear, because the weather had been glorious for weeks…

Of course, the day after I purchased my basic survival shelter and accessories, the rain started and pretty much didn’t stop for the intervening month until I left for the festival last Friday (July 21st), which was at least sunny.

Saturday, or rather late Friday night, the sky opened and it rained.

And rained.

Then it rained some more and kept raining.

Then, behold, the mud arrived.

But did we care?

No, frankly. I didn’t notice any dampening of spirits whatsoever for the entire good natured, family friendly, all inclusive three days I was in The Wyldes, mud and all.

As for my personal roundup of the music at the festival.

Top bands in no particular order-
Hot Lava, Mystery Jets, Willie and the Bandits, Bad Nerves, BILLY NOMATES, The Scribes, N’Famady Kouyaté, Orbital, Dutty Moonshine Big Band, Another Sky, Sprints, Smokey’s King Shufflers.

I thought Bloc Party were a little disappointing compared to the previous time I saw them, but the crowd clearly loved them, so maybe it’s just me.
Aurora was ok, she’s got a good voice, but not really my cup of tea.

And Leopallooza has *the* best festival bar I’ve seen anywhere; it’s right on the arena with a great view of the stage, it’s under cover, has sofas, armchairs and a pizzeria next door, it really doesn’t get much better than that.

A really fantastic weekend with a great atmosphere from start to finish, rain or shine, it’s a real shame it was the last one.

Anyway, here is my photo journey through The Wyldes, come and explore Leopallooza with me…

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A brief snippet of some acts from this year’s festivities.

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A Year On Part Three: Life

Another brave and powerful post from my newly discovered nearly-cousin, Nina, please go over and show her some blog love for Christmas…

Chaos in Slow Motion - Nina’s Life - More Than Meets the Eye

A brief introduction before I start this. I always write my blog posts for myself and this one probably more than any other. I dictate rather than type, so speaking it all out loud is both therapeutic and cathartic. I cry as I speak and it does me a lot of good.

However, I am aware I’m putting this in a public sphere. It’s not particularly positive or uplifting, but there is no need for concern. I have good personal and professional love, help and support and I am not looking for sympathy.

You also obviously don’t have to read this if you don’t want to! I’m just going to be honest and get it out of my system a bit. Trigger warning about mental health issues.

In a way, this is really two years on, as on December 21st 2018 I was discharged from hospital into a nursing home…

View original post 2,175 more words

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DJ dc57 in the mix.

“Music”, John Miles once said, “was my first love and it will be my last”.

Well maybe I wouldn’t go as far as that, but music has always been a huge part of my life, despite my being about as naturally musical as a bucket of spanners falling down the stairs.

But as anyone who has been following my particular brand of nonsense for a while will be aware, that hasn’t stopped me from dabbling with Sound and Vision for a few years and my skills are gradually improving.

I’m always playing around with remixes for my own entertainment; forcing together tunes which are almost certainly not supposed be combined, foisting them on unsuspecting friends on Facebook and sending them all to my old friend, Ho, the inexplicably eager guinea pig for musical experimentation.

Obviously it’s gratifying when somebody likes the result of my sacrilegious sonic noodling, but I’ve never laboured under the misconception that any of my amateur offerings would get an official release by a proper record label.

Until now, that is.

Only the other day I told you about my cousin, Rich Thair, founder member of the globally successful Red Snapper and more recently side project, (with bandmate Ali Friend) Number. Well, when they released their single Face Down In Ecstacy, their label , Sunday Best Records decided to run a remix competition. It was to be judged “blind” so that the band would not know whose mix was whose and mine was of course submitted under the moniker dalecooper57.

The prize was the chance to have the winning mix released on an exclusive Bandcamp EP and I just could not resist entering.

I never expected to be in serious contention, competing as I was against people who knew what they were doing when it came to dealing with things called “stems”, for example.

These stem files were what I was sent by the record label (essentially, the component parts of the track to be remixed) and I had no idea what to do with them and nothing with which to, since as with everything else I do, I was using my phone for the entire process. So in the end I used the album version of the track, which I had purchased on its original release and informed the label that I just didn’t have the technology. They were very nice about it and basically said, do whatever you want, so I got to work.

This was about the time it occurred to me that all my previous attempts at mastering the remixer’s art had involved the aforementioned splicing together of songs, which I couldn’t do on this occasion because of copyright infringement issues.

But…wait a minute…that didn’t apply to using my own musical compositions, if you can call them that, for the additional mixing elements, did it?

Aha, the game was afoot.

So I sat down on a sunny afternoon a few weeks ago and, using one of the tunes I’d created with my Korg synth app during lockdown, I got to work on my remix of Face Down In Ecstacy

I submitted the completed mix a few days later, crossed my fingers that at the very least they wouldn’t reject it out of hand and waited…

To my amazement, the deadline for submissions arrived and I received an email saying my mix had indeed been entered into the competition and they liked the “spacey feel” I’d given the track.

Wow!

Like, WOW!

Ok, so I wasn’t going to win, but I’d had it accepted by a real record company for serious consideration, that’s pretty good, right?

And on Friday, I found this momentous message in my inbox;

“Hi Guy,

Thanks again for your remix entry.
The band have decided to release a remix EP exclusive to Bandcamp, which includes your remix. The release is a 7 track EP which consists of some of the entries from the competition and the original ‘Face Down in Ecstasy’ mix.
The release will be published on Number’s Bandcamp page on Monday 21st September. I’ll send over the release link once published!
Thanks so much again and hope you have a lovely weekend!
Cheers,
Sunday Best Recordings”

WOOHOO!

Yes, it’s official, dalecooper57 is now on the same record label as David Lynch, how cool is that?

I am, as I’m sure you can tell, extraordinarily chuffed about this turn of events and I would now like to suggest that you click on the image at the top of this post, or USE THIS REALLY OBVIOUS LINK to navigate your way to your listening pleasure.

Right, back to the turntables, who knows what’ll happen next…

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Family matters.

It’s always good to meet new people and it’s doubly nice when those people turn out to be part of the family, even when the connection is a little tenuous.

So imagine my delight when, while chatting to my cousin Richard yesterday, (DJ, musician and founding member of Red Snapper) I discovered two other distant “cousins” I previously knew nothing about. One of them is another very talented musician who goes by the name of Garanuk and the other is a WordPress blogger!

So after you’ve taken in Richard and Will’s musical accomplishments, pop over, say hello and check out Nina’s extraordinary story on her blog, Chaos in Slow Motion.

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Reblog: (Mis)adventures in Life & Sourdough: From Pffffft to Puff Pastry (100% Sourdough Croissants and Pain au Chocolat)

Your daily bread.
Another heartfelt post from The Dough Abides, my friend Kris’ blog.

The Dough Abides

Exactly one year ago, I was preparing to go to court, seeking justice after months of being relentlessly stalked, harassed, threatened, and defamed publicly on social media. I am happy to report that justice was served. Not just once, but twice.

Yet, the triumph over my oppressor wasn’t sweet. I came out of that experience feeling eviscerated and deflated, the wind knocked out of my sails. Pfffffffft. Had my life been a movie, those next few months would best be entitled, “Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Dumpster Fire.” I’d exited the darkest chapter in my life only to enter a new one, this time confronting a far more formidable oppressor: my own insecurities, self doubt, and codependency. Suffice it to say, 2019 was Dante’s Inferno on a loop. And 2020 hasn’t been much better.

Until now.

In the last few weeks, amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and worldwide…

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The Cosmic Photo Challenge.

Ok, so this is the “new normal” we’re going to have to get used to, is it?

Well, one thing hasn’t changed and that still means that every Monday on Return of the Internet Nobody, I do a little feature called The Cosmic Photo Challenge and you are all cordially invited to take part.

On Friday I left you a suggestion based on our recent collective incarceration; asking you to capture whatever your personal version is of; The world in lockdown.

I have collected together a few of the shots I took over the last few, surreal weeks, when it has been possible to capture our beautiful town and countryside in a uniquely unpopulated state.

It has also meant that I could take photos from places that are usually far less accessible. These first two were taken from the high River Torridge road bridge, looking both downstream towards Bideford and the mouth of the estuary…

…and inland towards Appledore, with its naval shipyard.

I was lucky enough to catch a good clear evening with no traffic and a full moon high tide, so I could quickly stop the car to jump out and snap these.

But although the weather was equally glorious a few days ago when I took some on Barnstaple square and the more modest (but ancient and far more attractive) “Long Bridge” over the River Taw in town, the tide was resolutely out.

I also had a bit of a play around with a shot of the Albert Memorial clock tower outside the museum and I’m rather pleased with the result of my meticulous fingertip erasing.

As the world returns to some semblance of its bustling self, it’s almost a shame to lose the tranquility and stillness which we humans so casually shatter with our busy lives.

It has been a rare and unusual privilege to witness my home in this more natural, unsullied state and it makes me appreciate it all the more, too.

How does your world look in these strange times?

It couldn’t be easier to take part, just follow these simple steps…

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To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.

Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

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Not all heroes…

I shared this meme on Facebook recently, (artist unknown) to show support for all nursing and care staff, who are of course the ones on the frontline of the Covid-19 crisis and they all do an amazing, superhuman job.

But the UK media has focused (until just the last few days, anyway) on our sainted National Health Service and the impact the virus has had on the lives of its staff and patients.

We, the Great British Public, were even encouraged, (quite rightly, because they are already paying a terrible price for their dedication), to Clap for the NHS on Thursday nights, but what the tabloids and pundits seemed to have forgotten, until the death toll started to rise, were the non-NHS residential care homes, of which there are something like 12,000 in the UK.

My wife and several friends of mine have given their lives and careers to the care of the vulnerable and at risk all over the world and it has always to amazed and angered me that those who we rely on to provide the most essential services in life, are the ones we reward the least for it.

Not that anybody goes into the care industry to become rich, unless you’re an unscrupulous businessman who owns a home, but even then you have to employ staff who…well, care, for the people whose lives they are entrusted with.

Most of these care homes are understaffed and underfunded, aren’t supported by a gigantic infrastructure or supply chain, and are even less equipped to deal with a global pandemic than the state-run hospitals, many of which are already stretched to breaking point. Also, the residents of these homes can and do attend local hospital clinics and emergency departments, making the risk of cross-contamination that much higher.

Clapping for the NHS is all very nice, I’m sure, but how about we expand that to cover ALL care staff?

Social carers work just as hard as doctors and nurses, but they aren’t all getting free stuff in coffee shops, they aren’t being called heroes by the press and they aren’t being allowed into supermarkets with the elderly and vulnerable like NHS staff, despite being just as at risk of passing the virus on to patients.

Oh, and here’s an idea; after all this is over, as well as paying off the debts of student doctors and nurses, how about rescinding all future visa fees for the tax paying, legally resident immigrant workers who are such a vital part of our NHS and social care industry?

Free citizenship for all.

Or maybe as a reward for their service and unthinking selfl-sacrifice, we should continue to make them jump through inhumane and unjustifiable bureaucratic hoops, how about that?

All these conditionality resident, yet uncomplaining and dedicated foreigners, the ones with different skin tones; the ones with strange accents, unusual customs and clothes, the ones who are keeping our country safe and our loved ones alive, why not continue to charge them all obscene amounts of money just to live here and then charge them EVEN MORE, simply to use a health service they work so hard to support?

They leave their families behind every day, not knowing if they’ll be coming home that night, to make sure you can come home to yours for the rest of your life.

Don’t you think anyone who does that should have the right to call the country for which they do it, “home”?

How about we all do the right thing by the people who are quite literally putting their lives on the line for us every day?

Thank you all for your service.
Peace
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#COVID19 #socialcare #NHS

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Testing, testing…1, 2, 3, testing…t, t, t, t, testing.

I seem to be having a few little problems with pingbacks and notifications, which a couple of readers have mentioned and I have also noticed something similar on K’lee’s blog recently.

So this is a test post to help the WordPress Happiness Engineers to track and capture any gremlins who are lurking in the system.

But since I have you here, you might as well get something out of it, so here’s one of my strange remixes for you to listen to and/or download.

It’s a bona-fide ’80s pop classic which I’m sure a lot of you will recognise, spliced rather neatly together with a band who were one of their major influences and one of my all time favourites. So click the link below or the image above and enjoy, completely gratis and free of charge, my latest understated masterpiece…

*****WEST END MODEL*****

Any feedback about that or any notification problems will be, as ever, gratefully received.

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K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.

Today’s edition of K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge is a bitter-sweet affair, dealing as is does with the theme of; Rebirth and remembrance.

K’lee set the prompt and when I saw what it was, it occurred to me that there were two things on my mind this Easter weekend; how fortunate I was to have such glorious weather to enjoy the beautiful Devon countryside with Audrey and; how much I miss my friend, Chris, who passed away almost exactly four years ago.

So I decided to go for some more shots of nature coming back to life, along with a few re-photographed, old 35mm photos of Chris from our misspent youth. (If you’ve not read it before, please check out the link above and join me in remembering a very special friend)

See what delights K’lee has to show you HERE.

And now you can share your own contributions, it’s easy when you know how…

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To get involved with the challenge, post a photo to your blog on Monday, add a pingback to this post (or to K’lee’s) and don’t forget to tag your post #CosPhoChal.

Alternatively, add a link to your blog in the comments of either mine or K’lee’s post and we’ll come and check out your entry.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

#CosPhoChal

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