Melanie Safka

I’m so glad my parents were hippies. Without that fact, my musical upbringing would not have been a diet of the likes of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Melanie.

One of the first sounds I heard was needle on vinyl and my first memory was gazing out of the window of a Welsh farmhouse to see silhouettes dancing around a bonfire playing acoustic guitars and singing.

The day I was born Melanie was also celebrating her birthday and had already performed at the Isle of Wight Festival and at Glastonbury Fayre, before it was even called a festival.

I think it may have been the constant comparison to the singer Melanie that may have made my mother pick up the acoustic guitar. She was a big fan and although she didn’t have the greatest singing voice, it didn’t stop her joining in on all of Melanie’s songs word for word.

Last night my Brother and I took a trip into Leicester to a little venue called the Y Theatre to watch Melanie play. If my Mother, Liala was alive today, she would have been there too.

It’s a small intimate venue perfect for one woman with a guitar. As it happened she was also accompanied by her son, Beau Jarred Schekeryk, an incredibly competent guitarist himself.

Her Son opened with some fantastic gypsy style flamenco guitar. He certainly added something to the style and listening to him you would think he’d grown an extra two fingers on each hand.

He apologised for arriving jet lagged as they had just flown in from Korea. I didn’t notice. His  delivery was laid back and chatty, great guitar music.

After a little while Melanie herself came on in a flowing dress, a different lady to the album covers that decorated my childhood but the same incredible voice, uniquely hers with the power to reduce me to tears in a single song. A song that I love but that thankfully She left out of her set.

Two hours passed too quickly as old favorites once heard at classic moments in time like Woodstock were punctuated with new material that could have been written at the same time.

Too many artists grow out of the magic they encapsulated and evolve into tired crooners. This is one thing that amazed me more than anything else with Melanie. How could this rare surviver of the Summer Of Love still be writing truly great songs after 40 years in the music industry. These weren’t tired, rushed or trite. Her new material seemed written by the same passionate young girl of the 60’s, it’s just that now you believed she knew what she was singing about.

Two days ago I had been at the ‘Radio 1’s Big Weekend‘ and although a great day in the sun, I felt the music certainly lacked something. I felt the artists were delivering me a product. That none of them believed what they were saying. It was without soul. Some person, singing some song, about some thing.

Melanie’s music filled in all the gaps for me. She believed in these songs.. That she has written.. That she now was singing.. And i believed her.

I admit, this kind of heartfelt folk isn’t for everyone. Once it’s produced with accompaniment on an album you need to know the singer and their words to get the best out of it.

This kind of live performance though, should be seen by everyone. Just the bare bones of a singer/songwriter who has been there and done the work. An honest exposure of the soul through nothing but guitar and voice. With her Son by her side it had the intimacy of a family moment. Many of the people in the audience have known Melanie and her music since before I was born. I guess if you count my time in the womb, so have I.

I am sad that my Mother never lived long enough to see this gig, to see that it was still ok to be a ’sincere hippy’.

As Melanie sang the song ‘I Tried To Die Young‘.. I was so glad she didn’t.

 

Melanie’s Homepage  Melanie in the Times  Melanie in the Independent

A petition to induct Melanie into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame

Tour dates

 

Photoshoot with the band ~ Talc

I have just finished uploading a few of the photos of the band Talc to my Flickr stream.

For most of Friday afternoon I had the pleasure of hanging out with the two awesome funksters Dr. Fun and The Gift.

They had imaginatively arranged for us to visit their local beer making establishment so as we could take some photos for their up and coming concept album and at the same time not be too far away from tens of thousands of pints of beer. (Probably more).

I have photographed these guys before and every time we meet we have a great laugh, always managing to bag a few decent shots in the limited time we have.

The Fullers Brewery (London’s last remaining traditional family brewer) was an amazing place of historical pipes and brass, leading us into a sci-fi setting of ceramic and chrome. They are obviously proud of their history and bent over backwards to see we had the freedom to take our photos unhindered. We worked our way through the factory, stopping to snap when we thought the setting inspired.

Our shoot wound up underground in a little private bar where, given a sleeping bag and a few pies, I could quite easily have spent a good few weeks sheltering from the outside world and saturating my body and mind with the various ales made on site and piped into this curious bar with no till and no way to take your money.

Paradise?

Even when my camera was back in the bag and we headed to the local (attached) pub for a debrief, our friendly guide saw that the round was free and we were to order what we wanted.

It’s just a shame i was riding the bike and had to maintain some form of sobriety as otherwise I would have had to stay and help the guys with their debrief lubrication.

Besides.. I had had more than enough motoring action earlier in the day to risk any more altercations with angsty London road users.

Thanks Talc for a great days photography and thanks to Fullers for not only letting us take photos but for going all out to make us feel as welcome as we possibly could.

Talc’s new album ‘Licensed Premises Lifestyle’ is due for release in July and will be touring Japan in September.

..for more information on the band check out www.TalcOnline.com (soon to be updated).

And here is the band talking and moving..

Money for nothing or your pix for free.

I love music photography. It’s just not that easy to make a living from it unless you work for an agency or a glossy mag.

I have two rates normally, one for mates and unsigned bands (unless i am doing a trade for trade kind of deal) and then a more corporate rate for the big guns.

This may sound weird but musicians are always skint.. and i love the work, so it seems only right that if i can be flexible and it helps a band out on their way up.. then so be it.

You never know, they may just remember me for it too.

It’s only recently i have started to put my photos up on Flickr. This has been a help and a hinderance as i am inundated with people asking for copies of my photos for one reason or another. This would not be so bad if they were paying clients. But they are not. Everyone seems to think if you have pix on flickr you are a hobby snapper and that you would be more than happy with a little flattery and perhaps a link on some site as payment.

They don’t see the week spent in the mud, or the top spec camera broken through some fan throwing a beer, or the temporary loss of hearing, or he cost of a ticket (even with a photo pass at places like Glastonbury).

Yes music photography is fun and i really enjoy the adventure leading up to grabbing a selection of shots of a band that i either like or maybe even love.  But it would still be nice to get some kind of financial payback without churning out one of the thousands of yearly books or calenders that flood our bargain book shops.

Right that said. I am just about to upload a few pix of Lisa Hannigan (of Damien Rice fame) as some guy on a island somwhere has a music agency and would really really like to have one of my pictures on my wall.

Take a peek at my flickr music section by clicking HERE

I think i will ask for a donation..

Media Reincarnated

This morning I got a link to a musical Jam I was a part of over 10 years ago in 1997.

This was an impromptu get together of a few friends in an attic room in Rugby town UK. Everything was ad-libbed with only a bottle of wine for lyrical inspiration.

The musical attendees were…

Nathan Thomas on bass, Ed Hipkins on drums Georgi Griffiths on guitar, myself on Harmonica, didgeridoo and vocals and some guest keyboard from Jon Bains.

The songs made it no further than a green minidisc labeled with the track list:

Dr Jam ~ Jazzbreak ~ Mad Song ~ Georgi’s Son ~ Stoned In The Park ~ Suite Of The Day ~ Stan Jam

I lost my copy shortly after so this morning when i received this link: http://gboyjam.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html from Georgi I was transported right back ten years to that fateful day where we broke the rules and with no holds barred played what came naturally.

I am so glad the tunes live on and now they have been uploaded within easy reach of the world they have been reborn bigger than ever.

I would never have anticipated back then.. sat on my friends carpet, in a spare room decorated with kid’s wall paper that the songs would even have survived the recording process let alone now being disseminated to the world.

If you like any, please feel free to download and pass around.. Just credit the legendary P-Funk and the Funky Monkey’s.

Episode 32 – The Larmer Tree Festival

In a wet kind of way, Summer is upon us. Somehow though one festival always seems to survive the worst of the weather under a bubble of good vibes and great music from across the globe.

Here is a random collection of moments from this years Larmer Tree Festival. I left out all the typical shots of the big name bands from the Jazz, world, and folk music scenes and instead wanted to give you a glimpse of the people and sites surrounding the magic that is the Larmer Tree festival.

Special thanks go to the Glowglobes and Billy Bragg for kind permission to use their music.

Episode 07 – Josh

I just found out about a friends death.

He was a great musician able to play anything you put infront of him. I am glad he managed to record some of his music for those left behind.

Listen to the mp3

Episode 06 – Ken Dodd & Spacemen 3

For this podcast we are in the company of Will Carruthers, musician, fugitive, amateur botanist and if you don’t buy his new album… Creative accountant.

Ken Dodd and Spacemen 3 are some of the topics discussed and to top it all there is an acoustic version of ‘Van Fever Incident’.

Will’s site is at WillCarruthers.com where you can also find all the details of his new album ‘Home Improvement For Condemned Buildings.’

Listen and watch the mpeg

Listen to the mp3

Episode 05 – Podcast Blues

It’s been a mad week with me having to email photos to publications all around the world. As a result, I have had little time to prepare my normal 20-30 minute podcast.
This podcast does however include a song recorded at the end of epsode 4’s interview with Tree. It’s a simple Blues track jammed and recorded in one take.

I hope you enjoy it…

Listen to the mp3

Willy Make It

Ok.. Got all my work for today done and dusted by 3pm.. Cool. I have driven up half the country and back to take one photo. Pretty sad really. All that time driving. Still the radio makes good company providing you don’t have it tuned into some midless pap DJ who likes to spaz off about himself… Hang on… That’s a bit like a Blog on the radio or a podcast or whatever it’s called…. Just with more reason to be as you have 8 million interested parties. shit.

That makes this post more than a little pointless. Especially when a sunspot leaps creating an electro magnetic solar storm and erases every hard drive on the planet… It could happen you know.

So now i will impart the self centered information that i have and go run a few errands for myself…

SHIT!… an email has pinged and brought bad tidings…

Tonight i was supposed to be photographing Willy Mason at the roadmender Northampton and for some reason it has been cancelled. .

Man.. i had a back stage pass, photo pass and a fully charged and ready to go camera.

I bet he has got too famous to play the small venues and has managed to find a clause in his contract and pulled out. Well Willy, If you think i will be buying anymore of your cd’s you have another thing coming.. This was the reason Aquisition and other P2P software was created. We made you and we can break you……

23:24pm…….oh… Seems Willy has broken himself… Word is he has had a nervous breakdown on this, his first tour. i don’t think this is public yet… Not until i hit ‘post’ i guess. Now there is a dilemma. Second only to whether i should even bother blogging….

Should i click the button and tell the world (that isn’t watching) that Willy Mason, sensitive (overly) creative (when he is not too country) popular singer songwriter has had a nervous breakdown for whatever reason…

It’s personal for sure.. But when does a singer songwriter ever really keep anything to himself..? You know it will be a song soon enough. A slow melancholic ballard of woe and despair about how being a successful musician is sooo hard. That should earn a few bucks.

Well i am off to write my own song. An angsty emo ballad about how easy it is too let down hundreds of everyday 9 to 5′ers who’s only piece of hope this week came in the shape of a small piece of paper costing £7.50 that was their ticket to escape the real woes of their painfully average lives.

Thanks Willy… this one is for you… *click*