Death of a genre...

Right this is a slightly depressing post, well for me anyway. Today I found out that one of my favourite bands are splitting up. This might seem slightly pathetic to some but this band are a local band I practically spent my teen years watching and listening to and therefore in an odd way the band means a lot to me. The band is called Once Over and I'm sure if you live anywhere near Brighton and know your punk music you will have heard of them.

I started to get into ska and punk music when I was about 13 through school and was then ridiculed by the people who introduced me to it because I wasn't considered part of the "cool kids". To get more involved in the local music scene and gain more knowledge of this genre that fascinated me so much me and a few friends would go to the legendary Brighton Punk Rocks and Once Over were one of the first bands I saw play. I was also lucky enough to see two other Brighton ska bands that have since departed the local music scene (Ska Gal and Out of Luck). Anyway I spent a great deal of my teenage years watching and listening to Once Over and I consider them to be one of my favourite bands and I loose count of how many times I have them live and I can practically recite every song word for word. Therefore it with slight sadness I wish them the best of luck with their individual futures and I plan on travelling almost 200 miles to see their last ever show in Brighton on the 22nd of February. Things change and things move on but I believe this is yet another huge blow to the Brighton ska scene. My utmost respect goes to guys from Once Over. Check them out if you will:

www.myspace.com/onceover

peace, love and respect. always.

-- Tom RDD

Cake Or Death?

Just a short video of one of my favourite stand up commedians at the moment, Mr. Eddie Izzard. He is touring later this year and I would strongly suggest you check his other material out. Below is a short video clip of his "Dress To Kill" tour and it features one of his more well know sketches. Enjoy




Peace, love and respect. always.

-- Tom RDD

Mumbo Jumbo

After a brisk morning "workout" of playing football for an hour I am back to writing on here. Huzzah! I hear you cry, but what shall I write about? well I recently wrote about me writing a story and well here is an extract from the opening:

"I wish I could say I was a perfect sixteen year old with a perfect family, with a perfect life. Well nobody’s life is perfect and it seems mine’s far from it. In years to come I will probably look back and laugh at how little I know about life’s experiences but as a sixteen year old living in the here and now it seems nothing ever goes my way"

There you have it. An extract of a story I started writing when I was 16. The reason I like this opening is because of one of lines ("in years to come I will probably look back and laugh at how little I know about life’s experiences") I think that line can pretty much be put into any context and applied to any age. Of course when we are teenagers we feel the need to rebel and most of us probably feel a certain degree of alienation and experience hard times, but when I look back onto my life and think about all the "hard" things I went through none of them seem so bad anymore. of course things like family circumstance never loose their sting no matter how old you get but overall the things I used to worry about probably wouldn't even phase me now.

And this leads me onto my topic of today. Regrets. Most people will regret someting they've said or done in their lives. However, I do not regret a thing and I don't think people, if they are happy with their lives, should regret anything. The things we have said and done make us who we are today and although I am far from perfect I think the person I am today is a pretty good person, not to blow one's own trumpet. But looking back into the past I honestly wouldn't change a thing because that would compromise what I have now, and for better or worse, I like now.

peace, love and respect. as always.

-- Tom RDD

Crack a smile...

It has been a while since I've posted in my beloved blog. Since I last wrote in here I've seen rather a lot of the English country side as I've been travelling around to see friends and my beloved Rebecca (it feels odd to say Rebecca but I like it). At this very moment I am sitting on Rebecca's (hehe) bed. Recently I've been trying to vary my music preference and start listening to new bands which I have been doing pretty well with and one song I have been listening to is a song I haven't been able to get out of my head in days. The song is called "Let Go" by Frou Frou and it appeared in one of my favourite films "Garden State", which I strongly suggest you watch it if you have not seen it before. However, I warn you it is a very "marmite" film. You either love it of you hate it. I have never came across anyone who is in the "middle", if you like, of the film but if you are in the "middle" please let me know as I would like you to be the first person I know to ever be in the "middle". Anyway the song is a really nice song that I really enjoy listening to.

Right enough about the "middle", since I've been travelling rather a bit over the last few weeks it has given my time to catch up on my writing. Yes I right who would have guessed? I am currently writing a sci-fi book (a star wars book to be precise and yes I am a HUGE nerd) and I've managed to work on a book that I started writing when I was 15 years old! So i've been going over the story and replacing words and sentences which made sense back then but don't now. The story I'm writing is called Edge 2 Edge and is based around a character I always wished I could be during my early teens. The character, John, Lives in the USA and is basically a "dude" considered cool and all that who plays in a band and is a good skater. The story is based on his life as he and his mother move around the country trying to find peace and tranquility after his parents divorce. Maybe one day soon I will put extracts on here and you can laugh at my feeble 15 year old atempt to write a book. But more of that later...

Anyway, the world is now officially "different" as Obama is in the White House, what a speech eh?, and he was sworn in twice? Wow he is popular. Anyway the next few weeks and months should be very interesting and even if you are not as politically minded as me I strongly suggest you keep an ear glued to the news to see what is going on in the world. The world is going through a very rocky time at the moment with the credit crunch and of course the "trouble" in Israel, but I hope people can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Things will change and hopefully sooner rather than later. But in the mean time watch Garden State to make you happy as it truly is a brilliant film and I have learnt some important lessons from it. One of which is my advice for the day:

Do something completely original like a movement or odd sound, something that has never been done before or will be done again. "How is that possible?!?!?!" I hear you cry. Well if you think about it if you do something really odd on a certain spot chances are no one has done that exact movement or has made that exact sound on that exact spot before and no one ever will do it exactly the same again. mind boggling huh?

anyway after a rather LONG post riddled with spelling mistakes I give you my love.

Peace, Love and respect as always

-- Tom RDD

p.s. I have purchased a new bass guitar today! HOORA! It's probably pretty crap but I'm going to make it better by customising it and such. oh and it's pink!

Obama sworn in as the 44th US president

I assuume most of the world is gripped by Obama's inauguration, me included. I find it interesting how most people around my age (late teens and early twenties) are more interested in US politics than their own politics. It's crazy but I can understand why. For some reason just listening to Obama's speech even though as a non-American I cannot relate fully I cannot help but feel a sense of hope and trust. Maybe it is misplaced but I cannot express how deeply I believe in what he addressed in his speech about unity and peace.

peace, love and respect. as always.

-- Tom RDD

Piece of this place...

I find it increasingly surprising how much a place (in this case a city) can mean so much. I am currently in Canterbury where I ventured for the first time on the University adventure. The city holds so many good memories for me and I was surprised that I found myself with a knot in my stomach when I arrived here. It was very hard for me emotionally to see the place where I had lived and spent so many good times. I'm sure the level of emotion I felt was also helped by the consuming of alcohol and the memories I hold of that place, the friends I gained and lost and the people who I regarded as my family. To loose your family, even if that family is just a way you view some very good friends, is a hard thing. I still keep in contact with many of them but some others have shattered the bridge between us and it pains me to say I don't think I will see those people again. I've tried very hard to get in contact with certain people but to no avail. When I leave this place I always take with me a sense of hope, happiness and sadness. In my heart Canterbury will always be my home away from home, but I'm looking to the future to right the wrongs that happened and make sure those "wrongs" do not repeat themselves in my new home away from home, Worcester where the rest of my family live.

It's hard having people you love all over the country because it makes it so difficult to see them at times. But if you really love them you will go through just about anything to be with them.

Peace, love and respect. as always

-- Tom RDD

Music for 2009...

I got this idea from another blogger called Drewvis (who I all suggest you read as he has some very interesting and cool experiences in his blog.

Here is some music I have been listening to rather alot recently and I strongly suggest people check out:

The Bedouin Soundclash - A really nice smooth, chilled out reggae band. Really relaxing sound and I would love to see them live.

The Cat Empire - An Australian band who play some really good music. A blend of ska, reggae, soul and fun. really interesting six piece with no guitars...

Here are some more bands I strongly suggest people check out that have been on my playlists as of late:

Westbound Train, Tim Armstrong, Edna's Goldfish, MGMT, Sundowner, The Lawrence Arms, Jimmy The Squirrel, The Skints, Matisyahu, Whitmore, Home Grown, Uncle Brian and the almighty Bob Marley.

Here are a few musicians and bands I strongly suggest people check out.

peace, love and respect. as always.

-- Tom RDD