Allow me to formally begin by saying Peace, Love and Good Health to all of my fellow Human Beings. Humanity in its entirety qualify as my extended family and you're all welcome.
In the midst of blustery, rain driven, autumnal days and frost bitten, spine chilling, wintry mornings I find myself wearing a 'michelin man' amount of layers, drinking herbal tea like I used to drink beer and having lots of baths. The latter of these warmth inducing manouveures is the most addictive of these tactics. Having a bath has now become my profession. I read, write, design, manufacture, deliver, have team meetings, play guitar, watch movies, and hold an annual general meeting all in the bath. When not in the bath I visit friends and family to wake my toes and fingers from numbness. Soaking up the generous heat from their luxurious central heating systems I eat their food, drink their tea and poke fun at their carbon producing wretched lives. I then go home, get cold, and sob uncontrollably. Sometimes I drive to town and back just so I can put the heaters on in the car. I then park up for half an hour and listen to 5live whilst drinking bovril from my thermos flask. When I'm out of petrol I run to the garage and back. This is a sentimental rekindling of a teenage ritual with the main difference being that I return 'Rizla-less'. But cold has its up sides. It teaches us to hug people more, to drink more tea, and to do 20 star jumps in the morning.
The inability to keep my house warm is both personal and practical. I refuse to give the energy companies large amounts of my money for their extortionate supplies. I'm shocked that so many continually line the pockets of these resource plundering, soulless obese dogs (bored of using fat cats). The profits that these companies make are sickening. Nobody needs to be turning over that much profit. There's only so much you can do with money before the rest of it has to sit in a bank somewhere. There's no justification for extorting people and constantly pushing up prices. None. I also have a problem with the house in which I live in that it is ridiculously insufficiently insulated. Heat escapes quicker than it can be produced. I don't own it. Enough said. Even if my house did contain the heat for long periods I still don't feel I could turn on the heating as and when required. How can I speak of Mother Earth's critical condition and then feed those who batter and bruise her body and drain her lifeblood? When will green energy truly be harnessed? Michael Eavis has just installed the largest private solar energy generator in the world at his farm. The beast can generate enough power to fuel 40 homes annually. It will earn him 60k a year in electricity generated for the national grid. Awesome bit of business if you ask me.
So what's been on the agenda since my last installment? Lots of cycling coupled with bits of running and weight training. It amazes me just how addictive exercise is. It gets you to the point where you begin to feel guilty if you miss a session. It rewards and punishes you in equal measures. It encourages you to be better and then has you feeling completely inadequate at times. But I love it! As with anything else in my life that I feel passionately about I dive into the deepend of exercise and don't come up for air until I've retrieved the pearl from the sea bed. Healthy body Healthy mind is not a myth. And I figure that if I want to make these live shows next year something that people will never forget then I need to be 'Bruce Lee esque' in my focus and balance.
Anyway enough about me. Aung San Suu Kyi has been released this week from her unlawful and unjust house arrest imposed by the military junta in Burma. YYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! This woman is an inspiration. I saw a screening of 'Burma VJs - reporting from a closed country' in Leamington last week and was so moved by the predicament of the people there. I had known of their oppression for some time but seeing the story from the inside was both inspirational and harrowing. Living under the rule of a military dictatorship is one of the worst things I could think of, yet these people drew incredible unity and spirit to protest in the face of fascism. The peaceful, non violent protests were led by monks and involved walking the streets to be greeted by hundreds of thousands of supporters along with sitting down in large groups when faced by the military. The military were then given the order and people were beaten and shot. Even the monks were rounded up and battered severely. Unbelievable. I would recommend that film if you can get your hands on it.
I attended the Free Mumia Abu Jamal protest at the US Embassy in London last week. This was a very inspirational gathering and it gave me hope that people are willing to come together and campaign for what they believe in. Along with the London rally there were protests held in Kingston, France, Germany and Philadelphia. Mumia is an innocent man wrongly jailed for the murder of a police officer. Please visit the link on the right of my page and read of his plight. And then SUPPORT the campaign in whichever way you can! Raise awareness, spread the word, get involved. This is pure injustice. This is a brilliant man who has been imprisoned because he fought for the rights of poor people. Visit the link ... Now!!!
So next week is the release of the highly anticipated new Kanye West album. There is much debate surrounding this man. Controversy seems to follow him. I think controversy follows originality and brilliance. Some believe that his finest moment was his 1st album College Dropout. Some feel that his ego and materialistic ways are too much a part of his music. Some have insisted that his stunt at the Grammys involving Taylor Swift was unforgiveable. One thing I've learnt is that it is easy to judge somebody through just listening to their music or reading of their actions in the media. I saw an interview with Kanye last week that somewhat changed my opinion of him as a person. I have always loved his music. I see him as a pioneer, one of the few who truly do original things and change the game constantly. However I had come to think of him as a narcissistic, attention seeking pillock who'd lost his way as a person. But the interview proved to me that he just LOVES what he does. I mean this guy surpasses me for the LOVE he shows for his art! And that's difficult!!! Kanye explained the Taylor Swift incident in a way that completely changed my opinion of the event. Okay so maybe he did it a little inappropriately but he was in essence being very brave and standing up for something he believed in. He might come across like he's pulling a publicity stunt but after watching that interview I was convinced that he felt something in his heart that night and reacted to it. So anyway my favourite album is Late Registration and I actually gave the last one a miss cos I wasn't really feeling the vocoder laced vocals on every track but I still rated him for doing something different. And in the next blog I'll give you my full review.
And we still have Lupe Fiasco's album to come ... Nice.
One last thing. Anybody into Hip Hop I reckon you should ... download Sway's latest mixtape here ... it's the best thing that I've heard come out of the UK for a long time.
So anyway people ...
THUNDERCATS ....................... HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Peace&Love
Davis
