Did you know that Cleopatra had golden scented balls?
Current mood: aroused
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

Dear lovely reader of my blog

It's been so long since I have done one of these it's not funny. I had good reason for stopping, I found myself self-censoring and omitting things that were actually massive chunks of what was truly going on in my life. I didn't want the blog to be rated 18 now did I? And yes, this version is also going to be pretty PG too for all you wee ones and not so wee ones out there.

I was wondering whether I should get my coat on and check out the new, absolutely mega huge new branch of Lidl that has just opened up in Southall. But the cold is putting me off. I'm wondering if they have sexy new stock that the one in Hayes is not privy too, or whether they simply have an entire aisle devoted to 21p cans of sweetcorn rather than just a section on a shelf?

I'm not knocking Lidl, it keeps me in plain yogurt, acrylic paint and strangely enough wedge cushions that keep my back in good shape. And the best Balti jar sauce also hails from there.

So what's been happening? Well in brief ( lol, yeah right), Hush The Many are officially no more, which is tragic, but kind of inevitable when the folk in the band all flew away to different, new things. I guess partly this blog has been galvanised by the fact,  that the gig that should have been the apex of the band's career is now being played out at the Scala by Arrows of Love – which is Nima's new louder and more energetic outfit. I am down to review this gig for e-gigs, so will be sticking on my musical writers hat, and no doubt if you're there tomorrow you will see me dancing and then scribbling, dancing and scribbling..dancing and.. you get the idea don't you? : )

SonVer are doing really well and  have gone down well at summer festivals.  I went to see them play at The Good Ship last week after going down to check out the new B Never Too Busy to be Beautiful store that's opened up on Oxford Street. And they played a bloody, great set. They hadn't rehearsed in a little bit, but once the music was flowing it was just luscious waves of sound that ebbed and flowed and escalated into something so powerful I could feel my skin tingling towards the end.

 Khat Show Host and A.D. sounded really great that night, and for me, being at a gig like that, feels like coming home. I guess stuff from the scented pool that was the birthplace of Hush The Many is going to hold a special radiance for me, but I would have to be a really daft bint to go along to a gig repeatedly if the music sucked, and I'm not.  They're playing with the fabulous Revere on October 22^nd at Cargo, and even though it's a school night and I work locally to home which is great, but beyond awkward for nights out, I am so looking forward to this gig! It's Revere's single launch for the spine-tingling ' The Escape Artist' and you should come if you can. I am also watching Mogwai on the 24^th October, and it's gonna be an extremely good week, socially too, away from the stage.

Over the summer, I've been really skint and supremely creative. In a way taking more of a back seat from MySpace and reviewing bands freed me and my head to do other stuff. I had the domestic detox of all detoxes on Freecycle, gave away a dozen handbags and a dozen bottles of perfumes. Went through all my music and books and tried to do a dispassionate cull. Invited lots of friends to come and have a riffle through the bags and boxes. Some of it was mine, some of I inherited from family who couldn't deal with the disposal. I'm not really a fan of boybands or Manga videos but I had them in abundance!

And I painted – a lot. Hearts, eyes, skies, fire, the sun..

And I wrote – a lot, which was really, really cool : ) I re-opened Gunshot Glitter and went to town on it. I had a very lovely boy called Niall Spooner-Harvey who is a poet and keyboard player, come over and read it cover to cover when he came over to lunch one day, and he totally got my book and my characters, and that meant an awful lot to me, because I genuinely respect him as a fellow writer. It re-inspired me to get myself straightened out enough  to carry on, and a few months back, I wrote my first brand new chapter in about 3 years, scary but true. But this moment had been brewing inme I think? My friend John has been really encouraging, and when I was in Manchester my friend Jo drove me round the city so I could scout locations. I guess the momentum has just been building and building,

 I let life and love and the emotional tug towards the creative careers of artists I loved overpower me. They didn't ask me to, I just couldn't help it at the time, I tend to find when I find stuff that moves me I want to see it fly and succeed, but if it's not a two way street I just get angry, but still find it hard to let go. After much unclenching of fingers and untangling of heart strings I moved on from that completely. Let some pivotal, but emotionally draining friendships go, which was really hard, but definitely the right thing to do. Heavy eh? But it's always cool when you emerge on the other side.

And I started to have more fun, even though I was church mouse poor. I missed all the festivals I was keen on, but went to RISE (not an anti-racism festival - Boris, you strange one) where I enjoyed some fine salsa dancing, CSS being sexy on stage and bizarrely singing about dry vaginas and throwing bananas into the audience,The Aliens being fabulously psychedelic and then something wonderfully coincidental, was  my fellow May 4th born friend Anne from The Times, who took over my job spotting me in the crowd,when I was filming The Aliens. I'd not seen her since leaving the previous year though we have kept in touch. It was really cool to see her and meet her husband Fionn who I had heard so much about.

And I did go to the extremely reasonably priced ( if you ignore the bizarre admin/postage fees) Ben and Jerry's Summer Sundae where I danced my hiney off to Delays, enjoyed Florence and The Machine, Guillemots, Charlotte Hatherly(sp?) and except for some glassy eyed drunken buffoons really enjoyed finally seeing The Charlatans, and marvelled at the irresistible cuteness of the 40-something Tim Burgess.

And I ate 7 ice creams, and I wasn't sick, and somehow drank a whole bottle of Yoplait on the way home too. And I pinched the bottom of a man dressed as a giant chicken.  Not really sure what that says about me, but it made me happy!

On the way back, me and Trevor went to Ealing were a lovely woman called Janet gave me three rolls of ornate wallpaper called ( kidding you not) Yasmin and a brand new black chandelier. It was exquisite -  and I was thrilled. She was on Freecycle and originally it was intended for someone else, and I'd gone to collect a bath spa –yes,  I now have a reason to spend EVEN more time in the bath. And I saw it boxed there, and admired it massively and said I hoped the other freecycler was really appreciative off it, as it was beyond cool this gear. Later on she called me, as she was annoyed they'd been so non-specific with the collection time and said if I could take it home it was mine. Thrilled wouldn't even come close. I've wanted to revamp my boudoir for ages, but didn't have the cash to do so.  My friend Pete helped move the furniture into the centre of the room and then on a Friday I set about tearing strips of the walls. It's not often in life that tearing off wallpaper is seen as an okay thing to do is it? So I enjoyed this.

Unfortunately, I stupidly forgot that I couldn't mix alcohol with my painkillers, and was extremely delicate to put it mildly for the next 24hours, but somehow by the end of the weekend, had put up this frankly gorgeous wall paper. Then a few weeks later my friend Trevor very kindly put up both chandeliers so I have a bronze slightly distressed one in the bedroom and the onyx black one in the lounge. Very cool indeed.

It was a good night for seeing some faces I've missed from Ed's crowd like Stuffy from Stuffy and the Fuses, and Robbie who used to manage The New York Fund. I got frogmarched to Waterloo as I kept spotting folk or was spotted by folk, but it was for my own good as there was a bus strike on and I made the last tube to Heathrow by the skin of my teeth. All the pervos have alarmed me lately too in the area. They need taking in hand and I need to get a safety alarm. It has really scared me.

I didn't get to travel much this year, due to lack of cash, but I did have a super lovely day on the beach in Bournemouth. My friend Trevor chose this as the spot to see in his birthday, it was a perfect day, even the crappy traffic on the way in didn't hamper it as we just played tons of my compilation CDs such as the mighty fine ' God, I have a great taste in music' which is NOT available in the shops, as neither is ' Wake Up Yazz' which I burned when I went to Prague back in 2001, and played every day when I was on a tram going home to my flat in Ladvi.

I treated him to chips and an Italian meal, and he minded my bag, while I ran into the waves and then shouted half freaked and half delighted ' MY KNICKERS ARE SOAKING WET! '  Probably a touch too loudly. But it was true, and it took the sun a while to fix that .  We reluctantly drove back to London past 9pm, and I just about resisted stealing three young cats I spied in Boscombe after supper, and then the next day went and watched ' The Dark Knight' in Wood Green with my siblings. Cool movie, I still feel very sad when I dwell on the premature loss of Heath Ledger.  He was creepy and great in that movie.

And I got paid to write some copy for B Never Too Busy to be Beautiful – if you get their Xmas and Autumn catalogue, you will find about a third of it in Autumn and about half of Xmas was written by yours truly. Creatively it was a great, great experience for me, and wonderful affirmation that I am a bona fide writer who is good at the thing she loves doing.  I had a hell of a lot of fun doing this work. I sat on the bed with my parcel and looked like  drag queen after covering myself in glitter and face paint.

 I got to write about products such as Cleopatra's Golden Balls and got to smell perfumes called Dirty and Breath of God, and have a chuckle at Ladyboy. All men should have a whiff of Ladyboy so you can understand why an unpeeled banana accompanies the page in the catalogue and it's not just B being all coy and pervo about men's cocks lol.

Businesswise, away from the sheer passion of tartware and the love of words being combined, unfortunately not so straightforward an experience, but I think it's a really small world and paths tend to cross and cross again, regardless of the distance you put between yourself and the world.  For example, when I was in the Seychelles the taxi driver who took me to the airport had been to Feltham and knew Hayes. How scary is that?

Oh, and finally, after 11 odd years of berating this place as being and I quote, ' the armpit of the Universe' I can now actually say that I've found a genuine beauty spot on this ass barnacle of London. The amazing Norman Leddy Memorial Gardens behind the Beck Theatre are just stunning. I've been there 3 times now. I've even taken my family. Wow. Flowers, manicured lawns, peace, crazy trees, squirrels and a true, soothing silence only broken by birdsong.  Gorgeous.

On a sadder note the wonderful Masala Dosa van in Southall has now gone. Sob! Tis tragic. I've not found anything on par and I've tried about 5 places so far.

On a happier note, I met this awesome chickie who is like my twin except she's not me, and she's born 2 days before me, and she really makes me laugh. But she doesn't like coriander, but she does agree that The The's ' Uncertain Smile' has an amazing piano solo and like me she adores cats and dancing for endless hours.

Anyone who thinks astrology is crap is so wrong, we are spookily alike. It's always lovely to make a great new friend, so this working lark besides keeping me from destitution isn't all bad I guess? I've met some nice people since becoming gainfully employed again, and slowly, slowly I am learning to combine it with my creative writing.

I hope you've enjoyed this, I apologise it's been a long time coming, I really hope this year has been kind to you and this crazy credit crunch hasn't inflicted too much damage on you. Just remember what goes down will eventually go up if you keep working at it. It's the nature of life.

Yasmin x x x x

p.s. if you are ever in Uxbridge, go to Bouville Wright at the top of the High St, they sell really cool and unusual  things. I found an Alfons Mucha photo album covered in glitter, and a clock with a burlesque theme to it, which now hangs in my kitchen, and it was all very reasonably priced too…oh and the Fig Tree on Windsor Street is a very nice pub, especially when you need a photo of a wine bottle at 10:30am! x

p.p.s I have changed my mind about Colin Farrell after seeing him on Jonathan Ross's show, that Irish boy is hot!

Currently listening : Takk... By Sigur Rós Release date: 2005-09-13

12:59 AM - 8 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

All about SonVer
Current mood: strong
Category: Music

Hi there sweetpeas ; )

Not quite the blog you were expecting is it? As it's shockingly wee, and secondly it's not really about me at all. I'm making this 51st one, after an absence from blogging all about SonVer. It's kind of a little birthday gift to my friend Mrs McLees. I will, I am sure, blog again properly at some point.

I also kind of had this internal debate about the value and honesty of doing these lately, if I wasn't going to truly speak my mind. Hence the queitness, I've just been too pissed off with someone I really cared about. Fuck it, life is too short and when someone elects to walk out of your life, it leaves a vaccum for positive, new things to occur in it.

Anway, back to more important things.  I had this day, a day of culture if you will, which a handful of friends accompanied me on. It was also the last day of drinking on the tube - I had these Aussie sweethearts try and run off with me, and I saw ' There Will Be Blood', ate at one of my fave noodle bars off Upper St, went to the National Portrait Gallery, got a Hot Chip CD, ended the night at the mighty Masala Dosa caravan in Southall ( why did you have to leave? Sob!)  and saw SonVer play a cool set at the Union Chapel.

I wrote a review for London Tourdates but they had to bump it due to space considerations and it's too late to go in now, which is well annoying and a first for me actually, but I know it's just a pitfall of journalism, but it's not too late for you guys to find out what's good for you ; )

SonVer comprise - Joanna Quail, Ruban Byrne, Ben McLees and Alistair Richardson. All three minus Ben, once played in Hush The Many. But that is where the commonality ends, as they don't sound anything like Hush The Many. They're post-rock instrumentalists and create mood music, which would sound wonderful in a film soundtrack or just against the landscape of a vivid scene in life.

There is a gig coming up at the Half Moon in Putney on Friday 25th July in London, and you should see their MySpace or Facebook for festival dates, coming up..

Here is the review below, and beneath that is a You Tube clip taken from the set. Hope you enjoy, normal service might resume soon....I already feel a bit better. I hope you've had a lovely year so far. Mine's definitely been different. Cat Power gave me a flower, that was really cool. I miss Ed Harcourt, he gives really good hugs.

Lots of love

Yasmin x x x x

SonVer

Union Chapel

Saturday 31 May 2008

Elegant, post rock London quartet SonVer brightened up Saturday afternoon, with a set of mesmerising pieces combining the inventive use of electric cello laced with guitars, drums and kaos pad.

Playing to launch the ' 3 Songs' EP – a collaboration with Belgian band Elephant Leaf - the soundscapes ran a gauntlet of imaginings with set opener 'Eyeman Praying' suggestive of barren, stark wilderness; to tracks such as 'The Atlas Tree', more evocative of a Middle Eastern exotic fantasy.

It's music to sink into, dream to, but so remiss to close your eyes when SonVer are such a pleasure to watch. Joanna Quail's passion for cello is cloaked in blissed out smiles, thrumming feet and an arched back, and the friendly intimacy between band members on stage tugs you into the thrall.

Stirring set closer ' Safety in Numbness' sees the band joined by Elephant Leaf's unique, but captivating vocalist Lucie Dehli, finally bringing the spell to an end and releasing the audience back into daylight.

By Yasmin Selena Butt

p.s. Another great gig to bear in mind is the wonderful Tallulah Rendall at the gorgeous Bush Hall, which is located in Shepherds Bush close to the tube station on the Uxbridge Road.

The gig is to launch her single and features a support slot by one of my favourite solo artists F.Lunaire

It's on Wednesday August 6th 2008 and tickets are here:

http://www.livenation.co.uk/event/getEvent/eventId/333124

I honestly think this will be a great show, and the venue's acoustics are just lush and the cornicing is so romantic in there.. x x x x

Currently watching : Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo Release date: 2000-06-20

2:43 AM - 7 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

The 50th super special 35th birthday one
Current mood: hungry
Category: Music

Dear you

It's true, this is my 50^th blog on myspace since I wrote a humble little note in purple italics back in December 2005 I think it was? This one was proving a bit tricky to get my head round, because up until a couple of days ago, I spent the last couple of weeks walking round in a ball of impotent rage, punctuated by decisive time outs to talk or get away with friends.

If I'd written this blog last week it would have been pretty destructive, but I've always been an optimist, albeit one who can see the pitfalls lurking even if they don't stir to the surface for a millennia. When I ignore these, then get a savage bite, it's not cool, but like all all optimists I give life a chance to fix things. And I do actually feel a lot better now, phew!!

Look at that, the first paragraph and I've already gone intense on you ; ) It probably doesn't help that I watched Saw, Saw 2, Saw 3 and Saw 4 over the weekend with the Scorpio. The movies were mostly way better than I expected them to be. He hadn't seen them either, but you know when you've got to stop when you see a bloke screaming and then poking his own eyes out and you're sitting there thinking… 'and?'

We also watched The Prestige with Hugh ' take your shirt off baby, please' Jackman in it, which was a fantastic movie. Christopher Nolan is a great director, he's yet to make a film I don't like. The other film we caught a bit off was this hilariously, bad b-movie called ' Insecticidal' on some horror cable channel - it featured this blonde with the most amazing pneumatic chest that had me in fits of laughter. Here she is:

It was all extremely tongue in cheek, and had this high school kids being pursued around their house by giant bugs. If I hadn't been ready to sleep on my feet by then, I would have given it the benefit of the doubt and waited to see how those bad boy bugs fared.

Since last blogging there's been some quite extreme highs and lows. Some gestures of generosity and kindness that put a huge smile on my face, like my friend Pete getting his mits on some extremely longed for Elemis tartware for me, and then disappointments like telling a friend that I was going to have to go to deal with putting my cat down and there being no reaction whatsoever.

The latter was pretty upsetting, but when I talked to my brother he said some people didn't understand the love a family can have for an animal, but I still find it hard to swallow that you can't just convey compassion for someone who's going to suffer a loss that's clearly a big deal for them. I take things pretty personally I know, but I don't know how else to on this score. I think it tells you something about the person in the context of who they are.

We lost Tigs last October to cancer, which was horrible. And Emma, the cat we lost on March 31st was the cat we got from the RSPCA when I was 17, on the basis of a promise I'd made my dad make when I was 7. Yes, indeed I have a long memory, and I reminded him every year as I got older. So when I hit 17 and I'd got my Maths GCSE resit out of the way ( I'd failed to turn over and spot the last page, ALWAYS turn over the exam paper kids, even if the page questions end half way down the penultimate page) I came home to find this teeny tortie at the top of the stairs with the biggest, greenest emerald eyes looking at me. It was a cool moment I will never forget. She was ferocious, sweet, patient, devious and demanding. We loved her. She would have been twenty years old this year we reckon.

As it was we lost her, due to a genuinely stupid vet standing in for her usual one who was on holiday, who lied in the case notes and provided shitty care. I am not going into the details, but suffice to say, a negligence claim is being pursued. This all happened in three days.

The day after she was put down, Hush The Many headlined their UK Revolve tour at 93 Feet East. I had several friends go along to this. I didn't go. It didn't feel right for several reasons, but again, I was touched by the consideration of some of the sweethearts that are in my life. My friend Helen sent me a recording from the gig, and my friend Fran rang me several times and held her mobile up so I could hear some of the songs. I was wrapped in a scarlet towelling gown, curled up on the bed listening. It was a very sweet thing of her to do. She's a great girl. I didn't go to Tallulah Rendall's EP launch either, I've hibernated a lot lately to be honest, despite all this stuff you're reading about now.

Losing the birthday cat was definitely the worst thing since last blogging. My family were gutted, especially my sister who's room she slept in. For the first time in almost twenty years there isn't a feline between us. Feels very strange.

One of the coolest things by contrast, actually happened the day before I discovered I was going to lose Emma. How's that for a 180 degree turn in emotion? It was going along to support Revere at Glastonbury. That was such a fun, spontaneous thing to do. The call came at a really good time as I needed a massive distraction from a bittersweet migraine, and what better way could there be then going along to cheer my heart out for one of my favourite, favourite bands?

Here are some pix from the night:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33797&l=252ce&id=699005810

Revere had entered a competition with Q magazine to be short listed to open this years festival. Tons of bands entered and they were short listed down to the final 12, which is pretty damn cool in itself. The deal was that all 12 bands/artists then played a short set for listening pleasure of Radio 1's Huw Stephens, Michael and Emily Eavis and some music magazine and broadsheet writers and then a winner would be chosen at the end.

Singer, Stephen Ellis rang me on Sunday morning and said he had a ticket for me, and their manager Tony could collect me from my flat and take me up to Pilton and then the band could bring me home on the way back. Was I up for that? The answer. OF COURSE!!

So I jumped in the bath, got myself together, and me and Tony drove down in his very lovely Jaguar. He played me stuff he wanted me to hear for my opinion, and I played him Hush The Many and F.Lunaire to return the favour.

We got there in good time, in glorious sunshine to find van loads of fans, wide eyed musicians all looking like fetuses to my eyes. Me and Tony went in, found our band, hello's and hugs later we got our tickets and then went to find some sustenance.

We were both starving and found this lovely big pub enroute and I had egg and chips with a squillion sachets of condiments ( I am a total condiment freak, you should see my fridge) and a pint of cider. Then rushed back to the Pilton Working Men's Club to find the night underway. Revere were on second. We headed to the front. An extremely excited Gabby Young was there with her Ma. Ma Young was drawing the band rather than taking pix which was pretty cool. Michael Eavis was stood on the side, arms crossed, clad in courdroy pants, watching on.

Got to say he's not half as cuddly as his media persona makes him out to be. I was talking to Revere's guitarist Jon Fletcher after the gig about him, and he spluttered ' the man is a legend!' Maybe so, I liked his daughter, she's a passionate, friendly, down to earth heart, I would have liked to have talked to her more, but I had a ride with the band and only found her near the end of the night. But the man himself for me at least was a bit of a disappointment.

Why? Well when I spoke to him, he looked at my tits like they were candy when he was talking to me, and asked me if me and Tony were together, and no I don't think I took it the 'wrong' way, and no my top wasn't see through. As soon as I told him no I was a fan and friend of the band and a writer, his eyes glazed over. I told Stephen this later on, and he blushed and said ' he is but a man!' Nonetheless, I still think having this kind of competition was a great, great thing, and it didn't ruin my night or anything, just opened my eyes to how powerful PR is and made me chuckle. It was funny watching him chat to other wide eyed nubile lovelies throughout the night. What a man.

Revere didn't win, but they will be playing Glastonbury as will all the bands that competed. Eavis told me this at the start of the night, but no one else seemed to know this. The winners were announced in a slightly shambolic fashion, two were chosen in the end, both of them played the night before so it was a shame we couldn't congratulate them as they weren't there and Eavis got their names wrong.

But I had a fab time as no one I watched made me want to scream, I got to, talk to tons of folk around me who were there supporting loved ones, or playing in bands. There was a lovely guy who played in a band called The Franks who bore an uncanny resemblance to Florian T who sings under the name of F.Lunaire ( Flo's going to be playing at Koko in May), and a great singer called Rod Thomas who did a genuinely wonderful solo set of sweetly bright, melodic songs and used pedals to create quite a luscious sound. He's played with Revere so knew the band, but it was the first time I'd met him. He came upto me after the set, and gave me his CD and thanked me for wearing a smile throughout when watching him. That really touched me. My emotions when I'm at a gig are incredibly transparent, I don't know, good music when it makes sense first time is an aural pleasure for me. Sometimes I will dance to a whole set and not even know I am doing it.

Later on I spooked Revere's drummer James Garnett by guessing his starsign correct first time, and he, I and Jon watched last years winner Liz Greene together before the winners were announced. She's a bit like Coco Rosie, and later on I told her I liked the song she did when she jumped down from her chair the most.

The person I was most delighted to meet, even if it was only briefly was Huw Stephens who plays wonderful music on BBC Radio. He's got a genuine love for what he does and a supportive ethos for emerging bands. He was one of the judges on the night, and understandably with all those musicians in the house, pretty swamped. But I told him how cool it was that he'd been so supportive of playing Hush The Many and having them in for studio sessions and he looked really pleased at that.

So for me all in all it was a great night, Revere were amazing that night and probably the best I have seen them play. They gave it everything, I came home with Ellie, Nathanial, Eve, Al, Ryan and James at about 3am, and went online and played the winners myspace players, and while they were unique and hooky, in truth they did nothing for me, but music is such a subjective thing.

Anyway, I'm not sure I'd want to win an extra category created for a 'Muse and Coldplay type band' as described so lovingly by Mr Rampant Rabbit. I think Revere are going to have an amazing time whichever stage they play and this year is panning out to be progressive for them. If you want to catch them, they are playing 93 Feet East on Brick Lane on May 1^st, which is also Ellie ( plays violin) 's birthday. Go to their page and listen to ' The Escape Artist' I had it on my page all last week, it's just spine tingling as it peaks towards the end. Despite my still humble unemployed status, I donated some cash towards them making the video for this song. As bands go, they've been generous to me, sometimes it's nice to return the favour.

God it is bucketing down outside! I've just closed the sliding doors on my balcony, at least my flowers are happy, and even though it's midday as I write, I am going to have to turn the light on as it's got really dark here!

Yes, work or lack off. This credit crunch thing is partly to blame for how quiet the freelance side of things are I think, and also my own partial inertia. I have been applying for stuff as I see it there, but not been shortlisted which is extremely frustrating, but I do need to put more into it. I've already begun to do so now that my head is straighter. I met a new agency in Baker Street last week, and the consultant Matt Martin, is a drummer in a band called Exit Hero, so we had an unusual start to the meeting with him talking music for a while before we went into the career talk.

I feel extremely guilty that I should have made far more of my 'free' time but I've just had a lot of stuff churning through my mind, but you get to a point where it's out of your hands really, and being a control freak who's afraid of change, this is hard to bear. I did sort out a photo print order of 588 pix though so it hasn't been a complete waste of time : )

I miss my creative rush, I'm not sure where it's gone, but I would like it back. I have been doing some music writing. I was meant to review the wonderful GoldSounds gig I went to at 93 Feet East a few weeks back which F.Lunaire closed, but that whole night ended so weirdly and upset me I didn't want to think about it, and then a few days later my cat died and I lost my train of thought. London Tourdates seemed to be struggling to accommodate what I did give them, so maybe it's for the best I didn't write that piece?

The pieces I have written have left me with mixed feelings. I wrote a review of F.Lunaire's ' Mondestrunken EP' which I truly loved and that was published intact as I wrote it which made me really happy. I am proud of that piece. I went to Punk in Soho to watch him play at the launch with Alex Brown accompanying on bass.

I also reviewed the Fuzzed TV music launch, which featured Hush The Many playing at Cargo on Rivington Street, and was disappointed with how much of it was taken out. For a start all mention of Fuzzed TV went, the release info I'd written about the new Hush single vanished as did some choice adjectives and they didn't use the photo I supplied from Joe Lee, so here it is instead! Isn't it a great photo?

I know as a writer it's down to space constraints, but yes, it does frustrate. As for the Hush gig, I was massively curious as this was the first time I was seeing Jon White play up there filling beautiful boy Byrne's shoes. It was his first gig, on the strength of one proper rehearsal so he was understandably tentative, but I think he did well and told him to play without fear and he would be fine. He seems like a nice guy.

I heard he rocked at the 93 Feet East gig, so I am looking forward to seeing him play tomorrow now that he has the tour under his belt. The cool thing was seeing the animation video for Revolve on a projector and later meeting Angela in the ladies loo who is behind a huge chunk of it, the not so cool thing was the terrible noise emanating from the viola during the actual song. I actually thought Alex was screaming and I couldn't understand why she would do that especially as she was really ill that night and needed to ask a friend to get her a whisky while she was on stage.

For me, it was a fractured performance that got better as it went along, but that's me with my 'I've been to tons of their gigs and can feel the nuances in my blood' head on. The largely virgin audience liked them, went into a respectful silence during Paper Doll and afterwards I had a girl called Sarah come upto me and gush about how she loved the set wanted songs for a film, and so I took her with me and went in search of Dan Mongo Garbers's distinctive mass of curls to pass on that desire. It was also cool to see The Rum Circus's Velibor on drums. It's weird how entwined the London music scene is, as I know both these bands completely independently off one another.

On the same day as Hush's Cargo gig I also saw my lovely friend Nerissa for the first time in ages enroute to Zimbabwe. She lives in Finland so I don't get to see much of her, which is a shame. What has been nice during my 'downtime' is catching up a bit with friends I've not seen in ages or having friends over. I went to Norwood Junction and met my old school friend Miriam, she used to play cello for ' They Came From the Stars ( I Saw Them)' who I still have yet to see live, and met her children for the first time. That was a really good day. Her daughter Phoebe is amazing good at taking photos for a two year old!

Over Easter I was in Oxfordshire and caught up with friends there, had a great meal at a Raymond Blanc restaurant, and explored some beautiful villages with chocolate box cottages, got fed cake and tea in church, and found a house in Great Tew that had a warning sign that read ' look out kittens crossing' which was seriously sweet. I was gutted not to see any kittens though, but yes, Easter was wonderful.

Me and Steve watched Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Before Sunset back to back on DVD, and we cooked loads of food and varnished his floors. I like getting out of Hayes to be honest, a lot, even though I love my own flat and love having folk round. My friend Kit came down and I treated her to a legendary onion dosa from the St Josephs Fast Food stand, bit gutted the old man has left though. She gave me the latest Hot Chip CD which features the danceable ' Ready For The Floor.' We had hysterics when this ridiculous buffoon leant out of his car on the way home and bellowed' Hello! Hello!' at us, she gave him the finger, ah the lovely men of Southall, they're a bit special.

Ed Harcourt finally made it onto Later With Jools Holland on BBC2. Me and a lot of other people have been wanting him on this for aeons. He didn't get to sing his own stuff, but accompanied Dawn Kinnard on a duet, resplendent in scarlet cowboy boots and scratchy beard. And he's on again tonight with The Gutter Twins so if you've never seen this boy that I've been writing and enthusing about, then watch the show. I think he's playing guitar. He's on tour with them at the moment, so if you watch them gig, sit up and pay attention to his set, he's great.

Ed hosted another Retreat From The Greek earlier this month at Paradise By Way of Kensal Green. It was actually my first time out in a week or so after losing my beloved puss, and I had a really good time. For Ed it's a friends and family get together as well as a musical extravaganza. His wife Gita and her new band The Langley Sisters played their debut gig with Ed on guitar, which was a bit of a riot near the end.

I enjoyed this one more I think, it was still unbelievably crowded, but I knew what to expect this time. The sound is pretty temperamental though. This venue also hosts a burlesque night during the event calendar, which I want to check out. I watched 'Dawn Porter Gets Naked' on BBC3 and she had a lesson in it, and I've seen bits and pieces about burlesque and of course with Dita Von Teese its gained a lot more widespread attention over the years. So me and my friend Jo are going to go and check out some shows when I've looked into what's happening in London a bit more.

Being a lover of dance and lingerie myself I am supremely intrigued, I've been making myspace friends with burlesque performers too. Helene told me the band For Ramona have a dancer who's accompanied their gigs. Well I've seen them play about 3 times and she's never been there, which is a shame as at least it would have made their sets bearable. Ouch. I know. But true. I don't really like their stuff to be honest, and the last time they gigged at The Green last month, I was shocked at the unbelievably rude way they literally bellowed through their friends The Mooche's headline set. It was crass and distracting. I despise bad manners. If I talk during a gig, it'll be away from the stage, or in a cupped whisper or very bloody brief and it won't be during a quiet song. If I ever become that repulsively selfish, you can slap my butt.

I just had to get that off my chest. I am sure they were just drunk or something, I remember the singer did commit an act of chivalry when I first met them, so I don't hate them or anything, I just didn't like that.

Right, back to Ed Harcourt's Paradise thingie!!

Here's a link to some pix from the night:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33809&l=add1a&id=699005810

This was pretty cool : ) I saw Evi Vine for the first time in ages. I first met her on the same day I met Ed Harcourt actually, three years ago. She was playing with Danny Valentine at the Marie Lloyd bar when Hadrian Garrard launched 'Signed Unsigned'. She has a voice like warm satin and her songs make me think of a velvet night. 'Inside Her' is very sensual. My friend John loved her set, and a few weeks back when I went to visit him I saw he had her flyer on his PC. I've seen her sing a handful of times over the years, and this time met her mum, and caught up with her in the ornate Paradise ladies loos. It was good to see her, and she went down really well.

Actually before that, when me and Fran arrived together the first performer on was Jeremy Warmsley, who was later accompanied by the baby faced Johnny Flynn. I love this guy, I saw him play a gig a couple of years back on a 2Bob night with the now sadly no more Special Benny, and he stuck in my head. He's a doll, but also a multi instrumentalist with a clutch of lyrically eccentric, spirited folk songs up his sleeve. You should listen to 'Tickle Me Pink' on his My Space player, it's fiendishly good. Fran is now a fan.

Both she and I were painfully excited about seeing The Veils. In the past, I'd never got her passion for them. We'd seen them at Koko and I was largely unmoved, then a few weeks back I heard 'Calliope' on her page and something clicked and I had an OH MY GOD moment, and then went onto their page and played that and 'Not Yet' to death, and thought how good it would be to see them, and then lo and behold, literally days later they announce they'll be playing at Paradise, so yes, to say me and Fran were excited would be a sore understatement.

We were right at the very front, and they performed a small clutch of new songs which sound immediately promising and they closed with 'Not Yet', which I have an appallingly distorted recording off, but Finn Andrews looks pretty glorious in it. It was over so fast. Fran had to leave. Ed performed his set and almost fell off his stool, which he tottered on precariously at one point trying to sort out the sound. His mother in law was in the house, a very funky lady indeed.

The big surprise of the night was discovering that Ed's drummer Raife was married to the actress Eva Birthistle. She's a real sweetie, I met her between sets and we were having a really good chat about cinema before her husband came and told us to get in place for The Langley Sisters. I've followed her career since seeing her act in Ken Loach's interracial drama ' Ae Fond Kiss'. It's not often I go out of my way to buy DVDs anymore, but I did with that one. I am still very passionate about good cinema even if I am writing more and more about music these days.

Oh and Paloma Faith was really cool too, she's like a performance artist and spectacle and singer all in one. I literally couldn't take my eyes off her, what a vision. She was dressed in a harlequin catsuit and just ate up the stage. Ed played keyboards while she sang.

The other band I was delighted to see back were The Deadbeats who are now called Ten Bears due to the threat of a lawsuit. They play dirty, sexy rock - is the best way I can describe the music. It's earthy, roots, sleazy beat driven stuff. If I was a stripper with nipple tassles I would take my clothes off to it in some bar in Texas, but I'm not, I'm a nice lapsed Muslim girl from North West London, so I will just dance my ass off instead. But you get the idea ; ) Definitely worth seeing them live again. The stuff on their myspace player doesn't do their live performance justice, but it's definitely worth a listen.

Me, John and Joe Lee (who took not a single photo all night!) left Paradise pretty much after the lovely Langley Sisters rocked the joint. Poor Joe unbeknownst to me ended up having a terrible time getting home. John stayed over with me and the next day we went into Southall as I wanted to shop and treat him to have an onion dosa, only to discover that the streets were eerily deserted, so not like Southall on a Sunday. Turned out the entire Sikh population was focused on the parade route down South Road.

The Sikh new year I was told was coming up in a few days. It was rammed but wonderful, all these lovely people were handing out cups of masala tea, cans, samosas, pecoras, rice and curry, pastries, battered bread. Man it was cool!! I ate so much my stomach went into shock. I love surprises like that. The dosa caravan was shut but it didn't matter, this was pretty special. We headed back into Hayes to get John on a bus, but this weekend was really lovely, didn't get much sleep during it, but it cheered me up a lot after all the other stuff that had been happening leading upto it. I christened my new microwave with it's first cooking task that night too.

John treated me to a lovely, lovely weekend recently in Essex, very sorely needed. This man can cook, he has a real passion for it. Cake, fish, green banana, fried eggs, curry and I so loved his black eyed peas and rice. I've not been to Essex in years, probably the last time was with the Scorpio who hails from Romford. Me and John went to see Retrofin headline at The Bitter End. Ah the Essex girl with her acres of skin on show, come rain or shine and now I noted supplemented with a patchwork of tattoos. But they all looked like they were having a blast which is the main thing.

As the Gourami cancelled, Retrofin headlined on the night, and even though I've not had a love for hard rock in a while, I was genuinely impressed by the passion and energy in their set. If it hadn't been 11.30pm when they went on stage and I hadn't been tired it was jumping up and down music for sure. I can see why John loves them as he does. There's some fresh and classic about them all at the same time. They reminded me of Reef and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and they clearly love engaging with the audience. I told the singer to see about hooking up with a good emerging band like the Mexicolas for a support slot. It's always a bit of a heart in the mouth moment when you're friend is checking out a band you feel so enamoured with. I get that way I guess when friends watch Hush The Many for the first time.

In fact that neatly brings me to the end of yes, another epic blog. Tomorrow they play at Bush Hall on the Uxbridge Road. It's a single launch for their new single Revolve. By the way, the B-side is StoryEnd, which is one of the most beautiful songs in the history of mankind. My friend Trevor went to their 93 Feet East gig on the strength of that song alone. You must hear it.

If you are a fan and you've somehow missed the plethora of bulletins that Nima has been sending out, then I am genuinely shocked, but that's okay, all the info is on their page. Go see. For me it's a gig and a little birthday treat, as yes I WILL BE 35 SOON!! That's just mental. My actual birthday is on May 4^th, but this is close enough to it to feel special for me, for that reason too.

So if you're coming, then come and say hello, and if you're sitting on the fence as it's a school night, screw that, life is for living, come. See what the fuss is about and wish me an early happy birthday. Oh and The Rip by Portishead ( see above) what an amazing, hypnotic, jewel of a song. Best new song I've heard all year. You will want to watch this.

Thank you so much for reading this blog. 50 is a good number to stop and reflect at things for a while I think. Hope all is well in your world.

Love and hugs

Yasmin xxxx

2:32 AM - 8 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Is music better than chocolate?
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Music

Hello you,

This is something I've been wanting to do for weeks now. And I am kind of terrified of how long it could get if I go for it in an unfettered, uninhibited way, but I am also well aware that some of you will be at work so can't be seen to be too distracted for too long, in which case I would recommend, checking it out in chunks or making yourself very comfortable! But there are pix to look forward to if you make it to the end.

The last time I did a proper one was back in December, and then I very quietly blogged a poem in January. So what have I been upto? I've just ordered the new Nick Cave and Beach House album of Music Wow, which to my knowledge is the cheapest CD seller online. Both of them came to less than £13. At the moment I'm taking a break from freelancing, and it looks like my combi microwave oven, monitor and washing machine are dying on me, so gotta cut costs! On top of that I broke my Bosch hoover last month ( the one funded by the sale of my bras on ebay) and I need to get that sorted as it's still under warranty.

There's loads of stuff I need to tackle, including a gig review for Powerdown, but I am utterly guilty of having thrown myself into the world of fiction, played a lot of Scrabulous on Facebook, gone to a lot of great gigs, cooked well, finally watched Queer as Folk series 2 on DVD, and discovered how much fun you can have bouncing up and down on a pilates ball while also toning your tummy to boot.

It's just grand to be home again properly, have the place to myself, lie in my bath, enjoying the candles casting shadows in the dark and chilling out to the awesomeness of PJ Harvey's ' White Chalk and soak in song after song after song. I am very open, dark horse if that makes sense and I kind of like it that way, though ultimately I love people too much to want to be some anti-social creature. It's just nice to have the option to vanish off the face of the earth if I wish to.

I am really looking forward to getting my mits on the new Beach House album. I noted they used a few of their songs during ' Skins' last night. Yes, I watch Skins!! It's my guilty pleasure, but I think it's a fantastic show and I am always moved and amused by it. So far it's better than the first series (unlike the mediocre Ashes to Ashes, shoot the writer now!). I read a feature on it in the Torygraph mag and they're going to be using new cast members as they're sticking to filming it in real time. So Tony's sister Effy, her with the precocious knowing eyes and silent lines will be the next generation they focus in on. But I watch it and think, 'nooo this isn't aimed at you Yasmin! You could be their ma's!!' But what the hell, I like it and in reality, I have friends who are practically half my age anyway as well as ones who are well into their 70s. Age is irrelevant, if I like you, you will be for me.

Let me see when I last did this properly? I was talking about perm roles and adoption. Well to cut a long story short, I didn't go perm, the adoption/babies idea is still a desirable for the future, workwise my January was hell thanks to my 'superior' who was a control freak with the empathy of a rock. So I didn't apply for my role, which she claimed I had on a plate and then did a U-Turn on without telling me first, but announced in an Xmas team meeting ( nice touch eh?) so I left at the end of January with tons of well-wishing ringing in my ears, which was lovely and HMV vouchers – which so far I've spent on getting the Beirut album. I fell in love with 'A Sunday Smile' after hearing it first on Ella's page. Stephen Ellis from Revere thought I would like them too and mentioned them ages ago.

My friend Trevor collected my stuff from my brothers in early Feb, and I felt sad on locking the door. Change can really freak me out if I don't have time to mentally prepare for it sometimes. Though a nice Thai lunch at Yum Yums and a visit to the organic farmers market in Finsbury Park certainly softened the blow. I had organic buffalo milk for the first time since I was seven

My team were gutted I left, but she was impossible and never listened. I cannot emphasise how important it is to truly listen when someone is pissed about something. I also wrote HR a mail as long as your arm revealing what had gone on, and now it's upto them to either turn a blind eye or do something about what's going on there and save the sanity of those I left behind.

I am still glad I worked there as so many people were just such a pleasure to work and hang out with. It all happens for a reason. On my very last day I practically ran out of there with adrenaline coursing through my veins, it was crazy to feel that joyous, like Tim Robbins in the Shawshank Redemption at the pay off, but I bloody well did and I mean that with no disrespect to my colleagues at all. In fact I was back a week or so later enjoying some food with some of my team on their lunch hour.

But when I got back to Stokey on my last office day, my brother cracked up laughing at the sheer smiling relief on my face when I walked through the door. I wanted a cake to celebrate. It was really cool to stay with him though, and I took him, Shirl and Ritson out to dinner at Lemongrass on Church St one eve as a thank you for keeping me upbeat. It was a great meal and my brother had us in fits, talking about how funny my ansaphone messages were and how I always got cut off by the beep. In January I just felt so demoralised and unlike my usual self it actually scared me. I resent being wronged, it will sap away at me if someone tries to exert too much control.

But there was good stuff too. Ritson and I would head off to the cinema across the road and argue about the ratings of movie's awarded by IMDB.com versus our own. We saw Sweeny Todd, which wasn't nowhere enough bloody enough for me, and I actually found a little dull and disappointing. He didn't realise musicals involved, that degree of singing. I enjoyed John C.Reilly's 'Walk Hard' - The Dewey Cox story, which Ritson would not touch with a bargepole, despite imploring him. Last week we watched ' Be Kind Rewind' – which was his choice but I actually ended up enjoying it more than he did. I thought it had real soul and it was also eccentric as most of Gondry's movies are. And Mos Def was hot in a nerdy kind of way esp when he did the blind test to see if this girl had facial fuzz on her upper lip. It was a charmed moment trust me.

Also, 'Enchanted' with Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey was a real surprise hit for me, there was tons of non treacly humour in it, which was great like when she calls on the city animals to help her and a swarm of flies and cockroaches come to her! It's a genuine family film, not a tit in sight. I can see I am going way back now, as I watched that on New Years Day. God, I really need to do these more often.

The movie that has really rocked me for six, which I think everyone with some modicum of taste and a hardy constitution should go and see is Eastern Promises. I've not seen Daniel Day Lewis's Oscar turn in There Will Be Blood, and I am a huge fan of his ( Last of the Mohicans…swoon! But Eric Schweig who played his Red Indian brother was hotter, here he is in make up for the role. He was fantastic in it too)

..but I thought Viggo Mortenson was extraordinarily good in Eastern Promises. The photo below was taken from it.

It was a subtle, nuanced and intense performance. He alternated between being the angel and the devil himself. Naomi Watts has never been cack in anything I've seen her in, and she was reassuringly great in this. All I can is WATCH IT. And that I would love to know what you think. It's out on DVD now. But if you can't handle blood and viciousness and men's willies…then erm, don't.

Since I've been home I've also been catching up on DVDs. My brother is a huge fan of oriental cinema and despairs of the length of time it takes me to watch the DVDs I've borrowed off him, but I finally watched 'Memoirs of a Geisha' which was really good and I have Hana-Bi to watch still. I saw Deepa Methta's ' Earth', it's about the chaos and pain the partition of India and Pakistan caused for the civilians. I massively admire the director for the risks she's taken as an asian woman in such a patriarchal society, it's earned her a death threat or two. You can read more about the movie here, it's subtitled in English and well worth seeing. http://www.filmeducation.org/secondary/Earth/index.html

Ritson gave me The Nines which kind of bamboozled me, I need to see it again. And there is so much stuff I've taped and not seen yet like ' Pan's Labyrinth', ' Enduring Love', 'Somersault' and ....'Elf'!

The show I am gutted they've taken off ( for a bit only I hope) is ITV3's re-runs of ' Wire In The Blood' – they were repeating these from the start. I was in the Maldives I think when these first launched and I never saw the point of Robson Green, but I've got to say, he is awesome in this as the criminal profiler Tony Hill.

When I watch something I am really into, I am oblivious to everything and you won't get any sense out of me until the commercial break.

There were a few weeks when I was out at gigs on a Wednesday eve, in fact even during the first Hush The Many one I went to as part of their residency I was texting my brother reminding him to tape it. Sad I know lol, but that's how good it is.

I love how tight the plots are, and how you can't see where they are leading and the sheer, apologetic humanity of the anti-hero. They've made the poor bugger impotent and obsessed with computer games. And I also dug out my library card and went down the road to get out as many of Val McDermid's books of the series as I could find, as well as a rather fine book on Johnny Marr (The Smith's guitar genius) I spotted. I am always reading or writing when I travel. That's the thing I guess I resent most about working is it takes me away from the creative stuff.

The librarian was wearing a Muse sweatshirt and was delighted to engage with a chick who seriously knew her music and could recommend gig venues to check out in west London, so that was really nice. He bent over backwards to try and find a book that was listed, but missing on the shelf, bless him. Hillingdon, Borough of thieves..

I am doing all this from memory, hang on I need to go and make some hot chocolate or locate my fingerless gloves, it's got dead nippy in here.. right I am back. Actually chocolate, yes.. divine substance. I actually did without it in any shape or form in January. Like a detox, I just can't believe how much of it I put away when I was working in Wood Green. I blame Poundland down the road with all the Lindt stuff. It was shocking.

I made two key resolutions in January, well one was more a bet. My friend Steve who I spent a lovely Xmas with in Cambridge, (though ripped open my knee getting there, ouch ) wanted to see if I could go a whole year without actually buying any chocolate. He believes I will come across enough of it via presents, visitors, friends , family etc to keep me in the cocoa.

So far he's proved right. It's now March and I've stuck to it. I've resisted seductive special offers and while at Wood Green, Dan and Ritson would bring me the red Lindt ribbons and bells as I enjoyed wearing them round my wrist and tinkling as I walked. I also use them around my flat to control my feather curtains in the study. But I didn't touch the chocolate itself.

Tell you what I have bought a load of…Boots tartware!! They had like the best new year/xmas sale. 50-75% off loads of good stuff. Even if I starve I will be clean, moisturised and fragrant. Have you smelt 'Gold' by Donna Karan? Well, you should…and Dior's Midnight Poison is so going on the birthday list..

And the other resolution? Wear frocks and skirts at least once a fortnight. And except for a really cold spell earlier this year, I have stuck to that too. I just want to revel in my femininity