Night of the Living Democracy, short film in the making.

I'm writing a short film called Night of the Living Democracy. It should be set in a pub full of No2AV campaigners who will spend most of the film making exagerated claims about how absolutely brilliant and perfect the world is right now under First Past the Post and they'll gradually work in the fact that they are scared that this monster, AV, is coming.

On the stage there will be a band with a banner behind them, something like "The AV Family Band" and will be singing a song called "Vote AV or Zombies Will Eat You", which I will try to improvise at the Yes2AV picnic today at Dane John Gardens in Canterbury, Kent... I will have a guitar with me.

I want to somehow work in, where the Yes2AV campaign take literal claims of No2AV campaigners and use them as internet jokes.. the No2AV campaigners in this bar will take the internet jokes of Yes2AV campaigners and interpret them as literal claims; hence the song.

I would like to collect up some suggestions in the comments section bellow, for:

1) Suggestions of "how the world is a better place under First Past The Post voting". Things that are blatently bad, but can be seen as a good thing by someone who likes, say, exploiting the poor.

2) Suggestions of Yes2AV internet lies that the No2AV campaign can/have taken literally.

This was inspired by me seeing a clip of Baroness Warsi being interviewed on Sky News, refusing to answer questions as to why she was using misleading imagery to show a statistically unlikely scenario/risk as a major argument as to not voting for AV. For reference, that inverview can be seen here on Youtube .. skip to 1 minute 15 seconds to get to the clip from Sky News.

I doubt I could put this together in time for May 5th, but perhaps if enough content is produced here I can submit it to the writing teams of 10 O'Clock Live et al.

You can follow me on twitter @Dan_Blood - I'm not a political blogger, but I've been known to hit a few amusing notes in my time on Twitter.

Disclaimer:

As to not seem to be doing this under the name Sasquatch Records and therefore anonymously, I'll make it clear that my name is Dan Blood, I live in Ashford, Kent.

If anyone were to research where I work or who I associate myself with, I will make it clear now: My views are my own and not that of any employer, associate, colleague, friend or family member, and this is categorically a joke and should not be interpreted as a hate crime.

A reflection of late...

No trickery, no alarm clocks, I'm up and showered before 8am on a Sunday, feeling pretty somewhere between good and weird, and so I thought I'd take some time to appreciate the good and have a ramble.

I didn't sleep well at all last night; I spent a little too much time studying the trailer for Insidious.. mainly this image (warning: unpleasantly creepy). I'm umming and erring about going to see it. Peripheral vision shock images are a bit of a weakness of mine, eg Ju-on (The Grudge) et al.. little, ghostly children, silently stalking people just out of the characters' view before trespassing on safe places. That said, being a fan of slasher films, I quite like The Grudge (2004), the american remake if only because Sarah Michelle Gellar gets her lower jaw ripped off... Yea, have that, Buffy! If anyone was at least party responsible for the Twilight series (et al), you were! We just need to see Joss Whedon (which technically isn't a name), David Boreanaz and James Marsters in at least some kind of horrible pain and the balance will be somewhere near restored. It is platitudinous to say that the american remakes of The Grudge, The Ring etc lack the subtleties of Asian cinema, but it's a statement that should always be present in these discussions.

But oddly I had very good dreams last night; lots of dreams about going to see people I haven't seen for a long time and having skills that can help them; like my old music teachers. And a lot of the dreams involved being offered new jobs :) which was quite pleasing. Where normally a very positive dream would only end in disappointment where I wake up and realise what my life is really like, I have actually been offered a new job; full time work as a technician in the skills lab at Canterbury Christ Church University. This is a job I current do part time, and I love it; setting up experiments for training nurses, midwives, occupational therapists, etc... So life seems pretty good.

I have several gigs coming up.

23rd April: I'm playing with Know Your Enemy at Club Q in Ashford, Kent. It's a charity event to raise money for Help For Heroes, being headlined by Coronal.

24th April: On Easter Sunday I'm playing a solo performance at the Hoodeners Horse in Great Chart, Ashford, Kent. A mixture of middle of the road rock, folk and comedy.

1st May: I'm playing with Know Your Enemy up at the Homelands Stadium, Ashford, Kent for a KMFM bank holiday weekend event.

More details and more shows on www.danblood.co.uk.

Also, this morning, I thought I'd have a crack at answering the most commonly asked question about my music... "what is it you play?" A question for which I've never had a clear answer! The closest I've got so far is "a mixture of middle of the road rock, folk and comedy".. which does it for some people, but still confuses most.

What I play is a rag tag mixture of songs. Some of them are just nice songs that I've picked up over time, both covers and originals, uncommitted to any higher purpose. I play some songs that recall parts of my past and poke fun at them, like my angsty goth years at school where I wore nothing but black clothes and spikey dog collars, had blue hair and looked at everything like a cartoon vampire. And other stuff I play explores an eternally youthful fun side of life, where I distort nursery rhymes for fun and get grown men and women doing-the-actions to wheels on the bus, because they know deep down that it's better to let go and have fun than to be embarrassed. Most of all, I like to maintain that I'm performing without pretense; I'm not trying to be a big, famous rock star; I'm not trying to get girls to swoon with lovey-dovey romantic numbers; I'm not a revolutionary trying to spark a riot; I'm not trying to bring down the man, I'm just a bloke in a pub playing some songs, who's not scared to laugh at himself.

I imagine that by the time I'm done explaining this to someone, the proprietor of the shop, bar or cafe I'm in at the time will probably be asking me to get down from the table I'm standing on or light fitting I'm hanging from. I'll probably continue to say "a mixture of middle of the road rock, folk and comedy" followed up with "if you don't know what that means you'll have to come along and find out... I try to be fun and not-too-offensive".

For anyone who's curious.. there is some music of mine on www.danblood.co.uk.

Yes, this crap took me almost an hour to write; give me a break, I'm a lack luster, vikingesque musician having a ramble, not Mark fucking Twain.

Mitch Benn and the Distractions

Friday 3rd December 2010, I braved the snow and went to see Mitch Benn play at the Gulbenkian Theatre accompanied by Kirsty Newton (mainly bass, keyboard and backing vocals) and Ivan Shepherd (mainly on drums) and had a thoroughly good time, concluding in a signed t-shirt for myself and a signed album for the wife.

If you follow me on Twitter you'll know that I'm a relentless micro-blogger for lame and useless topics; if you've ever seen me blog other than that you'll know that I'm lazy and practically illiterate. So I declare this a mini-blog, as a happy compromise. Short and sweet, this shall be.

The Venue: The Gulbenkian has not really changed at all since I studied at Kent University between 2003-2006; The staff are friendly, the bar layout is awkward and clumsy, the front entrance lets the cold in; the theatre seating is quite adequate with simple but effective sound and lighting and all the seats give a pretty good view of the stage. No harsh criticism or grand praise either way; it's a good little venue for the avid non-complainer.

The Distractions: Mitch's backing, support and occasional humorous-props were a welcome presence on stage without becoming the centre of attention. I did enjoy Ivan's almost relentless portrayal of a mute clown with sticks, although think Kirsty's attempts at on-stage banter with Mitch were undermined by the sound levels. Everything Kirsty said was several times louder than Mitch, on the grounds that when singing Mitch was several times louder than everything else; so it was just the way the mics were set up for the music. Perhaps any sound engineers working with them in the future could be a little more reactive to this.

Mitch Benn: With no further delay I want to use the word hilarious and refreshing to describe this show. Old jokes are only the best jokes when they are well delivered, and a good delivery is what we got, peppered with his own unique humour and classic gags, thrust towards us in a plethora of musical styles. I think Mitch's performance in the first half suffered, perhaps from a several week gap in his tour and an audience I would describe as small (due to weather) and statistically, unusually upper-middle-class. But all this was made up for by a cracking intro, his utterly explosive The Interactive Song. Any other criticism I would put down to personal taste alone - I don't appreciate or enjoy Elvis impressions - because his/their performance was tight, musically and vocally impressive, upbeat, moved from song to song at a very comfortable pace and the gags shone through brilliantly; especially I'm Proud of the BBC, for which he gave a pre-emptive apology in case he screwed any of the lyrics up. Before the intermission Mitch did his signature move taking suggestions from the audience - entertaining some quite odd suggestions from very excited people - resulting in an excellent perspective on snowman theft.

I think seeing him live on stage will enhance my knowledge and (already extensive) appreciation of The Now Show on Radio 4 and I look forward to the opportunity of seeing him again, locally. Perhaps next time we won't be in the middle of a snow apocalypse and perhaps his merchandise stall won't be parked directly beneath a leak in the ceiling!

MUSIC REVIEWS

Just a note to anyone who doesn't know much about Sasquatch Records, or any bands who wandered this way wondering what the hell I'm doing on Blogger.com:

My name is Dan Blood and I've started this blog so Sasquatch Records is more accessible to other people (ie, people who don't use facebook every second of the day).

I am a fairly seasoned performer, and although some people think I don't take myself very seriously on stage, I do, and what's more is I take other people very seriously on stage and I observe objectively.

I would like to offer up my experiences to do music reviews, where invited, so that I can share my views on what works and doesn't work in local music. I will be throwing my un-targetted opinions on stage etiquette around on a fairly regular basis anyway.. but if anyone would like a review, please email me - dan.t.blood@googlemail.com

Events Coming Up

Wednesday 25th August @ Orange Street Music Venue, Canterbury

• Dan Blood
• Chris Walker
• Funke and the Two Tone Baby
• Free Entry, Doors open at 7.
• Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/event.php?eid=142749102432360&ref=mf

Sunday 29th August @ Victoria Hall, Ham Street, Ashford

• Dan Blood (12.45 - 13.15) and others
• Proceeds go to Chernobyl Childrens Lifeline
• Free Entry
• Open from midday
• Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106794016019684

Sunday 29th August @ Three Mariners, Hythe

• Dan Blood will be at the open mic.
• Starts at 8/8.30pm ish.
• Free entry
• For anyone to join in.
• Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/event.php?eid=101072479950377&ref=mf

Wednesday 15th September @ The Old Brewery Tavern, Canterbury

• Callum Black (Band) and others performing live.
• 9.30pm - 11.30pm
• Free Entry
• Fantastic drinks offers.

Euphex Beatbox @ The Old Brewery Tavern

The creatures that inhabit and run the Met Office have suggested the weather will be A'OK for this evening's festivities at the Old Brewery Tavern - I'm looking forward to getting things moving!

Soon I shall take the PA system over to Canterbury and get things set up. The acts are getting very excited about putting on a show for everyone.

I've grabbed a book of raffle tickets.. 50p a raffle ticket, there are drinks to be won, compliments of Sasquatch Records!

Jamie of Euphex Beatbox is going to run a beatboxing competition for anyone who fancies having a go.. again, there are drinks to be won, compliments of Sasquatch Records!

Now I'm going to tuck into some well deserved grub before going back to work!

See you on the other side....

Dan

Euphex Beatbox @ The Old Brewery Tavern

In just a few days we will be hosting an event for Euphex Beatbox and various other acts linked to what he does.





Facebook users can check out more details on the event page.

The event is at the Old Brewery Tavern, Stour Street, Canterbury
Free entry to anyone, doors open at 9.30 (that's when the Old Brewery Tavern stops being "a fancy restaurant")

Line up for the night

EUPHEX BEATBOX
MC SPOOKA
KABUKI ZOMBIE WARRIOR
FUNKE AND THE TWO TONE BABY
KYLE ELLIS

Drinks Promotions are:
£2.50 Gaymers and Pear Gaymers
£2 Amaretto and Coke
£2.50 JD and Coke
£2 Sambuca


At this point there may not be many people following this blog, but I'll say "I hope to see you there" anyway!

Take care
Dan