Author: Ben Dwyer
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Look at this and read all of the comments by BillBaxter.
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I am starting a new job in the new year. That means I get about 2 weeks off at Christmas to dig. I guess that’s still less than all the students, but it sounds good to me.
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I went to see Keith James perform The Songs Of Nick Drake in Maidstone’s Jazz and Blues Cafe last night.
I don’t like bad reviews so I am going to try and be as objective as possible, but I have to admit that starting of a review like that doesn’t bode well.
To put it simply, if you expect Keith to perform Nick Drake’s songs with the sympathetic accuracy and attention to detail that Nick himself strove to perfect, then you will be disappointed. Keith James is not true to Nick Drake’s performances in guitar playing, melody, style, lyric or attitude.
He is obviously a talented musician, and has a strong voice and guitar, but he didn’t seem to feel a need for keeping accurately to the songs, which I found confusing. I am not sure if this was delibrate or not. What I find difficult to understand is the motivation behind these changes. Either he is not aware of how unfaithful he is being to the original songs – in some cases the differences were vast, or thinks that it doesn’t matter. Given that Nick Drake is the best singer/songwriter who has ever lived, James is brave in trying to “improve” on his material.
I’ll stop there before I get any more mean – if you can’t say something to someone’s face then you shouldn’t write it in a review.
And just to set the record straight, Nick didn’t write Been Smokin’ Too Long, it was Robin Frederick. Nick just changed one line.
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Well last night went OK. I didn’t touch the computer at all and only watched a little bit of TV because Rebekah had it on. I wrote a really nice guitar part too, so it was good. I am away this weekend too so the zine is dying off a bit. I have a new idea for December. Nothing exciting to you probably, but I am quite excited.
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What you really need at this time of year is some nice pictures of summer.
Or you could find out what I do when I get really bored.
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Tom manned up and set a date for a London trip last night. A week today. We are meeting at Southbank (right by Waterloo station) at 11am. Be there. My number is 079419five2seven21.Don’t ask me where we are going because I don’t have a clue – ask Tom!
Looks like this has been cancelled due to unpopular demand.
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A while ago I bought a load of black hoody XL for really cheap. I tried selling them to people at Kiddy Jam for £5 but only Bamber was interested. Today I sold one on eBay for £23. I love eBay.
The guy that bought the jumper also bought this. Do you think he’ll wear it underneath?
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There has been talk of another trip to London. There have been a few in the past:
Maybe there will be a 2005/6 trip but Playstation has been burnt. There are lots of other places we didn’t go, but if I get a day off it might be better spent digging, so someone else can organise it!
scruffian 