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Cracked Ribs!2:50 PM - Mon 14 September 2009http://chandramoon.efx3.com/2009/09/...cked-ribs/comments {0}ABC - African Beats Camp9:30 AM - Thu 3 September 2009http://chandramoon.efx3.com/2009/09/...eats-camp/comments {0}Lucky Escape!1:57 PM - Thu 4 June 2009Yesterday I had the closest shave I think I’ve ever had with death. I was driving in Bristol when a huge lorry intruded into my lane and clipped the back of my Golf on a roundabout slewing me round in front of his cab which then made contact with the whole driver side of my car and carried me sideways up the road while he started braking. I could actually feel the pressure of the lorry on the door as the momentum pinned me onto that side of the car and I felt the car starting to tip over but somehow it didn’t and he managed to stop. I had to climb out the passenger side as the lorry was up against the driver side and the doors couldn’t open. Miraculously I was very shaken but uninjured! The police came and said it was his fault (well I KNEW that) but he didn’t deny it and admitted he hadn’t seen me at all but “felt” something on the blind side of his lorry. Someone called an ambulance but they just told me to go home and rest. These huge lorries are a menace on town streets but I suppose they’re just doing their job. Thankfully he wasn’t speeding and after we’d stopped he told me that if it had happened the day before it would have taken longer to stop as the truck had 40 tons load the previous day but happened to be empty when we collided. I was shaking like a leaf and couldn’t sleep very well last night but apart from a few aches and pains I feel fine today - though I keep flashing back to looking up at that huge lorry thinking my moment had come - it was a very weird feeling of disappointment that it was all going to end like that without being able to tell anyone I’d finally found some tenants for my house! Weird, you’d think I’d have thought of something a bit more important for a last thought! The car’s pretty mashed up on that side of course and the insurance have provided me with a courtesy car already which is pretty impressive. Anyway - that was my day yesterday - it’ll take a while to get over it I think but I’m counting all my blessings that I’m still here at all. comments {1}Visit of the President Of Burundi!5:05 PM - Tue 24 February 2009Well what excitement! We discovered that the President of Burundi (His Excellency Pierre Nkurunziza) was going to visit Sandele Lodge - just up the road from where we are staying. We found some excuse to go round there and managed to catch all the action.A lot of pomp and ceremony, drumming, dancing and excitement all round as he visited the eco-tourist site - this area is designated as protected from modern development. 
There are a few more pictures on my FACEBOOK (click) I'm not sure if I'll get back to the internet before my brief return to the UK from Mar 4th - 25th but if not I'll post again from there. Hope this finds you all well - bye for now. comments {3}Christmas Pics etc12:07 PM - Tue 30 December 2008I've had a lovely Christmas time with my new grandchild, my family and P! We spent Christmas in Bristol then I took the train up to meet P's son for the first time and then on to his brother's. We've now met most of each other's important relatives though there are still a few to go!Here's P making a delicious batch of 36 Mince Pies 
And here's a picture of me with baby Lucia! 
I'm now in Cropredy at the van and yesterday we went to a funeral of a friend of P's which was sad as he was only a young man of 42 though the celebration of his life was very touching. Tonight we're going to a gig at the Mill in Banbury and tomorrow a New Year's party locally. On Friday or Saturday we're off back to the boat in Belgium to deliver a load of batteries and hope to spend some more time in Brugge. Next week we're going to visit my dad. It looks like January will be gone in a blink then we're off at the end of the month to the Gambia, probably till nearly May to organise the Kartong Festival. I'll have to start planning soon as I'll have to rent out my house and a zillion other things to make it possible. Time flies but it's exciting times! comments {6}Off again9:23 AM - Sat 30 August 2008Off again for the rest of the weekend. Last night at the last minute I was asked to take someone to a Senegambian gig here in Bristol - it was amazing but it didn't start till gone midnight and I left at 4am (African time!) and this morning I'm dropping a friend at the bus station then off to Cropredy and tomorrow to the last sabar workshop of the year (that I know of that is!).Monday I'm back to "real" life for a while. See you soon....................... comments {2}Victorian Mayhem - HA Festival in Markfield Park, London5:55 PM - Tue 24 June 2008I took the Megabus and got back late last night (well early this morning) after a great weekend out in London – city of my birth!I spent Saturday evening and night with a very old friend of mine that lives in Golders Green. We ate, chat, drank wine and generally put the world to rights! I’ve known her since 1972 so we always have plenty to talk about! Sunday, I set off for Tottenham to the Haringey Art’s one day festival called Victorian Mayhem (organised by my son Daniel). 
I’ve put an album of photos up on Facebook LINK showing the whole day from set up to the end! What an amazing assortment of people and bands. The music was excellent and the weather just perfect. As well as music there was face and body painting, a chai café serving food and cakes, bars, exhibitions, strolling cabaret and burlesque acts, a Victorian Photo Parlour, Overhead acrobatics in the Museum and lots of general mayhem. Our very own Wozza made it there and it was lovely to see him again! 
The day ended at 8pm after much dancing and shaking of bootie but then took over two hours to pack up so Dan and I pooped out of the after party that took place in Dalston but I heard it was brilliant with excellent music and guest appearance of Ojos de Brujos. Anyway – enjoy the pictures. I'll upload a video as well in a day or so. 
comments {1}Sunrise Festival - dragged out by tractor!2:34 PM - Mon 2 June 2008Where to start - the weekend festival didn't go at all to plan!My friend Ann and I packed up the Moon Palace and set off to the Somerset hills for the rave of festivals - Sunrise Celebration. From the off it didn't feel right when we arrived at about 2pm to find a MEGA queue about two miles long - there was some cock up to do with licences and the local council - not boding well already. We waited and waited watching all sorts of hippy types and interesting people walking past on their way in. Eventually the queue started moving and I got the Moon Palace in and parked up in a muddy field overlooking the main arena. It had rained quite a lot for the two days prior to the festival so it was already pretty muddy when we arrived. They’d sold 6,000 tickets so it’s not a tiny festival though not a huge one either but there was to have been a good line up of live bands and dance music rigs/dj’s including The Orb. Armed with my Wellington boots I went down to the arena area only to find they weren’t letting people onto the site for “health and safey” reasons – code words for deep shitty mud!! They said that the site would be open “later”. Ann and I cooked a meal in the van and pondered the fate of those in tents – about 3 compost toilets for a whole field full of people, one water tap that we could see and a bog of mud to wade around in – yea fun I hear you thinking.... We stuck it out (get the pun ha ha) for two nights with the whole festival being cancelled due to a river bursting its bank lower down the fields and the whole place being flooded out. Mysteriously though, from 1am to 8am very loud, pounding rave music echoed up to the camping field so although we couldn’t all get on site, those that were trapped down there were obviously making the most of it – probably eating all the tons of food the poor people vending food couldn’t sell and taking all the drugs meant for the punters! We spent the evening listening to our own music in the van, eating food, and having our own very mini festival and meeting a few people including the festival “wizard” a strange man from the Isle of Wight. We spent Friday watching as tractors dragged assorted cars and camper vans, converted trucks like mine etc from the site – very often backwards at great speed in a terrifying fashion. I left it till Saturday morning as we were fine with our own food and loo. Fortunately I had a civilised tractor driver to tow me out and I told him straight to go very slow as half my belongings live in the Moon Palace – it’s not just a weekend vehicle! 
We then spent Saturday and Sunday going to visit wonderful National Trust properties instead (we’re both members so get in for free) and staying at very “nice” campsites and being “ladies that lunch” – if only they knew what we’re really like ha ha! I’ll put pictures of the lovely properties we visited up in my next post as this is definitely long enough already! What a contrast from what we’d set out to spend the weekend doing – but at least not all was lost! I hope we can get a refund for the tickets. Click this link for more photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...=637503707 comments {13}Busy Weekend (mmm - what's new!?)3:57 PM - Sat 12 April 2008This has been a busy and interesting couple of days.Yesterday I started off with a meeting with the guy who's designing me a proper music website and then went to the grand opening of a new project here in Bristol called the Knowle West Media Centre. I was invited in my work capacity as I did some consultancy work for them which had involved researching similar organisations and writing them sample job descriptions and pay scales for the new management posts. 
A couple of years on and the project is now complete - an amazing new building which is very eco-friendly - in fact the walls are made with rendered straw, there's a rubber roof which collects rain water for the toilets and all sorts of other features. The project itself offers under-priveleged young people the opportunity to study modern digital technology and creative industries and the young people and local people involved were obviously very proud of their achievements. 
In the evening I supported my friend Suzy Condrad at a gig (playing flute and drum for a couple of her tracks). This morning I went to a workshop called Music Lab run by my Bristol drum teacher Alphonse. The idea is to take rhythms and then break into small groups and work out a melody or song and then bring it back to the group and put it all together. We ended up with a really nice tune combining drums, flute, balafon, clapping and voice and some ideas for other tunes for next time. This afternoon I washed down the Moon Palace (no small task as she's 24ft long and 7ft wide!) and practiced my guitar a bit as I am performing at a gig tonight at a biggish venue - I'm doing three songs with my keyboard player and he's doing a couple of his own too. There are about 8 people performing all told - I'll try and remember to ask someone to take some photos! comments {6}Earthquake9:09 AM - Wed 27 February 2008Well living in safe old England I didn't think I'd be reporting on an earthquake today!!Last night I got back from the Miners Arms open no mic and had a quick catch up on line of various things. It was quite late, sometime after 1am and I was lazily lying on my sofa in my study with my Mac. I was kind of drifty awake/asleep when the whole sofa started vibrating and I thought that maybe the neighbours were shifting furniture or something. But it went on for quite a long time and there was no noise associated. I jolted properly awake and thought I was going a bit mad because we don't have earthquakes here!! Anyway - once it was finished I started wondering if I'd imagined the whole thing then I saw on Wozza's Facebook that he too had felt it in LONDON! I went to bed and this morning on the news it was confirmed that we'd had the strongest earthquake for years reported all over the country with the epicentre in Lincoln - phew - I'm not going mad after all. I wish I was though - I don't like the idea of earthquakes over 5.2 on the Richter Scale!!! comments {13}Tennis Tournament8:21 PM - Wed 12 December 2007Today, I played in my tennis group's annual Christmas tournament. We play in an indoor "bubble" which is basically like a big fridge at this time of the year and it took some time to warm up and I got cold a few times in between games.The Bubble 
We play four 20 minute sets to a whistle, with sudden death instead of advantages after deuce. After each set the number of games won are written down and at the end totalled up to get the winners. I did quite well for me though I never come near winning ha ha! The Coaches 
After the games, we had a lunch and presentations of prizes for the winners and best improvers which was good fun. I saw quite a lot of people who play on different days to me, so it was good. Lunch 
This afternoon, I went to songwriting and this evening I had a practice with Paddy (my keyboard player) for a gig we've got on Friday evening. It'll be our first time playing out in public together, so I'm looking forward to it. It's a songwriter evening so I've only got a three song slot which is probably just right for a first time. He's very versatile and plays keyboards, fiddle and whistle plus does bits of backing vocals and percussion. I got back quite early and am having a quiet rest of the evening. Tomorrow my dad and his wife are arriving at about 4pm and staying till Friday lunchtime to exchange presents and see each other before Christmas - should be good! He's a musician too and plays the piano very well and has written a great many songs. Both my kids are songwriters too so it must be genetic ha ha! comments {8} |
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WELCOME! This blog is about my travels, original music and songwriting, drumming, festivals and gigs mainly from Bristol, UK. I also post about my everyday life and happenings. Please respect that any song lyrics are copyright Chandramoon and shouldn't be copied without my express permission. There's a link here called Song Lyrics which will take you to my second blog dedicated to posting my lyrics. There's also a link called Chandra Moon's Music direct to myspace where you can listen to some of my tracks. Now available on iTunes  
  
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