I began this experimental blog in living hopefully, in my childhood bedroom, ‘shielding the makeshift tarpaulin covering my parents’ fragile existence from the menacing weather encroaching them.’

I have one Amazon review of my first album ‘Can’t Clip My Wings’. It is not of the whole album, the reviewer could not bring himself/herself to listen beyond one song – The Man With the Child in…

Life is getting back to normal in England. This requires adjustments for many of us - I keep forgetting to add in travel time for IRL meetings.

I am enjoying the return of random connections and conversations. But I came…

September is my favourite month. The weather is often lovelier than I expect, as it was this year. I should have recalibrated my expectations by now, but I’m surprised and delighted year after year, usually after being disappointed by August.

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Walking in the Spanish hills super-charged my creativity. My notebook is awash with words waiting to be adopted (most will remain orphaned). My phone has 23 new vocal snippets yearning to be developed (most will remain unopened).

I used to…

I believe, wholeheartedly, that rest is essential for creativity and for productivity. When I was younger I believed…

There are some habits that are etched so deeply into our childhood bones their shadows survive every reinvention. Our response to music is an example, as I have written about before. Our spending habits are another.

I joined Soundcloud nearly ten years ago when it was a welcoming, nurturing hangout for music-makers of all types and calibers. Without Soundcloud, I would never have released music because I would never have believed anyone would want to listen…

I’m fond of the word ‘august’ when used as an adjective to convey majestic, respected, or impressive. I don’t use it often – its air of pomposity makes it a poor choice in modern sentences. But I could not resist…

Hello.

This is the 34th Yours Hopefully post. I’ve written to you every week for 34 weeks. But, sadly, today I do not have time. Please forgive me. I’m being menaced by a looming deadline. For once it is not…

I saw the hypnotic Van Gogh Immersive Experience last week. The visuals and staging are stunning. You do, as they promise, step inside the paintings.

The soundtrack was less inspiring, snapshots of well-worn, much-loved, internationally recognisable classical masterpieces. Beautiful, but…

I wrote of my late awakening to the influence of Joni Mitchell on my music a few weeks ago. This week I celebrate another late love – Patti Smith.