Undeceivable - Moonraker Zen

The Lion King @ the Lyceum Theatre

On Saturday we went and watched the Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre in Covent Garden.
I had never seen the Disney film and generally thought I'm not too keen on that sort of stuff. But seeing as Kaori wanted to go, I booked the tickets.
And it was absolutely fantastic! One of the best things I've ever seen. In the opening song I thought I was going to burst with excitement. A huge orange sun rose in the background as people dressed up as giraffes, elephants, gazelles and lions made their way onto the stage to Elton John's Circle of Life. To the side of the stage bongo players frantically beat the rhythm and the audience cheered with delight. It was such a moving start to a musical.
Packed full of light-hearted humour, stunning effects (at one stage, the ghost of Mufasa appears in the background to offer support to his confused son, Simba), great songs (my fave was I Can't Wait To Be King which reminded me of the Jackson 5) and a story a little like Hamlet, it's a perfect theatre experience.
On Sunday we watched the DVD which was good too, but nowhere near as good as the musical.

The Bumblebee Bats' return...

Here's the latest from the bumblebee bats:

Got a symphony inside my head

My favourite chord change is probably the most simple one there is, C to F, and this song uses this all the way through. The vocal melody is one that I'd been trying out for a while but couldn't find a chorus for.
I laid down the vocals a few times but stuck with the first take. Some of it sounds a little weak especially the first verses but I like the way it contrasts with the final overlaid part at the end - it's almost like the song is in reverse...maybe.

The Genius Bar

I'm at the Genius Bar at Regent Street's Apple Store, waiting to get my mysterious popping MacBook fixed. It's nice here though - free internet, nice music and friendly Mac people.

I haven't booked so they've given me a pager that will go off when they have a space. I've been waiting an hour already and am getting hungry. Do Apple not do food? You'd think they would, considering their name is an item of food.

I think pieces of fruit would suit the Apple brand. I'll go tell them now...

In Search of Wabi Sabi

BBC4 is doing a great little season of programs on Japan and tonight was In Search of Wabi Sabi, in which "Marcel Theroux visits Japan in an attempt to understand Wabi Sabi, a theory of aesthetics."

Marcel Theroux is Louis Theroux's older brother and he has a similar dry sense of humour which works well in the weird and wonderful Japan. Unfortunately, he spends quite a bit of time asking Japanese people in English what Wabi Sabi means which is a bit of a waste of time seeing as most people in Japan couldn't explain what Japan is in English. He also goes into a stupid waitress cafe to find Wabi Sabi which is a bit like going to a pub on a Friday night looking for the perfect English gentlemen. And then he goes to the busiest temple in Japan, Kiyo Mizu temple in Kyoto, looking for some Wabi Sabi, which again is silly because it's the most popular temple in Kyoto for high school kids to run around...

In the end though, through taking part in a tea ceremony and finally a stay in a Zen temple he concludes that Wabi Sabi is the appreciation of beauty in simplicity, imperfection and impermanence.

Anyway, the last 20 minutes shows his time in a Zen temple which is cool complete with a slightly annoying Polish monk, some laughing Japanese monks and a lovely view of the mountains.

But for me the gesture of his Japanese friend at the end said more about the Japanese or maybe wabi sabi than anything else - as Marcel gets into the car, he hands him a bottle of green tea and asks him about his stay in the temple.

In Search of Wabi Sabi

The Blag Club Notting Hill

Friday night I went to see a friend perform a live set at the Blag Club in Notting Hill. There were 4 performers and they were all pretty good really. I enjoyed it. Here's a clip of my friend playing her set that was from another time:

I'm really tempted now to take the bumblebee bats on stage. It seems like a nice feeling you get from performing. One day...

Sound check

I got some new headphones to monitor my recordings and because they seem to have a lot more bass in them, I found for the first time that I had to actually play my guitar to get a good sound. I just messed around with this melody but I think the guitar sounds a lot better - much more like a guitar. I guess I can record guitar in 2 ways now - staccato strumming or full Bon Iver strumming. As for the vocal I've still got a lot of tweaking before I find a sound that I like: Messing with song number 9

I don't get it

Why do people hate Chris Martin? He's a very funny chap, indeed.

How can I compete?

One thing's for certain - I need a super power!

Priscilla Ahn

Do angels exist? Do angels sing? Maybe!

The Bumblebee Bats' second song

I originally put up my new song this afternoon but the verses and some out of tune notes really bugged me, so I've done a new version without verses, just with a keyboard melody. I only really liked the chorus in this song anyway, so maybe that's the way it was meant to be. 

Here's the new and slightly laid back version of Better when you're dead

PS. the title doesn't refer to the death of a person, but rather an idea...