Diamonds

On the top of the hill stood the mast.
It was silver and sleek.
At its head flew a flag.
Gulls nestled at its feet.

“Outrageous!” it cried
To the sea in the bay.
“No time to talk
And less time to pray.”

Gather ye round to the mast on the hill
While the wind whips your hair
And flips you at will.
To the bay, where they circle and beg you for more
At the mast there is never, no night and no shore.
No way to step over and out to the sun.
No time to let go of our time emptied fun.

I am the quiet.
In movements I tell stories.
Within and without.
Sleep is the leveler.
Its jewel is the dream.

My dreams are like diamonds.
Rough shapely stones.
Hewn from basalt and caught up in my carbon.
I give them away.

My dreams are like diamonds.
Sharp, shining songs of dogs in the night.
Come with me and listen.
Buckle up for the flight.

Meditation

I’ve been neglecting this site for a while. I’ve been busy writing and gigging with my band Die Cherry. We’re recording next week so we’ll have some songs for you to check out. Meanwhile you can check us out here https://www.facebook.com/pages/Die-Cherry/206846902691885 and here http://www.reverbnation.com/diecherry .

Apart from that I’ve been working on an album of meditation music.

Amber meditation by Shanokee

Temple by Shanokee

6EQUJ5 by Shanokee

Magma by Shanokee

I meditate as often as I can and I find it really enjoyable to work with sonics.

Where On Earth Did My Voice Go?

Calling all parts of my voice! Where did you go? You were last seen on Tuesday at band practice.

Yep I lost my voice after not being able to hear myself properly. Well that and going out with the girls the next night. I woke up on Thursday feeling a bit rough and found that my voice had flown the coop. I’ve been a bad girl recently and have been neglecting the warm-ups which are essential. Singing in a rock band and singing trance-style vocals are very different. When I write and sing trance vocals I’m usually asked to hit my top range which I’ve gotta tell you is not easy for me, but that’s what the people want. They always want me to do something like ‘Such is Life’ and that my friends is tricky for me. It’s not my natural range. So going from that to belting out a rockin performance has put some strain on my poor wee voice. I rested it up yesterday and all day today I’ve been doing gentle vocal exercises. It’s coming back to me but it fairly put the wind up my pipes. I’d be devastated to lose my voice so I’m really going to have to look after it and if that means getting the boys in the band to turn down from 11 then so be it. I’m going out now to buy some honey which I hate the taste of but needs must.

Feel You Here

These are the proper lyrics written by me, as I’ve just noticed that the young hardstyle fans on Youtube have been getting them wrong. The original working title for this song was Sunset on Mars and is about a deep space mission. Straight from the horse’s mouth.

Feel You Here

Soon the rains will go away

Then the memories will fade

Soon we leave our land forgot

Save a place for me

Find the lightning and know you’re not alone

Pray for passage and know you’re not alone

And I feel you here

I feel you here

There’s Nothing Good On.

Right this post is maybe going to turn into a bit of a rant due to my watching of cack TV. I’d like to watch good TV but I’m not exactly sure if that actually exists any more. The other night I resorted to watching Blue Thunder when I couldn’t sleep. It was on TV but is not actually a TV programme; it is a rather mediocre film from the 80′s starring a crap high-tech helicopter and Malcolm McDowell, who I never realised was quite so small and pixie-like. If he was in an RPG he’d be an elf.

Anyway here is a picture of Roy Schieder flying the crap chopper which looks like they stuck bits of cardboard all over it and yes, I’m sure it looked amazing in the 80′s.

Of course Blue Thunder must have been the inspiration for Airwolf with Jan-Michael Vincent and Ernest Borgnine and a cello. The helicopter in this depressing series was a Bell222 according to the all knowing Borg of Wikipedia and was at a loss when the show finished and, like Lily Allen decided a change of career would be a good idea; it became an ambulance helicopter but crashed and burned killing 3 people. Looks like a psycho if you ask me.

Yet it still looks cooler than the Blue Thunder one.

Of course this has nothing to do with what this post should be about which is that TV is driving me nuts. Maybe this post is actually about how I should really be doing something better with my time than watching the shite on TV. I should take up needlework or study astro-physics. Or maybe talking about Blue Thunder is my way of saying that even a crap film about a helicopter from the future of the 1980′s is still better than what is on TV now.

Attic

I’ve been spending a lot of my time recently in the land of upside-down sleeping pattern. Even when I try to go to sleep at a normal time I still wake up around 2am from a dream. This is mostly due to the noisy students that roll home from the pubs drunk and guldering at the top of their voices as they wheel and wobble themselves up my street. Tomorrow I get my own back as I once again open up my creepy attic to the power of music. My new band that I joined after my musical hiatus are moving in to practice amongst the eaves. I’m super excited.

It’s really good to know that it’s not just me on my own trying to be heard. Being in a band of course can bring many headaches, arguments and tensions, but so far it seems to be going pretty well. Soon we’ll be gig ready and that’s when the real fun begins. I can’t wait to have an excuse to get dressed up, cover myself in shiny crystals and glitter and strut around the stage like a loon. It’s been so long since I got the high of performing.

So today is the day when the attic becomes a rock&roll zone. May the students bask in the glory of it.

Pineapple Juice

I was over in Holland during the week writing trance vocals and on my return have developed a bit of a sore throat which is probably due to air conditioning which I think is the scourge of the pharynx and larynx. I was informed on Twitter that pineapple juice is good for singers as it coats the throat so I’m drinking some now and I must say that it’s rather tasty. Of course it could do with some alcohol in it but I’m foregoing imbibing tonight.

I had mobile internet for a day when I was away. I accidentally went on-line and joined the ranks of the smart-phone users; those people who no longer need feel uncomfortable in public ever again as they can focus all their eager attention on a screen that constantly updates them with triviality. I’m glad it was only one day of my life. I had to stop myself looking at my little phone screen and lift my head to view the wonder of the world around me. Ah, simple pleasures. You know if you fancied becoming a pickpocket, then now would be a good time to start as no-one seems to be looking around them any-more. One of my favourite game characters is this dude.

His name is Garret and he’s a pretty cool tea-leaf. If I play RPG games I quite like to be a thief as you get to sneak about, pick locks and steal loot. Fantastic.