We are super excited to finally bring the live show to Belfast. This has been a long hard road to get to this point. Everything has been self financed and if you would like to support Shanokee then please go to the Black Box website http://www.blackboxbelfast.com/event.aspx?e=2282 and buy a ticket! Thank you!
The video for my new track No Yield is currently being filmed. We hope to have it live as soon as is physically possible. Edit edit edit!
I’ve been lucky in life to know a number of talented souls. One of those is my friend Caroline Hughes who recently did a photo-shoot with me and my drummer Paul Mullin.
Caroline asked me for the kind of image I was after and I responded with a plethora of old silent movie pictures which encaptured the moody, dark high contrast style that I wanted. Also I threw in a few old sci-fi movie pictures for good measure.
The shoot happened in Catchlight studios in Belfast which is a great space with fantastic facilities for photographer and subject. It has beautiful views over Belfast and access to many different backdrops and lighting.
It was loads of fun and Caroline made sure that we were relaxed providing a table of refreshments. The first look is very different from the second. I had my make-up redone for the second look by a lovely lady called Kathy Carroll in The Makeup Boudoir downstairs. She asked me what I was looking for and I told her, ‘Think Flash Gordon,’ which happened to be one of her favourite films. It’s one of mine too and I love how it looks like a box of Quality Street! It was co-produced by Dino De Laurentiis which explains a lot, but I digress!
The make-up Kathy created was fantastic and works really well in the pictures and I will take her idea further and develop it for stage.
We had a great day with Caroline and are really happy with the pictures. It’s funny how one needs to learn how to be objective when it comes to choosing an image of oneself. Flaws that we see of ourselves are not seen by others.
A great photograph for me is one that captures the essence of the person through the eyes and expression which is a lot like capturing the perfect vocal. Quite often a great vocal may have fantastic delivery mood and emotion, but subtle imperfections also, which only make it more human.
This may add a whole new dimension to this blog.
In fact it seems to be easier to use.
That’s my new hair cut by the way.
That’s a pic of my cousin at the Giant’s Causeway.
That’s some strange religious thing.
This is fun.
You can’t be anyone else. ‘If a stone round your neck is weighing you down, get rid of it before you drown.’ Wise words from whoever wrote that for Inspector Morse.
If something makes you feel shit then it can’t be good for you, so chuck it over the side and move on.
I like stars and spaceships and dreaming. Over the past year I have finally discovered that my happiness comes from being musically self-sufficient and not being a slave to someone else’s view of what I can or cannot do. Screw ‘em. I know myself better than anyone and I know what I can achieve. You do too. Do it your own way. I look at people that I respect and they have always done it their way. Be a maverick. You have nothing to lose. Life is short. Live it how you want to. No-one can tell you how to be or what to do.
We’re all running around like headless chickens trying to make sense of life but there is no sense, just experience. No government can tell you how to think or what clothes to wear. Screw ‘em. We are all going to die so live it now and live it your way.
I’ll sing how I want to sing; in my own voice, not how someone wants me to sing. I do it for me, for joy, for expression, for connection to my inner/higher self. I sing how I want ‘cos I write the shit that I sing. I write my music how I want it to sound. I taught myself how to ‘cos I had to, to take control because no-one else can do it for me.
Do it your way and don’t let anyone put you down or tell you what to do.
I discovered years ago that if I lay my head on my mattress and hummed gently at a specific pitch I could make all the springs in my bed vibrate. They sounded like a heavenly choir. I’ve taken up chanting recently and I find that certain frequencies resonate powerfully within me. For me the lower tone of my voice vibrates my springs. Chanting is great for housework and when I’m on my bike I try to remember to chant to keep me focussed and safe.
I read somewhere that the Ancient Egyptians understood the power of vibration and that a room was discovered that was completely full of tuning forks.
Cymatics is the study of visible sound and vibration. Watch this video to see how changing frequencies affect the alignment of salt crystals on a vibratory plate.
These shapes can be seen in nature and also on other planets. This is a strange hexagonal phenomena on Saturn’s north pole.
Do certain tones have ‘magical’ properties? I think so. In Genesis and many other ancient holy texts it is written that the word creates matter and the universe. What a tone it must have been to have created all this.
Stuart Mitchell is a pianist and composer who also is taken by these geometric forms. Along with his father Thomas J. Mitchell he spent 15 years studying and researching the symbolic carvings in Rosslyn Chapel and I believe that they discovered something quite astounding. Encoded in the symbols in the chapel are notes that make up a piece of heavenly music. Stuart Mitchell created the Rosslyn Motet from this. Watch this video and see what you think.
