As one door closes another one opens, so the
saying goes. Usually in my cursed bad luck world as one door closes another one
slams and traps my fingers in the hinges, which is why I can’t quite believe
that the pennies I have picked up for luck are now seemingly working in my
favour. To begin with, a door has closed; I have been trying to get a project
off the ground in London that is now not going to go ahead for the foreseeable
future. The problem has been financial to a degree, but that isn’t the full
story. I had written a letter (old school) to Westminster Council asking for
permission to conduct a day or two of filming musicians and bands performing
two songs for a weekly YouTube series. Although I am not going to give away
details (as I have had ideas stolen before) as I haven’t totally given up hope
of possibly starting again one day, I will say that it involved filming
outdoors in a well known location for a series that I am sure would have been
very popular. The turnaround of musicians would have been reasonably speedy as
it was only going to be acoustic performances so wouldn’t have required a great
deal of sound checking. My reply from Westminster Council was a standard letter
pointing me to various links (I think the letter was actually a printed copy of
a standard email) regarding fees and permits and nothing about exploiting a
piece of tourist interest, nor was there any ‘heart’ in the letter, it was all
very businesslike and corporate. This is a project that is very close to my
heart but also something that I am sure would have worked given the foot
traffic to the area which in turn would have benefitted the many bars and
restaurants around where the filming would have taken place. Only my shoebox of
abandoned ideas will now benefit from this idea, so I really hope that whoever
sees inside the box when I am dead has the same vision that I have.
This is why it is important to make a donation
using the PayPal button if you are able to. In return for your donation you get
to be a part of the creation of entertainment that is freely available to all
forever (depending on if the Internet lasts that long). Whether you decide to
make a regular donation or just make one drop, it all counts and is greatly
appreciated.
For the good news though, a door has opened, a
door to a suitable café venue in which to film the pilot edition of my first
major project of 2015. The café liked the idea which is good news, although I do
have to email the full details so he might change his mind but things seem to
be going well so far – maybe a little too well considering my usual luck. I am
meeting Oliver Smith on Friday who is on board, and the band have got back to
me to say yes so it really is starting to look like all systems go at the
moment.
I spy a barrel of tits over there; I’ll either
keep away or cut my fucking thumbs off to be on the safe side.
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Details on my audio books and other work for sale and how your donations
can help me to create free entertainment can be found on my Shop & Donations page.
This week’s edition of The Sunday Alternative
is here.
