March 28
We all live in hope of a better world where peace and justice prevail across the land, where all god’s children live in harmony, and where all Hollywood awards are decided by the nominees all b*tch-slapping each other onstage until the last one standing wins and, tears coursing down their stinging cheeks, delivers the usual acceptance homilies..those days may be far, far away but JAZZ NIGHT AT THE BEE’S MOUTH is live and direct, real and uncut right here and now as man like Luke “Fresh Prince” Rattenbury (gtr) and special guest Tristan “Bad Boys For Life” Banks (drms) are ready and willing to lay down the coolest licks and hottest grooves for your delectation, elevation and general all round enrichment, with some form of support being offered by me on bass, and whatever knights in shining Beskar may issue forth from the misty neon lit wastelands and sit in to do their thing…. the immaculate ascended beings of the Bees Team will be on hand with libations of the finest liquors known to humanity, the nameless denizens of the night will gibber and grimace at the steamy windows, at the end of the echoing street the sea will sough away into the darkness out towards the hopeful windmills, but in here all will be sweetness and warmth so why not tear your tired eyes away from the spectacle of over-paid human fraility, put your doomscrolling on hold for a while, it’ll all still be there when you get back, give yourself a break from all the bad things and let’s get into a good thing for a time, for a little while again, come and join us, this is the way.
March 21
So time to take a deep, healing breath, bang a gong and get yet chakras all cushty, maybe some shiatsu or get some fish to eat your dying feet, something like that to relieve the jarring “cognitive dissonance”, as we used to say on the internet, between the glories of emerging spring and the mediated horror leaking out of your tethered device… oh wait, its not working, so it’s back to JAZZ NIGHT AT THE BEE’S MOUTH for you until your soul is thoroughly cleansed and your flagging spirits reinflated by the turbo pumps of musical power that have spontaneously manifested themselves on this earthly dimension in the finely sculpted forms of Luke “Aetherius” Rattenbury (gtr) and Loz “The Cosmic Web” Thomas (drms), aided and abetted by me taking various musical risks upon the bass, and whatever honoured guests may drift gently in out of the spring evening under the disinterested stars as the moon sucks the sea away off the glistening sand flats hidden right at the edge of your poor over-extended consciousness…. give yerself a break and come and check it out, we all know that shit isn’t funny any more, so don’t sit on your sagging furniture lamenting the days, oh so recently passed, when we all had attention to spare to such trivialities as Backpack Kid and his facially immobile flossing, or how to make slime, or Jeremy Corbyn’s beard, before the Great Harshness settled over us… throw it off one more time, let’s throw it down, come join us, grab yer axe and come and sit in, we’ll make a good thing happen, what’s to lose?
March 14
OK - time to get back on the good foot and accentuate the positive, put on a happy face, count your blessings, accept the things you cannot change, have courage to change things you can, wisdom to know the difference etc etc… however if you find yourself staring with a strained rictus into the mirror as the sweat trickles down your furrowed brow and your veins stand out like that meme kid* and any more positivity will make you sick then JAZZ NIGHT AT THE BEE’S MOUTH is the haven you’ve been waiting for cos even as the world we all kinda knew and sorta love continues to descend into ever more depressing circles of over-bureaucratised plague ’n war hell like some kind of deeply uncool mix of Dante and Michel ‘He’d never get away with it nowadays in Higher Ed’ Foucault, those masters of musical restitution Luke ‘Optimus Prime’ Rattenbury (gtr) and Loz ‘Naruto’ Thomas (drms) will be on hand to weave their webs of sonic mystery and imagination and remind you of all the good things in life, long before we even forgot about Bozza and his parties and his band of sheepish clowns and all the crap they’ve done… I’ll be hanging around on bass as per, a selected group of esteemed guests may well show up to sit in and do their thing, all manner of working stiff, grifters, hopers lover and fakers will mill around in a celebratory fashion and the peerless Bee’s team will be on hand to ensure an equitable spread of good vibes for all….the sun sinks in a scarlet haze over the teeming sea, the greenfinches are loud upon the hill, in the thickets and upon the hill, in the gathering darkness under the thickets….come and join us while u can cos you never know, do you?
March 7
Everyone’s had a busy week of cowering, denying, bemoaning, commiserating, quailing, railing impotently, empathising (Not Priti Patel), accusing, etc etc… it’s enough you wish for the good old days when all we had to worry about was a deadly plague and a corrupt heartless and incompetent government, but the moving finger has written so time to dry ur eyes, save your piety and wit for whatever’s left and get on down to JAZZ NIGHT AT THE BEE’S MOUTH cos it’s time again to connect with the eternal verities of hot licks and cool grooves as manifested on this imperfect material plane by man like Luke “Thoughts” Rattenbury (gtr) and Loz “Prayers” Thomas (drms) as they set your spirit free to soar high high high above the chartered streets and overpriced leaky rooftops and all the rest of whatever cut-price low-rent mundanity has been weighing you down.. I’ll be contributing whatevs on bass as per, a host of shining talent may come swinging through the door to get on the stand and do their thing, the shimmering ascended beings of the Bee’s team will be on hand to make with the quality hooch on your command, and there will be an abundance of all the riches that money can’t buy so come and join us and we’ll all set sail over the blck horizon in a bit shiny oligarchal yacht made of music and good vibes… that’ll show em.