colartz blog

In some of my spare time I have been designing, creating and working on the Symmetrys Consulting Structural Engineers web site. Symmetrys have been fun to work with, very forward looking and friendly, and the photos of the jobs they have done just look so good! I am very happy with the website, which is pure HTML/CSS, and have enjoyed working on it.

Am not having any time to spend on songwriting right now, as any spare time I have is going into readying Mixtikl for launch. I am so looking forward to getting this released, and that is looking like November now.

For some reason I was just reflecting on our summer holiday. Most probably as we had some fabulous weather today (whilst the market crashed) and the last good weather I remember was at the beach at Exmouth - which had the best weather we had all summer holiday! The drive in was great, the clouds were holding off, and Exeter Road was traffic free. As we passed Exmouth School on Gypsy Lane we knew we were going to make it to the beach. Well, we finally got there, paid the parking, and the kids had a great time on the dunes, and even persuaded me to go in for a quick dip. . The pitch and put was still there, and we noticed a new construction on the beach (goodness knows what that was). Anyhow, it all seems such a long time ago now, but we did enjoy our visit and reminiscences of summers past. Such are memories: now back to the cold light of day!

Yoo hoo! I finally snagged a finalist position at Song of the Year. It is with the song Just a Man and in the Folk category for July 08. It will be interesting to see if this song does get any take up when it is sent around to publishers, labels etc. When I entered it I though it was probably more suited to a US than a UK market, and maybe this result has proven I was right!

Since starting it I have reworked this song and its lyrics a number of times. It is always painful doing that because, even before you start the rework, you know you in it going to be painful and you are going to have to throw out ideas that you really liked. Anyhow, it is no doubt stronger for it, but it also shows me that you have to keep polishing and polishing.

Fingers crossed!

The song ‘Just A Man‘ got a Commendation at the 2008 UK Songwriting Contest. But, more importantly it got some great comments and scores from the Song of The Year critique team, namely "The lyrics are incredibly moving and the music sends chills down my spine for the emotion it packs" and "You might have song worthy of being a single"

Please check out the song (and full critique) from the link about, and let me know here what you think!

The song ‘Boomerang‘ got a Commendation at the 2008 UK Songwriting Contest. It got some really interesting comments from the Song of The Year critique team, namely "This song has serious potential" and "The melodies are spectacular!"

Please check out the song (and full critique) from the link about, and let me know here what you think!

The song ‘You Are The Reason‘ (previously titled ‘You Are My Stardust’) was a Semi-Finalist at the 2008 UK Songwriting Contest. It got some really interesting comments from the Song of The Year critique team, namely "A strong chance of attracting buyers" and "The melodies fit this song perfectly"

Please check out the song (and full critique) from the link about, and let me know here what you think!

Decided I would try to do something every day on Twitter, just for the hell of it. My wife had come across something to do with 6 words that you might wish to have on your gravestone (one day!), and some of the things were really good. So, as Colartz is seven letters long, I thought I would go for seven words, and call it “sevensz” - 7 letters, too, of course!

As it is only a once a day thing, I thought it would not take up too much time, and I can send it in via SMS, so that is also OK. They will all be labelled ‘7z: something or other in seven words only’, for example.

Anyhow, check out the Colartz Twitter site if interested. No doubt it will likely be boring, but there may come out the odd gem . From restraint and limitation comes invention!

Also popped into my head that is possibly a new twist on the Eno ‘Oblique Strategy’ cards. Well, maybe not .

It is possibly in the same kind of area as a Haiku, but that is based around syllables, and sevensz is around words…

Have been enjoying this book Here Comes Every Body, Clay Shirky. It is well written, entertaining, and easy to read, and offers some real insights without being overly analytical (I can’t get on with those kind of books).

It is the kind of book you can dip into and go “oh, yeah” as he helps make a neural connection or two (the “Birthday Paradox” group dynamic being an example).

I have not yet got to the end (too many other things to do), but I recommend it and I will persevere with it (whereas I am finding Groundswell much more empirical and heavy going, even though still interesting).

I finally got around to posting my 3 news songs: You Are The Reason, Boomerang and Just A Man. You hear them from the “songs page” on the colartz website. The lyrics are also there, too.

OK, so I will come clean and say it is me singing again. If you can just get past that, and imagine the songs are covered by a talented singer, then maybe you could find a way to enjoy them . Mind you, I do owe any vocal listenability at all to Melodyne, and for that I big time thank the chaps at Celemony.

2 are just me and my guitar, and on the third I play base and have used a drum riff from Cakewalk’s Session Drummer. OK, I know it is repetetive, but I never was much cop at figuring out drum lines.

Having done these, I think I am going to go and have a lie down

Hoping you enjoy them: Tip - in all cases the best bits are near the end