the aklamate

the new video

2010-01-02T11:21:00.000Z

A rather short hibernation this winter, and here's what I have now:

baby, it's cold outside

2009-12-14T15:00:00.000Z

It's a cold, oddly clear, blustery day here in London. The long, dark tunnel of winter has arrived, with sunset at three in the afternoon and the heavy clothing. What better way to celebrate than with being in the studio?

This very kind scrawl was left by the Look, Stranger! boys the other day. I feel very complimented. It's really great when people appreciate your work.

Today, in the studio working, more, on video/music number two: the Islington to Waterloo trip. See the Sublime Recording Studios site, Facebook site, the MySpace site OR even the YouTube site to see the first video, "Waterloo to Putney". Yeah, it's 16 minutes long, but you've got the time during these holidays, right?

AllMusic is kind of annoying...

2009-12-10T15:38:00.000Z

I'm not sure about the relevance of AllMusic.com, but if they are a reliable source of information, they need to clean up their database. There are albums on which I have credits that don't show up on AllMusic. There are things for which I am credited as "Chicky" or "Charles Chicky Reeves" or "Charles Reeves" or "Reeves" and, though I've sent them numerous messages about how all these are the same person, no response and no correction. But does it even matter? Does anyone use this service any more? Just curious.

A full day of rest today.

The studio

2009-12-03T19:31:00.004Z

Good God, I've been a working man. It's been a long, long time since I last posted. In fact, I promised I'd make a post while on the Grace tour, but once on the tour and once it finished, business went through the roof.

The tour ended in August (for me, at least) and since then, I've been mastering, mixing, producing, engineering, recording in the studio nearly non-stop. I've been working with Look, Stranger!, Danny Valentine, Bess Cavendish, The Cavaliers, Sam Sallon, Dave Watson, Francesca Longrigg, and so on, and so on. Oh, and I mixed the new gospel album by David Frazier which, I believe is coming out some time early in 2010.

Changes are also happening in the studio. I'm moving the control room (as soon as I find a good builder) to what was the upstairs lounge, which is a room about twice the size of the current control room. The plan is to be finished with that in January, if I can get the time off.

Otherwise, under the Aklamate and Edmund Squeeze monikers, I've made two videos. They are here:

and here:

The Aklamate & Edmund Squeeze will be releasing another few videos to compliment the "Waterloo to Putney" videos, as this is a series. "We" have done all the video editing, such that it is, music mixing, mastering, and production. The videos were shot on a Flip Ultra HD pocket camera, edited on Final Cut. The music was recorded on my Pro Tools HD3 rig, mainly improvising the basic tracking, and then building up on what I put down. The best way to get into the video is to watch it full screen, with headphones relatively loud, and with no distractions for the 16 minute running time. It's a lot to ask for most people, but you won't be disappointed.

As for the "You May Not Mean To Hurt Me (But You Do)" video of the remix I did for Sam Sallon, I used the same camera, playing the song through my speakers with an extra loud kick to make them move, then used my Phillips Living Colour lights to get the colouring effect. I edited the whole thing on iMovie (I hadn't yet splashed for Final Cut), which was a challenge. Again, "we" did the music, production, recording, mixing, mastering, et al, all here at Sublime Recording Studios.

Ok, that's all for the time being.

3DNT42R4A2QY

okay, let's try the summer weekend again

2009-06-23T23:19:00.006+01:00

I was finally successful in uploading our photos from our first real summer weekend here in London.
Our two events for the weekend were going to the Natural History Museum and then over to the house of our friends Rion and Mike.
Lovely photos to share:

outside Kings Cross Stations

me and the Pooks on the Tube

the Natural History Museum

the Red Zone in the museum

with the Pooks in the playground at the museum

the butterfly tent

the lovely Julia

the Pooks and Julia on the long ride back home

Rion, baby Danté and the Pook

Julia reading to the Pooks

Mike and Rion

More to come soon!

Summer Weekend

2009-06-22T12:56:00.004+01:00

I'm trying to load up lots of photos, but Blogger is being a pain. I might have better luck on FaceBook (www.facebook.com/charles.b.reeves).

Hello, again

2009-06-11T17:01:00.002+01:00

Yes, it has been some time since I last blogged.
In one week, I go back on tour with Grace Jones, as well as doing a few shows with OMD (those 80s acts love me!). Once the tour commences, that's when I'll be adding more content to this blog, as it's basically a photoblog anyway. There are just so many shots of Islington I can put in here.

Keep your eyes open starting 18 June for new updates!

pain addiction

2009-04-24T23:05:00.002+01:00

I think people must be addicted to bad news about the economy. The media certainly gives lots of it, so someone must be eating it up. I know it's the truth, but at a certain point, the number of reports telling us everything is in the crapper starts to push us farther into the crapper.

That's just my take on things.

More pics soon.

Here's my summer tour schedule as of today:

June 19th Sonar Festival, Spain
July 3rd Roskilde Festival, Denmark – stage time 23.30 – 00.30
July 4th Werchter Festival, Belgium – stage time 21.10 – 22.20
July 9th Somerset House, London
July 11th Montreux Jazz, Switzerland
July 16th Jazzopen Festival, Stuttgart
July 18th Latitude Festival, UK
July 26th Hollywood Bowl, LA
July 29th Hammerstein Ballroom, NY TBC
July 30th Hammerstein Ballroom, NY TBC
Aug 7th Sporting Club of Monaco, France
Aug 9th Ibiza Space, Spain – stagetime 01.00
Aug 14th Flow Festival, Finland TBC
Aug 21st Frequency Festival, Austria
Aug 23rd Lowlands Festival, Netherlands TBC
Aug 30th Brighton Beachdown Festival

Ciao.

Euro Tour '09

2009-04-05T16:48:00.006+01:00

Okay, so, about all these photos:
I've made a massive post on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/people/Charles-Reeves/774566693). There are about 200 photos on there, but I thought, to do justice to the tour experience, putting 200+ photos on my blog might be a bit obnoxious, so I've put just a few on here. Go to the FaceBook site to get the whole experience.

In the meantime:

Ah, Paris.

more Paris.

and more...

me and the Dart

during the show in Paris.

Frankfurt

Frankfurt again

stash

Copenhagen

Home Sweet Home (for 3 weeks)

Copenhagen

Copenhagen

After the Stockholm show

Last show afterparty with some of the band and the record company peeps.

The Queen and I. She's wearing my hair.

It was an exhausting but fun tour. We played (in this order) Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. Eight shows in 17 days. When people have been asking what it's like to tour, the stock response is: "You're dirty, you don't sleep well, and you eat crap food. Otherwise, great."

One notable event on the tour: In Stockholm, about 10 minutes before the show, my assistant and I were standing at the front-of-house console (mixing desk) when we both suddenly jumped because we heard a nearby loud crash. At first we thought someone had thrown something at us. Then, we realised a Clear-Com box had fallen from about 40 feet above us, landing on the desk and trashing it. We were given the option of cancelling the show, but I opted to try to mix the show on the remaining working channels. The main point, though, was that if that had fallen during the show, well, the result would have been fatal. We had to order another desk for the next show, which is always fun.

I'm in London now for about two months before we hit the road again going everywhere else in the world we have yet to play. This is the kind of tour I don't mind doing as we're rarely gone for more than 3 weeks at a time and we have lots of break time in between. It's good for keeping family life together.

That's all for now.

tour stuff coming, but first, The POOKS!

2009-04-02T00:53:00.003+01:00

Pre Tour Catch-up

2009-03-30T02:07:00.006+01:00

Before I start banging on about the tour (which this part I'm on now finishes tomorrow here in Copenhagen), I thought I'd give you some info about what I was doing between tours. At the time, once I got home, I started working immediately and never had a chance to update my blog or Facebook page. But I did take some photos, so here they are:

Miss Natalia DiSario, with whom I've been recording an album. She's from NYC and comes over here to record with me.

the band called Fur. We're done recording, though mixing has to be done when I return from the tour.

For the audio nerds out there, here are some of my mic-ing techniques:

for drums

the odd guitar in the ambient bathroom technique

and then my 6-channel guitar mic-ing (two ribbon mics, two condenser, two condenser ambient mics on the other side of the room).

James Watson (co-engineer and co-producer) and guitarist Greg going thru parts.

Bex about to do her keyboards

the bored band...

Then, I recorded two other bands (The Cavaliers and Gambling Hearts), of which here are some pics, though I was pretty busy and couldn't take that many:

Here's my drum set up:

the masonry plates are there to keep the kick from moving, but also affected the kick drum sound in a cool way.

(Russ of Cavaliers getting his own photos)

(a reminder from his snare drums)*for you Americans out there, I know that word is very offensive, but here, it's pretty common.

Here's the kind of mic-ing you do when you are Obsessive-Compulsive, like me.

Julia came by to clean up after the messy bands.

as did the Pooks!

That's it for now. More pics after tomorrow.

copenhagen-it!

2009-03-27T21:35:00.002Z

We've stopped off for a little down-time in Copenhagen before our continuing trek to Stockholm.
I'm enjoying lying in bed, doing very little, knowing I'm missing nothing (I've been here plenty before). But, Jeeze, I have to get back on that tour bus at midnight and I don't know if I can face it.

happening

2009-03-26T15:35:00.002Z

I have been on tour for a few weeks, so posting to my blog has been tough. Next week, I return to Angleterre and will have many photos and lots of info for you all!

Until then, keep looking busy.

recording, recording

2009-02-18T18:18:00.002Z

I've been deep in the studio since I finished the UK leg of the tour. I've got Natalia DiSario in here for a couple weeks more, then Fur, Gambling Hearts, The Cavaliers, then back on tour again.

What a blessing it is, in the midst of a world-wide economic (and social) meltdown, to be nicely busy. I remember previous recessions (early 90s, earlier this decade) being quite tough on my business. Why is it now different? Perhaps because this one is so severe and people have a more serious outlook on things. Maybe they're thinking things are so hopeless, making music is the only escape (in fact, a NYT article I read speaks to that exactly, that this economic despair is leading to many people looking to expressing themselves, finally, creatively).

I hope all of you out there are finding a silver lining, too, in all this chaos. I hope that this downturn will make everyone explore their creativity, creatively finding solutions to any problems.

the Pooks' first Snow Day

2009-02-09T22:43:00.006Z

This is the Pooks' first experience with the miracle of snow. So, we brought the camera out to capture it all...

outside our front door

walking in front of our house

closeup

disbelief

the trees

the Dart and the Pooks

the Pops and the Pooks (like the boots?)

a snow ball!

the Dart and the Pooks in our garden

back inside (begrudgingly) getting ready to get warm!

Cheers!

And now, the UK Tour

2009-02-02T00:54:00.008Z

I will start off by saying that, unlike the Australian part of the tour, I did not take as many pictures on the UK tour. There are two reasons for this:

1) I was a lot busier on this part of the tour.
2) Northern UK in the middle of winter is more grim than usual. Not to mention the lack of daylight hours.

That said, I took a few shots of shows (when I could; mixing a show is very involved and grabbing the camera was often the last thing on my mind) as well as some of cities I was in when I had a little time off.

So here we go.

First off, the new beast I was working on. It's a Digidesign D-Show Profile. It's not that big but packs a punch. The skull is decoration the PA company added to the clear-com.

This is the inside of the Birmingham Symphony Hall. Sold out show, but a lame audience. They seemed as if they were expecting a "greatest hits" show. They didn't know what hit them.

The recently rejuvenated city of Newcastle. Home to my favourite drink, Fentiman's Curiosity Cola. The place is lovely and, in about 10 more years, when the revitalisation has sunken in with the local populace, will be a lovely place to live... except in winter.

That odd shaped building is where we were playing: the Sage Gateshead

A view of the Newcastle Tyne Bridge, upon which the Sydney Harbour bridge was modelled. The Sydney bridge, though, is much larger. I believe all the steel that went into making it (SHB) came from here.

A view of Newcastle from inside the Sage

Some interior shots of the Sage

The Arndale in Manchester

our gig at the Manchester Apollo

Ivor, anxiously awaiting a show.

Grace talking to the crowd

Inside the Roundhouse, London

Outside the Roundhouse, London, with Nick (our backline maven) posing.

one of the three Roundhouse shows

Grace donning a mirror hat that Philip (Treacey) made for her, and a lazer shooting down onto it.

Grace with the crowd.

My welcome-home committee

Then, on the weekend, we, in London, were treated to a rare (thanks to global warming) snowfall!

the view from my bedroom window, left

and right

and then the view of the studio's back garden

Those are the adventures, thus far.

We go back on tour in a few weeks. I will try to be more dilligent about taking photos in Europe, the US, South America, and Asia.

Nite, all.

Roundhouse

2009-01-29T11:03:00.002Z

out third show is tomorrow at the Roundhouse in London. After that, our UK tour will be complete (for now) and I'll have some time to update the blog with the photos I've taken on the tour.

Today, though, is a long-awaited day off! I'm going to spend it catching up on some work!

Australia - Grace Jones Hurricane tour

2009-01-18T02:08:00.013Z

As I have a day off before starting the UK tour, I can now post some of the photos from our just-finished Australian tour (though I hear we might be going back).

I was pleasantly surprised by Australia. I was prepared to somewhat like it, though find it culturally lacking and rather barren. Instead, I found a place that was culturally rich, ecologically rich, rather hip, and full of the best food and friendliest people I've encountered anywhere. Really, it was so much cooler than I expected. Granted, I was only in Sydney, but judging from that city, this is a place I could easily live in. One thing I could do without, though, is the 22+ hours of flying to get there and the 24 hours of flying to get home. When I go there for vacation, I'll plan to be there for several weeks... getting used to the time change takes several days at least (about a week, really), so going for a week or two is rather pointless. Best is to rent an apartment and plan to stay for a while.

Now begins the picture show.

waiting at the fabulously elegant Terminal 4 of Heathrow

the band found a little home-room in Bangkok

first day, walking about in a (mental and environmental) haze, looking at the Circular Quay.

an ibis in the park

ad for the shows (with my reflection)

outside the hotel (behind me, not this building)

the Rocks, a touristy area

Sydney Opera House. I took this while standing underneath the anchorage of the Harbour Bridge

our stage at the Sydney Festival

view from my hotel window 1

view from my hotel window 2

Cat Empire, playing just before us

bats!

our show, encapsulate in one frame

Harbour Bridge

me under the Harbour Bridge

paparazzi following us onto a boat

going out on a cruise (Simon and me)

on the back of the boat called "Ghost"

our manager finally joins us via taxi

inside the boat's upper deck

Grace, Adam T (monitor engineer), and Ivor (music director)

Grace going for a swim

backside of the boat 1

impromptu disco

Ivor chillaxing

the "Ghost"

view of Sydney from Doyle's Restaurant

I can't remember the name of this church

Adam G (guitarist) being all friendly with the trees

this tree is like a hydra

parakeets!

oops.. this fell over recently.

more bats! 2-3 foot wingspan, for perspective..

Sydney from the Botanic Gardens

my domain at the Enmore Theatre (during rehearsal)

backstage in the green room, post show, pre-party

cleanup of the aftermath

sleep time now.

Watch this space

2009-01-05T21:46:00.002Z

Tomorrow I leave to Australia to start the Grace Jones World Tour. Woo hoo!

I plan to be posting photos, videos, and text documenting the tour on this blog.

So keep tuning in for lots of info!

2008-12-28T13:36:00.008Z

Here we go with my big Holiday Season Pictures Blog!

the Mads on the Duck Tours of London

N1 in Islington

the Mads at N1

the Dart at our Holiday Wagamama meal

me and the Mads

me and the Pooks

Regent Street, London

more Regent Street

the Pooks and the Dart

the Pooks opening Christmas Crackers

a new DVD for the Pooks

setting up the Playdoh Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop (which, for some reason, she's frightened of now)

the Fisher Price Little People's Garage was a big hit

the Pooks sporting the reindeer horns

me and the Pooks

the Dart attempting to hypnotise the Pooks into sleeping

Christmas at John Lewis

Islington Green

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

returned!

2008-12-12T17:14:00.002Z

I have the MacBookPro back!
Yay! My transitional object has returned!

Working with Francesca Longrigg today on our long-term secret project.

It's set in stone now: I go to Australia with Grace on 6 Jan and come back some time in late January and then we do a UK tour. After that I'm off for a couple of weeks and then we do the European tour for a month or so. Then America, then the European festivals, then South America and then Asia and then...

It will be tough on things with the Dart and the Pooks. But we're all very strong. Besides, there's the financial incentive.

Back to work.

what's up?

2008-12-06T21:44:00.005Z

I am in the studio now mixing a track for Skye (the singer from Morcheeba).

To my left is a delicious bottle of Fentiman's Curiosity Cola, which rocks.

To my right, Nobby's Nuts. Which sorta rock.

The computer I use for blogging and internet has been in the shop for a bit since the hard drive crashed on it, so I've not been keeping up with the updates. I'm presently typing this on a 6 year old Mac Powerbook which has seen better days.

The crash sucked especially because I hadn't backed up the data on it in a while (a couple of months) so I lost some photos and movies which I wish I hadn't lost. That's about it, though. Fortunately, I have backups of most other things.

The Dart and I went to a party in Chelsea last night for our friend Joules. It was an uncharacteristically crazy evening for us.

I start the Grace Jones tour in January in Australia. Then, we finish some time in November in, I believe, South America. 2009 is just about completely booked up now, which is a new experience for me.

That is all for now.

you have reached the end of the internet. please go back.

2008-11-17T00:42:00.002Z

Leading up to this past election, I followed no less that fifteen different news sites and blogs soaking up every morsel there was to be had about events, rumours of events, innuendo, rumours of innuendo, and anything else I could find that might give me insight into how the eight-year-long bad dream might be ending.

The election is over. Obama won, thank God.

Now what.

My usual haunts for information don't seem so interesting any more. Daily Kos? Soooo partisan I can barely take it. Politico? Instead of daily updates of stories, it seems they're still pedaling the same headline for a week: "Obama won. Cabinet Choices Coming Soon." CNN? forget it. Boring stuff. What do I do to quell my addiction.

I guess I have to start experiencing life again.

reading the aftermath

2008-11-09T12:11:00.003Z

Reading Politico, Daily Kos, CNN, New York Times, BBC, pretty much every other news source I can find (except Fox, which I think is heinous and will not even click onto their pages for fear somehow they might make money from it), the take on the election is very odd. Instead of commentaries about Obama defeating McCain, the general consensus is more about Obama defeating Bush-Cheney-Rove-Gonzales. McCain is barely mentioned. And the take is more like, "How we all had been duped for the past 8+ years".

There's truth to this, to be sure. America chose a president who was the kind of guy they'd like to have a beer with instead of a leader. That's understandable, too. Who was Bush up against?

Gore, while a great activist and a smart guy, was not really a person who could connect with most Americans. He is awkward and wooden, prone to showing his contempt for others, and, well, he's married to Tipper. He may have won the popular vote (and, in my book, that's what should matter), but not decisively enough that he definitely should have been the leader. His greatness came after he lost the election, so we tend to judge his candidacy through an anachronistic filter. The same can be said about Bush, in that we think, "How could this guy have gotten elected?" but fail to see that his most unlikable qualities became apparent after he had been in office a few years. In fact, he was elected as a "compassionate conservative" and it was only later that he showed he was really a neo-conservative.

Kerry seemed like an okay sort of guy. The problem with him, similar to Gore was that he wasn't a person average people could connect with. He seemed to be part of what has been labeled the "Washington Elite", which is a label that backfired this election season when applied to Obama. And really, with the US in two wars and the economy seeming to be booming, most people saw little reason for a lateral change of leadership. At least with Bush, the people thought they knew what the were getting. Kerry was an unknown and had no real unique selling points.

I think Kerry and Gore should be thanked. Their unsuccessful runs for the White House allowed the US to hit the bottom just hard enough that authentic change was the only option. It remains uncertain what, if any, change Obama will bring to the US. Even so, authentic change (as opposed to McCain's ex post facto claim to the change mantle) is what the people have voted for.

Let's hope this works.

change

2008-11-05T04:18:00.003Z

4 AM Greenwich Mean Time, 5 November, 2008

Election Night 1

2008-11-05T00:30:00.002Z

God, I've been obsessing about this freakin' election since Obama announced his candidacy... two years ago.
I'm sitting here in London, after midnight local time, watching CNN and scanning the "internets" and "the Googles" to find out any results, no matter how dubious the source, that might shed light on what's going to be the result. Kentucky was just called for McCain. Vermont for Obama. Indiana and Virginia are too close to call at the moment, as is Florida. Why, oh why, is this election even close?
CNN is being annoying by touting their "hologram" technology for this show (it sucks in a Princess Leia sort of way). Speaking of science fiction, James Carville looks like an alien. And sounds like he has trouble talking. Is he really relevant anymore?

you decide

2008-10-29T22:32:00.003Z

The Dart and I have a disagreement. I watch (from London) CNN's "Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer", which I call "Situation Room With C Everett Koop" because I opine that Blitzer looks like the former Surgeon General of the US.

You decide if I am mistaken.

I also think both men look the same upside down as right side up.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

2008-10-29T00:38:00.004Z

Tonight we (meaning the Grace Jones camp) did Later with Jools Holland. It was a smashing success and I have to say I think that the combination of what Ivor and the management team have done in terms of slowly rebuilding her career has been nothing short of excellent work. When she finished playing "Slave to the Rhythm", I've never heard an audience on that show get so excited, and I've been to many of those shows. At 60, it's great to see her out there being, well, Grace.

We're starting a world tour in January, going to Australia first, then a UK tour, then a European, American, and festival tour, somehow getting an Asian tour in there as well. I'll post the dates for those of you family and friends who want to come see it (gratis, of course).

Also, I've started working on a new album myself and am hoping to have it finished before the tour. Again, I'll keep you updated.

signing off for now...

update: Here's a video of one of her new songs from the show:

and this week's villains

2008-10-20T01:06:00.002+01:00

... on children's television are antagonists with Texas accents. Apparently, if you are from the southwest of the US, you must be driving a gas-guzzling, environment-destroying vehicle, thinking nothing of the McDonalds bag of rubbish you just threw out of the window onto the highway.

(if you're wondering what I'm on about, see my post entitled, "Sunday Children's TV..."

overheard at Putney Station

2008-10-16T01:12:00.002+01:00

Waiting at the train station in Putney for the train to Waterloo Station, a man, standing at the end of the platform, says to his wife, "Let's go down to the other end of the platform," meaning the front of the train, "so we don't have to walk far at Waterloo." At Waterloo, the only exit is near the front of the train. Doesn't this mean that they are walking the same distance whether they walk now or walk at Waterloo? Am I missing something here?

Paul Krugman

2008-10-14T00:13:00.002+01:00

Did I mention how pleased I am to hear that Paul Krugman just won the Nobel Peace Prize?

His writing for the NY Times is always informative, interesting, incisive, and hopeful.

Check this out.

sunday children's TV, with cultural observations

2008-10-12T10:48:00.004+01:00

Old Popeye cartoons, while often surreal and fascinating, remind me of Sunday afternoons with bad weather and nothing to do. Maybe it's just the nature of my own childhood experience. An episode comes on and a slight depression sets in: a feeling of isolation, of being in some remote place, disconnected from everyone and everywhere. Am I being over-dramatic?

The UK has it's equivalent. "Come Outside" or "Tommy Zoom". The former is a show filmed in the 90s featuring a later-middle-aged woman named Auntie Mabel and her dog Pippin who live alone out in the West Country and fly around on very low-impact adventures in their polka-dotted airplane. This woman oozes loneliness. In "Tommy Zoom", similarly low-impact adventures. I haven't yet figured out what the premise is. It seems to start out, live-action, with a boy and a dog at their home, the dog narrating in voice-over and the boy never opening his mouth (I think it's because the boy can't act, so he never has a speaking roll [son or nephew of the producer, anyone?]). Then, when getting into the story, everything goes into animation where Tommy speaks and battles against Poluto (a subtle pro-environmental message) and learns, well, lessons, I suppose. Then, in the end, it reverts back to the live-action, dog-narrating scenario.

Something I find very interesting is the anti-city-dweller attitude. It seems in most of these shows on the BBC's children's channel, CBeebies, the protagonists live in the country (small towns in Scotland, the West Country, the Midlands, Wales, etc.) and the antagonists seem very often to have East London accents. I know East London can be a rough place at times, but it's not like places such as the Midlands are even "low" in crime. I'm a city-dweller, so maybe I'm biased. But I'm not British, so my bias is not in favor of any particular accent. This all seems similar to what I see in the States with the Republican "Culture Wars": the party's distaste for "Eastern Elites", "Washington & Wall Street Insiders", Ivy League education, non-Protestant-Christians, etc. Remember the Pace Picante Sauce ad with all the cowboys sitting around eating chips and salsa until when they run out, one of them gets another salsa, only to find out it's another brand that's made in New York City? The other cowboys exclaim in a heavy Texas accent, "New York City?!?... get a rope!" Yeah, it's funny. But it's saying something that's there beneath the surface. In the US and the UK, and presumably every other country, people are constantly trying to divide themselves up instead of coming together.

Here, in the UK, people used to make jokes about the Irish. Most of these jokes were about how provincial or drunk they might be. Then, it became a social taboo to make fun of them, so the citizenry stopped expressing that prejudice. Did the feeling of separateness just disappear into thin air? I don't think so. Like most repressed feelings, it comes out in other ways, sometimes against other people for completely irrational reasons (as if ration was ever a part of it). In this case, it's country versus city, or north versus south, and so on.

In the US, it's taboo to be prejudiced against blacks. So what happens when there's a black candidate for president? No one criticizes his "blackness", instead calling him an "Eastern Educated, Terrorist-loving, Outsider (in a bad way, in this case)". And anyone who brings up the possibility that this is hidden racism is accused, themselves, of race-baiting. But I digress...

Anyway, I'm amazed at the distaste and automatic assumptions people make about others based on things like accent and skin color. I understand it, too. It would be very exhausting if humans had to completely open themselves up totally to forming new opinions about every new person they meet (like re-inventing the wheel every time you need to go somewhere). Therefor, we humans have short-cuts, so that we can better use our energies doing other things throughout the day. So we make assumptions: walking down a street at night and you see a few teenagers walking toward you, acting rowdy and carrying sticks, you don't ask them for directions; you're black in a very white neighborhood, you see a similar situation and take similar actions; you're white, in a black neighborhood... you get the point. These short-cuts help us avoid danger and help us re-focus to get more accomplished in the day.

Animals have short-cuts, too. Horses run from loud noises, dogs run from a rolled up newspaper coming at them, etc. Short-cuts are immensely helpful to our survival. But, like anything that's over-relied-upon, it can be a blind-spot as well. It's difficult to navigate the terrain between opening oneself up to new possibilities and making oneself vulnerable. Most people who write about others needing to be more open-minded seem to not take into account people's well-founded fears. When I was a kid in Georgia, I learned quickly that engaging with a group of black kids could be very dangerous. I also at that time learned that if someone was black, they were likely to be uneducated, poor, and lacking enthusiasm for whatever it was I wanted at that moment. Most important, I learned later that things change, people change, assumptions (should) change. Example? Blacks are now better educated, more affluent, and have their own sets of desires that don't have to coincide with mine, but often do. Black people have changed. My opinions have changed. I have changed.

So, back to the top, having those kinds of preconceptions set in stone is emotional stagnation. It's the slow death of the soul. To be cheesy and paraphrase a movie, Shawshank Redemption, either "get busy living, or get busy dying." Plants, animals, and people are never stagnate. Even stagnate water is not really stagnate. Either growing or dying. That's your choice, too; you have to do one or the other. Either we open ourselves up to new ideas about people and things, or we slowly begin dying.

the markets

2008-10-10T23:53:00.000+01:00

this was recorded in 2007. prophetic, i say.

birthdays

2008-10-10T09:18:00.001+01:00

birthdays, indeed.

washing hands

2008-09-21T14:09:00.003+01:00

and some talking stuff

2008-09-18T17:45:00.006+01:00

The Party and afterwards

2008-09-18T17:45:00.001+01:00

On Saturday, we had the official opening party of Sublime-UK. We expected around 40 people to show. Much to our surprise, about 60 showed, which was good because we ordered way too much sushi, beer, wine, and Indian food. Everyone seemed to enjoy the party and be impressed with the posh new studio as well as its comfortable outdoor space. I guess the best way of summing things up is that I felt a real sense of accomplishment after all the hard work we've put in over the past 6 months or so getting this all going.

Now the real work begins. Besides the expense of everything, there's the symbolic demarcation from the past and into the future.

Which leads me to politics:

I keep up with the election in the US by watching CNN-International on TV, reading Politico.com, the Huffington Post, Daily Kos, NY Times, etc. Maybe it's the sources I follow that are distorting my perception of what's going on in the US. It just seems to me that with the whole world getting behind Obama, the US's economic woes, especially being partially attributable to this administration as well as past policies which have been at least short sighted and at worst abusively neglectful, with McCain having been called out so often as less than honest and for being part of the problem, why is this election still a toss-up? Why is it not a forgone conclusion? I'm basically a politically conservative person, but the only kind of policies I want to "conserve" are the ones that work. Is there some memo I missed?

Please, if someone has a differing view and is up for it, I'd like to be convinced as to why anyone would consider McCain (and PALIN!) as a viable choice. I'd like someone who is planning to vote for McCain for reasons other than "he feels right" or "he's not unknown" (which I'd beg to differ... remember, he says he's a "maverick"), or because he's white and older, to express their reasons why he's better for being president.

If someone does write me, I'd be very surprised. Despite the new organisations saying this race is very, very close, I don't think that's true. Most of my friends and colleagues are conservative (politically) and among them, I can find not one McCain supporter... not ONE. In fact, the only McCain supporters I've encountered (personally) is my family, who live in Arizona. But no one else. The only time I hear anyone say they are supporting McCain in the news is if they are either a) a surrogate of the campaign, b) a conservative journalist, or c) someone found in at an event whose reason for supporting him is because of outdated, abused, divisive, and misused terms like "family values" or "tax breaks" or the trifecta of "national security" - "9/11" - "Islamic terrorists". Those people who spout things like that seem to be, coincidentally, the least informed about those issues when pressed. They seem, well, like Sarah Palin when questioned about the Bush Doctrine (the official policy of the current administration with regards to foreign policy and intervention: the single most important bit of policy Bush has pushed during his administration, and the one which has gotten us into such hot water): a blank look and a stumbling, unsuccessful attempt at answering. Maybe that's it: The race maybe is so close because McCain has added someone to the ticket that's like most people out there. Someone who is not fully informed, though is arrogant about that ignorance. Like a conversation I had with someone, and adult from the States, who didn't realise there was a difference between Austria and Australia. Instead of learning that there was a difference, she then said, "It's not like their important counties anyway." Ignorance and Hubris are a dangerous combination. We've seen what 8 years of an administration with that combo gets us.

Time for lunch!

the end of the summer wine

2008-09-03T17:32:00.007+01:00

Summer, which never really arrived in the UK, is nearly over. I'm wearing a jacket today; it feels like Autumn. Madeline has returned to Texas to be with her mother in their new house (and her mother's new soon-to-be husband, Markus). It was great having her here and we're really excited about a new life for her back in Dallas.

The Pooks is stringing together 2-3 word sentences (mainly, "Want it?", "Open the door!" "I fell.." and the like). She starts day-school in October, three days a week.

These are some of the pics I took at Regents Park with the fam.

Or, rather, this was taken by the Dart:

And here's the Dart and the Pooks in action at home

All striking a pose at the rather disappointing London Zoo... it's really a crap zoo, so avoid it at all costs.

And last weekend I went to Ireland to mix another Grace Jones show:

Elbow played before us, so while I was back stage, I snagged this snap:

Sublime Studios is finally open! Here's the invite:

If you're a reader of this blog and would like to come, email me and let me know! You'd be an honoured guest!

That's all for now.

Dancing in circles

2008-08-02T01:01:00.006+01:00

The Mads took part in a "Make Art and Move" class at the Islington Arts Factory this week. They designed and made costumes, then came up with a dance routine, and performed the whole thing for the folks (that would be us). Here are the pictures leading up to and just after the event:

me in the garden earlier

the dart pre show.

the dart not wanting her pic taken any more

and the SHOW!

Here's Mads' hat

and her headdress

and this it the reaction the Pooks had to the show.

but later she was pleased to wear the Mads' hat.

and so we all celebrated with a bbq!

fin.

Pics from the Secret Garden Party

2008-08-02T00:48:00.004+01:00

These are in no particular order, mainly because I haven't found an easy way to arrange pictures in Blogger's edit page.

Here's the pirate ship which had a dance floor built on it with a sound system. At the end of the evening, during the fireworks show, it gets set ablaze (intentionally, that is).

A really big sand castle, of sorts.

The Mads and I never could figure out what this was. It's made from parts of a piano and some pipe.

This guy was rolling down hill in a wheel barrow only to collide with a stack of hay.

The sun... one of the rare summer viewings.

A dance pier. It was not later set ablaze.

Mads took this one of Grace's show, which, admittedly, didn't go so well. The venue crew kinda made a mess of it for us.

Here's The Mads enjoying the perks of traveling as "the talent": a tour bus fully stocked with fruit.

And a lovely smile...

the first studio pics!

2008-07-24T23:52:00.015+01:00

Here are the first pictures to arrive of Sublime. These first shots are of the control room.

These are nightime photos; the daytime photos will be coming along soon as well.
So far, the pics of the live room and other spaces has not arrived, though I suspect they will shortly. In the mean time, here are the others that are done.

they come in threes

2008-07-17T22:23:00.005+01:00

The Mads is rocking with Elmo. Black Metal Stylee!

Then there's the family, trying to get the Pooks to speak at will...

Then there's the horror flick...

that is all... for now

The First BBQ

2008-07-17T00:38:00.007+01:00

When you live in a big city, where outdoor space is a premium, why not make the most of it?

For the new studio, we bought an outdoor grill-slash-fireplace and have been enjoying meals cooked over an open flame.

Here, the Pooks is getting ready to eat!

the Mads pops in for a pic with the Pops

The Mads gets the Dart to dance:

The Pooks is watching all the visuals going with the music.

The Dart's preparing some food (which does not include the grass seed or spray paint)

And I'm chillaxin'.

Unfortunately, we were not open in time for the party (thanx, builders!) and have had to reschedule it for the next available time, which is in September. When the building is finished, I'll have some photos. It is looking great, though..

Independence Day

2008-07-05T02:38:00.002+01:00

No pictures yet, but as of the 4th of July, I have moved my studio not only to a new location, but a new location I own as well... no more rented spaces. No more renting anything. Ever.

I will be spending the next week setting up the studio, with the exception of Tuesday, which is the day I go to the airport to pick up Madeline who is coming over here for the rest of the Summer(!).
Then, on the 12th, we have our big "Opening Party" replete with sushi and fine beverages (will Joules be making his mojitos again?).

Pictures will be forthcoming.

Amazing Grace

2008-06-25T20:42:00.005+01:00

I mixed Grace at the Royal Festival Hall last Thursday. It was an amazing show. The reviews were all five-star. And, of course, it sounded fantastic!

Not much to say, but here are the photos I took:

Rehearsals in Putney at "the Ritz"

Setting up

And the show (set by Philip Treacy, lighting by Chris Levine)

What to do when you have the flu

2008-06-06T00:02:00.013+01:00

Post a blog, of course! I'm really pleased this week, illness notwithstanding, about the outcome of the US Democratic primary. I feel bad for all those Clinton supporters, seeing this all be so close, yet just never again quite within reach. That said, Obama is unlike those candidates before him. He's "hope" personified, though we all know it takes more than just hope to make a difference. Now he needs to come out and say what he's going to do, not just give good speeches. I have provisional faith in him and will continue to watch and listen.

I should state for the record, though, I've always been a Republican. Unfortunately, they really have been so out-of-touch with, well, everyone since Reagan was president, so full of hubris and claiming some kind of moral superiority, so destructive to the very fabric of American Society they try to protect, that they need at least 4 years (if not 8) of a reality check. Bill Clinton wasn't too much of that for them since, aside from his proclivities he couldn't control, he was really one of them: a Southern Democrat who is, with few exceptions, a conservative, and pretty much likes things just the way they are (read: my big supporters are getting their payback, so I'm happy).

_________________________

On another note, the Dart lately has been on a kick about "Eat Right for Your (blood) Type" and coerced me into ordering a blood-type test kit via Amazon. It came in today and I went through the process of the test. It was a bloody mess. Blood everywhere, all from a little pin-prick on the finger. Here's a pic of the kit:

In the instructions, two of the procedures are "fill a glass with water" (this is for adding water to the test chemicals) and to "hold the card in an upright position for 10 seconds using a timer". What was truly genius is that in the disclaimer, the instructions said, "Not included: • timer or stopwatch; • glass of water". It's good I read that or I would have kept looking for them.

______________________

I bought new lighting for the studio. Philips LivingColour lights:

These things are soooooo cool. Very subtle to very bright. Very low energy consumption, so I can leave them on a lot. LED, so environmentally friendly without giving off an ugly light. Remote controlled. etc., etc.

I liked them so much I bought 6 of them!

______________________

The Pooks, looking decidedly like her mother with her mother's sunglasses on.

_____________________

The studio is coming along nicely. Here are some snaps I took the other day, sans flu. When I'm feeling better, I'll get more updated ones.

The new storage being built into the stairwell at the new place.

The room that will be the lounge, hang-out area.

The drum room being built.

The control room, table not included.

Just about 2 weeks ago, I started in earnest working on the garden space. I planted, among other things, a lot of grass seed. This is the fruit of my labor. I'm so proud of each and every one of them.

And this is of the southwest side of the garden. I don't know much about gardening, so I couldn't tell you what kind of flowers those are, but ain't they lovely?

________ fin_________

In the country

2008-05-25T19:48:00.003+01:00

Tonight, I'm mixing a show with Robert Logan in Derby (pronounced Darby, for you Americans) and on the way we stopped off at my friend Ivor's place. It's a grand sort of place that he's spent a lot of time fixing up over the year, so I thought I'd take some pics and show it off a little. As a history lesson, this is the old Robert Catesby house where the Gunpowder Plot (1605) was planned. From here, Guy Fawkes got his directive and set about to destroy the Houses of Parliament: one of the original acts of terrorism, according to his enemies.

This pic above is the main part of the house from just inside the entrance to the driveway.

And here we are looking back at the main driveway.

This is Robert Logan sitting at the kitchen table making some last-minute edits to the show for tonight.

Out behind the house. The kitchen window is that little space between the main house and the Tudor house on the right.

The gardens, though not so green just yet. Ive tells me there are plans for it, but that it's empty for now.

If I get a chance tonight, I'll post pics from the show as well.

oh, and this

2008-05-24T01:12:00.004+01:00

And because I haven't really put a good pic of the Dart and the Pooks on here....

And here's a late addition (added 25 May):

It's all coming together

2008-05-24T00:43:00.012+01:00

Suddenly, this place is starting to resemble what I had envisioned. The walls being thickened out (for soundproofing) had cut down on the interior space somewhat, though not massively. When it's all finished, no one will hear you scream.

This is the view out from the back of the house looking onto the back of my home. That's my bathroom window that's open.

Here's the view looking back through the aforementioned bathroom window onto the back of the new studio.

This is the kitchen and dining room being painted and refurbished.

A closer inspection of what will become the lounge and office.

Here's the "live room": mainly a drum room. The room is floating inside another room, meaning those walls are over the previously existing walls (without touching them) so as to create a sound proof barrier. The windows will soon have another layer of windows added to the inside of them for extra sound proofing.

This is going to be the control room (where I sit). Here you can see an example of the floating room being built. On the walls, they put on plasterboard, then a 2" thick rubber matting, then more plasterboard. On the ceiling, they use plasterboard screwed into "resilient bars" (the metal bars you see) that are like springs for the plasterboard, thereby absorbing vibrations from the room.

And here's a lovely picture I took of the Royal Pooks as we walked along the Camden Lock. She rather resembles the Six Million Dollar Woman (of the 70s) in that outfit.

delays, delays, delays

2008-05-15T16:11:00.002+01:00

Having spoken this morning to the "account exec" with the building firm regarding finishings (like bathroom furniture, tiling, woodwork, etc.) I casually asked her when the whole studio was going to be finished. I was estimating about two to three weeks from now, or, by the end of this month. She made it sound like the builders are thinking it will be done more like mid-June. Drag.

Fortunately, the quote is the quote, but I was hoping I would be able to move in sooner rather than later.

That said, she was a salesperson and not the actual builder who had told me originally it would take about four weeks to complete. In fact, she was surprised when I told her he had said four weeks as she thought more along the lines of six to eight weeks.

Anyway, that's the scoop on that.

Just finished mixing some songs with the Cavaliers, four young lads from Salisbury. Catchy, poppy, indie-rock tunes. Really great stuff and lovely guys, to boot.

Upcoming events are: At the end of May, I'm mixing again with the lovely Patricia and her partner in crime, Jules. Then, I'm mixing a show at the Royal Albert Hall mid-June for Grace, and then again at the end of June in Australia (29th, I think). In between, some session though I offhand can't recall what they are.

Meanwhile, the Dart, the Pooks are all fine and dandy. The Dart's got an article coming out in a journal soon about stuff I can't even begin to understand. The Pooks is, well, being the Pooks. Madeline is coming here for the summer, which everyone is really looking forward to.

... end transmission.

progress on Sublime

2008-05-11T01:46:00.007+01:00

The building is well underway. Walls (for soundproofing) are being built. Extra doors are being added. New floors. New storage. New paint. That 80s style jacuzzi has been removed and a whole new bathroom is being installed.

This all is a massive undertaking for us. It's expensive and very risky. But if we don't take a risk, we won't grow. If we play it safe, years from now we'll be in the same place we are now, having lost those years forever.

Everything is a lot more serious now. The studio I've been in has been relatively cheap. Because of that, I find I've gotten very comfortable... almost lazy, driven to create little and make less of myself. Now I'm getting out of the sleepy haze in which my cells are growing old and dying and making something of life.

We're building something here. We're creating something. Agents of change instead of victims.

false start

2008-05-02T12:11:00.003+01:00

I had a Grace Jones gig on Wednesday night. Or, rather, I didn't.

LG is launching a new LCD TV line called "Scarlet" and, to celebrate the launch, they hired Grace to perform some songs. The venue was a Victorian-era church on Marylebone Road and Portland Road in London (W1).

Really lovely, if not gauche in some ways, layout. Great sound system as well.

The only problem is that, even though they (LG) had contractually agreed to it, they wouldn't pay Grace before the show. I know Grace can be a pain sometimes, a major complainer, but she's no idiot, and she knows that once you do a show, if you're not paid already, then you have little recourse... which is exactly how I deal with Grace (read: I got paid before showing up). LG, I suppose, assumed that since they are a big company, Grace would just trust them to pay later, even though they agreed beforehand to pay prior to the show. Not so.

So, later, I got a call at home, while a limo sat outside my house to take me to the show, to not get into the car until LG agreed to pay.

LG balked.

Grace stayed in her suite in the Dorchester.

I stayed home, spending quality time with the Dart and the Pooks, dressed very, very smartly, then got a good night's sleep.

more from The Pooks TV

2008-04-25T19:08:00.003+01:00

The Pooks speaks yet again. It's a little soon for elocution lessons. I'll give her a little while longer before pursuing that option.

Today is a day off. Lots of naps, comfort food, television, and surfing ebay for new studio gear.

On that note, I've been thinking lately about how easy it is, in music anyway, to get into a habit of buying new gear instead of actually creating. In fact, I often confuse getting new stuff with actually being productive. Then I get new stuff and spend a lot of time learning how to use it instead of creating. Double whammy! How can I win? Fortunately, having all the latest and greatest in the studio is good for business, so I can justify it that way. I hope all you clients out there appreciate it... I'm doing it for you! (somewhat)

I've spent the past few days creating a new track. I'm not sure which moniker it will fall under: The Aklamate, Edmund Squeeze, etc. As the prodution shapes up, I'll have a better idea.

Pizza Express rocks, btw! Though it's a sin, having Pizza Express with a Coke is truly delightful.

the new beginning

2008-04-23T23:42:00.011+01:00

So this is where it's beginning for me. This is the new studio space in Islington. True, it looks more like a home, but this is before all the construction.

The work space is spread out over two floors, has a kitchen, large bathroom / loo, a 600sqft garden space (that's a lot considering it's central London), and will have the coolest vibe of any studio in town. Hopefully in the next week, the initial soundproofing crew will be in to start their work. The estimate is about a month for them, though I can begin mixing after about two weeks, leaving them to finish off the rest of the house.

The Dart's domain will be upstairs. There, aside from managing the studio business, she will be (mainly) running her practice. When she's not there, I plan to utilise that space as much as possible (a piano, perhaps?). All the rooms will be "wired up".

This is the room that will become one of the live rooms.

A basic stairwell, with a door leading out into the outdoor space.

And these shots are of what will end up being the control room. First, we'll take out the big brown wardrobe, remake the ceiling, redo the floors, soundproof, etc., etc. It will all be bigger and more fancy when the work is done. The live room will be 16' X 15', roughly. The photos make it look small, but just wait until we're done with this space...

some art for the Cretans

2008-04-19T01:47:00.003+01:00

Only a few years ago, she was taking her first steps,
saying her first words, drawing with crayons (when
she wasn't eating them). Now she's an award-winning
young artist. She works so very hard at her painting,
her acting, and her music.

This is The Mads here posing with a creation of hers and looking decidedly grown-up. She lives with her mother in Dallas, spending summers and holidays here in London with me, The Dart, and The Pooks.

'Tis a late night here. Adieu.

The Pooks Speaks

2008-04-16T23:23:00.003+01:00

It all happened overnight. She suddenly is talking, repeating everything I say to her. And I mean everything.
That noise in the background is the Dart doing her ninja practice on some vegetables. I was able to steal the Pooks away from her ninja training for this video.

the time has come

2008-04-15T00:58:00.004+01:00

I have had to retire my trusty old Powerbook G4. I feel a sense of guilt: like I've just put my loving grandfather into a care home, knowing I might not visit as often as I should.

Now I'm on the new MacBook Pro. I bought one of those as well as a Mac Air and some JBL speakers for the Dart. Reeves Central is getting all kitted up. The Air is very cool, but, oddly, a little noisy.

Back to the previous posts, here are some photos from Byrd and Dana and the Reeves Clan during the last two weeks:

this is at home, Dana talking to the Dart, while the Pooks checks out the photographer.

Byrd and Dana at Canonbury train station before starting a busy day of recording.

Dana in the studio checking out the wicked beatz.

Me pretending as if I'm not noticing the camera, which I happen to be holding with my left hand.
Byrd and Dana doing some fine-tuning. Thank God for Pro Tools HD3 7.4

more later....

links

2008-04-08T01:48:00.003+01:00

here are some links to my music:

www.myspace.com/theaklamate

www.myspace.com/edmundsqueeze

Feast your ears on this!

Where do I start?

2008-04-07T02:15:00.000+01:00

This is a beginning of sorts. A long, bumpy road. I will try earnestly to keep this blog going and current. One obstacle for this is my very busy work schedule, but try I will.

My real name is Charles Reeves. The Aklamate is one of my music projects, but also a long-term persona for me.
I live and work in London. I own a studio here called Sublime. Here's my new logo:

Right now I'm working on the final days of mixing the new Dana Boulé album. Fantastic stuff and I hope to be posting some on here if she gives me the green light. The producer is Jeff Byrd, a long-time friend and very talented producer, engineer, and musician.

It's late and I really must sleep now. Tomorrow is the next-to-last day of this project, so I must be fresh...