A Part Of Me That I Just Found.

I used to make Tapes. I used to make CD's. I used to sit by the radio waiting for a great song to come on back when they used to play great songs on the radio. I used to make CD's. I said that already but I'm saying it again because it was such an important thing to me. When I made tapes, it meant sitting there and listening to ninety minutes of music as I recorded it to the cassette. When I was seventeen, I had this job in town - this horrible, depressing job; and the only way I could stomach it was to make myself tapes, every night, that I would listen to on the way to work, during my lunch break, and on my way home.

I have tapes and CD's scattered everywhere. In them they hold the memories of girls who have been and gone, friends who have moved on and away and loved ones cherished and lost. I've made tapes during hard times that beamed with joy and I've made CD's during great times that bleed with pain. I have my whole life as told by Springsteen, and Van Morrison, and The Spice Girls and Billy Preston and whoever else came by at the time. There are people who've stayed along for the ride (Bruce) and people who were there very briefly and often for the oddest reasons (The Spice Girls). They've come and gone, just like everything in life.

I guess it's a part of growing up where you don't find the time to make tapes and CD's. You see, when I make a CD with 80 minutes of track - it takes me 80 minutes. Whether using a CD Mixer or a programme on a PC; I would mix 80 minutes together continuously. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean 'mix' like a super talented DJ who matches beats and rhythms. I'm talking me; starting out thinking I'm in a Led Zeppelin mood, and three tracks later finding I'm in a Joni Mitchell mood, before pondering why the hell I'm in a Simply Red mood before finally realizing I'm in a Neil Young mood.

Music was everything to me. It was a great leveller- whatever is going on in my life was only half the story, the music told the rest. A Mix CD was like art-- like a setlist, like a movie. A lot of people don't like the same music as me, a lot of people don't have the patience to play a continuous mixed 80 minute track. But a lot of people did. I have a few close friends who I used to give CD's to regularly. They know more about me than most people.

Last night, I watched 'Almost Famous' - a film that was my favorite film until a few years ago when I started saying it was 'Cinema Paradiso' and 'The Apartment'. I think it may be 'Almost Famous' afterall. Regardless, the film was exactly what I needed. The music is what I needed. Tonight, my plan was to watch a film. That plan didn't happen - not one film in my collection interested me. Then it happened-- I realized, I really wanted to make a CD. So I did.

Would you like a copy? Email me your address; and I'll pop a copy in the post.

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The UK General Elections.

The election campaigns are hotting up. They're promising 'change' and 'big ideas' and doing it by bad mouthing the other guys. Just the other day, David Cameron, the leader of the blue lot, said "I am going to redouble the positive. I am going to accentuate everything positive." In the same speech he called voters "desperate" for considering the yellow team and hurled abuse at the grumpy dude in the red corner for something to do with "fudge" and spending everyone's money.

The British electorate have been accused of being apathetic - but I challenge the Politicians to hand any voter a gun and then stand together against a large wall, the results would not be apathetic.

Anyways - I would like to announce that the Kid In The Front Row will officially be endorsing JED BARTLET.


"You know, I was watching a television program before with a sort of a roving moderator who spoke to a seated panel of young women who were having some sort of problem with their boyfriends, apparently because the boyfriends had all slept with the girlfriends' mothers. Then they brought the boyfriends out, and they all fought; right there on television. Tell me: These people don't vote, do they?"

-Bartlet

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You're Coming Along At A Very Dangerous Time For Rock 'N Roll.

"They don't even know what it is to be a fan, y'know, to
truly love some silly little piece of music,
or some band, so MUCH that it HURTS."

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Erupt With Enthusiasm And Drive.

I flick from Facebook to Gmail. I Retweet a Buddha quote and smile as I think about all the writing I'll do tomorrow. Just like I did yesterday. This isn't good enough.

"Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today."
-Phil Conners, in 'Groundhog Day'
Today. Now. Now is the time to erupt into action. Life is always in the way and life always has problems. There is no such thing as a perfect day or a peaceful day, there are just days. If you died NOW; think of how much time you've wasted in this last week. Dreaming of collecting all those Oscars, dreams of inspiring people --- stop dreaming and take action. Inspire yourself and do it right now.

You've been Reading positive books? Self-development books? That's cool. But sitting around in coffee houses having little moments of enlightenment with friends is not going to get you a career. You need to take those ideas and put them out into the world, the time for dormancy is over. You've been grounded for long enough.

The world is ready for your ideas. Ready for what you've got to offer. That's exactly why you're doing it. That meeting you're meant to have, that phone call you're avoiding, that script you're not getting through, that thing you're considering purchasing. Do it, now. Today. Act on it! Do it! We are not getting younger.

"So you're scared and you're thinking, that maybe we ain't that young anymore."
-Bruce Springsteen, 'Thunder Road'
"I'm not quite ready yet," you say. Maybe Barack should have waited longer before running for President. Maybe Michael Jackson should have waited until 2015 for a comeback. Maybe you did have a long day at work so you need a bit of a lay down and an episode of Lost. After you're done, maybe you can think about starting a project but instead have a bag of Doritos and look at cats running into walls on Youtube.

Maybe the idea isn't quite formed, maybe the confidence is hiding. So what should you do? Find it! Hunt it down! Ask for it! Search everywhere! It's bubbling up somewhere in you but it's only going to come out if you make it your sole purpose starting NOW!

You are not out of ideas. The world is not out of ideas. Every day new things excite, scare, oppress, confuse and change. Engage with them. Fight, learn, grow, lose, win.

It's tough, I know. You're worn out, I'm worn out. The world keeps changing your plans when you least expect it. The minute you are ready to take flight something keeps you on the ground. That person who let you down in 2007 is now working on something else, they're not letting you down anymore. That person that stole your idea/girlfriend/enthusiasm isn't doing it anymore, they've moved on to someone else. The only person holding you back is you.

There may be real problems but if you seriously want to make your amazing creative ambitions come true you need to overcome them starting now. Read an extra page tonight, get up twenty minutes early tomorrow, get that helpful podcast ready on your iPod, write them pages. If you struggle, write bad pages. Get things started.

Today will soon be tomorrow. Another opportunity gone. Step out into the world starting now. You have great spirit and imagination and talent and passion: but it's useless if you sit at home.

Get up. Change your life. Change my life. Change the world around you. One small volcano in a country no-one knows about has changed the world in one week-- changed how people travel, communicate and problem solve. Nature is our greatest teacher. Be a volcano-- explode into action right now--- your idea, your script, your performance, your dance, your voice: they're no good to anyone if they're locked in your room watching Scrubs re-runs.

Now.

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Favorite FRIENDS Quote.

"It was Summer. And it was hot. Rachel was there. A lonely grey couch. "Oh look!" cried Ned, and the Kingdom was his forever. The end."
-Chandler Bing.

...Is my favorite quote. What is yours?

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