30 Jun 2013

JUNE IS BURSTING OUT ALL OVER

If I thought May was crazy June was when the exhaustion set in that tipped the balance. While trying to pace myself to preserve any ability to think I found myself drained and broken. This sent me spiraling off into a numbness that took me a long time to get out of. I'm fortunate enough to have the support at home to allow me to rest so that any energy I could muster was used up trying to keep my commitments.

HOWLING AT THE MOON - DEFINITE LUNACY

The first of the month I was off to play at an OXJAM takeover at Y GLYNDWR , Carmarthen. These events are fundraisers for OXFAM, with a big takeover event planned in the town for October.

OXJAM at Y GLYNDWR CARMARTHEN

Then with meetings to attend and planning to organise I had a head full of Bees while visiting the printers, meeting with the Time to Change Wales project staff, web designers, online marketing company and loads of administration work to sort out.
In between all this I slept and slept and slept, not leaving the house for days at a time and even not leaving my bed for 36 hrs straight. 
This is quite normal for me though, when I can't think from all the noise in my head I just crawl into my cave and wait till I can see straight. Sometimes hours, sometimes days and even weeks at a time, I wait and sleep. When I awaken I check to see how noisy my head is to see whether it's safe to get up, if not I just close my eyes again till the next intermission. It's like charging the battery, waiting for the indicator to say 'battery full, please unplug'.





After a couple of weeks with no sense in my head I had to head off to Ferryside to play at a fundraiser I'd organised. Luckily for me, not being on the right head, it was possibly the worst attended, worst supported event I'd had the pleasure of being a part of. Nevertheless I had a great night playing alongside The Empty Shed Experience and Roger Henderson who are great artists with guesting on Congos, Pete 'the beat' Peric.
It was what I needed, a jam with friends in a relaxed environment followed by a few bevvys.

FERRYSIDE FOLK NIGHT

The rest of the month I tried to get some recuperation. When my system (brain) crashes it leaves me with what I call a cerebral hangover, a sort of fuzzy-ness that takes weeks to disappear. This makes me forgetful, in-coherent, unresponsive and lost. At these times I totally rely on my loved ones to literally lead me by the hand as I mentally regress, unable, unhelpful, I wander zombie-esque through my days.

I thank all my family and friends for their help and support, without whom my life would be unproductive and fruitless. Huge Hugs to you all.

I spent much of my time in my garden, as you can tell by the pics from this month, a real bonus to aiding my recovery.

VIEW ACROSS THE FIELDS

EACH OF THESE BLOSSOMS WILL 
SOON BE AN APPLE

  
A GORGEOUS WELSH SUNSET

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL EVENING

   


To see the world in a grain of sand and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.

William Blake
   







Looking forward to July........

31 May 2013

MAY I have a look

After Aprils chaotic fiasco's I had lots to doin May. There I was, off to Essex to play at 'Cosmic Puffin' festival.












This amazing charity festival is organised by a genuine, hearty bunch.



Then whilst spending most of this month doing admin duties (which I detest) I played at a local fundraiser for Cylch Meithrin Glan y Fferi. A fun event that raised over £500.


 
Glan y Fferi fundraiser

Dai aged 10. My first guitar.

Dai in a theatre production 1980

The 'shed heads' join me for a local Jam night


Dai guests with 'the Empty Shed Experience' on radio tircoed

Stuart and Andy at radio tircoed

Then mid May 'road trip' - off to the city of London to play at The London Welsh Centre. These Huw Stephens sessions are great fun. I had a warm Welsh welcome from their Cultural development officer Iain Richards, who incidentaly is a valleys boy like myself and played a great set alongside Talmai, a rocking band iaith Gymraeg.


That's 'Rock Paper Scissors'

The next day I proudly played at Gwyl Pili Pala festival, Swansea. The venue - St.James' church, uplands. I got there early to meet up with my good friend and mentor Amy Wadge where we had a coffee and a large Cup Cake with a chin-wag and made some plans for my album then I played a strange but enjoyable set in the dramatic setting that is St.James's.


Event Manager Angela Muir

St. James' church

Sharks in Choral crooning

A slightly exhausted Sharkey then ran home and snuggled under the duvet and unfortunately didn't want to get back out.

The end of the following week I did a bit of sound engineering for Plank Promotions where The Empty Shed ExperienceRob LearCut Ribbons and Us contributed to a most successful evening of Acoustic Psychotica.

The following week, bank ho;iday Monday, I played at Tavernrock '13 festival, Swansea. A mid afternoon slot that I really enjoyed. It's nice to have the times where the pressure isn't on, I relax and feel that I play, sing and perform better, connecting with the audience in a more personal way, sharing my stories and anecdotes. Really enjoyed this one. (cheers Chris Woodman for booking me. )

Uplands tavern, Swansea

And then on the Saturday I was off to Carmarthen to support Oxjam, a musical festival fundraising for Oxfam, but that's June...I'll share those details with you all in the next posting.


Thanks again for following my blog and don't forget to join my social networks, 'like' and follow my activities and most of all....BUY my album....all details on my website....daisharkey.com

Big Hugs. Dai.x





30 Apr 2013

BARCODES, BUSINESS AND BEARDS

April 2013 - what a mad month.

It's been so bonkers in April that it's taken me till May to get around to telling you all about it. It still seems that the learning curve is getting steeper as my album is getting nearer completion. The month started with registering my 'product' to get ISRC tunecodes that involves all manner of administrative detail that I wont bore you with including obtaining barcodes for your product. "Barcodes?....where to I buy a barcode from?"

So this was the start, more research, more knowledge gained.

Finding the right colour in a pit of balls
I was then off to collect my artwork and paintings from Sheree Murphy who had lovingly produced amazing photo-art and images for my album and book.

As I started finalising the compilation of information for printing I realised there is so much I needed to put in it inevitably taking much more work than anticipated.

Then came a personal sledge-hammer with the passing of my loving Aunt throwing my mind into all sorts of emotional chaos where I found it extremely difficult to concentrate on anything but the wonderful memories of a 40 year relationship that is no more. RIP Auntie Bron.
















I was then off to play at the National Botanical Gardens at an event co-ordinated by Cheryl Beer.


This was a pirate Storytelling event that I wrote a couple of Shantys for and got everyone joining in with a rhythm-dance section and sent everyone off to the next venue with a rendition of "over the Irish sea".
A truly magical day co-ordinated by event director Cheryl Beer. Big hugs Chez.





The following week was a little more hectic. Over to Rich Thair Monday to compile the Schizophrenic album backing tracks for me to start to use when playing live. It was great to have a catch up and chat business, swapping storys of "you wouldn't believe this" orientated conversation usually ending up with resounding laughter. - lifes a funny old ride.






 


Then it was off to see the guys at Mike Clarke Printing to sort out how on earth I was going to pull this book, DVD, CD thing off.
I knew what I wanted them to do but they were still not sure whether I knew what I was on about. he.he.

After an hour of brain storming we understood each other and were on a mission to make the product top drawer.

On the tuesday I had a meeting, also known as a sit and chat in the cafe (I'm not sure why this is classed as work by high business), with Melanie from TTCW. It was the great news that I was successful in obtaining funding to put on a series of mental health awareness events around the country, to my delight.
This means that the Schizophrenic show will hopefully be hitting a town near you soon.



And then back to the printers. Decisions on size, shape, obtaining templates, gathering all sorts of content together and getting it all to fit in one package. QR codes, pics and fonts to choose, disc fixings and print quality was my homework for the month. I'm determined to gain as much information from this as possible, even if most of it will be filed in the self-storage unit in my mind.

Discs came back from BCS so halfway there. DVD's and CD's galore at my house.

Off to Cosmic Puffin fest in May, gigs at Ferryside, London, Swansea. Busy month. Dont' forget to click on all the links on this blog and Big hugs, get in touch. 









All content owned and provided by Dai Sharkey.