jon blake
NEWS   First album, Closure, now available for download.
Next book for juniors, "Holiday Mania At The House of Fun" out Jan 19th - see www.jonblake.co.uk.
Just Like Christmas Eve/Famous Five
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08/15/07 @ 06:37 AM     post a comment
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1,952 times
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03:49
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Music
description
Video made by Natalie for a welcome event for our littlun, featuring a couple of my songs.
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play lo-fi play hi-fi  Closure
play lo-fi play hi-fi  Dangerous Friend
play lo-fi play hi-fi  Queen Of Denial
play lo-fi play hi-fi  Come Home Soon
play lo-fi play hi-fi  Love in an Empty Room
play lo-fi play hi-fi  Roll Over Christmas
play lo-fi play hi-fi  Finest Moments
play lo-fi play hi-fi  Just Like Christmas Eve (Jordi version)
play lo-fi play hi-fi  Just Like Christmas Eve
play lo-fi play hi-fi  Where We're From
In 1969, at 14, I stood backstage with Bob Dylan as he prepared to perform at the Isle Of Wight Pop Festival. He told me that one day I would inherit his mantle.

Only one of these two sentences is true. Find out which in my myspace blog (see below).

Online reviewers have said the following about the songs on my album 'Closure':
- 'Love in an empty room' - Jon, your material is consistently good.
- 'Come Home Soon' is a beautiful song -- love the chords, melody, lyrics and vocals.�
- 'Closure' is (I feel) aching in emotion... I love it
- I really loved 'Can't Think What'...very melodic indeed
- 'Dangerous Friend' is a very powerful and moving piece -- between the lyrics and the mood of the tune itself it had hair standing up on my arms.
- 'Where we're from' is as good as it gets
- 'Roll Over Christmas' Beautiful music!

I'm a professional writer, mainly for teens and children, with a books website at www.jonblake.co.uk. My best-seller is "Daley B" with worldwide sales of over 100,000. You can buy my books online here.

I was shortlisted for the Children's Book Award and the Writers Guild Best Children's TV Script in 1996. I'm also a BBC Talent awardwinner for adult radio comedy and (apparently) a member of the Welsh Academy.

I've been a teacher, lecturer, community worker, furniture salesman and done just about every temp job under the sun. These days it's mainly writing workshops in schools and elsewhere.

I've been writing and performing music since about 1970 - my first band thought they were Yes. Since then I've been in bands thinking they were everything from Tir Na Nog to The Jam - got quite serious with a new wave outfit called the Cutouts in the early 80s, then my writing career took off.

In 1996 I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and spent the next five or six years trying hard to breathe. It was this time my songwriting resurrected itself and I began writing the songs on 'Closure'. All of it is recorded on an MR8 in the kitchen of a terraced house in Adamsdown, Cardiff, with occasional help from my partner Natalie on vocals.

I've also got a myspace page. New friends always welcome.

I also write a blog dedicated to destroying the reputation of reactionary children's writer Roald Dahl.

Please feel free to download 'Closure' (the album) for less than a UK fiver. Just click on 'purchase music' on the right.
Why this name?
My real name, Ebenezer Moonshot Fairydust III, is simply too long.

Do you play live?
Thanks to (largely) recovered health, as often as possible, mainly cafe bars etc. I love performing - it feels like where I ought to be. Had a great night a while back when the crowd from Robbie Williams at the Millenium Stadium came past the bar where I was playing (in an acoustic duo). Loads came in and just carried on partying, like we were a real bonus to their evening! Ashamed to say we even did Angels to please them.
How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?
Without it we'd be forced to watch be the same nine videos endlessly repeated on every music tv channel. If nothing else, it's an outlet, and everyone can get heard.
But given the power and influence of the big labels, the huge amounts of money invested in artists and the need to guarantee a safe buck, its influence shouldn't be overestimated.
Would you sign a record contract with a major label?
I've signed contracts with major book publishers, so is there any difference with music? Minor labels will become majors if they get the chance (look at Virgin), and then the immutable laws of the market will cause them to act pretty much the same.

Ideally, of course, we'll own everything together and run everything democratically, not for profit. Then the whole (non)business will be as varied and representative as the internet.

Your influences?
Dylan, Eels, Weakerthans, Mary Coughlan, Tom Waits, Shane McGowan, later Leonard Cohen, David Byrne, REM, anyone with a decent tune and lyric.
Favorite spot?
Adamsdown, Cardiff, of course.
Equipment used:
Tanglewood guitars (6-string, 12-string and electric), Yamaha keyboard, Novation synth, Dean's Ibanez bass, Behringer V-amp guitar effects, Shure mic, and a little red box called a Fostex MR8. It's all recorded in the kitchen, this being the only detached area of my terraced house.
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