Light up the eyes

Colour me like a 1000 suns
Then let it all go by
Not until the day is done
To end it will I try

A season of joy and all that goes with
Do I seek only because I know
The wonder of a little light
Beneath the dark did grow

Because all that was seen and felt before
Was a twist and a fresh wound
Bled and still yearned for more
The taste of which was expected so soon

Rays of a warm gaze and addictive glow
Look at me I see it come from within
Simmering heating long and slow
Almost divine,  as simple as sin

Light up the eyes coz you've already seen
Light up the eyes and sll thats in between
Light up the eyes, you've tasted you know
Light up the eyes the rest will follow

Follow you around tail of a star
Gases and light seen from afar
Blazing brighter and shining not still
Not much will be bright until. ...

Different Strings

At that point in life when the world around you is in peril of various things, recessions, depressions, dealing with egos, issues, personal matters, professional, financial and other such matters, you tend to take a step back, and look in from the outside as far as possible, and wonder what in the name of God (or Hell or the devil if you prefer) is going on here.

Its not like I'm really clued in to what I'm writing about, but I want to write so I'm writing. I'm writing about life, music, love, who knows... definitely love, in some form or the other.

I read an interesting article about various things and advice on life. Love was a small part of it, but it was love all the same. Now, much as I'd like to be the badass writing a lot of sarcastic, not too nice, semi-heartbroken ex-gf or muse songs, they were based on something, some form of hurt, and it definitely wasn't physical or egoistic. Maybe it was love, maybe it wasn't . I guess its one of those few words that all of us take for granted. You can love anything, anyone, but you won't know about the strength of it, till you've been through a little.

People have gotten married and done other things for a lot less than love. Or then, what could be considered love. Chances are, I'm probably considered quite the failure in that department - trail of hurt women, unsuccessful relationships, people generally sending enough bad karma and spreading plenty of false rumours about me. Sometimes, when there's nothing to watch or read, its fun, beyond that, you really feel that people just don't have much to do in life save talk about things that really don't exist. Its the biggest game of make believe (well, that and urban Feminism).

We've all said things, done things, and everything is passed off as fleeting, or relative (not in the sleeping with your cousin inbred sense) , or then at varying levels of intensity. But let me say this, there is such a thing as real love. I've probably gone over it, and over analysed it, and torn it apart, and broken it down, and then re-synthesized it. Maybe you already know it, or think you do. Maybe you already think you have it, but you're not sure. Maybe you've got it but you don't know it. Maybe you'll just never experience it, or then it'll simply come and go without you realising it. Or then, maybe you'll just chance upon it a little further along the way, and realise, and compare (not in a quantitative sense) and then understand what it is truly about .

Believe me, love comes as much from the head as it does the heart - because if you didn't really think it through then you wouldn't understand what that person really means to you, and then it would just be an impulse .

But then, maybe you'll find it, and it'll be something that could be taken away from you at any given point for no fault of your own, except that it probably wasn't your fate ( or some other such resignation). How you react after that, is up to you, it could make you, or just as easily break you. But when you have it, and you've reached that point, or plateau or hill range or whatever you want to call it, that feeling, that joy, the understanding of what that point is, is there to stay. You KNOW what it is (Greatness, no matter how short lived, stays with a man)..
You will always know when something is less, when it deserves less, when you gave less, when it warranted less, when it was or is simply not at the level that you now know. Anything more, can only be better, but by and large, anything less, will always be just settling.  And settling is a compromise that is completely up to you, because settling, and settling down is more like asking for petrol in a rocket ship versus throwing out an anchor on a dry hill and setting up camp forever on Mount I-Lack-Lifelong-progress-because-I'm-pseudo-content.

So, from me, hardly an expert on the topic of love, here's me, maybe providing a bit of an insight, for various (personal realisations and thoughts) , on what is, what could be, and what if......

Whatever happens, love deeply, intensely, fiercely, and yet with an abundant calmness that shows the truth and maturity behind the sentiment, and that it is true, unconditional, uncompromising, and truly all it is portrayed to be.

Live a little folks...


I do hope this made for some good reading.

Cheers,

Beast

In the Mood

True to form, I'm writing after a while. I don't know, and definitely can't say whether its inspiration, or then just pushing myself to write. Either way, I guess the length or content of this post will probably tell me, and you, what the truth is...

Its been a few months. 3 bands, Hellwind, Spook and the new 3-piece acoustic act LeftHandDrive have all been gigging. Here, and there, not really everywhere. I guess Spook just need to play a little more. That's where the heart is maybe.

A few people asked me why 3 different bands, which one takes priority, who takes a call on what to do where. The thing is, that its 3 different mindsets. When you're as crazy as I am, and have various moods, levels of intensity of thought, speech, action and emotion, I guess you just need outlets at various levels.

Hellwind, the metal band, is all about release and just going for it, no holds barred. Let go, all control, inhibitions, diplomacy, and subtlety out of the window. As Kiron said before our first real metal circuit gig. 'Deodhar - a word of advice, just get on stage, don't give a fuck and totally lose it!!' And that's what I did. Apparently it worked, and we turned out to be quite the surprise in terms of a demented and wild stage act. Hellwind is always a blast, writing music with Raj, and Kiron throwing in his bits of approval and otherwise - things come together and it sounds pretty badass.

LeftHandDrive, the new trio with Hellwind bass player Aditya and drummer Pushkar, probably leans more towards making peace with things or then just an equilibrium on the whole. That's coming together pretty well, some good shows, at pubs, and a brilliant one at Jadavgadh fest, all thanks to an absolutely wonderful person I met, Sonam Kalra

She heard Morning Coffee, and asked If i'd like to play at a fest, and voila, the song was pushed through, and it just happened.

Ok, so it was Morning Coffee, a Spook song, but maybe the sense of Irony that I live just comes back to whack me all the time. Morning Coffee has probably become my 'Fireflies'.

Spook, passive aggressive, sarcastic, grungy, supremely intense, but not yet letting go of it all. My first all original project, where the songwriting first began, properly. Its where the heart is, its where it always was. The writings, the compositions, the ideologies, the expressions, all straight out of things that bit, chewed, hurt, and made me think with sufficient emotion attached. Those gigs, those recordings, rehearsals, writings, compositions, and all things attached to Spook, probably take the most out of me, are the most rewarding, and the most intense.  No matter where  this one goes, how far, how long, and how solid, I will probably have the most sentiment and attachment to Spook.
 Simply because this is among those things, among very few others, that no matter what - is just worth it.

New things in the offing. Let's see how they go. If it goes well, then things would be right, happier and so on. If they go South, well, I guess its about watching stars in the southern sky, southward as you go.

But as I said, in the end, for whatever it was worth in the bigger scheme of things, its definitely worth it.

Cheers,

Beast

Time Stand Still

Its been an interesting little while. Things have happened, things have changed. I've gone to places that I never thought I would be. From a career path that started out somewhere on the road to the Defence Forces, to brand consultancy, to sailing instruction, to music and events chief for a firm, to VP Marketing and Sales for Wishberry, to random freelancing, to putting together some random shows and playing them, while an attempted career at commercial flying started after brand consultancy and ended earlier this year.

When the shit hit the fan, there was a lot of number crunching, cursing the govt. desperately looking for solutions, talking to people from the aviation industry and figuring out whether it was worth putting another retirement plan towards flying.

 With all the drama, people crashing aircraft, cabin crew randomly disengaging autopilots, fat bastard liquor barons not being tortured with intestine spillage, and people who said things like 'Oi chhad yaar , controller ne circle to land kahaa toh kya hua, main toh straight in he land karoonga', at flight school, getting jobs because they're endlessly funded and connected , and the all encompassing fact that i was more likely to get lucky winning a fortune in the Monaco casinos then gambling on conversion money at the DGCA and a type rating, I guess we decided that it wasn't really worth playing with all that green dough (although our currency comes in various shades of reds, purples etc as it were).

With a plan of action as to what NOT to do, at least there was certainty as to what direction not to go in. Beyond that, most things were seamless, literally, attempts to find work blended one into the other, and the most random work came my way, or rather didn't come my way.

I eventually ended up calling some one for a gig cheque follow up and ended up getting a job as his chief conspirator. Great job, with a studio, good boss, brilliant name and work in the Audio Engineering industry, very progressive and always ready and wanting to do more and more stuff. I've currently been thrown into manage our audio production team along with one mad and world famous audio engineer on a certain very large and prominent project. Its reasonably overwhelming , and there are reasonably frequent times when i spend a few seconds and then a few minutes as a large deer (not that i would physcially qualify from any angle) in a huge chain of spotlights. For some reason, people around here think that I know more of what's actually going on than others do. Its more than just interesting, because while i'm trying to often find answers from the people who actually do know what's going on, I'm pointing and laughing my ass off in my head at those who ask me questions (which really is nothing new, but i guess it shows how much of my time I actually spend doing that). Ah, how i love being pitched headlong into the deep end. (while i do get off on it, please, for those of you who don't really get it, please allow your wonderful sense of humour and its perception to register the reasonably prominent sarcasm ).

While i'm permanently arguing with myself for and against the concept of destiny, fate blah blah blah, i guess these things merit a mention. Within 2 weeks of starting work with Ashish at Flying Carpet Productions, I ended up singing my first tv commercial jingle, and then going on to sing my first track for a Bollywood movie. Pretty crazy, not something i EVER saw myself doing, even as a one off, which, chances are this probably is. heh. Me - singing in Hindi, trust me, everyone who heard that I did that, went quite riot laughing about it.

So here I am, one month, almost, into working fulltime in the music industry. Something I was probably fighting for the longest time. Spook, Hellwind, and JATP (new 3-piece acoustic project) go on, and evolve, and so far, touchwood, there's been a decent amount of opportuniy for me to give all 3 a little attention. I guess  it won't be a whole lot until I've gotten the grip of this job entirely.

this is a link to a random scratch from the new project. www.soundcloud.com/akshay-deodhar

The Spook gig we played at Kino 108 was fully smashing and brilliant, progress i guess.

I also met Timmy Verghese, Ruth and Kirtana. Timmy clicked a pic of holding Kirtana with her smiling back at me and posted it online, which kind of had people tripping out on it for a bit. It was rather out of character for me :P . I managed to get away with getting him to lend me his USA made Fender Strat for a little while. Combined with my own Fender amp, its sounding absolutely delicious - I could literally eat the tones coming out of that rig right now.

On this train of thought, I guess I could pretty much keep writing(typing), and not stop, I'm vaguely having quite a blast in my head. I am currently an evil, team controlling, *insert whatever word you'd like to*.

I've been coming up with some ideas and plans of things to do, but more on those as it progresses. ( It - defined as just about anything you want to put in its place).

Like I said, shit may just get interesting around here. Now, while I know you feel there here is inside my head, it isn't, because inside my head its so interesting, that I don't even have a word to describe it.So, i'll stick to telling you what's going on JUST outside my head.

I'd like to say that its good to have you folks reading these installments and chapters that I keep putting up. I aim to give you a good, fun  (albeit in my own twisted and oddball way) and entertaining read, which could pretty much be a textual version of 'we aim to please' . heh.

Until the next one,

Cheers,
Beast

Closer to the Heart

From this timeline it seems that shorter gap between posts hasn't really happened. It's exactly 2 months since my last post, and somewhere between a little and a lot has happened in this time. But, as it were, a little and a lot is relative to anyone and everyone (no, i do not mean as in bawas and mallus all being related) on a more or less scale.

The album launch gig at the Frog happened, with us wearing our crazy masks for the first few songs. Michael wore a random hat and shades, Anis wore a ski mask, Kenny dressed like a very post-modern desert special forces Arabian soldier, Yohan was dressed in shorts, a sadra, shades and a cap(go figure), and I wore a cape and a masque!!! Our friends and family made it for the gig, some mad mad support from the few people who were there, that was the important part. With a shaky start, 3 songs into it I guess everyone sort of just let go at the same time and we went up on a high and kept getting crazier till the last song, not one minute of energy let up. It was probably the heaviest and most energetic Spook gig till date with all 5 of us just going nuts through and through.
Then struck the perils of being band manager, calling venues asking for gigs etc etc, with each and every one of em saying we'll get back yada yada yada. That still hasn't happened *looks off into the distance in the fervent hope that it will materialize some day* heh.
The album got an insanely brilliant review from Eight Octaves, a music blog and music related website. It was a little too good to be true, but at the same time, reasonably objective so it didn't need to be taken with as much salt as I normally take these things (you know, me being the cynic and all)

Hellwind was called on to do a Metallica tribute, before which we did one last gig with Sahil at Hard Rock Pune. Good fun, same old messing around with covers type scene, and a mad night with Kadam and Kiron after in the legendary Pune house.
Then, Sahil bows out, Pushkar Joshi steps in, and Hellwind starts living the name. We got louder, tighter, more driven , and heavy as shit!!!!! I don't think we could really believe that we were sounding like that. 14 Metallica songs worked on weekend after weekend slamming and heavy, with loads of bonding and drummer( read as Pushkar Joshi) bashing in between. The most entertaining part of rehearsals - watching Kadam and Pushkar discuss the structure of Master of Puppets in Marathi - next....level. It pretty much did not get better than that.
A wild, crazy, PACKED hard rock cafe Mumbai gig!! There were some absolutely crazy and random people all over the place. Anyone who says metal doesn't make you money is not entirely wrong, it just gets you a job, ask Kiron. He got hired by a Metallica (and now Hellwind) fan. heh . We also had some random Metallica fan aunty getting pretty drunk and tripping out on the music and the band so much that it kinda got marginally creepy.
Next steps, taking part in the BOA battle in Thane on the 30th of June if we get a chance to play. Our first underground (so as to speak) metal gig.

I, now have a job. Working, for now, in an administrative/managerial (read as does everything that needs to be done) role with an audio studio/production house. More on that as it progresses.

Spook has a gig this coming week, one of those 3 band, shorter power packed sets. Sidd Coutto and I will finally be part of the same band line-up for the gig. Tough on Tobacco on the last gig of their super album tour, and Spook on the second , hehe. Fun things.  But we're really looking forward to it, and its going to be a demented and crazy night, with bad humour on display throughout, though considering we're playing before ToT, the humour will improve for sure.

On the final day regatta, Xerxes, Sheri and I sailed their new boat, the Albatross, hammered the rest of the Seabird fleet by such a margin that we took line and handicap honours, breaking the curse of the bird of ill omen. It was quite a drubbing the others took especially after we started last - trademark Xerxes start screw-up, he either gets them right, or buggers them completely, no averages.

Solo acoustic and not-so-acoustic stuff starting up soon, watch this space (or then several others across the internet).

Its that point where I really think I should write more often, stop these life summaries like its some demented person's diary. But at the same time, I wonder if me blogging and writing about stuff I have real opinions about (because I do NOT have an opinion on my life *watch me keep a straight face*) , I might just get a little more ostracized and judged than I already am, because I'll call people on their bullshit (including the government). Enh, music, life, sailing, guitars, boats, aircraft, games, folklore, mythology, alcohol, women, dating, good sex, bad sex, choices, who knows.... I guess it'll all be found here somewhere.

So keep reading, I think this shit is just about to get interesting. You might just have figured that out if you've read all the way down till here.

Cheers (and stay SPooky),

Beast

New World Man

First post from my new laptop, only mentioned because there is a certain amount of excitement associated when blogging/ typing on something that is pretty cool and functions like a real laptop.
So, nearly 2 months later is quite an improvement from the last 4 month gap. I daresay i'll attempt to be more regular now.
The US was as it was, good time spent flying with some good instructors and good aircraft. Finally flew the mechanical mosquito, the DA-42 Twinstar. With its FADEC system and its 'throttle and stick' controls, there were times when I had to hold back and say 'no crazy shit, no crazy shit !!!' It was quite a blast. Finished al that, got back to India by the end of February. In between, of course, without fail, there was drama involving the one and only Epic aviation, took a day trip down to Florida. It was kind of like visiting home, but the school had changed so much it almost made me a little uneasy to be there. Anyway, that got sorted.

There I am, back in India, waiting to sort out paperwork, and go and do some single engine flying at Baramati to FINALLY get my Indian licence sorted out. As I waited for some paperwork to show up from Delhi, some babu in delhi scratched his nuts, pulled out a stray ball hair an decided that he wanted to change the regulations, and........ he did. It was among the last in a long line of roadblocks faced in the lengthy quest for the DGCA CPL. Boiled down to something that just wasn't worth it with the kind of continuous gambling money required.

End result, that (refer above) has been shelved for now, and I have returned to my non-millionaire ( read as completely effing broke)  playboy lifestyle of playing in rock bands, being a leftist, racing sailboats and yachts, being a trained pilot (trained and able only) and generally indulging in other adrenaline rushes. It also means I'm currently on the lookout for a job, something that would be suited to a man ( and i say this in the most non-dramatic yet with a hint of sarcasm and earnestness ) of my talents.
Now, the fun, yet frustrating part. The Lyrical Cynic - Spook's first full length, 9 song album, is almost ready. We thought it was, but then as they say, there's no such thing as a final draft, it also applies to mixes and mastering. There's no such thing as a final mix I guess. We thought we had a ready product, but we sat down, thought, mulled, bashed the idea around, spoke to Zorran and sent it back for another round, with pinpoint specific changes.
We got tee shirt samples, mug samples, and the final cd cover and cd art itself. Shilpa, Anurag's sister, has been kind enough to tolerate Anis and myself through this entire cd artwork and identity process where we've been back and forth over so many sets of ideas and designs and variations and so on and so forth. The good part is, every time we've retreated to our own caves to kind of hash our ideas before coming back to the drawing board to put our heads together, things that Anis and I think of , are strangely enough what Shilpa independently comes up with!!! With the album cover - the exact description of Pedro that Anis gave Shilpa, she had already sent to us before reading Anis' mail. With the cd art itself, Anis and were talking about it, and suddenly she logs into a Google hangout and says, 'boys, this is what I have for the CD art' . AND IT WAS EXACTLY THE SAME THING!!!!!!!

Going into print of all the various items this week. September to April finally culminates in one event (for starters), 9th of April at the Blue Frog - the launch gig. Its us, so nothing huge, nothing fancy, and yet not so simple a launch gig. The plan will be to get people to show up in costumes, masks or other such things if possible. We are Spook right ? so there's got to be something weird going on. Its a pity there's no Friday the 13th in sight .

 Sahil couldn't take on the responsibility of so many bands considering he's band mom for pretty much all of them so Hellwind has a new drummer, Pushkar Joshi. That change started on a good note. With 2 jams happening in 3 weeks, and Raj and i starting to track Legends, which is among the sessions which will eventually go onto the EP a couple of months down the line. Though the jams are now in Thane - fun, an extension of the city which I shall now visit on almost a weekly basis.

Its going to be quite a mad week, with rehearsals, getting gear ready, getting stuff printed, running from pillar to post to make sure everything goes off well. Let's hope it does. Maybe the post gig euphoria of success (relative term and more out of hope and faith then anything else) will push me to write again next week.

My mother, grandmother and dear father have been trying to push me to write a book. Back in college, they said - While you can go on doing this music thing that you do, we encourage it, but do it on the side, you need to get through college well and make a career for yourself. NOW, my dad once called me and said - Do what you want on the side, work on your flying licence, do aviation management, music whatever, but I think you should focus on writing a book...hah, the way things change. Trouble is, even if  I did consider it, I'd have to disappear from the 'peace and harmony' (read as mom yelling - AKSHAY!!!!!! do this, do that....) and pick a topic to write on, mostly fictional, and everything is already taken. Though sometimes, my mother is right, I could probably come up with a reasonably twisted plot to find my own place somewhere. Que sera sera i guess.


Seems like this new gadget (read as blazing fast Vaio) will push me to write a little more(I am vouching only for this blog).  With the changes that should be coming about,  and my ever present cynical, sarcastic and satirical take on most things that go on in my life (yes, including life-changing, threatening and 'me-in-trouble' situations) there should be a reasonable amount of inspiration to get down and write.

For those of you who are still reading, I hope that I'm still entertaining you. Up next there's probably going to be a bit of a self gig review and a 101 on the perils of being band manager (goes to venues and begs for gigs) .
Until then,
Cheers,
the Beast.

Power Windows

A long silence since the 1st of October, maybe I was too lazy to post, maybe I just didn't get time, I could make a dozen excuses and still not be done.
Truth is, there was no real point when I was inspired to sit down and post, it was always, this , that or the other interfering with or deterring me from writing. I wrote a new song or two, which turned out to be pretty interesting if I do say so myself, but writing, summarizing, letting go and just typing didn't happen. Maybe there was just no comfort zone happening anywhere.
Here I am, about 4 months later, back in Chesapeake, Virginia, where the writing started. Its a cold evening, by Mumbai standards at any rate, about 3 degrees outside, Some John Coltrane playing in the back ground, and this start has somewhat of a start to an old narrative for a Noir film. No, I am NOT Humphrey Bogart (though i do love Casablanca)

October was about getting the album done, the tracking, the production bringing it all together, and moving toward the crowd-funding campaign as well. It panned out in a very interesting way, topsy turvy and crazy as it happens. The vocal tracking at Aslam's did happen, with a random classic rock emergency filler gig at the Blue Frog after day 1 of tracking. India didn't make it to the quarter finals of the 20-20 world cup so the Frog needed an emergency act. They called me , I refused, they called Adrian, and he called Kenny(Rebello), Vinay Lobo and myself. With that kind of pressure, I couldn't say no. In hindsight, i didn"t regret it one bit, and it was quite the blast, and a good test of abilities, stamina and skill (doing my best to make it sound like an obstacle course).
We tracked Michael on the Great White Tele finally, and wrapped it up with some really nice takes and parts that did finally come through.
The great Gandhi was out of town and we got a call from Jayesh asking us to play Live from the Console, for the 4th of 5th time. This time, we couldn't really say no. So we asked Luis and JJ of Something Relevant to fill in and help us out. That week with rehearsal and the one day of acoustic guitar tracking and the backing vocals at Aslam's studio again were pretty much a complete blur. Between soundcheck and the gig I suddenly started spiking with about a 103 degree fever. I slept it off , picked up my brandy and headed to the gig. My only thoughts were - whatever you do, sing and play spot-on. Apparently I managed ok, because I don't really remember that night, except for a video or two that the Console crew took. It was a good gig.

Spook then played a gig with Yohan from the Family Cheese on drums, and Anis, Mike, Kenny and I FINALLY playing together on stage, at the High Spirits. A good, tight, lively and fun gig with some good responses. Hopefully Yohan will be around for a while with us.

I did this Tribute to the Bond themes night at the Frog, worked with some brilliant musicians, Kaizad Gherda, Deb Saha, Kenny on guitar, Chirayu on bass, Crehyl Pereira , Apeksha Dandekar, Roshni Baptist, and Rachel Verghese with Thomson Andrews guesting on 'We have all the time in the world'. All of us were suited, booted, the ladies in dressed, in keeping with the Shaken, not Stirred theme. The Blue Frog was transformed into a casino of sorts, where they gave away free plastic chips and people gambled and won booze. Innovative. It was quite a brilliant and really well received night.

I played a couple of early sets with Vaibhav and Kaizad. Then did one more random classic rock night with Adrian , Kenny and this time Zohran Miranda, because VInay was touring abroad. Another fun night.
Spook were asked to play a filler set at Sulafest 2013, which was kind of stupif logically and logistically , so I went alone to do a filler set after Caesar's Palace. Kenny stayed and played The Way and Morning Coffee with me. Both were really well received , and Vivienne , who played after me, was quite impressed. So apart from the audience reaction, that pretty much put me on a high. I played two more sets at the tasting room there, one on day 1 , the other on day 2. Though both were cover sets, the response was pretty mad. 2 days, hanging with the boys, good fun, and with the Blue Frog crew taking good care of us, it was a really really memorable experience.

The first mixes of the Lyrical Cynic have started coming in, things are looking up.

Things have been a little slow with Hellwind, though we did jam a little, and hopefully while I'm away the first recordings for the singles we're going to be releasing will start.

Sailing season did begin, have put in some random sails, good fun, a few races here and there. We sailed the Lightning Cup to Mandwa and back, Xerxes and I, with Randhir Behl on day 1, and the Cavala owner's son on day 2, in Barracuda. Downwind, we were surprisingly quick, but 500 metres from Mandwa, the wind died completely, and we won on the line by a few metres putting us pretty much 4th or 5th in the Lightnings. The next day, upwind, we were so blazing fast, that we had a 17 minute lead and ended up taking the upwind leg as well as the overall and making up for the previous day's lost time. Looking forward to sailing some more when I'm back.

I think I've pretty much been travelling up and down to Southern India and back, and i've totally and completely loved every single bit of it.

We did our December Bangalore road trip. Fuzz, Kenny, Anurag and I. Drove down there in the Dezire. 2 days there, and Anu and I continued down to Kerala to Unni's ancestral house for his wedding. My first trip to Kerala included a 600 year old ancestral house which was completely mindblowing, a Kathakali performance, sitting in the middle of a river at sunset, buy and drinking rum from a village booze store, the experience was truly unique, a Mohiniyatam performance, Guruvayoor temple, sacred elephants, beef fry from a little store, Chavakkad beach, which was absolutely mindblowing and a load of greenery and peace all around us. Met two more of the boys from Christ college, Aswin and Sid. We ate like pigs for those few days. Drove back up to Bangalore and chilled out there for a few days, before Anurag went to Goa to play the Console-Goa edition with Basrur, and I drove back alone to Pune for a couple of days to hang with the Kavdikar clan who were down from the UK.
Spent New Year's eve with Shrihari, Mukta, Sneha, Puneet, and some other people in Chembur.. Single malt scotch and cigars ; what can say? I'm classy that way. (Again, Wily E. Coyote expression.

January was interesting I guess. A few months of exploring, talk, and research coming together, figuring out what I want to do. The parents asked me to take one last shot at the conversion. So I booked and ended up back here at Horizon in Virginia. I start flying tomorrow, and that's the fun part. I was pretty unwilling to come here, because doing this again and not seeing any positive result has taken its toll on my head and finances enough times by now, but I guess when they insist, there's not much you can do. i guess I'll tell you more about where this life is headed when I do find out.

Amidst all this confusion (mine at any rate, DEFINITELY not his) Tek got married to Maya in November. Probably not the most sober week that I've spent, it was fun, including one memory lost night post the sangeet at the Blue Frog, during which I was apparently quite entertaining. As Fuzz said, ' You know those songs, where you'll probably find Akshay standing in one corner saying what the fuck? This is probably the first, last and only time I'll see him dancing to those with such true joy' . Yes, not exactly my finest moments.
Tanmay and Ashaita got married after dating for 7 years or something. The universe is taking its pound of flesh (disclaimer - this does not mean that I'm not happy for you married couples, but while death has its own definitions - I'm just too young to die :P . Besides, I'm also humane enough not to put anyone through that kind of torture. To top it off, I'm happier this way. ) An ex of mine also did get married in the last week of December, the first few lucky guesses as to who it was will be rewarded with deep internal joy , that you actually know about my life (this being stated in the context that its nothing great).
MUKTA GOT MARRIED!!!!!!!!! 2 INSANE days in Mysore!!! at the Royal Orchid hotels. Really brilliant, fun, and alcohol consuming days. It was memorable, and fun. REally Really happy for her. I was nice to her for the entire duration. Abhijit is cool, fits in to our insane family perfectly, and his family seems equally whacked. And of course, there's nothing like South Indian coffee and women . (Yes, i'm passing objectifying comments, deal with it)

We shot a crazy, mad episode of home makeover stuff for Mikhil's Colaba place with NDTV. was pretty good fun. The episode aired and it turned out to be ridiculously funny. Sharon Pinto, the producer, SOMEHOW managed to edit out all the innuendo I poured on to the show and still keep it really really funny. DAMMIT!!!!!!

Things to look forward to :

1.Incessant dreams of me carpet bombing the DGCA , or then invading them with molotov cocktails, and keeping the bastards alive so they regret it all.
2.Flying in Chesapeake
3.Flying the DA-42, which looks like a mechanical mosquito, in a sense. It also has a control stick that is between your legs, so I'm going to feel all Top Gun for a bit (ok perverts, you can get past the stick between the legs part now - I know, rich coming from me)
4.The album release and more playing gigs and pissed off post-grunge music with Spook
5.Tracking with Hellwind
6,7,8 - All those things that I'm pretty sure I have to look forward to, but right now can't be bothered to think on and list, I chronicle my life way too much anyway.


Its been good summarizing my life in the last 4 months, which has been pretty whirlwind like. I'm sure I missed some stuff out. I also made it sound like a report, to some one, or something. Trust me, its not, its for my old age, which when I reach and think upon my misspent youth (which for some reason seems to continue almost till I'm 30 - not that I see it as a bad thing), I can look bad and read all these things, which are secretly clues to the unmentionable things I have done all along. Hidden all along the way in these blog posts are secret clues that refer to reasonably bad things. (cheshire cat grin, yes, you know which one I'm referring to).

So, I'm going to once again promise to try and post more often so I don't need to summarize and make stuff sound like a report, and boringly long. Maybe introduce some amount of humour, which seems to come out nice and dry when I'm writing as opposed to when I'm on stage.

Until then,

The Beast

Clockwork Angels

27 days later, i'm writing again. This will probably be a short catch up on what's gone down (yes, i'm talking gangsta, deal with it).

The drums got tracked, 1.5 agonizing agonizing weeks in between with 2-3 days of delay as well. We tracked bass, guitar (with my bad-ass set-up that i envisioned, probably the only really bad-ass thing i did envision successfully), and keyboards, trekking all across the city as usual. As I had mentioned before, this co-producer role was pretty heavy, and yet, during bass parts, pretty much took it on with full responsibility and worked pretty well with Kenny , engineering as well since we were using his set-up and he was playing.  The words Pilot-ra, courtesy the great Kishan Balaji kept us in splits, and probably will for the next 10 years.

Amongst some major aural fatigue, good food, exercise, push coming to shove, we got through some good bass playing and then some relatively potty(yours truly) guitar playing which didn't really end up half bad. The tones were good, the ladies (read as Grungy Sue and Black Pearl) behaved themselves reasonably well, as did the pedal set up after the initial 3 hours of trouble it gave us.  9 songs; some good bass parts down with some overlays as well, guitar parts inclusive of basic rhythm, some lines and textures played, and 2 solos, and a power through 1.5 day session of keyboard work from the Great Gandhi we managed to knock off. And we still felt we could plod on. Kenny then headed back to Bangalore for owing to some family commitments and a Moon-Arre gig.

I also finally wrote Anis an email, explaining the premise, meaning and reason behind each one of the 9 songs, and what they mean to me, and why. It was interesting, opened my mind, brought back so many memories etc. not all good. It just told me a lot about the songs, a lot that I had forgotten, or maybe just shut out, or then simply not paid attention to.

1 extremely patience trying week and a half, throw in 2 days of high fever, and another 2 days of impatience, and we've got your quintessential dose of break time between 2 stages of recording.

This wonderful time was also filled and made exciting by one of the banes of my existence - The aviation industry. 3 job opportunities came my way, 1 in Indonesia and 2 in the Philippines. Predictably enough though, all 3 went silent the moment i started asking pertinent, logical , credibility based and intelligent questions based on quality of investment return. shocking (makes wily e.coyote face (if you don't know who that is, you clearly had a very very empty childhood))

On another note, the lovely ladies of Wishberry helped us get our (Spook) crowd-funding campaign going through their portals. 6 very courageous and supportive people have already pledged their support to the upcoming album http://www.wishberry.in/Get-Spook-ed-by-the-Lyrical-Cynic-14318

The great weekenders were announced, as well as the Live from the Console Goa fest. No surprises there (hah, again the wily e. coyote face). Though  BIG BIG  shout out to Slowdown Clown, Adam and the Fish-eyed poets and Thermal and a quarter who will be playing the fest this year!!! Great going guys, knock their socks off!!!

Positives to look forward to -

Spook Vocals, acoustic guitar this week in the studio. Followed by bringing Michael Lee in on the Great White Tele to add his touch and garnish to the music. Getting some guest musicians to lay down some parts on songs of interest.

Hellwind going into recording our first 3 tracks, with some big plans for releasing them!!! I love that band btw, as much as we all refer to it amongst us as a side project, its bad-ass, its crazy, its fun!!! and I can't deny how much i love tearing up the stage with those guys, writing music with them, and creating some fine mental , metal (JYYEAAAAHHH) material!!! looking forward to writing, playing and gigging so much more!!!

The Ashwood guitar starts being carved tmrw. The body blank arrived, looks neat, and is just waiting for me to start some amount of work(however little) on it.

More crowd-funding and making this album bigger and more mature and standing out as compared to all these bullshit trends that the trend loving asswipe wimps who claim to be music lovers propagate .

Sailing season starts on the 14th of October!!!! WOOOOOOHHHHHHOOO!!!!!! MORE ADRENALINE RUSHES!!!!!!! YEEEHHAAAAA!!!!!

A cruise (touchwood) on Kishore Mariwala's new Leopard cat 44.5 foot boat from Mumbai to Goa. 10th November. All downwind.

And still more dgca letdowns and scams which are too frikking disturbing, lengthy and painful to discuss.

Well, i guess on some level, there are a load of positives. heh....who would've thought so.

aah well, ours not to reason why... valley of death... you know the drill .

I'm somewhere between sleep, singing and guitar practice, and a truckload of energy. As contrasting and opposing ends as it may seem, what can I say, its me.

Until the next time, I hope I've kept you folks interested (if you're still reading, heh)

Beast.

Limelight

It seems that my attempt to start blogging weekly clearly didn't pull through. I am getting a little better, even if I do say so myself. A few days over a month since the last post. Things have happened, and not happened since then. Maybe the events are slower, but one is able to dissect them, and understand actions and consequences better.

As it happens when one gets back from a vacation, life tends to move on in the only way it knows how to, forward. This may not necessarily forward is good, or progressive or anything of the sort, its just a Move On.

The problem with not having something full time to do as yet is that 1 day sort of merges into the other and you tend to lose track of the day to day events and scheme of things.  But the significant events, the ones that make your world go round, always stand out and are etched in your memory quite clearly.

There was a certain Hindi Psychedelic rock project that I was working on. It was all hush-hush as the chief zealot was quite a paranoid albeit very driven chap who was under the impression that someone would steal his idea and milk it for millions. Well to his credit, it was good work, he achieved the project top-secret status and my full on involvement in it. Somewhere down the line, I was sort of unceremoniously dropped from the project, as they did find someone more suited to the role of vocalist and   (my predecessor in the same role being Siddharth Basrur - funny that this should happen a 2nd time : we were both considered one after the other to front Dream Out Loud after the departure of Suraj Jaggan). What got to me was not that I had been axed, but that there was so much wastage of time and effort. Fact is, I'm not the best person to front a hindi band, with my apparently slightly anglicised take on the vocals and lack of familiarity with singing in Hindi. I had mentioned this ages ago, consider it carefully, if it doesn't work out, tell me sooner than later. But no, went unheeded. It was distasteful an experience enough for me to say not much else other then " Ya man, its cool, whatever works , should always be that, cheers". Didn't bother with any unpleasantness or anything of the sort, because frankly, i thought that kind of behaviour wasn't worth it, because even if they did find someone who worked for them later as opposed to replacing me sooner, don't really tell me as an offhand by-the-way, give it to me straight up and don't be sheepish about it, that's what creative licence extends to!!!! Ah well, sour taste, but nothing that some dark chocolate couldn't cure.

HELLWIND (<em>pause while I say <strong>JYEAAAHHHHHHHH</strong> like Hetfield really loudly with \M/</em>) !!!!! finally played the Bombay debut gig at HRC(<em> the original event was bought out by the famous Indian Ocean - manager can suck ass</em>). It was loud, intense,  crazy, completely MAD and fun!!! We played the latest Hellwind original called Metal From Above. It's about the kind of person who does just about anything for a little bit of fame , very Fallen Angel - Poison concept type thing. Well received by the critics, who paid attention. The O.C. score is now up to 3 for Hellwind; Taste of Metal, Legends, Metal From Above. There are also another 1-2 in the pipeline.

We did piss off some metal heads with our grand finale teaser Djent version of Backstreet's Back, they just fucking walked out!!!! HAHAHA!! that was just mental!!! Some decent lights, a great photo album by Whats The Scene, and it seemed like quite a kickass show!!! Random jams on The Wall and HIgh to Hell. I also added boots to the wardrobe, yes, a first ever, something I never really saw myself buying at this stage.

Gigging, as always, is nothing short of addictive, and with Hellwind, even more so, and I'm supremely pumped up and looking forward to the next, because it will hopefully NOT be a Bombay gig.

While Spook has dwindled down to effectively Anis Gandhi and myself, with Michael Lee on lead guitar duties, but Tmmy Verghese taking a break for a few months because he reached 3 strikes ; New job, New Wife, New house, and it was a little tough on him, there's been a bit of a mad whirl when it came to re-organising , rescheduling, and re-mapping of the album plans.

Vaibhav Wavikar was unable to manage time for jamming on the songs AND recording, so we decided to scrap that plan despite visiting a few studios, and them being kind enough to work out some really nice deals for us. Going in unprepared was just NOT going down well, its a lot of money that we just don't have. Instead, we got Kishan Balaji (<em>Caesar's Palace, Extinct Reflections, Galeej Gurus, Bhoomi etc</em>) to track drums for us. Wilson Kenneth (<em>Kenny from CP, SDC, Moon-Arre</em>) served as co-producer as well as album bass player)

I spent a week in Bangalore, stayed with my cousin, the all-knowing Mihir, and his wonderful wife, Yashodha(the first 2 days were spent with Anurag and family, it was great to see them after quite a while). I made about a 30-40 km hike across the city with Kenny in his faithful Maruti Van to record at Kishan's place on his kit. 9 songs, 3 days, just left me more and more charged up to get to the next stage, just fully aware and assured and more driven than ever, that we were on the right track. He played very inspired 3 day, 9 song session. Not once did we stop pushing, and some songs, which I was at quite a dead-end with, just opened up and how.

Next week, Kenny hits Bombay, and we push forward with Bass, Guitar, Keys and lead guitar tracking. Home setup at the powai house. We will figure out how we do the vocals after that. Maybe i'll keep blogging through it.

Currently titled Lyrical Cynic, the album will be a 9 song full length studio effort, with a combination of a lot of DIY and professional stuff.  It will be a co-produced effort between Wilson Kenneth and Spook.

Working with Kenny sometimes can be akin to attempting to prove that your head is stronger than a brick wall, that being said, this co-producer role is something I just haven't done before. As Chief conspirator, ring leader, over-enthusiast, and just simply not satisfied till we've gotten better and progressed maturely, this should be nothing short of interesting, and I'm pretty sure there will be lots to talk about.

Throw in an early set the next week at the Blue Frog, a soon to be launched crowd-funding campaign for Lyrical Cynic, these next few weeks should make for a rather decent amount of entertainment.

I always seem to have more to write about than I believe. I'm always a little more driven, inspired and enthused to write than I think I am. Maybe its just a little laziness (since its not physical/manual labour), combined with questions of whether you folks out there where actually read any or all of this.  Either way, every day, its about gaining a little more perspective on life, things around you, things about you, the things that make you, break you, and drive you on. Its about learning a little more about yourself everyday, and then making it all worthwhile ;

<em><strong><span style="font-family: Arial">If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run</span></strong></em>

Then everything is just yours for the taking (<em>modification of the last two lines, couldn't help myself</em>).

For now, and not for too long hopefully, signing off,

Beast

Anarchist

10 days were spent on the European continent. The purpose was to apply the old 'seeing is believing' funda to a certain event in our lives; my younger brother graduating from Design school with a Diploma in Automobile Design, IED Torino, Italia.

A road trip, with the parents, Doof, his girlfriend Chloe,  the parents, and yours truly, in a charcoal grey Fiat Croma was planned, and happened more then successfully.

First evening in Torino itself, where my brother spent the last 4 years getting educated. Landed by 6, we were out post dinner by about 10 to go drinking in the city with his lot(surprise, surprise ). It was an.....interesting night, with some great European Weiss beer and a little tequila thrown in for good measure, with a few glasses of chugged sangria. Eventually wrapping up by about 4.30, we crashed out only to wake up by 10 to begin the road trip.

First stop, Monaco - glam-town; Yachts, fast cars, fancy houses, stunning shoreline, and of course, the ladies!!!!!! unbelievable.

We got to the hotel , and straight up headed for the beach. A nice pebble beach, crystal clear water, sun bathing the shore till about 7 in the evening, swimming out about 250 metres to a little raft/pontoon anchored so that people can go there and chill. that was just unbelievable.

Post a swim, shower, and head out to Nice(France), to get some dinner, we missed out on a brilliant burger place, but got some good food at another restaurant. Ice cream, scenic drive,  and we were back in bed, gearing up for the next day.

The next day, we drove out to Cannes, along the shoreline, to see what it was all about. Another mind-blowing shoreline, another glam filled place, crystal clear blue water, cars, ladies, food.

We didn't swim there, but drove back to a place called Eze Sur Mer, another rocky/pebble beach halfway between Monaco and Nice. A bottle of wine, some beer, more time spent in the water, a blissful evening back to Monaco, shower up, and headed back out to Nice for the best, and most mind-blowing burgers in the world, at a little joint called Le Eclypse. We were definitely Comatose after. Sleep was greatly welcomed.

The next morning, we drove out to a place called Eze Bord Du Mer, which was a Eze castle high up on a mountain top overlooking Nice, Eze, VilleFranche, Cap Ferrat and Cannes in the distance.

Breathtaking, beautiful sights and a view.

We then drove back into Monaco to spend the entire evening on a beach and in a Principality that we just had not devoted enough time to, Monte Carlo itself.  More beach time, swimming , lazing around on the raft, and generally letting go of reality was what ensued, followed by a night on the town with Advait and Chloe, though hardly, it was a Sunday night, we walked around the entire place, walked the length of the F1 track demarcations (The pilgrimage was complete), had a few drinks at 2 waterfront pubs, oggled at cars, yachts, women, and eventually walked back to the room and crashed out. We also earlier went to the casino, to see the obscene displays and amounts of money people gambled with and this wasn't even a high roller room, or high roller night.

The next morning, we walked up to the Castle of Prince Albert of Monaco. A lovely place, with an even more mind-blowing view.

The most astounding thing over these days were the cars we saw; Ferraris (including the Enzo and the FF), Maseratis, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin, BMW, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugati Veyron, KTM X-Bow, Dodge Viper, Corvettes, Jaguars and probably many more. Apart from the lone Enzo, the 2 Veyrons,  5 lined-up Lamborghinis with the Kuwait plates, and the KTM X-Bow, every other manufacturer, became Just Another Ferrari, Rolls, etc...... crazy.

We then drove towards Italy, to base our selves at a lazy, often mistaken for poor, seaside town called Lavagna. Another stunning beach front, with crystal clear blue green water and a lovely beach. After getting there we dumped our bags and took a train towards a place called St. Marguerite and then boarded a bus for another beach and cove called Parragio beach and Porto Fino.

The beach was in a cove, where we once again struck out, the 3 of us, for the mouth of the cove, where a house on a little hillock had a dock, where we went and sat, swimming through the crystal clear water, without wanting to come back was another feeling altogether.

We then went on to Porto Fino, which was a little cove/port for Luxury yachts and there were several stunning mind-blowing ones there. Dinner was at a waterfront cafe, after which, we headed back to the station and to Lavagna. A drink later, we all crashed out.

The next morning was an early one, with a mind-blowing breakfast of great coffee, breads, meats etc.  9 am train to Monterorosso, the first town of the Cinque Tere. 5 beach front towns which were connected by seafront paths on hillsides.

The first connecting trail was a tough trek which the 5 of us did, while on the second it was Advait, Chloe and myself, while the parents took the train as they were pretty tired. Lunch at the 3rd town,  and train to the 4th as there were landslides on that path . town 4-5 was a seaside promenade walk, nice and comfy so we all ambled along taking in the amazing view. A train back to the first town which had the best beach of all, and naturally, a leisurely evening spent swimming out and then kayaking on the beach, after which we sat leisurely on a street-side bench, and the 4 of us, including mum, killed a nice bottle of local wine.

A train back and a lovely pizza beer+wine dinner at a local restaurant in Lavagna.

Disappointed , but currently content, we slept off, the beach side vacation was over.

The next morning, we drove back into Torino, where Advait and the rest of graduating batch had their designs on display , followed by a dinner with the families of a bunch of his friends, and another night on the town.

We drove out to a place called Lake Maggiore the next morning, part in Italy, part in Switzerland.

This was also a pretty rich area, though the extremely classy, grandiose, almost Austrian-Swiss architecture wise opposite of the glamorous, showy Monaco.  We visited 2 of the 3 islands in the centre of the lake, saw 1 palace and some architecture, pieces of history as they were preserved, and then took the scenic route back to Torino.

The next 3 days included walked around Torino, taking in the sights and sounds, a church on a hill with a fabulous all around view (Superga), a couple of fun drinking and partying nights, some brilliant spoken buffards by Chloe and Mum, advaits Graduation Ceremony, a crazy IED grad party, and one final, insane, late, semi-plastered, champagne , cigars, and long-island iced teas night on the town!!!!

All sad to leave the next day, the 3 of us, walked around the city and ate some brilliant food and ice-cream, took in a few more churches and one last high point called Cappucini. Advait was to stay on for 3 more days with Chloe and wrap things up in Torino.

He drove us to Milan airport, where we were to board the flight back to India. I nearly bought a Hughes and Kettner amp, but didn't for fear of Delhi customs getting up to some bullshit with bringing an amp in.

I've rushed through 10, mad, brilliant, insane, unbelievable, maybe once in a lifetime , indescribable days. I've written like an idiot, like a child, abrupt, more concise then even a summary, more rushed then God knows what. There was no possible way I could bring myself to go into detail,  because I would possibly have to put up separate blog entries for each day, because every minute is crystal clear, every view, every memory, every feel, every sight, every sound.  Unfortunately its like an experience out of time and the reality that we live in. More so, I probably wouldn't be able to do justice to those 10 days and all we did and saw, and would end up falling short, disappointing myself and others with what I wrote, and most probably didn't convey.

To sum up, it was truly unbelievable, indescribable, and I have no words. For those of you who understand what I mean, despite the fact that I have written about those 10 days, I truly have no words that would be appropriate or do justice to the experience.

I will however, link you to some facebook albums, so that you may at least have some visuals of what we saw. And some wiki links, so maybe if you're interested, you could read about the places.

All in all, the trip and stay at each place on the Italian+French Riviera, and more so in Italy, was too short, it shall be done again some time, with full justice being done to each place.

For now... as always..

Cheers,

Beast.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151095558702930.503492.508537929&amp;type=1

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151094034932930.503311.508537929&amp;type=1

Cinque Tere - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinque_Terre

Lago Maggiore - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Maggiore

Porto Fino - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portofino

Superga - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superga

Eze - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%88ze

Test for Echo

Once again, long absences , promises made and broken, long drawn out bouts of creativity, activity, screaming, speed kings, jams, fireballs , blessed curses and the like.

a TRUCKLOAD happened, after the last post, pretty much.

1.The Timmy Verghese got married, and i'm not sure he's entirely come to terms with it yet, heh(that's me the cynic talking).

2.Spook successfully got a new guitar player on board, played 2 shows with him, and he is BRILLIANT!!! Michael Lee, priorly of KSM, PDV , Love Kamikaze and still of Aftertaste!!!! Its a blast  having him on board, guitar driven Spook sound, getting closer, maybe we'll get there soon enough.  He's bringing in some super tastefully lines and work into the songs, that's just getting the music off in the right way, all we need to do is to now translate this into album work. NO, the second album, currently titeld Lyrical Cynic, has NOT been tracked yet. Shall keep you posted on that. Though we did upload some kickass live tracks at www.soundcloud.com/spooktheband-1

We played one pretty fun show with guest musicians at the Blue Frog; Sidd Coutto, POzy Dhar, Anurag Shanker, Unni, Crosby, Zain Calcuttawala.... and sadly we got cut off just as we were about to play Top of the Rock, the most depressing part of the gig - HEH!!!!

Vaibhav Wavikar is now playing with Spook, some very good news, with Arfaaz coming in when the former can't make it. Arfaaz unfortunately fell sick and couldn't guest with us on a Zebediah Plush song, which supremely sucked.

For SPook, its now about completing the sound that we seem to be getting closer to, and recording the album.

I played another 2 early sets, 1 that was actually planned, which ended with me playing Someone like you - Adele. Yup, BIG surprise there, with a bunch of crazy bachelorette party types wanting to give me a hug 'coz your like...so so bitter dude'...haha..that was funny..The second one was actually a truckload of confusion, where i got booked for a set, but it wasn't confirmed, so i ended up actually starting at 8.15. Decent gig, played for 15 people, ate, drank, got paid(hoping to)..heh

I managed to put together a badass, full fun Deep Purple tribute at the Blue Frog, with 14 musicians on board. The turnout wasn't that great, shows the chuthia, bakchod fickle outlook of Mumbai on music. I mean, nobody's really in that space anymore, but hey, the point is to tribute something great, and come out to watch it. but 'Oh, we'll go out to watch Dylan tributes coz he likes, smoked n all bro ' (read aloud in stoner voice) - U MORONS!!!!! DEEP PURPLE WERE ON ACID - NOT COOL ENOUGH?!?!?!?!!?

Either way, the Frog was happy, and the 14 of us worked our butts off, and had an absolute BLAST playing the gig!!!! I sang Burn, Fireball, Speed King, Demon's Eye, Never Before, and joined in with everybody for the Smoke on the Water finale, which was crazy because Ravi Iyer and Vinay Lobo were messing around with the time signature of the song through the riff. The audience of course didn't really know what was going on. All in All full adrenaline pumping through out the gig, and well pulled off!!!! It was owned.

HELLWIND HAPPENED!!!!!!!! www.soundcloud.com/hellwind !!!!!!!

80 s MAD melodic band.....playing crazyass pop covers worked metal style. It's been completely insane working towards this hushed up project. We had a 1000 hits overnite on the first track!!!!! 1.5 hour gig as frontman at HRC Pune, nearly ,lost my voice, but it held, and I just went for it!!!!, I can't wait for more to happen with this band!!!!!!!I popped my frontman (minus guitar) + Metal cherry at that gig.

If it weren't for the Deep Purple gig, I wouldn't have know what the bloody hell to do at this one.....

Another licence rejection (yes....because i rehehehheaallly didn't expect that), some more desi DGCA bullshit about some rules being changed and some flying not being recognised and some babu in Delhi who decided to scratch his nuts and change another rule.

1 more project, which will actually involve me singing in Hindi on an entire album (details ONLY on album release - i'm sworn to secrecy on pain of death)

At the lightening nationals this year, i FINALLY popped my National title cherry as well!!!! after playing bridesmaid all these years, with Xerxes as skipper and Khusru on board as well, we nailed it, 5 out 5 guns. Not big, but hey - cherry popping is cherry popping.

An Italy trip which also involves visits to Cannes, Monaco, Pisa, Florence , begins this week, for the Doofus' graduation . Never thought I would see this day(wipes away a tear)..... but as they say, Never say Never..

I just realised - It sucks when too much happens in a span of 3 months and you need to Rush and catch up on it in one blog post that you're hurriedly writing because you got some chuthia inspiration to write just as Mother was making roast mutton with baked potatoes in mint sauce....and hence..this is a Test for Echo (we sincerely hope you're still out there and reading)

All the deep dark inspiration that got me to write, that sometimes made me NOT write, that sometimes caused worse things to happen in my head - seems to be lurking around somewhere, I'm just trying to get my hands on it , firmly.

Things change everyday, sometimes you write well, sometimes you summarize, and sometimes, well ; you're purely an entertainer and a story teller. I don't know which one this is, but i definitely know, that this is one of those lessons that teaches me to write more often, else one day I'll wake up and realise i've forgotten more then half my life...

I'll try to keep this next absence short....really short.

cheers.

Beast

Once we were legends

The age of heroes is now long gone.
With trends and pretenders several thousand strong,
They exist to keep your fickle souls in place..
In time steady thoughts they will erase...

The age of heroes is a dormant one...
to live through time in a space under the sun
Though darkness fuels their deeds coming of age..
They keep your pretence and bind their rage.

Once we were legends..Who freely walked the earth..
OUr strength and our deeds displayed a mighty heart.
Once we were heroes, that lived to fight another day..
The urban warrior princes, who laughed with commoners all the

way..


Today is a place where the legends subside...
Where emptiness and airheads in daily doses oblige...
Their fads and their coolness keep them smiling away..
Yet there are of us who know they are here, yet gone by the next

day...

But the heroes will live, withstanding time and tide,
Their legends, their strength, will not subside..
Even if only they know who they are...
The truth of their existence is never very far.
For while trends, fads and paper champions walk around.
The world is a sea of faces and sound..
But the most common faces, yet most visible in a crowd...
Belong to these heroes, who silently live out loud


Once we were legends..Who freely walked the earth..
OUr strength and our deeds displayed a mighty heart.
Once we were heroes, that lived to fight another day..
The urban warrior princes, who laughed with commoners all the way

Tom Sawyer

<em><strong>It has been a while since I last posted, around a month and a half, give a few days maybe. Around the time of the previous opening set that I did at the Blue frog. There were strong threats from me that I would post once a week and all that, but I guess it just came to nought.</strong></em>

To Summarize,

Post that post well, the solitude continued for a few days, the papers came, as always there was some hitch with the great DGCA , they changed more policies, had more issues with my paperwork. Issues with the documents i submitted, changes in medical policies, redoing and Indian Air Force medical, a US govt. FAA medical et al.

To get the great Gandhi married, a bunch of us went  up to a rafting camp at Hrishikesh, kept a compartment full of overnight passengers awake in a train with a late night booze fuelled sing song, kept ourselves warm at the rafting camp with Old Smuggler and other alcohol, rafted down the Ganga, froze like nobodys' business, took a while to get back to warmth while eating chilly loaded maggi and drinking tea by the riverside...We got them married, successfully, sort of an elope.

On to Delhi, where I met the DGCA and figured out what exact issue they had, met an old college buddy after years and drank copious amounts of locally brewed wheat beer, and eventually caught a flight back to Bombay reeking of it.

Then booking medical dates, flipping out over controlling my levels.  And of course, practicing all the semi-commercial Hindi music that Spook played for the great Gandhi's 'production' wedding, which basically meant booking a sprawling boutique hotel outside Pune (with a Microbrewery attached to it) and generally going overboard on everything, the only way to do it i guess, again, with copious amounts of beer and other booze.

Post wedding, meeting relatives from the US, going sailing and thinking about more music.

A class 1 medical with every possible blood test and then a physical once over by a senior Air Force doctor at at airbase in Hyderabad, which in typical my luck fashion got delayed by 3 days as the great ministry decided not to send a sanction letter on time. Sometimes, i feel like pulling of one major anarchic sanction on them....torch the place, napalm, whatever.

Then, I plunged straight back into creativity. I got lucky with an opening set for the one and only Karsh Kale. it was a not-so-early-early set at the Blue frog. I played a balanced set, some originals , some covers, and because I actually played AFTER free entry closes at the frog there was a decent crowd, who, from the balance silence and noise after the songs, had a good time, with some good reviews after. I got in touch with this kickass percussion player called Vaibhav. He played the gig with me. He's also one of those very groovy, disciplined, leftie drummers with some mad idea of technique. It was a good gig, most importantly, we felt good about it, and we definitely want to work on something together in the future, something from scratch....something banging, let's hope so.

Up next, Spook goes into second album(yes, i know this is old news and should have happened by now, but hey, don't kill me, these kinda delays happen). Yours truly is co-producing and overseeing, and is hoping that the drums at least go off well, maybe i will post some pics from the sessions here.

Also, the Formula1 season has started, and I am actually feeling whole again, disturbing, but true.

For some reason, off late, I haven't really been that inspired to write. Maybe there hasn't been much of real deep substance going on in my life off late, except those few , deep, dark realisations and then again maybe coming to terms with it. Or then not coming to terms with it as yet. Either way, it seems like just a description of things that went on, and happened, and are possibly consequential to things that will happen soon, a little while from now. Things that might open up, things that might shut down, things that might be lost forever . But either way, ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die.....

The idea is generally to keep plodding on, and not forcing inspiration, but giving in to it entirely when it decides to show up, and at other times, just being honest that there isn't any. Who knows..... maybe its just waiting around the corner.

See you in a few...minutes, days, weeks, i'll try not to make it months...

cheers

the Beast

Dreamline

<em>It's been a while since I put in an entry, every week i thought that I would write, but i guess it just didn't happen. From Norfolk, Virginia, back to Mumbai, through a viral fever, then on to Singapore, only to figure that I'm not an engineer, so move on...Mumbai, 2 back to back gigs at High Spirts(Pune) and then Blue Frog(Mumbai), with Spook. The High Spirits one was pretty banging. the BF gig has some crappy, shitty sound which we could just not overcome, seems like we're plagued by some technical curse!!! Then on to Bangalore and Kerala for a road trip. Kerala didn't happen because of some TN-Kerala water dispute at a dam, other routes would take 12 hours from Bangalore. So we stayed on at Anurag's house, ate good food, played basketball, twisted ankles, drank Belgian Wheat beer, planned out an album, all in all a good end to 2011.</em>

2012 starts on a mind frying note, waiting for the great elusive frying licence cooped up in a house, unable to move out until dark, no, its not as occult or supernatural as you or I would like to think.

The upside, enjoying my solitude and playing my guitar.

As for progress, the best part - I did my first ever 1 hour solo set at the Blue Frog. Past all the excitement it was an opening set. 5 covers, 5 originals.
2 were Spook originals, 1 was a resurrected old Zephyr original, and 2 were something brand new I had written in the same week, 3-4 days prior to the gig, in a slightly different zone then Spook stuff, i would like to think.

So, counting Spook and this solo act, its 2 out of 4, if you've been following the blog, if not, go back and read....

The idea, with these random songs written, is to do something about them, work with people around, get inputs on them, and push them forward to developing into a style and package that they are produced/engineered into after jamming, playing and working on them. They will initially be played as acoustic songs, to be put out there, to be composed and tested, but when in recorded format, they will be spun, woven, and relaid (all you perves, that does not mean what you think it does), to come forward as somethign completely different. And yes, there will be more Blue Frog early sets, so all you frauds who claim to look forward to one and support me, can actually come forward and watch *sticks tongue out and makes choked face*, and these songs will be heard, acoustic, along with some covers.

However, if I ever do get a chance to get a 'solo' performance slot at the frog, I will take the full form of these tracks, as backing tracks, with guitars being played by me live, and with whoever I get to sing and play on these tracks, engineer a real 'show', so its not 'just' another gig. The aim is to create an experience, not just have people come and get off on some band or person standing around , playing a guitar and singing. Unfortunately, without name (read as social public OMG status), fame (read as something touted by the twatter oriented, fad-loving Twitterati ) and claim (to some big band/album at some point), the kind of people who will be ready to accept and absorb and enjoy something like this with an open mind, will probably be a close friends' circle lot,and family, which for me is pretty darn limited. Wishes, horses, Ifs, buts...

<strong>As for plans made for the next couple of months.</strong>
Spook goes into working on our 2nd studio effort sometime soon, as soon as this goddamned house arrest and waiting for my licence is done. 8 songs, working with Kenny Wilson of Caesars Palace , Moon - Arre etc as co-producer and recording engineer. Drums, Keys, Bass will most probably be done in Mumbai, but for vocals and guitar parts, heading down to Bangalore seems like a good option so far. The plan is to take a little more time over this one as opposed to the 7 day charge that we pulled Underwaterseabird off in.
In other news, Anis Gandhi gets married at the end of this month and then once again with full ceremonies at the end of Feb. Another Spook drummer departs due to the same reasons as the previous one, not enough gigging to make the cut etc etc, same bugger all shit that gets caused by monopolies and other such bastardy that locks out dates and venues(reference to rant a few paragraphs back).

Music plans 3 and 4 will hopefully get under way soon, let's see how that goes and progresses, and hopefully, we will all(including myself) see more regular updates and posts on this blog.  Come next post, I'm going to upload those tracks from the Blue Frog of the two new originals.

For now, I shall sign off, though I'm not entirely sure whether I'm following plans that I made, got angrier, calmed down and so on. Let's see where this goes.

Cheers,

Beast

Hemispheres

Time to ponder and plan one's progress and chart out the way forward is always a good thing. More often then not, we all need to take a step back and plan out the near future with regard to the bigger picture. And otherwise, some ongoing parts of your life wherein you want to progress and accomplish something, also require some careful attention.

As I sit here in Chesapeake, Virginia, on this computer, staring out the window at the lovely little locality where I'm staying, taking in the beauty and scenic serenity that comes with it, my mind and thoughts wander away and run, dance, examine and muse over the current state of certain activities and goings on in my life.

I'm here to renew some flight time on a different aircaft because our dear govt. and their errant Civil Aviation Directorate can't make up their minds between 4 and 6 cylinder aircraft and what not. I flew after 1 whole year with an ex USAF Jet transport pilot , who is now an instructor. I got the most brilliant crisp assessment from him, with positives and negatives in my flying. It turns out that my negatives lie in an area  that needs a lot more on the go practice then anything else, briefings and pre-procedure. Flying, smoothness, aircraft control, touchdown, are all A-OK!!! and it feels great. And it also seems, that my patience has grown. As the Great Steven John Kipp once put it. 'Akshay, we don't land an aircraft, we set her up to land, and she lands herself, they're alive too y'know'.

So as i continue down my path to establish the Career Pilot objective and process, with planning and variables and all that goes hand in hand with that, there is that other, supremely important, driving force part of my life, that catches my attention.  Music, all that it is, all that it represents, all that it brings about, all that it does for me, and all that it makes for me, and makes me.

So after all that debate, thought, wrestling in my head, conferring with myself, I hit upon a solution, which makes me grow 4-fold in the field, of course, effort, knowledge etc all being given quantities , qualities and present virtues.

1. Spook shall continue as my 'singer-songwriter'(yes yes i know i had various takes on the same) outlet with the wonderful 3 interpreting and putting out the stuff that i write. In a sense, my inputs of melody, lyric and composition provides the raw material for the 4 of us to mess with, re-interpret and throw out there. It becomes like sharing a drive for a particular target. The growth here is a response to stimulus in as many ways as possible. Being the songwriter, the singer as well as the vocalist and the ONLY guitar player in the band thus far, its up to me to fit every role as best and as comprehensively as I can, Doing several things at once, and growing from there, is musical multitasking, and is sort of a push in the forward direction.

2.Find a bass player who writes music, and can sing, and a drummer to back you both up. Following  the Holy Trinity configuration of Rush, jam with them play with them. With the current tutelage in terms of composition, guitar playing and basic knowledge of the instrument, under Anurag Shanker, the focus is not to sing, not to necessarily purely compose, bunng, line driving, production guitar player(a cheap(read as very cheap) version of Alex Lifeson minus shredding ability) who makes stuff come alive and is the mainstay and support for the bass player whose focus is to put out those simple thumping bass lines, and sing.

3.Get in touch with a driving force kind of real guitar player who is capable of thinking riffs an arpeggios and compositions to drive a 'band'. My only contribution to the project should be limited to lyrics and melody, if at all. I wouldn't even mind being TOLD what to sing with putting my own spin on something that's given to me, and only doing it after it being approved. No playing an instrument and only focus on Vocals, to grow, mature, and be out there as a frontman.

4.The most challenging of them all. Explore my acoustic compositional side. Not necessarily resulting something that I will sing AND play. Write something, lyrical, melodic, or just a semi-complete instrument peace. Get in another guitar player, vocalist, lyricist et al, and have them give you their spin to a point on the piece. Have them sing it, have them work at it, while i oversee, produce the work in a sense...and be the overall master of puppets on the piece, tracks or whatever it does end up becoming.

Between no1.and no.4 there's got to be some inspiration from Steven Wilson somewhere.

These are the 4 roads forward, 4 paths, 4 projects, bands, or what you will. They touch on 4 aspects of Music as is related to me. I guess i want to go down this path because i know, that even when i'm a well paid senior pilot somewhere, I want to be considered an accomplished and knowledgeable musician, more then being considered just a good one.

As always, thoughts, ideas, musings, planning, creation and recreation. Thank you for your time again.

cheers,

The Beast

Something for Nothing

Setting a standard and a goal for yourself is as much an important part of growth and maintaining it, as doing things constructively is. We all tend to just go ahead full steam with all enthusiasm and magnitude towards something that we think is where we're meant to be. It isn't always planned before hand, because a lot of us reason it out saying - <strong><em>"Shit happens, and stuff goes wrong , not the way I planned it, so whats the point?"</em></strong> WRONG

If any of you have ever heard this line "Do you think he plans it out, or makes it all up as he goes along?" then you probably have paid enough attention to the character this line is spoken about to realise that even though he comes out of pop-culture and fiction, the deep rooted though behind all he does despite his flippant facade is nothing short of brilliant. And as a matter of fact, ONLY he could probably pull this off. I guess it comes of being a sailor in one form or the other.

Thorough planning, paying attention to every details, every inch of the and how you want it to pan out. That is the way to go. What about variable factors? Well, without these, your plan is definitely NOT complete, and without giving room for these, neither are you a good planner. At which point you say, why be a planner at all.

A good thorough plan essentially involves planning out every bit of the, from start to finish, paying attention to every minute detail, with your procedure(no matter how big or small), planned out thoroughly. A good plan is complete, when EVERY single detail of yours has enough give for a variable. Honestly, life is a bunch of variables, and you have to be prepared for them to change and be thrown at you faster than you can say Jack Robinson, or Micheal Johnson...or Tony Iomi...or Fernando Alonso...or even Giancarlo Fischicella..in the slow lazy way these names are said...

Every detail + 100% flexibility, and you are good to go.

However, any factor that you can control, should be controlled, as far as possible. To get your life in order, look at the bigger picture....its always worth the risk and the Long Shot.

Now Imagine this is real

Now Imagine this is true

Now imagine, this is not a dream.

Now Imagine, this is all you were taught.

Cheers.

Beast

Working Man

A lot of you felt that my last post was suddenly something I ripped off from John Mayer, or something that was totally inspired by him. Yes, AND no.

It was inspired by the way things are around, the bullshit that goes on and is perceived as something, Oh so cool!!!! Why, coz some socially accepted nitwit thinks its awesome and has lauded it(eg.-the general worship for Lokesh Khanna. I'm sorry, there's about as much musician in him as there is penis in Spotted Dick and Gulaab in Gulaab Jaamun - this only from sharing a stage with him a few times). It is also inspired by the fact that, everything is taken for granted ...

For the longest time, I couldn't listen to John Mayer, rather bring myself to listen to him because after hearing Why, Georgie Why, i heard Your Body is a Wonderland, and I wondered why such a supremely talented individual would play such random bullshit and throwing in a hooky chorus everywhere singing 'Your body is a Wonderland',(Naishad Kati can state pretty accurately how worthless i think the chorus and song is, and how i hate it) it did and still does seem like a very stupid song which no matter how lauded as the real deal, if ever, i shall always be closed to. That, back then, effectively shut out John Mayer for me.

However, over the years, I was exposed to various avataars of the man, his 'band', his Blues trio, it was inevitable, 1 feeds the the 2nd and so on feed the 3rd and back to 1, all 3 entities are self supporting, and that's when i got on better terms with him, changed my approach to his music. I'm still no scholar in terms of John Mayer, but I'm able to appreciate him a lot LOT more, and more then just appreciate. My respect for the man, as a musician, and more importantly, as a thinker of a musician, as a thinker about the essential parts of life, his life of course(which is music), is seamless and boundless.

His talk at Berklee, and the way he presented himself, all he spoke about, all he professed to be and do, was completely naked (not now ladies, fantasies about John Mayer later, read woman read!!!! FOCUS!!!!). His approach to his music, to how he put it out there, where he started, focus, regimen, humility, self-doubt, and using that self-doubt and criticism as an analytical tool.

A strict practice and training regime, so much so that it is almost athletic. Put all your vices and distractions aside, and go for what you think, and what in your opinion is something that contributes to your growth. Teachers, friends, family, musicians, Gods, rockstars, sessions musicians and all their families, ancestors, and descendants, and even their.....well , you get the picture......can tell you a million things. <strong><em>But what you take away from them, what you decide that you want to learn, what you decide to teach yourself (through whatever medium, yourself or a teacher)is what makes you grow.</strong>

You have to live with yourself, you have to push yourself, and like i said, there is always a higher plane, always that much more distance to cover.

When writing a song, you have to go with your flow, whether your flow is planned, felt, constructed, or even programmed with the help of the Advanced Quantum Trignometized Theory of Sonic Magnetic Perception while viewed from the Hypotenuse. Work with it, it is after all your strength, and your best foot, right? so why would you not want to put that forward.

WRONG, that is not much but a great place to start, something that gives you a push, purely magnitude wise, not necessarily directionally, if both, then I am truly happy for you. Once you get the ball rolling, you start exploring, you start trying, you start replacing a simple melody, or simple playing, with all the twists and turns that signify Chaos Theory.

In short, it all looks like a maze and twist of random events and notes, but from the greater perspective, it is one kickass song!!!!!

That's the ideal result. What will happen, initially more often then not, and then with decreasing frequency, (but it is important that it still happens), is that you will write bad songs, some shitty ones, some pretty bad ones, some which are like, "DUDE!!!!! Elevator music"!!!!

But then, you will...and trust me...if you put in the effort, if you work it through, and see it through, and do justice, you WILL, write a GOOD song.

(disclaimer : - Justice, is a relative term and purely variable, there is no such thing as too little or too much in a song. There is no formula, you will grow into it with age... whether musical, or physical/mental age, and if you don't age, well, I'm just hoping it'll come to you, else, fear not, you can always play Tic-Tac-Toe like Cleetus).

There is never too much, or too little in a song, its just the biggest, most dynamic space ever. Remember, there was that day, when Alex Lifeson thrust a keyboard into Geddy Lee's hands, and there was that day when he just took it back. Give and take - its almost like playing with yourself, except its WAAAAAYYYYYYYY more fun.

Failure is a stepping stone to success, and just as it applies everywhere else, it applies in songwriting as well. You start off somewhere low, acknowledge it, push yourself, strive to rise above, and you will. There are good, well meaning people along the way, who are always around to help you and guide you. It is your approach to them,  theirs and your craft that makes ALL the difference.

Chords, lines, riffs, lyrics, melodies, arpeggios _________________ (that blank is for the already learned ones to fill up - I will get there soon, when i do, I'll fill in the blank) are all out there, they have been created, withstood the test of time, and still do exist very strongly. It is how we view them, understand, play, and use them that counts.

Use your strengths, start strengthening your weaknesses. As you become stronger, more knowledgeable, and more schooled (the interpretation of schooled is as you perceive it), you will get stronger, but where one weakness died, another 10 WILL spring up, but so will 5 more strengths.

Play these right, shuffle them around, read IF -Rudyard Kipling, and manage your hand of 21-card rummy well - And you have one hell of a lifelong gaming session on your hands, for all the world to see. This day won't last forever, deep in the hearts of men...Seize it...Carpe Diem baby!!!!

I probably sounds preachy, or pseudo-knowledgeable. Its meant to be neither, just thoughts, ideas, something you might enjoy reading. And no, I'm not going to be stuck on songwriting forever, I'm a little more multi-faceted then that. OK, maybe even MPD ridden.

But don't expect everything to be absolutely bloody brilliant, like songwriting, everything's got to have its ups and downs for growth. Besides, if all the reading was SO damned fantastic, trust me , i know you, you would get bored.

But as long as it makes for good reading, I'm glad you are still here, and taking something away.  More to come soon, diversified, and so on.

Cheers,

The Beast.

Beyond the Lighted Stage

The creation of music, is an art, a law, a process entirely unto itself, and governed by the most outlandish sources of inspiration, drive and desire. It represents the simplest emotion, feeling, description or thought process in its most eloquent form. How it is created, why it is created, what the purpose is, and who the person/people behind such creation are, is where everything differs and diversifies.

One often tends to believe that it can be done, it is possible, or then only some are gifted to be able to pull it off. In truth, whether by skill, or talent, song - lyrical or instrumental, there will be something that a musician/instrumentalist can create.

The first actual song I ever wrote, which I remember and sometimes play - was a simple lyric, with a chorus, 4-5 chords, some very very obvious and clear influences, which could even be called ripped-off. To top it all, I would till date regard as a relatively friendly, soothing melody.

It was a nice place to start, amateurish, more then just so actually, but hey, you have to start somewhere. If you did start at a peak or a real high, there would be supremely high expectations, no other place higher to go, anything that wasn't up to that standard later would be regarded as trash and so on n so forth. But, the debate, the problem, and the decision, lies in where you choose to go from there. Go up, forward, progress, expand on all you know by adding to it? or sit back, and say..bro...i know how to write music...this is where its at, i sound like Bob Dylan, or The Beatles and stuff like that.

Beyond that kind of songwriting was always the will to progress, to learn more, listening, watching, learning, and adding to your skill set in whatever way you can, to better how you play, to better the way you write, modification and growth to the way you think. Learn something beyond chords, keep your melodic roots, but listen to what is happening around you : In your own city, your neighbours' houses, halfway around the world, it doesn't matter, just listen.

Honestly, this didn't happen till recently, when the boundaries that i knew and was comfortable in were pushed by skilled musicians around me, and it went waaaayyy beyond...."ya bro.....i write like...music and lyrics bro", and no more was that a line of speech and conversation. To simplify, it was, but it was to that general lot of people who heard the words 'I write lyrics and compose tunes around them in an attempt to write songs' as....' im a singer/songwriter bro'......and to those who would probably understand what i was actually saying, I said pretty much the same thing, but in my head it started sounding like ; I'm moving forward from just writing lyrics and composing parts and melodies etc. I want to be some sort of a craftsman, a spell weaver from an RPG or a fantasy series. Some one whose playful intricacy in his craft grows with every batch of spells, products, songs, or anything.

Every woven and crafted bit of art, science, however he looks at it, is something that teaches him, something that satisfies him or doesn't , but yet something that allows him or enables him to improve and be better at what he does.

(And no, 'he', is not a call for feminists, femi-nazis, and anti-sexists to rally up and freak out)

The tools are what you need to acquire, whether by yourself, or through somebody else. If you were born with them(that is assuming u came out of the womb with shredding guitar/piano/bass/sax/other melodic instrument playing ability), you need to sharpen them, hone them, make them precise and able to do exactly what you want and more.

And trust me, there is always more. ALWAYS more. Not something I always believed in, but something i learned about along the way, something that i still continue to learn about each time i pick up a guitar, sing, think about it, or even watch somebody else play. I thought about reaching that ultimate musical plane, where I knew it all, and had reached the place I wanted to be in. I knew it would take me ages to get there, but i knew that there was a place to be.

But over the past little while, being an insignificant time in my life as it is, was and to be, I have realised, that there is always a higher plane, always that little more distance to go, the true concept of Infinity.

Every time you think that you see the end, there will always be that extra stretch that opens up in front of you. To take up that path, and have it inspire you and drive you forward , is what makes u grow, naturally, you don't have to try, just be all Nike about it, Think , Watch, Listen and Learn.

It definitely makes you among the wiser and more learned people around

(No, you are not the best, so if you do indeed keep eyes and ears open, stop gloating  )

While it may not be entirely humorous and may truly sound like Greek to some of you, I hope it has made for good reading, however abstract, however Enigmatic, and no matter what level of jibberish you think i have reached.

For the rest, the aim is to provide food. For thought, for consumption and eventually digestion. *this kind of food does not merit defecation or excretion.

Cheers

Beast