tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2009-11-11:/I'm a Singer/Songwriter from near Chichester in West Sussex. I've been writing Indie songs for a number of years now.I decided to join Youtube to have some fun and help promote some of my original material.So I've recorded a load of cover versions of popular songs, and also uploaded my own songs.My blog is a chronology of how I'm getting on with Youtube. Which includes videos, comments and statistics.MokoFeed2009-11-11T21:21:55+01:00tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2009-07-12:/2009/07/12/where-i-was-going-wrong-6497438/jeffstunes2009-07-12T15:15:33+02:002009-07-12T15:15:33+02:00 <p>The 95th video was yet another of my requests. I was recently asked by one of my subscribers if I could sing this and dedicate it to her boyfriend, who also happens to be one of my subscribers, and so I'm told, a big fan of my work. The requested number was "Swallowed in the sea" by that great band Coldplay. There have been quite a number of Coldplay requests. I've already done quite a few.</p> <p>On to the song itself. Here is my rendition of this wonderful song from the album X&Y.</p> <p>So it's back to the stats for my Youtube channel, and so far my Subscribers have climbed to 1,414.<br> The viewings of my channel have gone past the 33k barrier to 33,008. My total video viewings is creeping ever nearer to 700k at 687,830. I'm hoping that figure will be passed before the end of the month.</p> <p>Now a look forward to my next post. I've already recorded the song, and in my opinion, it is one of the most wonderful modern compositions I've ever heard. I wont spoil it by saying anything now, and I hope I've created just a little anticipation. Until I write again <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2009/07/12/where-i-was-going-wrong-6497438/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2009-07-02:/2009/07/02/where-were-you-6438011/jeffstunes2009-07-02T17:37:25+02:002009-07-02T17:37:25+02:00 <p>Some of my viewers have been convinced that I have been miming in my videos, and the only way I can take that is as a compliment. That they should be convinced that I'm miming to someone elses voice.<br> That got me thinking, and I carried that idea over to this video. It's a picture slideshow with a difference.</p> <p>This song is called "You found me" and is by a group called "The Fray". I did another one of their songs on Youtube called "How to save a life".</p> <p>This is MY version of it. I hope you like it.</p> <p>Here's the regular Youtube statistics digest.<br> My subscribers have increased to 1,408.<br> The visits to my channel page now stand at 32,714.<br> The total video views are rolling forward and have now reached 677,653.</p> <p>My next video is a Coldplay number and a dedication for a couple of my subscribers. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2009/07/02/where-were-you-6438011/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2009-07-01:/2009/07/01/we-all-know-the-song-6429513/jeffstunes2009-07-01T08:45:26+02:002009-07-01T08:45:26+02:00 <p>I'm now up video number ninety three.</p> <p>It's time I did some of my requests and I'm starting with the one that has been requested the most. I've had requests for a number of Neil Diamond songs, and I have already got through quite a few, but this one has evaded my microphone thus far.</p> <p>The title is "Love on the rocks". I hope you enjoy my rendition of this beautiful song. Neil Diamond compositions are always a joy for me to sing.</p> <p>OK. It's numbers time. It all seems to be swimming along nicely.<br> The Subs to the Jeffstunes channel are now up at 1,406.<br> My channel has now been looked at 32,593 times and the overall video views are now 673,277!!</p> <p>Here's what's coming next. I'm going to be crossing another most requested off my list, and it's going to be by "The Fray". Then something from Coldplay <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2009/07/01/we-all-know-the-song-6429513/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2009-06-02:/2009/06/02/for-only-time-6225787/jeffstunes2009-06-02T21:58:11+02:002009-06-02T21:58:11+02:00 <p>I'm putting my dad's story on hold for a few posts. I will be coming back to it.</p> <p>It's been quite some time since I uploaded my last vid, but the video views are still as strong. I've recorded a few songs that were requested, and it's time to give them an airing. Here's the first one.</p> <p>It's one of the Carpenters classic songs. I saw a documentary about them just the other night. I think that had something to do with me uploading it.</p> <p>It's entitled "For all we know", and this is my rendition of it.</p> <p>Here's the latests on the statistics. They have certainly advanced.<br> The total subscribers to my channel are now 1,368.<br> My channel has been seen 31,758 times.<br> Finally, the overall video views are 648,469.</p> <p>Hopefully the next upload will be something from Neil Diamond. A much requested song. Then my second Fray cover. Bye for now <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2009/06/02/for-only-time-6225787/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2009-02-27:/2009/02/27/my-rendition-of-use-somebody-5657325/jeffstunes2009-02-27T02:35:34+01:002009-02-27T02:35:34+01:00 <p>The ninety first of my Youtube vids, and astonishingly one of my choices. I thought I'd treat myself. I've been hearing a song for a while, but haven't really paid that much attention to it until recently. Then when I did get around to having a sing-a-long, I discovered that it was pretty simple to sing, and very enjoyable at the same time. So I used a spare half an hour in the morning to record it. Literally. The song is called "Use somebody", and it's originally by "Kings of leon".</p> <p>Check it out:</p> <p>I thought I'd use the video opportunity to pump a website I made. It all came from answering my comments on Youtube. If you try to write more than four comments in ten minutes, you normally get challenged by Captcha. You get asked to type in made up words that are sometimes very amusing. You can make it generate loads by continually clicking "Can't read". They were all fake words, and pretty soon I started imagining fake definitions for the words. I thought it would be funny if there was a dictionary with all the fake words in and fake definitions. It would be a great laugh. I couldn't wait for that to happen, so I quickly put together my own site and called it "Captchionary".<br> I've started it off with quite a few words and definitions myself. Anybody can submit their own Captcha words and definitions. The more the merrier. I'd love to read other entries.</p> <p>So if you see a Captcha image that has a word you could make a definition for then right click on the image and save it to your computer. Then visit the Captchionary website at:</p> <p><a href="http://captchionary.jeffsmusic.co.uk/">The Captchionary</a></p> <p>Fill out the form at the bottom and upload your image, or just provide another definition for one of the existing words. Then wait to see if your entry gets accepted. While you're on the site. Why not check out some of the existing words and definitions. You can click the "Hit me" link for random words. My cheeks already hurt from some that I've read.</p> <p>Now down to the Youtube business. Here's the state of play with the stats.</p> <p>Subscribers = 1,208<br> Channel views = 28,081<br> Total video views = 537,056</p> <p>Until next time... </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2009/02/27/my-rendition-of-use-somebody-5657325/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2009-02-12:/2009/02/12/my-rendition-of-you-ve-got-a-friend-5560392/jeffstunes2009-02-12T15:44:59+01:002009-02-12T15:44:59+01:00 <p>My request list is way out of control now. There are over 300 songs on it now. I get many more requests than I can possibly do, so the plan is to choose certain songs from the list. My first selection is "You've got a friend" by "James taylor". People have compared my voice to many vocalists over time, and James Taylor is one of those comparisons. Not to my ear, but then we are our own worst judges.</p> <p>What do you reckon. Take a listen:</p> <p>My Dad part 12</p> <p>The two other drunks apart from my dad that I've told you about, worked for a while with my father at a company called "Taylor woodrow" in Greenford. I got the distinct impression that the company were winding up operations on the site they were working on. I remember once being invited to their annual summer party. It was good fun, but I didn't really know anybody there. I visited his place of work on a number of occasions. I think he was employed in the capacity of some sort of security guard. It was a vast site with many buildings, yet none of them seemed to be staffed in any way. What perfect conditions for my father to work in, and I say that loosely. Nobody to witness him enjoying a tipple, and he most certainly did during working hours. He also used to bring home just about anything he could lay his hands on. By the time he left, his home was like a sub office of the firm <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"><br> I'm not sure if he ended up getting fired or made redundant from there, but it doesn't really matter in the end.<br> My father also used to lavish gifts upon me of jewellery and other precious items. The problem was that he didn't buy any of these items. He took them. Something I found out at a later date. Did he leave me any of those objects. Not a chance, he stole them back off me to sell for drink probably. I'm not too bothered about that. I'm not really a wearer of jewellery, and i never considered them mine. In fact they weren't his to give either!<br> So, what's it like to be the offspring of a common thief and an alcoholic?<br> I can't see it being any different from anybody else. Most children don't agree with some of their parents actions, it's just that a quantity of my father's actions were illegal <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>To be continued...</p> <p>My Youtube number have been advancing fairly consistently. I've worked out that I get on average between 1,100 and 1,300 views a day. Strangely though. Every now and again one of my videos enjoys a boost in views without any apparent reason. Like one video getting 4,000 views in 2 days. I'm still scratching my head.<br> My subscribers have increased to 1,183.<br> The viewing figures for my channel are 27,367 and I'm pleased to say that the total video views have pushed over the half a million mark to 521,210.</p> <p>Coming up next is more covering. There's a duet on the horizon, so I'm not sure if that's going to come first. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2009/02/12/my-rendition-of-you-ve-got-a-friend-5560392/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2009-01-07:/2009/01/07/tasty-nectarine-5338186/jeffstunes2009-01-07T17:09:39+01:002009-01-07T17:09:39+01:00 <p>A break from the music vids for a short while. Let me first wish all my blog readers a happy new year. How about some humour to start the year off with. I was going through some old video of my daughter, and found the tape I made of her first year. There were a number of clips on the vid that still make me laugh out loud, so I thought I'd put those moments on youtube for all to see, and hopefully to be as amused as I was.<br> As my daughter was settling into solids well, I tried many different foods to see if she liked them or not. On her first christmas I thought I'd try her on Nectarines. The result was hilarious. She shuddered with each taste, but wanted more. I'm so glad I captured it on camera. It never fails to amuse me.</p> <p>Here's a summary video on my Jeffhasspoken channel:</p> <p>Now the next part of my Dad's story.</p> <p>My Dad part 11</p> <p>I said previously that my father was an alcoholic. That was to be the key component in dismantling his relationship with Sheila. The two children adored him, but Sheila was getting fed up with the other alcoholics that he brought into the house. One of those was a guy affectionately called Bernie. Another was called Adam. Bernie passed away a few years ago due to the abuse of alcohol. His great love was his football team Manchester city. Kashif liked Bernie and the love of Manchester city rubbed off on him. My father wasn't the biggest of men. I'd say he was 5 foot 5 inches tall and very slim. I recall a chat with Bernie during one of his many drunken moments. Where the conversation started evades me, but he started talking about how he could easily take me down at any time (in a violent sense). The likelihood of that was so remote, considering he was so drunk and could hardly even walk, and I was completely sober. I was quite amused by his suggestion, however my father overheard his words and was less than impressed. Dad rushed in the living room in rage and put one hand around Bernie's throat and physically lifted him off the ground with one hand telling him "Never, ever threaten my son". I was quite surprised because Bernie probably weighed more that 12 stone, and my dad was only about 9 stone. It's amazing what strength adrenaline conjours up. I got to know the other of my Dad's drinking buddies called Adam. He handled his drink much better than Bernie. Being scottish, he loved a good heated debate. Especially with me. Whatever your opinion, he would always look at it from other angles. I enjoyed my chats with him. As far as I know he is still alive. I think he finally gave up the drink. Lucky man. When I knew Adam he had a partner, who was also a lover of alcohol. I got a call from the police one morning, telling me that they were holding my father and Adam for an alleged rape of Adam's partner. Knowing my father, that was highly unlikely, and it later transpired that Adam's partner had a habit of accusing people of rape. Those are the people that make life more difficult for the genuine rape victims. That's just another one of those gifts from alcohol. It can make you do the strangest things.</p> <p>To be continued.....</p> <p>Now for the lowdown on the Youtube stats.</p> <p>I now have 1,109 subscribers.<br> The Jeffstunes channel has now been viewed 25,766 times.<br> My overall video views is fast approaching half million at 470,388.</p> <p>The next of my video uploads is another funny clip from my daughter's first year. That's all for now. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2009/01/07/tasty-nectarine-5338186/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-12-19:/2008/12/19/beautiful-freak-the-eels-5247990/jeffstunes2008-12-19T23:42:01+01:002008-12-19T23:42:01+01:00 <p>I'm now up to my 89th video on Youtube.<br> The title of this one is "Beautiful freak" and it comes off the album of the same name which was put out in 1996 by the band "The Eels". It is an album that I've always loved. I think their lyrics are brilliant and the style of the music at the time was pretty current. I've got my eye on covering another one of the songs off the album. The music is very much the same except I only used Piano, Bass, Cello and Strings. This is what I came up with:</p> <p>Now the tenth installment of my father's story.</p> <p>My dad part 10.</p> <p>When I finally caught up with my dad, he was involved in a relationship with a lady called Sheila, who was the mother of two children called Sima and Kashif. She originally came from Tiger bay in Wales, although she certainly had asian roots. The two children absolutely adored my father. From my perspective it seemed like a strange relationship, but then maybe it was just me. His side of the family criticised the relationship, but as I saw it, if they were both happy then it must have been ok. I have always believed that people have a right to live their life the way they want to, and make friends with people that they like themselves. Sheila resided in Southall with their dog Ruffles. Southall being west of London. For those who don't already know. The population in southall is mostly Asian. I experienced a number of negative comments toward those Asians in southall from my father. You could be fooled into thinking he was bigoted. Yet he was romantically involved with an Asian. I can only think that the comments were drawn from the people he mixed with in the past, because he obviously wasn't a racist. He walked proudly with them among the streets of southall, as did I.<br> It is more likely that his disdain for the Asians in Southall was more to do with the walks he took with the family he lived with, because he told me on several occasions about the dirty looks and insults he received from Asians in the street because he was with an Asian woman. That is something I experienced too. Just from walking with them. So if there was any racism, then it was coming from the Asians in the street who in my opinion were narrow minded to even consider such insult. We are all human beings. They just have a better tan than I do <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>To be continued......</p> <p>I got out the feather duster and started to do something with my Myspace page. Seeing as it's been sitting there for a few years now. I thought I'd let people know it's there <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> So here it is if you want to add me:</p> <p><a href="http://www.myspace.com/ukjeff">Jeff Edwards Myspace page</a></p> <p>Also I'm going to try and do something with my Facebook page. When I first joined up, it was a very quiet place. Not like now <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> This is my Facebook page if you fancy adding me:</p> <p><a href="http://www.jeffsmusic.co.uk/facebook">Jeff Edwards Facebook page</a></p> <p>Now for an update on the last week or two on Youtube.</p> <p>My Subscribers have raced forward to 1,061.<br> The total viewings for my Youtube channel stand at 24,867 and the overall viewing figures for all my videos are 442,298.</p> <p>Coming up next. I'm not really sure. I've got that other Eels song in my mind at the moment, but I have a habit of changing my mind <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/12/19/beautiful-freak-the-eels-5247990/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-12-03:/2008/12/03/david-and-i-m-a-celebrity-5159821/jeffstunes2008-12-03T23:31:25+01:002008-12-03T23:31:25+01:00 <p>Now to the 88th video. This is one is called "Lost" and is one of Coldplay's latest. A lot of people have asked me to sing this one so it's a popular request.</p> <p>Have a listen:</p> <p>My dad's story will resume in my next post, because there was something I wanted to cover that was quite current. If you are in Britian then you might be familiar with a television show called "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here". One of the celebrities in the show is a man called "David Van Day". I was at a friends house when I first saw that he was in there. My friend asked me who he was. I just said that he used to be in a successful band called Dollar in the early 80's, and that my opinion of him was not that great, to put it kindly.<br> I came to that conclusion because of an event when I was younger. When I was about 17 I worked in a shop called CRS (Co-operative Retail Services) in Uxbridge. On my lunch break I went shopping in WH Smith to purchase some music. One of them being a song called Videotheque by Dollar. Quite by chance, as I was about to pay, who should walk in but David Van Day and Therese Bazaar. Both halves of Dollar. They happened to be there to sign copies of their new release, Videotheque. David was vertically challenged, and Therese was even shorter than him. Therese came over to me and picked my records from the counter and rifled through them. She told me that she thought I had good taste in music. Then we chatted for a little while. David grew more and more impatient, and asked her to get on with the signing. So she signed my copy of their record, and took the disc over to him and more or less demanded that he sign it too.<br> <img src="http://www.jeffsmusic.co.uk/images/videotheque.gif" alt="Record cover" title="Record cover"><br> After paying for my records, I said farewell. Therese smiled and said goodbye. David just ignored me. I got the impression that he was a selfish individual.<br> From watching "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here" I see that he hasn't changed much. Therese made time for people. I think she enjoyed the conversation, and that made me feel happy.</p> <p>OK. Youtube time.<br> At last I've passed 1,000 subscribers. The figure now stands at 1020.<br> The views for my channel are now 24,010 and my total video viewings are 414,193.</p> <p>I'm not sure what I'm doing next, but it may well be another cover. There's a few to do. I've also got a duet coming up <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/12/03/david-and-i-m-a-celebrity-5159821/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-11-20:/2008/11/20/another-collab-with-ulf-5069888/jeffstunes2008-11-20T16:17:48+01:002008-11-20T16:17:48+01:00 <p>Here is the second of two collaborations with "Ulf Pettersson". That excellent Swedish composer. This one is called "I wanna see". I originally wrote this song as a personal joke, but when Ulf heard it he really liked it and asked me if he could redo the music for it. I accepted of course, and this is what he came up with. I have to say that I like it a lot better than my original arrangement.<br> This song is not on my album "Sight Or Sound".<br> I would love to do more work with Ulf in the future, because I really respect the work he has done so far. He is very much a fan of my material, but we are both quite busy at the moment. Ulf is busy building a catalogue for Film and Television, and I'm busy writing and collaborating with other musicians. So you may have heard some of his stuff without even knowing it <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Here's the song I did with him. "I wanna see":</p> <p>Now for the next episode of events from my fathers life.</p> <p>My Dad. Part 9.</p> <p>I think I pointed out previously that my father knew some less than upstanding individuals. Before I met him, and before I knew who he was, I made many friends myself. I was to find out later that some of those meetings were not by accident. I always treat people as I find them. If they are civil to me, then I will be civil to them. There were a few of my friends that told me that I shouldn't really mix with some of the people I met, because they were trouble. Nothing bad ever happened on those occasions where I graced their company. I came to realise that a number of people showed fear towards certain friends of mine. That's something I never felt. There was never a reason to fear. My attitude was that if anything threatening came along, then you dealt with it. You shouldn't live in fear. There's no point worrying about the prospect. I can't say I was that surprised to find out that my dad knew these people. He even knew those that I did odd jobs with when I left school.<br> I'm going to say this next bit is alleged. A tale from Cowgate road. This is something that my father recounted. He can't be sued because he is now dead. He wanted me to tell this. You may well have heard of the welsh singing star "Tom Jones". Well it involves him. I think most of you know who he is. I was told that he had sexual intercourse with a girl that was only 14 years old in the field next to Cowgate Road. Pregnancy followed, but the poor girls life was cut short, because she died from leukemia. Whether she was willing or not, that kind of act was illegal by English law. I can't say for sure if this story ever got out. It's certainly controversial, but probably not unusual in the sixties. A number of my family members are not exactly fans of Tom, but after knowning that story, it's not really surprising.</p> <p>To be continued.......</p> <p>There's been a good deal of interest in my album release. It's still being rolled out to internet shops, and wont be available in all of them for a couple of months. Though it's already on CDBaby, Amazon and Itunes. You can check out some of the songs on my website at:</p> <p><a href="http://www.jeffsmusic.co.uk">Jeff Edwards official website</a></p> <p>You can get to Ulf Pettersson's site via my links page. There are also a number of free high quality downloads of some of my other songs!!</p> <p>The youtube statistics section now.<br> It's getting pretty exciting with the subscribers now. There are currently 992. Almost at the thousand mark.<br> Channel viewings have increased to 23,296, and the total overall video views are 397,648. They've increased their daily rate over the last few days.</p> <p>And finally....</p> <p>That is the end of the string of five original compositions. The next few are going to be cover versions. The next one will be "Lost" by "Coldplay". A song that's been requested of me quite a few times over the last month. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/11/20/another-collab-with-ulf-5069888/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-11-13:/2008/11/13/i-can-t-make-my-mind-up-5027175/jeffstunes2008-11-13T04:30:25+01:002008-11-13T04:30:25+01:00 <p>This is number four out of five original songs on the bounce. This song started out as an instrumental song written by a wonderful Swedish musician called "Ulf Pettersson". As I listened to it, I could hear a potential vocal line in the song. So I asked if he wouldn't mind me having a go a turning it into a vocal song. He was keen on the idea. Ulf wasn't a stranger to my own compositions. In fact he liked quite a few of them. The song in the next post is one of mine that Ulf worked on. Staying in the present though. This one is titled "Swings and roundabouts". There are some good points about being involved in a relationship. There are also some good points to being single. There are some that you can't have in both though, and this is about one persons struggle with those problems.</p> <p>This is what we came up with.</p> <p>I've added a link on my links page to Ulf's site. You can find it at my site:</p> <p><a href="http://www.jeffsmusic.co.uk">Jeff Edwards Official website</a></p> <p>Back to the next part of my father's story.</p> <p>My Dad. Part 8.</p> <p>I didn't realise when I met my father, that he was so much into alcohol. The clues were already there with his nickname of "Woodsy". I was never that curious, and at that time I was unaware that he earned the name for his liking for "Woods Navy Rum". Rum was his favourite tipple, though I think anything with a decent amount of alcohol in it would have done. So that's how I found and met my father. Before I knew all the stories about him. Criticism may be levelled at his actions in life, and I know that I would not repeat what he did. I felt a lot of it was wrong. but he was still my father. I will never deny that. He was one of the two that made it possible for me to live.<br> The sixties were a time of drink and experimentation in drugs. Drugs were not my Dad's choice of vice. Drink won that hands down. My father did dabble in drugs though. In the sixties it wasa popular pastime, and he liked to be on the scene. I'm not sure of the quantities and names of various drugs he took, but I do know that he was fond of cannabis sessions. I remember watching a film with my dad about the sex pistols, and he chuckled knowingly at the scenes of smoking pot in the living room. I remember him telling me about times when members of the Rolling Stones were doing something very similar in my grandmother's back bedroom. Now that, I can believe. Somehow <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> Apparently, a member of that band resides within a few miles from me.<br> My nan would have been horrified. She knew absolutely nothing about those events. In her eyes, her son John could do no wrong. Everybody else seemed to know what he was like. Everybody but her.<br> I've saved one more celebrity snippet for the next post. It was a tale that shocked me. Tom Jones fans look away. That's all I am going to say right now.</p> <p>To be continued.......</p> <p>It's Youtube time again.<br> 975 subs. 25 to the magic 1,000.<br> My Youtube channel has been looked at 22,848 times now.<br> The sum total of my video views is 387,663.<br> Here's another interesting stat. To date there have been 5,952 comments on my videos (not including my replies).</p> <p>We're reaching the end of the string of original songs. Coming up next is the 5th. Another song with Ulf Pettersson. I'll also be telling you a bit about Ulf's musical history. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/11/13/i-can-t-make-my-mind-up-5027175/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-11-07:/2008/11/07/third-of-five-5001244/jeffstunes2008-11-07T22:41:12+01:002008-11-07T22:41:12+01:00 <p>Number three in a string of five. This one is titled "She freaks". It came out of an afternoon of experimental jamming with my pal "Steve Morgan". I'd done a rough sketch of the song before, and all the missing bits had been filled in by the end of the session. A composition about two partners who were very different. One partner was laid back and relaxed, and the other would go into a rage at the drop of a pin. I'm sure that this will seem familiar to some. The situation is reversible between man and woman. Take a listen and make your own mind up.</p> <p>I quite like this song, but it didn't get on the album. Perhaps because I had so many others to choose from, and I wasn't totally happy with the production. However, 15 songs did make it, and you can listen to sound bytes of those at my website:</p> <p><a href="http://www.jeffsmusic.co.uk"><a href="http://www.jeffsmusic.co.uk">http://www.jeffsmusic.co.uk</a></a></p> <p>Here is another interesting link for you if you feel like it. Not so long ago, I went to a friend's wedding, which was held on the Isle of man. I have to say, it's probably the best one I've ever been to. I'll drop in a link to check out some of the photographs taken. I make an appearance in a few. One of the photo's they like a lot is the one where I was windswept on the summit of Snaefell. Check it out <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p><a href="http://www.rachelandrichard.co.uk/">Rachel and Richard's wedding</a></p> <p>My Dad. Part 7.</p> <p>Nan loved my dad dearly. Even though he got involved in the scrapes that he did. Everybody else in the family looked like a saint compared to him. He was just likeable. I didn't know he existed until I reached eighteen years old. After the discovery, I thought about it for a short while and then did nothing until i reached 21. I traced him through Lily, my Grandmother. Someone else I hadn't met. I found out where she lived and just went and knocked on her door. I wasn't sure what to feel when I was waiting on the doorstep. I'd seen all these long lost reunions on T.V. and they were all emotional, but I have to say that I felt nothing like that. The only feeling in me was that I was curious. When the door opened I was greeted with a little white haired lady who just said "Hello". I think I said something like "Hello, are you Lily?". To which she replied yes. I then said to her "I'm John's son. Jeffrey". She just smiled and invited me in. That was surprising. The neighbourhood she lived in wasn't the most secure I'd seen. I could have been an unsavoury character, but she just invited me inside. Maybe she saw the resemblance. I have been informed on more than one occasion that my father and I look alike. She put the kettle on, and got the biscuits and old photographs out to view. During my visit, she called my father on the telephone to arrange a meeting with me in a local public house. Amazing with hindsight because he avoided other offspring.<br> The time finally came to meet my father. I made my way to the pub. First entering into the wrong bar. I quickly found the right bar with the help of direction. As I walked in, all eyes were on me, and there was a crowd of people in the corner of the bar. My father being one of them. I just walked straight up to him and said "Hello Dad", and gave him a little hug. I'd be lying if i said there was any emotion in that embrace. This is the first time I'd met this person. He was just like a stranger. I thought he was quite nervous at first, but that all changed after the introduction. It was party time.</p> <p>More Dad stuff coming soon and more celeb stuff too.</p> <p>To be continued.......</p> <p>Back to the present and the Youtube progress.<br> There's 970 subscribers so far. Ooh it's getting so close the the ever important 1k barrier.<br> The channel viewings keep on rising. Now up to 22,617.<br> Finally the total viewing figures for all my videos combined is 382,179.</p> <p>The next song I'll be talking about is a collaboration with an extremely talented Swedish musician called "Ulf"! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/11/07/third-of-five-5001244/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-11-04:/2008/11/04/video-84-movement-4982692/jeffstunes2008-11-04T14:38:42+01:002008-11-04T14:38:42+01:00 <p>The second in a series of original songs that fell short of the "Sight Or Sound" Album. It is entitled "Movement". A friend suggested that I put together a tune that was about the world and the environment. I thought over it for a while, and then came up with the idea of a global situation from the perspective of an animal. We sometimes use the movements of animals to help us to detect things, because they just seem to know.</p> <p>This is the outcome of my efforts .</p> <p>This is another song that fell short of making it to the album. I felt that the other songs were of a better quality. I said before that 10 of the album tracks can be listened to in full if you go to my Youtube channel. There are many, many positive words from many people, and some of these comments have now been added to the CDBaby page. The small selection of comments are available to read at:</p> <p><a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jeffedwards">Jeff Edwards - Sight Or Sound</a></p> <p>My Dad. Part 6.</p> <p>Lulu wasn't exclusively in my father's bad books. P.J.Proby also made it into his hall of infamy. I was told that my father decked him for making advances to one of his girlfriends. Oops <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> I would imagine that that sort of thing wasn't uncommon. Maybe my father didn't like his pretentious ways. I was told by Dad that P.J. used to perform on stage wearing drainpipe trousers, and in an effort to impress the ladies, he used to put a section of hosepipe inside his trousers to make the girls think he was gifted in the groin. Oh what disappointment there must have been if he managed to attract anybody as a result of his efforts. That old saying "The truth will out" is probably the most fitting term to use.<br> Dad also used to do DIY for the family. His sister needed a bedroom painted, and Dad suggested that he would of course get his brushes out. It wasn't going to be free though. It seemed that all went smoothly. He pointed her to the room afterwards, and she was very pleased with the results. That pleasure didn't last for long though. A few days after the room had been painted, she thought she'd shift the furniture around. It was then that she discovered that all he had done was painted around the furniture. Leaving large unpainted patches. I wonder why he never told me what she had to say about that.</p> <p>To be continued.......</p> <p>Back to the present and the Youtube progress.<br> 961 subscribers.<br> 22,480 Channel views.<br> 378,848 video views.</p> <p>The next original song features the talent of my good friend and guitarist Steve Morgan. That's one has had a bit of airplay too! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/11/04/video-84-movement-4982692/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-10-31:/2008/10/31/video-83-tell-me-why-4962397/jeffstunes2008-10-31T18:18:25+01:002008-10-31T18:18:25+01:00 <p>Now for some original songs. This one is the 1st out of a number of original compositions that didn't make the cut for the album for various reasons. Check out sound bytes for songs that did make the album "Sight Or Sound" at:</p> <p><a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jeffedwards">Sight Or Sound - Jeff Edwards</a></p> <p>So far you can also get these songs at Amazon and Ruckus . 10 of the songs are in full on my Youtube channel, and the other 5 are not.<br> This particular song is called "Tell me why". It's another composition from a few years ago. It's about a relationship that breaks up with very little explanation. I'm sure there are many that can identify with that situation. I did like this song, but I thought the chorus was a little weak, and there were better songs to choose from for the album.</p> <p>Take a listen here:</p> <p>Moving on to the events of my father.</p> <p>My Dad. Part 5.</p> <p>I said in previous posts that my father was in "Cowgate road" in Greenford, West London. At his Mums house. Music is something he was crazy about. So it was no surprise that he got into the scene. His instruments were Harmonica and Guitar. He was only ever a part of one band in his life. Their name was "The frasier chorus". It was a 4 piece harmonica band, and my father played the chromatic. They had very little in the way of success. They never secured a record contract, but they did enjoy touring with bigger, well known bands.<br> Being on the scene, meant that he mixed with names that are still recognised today. He has shared a few of his stories with me, and I found them interesting, and surprising. Even with my tolerance. I suppose it wasn't so much of an issue in the 60's. There's something he told me about a certain Lulu, and Brian Poole of the Tremeloes. I'm assuming it took place in Cowgate road. I don't think my Dad was very fond of Lulu. Going by the colourful names he had for her. He informed me that Lulu used all the tools at her disposal in order to achieve fame. I don't find that sort of thing surprising. Many people did that. He pointed out to me that the both of them were sexually active behind my grandmother's couch. Maybe it was the excitement of a cold floor, but I would have thought that the couch in front of them was a much more comfortable alternative <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>To be continued.......</p> <p>As always. Here are the Youtube figures to up to the time this was posted.<br> My subscribers are up to 953.<br> The amount of viewings for my channel are 22,268.<br> Total videos views are 374,240.</p> <p>Another original next that was a result of a suggestion. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/10/31/video-83-tell-me-why-4962397/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-10-24:/2008/10/24/2b93fbdf27d43547bec8794054c28e00patrolagain-4925924/jeffstunes2008-10-24T18:40:43+02:002008-10-24T18:40:43+02:00 <p>82 videos done now. This latest one is my cover of the full version of "Run" by "Snow patrol". I've been asked </p> <p>to sing this by a few people, and I couldn't recall it by name, but when I heard it I recognised it immediately. </p> <p>I think the song is great. I have used pictures of roads, paths and lighting to set the mood of the video. It's just a slideshow again <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Have a listen and see if you like it:</p> <p>My album page on CDBaby has had over 100 hits now, and the product has been delivered to 3 companies so far. </p> <p>Amazon, Napster and Ruckus. I keep searching on a daily basis to see when it's listed on those sites. There's </p> <p>nothing yet. The merchandise shop is currently under construction. If you would like to listen to some </p> <p>short samples from my album you can visit my CDBaby webpage at:</p> <p><a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jeffedwards">Sight Or Sound - Jeff Edwards</a></p> <p>Here's the next installment of the extracts from my fathers life.</p> <p>My Dad. Part 4.</p> <p>My Mothers relationship with my father was not a very long one. They first met when she was dating a man called Michael. After the break up with Michael, my father just happened to make it known that he was around. They are so different from each other. I think you could only uderstand the union if you had met him. His personality was highly infectious. A real charmer. He was loved by many, even though most of them were aware of his habits. Perhaps it was that desire for unpredictability. Very soon into the relationship I was conceived. I have asked her what it was that determined the end of their relationship. It ended up being more than one, due to my mother's tolerance. One of the times was when my dad robbed the electricity meter at the place they rented, and left my mother to take the blame. My mum would never steal from anyone, and she was horrified to be accused of the theft. In one sense she knew it was him, because apart from the landlord, they were the only two who had access to the house. She could only deny the accusations. The landlord loved my father so much that he didn't believe it was my father.<br> The other pivotal point in deciding the end of the relationship was at my mother's 18th birthday party. My father attended the party with some accessories. They were a woman on each arm. I think that would just about do it for most people. I don't know if he did that deliberately to get her to end it instead of him. Knowing him, I'd say it was certainly a possibility.<br> So it was all over before I came into the world. My mother married someone called "Jeffrey" shortly afterwards. Now you know where I got my name from. He begged my mother not to tell me who my real father was. Instead pretend that he was my father. This was a wonderful arrangement until he had a child of his own. He was biased towards his daughter, so my mother, believing in fairness, gave some bias to me. Unlike my real father, my stepfather had a violent streak, and displayed that to my mother. This resulted in my mother fleeing with me as a baby to places of refuge. One such location was in the attic of a convent. The last time I remember living in the same house as him was when I was about 7. I didn't realise who my real father was until I was 18, and i didn't meet him until I was 21. So the things I tell you about his life are stories I've collected from him, and family. There's more to come. I can understand why my mother kept me away from him. She didn't want me to grow up with his habits, and I'm glad she made that decision.</p> <p>To be continued.......</p> <p>Youtube time, and it's the big race to the thousand subs.<br> It's done pretty well over the last week. There is now 938 subscribers.<br> The channel have increased to 21,815 and the total viewings for all my videos are 364,724. I am averaging over one thousand views a day at the moment.</p> <p>That's the last of the cover songs for a little while. I've got a string of original songs to upload in conjunction with the distribution of my new album. The ones I will put up initially, didn't make it to the album <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0">. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/10/24/2b93fbdf27d43547bec8794054c28e00patrolagain-4925924/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-10-19:/2008/10/19/afternoonsand-24eb05d18318ac2db8b2b959315d10f2spoons-4895730/jeffstunes2008-10-19T16:55:31+02:002008-10-19T16:55:31+02:00 <p>Now to the 81st video. This was another request, and it's "Afternoons and coffee spoons" by "The crash test </p> <p>dummies". I thought I'd have a little fun with the video. You see so many people singing in the privacy of their </p> <p> own home, using whatever they can get their hands on as a microphone. Well, I went a bit further than that <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Take a look at my version of "Afternoons and coffee spoons". There's a list of objects in the description of the video, but I think you'd have to go on to Youtube to check that out <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Now for the continuation of some of the events of my father's life.</p> <p>My Dad. Part 3.</p> <p>My Nan lived a majority of her life in "Cowgate road" in the outskirts of of London in a town </p> <p>called Greenford. That place has reminders for a number of people, as I will expand upon later. It didn't take long </p> <p>for my father to become involved in criminal pursuits. He got in with a west london gang, and became an integral part of it. Dad couldn't keep his paws off of other people's possesions, and at some </p> <p>point during his association with the gang, guns and knives came into play, though there were never any reports of him using any. </p> <p>I've got two interesting stories to tell about this time. One was a robbery that he was a part of. It was an art </p> <p>robbery in Chelsea. He told me that he was running away from the scene with his hands full, across Chelsea </p> <p>bridge, and had to lighten the load. So one of the valuable paintings was thrown into the river thames. So if </p> <p>the authorities ever wondered where one of the missing paintings is. The answer is "At the bottom of the river </p> <p>thames". The rest of the haul was concealed in his mother's attic without her knowledge. So she was a little surprised when the police raided her home and produced a collection of paintings. They finally caught up with him and </p> <p>he paid for the crime.<br> One thing that you could never underestimate about him was his silver tongue. He was once arrested for a crime, </p> <p>and was sure to be convicted and imprisoned, but somehow he managed to talk his way out of trouble. He engaged one of the officers in conversation about music. There weren't many people that weren't fascinated by music in those times. Anyway, this </p> <p>policeman revealed to my father that he had an old violin. My father enthusiastically suggested he bring it in </p> <p>for him to examine. He convince him that he was a seasoned expert in musical instruments (which he </p> <p>wasn't). In no time at all the officer brought the violin to the station and gave it to my father for examination. My father got very excited about it and he convinced the policeman that this violin was rare and worth money, and he offered him a few hundred pounds to purchase it from him. That was a lot of money then. The policeman quickly accepted his offer, and my father sourced the funds through his contacts, and the result was a very satisfied police officer. As far as the crime my father was arrested for, well he didn't get charged. Oh yes. The violin. It was totally worthless. I don't know where my </p> <p>father got the money, but one thing I can be sure about. It wasn't his own money.</p> <p>To be continued......</p> <p>Here's an update on my album "Sight Or Sound". I've been playing around with the user interface on CDBaby. It's quite good, because it shows me how many visitors my page gets on a daily basis. Also the companies the album has been delivered to for </p> <p>distribution. There's only one at the moment, and that is "Amazon". However, delivery doesn't mean </p> <p>it's on sale there yet. That process can take from one week to 3 months. Depending on how quick the company processes it.</p> <p>Check out some clips of songs from my album at:</p> <p><a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jeffedwards">Jeff Edwards - Sight Or Sound</a></p> <p>This is the latest on Youtube.<br> Subscriptions to my channel are now up to 920.<br> Those that have viewed my channel now total 21,490.<br> Total video views are 358,999.</p> <p>The next one up will be the last cover for a while. It's going to be "Run" by "Snow patrol". </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/10/19/afternoonsand-24eb05d18318ac2db8b2b959315d10f2spoons-4895730/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-10-17:/2008/10/17/it-ssightorsoundmyalbum-4887014/jeffstunes2008-10-17T17:02:58+02:002008-10-17T17:02:58+02:00 <p>There are two major things I want to cover in this post. There's a song on another persons Youtube channel, and the other important one is the release of my first album "Sight Or Sound".</p> <p>I'll discuss the new album first.<br> Yesterday, Sight Or Sound went on sale. It's only available through CDBaby at the moment. It takes varying amounts of times to be active on the other selling points. That's ITunes, Amazon, Napster and many other outlets. It will only be available digitally, so the CD's are not available now, but they might be in time. This depends on how well it goes, and whether there are any offers for investment.<br> The final track order for the album is as follows.</p> <p>01) Soaked to the bone. *<br> 02) So blue.<br> 03) Convey. +<br> 04) Take me home.<br> 05) Don't wish it away.<br> 06) Broadcast fantasy.<br> 07) Keep on waiting (The stood up song). *<br> 08) Escape.<br> 09) Twist of fate.<br> 10) Blow away.<br> 11) Unknown. *<br> 12) Counting down the days. *<br> 13) Sight Or Sound. #<br> 14) When I grow.<br> 15) You think it's all over. *</p> <p>You'll notice some other characters at the end of some tracks. This is for extra information, which I've described below. So where you see these symbols, this is what they mean.</p> <p>* = These tracks are not currently on Youtube.<br> # = Features the wonderful talents of guitarist "Steve Morgan".<br> + = This is the albums promo track that will be offered royalty free for promotional purposes only.</p> <p>There's a fascinating story behind the last track on the album. I think it's the first sports song to be turned into a normal song. It's normally the other way around. As a sports song, it was played a number of times on radio stations during the 2006 world cup campaign. The previous title of it was "They think it's all over", which was taken from the famous quote by Kenneth wolstenholme.</p> <p>You can preview clips from all songs on the "Sight Or Sound" album by visiting the purchase page, at the following link:</p> <p><a href="http://cdbaby.com/cd/jeffedwards">Jeff Edwards - Sight Or Sound album</a></p> <p>Now the other thing. A Youtube video. This was put up by a Youtube member going by the name of "KarenEng". It's a duet with her and I. The song is the classic "You don't bring me flowers" by Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand. This is a song I wanted to upload for ages, but couldn't find the right female vocalist. That was until I came across Karen. She has a wonderful voice. Take a listen and see what you think <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Now for the regular dose of stats from Youtube.<br> I've flown past the 900 barrier with subscribers, and now have 912. I'm getting ever closer to 4 figures now.<br> My channel viewings are picking up and are now up to 21,373.<br> The total for all my video views is 356,896.</p> <p>I mentioned a video order in the last post. It was a bit wrong. I do know that the next upload will be "Afternoons and Coffee spoons" by the "Crash test dummies", because I've already made the song and video <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>More on my father's story in the next post. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/10/17/it-ssightorsoundmyalbum-4887014/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-10-11:/2008/10/11/the-last-of-dad-s-faves-4855473/jeffstunes2008-10-11T17:07:38+02:002008-10-11T17:07:38+02:00 <p>Now I'm going to do something acoustic. This is the final song of my Dad's favourites selection. There are lots of songs he adored, but I thought I'd do only a series of three. I might do some more in the future. This particular song is called "Baby can I hold you tonight". Boyzone did a well known cover version of this song, but I still prefer the original which was by "Tracy Chapman". It sits on an album of wonderful tracks.<br> I had a comment recently from someone telling me that I should stop relying on backing tracks. So I sat in front of my camera and played this on guitar. I'll give you my view on using backing tracks. In my opinion, there is noting wrong at all in using them. Not everybody can play a musical instrument, and backing tracks can come in very handy. How many lead singers of bands just sing? Quite a few to my knowledge. One of the most versatile instruments any person can play is the voice. So this is what I say to those that use backing tracks. Keep on using them. If you get criticised for it, then the best thing to do is ignore those comments. The most important element of all this, is that you enjoy doing what you do.. Not all people will like it. Could you tell me any singer that is loved by 100% of the world's population? Some people love you, and some people hate you. I saw a statement recently that said if you can get just 1% of the worlds population to like what you are doing, then you can consider yourself a success, because 1% is over 60 million <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Now for the song. I hope you like my gentle take on this wonderful tune.</p> <p>My Dad. Part 2</p> <p>My father was very partial to females, and he acted upon his desires many times. One female at a time was not always the order of the day. I was once told a tale of two girlfriends of his. When I raised it with him, all I got was a cheeky smile. They were bi-sexual and having a relationship with each other. The sleeping arrangements for the three of them were one bed, three people. This went on for a time. I wish I was a fly on the wall in the houses of the neighbours. I'd have liked to have known what they thought.<br> How this man came to be my father is confusing. As you will see when I give you a bit of background on my mother. If fate had chosen another path, then my father may have been a certain "Mungo Jerry". Does that name sound familiar? How about his number one hit "In the summertime"? Mungo was very taken by my mother. After refusal, he asked her why she had refused. The answer could well have put him off for good. Perhaps his pride was dented. My mother replied "It's because you are too ugly". I always wondered who I had inherited the compulsion for honesty from. After looking at old photographs of him, I have to say I'm in agreement with my mother. Good call mum <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> I have no doubt that there were many women out there who found his chiselled features attractive. Just not my mother.<br> As time passed, the paths of my mother and father crossed. If you took their backgrounds into consideration, you would be scratching your head at the union. My father's family history was fairly unspectacular, whilst the bloodline of my mother's family can be traced to the aristocracy of the 19th century. That's as far as I've looked back so far. I'll be doing the family tree bit at some point in the future to see how far I can take it back. My mothers family will be quite easy, but I'm not sure it will be as easy to trace my father's roots.</p> <p>To be continued...</p> <p>Now for the nitty gritty stuff. The Youtube figures. The subs have been up and down over the last few days, but are still slightly on the increase. The total currently stands at 893. My channel viewing now stand at 20,958 and the total viewing figures for all my videos is now at 349,427.</p> <p>So what's coming next?<br> I prepared a number of cover versions to put up in advance, so that I could spend time concentrating on my album. I'll be giving a track listing in the next post. Coming up next is a crash test dummies song. Then after that is a duet with another Youtuber! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/10/11/the-last-of-dad-s-faves-4855473/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-10-07:/2008/10/07/when-she-smiles-4833660/jeffstunes2008-10-07T13:01:16+02:002008-10-07T13:01:16+02:00 <p>This is the 2nd of 3 tunes in memory of my father who died recently. It's my version of Through the barricades, originally performed by the group Spandau ballet. If you didn't know what it was about, I'll tell you. It's about the troubles in Northern Ireland.</p> <p>Check it out.</p> <p>I mentioned I was going to say a few things about my dad's life, and so I will. I only know a small part of what happened in his life. Still there's enough to mention that will astonish even the most resolute.</p> <p>My Dad. Part 1</p> <p>I'll begin with the basic stuff. His birthplace was a place called Hammersmith, in West London. His mum Lily was a loving and kind person, but his father sadly did not live up to that reputation. An Irish waiter by trade. If you can call it a trade. The father used to beat his mother whilst John was looking on. It's no surprise that he had deep seated dislike for him. He didn't stick around for long. His brothers and sisters all share a different surname to him. Fortunately they had a better father. As a child he used to get into many tricky situations. Perhaps an indication of what was to come. Just an indication though. Some of the people he was to mix with in life ended up doing pretty well, and a number of them making quite a name for themselves.<br> John joined the Navy at a young age. Though he only managed to hold in there for under 4 years before being dismissed. He became well known within the ranks for enjoying a scrap, and as a keen gambler, he used to organise fights with betting included. Throughout his service, and a good number of fights, he was fortunate to lose only one of them. During his service, he opted to take it upon himself to depart from the Navy, before his compulsory term had finished. concealing himself within the ranks of travelling gypsies, and eventually hiding out at his mothers house. This is where the M.P.s finally tracked him down. As they were talking to his mother on the doorstep, John was climbing out of the back window, but he didn't get far before they carted him back into service.</p> <p>To be continued...</p> <p>On another note. This is quite exciting for me. I've finally put together my first album. It's titled "Sight Or Sound". As I'm working on a shoestring budget, the album is going out on digital release only. It's been difficult doing everything myself. The performing, mixing mastering and artwork etc. It's helped with the costs though. So it's going to be available in many places including Itunes, Amazon, Napster etc. Not wanting to sound like an anorak, but I was really pleased when I got the barcode for the album. Yipee! It has a global product identity. It's official <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"><br> From what I can gather, it looks like the first availability will be in about a month. Then it will roll out to other online stores over the next couple of months. I will be updating my blog about it when it happens, and writing about any reviews etc.</p> <p>Finally, it's those Youtube stats again.<br> My subscribers have increased to 890. Only 10 off 900.<br> The channel viewings have passed the 20k landmark, and now stand at 20,672.<br> The total video views are now 343,712.</p> <p>My next video is an acoustic cover. The third and final of my dad's favourite songs. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/10/07/when-she-smiles-4833660/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-09-16:/2008/09/16/my-rendition-of-kingston-town-4737331/jeffstunes2008-09-16T20:58:49+02:002008-09-16T20:58:49+02:00 <p>I haven't posted to my blog for a while, because my father departed a few weeks ago. He attained 70 years of age, which was good going, seeing as he was an alcoholic. It was this addiction that finally took its toll on him.<br> I failed to see him before he passed away. He did his usual disappearing act, before booking himself into hospital. He died only a day later.<br> He had a very interesting life, and there are many stories to tell about his exploits, and events that went on around him. He has met a lot of people in his life. Some of those people were and still are pretty well known to many. There are some stories to tell about them too.<br> I'm going to include some of those in my blog in the future.<br> I don't have any good reason to call my father a saint, because that is something that he wasn't. He did many things considered wrong in his life, but somehow he nearly always seemed to get away with them. A lot of that had to do with his persuasive personality.</p> <p>I Thought I'd cover a few of his favourite tunes on Youtube. One of his greatest loves in life was music, and he had wide ranging tastes. From the 50's to the present. I suppose that's where I inherited my love for music. The first of the tributes I've put up on Youtube is one of his all time favourite songs "Kingston town" by "UB40". This one always got him dancing, and dancing is something he liked to do often. Not only on the dance floor, but just about anywhere. This was the song that I used at the end of his funeral. The original version that is.</p> <p>Check out my cover of it:</p> <p>Have I got some stories to tell. Where to start. I think I'll just be random about it. A bit like he was. I have to be diplomatic about how I approach some of the tales though. I might use the term allegedly a lot. Lol.</p> <p>So back to the Youtube story. The figures have still advanced at a good rate, even though I haven't been attending to it much.<br> I've now got 851 subscribers. A healthy increase.<br> The channel viewings are also doing well at 19,745.<br> The overall video views are now at 320,952. Still racing forward.</p> <p>I'm looking at getting a few more of my father's favourites up next. Then some other requested covers, and a couple of original songs. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/09/16/my-rendition-of-kingston-town-4737331/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-08-22:/2008/08/22/a-cover-ofamsterdam-4621978/jeffstunes2008-08-22T10:56:15+02:002008-08-22T10:56:15+02:00 <p>It has been some time since I last posted anything, and put any videos up on Youtube. It's been a very busy month, and very little of that has been music related. I went to the wedding of a very good friend, and it was one of the best weddings I've ever attended. The whole wedding party was looked after. Ferried around everywhere, so that we didn't have to worry about our alcohol levels <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"><br> It all happened on the Isle of Man. One highlight of the day was the tram hired out exclusively to take us to the top of snaefell mountain, including a bagpiper. Together with plenty to eat and a sufficient supply of champagne.<br> I very much enjoyed the whole thing, and was extremely pleased for them both, that the event went so well, and the weather took a break from raining.</p> <p>I finally got back to doing a couple of cover songs. This particular one is another Coldplay song called "Amsterdam". It featured on the album "A rush of blood to the head". This is one of my all time favourites of Coldplay. The vid just shows a collection of pictures. I admit I didn't spend much time on the vid, but the song was far more important to me <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>See what you think <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>There are a number other things I've been getting up to in the past month, though I'm not going to bother writing about it. It would fill several pages. I'm just update the Youtube stats.</p> <p>Well. I may not have been doing much on Youtube, but the figures have been increasing very well on their own.</p> <p>I now have 806 subs. I was hoping to get to the 1,000 by the end of the year, but at this rate, it looks like it's going to pass that sooner.<br> Channel viewings are now up to 18,423. They are rolling along well.<br> Finally the overall video views have moved up to 291,498. Very close the the 300k mark.</p> <p>I have prepared another cover version, and I am hoping that i can spend some time making the video amusing. It is another song from the "Crash test dummies". I'm hoping I can put that up quite soon. Rather than wait another month <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/08/22/a-cover-ofamsterdam-4621978/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-07-25:/2008/07/25/aiming-for-quality-4497780/jeffstunes2008-07-25T15:33:04+02:002008-07-25T15:33:04+02:00 <p>I made a decision to seek out some local musicians to help me out with my album project.<br> The biggest problem with my composing is on the music side of things. I think that I pen good songs, and that has been confirmed by many musicians and industry pro's.<br> I am satisfied with my lyrics, and the general melodies, and hooks etc. The problem comes when I try to get the song out of my head into musical form. Because I only play basic guitar, I cannot seem to add the expression I want from the musical instruments. Like I do with the vocals. I'm sure that I will in time, but I really want to get this album out before the end of this year.<br> I was talking to a mate of mine who goes to occasional karaoke, and I found out that he was in a band. He has requested my company a number of times at an open mic night. So I finally went on wednesday.<br> Towards the end of the night I got up and performed 2 songs, with the aid of a friendly guitarist.<br> I must admit that I really enjoyed the night. The venue sort of reminded me a bit of the cavern club (of beatles fame). It was all underground, and mainly arches. The acoustics were great because the long arches created a funnel effect for the sound. Nice and loud.<br> At the end of the night, I was approached by a few of the musicians. Who asked me to come down and perform again. So I said I would learn one of their songs if they would learn one for me. We were all in agreement. So it looks like I'll be doing it again soon.</p> <p>This experience sparked an idea. I could visit a number of open mic nights and get chatting with some of the musicians. Then see if any of them are interested in helping me out with developing my album. I'll make a CD of a few songs for them to listen to. If they like it then we will take it from there <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>I'm going to be putting more about this in my blog, as it happens. I found 2 potential musicians on wednesday, though nothing is in concrete until they are sitting in my studio, recording with me.</p> <p>What's been going on with the Youtube figures. They have a habit of changing things, and this time they've removed the total video views from their statistics. So I had to do a manual count up. Here's the latest:</p> <p>Subscribers have climbed to 746.<br> Channel views have increased to 17,049.<br> The total video viewings are now at 262,877.</p> <p>You can visit my Youtube channel at the following link:</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/jeffstunes">Jeffstunes Youtube channel</a></p> <p>Right. I've got to go and learn "Afternoons and coffee spoons" for the next open mic night <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/07/25/aiming-for-quality-4497780/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-07-18:/2008/07/18/viva-la-vida-a-coldplay-cover-4464536/jeffstunes2008-07-18T12:17:59+02:002008-08-10T16:49:50+02:00 <p>I chose to do a different song, but remain with the same band. Coldplay. After I had put up "Violet hill", I got a large number of requests to try "Viva la vida". Too many requests to ignore really. So I set about recording that one. It's another one from their latest album with the same title.</p> <p>I know that some people think that it's a bit of a cop out to do cover songs to backing tracks, but I always find a use in everything I attempt in music. I really want to improve my production skills. It's great to record all the musical parts perfectly, but if the mix doesn't sound right, then all your efforts are for very little.</p> <p>I've recently been trying to match the vocal production in the last few songs, to the original songs. I think it's made a big difference in the result, and I'm learning how to produce my vocals in different ways, for different types and styles of music.</p> <p>I've used a vocal boost on this one. Plus low to moderate plate reverb in the verses. Chorus and a heavier plate reverb in the chorus.</p> <p>Here it is. Viva la vida.</p> <p>Now for some up to date figures from my Youtube account.<br> Subs have come and gone, but yesterday I awoke to the pleasant sight of 6 new subscribers. That puts the figure at 727.<br> Channel viewings are currently 16,529.<br> The overall video viewings have made it! They've gone past the quarter million views. All of this within a year of putting up my first Youtube video. The current figure now stands at 254,512.</p> <p>I'm hoping I can now do that old album track cover that I said I was going to do in the first place <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/07/18/viva-la-vida-a-coldplay-cover-4464536/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-07-14:/2008/07/14/me-covering-coldplay-s-violet-hill-4448613/jeffstunes2008-07-14T22:50:14+02:002008-08-10T16:48:51+02:00 <p>Now for some covers. This one is a relatively new song, and it's called "Violet hill". It's covered from the new coldplay album "Viva la vida".<br> I've got a number of Coldplay songs lined up to do, and this is the first out of that selection. It was extremely hard to get the falsetto on this song, so I dropped the music by a semitone. I still struggled to reach the highest note, but did get there in the end.</p> <p>It's been a bit noisy above my village this past weekend. I live quite near to a place called Goodwood. One of the annual events they hold is called "The festival of speed". So while it was on, I snapped a few of the aircraft from my back garden. I have added those to the vid. All I'm going to say is that one in particular got very close, and it wasn't a small aircraft!!!</p> <p>Check out my cover of this brilliant song, and see my snaps:</p> <p>The Youtube stats are still moving well.<br> I've now got 721 subscribers.<br> Channel views are up to 16,254.<br> The overall video views are so close now. 249,532. Barring disasters, it will pass the quarter of a million tomorrow <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>It's quite likely that my next song will be another Coldplay tune. I've got my eyes on an album track from a few years ago <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/07/14/me-covering-coldplay-s-violet-hill-4448613/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-07-11:/2008/07/11/video-74-winner-4435803/jeffstunes2008-07-11T20:03:14+02:002008-08-10T16:48:11+02:00 <p>This is the third of my old original songs selection. The title of this one is "Winner". The lyrics can be interpreted in many different ways, but I wrote it for mistaken friends who need support.</p> <p>This is another number that was written with Mick Paul. I've put some information about what Mick is up to now.<br> If you watched the last vid I posted, you will have learned that Mick played bass on a David Hasselhoff single. I don't think there's many individuals who don't know who the Hoff is. He's been in smash hit shows such as "Knight rider", "Baywatch" and "America's got talent".</p> <p>This is "Winner" by Mick and I:</p> <p>Mick is quite busy doing the touring thing at the moment, with an outfit named "The David Cross band". David Cross was once part of a band called "King Crimson". They had quite a big following. If you come from Italy, There's a good chance that you've heard of David Cross. He's pretty popular there, and it's one of the reasons why most of Mick's touring takes place in Italy.</p> <p>Now for some youtube statistics news.</p> <p>My subscribers have seen a really good jump in the last few days. Racing past the 700 barrier to 717.<br> The channel views have rolled along to 16,017. Another barrier broken.<br> Finally the overall video views are still racing forward. They are now at 246,003. I was hoping that they might reach the quarter million by the 17th July. Which is the first year anniversary of my first video upload to Youtube. It's looking like it's going to get there on the 15th!!</p> <p>I'm probably going to do a few coldplay covers in my next few videos, and I'm hoping to bring some more news about my forthcoming album release.<br> I've set up a mailing list for first hand news about progress on the album. I will only be using the email addresses for that purpose. It's so I can tell anyone interested about events regarding the album, before the information is made public.</p> <p>If anyone wants to to join it, they can go to the homepage on my website and register. Here's the address:</p> <p><a href="http://www.jeffsmusic.co.uk">Jeffs music</a></p> <p>Bye for now <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/07/11/video-74-winner-4435803/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-07-04:/2008/07/04/losing-my-mind-4404307/jeffstunes2008-07-04T19:09:17+02:002008-08-10T16:47:32+02:00 <p>It's the 2nd of 3 songs written by Mick Paul and I a while back, that I have chosen to put on youtube. Ths one shows off Mick's Bass skills a bit. I just wanted acoustic guitar and Bass in this, and I think it worked quite well. The vocals drift off key in a couple of places. This song, and most of the others written with Mick. were written hours before they were recorded, so I'm not really surprised at the mistakes.</p> <p>The song is about a contreversial subject, though I'm not going let you know what it means here. You'll have to watch the video to discover it. I reveal the meaning at the end. It puts a whole new angle on the lyrics.</p> <p>Returning to Mick. Here is some information on the history so far of this very talented guy:</p> <p>Played on 2 singles in 1970.<br> Joined "The Hotshots" in 1973. They had a number 4 hit.<br> Joined "Union express" in 1974 and toured around Europe for 2 years.<br> From 1978, he did some session work for the B.B.C. and for a various number of publishers.<br> He was also an in-house bass player at Abbeydale studios in West London.<br> Co-wrote the Labour Party campaign song in 1987.<br> Joined "More tea vicar in 1990.<br> He wrote and performed on a single called "Aquarius" for Yello records, produced by Tyrrell.<br> Played on the "David Hasselhoff" single "If we could only say goodbye" (Yes. The Hoff).</p> <p>and more..</p> <p>I'll give a web link to his recording studio in West Worthing, southern England:</p> <p><a href="http://www.froosound.com">Froosound Recording Studio</a></p> <p>Mick is the person doing all the music in this song. He also did the music for the song in the previous post, and the next post I do.</p> <p>The title of this song is "Losing my mind". I hope you like it, and the Bass playing <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Now for the Youtube stuff.<br> Subs are up to 692.<br> Channel views are now at 15,540.<br> The overall vid views are 237,970. Still on target to hit a quarter of a million by the 17th of July. climbing at about a thousand views a day.</p> <p>Coming next is the third of the old original songs, featuring Mick Paul.<br> I'm still working hard on the album. I had a song in my head, as I was waking up yesterday. A strange way to discover a song, but I thought it was very good. I'm going to put the track together to see what it sounds like in real life, and if it's good enough, it can go on the album. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/07/04/losing-my-mind-4404307/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-07-02:/2008/07/02/they-wont-tell-you-why-4394445/jeffstunes2008-07-02T16:58:37+02:002008-08-10T16:46:18+02:00 <p>I'm going to go back in time a little with three selected songs I wrote when I first started to record music seriously.<br> A few years ago I wrote and recorded 9 songs in about a teo week period with a very talented guy called "Mick Paul".<br> Mick is a fantastic bass player and has done a lot in his career to date. He owns his own recording studio, and that is where all of those 9 songs were recorded.<br> I've picked 3 of those songs to upload to youtube, and this is the first of them.<br> This one is called "Amber falls". It's a pretty dark song. I wonder if you can work out what the song is about, before the video tells you near the end.</p> <p>Check out the video here:</p> <p>I have put some snippets of info about Mick in this first video, and I will be adding more to the following 2 videos. It's possible that you may recognise a name or two from the information to come.</p> <p>I added a warning in the video description of this particular song, because the song has what is known as "Speaker busters". Extremely deep high volume bass notes, that can cause damage to a bass speaker when it's turned up full. I just thought I'd let you know that. <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Now for a youtube update.</p> <p>I'm only 10 away from 700 subscribers now. So I've currently got 690.<br> The channel viewings have increased to 15,424.<br> The overall video views are up to 235,621. The way things are going, I might hit the quarter million by the first year anniversary of my first video upload.</p> <p>Coming next is the second of these three old original songs. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/07/02/they-wont-tell-you-why-4394445/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-06-26:/2008/06/26/making-changes-to-my-website-4369382/jeffstunes2008-06-26T23:09:11+02:002008-06-26T23:09:11+02:00 <p>It has been a mad rush week. I've done some work on my own website, so that I can get it ready for the release of the album. I've changed some of the information. Put some more links in. I have also added an email registration on my home page, so that anyone can register for updates on the progress of the album.<br> I pointed out that the email address will only be used for album updates, and will not be given to anyone else. I've also put that same registration on another website.<br> So now I can confidently share my web address. I've been running it for a few years already, but I haven't done much with it up to now <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Anyway. Here it is. My website:</p> <p><a href="http://www.jeffsmusic.co.uk">Jeffs music</a></p> <p>There is a music player on there that has got a selection of songs that I've created over the last 4 years. I could have taken them off because the recording quality is not the best in the world, and vocals are out of tune in places where a lot of them were rushed. However, I want them to stay there for a while to show how everything started. Including all the mistakes and flaws.</p> <p>The next bit of news is really interesting. A friend messaged me on Youtube, who had created a live internet TV channel, and he asked me if he could use some of my original music in his shows. I agreed, of course. He informed that when the first show aired, it received over 1,000 viewers in the first 3 hours!!!</p> <p>Here is a link to his live channel:</p> <p><a href="http://www.mogulus.com/musicforyou">Music for you - Live channel</a></p> <p>He needs some more original music videos for his TV channel, so if you compose your own songs, and want it aired on a live internet broadcast channel, then go to the link above and contact him via his email address. It could get you some good exposure, just like me <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Last but not least. The Youtube number counts.</p> <p>I gained 2 subscribers, but then I lost 2 <img src="/img/smilies/icon_sad.gif" alt=":(" class="middle" border="0"> So it's still 681.<br> The channel views are now at 15,146.<br> There has been another few thousand views to all of my videos so that figure now stands at 229,501. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/06/26/making-changes-to-my-website-4369382/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-06-24:/2008/06/24/a-petesbehr-cover-4356879/jeffstunes2008-06-24T14:51:01+02:002008-06-24T14:51:01+02:00 <p>There's been another cover version of one of my original songs. This time it's "Broadcast fantasy".<br> This was covered by "PetesBehr" on Youtube. His recording of this song is a bit like an unplugged version.<br> This guy has covered another one of my songs in the past.<br> I think that this differs quite a bit from the original song, but I quite like what he's done with it. It's interpreted in a completely different way, and that's what I like to see people doing with songs. Especially when it comes to my music. Engraving their own signature on it.</p> <p>First of all, here is the original version:</p> <p><a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tiqQAr3Vk8A">Broadcast Fantasy - Jeffstunes</a></p> <p>Now you've heard the Original. Check out his cover of it:</p> <p>It feels good when other people like your songs enough to want to record their own versions. It makes me feel like I'm doing something right <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"></p> <p>Now, the regular Youtube digest:</p> <p>I have now got 681 subscribers. Only another 19 to go to get to 700.<br> My channel views have raced forward to 15,037.<br> The total viewings for all of my videos are 227,028. Only another 23k to the quarter of a million, and it's moving at about a thousand a day at the moment.</p> <p>I have been doing a bit of work on my personal website over the last week. I think it's important for me to bring everything up to date, considering I'm releasing an album soon. So I'm changing the info on there. I'll be giving out the URL when It's done, for anyone interested <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/06/24/a-petesbehr-cover-4356879/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:jeffstunes.blog.co.uk,2008-06-22:/2008/06/22/bring-down-the-government-4347815/jeffstunes2008-06-22T15:47:23+02:002008-08-10T16:46:02+02:00 <p>I decided to take a few days out from making my album, and I recorded a requested song, from a while ago. It's a song I really wanted to do because it seems a very simple song, but it's quite vocally expressive. The song I'm talking about is "No surprises" by "Radiohead".<br> The making of the vid was pretty easy. Not much going on in it. Just me sitting in half shadow, throughout the song. The video to the original is just the singers head, nit what looks like a space helmet to me, filling up with some water. I didn't use any water though.<br> Instead, I decided to think about different events in my life while singing, so my facial expressions would go through subtle changes.</p> <p>Here is the result:</p> <p>As per normal. Here is the latest news on my Youtube account statistics.</p> <p>677 subs.<br> 14,891 channel viewings.<br> 224,885 total video viewings.</p> <p>It would probably be a good idea for me to get back to making the album now <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://jeffstunes.blog.co.uk/2008/06/22/bring-down-the-government-4347815/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>