Express and Impress YOURSELF!!

Image by sassyradish via Flickr

As a Human being there are 2 basic things that you need to be able to do. They are essential ingredients, as simple as potatoes, in recipes such as "Growing" "Development" "Living", to name a few.

These two things are,

1) being able to EXPRESS YOURSELF

2) being able to IMPRESS YOURSELF.

and not being afraid to do either of these. As a Musician i proceed...

You need to express yourself, i need to. Say what's on my mind and not be told that this is not what people want to hear. Quite frankly, does it matter what other people want to hear? If you can put your thought together in a package that sounds nice and melodic and can be commercially viable then why not? Why, please tell me why, do you have to become a simpleton to make your mark. Forget that. Express what's on your mind. Your true mind. If you are feeling Angry, Sad, Happy, Indifferent, if you are In Love, if you feel insane, Heartbroken, or even if you feel stupid and want to talk about potatoes and sh*t of that nature, Tell it!

Let who you are come through, Music is so powerful and when you hear a lot about one particular subject most of the time you lose your head, but you don't realize you have because of the power behind music. Other forces are at work so you just accept what your are given.. i mean hearing....

Often stuff is put out to impress. I get that. I want people to enjoy my music and in turn support me... Which brings me onto the 2nd ingredient for which i take a general stance not just as a musician... as a being i revert.....

Impressing yourself, could be one of the best things that you could do, in whatever i do i know that i am my worst critic so if i can impress myself then i have done a very good job as i have high standards, as my you.
But for so long i have taken other people's reaction to my efforts long before i thought about mine. What about me?

Whatever you do if you do it with a view to impressing other people before yourself then you are in trouble. You cannot impress everyone else. Personally i do not know what is going on in other people's heads i can hazard a guess though. However, there is one person who i know i can impress all the time without fail if i try hard enough and i know exactly what he thinks, i feel what he feels, i taste what he tastes and i don't just have an idea of who he is: i know who he is. I Am Him!!!

Whether you are doing something you have never done before, If you are taking dancing classes, learning a new language, learning to read for the first time, exercising, volunteering, writing a new song, changing your diet etc, whatever it is that you are putting your hand to do it the best you can, its not about others, it about showing yourself that you can do this. You alone. You will be so proud of yourself for achieving something you may have thought you never could. Then pat yourself on the back. The impressions of yourself on others in your day to day life will either be a bonus or negligible because once you truly impress yourself you can walk with confidence.

This blog is part evidence of me Expressing myself, what i intend to work on is impressing myself. And it's not easy work. You can't just wake up one day and change a behaviour without some difficulty, but getting through that difficulty eventually leads to you impressing yourself. Too long i have gone on thinking about what others will think of me. or what they do think of me.
From now on i will try my hardest to think of what i think of myself first. Not that i will become an icey cold being who doesn't take into account others, no never that, i just need to stop doing what i do expecting praise from people, or help or handouts, no more of this.

Because if i can't satisfy myself then your thought should be the least of the worry on my mind.

Today i Impressed myself writing this, let's proceed from here onwards....

My Life Editions: 3 - Stonebridge Park: Can you transcend your Location no matter where you are?

Image by Nicobobinus via Flickr

This is something i have been thinking about for a long time.

I, Jeremy St. John currently reside in Stonebridge Park, which is in the Borough of Brent, Northwest London. England,United Kingdom.

People from all over the world have made their names known coming from the most obscure places.
A place in London that stands out is Camden, i mean a lot of talented people come from there, raised there and launch. But we've had Dizzie Rascal from East london Bow, and M.I.A from Acton. Can we do it for Stonebridge Park?

Personally, i believe that if you have the talent, and you keep on serving it up right, then you can transcend your location and travel the world. From North West London to South East Asia, can you imagine?

So, why has it not happened yet?

I cannot answer that question.

There is so much power in removing the limits from your being, thinking of the world as your back garden and not some awesome terrain which you could never explore, I have always thought of the world as something i can just reach out for when i'm ready to NOT when it is ready to receive me. Stonebridge Park is just a place, no matter where i move to the talent and the creativity will also follow me but guess what; Stonebridge Park will always be where it is.

Will i be the one to put Stonebridge Park on the map?

No, it's unneccessary. I do not own any part of North West London, none of these streets belong to me. Stonebridge Park has as much loyalty for me as a Wolf does to a sheep. In fact, less, because Stonebridge Park is just a location. Trees, Bricks and mortar. Bus stops, Tube stations and a reputation which was only brought there by the people who brought themselves there. See, Stonebridge Park can no harm on it's own.

I used to be embarrased to say i lived there. But i shouldn't be. I am not where i was raised. I am Beyond this.

Instead, I will put myself on the Map. And naturally wherever i travel to shall be associated with me.

Thats sound about right, so if anybody asks where i was raised: It's Stonebridge Park. Where i'm going to now thats another story......

Busy...

I've been real busy this week, Setting goals, reflecting, chasing the Carte Blanche - don't think i've forgotten.

Been finishing up new songs and today i just finished one.
This song is special. I don't want to name it but you all will be hearing about it really really soon....

Watch this space, it has an electronic feel.

Found a nice library this week, in Camden, but, it's on Kilburn High road. I mean the deal with that is one side of Kilburn High Road is in Brent and the other half is in Camden I think i'm going to go there in the quiet times to finish up some songs

Been a really good week for me though, When you set goals and you follow them it really doesn't matter what anyone else is doing, only what you are doing and trying to get done.

Set goals people.

My own world in my head...

Image by goodspeed16 via Flickr

Hey whats up, been really busy so i haven't been keeping up to real time with this blogging affair,
In fact i have actually been operating in my own world..

I live in a world that consists of Sunsets. And boats.
Imagine my surprise when i find a photo which clearly illustrates what you would see if you opened my head, dug out my brain and looked in the mush and glush goop.....


Beautiful isn't it?

Wasn't looking that way before my Gig on wednesday.

I had never heard the band play my stuff!

I was having a Brickdown.

See vidfig.2: Brickdown



Brickdown is when you are bricking it but you play it down Bricking + Playing it down = A Brickdown.

I did not know what to expect.

So lets just say i got there and i didn't do a soundcheck even though there was an option too, however, the full band weren't available.

So when i went on, i was just like you. Not knowing what to expect.

Let the 2nd part of the Brickdown commence

The songs sounded nothing like what i expected, i was slightly disappointed.
I had to sing first then have the band follow. which Put me on Brickdown.

I really must apologize though, sometimes i have no awareness of how i look, or the looks i'm giving out, i may have given out some strange arse looks but i wasn't being offkey, i was merely nervous. I find it hard to be fake and sometimes if i am disappointed if i don't say it my whole being does, in this case only the face.

I guess with the kind of night it was as well, you don't get rehearsals, it's more of a spoken word night with poetry and music via a live band of track. It's the type of event where anything can happen.

The night was good though, apart from my discontent with my 2 song set, it was at its busiest i had ever seen it, my family was there, few friends, new people i met, thank you all for coming to support me and us and supporting the music and poetry we make and sing.

Thank you to Toni and Tara for putting me on.

I guess it's time to keep it moving


Next......

Here it goes...

Hey,

Forgot to tell you all of my Fat talent show.

It was really good.

Walked into the joint, late, but early as hell because you know nothing ever is on time time time (yea i meant to type it 3 times mate) in this industry.
I was the 2nd artist around and i was quite nervous

Done my soundcheck and then sat back down.

Had to make sure i was sounding good. and it was all good.

I must confess, that my loneliness, is killing me now..... don't you you know i still believe...... ok seriously, i must confess that i was quite nervous before i did my soundcheck and i am more aware than others how my nerves can affect my voice.

However, i now realised the importance of a soundcheck, its to gauge and correct.

I have done gigs before in which i have literally just walked in off the street and went directly to the stage. Stage left please. And i personally have been disappointed i mean, it wasn't my birthday: forgo the surprises mate!

After the soundcheck, i was as right as rain!

Did the show. Loved the acts i saw there.

A girl called Riasha not sure if it's spelt right, and a few of the rappers, AKay was good.

Thanks goes out to Carli Adby for taking the photos and today i found out she blogged about me homies!
Thank you very much for the hail up. thanks
Check her out here http://carliart.blogspot.com/

Holler back

Also check my performance out here








alternatively you can check me out on www.youtube.com/jeremystjohn


Talk to me like Amerie.

My Life Editions: 2 - Trust

How hard is it to trust someone?

Not very, in my eyes anyway. Mary J. Blige

I know what i am about on this subject, i trust people to a degree until i have been given adequate reason/s not to.

I trust you, when i first encounter you, (this will be called initial trust. It's a special reserve of just enough trust so that i don't become a complete pessimist but not enough so that my brains fall out. It never runs dry and there is always some more for newcomers no matter how much has been used up) to be yourself, to be who you are around me and because i don't always hope for the worst i trust you to be genuine, i mean, why would you not be? and in turn why wouldn't i be myself? It's the best way for us to decide whether we'd get along or not.

I'm done trying to impress people there was a time when i wouldn't be myself because i was trying to inspire trust, or acceptance, i am over that right now.

I trust you at this point, maybe not with my life but since you have no reason to lie or hoodwink me, in my eyes, you are the truth.

If for whatever reason the initial trust flows for a while but ceases in the early stages then i am sure that something can be done about that. 9 times out of 10. If i can explain exactly why i don't trust you then there's more chance of rectifying the issue. if it is an issue. if you don't care whether i trust you or not then you don't give a sh*t. I mean who am i?

If i can't pinpoint it then there's more of a problem because A) Can't really address whats bothering us can we? B) It's probably a gut feeling from experience or C) I could be making a mistake because i am sometimes ready walk away from someone i don't trust when they could actually be a trustworthy person but my attitude doesn't give me a chance to see that. Which makes it my problem and my problem alone.

Bottom line is it's not every hard to trust someone. I think everyone deserves some trust, by all means if you have strong intuition that tells you otherwise go with it.
If your trust is being abused, take it back. Turn off the tap to the reserve. But don't take the mindset of never turning it back on. Give what you need to when you need to and if it's not well received take it, move on. There is always someone out there who is deserving and there is always someone you can trust.

My Life Editions: Ed1

Cover of My Life

Listen people,

I was re-inspired by one of my favourite songs by Mary J. Blige "My Life"

I have always loved the songs and after revisiting the album in '09 the first few lines of the opening verse coaxed me into putting this out there....
" Life can be only what you make it, when you're feeling down you should never fake it, say what's on your mind and you'll find in time that all of the negative energy it will decease......and you'll be at peace with yourself, you won't really need no one else..."


Whenever i hear those lines and i have the song playing, it could be playing out loud, in my headphones, in the library and i can't help but to adjust my face and shake my head in agreement with Mary J and i can't help but to make the noises that unintentinally accompany my possesion, the noises of approval .. (See vidfig.1 an example of my agreement)






I Loved it! So i have decided to add to my blog the 'My Life Editions'.

Things that are not necessarily music related, but could be written about in a song, but are about life. My life. or your life. a friends life. of course i am not going to air out anyone else's business nor mine but i will be holding forth on subjects i feel i have a right to. Highs, Lows, Ups and downs and all arounds.

For those who haven't heard "My Life" by M.J.B heres Mary to give it to you. Mary, Give it to 'em