Beach Chap.

"We're all going on a Summer Holiday"

Decided to abandon my ass of a politics essay and hit the beach on sunday.
Cape Town is beautiful right now. Dig it.
Here's a few snaps from the day - hit Clifton 4th for a few hours, then to a viewpoint by Llandudno, then to rafiki's in Kloof street from drinks and buffalo wings.
Sweet.

chap.

Kif Chap.

"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on"

Had a kif chat with a friend last night. It began as some sorta evaluation of feelings and reflections about our actions towards one another...but then, as it usually happens with me, we went off on a loooong tangent about life in general. In particular, it was the observation that we determine our own lives - its up to us where we wanna go and what we aspire to achieve, and how exactly we are going to make those things happen. As you know, i'm into snapping photos of everything, and recently some opportunities have come up that will allow me to do this. On friday i'm taking couple shots at a residence formal - and this came up, all because I made it happen. I put myself out there. If you don't, and you don't get to do all the things you wanna do, you only have yourself to blame. You're in control, in the driver's seat (these metaphors could go on and on...and on!).

Grab life by the scruff of the neck and force yourself to do the things that challenge you.
The more it scares the shit out of you, the more rewarding the outcome...unless its crocodile wrestling. That'll only end badly.

chap.

Happy Chap.

"Oh Mr Medicine, i'm so happy you came here, you went from everyman, to every man's Saviour."

Today feels like a good day to me. Yep, i've got an essay due for monday and not a lot of time to do it in, but i'm feeling positive. You know when you get those days where things you thought were huge and scary and out of your control, suddenly become small and manageable? Its like the feeling when you're faced with a lot of food - yeah, that chicken breast is massive, its piping hot and you can't take a bite without stuffing the whole thing in you gob. You think, "flip i've not got the energy to try and work out a way to eat this thing without looking like a starved caveman!" But, once you cut it up it's not so daunting anymore.
Yoh, that was a strange analogy...i think it must be time for lunch.

Found another video of the lovely Eliza.
2 things - I love her voice, and I want her skirt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQMWohTNgcg&feature=relmfu

chap.

Apologetic Doolittle Chap.

"I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!"

 Yes, I haven't been around since last wednesday...sorry! I'm trying to keep my promise of one post a day, and believe me, i've had things to write about over the past week. However, it appears that varsity picked this week to pick on me, and cut my blog-time in half. But I will not be defeated! Although i'm trying to finish an economics essay on a topic i know almost nothing about, and have a politics essay due on monday, the posts will be regular and on time. That's a promise Don (yes you).

Whilst stealing a quick break from my 'intense' studying (yes, i'm going to overexaggerate the crap out of my current situation), i happened upon one of my favourite gals. For some reason i found myself on youtube (what? i can't help it if my hand types 'you...' into google all on its own), and found this video of Eliza Doolittle performing an acoustic version of her single 'Skinny Genes'. It may be a pretty 'mainstream' song, but she's got funk, soul, and a crapload of talent, so there. If I had any aspirations a singer, which currently consists of dozens of choir rehearsals, and the occasional shower ballad, i'd want to be just like her. Yoh, I sound like a child in awe of their idle (when i grow up, i wanna be JUST LIKE YOU), but she's a seriously cool human. I guess sometimes you can't help but admire people, and I don't think there's anything particularly. It's when you rate your own worth against other people's 'coolness', and how they treat you. I have a friend like that - sometimes its very difficult not to let their opinion determine how I view myself. At times I find myself swinging between incredibly happy and 'cool', to depressed and disattisfied with my lot. But no. When it comes to it, you're stuck with yourself at the end of the day. That's the real purpose for this video - yeah, its not everyone's cup of tea, but I ENJOY IT. Who cares if they don't like it, that's their opinion. You can't change theirs, so they shouldn't change yours if you don't want to. Take it away Miss Doolittle...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDkqTxv6ZRo

This was a comment on the video, made me happy:
"This song makes me want to strip naked, burst out of my room window, free fall 21 floors, land in the snow, make a snow angel, shiver from the cold, get hypothermia, DIE!, go the pearly gate, say whats up to Saint Peter, do our secret hand shake, look in the directory for Siddhartha (Buddha), find Him, have Him reincarnate me into a frog, meet a princess, kiss her, turn into a prince, order my subjects to bring me a computer, and listen to this song again".

chap.

Empire of Avos Chap.

"Avocados are Mother Nature's skin moisturizer...mmm hchello hchello!"

Let's travel back in time, all the way to monday night. Yep, its a long way, but I think we can manage it.
Monday was a loooong day - up at 9 for lectures, came home at lunchtime and worked until 5. At 5 I had to change quickly and ruuuush up to upper campus for a choir concert (true choir nerd me). Straight afterwards we had a rehearsal until 10pm. Needless to say, when I got home I was ex.haus.ted.
And then something amazing happened - I plugged my ipod in and hit up some Cat Empire's 'Hello'. Awesomely awesome song, groovy groovy. I headed to the kitchen, where I thought I was going to make toast with smoked ham and an avo. But, when I cut into the avo I realised that this was going to be no ordinary meal. This avo. was. PERFECT. If Leonardo Davinci had decided to take a day off from dear Mona, and drawn an avo, it would have looked like this avo.
I was almost ashamed to eat it. But I got over that feeling and got stuck in.

Together with the Cat Empire's jazz funk and the mother of all avos, I was a very happy chap. That night I dreamt that I lived in an avo house. It was the best night's sleep I ever had.


chap.

Horsecookies Chap.

"In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times"


Freakiest lecture today. No joke.
Our politics lecturer is away to a conference for 2 weeks, so we have a substitute...what an experience.
First off, our venue was double-booked, so she was already in a foul mood. We were all crowded inside, what with the rain pissing down outside. She stood amongst us and just stared, didn't say a word for about 5 minutes, and then looked at me and said "Just carry on talking please". Needless to say with flippin shut up, and she told us to follow her to another venue. We all filed in behind her and started picking up the worksheets. We going as fast as we could, but she put on her death stare and looked at my friend and said, "Would you hurry it up please?!". Sheesh, we thought she was gonna blow her lid so we rushed to the back of the lecture hall.
But then she flipped the switch and changed! She cracked some jokes, and became this sarcastic legend! I'm thinking she might have been a rebellious teen in school, smoking in the toilet stalls, detention kid kinda thing (she had a dig at how much she hated "snotty" head girls). Maybe a hardcore feminist, she could definitely take out a few guys if she wanted to! And, when someone answered her question with a "stupid answer" she replied, "oh, what horsecookies". Legend, nuff said.


Looking forward to tomorrow!


chap.

Cornish Chap.

"So don't talk me through it / I understand it / When everything is done / Don't hold me back"



ALEX CORNISH.
Remember this name, google his name, youtube him, find him in the paper.
Whatever you do, you HAVE to listen to his music.
Its impressive, very, very impressive.
He's recently released his 3rd studio album entitled 'No Shore', and its absolutely breathtaking. 
His musicality is so impressive, blending thoughtful (for want of a better word) lyrics with haunting and gripping melodies. The blend seems effortless, he's an incredible talent. 


There are too many songs to choose from, so I suggest you have a youtube session with Cornish. It'll so be worth it. One of my personal favourites is 'Don't Hold Me Back', and his cover of 'Brothers in Arms' from Dermot O'Leary's Live Lounge Sessions. 


Oh, and he lives in Edinburgh. Fucking brill.


chap.

Past & Present Chaps.

“Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what's to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didn't have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive ourselves... for growing up.”


Have you ever taken a look at yourself (in the mirror probably, unless you've got a shiney piece of cutlery to hand), and thought about whether you're different to how you were 5, 10, even 15 years ago? Can you remember what you were like as a child - what did you enjoy? Who were your friends? What was your absolute faaaaavourite thing to do? When I visit home, I get the urge to rummage through all the photo albums stacked up in the study, and well, reminisce. You'd find me going 'ooh' and 'aaah' at snaps, as they remind me of memories, both good and bad. Sometimes, I think its refreshing to look back and see how far you've come, and encourage you to reflect on where you are now, and finally, where you're heading. Are you still you?


To continue the theme of growing up, and all those crazy ins and outs (cliched, but still true!), take a look at these snaps I snipped from stumbleupon - only the most addictive website on. the. planet. Yes nick, that was all you! yoh. Anyhoo, the pictures are of the same person reenacting poses from their chilhood. Simple, but so siiick.

chap.

Bailey Rae Chap.

"He's a real live wire, he's the best of his kind."

Lovely lady on the block who I cannot stop listening to - Corinne Bailey Rae. She's a fantastic soul singer, as well as an unbelievable songwriter. And she's gorgeous. obviously. I love listening to artists, where you can hear them making progress, developing as songwriters, experimenting with different genres, but staying completely true to who they are as musicians. They don't compromise for the sake of simply selling records and making money - its really disappointing to see talented people sell themselves short just to appeal to the general public. 

What I think I love most about Corinne is her lyrics. They're completely honest. Bare. Recently i've been hooked on her song 'Are You Here'. She explained that the whole song started from a guitar riff she would play over and over, and from there these words would come to her, words that she didn't even know she had. It conveys an overpowering love that might not always be able to be expressed in words. Its passionate and truthful, and I love it.

Check out her live recording of 'Are you Here'. Its from her 2nd studio album, The Sea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARFnffnuDQU

chap.

Life Chap.

"Rivers know this: There is no hurry, we shall get there some day."

Just got back from the gig, was flipppppin cool. But i've come back feeling weird. Its the one thing about being in a big venue with tons of people, you have the perfect opportunity to people watch. Just watch people living their lives, making mistakes, making friends, making enemies, mixing drinks and smoking cigarettes. And you just wonder - what's their deal. Not to sound pretentious but, WHO ARE THEY? Who do they wanna be, who do they idolise, why are they wearing those clothes, do they really believe the things they're saying, do they like the music they paid R60 to listen to? 
This time in our lives, the time when we're studying things we don't understand fully, falling in and out of love, its both the best and the worst time. There are so many things out there to push and pull you in different directions, and sometimes its not clear what path you're supposed to be headed down. Coming to cape town, I thought I was gonna get here and instantly realise who chap was, and what I was meant to be doing with my life. Yoh, at the moment everything is so confusing, it almost doesn't feel like i'm gonna get through all this bullshit. I don't wanna sound pretentious, because there must be people out there feeling the same way. I hope, flip it would suck if i'm the only one! There's no use in having plans, because there'll always be something there to change them.


Because life doesn't care about your plans. You've just gotta go with it.

chap.

Tutu Chap.

"Dude, I hate to tell you, but your girlfriend...looks just like Willie Nelson"


Tonight i'm hitting the town with some other good-looking lads - Desmond and the Tutus. 
If you're picturing Desmond Tutu slappin' some bass, surrounded by a skinheads in leather jackets (or possibly tutus), you're a little off. Believe me, i've made this mistake. 
They're a South African band, originally from Pretoria, and apparently their genre of music is "kwela-indie-pop-rock"...take from that what you will. Anyhoo, one of their cool quirks is their obsession with girls who look like boys, and/or have boys names. Their song 'Peter' is about a girl who was named as such because her dad was desperate for a son, and was instead given 13 girls. eish. 'Your Girlfriend' focuses on a girlfriend who looks like a dude, namely Willie Nelson. Now he's an OLD dude. Cute, but I don't think i'd like to be mistaken for an 78-year old country western singer/songwriter. At least not until I lose my teeth, in which case it might be cool to look like someone famous guy.


So i'm donning my shirt and boy boots and jamming my face off to some gender-confused music. Hells yeah!


Check out their one and only video, its for 'Peter':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqyO8s9qpLo


And here's dear Willie N...

chap.

Summer Chap.

"We're all going on a summer holiday".

Me again. Obviously.
So I sort of slept through wednesday due to tuesday evening, and all that entailed. And wednesday was HOT - makes me crave summer like no-one's business. Crazy amped for the summer vac, 3 fun-filled months of...k well I have no idea what i'm going to do. Anything, as long as it involves evenings like this.

chap.

Lazy Chap.

"Life is a lot like jazz... it’s best when you improvise..."


Ok, so my track record isn't looking so good these days. Last post was saturday, eish!
Right, new blogolution (that's resolution, but for blogs. clever.) - there will be a new post every day, it might not be fabulously interesting or mindblowingly amazing or...right now i'm just shoving adjectives in to entice you. Point is, this blog is going to run like a flippin military operation. With less guns, and not as much topless Jake Gyllenhaal in Jarhead. Now that's a real shame.


Highlight of the week:


Monday night a bunch of us hit Trinity for a bid band Jazz evening. Trinity is, well, its described as a "superclub" and "Cape Town's most luxurious nightclub and restaurant". For some reason I was expecting some dingy club with a seedy bartender who scares the crap out of you (a certain friend of mine has had such an experience...). But, this place was siiick, as we came in we noticed an organ on the ground level, and it stretched all the way to the third floor! Yes, there were three floors, and all the stairs were transparent. Kinda freaky once you'd necked back a few glasses of house wine. The first floor was in two sections - an enclosed restaurant area away from the crowds, and then a whole bunch of tables spread over what looked like a dancefloor. Next to that was a raised stage, and then the second floor was basically a balcony overlooking the stage and dining area, covered with comfy sofas and armchairs. Needless to say we were encouraged to sit up here, which was probably a good idea since some of us got a little carried away. And loud. Like, really loud! The theme for the evening was Latin Jazz, and it was such a vibe! The latin flavour was fresh and catchy, as soon as the music started we were all shaking our shoulders and jiving. I imagined us in a grungy cigar-smelling club in south america - where its hot and sweaty and everyone's just chilling and enjoying all the rhythms and sounds. One ticket to Cuba anyone? Mr Dan Shout was on hand as one of the sax players, and showed off his impressive skills with his soprano.
What makes this music so fun to listen to is that you don't ficsate on the technique or skill those playing - all you wanna do is sit back and experience it all. Flip its cool.


chap.

Jazz Chap.

"Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on." 

I've recently been snapping some shots of some flippin hip jazz musicians over the past month. It's at this small pub lounge called Tagore's in Observatory. It's got such a cool vibe, feels like you're just chilling in a cozy living room - except there's a bar and a stage and insane live music. Its kinda what I'd imagine Louis Armstrong's living room to look and feel like. Anyhoo, on each of Tuesday of August the Dan Shout Quartet has been churning out amazing tunes - both original pieces and stunning covers. The quartet is made up of solo Sax, Electric Guitar, drums and double bass/bass guitar. In particular, they played a cover of 'Don't Explain', which was originally written by Billie Holiday and her close friend Arthur Herzog, Jr. Apparently she wrote it when her husband, Jimmy Monroe, came home one night with lipstick traces on his collar.

Here's one of my favourite snaps from these sick evenings.

Check out a recording of 'Don't Explain', it'll blow your brains. Figuratively, I hope: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxwJ9lh-id4

Check out Dan Shout's upcoming events at: www.danshout.co.za

chap.