THE SONG - "Friends Of The Earth" - Listen to a clip
This is our home, a refuge in the emptiness.
A jewel of life, a miracle of birth.
A bubble of air
between us and oblivion, Spinning through time, across
the universe.
Tell everyone the time has come to change things, Shout
it out loud for everything you're worth, Follow your
heart, believe & make it happen, Join hands
together, friends of the earth ...
CHORUS We want to live ...Save the world We
want to live ...Save the world
Can
we be friends, live our lives together ? In meadows
of green, under skies of blue, Be a part of my world,
stand up & say you're with me, Be there for me
& I'll be there for you.
Tell everyone the time has come to change things, Shout
it out loud for everything you're worth, Follow your
heart, believe & make it happen, Join hands together,
friends of the earth ...
CHILDREN'S CHOIR I recorded the junior choir of violin player, Sim's son's, North London school,
"Torriano" last year and I have already sent the remixed master copies (as
part of a demo with three other tracks from the new "Watchers"
album) to radio stations across the country.
CONTACTING EVENTS / SHOWS /
PEOPLE Since
2002 I have been busy contacting the organisers of events to let them know we have a great duo, trio & band & will be promoting a
very special song. There were some positive results (see the other side of the
page for the list & how they are progressing). Quite a number of South West
events & organisations were contacted as Sim & I planned to tour in and
around Cornwall in August. Unfortunately, we have had no offer of bookings in
the SW Region.
COVER
PAINTING I
painted a water colour picture (see below) to go on the cover
of the single. It shows the earth surrounded by a ring of children
- protecting it like guardian angels.
MAGAZINES
& NEWSPAPERS I have sent the manuscript of the song (which you can see on
the web site) to the smaller folk
magazines countrywide. I have also put the press release,magazine
story & backgrounds with more
in
depth details, I have been
working on, onto the web site and I have sent these out to larger/glossy
magazines. So far I know there has been mention of the project in
Traditional Music Makers Magazine and Musician Magazine (the MU mag). Nearer the time of release of the single I shall contact
newspapers. I already contacted the Richmond local papers - to coincide
with the band's performing the song at the Richmond May Fair, which received
some coverage. We have taken some
photos of myself with Peter, playing our instruments together, which we have
sent with the copy (see below right).
RECORDINGS The
song can now be heard on two albums; "The Watchers"
the studio recording with Torrianos school choir and "The
Mystic Journey 1" - performed live at Windsor Arts Centre.
SHOW - "MYSTIC
JOURNEY" The "Friends Of The Earth" track is the finale
song in a special show I have produced called "The Mystic
Journey". The story, told by harp
player and storyteller "France Ellul", begins at the
dawn of time and tells of the arrival of the Celtic tribes.
It winds a magical and spiritual path, studded with (largely)
our own songs, and ends, in the present day, on the brink
of environmental disaster, with the "Friends Of The Earth"
song. I hope to give people an enjoyable, as well as an enlightening,
experience, while at the same time giving the "Friends
Of The Earth" track some more exposure.
I sent demos to the
radio stations (listed below), once we had
a show booked at Windsor Arts Centre (so that
any radio interviews we got would allow us to promote the single
alongside the show). I also contacted some local "Friends
Of The Earth" groups and pagan groups, as I thought this
show could be of interest. Sadly, I got no response from any of this.
FRIENDS
OF THE EARTH - Group I
have approached a number of people at the head office and although
they have not been discouraging, they have not been willing
to pass on news about the project in their magazine and they
have explained they didn't have enough resources to help me
with possible contacts. They have given me some local groups
to contact, which I have done with news of both the song and
the "Mystic Journey" show. Out of five groups contacted,
I have had some interest from three :- 1. Maidenhead &
District 2. Hillingdon & District 3. Hounslow &
District
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AIMS OF THE PROJECT (In order
of importance)
1. To record the song "Friends Of The Earth"
with a children's choir and have it released as a single, to raise as much money
as possible for worthwhile environmental work.
2. To highlight environmental issues to
young people through a popular medium.
3. To help young people feel good about
being able to improve their environment.
4. To raise money for the school /
children's organisations involved.
5. To help raise the profile of myself
& my Kindred Spirit musicians; allowing us to reach our music out to a
wider audience.
6. To help raise the profile of live music
and musicians generally.
EVENTS / SHOWS / PEOPLE
CONTACTED
1. Richmond May Fair (11/5/02)
BAND BOOKED 2. Windsor Arts Centre BOOKING 8th Feb 3. Ealing Summer Festival (early
Aug.) 4. Nettlebed Folk Club 5. Richmond Arts & Leisure Dept. 6.
Guildford Folk & Blues Festival (3-5 Aug.) 7. Canary Wharf Events
WE ARE ON
FILE 8. Greenwich &
Docklands Int. Fest. (mid July) 9. Malborough Festival, Devon (mid
Aug.) 10. Wadebridge Festival, Cornwall (end Aug.) 11. Cornwall
Festival 12. South West Arts
ENCOURAGING RESPONSE 13. Folk
South West 14. The Wren Trust, Devon 15. Acoustic Youth, Cornwall 16.
Cornish Music Project 17. Bodmin Folk Club 18. St. Ives Folk Club 19.
Folk On The Moor, Devon 20. The Barbican, Penzance, Cornwall 21. The Blue
Peter Program NOT
SUITABLE 22. The Eden
Project ALREADY BOOKED
UP 23. The Association Of
Festival Organisers 24. British Council - Performing Arts Dept. 25. Folk
Arts Network. 26. Promoters countrywide (26 in all) 27. Capital Radio
(Help A London Child) NO 28. Ken
Livingstone MP ON FILE FOR
EVENTS 29. Keith
Ames, Musician's Union GREAT
RESPONSE 30. Terry
Wogan (BBC Radio 2)
RESPONSES IN MORE DETAIL
KEITH
AMES, MUSICIANS UNION - Keith has been very helpful; given me
publicity advice and put an article in the
London Branch Newsletters about the project in the hope that
it might interest some well known musicians to back it and possibly
do a promotional video / performance / recording etc. to try
and make it happen.
BLUE PETER
PROGRAM - We were told that only bands who are in the current top ten are
allowed to perform on the show.
SOUTH WEST ARTS - I had one encouraging
response, which has not followed with any further interest.
PROMOTERS (VARIOUS) - We are being kept on
file with one promoter.
CAPITAL RADIO (Help A London Child) - The
"Help A London Child" Charity wrote to say they were not allowed to be involved
in the tracks to receive air play. The pack was not even passed on to the Capital
Radio team for consideration.
MAGAZINES - Shockingly,
the "Friends Of The Earth" magazine, "Earth Matters"
felt unable to mention the project at all in their summer 2002
issue (52). There has been some mention of the
project in the following magazines :- Traditional Music Makers, Musician.
We had hoped to be mentioned in Rock'N'Reel but this magazine
has now folded.
WANT TO
HELP ? If you think you can help with the project , or have any useful
advice, do get in touch.
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