happy christmas

happy christmas. 

here is a christmas album free to download freely recorded from my reunited first band dih with an ever increasing number of friends.

http://archive.org/details/DihAndFriendsChristmas2012

Christmas Present thank you letter from Snow White

Dear Dopey and the rest

of my six, lovely little friends

this is just a tiny note

just to let you know

while i was here

and you were gone,

I just wanted to thank you

for your Christmas Present,  

but while I was here

and you were gone

I just wanted

to let you know

you had left the price tag on,

nobody had replaced

the burnt out old fuse

nor the plug which looked like

if it had been left there

much longercould have melted

the wrapping paper.

I am a little stunned

it looked likesomebody had already used it

and worse still

didn't bothered cleaning it

when they had finished

with it

or bothered drying out

the instructions. 

I cannot believe

another name is quite visible

underneath my name

and my address is nothing

like Snow White's Pleasure doTN22 3NJ. 

I am blazingthe wrapping paper

looked like it had being

half ripped open

which made me think

somebody messed

around with it

last christmas

and thought to themselves

there is no f**king way

I am keeping that

and I'll recycle it

to some other sod

the following year. 

So while this is just a note

while I was here

and you were gone,

I would like to say thank you

for your gift

of a hedge trimmer, 

and would just let know

in addition

that the used blow up reindeer doll

you also sent

has being returned

to Santa Claus

and he's coming

round to yours

to kick the Sh*t out of you later 

Love Snow White 

Dockyard Prayer Part II (New Poem)

Dear all;

Here is Part 2 of Dockyard Prayer, the new sequence me and Jeff Dawson (aka Jeffarama!)
have been writing.

It can be read here 

Enjoy!

Andy N

If the art galleries shut (new poem published)

Dear all;

As some of you may know, I have been going to Write Out Loud - Stockport for a bit now and have been concerned about the possible closure to this (or the shortening of hours).

As a member of Stockport, we got together to produce a ebook to send round to a number of the local press to highlight this.

My Poem can for this be can read here

A Dockyard Prayer Part 1 (New Poem)

Me and Jeff Dawson (aka Jeffarama!) have released the first part of a new sequence
of poetry 'A Dockyard Prayer' Part 1.

It can be read here

Hope you enjoy!

latest news and views 21st November 2012

Hi all;

Hope you are all enjoying this sink into Winter.

Not a great deal going for me at the moment as most of my spare time outside work is getting ready for Christmas really with Cathy and my family, but some little bits of news in bite sized chunks:

1)     At the end of October @ Acoustic Wednesdays in Manchester. Me, Jeff and Petrova aka A Means to an End played our last gig for the foreseeable future there, debuting two new songs ‘Dead to me’ and ‘Return to Kemptown’ and loads of our old classics (Links to follow) and had a great time in a respectful, quiet night. Will defo want to play there again in the new year. A new gig is pencilled in for March 2013 at Open Mind and I guess we’ll squeeze something else before that too.

2)     I did Guitar and verse in November replaying a old poem ‘Ghosts of Manchester Victoria’ and with pre programmed musical backing ‘Kemptown’ (2012 Mix) (Links to follow also) and also debuted again ‘Migration’ to Write Out Loud, Stockport a few weeks later again.

3)     I have also carried (sadly without Amanda this month) at my writing workshop ‘Writers of the third kind’ and am making plans for that as I type also for next year. (Watch this space).

4)     Sadly as some of you already now, my charity book I am going to run with my partner, Cathy ‘Unique, Driven and Determined’ has hit big problems with one of the charities we were going to support has now finished off and the other is up in the air too. Cathy is going to think over Christmas about what to do and hopefully after Christmas, maybe February time we can start planning for what we can do next.

5)     My next poetry collection ‘The End of Summer’ (and maybe last full length) is coming together slowly. I currently have I think 43 or so possible poems towards it. When I have a few more, I can then getting the best of them together for it.

live pictures solo and with a means to an end october / november 2012

A Means to an End - live acoustic wednesdays, manchester october 2012

Andy N live at guitar and verse, november 2012

the end of summer (Shoot 3)

More pictures trying to get a mood for my next poetry book 'the end of summer'

latest news and views - 8th October 2012

Dear all;

Hope you are all enjoying the beginning of autumn. For me, it has been somewhat quieter over the past few months, partly because of a change in work circumstances which I won’t go into, but also more health problems which put me into hospital and caused my family no end of worry.

During this, my band did a gig at Salford Music Festival which was fun to do despite the fact I was only just out of hospital (which the pictures which I need to upload from my camera will show).

Besides that, I have done Write Out Loud Stockport a few times which was great fun, despite the fact I think the art gallery which hosts it is going to reduce it’s hours and cause no end of hassle (Possibly going as far as folding the group all together) and Guitar and Verse too, where in September me and jeff debute d a new song ‘Samantha’ which will hopefully come into the regular live set.

Otherwise, I have recently blogged a new poem ‘Migration’ elsewhere on this blog which can be seen here: ). http://onewriterandhispc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/migration-new-poem.html

 There are a new few videos online of me performing:- these are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba1enCZbjqI&list=UUSnVliEClzutG1pg9S1Bgwg&index=8&feature=plcp

(me at guitar and verse, October 2012 reading – heavy metal gig at dukinfield town hall, summer will rise again and mitrgation)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epqp9bG50dk&list=UUSnVliEClzutG1pg9S1Bgwg&index=24&feature=plcp

(A means to an end, Samantha – guitar and verse, September 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyqMy372JiI&list=UUSnVliEClzutG1pg9S1Bgwg&index=23&feature=plcp

(Drums of their flick knives, guitar and verse, September 2012)

I have also done a track for my friend, Amanda Silbernagel which can be downloaded here:

http://www.amandasilbernagel.com/mp3/the%20story%20of%20the%20youth%20who%20set%20forth%20to%20learn%20what%20fear%20was%20(remix%20by%20Andy%20N).mp3

Otherwise now, A means to an End are out gigging on Wednesday 17^th October 2012 at a night in Manchester called Acoustic Wednesdays in the centre of Manchester (Address to follow) for a good 45 – 50 minute set I think with me, Jeff and Petrova flying on all cylinders.

Not much else planned yet beyond this point as I am getting prepped for Christmas now sadly and I want to be writing more than performing but will keep you informed of course. 

Migration (New Poem)

The flat near Longford Park

Is still a huge mystery

And got demolished shortly

After you moved.

You don’t remember much

About Moss Lane East

Apart from that one winter there

When the boiler kept breaking down

Reducing the window

To floods of tears.

You only remember

That first spring at Barton road

When your football shot

Smacked your sister that hard

In the face

It left that much blood

On the pavement

Your mother must have used

Twenty buckets of water

To wash it out.

By the time your brother arrived

You had moved a little up the road

And within a week of moving in

Ended up going to your nana’s funeral

And didn’t shed a tear during it

But didn’t stop during the wake.

Ripon Road where two of your cats

Are buried, is less happy

As is that flat on Fountains Road

Where you lived temporary

Before mould became

A permanent, unwelcome guest.

Chatsworth Road

Where you lived into your 20’s

And beyond

Is painted with much

Happier, wider brush strokes

Even though it was opposite

Your old high school

That also expelled your brother.

Now of course

You live in a different town

With memories

Like sails in the mist

Bleeding over the sunset,

Etched in the past

Like closed factories

Windswept in a wordless language.

(Inspired by Paul Auster's Winter Journal)

The End of Summer (Front Page Poetry Book Shoot 2 - 04/10/2012)

Dear all;

Image cover ideas for my next full length poetry collection 'the end of summer' taken in tameside yesterday morning. 

Red Cross - pictures from the missing exhibition September 2012

These pictures was taken by Nick Armbister and focused on a exhibition by the Red Cross in Ardwick, Manchester focusing on missing people.

One of my pieces, 'the missing boy' about my friend Alex Humphrey was featured here.

Thanks to Nick for letting me republish these here. It is a topic very close to my heart. I am only saddened I was unable to attend.