2009.10.26 Lud's town

I have had a v. interesting time. I went to Los Angeles to get the lyrical process started again.
I've heard a lot said on the subject of, so called - writer's block - Dog knows, I've experienced it enough times in times past.

I think it's incredible that on the last project i.e. Red Carpet Massacre it was as though I had ideas and words on tap, just open it and see them flow freely out of my head. Especially notable since it came almost immediately after the (in my case with lyrics) much more difficult Reportage. And maybe, while I think of it, there's something in that; I mean that I had come out of a hard period and suddenly it all freed up. Perhaps creativity is cyclic, and just prior to now, I was in a low, as I was when writing Reportage. It felt like I was a phonograph needle stuck in a record, going round and round, skipping back into the same endless groove, and what I was in need of was a proper nudge or a shake up to free me again.

Anyway a three day session in the studio with a v. professional and charming writer seems to have done the trick for me. The songwriter is no less a person than Cathy Dennis: yes, celebrated for her work with - Kylie Minogue (Can't get you out of my head), Britney Spears (Toxic), Katy Perry and: no, you won't hear me singing that "I kissed a boy and I liked it", even if in the past I have and I did.

No, this was a stretch for both of us. For Cathy obviously a very different brief to that which she is used to. She actually said to me at the beginning of the session "Imagine trying to find some depth, and having to get into your head Simon." For me just having to share the creative process with someone else is difficult enough; difficult enough with John, Nick and Roger who I've known for ... ever! Let alone with someone I've just met.

Anyway, it's something that we've got Mark(Ronson) to thank for. And thank him I do, for it's done the trick.

So now, once more I find myself in a hightened state of confidence, excitement and motivation. In other words, new album? ... Watch this space.

Finally, I feel that I have to share with you this moment from my journey home.

I had just taken my seat on New Zealand flight 02 LAX/LHR, when over the public address system came the following announcement.

(BTW, you have to imagine it all spoken in a Kiwi accent; you know "pin" for pen, "pn" for of pin )

" Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to NZ flight two, non-stop flight from Los Angeles to London, Heathrow. We're just about to close the doors, but before we can leave the jetway I have to make a short announcement. We know that somebody on board the plane today suffers from a serious peanut allergy, whoever that is, please will you NOT eat the peanuts. I repeat, if you suffer from a serious peanut allergy, I must stress, DO NOT eat the peanuts!"

... I think I cried.

Here endeth Simon Le Blog part the ... Happy Birthday to Me!...nth

whooosh

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