Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me…

So I turned 64 last week and all’s well. We celebrated with a trip into London where we had a wander through the Picasso exhibition at Tate Modern. Following that we strolled down the South Bank and over the river heading to Fopp to pick up some new CDs – Johnny Marr double live album, Boygenius EP and Marianne Faithfull live from Montreux Jazz Festival. We finished the evening with pizza and jazz at Pizza Express Soho (the pizza was great, the jazz a little soulless, but we had a great table near the stage, and it was a lovely place to round off the day). It's such a blessing to be just a hop from the heart of the Big Smoke and all it has to offer and I remain in love with the buzz and thrill of the metropolis, aided by my Senior Rail Card!

The Balcony at Tate Modern

The following evening my daughter Emelia and her partner Jack came over, and we listened to new CDs and chatted into the night over wine and more pizza. We decided that it seemed unlikely that age was going to lean me towards anything too conservative and that I seemed destined to avoid that sometime trait of ageing that sees folks become somewhat less bohemian in their outlook (which is a relief for sure). If anything, we decided, I was more likely to find myself the old bloke getting arrested at the protest rally – a distinct possibility I guess.

Earlier in the month our friend Sarah had a wild and wonderful Birthday celebration which saw us dancing our socks off and catching up with lots of old friends – suitably rocking. Our first Los Chicos Muertos gig of the year was on home turf at The Blue Angel Acoustic Café (at The Horn, St Albans) – a sweet way to kick off the year amongst friends old and new and amidst lots of other fine performers. We play the Blue Angel annually and it seems that each year we have lost another friend or comrade that has touched our lives. This year I dedicated a song to our sadly departed brass & woodwind section Huw.

Lonely & Loaded (The Astronauts) and Late Night Murder Mystery live at The Blue Angel Acoustic Café.

Chris and I are settling into the new pace of being a CIC Arts Team, with various plans afoot for 2026 and there is something quite liberating in being freed from the corporate shackles of the past. We are now in our twentieth year as an Arts Team and I think as much as ever, that offering creative opportunities to have a voice and just bringing communities together through the arts remains a worthwhile and important thing to do. We hung the wonderful Rhymes on the Line collection at St Albans Cathedral. Fantastic Haiku created by the pupils of Kingsway Junior School and Mandeville Primary School, facilitated by Karene Horner-Hughes. Even as we hung the boards folks were stopping and complimenting the work – originally hung at St Albans Abbey and Watford Junction stations – a pleasure and a joy.

We have finally released the five track Skull Puppets EP, Sneaking from the Vault which we have been recording with our friend Russ at his wonderful studio for the past year. I’m very pleased with how it has turned out. The first review is in from the NUZZ prowling Wolf Blogspot, which proclaims the release to be ‘like a fucked up fist fight between The Flamin' Groovies and The Fall’ – so I think we’re doing something right!

Picasso sought the child within, to reconnect with the kid who was unfettered by the constraints of the adult world view or with formal education and I think he was able to succeed in that quest, at times quite wonderfully. It has been (unbelievably) ten years since our wonderful Blackstar moved on, and Mr Bowie once said that ‘aging is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you always should have been’. At 64 I feel at least somewhat on the right track despite having burnt the map so many moons ago.

Stay Kind, Stay Creative!

Grae J.

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