No Invocal for a change

Yes, you see it right: this post will not discuss Invocal. Well, not much. Simply because over Christmas not a lot has happened. You can buy the new EP, called Strange Sugar here at Nettlewine for a cheap £3.99 and I am still working on the new website but that's it really. (Actually there is a lot more but I won't bore you with it!)

As it is a new year, I thought it would be a good idea to look back at 2009 in a really quick summary. So what has happened this year (and, more importantly, who cares about this kind of self-indulgent navel-gazing??)

January - June
JD had to have radiotherapy on her braintumour. Every day for 6 weeks we got in the car for an hour to have 10 minutes of treatment. We had been warned about possible side effects but let me tell you: radiotherapy to the head is fucking devastating. Only in September did JD start to recover from the damage. No concentration (and I mean: not even for 2 minutes!), extreme lethargy, forgetfullness to the point of forgetting to eat and forgetting what day it was, non-stop eating, depression, lack of initiative, self-centeredness, inability to understand emotions, both her own and other people's, unable to plan more than 5 minutes ahead, not able to have a phone conversation with the radio on, the list goes on. We were not properly warned and forthe first time since she was diagnosed back in 2005, I really felt like screaming, hopelessly desperate and unable to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I just could not see how JD would ever get better again. And I am not talking better from the tumour but just recovering from the damage of the radiotherapy.

Life just stopped being anything like it was before and I had a tough time living my own life as well as living JD's life for her more or less. I don't care if people think I am being selfish for saying it was difficult for me (after all, JD is the one with the nasty tumour) but it was. So there.

June - December
Life has a funny way of throwing things at you. In June I read something in a local rag about Spratton Folk Festival. It said all-female group Invocal would provide the local flavour to the festival. So I checked them out. Found they were looking for a singer. Agonised about it for days (am I good enough, I'm shit, really), got in touch, did not get the job but ended up as their 'manager' in the end.
No idea what a manager does so I just jumped in, started about 50 things at the same time, then drowned in ther amount of work I started and did not finish (ADHD much?) but managed to do some good stuff in between. (video, brochures, PR, general organising, whatever). The only thing I have not managed to do is book any gigs. Bit of a bummer really... keep working on it. (see how I managed to avoid saying I am talking about Invocal here!)

Anyway, it is absolutely lovely to be doing something in music again, even if it is not performing and playing. Sometimes I feel like a groupie and a fraud. But I just love being around music and people who make music. It just feels like a lovely warm blanket. The unexpected side effect is that I have also made some new friends and I have actually seen more pubs since June than my entire life before then. Yes, I have a social life. Well, I had one before but not in Northampton. Never got round to building a new one after moving here.

JD recovered well fromthe radiotherapy but has lasting trouble with her concentration and some remaining lethargy that may not go away. Unfortunately the RT did not help & the tumour actually changed in to a Grade 3 Astrocytoma in certain places which means it went from wholly benign to partly malignant. Bummer.
Soshe started chemotherapy in August. 5 days of Temozolomide per month. For 6 months initially. She will be on that for as long as it stops the tumour from growing. Which may be for the rest of her life. IF it stops it from growing. We'll know after the first post-chemo scan in February 2010.

My sister gave birth to her second daughter, a tiny little puppet called Alessia. Hurrah. Now my folks are proper grand parents I am I am officially off the hook for providing the offspring. Phew!

That's about it really. Other than a lovely holiday in France and erhm....lots of other stuff I have forgotten about for the moment.

Resolutions for 2010:
- Book more gigs
- Be more organised
- Go out more
- Make money & get paid
- Find a cure for AIDS & brain tumours

Invocal - Bubblewrap

Tataaaa! After all the hassle & hard work, here it is: The video for Bubblewrap, Invocal's new song. I love it. But then again, I'm biased. What do you all think?



Also, for those who are lucky enough to have Spotify, Invocal are now available on Spotify. Go on, have a look for them and then go and buy the music.

It's been so long.....

Geez...it really has been ages since I was last here. Yes, you guessed it, the ladies of Invocal are to blame.

Most of you will be bored to death with the Invocal stuff from me (I'm not....) so, for those who want to know (mum, I KNOW you reads this!), things have been going well.

JD is still doing her monthly chemotherapy (Temodar/Temozolomide for those who want to know) and she is about to do her 6th cycle in January. After that they will do another MRI scan and this will hopefully show that her brain tumour has stopped growing. If it has, then JD will simply continue with the monthly chemotherapy cycle for as long as the tumour remains stable. If it has not stopped growing or it is still changing from a Grade 2 to a Grade 3, then, well, I don't really know what happens then. We'll cross that bridge when we get there I suppose.

For now, things are going well and the chemo is not making JD very ill. Tablets are the way forward I say!

I am spending all my spare time (and then some) on all kinds of random Invocal stuff. New website, new video, new EP, press, posters, gigs, whatever. It all looks lovely and the new EP, Strange Sugar (which you can buy here), is out in 3 days, together with the wonderful music video we made. It has been really stressful at times, especially since I tend to worry about everything. Currently I am worried about not making enough money for the band to buy a splendid new Tour Van. Not that they need it but they really want one :-)

SInce a few months, I have taken up guitar lessons again. If you live in Northampton and you are thinking of playing guitar or giving a guitar to your kids, I can recommend a really nice teacher, Rosie Swayne. Nothing to do with the fact that she is also in Invocal of course but seriously, nice lessons. I wish I had started playing again earlier. I am not really able to concentrate for a whole hour but most weeks I can get a decent amount of time of the lesson actually spent on playing guitar. Now all I need to do it stop talking and providing a running commentary whilst I try and play.

Went to see Eddie Izzard in Nottingham. In fact, I am wearing a "Covered in bees" t-shirt as we speak. Really really good. For those who don't know his Bee-routine:



Now this is sounding far too much like one of those awful Christmas round robin letters I really hate so this will have to do for now.

Invocal - Sex

I bought a video camera the other day and I used it to film an Invocal gig. Obviously cameras with Auto focus do you like candles flickering and the quality is pretty poor. Especially if you compare it to the video I recorded on my little mobile phone which is almost even better!




Needless to say I returned the camera to the shop and got my money back.

In the meantime Invocal are working on a nice video that should be ready soon. I mean like a professional one with real camera people and stuff....

How are things...

Long time no news. Things are going as well as can be expected I guess. JD is still on the monthly chemotherapy cycle and is about to start the 4th lot. We have decided to wait with surgery until the first 6 month cycle of chemotherapy is finished in January. they will then do a scan which may give us some idea if the tumour is actually being held back by the chemotherapy. we know there is no cure so long-term remission is what we are aiming for. For the moment JD is physically healthy and back at university to work on her PhD which is a great motivation.

In the mean time I am really busy with trying to get more Invocal gigs and publicity but I am feeling a tad out of my depth. They are absolutely brilliant and deserve a break and sometimes I feel I just won't be able to give them what they deserve. I guess it would be easier if they were just kind of average because hen every gig is a bonus. But because they re so good, it is frustrating that other people don't immediately jump on board and give them gigs etc. Perhaps it is time to realise I can not do everything and I should call in help neon a booking agent to help themget gigs. Agents have loads of contacts that I just don't have.

Selling Poppies

Selling poppies today in support of the Royal British Legion. They support veterans from all wars. Nice to spend a few hours for a good cause.

This week is International Brain Tumour Awareness Week. Will do some fundraising for them as well. Good karma.

my first ever!

cut my first ever pumpkin today. yay!

Glee.....*sigh*

Glee is my latest TV love fest. Good clean fun. With jane Lynch. If you liked Tracey Flick in the movie "Election", you'll love this. You have to skip over the music bits that are a little too High School Musical to my taste but the dialogue is great, witty, sarcastic (yay, Americans DO understand sarcasm it turns out).

Catch it online if you can. Really. There is never too much Jane Lynch. And I am saying this purely on artistic merit because she ain't pretty. Just damn talented. And funny.

I think.

To cut or not to cut?

Another doctor's visit this morning. JD is about to start month 3 of her chemo therapy (Temozolomide). So far she has tolerated the first two treatments really well. Things are going better all the time with her, apart from the tumour obviously. She is losing weight, she is fitter, back to fencing and back to university. She has taken on mentoring some students or something so it is all very positive. It seems she has finally recovered from the radiotherapy.

But then last week she had a headache. She says it was 'one of those' headaches that indicated pressure behind her eyes (which would indicate the tumour is growing or at least the brain is selling for some reason). It only lasted a day but obviously enough to get worried.

Today we met with the Neuro Oncology nurse who keeps track of JD's treatment. He said the Neuro Surgeon thinks he can remove parts of the tumour. Our initial response was: great news, cut it out, any reduction in tumour is great, right?

On second thought, things may not be so black & white. JD is doing really well at the moment. She is tolerating the chemo really well, is back on track with PhD and everything.

So, if the headaches are not returning (yet), why would she go through the surgery? Apparently it takes longer to recover from second surgery, especially after the radiotherapy. So that would mean delaying the PhD once more which may have impact on her funding. There does not seem to be an urgent need for surgery right away. We initially understood that they could cut away some of the parts that have turned from Grade 2 to Grade 3 but that is not the case. They can remove just some bits of the tumour that they can safely get to.

So the Neuro Oncology nurse suggested she has an Outpatient appointment with a Neuro Surgeon to discuss the options first.

I think JD is leaning towards no surgery at least until they have done another scan after the first 6 month Chemo cycle. Unless of course the headaches suddenly return and get worse.

Obviously this decision has nothing to do with the fact that surgery soon will mean no ski trip in January :-)

hat do other people feel about these choices? Remove it as soon as possible, or remove it only when there is a medical need?

Invocal in the Park

I think I am spending entirely too much time on Invocal. Things on my to-do list at the moment:

- Design new website
- Get website built & sort out hosting
- Organise photography session for new promo shots
- Sort out new promotional materials
- Get gigs booked
- Get more press coverage
- Update MySpace & Twitter with regular news
- Keep mailing list updated
- Organise a video shoot & manage creation of videos

Needless to say JD is getting a *little* bit frustrated with the amount of time I spend on Invocal. But on the other hand, she loves that I am doing something I enjoy immensely. And the music is nice: Acoustic, folk-ish, funny and from Northampton to boot :-)

This weekend, we went to The Racecourse in Northampton to take a few new photos. I took my camera along and then I shot a little bit of video. Since I don't have any decent video editing software, I used Windows Movie Maker (EVIL program!) to create a short film of a minute.

Invocal in the Park from Invocal on Vimeo.

This morning, Northampton acoustic group Invocal took to The Racecourse to have their picture taken. Things are never simple with that lot...