Play on brother, play on...

15 years ago to the day my first nephew Josh was born. Happy Birthday Bro!!

Waking late I had little time to prepare myself for the all you can eat Chinese meal this lunchtime, but did my best by replacing breakfast with numerous cigarettes. After lunch we went back to my sisters house with her soon to be husband and second nephew Elliot (now 11 months.)

Theres only 10 years between myself and Josh and that gap has seemingly widened and narrowed over the years. We have however, always been close and I count him not as a nephew but as a brother. Truth is, I've been waiting for this day for a long time! Josh went through a number of questionable phases (to be expected), including a brief courtship with gangster rap. This past Christmas much to my sisters delight, I brought him the electric guitar in the photo, after he had expressed an interest in learning with one of my many old ones! Since his 'education' began, he has been relentless in his efforts to progress. Giving him a list of my top 10 most influential albums at his age (including the mighty Dark Side Of The Moon and Sanata's Caravanserai), he has shown an understanding and appreciation for the real craft of genuine musical artistry, that most his age wold struggle to grasp. In short, he is good, very good!

His main birthday present was the Cajon (a folkie acoustic drum box) he is perched on here. Turns out his insight and understanding for timing and rhythm extends to percussion also.

So he's turning out nicely, very nicely indeed and look at him. God he's cool, I wish I had been that cool when I was his age!