The News Of The Foz
Climbing Up The Walls! 22/02/03 03:11
Well it's February again. After a fantabulously drunken St. Valentine's Day I decided that alcohol and myself need to spend some time apart from each other. It's a trial seperation that will last for exactly one month and it will be the first time I've been teetotal for longer than two weeks since I was twenty years old. The first and only time I've given up the booze for a month came after my 19th birthday - one of the ones where I spewed horrendously (everyone should experience the Guinness vom at some point in their lives because after that spewing is never the same). I've always liked alcohol. I absolutely adore the stuff. Unfortunately a few years ago I discovered that one drink simply wasn't enough. I began to get concerned when I was finding that a few drinks weren't enough. Now ten drinks are not enough.
In the week I've been teetotal so far I've discovered two awful truths. Firstly that nightclubs are absolutely awful to be in if you're sober. One is crushed by the despair, isolation and loneliness that comes when everyone else is having a party and you're not. Secondly that during the winter months Swansea has very little to offer a penniless artist that doesn't involve drinking, the only exception being Swanscene - the best grassroots cultural development the city has seen for some years. Organised by disillusioned live music enthusiasts Swanscene receives absolutely no public funding and does not make any money from the nights. The bands play for free, entry is free (it's in a pub) and it takes place every Monday. The bands are many and varied and generally very good and the atmosphere is seriously good. With a couple of exceptions the events have been packed, which isn't bad for an event that is almost exclusively promoted by word of mouth. This event provides serious evidence of what can be acheived if people who bitch and moan down the pub actually get off their arses and do something about it.
'But what about the artwork?' I hear you ask. Well it's coming along quite nicely - ish... What I've done so far is frankly sh*t-hot but the problem is out of the 81 required images I've so far managed to create, er... 23. The main problem is that Pre-Life Crisis is the combination of millions of smaller projects I've started over the last couple of years and so not only do I have to get them to tie together almost coherently but also I have to tap into whatever I was feeling at the time in order to finish the sections with the passion they deserve. Thankfully due to developments in my personal life I've been able to get a huge boost of inspiration this week to tap into the relationships section I came up with last spring. Apart from alcohol women are my other main weakness so you've kind of caught me in full flow! And anyway, everyone loves a tortured artist... ;-)
If any of you fancy reading my dark, twisted and hugely self-indulgent writings then feel free to click here. I should point out beforehand though that this text uses a lot of artistic licence and is not based solely on any individual person. Enjoy!