Bartolomy’s Diary

I have stalled the archival site for at least another week, simply as work and shoots and the prep of it has taken over, there are only that many hours in a day.

I have also noticed that Apartment (band and/or its label/mgt) have done their very best to erase every trace of me and my work, it shows who I am dealing with, but if they think by erasing my stuff they get rid of me then they are mistaken.

The marks the branch left on my forehead made quite a few people exclaim all along the trend like “WTF happened to you….”, it looks like someone scratched me with two fingernails from the top of my forehead all down to the top of my nose, it looks wierd….

Yesterday I hooked up with Capricorns who were doing their first gig in months. I meet the band at their rehearsal shack in Walthamstow, Orange Goblin happen to rehearse by the time we arrive, and this is a bit of an awkward moment for some as their previous drummer is in O.G. now…
We load up the kit into a Mercedes sprinter (very much alike Apartment’s M.B.C. tour in July) and we head of to pick up drummer Nathan in Gravesend, we stop for a quick cuppa and then make our way to the center of the universe Chatham in Kent (quite close to Rochester).
We ofload the kit and bring it up in an ancient lift to the third floor, the floorboards are sticky to such a level that someone “forgot” to properly clean the gaff for yonks. The soundman is more than an hour late and takes ages to get it all sorted and this delays everything and everybody to quite an extend. There are two support bands as well so the band do not get to play until about midnight. The soundcheck before that doesn’t sound great at all but by the time Capricorns take the stage all of that is forgotten, the sound has become murderous and incredably heavy, and I mean HEAVY!!!! I am having the time of my life, shame that the band before scared some of the crowd off with their self indulgent yahda yahda but the crowd that is watching them is enjoying it as much as I do.
A great sounding gig, definately looking forward seeing them support Torche and Baroness @ Camden Underworld this coming Thursday.
Sadly the place was soo badly lit that I did not do a proper band shot before or after the show, and also the backstage area (or whatever you wish to call it) was filled to the brim with 3 band’s worth of equipment. Maybe in Camden otherwise somewhere else…..

To be continued for sure…
Capricorns-Chatham

I shot some pix of Brian Haw just when it started to rain, I kept my distance, as once again he was just sitting in his chair, and I have got plenty of that by now, so I shot from behind the Churchill statue for about 5 mins, just when I turn around I get slapped in the face by a branch of the tree that was behind me, it hurts like a m0f0, and I am bleeding on my forehead, nothing serious though.

This afternoon I will hook up with Capricorns as we are of to Kent where they will headline. So that gives us some time to do some bandshots as well.

It’s a sunny morning and the missus feels better and the roof in the bathroom leaks, so that’s me rummaging about in the attic this morning.
I have finished the Apartment (David Caggiari, Liam Fletcher, Davide DeSantis & Tom Gillet) page, the only thing that needs doing is the text that accompanies the pix and that’ll be it.
I have also added the final shot from the Fez Club (Liam behind his drums) and two shots from the Vatican Studios rehearsals, one of which I had not shown to anyone yet. It is propably my fave shot of David “Two Face” Caggiari, if not the entire 4 month period. This goes in my folio no doubt….

My g/f Terri lies ill in bed, completely knocked out by something flu-ish…poor girl.
I keep an eye on her and I mainly do archive site stuff, it is b0000000000rin’ but it has to be done.
I am listening to a lot of Nevermore, also starting to ad bits to the myspace page, still needs loads doing….
Going out for a run soon, coz my arse hurts from sitting down so much…….

Great news, Morgan Stanley have decided to pay me my Payment Protection Insurance back (almost £ 650.00), now all I have to do is contact the three other companies and have them cough up the dough……
It took four months of letter writing but I am glad I got something back.

Today I am working on True Love always stuff, might shoot some more tomorrow and also work on the sales site, I have decided to overhaul the fashion section (bigger pix and such), which is the reason for the delay. Also the flowers, will all be re-upped as I have increased the sizes for them
This is tedious and repetitive stuff.

I have also written an email to Kuba Music and let them know what the score is regarding the infringement of my copyright for the usage of some of my images of Apartment, some people refuse to learn, well like we say in Holland: “wie niet horen wil, moet voelen!!!!!”

There is talk of Invaders going to Wales to record their debut next month, it seems they will record it “live” something a few bands have done in the past (I remember Tesla doing it with their debut).
Terri and I might just pop by for a few days, use it as a weekend break and shoot some stuff whil we are @ it…..

The archival site will be delayed for a few days it needs a lil’ overhaul. i know excuses excuses….everbody has some…..:)

It has been raining big time for the past 24 hrs and doesn’t look this will change soon….oh well. Now people can complain of everything being too wet…..the resevoirs overflowing and what not…..

I have stopped chewing gum and drinking coke/pepsi for four days now, something I have done almost every day for the past ten years, never thought that stopping chewing gum would be this hard, the coke/pepsi matter is relatively easy compared to that. It is no doubt the same thing as quitting smoking, withdrawals etc. the whole works…..

Terri and I went to the natural history museum, it had been years since we both been there and we wanted do something different and actually see something. It was good to have a look at all the stuff on display, the fossiles and skeletons were most impressive, what wasn’t was the muggy heat inside, after 2.5 hours we felt dehydrated and overheated that we called it a day.
The old building itself is a joy to look at as well, the architecture and the attention to detail is most impressive. It’s amazing that you can see all this for free (like a lot of other museums), in Holland you have to pay for everything…

I worked on the sales site a bit and the opening will be delayed by a day or two, and hopefully soon I will have all the botanical names of the flowers sorted as well.

Last night it was of to Walthamstow to see Capricorns rehearse in their shack as they are about to gig every week for the next few weeks (their first one will be in Kent this coming Sat.) to get back into it and play some new stuff and get ready for recording early next year.
It was loud, and I mean hella loud, I was wearing protection (”earmuffs”) and I still thought a couple of times, “woah this is a tad much”, I am just getting old, that’s what it is……as Kevin “GrillChef” Williams was wearing none….simply unreal….
The space was bit confined so I was restricted in postions to take some decent shots, still a couple of nice ones. Looking forward to see them rip the crowds to shreds.

The full set can be viewed here:
Capricorns-Walthamstow rehearsals

I promise I will have the sales site ready to go by Monday
I have said this before but this time I mean it, most of the tech stuff has been done and I expect a few hickups but it should be alright.
Just uploading more shots and then we are ready to go.

Tonight it is of to see Capricorns rehearse in Walthamstow and get acquinted with their stuff as they are getting ready to play around the UK over the next few weeks. Their music is 99% instrumental and the two tracks that are on my space are excellent, as a matter of fact when I spoke to Toby Orms he hummed it in such a way that chracterised it perfectly.

Here are some flowers, I have a nightmare trying to find out the EXACT names of ‘em…..

Last night Terri and I watched Jeremy “I get all the girls and no we are not a g4yband” Huffelman’s and Toby “I take great pride in my dayjob” Orms’ band Invaders. They played their third gig in this formation (new bandmembers Lee and Eddie had joined only recently) and we were both pleasantly suprised, their material sounded a lot better than the stuff they have displayed at Myspace which doesn’t do them any justice at all. And the harmonies are a major plus.
The volume was well cranked up (it hurt my eardrums as I was the one at the front) and it simply rocked, more mature sounding a good gig.
Also I was suprised how many good looking women had come to the show…………..but don’t give up the dayjob just yet fellaz
Before the gig I shot a few tourist snaps on Piccadilly Circus and then some live stuff…..the lights are terrible in places like these (this being the basement of the Comedy Pub opposite Planet Hollywood).

The full set can be viewed here:
Invaders @ Comedy Pub, Piccadilly

Also some final Apartment (David Caggiari, Liam Flecther, Davide DeSantis & Tom Gillet) shots on film I “found” in my bag, the b&w is from the Fez Club in Reading and a few from Vatican Studios from last week. There is still one great shot which I am witholding for a special occasion, Caggiari knows and will anticipate…..:)

Apartment @ Fez Club, Reading b&w part 2
Apartment @ Vatican Studios part 2

Today I will scan the flowers in and do a bunch of stuff I have delayed for yonkz.

Scanning the film in, shall post the results shortly, it will be the last stuff of Apartment, I don’t see eye-2-eye with their mgt. and I have been banned for life of taking pix of them, owwwwwwwwwwwwwww
I aint done yet tho…

I have some flowers to scan in as well..expect some of them as well.

Tonight it is off to see Toby Orms and Jeremy Huffelman of Invaders, my old neighbours in Stokey, it has been some time since I have seen them so should be good and also curious what they sound like live as it has been almost ten years since I last saw them do that (@ The Borderline me thinks).
This Friday I will catch Capricorns at their rehearsals in Walthamstow and get acquinted with their stuff and they will gig in Kent and London over the next few weeks, and then this Sunday it is off to Charlie Wrights (I did my b-day bash there in ‘98) to see The Impersonals.
Then I did some photoshopping of the acquirer stuff and prep for a new job…………….plenty to go on….

I took shots of duvet and pillow covers all afternoon yesterday for True Love Always, they were just product shots of the diffusion line, the hardcore stuff will be shot in about 3/4 weeks.
Today it’s website, myspace (wot a bunch of cluttered sjeete if ya ask me) and get some of Apartment’s and flowers’ film processed.
Going to a handfull of gigs over the next few weeks, such as Invaders, The Impersonals and Capricorns should be all good fun.

Yesterday I had to deal with blocked sewage, so I went for a run towards Tottenham to B&Q and bought an extended pole system for unblocking it and ran back w. it (which must have looked weird no doubt) and cleared it all (and be Terri’s hero for a few mins as some of the laundry got splashed so…………credit was lost subito…. ). The stench, pffffoooowiiiiiiih…………..
I worked on the fireplace as well, it is almost done, will finish sanding the last few bits and then it is waxing time……it will be a great feature in the house.
I am off to Morden to shoot a dozen pix of bed situations (don’t know how else to describe them) for True Love Always. There will be shots with models in a few weeks time as well.

A grey morning, but at least it’s dry so I will do some DIY, and prep. for tomorrow’s job.

Here are some shots taken a long time ago, a “kidnap” story shot in an alleyway opposite Liverpool St. station, styled by Alicia Joseph. Roy (the guy on the right in the interorgation shot) is the singer in This Is War these days, and Gerard (the model on the left) became very successfull with Gucci ads and whatnot. The bloke with the red hair is called Mark, he used to dye his hair every month or so, it was the very first time I used a script on a fashion shoot.

I found a roll of b/w flm which may contain the group shots of Apartment at Reading, dunno…will have to process it to see what’s on there, and then I also have color stuff I shot at the Vatican Studios.

During the day I went into town but could not get my camera out at all, just did not feel like it, oh well this Monday I am shooting for True Love Always so I better get my azz in gear.

Yesterday spent about 4 hours @ Vatican studios to shoot Apartment while they were rehearsing for tonight’s gig @ the Fleet St. Records launch party in Mayfair. Kinda cool as they completely ignored me, while playing and argueing (be it musically) alternative start and endings to “Paid In Full” and “Beyond My Control”

Apartment @ Vatican Studios

The cold is on its way out, and I am shooting Apartment (back from gigs in germany and Tenerife) in the rehearsal studio in East London later on. They will play two sets at the Fleet St. records launch party tomorrow eve, going to cover that as well.

Summer is over, and yours truly has got a bastard of a cold, I know of a few others who have the same thing as well….virus time me reckons
Shot a few kissers in Green park and @ Parliament Square…. Speaking off which it was covered with coppers as there had been a demo, now this demo was advertised cleverly with stickers at every bus shelter in London, yet about 150 bodies turned up, well what ya expect when it is on a Monday…. I was informed that the entire group was circled in by the police (”there was more police than us….”) and that they left Brian and co. more or less alone, they were more after the anarchists…. (what? do they still exist???……). I hung about for ten mins., clearly I had missed all the action….

Had a meeting with the Spa Secrets editorial team, the meeting lasted 4 hours and was at the London Outpost, a tiny Chelsea hotel in Cadogan Gardens. Shooting for them again in a few weeks time…. Austria is off the books for now, prolly will go somewhere just outside London.
Then in the evening Terri and I went out for pizza and drinks in Soho with Martin “Barbie” and his b/f Espen (whose birthday it was) and about ten others, some good laughs and catching ups.
Also got a few copies of the mag., here are some scans:

Today flopped about and slept 4 hours in the afternoon, something I wanted to do at Alexander House a week ago…….
Tomorrow some decorating

It has been a strange week…., I shall start with the earliest and move along slowly….will add more later as well…

Saturday and Sunday we were in Turner’s Hill, near East Grinstead (a few miles away from Gatwick Airport) where we stayed at Alexander House, the day started stressfull (it took Terri 90 mins to get a dirty car from the Hertz rental place just 500 meters up the road….), then we were stuck in traffic for about an hour, by the time we arrived (2 pm) the room was not ready yet……and then everything was regimented that we kept looking at our watches just to make sure we were on time…..for the massage (yummy) and dinner….then crashed out in the bar for a few, I was absolutely knackered, and wanted a nice early sleep, but the bed somehow (as cushty as it was) kept waking us up every hour or so….too spoilt with my own I guess heh.
I ran into Cora Chung with her sister and had a few drinks, but was simply too knackered to be bothered to talk, should have gone to bed early me thinks……
I wake up at 7 am again and whois in the pool yacking like no other……………yup you guessed it….prolly took subtle revenge for my behaviour the night before :-0….

Sunday afternoon we headed off to Shoeburyness to see Mick and Lesley and head out to the pub for a meal, been a while……good fun.

This week not a lot besides shooting a few dealmakers around Blackfriars for The Acquirer.

I have been working on an Apartment only website which will show all my good pix of them from the beginning ’till now, it is basically ready, just a few small tweaks, very similar to this blog (java pop-up wise), the second that is done I will create seperate sites for flowers, Brian Haw and the-kiss, and perhaps the-b3nch as well….