I remember the prayers for Benjamin
I remember we all held out our hands
I remember the way he started crying
Are you willing to read what’s on your mind?
And stranger things have happened….

Tom Copson - Prayer

Second track of Tom’s new album “Woven”.

It will be released on June 4th 2012. Already available for pre-order.http://tomcopson.bandcamp.com/album/woven

The habit was host to a great open mic last night. Everybody was friendly and had a good time. Mark Wynn played and man, that guy is pretty good. My friend Ben from earlier turned up and got himself fairly drunk. He was great and by 1am he was insisting that the 2 of us would be venturing into a club within the hour. I decided to decline, knowing I wanted to operate with some level of respectability today, and that only a few hours sleep in the van awaited me, and also that I had a big old guitar case in my hands.

Before I speak about how today mapped out, indeed if I do in the this post, I would like to highlight one incident. Partway through what was a well received busking session, a fairly respectable looking oldish guy with long hair and a green beret decided to signal to me with a thumbs down sign and shout ‘rubbish’! There are a few angles to look at this from but I want to focus on the simple negativity of it. The probable intent of trying to embarrass someone in this manner is something I find very hard to accept. If the busker is rubbish, are you really helping them by trying to shout that in front of them while they are playing? And if the busker isn’t rubbish, then why are you spouting such lies? At best, this is the action of someone who acknowledges they sometimes speak before they think and jump to conclusions too easily. I don’t know, maybe every busker they saw for the first 30 years of their lives really was rubbish, and they’ve never been able to shake off the perception. Still, it’s the publicness of it that offends me. Completely uninvited judgement based on such a small amount of information just isn’t right.

Last night at around 8pm I said to myself I should go play somewhere tonight! I didn’t fancy Cambridge so I searched ‘open mic Peterborough’ and this 3rd tuesday of the month open mic in Whittlesey (nr Peterborough) popped up. I went along and did my thing, and people seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps more meaningfully I managed to have some good conversations with a couple of guys.

So with random open mic in my stride from last night this morning I decided to head off to York to busk, open mic, and meet people. So far so good. I’m currently sat in the venue of the open mic (the habit) and sipping a beer. I’m here because while I was busking today a guy named Ben recommended the night to me. In truth busking today wasn’t amazing. Partly because I got into town quite late, and partly because all the good spots were taken. I also had to spend some time sorting my license etc. it’s all good though and about half an hour ago when I was walking back into town I felt so pleased to be here. I’ve been debating whether to slum in my van or get a hostel. Money wise I should probably slum, and now that I’ve found a great little parking spot in the city centre that is actually pretty quiet, slumming is looking to be the best option. I guess there is always the option of a late night jam and sleeping at someone’s but we’ll see. I need to move my car by 8am so can’t go too crazy. Think it will be straight to the swimming pool at this point for a stretch. I’ll let you know how the open mic goes.

I am currently in Brighton! I am performing at the queens hotel tonight as part of the alternative escape. I’m currently, currently…. Just waking up. No! I know what you’re thinking, I haven’t been in bed all day. Truth be told I was back late from London last night, and off early this morning to Brighton, and chuck in a Brighton rain busk over lunchtime, and the nap just made sense.

As I said though I did have a little busk today, and I was honored to meet Passenger (aka Mike Rosenberg). He is a bit of a hero of mine so I was dead chuffed!

Tonight it’s off to the industry showcase thing, or something like that anyway. I’m in no way meaning to sound disrespectful, and I’m hopeful I meet some great people tonight who can forward my career, but I’m not banking on it. You never know though! For now I’m just pleased to have passed a cd onto passenger. Let’s hope he likes it. It might not be acoustic enough.

Early this evening I sat down in Rough Trade to sip a coffee before my gig. To my delight I looked up and saw that ‘The Magnetic North’ have now released their album! The lead singer is a good friend of mine and I decided to buy the album on vinyl. It’s beautiful and I can’t wait to buy a record player :)

Also while I was in Rough Trade I decided to take a closer look at the top 10. I then cheekily, while no one was looking, slipped in mine at number 7. I hope whoever finds it treats it kindly!

Onto the Luxe for well received gig. Some very loud talkers at the beginning but they kindly mellowed for me. Big shout out to Tanya who came to the gig having originally seen me busk a couple of years ago!

Only a man
Only a fool
I’ve fell so hard asleep on the ground
If I pull myself back up                       
Will I even have the strength to carry on?                   
 
Cos the love lost has me late                  
And I feel I’ve wandered past my final chance              
As I look to the skies                            
I might even see the castle in the air            
 
Through all my mistakes
Spun a subtle thread of grace
That became my first thought
As a woven soul of Earth
Are you listening?
I’m calling out your name
Are you listening?
I am never alone…

Tom Copson - Never Alone 

http://tomcopson.bandcamp.com/

How many days must I crawl?
Will I ever feel the sand slide off my feet?
My mirage
My distant hope
Can you hear the searching beating of my heart?
 
Only a man
Only a fool…..

Tom Copson - Never Alone http://tomcopson.bandcamp.com/

Treat your ears right. Listen to these songs! You can download 2 of them for free clicking on this link.

Tom’s new album “Woven” will be released on June 4th, 2012.

So the bad thing about this saturday was that my plan to be selling physical copies of my album ‘Woven’ failed miserably as a printing error means they now will not be ready till early next week. The good thing was that I still went busking with Bryony (violin) and Kev (makeshift drumkit) and we had fun. The highlight of the day though (apart from leading Kev 5-2 later at pool that evening despite the fact he came back to win 5-6 as my skills diminished with too much alcohol) was when falafel guy bought a cd of mine simply to give to someone else who was listening! Amazing! He didn’t even know the guy!