Waiting for the NEW YEAR

Hello.

Merry New Year. Soon. Well, depending on where you are. Soon if you are here. You're probably not, but anyway. Same thing.

Here's what I did today:
I got up at about 11.30 after a pretty crappy sleep, having been woken up by the power going on and off during the night and noisy Ghanaians. I had a shower. I talked to some people who are back in Australia via my mobile telephone and Skype. Apparently there was some sort of party going on there. Not sure why. Then I rang Adotey to see if he was free to have a lesson. He wasn't and said he would be free at about 4.00 and that he'd ring me. I was meant to have a lesson with Afotey with 4.00 so I had to ring him to organise to change my lesson to 2.30 to make way for Adotey's availability. He said that was fine. This meant that I had a lesson with Afotey at 2.30 and a lesson with Adotey at 4.00 (you can tell who is who by the second letter of their names).

So I went to AFotey's at 2.30.

I waited at Afotey's until 3.30 without him showing up or answering his phone. He showed up at about 3.35 and tried to tell me that he'd been just sitting around the corner (like, 5 metres away) and that he was wondering where I was. I explained that I'd been there for an hour and had been practising, wondering aloud why he hadn't heard me. He look mildly sheepish. In the end, I told him that I had to leave because I had a lesson at 4.00 with Adotey. So I left.

It's 6.15 now and I haven't heard from Adotey.

Productive day so far.

Merry next year.
Love from Jacob.

A post

Ha ha ha.

Hello.

I am in Ghana still. Just keeping you up to date with that.

Sam left on Tuesday night – his flight was at about 5.40 am so we got a ride with Tettey to the airport at about midnight – Tettey was also dropping off some other people who were staying at the house. What I didn't realise was that this meant that, after dropping Sam off (I couldn't wait with him – people not travelling are not allowed to go into the terminal), I ended up waiting in the car park with Tettey for about 5 hours because he was doing some 'thing' with the other people. 

I got home at 6am. That was pretty awesome.

Yesterday I had about three hours of lessons with Adotey and then another hour with Afotey. That was good. Today I went into immigration to pick up my passport and visa extension. Unfortunately the guy wasn't there so I have to go back another time. Again. 

Oh well. 

Thus, today hasn't been particularly productive. I am going to organise to have a lesson with Adotey.... now.

Thanks for reading. Merry time of year to you.

Bye.

Love from Jacob

Back in Nungua

Hi. I'm back in Nungua now. Got back yesterday.

Here's a photo of me at a castle:

Hope you had a MERRY Christmas and have a HAPPY new year.

I'll be back soon. Like, tomorrow or something.

Thanks for reading.

Love from Jacob

Photos at fatgoldchain.com

Hello.

Merry Christmas. Spent Christmas in Cape Coast. It's too clunky to post to this blog from my phone so I have been posting photos to our blog at fatgoldchain.com. Please feel free to have a look. I am taking a lot of photos with my camera but can only post photos taken on my phone, hence their low quality (my phone's camera's lens is scratched a bit). Hope you enjoy them. I'll let you know when I am back in nungua. My ears are still blocked but not too painful any more. Thanks for asking.

Love from Jacob.

On a bus

Hello. I am on a bus with sam on our way to cape coast. The trip should take about 5 hours. I have 3G working on my phone which is SICK.

Also, just to give her a plug, my sister has started writing a blog. She's not trapped in Africa but has a brain condition and is trying to write about her experience. Have a look if you're interested.

http://meandacc.blogspot.com/


Ok. That's it for now. Sorry for the odd formatting, posting from my phone is clunky.
Thanks for reading

A message for Stephen

Despite what you may have heard and hoped, I am still sick. I went to the doctor yesterday and got many tablets. I took them. Last night I got worse. I have a very sore ear. Both of them are infected but the right one is especially sore. The pain I am feeling is a lot. A lot of pain. When I burp it hurts a lot so I am trying not to burp.

Whine whine whine whine whine. Whine.

Just what you wanted?

Ok. That's enough of that. I had to cancel my lessons today but am still planning to travel to Cape Coast tomorrow. We'll see. I had beans and plantain for lunch today, very helpfully fetched by my worker-bee associate, Sam.

Also, whoever did that comment on that other post (you know who you are, I hope), reveal yourself. If you want. It was funny, that's all. Very funny. I enjoyed it.

Ok bye.
Thanks for reading.

OUCH! My EAR!

Here's a photo

Not of me, sorry. I found it on the internet. Or it found me. Whatever. I thought it was funny.

This morning one of the boys in the house allegedly stabbed another of the boys in the house (his brother) in the leg with a screwdriver. Not sure what that was all about but thought it warranted mentioning – that's the sort of sick thing that you want to hear, isn't it? I think they're both ok now.

In other important news, I am still sickly – my 'tonsilitis' has now moved around into my ear and seems like it is about to become an ear infection. I am going to the doctor today to get some antibiotics. That will be fun. I am hoping to claim it on insurance. That will also be fun. To make me feel better, you could download the latest episode of the Fat Gold Chain podcast or check us out on Triple J Unearthed. Somehow we're ranked in the electronic charts. Maybe my Mum has been voting for us? Please feel free to join her.

Today I'm also just about to have a couple of hours of lesson with Adotey and later I'll be going to (hopefully) pick up my passport from immigration (with extended visa) and take Sam, my tolerated-person-who-is-around-sometimes associate, to the Arts Centre market. That will be fun. Like a screwdriver in the leg.

Anyhow, I hope to get much better fairly soon and to still be able to travel to Cape Coast in a couple of days. Oh, that's my plan by the way. Did I mention it earlier?

Thanks for reading. I hope all is well.
Love from Jacob

Oh, by the way

I shaved my head. About two weeks ago. I forgot to tell you.

Also, I am still sickly. Like a wounded dog. My throat is not too sore any more but I'm all stuffed up, sneezy, snotty and miserable. I have spent the last few days inside feeling sorry for myself.

Ok bye.

Thanks for reading.

What is up.

Greetings.

Here is a run-down of my thoughts and experiences in the past few... time.

I have been doing a frustratingly small amount of playing. Basically, all my teachers are being hard to contact, in my bad books or away. This is frustrating for me. Frustrating.

So, I am spending a fair bit of time doing music 'production' things, trying to make my non-drumming time as productive and practice-y as possible. Also, Sam is here which means I tend to spend some time with him each day sitting on the balcony discussing deep philosophical issues. We could fix the world if we just had the power.

Speaking of which, the power has been off a lot – last night/this morning it was off for over 12 hours. Great.

Also, I have what my resident medical expert and tolerated business associate Sam believes is Tonsil-itis. That is not good. So, I went to visit my friend Robert at the chemist to get some lozenges and Ibuprofen. Good day so far.

So, to keep you up to date, I am getting very frustrated, am trying to still get something done and am sick.

I mentioned in my last post that Ayiku was running a Hip Hop night (I don't know what that means either) called Swagger. I went to it for a little bit, just to see what was going on. Here are some photos:

Also, the new episode of the podcast is out which includes my track I produced here in Ghana for 'Lord', some Hip Hop (again, no idea what that means) guy. He asked me to do an album with him. I am thinking about it, not too hard though.

Also also, if anyone wants copies of our music, please feel free to email us for a CD or go to our website and click on 'music' to stream or download our tracks.

Thanks, once again, for reading.
I'll be back soon.

Another Post all out by its ownself.

Hello.

I am posting here just now.

Here's a brief run down of what I've done in the last little while here in Africa where I am:

Penelope and I have been hanging out. It has not been a drug-fuelled sex binge – drugs are bad. We went to see Harry Potter at the cinema, had two-for-one pizza on Tuesday night, went to see some Hip Hop performances at Alliance Francaise, went to the Arts Centre and Makola markets, had some drum lessons, did some rehearsing with Afotey's band, ate some rice and slept a lot. A couple of days ago, my acquaintance, Sam, arrived from Uganda. He has a very busily-posted-at and somewhat-derivative blog as well. So now Sam, Penelope and I are all here in Ghana, for a couple of days before Penelope travels to the UK.

So that's that.

Here's what's up at the moment.
Tettey (the man who I'm staying with) with a bunch of local big men is starting an NGO, aiming to fix up and clean up Nungua (the town in which I'm staying). Today is the inauguration ceremony, which we'll be going to. Yesterday, Tettey brought some guy to my door saying that 'he' needed to use my 'studio'. This meant that he wanted me to record and produce a song to use for some thing today. While I probably should have said no, I was intrigued and didn't know how difficult and frustrating it was going to be. Turned out it was quite difficult and frustrating – I still have to finish recording some vocals today and woke up at 7.30 or so with the 'singer' knocking on my door. I told him I was sleeping and to go away. He did.

Anyhow, the song is what will be in the Fat Gold Chain Podcast this week. Look forward to that. I dare you.

Also tonight Ayiku (a friend of mine here who makes T-shirts that you will able to buy one day if I get my act together and manage to get an online store set up for him – I'll keep you posted) has organised a 'Hip Hop Pool Party' called Swagger. I will be going to see what that is all about. I think it may be interesting. I may take photos.

Not doing much playing at the moment outside of the rehearsals and lessons with Afotey – I am meant to be having some lessons with Adotey (one letter difference – different person) but his sister died and he had a funeral and has been busy so there.

Sorry for the inconsistency in my posting times. If you have been checking this site for regularly and have been frustrated and saddened by my lack of posting, you can subscribe to my RSS feed, which means that whenever I post you will be notified. Alternatively, if you put your email address into the box on the right, my posts will get emailed to you when they happen.

Wonderful, yes?

Alright, that's about it.

All is well, thank you for reading.
Love from Jacob

I'm alive. Relax. Now tighten. Aaaand relax again. Feel better?

Ok. It's been a while.

Basically, Penelope is here and the last week I've mostly been trying to get her settled here and show her around, stuff like that. I haven't really had time to post and when I have the internet hasn't been working. I'll try and start again now.

For a week I didn't really have any lessons or anything – I've started again this week. Kusun aren't training properly but I have arranged to go and train with Afotey's group and have a couple of a lessons a week with him.

All is ok.

That's all I feel like writing now.
Thanks for reading.

Bye.

It's Saturday.

Hi there. Sorry for the delay – internet problems.

Penelope's coming on Monday, so my last few days have really revolved around getting things ready for when she arrives. On Thursday I went to Nungua market with Mercy and Anastina (two girls from the house). I bought a bunch of stuff and wandered around for a while. For dinner the girls and I had banku and fish. That was about it for Thursday.

On Friday I made a trip to Accra Mall to go to the supermarket to buy some things. I can't say what because it's a surprise. I can tell you that I got baked beans, that's not the surprise. On Friday night Jane, Tettey, Rita and I went to see Tony Allen's band play at Alliance Francaise. Tony Allen was the drummer in Fela Kuti's band. There was also a Guinean hip hop band. All in all, it was good. I had a sausage.

Here's some photos:

Today I pretty much stayed in my room all day. The water wasn't running and I didn't feel like going out. I was asked for money by a couple of people and said no. I had fried rice for dinner.

That's about it. Sorry for my lack of interesting things – I didn't have any animals slaughtered in front of me this week – I'm basically getting used to being back in Ghana and dealing with the different flavour of scammy hasslement.

Thanks for reading. I'm tired now.

Nigh nighs.

It's RAINING

Hello. It's 1.40am and pissing with rain here. I am about to go to bed.

I didn't do much today, but I've been on a roll of posting daily, no matter how empty my posts are. Quantity!

Penelope is coming here on Monday which I am quite excited about. I went out today and bought a mattress for her to sleep on. I got a ride with Kenten (aka Basket) to one of the mattress shops (I did a bit of shopping around) while he was on his way to pick up Tettey's kids from school. I waited around for a ride home and he rocked up with about 8 kids (not all Tettey's – some were just getting a ride) crammed into the car. So I had a car ride with children on me. Then we stopped and got the mattress and put it on the roof, so then I had a car ride with children on me and one arm out the window holding a mattress onto the roof. That's about it.

I didn't train with Kusun today because they were being a bit half-arsed and it gave me the shits.

That's all for now.

Goodnight.
Thanks for readink.

Celebrating the 142nd Post!

WOW! 142! What a number! What a story! How exciting!

Ok.

Today I got up late. Then I hung around on the balcony. Then I had a Fan Ice (frozen yoghurt). Then I wrote some music. Then I went over some of the stuff I had learned in Gambia. Then I helped Tettey write some things for a website. Then I wrote this.

I thought I had escaped being in a Muslim country for Tobaski (the big feast that's today) and having to give too much – turns out this morning the small boys and girls in the house decided they were going to make food for the holiday and needed some money. Oh well. 

At least I get food - I think it's groundnut soup and Face-the-wall (basically cassava made into a snotty dough). I am looking forward to it. I haven't eaten anything today except my frozen yoghurt. I'm actually really hungry.

What an exciting 142nd post!

Good bye.

Love from Jacob.

First day back in Ghana

Yo hodely how.

Today was my first full day back in Ghana. I am suffering from self-induced jetlag. I didn't actually cross any time zones, but ended up not having a proper sleep for over 40 hours. This was because I stayed up until 4am last night talking to people in Australia with the first convenient, reliable internet connection I had had access to for a month. Things like that are hard for us nerds to deal with.

So I woke up today at about 1pm. I got in the shower and the water ran out while I was all shampooed and soaped up. A lovely image for you. I did some yelling and the pump was turned on and all worked out ok.

I was back.

I then sat on the balcony for a while and debriefed with Jane and had some lunch – bread that I had brought from Gambia. It was in a pretty ordinary state and a bit stale, having been travelling for a couple of days, but it was a nice thought. Then, the guys from Kusun turned up around 3 and we trained until 6 or so.

Then a bunch of guys from the group (Theofo, Shaanu, Adjetey and Bibio) and I went to get some food and pour libation to give thanks for my safe travelling. I think the food was more of a motivator for their participation than the thanks, but oh well.

Then I came back here and that's about it. I'm still tired. Tomorrow is a public holiday (I think it's for Tobaski – the big Islamic feast) which means that all the Ghanaians don't go to work. For a change. Over the next few days I think I will hold off on lessons and just go over and consolidate all the stuff I learned in Gambia. I'll be training each day with Kusun, but don't think I'll try filling my head with any more new stuff just yet. I'll also try and upload some music and photos.

I'll keep you posted. Hope all is well.

Ok bye.

Back in Ghana

Hello there.

The plane didn't crash and I'm back in Ghana which is good. Extra-goodily, the internet appears to be working for now. Hoorah.

So, I went to the airport at 1am and planned to wait until my flight left at 5am. Turns out the flight time was changed and was now leaving at 6am, so I waited for 5 hours at the airport. At least the time was changed to be later, not earlier – that could have been awkward.

Anyhow, I sat in the airport like a fool for a bit, then was asked by one of the guys working there if I spoke German. He had been given a fancy phone with the language set to German and wanted it changed to English. I spent about 40 minutes fiddling around with it, trying to understand German – I had nothing better to do – but ended up giving up. The guy was happy I tried though and told me I could sit in the security office. So I did. I sat there for a couple of hours and spoke about Africa and politics and human rights – another guy waiting had been to the AU's human rights convention in Banjul so had a few interesting things to say. It was a good way to pass the time.

Then I went through the airport, got on a plane, flew, landed, got back to the guest house in Nungua and... now.

I'm really very tired.

But alive, so that's nice.

Ok. Soon.

Bye.

Some photos are up

I'm trying to upload my photos and some of them have worked. To see them, click here.

Thanks, more are coming.

Chow.
Jacob

Leaving Gambia

Hi. Tonight is my last night in Gambia – I leave Bakau for the airport at 1am and my flight leaves for Ghana at 5am. I'll be waiting at the airport for a while, but that's fine. I may get a chance to actually stop for a bit.

The last few days have been pretty hectic here. On Friday I had some more lessons and went to the Kachikally crocodile pool in Bakau. It's a tourist museum with a pool and a bunch of crocodiles. I took some photos. It was interesting enough. I then spent a heap of time running errands, trying to get things finished off before leaving. This included making some bank trips, buying some things (drums) and lots of walking. Doudou's group ended up not playing on Friday night – they have a contract with the venue now and play on Sundays and Wednesdays. No luck for me. Turns out I'd already had my last play with the group. This was disappointing but I was ok. I didn't cry much.

Instead of playing, I went to see a Guinean Ballet ensemble from Conakry at Lama Lama. They were really good. Really, really good. It wasn't boring djembe blathering stuff but a really interesting and musical mix of balafons, dun duns, bells a little bit of djembe and lots of other drums that went boom. It was good.

I went to bed pretty late on Friday, exhausted.

Then woke up this morning and had some more lessons. Today we pretty much just played through the things I had learned. Doudou didn't seem to be able to resist changing a couple of things that I had spent time memorising, but it went pretty well. I got final recordings of everything I've learned. Then some guys came and played support parts for the sabar rhythms I've been learning. They weren't that good – they were learning too – but it gave me a recording of the rhythms with the context of 5 parts rather than just me and Doudou playing. So that was good.

After the lesson, I went back to my room and packed, organised and generally busied-about. Doudou went off to Serekunda to get a stick for the Tama (Senegalese talking drum) that I had bought and I gave him money to buy some microphones for his band. Then he came back, and I tried to pack the sabar drum, wrapped in foam, into my bag. After lots of grunting and frustration, it fit and the bag closed. I also covered the djembe I have with foam and packed it.

Pretty much done.

Since then, I've walked to the bank, given out some money, burned a bunch DVDs – (bad) recordings of the band's performance and some movies for Kala – and been to visit Kala to say goodbye.

Then I came to the internet cafe and posted this.

After I've chilled out here for a bit and got my internet kick, Doudou and I will probably get some food and watch some music until I leave at 1am. I am thinking of having a little nap in there somewhere too. We'll see.

Coming to Gambia has been great (I know I need to work on my hyperbole, but great is about all I've got). The new drumming (sabar) that I've been learning has been tickling my rhythm bone quite nicely (perhaps I should work on my expression too). It's been pretty exhausting and challenging at times, but worth it.

Anyhauser, I'll let you know when I get to Ghana. I hope I'll be alive. So do you. Because you care.

Thanks for reading.
Love from Jacob

A very quickie.

Hi. I have a lesson in 4 minutes so have to be quick.

Just wanted to say hello. I have internet access so thought I'd better post. I have a bunch of photos that I've been trying to upload but no luck so far.

I'm only here for another two days and am pretty flat out and exhausted.

I'll try and post again shortly.

Bye.

Today posting on the blog here now.

Hello.

I am on the internet. On my computer. It's Thursday here. Here's what's been up.

On Tuesday, after not being mugged on Monday night (which was good), I had some more lessons. They're going well – I think I've now (Thursday) finished all the sabar stuff that I am going to learn (I think) and am trying to go over everything a lot so as to practice my technique and really memorise everything. It's going well so far. Also, Doudou has changed a few of the things that I initially learned, giving me more complex variations, so I'm working on getting them down.

Then, on Tuesday afternoon after lessons, we rushed to NewTown – Doudou's group was booked to play at a wedding there. We got there at about 5.30, waited around for a bit, then played for a couple of hours. I tried to take some video but because there were too many people dancing and the power went out, I didn't get much good footage. The playing was good though – I had one drunk guy annoying the shit out of me all night, standing next to me and trying to hit the drum and telling me to play solos. Apparently he liked my playing. So far at all the open events I've played at there is always one drunk guy being obnoxious – it must be the same everywhere. I was still surprised each time it happens here though as barely anyone drinks alcohol. The whole Islam thing.

Then, after the wedding gig, we went back to Bakau and got some food (a souvlaki-esque thing which was delicious) and watched a band play at Lama Lama. The band was the band I met on the first day I was here and played with them. At the time, I they didn't seem that good – they were slowing down and playing pretty loosely. At the performance they were actually really good. Turns out that they were distracted and losing concentration when they were playing with me – something to do with the colour of my skin.

After watching the gig, I went home. That was Tuesday.

On Wednesday, I had more lessons. After lessons, Doudou and I went into Banjul, Gambia's capital. I was going to visit the Albert market and hopefully buy some music. Turns out they didn't really have what I wanted and were charging too much, so we just spent a couple of hours walking around the market and Banjul and I took lots of photos. They're coming.

That night, the group had to play an audition at a hotel in Senegambia, so we traipsed off there after getting back from Banjul. This gig went pretty well – I was  tired as hell but was actually happy with how I played. At this gig the lights weren't working properly and it was night time so, again, no decent footage.

Today (Thursday), I had to change hotels – the place that I was in (Bakau Lodge) had a reservation booked from today and were full, so I got kicked out. The manager of the place organised for me to stay somewhere else nearby (Bakau Guest House) for the same rate, so that was fine. So, this morning Doudou, a bunch of his friends and I carried all my crap across to the new place. The owner of the new place was a bit uneasy about me bringing all the Gambians over, but I calmed him down.

The new place is really nice – a bit grottier than the other one but it is on the second floor and has a balcony overlooking the Atlantic ocean and the fish market. I will take some photos.

Once I finish writing this post I'll go have some lessons with Doudou and tonight the group plays at the Soul Mate restaurant in Bakau. Hopefully I can get some footage.

So, everything's going well. I'm busy as hell – I've been performing every night this week and having a heap of lessons – but it's good. I leave in a couple of days so I'm trying to fit as much in as I can.

I'd better go – I'm going to be late.

Cheers. Thanks for reading.