Woodkid / Excerpts
I finally got around to putting my Woodkid videos together from Tuesday evening.
They weren't as great as I was expecting but you get the general idea…
janet. 20 years on…
20 years ago Janet Jackson released janet. a career defining album and one that would change the shape of pop music for ever.
Janet had broken her way from her family ties with Control and put the world to rights with Rhythm Nation 1814, by janet. was the album that would change everything.
I sit here and moan about how people dote on the likes of Beyonce and Rihanna, but truth be known if it wasn’t for janet. they probably wouldn’t be here.
She (with the help of production geniuses Jam and Lewis) defined a generation and brought a new flavour of music to the masses.
From the moment the world heard the opening bars of That’s the Way Love Goes we knew things would change for ever. Nothing as laid back or as soulful had hit the air waves and nothing like it had certainly never scaled to the top of the pop, R&B, dance charts.
In fact this was the great thing about janet., most struggled to pigeon-hole it as one form of music or another.
You had the infectious and raunchy if. The pop inspired and light Because of Love and the heart wrenching Again all spawned from the same album.
Other hits including You Want This were already pushing the envelope when released on janet.but the added rap mid section paved the way for listeners ears to tune into other great artists to follow such as Missie Elliot, TLC and Pink.
The content of the album was also very raunchy and risqué in places. I remember hearing Janet interview by Dave Lee Travis on Radio 1 (I still have this on cassette) and he quizzed her about Throb. Of course Miss Jackson insisted it was about “the throb of the music and the effect on you when you hit the dancefloor” but we all know that’s simply not the case.
Miss Jackson may have been innocent at the release of janet. but subsequent work prove that she is certainly nasty 
If you have never heard the album please get onto Spotify or iTunes and give it a go. Forget any preconceptions about Janet and her family ties. Forget about Nipple Gate. (Still one of the best marketed music events of all time – beat that Madonna!). Just sit back, listen to the opening tones of Morning and let Janet take you through an escapade full of love, sex (safe-sex mind you remember to be a good boy), break up, heart-break and of course a healthy dose of voyeurism and PDA (anytime, anyplace).
This is truly one of the best albums of the nineties and one of my all time favourite albums*
Oh and what can you say about that Rolling Stone cover – now that was groundbreaking… I wonder if anyone would get away with all this these days. It makes me feel that the world has definitely gone backwards somewhat.
*although I may have to change that quote if you insist on including Whoops now, but let’s not go there!
And then the crowd did this…
During the Woodkid concert this wonderfully spontaneous moment happened when he was saying his goodbyes following the Run Boy Run.
We all started to sing the string section from the song (which I believe from Woodkids reaction on Facebook, this has never happened before) and then this happened…
I am so happy someone caught this on camera and really pleased that Woodkid himself posted this on Facebook stating “thank you London, this was a wonderful moment in my life that I will never forget”.
Brilliant. Truly the power of the crowd and the perfect example of what a fantastic concert we witnessed on Tuesday.
Running to Lambeth
I went on another lunchtime time run with Paul today and we extended our route to Lambeth Bridge. This added about 1.5K onto the run we completed last Friday.
We learnt from last weeks experience though and stuck to back roads as much as we could.
That said we had to stop to cross Westminster Bridge at Westminster Palace due to the crowds, government vehicles and traffic lights.
I was happy to run close to Paul’s pace (even though he was on a go slow due to a lively night out on the beer!) 
Conditions were ok although it was quite windy in places.
I felt a few twinges here and there but persisted as I was determined to keep up with Paul as much as I could. As you can see we managed a pace of 5:07 at one point so we were certainly motoring along.
Next week we are going to change tactic and do some speed work instead – this will be more like the work I have been doing with the Gipis training.
Not long to go until the Richmond 10K and the more I run with Paul the more confidence I get and the more enthusiastic I am about race day
Coming back into work and carrying on working does seem to astound my colleagues but I like to think it’s testament to what I have achieved
Run Trunkguy Run!
Well the mid section of tonight's training was fairly long and fast. I had a tough central 15 minute section where I had to run quickly and I managed to maintain my pace for most of the run.
Of course electronics coaches such as Gipis cannot keep calculate for hills and wind but I think I managed pretty well considering.
As you can see from the map it's very warm with plenty of green streaks in there. I am really happy with tonight's achievement especially as I had a few nagging doubts about a pain in my knee/back of my leg. It feels fine now. I am sure it's a result of last nights activities…
I was unsure how I would cope on tonight's run as I was at the Woodkid concert last night jumping and dancing around all night. I think I managed about 5 hours sleep to so I was tired and achy today.
I did adjust my playlist so that the Woodkid tracks were closer to the start of the run and in the fast section and it worked. Believe me once you have been in a concert where there are massive drums thundering out the beat and you see his enthusiam – it's nothing short of infectious.
I did chuckle today as I walked past St Paul's and the bells started to chime, I was immediately transported to last night, th eglantine white statue of the boy and the opening bars of Run Boy Run. This brought a huge smile to my face.
In fact we enjoyed last night so much we have already booked for his next show in London in November as he will be accompanied by a full orchestra.
I have now told everyone about my half marathon ambitions and am very pleased with the positive response I have had from friends, family and colleagues. I have already raised £150 which is brilliant – thank you. Some people are confused and think I am running a marathon, I'm not. This is a daunting enough challenge for me!
The Richmond Park 10k is a couple weeks away and I am confident that I will be in good shape for it. I plan another run with Paul during Friday lunch break so that should give us more opportunity to time into one another's running rhythm.
Today's fastest track was The Conquest of Space by Woodkid
Woodkid – live at the Roundhouse 14/5/2013
Well what can I say?
I convinced some friends to come along and I was worried they would be disappointed. Worried Paul, Enda and Bogdana would think I was mad.
I can safely say I am not.
Woodkid at the Roundhouse was fantastic. There was so much music filling the dome, the echo of the drums, the orchestra, the choir. What a performance.
I am not sure what stood out more, Woodkids enthusiasm, the electric light show or the thunder of the drums.
All the way through he engaged with the audience and genuinely seemed to be having a fantastic time in London. I've never seen a performer act so normally or humbled by the reaction he got and we were pleased for him.
I don't know where his music gets played so I didn't know what would stand out. This crowd knew their Woodkid though as favourites such as Conquest of Space, Iron (which we were treated to twice as he did a stripped down version with the orchestra during the encore) and favourites from the ep such as Brooklyn and Fireflies all got a massive response from the audience.
Run Boy Run was definitely the highlight but purely because the crowd made it so. After the extended rousing rendition the crowd alone started to hum the choral section. Amazed and please Woodkid and co joined in and the music continued on and on and on. I thought running to this track was hard work, dancing to it is even more so.
There were so many highlights in this monochrome cacophony of light and sound I really do not think I could do it justice.
Lets just say we will be booking for his return performance.
If you have not heard The Golden Age please give it a chance. Take the time to immerse yourself in the whole album and fill your head with this massive orchestral adventure.
Genius.
Short and Speedy
I didn't think I would get to do a run tonight as I left work late and had some things to do which I imagined would take up some time.
Luckily the Gipis training was fairly short today as it consisted of a regular run followed by two fast/slow sessions of repeating 2 minutes. I was out for just over 25 minutes and managed to get to nearly 4k (that's including warm up and cool down).
As you can see there are two sharp green patches in the run which is where I ran as fast as I could.
It was a good run and quite exhilarating this evening as it was very windy. I think my mental state of getting home to do stuff probably made me go even faster!
A day after telling everyone about my half marathon plans and I have already raised £115. I am continually surprised and humbled by how generous people are. I am running for the British Heart Foundation in the Royal Parks Half Marathon on the 6th of October (so I have plenty of time to train). If you can please sponsor me 😃
Fastest track today was Throb (Peter Rauhofer 2013 remix) by Janet Jackson. In fact I only ran to two tracks his evening as my iPhone was quite saddistic and picked two very long and very fast dance tracks for me to run to. Sowing to the slow sections was a bit of a challenge!
Giving it all my Heart : PLEASE SPONSOR ME!
I have been thinking about this for so long and after some deliberation and a false start I can confirm I have a place in this years Royal Parks Half Marathon in London.
This is my first ever half marathon and I have to say I am more than a little bit nervous. I thought I was nervous about running the Mo Run 10K last year but I am more than a little daunted by this prospect.
That said it has been just over a year since I started running so to contemplate a half marathon last May would have been laughable. I really am amazed at how far I have come in such a short space of time (regardless of the winter set backs).
I have a great support network though, Richard is fully behind my decision and understands why I feel the need to run this Half Marathon.
You may recall I cojoulled my friends to sign up for the race with the intention to run as a group. Sadly I did not get a place and some of them did which left me feeling a little guilty.
I have been thinking about a charity to support as I can only get a charity place now and with the recent events (let’s call them 2013 events) I now know the charity I want to support.
I am therefore announcing I am running for the British Heart Foundation on the 6th October.
I have a fundraising target and I would very much like all your support to not only help me reach this target but to help me raise as much as I can to help such a worthwhile charity.
My mum was recently taken ill and ended up going into hospital for an angioplasty (her fourth such operation).
The maternal side of the family all suffer from coronary problems and my mum has been through the wars the last couple of years. Mum however has been fortunate and survived all of her procedures – her siblings have not been so lucky.
My parents have found help in the literature and support the BHF offer and I have had my mind put at rest by the informative and supportive information on their web site.
It is because of this (and many others reasons ) that I have chosen to run for the British Heart Foundation.
Paul and I are already working on getting me up to pace for the Richmond 10K at the beginning of June and I am sure Janice, Enda and Em (to name but a few) will do all they can to encourage me towards my 21K target.
I have no doubt my friends will support me and my training efforts and I am sure those who I talked into running the Royal Parks Half will be pleased to hear that I will be running alongside them (or maybe a little behind them as they are all super fit!).
I will charge up the Kindle and re read the Half Marathon Guide I downloaded months ago and start to think about how I can achieve my running target. I am however not going to obsess over it as the race is not until October and I have more than enough time to train.
I am asking for your support to help me reach my target and I am sure you won’t let me down. I have set up a Virgin Money Giving page to raise funds online as they do not take a cut in the proceeds (unlike Just Giving). I would like to see every penny I raise to go to the charity.
And before you ask, no I am not planning on running a full marathon in the future!
