Sun is Shinning, weather is HOT, BLOODY HOT.

Thank God!!! HAHA at the risks of sounding like perv.s we here at Papa J’s love it (as should all our fellow men of the earth). The skirts get shorter and the tops get lower mostly on the women but you still see the one guy in his sarong ~( it’s a metro man thing)~ . It’s the kinda time where you can be happy that your pockets are filled only with flint and the odd used condom.

To celebrate another occasion, Keiron has got himself a part time job. It’s down at Sutton Music working with Sam Brooks, once again as the A-team of the music shop world. Next time you see him wish him well and try and get a disscount.

The open mics have been rolling well and only had a small low during the world cup but now England lost to Germany *sob…sob…boo-hoo* ~(predictable or what)~ we are back on track with last night being a MENTAL all out rock off with 3 new acts, the traditional family and some rarer faces with, as they always will be, welcome to put there names firmly into any of the Papa J stages or events.

So Kiddies What have you all been up to?????

don’t forget all the ways you can contact us we always love to hear from you weather you are an artist, band, legend or just want a civil chat…..but if you drink Starbucks and follow suit WE DON’T WANT TO KNOW YOU!!!  ~(some bad people have emerged after drinking starbucks…did you know if alive today Hitler would be drinking his grande french roast coffee with a muffin doing his 5th Sudoku of the day…….twat…….), although if you are an occasional starbucks attendee I’m sure we can live with it

but if you do want to get in touch find us on twitter, facebook, myspace and obviously the pages you have been or are just about to explore.

Chat to you all soon,

Dave and Keiron xXx

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It’s all back on track, Abbey/Santander have finally sorted out our online banking and got Keiron’s card working. We were able to get Hannah White into Acoustic magazine and have gotten alot of odd jobs sorted like the duplicator is fully running and operational.

We will be all soon getting ready for the festivals soon anyone going to any good ones this year let us know tell us who your looking forward to the most this year. I thought I might have a chance at seeing Adam Ant but he went a bit loony doing a church gig this month so I think it will be a while before we see him back performing.

catch you all soon,
Dave x

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KCT ended up playing with a full band instead of just the normal two members (aparently the other two had only been in the band for 3 hours) and they pulled it off with out any hiccups giving them a fuller more original sound.

The High Chaparrals had the crowd going mental as they lit up the room with not only the power of there performance but the Christmas lights surrounding the double bass .

New band 335 ended the night with some funky diverse blues proving that they had what it takes to headline and finish off the night.

We could tell this was a night that would grab more people to come to our next show on the 15th of May for the line up visit:

( http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=756935000&v=app_2344061033#!/event.php?eid=114360095250580&index=1)

Continuing with the live music Monday’s open mic night is tonight. Last weeks was excellent. Everyone who turned up enjoyed themselves starting chants of “sex gnome” and other bits of …. supportive banter

The Sun kept out a fair few of our usual crowd but it was also able to bring in some old comers to the warming lights of the Papa J’s GJ’s Experience. who knows what tonight’s will bring us…..

During the past week we have not only been working on all the Papa J bits and bobs but cutting down a tree! Apparently it falls in to a small bit of no man’s land so the council won’t touch it.

So cutting down this 45ft tree has been a bit of an experience although it’s too week to take mine or Keiron’s weight due to it rotting so we have been sending Keir’s 63 year old Grandad up there instead as he is the smallest and the lightest. There have been several close calls; nearly smashing a car and Grandad nearly flying out of the tree are only a few to name. We only have the trunk left to do now, we have stayed alive this long lets hope we will last a bit longer.

Will update you on how it’s going soon,

Hope to see you tonight at the Open Mic,

Dave

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it’s one thing I do like about being a small company and working from the bottom of the garden and that is the fact of the sun is shining and I can feel the warm sun on my face, perhaps work outside on the bench today? or lay on the grass? I’m undecided at the moment but I do wish my sunglasses weren’t broken, they broke as I was doing somersaults the other night in the garden. You can tell you’re starting to get old when you ache for days after doing that sort of thing.   Owie!!!

Today is a Tuesday, good things happen on Tuesdays. Like one of the acts we promote (Twisted Harmony) last Tuesday got to finally  perform in the final of Sing Slam. For all you who haven’t heard of what Song Slam is it’s where acoustic artists go and perform their original songs to an audience and panel of judges then get voted off one by one until there is only one left. Kind of like X-Factor meets Highlander “THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!!”…..Sam and Keiron ended up coming a very close 2nd place which was very well battled for.  Tonight they (Twisted Harmony), Hannah White and Dick Philpot are in the polls for a competition called Storm The Charts. It’s a way of getting unsigned artists into the top 40 so make sure you vote for each one and keep an eye on their facebook’s and here for more info.

you can vote for each of them at:

vote Dick : http://194.154.164.103/~ftp@stormthecharts.com/poll.php?id=144

vote Hannah: http://194.154.164.103/~ftp@stormthecharts.com/poll.php?id=200

vote Twisted: http://194.154.164.103/~ftp@stormthecharts.com/poll.php?id=228

Other things we have been looking at are a few little seminars so we can go and talk to other people in our line of work make contacts and learn how to progress so they should be fun (free tea and biscuits included).

I must say I am very much looking forward to the rest of this week. On Friday I am off to the shores of Bognor to enjoy the weather…I hope I’ll have to check before I leave. Then we have our 2nd variety show of the year down at GJ’s bar this Saturday the 17th. You will love to get down for as we have some great acts…

We have a very new band called 335 who play the blues so funky you can smell it!!

John Haithwaite and Joshua Kynaston have teamed up to make the fantastic duo KCT

The High Chaparrals, is a country/Americana band who are so full of energy we could run the nights power through them. This is a band you will definitely not be able to resist dancing away too.

so come on down to our 2nd show of the new year and as usual you can find yourself partying with the PAPA!

We kick off at 7.30pm with the open mic until 9.00pm and that’s when we get the big boys on to play till 12am. After that you know the rest we get on The Papa J DJ and dance the dance of life.

I hope to see you all there singing, dancing, grooving and PARTYING!!!

Catch you all soon,

Dave x

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What’s everyone been up to? Seriously if you do read this blog we’d love to know so email us or comment on the blog.

Here in the land of Papa J we’ve been working away as always. Finally everything is setup we just need to get it out there to people of all the services we provide.

We’re both absolutely diabolically skint at the moment, although general moral is ok. Feel low at times however there are small things that perk me up and make me ignore the all the rubbish of having nothing at the moment.

We tried applying for a grant or a business course from the Princes Trust as we are young enough to apply, and you won’t be accepted if your business is already established/trading. I personally think that’s horse shit. Yeh we’ve set it up, but still currently don’t have all of the business knowledge down.

Nonetheless we will strive on through, and if any of you ever want to give us some business advice then give us a shout info@papajpromotions.com

Gig wise everything is fantastic as it has been for a while. It’s great to see that a community has been developed in the area and it grows stronger every week.

We’ve got a review on Hannah White coming out in a couple of weeks in Acoustic Magazine, which for us and Hannah is major. We are so amped and excited for her, maybe this will be a stepping stone to many things.

Well anyway I’m going to stop rambling as got work to do. Talk to you soon

Keiron

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Well as Keiron stated yesterday we are in battle with Vile Dread Scum or  ”The Tax Man”  as other wise known. It is all slowly coming together and will be a fantastic experience once it is done.

Today we are working very hard on some more duplication bits and bobs mostly getting the alignment of the inserts sorted and templates to send out to everyone who is after duplication.

Last night was fun for anyone who was able to make it watching Hannah White playing away in the Rubicon Bar with help form Keiron. It’s such a lovely venue check it out for yourselves:

http://www.rubiconbar.com/

There were a fair amount of people in the Rubicon including Hannah’s Little crew she calls her “mum-chums”.  Out of the “mum-chums” I was only allowed to talk to Taryn and her friend Helen…..I think this is because I had already met Taryn and Hannah didn’t want to try and explain the mentality behind Papa J’s to her friends….sorry….”mum-chums”.

The night came quietly to an end…Well as quiet as it can be with Hannah’s partner Abstract Al doing the backing vocals to the last of her songs

Hannah “well it goes like this the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift, the baffled king composing hallelujah….hallelujah”

Al:   “HALLELUJAH!!!!”

Hannah: “hallelujah”

Al: “HALLELUJAH!!!!”

Hannah: “hallel-u-jah”

Al: “HALLELUJAH!!!!”

Hannah: “hallel-u-o-o-o-jah”

Al: “HALLELUJAH?????????”

Hannah’s stalker of the night did not look impressed but everyone else had fun.

Tonight everyone is off doing their own thing Sherm is having a nice night in. Keiron is off down The Colliers Tup to play a small Twisted Harmony set and see ROB REYNOLDS play as headliner. That’s right The Tup has Rob Reynolds playing there tonight I’m gutted that I’m missing it. I’m sacrificing Rob Reynolds set so that me, myself and I can go off to Morden to catch up with some good friends.

Well I hope you all enjoy any of the sun you may catch today and I’ll see you all soon.

Ta,

Dave

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For most it will be a simple job of handing over the gruelling job of end of year accounts to their accountants. However for Papa J’s it will be myself and Dave doing it. We don’t want to, but we can’t afford to hire an accountant…the joys of being skint music promoters who can’t even afford a tin of beans!!

Anyway I started the end of year accounts and have got about half of it done. Just waiting on some codes and then I can complete it. What I’m really struggling with is HMRC (the Tax man!) use jargon which normal people like myself find difficult to understand. Also what’s bloody annoying is they repeat questions over and over. You think to yourself I answered that back 3 sections ago your arse!! And that all you’ve done is phrased it in a different more confusing way!!

I really wish  that the tax man would make a simple end of year returns form. Simple boxes saying we made -£…… (yes that is a minus sign), we paid this much PAYE (pay as you earn…tax) and paid this much National Insurance.  (yeh I know what’s the point NHS are pretty shit and pension is worthless!)

They just don’t make it simple for new businesses, and especially businesses that are struggling.

Here’s something I’ll let you in on. Me and Dave are absolutely skint right now. I mean have zero. And we developed the equipment and stuff we have over the course of years. We decided to go into this full time because we really believe it can work. However the tax man, and other government institutions make it harder for people who do not have money behind them to succeed. Everything comes at a price, and the tax man finds all sorts of new charges to throw onto you so that you can’t move up the social ladder.

Anyway enough of my rant; this blog is filled with far too much bitchiness. I’m happy I’m playing a gig tonight with Hannah White tonight (www.myspace.com/songsbyhannah) which shall be a really good laugh. Also got everything up and running and possibly some orders!

Talk to you soon on happier topics!

Keiron

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I would just like to start by thanking everyone who came on Saturday night to support the launch and a big thank you to all of the bands.

The day was a long one with us all coming back form a sex themed party in Egham which finished at around 3am. So all hung over on the train back trying to work out the plan of the day what not to forget and making sure everyone knew the in’s and out’s of the night.

The loading up of our trusty mini bus, Bully, was made awkward by the ever helping scaffolders who had decided it would be a better choice to block off the road instead of finding somewhere to park. So with them not moving we had to cart everything to Bully on trolleys. We finally set off on the road again with everything all loaded up,  yep….everything didn’t leave any of it behind this time, that’s for sure…….BO*@$#KS!!!!! THE BANNER!!!! so Keiron got kicked out of  a fast moving mini bus to run back and grab it whilst the muscle of Papa J’s continued on their mission….

We had finished setting up the main bulk of the equipment when our support team strut in….THE GIRLS!!!!!  They came in with Balloons, signs, table cloths, candle holders made from CD’s and of course “their opinions”

They did have very valid points and they were very appreciated and all worked to help make the night better…..[Honestly this is my opinion and in no way has been influenced by any of the girls different beating styles]

Our sound checking of the night battled against most musicians worst enemy “the hardcore footie fan” they apparently couldn’t concentrate on the match with music coming from another room in the pub.

After the football and 8pm hit……The Doors opened……The open mic began……and the party started!!!!!

Thanks to our open mic-ees (Oliver, Ben, Hannah, Joshua and Michael)

We then commenced with the Big acts of the night organised to build up throughout.

Our first act Twisted Harmony. A rising favourite duo in London, who gave the audience the kick they needed to start filling the dance floor, clapping, stamping and singing along with the boys. Including the ever popular “Whoa-Whoa-Whoa-Whoa” in the song Gathering Light.

The Manakara Giant came next. This four piece were a little nervous at first as this, other then one open mic (Monday’s Papa J’s open mic night) was the first time they had done a gig together. This was over come with the help of the badges they had hand made to give out to the crowd whilst on stage. The crowd increased and so did the dancers as The Manakara Giants played. They even showed us all how to really get dancing at the end of the night with the DJ pumping out the songs.

Then came the great sound of Berrington. With their new drummer John the Hat hitting out a beat your body couldn’t refuse the audience were going crazy! The smoke machine adding to the atmosphere of this bands upbeat rocky nature taking us up that extra notch in excitement.

Due to a misplaced  piece of drum kit the headliners of the night kept us all in suspense as to what would happen next. Then followed by a ROAR!  from the crowd, in they came with their fist song the band Cerebellum. They had the crowd jumping and head-banging to the more heavier songs like Secluded and also swaying to others like Laughing Stock.

I must say other then Twisted Harmony (who will officially be our first customers) all the Acts are all new/fairly new bands and what a way to have entered us into our new area of the business, new business, new acts.

ENTER THE DJ!!!!!!!!

THIS IS WHEN THE REAL PARTY STARTED!!!!

All the acts including some of the open mic-er’s moved their way onto the dance floor and boogied the night away with some impressive and memorable dance moves.

Pictures have been taken from the night and will be up very soon on our facebook and flickr  accounts so keep your eyes peeled.

Yesterday was nice and sunny so we had a BBQ! WHEY FIRST ONE OF THE YEAR!……it got cold. So we being bright young lads turned it into a bonfire party with all the scrap wood we had saved from building the office. It was a nice way to get rid of all the scrap and start the new beginning  as a bigger company.

Today as normal it’s a Monday so it’s open mic night. It’s the first one in a little while for Keiron having been ill so come down and make him feel welcome again.

Catch you all later,

Dave xXx

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Papa J’s are feeling of this right now. Tomorrow night is the launch of Papa J Duplication and there have been some glitches with have spurred on mass panic and lots of swearing.

Windows updates, updated both our laptops so then some duplicator drivers weren’t recognised. Tried getting around it but couldn’t figure it out, so I brought my computer from home which I use in my home studio. Was very gutted to have to pull it all apart. But hopefully it will record music again.

We had some of the line-up disconfirm so we were stressing out about acts, but thankfully we have now sorted that out. Now Dave is currently doing flyers to let you all know our prices for CD duplication. They are some of the best prices in UK.

I’ve been working on a site where you can process your CD duplication orders …..And make payment!! Ha-ha

If you get a chance check it out www.papajduplication.com

On top of duplication we are also going to be doing printing if anyone is interested. Posters etc. Just drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do info@papajpromotions.com

We’re going to wrap up early today to try and ease the stress a little bit. So we’re going to Egham to my girlfriends for a good old fashioned orgy! Na only kidding just threesome!! No seriously just a party…but if it leads to that then rock n roll eh? Apparently it’s a sex themed party so Dave is dressing up as Captain Condom (he looks incredibly retarded and I fear to walk the street with him) and I’m just going as your classic ‘70s Porn Star. Oh yeh! Pictures to come…

Well guys tomorrows order of events will be us loading up all equipment in the morning. Then setting it all up. That will lead us to 4pm probably. So we’ll grab some food before sound checks.

7.30pm the open mic will start. 9pm the main acts will start. 12am DJ will go on 2am he will finish and we’ll all hopefully have celebrated our launch so well that taxis will be a necessity!!

See you tomorrow!

Keiron

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Are you all looking forward to our BIG launch on the 20th of march, I know we are. We finally have everything up and running smoothly….a first for us for a while…..Well I say it is all ok…..Keiron’s laptop is on its way out “WHY DO YOU HATE US LORD WHY?!?!?!?” God may have made everything all happy and dandy at the start then he chose to delegate….

God: “wow I’ve had my turn…hey you work experience kid come look after Papa J’s for a while….what’s that?  First day on the job…oh that doesn’t matter, you’ll be fine.”

It’s not all bad mine is still working alright-ish so I’m happy.

So back to the launch, so far the acts that are ready to rock us on through the night are The Marakara Giant, Berrington and The Entertainment. 3 great bands with more still to come.

The night is going to consist of an open mic night starting at 8pm and finishing around 9pm. That’s when we get onto the bands to get our vibes going before the DJ comes on to take us on till 2am !

During all this you better believe there is no way me and Keiron could work through our launch, so we are going to be partying away and having a laugh with you guys all night long.

As the norm yes you may find we are doing free shots and lots more like discount vouchers on duplication and a raffle where the lucky winner can win 100 free copies of their album in slim-line cases with an insert.

This week is mostly being spent on organising the final parts to it all, untill the weekend where I will be playing with Cerebellum supporting The Blockade as we try and raise money for a charity called “music4children” at the White Lion in Streatham.

and Sunday well lets just say the bit of Irish in me is off to have a party with some others and enjoy some free live music up London from Foy Vance! (an excellent Irish singer) Anyone is welcome to come. There is the free show in Leicester square in the morning then one you have to pay for in the evening…….I’m skint so i’m going to the free one but it will be worth it he is fantastic.

well then ladies, gents and geezerbirds….Don’t stop Believing,

Dave xXx

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