I was nominated for BEST ALBUM in the Folk/Singer-Songwriter category at the 9th annual Independent Music Awards and while the winner is chosen by the judges (who include Tom Waits, Suzanne Vega and Judy Collins) there will also be a Vox Populi, where the one who gets the most votes through IMA's website wins.

Please vote for me and let's win this!!

Simon

I have a single release party this Monday at The Boogaloo in North London - there will be special guests. 

Tickets are available here:

I went and got some really dark roast coffee for my wife (who's a coffee snob, like myself:) I also got some amazing black currant jam, which is in my hand here:

Last night I played two shows. One was at a book launch in Kilburn for an author called Garth Cartwright, at a pub called The King's Head (logo was a floating Elvis head) with a whole host of London journalists and other notables in the London cultural scene present - it was an interesting gig; no PA, but two small amps that a couple blues musicians used and the mic was a distorted, handheld harmonica mic, which I sang through and got 3 different people to be live mic stands - was hilarious  Before I performed I went to the The Black Lion and had really excellent fish & chips (which I need to not eat too often) - what a gorgeous pub - so ornate (pic below). Weirdly right next to The King's Head entrance, was a kick boxing club where people were lined up on the street outside to watch the boys and girl practice their sport...

After schmoozing and playing my 3 songs at the book launch I jumped on a train and a tube to go to Richard's weekly event called The Toy Box, which he hosts at his neighborhood pub. It's a variety show where all things artsy are welcome - I played for about 40 minutes. Great bunch of people hangin there, always chatty and friendly - I make so many new friends, which I love....

Today was a nice chill day - we went and saw District 9, which is anything but chill, but entertaining none the less and afterwards had beer at a pub near Tottenham Court Road from 1649...

London is everything, all the time.

This is my room in London, on a sunny day

They told me last night that Music Week here in the UK are gonna feature one of my songs next week - apparently it's a big deal - yay!

After the show, Rich and I went to see my friend and drummer in my band, Frederik (The Dane) Bokkenheuser, play with Joshua Radin at Koko in Camden. There must have been a thousand people there and 850 of them were young girls in Abercrombie  clothing who all wanted to sleep with the hunky singer/songwriter. We ended up at Joshua's hotel lounge drinking too late...

Richard and Gabrielle have a wonderful home in North London and I've rented their spare room while I'm touring and doing promotion in the UK. Gabrielle makes amazing vegetarian and fully organic food - last night we had lasagne with lentils - mega yum...next week Janna and Django will join me here in London, I can't wait...

take it easy

si

The little place I performed last night - Source Below, it's called

Dublin was to my surprise an intensely cosmopolitan city with a very youthful vibe - I guess I'd kind of imagined it warm and cuddly, maybe a bit gloomy, but no such thing (except I witnessed a woman who'd been badly hurt lying in the road with a big pool of blood around her head, that was really unpleasant).

Jon Allen and I are having fun touring - in Belfast we sang Dream Dream Dream by The Everly Brothers and had a few too many drinks after, which may be evident in the photo below, twas good times....

Tomorrow we're at The Victoria in Swindon...

Scotland is an amazing place - the water here is absolutely delicious and people are so friendly and laid back. I'm coming back, for sure.

Tomorrow, Belfast, Northern Ireland.....

Hi all

I'm at the Douglas Hotel in Aberdeen, Scotland - played a very fun show last night, opening for Jon Allen. What a great crowd - makes life as a musician so much more fun :-)

Heading over to Northsound FM shortly to do a little radio session and then I'm gonna relax in the Scottish countryside for a few days - I absolutely can't wait. I'll try to post some pictures - what I saw on the train here was stunning, straight out of an epic movie...

Next gig is Belfast, Northern Ireland and then Dublin - both places I've never been in my life. I'll keep you posted...

peace

sx

People hearing my music makes me happy!

simon

I just signed a deal with London based Lo-Max Records Ltd. tonight in Los Angeles! My album 'A Beautiful Way To Drown' will come out in the UK in September and gradually in all of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Furthermore, I will do two future albums for Lo-Max Records - I can't wait!!

PEACE

Simon