Each week I'm putting up one of the best performances from my latest gig or Unlit so that you don't miss out even if you didn't make it down...
This weeks offering is:
Pete Shields - Fail You - Unlit Mansfield
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In the summer of 2006 my friend Dave Depares and I drove across America putting on gigs in the houses of people I had met on Myspace.
As we went dave edited the stuff he had filmed and posted it as an online video blog... it was more like a lo-fi tv series and thousands of people joined us for a virtual road trip.
We covered 10,000 miles, played in more than twenty houses and met a huge variety of compelling and talented performers. Check out the films here. This year Dave and I are going across the UK, doing the same thing... and you will be able to see all the movies here throughout the year.
Part I - Brooklyn, New York
Part II - Staunton, Virginia
Part III - Richmond, Virginia
Part IV - Louisville, Kentucky
Part V - Memphis, Tennessee
Part VI - Dallas, Texas
Part VII - Elburn, Illinois
Part VIII - Columbia, Missouri
Part IX - Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas
Jont promos and lo-fi
here's a collection of different films of me playing, or vids for songs I put out, mostly done by my friend Mick Paulusma
Jont - City of the sun - home vid
This is a track I wrote when I was missing L.A. and my friends there, and staying with my friends Mick and Polly Paulusma. I wrote it and Mick did a little vid straight after of me performing it somewhere in their house. It was feb. for some reason i was trying to write 14 songs in the month, something to do with some crazy songwriter i met online called Matt Hopper...anyway this was one of them.
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Jont - Can't turn the sea off - music video by mick paulusma
Ok so forgive the hair (i'd had the idea to dye it blue, then when it washed out it went this horrible greeny blonde colour you se Ok so forgive the hair (i'd had the idea to dye it blue, then when it washed out it went this horrible greeny blonde colour you see before you), but the vid is cool. Even forgive the song if you like, but the vid...well its fun and my idea was that we'd shoot it only on the video capability of a canon powershot sd200 stills camera (mine) and the video capability of Mick's phone. with the last shot of the video mick dropped my camera. or at least that became the last shot of the video cos we couldn't do any more after that. obviously hats off to bob and sub.homesick blues....but more hats off to mick paulusma really...he has a fine touch with the editing....which he is now bringing to bear on the first feature he is directing this summer in Canada....it is called Clearlake... (more)
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Jont - Exile Song - by jont and andrei codrescu, home vid
As part of this february in 2006 trying to write 14 songs in the month, I got in contact with a bunch of different writers, musicians and poets. Andrei Codrescu, the respected American man of letters, novelist and poet sent me a sheaf of poems he had written in the wake of the New Orleans Disaster. This one fell beautifully in to song. had to change the words a bit, make some things a little clearer, as the addition of melody allows, but he liked it enough to let me put it up on my site.
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Jont - Nothing Nowhere - home vid
Another vid Mick Paulusma shot when I was staying in their place in feb 2006. this was another song I had written that month. count the buses.
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Jont - You Can Be The Stars - video by Mick Paulusma
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After I went round the 'states putting on Unlit in the homes of different people I'd met through myspace, the bbc asked me to put on a special Unlit as part of the electric proms and three of my fave US artists I'd met on the tour came over to play in Camden, one rainy night. Also my pal and genius songwriter derek meins came down.
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jont - fucking up - shot by geraldine
jont supernatural unlit geraldine sweetheart singer songwriter troubadour house concert
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Jont - All My Life - Unlit Portsmouth 2am
The first Unlit went on well in to the night. I met a local pedal steel player called Ed and we just played this and he was great at following what I was doing (which wasn't always that clear, even to me).
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Jont - Supernatural - Unlit Portsmouth
First Unlit on the the first Unlit tour of the UK was held at Pete and Mich's house in Portsmouth. The sound cuts out at the end of this and is a bit shit throughout, but at least it captures the vibe of what was a beautiful night.
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