Dizraeli » diary

A new love for Autumn.

Dizraeli — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:50:56 +0000

August is supposed to be the deep, lazy heart of the summer, but autumn’s come early and erased all notion of that. I’ve just come back from the Green Man festival in Wales, where 20 000 people moved in a world of rain and cold wind for 4 days, cheering whenever the sun showed a [...]

Back from Ramallah to see Small Gods grow larger

Dizraeli — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:01:45 +0000

A return to these pages- we’re fully back from the UnPlaned mission now, rearrived a month ago but my head’s only recently got with itself again. For those that’ve only just linked in, UnPlaned was a loon of a mission, all the way to Cairo and back in the space of a month using only [...]

Go to www.unplaned.com/diary

Dizraeli — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:45:55 +0000

I’m putting all my blogs up on www.unplaned.com/diary at the moment, just in case you’re wondering where I’ve got to. The UnPlaned mission (overground to Cairo) runs from 15th March to the 14th of April, and I’ll be writing every day, and posting almost every day. Come folla us!

In praise of Silly

Dizraeli — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:42:40 +0000

I realised my love for English when I moved to France. I was 21, in a new place, where every detail of my day had to be conducted in a language not my own, and I saw for the first time how much we are shaped by the words we speak. A French version of [...]

The Big Freeze!!

Dizraeli — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:03:04 +0000

I glance out over the snow-muffled terraces and tower blocks, as a sudden burst of sun glints off the gutter icicles. It’s brilliant, I think- car doors are frozen shut, people walk slow on the black-iced pavements, and everywhere there’s the secret delight of a shared crisis. There’s only eight days of gas supplies left, [...]

Terry the fridge. And a Wave to ride.

Dizraeli — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:30:58 +0000

The fridge (whose name is Terry) is gurgling in his characteristic way, a cross between a gut and a lawnmower. The gurgle becomes a rumble, which becomes an angry splutter, which exhausts itself into silence, which becomes a gurgle again. And here I am, back in the winter grip. Someone up there’s laughing at the [...]

The Voyage

Dizraeli — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:01:37 +0000

All right, all write, alright? I’m looking out through Brixton scaffolding, with a weeklong tour at my back, and a stomachful of coffee just about holding me upright. Whoof. It was a birth and a trip, a labour and a holiday, a sweat and a giggle all rolled into one. We started with [...]

Now breathe…

Dizraeli — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:38:20 +0000

I should follow my own advice sometimes. Breathe it in, breathe it out, loosen up. I’ve been running around like a blue-faced arsebottle, an arse-faced bluebottle for the last too long, worrying about the album, worrying about the tour, fidgeting next to Laura in bed for hours after she’s sunk to sleep. Well, now I [...]

New album release date! 12th October.

Dizraeli — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:52:03 +0000

Sorry JD’s and lentil-men, sorry that the album isn’t here yet: I’ve got the finished master sitting in my stereohands right now, but I’m still pursuing the rest of the process: artwork, design, printing, pressing, yip yip. The exciting news is that I have found (finally) an amazing artist who’ll be making Engurland look beautiful. You [...]

Bestival, spectacle? bodge it and hop.

Dizraeli — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:38:53 +0000

Alright then. The summer is done. Leaves curl and brown on the trees, hoods are pulled up over cold ears, and Bestival has happened. I travelled down to the Isle of Wight mashup for a night only, bustled on the train by Londoners wearing patterned wellies, applying makeup and talking outfits: Bestival is not a [...]