And here it is - the London V-Blog. Two weeks out of date, and pretty much irrelevant now!! But who cares, right? I had a lot of fun in England and even more fun editing the blog together, and ultimately thats what I do all this for.....so I'm happy! If you enjoy it, that is a huge bonus. For the few of you that don't have the correct codec's etc and can't see this embedded Quicktime, it is also up on my Morrison TV page on YouTube. I am back in the Studio for a few days working on a track that will be in the movie Basement Jack that I finished recently. We are revisiting a song that I did a couple of years back with Doheny, but I am redoing the vocals and putting some live drums on it, courtesy of Diablo's very own Charles Ruggiero.

As you can see, I spent all day today redoing guitars when I PROMISED myself I wouldn't!! But you know how it is - you start messing and the next thing is its ALL got to be rerecorded!! Again, I am having a blast so what the hell. Michael Shelton (who directed Basement Jack) will be filming in the studio next week, and then we are doing a few days crazy green screen shooting with him for a video that will accompany the track and the movie. If it turns out anything like he is describing it to me, this is gonna be one SICK looking rock video!! Thats it from me. The CFR podcast is now up as usual - on the Podcasts page of this site, AND available if you subscribe to my I-Tunes Podcast page. Either way, you can thank Paul who manages to get it for me, even when the stream is down at Indie!!. Gone.

Billy

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Posted by vivelerock at 06:46 PM | Comments (18)

November 21, 2007

TURKEY FOR EVERYONE

I am finally back to feeling normal (well, as normal as I ever feel!) after having the shit kicked out of me by that Flu type thing. Nasty business - but all is good again. I have been editing the London video stuff and although it will all be out of date by the time I get around to finishing it.....I am really happy with it - should be a good V-Blog when I get it done. For now, I figured I would wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving - its all downhill from here, all the way to Xmas and the New Year. And then we all stand up, brush ourselves down ...... and do it all again. Todays pic tells a very vivid story of why I won't be having Turkey tomorrow - I think I'll do the alternative 'Limey Living Abroad' meal of some Sushi and a bit of Ben And Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream to wash it down. Anything but a dead bird that's had some guy's hand up its ass. And finally, just to indulge some personal business here - I just have to say that there is a guy out there that hates me. Detests me and all I do and say. I mean, there's probably WAY more than one!! But this one in particular that I'm thinking about really isn't my biggest fan. I know who he is, and I watch him spend a lot of time hating. Its sad. I want to wish him and his family a Happy Holiday Season. Sincerely and honestly. Life is WAY too short.
Thats it from me - its nice to be on my sofa tonight, curled up watching movies and updating this blog. I hope everyone has a great day tomorrow - love you all.

Peace

Billy

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Posted by vivelerock at 10:03 PM | Comments (13)

November 16, 2007

A CASE OF THE ORTHOMYXOVIRIDAE VIRUS!!

STOP PRESS: I have been sick in bed all week since the House Of Blues show and haven't even started to edit the video footage from London! Whatever I have is a fucking bitch and I have not been able to do anything all week except play video games. Good job Call Of Duty 4 and Assassins Creed came out!! So be patient, I think I am starting to feel a little better and hope to get in to CFR tomorrow night. Maybe I can get around to editing over the weekend. I did manage to get a new Circus Diablo MySpace track up on the player - Its one of the bonus tracks we did for the album.... a song called Marys Shadow. So go check it out, see the pics from the HOB show, and I'll be back once my head doesnt feel like its full of jello.

Couple of quick answers - Paula, right now I am not so thin!! Two weeks with no workouts and a bunch of pudding and fresh cream and I start to look not so streamlined, if you know what I mean! Looking forward to feeling better so that I can return to the Manorexic workout/diet regime that seems to work for me!! And no, there is NO chance of Diablo supporting The Cult in the UK.

Paul - I think the California flag over on Steve's side of the stage was just a present from his mates.....to remind him of home!! Not sure, I didnt ask, but it seemed a nice gesture anyway.

Creepy AND Lisa - Great to see you posting. Missed you both around here ..... and I like to throw a big word or two around occasionally UC!! Makes things seem a little less tedious, monotonous or even, God forbid, pedestrian!!!

Thats it. Exhausted. See ya. The Podcast is now up as usual. Enjoy.

Billy

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Posted by vivelerock at 09:59 AM | Comments (14)

November 12, 2007

LAST ONE OUT, PLEASE TURN OFF THE LIGHTS.

That really is how it feels in the UK. Like it’s backed itself into such a corner that there is no way out. Don’t get me wrong, its not all bad – the ‘village’ vibe in many of the areas is lovely, with old buildings and railings and parks and stores and everyone knows everyone ……. But they are even tearing all that down and replacing it all with the ubiquitous “Mall From Hell’!! Everywhere from the Kings Road in Chelsea to Camden and Covent Garden, the smaller boutique businesses are being bulldozed and flattened, to make way for yet another generic, overpriced, “made in china” version. The picture above is a good example of how quaint 'ol' London Tahn' used to look, and the pic next to it is how they are gradually changing it. And God forbid that you might want to order some food and ‘hold the mayo’ or ‘substitute tomato for cucumber’…….WHAT?!?!? You CANT do THAT!!

But I told myself that I wouldn’t slag it down too much, so that’s all I’m going to say about the state of the Nation. For now. I shot a bit of video while I was there - the Billy Morrison 4 minute tour of London Town!! So I will 'wax lyrical' on that some more when I get it edited and posted. The Sex Pistols? Well, what can I say that I didn’t already say in my review of the Roxy show ……one of the most important rock and roll bands ever. That’s it really. They were fantastic on all three nights that I saw, but the Saturday show really felt really special with a second encore of Roadrunner – even though no one quite knew how the song went!! The sound was perfect every night and I am back in Los Angeles feeling quite lucky that I was able to do that trip. Seeing them play in Brixton (my old stomping ground) and being able to catch up with a few of my dear friends (Terry, Phil, Bev, Ray, Guy, Steve, George, Suzie – thanks for making the week a good one!!) closed some kind of circle for me. Time to move on to …..

Circus Diablo at the House Of Blues tonight! Fuck – I just got off a plane, jetlagged out of my mind. I cant even remember where the House Of Blues is, never mind remember the words to the songs!! Oh well, it is what it is – if in doubt, I’ll jump into the audience…..that always gets you out of having to remember a verse!! Only joking, kids – I cant wait to play tonight. Providing I stay awake, its going to be a good show, for a good cause. We play at 10.00pm, so bring your donation (blanket, food, money etc) to benefit the homeless victims of the SoCal fires and get ready to have a good time! And I know there are other gigs being arranged for December so I’ll email our people and post during the week once I know whats happening. The picture is nothing to do with any of that - its from this years Halloween party (Scott W's birthday party was a 70's Roller Disco theme, and this is how Jen and I showed up!!).

My mind is a little mushy right now so I think I’ll leave it there before I start ranting on about sticky toffee pudding with cream from Marks And Spencers (SO good I ate 9 of them last week!!) and Banksy (an absolute genius and has the country in the palm of his hand – a true punk rocker!) ……I am going to get my life in order as much as I can in two days, and then apparently I am headed out of town again on another DJ gig? Or maybe not? I don’t know. Either way, here is a random picture of the tiny little store in Kings Road that changed my life!! Now called Worlds End, it is still owned by Vivienne Westwood, and when I was 11 years old, it was called Seditionaries and sold the most subversive, nasty, offensive tee shirts the world had ever seen. And I loved it!! Time to go ……

Billy

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Posted by vivelerock at 06:12 AM | Comments (12)

November 01, 2007

OVER THE POND AND FAR AWAY

So as I am disappearing over to the other side of the pond for a week or so, I figured I would bring you all bang up to date with the goings on chez Morrsion. And first of all, I am happy to say that Diablo dates are appearing – first of all the rescheduled Velvet Revolver show at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles on December 12th, and now the day afterwards at the illustrious Viper Room on the Sunset Strip – that’s December 13th for those of you with mathematical difficulties!! We will be joined on that night by our good friends, The Bangkok Five. And also, the day I get back from England, November 12th, is the benefit show that we are doing at the House Of Blues, so there are a few chances to come see Circus Diablo and support the cause. I also know that we will be adding a few regional shows in December to round out the year.

Also, you guys have to check out the January 08 issue of TATTOO magazine – on the newsstands now. There is a 6 page feature on the band, with a bunch of pics and some interesting reading as well. It’s a great piece of press and I will get the full article scanned and uploaded onto the bands site soon. For now, here’s the typical group shot above!! As well as the Tattoo piece, our partners over at NGTV.COM have now uploaded our interview that Ricky and I did over at their studios. That was a REALLY fun day and we had a lot of laughs with those guys. Check it out at NGTV by clicking the screenshot below.

We do still, of course, have another all-new Camp Freddy Radio to do on Saturday night before I leave, so make sure you tune in - Dave and I will be having web Metal Queen, Metal Sanaz, on the show as a guest, as well as our usual Saturday night madness. She is hosting the HOB show that Diablo are doing, so tune in to win tickets and get more details. STOP PRESS: That show is now up on the Podcasts page. And I have been busy turning some of my computer artwork into canvas pieces and actually painting over them - kinda like a 'God In The Machine' type concept.....putting the human element into a piece of art that really just contains zeros and ones. When I have finished the first set of five pieces, I'll take some shots and put them up. It feels good to be expressing myself in yet another medium. Plus I can get covered in paint and it doesnt matter!! So lots as usual occuring in my manor - but right now its all about the UK, the Sex Pistols, and a cup of coffee from the Bar Italia in the West End. Now THAT is a decent cup of coffee!!

OK - so thats it - tune in on Saturday and come down to one of the Diablo shows. Gotta dash but love you all and see ya in the lobby of the Brixton Academy.

Peace

Billy

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Posted by vivelerock at 10:53 PM | Comments (12)