The Place I Love ... The Cookie, Coffee Shop & Music Venue, Leicester

New blog section today ... 'The Place I Love ...' will be all about places here, there and everywhere that, well, I Love, and that mean something to me, on this journey we call life, and this road we call living. Title taken from one of my favourite songs, on one of my favourite albums by one of my favourite bands of all time, 'The Place I Love' from 'All Mod Cons' by The Jam. You Beauty !!

Anyway, first stop on this tour of people, places and faces, The Cookie, Leicester, my home from home in my current home town. Looking forward to being back there performing again, it having been a little while, this Saturday for Matt Henshaw's Peace, Love & Tea Birthday Party with The Strangler Figs, Elizabeth Cornish and the DMU Gospel Choir !!



So, for the place itself, situated on High Street in Leicester City Centre, it's a prime locale for tea and coffee and fantastic grub, and some of the musical highlights in the city of Leicester in the evening. A place for all the beautiful people of Leicester to hang out, be entertained and guaranteed good times !!

Someone said to me quite recently, and I wish I could remember who it was, that The Cookie is so great because everyone knows what they're doing, from the food to the bar staff, sound engineers to the door staff, promoters and the owners. And wonderful people they all are too.

The owners know what they're doing for sure, and The Cookie will keep on getting bigger and better, before it takes of legendary status in Leicester City Centre and the midlands. When a place is ran by a lady straight out of Tallahassee and a gentleman so enthusiastic, bordering on obsessive with the independent live music and comedy scene, you know the coffee (and the tea) and the food is gonna be good, and you know the line-ups of bands, artist and comedians is gonna be second-to-none for a small city in the East Midlands of England !!

It's won a Dave's Comedy Award, hosting some bigger and bigger names, and I'm sure it will for many years to come ... board games and a pot of tea on the terrace ASAP would be my number one recommendation ...

Keep up the good work everyone involved, and hope to see loads of you beautiful people from LEicester and beyond this Saturday for my birthday party, it's gonna be one great night amongst many !!

Peace, Love & Tea, MHx



---===DOWNLOAD LINKS===---
DOWNLOAD & STREAM 'YOUR EYES ARE MADE OF GOLD' NOW !!
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/your-eyes-are-made-of-gold-ep/id904335049
https://play.spotify.com/user/11100320251/playlist/7CJI4WcomJKYozyujcN4hK
DOWNLOAD & STREAM 'ALWAYS IN THE WAY' NOW !!
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/always-in-the-way-ep/id875188981
http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/album/always-in-the-way-ep
https://play.spotify.com/user/ilsonowl/playlist/2tHGjyz7EpEZpvgc8HpuRm
DEBUT 'IT AIN'T EASY/MY LIFE - EP' !!!
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/id814589358
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aint-Easy-My-Life-EP/dp/B00I8ZDJZC/
https://play.spotify.com/album/733AAcf7c2KcZ75SUFlpi3
http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.emusic.com/album/matt-henshaw/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/14753983/
http://www.7digital.com/artist/matt-henshaw/release/it-aint-easy-my-life
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.napster.co.uk/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep

A Little Musical Update ... plus bonus Christmas Dinner blog ...

Even though my recent football blogs have proved to be my most popular ever ... even more so than the picture of me and my mate Will Young and the week I passed my driving test (it pleases me no end that you're so interested and supportive!) ... I thought I'd return today to the reason I presume you're all here in the first place, and certainly why I set up this blog in the first place: to inform and update you with my musical adventures ... I've been quite busy of late in my secret identity, getting things done and certain things written ... so, new paragraph ...

I've written four new songs this week. The first of which is quite possibly one of the worst things I've ever written and sang out loud, although only to myself, called 'A Domino Effect', it actually had the rhyme of "moon" and "June" ... terrible, you'll never hear it ... but the other three are quite a different story entirely ... three of my favourite songs I've ever written, even though perhaps you always feel that way when you first write them, I really feel like they're some of the best things I've ever written and sang aloud, and this time to people who agree. Of late I have been listening to a lot of Sam Cook (obviously!), Juliette Gréco and Serge Gainsbourg, and watching a lot of soppy films but I won't go into what they are (I might reveal all of my real influences one day!) ... you will hear them, eventually. I am heading to my mate ReggiiMental's basement studio (The Deepest Cellar) tomorrow to lay down some acoustic demos, and to catch up and that, it's been a while.

A quick update on 'Living with a Dirty Leeds Fan' ... we had a Christmas dinner tonight which was lovely, everyone contributing, plenty of sprouts, potatoes, cabbage and of course a big cooked bird plus some pigs in blankets and a gammon shank ... because one load of meat is just not enough, and even though I've flirted with it, I'm not sure vegetarianism could be a serious consideration within my current lifestyle ... I already don't drink, and people think that's eccentric enough ... ... furthermore to the tale, his date went well, she did indeed enjoy here milkshake, laugh at his terrible jokes and play with her hair ! That boy talks some serious Phil Babb-le, and can't help but use awful football puns ...

We even had Christmas crackers complete with Christmas hats ...

Bye for now,
Matt H x

PS. GOTF (Guffaw on the Floor) should be the new LMAO ...

PPS. don't make me wait for my food ...