June 2015 - Matt Henshaw

It's been a busy year, and a busy summer already ... it's about to get a whole lot busier ...

Matt Henshaw Recommends ... Caroline Francess

This 'ere Beautiful Soul I am recommending today is Caroline Francess. She is most well and truly fantabulous, I'll tell you a little story - and I only found out this week ...

This girl used to be an Owlette, which instantly means, as a person from Sheffield, she gives one of the two correct answer when asked if she's a Sheffield Wednesday fan, which are either "Yes!" or "I don't really care", the latter isn't really great, but it's better than the alternative ...

Henshaw's Horticultural Blog: Garden In Transit

So, I'm moving house today ! And the most important thing, obviously and of course, is moving my beautiful plants, herbs, shrubberies and garden !!



And here's a couple of action shots of me in the garden, I know you don't get them all too often, but here I am, where I love, doing what I love ... Getting my hands muddy, like the picture at the top, and then like my friend Zee said, it's all about the smell and feel of the earth and then sitting back, reflecting on your hard work with a nice cup of Yorkshire Tea !

And what had I been doing ? Harvesting my crop, potatoes and garlic in the main, but there's some strawberries on their way, and they're currently living in jam jars - Top Tip - jam jars are great for strawberries, protect them, insulate them and give them room to grow in a safe, warm, snug environment. Here's a picture of some of my little lot, ready for the road ...



... and that's just the half of it !!

But, anyway, also, and this, here's a nice thing ... I reached out recently for someone to help me identify these flowers (below), and my good friends at the 'Serenity in the Garden' blog got in touch with me a told me that these gloriously small and delicate pink little beauties are in fact "Claytonia Sibirica" ... so, thank you eternally for that, and to everyone else, go and plant some yourself, they're super cute, good for the bees and easy to care for. Spread The Love !!



Peace, Love & Tea, MHx

PS. #TheWayItIs will be online later in the week, second track from the 'Always In The Way' EP, hope you're excited for that ... I am ...

More of Matt Henshaw in the garden ...
Small Flowers & Container Gardening
Strawberry Flowers & Getting Ready For Summer
Tulips Are My Favourites
Things I Like ... Gardening
National Agriculture Day
Spring Gardening
Planting Season
How To Compost
Planting in Autumn & Winter
In The Garden With Matt Henshaw

---===DOWNLOAD LINKS===---
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

Matt Henshaw Sings ... 'The Mighty Quinn' by Manfred Mann and Bob Dylan & The Band

A second instalment of Matt Henshaw Sings now, and it's a little different from the first, and the usual kind of cover versions you see on YouTube ...

I went to Portugal at the start of this month, and it was the longest I've gone for a long while without singing, apart from a couple of rounds on karaoke, but best not to talk about that really, so I thought driving up to my first show of the month I ought to try and warm up my voice with the iPod going round in the car, I skipped a few to find one that I could sing along to and belt it out, apparently I got really excited when Quinn The Eskimo came along, so the wife decided to start doing some cheeky filming ...



So, I sang a little and I smiled a little and I laughed alot. Unfortunately for everyone, I'm sure, it wasn't so much the prospect of singing along that got me excited, but all the useless/useful knowledge and trivia I have about the song, Quinn The Eskimo, Nicholas Ray, Manfred Mann, Bob Dylan and The Band ... I didn't really wreal much off here, but anyone who has ever sat in my passenger seat would be able to tell you, I love to give little bits of poptastic trivia out about whatever comes on my iPod.

I'll leave you with a few interesting pictures ... please discuss ...



Quinn The Eskimo



The Savage Innocents directed by Nicholas Ray



Bob Dylan



Manfred Mann

Peace, Love & Tea, MHx

Henshaw's Horticultural Blog: Tulips are my Favourites, Happy April Everyone !

Just to reiterate, tulips are my favourite flowers ... just so you know ... just in case it comes up in a pub quiz one day !



It still astounds me that this ...



... can become this in just a few short months !



I'm leaving my garden behind for a week and heading off to Portugal for some Vitamin D so I'll leave you with this educational video to digest in the meantime ... The Botany of Desire ...



... you might be pleased to know I have successfully grown all four of these historically significant plants ! I think some of you should too ... "easy peasy" ... funny saying that, because peas can be quite tricky !

But if you're here for the music, then please watch this playlist on a loop ... or get your Spotify on ...



Peace, Love & Tea, MHx

March 2014 ... We Made It !

Welcome to March everybody, countdown to the single release has begun ...

You should probably should join the Matt Henshaw (Official Group) ... it's a kind of secret society / cult on facebook where you can get free tea and candles if you're extra nice ...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/198763403664304/

This is the dawning of The Age Of Aquarius ...



MHx

Matt Henshaw @ The Oxjam Leicester Takeover 2013 ...

Afternoon Tea to all,

Yesterday I played three sets in total at three wonderful venues for Oxjam 2013 ... met loads of great people, made plenty of new friends and caught up with some old ones as well. Spending a day doing what Sundays are for ... home-made banana bread, apple crumble, carrot and coriander soup and a nice hearty garlic & celery broth ! The compost is absolutely buzzing !!

Here's me at the start of the day at The Curve Theatre in Leicester ...



Here's what I played:-

Your Eyes Are Made Of Gold
Always In The Way
Not In Nottingham
Play The Game
707
My Life
It Ain't Easy

And here's me at Hansom Hall, beautiful yet underused venue in Leicester city ...



And here's what I played there:-

It Ain't Easy
It's A Wonderful Night
Always in the Way
Stop Me Girl
Me & You
You Send Me

An absolute pleasure it was to hear my voice ringing out singing Sam Cooke ie. The Greatest's first smash hit in Leicester own mini Royal Albert Hall. Made me think about the future and what is and what could be. My dreams as a teenage were always to sing in the Albert Hall and the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool ... help me out, help me get there.

And then I played a pretty impromptu set at The Basement, top place, and some top blues bands on later on ... I was playing away from the guitar and sat a piano and jammed through a few songs ...

Stop Me Girl
That's Life
Goodnight

Yeah, that's right, in true lounge piano stylee I played a bit of Frank Sinatra for the locals, they loved it. They wanted more anyways, I was only supposed to play two, and whilst my piano skills are little lacking, plonking and pedestrian to say the least, I was asked to do one more. Good times all in all and all the great acts I managed to see I fancy doing a blog on each, so I'll be bring back 'Matt Henshaw Recommends ...' ASAP.

Peace, Love & Tea,
Matt Henshaw.
MattHenshaw.com

Matt Henshaw on instagram !

Good Day,

Rainy day here in the East Midlands. And as I feel like my blog is my much neglected favourite child I'm going to start writing more, that is my Autumn promise to myself. I'm a fan of the extended written word and the epistolary exchange, my last blog mentioned my success in growing my mailing list, facebook and twitter following, and my considering joining instagram, well I have, but snapshots and 140 characters just don't satisfy my need to mass communication. So here we go ...

I have joined instagram ... here's my first picture ...



An artistic assembly of torn beer mats by me, live from the Cookie Jar, Leicester. Don't worry though, the beer mats were already torn and on table I found myself sitting with a moment to spare ... I'm not one of these sexual frustrated people who go around tearing up beer mats and ripping the labels off their bottles !

In the meantime since the last blog I have been plotting and planning and writing and thinking. I played a radio session at Hermitage FM this week which will go out on Saturday night and be repeated again in the week. I played a brand new song entitled 'No Matter How' that is me embracing my new hobbies, life of living with being me and coming to terms with how I am. Sure you'll hear it live at some point or maybe on a grainy youtube video.

My plan is to write more blogs, keep it interesting, let you in on my new hobbies, or things I have always done but don't mind sharing, it's 2013 afterall, and I'm on facebook, instagram and twitter ! And I'm slowly but surely adding to The Matt Henshaw Archive, essentially a place for backing up all my things, just in case technology lets me down, as it almost always does !!

Goodbye for now, stay tuned, stay beautiful, and don't forget to keep listening to my stuff,
MHx
Matt Henshaw
Matthew Henshaw
Satsuma Elephant

August ! One month 'till Birthday celebrations ...

Apologies for the lack of blogs through July. Hopefully I can step it up a gear through August.

I've been very busy of late, even to the point that I've been bed-ridden for the first 3 days of this week, exhausted ! 7 months of the year down and three musical projects up and running ...
Matt Henshaw
The B-Boy Soul Experience from Matt Henshaw & ReggiiMental
& Satsuma Elephants
don't forget to 'Like' up everything on facebook ...

Speaking of which, I've just joined that monolith of the cyber world myself, I don't really know what I'm getting myself in for but I'd appreciate your friendship over there, warms the cockles does that tiny little 'Like' button ... but I've promised myself not to get toooooo engrossed in it ... that is very much a possibility ... and it's an easy way to share pics ...

Like this one ... my new Page profile pic ... Live @ The London Palladium ... hope you 'Like' it ... don't worry I'll get bored of that soon enough ...



And don't forget BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS - Friday 6th September @ The Venue, Derby - Be there or be extremely right angled !!

Oh, and if you've missed the setlist posts, I always put mine up on here SetList.fm/Matt-Henshaw-13d00551.html ... check what songs I'm playing, it's different everytime I hit the stage, planning is for chumps ... although, I think that's why I failed a lot of my Art GCSE bits ... nevermind !

Matt Henshaw interview in Suited Magazine (Link) ...

Here is an interview where I talk about me a lot ... terrible I know ... but if you're reading my blog chances are you like knowing what I'm up to so I hope you enjoy the information I have to relay ...


If you'd like to contact me, by the way, the best way to do it is on Twitter, Last.fm or by carrier pigeon ... I don't use facebook ... the cool kids and I think it's bland and dated paedophiles paradise ... I mean, I like blue and white, but only on the football shirts, and I would never endorse paedophilia ... NEVER !


Anyone watching Show Me The Funny on ITV ?  (first thing on ITV worth watching in ages, and it's still not even that good, just a touch more interesting than people that think they can sing, it's people that think they're funny, for a change ... much less cruel you see, we're invited to laugh with them rather than at them ... someone tell Cowell and Fuller I think they're show format is cruel, go on I dare you!) ... it's the semi-final and live final this week, I truly hope to be tickled ... alas, if I am not I shall boycott their advertisers ... no more Mecca Bingo for me ...


Matt H
MattHenshaw.com

Matt Henshaw graces the cover of Suited Mag ...

Go and have a look at Matt Henshaw (me!) on the cover of Suited Magazine if you don't believe me ... ... ... and if you do believe me and you're not that bothered about seeing the hideous sight of me then click here to go and have a look at a video for one of my tunes that doesn't have me in it, but it does have some very attractive scantily clad women, and a message, so pay attention ... either way I love you all ...

The photograph was taken by Jacqueline Bednall and it is a nice one ... hopefully I'll get some new pictures for you to look at soon ... maybe some prancing around the studio pretending to work hard ... foppish clothes and a dandy-ish manner are the order of the day ...

Enjoy looking and/or watching ... and if you decide to do neither and click one of the adverts on this page because you oh so desperately need to join GroupOn or stock up on penis enlargement products then that's cool with me, it'll earn me nought point nought zero of a pence ... tres fantastique simplement ...

Optimism Above All,

Matt H.

MattHenshaw.com 

Diary: The Day Yesterday, The Happening ...

Just to keep you gorgeous cyber wallflowers up to date with the proceedings of la Matt Henshaw carrière solo de musique as the enfants français are saying ... I met with Tristan last night, we talked music, songs, tunes and melodies ... it only descended into talking about the mighty Owls, Pompey and the Magpies on a couple of occasions ...

(for anyone not Canadien style multilingual or football-literate, it is the French kids that are talking about my music and Tristan and I discussed the grim prospects of Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth and Notts County)

So, what did we discuss?  Well, I won't go into detail, but, I aim to put down seven songs through Spetember ... you may not have heard any of them before, unless you've had the pleasure and the privilege of seeing me live with an acoustic guitar in recent times, which has been sparing to say the least ... anyhoo, this will be my main source of information for you sexy cyber data heads, so, unless anyone out there wants to buy me a new smart phone or some kind of audio visual recording device you won't hear any new bits from the studio but I will try and articulate the sounds through my rich textual vocabulary and communicate my thoughts and feelings through this 'ere web log, or blog for short, if you're down with that ...