Sunday 15 April 2018

Tuesday 3 April 2018

Simon Says



As children, people in the UK have traditionally played a mimic game called "Simon says" . When I was a child growing up in the late 70's early eighties we played with an electronic game called "Simon" in which the objective was to mimic patterns of light and sound.
As I grew older I remember watching Roger Moore (who later played OO7 ) as Simon Templar in "The Saint".
As a teenager I was into skating and american  hardcore punk  I used to go skating and to gigs with Simon P aka "Pigdog". Who gave me and my two  brothers the nickname "The Fiddlers Three" because my mum played the violin.
  At university I met another Simon who was quite hardcore in his animal right activism.
Just after I finished University I began studying Yellow Dragon Fist Kung Fu The from the Chinese teacher a Taoist/Buddhist named Master Simon Wong. At around this time I was working around the corner from the Temple where we trained , one of my colleagues also trained kung fu with a different school his name was Simon B aka Abrantee. At the time he DJ'd with a crew called "90%" it was Simon that gave me the nickname "Kung Fu Vicar". In part due to a rather dodgy suit I had picked up at a second hand shop.
I remember the day before his birthday I went to see the rapper "Pharoahe" Monch who had a big hit at the time with a tune called "Simon Says" so i bought the tune as Birthday present. The following night I was late for the party due to a "techno girl" I was dating (who I have blogged about elsewhere) in "Knights of the Jaguar" we entered the party which was in full swing and it felt like we were the only Caucasians there, we received more than a few looks as if to say "did you take a wrong turn" but I confidently walked up to the DJ Box which was filled with the 90% crew. I handed the 12" vinyl to Simon who took one glance and slapped it on the deck to a "Rawkus" applause the whole place erupted to the chorus of "Simon Says"
Simon B wasnt the last Simon to school me in the magickal percussive patterns of Afro beats. I'd started training the Brazillian martial art Capoeira as taught by  Simon A  aka Mestre Fantasma.