Let it rain! - 7th August 2009
Sadly due to the incredibly bad weather new wine were having I was unable to join Nick there tonight, but I am sure the show is going well and I am sending lots of prayers and love from London. I hope your car's out of the mud now Nick? Looking fo
WET WINE TIME - 4th August 2009
This week on Friday 7th August I play at New Wine (or rather from all reports "wet wine"!). I do hope that some people there are finding time to dry off between talks, songs and the general fun. Anyway, we're playing in the evening, so check out N
WHAT CAN I DO?
What can I do?
How can I help?
What makes me step outside myself and onto the other side?
When you cried could I feel it, or just “deal” with it?
What does it take in me, to release the empathy?
On these brittle grey London Streets how can I compete,
With the constant noise billowing out of shops, radios and coffee haunts,
Until all I ought, has been blown away on this day’s “dynamite Lite” edition of Metro taunts.
What fright will it take to say:
What can I do?
How can I help?
Stop, look, breath, feel,
Offer a meal to these homeless, modern day orphans and widows? Ignore the billows.
As I pass with each day that passes. How long will it be before I block out their need? Letting fear creep in and win. How can I begin? Begin to change?
Steel faced walking pass the endless rows of lost onlookers who came to the big smoke, on which they choke.
Looking for something more promising than the grey mist through which their seen,
What will it take until we see the human being?
Stuck between the cardboard, trash and sleeping bag,
Beneath the moans and smells their dwells someone, crying out too.
What can I do?
How can I help?
Help me to want to, not just to pass but to do and so grow closer to knowing You.
Be Myself
Helen J Hicks debut solo album is out now on amazon.co.uk and iTunes, and in HMV Stores, and is also available on www.helenjhicks.com store. A Cambridge Choral Scholar and winner of the Best Newcomer at the 2005 Marlborough Jazz Festival, Helen J Hicks is a "... a Joni Mitchell on the cusp between folk and jazz" Sunday Times.
Helen's passion for music began in her childhood. She began singing at age 3 and by the time she was 8, Helen was playing both piano and guitar. From the age of 10, Helen began writing and composing her own songs. From the humble beginnings of singing around the Christmas Tree, Helen has continued developing as a singer/songwriter through performance and great opportunities.
She has collaborated on songs with Izzy from Guns 'n' Roses while working with Charles Norman in LA, she has sung with the likes of Jazz greats David Okumu and Ian Shaw, and Helen has represented the UK at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. Helen also formed her own Jazz band called KUDU, with local Tanzanian musicians, while living in Dar es Salaam in 2001. KUDU was a huge success, playing at every major event in the city, and appearing on National and South African Television.
Prior to launching this solo album, Helen has recorded 2 albums with her band HoneyRiders and was signed to Universal for their last album. Since then, Helen has launched her own music label LoudMouthMusic Ltd.
Helen J Hicks is performing at various London venues and some regional venues over the summer and beyond These include: The Marlborough Jazz Festival 12th July, Greenbelt Festival 23rd and 24th August, and The 606 Club 7th October, with songs from her new album, 'Helen J Hicks Live at 606' coming soon.
"The album has an overridingly folky, country edge, full of beautiful soaring string arrangements." Irish World, 2007.
