“Music is the soundtrack of the only life we live!”
1. Hi, Jamie. Let me ask you the sublime, metaphysical question – who are you?
I am ghost in a shell, a word on the breeze, a thought that evaporates when you try to grab, a dream undreamt…
2. What music in general means to you?
Music is the way to say all the things words alone can’t explain…
3. When and why did you start playing?
I started playing early in life as music just spoke to me. It was something that grabbed me like no other. I remember listening to Beethoven when I was 4 or 5 and just being lost in the layers of sound… Not knowing anything but feeling everything!
4. Which instruments do you play?
Badly, barely or really? ;-)
5. What was the first tune(s) you learned?
Hmm… actually, I don’t remember. I do recall my brother learning Tom Petty’s “Yer So Bad”… That’s maybe the first one he learned.
6. Is your family musical? Did you have their moral support on your way?
Irish culture is musical and so yes there was lots of music in my family too. There is no social gatherings that aren’t soundtracked by songs sung together or dancing to songs together in my family. Patsy Cline, Christy Moore, Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison…and more, were all constant figures in my childhood.
7. What are your major musical icons/influences?
I find this one tricky. Influences… what actually makes its way into my own music? I would say Bob Marley, Van Morrison, Bobby McBride, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Lucky Bones Radiohead, The Beatles… an endless list and yet I still find more in past and present.
8. Who are your favorite musicians?
Anybody getting up there and doing it. Actually playing music and exploring the world and sharing that journey. Anybody doing that with a degree of honesty gets my vote.
9. Do you ever feel fed up with singing a song too many times?
I tend to know when I can’t sing a song again so yeah, I just move on before that happens. Myself and Ivan Alexiev (bass player with The Number Nein) were just talking about this. He found a song of mine we never play and wondered why. My answer was I just can’t find more than one truth in the song so it doesn’t feel right.
10. What inspires you the most?
People who keep going, people with a “never say die” attitude, the explorers and warriors of our world.
11. What new music you like?
Well, I don’t know… What’s new to me is not necessarily new. I am really digging the Irish band Interference but they are no longer with us. I only heard them for the first time a few days ago. Bobby Mc Bride always has new songs popping up (check him out!). We Raise Bears from Dublin are a really cool act, too.
12. How do you handle mistakes during a performance?
What mistakes? :-)
13. You have performed in streets, bars, pubs, clubs… Do you (or have you ever) get nervous before a performance?
I get eager to start. Waiting is hard. I often want to cut out all the extra nonsense and just get to the music… is that nervous?
14. What was the biggest problem that you had to overcome so far?
Learning to discredit comfort and then having become comfortable with discomfort to shift the balance once more.
15. When did you decide to form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
I kinda collected the band over years of playing. The Number Nein has members across the globe and depending on where I am and who is near I call them up and away we go.
Basically they are all people who I find inspiring to have around musically and socially. There are lots of laughs behind the music.
16. If you had to do it all over again, would you still choose this career? Would you do anything differently?
It chose me… and, yeah, I would do everything differently, but only out of curiosity.
17. Of all the places you have been to, which one you want to return to again and again, and why?
Well, I do love coming back to Bulgaria, because of the people. But mainly I love anywhere I can revel in the creation of music.
18. How do you balance your music with other obligations – mate, children, job?
Precariously.
19. What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune?
Damn…. I am seeking a living and peace of mind. If I don’t create this body of work that plagues my mind then nobody else ever can. That’s a burden but a joyous one.
20. What personal advice would you give to someone wanting to pursue music career?
Do it before you don’t. And surround yourself with people who support and enjoy the music while having a laugh. We’re here for a good time, not a long time!
21. You’ve got a few albums out now. Are you satisfied with how they turned out?
Well, there are actually 3 studio albums and 3 home recorded ones, as well as a live one… so that’s 7 in all.
I am really happy with the new one and on reflection I love the older work as documents of a place and time.
22. What’s next?
Stay tuned!
Bonus question: Jamie, you share the same name with Jamie McDonald (adventurer). Do people mistake you for him sometimes?
Never… I did once have some upset audience members in Antwerp because my name was misprinted and they arrived hoping to see Scottish chanteuse Amy McDonald.
…and he is one of the few people that I will gladly call my friends. Not just some people that I know, but friends indeed. Enrico likes to sing and he do this with passion an pleasure. It was not easy to convince him to let me publish some songs here, because he was worried they are not perfect. It was his first record in studio (friend’s favor) and he was a bit embarrassed to admit that he couldn’t hear well the sound in his headphones.
You may not like his singing, or to feel your fine hearing a bit scratched by his Italian accent. Surely, not everyone will be able to listen this with his heart the way I do. But I really thought that it’s worth to share some of the songs he recorded.
He is just a man, who lives in Italy. His life is not the one he could probably have if faith has not decided to give him a wheelchair. But make not mistake, Enrico is everything but a disabled one. The true handicapped people are the ones that walk around with souls, robbed of tolerance and empathy and minds, damaged by vanity and greed or full with self-pity. Luckily, he is not one of them.
Enrico is a sunny, bright person. A guy which I have the rare privilege to know. His existence is enough a reason to me during the last years to keep me believe that true people are still not extinct on Earth. He reminds me that there is still a lot to be grateful for in this life and that we should value more what we’ve got.
(Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here):
[Flash player with embedded audio of Enrico Trevisan.]
(Just The Way You Are – Billi Joel):
[Flash player with embedded audio of Enrico Trevisan.]
Once he was the reason for me to make my first big travel abroad alone. I’ve met some old and new friends on the road and I found many important things about myself to be true. I could go and do this again and again, because for one real friend everything is worthwhile – even to cross the world.
Here is a video he made in 2007 as a Christmas greeting to all his friends. :-)
At least I hope so.
My heart is heavy from thought about people I love and care for. But we cannot find a way to each other.
That’s why I am probably talking with them constantly in my mind.
Who’s right? And who’s wrong?
Just wanted to share some photos from a walk outside Sofia – we went to Svoge, away from the prose.
Unseen and strange spiders with human faces, huge and trusting dragonflies, tender poppies, imitating predatory plant – almost like fiction, but it’s true. You only needs eyes to see…
The photos are made by Michel, because the camera is always with him – my part (as usual) is to ask “Shoot this for me, please, no, no this way, otherwise, if you can”… One day I’ll have my own camera!
Finally!!! Will survive the postponed gig of Depeche Mode, most important now is Dave Gahan to get well. But will look forward for Mike Patton & Co to compensate me!
Four years ago Michel happened to be sick like recently.
Actually, it was more serious then. Few times during the year he fell for more than a week with 40 degrees C temperature.
And nothing could help him, so finally we called for some alternative.
On the stage appeared this sumo hare, dedicated to scare the flu virus and to help Michel get well soon.
First times it was a success. That made him an honored member of the little hand-made society on my shelf.
Then it seemed like the flu got resistant to hare power, so we’ve changed the tactics and decided to visualize our dream little house.
Made with all our love and wish for good health and many more miles together on our bikes, here it is:
My man got well finally, just in time for his own wedding. Then… then we made thousands of miles together and it is very possible that we won’t stop.
The house? It still illuminates our evenings.
I just left my job as an editor-in-chief of the Bulgarian .net magazine (it’s a localized version under the license of the .net magazine, UK). And because I don’t want this text to misinterpreted in any way, let me say that Future Publishing are not involved in this story and all that happened is between me and my Bulgarian publisher.
I started this job (which was a big challenge for me) with eagerness and passion and I know I did my best.
The first issue was a crazy story; it was done in less than four weeks and with the possible minimum of resources. But it was accepted very well by its audience of Bulgarian designers & developers, and so started for me the period of ten months of sleepless nights.
Eleven issues. 5 of them made without the proper help of an assistant-editor and the first three made even without the help of a proof-reader. I constantly worked online with the print designer, who was a freelancer; we also had to work together personally many nights, just before going to print. For months I answered to all e-mails, sent to us by our readers, I took interviews and I was constantly searching (online and offline) for contributors for the magazine. And if you think that “editor-in-chief” is just some kind of a good business card decoration — it is not.
I will always remember many fun situations, like the one when in a frenzy just before going to print we realized that there’s an illustration we don’t have the right to use. Then I made a quick sketch and it went to print. The good side was that nobody complained about this particular illustration. ;-)
Every issue was a product of hard work, and I am very well aware that they are not perfect, but at least they were made with love. Lots of love! :-)
It’s a long and painful story for me to tell, and I will spare you most of the details. The main reason for my sudden leaving could be generalized with these terms (usually associated with divorcing couples): “insurmountable differences of personalities”. In this case — differences between the editor-in-chief and the publisher.
Hundreds of times I tried to sit down and to write about it, but I just couldn’t find the right words.
There were many things that could probably turn out better, but they didn’t. I know it’s partly because of my naiveté.
Like I said once, if you do a job with all of your heart, you take the risk to have it broken, but anyhow, it’s the only way I know how to live and work.
When I give my word that I will do something, I am much too devoted to the achieving of the best possible results.
It’s fair to be said that I always keep my word.
The worst sin of mine is probably that I am over-credulous.
I gave a credit of trust to a person who showed me from the very beginning that it can’t be trusted.
What were the chances that one day it will let me down? Huuuge.
And when it happened, I couldn’t even believe it.
So, I am writing this as a warning to other people like me:
Please, don’t make the same mistake.
Don’t focus all your life on work, no matter how attractive it is and how much it seems to give you satisfaction.
Indeed, working as an editor for .net Bulgaria was in many ways a wonderful job.
It was high lath and I jumped it.
The amount of effort I have invested was not remunerated accordingly, but I took this job because I liked the magazine very much and so I worked hard 28 days every month for it to happen.
I had to read and re-read the magazine at least three times on screen before going to print, and this means reading and editing over 300 thousand characters, and it was more than enough strain for my eyes and for my back (which now troubles me seriously).
Despite this, everything concerning .net also gave me the very satisfying feeling that I can do bigger things than I have previously thought I am able to, and so I still feel it as a big personal success.
But as an employee, I failed. I admit that I failed mainly to defend my rights, relying very foolishly on false promises and beautiful words.
I wish a wonderful future to .net Bulgaria, because there is no parent who would wish ill to his child. But I also remind myself to be very, very careful next time, when I give my trust to someone.
Even if for a good cause.
The moral of this story is that you cannot be misused, unless you let yourself be.
A door is closed, but many others are waiting to be opened, and I am happy that I can step up on a new path in my life.
P.S. This job gave me the opportunity to meet and work with unique people.
I want to say thanks especially to Dan Oliver — my English counterpart, and to all of the people who helped .net Bulgaria without receiving anything in return. Don’t want to mention all of you name by name, for I am afraid I can miss somebody. :-) I am most happy to know all of you and I will be always grateful for the chance to work with you.
I owe many of you more than one beer. ;-) (Without forgetting my dear husband, who supported me all the time, even when part of the price for this was neglecting our personal life).
