‘Afterglow’ tells the story of a special place, a place we’ve visited each time Robb and the band were touring in The Netherlands; Café ‘t Keerpunt in Spijkerboor. Spijkerboor is a small village in Drenthe (province in the north of The Netherlands) with a peaceful and rural character. I remember walking into the pub for the first time and we were welcomed by the owner, Willem Dijkema, his wife Anneke and dog Skipper. It felt like stepping back in time. The pub breathes history and there’s a story attached to everything you see in the pub. From the pictures and instruments on the walls, to the cabinet behind the bar and the jukebox.

The story of the ‘t Keerpunt starts around 1750 when a lock keeper started a small pub for captains who had to wait at the ship lock. Since then the pub had 11 different owners, but until today the pub still exists. It stood the test of time.

Just a conversation I had with my 14-year old son this week:

 

Me: “Did you put clean bed sheets on your bed last weekend?”

Son: “I think so…”

Me: “I think not because there’s no bed sheets from you in the laundry basket”

Son: “I did it the week before!”

Me: “I think not, it’s been 4 weeks since I saw bed sheets from you in the laundry. I want you to put clean bed sheets on your bed tonight”

Son: *roles his eyes and sighs* “You know that magic sometimes happens…The fairy (read: mum) sometimes does it for me and I was only waiting for magic to happen”

Me: “I hate to break the news, but the fairy resigned. She’s is done with cleaning out your bedroom and she won’t do it anymore”

Son: “Is that what the fairy told you?? That’s a shame…”

 

It’s a beautiful sunny lazy Sunday out here. I’m sitting outside in the garden, enjoying fresh air and coffee. While drinking coffee I’m suddenly thinking about something that happened this week…a story worth to share.

Thursday… a beautiful sunny day. I worked in the morning and I was on my way home when I saw an old lady with a rollator standing at the sidewalk. She was looking around and seemed confused. Our eyes met, she started to smile and asked me if I knew where the nursing home was. The nursing home was close, just a few streets away, but instead of explaining her how to get there, I decided to walk with her. She seemed so confused. I told her that I would walk with her....


We have something to celebrate this week! Sleep Tonight, Robb Murphy’s second album, was released 3 years ago!

Sleep Tonight is a special album; an album that brought us so much. Everything we did in the past years was related to the album… the single releases, live sessions, tours, videos etc. Not only did it bring us many great memories, it also brought a lot of opportunities. Robb was able to work less and focus more on the music. Life has changed!

 

 

“A picture is worth a thousand words”
This quote is so true…but even more so a picture is worth a thousand memories.

 

Forgotten memories… Pictures help to keep memories alive; they can transport you to a different time and place. Each picture holds a story…a story you may have forgotten about. One look at a picture can bring back those forgotten memories. You remember when the picture was taken, where it was, what happened during that day, who you were with and what the weather was like. It makes you relive that moment.
Thankfully a lot of pictures were taken in the past years. Robb posted the picture below a couple of days ago. And of course there’s a story to tell about this picture!

Music is the most popular art form in the world. It’s present in all cultures and brings people together. Music is everywhere. It’s by far is the most commonly experienced form of art, but it’s also an art form we all take for granted. Society seems to see music as a commodity, rather than a really important or vital aspect of our lives. Most people claim that they love music, music really is for everyone. We all identify with music and our musical tastes make us who we are and how the world sees us. If you ask someone if he/she likes music, you will (almost) always get a positive response, because there aren’t many people who don’t like music. But how many people truly listen to music and appreciate all that it has to offer?

 

I’ve always been a music lover but I never really thought about the production side of music and I sure wasn’t aware of how much time and work goes into the creation and production of a song. Little did I know when I started working on the music with Robb Murphy five and a half years ago…

What’s going on in this picture? Well…it’s just another day in Mr. Murphy’s life… ;)

 

There’s more to tell about this picture though.
Two years ago Robb released ‘Headstrong’. For this song a video was created, involving a bunch of animals who escaped from the zoo.

In the run-up to the release we shared photos of the making of the video, created a story around the animals and also shared photos of animals taking over Robb’s house. Next to that a few promotional videos were made. When the picture above was taken, Robb was filming this video…animal on the loose…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh-uvj7xRMk

…and then his phone rang…
The person Robb was speaking to probably never knew what was happening.
 

 

I’m definitely in energy saving mode today.
I woke up later than usual… It was already light outside…and cold so I decided to stay in bed a while longer, nice and warm. Waking up slowly, a nice and quiet moment before actually getting up. Suddenly the big pile of laundry I had been ignoring all week popped into my head…gone was that nice moment of relaxation…brutally interrupted by the image of laundry in my head… For a moment I was wondering if I could just ignore it another day, but that wouldn’t be an option… The children were already asking for their favourite clothes that had been sitting in the laundry basket for days… Unfortunately laundry doesn’t magically do itself… so after a big sigh I decided that it was time to get into action and get the laundry done today. Coffee first though! Coffee and breakfast! A little procaffeination won’t harm… Yes, I master the art of doing nothing until I’ve had my cup of coffee!

‘…Murphy’s lyrics are serene, subtle and tender…’

‘…it will stop anyone who appreciates quality music in their tracks…’

‘…There’s no doubt in my mind that these tunes will continue to impress folk lovers for years to come…’

 

Just a few quotes from a review we received of ‘The Mysteries of the Heart’ last week.
The review was written by Tommi Tikka, who’s the curator of the ‘Music To Celebrate Life’-playlist on www.musicto.com

 

A couple of weeks ago I submitted ‘The Mysteries of the Heart’ to this playlist and a few days later Tommi Tikka got in touch with me. He listened to the song and was impressed. We had a nice conversation by email, some more information was exchanged and Tommi wrote a review

Robb posted this picture a couple of weeks ago saying:
“Caption competition! What is going on here??? (the prize is satisfaction and self-fulfilment)” 
It sure got people’s attention and led to funny comments. Robb never revealed the story behind the picture though…It’s about time someone does! ;)


Seeing the picture immediately made me giggle…a reminder of good times!!
This photo was taken when we were packing up after the last show of the tour of The Netherlands in 2016. At the start of the tour Robb showed us this video and asked if we had seen it yet: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct6BUPvE2sM

The Pen Pineapple Apple Pen song… a video that went viral in no time!

Someone please turn back the clock… Tomorrow I’ll be back at work after a 2 week break and I’m far from ready… I can already see myself waking up tomorrow morning totally confused and wondering why my alarm went off in the middle of the night… It may take a minute but then reality will kick in… Break is over, the new year started, no more pyjama days and no more sleeping in. Back to work it is!
Hello holiday blues! ;)

It’s good to get back into some routine though. Being off for a while is good, but laziness kicked in and I lost my productivity at some point during my 2 week break.

It’s also time to get things going again with the music. We have a lot of plans for 2018. Last year was all about setting the foundations. Like Robb mentioned in his newsletter for us 2017 has been a year of ...

It’s the last day of the year… I just made some tea and I’m listening to the Top 2000 on Radio 2 (The Top 2000 is an annual marathon radio program in The Netherlands, that plays the 2000 most popular songs of all time, from Christmas through New Year's Eve). It’s rainy and windy outside and ‘Dancing Queen’ is playing on the radio. I’m looking back at the past year. It’s been a year with ups and downs, but I’m grateful for all the great memories 2017 brought.
 

New Year's eve...whether you love it or loathe it, it's there! It's one of the largest global...The end of another year, on TV the saddest, the best and the most successful moments of the year are being shown, shops are crowded with people getting food and drinks to celebrate that last night of the ...

North Star, a song to close out the year. Robb wrote the song just weeks ago and decided to record it. The result was so good that we decided to share it with the world. A surprise release to celebrate the holiday season!
 

Have a listen! The song will take you on a musical journey through a glistening winter landscape; a timeless song guaranteed to bring a warm, fuzzy and festive feeling!
 

It’s exactly what I love about this time of the year….a warm, fuzzy and festive feeling… The house is warm and cosy with the Christmas decorations being up. A place to relax with a warm cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate; a place to escape from the year-end madness.

“Il dolce far niente” is an Italian saying literally meaning “the sweetness of doing nothing”.
It doesn’t mean being lazy, but refers to that good feeling you can get from being idle and living in the moment. “Dolce far niente” is thoroughly enjoying the taste of that good cup of coffee, it’s taking a walk and breathing in fresh air, it’s watching the sunset, enjoying a nice home cooked meal with family; it’s meditating, but it’s also staring out the window or spending time with friends…it’s basically anything you like doing that gets you relaxed, makes you feel good, brings energy…seize the day, live in the moment. It’s something a lot of people aren’t great at (including me!!). The Italians however embrace “il dolce far niente” – they know the art of doing nothing, they see it as an important day to day activity and there’s a lot we can learn from that.

People who are looking for a space cake recipe…I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you won’t find it in this blog… Space cake…I can almost hear you say “If there’s no space cake recipe, then what’s this blog about??” 

 

Well…I’ve been writing blogs about everything happening behind the scenes with Robb Murphy (singer-songwriter) for two years now and ’Space Cake’ happens to be one of the most viewed blog posts in the past few years. Every time I see that someone viewed that particular blog, it makes me giggle and think that it’s probably someone who was looking for a space cake recipe… Space cake tells the story of customs mistaking the Dutch spice cake (ontbijtkoek) I took with me on a trip to Northern Ireland for...

 

It’s Saturday, the weather is beautiful and I’m sitting outside with a glass of wine… and coffee….life is good! Wine, coffee…sunset…perfect moment to write a blog. Writing this blog has been going through my mind for a couple of weeks now, so it’s time to get it out of my head and get the story written!

 

A couple of weeks ago Robb Murphy’s song ‘The Darker Side’ was added to a playlist called ‘Music to Grieve to’ on Spotify. A playlist with beautiful songs from well and less known artists:

Take A Stand…Robb Murphy’s solo career started with this…the album was released 5 years ago on the 27th of April. Something to celebrate…and to write a blog about! I’ve been looking back into the blogs I wrote over the past few years, but I didn’t write a blog about Take A Stand and how this album came about. This 5-year anniversary sure is a good reason to do that!

 

‘Take A Stand’ is an album with an electronic pop sound. Robb had no intention to officially release it. It was all just something he did, because he liked it. It was an experiment for himself to get familiar with the studio programs that he was using. He sent a rough copy to BBC, not expecting to hear back from them. Robb then went on holiday and while he was away a few friends told him that they had heard his songs on radio and that a few DJ’s...

I’ve been writing blogs about everything happening behind the scenes with Robb Murphy for a couple of years now, but while writing the blogs about the band members and introducing them, it came to mind that I never really wrote a blog like that about Robb. It’s about time!

 

Those of you who’ve been reading my blogs already know a bit about Robb. Next to being a songwriter, creator of music and producer, he’s an outstanding pizza maker, coffee and tea lover, vegan, vinyl collector and he’s always up for silliness….a lot of silliness… Robb likes to challenge himself but, maybe more so, he likes to challenge others…yes I’ve been there ? It’s not easy to fool him…but occasionally I manage to do it… Robb always tends to be late and I remember that...