jonnybaker

birthday drink, sacrifice and warming up for tom middleton

joel winning the open dex heat at the big chill bar gets to play a 2 hour set at the big chill bar (as well as competing in the final in july).

so he is playing from 4-6pm on sunday 24 feb at the big chill bar. the next day is my birthday so i am combining it with celebrating with a birthday drink (as is fellow grace friend paul wainwright for whom it is his actual birthday). so if you around and fancy it, come along and join us.

the sacrifice is that chelsea are playing tottenham in the cup final at the same time!!!! so i will have to watch the highlights later i guess...

joel is fairly excited because one of his DJ heroes and big chill legend tom middleton is DJing his top 100 tunes that evening so i guess joel is his warm up act (scroll down the what's on page)

20 years...

my dad, john baker, died 20 years ago today.

memory is a funny thing.
when someone dies there is a big hole but the gap lessens, it fades over time.
if anything you can feel bad you don't think of the person enough after they have gone.
but today if i think of my dad, words that spring to mind are:
integrity
unafraid to speak the truth
gentle
kind
articulate
intelligent
a love for god and people
acceptance

he gave me so much.

on his grave are written words along the lines of:
john baker awaiting the bodily resurrection of the dead and the renewal of the heavens and the earth

i always thought that was the most amazing thing to have on your grave stone...

he won!

open dex at the big chill bar, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

cntrst [joel] in the open dex contest at the big chill bar last night. he won!!!! this was heat 1 - he will be in a final in july. the winner gets to play at the big chill festival. congrats joel...

open dex tonight at big chill bar

following last year's performance at the big chill open dex competition joel has entered again and is playing in tonight's round at the big chill bar.

god is a londoner

or so says the cover of this week's timeout magazine which focuses on the vibrant religious life in the capital.

two years ago joel took part in creating a youth produced mini timeout magazine called timeout trashed. it was a fantastic experience where he learned a ton and contributed illustrations, articles and layout. well ealing borough have just run a simliar project again with a different group of young people. the results are in a huge foldout poster that is included in this week's timeout in shops across london. joel got invited back to be a mentor and part of the team leading the project (and got paid too which was a bonus). the results are amazing. i think this is such a brilliant project and wonderful for young people in ealing to get a chance to create something like this. and as before the results are fantastic...

magical mystery tour meets rite of passage

i have been having fun and no time to blog...

jen and i wanted to do something special/memorable for joel's eighteenth. so on his birthday at 7am the theme tune for mission impossible blasted out and harry burst into joel's room and delivered an envelope with number one written on it. inside were the instructions to pack your bag for overnight and meet us at munsons for breakfast. a bewildered joel showed up and discovered he was off on a mystery tour during which he would receive eighteen envelopes or text messages with instructions on what to do next. they included...

video messages to find on youtube from family
meeting people
a first class ticket to liverpool (where i had travelled separately)
filling in a journal en route
staying at parr street recording studios
dining out at alma de cuba (stunning old church kitted out as a bar/restaurant with 300 candles lighting it)
buying me his first legal pint
listening to a track by harry we had smuggled onto his ipod (which was amazing)
visiting the turner prize (loved the wallinger bear suit video and the comments at the end were amusing)
watching a video from friends on his ipod
going to visit anthony gormley's wonderful another place (absolutely brilliant btw) at crosby beach
returning to a friend's house, being blindfolded and taken to a mystery destination (our house!) for
a surprise party with family and friends

joel loved it!

we included some stuff along the lines of a rite of passage to mark joel's transition from child to man and us letting go of our child and welcoming joel back as a man which is why we wanted it to be a journey...

(thanks to my friends in croatia whose own crazy antics when i was over there with videos and all sorts of stuff inspired us to go over the top in our own way)

phew...

happy 18th birthday joel!

nice tri

congratulations harry and jen on completing your triathlons yesterday!

(this is harry crossing the finish line of his first triathlon looking suitably happy and knackered)

hoodie

one evening in portugal i went to take some night shots with harry but it wasn't really happening as i hoped so we started messing around taking photos of harry instead and that turned out to be much more fun and interesting. i think this is my favourite though this one is fun too - he can use them on his first album cover!?

portugal holiday snaps

well i have finally got round to going through photos from our family holiday in portugal. i have added a photo album to flickr. but if you just sit and watch, thanks to slideflickr you can see a slidshow right here...