A New Title and some more things...............

Hi and welcome to the first day under a new heading

"A Little Bit Of Magick"  

I really hope that you like it!   So how did it come about?

Well I was looking at a blog post by Zoella and she had done something that inspired me to create a new project and as part of this new thinking I decided I wanted to create a something new, and during that process it blossomed into the idea outlined here......

I have designed a poster......

 .....while I was working on this poster idea I decided on the line that is at the bottom of the image which says "Produced by Merlin "with a little bit of Magick" and that led the way into another idea.  I would like to invite readers of this blog and other pages that I work on, to create a "Witches Alphabet"

So I have started the campaign to get people to submit their ideas for as many of the 25 remaining letters of the alphabet and the only stipulation is that the word must be Witch related.

Each letter will be produced in the same format as this one and the person who suggested the word will get their name on the bottom line and we are looking to produce the whole set as A3 prints by Yule.

Please email your entries to me at moonshadowmedia@mail.com

What is my micro niche?

I am currently taking a course that will help me develop the social media marketing of Whyte Raven's music and one of the questions that the tutor (Leah McHenry) asked of the group was "what is your micro niche?"  In other words what genre, if you drill right down into the music you produce, do you sit?

I thought about this question hard and slowly the mist began to clear - I have always considered myself to be a folk singer but this is too broad a category, so the next step was to identify a smaller group that distinguished me from other folk singers - so my next choice was guitar playing folk singer......still too broad so I had to look at another level and I came up with Solo guitar playing folk singer.

Eventually after a long period brain work and after a good deal of prompting from my other half it suddenly dawned on me that my Micro Niche is "an acoustic pagan folk artist". A lot of my songs have themes based around paganism so I was "like whoa!" I have been missing this trick and wondering why my videos etc were not getting many viewers and quite simply the right audience did not know I was there.

So now if anyone asks me I know exactly what my answer is - however that does not preclude me from playing other styles but it does clearly identify where I place my main focus.  

So now with that in mind here is a link to the video of my latest song "Somerset Levels"

vimeo.com/185503175

I really hope that you liked that video and the mistake right at the end just proves that it is real :)

Moving On

Now let us move on to other things that are taking place in the Magickal world of The Merlin.....

The Music Ladder, Music Therapy business is starting to gain momentum and we are hoping to secure our first contract with a residential home for persons living with Dementia very shortly.  I am in the final stages of preparing the "job description" and setting out the terms of reference.

Cauldron FM has been accepted as a sponsor of the 2017 North Devon Firefly Otherworldly Fayre and Ball, to be held at Clovelly Parish Hall on 22.07.17 and all money raised will be donated to the Parish Hall to help fund much needed renovations. There will be stalls indoors and outdoors plus acoustic performances during the afternoon and then in the evening there will several live bands entertaining attendees.

You can visit their page on Facebook by searching North Devon Firefly Otherworldly Fayre and Ball 22.07.17

Sadly time has beaten me on this entry so I will have to leave it there for now, but keep an eye open on my Whyte Raven, Capstone Radio, Cauldron FM and Wytchwynd Photography pages for more updates

and I look forward to your suggestions for the "Witches Alphabet" posters

Until the next time

Love, Light and Blessed Be

Merlin x

Hi and thank you for joining me for the latest post........

Well it has been a busy weekend!

Starting on Saturday - I took a lot of photographs of the motorcycle show on Ilfracombe's Sea Front - the images have now gone off the the North Devon Gazette and I have no idea which if any they will use but just as a wee taster here is one of my favourite machines in the show

On Sunday the wheels began to turn in the direction of Exeter in search of a new travelling home for "The Music Ladder - Music Therapy"  Ideally said home would be either a Toyota Alphard or a VW camper but given the financial situation at present it might end up being a Transit or similar.

Leaving Exeter I pointed the wheels towards Dunkeswell in order to go and visit a music therapy client
and her husband.  The lady has a serious illness and over the past few weeks we have organised a pain management strategy that incorporates music.  Having spent a very pleasant couple of hours in their company I headed back home.

On arrival back home I had to put my photographer head back on and sort out the next set of postcards for my "Postcards of Ilfracombe" series.  The first and second sets are illustrated below.

And now we come to today and I had received information that the sample "The Music Ladder" t-shirt was available and ready for collection - and here it is

So with everything that has been going on this weekend I will be glad to get home and have a rest this evening.

If you want to talk to me about coaching, photography, therapy or any of the other things I am involved with please feel free to email via the address below

moonshadowmedia@mail.com

So until the next time we speak, have a fantastic week

Love and light to you all

Blessed Be!

DAve (aka The Merlin)

Hi and thank you for coming back to this page.  I am now back off my holiday and to be perfectly honest I am ready for another break.  Things have gone totally mad in my world at present!

Anyway if you follow me on Facebook the you will possibly have seen my Vlogs from the holiday and at this point I was going to insert one by way of an example, however the machinery is playing silly things so currently that is not possible so I don't know if this will work but here goes

https://www.facebook.com/dave.baxter.9889/videos/10154007987799541/

Now if that idea works you should be able to go and view the first one of said Vlogs and it means I can do other things as that way too.

So what else is happening, well I have now built a presence on Vimeo and started to populate it with a number of my videos - currently those from The Crystal Spring, Whyte Raven and Ilfracombe TV and as we progress with this whole increased visibility thing there will be a lot more coming on stream.

As someone who has a lot of interest in the media I am seriously looking to develop that side of the business and would be keen to talk to people who share the same interest who could be interested in joining forces and expanding the Moonshadow Media brand still further.  So if that is you then please drop me a line to moonshadowmedia@mail.com.

Just back tracking slightly whilst I was on holiday I spent many many hours, camera in hand, waiting to catch the photograph you will see below.  It was the realisation of a long held ambition and I hope that you appreciate the effort.

Tonight I am heading off to Dementia Awareness workshop as part of my ongoing building of The Music Ladder - the music therapy business that I have begun, since gaining my Diploma in Music Therapy.  I am really looking forward to it.

Cauldron FM is going from good to even better as we are now, for the 3rd year running, one of the official sponsors of The North Devon Firefly Otherworldly Fayre and Ball 2017 that will be held next July in Clovelly Parish Hall.

So I think that is all the news for the moment so until the next time, have a great day, be safe and above all

Don't predict the future - CREATE IT!

DAve x

The "We Support Small Businesses" campaign

Late last night my business partner in "The Crystal Spring" posted on Facebook that she wanted to support small businesses and show them some "love" by hitting the "love" icon on every small business post that she discovered while going about her business on Facebook.

I spotted her post this morning and as soon as I did I got the old familiar wobbles in the tummy that signify "this is something I want to get behind"

My brain went into overdrive and I began to see Facebook pages, window stickers posters etc and an initiative that could grow into a national campaign very quickly.  Below is the very first idea that sprung into my mind.

I think that the reason it struck a chord with me is that for years I have worked with and in small businesses and so I fully know and understand how hard it can be to build a business from scratch.  It is not an easy process and as Kaz said to me this morning "it is full of ups and downs"

Therefore to do my bit for the campaign I have posted the message on Facebook and already shown "love" to 2 small businesses here in North Devon.

However - and this is where it gets serious folks - we don't just need a show of support on Facebook although that is a great platform to get the campaign rolling - we need people to support the businesses by purchasing from, using the services of, visiting the shops of etc etc  This way we are not simply just "talking the talk" but we are also "walking the walk"

So go on be brave and join Kaz and I in supporting small businesses!

All the best

DAve

North Devon Firefly and Faery Fayre 27/07/16

Cauldron FM has sponsored this event for the past 2 years by way of radio coverage and photography.  Again, the day was warm and sunny and the views of the Bristol Channel from the grounds of Clovelly Village Hall are stunning.

Whilst there did not appear to be as many stalls in the hall there definitely seemed to be more outside.  Another change was that the stage in the afternoon was devoted to Karen of Littlebirds Therapy Centre in Ilfracombe for her Gong Bath treatments (and very nice they are too!!!)

Outside during the afternoon a variety of musicians entertained the visitors.

And although I did not attend the ball in the evening I am told that a great time was had by all, excellent company and good music.

Roll On Next Year !!!!  - 22/07/17

Pip n Jim's Garden Party for the Queen's 90th Birthday

The busy June continued onwards and the same day as I took the official Victorian Photograph I was also asked to take another set of photographs by the North Devon Gazette - these were of the Garden Party that was being held in the grounds of Pip n Jim's Church in St James Place, Ilfracombe to celebrate the Queen's 90th Birthday

So after lunch and with camera in hand I made my way across to the church and started taking photographs.  The main attraction of the event was the South Molton Town Band and following a performance of approximately half an hour during which they played traditional brass pieces, some hymns and surprisingly some very modern pop music pieces the crowd feasted on home made cakes and tea, coffee and orange juice.

All photographs by "wytchwynd photography"

to visit the "wytchwynd photography" website go to bit.ly/wytchphotog

The Victorians are coming

Hi it has been a long time since I put (well I was going to say pen to paper but that would be incorrect) fingers to keyboard so I thought best rectify that forthwith so here goes.

Back in June Wytchwynd Photography (in effect me!) was appointed to take the official photograph for the Victorian Week Celebrations in Ilfracombe.  This photograph was to be taken of the assembled group of persons in Victorian Costume at the foot of Capstone Hill (or so I was led to believe).  In reality the photography had to be done looking across at said hill from the roof of J D Wetherspoon's "Admiral Collingwood" public house.

Unfortunately for me this lack of the correct information provided me with a challenge to say the least but eventually I overcame it and produced the following photograph which I have to say the Chairman was most pleased with and he ordered 12 copies.

As the week progressed I took a lot more photographs and there were a number of them printed in the North Devon Gazette.  So all in all the event turned out to be quite a success for Wytchwynd Photography

Visit the wytchwynd photography website at bit.ly/wytchphotog