'The Hairy Plug Monster ...and Christmas

As she stood by the tree, Maya’s eyes opened wide


There were stars hung all over, with chocolates inside

Tinsel and baubles, with lights wrapped around

And even more presents that lay on the ground



On the shelf by the fire, Dad Place a mince pie

With a nice juicy carrot, So Maya asked “why”?

“You need to leave food for the reindeer”, dad said

“And Father Christmas wants mince pies, to keep himself fed.



Climbing up and down chimneys, All night isn’t fun

And he can’t take a break ,when there’s work to be done

Perhaps you can help?”,dad said with a laugh

“With the Hairy Plug Monster ,Who lives under the bath”



Maya thought for a while

And she smiled and then said

“Maybe I could,”

And went off to bed.

A few hours later

Maya hadn’t slept

So into the bathroom

She silently crept,

The Hairy Plug Monster

Was sat by the soap,

With a floppy red stocking

All tied up with rope





Maya asked once again

“Do you fancy a feed? ”

And the Hairy Plug Monster

Smiled and agreed



“We’ve got Mince Pies, and chocolates

and a huge Christmas Cake

There’s even a turkey

All ready to bake”



So they tiptoed downstairs

and walked through the hall

straight to the kitchen

to the fridge by the wall

Maya opened the door

and they both peeked inside

And the Hairy Plug Monster’s

One Eye opened wide

There on the shelf was a large plate of Jelly

A trifle and pudding and cheese that was smelly

There was mince pies and chocolates

And cranberry jam, Sprouts and Potatoes

And a big piece of ham





The Hairy Plug Monster

Jumped onto the shelf

And in no time at all

He was helping himself

Maya said to her friend

“That’s all we’ve got

Its Christmas tomorrow

And you cant eat the lot”





But the Hairy Plug Monster,

Didn’t reply, he was already munching

On a tasty mince pie

He tried out the pudding, and some of the cake

And then all the sprouts,……….

Yuk…!!!!!!!



What a mistake



Yuk –yuk yuk yuk

What a funny old taste



He didn’t like sprouts

And curled up his face

The hairy plug monster,

Was hungry no more

And sat down and sulked

On the cold kitchen floor,



Maya thought and then said

“I know just what to do”

Father Christmas is coming

He’ll be here very soon

They went to the front room,

And both peeked inside

And The Hairy Plug Monster’s one eye

Opened Wide



There by the fire was a man dressed in red

With a big floppy hat

That was hung from his head.

His belt and his boots were shiny and black

And down by his side was a huge great big sack



Hello Father Christmas, said Maya with charm

And she held put a mince pie at the end of her arm

I’ve come to help and make sure that you’re fed

You can sit down and rest while everyone’s in bed



Father Christmas sat down, with the pie on his knee

While Maya placed presents around the big tree

Thank you said Santa, and started to yawn,

It’s time that I went, for soon it is dawn



Father Christmas got back, on his magical sleigh

Gave a carrot to Rudolph, and then flew away.

The Hairy Plug Monster needed a nap, so he crept back upstairs

And squeezed back through the tap,

His stocking was full of presents and toys

And a small yellow duck - that made a strange noise



“What’s that noise?”, said her dad the next day with a shout

“There’s a noise from the hole where the water runs out”



“You know who that is” Maya said with a laugh

“That’s the Hairy plug Monster…..who lives under the bath”.

Jodie Muir joins the team as Spooky Stories is prepared for the studio

Another eventful week saw the first public reading of Zombelina by Steve Garry to school children at St. Andrew's Primary School and by all accounts it went pretty well. 

 Now the filming commitments for Rough and Ready look to be over for the time being, the focus is now on getting the much awaited Spooky Stories recorded and released as an audio book a.s.a.p.

Jodie Muir has joined the team to conjure up the initial artwork for the audio book with a view to illustrating the book on its release in the coming year.

   Here are her  initial rough submissions for Zombelina and the Toymaster which capture the mood perfectly.  The dates for recording have not been finalised yet, but we expect to have the majority ready before the end of the year with the aim to releasing them as downloads at the beginning of Spring.  After spending most of the past year promoting Spooky Stories by stealth I am anticipating quite a good reception - especially for the long awaited "Golden Arm". 

Here is the listing for Spooky Stories so far:

There is Something wrong with Grandad

Miss Carr's Pies

Zombelina

Golden Arm

The Commander-in-Chief-of-the-World

Show and Tell

One Legged Steve

All of which are gems in their own right

www.hpmmedialtd.com

www.hairyplugmonster.com

The Hairy Plug Monster gets Connected

Music and writing really came together this week with a great deal of time being spent composing "pop songs"  for Myles and Connor Ryan (formerly of Connected)who I met at the opening of the Inspire Community Centre in Levenshulme. 

The brief was very simple...write the boys some new material that is on a par with their Boyband contemporaries - and guess what...I totally nailed it.  I managed to pen 6 new songs in various stages of completion, all of which have a definite commercial appeal and if they get recorded could even go on to do very well. 

Having been a songwriter for the best part of 3 decades, this was the first time I had ever worked with anyone who can really sing...and while my grown up friends may snigger at the thought of me writing for Boyband, it seems that it is the right way to go.  Especially as I have written the best part of 300 songs in all sorts of styles over the years, - and none have bought me any kind of success or recognition for my pain.

Ironically, becoming a children's author has rendered a lot of my material unusable in its current state, (especially in these media savvy days) so adopting a softer approach to songwriting really is the only option. 

So here I am at the start of another project, and after listening to Myles and Connor sing (and man can they sing) I have a strong feeling that I can write them something with longevity.  We will be recording a few vocal tracks over the coming weeks and I will post snippets - so you can make up your own minds.

Keeping with the musical theme, Steve Garry and I completed the two tracks for the film Rough and Ready with the third one due for early next year.  The film crew head off to Wakefield on the 13th November to film the opening scene and another club scene with the soundtrack blaring out in the background.

Have a look at the cast list http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1527829/ , there are some pretty big hitters on there and from  what I have learn't they are all eager to do the 2 follow up films. Being the shameless opportunist that I am, I have already thrown my hat into the ring to provide more music, and hopefully get a minuscule part somewhere (not that I want to be an actor - it's just so I can say that I have been in a film.)

Inspire ..... how appropriate

After several years of planning and renovation Levenshulme Inspire centre opened it's doors to the general public.  http://www.lev-inspire.org.uk/blog/ and amongst the V.I.P's which included Sir Gerald Kaufman, and Sir Richard Leese, Myles and Connor Ryan - part of the Connected who narrowly missed winning this years Britain's Got Talent and myself.

In truth it was hard to compete with the twins, who were real celebrities, whereas The HPM hasn't quite got to the stage where scores of screaming girls are clamouring for a signed photo.  Nevertheless, I battled through the noise of the Face Painting table next to me and the art and craft table further along to read a couple of stories. 

I did manage to hold the attention of  the audience for a while, but after a few stories it seemed that the lure of make-up was too much for the audience and one by one they slowly disappeared.

Thankfully, Karen the event organiser arranged for another reading at the front of the centre which captured a more attentive audience and once again the Hairy Plug Monster was a huge success with more than a few parents taking a signed copy home with them. 


The rest of the week has been spent on other exciting projects which I will tell you more about in the next blog...

But before I go here's a little poem I wrote with Maya-Rose.



The Alien

I saw a little Alien, sat beside a tree

He was small green and slimy and really very smelly

He had a little laser gun and pointed it at me,

With a zap, zap, zap

He vaporized my welly.



sometimes you only need a few lines to get the story across