Damian Darkness Productions

10/02/2025

I'm really pleased to share that the songs for my new musical Bunga! Bunga! - about the life and times of Silvio Berlusconi - are now complete. The musical features songs in a range of genres - from tango, soul and reggae to triumphant marching songs and witty numbers in the style of Cole Porter - all artfully arranged by Mishkin Fitzgerald.

I've now uploaded two of the songs to my website... Please do have a listen and let me know what you think!

 "I've always said that Italian women are the most beautiful in the world. I can't be blamed if female politicians on the left are more beautiful than those on the right." 

27/01/2025

Many of you will have heard the sad news about Des Horsfield passing away on Saturday 25 January, after a long period of ill health. Des was born here in Brighton and in 1974 his talent as an artist took him to America and the University of Hartford, Connecticut. He eventually decided to go into commercial film making, at which he was very successful, with a great number of corporate and political clients. However, his film work was not all commercial and he was given an Emmy award for his work in the undercover filming of a Ku Klux Klan rally.

Despite his undoubted talents as an artist, Des only held one exhibition - although his work was available online. My understanding is that Des will be cremated and his ashes taken to his favourite places in New York, like Greenwich Village. Des should probably have had more recognition as an artist and it would be a sad irony if this were to happen after his death.

The below image is from Listen to London - the documentary he produced with Steve Sattler about the Post Punk Indy Rebellion.

06/01/2025

My new audiobook Blues Men I Have Buried is available on a half price promotion for a limited time - if you've been wondering what your next audiobook should be, please check it out and do let me know what you think!

A work of fiction inspired by the real life impersonation of Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac, and a commentary on blues music and the people who made it. Featuring the original songs 'Slow Train' and 'I Like Leonard Cohen.'

28/10/2024

Despite the thousands of words written about him, we know less about Robert Johnson than we know about Shakespeare - and we know very little about Shakespeare. The world of the southern states of America 90 years ago may seem impossibly strange and distant to us, but the works of Shakespeare written 400 years ago keep reappearing among us as movies, operas, plays, familiar quotations and poetry.

Music evolves and the bluesmen were not above copying each other. Songs that blues folklorists hail as revolutionary, like Kind Hearted Woman, seem now to be what I would call bedrock blues. We are fortunate to have recordings of Robert Johnson, because that is about all we have. The picture is further complicated by his self mythologising, a common practise when self promotion was the only promotion.

Whether or not he went down to the crossroads for Satanic guitar tutorials, it’s now part of the story. Tragedy and death stalk the guitar hero. Robert Johnson died at 27, the same age as Jimi Hendrix when he went to that Great Gig in the Sky. If all we are left with is the story – well, it’s a good story!

See link in comments below for new audiobook Blues Men I Have Buried - a work of fiction inspired by the real life impersonation of Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac, and a commentary on blues music and the people who made it. Featuring two original blues songs.

07/11/2023

Who remembers Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac?
Who remembers that Peter Green was impersonated?!
Sadly, Peter, one of this country's most talented and original guitarists spent a very long time in an institution and it was during that time that someone now known as, " the egg and potato man," stole his identity.
The imposter was swiftly unmasked and Peter was discharged not long after, at which point the media lost interest and the story moved elsewhere. Peter Green did attempt a comeback but to use a horrible cliché, it just wasn't the same. But surely, this could not be the end of the story, could it? And what happened to his impersonator?
Inspired by this outrageous scandal I have written a lively novella exploring the tumultuous lives of men like Peter, his impersonator, and other musical legends that made the Blues. It has been broken up into illustrated bite size sections on Substack for you to consume at your own pace.
https://open.substack.com/.../p/blues-men-i-have-buried...
Find accompanying songs, Slow Blues, and I Like Leonard Cohen here on SoundCloud.
https://soundcloud.com/damian-darkness/sets/slow-blues...
https://soundcloud.com/.../sets/track-stations:803044105...
I hope readers will enjoy it, especially those who remember, the late great, Peter Green.

Introduction

25/04/2023

My first post is now out on Substack - click the link for an introduction to my forthcoming serialised novel.

Introduction