Vintage — Blog — Hannah Castleman

It's been a long time.

I don't know how I haven't managed to keep this updated, but I'm back and I'll be posting more often. Time to get motivated! Which is what this post is about. What a seamless transition!

Since my last post I have left my full time job and become a full time musician. I've performed at loads of exciting places in the UK and abroad, formed the The Hannah Castleman Quartet, and released an EP, available here. Even though I was performing frequently before, the change in my lifestyle since quitting my 9 to 5 has been huge. I love being self-employed for so many reasons. I love planning my own schedule, being able to have a random day off in the middle of the week when I've had a crazy weekend of gigs, being able to have a lie in if I've been up until 3am the night before because of a gig finishing late, choosing what work I take and when...it's pretty dreamy.

There are always downsides to whatever you do. One of the downsides is the fact that when there is no work, there is NO WORK. Days stretch out endlessly. I am counting my money, which is terrifying when nothing is coming in but payments are coming out. This throws me off my game; it makes me panic, want to sleep A LOT, and much to my boyfriend's delight, I get grumpy.

I've wasted a lot of time doing nothing on the days where I supposedly have 'nothing to do', but this is where I've been going wrong. There is always something to do. I need to keep working towards what I want to do, which is music, and there is a way to do that even when I'm not actually being paid to sing or perform.

I've decided to set myself from tasks for each week. I want to learn at least two new songs a week. I've signed up for a weekly Burlesque Class for autumn and an online music theory course (for £9 thanks to Groupon). I'm going to spend 30 minutes playing guitar everyday, which is terrifying because I am rubbish at it but by the end of the year I want to be able to play songs without staring at my fingers while I change chords. I'm a terrible cook but I'm going to make dinner more often instead of eating toast. It's okay that I'm not good at these things now. Everyone has to start somewhere. Even Leslie Knope.

Whatever happens, I just want to make sure I keep moving. I don't want to look back on my week and think 'what did I achieve this week?' and not have an answer. Being self-employed means it's not always going to be a good month for work, but the positives outweigh the negatives by a significant margin, and so it's all worth it. I just have to keep going.

I've got to start drinking my morning coffee from this amazing mug, available here.

At the end of last week I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Barcelona with one of my best pals and fellow Spitfire Sister Anna. We had a delightful time walking around, eating and drinking (ahem, mostly drinking) and I was not looking forward to coming home. I knew I had a lot of packing and organising ahead of me, a vast amount of things to do and not a lot of time available.

As soon as we arrived back in London, I checked the BBC website to check the World Cup scores. However, information far more exciting than anything football related appeared on my screen. The What's On iPlayer section listed Billy Joel: The Bridge to Russia, and Billy Joel Live in Leningrad as its top programmes.

I LOVE Billy Joel. He is my favourite musical artist of all time. I've seen him live. I own all his CDs. I'm collecting his records on vinyl. I have a t shirt hanging on my wall from his River of Dreams tour.

I'll write it again. I LOVE BILLY JOEL.

As I was watching both the documentary and the concert, I realised there is something unbelievably cool about him that I hadn't noticed before. Billy Joel was a snazzy dresser.

I found myself wanting to replicate his outfit, from his oversized jacket to his white sneakers.He looked so effortless and yet so well put together that I was overcome by serious ensemble envy.

Thinking about it, however, I seem to get envious over men's fashion from the 80s and the 90s far more frequently than the women's fashion from those decades. There is something so casual about the way men dressed; the pieces are thrown together but sit so well with each other.

Exhibit B: Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally

Harry's approach to dressing seems to match his views on love and relationships - don't care, whatever works, can't be bothered. But the collar of his shirt paired with that terrible old man jumper? Luscious. I couldn't recreate that if I tried, and I frequently do.

Then there are the boys of St. Elmo's Fire, my favourite film of all time (apart from White Christmas,but it's really only appropriate to watch it in December so I have to have another favourite to watch from January to November). While Kirby and Alec don't tend to deviate from the outfits required for their chosen professions, Billy and Kevin have more freedom in wearing layers, oversized shirts, and in the case of Rob Lowe's saxophone playing bad boy Billy, feathery earrings and a ridiculous number of badges.

And the outdoor wear! This is why I love winter. Coats, jumpers, scarves and hats.

I grew up stealing every item of clothing that my dad and brother threw away, and now I know why. I thought Billy Joel only inspired my musical habits, but he had a bigger hold on me than I ever knew.