*WITH NONE OF THE JUNKIE BIT. AND, FOR THAT MATTER, MUCH LESS OF THE ACID-TECHNO AND MAD BITS AS WELL.
Andrew has spent most of his life as a musician and composer.
Consequently he has also had many different occupations from laundry worker and record shop manager to spoken word producer, working with artists including Michael Palin, Terence Stamp and Dirk Bogarde. His most prolific time as a composer was the late nineties during which he co-founded Big Clever Records and co-wrote and produced albums including One True Parker’s Will I Dream and The Howard Marks Project with Nice'n'Idle. With his band Juttajaw, he remixed artists including The Orb, Test Department, PIG and Ian Astbury.
After his retirement from the music industry in 2003,
He ran a school for teenagers with challenging behaviour. He now works for a mental health charity and plays keyboards in local band The Warning Shadows. Andrew is currently sober and lives with his family in Cambridge.
He has recently started writing a blog, addict2016, about his experiences of addiction. Here on The Recovery Revolution you can read Andrew’s post, How to Become a Magnet or, the Curious Case of Strange Attraction.
Design: Andrew Ahmad-Cooke
The principal motivation for my creativity.
The principle motivation for writing my blog is to aid my recovery and to help other people with addiction problems.
The principal motivation for my creativity is to retain my sanity.
The principal motivation for my sobriety. My wife and daughter…and hanging on to them.
My favorite qualities in a person. Enthusiasm.
What I appreciate most about my friends. Their trust, tolerance, creativity and inspiration.
My main fault. Lack of discipline.
My favorite occupation. Playing/writing music and cooking.
My dream of happiness. Growing old with the people I love.
My idea of misery. Addiction and the despair that lives in its pocket.
My greatest regret. Letting my wife and daughter down when using alcohol.
My proudest moment. The birth of my daughter Rubi.
Other than myself, who would I like to be? Nemo, my cat.
Where I would like to live.
“Red. (But it’s a hue.)” / FYI Chris is color blind so he’s not even sure what that means.
My favorite color.
My favorite authors. Kurt Vonnegut, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabelle Allende, Umberto Eco, William Burroughs.
My favorite poets. Munizha Ahmad and Pablo Neruda
My favorite composers/musicians. J.S. Bach, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Talking Heads, Magazine, The Only Ones, Roxy Music, King Tubby, Big Youth…the list is endless.
My favorite creative people. (painters/designers/photographers/etc.) Laura Williams, Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo.
My hero(es). Stephen Fry, Thelonius Monk, David Byrne and everyone in recovery.
My favorite food and drink. My wife’s mutter paneer and aloo bhurta, my mother-in-law’s biryani, definitely coffee.
“Heroin when a junkie. Whiskey when an alcoholic.” / Andrew (right) with Howard and Kelly / 1998
My drug of (lack of) choice when I was using.
What I hate most of all. Intolerance
The natural talent I'd like to be gifted with. Discipline
How I want to die. Painlessly
My present state of mind. Enthusiastic and determined.
Faults for which I have the most indulgence. My impulsiveness.
My favorite motto.
“It’s not rocket salad.” / Image source unknown. If it's yours, please call.
Click image for full size cover.
ABOUT RECOVERY REVELATIONS™
Our Recovery Revelations Questionnaire is based on the questions of a late 19th century English "confessions album" later mistakenly attributed to French novelist, Marcel Proust. Vanity Fair uses a version for their Proust Questionnaire and James Lipton uses a variation on Inside the Actors' Studio.
You are encouraged to engage the interviewee(s) and explore their answers further in the comments.
If you'd like to be share your Recovery Revelations, please contact Chris for details.