December 30

I'm now in Bangkok - flew via Singapore - which made me think of an old friend from there... Staying at the Metropolitan. It's surprisingly nice, great rooms and GREAT bathrooms. I'm a hotel snob - nice to be somewhere warm...

They're having a huge party for New Year here - looking forward to it with something Danish...

December 28

I was meant to go to Thailand for Christmas Day... I've had a load of emails from people asking if I'm okay, which is really nice - thank you everybody.

December 27

Been a really sunny three days, but cold.

Went up to the Selfridges sale yesterday, it was insane... The only thing I wanted (a pair of sunglasses) wasn't in the sale, of course...

Been watching the news about Thailand - I'm still planning on going - if not I'll go to LA, everyone I know is going there... apart from Peter.

December 25

Merry Christmas... Well, you have to say it, don't you? A sunny day - go to Box Hill with Danielle and Jonathan, friends of mine who are over from LA - they like it... I'm cold but I take some photos, strange to think last year I was in the valley of Py...

Drive up to the Kings Road, it's empty, to pick up my friend Gordon...

They all cook and I do nothing... Danielle fixes the volume on my ipod (I now love her). Rex King comes over to say hello - he has two flat tires.

Get a good book from Oliver - Places To See Before You Die - most apt...

December 24

Christmas Eve - haven't had one of these in England for a while. Half of me doesn't mind it, the other half loathes it... Up at 7am for no real purpose...

Peter Makowski has sent me When The Last Sword Is Drawn for Christmas - a Japanese film I wanted - so he does have slight redeeming features... And I got from Japan the Who, Paul Weller and Aerosmith from the stadium shows in the summer on DVD...

Can't decide what to do today, probably go to London for a wander... Decide to pamper myself, have a manicure and a pedicure. Better than sex... Well, almost!

December 23

Do the usual Christmas running around. Go to the Apple shop in Regent Street, my ipod isn't very loud - the wanker sales manager of the Genius Department tells me in the UK you can only get ipod's at half volume. In America you can get full volume - there's nothing he can do... Soooooooooooo, don't buy an ipod in the uk !!!!!!!!!!

See Scarlet Page for a coffee in Convent Garden - we're both escaping on the 28th...

Billy Gibbons has sent me a very nice signed poster for Christmas from Los Angeles...

December 21

Wake up feeling like I have concrete pressing down on my chest, lots of it...

Meet Jimmy Page in London to look at some artwork. We go to do a bit of Christmas shopping in Bond Street - run into Noel Gallagher who's just come back from LA.

See a B&O tv I like until I realise it's only £20,000...

Come home - still ill and feeling full of suffering, so watch The Passion Of Christ (I got it in Thailand). It's like a horror film - the Romans act like Millwall fans, the Jews are the Nazis, Lucifer looks and acts like Maynard in Tool and JC is wandering around with half of his flesh hanging off... It's the most pious propaganda film for the Catholic church you'll ever see. Paul Brannigan told me it's his favourite film, 'I've seen it twenty times... I cry every time - I'm going to watch it twice on Christmas Day...'

December 20

Went to Nobu last night, had a very nice night out care of Dragan, who insisted on ordering the food and the apple martinis. My friend Danielle got so wasted she fell down the restaurant steps and has no recollection of getting home... She was, as they say down under, gargled... Or, as Paul Brannigan would say in a slurred voice, 'Grandddddddddd......'

Woke up this morning feeling worse - give in and go to the doctor. I've got bronchular pneumonia - how nice for Christmas...

Meet my friend and spiritual trainer Mie at Heathrow. She's in transit from LA on the way to Cape Town, to find love and inner peace etc. Well, she is from LA...

Come home and feel, for want of a better word, fucked... Spend the evening doing nothing. Still listening to Cactus - the boogie ELP (it goes on and on) - and the Who, Holland '72 - a great Magic Bus...

December 19

I'm still ill - yes, I like feeling sorry for myself. Got a new camera lens I've been waiting for, it knocks everything out of focus. Spend a very sunny Sunday morning playing with it...

Read an article in The Guardian that Bhutan has banned smoking - fantastic, I may move there...

Watched The Long Firm on dvd - I'd read the book - not bad. The book was more violent.

Book my trip to Thailand then get offered work on January 2,3 and 4... Typical... Uggghhhh, feeeeeeeeel ill..........

December 17

Woke up this morning only to find that I have completely lost my voice (I know this will make a lot of people very happy)...

Watched Train last night, featuring Gong Li - she is stunning for someone my age... It's sad and enlightening at the same time.

It's raining and shitty today and I have loads to do - go to High Wycombe, London etc. All I want to do is go back to bed...

Phil Alexander has given me Cactus 'Live In Memphis 1971'. Lots of jamming but no songs, bit like BBA - still I like it and it annoys people...

December 16

Go to London to see the Proud Gallery about a possible Who exhibition next year...

Go on to visit Phillip Alexander at Emap Metro... Run into Paul Brannigan coming out of the lift full of Xmas cheer and trying to walk straight. I introduce him to Peter Makowski and tell him that he was a journalist before Paul was born. 'Grand' he says, reeking of Guinness... I ask Paul what he's doing for New Year. 'Drinking of course', he says. No, I mean for the holiday. 'Oh', he thinks for a minute, 'I'm off to Japan with my wife and daughter, Yuki. She's going to study Buddhism then stay with her grandparents. Then I'm off to Thailand. What time does Scruffy Murphy's open over there???' 10 am I think. 'Grand' he smiles. Sadly he arrives the day I leave... So if you're on holiday in Phuket and you see a very burnt Irishman, talking to himself and singing rebel anthems, be sure to say hello...

Paul's not looking forward to the Kerrang Xmas do... 'It will all be cakes and sweets - none of them are old enough to drink!' I sympathise. The editor is a prize child and idiot. The only editor of a music magazine who doesn't know anything about rock and doesn't like it. He's also the singer of some rubbish alternative band... Kerrang - Planet Rock? Come on.

See Phil. He's got the new Mars Volta Cd - he won't give it to me as he has to review it for Mojo. 'Give Anton the PR a call, everybody's got a copy', says Phil... I do - 'What do you want it for?', Anton enquires. To listen to, they're my favourite band!' I can't, I can't... I'll have to ask management.' I point out that he's given it to everyone else...' I can't', he protests in his dull Northern tone. I'll bear this in mind the next time he wants something...

Phil tells me that he asked Rich Robinson if he called me (he played in London a couple of nights ago). Rich says things got weird between The Black Crowes and me as I was very friendly with Jimmy Page during 'Live At The Greek'. Rich obviously forgot to tell Phil that the Crowes stiffed me and didn't pay for the album artwork (whereas Jimmy did)... Don't they forget quickly...

Geoff Barton has emailed me - 'Don't forget Van Der Graff Generator!' He also informed me that he had bought Melanie's Stoneground Words on Ebay. 'It remains a classic', he chirps.

Before I forget, Mojo have done a great feature on the Hendrix book in the January edition...

December 15

Felt run down all day - hope I don't get the flu...

Ted Cummins, old school PR and ex-friend of Metallica, calls sounding very exasperated - I'm meant to be going to Berlin this weekend to shoot Rammstein. He tells me 'It's only three songs, you can't have more than the German photographers...' I thought we won the war! It's not my fault that they grew up in East Germany and had to learn Russian. Fuck it! I'm not going - bunch of teutonic plonkers...

Peter Makowski arrives bearing bad news. He's spoken to Geoff Barton today. They were talking about the old days, getting very tearful recalling when they worked at Sounds together ('Music Is The Message'). This was before I was born... Peter horrified me by revealing that Geoffrey's favourite artistes were Melanie and Pete Hammill - Classic Rock indeed!! I remember when I first met Peter, Geoffrey's words were 'You will be bad for each other.' He was right!

My other shock was when Oliver cooked Peter and I dinner...

Peter wants to watch Train, with the very lovely Gong Li, but I'm too tired so we're going to watch it tomorrow. Christ, we sound like an old couple...

Found out I may have some work in LA next week... Ughhhhhhhhh!

December 14

December 13

Really cold today - I know it's December but I still seem to think it's August...

Go for a pizza after with my date. In the Kings Road run into Leslie 'Loonie' Frazer and Sian Thomas, important Universal Music person, who both promise to send me cd's....

December 12

Went to Bazza's Christmas party - at Bansted Mental Hospital. They had a Santa bearing gifts... Bazza and his New Zealand boyfriend Peter Bell thought they'd both won the Christmas raffle "We're on the racket !!" they screamed. I decided it was better to leave them to it...

Headed off to see the Kings of Leon at Brixton Academy with the marginally more racket-free Benny... Not bad to shoot. The light show got better as the show went on, shot mainly black and white.

December 11

Have decided to spend Christmas in England and I hate Christmas. But I'm off to Thailand for the New Year...

Cleaned my house - well, fumigated it, as Pete's been staying...

December 10

Had to run around London today doing errands....

Jack Kent called to very nicely tell me there is one of my photos and an article on the Proud exhibition in the new Arena... He then thanked me for inviting him to dinner last night (I hadn't).

Spoke to Mick Wall who very busy working on his Dimebag Darrell biography. It's out this Sunday and he claims that it's heavier than a Mexican earthquake...

Peter showed me pictures of his Thai sweetheart and her friend. Kazuyo, who examined these closely remarked, 'Why does he like men...?' Before I forget, John Bionelli phoned me and was pining for Kazuyo... He likes a big woman. He was with Joe Perry in LA.

Going to watch 2046 again this evening with Peter so he can see what real women look like...

December 9

My lab Bayeux has made a great inkjet print of Pete Townshend throwing his guitar... I was blown away (wrong word today - sorry). It's up at the Blink gallery in Poland Street from Monday. Also did a nice nude one of that other Mensa member Nikki Sixx - they're back !!!!!!!!!!!!!! - according to Nikki...

Had dinner last night with Jimmy Page, Peter Makowski and Wilfred Wright - it was a bit like the firm's Christmas dinner... Bazza was going to come but his wife wouldn't let him out... Had a very nice time.

December 8

I'm supposed to go to LA at the weekend - but I'm going off the idea as it clashes with Berlin and I'd only go for two days...

December 6

Spend a boring morning at Basle airport. Fly back into City Airport. Spend three hours getting home - longer than the flight... Seems like the day is wasted...

Geoff Barton has - much to my amazement - written something for the site... It's a very serious piece of writing so you may need a dictionary to decipher it... Thank you Geoff.

December 5

I'm flying out on a prop - that should be fun - can't wait, Sunday in Basle everything closed... Fly out of the City Airport which is very strange, right next to the Millennium Dome and on the Thames...

Shoot the sky in black and white over Luxembourg, get into Basle at 5.30pm. It's FREEZING - uuugh...

Rammstein are on early, it's Sunday. The light show is huge...In 'Mein Teil' the keyboard player gets cooked in a pot with a flamethrower... This is the best show I've seen in ages - it makes Kiss look like a club show... As they 'Blitzkrieg' through 'Rammstein', the singer now has two flamethrowers on his arms! It ends with a cover of 'Stripped' by Depeche Mode... I could happily shoot this every night....

I have the cover of American Airlines in-flight magazine for December with Aerosmith - haven't seen it yet...

December 4

Last night after a fun hour in Tesco's I decide to give up on my run, it's too cold... Stay in read and see U2 on tv - I HATE U2 - got to admit they came across as very nice people, even Bono (stupid name). My phone rings at 11pm, it's Bazza. 'We're on it !!!' he proclaims. He is as usual completely out of it... 'I've got the RACKET and we're going out' - I don't think so - ' Alright, I'm on my own! I'm walking the dogs...' He then tells me he's taking a week off as he's got so much money - he might even spend it...

Wake up to a very cold but nice sunny day - I'm off to London. Have lunch with my friend Gordon Gheller, who works for Yves St Laurent. He used to work for Prada, which I much prefer...

My ipod isn't working which is driving me crazy. Go to the new Apple store on Regent Street - they have a help counter. The service is exceptional - without any complaints they offer to replace my ipod for a new one. I got my one in Miami (I was in a electronic store and the owner saw my Aerosmith pass and offered to swap an ipod for two tickets!)... Nice to see great service. I was going to Selfridge's, but there were too many people to deal with on Oxford Street - give up head home.

Get home to find out I'm going to Basle in Switzerland (probably the most boring country on earth) for Rammstein tomorrow.

Had an e-mail from Japan pointing out it's spelt manko not monko...

December 3

It's freeeeeeeeeeezing at home and I'm off to Prague, which is going to be colder, for... Rammstein.

Sooooooooooooo after rushing to Heathrow (I'm always late for airports) BA have cancelled the flight... The rest are sold out. I queue up for ages to get my eticket printed by some typical snotty-nosed BA person. I notice lots of signs about assaults on staff... I'm not surprised, they're a bunch of elitist cunts (or monko as they say in Japan - just read that on the Q magazine letters page)... I then have to run to Terminal 2 to try to get on Czech Air. Air France are the ticket desk for this - if you or I think BA are snotty, I'd forgotten why we hate the French... I have no bags to check on, it's 50 minutes until the flight leaves, they say you have to be here an hour before - sooooooooooooo Nooooooooooo, you cannot get on the flight... Fuck it, I'm going home, what a waste of a day... Leave the airport just in time for rush hour - must be my Karma...

I'm going for a run - or to Tesco's...

December 2

December 1

My sales page has expanded and is up and running - you can get sets of postcards, all mixed (I'm going to do a set of travel postcards next), plus a Ross Halfin t-shirt - and you can still buy prints. If you click on the Buy links you go to a company called Zoot Fruit who sell various other things as well. Please don't email me about the other things for sale as they are nothing to do with my site....check it out

I'm gonna update my bio page next week as it's boring and out of date...

The Q Icons show opens at the Proud gallery in Camden on Friday... Go and have a look!!!

A friend of mine has asked if I'm going to put up any travel photos from Prague... I'll see, Eastern Europe doesn't exactly inspire me and it's cold...