Rare hometown gig for Govannen. A wedding gig - with lots of Irish people over from Co Mayo and jeepers did they like to dance! - and it was a hot airless night. They were mad for it - poor dan had to sing much of the night as he does the rollicking songs and apart from jigs & reels they wanted rollicking not my ballads etc. We sold 1 Sniff the Pony CD.

In the day went shopping for another William Gibson book and new bedside clock radio CD with DAB.

Still madly hooked on that prog metal with hint of AOR album by Circus Maximus - "Isolate" - not usually a metal head or prog head (except fpr The Flower Kings) or AOR (tho I have a little TNT) but these guys hit the spot for me with this one.
 

Even tho
I'd printed 6 out I listened to the Continuum - Yttrium album and didnt like the mix on the opening track. So I remixed it, mastered it and burned and onbody printed another 6. What a nerd is I.

Then stacked up 4 vocal lines to the Forest project - the piece is mapped out - just needs harp and some magic now.

Sold a Massage Gold online to regular American subscriber, bless her.

Took a while to fix midi problem with new keyboard. Dtiver disk didn't work, online driver file didnlt work - eventually manually installed driver - success!! At last recording again - laid down a plan for a track and put down 4 synth layers. I also wrote new tune so midi recorded it to remember it. - one of those wiggly Celtic slow windy tunes - donlt know where they come from. Tracks probably for Celtic harper France Ellul's Forest themed album. My brain is oo much happier now that it's working rather than procrastinating.

In eve went for cheap meal in Stonygate efore taking Zoom recorder to Piggys Hollow to try and get some forest sounds - got buzzed by small plane so gave up but experimeted with walking in undergrowth sounds - useful.

Sooo sleepy - gonna knock self out toniht - sometimes I just get to a point where I just have to knock myself out and switch the busy brain out.



 

 

Been finding it hard to get back dwon to recording - Finally today I did set something down - then midid just vanished from the new keyboard, then there was a crash - then I had a lie down. Well - I;ve cleared the decks and started. Had some fun with the Virus and got my head thinking - having some ideas. Itls like revision for exams - i know I'll enjoy it once I start but procrastination rules. I seem to be quite sleepy these days - perhaps the muggy nights aren't giving me quality sleep.

In evening did Cactus Cafe jazz gig solo - did a few songs I;ve not doen in a while - Starting Over, Dancing Shoes, Sunrise. Was mostly kin laid back bossa mood.

I ordered a batch of cheap CDs from all over the world a while ago hoping they would arrive weeks apart. Unfortunately they;'ve arrived within days. Barely had I had time to recover from the dizzy making shoegaze of Keith Canisius (who replied to my comment onmyspace - cool), then chilled to the lowfi noodling of Tape when what should arrive than the latest album from prog metal band Circus Maximus - "Isolate" - I'd enjoyed their 1st album but I've been blown away with this one. Prog Metal with a touch of AOR - harmonies and prodigious playing. prog enough to be interesting but not so wiggly as to annoy, metal enough to rock but AOR enough for the odd catchy cheesy chorus to make earworms in your head. Quite tiring (I don;t have much prog or metal) but glorious in the car. I love the production - plus now and then they play my kind of chords.
http://www.myspace.com/officialcm
http://www.circusmaximussite.com/

Haven't doen a solo songs gig ina  while- was determined to do some new stuff. 2 fans of Peter Tork came all the way from Walsall and London to see me. Just before I went on they told me of Richard Mikuls death (from Peter's band) - Shok me I must ay - so opened with Carousel which I dedicated to Richard. I moved on to Finally which is kinda new - then went back to safety with Lifespell, Alien Slald Abduction, Bobby Caseys, and played my new song I Have Seen The Future which I;d made a couple of changes to in the afternoon. I wanted to play my new arrangement of Sunrise but ran out of time - don't like playing over my time when I;m playing support.

Michael Chapman was a fine guitarist  he goes right back to the 60s. Kindof Leonard Cohen voice with fancy fingerpicking guitar & instrumentals. Not really my bag but had nice chat with him at the end.
I sold 2 CDs Songs for Dreamers and a Storming.

I got the new album by Tape today Luminaria - very mellow and tasty as only they can do.
http://www.myspace.com/tapesthlm

I was told tonight of the death of great guitarist & singer songwriter Richard Mikuls who I got to know through Peter Tork and the Shoe Suede Blues Band who i only say a few weeks ago in Bimingham. He was a really nice guy  - only met him twice - we had a brief chat in Dudley the other week and I gave him a CD. 

I missed this in the news...
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4184481.ece

also I missed this about new solar power breakthrough
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0710-hance_solar.html

The jazz gig with Andy the Sax at the Dos Hermanos started nicely in the first set. In the 2nd set tho, the bosses (brothers - twins in fact) told us it was their birthday and they wanted to sing some songs. As might be expected from the alcohol they'd consumed, this was pretty er... loose as far as notes, lyrics and timing went. We were luckily spared to only do 3 songs a la karaoke.

Had one of those days when I wake up with headache and nothings gonna shift it. Walk, water, walks, Ibuprofen, nap - nothing really got it.

Wanted to start recording but couldn't so did little web tasks like making soundclips and webpage for new Continuum album "Yttrium" which I guess is out now.. (cue fanfare)
Continuum - Yttrium

Went to visit sister and family in Cambridge - they are over for a few weeks from Australia. One of my brothers and wife were there too. Had good old fashioned Conway family meal. It;s been years since I;ve seen some memebers of the family from down under. Gave nephew lift back to Leicester on his way to Derby.

Didn;t have a good night sleep tho so am dead tired.
Got the new Keith Canisius (from Rumskib) album Ferris Wheel  Makout - good for the journey - more shoegaze music - a bit livelier than I hoped.

Was sad to hear about the death at 90 of singer Jo Stafford - I;m not so much a fan of 50s jazz and entertainment music but she had such a great voice - I  love her version of I'll Be Seeing You

Very pleasant gig at Belper School Theatre with Dan Britton. About 40 there. We hadn't done a duo gig for a while so we kept the set safe - only new one I played was Finally. Nice to see bassist and former compadre with the Jo Freya band Dave Sturt - now with Jade Warrior. Sold 3 CDs CCDB/ Live and a Just Be Real and the 1st ever Sniff the Pony CD sale.

Finished the Continuum - Yttrium cd artwork and ran off and printed 6 copies. So that's another CD out then. This is getting silly...

Missed the delivery do had to go out of town to pick up the copies of Govannen Live - Sniff The Pony. Everything seems fine in looks and sound. Part of the duplicators deal was to get 4 free T-shirts to my design. To try out I made my design as below - silver writing on black.

Made a couple of mediums for me, long and short sleeve, and a couple of large short sleeves. Might see if folks want some - possibly sell some on the website (hard to know how many to order) or use as prizes for those signed up to my newsletter. Need a think...

Mediashack are pretty amazing - £200 - 100Cdrs, colour printing (colour 4sided booklet, colour 1sided back tray),  colour onbody printing, including vat, including postage and plus 20 x A3 colour posters and 4 free t-shirts. The package is up/downgradable in all respects. Very helpful on the phone. About a 3 day turnaround once they get it.

DVDwise - Recently watched Green For Danger 1946 (Alistair Sim). Fun but a bit starchy til Sim shows up as Inspector Cockrill - he was priceless as always. Alsosaw on hols Keeper of the Flame - 1942 (Spencer Tracey Katherine Hepburn)  - a heavy drama for this pairing but a gripping one - quite a Citizen Kane feel. Spence & Kate always worth watching.

Well it was like CD Christmas today as the postman brought a parcel containing.
new Clookai - Massage Gold CD
new CC & Llewellyn CD - Celtic Reiki
new Greeting Card & CD compilation of my new age work (scroll down page)
plus a royalty and production fee cheque :-)

Very satisfying seeing these first 2 albums come out as I put a lot of work into them. The Celtic Reiki I especially like. The card/CD is a nice feature - I especially like how they;ve doen 7min edits of 3 long tracks from Celtic Reiki as opposed to the 15min originals. Of course I had to throw some webpages up for these albums quickly. Will do one for the card/cd too sometime.

Coming on the tails of Escape Route's Pandora's Box album which is out this week, and Continuum's Yttrium  album very near completion (should finish artwork tomorrow) and Govannen's Live Sniff the Pony due back from the factory tomorrow -  it's veritably raining CDs round here!

Quadelectronic 2 was a lot of fun. We even got an audience - of 6 - which is quite something when you realise the venue is so out of the way. One was a lecturer at the DeMontfort University on electronic music etc who i;d wanted to meet for a while. Don't know what he thought of it - under a academician's gaze I had the feeling it looked  abit free jazz hippyish. Ah well. We had a nice chat about Stockhausen. Good to see Rax again too who always does so much to bring different interested parties together.

Musicianwise we were 6 self (just took theremin, flutes & fx this time - no synth), Steve & Alan Freeman on bowed things & electronics, Simon Strangeguitar on elec guitar & guitar synth, Simon Ferraby on acoustic guitar and Bob Bryars on electronic drums. We played one loooooong piece for 2 hours and 20mins. Each took time to drop out, when they liked. It was great to drop out, step outside, look at the stars, still hearing that strange music, chatting a while, then joining the fray again when you felt you could add something. Bob & Simon F add a different more regularly melodic element from the industrial sounds of the Freemans. One part we got into a really mellow major 7th jam with guitars, percussion and flutes or theremin.

Sussed the recording as well which sounded OK. Who will edit the 2h20mins down I know not. Not me thats who.

Booked Quadelectronic 3 for 19th next month. 

Fixed my soundclip situation - I found a  free 1gig web storage place that also did direct linking. www.uploadway.com - very easy and better in may ways that the paid place I was using - hope it stays alive. Links to soundclips are now fixed... I hope.

Otherwise was a sorting, day - bank, emails, shopping, unpacking, phonecalls - Ooops - in sorting a jacket for the cleaners I found a cheque for a gig from last year in a forgotten pocket. Oh dear - sent forlorn "oops" email to the payer...
The Govannen album is almost will be here later tis week and I hear Massage Giold and Celtic Reiki wont be far behind. The Escape Route albums are in a 1 out, 1 soon out situation, and the Continuum albums just need artwork and design.

Later in the day I started work sorting out the midi mess I;m in with the new synth and the computer - probably have to get a midi junction box and be done with it. One more try to sort stuff tomorrow and thats it. Need to start recording and am never in the mood after sorting technical hassles.

Not had any time to promote Quadelectronic tomorrow - ah well - just a bit of fun.

Well last night's Govannen gig was back to work with a bag - 2 hour drive each way and a 3 sets 45 + 45 + 60 outdoors in the back yard of house in Chesham. Nice people - very informal. They wanted us to continue after agreed time tho as is often the way with parties. We did an extra 15mins and with the 2 hour drive in mind called time. We sold a Water is Wide CD.
Got a bit sleepy on way home and today I am shattered. Started getting return of sore throat last night so takign things easy today.

Well a while ago the site I hire webspace to house my soundclips got bought out - thus making me change all my links to every soundclip ffrom all my albums on my website. I did that. Then a year or so later they were bought out again. I looked around for other solutions and went partially down that road but ultimately decided to stick with new company - changed all my links to the soundclips to new ones, Now... they've gone out of business. Grrrr.
So ow I need to source some webspace that lets me share music files (sadly the free space I get with BTyahoo doesn't allow music files coz of copyright worries. Then I'll have to post all the soundclips up and link them all again - goodie.,,,,
Anyone in the hive mind know of a good space to park and make music files available that lets folks download right from the link and not be set to a page to download from?

Also for folks with Zonealarm and Windows = the latest Windows update messes up Zonealarm Firewall and you have to re-install new version if you want to access internet. Found that out last night.

Sunday - drove up to Manchester stopping at various childhood places of memory. Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope, Broome Corner - our old family house for 10 years, now totally changed, Alderley Edge main street - now so many cafe's and fancy stuff and The Edge itself - only time for a little walk round but unchanged. then on to fancy appartment  - a little smaller than i;d imagined but groovy - some of the light fittings proving to be more design than function. Then dinner locally which didn't totally agree with me - cream sauces don;t like me.

Monday
- some shopping - i scored some cool books - a Bruce Sterling short story book, Fred Pohl Gateway latest part and a history of the Theremin book i;ve heard about but not seen. Unfortunately either my old cold came back or i got another bug which rather rained me in the next coupla days with mild fever to boot. We dined in and went out for walk and drink later.

Tues
Went to Tatton park which again i;d not been to since  a child. Was still feeling a bit ropey. In evening went to Wagamama for dinner which was excellent. Tofu veg noodle soup does agree with me.

Weds -
went to John Rylands Library - strange 1900 gothic churchy looking library - saw the earliest fragment of the new testament in existance about 150AD. Back to the flat fr me as was still a bit fevery. Rallied enough to go to the Theatre - hadn't been to the Royal Exchange theatre since many times as a youth - we saw Noel Coward's Hay Fever with Belinda Lang and Lysette Anthony. Top notch. Feeling a bit better.

G & I are off on summer hols til Friday - destination - swanky apartment in Manchester called "Space".
Taking laptop so should be able to log in if wifi works there.
Need a break.

Though Im not a big fan of festivals or sun I pushed self out of comfort zone and played at the Riverside Festival. Unfortunately for me it was sunny and there was some hanging around. I did a jolly set to a very appreciative big crowd for me. No CD sales but it wasn't that kind of gig where it usually happens. Got some very nice comments including a young guy who did my sound once saying how it was great that I was "still up and doing it", I guess atmy great age :-).
Was strange - I had last played the Riverside 4 years ago - then I know loads of people and there was quite a Leicester contingent on and off stage. This time I hardly knew anyone - old Vikki Bndmate Graham Dale, the soundman, and a couple of Leicester folks who found te festival by accident. I guess the world moves on in 4 years.Mind yo I got paid this time :-)
Very tired on arrival home.

set - Finally, Bobby Caseys, Alien Salad Abduction, Lifespell, Carousell, Rainbow Real, Alien Jellyfish Song.

I got a copy of Slade in Flame DVD  1975.

The Auricle label have released a CD of live recordings taken from the Bambu electronic gig with our quartet Escape Route called Pandora's Box - sounds good. Another recording is coming out soon too from another session.

Friday was  ablur of getting various things finished - I even remixed one of the electronic tracks. Getting the master and artwork off for the Govannen live album too quite a long time. In the evening Dave Kirk's 60th birthday bash was fine - 0 folks came to the Whitehouse pub scene of his regular acoustic club. I played a 3 songs in Dave's set, then guitarist/singer Mark Newman (and Daves old guitar teacher) did a set. Govannen finished up with a set. Went very well. We mostly played popular songs and didnlt deviate from the Irish stuff as I;d thought we would. We sold 11 CDs - (1 My Minds Island, 1 Bridget CD, 2 Healing Waters, 3 Celtic Fire and 4 The Water is Wide.) Dave told me afterwards they raised over 800pounds for the childrens hospice thru ticket sales and raffle.

DVDwise I watched a tough film noire Dead Reckonning 1947 with Bogart & Lizanbeth Scott - dark but quite gripping.