German trip being gradually written up but scroll past this for the latest, possibly less interesting updates...

As of 30 July, I have now written up the fifth day of the German trip...

Pics are up for the whole trip, with scintillating text gradually being added - so do pop back for the updates...

12 June - Better late than never (Edinburgh/Seligenstadt)... Completed

13 June - Let the games begin, pt 873 (Seligenstadt/Erfurt)... Completed

14 June - Into the arena (Erfurt)...Completed
15 June - Heading east (Erfurt/Leipzig)... Completed
16 June - The art of the fugue (Leipzig)... Completed

Seven days still to do...

17 June - Monumental and monumentally stupid (Leipzig)... Playlist and pics only

18 June - Heading further east (Leipzig/Dresden)... Playlist and pics only

19 June - To the environs and back again (Dresden/Meissen/Moritzburg)... Playlist and pics only

20 June - To the top and back again, twice (Dresden/Pirna)... Playlist and pics only

21 June (Dresden/Chemnitz/Hof/Furth) - Playlist only and pics only

22 June (Furth/Nuremberg) - Playlist only and pics only
23 June - (Furth/Seligenstadt/Edinburgh) - That's this one - Map, Playlist and pics only...

It's a long laborious task this keeping a diary nonsense...

Planned and unplanned and adding words...

Playlist

Ackerman - Interplay Classical (The World of Robert Ackerman, Box 1)

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentynineteen

Pet Shop Boys - Pet Shop Boys Live in Berlin

Thomas Köner - Tiento de la Luz

The Observers - Trojan Dub Rarities Box Set

Alice Cooper - Dragontown

Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet

Icehouse - Measure for Measure

Françoise Hardy - Messages Personnels (Box Set)

New Order - Technique

Peter Gabriel - New Blood

Beethoven - The Complete String Quartets

Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Neuhold)

The view from the office this morning I...

The view from the office this morning II...

The view from the office this morning III...

Last night's beast, just before being let out into the wild - it was actually orange...

Quiet breakfast at home then a visit from kind of step nephew in law Blair, who will do some work in the attic soon...

I took the opportunity to retrieve my 39 year old synthesiser and add it to the set up...

...which was followed by a run through the proposed set based on the proposed new LP...

At 12:30, into town, accompanied by a Beethoven String quartet we would hear this afternoon...

We were slightly early for our lunch date and so I took the opportunity to visit a couple of shops, partaking of my second 14CD Ring Cycle, for just five of your English pounds...

To Piccolinos at Tollcross for a lunch, with Keith and Maureen...

Good chat and very tasty sustenance enjoyed...

I started with meatballs...

..and continued with Venison pasta - Anne enjoyed a risotto...

Pasta Bolognese for Keith...

Spaghetti Vongole for Maureen...

Red wine for my cohorts, sparkling mineral water for me and lovely coffees to round things off...

Farewells said then the short walk to St Michael's and All Saints for a concert by the Roxburgh Quartet of three songs by Poulenc arranged for quartet plus Beethoven's 1st Rasumovsky, with a nice intro chat from the lead violinist...

By complete coincidence, drummer Johnny and Moira were there too, while Chloe as dancing...

An excellent and very enjoyable performance with much animated playing...

More good chat as we walked down Lothian Road, before we drove home...

Rain ensued...

As did, finally, "Luther" - the last series - we had not seen any of the previous ones...

Enjoyable..

Two episodes of four watched...

Then more music work - adding new verses to "I Have Lost My Spark" and communicating with Creeker Craig over the Whatsapp on matters...

I sent him a link to today's set run through...

...then hit the sack with Wagner in the cans...

Highlight of the Day : Everything...

On the wall or in the mirror, which is the real beast....

Playlist

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentynineteen

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentynineteen Live V2

Brian Eno - The Shutov Assembly (Expanded Edition)

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I

Lemon Juice Quartet - Peasant Songs

Culture - Two Sevens Clash: The 30th Anniversary Edition

The Unwinding Hours - Afterlives

Dave King - Indelicate

Rheostatics - Rearview [Single]

Gerhard - Complete String Quartets

Anthéne - Divisions

Schoenberg Quartet - Van Vlijmen, Vermeulen, Andriessen String Quartets

Satie - L'Œuvre Pour Piano

Brodsky Quartet - Beethoven: String Quartets, Op. 18

Valery Popov - Mozart; Weber; Hummel: Bassoon Concertos

Beastie Boys - The Sounds Of Science

Various Artists - Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film Moulin Rouge!

Various Artists - Funked!: Volume 1 1970 - 1973

Various Artists - Singerman!

Elvis Costello - The Very Best Of Elvis Costello

Corin Raymond - There Will Always Be A Small Time

Thisquietarmy - Vessels

Ackerman - Interplay Classical (The World of Robert Ackerman, Box 1)

Up early and this, the view...

Then this...

...and these...

Breakfast at home...

At lunchtime, a walk up to Tollcross and a few items chanced upon in that particular branch of the BHF...

This Canadian self financed disc is on Amazon for almost £200...

Weird - the Amazon price, not the music, that's good...

This is also Canadian but of the ambient variety...

Back home, I'd taken a chance a few days ago on a 3CD set of music by composer Robert Ackerman and it had arrived, rather swiftly...

Top notch crossover between classical and jazz...

Anne was off round to Bob's to watch Motherwell v Hearts in the League Cup with Olly and his chum Murray...

A glorious 2-1 win for the Jam Tarts...

Meanwhile, I whittled down 40 odd hours of listening into the 55 minutes for this week's podcast, recorded the links and recorded the podcast itself...

All the time, this beast was on the wall, watching, waiting...

Meanwhile, this beast has been about its business over the last seven weeks...

...but he still hasn't written up all the entries for the German trip...

Stupid beast - me, not the one on the wall..

To bed with it still there and Ackerman in the cans...

Highlight of the Day : Podcasting...

Thirty five is, sadly, too old...

Playlist

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentynineteen Live V2

Sly & Robbie - Master of Ceremony "Dub"

The Paper Kites - Twelvefour

Various Artists - Funked! Volume 1 1970-73

Matthew Florianz - Koude Handen

Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft - Fünfzehn neue DAF Lieder

Various Artists - Natural Progression Vol 01 June 1967 - December 1968

Various Artists - Brand Neu!

Valery Popov - Mozart; Weber; Hummel: Bassoon Concertos

Beastie Boys - The Sounds Of Science

Craig Armstrong - Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film Moulin Rouge!

Various Artists - Singerman!

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentynineteen

A great big Happy Birthday to Crispy the Kitten - she would have been a, frankly unfeasible for a cat, 35 years old today...

Not to worry...

She lives on with us at Crispycat Towers in some way or another...

Meanwhile, at lunchtime, I discovered the delights of Quinoa...

I was calling it Quinn-oh-ah...

I did not realise that this is what people mean when the mention Keen-wah...

Oh well...

However you pronounce it, it was tasty with last night's chili...

A visit to Dalry and some things found...

I do like a bassoon - and, for 99p, why not...

...and I have recently taken a liking to the Beastie Boys - who never appealed to me contemporaneously - go figure - over 2 hours for £1.99...

This for 50p - 2CDs - and well worth it just for Craig Armstrong and David Bowie's contributions plus Beck's cover of "Diamond Dogs"...

The above from the BHF shop...

The below from Shelter...

Funky music from it's golden age, the early 70's, for a squid...

...and an eye-watering £3 for this rare reggae comp (going for stupid prices on the Amazon)...

A late tea of chicken pasta and some ripping and listening and the final "Fake or Fortune", before working on more new files arrived from Mr Spark re the new CBQ stuff...

Good times...

Highlight of the Day : Bargains...

A return to the fives...

Playlist

Various Artists - Trojan Slack Reggae Box Set

The Moody Blues - To Our Children's Children's Children

Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde

The Move - Looking On

Chicago - Chicago Transit Authority

ABC - The Lexicon of Love

Haydn - Complete String Quartets

Françoise Hardy - The Best of Françoise Hardy

tide/edit - All My Friends

Kiss - Alive II

Stravinsky - Music For Two Pianos

Lucy Kaplansky - The Tide

Various Artists - Dub Chill Out

Supertramp - Famous Last Words

Weather Report - Heavy Weather

Brahms - Piano Works

Laurie Anderson - United States Live

Holger Hiller - Ein Bündel Fäulnis in der Grube

Bushman´s Revenge - A Little Bit Of Big Bonanza

Dave King - Indelicate

Gheorghe Zamfir - Pan Flute Improvisations

Various Artists - Island Presents: Rock Steady

Brian Eno - Apollo Atmospheres & Soundtracks

The Upsetters - Super Ape

Beethoven - The Complete String Quartets

Suzanne Vega - Suzanne Vega

Guilt Machine - On This Perfect Day

The Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!

Bartók - Solo Piano Works

David Bowie - Reality

Wallenstein - Cosmic Century

Haydn - Piano Trios Complete

Various Artists - Tighten Up Vol. 5

Jean-Michel Jarre - Metamorphoses

The Church - Priest = Aura

Chad Wackerman - Legs Eleven

Various Artists - 100 Huge Hits Of Reggae

Rodrigo - Complete Piano Works

The Unwinding Hours - Afterlives

King Crimson - ProjeKct X - Heaven and Earth

Various Artists - Jammin' - Supreme Reggae Vibes

Marillion - Clutching At Straws

Various Artists - Super 70's Reggae

Horace Silver - Finger Poppin'

Alpha Rev - New Morning

Ffwd - FFWD

Various Artists - This is Trojan

Various Artists - Punky Reggae Selecta

Various Artists - Trojan D.J. Box Set

Culture - Two Sevens Clash: The 30th Anniversary Edition

Bunny Wailer - Blackheart Man

Various Artists - DUB: Original Bass Culture

Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends

Robert Fripp - Exposure

John Lennon - Walls And Bridges

Haydn - String Quartets (Complete)

Various Composers - Meditations For All Seasons

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentynineteen

James Jamieson - Precious (Revised)

This evening, out, to the scene of the great ankle break of 2005...

Prepped and ready for action, kind of...

 
It seemed bigger than I remembered...

The ankle was back for, perhaps, one last hurrah...

It cannot be said that I played well...

My contribution, a couple of assists, a couple of defence-splitting pin point passes, a few certain goal saves and the whole of the second half spent in goals as I was knackered...

My five went one up then were never ahead again...

The farthest behind was five, we finished with a loss by two goals...

Very enjoyable...

Before...

After...

60 year old fool, playing with boys half his age - in a good way...

But home to some tasty chili...

So, you now...

Also this evening, revamped productions arrived from Edward Spark re the proposed new LP...

Sounding good...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : A return to the fives...

A life in 30 minutes...

Playlist

Freddie Hubbard - Red Clay

Clouds - Watercolour Days

Paganini - String Quartets

Spock's Beard - X

Various Artists - The Front Line : Best Of

Various Artists - Island Presents: Ska

Martin Tielli - Operation Infinite Joy

Various Artists - The Skatalites & Friends : Phoenix City

Various Artists - Trojan Presents: Dub - 40 Deep and Heavy Hits 1973-1981

Various Artists - Trojan Dub Rarities Box Set

Various Artists - Dub II

Hammock - Mysterium

Family 5 - Wege Zum Ruhm

A rare treat these days this morning...

...and, rather than shuffle, partaking of these full LPs...

Another funeral...

Brother-in-Law Bob's uncle Jack - diagnosed with dementia around ten years ago, he finally had to move into a care home around six months ago...

He took a fall and broke his hip...

To hospital and operated upon...

Back to the home but an infection kicked in and he left the world shortly afterwards at the age of just 75...

You never know what's coming...

An excellent service with much detail of a life well lived - Jack was very much into music and art and introduced his friends to much new to them music over the years...

The hole he leaves has been there for some considerable time already but now it is fully formed...

I could not make the wake, which took place at his beloved Tynecastle in their new Edinburgh Skyline overlooking Skyline Lounge...

Consequently, Anne, on her return was not in need of much in the way of sustenance, so some solo cooking was undertaken by your correspondent...

Just some vegetables really...

...with some butterfly pasta...

...and some quark and, the masterstroke, coriander...

Very tasty indeed...

...followed by some of these...

Late on, some reggae, ambience and Neue Deutsche Welle pre "Holby City"...

Then, to trying to find the source of an annoying three minutely bleep happening in the kitchen...

To bed with the mystery unsolved...

Highlight of the Day : The story of a life in 30 minutes...