Looking back over the weekend it seems to have been quite busy. On Thursday night I was at “The Big Word” poetry evening at the Tron Tavern. I was recording it on the Crispycat Mobile Facility as a test for a full scale production I’ve been commissioned to do for a special 10 Poet night they’re putting on in April.
The results are good and I have nothing but admiration for the poets who get up unaccompanied to recite from memory for 10 or 15 minutes. The material was top notch, and so different from what I’m used to in the singer-songwriter world – don’t let people tell you song lyrics are poetry set to music….
I met a couple of guys in the club, Jed and Paul. Jed’s a singer/guitarist and Paul plays flute in his band. We had an interesting chat about musical tastes and Paul and I seemed to agree that jazz was the most admirable type of music, since you have to be a good musician to play it in the first place (which puts it up with classical) but you also either play your own tunes or improvise on others’ themes (which puts it ahead of classical for us).
Friday I had the chance to go to a black-tie dinner but passed in favour of sitting in with a Takeaway from the Taj Express and watching the Simpsons double bill on Channel 4. After years of watching them on BBC2 I still can’t get used to the ad breaks. I worked late into the night writing a review of the 24 February edition of local open-mic singer-songwriter club Out of the Bedroom (OOTB).
On Saturday mornings it’s become a habit for Anne and I to grab a croissant and coffee at Patisserie Florentine in Stockbridge before heading up town for a wander. I was up early as usual though to work on various projects before heading out. We stopped off on the way to pick up a parcel from the Post Office which contained a Stars of the Lid CD I’d bought on E-Bay.
Uptown, I went to the music library to hand back the discs I’d borrowed three weeks ago. On the way, I popped into Avalanche and picked up a couple of bargains, Shivaree’s album “I Oughta Give You a Shot in the Head for Making Me Live in This Dump” and Oh Susanna’s eponymous debut CD. Michael Nyman’s soundtrack to “The Draughtsman’s Contract” made it 3 for £5.
At the library, I swapped Lou Donaldson, Alex Harvey, Sigur Ros, Charlie Haden, Wilco (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – great CD), James Blood Ulmer and 3 John McLaughlin CDs for discs by Neal Casal, Darden Smith, John Scofield, Keith Jarrett, John McLaughlin (again – can’t get enough!), Joe Farrell, Steve Arguelles and a 6 CD Box called “Treasures of European Music” which takes the history of European classical music through from 5th Century Greece to 20th Century music from the Baltic States.
On Saturday night I started this Blog and stayed up till around 2:30am pottering about and then up on Sunday morning at 7 am to start work on the new CBQ project - a series of CD singles to introduce the songs that’ll be on the new album.
Sunday’s pretty well covered by previous entries on the blog – but I have to mention the meal at The Howgate again – it, and its sister restaurant No 3 in Royal Terrace, really are two of the best places to eat in the Edinburgh area.
As for today, well I finally started organising the 2004 Christmas awards night for our various 5-a-side pools – we have two or three games on a week – I’ve been playing on and off for nearly 25 years - I think I’m one of the few originals left in the pack. I'm a little bit behind on this project!
On Wednesday (after playing football) I’m going to see a concert by the Edinburgh Quartet with James Clapperton on piano. The programme includes the first performance of a new work for piano and string quartet commissioned by ECAT to celebrate Edinburgh composer, Robert Crawford's 80th birthday
The full programme is :-
Xenakis - Tetora for string quartet; Xenakis - Evryali for solo piano; Crawford - New work, for piano and string quartet (1st performance, ECAT commission); Crawford - String Quartet no.2 op.8; Clapperton - Capricci for solo violin; Xenakis - Akea for piano and string quartet
Iannis Xenakis is a French composer born in Romania to Greek parents, while Robert Crawford lives and works mainly in Edinburgh. His first quartet was written in 1949. This prior commitment to contemporary classical music means I’m having to turn down an invite from my friend, sometime musical cohort and now budding stand-up comic, Jim Park, to go along to The Stand Comedy Club to see the very funny, Richard Herring.
Coming soon to the same venue as the ECAT night, The Queen’s Hall here in Edinburgh, are Laurie Anderson the New York performance artist and Karl-Heinz Stockhausen, one of the Godfathers of electronic music – in fact they’re appearing on consecutive nights at the end of April. Laurie Anderson's a must see - I first saw her at the very same venue back in 1981 just after her big hit single "O Superman".
Tonight, while Anne was out keep-fitting, I rehearsed my potential three song set which I might play at OOTB this Thursday. “A Place For You”, “Love and War” and “All The Flowers In The World”. I’ve paired down the intro to the first song but found I can’t leave it out altogether as I can’t remember how the singing goes at the start if the intro’s not played – pathetic!
Now I’m off to phone my old chum Dr Prog, the weird Mr Phil Weitzen for it is he whom I will accompany on Wednesday to ECAT and I want to ask if he’s up for Laurie and Karl-Heinz next month – Anne will certainly come to see Ms Anderson but probably not the Stock-man. Steve Harley is rumoured to be coming to the Usher Hall in December though and that’s is another kettle of fish altogether.
Ending on a sadder note, I read today of the death of DJ Tommy Vance, he of the gravely voice and Friday Rock Show fame – the John Peel of rock they’re calling him now….RIP.
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