Teacher's pet...

Albums of the day:
Yes - The Ultimate Yes (Disc 1)
Kino - Picture
Imperial Drag - Imperial Drag
Dio - Master Of The Moon

Up late - i.e. 8 am...

Went downstairs and wrote up my "Book of CDs"...

This is a book in which I have recorded all my CDs in chronological order since my first purchase, Brian Eno's "Thursday Afternoon" in 1985. ...

I've been a bit lax lately, not having written anything in it since the end of February, so I have two months worth of CDs to write up...

My total as at end April 2006 stands at 4,300. This means that, since April 2003, I have bought 1,000 CDs...

At present I am listening to around 3 or 4 CDs a day. Being generous, I could say 4 CDs per day. That means, listening to the same amount every day, and never choosing the same CD twice, it would take until around 20 April 2009 for me to listen to every Cd I have - and that assumes no further purchases...

Clearly there is a problem here....

I am ill...

Anyway, today was"get OOTBCD4" finished day - and I spent 8 or 9 hours working on that following the completion of the last two sessions on Wednesday...

By around 6pm I was finished - burned the mock up - e-mailed all the artists etc etc...

It sounds pretty good too...

After that I determined to write a song...

I worked on chord sequences and a melody line, re-set up the studio after Wednesday's session and quickly got the guitar and a hummed melody onto Cakewalk. The we had a Chinese takeaway...

I forgot to mention that, while I was working on OTBCD4, Anne was out at Hearts v Celtic...

Finally, finally, justice has been done. Hearts thrashed the potato pickers 3-0...

After tea, we watched Corrie and then Waterloo Road, a BBC drama re a school. The story line of a teacher having an affair with his teacher wife's teacher best friend inspired me to write the lyrics for the new song - although it doesn't mention teachers anywhere...

Spent until 10:30 finishing that off then burned a wee CD of my five new songs since Deeperdown - looks like I might have another album ready before 2007...

The new song's called "Go Away (And Leave Me Here)" - another happy one - ha ha I am funny (as Richard Herring might say...)

Highlight of the Day : Hearts 3 Celtic 0 (and writing ANOTHER new song...)

Burning and being thrashed...

Albums of the day
Terje Rypdal – Lux Aeterna
Isaac Hayes – Shaft
CBQ – Deeperdown
Asia – Heat of the Moment
Porcupine Tree – Deadwing
Rheostatics – Best of
Dar Williams – Best of

Up at 7 and to the computer to continue the fulfilling of the big “Deeperdown” order...

By 9:30 the final batch of CDs is completed from the point of view of burning and printing...

Still need to do the covers but the deadline’s still a couple of weeks away, so I figure I’m ahead of schedule...

By this time Anne is up and by 9:45 we’re on our way to the usual breakfast haunt – don’t need to tell you the name but, here’s a pic...



I took a couple of pics of Anne today - she's very nice don't you think?







Fill up the car with petrol on the way back and buy two Cadbury’s Crème Egg Dairy Milk Bars for the journey down to Dumfries...

Then try to compile and burn a couple of CDs for the journey but the PC spits the first one out half way through and it’s time to go so I grab the 1CD Best of Rheostatics and 2CD Best of Dar Williams I compiled last weekend...

We drive down the A701, the tourist route – and it’s beautiful and quiet. I don’t much like the route that takes me down the M74 and this is a pleasant change....

It takes around an hour and half to get to Dumfries and we go straight to Palmerston Park. I buy a programme and a new QoS key ring and then it’s into the club bar for a drink. The players who aren’t in the squad today are in the bar having a drink with the fans...

Then in to the game. This is only my second time of seeing the Queens live this season. It’s the last game of the season. My last game was the first game of the season – thrashed 4-0 by St Johnstone in Perth....

Today, in a disastrous four minute spell around 3:25, QoS go 3-0 down and it’s all over really....

At half time Kilmarnock are beating Rangers 1-0 and Aberdeen are beating Hibs 2-0 – both good situations for any Hearts fan so Anne’s mood is up despite the Queens’ drubbing...

In the second half, the team is much better (later today the manager apologised to the fans for experimenting in the first half, which led to the triple goal loss) and after five minutes we pull one back...

So Queens won the second half 1-0...

Here are a couple of goalmouth incidents - the terrace at the back is unused due to danger - the crowd was around 3,000...





After the game we get back to the car to find Rangers have come back to beat Killie 3-1 while Aberdeen have gone on to thrash Hibs 4-0...

We stop off in Moffat for an excellent Indian at Bombay Cuisine, run by a couple of Glaswegians – then it’s back to Edinburgh and we finish off the day with “Dr Who”, “CSI:NY” and “Law & Order:Criminal Intent”...

Highlight of the Day : Return to Palmerston (despite the defeat)

I raise you one year and will "see you"...

Albums of the day:
Peter Gabriel - Up
Chad Wackerman - Forty Reasons
Grand Funk - Shinin' On

No visit to FOPP today but I did pop into Virgin and found Isaac Hayes' "Shaft" at £3.99 and bought that....

It is deemed by Anne to be "hardly music of any consequence" as I put it forward for our listening pleasure as we drive out to Loanhead tonight to visit my mum. Instead we partake of Dar Williams' latest album "My Better Self" - it is indeed better than "Shaft"...

My mum's not been well this week but, by tonight, is almost back to normal. We do however argue over who has had the longest lasting illness when Anne mentions my ankle may take up to a year to heal....

My mum ups the ante with a two year period of "not being quite right" following a bout of septesemia a few years back. I vow to take two years and a day to allow my leg to heal...

She's on reasonably good form despite her recent woes and a good night is had by all...

Anne and my mum agree that my coffee making leaves something to be desired however...

Back home, I fall asleep on the settee watching the drivel that is "Jonathon Ross"...

Highlight of the Day : A visit to my mum's

The luckiest man alive - not autobiographical...

To FOPP again today- 4th day in a row - still nothing, although a few things are beginning to form short list...

Albums of the day on the Jukebox:
Mogwai - Happy Songs (F)or Happy People
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Lucy Kaplansky - The Red Thread
Peter Gabriel - Long Walk Home (Rabbit Proof Fence OST)

Went along to OOTB tonight for the 4th week in a row - it's a long time since I've done that...

Ironically, if I hadn't spent 15 minutes rehearsing the three songs I intended to play - "I Still Write You Letters", "Happy Song" and "The Luckiest Man Alive" - I would've got my name on the board a bit sooner...

As it was, I was 12th and there were 11 slots - so I became a "squashee" just before the first break and played "The Luckiest Man Alive"..

It went down well and I was pleased with the performance...

Scott Renton gave me a disc with two short videos - my performances of "I Still Write You Letters" from the last night at The Waverley and last week's rendition of "Hello Hello" - interesting souvenirs but probably not for public consumption....

Caught up with Emily Scott and we compared notes on the Dar Wiliams show on Tuesday - she said she'd seen me bopping up the front...

Had a chat also with Lindsay Sugden (whose blog you can read here http://lindsaysrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/) she's started posting a lot more in the last week and we discussed the principles of daily posting and the problems of constantly playing catch up (as I'm doing now at an ungodly hour on a Saturday morning)...

Lindsay, as well as being a superb guitarist, also plays bass in Flowers for Algernon and has her own band Chocyamo - so she's a busy lady - what with doing her PhD and digging holes in Iceland (???)...

My real reason for going along tonight though, was to retrieve my capo, which I had inadvertantly left behind last week, attached to the black house guitar...

I'd been given the impression by various members of the committee that it had been found...

In the event though, it's nowhere to be seen. And so, it must be concluded that some thieving BASTARD has swiped a capo they've known wasn't theirs...

Of the acts I saw tonight before heading home around 9:30, I was most impressed by Emily and Lindsay...

Back home, I watched a couple of hours of telly before heading for bed...

Highlight of the Day : Playing my new song in front of an audience

Playing catch up...

To FOPP again today (this time the Cockburn St branch – still nothing....

Albums of the day on the Jukebox:
Craig Armstrong - As If To Nothing
Isaac Hayes - Black Moses
ELO - ELO 1

Tonight I finally finished off the recordings for OOTBCD4. Indigo Rose and Danny Dyer had missed their original sessions through illness and so the committee arranged for us to meet up again at The Waverley...

Indigo Rose and her band were late this time so I took Danny first...

He has a trance like style of playing his Spanish acoustic guitar and his voice is badly affected by his ongoing throat cancer which was the reason for his missing the original session...

His three song set was entertaining and I especially liked the touch of attaching two egg shakers to his foot with velcro to provide some percussive backing...

Some man!

Indigo Rose played at OOTB last Thursday (for which I’m still to write my review – argh) and spent around 10 minutes (at least) tuning up her guitar...

Tonight, with two guitars (Ms Rose and Norman Lamont- the latter via several synthesiser type effects), bass and flute (Fraser Drummond) to be tuned, we were 25 minutes into the alloted 30 before the group was anywhere near ready to play..

Since no-one else was due to be recorded we played on for an extra twenty minutes or so and managed to get down three or four takes of her song – I’ll probably use the last, in which we plugged the bass directly into the desk to get rid of a very annoying buzz...

Whist I enjoyed these sessions, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy they are all now finished – of course it’s a bit of a back to the drawing board situation now re the final production of the CD as these two additions may well lead me to change song choices for others, running order etc etc...

I’ll work on that on Sunday...

Re the OOTB review, John Barclay of Impossible Songs has set the bar rather high with his review of my two songs on the night:

“By not starting with what would have been a very appropriate and relevant “Hello Hooray” cover by Alice Cooper, CBQ disappointed a large chunk of the OOTB audience (those born before 1972). Apparently his version was rejected at an early stage of rehearsal due to lyrical height and weight restrictions and some sage like advice from Mrs CBQ (Executive Producer). Maybe we’ll hear it the next time OOTB moves (?). So instead we got a smooth original rendition of “The Happy Song”, which on a superficial level seemed happy enough, though the references to Ice Cream vans and “take some of them and a couple of those” suggest some darker aspects of modern happiness but I believe that’s the way folks live out by Corstorphine these days.

Next was a particularly well chosen (if slightly awkward for the listener) cover of a certain Mr Paul Gadd’s “Hello Hello”. I didn’t recollect or remember that there was much to the song, as CBQ laconically stretched it out to five minutes or so (I must have mixed it up with some other seventies piece of pop jumble). Anyway it was played and sung at a slow and sombre pace with whispered “oohs” replacing Mr GG’s lusty grunts and rock n’ roll bellowing. This soulful, brave and ironic version of a song from the black back catalogue of things we’d all rather not think about caught the now steadily growing OOTB audience slightly off balance. I rather liked that and the fact that it’s sometimes pretty good to be misunderstood, understand?”

Cheers John!!

Elsewhere today – discussions with webmeister Craig re adding Paypal to the new version of the Crispycat Website (current version at http://www.crispycat.co.uk/) which he’s working on...

Ian Sclater also writes requesting MP3 versions of his album to upload to his website – currently under construction (http://www.iansclater.com/)...

And so, back home after the session, and after watching “Grand Designs” – in which a couple converted a concrete water tower into a modern home, or rather built a modern home around it – and a low key episode of “Desperate Housewives” – I did some converting, some e-mailing and some updating of the diary which I’d let slip since the weekend...

And now to bed at 1am as Ian’s song “The End of Another Day” aptly plays on the headphones.....

Highlight of the Day : John Barclay’s review of CBQ

A cheapskate foiled again...

For the second day in a row I visited FOPP to try and spend my recently won £20 token - but found nothing...

This week, I’ve been choosing a couple of albums a day to listen to rather than having the jukebox on shuffle...

So far I’ve chosen:-
Air - 10,000hz Legend
Freddie Hubbard – A Soul Experiment
Dar Williams – My Better Self
Sigur Ros - Takk

In addition, today on CD I’ve been listening to a new arrival from e-bay. The Violet Archers’ “End of Part One” – main man of the group is Tim Vesely of Rheostatics. He writes the most tuneful numbers of the three main writers in Rheostatics and this is a good little album...

We listened to it as we made our way into town tonight to see Dar Williams...

I think this is the fifth time I’ve seen her since discovering her music in 1996 – oh dear 10 years ago already - aarrgghhh!!!

Interesting increase in ticket prices over the years (without her UK popularity increasing that much, though she regularly fills 2,000 seaters in the states)...

1996 £4
1998 £6
2000 £8
2002 £10
2006 £14 (ticket shoes £12 though - see below)

I am quite sad when it comes to Ms Williams – I still have all my tickets and a few hand-written set lists....

Before the gig, we dined at The Baked Potato Shop in Cockburn St – Cheese, Onion & Pinapple all round – when we had our record shop in St Mary’s Street, every Saturday one of us would run up to the baked potato shop to buy our lunch – happy days...

The shop was once owned by my old footballing buddy, the now, like me, crocked David Bann, who owns a celebrated veggie restaurant in St Mary’s Street these days, though his old recipes still grace his original shop – the aforementioned Baked Potato Shop....

Comedian Jim Park – the man involved in my ankle breaking incident - has a stake in the restaurant and looks like he gets too many free meals these days though I’m reliably informed he’s recently started exercising again after a “Supersize Me” style binge of excess...

We washed down the tatties with a coffee from Starbucks before heading down to Cabaret Voltaire...

I had held off buying tickets beforehand as I object to the addition of so-called booking fees which, in this case, inflated the price from £12 to £13. I was, however, hoist by my own petard as the on-door price was £14 – a cheapskate foiled again...

Inside we bumped into Emily Scott, one of the singers I recorded recently for the next OOTB CD. At the session she’d told me she only knew one Dar Williams song – and even then, not that well – maybe she was there because I’d told her how good Dar is – or maybe not...

As we sat at the side of the room listening to opening act Adriana (from Livingston) I found it amazing that people have so readily quit smoking in pubs and clubs. It’s great...

Tonight was the first time I’d seen Dar with her band (in the US she usually plays with a band but on her UK tours she usually plays solo). The band rocked – she had the coolest bassist (Mike Visceglia) I’ve ever seen I think – he looked like a cheeky cross between Dustin Hoffman and John Cale....

Her long time drummer is Steve Holley ex of McCartney’s Wings. Her guitarist is Ben Butler – whose fretwork was most impressive indeed...

What a great concert – even though we were squashed in amongst all the lesbians up at the front of the stage – I don’t have anything against lesbians of course and, for some reason, Dar has a huge gay female fanbase – I think many people thought she was gay when she first started out but she’s now married with a kid...

Unlike previous DW gigs, we didn’t hang about to meet and greet but headed home, again listening to Mr Vesely...

We rounded off the day with a hilarious episode of “My Name is Earl” on video...

A good day...

Highlight of the Day : Dar Williams In Concert

Circumstances...

I intended going to the gym tonight while Anne was at her “Keep Fit” class. However circumstances defeated my good intentions and I arrived home too late to fulfill my ambition...

Instead I finished off the new song and watched two episodes of Corrie taped earlier this evening...

That was about it...

Nighlight of the Day : Finishing “The Luckiest Man Alive”

Party time...

Up early as usual for Sunday and finish off the Jukebox spring clean. Tracks reduced from 12,906 to 11,559 and spare GBs increased from 0.361 to 6.662...

Anne finally surfaces around 10 and at 11 we’re off out for a late breakfast at Patisserie Florentin...

We are back home by around 12:30 and Anne decides to do some gardening whilst I go to the studio and start writing a new song...

By 1:45 I have the basics of the chord sequences and have “hummed” the melody and some rough guitar onto Cakewalk...

Then to the Queen’s Hall for a concert by “Gael Force”, a quintet comprising members of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra – flute, oboe/cor anglais, french horn, clarinet and, on bassoon, Anne’s cousin Alison (whose husband, Lawrence plays clarinet in the Orchestra of Scottish Opera)...

Before entering the hall we sit in the car listening to Celtic and Rangers playing out a nil-nil draw. We’d rather Celtic won to help Hearts out...

Anne’s aunt has procured us tickets in the second row and the concert is a good one. The individual sound of each instrument stands out to give an interesting overall sound which isn’t possible with a larger group...

Alison plays on all the pieces which comprise Grieg’s Norwegian Dances, a Wind Trio by Kevin McRae who, until his tragic death death last year, was cellist with the SCO for 18 years, a piece by Sally Beamish “The Naming of Birds” (Sally was in the audience) and, finally, Nielsen’s Wind Quintet....

After the concert we’re off to Jane and Bobby’s for nephew Ollie’s birthday party. It’s a reasonably big family do with around 15 people including the birthday boy. As usual, Jane excels herself with her culinary skills and produces huge dishes of Mexican Chicken and Lasagne. As a starter, Bobby cooks up some cheese, onion and chili tortillas...

Pudding is a choice of Banoffie Pie, Offie Pie (sans bananas for Olllie’s benefit) or Cherry Tart with Ice Cream. Mmm mmm...



The day was finished off with a slice of Scooby Doo birthday cake...



What a polite wee by - although there was rather a distasteful tantrum at one point, due to an inability to properly control Winnie the Pooh's movements in some kind of video game...

Back home at kiddie’s bedtime and I get to work on lyrics for the new song...

By the end of the night I have the makings of my third song of the year – working title “The Luckiest Man Alive” – a version wil be uploaded to Myspace (www.myspace.com/cloudlandbluequartet) as soon as I get a decent version down...

Highlight of the Day : Jane’s Banoffie Pie

Up, up and away...

Up early, or rather, late by my usual Saturday standards. A quick breakfast with Anne of croissants and coffee and then off to see Helen the toe lady at 9:15 for a once over of the (now over one year on) sore toe...

Not too bad today..

Back home and pick up Anne and then we drive out to Pathhead for one of the Christmas presents I gave her last year – a helicopter trip over Edinburgh...

Although a bit nervous, this is something Anne’s always wanted to do and she really enjoyed it – even although it was a short trip....here are some pics...

We then drove from Pathhead to Gifford in East Lothian to the Goblin Ha’ for lunch. It’s said that the Hotel is built over the medieval Goblin Hall which was built by goblins and fairies...

Our soundtrack was The Move’s “Message From the Country” which arrived this morning in the mail...

We ate so much that we didn’t need anything else all day...

After a walk around the sleepy village (no, that's not us on the horses...)

...we drove back to Edinburgh, this time the soundtrack was Cloudland Blue Quartet’s “Deeperdown”...

Back home, Anne tuned in to the afternoon footie commentaries – featured match Hibs v Hearts. On the net, I kept an eye on Brechin v Queen of the South and Stranraer v St Mirren while continuing to fulfill the large order for Deeperdown which needs to be delivered in around three weeks’ time....

Disaster as Hibs score a late winner to take the derby 2-1 but glory for QoS as they draw with bottom of the table Brechin while Champions St Mirren beat Stranraer. And so the mighty Queens escape the play offs and will be in Division One next season for the fifth consecutive year...

I have to say though that, despite the miraculous turnaround since January when we were 12 points behind Stranraer (we’re now five ahead with one game left), QoS must be relegation favourites next year again (as I suppose they are every year)...

In the four years so far (in each of which we’ve been relegation favourites) we’ve finished 5th, 5th, 4th and now 8th. Needless to say I’ll be down in Dumfries next week for the last game of the season, against Dundee....

Although I am a hoodoo, there’s now nothing at stake and I can just go and enjoy the match...

In the evening we watched “CSI New York” and “Law & Order Criminal Intent”...

Also today, in a bout of Spring cleaning, I saved all the classical tracks from my jukebox onto two DVD-Rs and wiped them from the jukebox, freeing up 6.5 Meg of space...

Highlight of the Day : Queens are staying up...

Cracking and clicking...

Nice day again today...

Early morning I had to take the car to the garage for some work on its computer. I merely delivered it and didn’t get involved in any shenanigans – unlike this time last year when it all got a bit fraught between me and Arnold Clark...

Near the garage is a pub that opens from 7am till 11pm – I had an idea for a short film – the first two or three minutes of every hour from 7am through to 11 pm with me having to keep drinking all day for 17 hours – now that’s what I call time-lapse photography...

Last night I noticed a pronounced clicking sound from my still broken ankle, accompanied I mst say by quite a considerable amount of pain - and so, today, I phoned the infirmary around 10am. They offered me an appointment in a week’s time but I wanted to get it seen as soon as possible so I ended up going out there for 11:30...

Arrived at 11:15 and wandered around for a bit – I took this photo of a painting which hangs just inside the main door - it's called "Untitled" and is by Peter Talbot...



By 11:25 I was at the correct department but only to be told the clinic was running an hour behind schedule....

Nonetheless I was called to see the doc at around 11:50 – was sent to X Ray – recalled – then the situation was discussed at length (you know, around 7 minutes or so). The black line of the fracture is still visible but ever so slightly fainter than it was around six weeks ago at my last visit – so still broken then...

The clicking is something I’ll need to get used to as it may never go away – apparently it’s caused by the soft tissue around the break...

And the pain?

Yes, that could take up to a year to return to normal...

Great...

Back home, and Anne and Meg are in the back garden to meet me....



Minutes after this photo was taken, a bottle of red wine was cracked open and consumed in the garden....

Lovely...

However, I ended up being hit by a hangover just as it was time for bed...

On telly, Green Wing and Law and Order – during which Anne accused me of snoring – didn’t hear it myself though....

In the headphones tonight “Isaac Hayes Live at the Sahara Tahoe” a double live album I bought on vinyl around 1974 I think and which is one of my favourite live albums...

Highlight of the Day : Being told the cracking noise from my leg is "normal" for my condition...

Coals to Newcastle...

Today, I bought Jethro Tull’s “Warchild” in what will hopefully be my last visit to the Virgin clearout...

Back home Girls Aloud’s “Chemistry” arrived from play.com in Jersey...

A swift tea, a quick rehearsal of my two tunes and then it was off to Out of the Bedroom, which now starts and ends an hour earlier than before...

Girls Aloud are blaring in the car as I drive along...

Very good...especially "Biology" and "Whole Lotta History"...



CBQ is 2nd on the board after Norman Lamont whose violinist, Mary, was first in to the new venue which, coincidentally, she used to manage...

Soon the committee arrive and we set out all the chairs and a couple of tables while the PA, mics and guitars were unpacked and put in place...

A quick burst of activity saw 12 names on the board and, by 7:50 we had all the slots filled – discounting the 8 o’clock and two in the night for breaks – although in the end one of the breaks was done away with to fit more acts in....

I was reviewing the night and sat up at the back next to the mixing desk...

Around 9 or so, just before the break, I played my two songs. The “Happy Song” went down well and there were a few gasps of recognition as I started to sing the Glitter number, then laughs and occasional singing along....

I enjoyed it, but was very nervous – leaving my capo behind on the guitar without realising. Hopefully I’ll get it back at some point...

By the time I played, the room was packed. I counted over 50 in the place – many of whom had to be denied a slot – this bodes well for the club...

James Jamieson arrived just in time to have missed my songs by a whisker...

I ended up winning the raffle – for once something decent – a £20 FOPP token - comments were made as to whether or not I needed a token for even more CDs...

The music ended around 11:10 but I stayed on chatting with Jamie and various others incl Hannah O’Reilly, Scott Renton, Tommy Mackay, John Barclay and Jim Igoe..

Scott is going to send me a couple of video clips – my set tonight and my first song from last week, while Jim Igoe has an MP3 of my whole set from last week...

An enjoyable evening and I was still able to head home slightly earlier than usual but not the full hour I’d promised Anne...

Girls Aloud once again provided the soundtrack..."I'm talkin' 'bout a whole lorra histrie..."

Highlight of the Day : A good first night for OOTB at its new venue

Making progress...

Nice day today but still quite cold for mid April I think....

Tonight I burned the final master for Ian Sclater's CD "It's Weird In Here" to give to Ian tomorrow. Hard to believe it's over a year since we started out on this project. It took a lot longer than expected but produced some good results...

Ian's having an initial run of 300 CDs made. If you'd like a copy, e-mail him at iansclater@yahoo.co.uk - he'll be chuffed to get your mail - just tell him Mr CBQ sent you...

Since Mr Bidini's book arrived yesterday, I've been listening soley to Rheostatics (apart from checking Ian's CD of course) and, despite the fact I already have a self compiled 2CD best of, I made a new single disc compilation tonight, making sure to include at least one track from every studio album (so excluding their film soundtrack and their double live CD)....

Final track listing (which will mean absolutely nothing to most of you but ypou can sample all these tracks here : http://www.zunior.com/by_artist.php?filter=R ) was:-
The Ballad Of Wendel Clark Parts 1 & 2
Saskatchewan
Self Service Gas Station
California Dreamline
Palomar
Row
Claire
Northern Wish (Group of 7 Version)
An Offer
Invisible Stairs
Stolen Car (1st Version)
These Days Are Good For The Canadian Conservative Youth Party Alliance
P.I.N.
We Went West
Marginalised
Here Comes The Image
Making Progress

Superb!!
(despite the fact that every one of these tracks is on my 2CD compilation....)

Also tonight I rehearsed my set for tomorrow at OOTB. I'll be playing my brand new song, working title "Happy Song", and a cover of Gary Glitter's "Hello Hello (I'm Back Again)"...

Sister Pam suggested Soft Cell's "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" to which I responded:

"I'd already thought of that - and I've recorded a version of this song before, around 1994 or 95 I think. But I know of at least one other person who's doing it. I think someone might possibly think of doing the Glitter song but no-one would've thought of "Hello Hooray" or "Welcome Back My Friends" - problem is they sound sh*te when I sing them...."

Was hoping to watch "Desperate Housewives" tonight but Anne fell asleep so surfed the net instead and spent some time setting up a new Myspace site...

Then I was on a roll re compilations and turned my ears to the lovely music of Dar Williams, who's playing at the Cabaret Votaire here in Edinburgh on Tuesday, a stage which CBQ has graced a few times over the last three years or so...

And so it was that 40 tracks for a 2CD Best of Dar Williams compilation were selected and the discs burned before heading for bed around 1am...

Highlight of the Day : Rheostatics Frenzy

For those about to rock...

My Dave Bidini book arrived today. Apart from watching, in the background that is, AC Milan v Barcelona, and later, “CSI”, I spent the evening reading it, whilst listening to Dave’s music on shuffleplay on the jukebox…

I was not put off by the warning in the opening paragraphs that if I was 40 or over, the book wasn’t for me. I read on, and read on, and read on – until I finished the book just before going to bed…

It’s aimed at “young” people who are “about to rock” and is a series of anecdotes from Dave’s 20 odd year career with one of my fave bands, Rheostatics, designed to let “young” people who are “about to rock” know what it could be like and suggesting to them how they might get over the possible pitfalls of (amongst other things):-

Deciding what to play?
Dealing with tensions among the musicians?
When one person becomes more popular than the others
Getting to gigs
What do you wear?

I certainly enjoyed it and it led me to browse through Dave’s other “rock” book “On a Cold Road” which described his groups adventures as they criss-crossed the Northern Wastes in 1996 in support of a group called The Tragically Hip, who are stadium-playing superstars of rock in their native Canada…

Nice books Dave…

Highlight of the Day : Dave Bidini’s “For Those About to Rock”

The "greatest painting” apparently...

I just couldn’t stay away...

And so today Isaac Hayes’ 1969 classic “Hot Buttered Soul”, Shivaree’s “Who’s Got Trouble?” from last year (including a lovely cover of Brian Eno’s “The Fat Lady of Limbourg”), “The Very Best of Asia”, which I bought for two hard to find B Sides included in this compilation from 2000, and a 6CD box set, culled from the EMI vaults, called “Best of the 80’s” (I know that’s a bit of a contradiction in terms but hey, it was only £3.99) all joined my collection from the basement of Virgin on Princes Street...

Once again I had others in my hand but put them back...

Back home I listened to the Shivaree album while Anne prepared a spicy goulash – which turned out to be the best goulash I’ve ever tasted – and then made my way upstairs to finalise my proposed cover version of Alice Cooper’s “Hello Hooray”...

It just wouldn’t work though – it ended up sounding more like Judy Collins’ version – limp and lacking in any power whatsoever in comparison to the benchmark set by the Coop back in ’73...

I went back downstairs for the superb goulash, which we ate whilst watching a documentary on a fresco painting called “The Resurrection” by Piero della Francesca which you can read about here : http://www.artchive.com/artchive/P/piero/resurrex.jpg.html

And here is the painting, once described by Aldous Huxley as “the greatest painting in the world”...



As Coronation Street was about to start, I was bemoaning the failure with “Hello Hooray” when Anne, who’d been listening outside the door whilst I’d been trying to sing the Cooper song and, no doubt, laughing, suggested “that one by Emerson Lake and Palmer that goes “Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends””...

Aha, “you mean Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression Part Two” I said, but she was already watching Corrie and so I went back upstairs and spent 40 minutes or so working out the main chords for this prog tour de force, changed the key and rendered into a country and western song...

So that wasn’t working...

Finally, I fell back on the song that sprang into my head when I first heard there was to be a theme of “Hello” on Thursday night...

If I get a slot, I’ll be paying homage to the pariah who was once one of Britain’s biggest pop stars, Mr Gary Glitter, by murdering his 1973 hit “Hello Hello (I’m Back Again)" – and I may well not be the only one to cover it, it’s so obvious, although I imagine the wags at OOTB will change the lyrics to something relating to Mr Glitter’s more recent notoriety...he did write a fine tune or two though before he was caught out...

By 9:50 it was listened to, chords worked out, lyrics transcribed and the tune rehearsed a few times and I settled down to listen to Isaac Hayes and Asia followed by the highlights from the weekend’s SPL games...

Hmm, all three songs considered for covering were from 1973....

Highlight of the Day : Anne’s culinary delights once again

Another happy song...

Woke at around 5:30 and couldn’t sleep...

Up at 6 and on to the computer. I did some stats on QoS’s form since the turn of the year – they’re the third best team in the league after newly crowned champions St Mirren and yesterday’s victims St Johnstone (who, in fact, were unbeaten this year until yesterday)...

Posted a couple of comments on the QoS board to this effect, then went downstairs and I made breakfast...

At 9:30, we watched yesterday’s 1st Division highlights including the mighty Queens...

Then I uploaded around 150 new tracks to the Jukebox – only half a gig of space left now...

Then to the Gym where I spent 40 minutes walking on the treadmill and ten minutes “running” on the cross-trainer. My ankle’s still very sore...

Meanwhile Anne and Meg were gardening...

Back home I picked up the guitar to serenade Anne and accidentally came up with a couple of new chord sequences. So I quickly fired up the computer and managed to get the bare bones of a song (acoustic guitar and hummed melody) on to Cakewalk...

Then we drove over to Leith for an Easter Day lunch (Anne was suitably surprised by her Big Chocolate Egg this morning)...

After a walk around the area, we ended up at Guilianos for soup (me) bruschetta (Anne) and a pizza. Very nice indeed....

By the time we got back to the house it was around 3:30 and, while Anne listened to the radio commentary of Celtic v Hibs (1-1 good result all round), I went back upstairs and finished off writing what’s now the third song for my next album...

So far I have:-

The End of Everything
I Still Write You Letters
Happy Song (ok that’s a working title)

I recorded five different versions of it but, as usual I’ll probably go with the slow version, even though it was supposed to be an attempt at a “happy” song – after accusations of being suicidal when I sang the other two on Thursday night...

While Anne watched “Emmerdale” and “Coronation Street” I updated the diary with the weekend’s activities...

And then worked out the chords for Alice Cooper's "Hello Hooray" which I might sing at OOTB on Thursday when the theme is "Hello" re the new venue...

Finished off the day watching a documentary on the Queen, followed by “Match of the Day 2”...

Highlight of the Day : Writing a new song

Fingers still crossed...

Slept in till 9:30 then started on the large order for my “Deeperdown” album which is due to be delivered on 18 May...

Whilst doing this, I continued to MP3-ise my latest CD purchases...

Around an hour later we drove to (surprise surprise) Patisserie Florentin for breakfast – bacon roll for me today....

No visit round the music shops today though – I’ve bought too much over the last few days...

Indeed, since 1985, I have bought on average 4 CDs a week. That’s four CDs every week for 21 years!!!

Jeez-oh...

On the way home we stopped off at Homebase for some new fencing for the garden and I also invested in a paper-trimmer to aid the quicker production of CD sleeves...

Then back home to continue on the “Deeperdown” project...

At 2, took Anne round to her mum’s for prep for the Hearts game, today versus Kilmarnock...

I went into town to buy some DVD and CD boxes and also bought Anne a big Cadbury’s Easter Egg...

I’d intended to go to the gym this pm but once again got distracted by more interesting things...

A good day for both Hearts and Queen of the South....

Hearts won 2-0 while Rangers could only manage a draw at home to Aberdeen....

Queens beat 2nd top St Johnstone 3-2 (a big turnaround from the only game I’ve seen them play “recently” when Saints thrashed them 4-0 on the first day of the season in Perth) while Stranraer lost 3-0 to Airdrie...

QoS are now 4 points clear of the play offs with two games to go. Fingers still crossed...

The win was made all the more sweet by the fact I thought they’d drawn the game after being 2-0 up and playing against 10 men. It wasn’t till I glanced at teletext on the way out to pick Anne back up that I realised an own goal had sealed victory for the mighty Doonhamers...

In the evening watched the first episode of the new series of Dr Who. Quite good...

“CSI New York” and “Law & Order Criminal Intent” rounded off the day....

Highlight of the Day : Victories for Hearts and Queens

Grumpy consumer...

Aaargh....

A clearout sale at Virgin....

Loads of CDs for £3.99....

I had a pile in my hands but put most of them back....

However, I still bought “Reflections” by Gil Scott-Heron, an album I originally bought when it was released back in 1981. Indeed a covered one of the tracks, “Is That Jazz?” rather unjazzily, on my 1983 album “World of Fire”....

In addition, I snapped up Billy Cobham’s “Total Eclipse” from 1974 – tasty jazz fusion....

A joint album/EP by The Album Leaf and On!Air!Library! called “Lifetime or More” and a live album from his 1989 tour by ex-Yes guitarist and writer of “Owner of a Lonely Heart”, Trevor Rabin made up my quartet of purchases...

Prior to discovering the Virgin Sale, on Play.com I’d bought Girls Aloud’s last album, “Chemistry” and a classic by The Move (Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne) “Message from the Country”...

On e-bay, I bought a book on the rock business by Dave Bidini of Rheostatics, with whom I’ve remained in contact since he e-mailed me out of the blue just before we went to France at the end of March. He’s about to start a ten date tour of China...

Speaking of China, my two DVDs arrived today, Dave Gilmour Live and Bruford Borstlap Live...

In the evening, I was feeling a bit tipsy after two Good Friday pints of Kronenburg Blanc but an Indian Takeaway soon put me back on track...

We watched the Dave Gilmour concert - excellent - Anne pronounced Bruford-Borstlap to be too far out for a Friday evening and advised me I ought to watch this on my own...

On telly, watched "Coronation Street", “Law and Order” and “Grumpy Old Men”...

I am a grumpy old man – at least I think I might be, since I found myself nodding in agreement with almost everything that was said...

Also today, I created MP3’s of some of my most recent purchases in preparation for loading them into my now almost full Jukebox – more Spring cleaning required shortly...

Highlight of the Day : A very tasty Indian meal

I know more than three chords...

Tonight I went along to the last Out of the Bedroom to take place at its spiritual home, The Waverley Bar in St Mary’s Street...

I arrived at 7:20 and put my name on the board for a slot, having rehearsed two songs quickly prior to leaving the house. Of course, as usual, I took a copy of the music and lyrics with me – I find it almost impossible to play anything without this crutch...

I found myself sitting in the room upstairs on my own as people arrived in twos and threes and sat chatting amongst themselves. I suddenly felt quite lonely. So I finished my Diet Coke and went outside for a walk up and down the Royal Mile..

By the time I arrived back, around 8:25, the room had filled up and sound man Dave O’Hara was setting up the tiny stage whilst Ali from Impossible Songs was manning (or womanning) the CD table, so I sat next to her and had a chat...

The OOTB Committee has decided to include Indigo Rose and Danny Dyer, the two acts who, through illness, couldn’t make it for the sessions last month, on the 4th OOTB CD. So that’ll be another session – to be arranged by OOTB tho, not me...

Unfortunately, Ali and my’s position was just outside the Ladies, and the horrendous odour from therein wafted out into our space every time anyone entered. God knows what’s down the drains in there....

Jamie arrived around three or four acts into the night having missed some excellently altered cover-versions by Tommy Mackay and Big Jim Whyte of “Candle in the Wind” and “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree” with lyrics suitably and wittily amended to comment on the general state of The Waverley, with particular attention to the terrible beer and terrifying toilets...

My slot was just before half time and I’d chosen to play my two most recent songs, “I Still Write You Letters” written last month and “The End of Everything” from last July, to which I attached Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye Cruel World”...

Some Stats : This was the 43rd time I’d played at OOTB and there have only been 208 so I’ve played just over 25%. My first time was at OOTB 59 so I’ve played 43 out of a possible 150 – almost one in three – although only eleven of those have been in the last eighteen months....

Before playing my first OOTB back in January 2003, I hadn’t played live for almost five years. In the last three years, including OOTB, I’ve played 67 times...

Every time I play at OOTB however, I seem to have to follow someone who’s really good at playing the guitar (which I’m not) and tonight was no exception as I took the stage after Lindsay Sugden who’s fretwork is excellent...

Nonetheless my songs went down well and I was probably aided by the fact that I had to be careful not to strum the guitar too hard, as it was set so loudly in comparison with the mic...

This was the first time for a long time that I got through my songs without making a single mistake...

And so I have now played 49 different songs at OOTB – probably some kind of record. As I announced this between my songs, some wag in the audience shouted out “Ah, but how many chords??”

“Three” I answered, only to go on and play the first four of the next song – I do know more than three chords!

The room was packed, just I thought it would be – a huge difference to last week when they were struggling to find people to fill the slots never mind take up the seats in the audience...

Later on, I was embarrassed by compere Jim Igoe as he noted that just played act Eagle Owl were to be on the next OOTB CD which I was producing and that I’d also produced the last two CD...

He said I’d done more than people realised behind the scenes at OOTB and called for a round of applause – which was so flattering. Thanks Jim – now when are you going to review “Deeperdown” on OOTB’s message board and help me sell a few more copies???

Speaking of which, I’ve just had a huge order for these confirmed, and that’s going to keep me busy for a while...

Ian Sclater’s also been in touch looking for a further supply of his CD and I’ve had another offer to produce a local band’s CD, plus the rearranged OOTB session and the final production job on that – so busy, busy, busy...

Around midnight, I left the room feeling rather tired – the night was still in full swing though and I look forward to the review...

Next week is the first night at new venue The Canon’s Gait, just round the corner, and I’ll be along to that too, to help support the club as it goes through it’s biggest change...

Highlight of the Day : Performing live again

From past to present...

Whilst browsing in HMV, as I do most days, I found a 3CD set of Albinoni’s Oboe Concertos and bought it. It’s actually two discs of oboe concertos and one of violin concertos but it’s still something I’d like to have...

I haven’t listened to it yet but just know it will be good...

I also bought Gnarls Barkley's currently rather popular track "Crazy" which I understand is number one in the "pop charts"...

Why did Mr CBQ buy the current number one single??

Well, I spent most of the evening compiling, burning, scanning photos for and designing the cover of, a 2CD set featuring one hit (actually No 1) single from on, or around, each birthday of chum Yuill who hits 40 next weekend. Chum Margaret is chum Yuill’s sister in law and has ordered this two disc set from me as a present from her and her lovely family...

Also today I compiled a chronological list of classical composers from around 943 AD to the present day - using the internet of course : I didn't have the names, dates of birth and dates of death of almost 1,000 composers in my head....

Also – my arm has recovered to a certain extent and I am able to play the guitar, if somewhat gingerly. So I had a go at a couple of songs for tomorrow night’s final Out of the Bedroom at The Waverley...

The theme is “goodbye, farewell” and so I worked out the (three) chords for “Goodbye Cruel World” the final track of part one of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” which lasts for around 30 seconds and which I will tack on to the end of my second song (two songs only tomorrow)...

Later on watched two live episodes of ”Desperate Housewives”, one on C4 and the next on E4 before going to bed.

Tried to fire up the CD Walkman with Mr Albinoni on board but it wouldn’t work – possibly due to it crashing out of the bed and on to the floor during last night’s restless attempt at slumber...

Highlight of the Day : A tentative return to strumming my guitar

Nice, not tasty...

As we went to Loanhead to visit my mum tonight, during the drive there and back the soundtrack was some of Mr Saint Georges’ violin concertos. Nice....

I use the word “Nice” as I’m not allowed to use “Tasty” as often as I’ve been using it, as the word is apparently copyrighted by my webmeister re his record label...

Once again much of the conversation revolved around the fact that my current injuries are outdoing my mum’s own ailments...

Other topics covered included:-

“Yes mum, your fire IS making a horrendous noise”
The advanced age of many of the characters in Coronation Street
Scottish Football...

Back home and to bed.

Highlight of the Day : Visiting Alma Mater

Through the keyhole...

To the doc's re the X Ray results. Calcium in my shoulder joints - could end up with key-hole surgery...

Back to the gym again today - from where I left with a rather sore ankle...

At home did nothing except:-

Watched an episode of "My Name is Earl" (video)
Watched an episode of "Coronation Street"
Watched two episodes of "Desperate Housewives" (video)
Watched highlights of the weekend's football...

Went to bed...

Highlight of the Day : My Name is Earl

Going nowhere (not so) fast...

Managed to stay up until 2:30 am surfing around the net…

Consequently, didn’t waken today till after nine – late for me…

Breakfast at home, then Anne went shopping, dropping me off at the Gym on the way. This was my first visit for just over three weeks due to (a) injuring my arm (b) being in France and (c) having the cold…

Spent over an hour exercising and managed to run/walk around 7km without actually going anywhere…

Back home I burned the fourth mock up of the OOTB CD and also put together a package for the Acoustic Idol Awards this year, entering “Deeperdown” by CBQ and Jamie’s album, “Precious” into the Best CD category….

We drove into Edinburgh to deliver the two CDs, then out to S Queensferry to visit John and Ali of Impossible Songs to give them the OOTBCD – both are on the committee and there’s a meet tomorrow night…

A very enjoyable hour or so was spent at Impossible Towers before heading back to Anne’s mum’s for tea – a birthday celebration today for Anne’s brother Keith’s birthday tomorrow…

Took loads of pics of our nephew Ollie and his sister Kitty (I will upload some soon)…

Finally, back home, we caught up a little on “Desperate Housewives”, took in a taped episode of “My Name is Earl” and ended the day with “Match of the Day 2”, during which Anne fell asleep…

Highlight of the Day : A visit to Impossible Songs’ House

Essentials..

 

Oh to be a record producer (Pt 3)...

Up at 6.18 in error, for some reason Jukebox clock said 7:18 – probably still on France time...

After they’ve been lying in a bag for the last two and half weeks, I finally get out the Crispycat Mobile Facility and the recordings from the second set of OOTBCD4 sessions...

I set the studio back up and start transferring the recordings to the hard drive...

Target this weekend is to get all 14 tracks on to a CD to allow the OOTB committee, when they meet on Monday night, to hear a rough version what it’s like – I already have the first seven songs ready...

A highlight of this early morning session is having to run downstairs to separate Meg the Black Cat and The Black and White Cat With the Bell as they hiss and snarl at each other through the catflap...

By 9:30 I have transferred five of the seven sessions from the second night, recorded back on 22 March...

And so it's out for breakfast - to Patisserie Florentin of course – just coffee and a croissant for Anne, a latte and a pain au raisin for me...

A stroll down into Stockbridge and, while Anne goes off to buy some lovely rolls, I browse the Oxfam Music Shop and pick up Joachim Witt’s 1981 album “Silberblick” which features Jaki Liebezeit, drummer with both Can and Michael Rother. It's very much an "of-its-time" album...

Also, a disc of Rautavaara’s “Works for Piano” which includes two piano sonatas, a series of Etudes, a series of Preludes, a Partita and a set of pieces called “Icons”...

Finally, adding to the creaking overload of CDs chez Crispycat is a two disc set of Messiaen’s “Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jesus” which I’ve been after for a while and which Anne later pronounces to be “not very tuneful”...

I decide I want a big jersey – probably influenced by the coldness today and the fact that I’ve come out with just a T-shirt and Jacket on...( ok, and trousers, pants, socks, boots etc – come on...)...

So we go to a great big Woolen Mill outlet and I end up getting two for just £20 in their “buy one get one free” offer...

A nice big blue one and a “bracken” one. Both fit my “large” frame very nicely...

As we are leaving, Anne spots a V-Neck version of the Bracken one and remembers Trinny and Susannah’s advice on “What Not To Wear” that, ahem, “larger” men ought to wear V-Neck jerseys with T-Shirts underneath. I try it on, she is suitably impressed and we do a swap...

Back home, Dr Prog calls wanting me to accompany him to a Barclay James Harvest concert in November – that’s ages away. I agree (Anne sniggers at mention of BJH)...

I also agree to a trip to Glasgow next month to see the reformed Syn with Chris Squire of Yes and which now also includes Yes’ Alan White on drums. They’re playing a tiny club gig, so it should be good to see the Yesmen we normally only see from afar at huge gigs up close and personal...

Then to the computer to continue the OOTB work. I check my e-mails only to find one from childhood chum Lindsay who quite rightly chides me for not visiting her when we were in Avignon....

Checking the map for her now home town I realise it’s only a stone’s throw away – I thought she lived out in the wilds somewhere between Nimes and Arles but am very wrong indeed...

I feel like an idiot....

I ought to have e-mailed her before we left to check where she was. Aargghh!

We will definitely visit next time we get to Provence...

We do however enjoy a good exchange of e-mails today and I suggest to Lindsay that that’s almost like a visit? OK maybe not...

Another 90 minutes and I think I’ve finished the OOTB transfer to the hard drive but no – I’ve recorded one of the acts in mono so I need to do that one again. But it gives me another chance to judge the best song to include on the CD...

Another 30 minutes and I’m ready to start editing the chosen songs out of the overall session wav files...

Before I know it it’s 2 pm and Anne’s off to Tynecastle for the game. I was meant to go to the gym while she’s away but the OOTB thing’s taking longer than expected...

By five pm I have the first draft of a 14 track CD lasting just under an hour (while Hearts have thrashed Dr Prog's home team, Dunfermline, and Queen of the South have drawn with Airdrie away, a creditable result which keeps them just ahead of Stranraer with three games to go)...

I listen all the way through the mock up CD and realise a couple of the song choices need to be amended due to recording/performance glitches – this was always going to be the case when you record seven different acts in one night and only have thirty minutes for each to get the sound right and a good performance down and hope that somehow those two requirements will happen simultaneously...

In a couple of cases, I’m having to edit together parts from different takes of the same song to get a better overall product – sometimes due to the performances, sometimes due to my mixing on the night, sometimes due to the background noises from The Waverley Bar and the traffic on the street outside...

So it’s back to the computer for more listening and editing and, by seven, I have another draft disc to listen to for another hour whilst “Casualty” plays on the TV and we dine on a chinese takeaway...

By 8:30, I realise the running order needs a slight tweak and I need a third choice song for one of the acts – so I head back to the computer again...

At 9 Anne calls me down for “CSI :NY” which is followed by “Law & Order : Criminal Intent” but I eschew “Match of the Day” to get this beast done tonight....

I finish off editing the last track out of the artist in question’s full session and burn a third mock up...

Of course, I still need to get all the varying volumes adjusted so the CD doesn’t sound like it’s all over the shop but I've already spent 13 hours today on this...

And so I finish off the day by updating the diary for the last three days, ending just as the last track on OOTBCD4 mock up also ends....

The songs are correct and the running order is correct...

Now for some surfing whilst listening to my new Rautavaara disc...

Highlight of the Day : Two New Jerseys

Statistics and lies...

On Sid Smith’s blog today, he discusses the latest “100 Greatest Albums Ever” list as voted for by the readers of Q Magazine..

Like Sid and his friend Brian, I have a few of the albums on the list – in fact I have 5 of the top ten, 12 of the top twenty, 19 of the top 30, 27 of the top 50 and 40 of the top 100...

It’s quite obvious from the list that the voters are predominantly young, white, British people...

That deduction is based on the following statistics:-

22% of the albums were released in the last 10 years (I don’t believe an album should be in the all time top 100 until it’s over 10 years old and so has stood the test of time)...

Only 8% are by non-white artists...

Only 3% are from countries outwith North America and Britain/Eire

Earlier albums are restricted to “perceived classics”...

Almost half the list (44%) is from the 1990’s and 2000’s...

As regards my taste vs the readers of Q here you go....

1950s
Q 1 (1%)
CBQ 1 (2.44%)

1960s
Q 15 (15%)
CBQ 9 (21.95%)

1970s
Q 25 (25%)
CBQ 14 (34.15%)

1980s
Q 15 (15%)
CBQ 3 (7.32%)

1990s
Q 32 (32%)
CBQ 6 (14.63%)

2000s
Q 12 (12%)
CBQ 7 (17.07%)

You can find the full list here: http://www.xs4all.nl/~fsgroen/Top100

And loads of other lists here : http://www.xs4all.nl/~fsgroen/index.html

The 40 albums I have of Q's top 100 are:

1-Radiohead-OK Computer-1997
2-Radiohead-The Bends-1995
4-Beatles, The-Revolver-1966
9-U2-Achtung Baby-1991
10-Radiohead-Kid A-2000
11-U2-The Joshua Tree-1987
14-Beatles, The-Abbey Road-1969
15-Pink Floyd-Dark Side Of The Moon-1973
17-Beatles, The-The Beatles (White Album)-1968
18-Beach Boys, The-Pet Sounds-1966
19-Beatles, The-Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band-1967
20-Clash, The-London Calling-1979
21-Led Zeppelin-Led Zeppelin IV-1971
23-Dylan, Bob-Blood On The Tracks-1975
25-Coldplay-A Rush Of Blood To The Head-2002
27-Pink Floyd-The Wall-1979
28-Sex Pistols, The-Never Mind The Bollocks-1977
29-Beatles, The-Rubber Soul-1965
30-Pink Floyd-Wish You Were Here-1975
33-Madonna-Ray Of Light-1998
36-Dylan, Bob-Blonde On Blonde-1966
40-Coldplay-Parachutes-2000
41-Bowie, David-The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust-1972
42-Velvet Underground, The-The Velvet Underground & Nico-1967
44-Joy Division-Closer-1980
45-Dylan, Bob-Highway 61 Revisited-1965
46-Bowie, David-Hunky Dory-1971
53-U2-All That You Can't Leave Behind-2000
56-Moby-Play-1999
57-Led Zeppelin-Physical Graffiti-1975
60-Radiohead-Amnesiac-2001
72-Davis, Miles-Kind Of Blue-1959
74-Muse-Origin Of Symmetry-2001
80-Bowie, David-Low-1977
89-Morrissey-Vauxhall & I-1994
90-Cure, The-Disintegration-1989
95-Iggy (Pop) & The Stooges-Raw Power-1973
96-Kraftwerk-The Man Machine-1978
97-Reed, Lou-Transformer-1972
100-Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot-2002

(Albums which are "clickable" take you through to reviews)

OK, I lied - I have Oasis' "Definitely Maybe" (No 5 -1994) but am ashamed to admit it. I've only got it cos it's signed by Liam Gallagher and I thought it might be worth something one day - honest I never play it...

Tonight, Anne made a lovely lamb curry for tea...

Highlight of the Day : Homemade Lamb Rogan Josh

Only 24 Hours From Tulsa...

A few things I forgot to mention recently (“Come on Dave”, I hear you cry, “your infinitesimal detail of every rubbish thing you do can surely have left no stone unturned”)…

Well no actually...

Whilst labouring recently under my hopefully soon to be gone cold, I did the inevitable surfing on e-bay and have ended up buying two DVDs…

The first is of a concert in Holland a couple of years back featuring ex King Crimson drummer, Bill Bruford and a dutch chap called Michiel Borstlap on piano – jazz improv…

The second is of David Gilmour of the Pink Floyd in Concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall in June 2001 and January 2002…

They are coming from China so it could be a while before they arrive…

What did arrive today though, was a CD by current King Crimson drummer Pat Mastellotto and Markus Reuter of the band Centozoon, a master of Chapman Stick, Warr Guitar and erm, tapping….

It’s weird one but quite excellently put together by these two superb musicians – a cross between Drum’n’Bass and modern prog rock. It also features many samples of Maestro Robert Fripp…

Tasty…

At 8pm we watch Brian Eno on The Culture Show. What a dreadful programme – but the Eno interview was OK – it was to publicise his new artwork “77 Million Paintings”, which is a piece of software you run to give a “painting” which is always changing but very, very slowly. This is not a million miles away from his “Thursday Afternoon” video of 1985...

I am alerted to the Eno piece by old chum and collaborator Peri Urban. The other thing I forgot to mention was that he called me the other day out of the blue and we had a good old chat. He had mentioned he might come along to OOTB tonight but in his Eno related call, he advises he won’t be along – he is a bit of a recluse though. You can read his blog here : http://www.brainpilot.blogspot.com

And so, after Eno, I phone Jamie to suggest a visit to OOTB tonight, just to watch though – as my arm-pains are still stopping me from using a guitar – and Jamie’s had a bad cold for the last 10 days and so his voice is a bit shot...

I ask Anne if she wants to come along too and, much to my surprise, she says “Yes”. The smoking ban is having an agreeable effect...

So we head round to Jamie’s to pick him up, whilst taking back his mic and stand borrowed for the OOTB sessions....

We have a chat with Jamie and wife Suzy and their precocious young son, Conrad, before heading to OOTB...

On arrival we find it to be very sparsely populated (it won’t be next week though, which is the last night ever at The Waverley before the club moves down the Royal Mile a bit to The Cannon’s Gait – a pub Anne, Jamie and I used to frequent back around 1979/80 when Jamie and I shared a flat in St Mary’s St) and, by the end of the first of, supposedly, three sessions, they’ve run out of acts...

Tonight’s organisers, Big Jim, Scott Renton, John Barclay and David O’Hara go round what there is of the audience and plead for people to take up the remaining slots for the evening....

Jamie explains his voice is a little shot and I advise I can’t play a guitar at present. However, Jamie puts his name down and so do I, then try and play something on one of the house guitars but it’s no use – I can’t raise my left arm high enough to have my fingers on the frets where they need to be – coupled with the fact that I can’t actually remember any of my songs anyway!

But it’s Jamie to the rescue. He says he knows the chords for “A Nice Job in a Small Town” and “Skylines Full of Cranes” and so I agree to do at least two songs...

Jamie goes on and does a sterling three song set – “On The Inside”, about his daughter, Madison, “Welcome to this World” about his son, Conrad and, I must say, best song of the evening by a country mile, “24 Hours From Tulsa” in honour of the very recently deceased Gene Pitney – of whom Jamie was a big fan and also of whom he remembered buying a CD from Anne and my’s record shop when it was situated right opposite the Waverley bar all those years ago...

Spooky...

Jamie then calls me to the stage and I sing while he plays guitar. Both “A Nice Job in a Small Town” and “Skylines Full of Cranes” go down well and so we have a go at “You Taught Me How to Love You” of which he performed a cover a few weeks ago and reckons he still remembers it – he just about does and I just about remember the lyrics too...

But nothing tonight could beat Jamie’s “24 Hours From Tulsa”...

It was good to have Anne along tonight for once, and we enjoyed a chat with John from Impossible Songs who was over in Germany recording a new album while we were in France...

We take Jamie home and get back at around 12:45...

Very enjoyable...

Highlight of the Day : Performing Without Having to Play Guitar

They think it's all over...it is now...

Another night spent TVing and computering – Watched Corrie then finished off the diary of the holiday...

It runns from 25 March to 1 April and includes almost 90 photos - hope you like it...

Elsewhere, Celtic beat Hearts (undeservedly according to impartial reports) 1-0 and so have won the league. Rangers are now only 3 points behind the Jam Tarts with six games to go...

We’re still thinking back to the great holiday, but we both missed Meg the Black Cat...

Highlight of the Day : Finishing off the holiday diary..

Fixer..

Fixed up an interview for nephew Craig re his university course....

It’s with the Station Director of new Scottish Talk Radio station Talk 107. This pays him back the £10 I bet him last month that Ron Atkinson was dead. I’d been thinking of Ron Greenwood apparently....

Spent most of tonight updating the diary for the holiday. Feeling rotten all day due to the cold but found some old Contact 400’s in the cupboard and this dried things up a bit....

So, before going to bed tonight after an excellent episode of “Law & Order : Criminal Intent”, I find myself taking seven pills...

Today would've been my mum and dad's 51st wedding anniversary...

Highlight of the Day : Taking medication with Orange Juice instead of Red Wine...

Coming down...

A bit of anti climax day today after yesterday's euphoria over the Hearts win...

At HMV I buy a CD of string quartets by the Belcea Quartet - three works, all French (aptly) and the only quartets written by Debussy, Dutilleux and Ravel...

I listen to these challenging pieces while Anne makes a lovely meal of salmon, stuffed tomatoes and salad with French bread on the side. She has made her own dressings as well and very impressive this all is too...

I spend the evening updating the first couple of days from the French trip on the diary and uploading recent purchases into the jukebox...

I have been struck down with a bad cold. Don't know if this is a reaction to coming home or wandering the streets of Glasgow yesterday for several hours but, no doubt, I'll be under the weather for a few days...

Ho hum...

Highlight of the Day : Anne's excellent cooking

H-E-A, R-T-S..etc...

After spending a lot of time driving yesterday, from Cereste to Marseilles and from Prestwick to Edinburgh, we are up early this morning for the big cup semi-final between Hearts and Hibs...

Anne is a nervous wreck about this, as is Mr James Jamieson who has apparently been dreaming all week that Hearts wll be beaten...

We leave the house at 8 and are parking up a couple of miles from Hampden by 9...

Already a few fans are milling around and we take breakfast fom one of the many burger vans surrounding the stadium...

Then we wait..

and we wait...

and we wait...

Until, at 11, the gates open and we can get to our seats - a reasonable view, in line with one of the six yards boxes but a bit disappointing considering Anne sent off her cash on the first possible day to try and secure "best" seats...

After a long build up the game begins and it's pretty much even for the first twenty minutes or so with only a couple of chances for either side...

Then Hearts breakaway as Hibs lose posession just outside the Hearts penalty box. Within seconds after a sweeping move up the pitch, Paul Hartley has the ball in the net and it's 1-0...

The nerves are reduced slightly but it's still everything to play for. The Hibs team is struggling though with many of their best players either suspended or injured. The Hearts fans are singing almost non-stop and they are the proverbial twelfth man...

On the stroke of half time though, Hearts captain Stephen "Elvis" Pressley is taken off with a head wound...

Into the second half without Pressley and, around the hour mark, Hartley, now wearing the captain's armband, fires a free kick from a wide position, straight into the net for 2-0...

Surely it's all over now but then another injury in the Hearts back four as Goncalves is knocked unconcious by his own keeper...

With 20 minutes to go, it looks almost possible that Hibs could come back...

But then a blunder in their defence lets in Jankauskis for a third goal and it's all over...

Then Hibs' former hero Ivan Sproule is sent off for standing on the back of a downed Hearts forward...

By the time Hearts get a penalty (hat-trick for Hartley) in the closing minutes and another Hibs player heads for an early bath, the Hibs end is almost completely deserted..

4-0 who'd have thought it...

And so it's Hearts V 2nd Division (in reality 3rd division) Gretna Town in the final...

Leaving the ground we bump into Anne's brother Keith and her nephew Craig - what were the chances of that happening?

They head off for a lift home and we walk back to the car and drive over to Byre's Road...

I revisit Lost in Music again and I take two more King Crimson CDs off their hands, both discs are of rehearsals of music, most of which didn't end up on the subsequent albums, "Three of a Perfect Pair" in 1984 and "The ContruKction of Light" in 2000...

Then to FOPP and I pick up the 2CD edition of Morrissey's "You Are The Quarry" an excellent tuneful album with superb lyrics as usual from Mozzer...

A swift meal in Ashton Lane follows and then the drive to Armadale to pick up Meg the Black Cat from Julia's house...

We have brought Julia back some Grenadine and it turns out to be the exact make she tried to describe to us before we went France - we thought we were making do...

It tastes great with just water and ice - the girls quaffed some wine and Julia produces some skewers of very tasty marinated chicken...

A quick final drive home and before we know it everything's back to normal as we wach the highlights of today's big game...

highlight of the Day : Hearts 4 Hibs 0

Goodbye and Martigues and flying home..

At last, on the last night of the holiday, I get a good night’s sleep, apart from a brief return of “the beast”...

We’re up at 8 for final packing and a breakfast of bread from yesterday’s petit boule and orange juice...

We hand in the keys and say goodbye to the nice lady who owns the house...



...and to the various cats and other beasts we’ve come to know over the week – the horse has returned today and we wave to psycho dog as we drive past his house...

We stop off at Manosque as we’d heard its Saturday market was a good one – but we’ve been spoiled by Forcalquier and it doesn’t come close...

We do however visit Hyper U to buy some Grenadine for Julia, Meg the black Cat’s ex-mum, and some extra virgin Olive Oil for Anne to use over the coming months in salad preparation...

As we approach Marseilles, the sun is breaking thru the early morning clouds...

Marseilles is a huge city with unsatisfactory signage and so we decide to drive on to Martigues, which is closer to the airport...

By now it’s very hot and sunny (25 degrees on 1 April)...


You need to click on and enlage this picture for proof of the temperature...

The town is in three parts including a small island in the middle and so has canals and bridges and boats a plenty....



We find somewhere to lunch by the canalside...



Then wander around the African carnival which is taking place and on down to the shore...



Back to the car and to the airport where we arrive around 2:30pm, 1.5 hours early and hand the car back paying the balance for the diesel we’ve used...

I have driven over 950km/600miles in the week – but it’s been most enjoyable...

A Coke and a beer as we watch the French blatantly ignore no smoking signs...



We check in early and go to the gate and sit and wait, both reading and me listening to the jukebox...



An uneventful flight home – the old guy sitting next to me is heading for Edinburgh to have his re-written will ok’d by his lawyer. He’s leaving his fortune to Animal Welfare....

I must stop being so nosey..

After landing we pick up our trusty black Seat Ibiza and, an hour and ten minutes later, we’re back at Crispycat Towers to a bundle of junk mail but with loads of happy memories...




Highlight of the Day : It’s good to be home but it was a great holiday...