It’s all about having the idea first....

Playlist
Television – Marquee Moon
Cloudland Blue Quartet – The Best of CBQ 1990-1995
Cloudland Blue Quartet – The Best of CBQ 1996-2006
Fountains of Wayne – Out of State Plates
Eels – Blinking Lights and other Revelations

Up at 5:30, feeling not too bad today after what is now three weeks of this strange infection – it’s similar to a thing I had in 2002 which ended up lasting for three or four months...

Wrote up the diary for last night’s gig which I really enjoyed and was so buoyed with enthusiasm for my music that I listened all the way through the two “best ofs” I’ve compiled thus far, 1990-95 and 1996-06...

Got sucked in to the Sick Things Alice Cooper fan site reading through the message boards and finding out stuff I didn’t know, about a man (and, originally, a group) I’ve followed since the summer of 1972...

Anne finally woke up and we went out for brunch, not breakfast, but brunch today around 11...

Here’s Anne walking round from the place we park the car, to Patisserie Florentin....



A shabbily dressed but posh young man was in with his small child and asked for a plain croissant, heated up – even going as far as to ask if the heating process involved a microwave and being relieved to find it’d be carried out under a grill...

When the croissant arrived and he pulled it apart in readiness to feed it to his child, he called the waiter over and said he’d made a mistake, he didn’t mean to have it heated and could he have a cold one instead...

If I could have rolled my eyes any further back in my head I would have...

This is why I cannot deal with the general public – the main reason I gave up my record shop after seven years of stupid questions and general pish (not literally of course!) from people...

We walked down to Stockbridge and bought some lovely bread from Herbie’s Deli and a lottery ticket (jeez oh – one number again – but the day we give up on 5 15 19 29 33 46 is they day they all come out)...

I thought about buying the last Eels 2Cd set for £5.99 from Oxfam – but the box was all horrible and sticky and that put me off....

We drove home and I worked out my setlist for this week’s Fringe gig – 7:30 on Thursday evening at the Haymarket Beanscene – then had a quick run through before giving Anne a lift to her mum’s. Hearts v Falkirk today...

Inspired by Sid Smith’s visit to Edinburgh this week, I headed to the Botanical Gardens, scene of the great getting drunk by drinking champagne all night fiasco of a few weeks ago, to check out an exhibition by Robert Ryman...



Mostly this was a collection of white paintings, but I liked what I saw – might do one myself if I can find an old tin of Dulux lying around..

The discussions re the merits of the work from my fellow visitors was very entertaining – as was the comments book at the door – in which I saw Sid’s....

I thought I’d left a witty comment by drawing a square and writing “very white” but I was disappointed when, looking through the book, I found that quite a few others had done the same before me...

Art eh? It’s all about having the idea first....

Had a stroll around the gardens and took some pics of the impressive foliage and blue sky....



....then drove to Leith Walk and had a look in a new shop I’d heard of, “Elvis Shakespeare”, a 2nd hand book and music emporium. Nearly bought Donna Summer’s “Bad Girls” for £3 but didn’t – no doubt I will return at some point, as I then did to Oxfam in Stockbridge and bought the Eels CD....

Then to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (which, coincidentally, was originally set in the buidling where the Ryman exhibition is at present) for a look around, a drink and wee bit of coconut cake out in the garden at the rear of the building...

There’s an interesting piece on the wall as you go down to the café – it’s the names of everyone the artist (who’s name escapes me) has ever met. It was started in 1990 and is “ongoing”....



Art eh? It’s all about having the idea first....

On the way home, I noticed a small sports car in front of me and, for a couple of miles I was driving along behind John and Ali from impossible Songs...

Back home and bad news on the footie front as Queens went down 1-0 at home to St Johnstone, while Hearts could only managed a goalless draw against Falkirk...

I went and collected Anne and we stopped by Tesco on the way home, for the odd combination of petrol and beans...

We were going to a wedding tonight – a guy Anne works with...

Anne had decided she’d take the car as she didn’t want to be hung over tomorrow...

We met up with the others at the King’s Wark bar in Leith. I got chatting with one of the guys, Chris, and we found we had a mutual liking for, amongst others, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys and Goodbye Mr Mackenzie – he seemed impressed I’d toured with the latter in 1988 and once recorded a single with their guitarist, “Big John Duncan”, ex of the Exploited...

We finally arrived at the reception at 9, having been invited “anytime after 7” and proceeded to have a great time. I wasn’t too drunk but did quite a bit of dancing, much to my ankle’s delight. Star of the night was “Jane Doll” who has certainly got some “moves”....

I was even to be found singing The Proclaimers’ “500 Miles” at the top of my voice at one point – so it must’ve been good – cos I hate the Proclaimers....

Home at 1:30, after a packed day...

Highlight of the Day : Actually enjoying a wedding reception