Various Composers – Music for a Quiet Evening
Allan Holdsworth – Road Games
Paul McCartney & Wings – Red Rose Speedway
Peter Gabriel – Up
The Bad Plus – Hotel
King Crimson – USA
Up at 7:00 and went downstairs with Meg the Black Cat, letting her out the catflap while I watched an entertaining piece of Sci-Fi hokum, “Paycheck”…
Just after 9 I drove over to Patisserie Florentin for croissants – Anne wasn’t up for going out anywhere – and I also bought some pate from the new Herbie’s delicatessen and a loaf of bread from the nearby Italian Bakery…
Then I drove across town to check out the German konditorei, Falko in Bruntsfield but it hadn’t opened yet so I made my way home…
Anne still not awake…
Watched episode 1 of Howard Goodall’s “How Music Works” – on melody – and discovered that the blues does indeed have its roots in classical music – Tudor classical music to be precise…
Finally Anne arose around 11 am and we had breakfast, then watched this week’s “Desperate Housewives”…
I relaxed for an hour or so, listening to Peter Gabriel’s excellent last album, “Up” which is five years old this year – time flies…
Then, for the first time since September, I got my guitar out and tried playing through a few songs – the arm held up well and I managed six songs in all – though I must say, from a performance point of view, it was pretty dire stuff – including the murder of Dido’s “White Flag”…
Setlist
No Concrete Idea
The Little Man
He Thinks of You
The End of Everything
Starting to Worry
White Flag
I wasted the rest of the afternoon watching Sky Sports News’s goals teleprinter then got ready to go out…
Tonight we were dining at Café St Honore with Anne’s family as part of everyone’s Xmas presents, as our secret Santa had been reduced to just £10 to allow everyone to have a slap up feed in January…
I shaved my head – here’s 19 days worth of hair…
We got the bus into town and, during the journey I tried to explain to Anne the plotline of “Paycheck” and the fact that the blues stem from Tudor classical music…
We met at Rick’s bar for a quick pre dinner drink, then to the restaurant for a superb meal…
Mine comprised Oysters, sirloin steak, crème brulee – accompanied by some very tasty white wine with the oysters and equally tasty red wine with the steak. Rounded off the evening with a latte…
Anne’s mum, her sister Jane and Jane’s husband Bobby then went off home leaving me, Anne, brother Keith, his girlfriend Maureen and Keith’s son Craig to wander the streets…
We found ourselves at The World in Thistle Street and, upon entering, realised it was karaoke night…
Of course by this time I was pretty far gone and it didn’t take much encouragement for me to get up and offer Abba’s “Dancing Queen” to the assembled throng. The fact that it was in completely the wrong key for me was neither here nor there. It just meant the verses were sung incredibly low and the choruses incredibly high…
But even that was nothing in comparison to the veritable screeching I performed during the refrain of Girls Aloud’s “Biology”…
In comparison, Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” was a piece of cake and I rounded off my evening by duetting with Maureen as we took on Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe”…
Meanwhile a very embarrassed Keith gave us Ringo doing “With A Little Help From My Friends” and Craig rocked the joint with Van Morrson’s “Brown Eyed Girl”..
Anne maintained her dignity – though it did take her a good minute or so to recognise her old ten pin bowling partner Susan, who just happened to be in the bar and whom we’d not seen for years….
Anne and Susan were West Lothian Ladies Champions at one time (all Anne’s trophies are in the attic) – and Anne even once scored 8 strikes in a row (of course if you’re not a ten pin bowling fan you’ll have no idea what this means – rest assured though it’s not something which happens every day)…
Home by taxi at 2:30 – steaming…
Oh yes…
Highlight of the Day : Should really have been the meal but it was probably the Karaoke…
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