Happenstance...

Playlist
CBQ Best of 1996-2006
Salieri – Overtures
Vanhal – Violin Concertos
On YouTube : Falco, Nena, Udo Lindenberg, Fehlfarben, OK Go, Fountains of Wayne, DAF, Ideal, Swimming With Sharks, 2raumwohnung

A reasonable day today, started off bright and sunny but with threatening low cloud...

I caught this plane flying over Crispycat Towers...



Decided to stay in tonight rather than going along to Out of the Bedroom....

I’d bought two classical CDs – Salieri and Vanhal, both contemporaries of Mozart, indeed one of the Vanhal Violin concertos was played in concert by Mr Mozart...

On searching for Salieri on YouTube, I found clips from the film Amadeus, which in turn lead me to the great deceased Austrian pop star, Falco...

Being a fan, I spent some time looking through some of his videos – this lead me to other German speaking stars such as Nena, Udo Lindenberg and, probably my favourites, Fehlfarben – who I found have a new album out which I hope to pick up when I’m in Germany soon...

Then OK Go – a great inventive pop band – who have one of the most watched videos on the site – an unmoving camera on a tripod catches their dance routine created using four exercise treadmills...

This led me to watch their other videos – equally as inventive...

A band whose music is in a similar vein is Fountains of Wayne and so they were my next target – then back to Germany and DAF and New German Wave starlets of 1980-82, Ideal whose singer joined her sister in a great pop band in the late 80’s Swimming With Sharks..

The sister is now in a new band, 2Raumwohnung (2 Room Flat) and I’ll be looking for their stuff in Deutschland too...

Then to e-bay and I ended up buying two CDs by Uriah Heep – which I really don’t need and which I know will probably not be very good...

Such was my day today...

Highlight of the Day : Discoveries on YouTube

Music takes you on a trip...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Best of 1990-1995
Adams - Shaker Loops
Tartini - Concerto for Violin, Strings and Harpsichord
Tartini - Concerto for Cello, Strings and Harpsichord
Martinu - String Quartet No 2

Continuing to listen to old CBQ stuff re the anthology project, before the arduous and onerous task of returning to the actual new album to continue recording...

At lunchtime today whilst browsing in HMV, I picked up the 2007 Naxos catalogue with a view to researching recordings of more 18th Century music following last week's purchases of Dittersdorf and Beck...

I also bought my first book for a very long time, probably too long - Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion"...

He once paraphrased a quote by Steven Weinberg (Nobel laureate in physics):

“With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil — but for good people to do evil — that takes religion.”

How true...

I called German chum Jorg re our upcoming trip to Documenta 12 in Kassel, to find that he's been on strike for the last four weeks re the proposed restructuring of Deutsche Telekom, for whom he's worked for probably the last 20 years - he's on the picket line every day apparently...

We hope to bring some much needed cheer when we visit Jorg, Yvonne, our Godson Ansem and his siblings Xenia and Teja...

In the evening, after two episodes of "Coronation St" I listened to a programme of some classical music which I put together last night but didn't get a chance to hear due to deciding to watch Yentob's surrealism tosh...

Two 17th Century Concerti, set between two 20th Century works, one American the other European...

Tasty....



Adams' "Shaker Loops" reminded me of our visit to the Shaker Village in New England in 1999, Tartini brought to mind our Venice trip of 2004 and the Martinu disc was purchased in his home country on our Prague adventure in 2003..

Happy days...

And ending just in time for some old Alice Coooper vids on YouTube followed by the last episode of this series of "Desperate Housewives"..

Highlight of the Day : A musical journey

A pointless mess...

Playlist
Philip Glass - Koyaanisquatsi
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Anthology 1977-2007
Bryan Ferry - Dylanesque

To Loanhead tonight to bid farewell to sister Pam after her trip to our mum's and their joint holiday to Menorca...

To celebrate, a meal at my old drinking haunt of the late 1970's, The Laird & Dog Hotel at Lasswade...

Here is a blurry picture - just as I remember it in the 70's - blurred...



As ever, Pam regaled us with story after story...

For example, how, at 4am on the morning of their flight, she somehow managed to lock a bleeping alarm inside her suitcase, along with the keys to the padlocks which were securing the case...

...and how she managed once to fill not one but two entire sickbags on a flight from Edinburgh to London...with sick...

...and another bodily expulsion story which I regret I cannot relate here for fear of possible repercussions from the extreme bad taste police...

The food was good and, luckily, consumed prior to the telling of the latter two stories above...

We were home around 10:30 and watched "Imagine" on BBC1 which, this week, was Alan Yentob's take on Surrealism...

Unfortunately, the film tried its damndest to be 'surreal on surrealism' and, consequently, was all a bit of a pointless mess...

Then to bed...

Highlight of the Day : A night out with the family

Troubador...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Anthology 1977-2007 (1 CD Version)

Anne's old friend Sandra was unexpectedly in town today (she lives in Stornoway and is here for a conference) so the two of them were having a meal, a drink and a catch up tonight...

At home I watched an old episode of Dr Who, "Dalek", and then started playing through some songs with a view to honing my performance skills (ha ha)...

I have been invited to play a short set at "Ferrystock", part of the Queensferry Arts Festival, which takes place in the small town of South Queensferry between 7 and 10 June...

I'll be playing outside the Two Bridges Hotel on Saturday 9 June...

Even if no-one turns up, I can always enjoy the view from the performance area...



Highlight of the Day : Singing and playing again...

Remake/Remodel...

Playlist
Rheostatics – Horseshoe Tavern 29/3/07
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Rarities MP3 CD
Various – The Dr Prog Years
Various – Holiday Hits Vol 18
Krommer – Oboe Quintets & Quartets
Rheostatics – Best of
Allan Holdsworth – Touching On
King Crimson - FraKctured
Various – Pitchfork’s Best of 2006 (see links)
Various – Downloads from Destination Out (see links)

Made a cover for a Rheostatics 3CD set downloaded and burned recently...

Listened to the 5CD set (not all of it) I made up for old chum Dr Prog in March for his birthday – we were meeting him today for the first time since then and I was finally going to be able to give the discs to him...

Took the bus into town and we met up with Phil (Dr Prog) and Jacquie at Hi Thai at the top of Leith walk for a buffet lunch where Phil and I dined with his brother John on the day Scotland beat France in the Euro 2008 qualifiers and we went to see Jon Anderson & Rick Wakeman at the Playhouse....

The food was good and we heard tales of P&J’s trip to new York including Phil’s visits to the Village Vanguard and the Blue Note clubs...

After lunch we made the long walk down to where we’d parked the car last night, before I'd decided I couldn’t resist the lure of far too much to drink....



We didn't park in the canal - we just passed this scene on the way to the car...

This little boy, playing with a home made bow and arrow reminded both Phil and I that we had had just such items when we were boys but had totally forgotten that fact until we saw the lad...



We drove back to Crispycat Towers for coffee and biscuits and more chat, including the plots of The Tinder Box and The Singing Ringing Tree...

I took Phil and Jacquie home and then relaxed to the sounds of Mr Allan Holdsworth before we watched a show with Rolf Harris in which three artists painted portraits of Bill Oddie and he had to pick one to hang in his house...

Then “Dr Who” from last night – and the best story (by a mile - apart perhaps from the living scarecrows) so far this series ...

A comment on Thursday’s story of the pear destroying my camera, by one “Big Balls Barrabus”, led me to Youtube to see an intriguing timelapse film of Edinburgh...

Then “Coronation Street”, a taped and great as usual “Law & Order : Criminal Intent” – blog write up and finished the day with “Seven Ages of Rock” featuring The Velvets, Bowie, Roxy, Genesis and the Floyd...

Great stuff...

Highlight of the Day : Lunch with Phil & Jacquie / Dr Who

Out and about...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Anthology 1977-2007
Dittersdorf – Symphonies in D, A & E Flat
Ultra Bra – Sina Paivana Kun Synnyin
Various – Holiday Hits Vol 18

This morning, early, I worked on an idea for the proposed anthology – firstly, just one CD instead of the six (count ‘em) burned last week – then an idea for three discs, each separately charting a course from the past till now...

All still at the early stages...

We went to Stockbridge for breakfast...



...and I took a couple of pics with the new camera....



...having already captured Meg the Black Cat before we left...



In the Oxfam Music Shop I toyed with a Bill Bruford’s Earthworks best of CD, with two live tracks I don’t have being the only “new to me” music on it...

But, instead, I bought “Sina Paivana Kun Synnyin” (“On the Day I Was Born”), a double CD by Ultra Bra, apparently, Finland’s most successful band that no-one’s ever heard of...

Weird, happy go lucky Eurovision type music married to, I am assured by fan-sites, deeply political lyrics...

Of course I don’t speak Finnish so it was all a bit lost on me...

After a walk round the back streets of Stockbridge...



...back home, I listened to Ultra Bra and after having found out a bit about them, I worked on a new type of CD cover, utilising a full A4 sheet, both sides, and some cutting and folding, to be housed in a plastic sleeve...

After much measuring cutting, folding and mucking about, I had a finished article...



Then the Cup Final – and Dunfermline fought bravely against an under performing Celtic who managed a goal with five minutes to go. The ‘tic deserved their win though, having had probably three clear cut chances earlier in the game which they squandered while the Pars produced little of any real effect...

Then over to ex-drumming colleague Mr Keith Apter’s housewarming – his wife Angie had called me yesterday morning to advise of this, having previously lost my number and only then managing to locate it with the help of Jim Park, comedian and leg breaker...

A man called “The Hawk” was there...

Twenty seven years ago, we looked like twins and, today, could still see the facial similarities though, like most people nowadays he is thinner than me and has more hair...

I learned today how it was that Keith came to join our band in 1980, replacing Jim Park on drums – Keith went to school with The Hawk and The Hawk was on a Youth Opportunities Scheme with two members of a band we often played with, Pure Bears...

Also met an old footballing chum, Mark Glancy who, it turns out, also went to school with Keith but came to our five a sides nights invited by Jim Park after they met in a samba drumming band - of which Keith was also a member...

A day of revelation...

We left Keith’s around seven having had a prior arrangement for dinner with Anne’s friend Debbie and her husband Sid (real name Andrew)..

After deciding to partake in Sid’s gin-tasting session to compare 40% proof and 60% proof options, much red wine and some very strong sherry – we decided to leave the car and that we’d take a cab home....

The meal was unbelievable - all on a Spanish theme, including a meat paella and a chorizo dish complete with duck eggs cooked in the pan on top of the rest of the ingredients...



And wonderful home made ice cream with glazed oranges...




Tasty...

We talked into the night and Sid showed me how to sell stuff on e-bay (much to Anne’s delight)...

A cab was called around 1:30 and we made our way home..

Highlight of the Day : Two days out in one...

Succession....

Playlist
Electric Light Orchestra - Eldorado
Franz Ignaz Beck - Six Symphonies, Op. 1

The king is dead, long live the king....



After spending far too much time last night researching a new camera on the net to replace my twatted Kodak, I ended up just going to Princes Street and buying one off the shelf...

My research had led me to a Casio camera but I couldn't find it in stock anywhere in Edinburgh and so, in the end, I plumped for a Samsung S830, which, in keeping with my miserly ways, was reduced to less than half price...

I visited Virgin and contemplated John Coltrane's album "Coltrane Jazz", even going so far as to call Anne at home to check whether I had it already...

I don't have it - but the moment passed and I went next door to HMV and on an impulse bought two discs of 18th Century symphonies instead...

One by Franz Ignaz Beck and one by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf....

Back home I had intended to listen to both of these discs whilst enjoying a nice glass of red wine...

However, I got caught up in the new camera and ended up mucking about with it for longer than expected...

CDs, records, books, box sets...



The garden...



Then telly - "Coronation St", "A Place in the Sun : Home or Away" and a double bill of "Ugly Betty"...

Ended the day with Mr Beck's symphonies...

Highlight of the Day : New camera...

The pear incident...

Playlist
Golden Earring - To The Hilt
Joni Mitchell - Travelogue
Gentle Giant - Octopus
Eeels - Daisies of the Galaxy
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Anthology 1977-2007

This morning as I headed into town, in my patented Ikea "man bag" I had my trusty Kodak camera (b. 12 1 2006)...

I also had a couple of sandwiches, wrapped in clingfilm, an umbrella (possibly a woman's umbrella), the latest edition of The Wire, and, what had been a last minute "healthy" addition to the contents, a lovely pear....

Around midday, I reached into the bag and withdrew the sandwiches and consumed them (as ever, probably more quickly than I should have)...

Around 2pm, I had a hankering for the lovely pear and went to the man bag again...

On opening the bag I found to my dismay that the so-called "lovely" pear had now disintegrated into a mushy mess all over my trusty Kodak camera (d. 24 5 2007)...

I tried in vain to resuscitate my little friend and it even managed 8 rather bad, out of focus shots before it gave up the ghost...

Here's the little fella's last portrait of your correspondent, slightly treated to make it less pathetic...



You can just about make out the look of despondency on my face as I attempted to clean up this little machine which has provided me with so much entertainment and recorded many an episode over the last 497 days...

The final message on the wee screen was "Error #145 Consult Handbook"....

When I got home this evening to spend hours on the internet researching a replacement, I consulted the handbook..

"Error #145 : Mashed pear may have penetrated your camera and twatted it beyond use - get a new one..."

Lowlight of the Day : Dead camera...

Not freak at all...

Playlist
Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – All Heaven Broke Loose
Brian Eno – Apollo Atmospheres and Soundtracks
The Beatles – Beatles For Sale
Golden Earring – To the Hilt
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Anthology 1977-2007

I am succeeding in not buying too many CDs this month. So far I have purchased just 5, although I did of course download a goodly number of albums towards the end of April and, once burned to disc with printed covers and boxed up, they will join the collection…

Tonight was the Champions League final and, while I kind of watched the build up (whilst leafing through next week’s Radio Times and circling those things I might like to watch), when the play started I went upstairs to continue work on compiling my thirty year anthology…

I had the brainwave of providing the 130 odd “rare” tracks as a freebie with the anthology but as a one disc MP3 collection…

I saw Milan’s first goal at the half time break and, contrary to the commentators’ opinions of a flukey deflection (I even heard it called a “freak goal” by one pundit), it was clear from the replay that Inzhaghi fully intended to make contact, leaning into the shot and changing the ball’s direction with his chest…

The second Milan goal was a great piece of work, Inzhagi again, beating the offside trap and rounding the goalie whilst giving the ball the deftest of touches to ensure it went under the hapless keeper's body and trundled into the net…

Liverpool pulled one back with 2 minutes remaining and, of the three minutes injury time added on, almost a minute was used by a Milan substitution while the Ref clearly blew the final whistle early without adding the sub time back on…

Stayed up till 12:30 burning six mock up CDs for the proposed anthology, envisioning three 2CD sets spanning the years 1977-1989, 1990-1999 and 1999-2007…

Sounding good…

Today's freak sky...

Highlight of the Day : Anthology work

Tired but tasty...

Playlist
Happy Apple – Youth Oriented
Lemon Juice Quartet – Peasant Songs
Madradeus – Faluas Do Teja
Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – A Part and Yet Apart
Allan Holdsworth – Hard Hat Area

Not as good a day as yesterday but for no particular reason. Of course I was super-tired today after last night’s shenanigans…

Anne made some brilliant pasta dish for tea, involving chorizo, chillies and cream – very tasty indeed – in fact, it may well have been the best pasta I’ve ever tasted…

Unfortunately I failed to take its picture before it was consumed but here are some pics I did take today…

On TV an episode of “Ugly Betty” is all I can recall…

Highlight : Best pasta in the world from Anne

Weather, telly, music....

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Ersatzreal
Happy Apple - Youth Oriented
Various - The Wire Tapper 16
Lemon Juice Quartet - Republic
Various - New music from Pitchfork
Various - Crazy jazz from Destination Out

What a lovely day it was today here in Edinburgh...



Uptown, I listened to the second half of the CBQ mock up - I am liking it again...

I also tuned into Happy Apple - brilliant stuff - which put me in mind of the Lemon Juice Quartet - it seems the LJQ are now no more but their members are still making important new jazz...

Back home, Anne had some tales of cats and kittens as she tended her lovely garden after spending some time at Lothian Cat Rescue this morning...



The latest edition of The Wire popped through the door and references to PiL's "Metal Box" made me want to listen to that, while an article by writer Michael Faber regarding his discovery of the music of Hungarian prog band After Crying in 1991 made me want to listen to a couple of their CDs which I picked up when we visited Budapest in 2002...

Then a reference in a review of the Orb's Thomas Fehlmann's latest CD, "Hoenigpumpe" to Josef Beuy's 1977 installation "Hoenigpumpe am Arbeitsplatzt" at Dokumenta VI in Kassel brought to mind our upcoming visit to Kassel for Dokumenta XII this summer, and made me think of sampling his CD "Good Fridge" which I have...

Alas, two episodes of "Coronation St", "Law & Order : Trial By Jury" and "Ruddy Hell! It's Harry & Paul" left me with just enought time to listen to a couple of tracks from "The Wire Tapper 16", as I prepared coffee, and the Lemon Juice Quartet's sublime "Republic" album - which I bought from the band when we stumbled across them in a little club in Krakow in 2003...

What a nice day...

Of course I then accidentally stayed up till 2am downloading and listening to new music from Pitchfork and crazy jazz from Destination Out (see links)...

My 850th post...

Highlight of the Day : Good weather, good telly, great music...

OAP...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Proposed Anthology 1977-2007
Telemann - Tafelmusik
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Rarities

I was lying in bed this morning, after retiring last night at 11:30, thinking it must easily be around 9 am as I was so tired last night when I went to bed...

So I got up...

It was 5:45...

I spent two hours transferring recordings I made in 1977 and 1978 to the hard drive but then decided to work on just cutting down the selection made for the 1977-2001 anthology I compiled in, erm, 2001, reducing the number of pieces to make way for recordings made from 2002 to the present...

I burned mock ups of the first three CDs - 77-82, 83-92, 92-02 then I stopped for breakfast around 10, during which we enjoyed some relaxing oboe, bassoon and strings from the pen of Mr Telemann...

I spent some time perusing the Ikea catalogue for nothing in particular then went back upstairs while Anne tended to the garden (I don't tend the garden - I am a bourgoise artiste)...

I can't remember exactly how it came about but, around midday, I started gathering "rare" CBQ tracks from various sources with a view to including a few in the proposed set...

Over the next four hours, I copied 92 tracks to the hard drive - 580 minutes of "music" - including tracks never before released and other alternative versions of old favourites and a few cover versions along the way...

Meanwhile, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock put paid to Hearts' European ambitions for next season, the former by refusing to be beaten or draw with Rangers (they won 2-0), the latter by beating Hearts 1-0 when Hearts had to win or bust...

Oh well - it'll save us a couple of hundred quid re tickets we won't need for Murrayfield next year...

Then to Anne's mum's for tea and I had my birthday cake two weeks late due to our Irish trip (Anne's mum makes the best cream sponge cake in the world) ...

After "Coronation St", while Anne and her mum worked out a particularly hard and annoying crossword puzzle, I found myself leafing through the last two monthly editions of the Saga Magazine...

I read an interesting interview with Bryan Ferry and picked up a few tips which will come in handy in a couple of years' time...

Back home, I listened to some of the "rare" tracks - many of which I've probably only ever heard once or twice before - whlst updating the diary...

And my picture of the day is a treated sunset...



Highlight of the Day : Rediscovering some forgotten music...

Removal men (and women)....

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Ersatzreal
Various - Holiday Hits Vol 19

Count Brodski texted me last night whilst I was in a rather worse for wear state asking if I was up for moving a couple of sofas this morning at 10:00...

I of course texted back some drunken message along the lines of "no problem big man"....

Rather surprisingly, I was up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 8 am feeling not too bad - and Anne had been up at 3am apparently, drinking copious amounts of water to stave off any hangover first thing..

We breakfasted at home while listening yet again to the latest mock up of the next CBQ song based album (21 April version 2) and making various disparaging comments about my singing and where on earth I get my ideas from...

Alan arrived around 10:30 and the three of us set off in his hired van for the storage facility where his sofas were being kept for the week between his moving out of his old place and his move in yesterday....

In fact Alan had two rooms full of stuff which included two sofas which weren't quite as big as this one...



...but were still pretty big...

We had a fun time going up and down in the lift inside Alan's furniture and the van was finally loaded and ready to go around 12...

We drove over to the new flat he's sharing with his lovely girlfriend Penny....

By 1:15 we'd each made a good ten trips or so up and down the fifty odd steps to the back door, including two carrying the sofas - and we were all well and truly knackered when Penny's mum and dad dropped by for a look round...

Lunch beckoned and we first made our way to the Gallery of Modern Art only to find all they had left was half a scone...

So we carried on to The Granary down by the river, which Anne and I had walked past a few weeks ago on our long trek from Roseburn to Stockbridge...

We relaxed in the bar watching Man U and Chelsea play out a fairly uneventful 0-0 draw whilst enjoying a tasty meal and some much needed liquid refreshment (us I mean, not Man U and Chelsea)...

As the final whistle aproached we left Alan and Penny to return to the flat to do some cleaning and we headed home, watching extra time and Chelsea winning with a very late goal...

In the evening "Dr Who" was a returning highlight following last week's postponement due to the Eurovision Song Contest....

Later on I fell asleep during both "CSI New York" and "Law & Order"...

Bed at 11:30...

Sore arms...

Highlight of the Day : Helping out my old chum....

Choreography...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Souvenir XIII 01 03 07
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Ersatzreal

Out again tonight - firstly to Tigerlily with young Kris with a K and IT Guru Martin for a couple of pre meeting of Anne's work colleagues drinks in that over-rated establishment...

I was heard to opine "we should do this every week" - however, the way we were going to be feeling tomorrow morning was not taken into account while making this utterance...

Around 8pm we met up with birthday boy Chris with a Ch and various others including a man called Ferret and another called Derek who was one of fifty people who bought the limited first edition of the debut CBQ & Peri Urban ambient improv CD back in 1996 and very kindly commented tonight on how good it still is...

Which was satisfying to know...

After a hearty meal at the Hard Rock Cafe it was on to The Living Room for another drink and then to Bar 38, where young people were dancing the night away to amongst others, the mighty Alice Cooper...



Late on, a weird balding overweight man (no not me) accosted us, putting his face in front of mine and making a strange growling noise for a minute or so, before stripping off to show his tattoos and strut his stuff with his small round lady partner...

He then came back to our table, took out his wallet and proceeded to count out all his money in front of us - a couple of hundred quid at least - before moving off again into the crowd...

However, that wasn't as strange as the need nowadays for everyone to include hand and arm choreography in their dance routines...

Home around 1 by taxi, much the worse for wear...

Highlight of the Day : Another night out...

Out...

Playlist
Fripp & Eno - Evening Star
Various - Albums of the Year 2003-2006 (Jukebox Shuffleplay)
Various - Holiday Hits Vol 20
Iona Marshall - I M Pulse

To Out of the Bedroom tonight but not until around 9:15 and so no intention of playing...

James Jamieson was already there when I arrived as we'd arranged to meet around 9...

As ever the quality of the performers was a little hit and miss but tonight's 30 minute set was by Iona Marshall, one of my all time favourites on the OOTB roster...

She's been away up north for a while but is now back in Edinburgh and we enjoyed her set and both bought her CD afterwards...



We listened to it in the car on the way home and were suitably impressed...

Highlight of the Day : A night out with Jamie...

Not superstitious...

Playlist
Uriah Heep - Rarities

When I was writing yesterday's entry I was trying to remember the two stories Sister Pam told us last night about my dad and the house in Loanhead in which my mum still lives...

Today I remembered them...

Apparently, when my mum and dad bought the house, they saw that two or three other couples had put down a deposit on the plot before them but had withdrawn their offers. This was because, when they were told the number the house would have on its door, they got cold feet...

The house is number 13...



However, my dad said that, as his youngest daughter (Pam) had been born on 13 June, he had no qualms about the number and so they got the house...

Indeed Pam was born on my dad's mother's birthday...

Prior to that decision however, he made another which, had it gone the other way, would have changed my entire life...

Our family lived in Paisley and my dad received a transfer to Edinburgh and so they had to find somewhere to live. Favouring an out of town location, at the bus station in Edinburgh, my dad asked an inspector how long it took on the bus to get to Penicuik and how long to Loanhead (he didn't have a car)...

Having been advised that the journey time to Penicuik was around 20 minutes longer, he decided we would live in Loanhead...

It's a funny old world..

I relate these stories as nothing much happened today other than Seville winning the UEFA Cup on penalties after a reasonably exciting game, and another entertaining episode of "Desperate Housewives"...

Highlight of the Day : Remembering stories

One step forward, thirty years back..

Playlist
Marillion - Somewhere Else
Uriah Heep – Very ’Eavy Very ’Umble
Uriah Heep – Salisbury
Uriah Heep – Look At Yourself
Uriah Heep – Demons and Wizards
Uriah Heep – The Magician’s Birthday
Uriah Heep – Sweet Freedom
Uriah Heep - Wonderworld
Uriah Heep – Return to Fantasy
Uriah Heep – High and Mighty
DDHR – It Can Only Get Better (Sept 77, Dec 77, Mar 78)

Mostly the mighty Heep on shuffleplay today....



Visited FOPP, HMV and Dixons but no purchases – I am investigating USB 2.0 boards to facilitate faster transfers from the PC to the new external drive...

Back home we watched two taped programmes, “CSI : New York” and “Law & Order”

Then I added 18 pictures to my Pictures of the Day blog, updating from January 2007 to now...

Then first preparations for a retrospective to mark 30 years of recording by your correspondent, the anniversary of which will occur in September...

...before heading to the airport to pick up sister Pam...

She is visiting ahead of a holiday to Menorca with our mum and we take her to Loanhead, staying for coffee and a chat...

Pam was on top form and most entertaining...

Highlight of the Day : To mum’s with Pam

Value for money..

Playlist
Rush - Snakes and Arrows
Marillion - Somewhere Else
Lucy Kaplansky - The Tide
Lucy Kaplansky - Flesh and Bone
Lucy Kaplansky - Ten Year Night
Lucy Kaplansky - Every Single Day
Lucy Kaplansky - The Red Thread
Lucy Kaplansky - Over the Hills

I've noticed that if I pay full (or close to full) price for a CD I actually want, rather than a small price for a disc I've stumbled across, then the disc tends to get more than one cursory play followed by being filed away...

The weather was lovely today though I omitted to take my camera with me whilst outside...

At home, I did however get a snap of Meg the Black Cat relaxing...



A telephone conversation with James Jamieson included a discussion on the merits or otherwise of the recordings thus far on the the new album. Jamie provided a few pointers which will help me in taking matters forward...

The evening is given over to TV...

"Panorama" on the weird and sinister world of Scientology and what they do to their naysayers..

"Coronation St" x 2

"Law and Order : Trial by Jury" our first viewing of this portion of the franchise - promising

"Ruddy Hell It's Harry and Paul" - now a firm favourite in our weekly viewing

"Scotsport" - including the exciting end to the relegation battle - it's Queen of the South v Dunfermline next season - and Hearts' latest victory over local rivals Hibs...

All in all - a wasted day really...

Highlight of the Day : Advice from Jamie

Busy doing nothing really...

Playlist
Bartok - String Quartet No 1
Lee "Scratch" Perry - Trojan Box Set
Various - New Music from Pitchfork
Paul McCartney - Memory Almost Full
Free - The Free Story
The Doors - The Best of
The Monkees - Greatest Hits
Golden Earring - Switch
Genesis - Singles 1972-1981 (CD-R)
Family - Singles As & Bs
Racing Cars - Downtown Tonight
The Rolling Stones - The London Years Vol3 1968-71
Roxy Music - Stranded
Yes - Fragile
Led Zeppelin - I
ELP - Trilogy
Edgar Winter Group - Frankenstein
Black Widow - Come to the Sabbat
Jethro Tull - War Child
The Tubes- Young and Rich
Grand Funk - We're An American Band
Eagles - Their Greatest Hits
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Alice Cooper - School's Out
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
Marillion - Somewhere Else

Started the day with Bartok's 1st String Quartet then did the dishes to the strains of Lee "Scratch" Perry, which Anne opined to be "terrible"..

Then, updated the links on the blog, deleting a few and adding a few others...

Whilst doing so, I listened to the songs from my Pitchfork downloading session on Friday and many of them don't sound so good in the cold light of day - I may well continue to make music after all...

Of course it's now just over three weeks since I last did any work and I'm not particularly enthused at present...

Then...

Shopping...



Later on, whilst looking through MP3 download blogs I came a cross the new Paul McCartney album. After a couple of listens I have to say it's pretty good. The download isn't particularly high quality and so I will probably buy the album after it's released next month (as I did recently with the Rush album)...

You will recall I had a bit of a McCartney frenzy a few months back...

Mid afternoon an episode of "Law and Order" and then I listened to a few CDs...

A lovely steak with onions, mushrooms, mustard mash and asparagus for tea - very tasty and expertly cooked to perfection by Anne...

Two episodes each of "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Joey" then "Coronation St" on tape then more washing up - my hands are lovely and soft....

Listened again today to the new Marillion album and it's just as good as the Rush album but in a different way...

Both bands are amongst my favourites of course...

Last day of the English Premiership today and sad to see Sheffield Utd relegated on goal difference...

Looking forward to the highlights in a few minutes, Jim...

Highlight of the Day : Anne's cooking

An exciting box...

Playlist
Lucy Kaplansky – Over the Hills
Rush – Snakes and Arrows
Marillion – Somewhere Else
Judy Collins – Who Knows Where the Time Goes
Joni Mitchell – Blue

Morning – started the back up to the new hard drive – this lasted all day and is not finished at the end of it...

Midday – took Anne to her mum’s – the two of them were going to Tynecastle to watch Hearts v Hibs, the last derby of the season – Hearts won 2-0...

Early afternoon – a trip to Ikea on the way to visit my mum – found some new CD storage which I may use going forward – in keeping with all Ikea products it has an unfathomable name – Trissa...



Mid afternoon – to mum’s and a good chat about the holiday to Ireland, her own upcoming holiday, her recent trip to the physiotherapist who advises there’s little if anything that can be done for my mum’s condition, life, the universe, everything and her new remote control...

Late afternoon – back home, construct the two Trissas – the last two in stock at Edinburgh's Ikea - then back to Anne’s mum’s to bring Anne home – her mood is, as expected, buoyant...

Early evening – sorting out the 180 odd CDs which can now be integrated into the current storage system – and duly integrating them...

Evening – a CSI New York on tape, and a CSI New York “live” then the end of the Eurovision Song Contest – what an arse Terry Wogan is – I’ve always hated his so-called talent for presenting – not content with making unfunny and often dubious comments between the songs, he now speaks over them too – I hate Terry Wogan – and I don’t even particularly enjoy Eurovision – I did say Serbia had the best song though...

Highlight of the Day : Sad to say it has to be at last discovering some useful CD storage at Ikea

The lights are on but...

Playlist
Nine Horses - Snow Borne Sorrow
Udo Lindenberg - Gegen den Strom (CD-R)
Herman Van Veen - In Appreciation (CD-R)
Peter Gabriel - Live and Unwrapped (DVD)
Chad Wackerman - The View
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Ersatzreal
Lucy Kaplansky - Over the Hills
Rush - Snakes and Arrows
Marillion - Somewhere Else
Various - New Music from the Pitchfork Website

A happy birthday today to my old friend Birgit, who lives on an island with her pet snake Ophelia...

I was expecting a delivery this morning and, when by 11:00 nothing had arrived I checked the online tracking only to find a delivery had been attempted and, apparently, no one was in at Cripsycat Towers....

I was rather upset at this...

I called City Link to explain I was indeed at home and had remained so purely to receive my delivery (for which I'd paid extra to have the goods on a next day basis)...

The lady advised she'd spoken with the driver and he would try and return...

I knew of course this was rubbish and I'd have to drive round to the depot at 6:30 to pick up the undeliverable parcel...

Anyway, I used some free time to tidy up the back room and make some changes to the general storage of my "stuff" on the various shelves etc...

Then I watched the second Gabriel DVD from the set I bought a couple of weeks back and listened to some outlandish jazz from messrs Wackerman and Holdsworth...

I also listened to the last mock up I did of the proposed new CBQ album...

The vocals are rubbish and will need to be re-recorded - I've been taking a break from the project over the last two or three weeks and, no doubt, it'll take some time for me to feel enthused enough to return to it...

The pick up went successfully and I set up the hard drive within minutes - it'll be used initially to back up the existing hard drive and the jukebox but I only have USB 1.1 rather than 2.0 so the transfers will take an age...

I tidied up the computer area and listened to the three new discs which accompanied the hard drive...



The Kaplansky - a lovely performance half originals half covers (Roxy Music, Johnny Cash, Louden Wainwright III, Julie Miller and Ian Tyson) - some really heart-felt songs on there..

The Rush - of course I have had this for a week or so already but only really now will I start getting into it properly - suffice to say it's superb...

The Marillion - a first cursory half listen tells me it's good but not as good as Rush...

All in all three discs which make me wonder why on earth I bother....

I also hoovered the upstairs of the house tonight...

"Ugly Betty" at 9 and "Criminal Intent" at 10 - very entertaining...

Then back to the PC and I ended up downloading another 50 odd tracks from the Pitchfork Forkast pages - 50 odd of the latest cutting edge alternative music tracks and, once again, at 1:30 in the morning, I find myself thinking - "why bother with your rubbish music you deluded fool Mr CBQ"...

Best find on the site by the way was a Seattle band Grand Archives, signed recently by SubPop on the basis of one live gig - but they have a certain pedigree...

I urge investigation...

Highlight of the Day : New stuff...

Robot cake...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Ersatzreal
Various – The Wire Tapper 16
Air – Pocket Symphony
Vivaldi – Adagios
Various – Holiday Hits Vol 11
Various – Quiet Music Jukebox Playlist

To the computer first thing like some kind of PC obsessed automaton...

First off I burned a disc for John & Ali of Impossible Songs of the pics taken at their housewarming barbecue a couple of weeks back...

Then breakfast and a taped episode of “Coronation St” – the only one of six I watched today (I’m pretty sure Anne watched all the others at some point)...

Back to the internet and I booked us some tickets for some shows at the Edinburgh International Festival, six in all, two ballet pieces, two operas and two recitals...

Also, after consulting my webmiester extrardinaire, Creek's programming guru Mr Craig Sutherland, I purchased a 500Gb external hard drive along with the new CDs from Rush (I know I downloaded a copy but their artwork is always superb), Marillion and Lucy Kaplansky...

Then, spurred on by our in-car listening during the Irish Trip (Holiday Hits Vols 1-10), I transferred tracks lasting between 4:30 and 4:59 from the Jukebox to the hard drive with a view to burning ten new Holiday Hits CD compilations...

Around 1, we drove uptown to the Planning Office to view the plans for the rather large housing development due to take place on the site of the Queen Margaret College which is closeby to Crispycat Towers...

We came away reassured that things will not be as bad as we expected – the majority of the trees will remain – of course it all hangs on the Developers sticking to the plans and the detailed restrictions – something for which developers are not usually renowned...

We popped into a wee Turkish Café (Truva) by the waterside in Leith for a coffee before I checked out a couple of 2nd hand music shops (Elvis Shakespeare and Vinyl Villains) – nothing of any interest...

Then to Falko Konditormeister on the way home and we bought two slices of lovely cake, Plum and Schwabisch Apple, and a small loaf of German bread. Their site doesn’t have pics of the cakes we bought but here’s a couple of samples...





Back home we partook of some tasty “Kaffee und Kuchen” while watching taped episodes of “Criminal Intent” and “Doctor Who”...

In the evening the indulgences continued with a late Indian Takeaway from the India House in Morningside near Count Brodski’s flat...

Then “Ugly Betty”, “Desperate Housewives”, “Question Time” and “This Week”...

Bedtime

Highlight of the Day : Kaffee und Kuchen

No hair, no stars....

Playlist
Rush - Snakes and Arrows
Krommer - Oboe Quintets & Quartets
Rheostatics - Final Concert (Full Concert Download)
Carl Palmer - Live in Europe (DVD)
Peter Gabriel - Still Growing Up (DVD)
Rheostatics - Best of (1CD-R)

Spent the morning updating the diary for the Ireland trip whilst listening to the entire last concert by Rheostatics - a soundboard sourced recording is now available for download over at the Rheostatics Live website...

In the afternoon, watched a Carl Palmer DVD - not greatly impressive - though his drumming was, the bassist's bassing was and the guitarist's guitaring was - the whole never quite made it for me - bring back ELP...

Shaved my head and face after the pathetic hair build up over the last week...



Then the Gabriel DVD - superb musicianship and showmanship all round - Arctic Monkeys my backside I say...

Though that is of course a whole different kettle of monkeys...

Phoned old chum Jorg to wish him a Happy Birthday - 26 years ago tonight since I was lying on my back on a hillside in Germany and saw a big shooting star...

In the evening to Armadale to pick up Meg the Black Cat - she appears to have enjoyed her holidays but was back at home within minutes of being back at home - if you see what I mean...



Took down my birthday cards, including these two home made ones from nephew Ollie...



...and Niece Kitty...



All over for another year...

Highlight of the Day : The Return of Meg the Black Cat

A knock on the head...

Playlist
Various - Jukebox Shuffleplay
Various - Holiday Hits Vols 1-10
Various - Now That's What We Call Music

Back home today (after a quite frankly huge breakfast) and we drove for two and a half hours from Kinsale up to Shannon but not before one last touristy outing to Fort Charles just outside Kinsale...



The guide gave us a new insight into Irish history, giving the lie to the well-worn opinion of religious conflict - apparently, something like 40% of William of Orange's army were catholic and it was funded to a large extent by the pope (I'm struggling to find any corroboration of this factlet however)...

Anyway, we headed up the road to Shannon, stopping off at Bunratty castle and the famous "village inn" "Durty Nelly's"...



We didn't lunch there though....

I instead partook of a soothing mushroom soup, purchased from the establishment over the road in a fit of pique after being maliciously attacked by some kind of wooden box sticking out over Dirty Nelly's urinal, which inflicted this rather painful (if pathetically small) wound...



After lunch, on to Shannon Airport ....



...from where we flew home in the early evening...

I was looking forward to collecting Meg the Black Cat from her holiday but Julia called to advise she was going out tonight for her sister's birthday so it'll have to be tomorrow...

Also missed Jim Park's latest comedy performance - by the time we got back I was too tired to venture forth for a night of comedy (sorry Jim!!) - maybe it was the two and half hour drive from Kinsale to Shannon, the two and a half hour wait at the airport, the flight back to Edinburgh or maybe it was the bang on the head I received in the Gents at "Durty Nelly's"...

All in all though, another very enjoyable trip...

Highlight of the Day : Home again...

Scenic...

Playlist
Various - Jukebox Shuffleplay
Various - Holiday Hits Vols 1-10

We had originally wanted to stay in Kinsale for two nights but we hadn’t bargained on the “world famous” Kinsale Sevens (a rugby tournament apparently) taking place this very weekend, so we were reduced to one night...

We drove the scenic route down from Cork to Kinsale which hardly took any time at all...

The little town seemed strewn with many worse for wear rugby types but was lovely nonetheless...

While we waited for our room to be made ready, we went up to Desmond Castle and took the tour of the buildings and the wine museum - the links between Ireland and the various wine making regions around the world are fascinating...

Ater the tour, a quick coffee...

...and then to the hotel which was superb...

After relaxing on the balcony for a while we drove out to the headland....

The very end of the land is now a golf course but I did step out onto the cliffs and was almost blown over into the sea...

In the evening, a pubcrawl around the village was followed by a "tasty" chinese meal...

Highlight of the Day : The beauty of Kinsale and the pub crawl

Gift of the gab...

Playlist
Various - Jukebox Shuffleplay
Various - Holiday Hits Vols 1-10

Today it was down to Cork and we said our farewells to the our hosts for the last three nights following yet another huge breakfast (will we ever have lunch again?)...

Around 10 miles outside Cork we stopped off at Castle Blarney where I kissed the Blarney Stone and now fully expect my posts to become more eloquent (don’t hold your breath though)...

Just as we left Blarney the rain started, that annoying drizzle-rain which just sneaks up on you and soaks you and generally spoils any chance of an enjoyable stroll around town, inviting you to stop off for a coffee and a cake...

The B&B we’d booked had made some kind of error and so we ended up in our own apartment – pity it was just for one night...

In the evening things dried up a little and we enjoyed the hospitality in the Bierhaus before heading to Café Mexicana for dinner – guess what? It was very tasty...

Back at base we ended the day with the film “Envy”...

Highlight of the Day : Blarney Castle