Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Not over the hill...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Blend
Locke – The Broken Consort
Uriah Heep – Wake the Sleeper
Andrew Hill – Andrew!!!
Andrew Hill - Pax
Andrew Hill - Several other albums on shuffleplay

The two CDs I purchased on e-bay on Saturday arrived today and brightened up my evening...

“Andrew!!!” and “Pax” by Andrew Hill, the latter recorded on my big sister’s 9th birthday (he also recorded a session on her 11th birthday)...

"How interesting, Dave" I hear you say...

Top tuneless jazz from Mr Hill – the type James Jamieson hates (and Anne’s not too keen on either)...

Here he is at the piano in the late 60’s - Andrew Hill, not James Jamieson...



There is an excellent appreciation of his music over at The Bad Plus’ blog...

Meanwhile, a lovely lasagne was created by said tuneless-jazz-unliking Exec Producer...

In the evening, played a couple of songs and spent some time organising music on the hard drives and jukeboxes...

As of tonight, there are some 24,013 tracks on the jukeboxes, from a total of 2,214 albums, representing over 11 weeks of non-stop music, that’s 78 days (24 hours a day), or 1,875 hours, or 112,494 minutes - which occupies 93.42% of the 120GB capacity available...

Of this music, 49.84% might be deemed rock or pop, 26.04% classical or jazz and 24.13% comprises compilations (containing rock, pop, classical or jazz)...

There you go...

Highlight of the Day : New Andrew Hill...

Monday, September 29, 2008

Not such a blast...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Acoustic Setlist
UK – Night After Night
Various – Canadian Blast
Glasvegas – Glasvegas
Stereophonics – Language, Sex, Violence, Other

An uneventful day – other than, of course, in the financial markets where everyone’s taking a pasting – and will be taking an even bigger one tomorrow...

I managed to sicken myself of my mournful singing and inept guitaring by listening to my recordings from yesterday...

Things picked up a bit music-wise in the evening as I listened again to some new Canadian bands and tracked some discs on e-bay...



Chum Spike provided me with the Glasvegas album to copy – I’d point out that no-one is losing out there as there’s no way I’d ever have bought it...

It’s “not bad” – just nowhere near as good as people are saying...

Most albums I obtain after believing what people in general are saying about them, disappoint me...

I prefer to discover for myself through, mostly, guesswork...

Ended the day (after two Corries on tape) with programmes re the impending meltdown...

Uplifting stuff...

Looks like I’ll be working till I die...

Highlight of the Day : Hearing music other than my own...

Sunday, September 28, 2008

How much can you eat...

Playlist
Various – Canadian Blast
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Acoustic Setlist

Up at 7:30 and worked on a new CBQ compilation (as if I don’t have enough already) – but I was looking for tracks which, if I start playing acoustically again, I could perform live...

I managed 21 across the song-based albums since “becoming” CBQ in 1996, “Callingstill”, “Doveloveshawk”, “Ampersand”, Anotherhappyday”, “Deeperdown” and “Ersatzreal”...

Then I spent a good part of the rest of the day recording the basics of new acoustic versions of the songs...

Mid-afternoon we headed to Loanhead to see how my mum’s doing (fine) and met up there with big-sister Sheila with her tales of her family and the shocking nonsense she has to put up with from kids and the PFI company re the school where she teaches...

Up to nearby Ikea for some bits and bobs then we sought somewhere for tea – driving first to Colinton and eventually ending up out in the village of Balerno where we found the oddly named “Adams Tandoori”...



....where we enjoyed an “all you can eat” buffet which included poppadoms and pakoras along with a choice of five different curries....

We weren’t even charged for our soft drinks – though it turned out that “all we could eat” wasn’t actually all that much...

Still, at £9.95 a head it was definitely value for money...

On the drive home, we both lamented having eaten two Indian meals in two nights...

Back home, more work on the new recordings followed by “Match of the Day 2”...

Highlight of the Day : More recording...

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Gold blend...

Playlist
Chad Wackerman – Scream
Chad Wackerman – Legs Eleven
Vivaldi – Variations on La Folie and Other Sonatas
Various – Compilations Jukebox on Shuffleplay
Andrew Hill – Black Fire
Andrew Hill – Point of Departure
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Blend

Up at 7:30 listening to jazz and updating the red book of CDs I own...

At 9:10, a call from the lovely podiatrist – I was supposed to be there at 9 but had forgotten...

A quick dash and I made it for 9:25 and was out again 15 minutes later and £15 lighter in the pocket – but with very nice toes indeed...

Home for breakfast with Anne and Vivaldi and Meg the Black Cat....



Then, up into the attic where Anne did all the back-breaking work while I helped out and we laid the loft insulation...

On E-bay, I found I’d won two albums by jazz pianist Andrew Hill, bringing the total number of CDs I own by him to 10...

In celebration, I listened to a couple of his albums, before heading to Corstorphine to pick up some lunch which we enjoyed whilst listening to the comedy show on BBC Scotland which proceeds the football commentary – can’t remember what it’s called, “Off the Ball” or something – but it’s quite funny...

Hearts went down 3-0 away at Dundee Utd, Queens beat Clyde 2-0 at Clyde to go back into 2nd place in the league...

Meanwhile, I was working on this elusive new song which has been haunting me for a couple of months or more now and finally pinned down the chord sequences and put together the lyrics from those already written plus some lines coined in Vancouver...

Spent a couple of hours recording the song, forgetting to save as I went along – so the programme crashed and I lost everything and had to start again from scratch – within an hour I had a recreation – of course, in my head the first version, the one lost forever, was better...

“Merlin” was bad last week but this week it was even worse – I will continue to watch...

AS Anne watched “Strictly Come Dancing” I was despatched for the Indian Takeaway – a Saturday night habit which needs to stop I think...

On the way and on the way back, I listened back to the new song, having burned a disc to do so...

A compilation ended the series of “Mock the Week” – as usual, Frankie Boyle stole the show...

“Match of the Day 2” then bed...

Highlight of the Day : New song finished at last...new album therefore started...

Friday, September 26, 2008

Plus ca change...

Playlist
Allan Holdsworth – None Too Soon
No-Man – Schoolyard Ghosts
Alan Morse – Four O’Clock and Hysteria
Chad Wackerman – Forty Reasons
Chad Wackerman – The View

Is there a certain routine to my life?

Early morning, updating the blog, almost completely up to date now, I loaded the last of the Canadian entries a couple of days ago and now I’ve rushed out all the days since returning...

Lunchtime to FOPP – nothing bought today...

In the evening, after some lovely lamb’s mince and mash and broccoli, more on the Blog plus telly “Mutual Friends”...
...“Al Murray’s Happy Hour” (first half only, to make way for) “Harry and Paul”...

Bidding for three jazz discs on e-bay – auctions end tomorrow...

Highlight of the Day : Mince’n’tatties...

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Hero worship...

Playlist
Cloudland Canyon – Lie in Light
Holy F*ck - LP
Allan Holdsworth – None Too Soon
Allan Holdsworth – Against the Clock
Chad Wackerman – Legs Eleven
Chad Wackerman – Forty Reasons

Tonight to Glasgow to see Allan Holdsworth – the third concert by this virtuoso guitarist I’ve attended...

To give you an idea of the music, Anne came along with me years ago to the Renfrew Ferry to see this very man and, as soon as the band started to play their music-with-no-discernable-melody, Anne opined that perhaps they’d all just met for the very first time just a few minutes ago in the car park...

Having been unable to convince Dr Prog to come along either, I was on my own and entered the venue around 8pm, having driven around Glasgow trying to find a cash machine in case there were any trinkets on sale...

I took my place amongst the mostly serious young, and not so young, men in the audience (female attendees numbered probably fewer than 10 out of a couple of hundred), most of whom appeared to be guitarists, drummers or musicians of some sort or another...

Standing right at the front, centre stage, I was entertained in the pre performance hanging around time by a quartet of guys to my left, all of whom seemed to be players in various wedding bands – they were regaling each other with funny stories of first-dance music choices and strange requests or rules to which they’d been obliged to adhere...

As the trio took to the stage, I was amazed at just how nervous Mr H appeared to be, both his hands were visibly shaking – it didn’t affect his playing though...

He joked with the crowd and came across as a very shy self-effacing man, considering every person in the audience probably regarded him as a guitar genius and gave the trio an ovation at the end of each piece...



Throughout the two, hour-long, sets which ensued, I was around 4ft away from Mr Holdsworth and the same from his superb drummer, Chad Wackerman, whose CD, “Scream”, I’d coincidentally acquired around four weeks ago in a pawn shop in Prince George, British Columbia...

The music was out of this world and the virtuosity on display from all three players was astounding...

And, unlike many concerts I’ve attended, the audience tonight was fully attentive and respectful to the players and, like me, quite obviously blown away by the performance...

I left my prime position at the end of the second set and nipped upstairs to buy the only one of the four CDs on sale which I didn’t already have, Wackerman’s latest, “Legs Eleven”, and watched the short encore from up there...

I hung around like a fanboy and, as promised at the CD stall, the trio emerged to meet and greet, signing the just purchased CDs clutched by the faithful...

I explained to Mr H that I hadn’t bought his CDs as I had them already but could he sign the Wackerman disc...

“No problem, it’s a cool album” he replied...

Off out into the night, a happy man - the journey home was soundtracked by my latest purchase...

A good night indeed...

Highlight of the Day : Allan Holdsworth...

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Back, almost...

Playlist
Allan Holdsworth – Against the Clock
Alice Cooper – Along Came a Spider
Uriah Heep – Wake the Sleeper
Fridge – Eph
Tortoise & Bonnie “Prince” Billy – The Brave and the Bold
Kensington Prairie – Youtube Vids
No Horses – Youtube Vids
Fridge - The Sun
Graham parker and the Rumour - You Can't Be Too Strong

Oh loads of new £3 CDs at FOPP and I had a few in my hand including albums by The Sweet, The Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Scott Walker etc etc but ended up purchasing a compilation by Graham Parker and the Rumour, a disc I’d sized up a few days ago, the collaboration between Tortoise and Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and Fridge’s album from last year, "The Sun"...


Back home a chat with our neighbour gave a glimmer of hope that the noise situation may be resolved soon...

Fingers (and toes and everything else) crossed...

A return to fives after six weeks away and we’ve moved indoors (to the great ankle break hall)...

My old chum Jim Park was on the opposing side and they ran out winners by around two goals or so after we’d led 4-1 at one point – I let in a barrel load of goals and scored none but played quite well in defense I thought...

Ankle was giving me gyp though from around half way through...

Am back in next week – very enjoyable indeed...

At home, ripped the three new CDs, wrote up more Canadian tales and watched some of Rangers lucky extra time win against Partick Thistle...

Highlights of last night’s Queens game proved the winning goal was well offside – but “that’s football” as they say...

Fridge and Tortoise etc are enjoyable romps while GP and the Rumour bring back pleasant memories of the late 70’s...

Pills and bed...

Highlight of the Day : Returning to fives...

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Ref, offside, ref - oh boll...

Playlist
Rheostatics – Discography on Shuffleplay
Various - Rock & Pop Jukebox Shuffleplay including music by:-
Sloan, Bryan Ferry, Goodbye Mr Mackenzie, Nina Hagen, The Whitest Boy Alive, Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Coldplay, Natalie Merchant, Genesis, Brian Eno and Duffy
Pet Shop Boys – Disco 4
Dream Theater – Systematic Chaos

Made my way up to Ripping Records at lunchtime, a shop I seldom visit these days but where count Brodski and I bought many of our first punk rock singles back in 1976/77...

The same guy owns the shop and, though neither of us knows the other’s name, we know each other from my initially being his customer and then a fellow record shop owner...

I was on a mission to purchase tickets for the Lucy Kaplansky gig coming up in December, almost a year to the day since we saw her last – and two tickets were procured with no problem – the man mentioned they had just arrived...



I asked him how things were going and he advised he was doing fine, enjoying life and still liked working in a record shop – he said he burned CDs at home from his record collection and played the music in the shop – so many of his customers had no idea what was playing...

Rap was banned in his shop as was the use of mobile phones by customers, or the touching of his gig blackboard, which lists probably over a hundred upcoming gigs for which he sells tickets, painstakingly written out in chalk...

His opinion on Glasvegas, the so-called “next big thing” was scathing so I asked what he’d discovered recently and he said Richard Hawley, apparently a former member of the group Pulp – so perhaps one to watch out for...

Tonight, we drove to Falkirk to see Queen of the South take their team, The Bairns (or Falkirk FC) on in the CIS Cup (The Scottish League Cup)...

In the first half QoS were rather disappointing, although we thought they had a penalty in the first minute but it turned out to be just outside the box...

We couldn’t tell as we were so far away from the action - there are only two stands at Falkirk and all the Queens fans were stuck behind the goal...

We paid £15 each to get in and a rather insulting £4 just to park the car...

Falkirk went ahead on the half hour with an expertly executed volley from Neil McCann and it stayed that way till the break...

Queens were (not literally) a different team in the second half and eventually equalised with an exciting goal involving a courageous diving header being subsequently deftly flicked over the goalie by our No 9 Stuart “Keano” Kean – it took an agonising time to land in the net...

However, with around 15 minutes left, Falkirk sprang the QoS offside trap and one Stevie Lovell scored the winner...

Rather annoyingly, on the way home, the radio confirmed that TV pictures clearly showed the goal was offside...


Queens in their red away strip. Falkirk clearly offside...

It took almost an hour to get home as we firstly went a circuitous route around Falkirk due to Police stupidly closing off roads we wanted to drive along and ended right back at the stadium in a traffic jam – then, the M9 was closed between Falkirk and Edinburgh so there must have been a pretty nasty accident – we saw fire engines on their way to the scene...

Put the defeat of Queens into perspective...

Back home, wrote up more of the diary, took my sleeping pills and went to bed...

A reasonable day...

Highlight of the day : Queens’ goal hitting the net...

Monday, September 22, 2008

Maybe it's getting warmer, but...

Playlist
Martin Tielli – Operation Infinite Joy
Martin Tielli - We Didn't Even Suspect That He Was the Poppy Salesman
The Violet Archers - The End of Part One
The Violet Archers - Sunshine at Night
Asia – Phoenix

A quiet seat at lunchtime next to the church at the West End of Princes St – tired again today after not much sleep due to:-

(a) waking up at 2am after having dozed off in front of the telly re a programme on global warming (which followed “Match of the Day 2”) and how, several times over the last 50,000 years the average temperature of the earth has risen by up to five degrees in a matter of just 3 to 5 years, before eventually falling back again...

Interesting FACTS here...

Interesting CHARTS here...

I noted there was no such thing as a Carbon Footprint 50,000 years ago so how can it have happened??



And - what else made me tired?

(b) the infernal noise from our neighbours’ house...

Nothing at HMV took my fancy and, as is often the case, I heard that wee voice inside my head saying “for goodness sake, just how many CDs do you need?”...

Back home and spent most of the evening posting up days from the Canadian Trip – I’ve given up completely on multiple picture uploads and have created a collage for each day – now up to 3 September, having posted up four days’ worth of entries tonight...

Should be up to date this time next week...

Very much enjoyed the music of two Rheostatics boys today, Martin Tielli’s solo albums and Tim Vesely’s new project, the Violet Archers – while Asia entertained late doors...

Highlight of the Day : Closer to being up to date...

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Mice and cuts and explosions...

Playlist
Fripp & Eno – (No Pussyfooting)
Fripp & Eno – Evening Star
Fripp & Eno – The Equatorial Stars
Fripp & Eno – Beyond Even
Bartok – Complete String Quartets
Pet Shop Boys – Disco 4
Various – Brother –in-Law Keith’s Xmas Jazz Comp
Spock’s Beard – Spock’s Beard Live (DVD)

Up at 7:15 and, in a failed attempt to help Anne out, I set off to Tesco with a shopping list...

I got most of it right but of course there were a few things wrong and these were highlighted as reasons for me not to be sent shopping again while Anne slept...

To make matters worse, Meg the Black cat had deposited a dead mouse on the living room floor – her “shopping” was as much appreciated as mine!

Then, as I washed the dishes to the sound of Pet Shop Boys, a wine glass broke in my hand and slashed my right forefinger (well, lightly cut it anyway)...

Mid morning, after breakfast, there was a huge crash from somewhere – it sounded like an explosion rather than thunder and there was just the one – so I surmised that something, somewhere, must’ve blown up of its own accord, or been blown up...

Around 11:45 it was back on the road (after some work on that elusive new song which I’ve been playing around with for a few months now – still no concrete chord pattern and no meaningful lyrics to speak of) – to B&Q for loft insulation – not to reduce our carbon footprint of course, just to make our house warmer...

After that, to the big new Tesco opposite where some of my early morning mistakes were rectified – however, suffice to say, the dinner menus for the upcoming week are not quite what Anne envisaged...

Then a drive into the town centre and the unending roadworks caused very frustrating hold-ups along the way...

When we arrived at our designated parking space, it was being impeded by a large bin containing glass from the restaurant next door – this annoyed me too...

I need to stop letting these little things get me upset or it’ll be an early grave from a burst blood vessel in the brain no doubt!

To Boots to pick up the photos and they are a success, although the odd foot has been cut off by the pictures being slightly different dimensions to some of the crops I did – not to worry though – I’m sure no-one will notice...

On the way back at the car we stopped at the street market in Castle Street and bought two French Egg Custards (which are like cakes made entirely of custard), one of which we enjoyed back home with coffee...

Some work on the bathroom door to ensure the lock works for the upcoming visit of Godson Ansem Sonnenschein next month...


Jorg (Far Left), Ansem (Second from right)

...and trying to watch a DVD on the computer also caused some problems but these were soon resolved...

Then to Anne’s mum’s for our first fully attended family tea for a long time (apart from nephew Craig who’s still in Spain)...

Home made curries were the order of the day and Anne’s mum is possibly going to construct a painting based on one of the pictures of us from the collection we took round today...

Back home to the usual Sunday night of computing – good to get a mail from Count Brodski in Australia - followed by “Match of the Day 2”...

Highlight of the Day : Anne’s mum’s home made curries...

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Rickenbacker boy...

Playlist
UK- Danger Money
Tangerine Dream – Ricochet
UNKLE – End Titles...Stories for Film
Fripp & Eno – Paris Olympia 28/5/75 (CD-R)
UK – The Best of UK (CD-R)
Alexis On Fire – Crisis
Queensryche – Operation Mindcrime II
Bartok – Rhapsodies Nos 1&2; Piano Quintet
Donald Byrd – Fuego
The Church – Starfish
King Crimson – Live at Park West, Chicago, 07/08/08

To bed at 2am with headphones as loud as possible (without being audible to the Executive Producer) in order to drown out the neighbour’s boiler pump...

Awoke around 7 to hear it still going, on again off again once every minute (as ever) so UK and T Dream did their best to send me back to the land of nod - but to no avail...

Anyway, up and listened to UNKLE as I did the dishes, then transferred the Canadian pics for printing, on to a CD to take into town...

At 9:15 we were off and listening to more UK on the brand new replacement CD player in the Cloudland Blue Mobile – it seems to be ok...

To Patisserie Florentin and, who should we find sitting outside enjoying a coffee in the morning sun but old chum, ex-Pure Bear and erstwhile co-member of Disco Complex, Mr George Coleman...



Always a delight to see George and he came inside with us where we enjoyed a good old chinwag about this that and the next thing, including the current state of the art market...

George illustrates for comic books and has an exhibition coming up in January at Newington library in town – so hopefully we’ll get along to that...

Our little trio made its way on foot from Stockbridge up to Princes St where we bade farewell to George and hoped it wouldn’t be so long till we saw him again...

Into Boots and ordered the 100 or so photos via a self service machine - they should be available for pick up tomorrow...

A trendy wee scarf for Anne after a trawl through the neighbouring clothing emporia before we walked back down to Stockbridge where I snaffled three CDs for under £9 at Oxfam – Bartok, Queensryche and Alexis On Fire (as opposed to Alex Is On Fire), for which recent Canadian discovery, Dallas Green of City and Colour, plays geetar and sings BVs...



Meanwhile Anne was procuring a loaf and some freshly made pate and goat’s cheese from Herbie’s Deli for lunch, which occurred once we’d driven home...

While Anne was off at Tynecastle, watching Hearts win ugly, 1-0 against Inverness (and while QoS drew 2-2 with St Johnstone in Dumfries – Big Jim Thomson scoring for both sides), I spent most of the afternoon mucking about with the Canadian photos, updating the diary, playing a couple of songs to no-one but Meg the Black Cat and trying to get someone on the Hearts message board to help Anne out re our PC’s seeming inability to show any videos from the Hearts site to which she subscribes for an unfeasibly hefty sum each year...

It’s definitely autumn now of course as “Strictly Come Dancing” has started, along with this year’s replacement for “Robin Hood”, “Merlin”, which is described in the Radio Times as being aimed at Harry Potter fans – heaven help us...

Well it wasn’t as bad as that – not quite – and no doubt it’ll become another staple of nonsense for Mr CBQ on a Saturday night...

A very tasty Indian followed and a (I know this is such an overused adjective these days but) “fascinating” programme, on the life a woman living in Medieval times in Merrie Olde Englande – in fact near where Sister Pam lives now – and her and her contemporaries’ plight at the hands of the then (prior to the impact of the Black Death which wiped out 50% of the country’s population and put labour at a premium – and the subsequent Peasants’ Revolt) all powerful church...

Fascinating indeed...

Avoiding “Casualty”, I uploaded recent acquisitions to the various Jukeboxes and listened to some music till “Match of the Day” and the end of the first half of yet another weekend...

Hard to believe it’s four weeks ago today that we set off for the West Coast of Canada - but such is life approaching 50, time whizzes by like something that whizzes in a very fast way...

Dammit...

Highlight of the Day : An unplanned meet with a good old friend...

Friday, September 19, 2008

Number nine, number nine...

Playlist
The Buggles – Adventures in Modern recording
Yes - Drama
UK – Danger Money
ELP – Love Beach
Couperin – Concerts Royaux
Beethoven – Complete Symphonies
David Byrne & Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

To Arnold Clark first thing to leave the Cloudland Blue Mobile to have a new CD Player fitted...

Anne picked it up later in the day and reported it to be operating correctly...

We shall see...

A nice bottle of red wine accompanied dinner then we set about deciding which of the 1,100 photos of the Canadian Trip ought to be committed to print to illustrate the sojourn to those who may be interested but who do not visit the diary...



Ripped Beethoven’s nine symphonies – my version is on original instruments and performed by The Hanover Band – I was spurred on to this by toying with the idea of parting with twelve squid for a multiple DVD set of the pieces being played by Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic...

Which I didn’t...

On TV, the new Friday night staples of “Mutual Friends”, “Al Murray’s Happy Hour”, the quite excellent “Harry & Paul” and Cheryl Cole and Ben Stiller on Jonathon Ross entertained...

Then more work on the pics whilst enjoying a stream of the new Eno/Byrne album, which is rather good indeed, especially the initially released track, “Strange Overtones” – music that makes you feel good to be alive...

To bed around 2am...

Highlight of the Day : New Enossifications...

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Oh yes...

Playlist
Allan Holdsworth – Then : Live in Tokyo 04-06/05/90
King Crimson – Live at Park West, Chicago, 07/08/08
Steve Howe Trio – Live at the Platform, Morecambe 15/05/07
Circa – Live 03/05/08
The Buggles – Adventures in Modern Recording
T Rex – The Slider

Live music dominated today...

Allan Holdsworth, whom I’ll see next week, accompanied on my journey into town with a concert from Tokyo recorded on my birthday in 1990...

Another no-buy day at FOPP. I know I definitely pondered a number of items including Bonnie “Prince” Billy & Tortoise but, for the life of me, now I’m back home, not one other springs to mind...

Watched Motherwell in Europe (Queen of the South remain Scotland’s highest European scorers so far this year after celtic’s 0-0 draw last night)...

The Steelmen managed to lose by only 1-0 in France so still have a slim chance of progressing...

Anne was off uptown with Lynn tonight so I gave them both a lift into Igloo near Stockbridge before returning home and, instead of going along to out of the Bedroom, played three songs in the house...

Then some surfing, checking out the new Yes vocalist – he seems to do a mighty fine impersonation of Jon Anderson from what I can find on YouTube – my search, however, also uncovered the Steve Howe (also of Yes – and Asia) Trio which features said guitarist with his son Dylan on drums along with the pianist from the Dylan Howe Quintet, Ross Stanley, on Hammond Organ....

I have an excellent disc of the DHQ live in Soho which I picked up on our trip to Manchester last year...

Further digging found a live recording downloadable from this blog...

They are influenced by the likes of Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, Jimmy Smith and Larry Young and the recording features over 100 minutes of hard-bopping sound – even covering a couple of Yes tunes along the way...

Tasty...

Of course I then had to, had to, trawl through the entire blog of Yes and Yes related recordings and ended up downloading a thirty-nine minute Yes Medley by off-shoot band Circa (featuring Yesman Alan White and ex-Yesmen Tony Kaye and Billy Sherwood) – impressive...



On a blog amongst the links on this one I found a download of an album for which I’ve searched for a very long time to find on CD, “Adventures in Modern Recording” by The Buggles...

Result...

At 11:30 the call for a pick up came and I played taxi for the second time this evening...

Highlight of the Dasy : Music discoveries...

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Hype and stillness...

Playlist
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
Mercury Rev – All is Dream
Mercury Rev – Stillness Breathes 1991-2006

Slightly better weather today but we are undoubtedly heading into autumn without really having had a summer...

First visit of the week to FOPP at lunchtime today where I bumped into brother-in-law Bobby who advised he’d recently procured the new album by Glasvegas – which is one which every man and his dog seems to be raving about and so is one which I will undoubtedly discount...

Of course it has the full weight of Sony’s marketing machine behind it whilst attempting to maintain an “indie” gloss – if you look closely at the posters you’ll see the tiny “Columbia” logo in the bottom right corner...

Bobby and I both laughed at the Franz Ferdinand album now on sale at FOPP for just £1 (and that’s still £1 too much for my tastes) – how are the next big things fallen – I advised that’s probably where the Glasvegas album will be in a couple of years...

No purchases for me...

However, on the way home I was enticed into HMV by yet another “biggest sale ever” and bought Mercury Rev’s 2CD set “Stillness Breathes 1991-2006“ for a mere £5...



After an excellent tea comprising lamb mince with carrots and mushrooms and mash, I retired to the PC for the inevitably frustrating uploading of holiday pics to the blog – forced once again to opt for a collage - whilst simultaneously listening to/ripping Mercury Rev, purchasing new buildings insurance cover the net for my mum and booking a wee break for Anne and I to celebrate our upcoming actual Silver Wedding (as opposed to the recent “holiday of a lifetime” jaunt to the Lands of Canadia...

Multitasking at its best...

Highlight of the Day : Booking our Silver Wedding venue...

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Miserable and divine...

Playlist
Muse – Absolution
The National – Boxers
Donald Byrd – Slow Drag
Fred Schneider – Just...Fred
JS Bach – Goldberg Variations
JS Bach – Die Kunst der Fuge

A miserable day today, both weather-wise (drizzling all day) and generally, what with everything that’s going down (literally) in the world’s financial markets...

At home, things were lifted by Anne’s excellent mozzarella and pesto chicken breast with salad...

Tried for some time (without success) to find out why videos on the Hearts website won’t play on our PC (or, infuriatingly, will sometimes play just once and never again)...

A visit to PC World beckons...

Wrote up more of the holiday and posted the entry I’ve been holding for a couple of days as Blogger is interfering with posting up individual pics – I’ve resorted to posting a single collage instead...

Caught up with Robert Fripp’s diary re the recent King Crimson dates in the USA – his analysis of some audience members’ behaviour and expectations is in line with my own thinking and why I loathe live music concerts these days...

Looking forward to Allan Holdsworth in Glasgow next week nonetheless and the mighty Uriah Heep in November...

Played a couple of songs again instead of sitting in front of the PC or TV all night...

Then enjoyed some records (including the first ever play for a CD by Fred Schneider of ther B52s which I bought in New York in April 1999) finishing off with Glenn Gould’s 1955 recording of JS Bach’s “Goldberg Variations”...



Very tasty...

Lights Out with Bach’s “Die Kust der Fuge“ (String Quartet version) on the cans...

Highlight of the Day : Anne’s cooking...

Monday, September 15, 2008

Which one's pink...

Playlist
Dream Theater – Systematic Chaos
Dream Theater – Octavium
Elbow – Cast of Thousands
Elbow – Asleep at the Back

After three weeks and two days, back into harness today but it wasn’t as bad as you might think – I actually quite like what I do and it was good to see my colleagues again...

In the evening I tidied up the mess in the back room which seems to accumulate over a period of weeks...

I even sang a couple of songs to myself before dinner...

Uploaded some more Elbow to the Jukebox and tried to continue updating the blog but the server appeared to be down so I’m still sitting with only four of the eighteen days of the trip completed...

Of course I’ve been writing up the days since we returned but holding them unpublished...

Received an e-mail from our hosts in Vancouver thanking me for the review I posted on Trip Advisor...

She’s downloaded and is enjoying some of my songs from the Crispycat Library – which is very nice to know indeed!

During the day today, I really enjoyed the new Dream Theater album – suffice to say, it rocks...



Elbow, on the other hand, is steeped in melancholy – which is also good...

Spent some considerable time this evening researching a suitable overnight stay to celebrate the actual 25th Anniversary which still approaches despite the just ended “silver holiday of a lifetime”...

Late on, while surfing the net, I found that Rick Wright, Pink Floyd’s keyboard player and co-founder of the band, died today aged just 65...



Sad news...

Highlight of the Day : Dream Theater blocking out reality...

Sunday, September 14, 2008

These boots were made for walkin'...

Playlist
Various – Blue Note on Shuffleplay
Charles Lloyd – The Water is Wide
JS Bach – Die Kunst der Fuge
Dream Theater – Systematic Chaos
Various – Last 100 CDs on Shuffleplay
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid

Dreadful problems sleeping last night due to the infernal vibrations of our neighbours’ boiler – it switches on every 54 seconds for around 10 seconds and, despite the volume being very low indeed, because I can FEEL it, I can hear it even over blaring jazz on headphones, accompanied by two pillows over my head...

I’m working up the courage to discuss it with them because if this can’t be sorted I am going to go insane or pop my clogs through lack of sleep...

Up at 8:15 and, trying to ignore the ongoing intrusion, I wrote up “The Big Red Book of CDs I Own” which is now back up to date, whilst listening to the second disc of Bach bought yesterday...

The new Charles Lloyd disc from Canada accompanied my dish washing chores...

Anne finally emerged around 10:30 for a light breakfast...

Then uptown for some post-holiday cheer-up shopping...

While we were away, the new album by Elbow won the Mercury Music Prize – unusual for anyone who’s actually any good to come away with the prize...

In HMV I purchased this ( I assure you I am not a “post mercury fan” – I already have all their other albums), along with the last Dream Theater opus (again I have all previous releases), on sale for £7...

Then a new pair of boots entered the CBQ wardrobe – and so my ancient Dr Martens can finally rest in peace...



Back home, episode 3 of “Mutual Friends” entertained before some mucking about on the PC accompanies by the excellent sounds of Dream Theater, prior to a visit to my mum’s following her discharge from hospital yesterday...

She’s fine she assures us, though the reason for the symptoms which prompted a week long stay as a guest of the NHS remains a mystery...

Back home again Anne enjoyed “Poirot” while I uploaded new music to the Jukebox soundtracked by Messrs Elbow and the mighty prog of Dream Theater – tasty stuff....

Off to bed , hoping for sleep...

Highlight of the Day : Getting boots that fit and don’t hurt

Saturday, September 13, 2008

My brain on music...

Playlist
David Reilly – Anthology Vol 10
Allan Holdsworth – Metal Fatigue
The String Cheese Incident – Outside Inside
Pet Shop Boys – Disco 4
Various – Canadian Blast
Couperin – Concerts Royeaux
Jacques Brel – Vol. 2

Had some trouble getting to sleep so put on volume ten of my own anthology, guaranteed to make me nod off – after five or six tracks it had the desired effect but the sound of our neighbours’ boiler is still causing me to stress out in my own home...

Awoke very late indeed at 10:45 and faced a bit of a rush to get uptown to meet with Dr Prog at the Record Fair – alas we couldn’t be joined by Count Brodski as he’s flying off to Australia today for an extended trip...

There were some good pickings today though, e.g. Pet Shop Boys’ “Disco 4”, which I tried to buy in Avalanche around four months ago only to be told they couldn’t find the disc behind the counter...

This is a stonker of an album even though, at first glance, you might think the PSB content a little low with only two of the tracks being “solo” performances by the duo but their remixes of The Killers, David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Madonna, Atomiser and Rammstein do indeed “rock”...

From Mr Bert Muirhead, former proprietor of my favourite shop, Hot Wax, before its demise and the advent of FOPP, I purchased five discs for a tenner – “Outside Inside” by The String Cheese Incident (a jam band, reminiscent of Phish), “Canadian Blast”, a disc given a way free with NME last year comprising tracks by up and coming Canadian bands, a compilation of Jacques Brel, a disc of Couperin’s “Concerts Royaux” and a 2CD set of the Julliard String Quartet’s interpretation of JS Bach’s “Die Kunst der Fuge” (The Art of the Fugue)...



Tasty...

It was good to see Dr Prog again as we always have interesting, stimulating discussions on subjects of interest – i.e. MUSIC...

He advised Jon Anderson has given up on singing again with Yes due to his health (they cancelled a lengthy American Tour this year due to a heart condition which has forced him to rest for at least a year)...

The band has recruited a singer from a Yes tribute band and is set to tour in the next couple of months...

With no new material in the offing and none now since “Magnification” in September 2001, it looks like they’re going to go out with a whimper rather than a bang and when you compare their situation to that of the ever-challenging King Crimson, there’s a gulf of tragic proportions (even though the Crims’ latest tour produced no new material, the reworking and new lineup offered at least some progress, whereas Yes have been backward looking now for almost a decade)...

We also discussed the purpose of performance, and I advised I’m more in the Glenn Gould camp of rather having a band spend time in the studio producing excellent new music which I can enjoy on headphones than attending a concert in the midst of a prevalently moronic audience with a complete lack of etiquette or respect...

We visited Blackwells Book Shop where I bought Levitin’s “This is Your Brain on Music”, a tome which attracted me in Canada a few days ago but which I reneged on buying, fearing I already had too much to carry...

Back home, I watched the scores roll in with Anne whilst listening to my new purchases – Queens enjoyed a goaless draw away at Greenock Morton despite having a man sent off, while Hearts lost 2-1 away at Falkirk to an infuriating last minute goal...

A call to Loanhead confirmed my mum is back home from hospital and is doing fine...

Good to know...

In the evening I continued with my listening around two taped episodes of the new and rather enjoyable BBC comedy drama, “Mutual Friends” and the ordering and fetching of a shared Indian takeaway...

“Match of the Day” rounded off the night, by the end of which I’d managed to listen to all the new CDs save the second of the Bach two disc set...

Highlight of the Day : Catching up with Dr Prog

Friday, September 12, 2008

Arnie, no...

Playlist
Kensington Prairie – Captured in Still Life
No Horses – No Horses
Sarah Harmer – We Were Here
City and Colour – Sometimes
Cloudland Canyon – Lie In Light
Holy F*ck – LP
Various Composers – Radio 3 Broadcasts
Various – Jazz and Classical Jukebox Shuffleplay
Blank Dogs – On Two Sides
Radiohead – In Rainbows
Tortoise – Standards
Hawkwind – Epocheclipse Anthology (3CD)

Couldn’t sleep so got up around 2am and went down to watch teletext while listening to my new CDs...

Turned in around 3:30 and soon got to sleep only to be woken buy the alarm at 6:45 as I was to take the car to Arnold Clark today because the CD Player isn’t working...

Left the house at 7:50 and returned around 10:30 having enjoyed a walk along Portobello Beach while Arnold Clark took an hour and a half to tell me the CD Player wasn’t working and they’d need to order a new one – you’d think, being a Seat dealer, they might have some replacements in stock, but that’s asking too much of course...



So it’ll be at least another week with no decent music in the car...

Back home wrote up more of the diary entries for the holiday...

After viewing all 1,100 pics from the Canada trip (soundtracked by songs from the CDs bought during it) Anne had to go for a sleep in the afternoon – it seems we’re both still somewhat jet-lagged (or the pics were particularly boring – I’m sure it wasn’t the latter)...

Up again by 4, she set off over to fife to meet up with some of her work colleagues for a drink, while I watched a DVD of Canadian band Stars, which came free with the CD I bought by them a few weeks ago, before taking the bus on the 90 minute journey from Corstorphine over to the Royal Infirmary to visit my mum – accompanied on the way by the raucous space noise of the mighty Hawkwind...

Despite her procedure having been inconclusive, mum was in good spirits and we chatted for an unprecedented hour and a half before I set off for Crispycat Towers around 8pm, taking a mere 75 minutes to get home...

An excellent dinner awaited comprising chicken breast with pesto and carmelised onions with tastily dressed salad...

TV tonight comprised “Al Murray’s Happy Hour” followed by “Harry and Paul” – and I have to say that one sketch from the latter was funnier than the entire content of the former...

We watched Stevie Wonder on Jonathon Ross (which made me want to get my Stevie Wonder records out) before retiring around 1am...

Highlight of the Day : Harry & Paul...

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Back to reality...

Playlist
Sarah Harmer – We Were Here
City and Colour – Sometimes
No Horses – No Horses
Kensington Prairie – Captured in Still Life
Cloudland Canyon – Lie In Light
Holy F*ck – LP
Phonorama – Mixdown Bologna
Various – The Wire Tapper 20
Various Composers – Radio 3 Broadcasts
Chad Wackerman – Scream
John Coltrane – Settin’ the Pace

Awoken at 10:30 by the phone – we let it go to voicemail – turned out to be my mum calling from the infirmary to say her procedure had been cancelled...

Down to Il Cibo Café in Corstorphine for brunch of a roll and coffee, then to Anne’s mum’s (whose birthday it was yesterday) where we stayed for an hour or so, recounting tails of Elk and Ice and Trains and Bears...



Then to the infirmary to see my mum who was in surprisingly good spirits despite facing the “procedure” tomorrow morning...

Back home and more mucking about with the photos, doing washing while Anne shopped...

In the evening, we watched the rocky Mountaineer DVD which brought back a few recent memories, followed by an excellent “Mock the Week” – good to be back to watching telly where you know what’s coming on when...

As Anne entered a “Coronation St” marathon, I retired upstairs to listen to music and write up diary notes and publish the first couple of days of the holiday...

Finally hit the sack around midnight but couldn’t sleep – must have still been on 4 in the afternoon Vancouver time...

Highlight of the Day : Seeing all our pics on the big computer screen...

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Vancouver - Edinburgh (2)

Playlist
Various – Rock & Pop Jukebox Shuffleplay
David Reilly – Anthology 10
Sarah Harmer – We Were Here
City and Colour – Sometimes
No Horses – No Horses
Kensington Prairie – Captured in Still Life
Cloudland Canyon – Lie In Light
Holy F*ck – LP
Chad Wackerman – Scream
John Coltrane – Settin’ the Pace

Scotland is eight hours ahead of Vancouver and, at some point in the night, the crew on the plane must have switched to Scottish time...

We were watching “What Happens in Vegas” (admittedly I was not listening, merely watching)...

For some reason known only to the crew, they decided to serve the evening meal at around midnight, just as the film was coming to its climax – great timing – the stewards and their huge trolleys of food certainly made for better doors than windows...

Of course the serving of the meal awoke Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee behind me – consequently I didn’t sleep all night although Anne, who is admirably much more tolerant of inconsiderate idiots than I am, did manage to catch some shut eye...

Even if I had been able to drift off, I’m sure I would have been awakened by the crew’s seeming inability to work any of the lights in the cabin properly, switching them on and off at random intervals...

My sleeplessness was such that I was reduced to watching a Harry Potter film, again, of my own volition, without sound...

Imagine then my relief to finally touch down at Glasgow Airport at 1:15 pm local time (5:15 am Vancouver time)...

After slight delays at Passport Control and Baggage reclaim, picking the car up went without a hitch and by 2 we were on our way along the M8 back to Edinburgh, arriving at Crispycat Towers at 3...

In amongst a mountain of mail, the latest edition of The Wire was behind the door – with two new free CDs – as was the long awaited copy of “Lou Reed Live” from e-bay...

While Anne immediately went to bed, I stayed up listening to new music and transferring the pictures from the holiday to the hard drive...

A call from sister Sheila advised my mum was in hospital and had been since Friday – nothing life threatening though and Sheila was visiting tonight so we didn’t need to go till tomorrow...

So, at 7, as previously arranged, we drove back along the M8 to Armadale to pick up much-missed Meg the Black Cat from ex-mum Julia’s place...

Julia very kindly provided lamb casserole with cous cous as sustenance before we headed home around 9:30...

I continued listening to my new CDs and uploading the pics while Anne watched some recorded “Coronation St” – both back in the old routine already...

To bed at 11:30 – absolutely whacked having been awake for around 31 hours...

Ahh, memories...



Highlight of the Day : Seeing Meg the Black Cat again...

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Vancouver - Edinburgh (1)

Playlist
Various – Rock & Pop Jukebox Shuffleplay

Last day of the holiday and we slept in till around 8 so a little late for breakfast...

Today, two new couples at the table – one from Japan and one from Hong Kong – cosmopolitan...

We settled the bill with our excellent host Jenny, who'd been great throughout our stay and who now allowed us to leave our bags in the living room before heading out for our last walk down to Kitsilano...

We stopped in for a coffee at Jitters Coffee Bar just down from Zulu Records and I took a browse in the 2nd hand bookshop next door as Anne read the paper...

Then we walked on down 4th Avenue before heading up to west Broadway...

There we found a brilliant art book shop, Oscar’s Art Book Store, and I purchased a small calendar featuring works by The Group of Seven (very famous canadian artists from the 1920's onwards) while Anne picked up a book on Robert Doisneau...

Then back to Arbutus, where we stopped in at Arbutus Coffee for the last time...

Anne proclaimed their Raspberry and Blueberry Muffins to be the best “in the world” – high praise indeed – I enjoyed a strawberry scone...

We completed the circuit by returning to the now open Zulu Records where I bought another highly touted Canadian disc, “LP” by the delightfully named Holy F*ck...

From there it was our last walk back to the B&B to collect the bags...

We set off for the airport at 1:30pm even though we weren’t due to take off until 6:15...

We trundled the cases to the bus stop, took the 16 to Broadway, walked for one block then the bus to Airport Station where we transferred to a third bus and found ourselves at check in around 2:30...

We wandered round the airport, went through security, bought some chocolate, had our final Canadian meal from A&W Burgers and sat in the departure lounge, reading...

We boarded around 5:30 as the plane was set to leave slightly early – as it turned out it went right on time and we flew for 45 minutes to Calgary...

We spent nearly two hours on the tarmac there though, due to some nonsense with the baggage – to make matters worse we had the only two idiots on the entire plane sitting directly behind us – their incessant loud chatter, whistling, singing and drumming on the back of my seat made it impossible to sleep...

Typical Scots, sadly...



Highlight of the Day : Last visit to Arbutus Coffee and final shopping...

Monday, September 08, 2008

Vancouver (5)

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Ersatzreal “2”
Chris Lyons – The Ill-Tempered Klavier
Fabian Kallerdahl – Maxi Music
Music Music Music - Macbeth

Our last full day and I woke at six...

After the lyric writing yesterday, I listened to some tracks recorded for my last album – the ones which didn’t quite make it but which are being released now as bonus tracks on various singles – disappointing to these ears...

Up at 7:15 and breakfast from 8 till 9 – today it was goodbye to the Canadians from Manitoba, Doug (who reminded me of Brian Eno) and Dale, and the Brazilians, Sergio (who reminded me of Dustin Hoffman) and Themis...

But hello to a Dutch couple...

Out around 9:20 and we walked to the nearby market and bought a wee picnic for our lunch later on...

Then to a place we’d walked past almost every day and really wanted to try, Arbutus Coffee – we weren’t disappointed and it was immediately voted Anne’s “Favourite Coffee House in the World”...

On down to the beach again at English Bay, from where we replicated our walk of the first night to Granville Island...

We took the False Creek Ferry over to the Aquatic Centre and walked on round the seawall to Stanley Park...

Here we took the free shuttle bus which, in 45 minutes, drives you right round the island – we were lucky enough to have a driver giving a very informational commentary – apparently they’re not supposed to do this after complaints from the local bus tour companies...

We alighted in the middle of the woods and, after having lunch, we walked towards the Aquarium...

On the way we met three wee racoons who came out of the undergrowth and right up to us without a care, one of them was very interested in the camera...

Into the aquarium where we enjoyed the various fish, frogs, butterflies, birds, snakes, jellyfish, alligators etc etc...

But the highlights were the Beluga Whales and their newborn baby, the Sea Lions, the Dolphins and their show - each of the four has been injured in one way or another, one had stumps where its fins should have been after being caught up in fishermen’s nets and so they can’t be released back into the wild, and the Sea Otters– one of whom was a survivor of the Exxon Valdeez oil spill in the late 80’s...

All in all, while I felt sorry for the animals being in captivity, there did seem to be good reasons for them being there...

We walked back to the main road, took a bus to Downtown then another home where we treated insect bites...

Out again around 7:30 for our last dinner in Vancouver – this time choosing the Mexican on 4th, Las Margaritas for a very tasty meal indeed...

Back home and packed the bags – all over bar the shouting...



Highlight of the Day : The animals...

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Vancouver (4)

Playlist
Rush – Permanent Waves
The Blue Nile – Hats
The Blue Nile – Peace at Last
Uriah Heep – Wake the Sleeper

Up at 7 – I thought there’d been a downpour in the night based on what I’d heard but it turned out to be the neighbour’s sprinklers...

Lovely and sunny when we got up...

The, by now, usual breakfast ensued – loads of food – as most days, a cooked part, some yoghurt and granola and fruit, and a further plate of fresh fruit...

Left the house just after 9 and took the bus down to the Waterfront where we caught the Skytrain out to the East Side and Main St, from where we walked, in the now blazing heat, to the big weekend flea market...

Despite hundreds of stalls, nothing of any import was found and so we made our way back into town...

We alighted at Burrard St and took a bus over to the West Side to McDonald from where we walked down onto English Bay, where we’d come on our first night here...

Here we enjoyed some cooling drinks and sat and relaxed, enjoying the sea views and reading our books...

We walked back up the hill to 4th Avenue for the Soap Box Derby at 1pm – we’d noticed the street being cordoned off last night as we sat in the Hell’s Kitchen pizza place...

Around fifty teams had entered variously stupid vehicles into the race, the object being to freewheel as fast as possible down the natural hill of the street, without your car falling to pieces..

The entertainment value of the design of the cars was also taken account of...

Reasonably entertaining but the sun was beating down relentlessly and there were mental crushing crowds, with people trying to come through with babies in strollers and others wheeling their bikes through...

So we took our leave and walked down a parallel back street and made our way again to Granville Island and had a drink at the Cat’s Meow which sold the lovely Granville Raspberry Wheat Beer from the other day...

We got a bit lost trying to get back home on a bus and ended up over the bridge in another unsavoury area of downtown where we had to wait an age on our correct bus to take us back home for a well earned rest from all the walking...

I took the opportunity to start writing some lyrics for what I suppose will be my next album, due sometime in 2009 – starting with various two liners which may or may not be expanded into fully fledged ideas/songs...

In the evening we returned to Kitsilano for dinner, visiting Connie’s Cook House, a Cantonese restaurant...

The portions must have been the biggest I’ve ever seen and we did our best to get through plates of King Po Chicken and Satay Beef...

Very tasty indeed – they make a point of not using any MSG...

We ended the day with another long walk – down 4th Avenue up to 9th and back along the third side of the rectangle to “our street”, Arbutus, catching a bus at the corner of 9th back up to 21st where our home for the duration was...



Back home, some internet then to bed, exhausted and sunburnt...

Highlight of the Day : Relaxing at the beach

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Vancouver (3)

Playlist
John Coltrane – Sun Ship
Glenn Gould – Music from the Movies

Up at 7 and found all the tracks from Coltrane’s “Sun Trip”, which I bought yesterday, on my compilations jukebox, due to it containing the 8CD set of complete Impulse recordings by his quartet – nice to have the original album though for the equivalent of a couple of quid...

Breakfast at 8 and one Canadian couple were gone, replaced by two young Germans on the first leg of a round the world tour...

Once again breakfast was superb and was accompanied by further exchanges of ideas and tales of places to visit in the city...

At 9:20 we left and started walking towards Queen Elizabeth Park but we underestimated the distance of the walk and gave up after around 50 minutes and took the bus into town followed by the sea bus to North Vancouver and a further bus to Lynn Canyon (a tip from this morning) with it’s scary rope bridge crossing, forest trail and lagoon...

We stopped for some ice cream before taking a bus back down to the sea bus terminal, where we caught another bus to take us to the bottom of the Grouse Mountain Cable Car...

At the summit we saw two grizzly bears whose mother had been killed leaving them orphans – they are being looked after in a large compound...

We also enjoyed a display of birds of prey and a spectacular lumberjack show, including a well worked “member of the audience” routine, which culminated in the chap in question at the top of a 60ft pole standing on his head – certainly made my legs wobble...

The views from the top of the mountain were some of the most spectacular we’d seen so far...

Eventually we took the cable car back down, passing a couple of wedding parties on the way set to take their vows at the top accompanied by a bagpiper...

Back to Vancouver via the sea bus – we walked to Downtown and took another bus up to 7th Avenue (can you tell we had day passes today?) before walking back to 4th where we enjoyed a couple of excellent pizzas at a packed Saturday Night Hell’s Kitchen...

We walked home and finished off the day with some reading...

I listened to some Glenn Gould performances whilst reading my new book on his theories and philosophy of music, recording and performance...



Highlight of the Day : Grouse Mountain

Friday, September 05, 2008

Vancouver (2)

Playlist
Rush – Hemispheres
John Coltrane - Dakar

Another unbelievably large breakfast was consumed again over the course of around an hour as we sat and chatted with the other guests – something we never normally do on holiday, preferring instead to keep ourselves to ourselves but, frankly, these people were so interesting, you couldn’t help but join in...

We took the bus downtown today and arrived a little earlier...

We found one of the biggest malls (Pacific Mall) and took a wander – disappointing really but Anne managed to find a couple of t-shirts for her trouble...

We returned to the streets and walked past the Art Gallery and I went to HMV for a browse while Anne continued round the shops...

She found me in the basement purchasing a couple of John Coltrane CDs and a book on Canadian classical pianist, Glenn Gould...

She had bought a rather fetching hat from the craft stall outside the gallery...

We stopped for a coffee at a branch of Benz on Robson St and sat in the window watching the world go by before walking on down towards Stanley Park...

On the outskirts of the park, we went down onto the beach for a rest from all the walking - then, on through the park, eschewing the pitch and putt for sitting by the lake watching the squirrels, ducks, geese, swans and gulls...

We emerged from the other side of the park and walked round the seawall to Canada Place where we sat watching the seaplanes flying in and out...

Ice cream tried to stave off the heat before we went back to Downtown where I found a very strange Japanese 2nd hand book and CD store, picking up a Charles Lloyd disc on which he’s joined by the Brad Mehldau Trio and John Abercrombie on guitar...

We saw the Olympic clock, counting down the seconds till the Winter Olympics here in 2010, then went into the Art Gallery and shops – a jazz trio was playing at the open air restaurant...

We walked back on down to Gastown and enjoyed a lovely Indian meal at the Sitar restaurant after drinks at the Deighton Well...

We took the bus back home, checked the net briefly then bed...

A tiring but enjoyable day...



Highlight of the Day : Just walking around taking the city in...

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Vancouver (1)

Playlist
No Horses – Same
Kensington Prairie – Captured in Still Life
Rush – Hemispheres

Our first full day in Vancouver started with a long lazy, very filling breakfast as we sat round the table between 8 and 9 with four Canadians and two Brazilians, exchanging stories and suggestions and, generally, having a very enjoyable time...

After breakfast we walked for 90 minutes all the way through downtown to Canada Place and the Tourist Office to pick up a few tips...

Then along to the touristy area of Gastown, and from there through a couple of streets which we learned later represent the junkie centre of Vancouver - then on to Chinatown, the third largest in North America which didn’t impress us at all really...

We walked on to the Science Centre at the shore of False Creek and took the False Creek Ferry to Granville Island, where we’d been last night...

We spent the entire afternoon there, firstly exploring the huge Public Market and its wears enjoying a tasty lunch, where I donated some of my falafel wrap to a starling with an injured foot...

We took a leisurely stroll around the various craft shops and art galleries and stopped at a coffee shop...

We bought a Canadian Cookbook for Julia to thank her for taking care of Meg the Black Cat while we are away – the shop only sold cookbooks but sold them from every conceivable part of the globe...

We wound up in the Granville Brewery where I enjoyed a couple of pints of Raspberry Wheat Beer – absolutely delicious – Anne had tasters of three or four different beers too...

In a bespoke jewellers, we bought a beautiful silver bracelet for Anne re our upcoming Silver Wedding Anniversary...

Then we walked up to 4th Avenue in Kitsilano and found a great shop called Zulu records, where I ended up buying a couple of local bands’ silver coloured CDs – No Horses and Kensington Prairie – along with the recent disc by my (almost) namesakes Cloudland Canyon...

We had dinner at the rather splendid Sophie’s Cosmic Café, where the portions were filling and the walls were crammed with entertaining paraphernalia...

Back home we chatted with the owner in the living room and then checked the internet – Queens were up to an amazing 2nd in the league and Hearts were third – perhaps we should leave Scotland more often....

Off to bed with Rush in the cans...



Highlight of the day : Zulu Records/Granville Brewery

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Kamloops - Vancouver

Playlist
King Crimson – Starless and Bible Black
King Crimson - Red
Rush – A Farewell to Kings
Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure
Roxy Music - Starnded
Roxy Music – Country Life
Allan Holdsworth – Wardenclyffe tower
Allan Holdsworth – Hard Hat Area

Day two of our train trip and we were picked up from the hotel around 7:30 and taken back to the station, leaving Kamloops around 8am...

The train was now twice as long, having joined with another travelling from Calgary to Vancouver at this half way point and, once again, I spent much of the trip hanging out the window taking pictures – so much so that I missed the one bear sighting of the two days – there was much excitement inside the carriage apparently but I was outside, oblivious...

It made Anne’s day though...

Despite the route starting off in dry desert like terrain, this was actually more enjoyable than yesterday – for a start the weather was a lot better...

We crossed the Thomson River into the lands of the First nations (that’s Red Indians to you and me) and a small wooden church which symbolises the success of Christain Missionaries in the area...

From Kamloops, there are two railway lines, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific...

From Kamloops to Vancouver, the 1885 Canadian Pacific (CP) and the later 1917 Canadian National (CN) trans-continental routes run parallel, usually on opposite sides of the river....

For the first 58 miles west of Kamloops, the Rocky Mountaineer uses CN tracks in both directions, but between the town of Basque and Vancouver there is 'directional running' where CN & CP co-operate...

All westbound trains (like ours) travel on CN tracks on one side of the river, and all eastbound trains including the eastbound Rocky Mountaineer make their way along the CP tracks on the other side....

Our first sightseeing opportunity was the spectacular and bright blue Kamloops Lake, at the end of which the train ran alongside the Thompson River....

The countryside here became even more arid than that surrounding Kamloops and we passed Ashcroft, apparently the driest town in Canada....

In Black Canyon, named after a black lava cliff, we crossed the Thompson via a steel girder bridge and the scenery changed again, from dry and sandy, back to rocky with pine trees....

Then on to Avalanche Alley travelling along the very edge of the river under a sheer cliff wall with avalanche protection sheds in several places....

Around midday, we got to the meeting point of the Thomson and Fraser rivers and the train crossed another bridge, giving as superb view of the rivers coming together, one clear and blue, one muddy and full of silt – this is because the latter doesn’t pass through any lakes – doing so provides an opportunity for the river to deposit its silt content...

On to the aptly named “Hells' Gate”, the narrowest and fastest-flowing point of the Fraser River. On the right on the far bank was the Hell's Gate cafe, with a suspension footbridge across the river below the train and a cable car over the river and up the mountain....

Of course we couldn’t get off the train...

By mid afternoon, we were speeding through a wide flat valley, with farms and greenhouses starting to appear, past the site of Fort Langley, just visible through the trees...

Around 5 we finally started the approach to Vancouver with the train slowing down through the freight cars in Thornton Yard and curving right over a very long, low steel bridge across the Fraser River, from which we could see a much higher arched road bridge on the left, which also carried the Vancouver 'Skytrain' metro....

We made our way through the suburbs to the station where our bags and a taxi awaited us and it was a 20 minute, $20 journey to our accommodation, an excellent guest house near the trendy area of Kitsilano...

We were now almost 700 miles from Calgary, though in the ten days we had had the car, I had driven more than 1,000 miles in total...

Now we were going to be based in Vancouver for the rest of today and the next five days – and I was looking forward to some “stability”...

After dumping our bags, we walked the 15 minutes down to English Bay where the young people of Vancouver were jogging around and enjoying beach volleyball...

We continued our stroll on round the seawall and eventually came to Granville Island...

By this time, most of the shops were closed but we dined at Tony’s Fish and Oyster Bar, before walking back up to our B&B – the whole walk was around five miles and very enjoyable indeed...

I wrote up my notes re the last few days while Anne read – no telly in this suite – I spent some time listening to music before we turned in, looking forward to exploring Vancouver over the next few days...



Highlight of the day : Train journey pt 2...

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Jasper - Kamloops

Playlist
Yes – Close to the Edge
King Crimson – Larks’ Tongues in Aspic

Up at 6 and trundling our bags from the hotel room over to the station for today we were starting out two day trip on the Rocky Mountaineer train...

Breakfast on the train as we pulled out of Jasper, with deer and elk by the side of the track as we made our way through mountains, over bridges, through tunnels and along the banks of lakes and rivers all the way to Kamloops...

I spent a good part of the trip with my head stuck out the window enjoying the views...

We were travelling the Yellowhead route, over the second trans-continental line built across Canada and opened in 1917, the Canadian National Railway route...

We headed up through the Yellowhead Pass, the easiest (as it’s the lowest) pass through the Rockies...

The Canadian Pacific Railway chose a more difficult route through the Kicking Horse pass to the south because of political tensions between Canada and the USA at the time, and a desire to safeguard Canadian territory....

One of the many highlights was a return to snow-capped Mount Robson...

After running alongside Moose Lake, the train crossed the Fraser River, then, for almost 20 miles, the train passed some of Canada's most magnificent mountains in the Premier range, named after early Canadian prime ministers...

We passed the site, marked by a small cairn, where 12 members of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery were killed when two CN trains collided...

We saw Pyramid Falls where water cascades 300 feet beside the tracks....

After a long, but very scenic and interesting journey, we arrived at Kamloops around 4pm and were transported to and checked into our hotel, all part of the package...

In the evening after a couple of drinks, we enjoyed an Indian meal at Maurya’s Fine Indian Cuisine...

I regretted we’d come on holiday so early, as Alice Cooper is playing her on 21 September...

An early night again re the early start tomorrow for day two...



Highlight of the Day : Through the Rockies by train...

Monday, September 01, 2008

Prince George - Jasper

Playlist
David Reilly – Anthology Vol 9
Various – Holiday Hits Vols 6, 5, 4 & 3

Another lovely sunny day, our last with the car, and we faced the long journey back to Jasper, though, today we saw a little more of the wonderful scenery...

I was up at 6 and out to the lake for sunrise...

A second great breakfast on the shores of Tabor Lake, followed by a chat with our hosts, Ken and Pat, then off...

We drove non-stop back to McBride, enjoying the wonderful scenery and the empty, empty roads...

Back at McBride Station, we ordered some excellent sandwiches, made in front of our very eyes – but only after we’d had to wait while everyone from today’s train was served first, as it only stops for ten minutes...

We took the opportunity afforded us by the wait to investigate the craft shop adjoining the station eatery...

It was crammed full of objects including wood carvings, art, clothing etc etc made by local residents, and very impressive it was too...

Items were purchased for return to Scotchland then our sandwiches arrived and were scoffed...

We bade farewell to McBride and drove on to Jasper, stopping at the magnificent Mount Robson, highest mountain in the Rockies...

It has its own weather system it’s so high and it’s very rare (only 12 days per annum on average) to see it without its peak being shrouded in cloud...

We didn’t see the peak...

Then on to Jasper, arriving at 4pm and handed the car back to Hertz....

Here’s a collage of pics taken during our rental period...



We checked into the Whistler Inn (aargh!! 200 Bucks for a room with no breakfast, but we couldn’t get a single B&B, of the hundreds in Jasper, to take us for just one night)...

To the Soft Rock Café for a drink, where we sat outside watching the world go by...

Back to the hotel for my second shave of the holiday then to an Italian restaurant for dinner – lovely lasagne and cannelloni...

A constitutional around the shops of Jasper followed once more, before an early night due to tomorrow’s early rise...

An episode of “Seinfeld”, then to sleep at 10pm – woke at 2, woke at 4, alarm at 6....



Highlight of the Day : Seeing McBride again...