Saturday, October 31, 2009

Den of the Bear...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Blend: Best of CBQ 1996-2009
Various Composers - Most Relaxing Classical Album in the World...Ever
Laura Pausini - La Primavera in Anticipo
Pet Shop Boys - Yes
Julie Miller - Blue Pony
Porcupine Tree - The Incident

Up early and started on getting my podcast blog up to date - I post a podcast every 10 CDs I buy - I am 11 podcasts behind at present so I started by ripping WAV files (1 per CD) to the hard drive and from there I create one 40 minute or so MP3 which I then have to upload and post...

At 8:45 to Helen the lovely podiatrist for my second last appointment before she pops her second sprog just after Xams...

Then to Tesco for some wine to take to our hosts today...

Of course I forgot the Nanny State has now deemed it in our best interests not to be able to buy alchohol before 10:30 am - so a wee wait in the large store...



Back home and work on the podcasts resumed - finished 8 of the 11 but, for some reason I couldn't get any of them to upload...

At 11:45 my mum arrived for our trip to Glasgow...

Arrived at Lex & Moira's in Bearsden bang on 1:30 pm and enjoyed a bit of a natter followed by some tasty home made soup and crusty bread before Anne and I took the train into Glasgow...



Rather pathetically, in the time afforded to me, I managed two visits each to Missing Records and FOPP and a visit to HMV...

Missing is under the bridge at Central Station...



Bought three CDs all in all...







Tasty...

Back "home" for 6pm and more enjoyable chat with Lex & Moira, surely two of the "youngest" septegenarians on the planet...



Last time we saw them was at their 50th Wedding Anniversary dinner - here's Moira showing my mum the book their son-in-law, Guy had specially madefor them, containing all the pics of that day...



Lex is a keen gardner and gave us away some monster chilis grown in his greenhouse...



We left around 9:30 after some post dinner chat on the dreadful mess the economy is in despite the recent rise in the stock market - don't get me started...

Meg the Balck Cat greeted us on our return home...



A good day...

Highlight of the Day : A visit to Bearsden...

Friday, October 30, 2009

Spanner in the works...

Playlist
Weather Report – I Sing the Body Electric
Weather Report – Live in Tokyo
Weather Report – Sweetnighter
Weather Report – Mysterious Traveller
Weather Report –Tail Spinnin’
Weather Report – Mr Gone
Weather Report – Heavy Weather
Esbjorn Svensson Trio – Leucocyte
Various – Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration
Various – 100 Huge Reggae Hits

We have some lovely flowers in the dining room at present...



Soundtracked by Weather Report and EST today...

To FOPP at lunchtime and two purchases made...

Firstly, a 2CD set “Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration”...



Standout tracks are The Mar Keys' "Last Night" which is the theme from Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson’s brilliant comedy show “Bottom” - it even has a little of BennyHill's sax motif in there...


The second is a hit single I had back in the day on a K-Tel Various Artists compilation – until today, I probably hadn’t heard this for around 35 years - Frederick Knight's "I’ve Been Lonely For So Long"...

The second acquisition was a 4CD set of 100 reggae hits – does what it says on the tin really...



Again, a couple of stand outs are The Ethiopians' "Train to Skaville" and one of my all time favourite reggae tunes, Dave & Ansel Collins' "Monkey Spanner"...

On the way home, passed this tree...



Enjoyed the new albums tonight post a tasty red thai chicken curry...

Watched “Have I Got News For You” and “Armstrong & Miller” then designed this possible poster...



Hmm, pointy nose, oh pointy pointy...

Up till 1 am posting this...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Anne’s thai curry...

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Heavy weather...

Playlist
Rheostatics – The Blue Hysteria
Haydn – Piano Sonatas
Jean-Luc Ponty – Enigmatic Ocean
Weather Report – Live in Offenbach 28/09/78 (DVD)
Weather Report – Weather Report

Lovely morning...







Turning to rain by the time I got home again to be greeted by Meg the Black Cat at the back door...



Tasty home made soup sustained...

Upstairs to start sorting out CDs for next week...



Probably all a bit OTT...

Watched three episodes of “Scrubs” tonight – in between which I enjoyed the DVD of Weather Report in Germany in 1978 from their box set – I saw them on their previous “Heavy Weather” tour in 1977 – great stuff...

Lead me to surf on them and then dig out all my CDs and ensure their presence on the jazz jukebox - only one was missing...

Enjoyed their debut album too, before heading downstairs for “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “This Week” – the latter delayed due to a programme about some paedophiles jailed for life today, about whom I couldn’t give two hootsa toss to be honest – I wanted my “This Week” to be shown pre midnight but it wasn’t to be...

Filled in the idiot created viewing gap with some 5th season "Curb" on DVD...

Highlight of the Day : Probably Weather Report..

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Pretty polly...

Playlist
Gentle Giant - Discography
Herman Van veen - Discography
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Blend: The Best of CBQ 1996-2009
Mike Taylor Quartet - Pendulum

Sunny but dark morning...



In the evening, over to Peri Urban's for our second last rehearsal...

As I sat at some traffic lights in Musselburgh, my eye fell upon the bus depot, jam-packed with buses...



When I was wee, this would have been an exciting sight for me to behold...

At Peri's, there was a new arrival - Polly the Wee Scraggly Cat, who has come from the Cats Protection League and is now wee Lily's bestest friend in the world...





The rehearsal went well...

The usual set up is, I leave for Peri's around 7:30 and arrive at 8 - we have a coffee and a chat about this that and the next thing - Ali Urban is usually there too and Lily if she's still up..

We run through the set from 8:30 till 9 and again from 9 till 9:30 then spend some time on things we're not getting quite right...

By 10, we can take some embarrassing photos...



And then it's back home...

Highlight of the Day : Polly the cat...

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Someone fetch a priest...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Blend: The Best of CBQ 1996-2009
King Crimson – EleKctric: Live in Tokyo 2003
Bidiniband – The Land is Wild
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Deeperdown
Rheostatics - One Track Per Album Compilation
Kraftwerk - Minimum Maximum (DVD)

Up early again and yet more prep work for next week’s gig...



Ridiculous that I should do so much for a 30 minute set – but I can’t help it...

Outside, I like this nearby post box...



To the Gallery of Modern Art early doors with colleague and all round very interesting chap, Raymondo – not for any art based stuff though, rather a talk on Inheritance Tax planning and how people can generally hang on to what is theirs...

A power cut in Charlotte Square put paid to much of the rest of the day...

Back home and Meg the Black Cat took a look at what was a-happenin’ in the kitchen...



The Exec Producer was busy cooking some tasty chilli – helped by your correspondent...





Said gastro-delight was granted the seal of approval of our wee very dark brown friend...



Mmm, mmm...

It took over an hour for it to be cooked just right...

I enjoyed the Bidiniband and King Crimson albums whilst I read today’s paper and next week’s Radio Times – “Spooks” is back!!

Post chili, it was back upstairs (haunted by the dreadful inflection of Gok Wan’s voice) for further “work”...

Then some surfing...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Cooking with Anne..

Monday, October 26, 2009

Remodel...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Blend: The Best of CBQ 1996-2009
King Crimson – EleKctric: Live in Tokyo 2003

Up ultra early and to work on "Blend : The Best of CBQ 1996-2009" spending a couple of hours compiling and listening...

Out into the reasonably mild morning...



To FOPP at lunchtime and some judicious searching unearthed the King Crimson CD I was looking for last week...

Also bought "Remake/Remodel : Becoming Roxy" by Michael Bracewell which "tells how Pop Art, the 1960s underground, and Swinging London were transformed into a unique sound and look - theatrical, arch, literate, clever, sexy, thrilling"...

Wonder if I'll ever get around to reading it?

Dark on the way home...







Back home, other than viewing the latest episode of "Flashforward", the rest of the evening was spent re-jigging the content and running order of the new compilation, as well as designing the cover...



One of the tracks included is "Lights Out"...

Apt...

But first, a wee pose from Meg the Black Cat for her interweb fans...



Highlight of the Day : Compiling...

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Point, shoot, post...

Playlist
Bidiniband – The Land is Wild
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Doveloveshawk
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Anotherhappyday
Various – Weird Jazz Downloaded from "Destination Out"
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Potential Sampler
Groundghogs - Who Will Save the World

Up at what I thought was 7:15 – at 10:30 I realised it was only 9:30...

Over those three hours I updated the last three days of this; listened to my new CD from Canada and more of my own stuff; and rediscovered Destination Out and downloaded almost 50 tracks (over 4 and a half hours) of far out jazz, man...

I’ve not downloaded anything from here for 14 months and had forgotten what an absolute gold mine it is...

Listening to this uplifted...

Post breakfast, a posting by Alex Ross on his new blog “Unquiet Thoughts” alerted me to these films commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, NY re their performance of Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time”...

Part One / Part Two

...also uplifted...

Then, of course, I got sucked into watching other less rewarding nonsense...

Spent another long period researching a new “point and shoot” camera...

Then I went and bought one...

This is why you should always insist on being shot from above...



..when you're a fat ugly (that's enough - Ed.)...

Took an age to work out that the new beastie couldn’t be detected via the hub and so needs to plug in directly to the PC – which is a bit of a pain...

Took some pics...



A run through the set...

A lovely casserole for tea...



A film about Canada...

More pics..

The shelf...



B&W portraits of our trip to New York in 1999...



More surfing while Anne watched “Emma”...

“Match of the Day 2” and it’s all over for another weekend...

Highlight of the Day : New camera...

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Anserine behaviour...

Playlist
King Crimson - London 1996
King Crimson - Mainz 1974
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Ampersand
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Callingstill
Bidiniband - The Land is Wild
Hawkwind - Spirit of the Age Anthology 1976-84

Up at the unfeasibly early time of 4:21...

Feeling good despite last night's excesses...

No headache but some juice and painkillers (just in case) were required and I sat in the living room enjoying the company of Meg the Black Cat whilst listening to King Crimson...

Until the Exec Producer awoke and advised, in her capacity as Exec Producer, that 4:50 was too early to be up and about...

Back to bed and lay awake, still listening to Crimso and, rather predictably, despite having taken painkillers, a headache made its way into my head...

Up again around 6:20 and more juice and painkillers...

By 7, I was ready to start work...

I am revising the covers for the seven song-based CBQ CDs and spent around three hours on this, getting the majority of the work done - listening to the CDs as I worked...

Out for rolls and a tasty brunch involving bacon ensued...

Despite the effects of the postal strike, awaited e-bay items arrived...

The new album from Rheostatics' Dave Bidini from Canada and a DVD from China of Frederic Rzewski...

The Bidini CD is superb and strongly recommended...

A quick look at the DVD later in the day showed the contents to be much more tuneful than that presented to Dr Prog and I when we saw Mr R around the same time as this recording was made in the States...

Into town and walked from Charlotte Square up to the library on George IV Bridge, where I handed back the booty from three weeks ago and partook of a 3CD anthology of middle period Hawkwind - tasty!

Then to my CD supplier to stock up on discs for current Crispycat burning requirements...

And walked all the way back again to Charlotte Square from where I drove home to allow Anne to head to Tynecastle at 2pm for today's game against bottom of the league Falkirk...

But "Dave", I hear you cry "why no pics of this Great Walk through the rainy windy elements of an Edinburgh Saturday?"...

Well, at some point last night, the Crispycat camera became officially "goosed"...

Here are some pics taken today, including a self portrait, a pic of my feet and a pic of the display on the CD player...



So, I need a new camera, this last having served me well since 24 May 2007 - following the great "pear incident", which did for its predecessor, which, in turn, had served the needs of this blog admirably since 11 January 2006...

The search is on...

As I continued working through the afternoon, Hearts could only manage a 0-0 draw, while the mighty Queens beat the bottom team in their division, Airdrie Utd, 3-0 at home, climbing back up to 3rd place...

In the evening, "Merlin" returned, as did the excellent "The Thick of It", with more cover work in the intervening period whilst Anne enjoyed "Strictly"...

Over the seven song-based CBQ LPs since 1997 I have released 134 tracks lasting a total of 10 hours 6 minutes and 16 seconds...

So there you go...

To bed around 11...

Highlight of the Day : Working on CBQ stuff and a win for Qos...

Anserine = Goose-like...

Friday, October 23, 2009

More beer for the tail section...

Playlist
Various - Recent CDs Jukebox on Shuffleplay
King Crimson - London 1996

Off to the Edinburgh Bierfest tonight as a guest of a large Dutch Corporation...

A Bierfest is the only place where the type of music they play at a Bierfest is acceptable...



Almost unlimited amounts of my favourite, Weissbier, was on tap and a cold buffet featuring smoked cheese, various salamis and hams and tasty gherkins, was followed by a hot buffet with two types of wurst and chargrilled chicken...



As you might expect your correspondent was completely wasted by 7:30 (having started around 5:30pm) - on the upside though, everyone else in the room was wasted too...

Quite reserved to begin with, we all ended up standing on the benches and smashing our steins into each other's and singing along to "I Love to Go A Wandering" whilst wearing an array of silly hats, very large false moustaches, helmets with luminous horns (which were soon broken off to allow beer to be drunk from them) and blonde pig-tailed wigs...

I'd arranged to meet the Exec Producer at Haymarket Station after her own night out with her colleagues in Fife...

This was the sight that met her there at 10:50...



Oh dear...

I must have walked through the centre of Edinburgh with this hat on - at least I kept the blonde wig and false moustache in my pocket...

Apparently I insisted on continuing to wear the hat on the bus home...

A journey of which I have no recollection whatsoever...

Highlight of the Day : erm...

PS - More pics - from the phone of my good old bier drinking chum, Mr Kenny Boyd...







...oh dear indeed...

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Over a cliff...

Playlist
Various - Recent CDs Jukebox on Shuffleplay
King Crimson - Asbury Park 1974
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Acoustic Soundingfall

A birthday party today at the offices of "The Man" - Claire will be 21 on Saturday and her mum and her sister visited, bringing with them a secret buffet and pink champagne for us all...



Your correspondent was in charge of the music, DJing on Youtube from his desk, calling up appropriate music...

Two Youtubes and the Radio 1 website re what the heck's in the charts right now...

Included Cliff Richard's "Congratulations" of course...



...and some corgis barking "Happy Birthday "...

In the evening out to my mum's to set up her TV. Sister Pam has just taken delivery of the exact same set and reported a unpacking and set up time of around 30 minutes tops...

After around 90 minutes which was home to much shouting, swearing and recriminating between me, my mum and other sister Sheila, the job was done...



..and mum was a happy bunny...



A truce was called as we enjoyed a well earned cuppa...



...before I headed home to watch the travesty that was Nick Griffin of the BNP on "Questiion Time", followed by "This Week"...

Highlight of the Day : Finally getting the TV installed...