Through the doors...

Playlist
Various Composers - Musik In Alten Städten & Residenzen
Kiss -Kiss Klassics
Kiss - Sonic Boom
Tangerine Dream - Tyger
Hawkwind - At the BBC 1972
The Week That Was - Same
School of Language - Sea From Shore

And May has gone...

Out under the morning moon...

I was supposed to have been going along to see The Psychedelic Warlords perform "A Space Ritual" tonight but Count Brodski bailed a couple of days ago and I decided to stay at home and listen to Hawkwind instead...

It just so happened that, while in HMV at lunchtime, I noticed the 2CD version of "Hawkwind at the BBC 1972" for a fiver - this is the remastered version with mono and stereo mixes - I already have the one disc mono concert - given the disappointment re tonight, I snapped it up (along with a 2CD set of solo albums by the Brewis brothers from Field Music - recommended for all fans of XTC)...

A nice wee curry sustained early evening along with the last two episodes of the now cancelled "Wedding Band" - starring the same guy who is in the cancelled "Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles" - no luck...

In between sampling recent acquisitions, "Have I Got News For You" and "Not Going Out" were also enjoyed, prior to the full Hawkwind concert and some watching of the missed Psychedelic Warlords on Youtube - looked good...

Not to worry...

If you're not familiar with Hawkwind, rather unbelievably, their 1971 track, "Master of the Universe" graces the latest Ford advert - the one where the guy dives through the car into a pool on a hill outside Barcelona...



A good start to the weekend, despite not going out...

Highlight of the Day : Kiss and Hawkwind...

A small box of wonderful stuff...

Playlist
Udo Lindenberg - Stark Wie Zwei Live
Udo Lindenberg - MTV Unplugged
Cecil Taylor - Looking Ahead
Nitin Sawhney - Human
Blue Oyster Cult - Agents of Fortune
The Unwinding Hours - Afterlives
Various Composers - Musik in Alten Staedten und Residenzen
Herbie Hancock - Sextant
Kiss - Sonic Boom
Kiss - Kiss Klassics
Toots & the Maytals - Pressure Drop

A bus ride to Stirling first thing...

Picked up by Raymondo and a short drive to Airth Castle...

..for mucho chat and some tasty nosh...

In the afternoon back to a very sunny Edinburgh...

A walk towards Fopp, via Boots for replacement batteries re the much used pedometer...

In Fopp, several albums partaken of - the 2012 disc from new discoveries The Unwinding Hours, Blue Oyster Cult's classic "Agents of Fortune", an album I've never owned but have always kind of wanted since 1976...

I saw them at Edinburgh Odeon, 35 years ago tomorrow, supported by Japan (then a kind of Glam-Metal band)...

BOC had lasers!

Also acquired was Herbie Hancock's fusion improv "Sextant", a two disc Trojan retrospective of Toots and the Maytals and a rocking 2CD + DVD set of Kiss' last album but one, "Sonic Boom"...

A walk from Fopp to the airport bus...

...and home to find the 10CD box of "Musik in Alten Staden und Residenzen" had arrived - music written between 1600 and 1800 and performed in Venice, Lubeck, Vienna, Hanover, Leipzig, Dresden, Mannheim, Salzburg, Eisenstadt and Potsdam...

Wonderful stuff and worth every penny of the two squid per disc laid out for samples of over 40 different composers...

Suffice to say, much of the evening was spent a-listening and a-ripping...

Highlight of the Day : A small box of wonderful stuff...

Filling in the gaps...

Playlist
Schubert - Octet
Cage - Complete Piano Music
Udo Lindenberg - Discography
Tangerine Dream - Le Parc
Tangerine Dream - Dream Sequence
Anne Sophie Mutter - Mutter Modern

Up early and breakfasting with Schubert...

In the garden the flowers are a bit later than usual in blooming this year but they are starting to...

...including in the new blue pot...

Journey into and from town accompanied by the piano music of John Cage...

Back home again, the first of a few not great Tangerine Dream CDs popped through the door - I have decided to fill in the gaps between "Hyperborea", their last on the Virgin label and "Livemiles", purchased last week, their last with Christoph Franke...

Meg the Black Cat looks enthused by this latest pointless project...

I think she prefers the smell of her tale to the music of the mid to late 80's period of our friendly German synth gurus... 

Ended the day buying more nonsense cheap CDs on Amazon, a CD single (my first for aeons) by Fehlfarben, a couple by Udo Lindenberg and and German Udo tribute album including covers by Nina Hagen and the Humpe sisters...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Surfing for Deutschrock...

Groovy, man...

Playlist
Emerson Quartet - J S Bach : The Art of the Fugue
Alban Berg Quartett - Bartok String Quartets 1 & 2
Cage - Complete Piano Music
Cecil Taylor - Love For Sale
Cecil Taylor - Hard Driving Jazz
Cecil Taylor - Unit Structures

A bad start to the day as, half way down the road, I realised I had forgotten my specs...

When I did finally reach the bottom of the hill - after a double back to collect specs scenario - I boarded the bus into town only to find my bus pass expired yesterday...

OK not quite as bad as those times when my Jukebox battery runs out of juice but getting there...

A call to mum to be advised the results of a recent X-Ray show the infection in her lungs is yet to fully clear up - hence recent shortages of breath...

The dizziness continues to improve a little and visits from chum Janette last night and this morning buoyed...

In the evening, some quick updating of this while Anne cooked another brilliant spaghetti - seafood and chorizo tonight...

On the Tivo, a documentary on Ronnie Barker - laughter and tears...

Late on, having been soundtracked this morning by Bach and this afternoon by Bartok, it was the turn of John Cage and Cecil Taylor from '59 and '66...

Groovy, man...

Ended the day with "New Girl", "CSI" and more far out sounds...

Highlight of the Day : Anne's spaghetti...

Eclectic acquisitions...

Playlist
Tartini/Paganini - Violin Concertos
Various - A Beginner's Guide to African Funk
Tangerine Dream - Green Desert
Brian Eno - Pellisero Wine Promo CD
King Crimson - Cadence and Cascade

To mum's first thing to ensure all ok...

It seemed to be, although she is not 100%...

But at least today she was able to get up and get downstairs...

A return to Quattro Zero, my new fave Italian, for a nice tasty lunch with chums Raymondo, Big Al, Margarita, Wenders, CK, Trace and Paulster...

Back home, some catching up...

Here, the acquisitions thus far for May - an eclectic bunch...

On telly, "Vicious" and "The Job Lot" were removed from the schedules due to the seemingly inexorable  "Britain (Plainly Has Not) Got Talent"...

Oh dear...

I must wonder at the mentality of those who enjoy such utter pish...

Live and let live though, I suppose...

Meanwhile, I fell asleep during the last in the series of "Law & Order : Criminal Intent"....

Idiot...

Highlight of the Day : Lunch at Quattro Zero...

General disconnect and vertigo...

Playlist
Hawkwind - A Space Ritual
The Unwinding Hours - The Unwinding Hours
Cecil Taylor - Looking Ahead
Cecil Taylor - Hard Driving Jazz
Various - A Beginner's Guide to African Funk

Up before six again...

Some work on the computer set up this morning, general disconnect of everything followed by a tidier reconnect...

A call from sister Sheila around 10 am to advise mum was ill again - this time dizziness in the extreme...

A trip to B&Q re some stones for the back garden, a quick lunch and then most of the rest of the day, apart from a couple of hours at Anne's mum's was spent out at Loanhead looking out for mum...



She spent most of the time asleep...

Enjoyed "Back to the Future III"...

Home around 11 or so...

A long, not particularly enjoyable day...

Highlight of the Day : tidying up the PC set up...

Man dressed as a pig...

Playlist
J S Bach - A Selection Vols 1-3
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Starlightnight
Cloudland Blue Quartyet - Box Set Sampler
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Bandcamp Sampler
Gang of Four - Content
The Unwinding Hours - The Unwinding Hours
Washed Out - Within and Without
Clifford T Ward - Anthology
Nitin Sawhney - Human
Tangerine Dream - Livemiles
Pink Floyd - A Foot in the Door
Sun Ra - The Singles
Moritz vn Oswald Trio - Horizontal Structures
Hawkwind - A Space Ritual

Up at 5:30 or so and back to work on the Bach compilation...

Done and out at 9:30, with Anne set to do some painting...

Best day of the year so far I think, weather-wise...

I was stopping to take pics along the way...

Down past the zoo...

...and on...

...past Anne's mum's...

..and Murrayfield...

..and the chiropodist's...

...to the place from which I usually take the bus home...

...to Haymarket, one hour in...

..and some revelers were up and out early...

...past the cathedral...

..and the clock tower...

...over towards Lothian Road...

...the Usher Hall...

...the Lyceum...

...the Castle...

..and down through the Grassmarket...

...up Victoria Street...

...to my goal, after 90 minutes' walk, for a meet with Dr Prog...

Discs were borrowed and, indeed, a few discontinued items were bought at 60p a pop...

Back out into the sun...

...and back through the Grassmarket...

The doc wangled some cash...

...and we ended up at Lovecrumbs for coffee and cake...

...and technology...

A quick nip into McAllister Matheson...

I was attracted to this 10 disc box of goodies...

...but bought it later at home from Amazon for £9 less...

Of course, I won't get to hear it now for about a week...

Bade farewell to the Doc after an excellent couple of hours of chat and laughs and non-laughs...

Back to Haymarket - still destroyed by the tram...

..and on...

...to my usual bus stop...

There were three buses at the terminus...

...and a fourth arrived...

Good skies still...

...and I arrived back home...

Who's this?

The pie...

She had been under a bush till I arrived, while Anne's painting was finished...

The recently order Tangs disc had also arrived and was enjoyed with more coffee...

...while Meg looked on...

The remainder of the afternoon was spent listening to new acquisitions...

In the evening, the European (how can it be) Champions' (when the two finalists are German -yay - and more than one country has had several teams in it) League Final was watched, with the end being foregone in favour of a very good indeed David Bowie documentary...

Off to bed around 1 am - a long, enjoyable day...

Highlight of the Day : Long walk and David Bowie...