Packages and thinning...

Playlist
TAUK - Collisions
Uriah Heep - Epic Uriah Heep 1970-2014
Dick Wagner - Richard Wagner
Alice Cooper - Alice Cooper Goes To Hell
Lou Reed - Rock 'N' Roll Animal
Stamitz - Sinfonias
Various Composers - Musique de la Renaissance
Worzischek - Konzerte
Archetti & Heisch - Niederländische Sprichwörter
Brahms - The String Sextets
Haydn - Streichtrios
Kreisler String Orchestra - Britten, Eric, Brahms

July away...

Another pointless Uriah Heep compilation compiled - next in my "Epic" series - longest track from each studio album in a band's discography where I own every LP...

Into town early, so imagine when I started on the Heep nonsense...

Overcast...

Nicer at lunchtime...

..as a quiet spot was found...

..to partake of a tasty salad...

On the way home, roadside vegetation was noted...

...as were too fast cars, given the presence of squirrels and cats and small birds...

The beast was about its business...

Into the garden and the Splinterheart flowers...

Some parcels had arrived...

...and much of the night, post two old "Big Bangs" and a tasty chilli, was spent a-ripping and a-listening with regard to these new acquisitions, while Anne enjoyed the athletics at the Commonwealth Games, including Hearts fans and relations of chum Debbie winning medals...

Later on, last week's "The Honourable Woman" was very much enjoyed...

Meanwhile, a comparison was made...

My birthday in 2011 versus today...

Still a long way to go but progress being made...

Highlight of the Day : Packages and thinning...

A discovery a day keeps something or other at bay...

Playlist
Gunner Moller Pedersen - A Sound Year
Cage - Numbers
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twenty Four Paintings
Reid Anderson - The Vastness Of Space
Various - iPod Shuffleplay
John Coltrane - The Classic Quartet - The Complete Impulse! Studio Recordings
Johnny Griffin - Introducing Johnny Griffin
Various - 1972 Hit Singles
TAUK - Collisions
FKA twigs - LP1

Picked up our tickets for Stewart Lee at lunchtime...

A good walk...

In Fopp, I noted a goodly number of jazz CDs on the Impulse! label, including many by John Coltrane, or £3 each...

i could not remember what i already had and so left empty handed...

Probably for the best...

At home, a super prawn spaghetti from the Exec Producer - yum - especially yum these days when I am mostly eating so little else apart from bran flakes or muesli, salad and fruit...

Fell asleep watching a documentary on Kings James I and King Charles I, despite it being very good and both being interesting kings...

Later, with the Commy Games on telly, I retired upstairs and listened to some new download discoveries...

New York instrumental funk/fusion/prog outfit TAUK and a young lady from Gloucestershire who goes by the name FKA twigs...

Interesting, worth your attention, should feature on this week's playlist - and both now on the phone and iPod for further listening...

Updated this...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Spaghetti - Mmm, mmm...

It's not really music...

Playlist
The Bad Plus - Never Stop
Dave King Trio - Village Vanguard, September 11, 2013
Happy Apple - Back at Lawrence, March 26, 2011
Various - Favourite UK No 1 Singles 1959-2014
Maxwell Davies - Naxos String Quartet No 1
Cage - Number Pieces

Up as early as possible and, at present, part of the routine is to write this up, which is what I did...

Out and into the world as bacon was required to be brought home...

If you want to be a musician, be a plumber...

A salad at lunchtime and some music listening - number one hits - in direct contrast to the earlier jazz...

Also today, some funding movements...

Back home, a nice chilli marinaded salmon fillet salad from the skilled hands of the Exec Producer and some old "Big Bang Theory" (later on "New Girl" and a "CSI" also entertained gogglebox-wise)...

I am not interested in the Commonwealth Games though, so I played through a couple of songs and listened to some jazz on the headphones while checking my e-mails, one of which alerted me to a concert in Glasgow in September for Peter Maxwell Davies' 80th birthday, at which he will be in attendance - the Exec Producer jested that she hoped he'll still be alive by then...

Shocker...

I secured tickets, having enjoyed one of his string quartets - in lieu of finding any recordings whatsoever of the proposed programme - a string trio, a string duo and an oboe quartet......

The Exec Producer eschewed the opportunity to sample his work, in favour of watching some people swimming...

The world would be a boring place if everyone liked the same things though...

Davies' music set me off to look for more avant garde stuff and I end up downloading enough John Cage music to assemble a four CD set of ten of his "Number Pieces", written mostly between 1990 and 1992...

CD1 (72 mins)
"Seven" for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola and cello (May 1988)
"Seven2" for bass flute, bass clarinet, bass trombone, two percussionists with unspecified instruments, cello and contrabass (1990, before July 23)

CD2 (42 mins)
"Four2" for SATB choir (October 1990)
"Five2" for English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet and timpani (May 1991)
"Two4" for violin and piano or shō (July 1991)

CD3 (75 mins)
"Two5" for piano and tenor trombone (October 1991)
"Five5" for flute, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet and percussion (October 1991)
"Sixty-Eight" for orchestra (February 1992)

CD4 (65 mins)
"Fifty-Eight" for wind orchestra (March 27, 1992)
"Two6" for violin and piano (April 1992)

Cage died on August 12, 1992...

While the 52 minute "Seven2" was playing the Exec Producer passed by the room and I asked her for her thoughts...

A triumph - in that they were the same as they were for Cloudland Blue Quartet's "Twenty Four Paintings" 16 hour opus...

"It's not really music is it?"...

And there we have it, my music is up there with that of Mr John Cage...

Highlight of the Day : Being as good as John Cage...

Newness is not always goodness...

Playlist
Knifeworld - The Unravelling
Searchlights - Searchlights
Alpha Male Tea Party - Droids
Alpha Male Tea Party - Real Ale and Model Rail
Various Composers - Bassoon Concertos
Max Jury - Christian Eyes (Single)
The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity?
Vivaldi - Concerti "Alla Rustica"
Various - Number One Vols 1-4 1959-2014
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Here He Comes
Various - The Best Glam Rock Album in the World...Ever
Bartok - Solo Piano Works (3)
Happy Apple - Back at Lawrence, March 26, 2011
John Edwards, Mark Sanders, John Tilbury - A Field Perpetually At The Edge Of Disorder

Started the day with a new album, Knifeworld's "The Unravelling", much recommended by felow bloggr, Sid Smith...

While I really like the music on this disc, for me, the vocals let it down due to the pronounced English accent of the vocalisers - a bit like the bands Caravan and Hatfield and the North...

There's something about that way of singing which is a turn off for me...

Which is not to say I myself am the best singer in the world...

I did make a wee video of the Robert Graves song yesterday morning...

...but this is unlikely to see the light of day...

Later on, I found my CBQ EP of Brian Eno works, released in the summer of 2003 - on listening back, it's not very good, apart from "Swastika Girls", which the Exec Producer complained was  interrupting her TV viewing...

Oops...

Earlier, while she was out for a walk with chum Lynn, I updated the Favourite Number Ones of Each Year compilation which soundtracked our drive to and from the coast yesterday...

Updating comprised adding five tracks from 2010 to 2014 (Cee Lo Green, LMFAO, David Guetta, Avicii and Cheryl (Cole)) and replacing some of the earlier ones...

This is how I waste my time...

After a listen to Bartok's piano sonata, I closed the day with a couple of new jazzy downloads, a concert by The Bad Plus' Dave King's Happy Apple trio at Lawrence University from 2011 and an improv set at Cafe Otto in London...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : New jazz...

Lucky with the leg and songs of war...

Playlist

The Bad Plus - Discography

Various - Favourite No 1 Records 1959-2009

The Bad Plus soundtracked my early morning, followed by an egg for breakfast - with a  kind of face...

...and some lovely coffee in the puffin mug...

...accompanied by a still sleepy Exec Producer...

Out to my mum's and a drive along the A1 to the coast beyond North Bewrick to meet up with sister Sheila and her family at her caravan...

Nephew Andy also has a caravan...

A good time was had by all...

And lunch was enjoyed with much chat...

Just as Andrew Senior, Alastair, young Kerr and I were about to head to North Berwick for a round of putting, an accident occurred - when Cassie the Dog, in her excitement, knocked over a chair which appeared to take a chunk out my mum's leg - blood everywhere...

A quick bandaging up and then a drive to North Berwick - but not for putting...

Happily, everything was fine, the wound was kind of stuck back together and dressed - with a GP visit planned for Wednesday...

Back to the site...

Ali celebrated the reasonable outcome...

Post our return, a walk from the van...

...down to the beach...

Good weather one way...

...not so good the other...

...and Senior regaled people with tales of his...

...yet ever to have been in any water, boat...

...one of many belonging to the campers...

...all towed to the beach by an old tractor...

Some brave souls were out water skiing...

Back to the camp site...

...where the sun was enjoyed...

Mum seemed none the worse for her ordeal...

... and Ali, Senior and Kerr finally went for a slightly later putting round...

Andy and Tori joined the chat...

..as the dogs were a little more calm...

We started back around 5:30 and mum suggested stopping off in North Berwick for fish and chips, accompanied by an optimistic seagull...

She was more phased by the seagull's interest in her fish than the earlier accident re her leg...

We dropped her off back at Loanhead and had a quick turnaround at home before heading to the Royal Mile for the Listening Room's war themed night of song...

All in all, there were seven performers and Jim Igoe gave a great rendition of Jamie's "King's Country", complete with Jim's new middle eight, which fitted in very nicely indeed...

It was hard to hear, especially as this was the last place we'd had a night out with Jamie, when we were arranging the ill fated Capital Models gig at the start of this year - but a fitting tribute to our much missed friend...

My first performance as CBQ for over two years went down well and I got some laughs with my pre-song rambles...

A debut for "Here Again", only finalised this morning - and, in the second half, a rendition of "Still We Doubt You" from "Deeperdown" - probably eleven years since I wrote that one...

A surprisingly good night, which even Anne enjoyed...

Back home for a "CSI" and the weekend was over...

Highlight of the Day : Mum's leg not as bad as it looked / performing as CBQ again...