The drive is hard, the spaghetti is tasty...

Playlist
Gentle Giant - In a Glass House
The National - Alligator
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cold Roses
Caribou - The Milk Of Human Kindness
Robyn - Robyn
Morrissey - Ringleader Of The Tormentors
Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime II
The Church - Uninvited, Like The Clouds
Adrian Belew - Side 3
Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops
Erasure - Union Street
OSI - Free
The Black Keys - Attack & Release
Justin Rutledge - Man Descending
Deus - Vantage Point
Lady Antebellum - Lady Antebellum
Madonna - Hard Candy
Depeche Mode - Sounds Of The Universe
OSI - Blood
Bob Dylan - Together Through Life
Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
Jónsi - Go
MGMT - Congratulations
John Grant - Queen Of Denmark
Uriah Heep - Into The Wild
Tangerine Dream - Tangram

Adieu Mars...

Some snow late on today, as I made my way home..

...to find a new 1TB portable hard drive, which will take the place of the now full 500GB Crispycat Recordings hard drive, awaiting my attention...

Soon up and running and dusty already...

Tasty prawn and chorizo spaghetti for tea...

A run through a ten song acoustic set - one from each CBQ album plus the song written last summer for the WWI night at the White Horse...

Not bad...

Late telly comprised the making a comeback from a couple of not so strong episodes, "Holby City"...

Consequently, to bed around midnight, accompanied tonight by Tangerine Dream on the cans...

Highlight of the Day : Spaghetti and a new hard drive...

The famous 28 minute mark...

Playlist
Philip Glass - Ensemble Music In Twelve Parts
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer 2014
Chicago - Chicago VIII
Blood, Sweat & Tears - Blood, Sweat And Tears 3
UK - UK Final World Tour 2015
Chicago - Chicago III
Bidiniband - The Carleton, Halifax, Nova Scotia 2015-02-13
Lonely Robot - Please Come Home
Bob Dylan - No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7)
Chicago - Chicago II
Blood, Sweat & Tears - Child Is Father To The Man
Great Lake Swimmers - New Wild Everywhere
Lee Scratch Perry - Arkology
Emerson Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery (Remaster)
Edward Spark - 1.9.7.FOUR
Neal Morse - The Grand Experiment
Balanescu Quartet - Byrne, Moran, Lurie & Torke
Pedersen - Stoned An Electronic Symphony
Chicago - Chicago IV : At Carnegie Hall
Rodrigo Leão - Cinema
Blood, Sweat & Tears - Blood, Sweat & Tears 4
The Smiths - Singles
Škampa Quartet - Wigmore Hall Live
Uriah Heep - Live at Koko, London 2014
Petrels - Onkalo
Blood, Sweat & Tears - New Blood
Creek - Creek 2015
GoGo Penguin - Fanfares
Dutch Uncles - O Shudder
Shura Cherkassky - Wigmore Hall Live
Vivaldi - Concertos For The Emperor
GoGo Penguin - V 2.0
The Tubes - Love Bomb
Chicago - Chicago IX : Greatest Hits 69-74
Chicago - Chicago VI
Lou Reed - Retro
Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing
David Bowie - Never Let Me Down
Adrian Belew - Mr. Music Head
Suzanne Vega - Days of Open Hand
Lou Reed & John Cale - Songs For Drella
The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
Yes - Union
The Cure - Wish
Annie Lennox - Diva
King Crimson - Thrak
Depeche Mode - Ultra
Boards Of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children
Fountains Of Wayne - Utopia Parkway
OSI - Free
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
Marillion - Somewhere Else
Tiësto - Elements Of Life
Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet
Shelby Lynne - I Am Shelby Lynne
Tal Bachman - Tal Bachman
Lou Reed - Ecstasy
Mogwai - Rock Action
Del Amitri - Can You Do Me Good?
Peter Gabriel - Long Walk Home - Music from "The Rabbit-Proof Fence"
Elvis Costello - When I Was Cruel
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Madonna - American Life
Goldfrapp - Black Cherry
Gentle Giant - In a Glass House

The operating in less than ideal circumstances scenario continues...

...while HQ awaits further work on its upgrade...

Creeker Craig became the first person other than me and a not really that impressed Exec Producer to hear the proposed new CBQ opus, "Schneewitchen"...

He opined it "an acquired taste" that "gets pretty mental around 28 minutes" - both fair comments...

But he likes it - "The use of wildlife is cracking - it'd impress me even more if you actually recorded that out your window" - which is weird, because that's exactly what I did...

"It's filled with the perfect amount of melancholy that I would expect from a CBQ release"...

Top man!

I also listened to work in progress re his latest solo work over the weekend - and it popped up again this morning in a packed daily soundtrack (with 35 of my last 50 acquisitions on shuffleplay) and very much impressed...

Looking forward to the final release, though I suspect it'll be a wee while coming as he really is putting a lot of work into it...

From the sublime to the ridiculous as I looked at clothes dryers at lunchtime...

...with some work re Reptile Records online shop also undertaken - more orders to post tomorrow...

The possible new Cloudland Blue Mobile project was also progressed...

Meanwhile, at Crispycat Towers, the electrician had been putting in some sterling work so that CBQ HQ could move to the opposite side of the room once it's renovation is completed...

There now follow some pictures of electrical sockets...

In the evening, more listening to April music - which rather expanded today's playlist with another 29 LPs sampled..,

"Person of Interest" continued to be very much enjoyed - as was home made soup...

To bed with the classic Gentle Giant LP "In A Glass House", the first of theirs that I ever owned, on the cans - superb...

Highlight of the Day : Craig's critique of my new work...

It's like a jungle in here...

Playlist
The Tubes - The Best Of The Tubes
David Bowie - Space Oddity
Deep Purple - Machine Head
Sly & The Family Stone - The Essential Sly & The Family Stone
Herman Van Veen - Herman van Veen 100
Lucy Kaplansky - Ten Year Night
Neal Morse - Sola Scriptura
Genesis - Calling All Stations
The Tubes - Goin' Down
Sparks - Kimono My House
Sparks - The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman
Grand Funk Railroad - 30 Years Of Funk
The Czars - Goodbye
Alice Cooper - Zipper Catches Skin
Cry Cry Cry - Cry Cry Cry
Fehlfarben - Monarchie Und Alltag
Wishbone Ash - Pilgrimage
Brian Eno - Apollo Atmospheres & Soundtracks
Roxy Music - Roxy Music
Santana - Abraxas
Ideal - Eitel Optimal - Das Beste
2Raumwohnung - 36 Grad
Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory
Fripp Rieflin Gunn - Birth Of A Giant
Paul McCartney & Wings - Venus And Mars
Deep Purple - Who Do We Think We Are
Barclay James Harvest - Once Again
Udo Lindenberg - Alles Klar Auf Der Andrea Doria
Uriah Heep - High And Mighty
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Schneewitchen
Edward Spark - 1.9.7.FOUR
Genesis - We Can't Dance
Neu! - Neu!
Neal Morse - Momentum
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Ampersand
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys 20 Golden Greats
Tangerine Dream - Exit
The Physics House Band - Horizons - Rapture
Françoise Hardy - If You Listen
Klaus Schulze - La Vie Électronique 3
The Cure - Seventeen Seconds
Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell
Public Image Ltd - Flowers Of Romance
The Moody Blues - On The Threshold Of A Dream
Chicago - Chicago I
Elton John - Elton John
Ten Years After - Cricklewood Green
Paul McCartney - McCartney
Jethro Tull - Benefit
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Al Stewart - To Whom It May Concern 1966-1970
Caravan - In The Land Of Grey And Pink
The Doors - L. A. Woman
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Grand Funk Railroad - Survival
Gentle Giant - Three Friends
Wishbone Ash - Argus
Lou Reed - Lou Reed
David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
The Eagles - Desperado
Paul McCartney & Wings - Red Rose Speedway
Miles Davis - Big Fun
Focus - Hamburger Concerto
Journey - Journey
Nazareth - The Singles Collection
Ian Hunter - Ian Hunter
Dave Edmunds - Subtle As A Flying Mallet
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Tomorrow Belongs To Me
Rush - 2112
Van Der Graaf Generator - Still Life
Klaus Schulze - Moondawn
Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey/ Garvey's Ghost
Gentle Giant - I Lost My Head
Jethro Tull - Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young To Die!
AC/DC - High Voltage
The Tubes - Young and Rich
The Clash - The Clash
Alice Cooper - Lace And Whiskey
Supertramp - Even In The Quietest Moments
Klaus Schulze - Mirage
Peter Hammill - Over
Genesis - And Then There Were Three
Rainbow - Long Live Rock 'N' Roll
Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses
Simple Minds - The Best of Simple Minds
Thin Lizzy - Black Rose
Donna Summer - Bad Girls
Lou Reed - The Bells
Iggy Pop - New Values
Gary Numan - Premier Hits
Alice Cooper - Flush The Fashion
The Cure - Faith
The Church - Conception
Vangelis - Chariots Of Fire
The Tubes - The Completion Backward Principle
Jethro Tull - The Broadsword And The Beast
Motörhead - Iron Fist
Laurie Anderson - Big Science
Paul McCartney - Tug Of War
Uriah Heep - Abominog
Sparks - Angst In My Pants
Tangerine Dream - White Eagle
David Bowie - Let's Dance
Rush - Grace Under Pressure
Roger Waters - The Pros & Cons Of Hitch Hiking

Up around 5 - which, today, was, of course, 6...

Continuing with compiling April album tracks - 140 or so in all, many of which are included in today's rather long playlist - but everyone loves a list don't they?

New music enjoyed from Creeker Craig's alter ego, Edward Spark...

Later, house prepping for tomorrow's visit from the electrician...

In the afternoon, to my mums...

The ants were back and some (fruitless) searching was undertaken to locate the source of the wee beasties...

Sister Sheila did some nailing down of a recently raised by workmen but not re-nailed down carpet...

Meanwhile, Senior...

...and the Exec Producer discussed something or other, possibly ants...

... while your correspondent was in charge of hot drinks, cakes and biscuits - the crumbs from which attracted a trio of our new, very small, chums, freaking out sister Sheila...

Mum could not recall demonstrating last week how the creatures might make their way across her carpet...

She did, however, reiterate her Davros like call for extermination...

With Sheila and Andrew doing the shop this week, Anne and I were handed a bag of correspondence which was to be gotten rid of with confidentiality...

Having gone through it this evening, Anne asks that you guess which pile is actually "confidential waste"...

Yep, it's the one on the left...

Some education of the oldest person in the family is required methinks, along the lines of Damart catalogues without any name or address on them not being able to be used by unscrupulous bin searching third parties to steal her identity...

Home for chicken...

No telly watched tonight...

Rather, more April music listening - and the first work undertaken re perhaps securing a new Cloudland Blue mobile...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Opening the front door at my mum's to let in some cold air re her ongoing misunderstanding of how her new heaters function...

The boys in maroon are indeed the talk of the toon...

Playlist
Emerson Lake & Palmer - From The Beginning
Bert Jansch - Bert Jansch
Chicago - Chicago I
Bryan Ferry - Taxi
Tal Bachman - Tal Bachman
Mogwai - Rock Action
Goldfrapp - Black Cherry
Gordon Lightfoot - Songbook
The Rolling Stones - Rolled Gold
Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends
The Zombies - The Singles As & Bs
The Monkees - The Works
Sly & The Family Stone - The Essential Sly & The Family Stone
Various - Pure... Psychedelic Rock
Leonard Cohen - Songs From A Room
The Mothers of Invention - Uncle Meat

Up early and added the last three of five podcasts of music released in March over the last 50 years to the CBQ Mixcloud account...

And then started compiling tracks for April...

The squirrel was back...

This afternoon, to Tynecastle as a guest of Hearts' head of commercial, old chum Ann Park...

Directors' Box no less and an entertaining day...

This poster illustrated all the old programmes from games between the two sides...

The Queens Chairman, Billy Hewitson presented a commemorative gift to Hearts' chair re winning the Championship with seven games to spare... 

Out just before 3pm - a similar view (of the pitch anyway - different stands these days) to that which I enjoyed with my dad back in the late 60's and early 70s, when we often attended Hearts home games together...

Queens formed a guard of honour for the Jam Tarts...

Kick off was held up due to a number of balloons on the pitch - and, no, I don't mean the ref and the linesmen...

You might just be able to spot the Exec Producer and brother-in-law Bobby over in the stand opposite..

1-0 Hearts after just 6 minutes but Queens held their own for the rest of the 1st half...

Back inside noting the trophy cabinet...

Other guests included sprinter Alan Wells (complete with 1980 Olympic Gold Medal) and the former Rangers player Fernando Ricksen, now, tragically, suffering from Motor Neurone Disease - a dreadful situation...

The actor Ken Stott was also in attendance, as were a goodly number of former Hearts players some of whom still work for the club...

I also met former Queens chairman Norman Blount, who remembered me from the times in the past we'd met at Partick Thistle's ground when Queens were visitors there...

The second half proved that Queens were no pushovers but Hearts added to their tally with a freak deflection of a going past the post free kick, sending our goalie the wrong way...

Full time, 2-0 but, with Falkirk and Hibs both also losing, no change from this morning re the play off places and Queens are still hopeful of competing in the final run in for a spot in the top flight...

Although up against the runaway champions, the team was obviously disappointed to have taken nothing from the match...

A well deserved celebration took place after the game, firstly with the Directors, who took over less than a year ago and have made all the difference, taking to the pitch...

...then the championship-romping squad...

...and their manager, Robbie Nielsen - who won a couple of medals whilst on loan at Queens during his playing days...

...seen here with the actor Ken Stott...

Ann Budge is a Hearts heroine indeed...

...seen here sporting a scarf made for her by, and handed in this afternoon by, four schoolchildren...

A quick visit to the Gorgie Suite for Ann P to check how the day went...

A good time appeared to have been had by all, including chum Spike....

A couple of drinks in the company of some Hearts officials and the actor Ken Stott and his partner at the nearby Tynecastle Arms brought the day to a close...

An excellent time had been had - only the result was a disappointment but Queens are no worse off and I did not expect to leave with my team having won any points today...

Met up with Anne and we discovered our usual Indian is closed while moving to new premises...

A more expensive alternative was secured for a tasty meal...

Later, your worn out correspondent conked out during "CSI"...

A good day...

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

Egg incursion...

Playlist
Françoise Hardy - Messages Personnels
Emerson Lake & Palmer - From the Beginning

Enjoyed the music of French fave Françoise Hardy throughout the day...

Which took a strange turn initially when this was spotted outside the back door...

The beast etc...

I've been meaning to take a pic of this tree for the last few days...

It's now probably just past its best...

A day of dentistry and taking care of pension input...

Back home, the welcome return of our wee chum...

...and a tasty lamb and cauliflower curry - the cauliflower a masterstroke from the EP...

"The Musketeers" came to an end, as did evil Rochfort - felt a bit sorry for him at the end...

Glad it will return...

Ended the day by filling some ELP sized gaps in my iTunes - including a box of 5CDs...

So these two little beauties comprised today's soundtrack...

ELP produced some hellishly complex music yet tuneful too - and massive in their day...

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