My battery is low and it's getting dark...

Playlist

Santana - Abraxas

David Bowie - Diamond Dogs

Mott The Hoople - All The Young Dudes

Cloudland Blue Quartet - GLAM!

Cloudland Blue Quartet - GLAM! #2

Bill Frisell Selected Recordings :rarum

Various Artists Blue Note Trip 9: Heat Up/Simmer Down (Maestro)

Talich Quartet - Le Quatuor Talich: Quatre Quatuors

David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World

Hawkwind - Space Ritual

Lou Reed - Rock'n'Roll Animal

Paul McCartney & Wings - Band On The Run

Mott The Hoople - The Ballad Of Mott: A Retrospective

Uriah Heep - Salisbury (US Version)

Paul McCartney & Wings - Venus And Mars

Roy Wood - Singles 1968-1979

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Greatest Hits

Mick Ronson - Slaughter On 10th Avenue

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells (50th Anniversary)

Cockney Rebel - The Psychomodo

Lonesome Stone - Lonesome Stone (Original Cast Album)

Cockney Rebel - The Human Menagerie

David Bowie - Space Oddity

Hawkwind - Hall Of The Mountain Grill

Wizzard - Introducing Eddy and the Falcons

The Love Unlimited Orchestra - The 20th Century Records Singles (1973-1979)

Cockney Rebel - Cavaliers

David Bowie - Who Can I Be Now? (1974 - 1976)

Cloudland Blue Quartet - 2024-04-04 Out of the Bedroom

Wihan Quartet - The Beatles

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Dissolution IV

Today is my mum and dad's 69th Wedding Anniversary...

Dad gone since June 2003 at 73, mum, nearly 94 now, mostly ill all the time and currently stuck in hospital...

And, as it's the 4th of April, it's 20 years today since my album "04 04 04" was released, with its groovy Venetian cover...

To the machines around 6:30 this morning...

....and to work in equalising all the backing tracks for the possible live performance of "GLAM" and "GLAM! #2"...

At around 9:30, with the initial work done, out over to Stockbridge for breakfast...

In anticipation of a visit to the Shelter Shop, I recorded the three boxes of Haydn string quartets previously purchased...

We parked on the roof of Waitrose...

...and bought some biscuits...

...before starting the walk to Patisserie Florentin but, instead, noted Cafe Andaluz and went in...

...for coffees...

...and a very tasty breakfast of sourdough toast topped with smashed avocado, chorizo, poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce

Yowsah!

A short walk to the Shelter Shop and four things partaken of...

I already have a download of the Blue Note item but, as I often say, it's good to have the thing...

And I then downloaded more stuff by participants in the mix, Eddie Gale, Lou Donaldson, Patti Drew, Ben Sidran, Candido, Grant Green and Nat Adderley - to go to my iTunes tomorrow...

For the record...

So that's 70 CDs acquired so far in the first 95 days of 2024...

Sounds a lot but it's actually around a 26.5% decrease in my CD purchasing from the average over the last 39 years...

Most of the afternoon was spent playing the Glam songs (and learning the chords for "Moonage Daydream") and rehearsing for tonight's proposed performance at Out of the Bedroom...

A break for a couple of "Monk", much enjoyed...

Salmon, chips and peas for an early tea before heading over to London Road and the Safari Lounge for a very well attended night...

Diet Irn Bru to the fore...

Jim Igoe was our host this evening, kicking off with a slightly tongue in cheek song about hoping his voice might be heard across the nation...

Next, with mouth organ to the fore, Adrian reed - like a few of the performers tonight, new to me...

An impressive trio of songs...

Some swift and very short poems from my table companion, Nicole Williams (nee Strachan), who played at many an OOTB during "CBQ: The Wilderness Years" - on holiday from the USA and making a welcome return...

Another first for me tonight was Caro Bridges, whom I'd heard of but never heard - again a rare appearance as she conducts a choir which usually rehearses on a Thursday evening...

Three songs with a science base, including one on the fate of Mars Exploration robot, Opportunity, which was supposed to have sent back information for around 90 days but ended up doing so for 14 years, until eventually being done for by a particularly fierce, planet-wide dust storm...

Its last message was the rather poignant "My battery is low and it's getting dark..."

Three songs from Pixie Moonshine, from "Oceans" which is out tomorrow on Bandcamp...

Then, me, with my three songs, "Blend" from "Soundingfall" in 2009, "Down to the Beach" from "Heavenview" in 1988 and "A Drop in the Ocean" from "Liverysilver" in 1991...

The view from the stage, post performance this evening...

After the first break, Dog on a Swing entertained with his tiny keyboard and quirky songs, including one about someone live streaming a funeral on her phone in the office...

Then, Ross Nielzen, who, like me, has played on all three last OOTBs - playing three songs from his latest LP, "Momento Mori"...

Next up was probably my fave of the night, Folke Wiemann, didn't catch her name on the night but have been able to source it from the OOTB Facebook page...

I think she's a music teacher and therapist and debuted her back in January, hailing perhaps from Bremen, Germany...

One song from a man from over the road post a long story about infidelity - his first time at OOTB, Tony Wright, for it was he, was not aware of the no covers policy and so played "To Make You Feel My Love" before disappearing again into the night with his two friends...

Then, 20 year old Elsie MacDonald, with three raucous songs...

...and OOTB stalwart, Jim Bryson, unfortunately overtaken by a horrendous coughing fit, which kind of did for his performance...

Final act of the evening was Grant B Robertson, like Ross, this was the third time I've seen him at OOTB...

 Tonight he attached a kazoo to the mic stand and gave us three new songs, including one about buying a postal delivery van from Gumtree and, my fave, the one about a chip shop owner telling everyone who would listen that Grant was his butler...

"but I'm not!", "but you are!"...

One last song from Jim, a Velvets-esque rocker, much enjoyed by your correspondent...

Some chat with Jim and other table companion, who stuck it out to the end, Caroline from the band A New International, a classically trained violinist no less...

Good to know...

The drive home to find people forgetting that garages are sometimes still used to park cars in...

Last thing, a track from my new LP, out tomorrow...

A good day...

Highlight of the Day : Despite all the playing and performing, probably the breakfast with Annie...

Today's New Music:-