Learning and hospitality...

Playlist
Various – Oh! Canada
Various – Zunior Samplers
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Blend: The Best of CBQ 1996-2009
Hawkwind – Spirit of the Age
Neal Morse – Cover to Cover
Black Sabbath – The Dio Years

A rainy morning...





A day of learning and hospitality...

Up early and out for a breakfast meeting with a trio of major fund managers...

Interesting stuff...

At lunch time to FOPP where I discovered a whole lorry load of new goodies weighing down the shelves and partook of the following:-

Neal Morse – Cover to Cover; Uriah Heep – Transmissions (turns out to be Live at Shepperton which I already have); Spirit – Time Circle (2CD Anthology); Love – Da Capo; Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey & Garvey’s Ghost (2 albums on 1 CD); Jimmy Cliff – The Harder They Come OST; Planet X w/ Allan Holdsworth – Quantum; Black Sabbath – The Dio years (Tour Edition 2 CD Set); Black Sabbath – Reunion (2CD); Dio – Inferno: The Last in Live (2CD)...



In the evening, more hospitality as dinner was served by a large UK company in a swanky upmarket hotel....



...while a young lady fund manager of commercial property put the case for said sector...

Your correspondent had a good time, though perhaps a glass or two too many of vino rosso...

Home on the bus and soon to sleep on the settee...

Highlight of the Day : CD Frenzy at FOPP...

Twenty...

Playlist
Various – Recent Acquisitions on Shuffleplay
Paul Linklater – Smooth Sailing and How
Uriah Heep – Wake the Sleeper
Uriah Heep – Looking Back 1970-2001
King Crimson – In the Wake of Poseidon
King Crimson – Lizard
King Crimson – Discipline
King Crimson – Red
Various - Tracks by my Top 30 Artists
Various - Zunior.com Sampler 4.20
Various - Zunior.com Sampler 4.21
Various - Oh! Canada Vol. 6

Post 1,775...

A bitterly cold day...



Coat, scarf and hat trilogy for the first time since February probably...



HMV at lunchtime – no purchases...

Home in the dark – Anne off to keep fit with Lynn...

A meet early tomorrow with Mr Mike, the generous chap who provided Dr Prog and I with free tickets for the mighty Uriah Heep almost a year ago – so free time tonight spent burning the long-promised souvenir CD for him...

A six page article on King Crimson graces my final edition of The Wire – along with one on Yes would you believe...



Not enough to convince me to stay and so it’s au revoir to this old friend which has popped through my letter box for almost ten years now...

“Flashforward” continues to reasonably entertain...

An outing to Out of the Bedroom on Thursday with Peri Urban is in the offing – I have asked him to choose the three song setlist – he also intends to make his solo debut...

Ended the day surfing to the sounds of my all time fave raves followed by newly downloaded free compilations from the excellent Canadaian outlet Zunior and the latest in the "Oh! Canada" series from blog The Line of Best Fit...

Tasty...

Highlight of the Day : Heep, Crimso and some Canadians...

Ya dancer...

Playlist
King Crimson – Live in Warsaw 2000
Brand New – Your Favourite Weapon
Brand New – Deja Entendu
Wings – London Town
Paul McCartney – Wingspan
Various – 1972 Singles
The Marmalade - Greatest Hits
Chris Rea – The Return of the Fabulous Hofner Blue Notes
Deep Purple - Burn
Deep Purple - Stormbringer
Deep Purple – Made in Europe
Deep Purple - Come Taste the Band



A much welcomed lie in until gone nine o’clock...

It was bitterly cold today (I did not venture beyond the door) but bright and sunny...



A leisurely day started with the ripping of the six CDs bought on yesterday’s trip – the addition to my Paul McCartney collection led me to listen to classic singles from 1972, which, in conjunction with 1973, comprises my all time favourite period for UK hit singles...

Post lunch, some gardening from the Exec Producer, while I continued to fanny about doing nothing of any import, including downloading The Marmalade’s Greatest Hits to get hold of their 1972 single “Radancer” which I once owned and which has eluded me for years...

Mid afternoon, we settled down to watch the first two episodes of the new series of “Spooks” – superb stuff...



Meg the Black Cat enjoyed it too, as you can see...

Then, we cooked....

Red Thai Chicken Curry, with a different paste to the one we’re used to...



Still very tasty...

Even better, accompanied by a nice French Pinot Noir...



Then, we watched the recent Gerard Depardieu film, “The Singer” (“Quand j’etais chanteur”)...

Ah, you can’t beat a cosy time in front of the fire on a bright cold winter’s day with a good film...

Some Bear Grylles in the Canadian wastelands followed...



...before I retired upstairs and enjoyed the sound of The Purps (Coverdale Version)while writing this, no doubt with “Match of the Day 2” set to finish off the weekend...

Oh, and amended the template of the blog - hope you like it...

Highlight of the Day : Being entirely lazy...

Non agile, aged ruminant...

Playist
Ken Hensley/John Wetton - More Than Conquerors
Ken Hensley/John Wetton - One Way or Another
Dream Theater - Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me
Led Zeppelin - Presence
Miles Davis Quintet - 1963-1968 (MP3 CD)
Phish - Slip Stich and Pass
Wings - At The Speed of Sound
The Chameleons - Script of the Bridge
King Crimson - Live in Warsaw 2000

Up at a stupidly early 4:30 and spent a good few hours just mucking about on the PC...

When I finally opened the curtains, I encountered the first frost of the oncoming winter...



To the store for provisions, followed by breakfast...

Converted the 44 tracks by amumni of the Miles Davis Quintet from 1963 to 1968 I compiled back in the summer to MP3 and burned them to a disc for the car...

My mum arrived around 11 for our trip to Paisley (Anne off duty due to a prior engagement at the Edinburgh derby - Hearts 0 Hibs 0 - Hearts should have won apparently)...

Turns out my mum's never heard of Miles Davis...

Arrived in Paisley slightly early, so drove around the streets where we lived from 1960-1966...

Here's the back garden of our old house - and, indeed, our old house...



We were visiting mum's old chum Pat, who used to live in the same street as us but now lives a couple of streets away in a larger house...



An excellent lunch was laid on and, for the second week running, "chatting with older people" entertained...

Then off into town...



The skies threatened...



It took 55 minutes to make the short journey from Paisley to Byres Road, thanks to various traffic hold ups...

In FOPP I bought a 2CD set of King Crimson Live in Warsaw in 2000 and two foreign language DVDS, "Apres Vous" and "The Counterfeiters"...

Down the road in the Oxfam shop I found a live disc by Phish, a Wings album I used to own in the 70's, the classic Chameleons debut album and a double pack by recent discovery, Brand New...



Back to Pat's for tea and filled rolls...

Almost a disaster, as the extra large teapot slipped from her grasp and went everywhere , including her hand - luckily no lasting damage and your correspondent was to be found on his hands and knees on the kitchen floor mopping up the mess...

Around 7, we left for home and, an hour later, I was back at Crispycat Towers as Anne watched the end of "Strictly"...

On the footie front, Queens remain top on goal difference, having beaten bottom club Ayr Utd 1-0 away from home...

Whist waiting for "The Thick of It" to come on, I took the opportunity to listen to the new purchases...

Unfortunately fatigue set in following the early rise this morning and I fell asleep with my glasses hanging off - Anne took the opportunity to picture the scene and insisted I post it here...



Old goat...

Woke up to watch the taped-by-Anne (and rather excellent) "The Thick of It", then "Match of the Day", before retiring with Crimso on the cans...

Highlight of the Day : A trip to my old home town...

Ambi goo I tea......

Playlist
Burning Spear - Harder Than the Best
Bunny Wailer – Blackheart Man
Taken By Trees – Open Field
Burning Spear - Man in the Hills
Brand New – The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
Art Pepper – Meets the Rhythm Section
Martin Taylor – Don’t Fret
Various – Trojan Instrumentals Box Set
Various – Recent Acquisition Uploads
Ken Hensley – The Wizard’s Diary Vol 1

It’s funny how your songs mean things to some people that you’d never thought of yourself...

That’s one of the things I like about my writing – the ambiguity...

Good to get home tonight – a classic case of “Thank God It’s Friday”...

After being soundtracked today by yesterday’s purchases on shuffleplay, I enjoyed some classic jazz from Art Pepper followed by some superb jazzy guitaring from Martin Taylor and some very tasty reggae instrumentals...

A Chinese takeaway sustained...

The rest of the evening was spent in front of the TV – “Have I Got News For You”, “Armstrong and Miller”, “Campus”...

Fell asleep during the last of these (which wasn't very entertaining) and off to bed at a very early 10:40...

Meg the Black Cat’s curiosity entertained last thing...



Highlight of the Day : People taking an interest in my songs...

South for winter...

Playlist
Various – Recent Acquisitions on Shuffleplay
Burning Spear - Harder Than the Best
Bunny Wailer – Blackheart Man
Taken By Trees – Open Field
Burning Spear - Man in the Hills
Brand New – The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst

Back to reality despite receiving e-mails of congratulations re last night's performance...

A grey day...

First thing, these geese, flying south for winter, caught my eye...



To FOPP at lunchtime and a new batch of goodies had been loaded onto the shelves since my last visit...

At FOPP it's very much a case of "get 'em while you can"...

So I did...













Met up with the Exec Producer and, following an invite to next week's Heart of Midlothian FC Hall of Fame Dinner, a dinner suit, dress shirt and bow tie were purchased for Mr CBQ...

This evening, other than listening to these new discs and watching a bit of telly, "Scrubs", "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "This Week", that was about it...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : The geese...

Keep living...

Playlist
Mendelssohn – Lieder Ohne Worte
Various – Recent Acquisitions on Shuffleplay
Various – Fill Your Head With Rock
Lonesome Stone - OST
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Acoustic Soundingfall
Laura Pausini – Primavera in Anticipo
Udo Lindenberg – Stark wie Zwei

Six months on to the day since the release of my latest album “Soundingfall”, tonight was to be the debut of many of its songs and so it was home early to prepare for the gig...

Spent the afternoon gathering together all the stuff I was taking – mic stands, music stands, mics, leads, CDs, posters, flyers, guitar (of course) etc etc...



Felt extremely nervous (stupidly)...

To take my mind off matters, I downloaded a couple of old albums I used to have – the famous CBS sampler “Fill Your Head With Rock” – on listening, it wasn’t quite as good as my memories of 1973 would have had me believe...

The download was an LP transfer – complete with jumps...



Then, I found the OST of Lonesome Stone, a show I saw on the Fringe in 1974 at which I bought this LP – I remember going to the Ross Bandstand in Princes St Gardens to see them play on a rainy Saturday morning a couple of days later...

This is a frankly dreadful LP but it was ok at the time...



I had the tea ready in time for the Exec Producer arriving home, then off to the venue where I met up with accompanist Peri Urban, host Jim Igo and soundman Dave O’Hara...



The soundcheck put my nerves at ease – sounding quite good...

Then, people started to arrive and the nerves returned...

And so, tonight I made a return to the live stage for my first full gig since March 2008...

It was a successful and extremely enjoyable night, playing to a packed room which included amongst others, the Exec Producer and her best chum Lynn, nephew Andy, Dr Prog, ex-band mates Jamie, George, Malcolm, Bob, Gus (and his lovely wife Sandra), and producee Ian S, travel writer of the parish...

Also along were old schoolfriends Steve and Fred (and Steve's chum), ladies from the offices of "The Man", Caroline, Gillian and Tracey and, valiantly, all the way from Inverness on her way to Glasgow, old college colleague of the Exec Producer and mine, Karell, who also brought along a chum...

Apologies if I've missed you off of that roll of honour - you might see yourself in this pic...



OK,maybe not, how about these...







Of course my old Dancers of San Martino cohort Mr Peri Urban provided excellent support on guitar and vocals and, after seven rehearsals, the set went almost flawlessly...

For once, I kept the embarrassing between song chat to an absolute minimum, not speaking at all in fact until almost the end of the set...

I liked that...

First time we'd played live together since 1985 I thought, but Peri reminded me of an outing in 1988 as a duo version of Sombre Reptiles playing the “Heavenview” album, supporting my then five piece band Call Me Clive...

Still, not bad after 21 years...

The evening was the twenty fourth in Jim Igoe's "Secret CD" series at The Phoenix Cellar Bar in Broughton Street and featured a very strong line up of Jennifer Ewan, Cloudland Blue Quartet (that’s me), Kim Edgar and David Ferrard...

Our set comprised 8 songs from "Soundingfall" and the two recently written pieces which will no doubt be on the next LP, due 2011...

"Harmony with menace" said Ms Fi the lady at the door who was handing out my flyers...

I liked that too...

If you want to listen to or download "Soundingfall" go here...



...and the specially recorded "Acoustic Soundingfall" (including two brand new songs)...



I gave away 25 copies of the acoustic souvenir at the door with flyers re “Soundingfall” and the back catalogue ...

Rather than downloading the music for free, you can of course buy the shiny disc versions, with full artwork, here...

To give you a taster, here's a collage of the 13 songs on the original LP...

Soundingfall Collage 7:07


If you couldn't make it along, not to worry, I may play again sometime but check out these sites...

Cloudland Blue Quartet
Website : Crispycat Recordings
Store : Crispycat Music Shop
Free Music : Crispycat Library
Myspace : Cloudland Blue Quartet

As is usually the way at these things, I didn’t really get a chance to mingle with the people who’d come along in impressive numbers to support me but, post gig I enjoyed a drink in the nearby Barony Bar with Anne and Lynn, George and Bob and managed a few words with Jamie before he had to head off for a trip to London tomorrow...

Lifts home for Lynn and George (who was up from the Borders for the gig and overnighting at his sister’s) then back to Crispycat Towers around 1am...

A very good day indeed...

Highlight of the Day : What do you think?

Something to consider...

Playlist
Mendelssohn – Lieder Ohne Worte
Eloy – Inside
Eloy – Floating
Focus – Moving Waves
Various – LPs From My Schooldays

Home in the dark...





Last rehearsal tonight and so, off to Peri Urban’s at 7:30...

As usual two runs through the set, both pretty good, followed by some fine tuning...

Still some occasional errors but not to worry...

Peri is keen to gig again after this – thinks it would be a waste to have done all these rehearsals only to do one thirty minute set...

Something to consider...

Back home and inconsequential telly ended the day...

Highlight of the Day : Rehearsing...

Fill your head with rock...

Playlist
Mendelssohn – Lieder Ohne Worte
Various – Recent Acquisitions on Shuffleplay
T Rex – Ride a White Swan
Eloy – Inside
Eloy – Floating
Focus – Moving Waves
String Driven Thing - String Driven Thing

An uneventful day...



Spent the evening, post a lovely salmon based evening meal, (and other than a break to watch "Flashforward" - getting better) at the PC downloading old LPs I used to have – and some I didn’t...

Recreated this old T Rex compilation, which was released to cash in on T Rextasy – other than “Ride a White Swan” it’s tosh from Tyrannosaurus Rex LPs...



German band Eloy is one whose albums I’ve always swithered about buying but never have...

“Inside” (1973) and “Floating” (1974)...





I do however recall purchasing Focus’ “Moving Waves" from the fledgeling Virgin Records in Thistle Street (now a small sandwich shop) in early 1973...



..and String Driven Thing was another LP I owned back then – although, on downloading tonight, my long held belief that the opening track (and single), “Circus”, was the only decent thing on it was proven to be correct...



Off to bed having source CBS 2LP set “Fill Your Head With Rock” – but that’s for another day...

Highlight of the Day : Listening to old LPs I used to have...

Unkel Daidved...

Playlist
Porcupine Tree - The Incident
Various - The Old Grey Whistle Test (DVD)
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Blend: The Best of CBQ 1996-2009
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Souvenir XVII - Acoustic Soundingfall
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Soundingfall
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Ersatzreal
Mercury Rev - The Secret Migration
Girls Aloud - Out of Control

Up early once again - too early to do anything of any import (using the word import rather loosely of course) so spent some time watching the Old Grey Whistle Test on DVD while Anne slept on...

Post a late breakfast, I spent much of the day burning CDs to get my stocks up to date before watching "Merlin" and "The Thick of It"...

Then to Anne's mum's for tea...

Kitty was drawing a picture of me apparently...



Jane has a new phone and was taking pitures of us all which will pop up on her screen if we ever phone her...



Kitty finished her picture and presented it to me with some measure of pride...



Nephew Craig arrived slightly late - probably due to time taken to "do" his hair...



Once again I thrashed nephew Oliver at chess while I suspect Bobby let his daughter win...



Back home and, post a swift rehearsal of the set for Wednesday, a documentary on the convoluted history of Fleetwood Mac entertained until closedown...

Highlight of the Day : The Thick of It...