Monday, April 04, 2011

Three in a row...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – 04 04 04
Various – Acquisitions 5/10-4/11 (Shuffleplay)
Santana – Santana
Santana – Abraxas
Santana – Santana III

First thing, an offer in the inbox of a 1TB external hard drive was partaken of...

I need more storage and, at £40 for 1,000 Gigabytes, it was an offer worthy of pursuit I thought...

Enjoyed "Radio Cloudland" during the day, shuffleplay always throws up stuff I don’t think I’ve ever heard...

The problem is, I buy so many CDs, they are usually ripped without proper listening – they have 12 months or so to pop up on the “recent acquisitions” jukebox before they are replaced with a new purchase or acquisition...

On the way home, a wander into HMV produced nothing – but the view of the castle was lovely...



Back home, a parcel from e-bay – the first three Santana albums - the lot for just two of your English pounds - including postage...

Their debut soundtracked my third drive to my mum’s house in three days...



...this time, on the occasion of what would have been her 56th wedding anniversary, I was visiting merely to switch her Tivo box off and on again at the power source to reset it....

My mum is not able to do this...

No, really – she can’t get down low enough in order to reach behind the box, due to crippling pains in her legs...

A call from sister Pam to mum, while I was there, advised tiredness today, at the start of week five or her intensive concurrent radio and chemotherapy...

The drive home was uneventful – I was not speeding – but I was taking photos out the window...







Back home, tasty pasta from Annie was followed by “Coronation St”, “University Challenge”, “Coronation St”, “Waking the Dead”, “Twenty Twelve” and then, upstairs for more Santana and to write this up...

Lights out shortly methinks...

Highlight of the Day : Shuffleplay...

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Gone fishing...

Playlist
David Reilly - Fifty-One
The Jazz Crusaders - Lighthouse '68
Fields - Fields
Geminiani - Cello Sonata in D Minor
Sarah McLachlan - Laws of Illusion
Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel
Sumner McKane - In the Blood OST
Various - 70's Soul Mix
Bob Dylan - The Times They Are a-Changin'
Various - Natural Progressions
Van Morrison - Verdon Fleece
John Coltrane - Coltrane
David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
Ornette Coleman - Ornette

Up at seven and working on the music - mostly just listening...

Transferred recently received pics of Pam to the SD card and down to Tesco...



...to print them as a surprise for my mum (re Mothers' Day)...

Drove to Loanhead and delivered them - she was delighted...

On departing, I noticed my little starling friend again...



...who flew off just as I started snapping...



A lovely day as I drove home...





In the afternoon, with Anne off to Chris-with-a-ch's place to watch Hibs v Hearts (2-2) (yesterday Queens returned to Partick Thistle and, this time, "gained" a nil-nil draw to stay 4th), I remained zu Hause and mucked about with the templates of this here diary...

On Anne's return, we drove to Roseburn and picked up brother-in-law Keith - post his having watched the footie in a bar with chums - and ferried him home to Leith...





...where we were joined for Mothers' Day by Anne and Keith's mum, Keith's step daughters Rebecca and Abbie...





..and lovely wife, Maureen...



Keith had prepped the meal before departing for the football - and we enjoyed smoked mackeral pate, fish pie with broccoli and, his signature dish, Lemon Posset with fresh rasperries...

Tasty...

He also had the courage to background post meal coffees with the rather out-there sounds of Mr Ornette Coleman...

Not sure if it was Coleman's parping which resulted in this hilarity, probably not...



I surmised Keith may well also enjoy the music of Happy Apple (who are big fans of Ornette) and so decided to burn him an introductory compilation...

Off home with Anne's mum just after eight...



"Waking the Dead" and "Sportscene" prefaced more mucking around with blog templates, then bed just before midnight...

Highlight of the Day : Fish based delights from brother-in-law Keith...

Saturday, April 02, 2011

The young rabbits...

Playlist
David Reilly - Fifty-One
Laura Pausini - Singles II
Various - 70's Soul Mix
Rameau/Couperin - Harpsichord Works
Paul Chambers/John Coltrane - High Step (LP)
The Jazz Crusaders - The Young Rabbits (LP)
Alboran Trio - Meltemi

Up at 4am, to discover it was actually 5am - I hadn't put the clock forward last week on the jukebox I was using...

A few hours work on the new proposed compilation and updating this...

Anne emerged around 8:30 ahead of a reasonably busy day...

A call from Dr Prog offering a trip to London in May 2012 to see Phillip Glass's opera "Einstein on the Beach"  -  a dream of his for some considerable time - alas, with tix around £100 for a night of predictable "doo-doo, doo-doo" serial music from the hand of Mr Glass, despite him being one of my favourites, was just too expensive for your cheapskate correspondent...

I will stay at home and listen to the CD...

Tasty breakfast, then we drove into town, me to meet with Count Brodski at 10 for a Record Fair, Anne to shop at her favourite shop, White Stuff...

After our split, I walked through St Andrew Square...





...heading for John Lewis, where I bought a snazzy, glittery Andy Warhol card for my mum re Mothers’ Day - this taken later, at her house - the fossil is an earlier present from me, of which I am particularly proud...



Then down to the top of Leith Walk, by the cathedral...





...where the Count arrived at the same time...



Discovering the fair didn’t start till 10:30, we retired to the Artisan CafĂ© on nearby Broughton Street...







Along with the excellent coffee, I particularly appreciated the sign which read “J K Rowling Never Wrote Here”...



So nice to see after the Rowling plastered walls at The Elephant House last week with Stu Cobblers...

To the fair in a very nice hall attached the cathedral...



A haul was partaken of by your correspondent, my first acquisitions all week...



I particularly enjoyed finding the Jazz Crusaders album - I believe it to be the compilation which Capital Model Eric Merrill had in his home in 1979 when we used to rehearse there - it has been on my "one to look out for" list for over thirty years...

Anne arrived and enjoyed a natter with Brodders...



Then, a purchase having been made earlier at her favourite shop...



..it was back to the car in the morning sunshine, the weather having picked up nicely..





A drive to mum’s soundtracked by cracking 70’s soul – as was the subsequent drive, with mum, to the lovely East Lothian village of Gifford...



...and the Goblin’ Ha, for a, day early, Mothers’ Day lunch with sister Sheila...







Tasty...

After a long leisurely lunch, we drove back through the countryside to mum's for coffee and a chat...

Mum was impressed with the Warhol card but had no explanation as to why it is she needs two clocks in her living room...



We left around 4:30 and, I noticed a descendent of the starlings who lived in the roof above my bedroom in the 70's...



Home, following an expensive petrol station stop off...

The sun blazed through the back room window as I enjoyed the newly purchased sounds...





...and Meg the Black Cat guarded the documentation re my potential upcoming art exhibiting adventure...



The tiny TV purchased for Anne's mum's kitchen a few weeks back but now not required, was set up, along with the small DVD player won last May at a 70's charity night...

Some Anton Corbjin videos were enjoyed...



The paintings at the top of the pic are, left to right, "Untitled No 10", "Untitled No 9" and "Untitled No 11" - numbers 10 and 11 are hoping to reach a wider audience soon...

Meg the Black Cat entertained while Anne chatted on the phone to sister Pam...



...who mailed up this pic of her today with lucky Mascot Annie, daughter of chum Julie...



Back in December, when the call from the hospital wouldn't come, as soon as Annie came round to visit, the phone rang - hence her lucky mascot status...

A good chat for me too with sister Pam - she is doing unbelievably well....

No discernable tea tonight, following the slap up lunch...

Unlike Meg the Black cat, who has been on a veritable Cat Food Pouch Frenzy recently...

The evening was spent watching Tivo'd "Law & Order", "CSI" and "Glee", followed by "Match of the Day ", with the Alboran Trio on the nutphones...

Ended the day downloading some Jazz Crusaders before hitting the sack...

A good day...

Highlight of the Day : Everything really - lucky man that I am...

Friday, April 01, 2011

Dolls and fifty one...

Playlist
David Reilly - Fifty-One
John Foxx - Assembly

Up at 6:35 and to the pill cupboard...

Owya...

Today, chum Caroline and husband Sparko's five week old offspring, Anna, was introduced to the Billion Dollar Baby's head...



I think she liked it...



On the way home, an abandoned Barbie Doll Private Jet...





A quiet evening post apologies for last night's danning of the ran...

A good call with sister Pam followed by a tasty Chinese meal...

"Law & Order" rewarded some more work on the proposed new compilation, now provisionally entitled "Fifty-One" re the number of tracks involved and my current age (in an Adele stylee)...



Picture taken on my 51st birthday as we entered Vienna by train...



It contains a goodly number of remixes, re-recordings, edits etc etc and the new song "VendĂ´me", based on an instrumental by Brisbane chum and Sour Grape, Mr Ryan Williamson...

Hit the sack post midnight, rather tired but with arrangements having been made to meet up with Count Brodski for a record fair tomorrow (Dr Prog indisposed) then a Mothers' Day outing with my old mum, Annie and sister Sheila...

Highlight of the Day : Quiet night in with the Exec Producer...