Spending all day hardly moving a muscle must be good for a wee cat...

Playlist

Rheostatics - Whale Music

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentytwentytwo

Cloudland Blue Quartet & Edward Spark - Fallentime

Capital Models - 2022-12-04

Up just after six, listening to Rheostatics, a listen which started as I retired last night...

Scenes...

To whittling 1999's LPs to 75...

...and then, putting together the WAVs for the end of year round up of unreleased, live, demos, remixes etc etc from CBQ (and various collaborators) from over the last 12 months...

...which also included the creation of a brand-new track to close it off, utilising a couple of false starts excised from the "Disquietmusik VI" release...

By 9:10 am, it was on the phone being listened to...

...and so, it was time for porridge...

...two different kinds...

Fang arrived, had some goodie drops and proceeded to fall asleep on our bed..

I loaded up the car and set off to Roslin for this morning's 11am rehearsal...

Good times...

We had not decided on songs beforehand and just shouted out items at random and played. We did some work on "Mr Brightside" (which, tomorrow the Exec Producer would rightly opine, needs a change of key) and the new fast version of "Rocket Man", as well as a couple of jams and the introduction of a nicely understated "Golden Hours" by Eno...

Then, a visit to my mum and doing her shopping and chatting about stuff, including, at this time of year of course, the upcoming anniversary of the passing of sister Pam on 8 December...

Such a hard time and a hard time each year it comes round...

Did my best to cheer my mum up...

Most likely to no avail but she put a brave face on it...

Home...

Very tasty stew and mash from Anne...

...and the first half of England v Senegal - until it became clear our least favorite footballing nation would make it easily into the last 16...

This soundtracked...

Having arrived at 9:30 this morning, at 10 pm this evening, Fang had hardly moved a muscle all day...

We put him out in the hope he'd head home...

As was the case last year, the cover for the Xmas Day release is the Hogmanay release inverted...

I knew the accidental window ledge pic would come in handy...

Later on, edited today's session and sent it out to the lads...

...and gave it a listen as I hit the sack, another weekend over...

Highlight of the Day: Rehearsing....

The beast to stop and two out of fifty...

Playlist

Jonas Colstrup - At the Crest

Fripp & Eno - (No Pussyfooting) (Definitive Edition)

Uriah Heep - Sweet Freedom

Elder - Innate Passage

Billow Observatory - Stareside

Biosphere - Shortwave Memories

Dido - No Angel

Earthworks - A Part, And Yet Apart

Jason Falkner - Can You Still Feel?

Lucy Kaplansky - Ten Year Night

Paul McCartney - Run Devil Run

Dream Theater - Metropolis 2 : Scenes From A Memory

The Flower Kings - Flower Power

Moby - Play

Yes - The Ladder

Jeff Beck - Who Else!

Shelby Starner - From In The Shadows

Esbjörn Svensson Trio - From Gagarin's Point Of View

Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun

Tori Amos - To Venus And Back

Fridge - Eph

Stars of the Lid - Avec Laudenum

Ian McDonald - Drivers Eyes

Alice Peacock - Real Day

Me'Shell Ndegéocello - Bitter

Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream

Ben Christophers - My Beautiful Demon

Robert Fripp, Trey Gunn, Bill Rieflin - The Repercussions Of Angelic Behavior

Einaudi - Eden Roc

Robert Fripp, Bill Rieflin, Trey Gunn - Birth Of A Giant

Shivaree - I Oughtta Give You A Shot In The Head

Lene Marlin - Playing My Game

Cassandra Wilson - Traveling Miles

Mogwai - Come On Die Young

Billy Cobham - Nordic Off Color

Rheostatics - Whale Music

Right.  It's Tuesday.  I mean, it's Saturday but I'm writing this next Tuesday...

Noted some overnight purchases of "Disquetmusik VI", which was nice to see...

Uploaded the podcast and, due to the new policy at Mixcloud, this made all but this week's and another 9, invisible to listeners...

So, went through the hidden library and brought back into the light, week 48 from 2014 through to now and added the first one I uploaded, 2014 Vol 1...

Breakfast, post Anne having left to do something which I can't recall now...

Then to planning re moving things around...

Also, the free trial of Office 365 ran put today - so tried this as a download...

Unfortunately, the things I was trying to do were affecting the music playing capability of the set up, so it was quickly uninstalled, and I took Open Office on board - which is the open-source programme I utilised on the old laptop...

That worked...

Anne's progress noted...

Compiled my 100 nominations for top 5 LPs of 1999...

...and, on Anne's return, we watched a Xmas film with lunch - the enjoyable "rom-com" "Your Xmas or Mine"...

Orange Gin accompanied...

Soon, it was getting dark...

Here's someone else's ever so slightly better picture of the moon tonight...

...a night on which I ventured forth, solo, for a Xmas party of sorts with the ladies (and occasional gent) who lose...

"The Slosh" was a feature...

...as was "YMCA"...

The beast was up for Erasure's "Stop""...

"Some" raffle tickets were purchased...

...and two prizes won...

And so, home around 10 to find Anne in artist mode...

...after which we stumbled across "Spiderman: Homecoming" which was enjoyed into the early hours...

Reasonable...

Highlight of the Day: An Xmas film...

It seems the worst cook in the world can still come up with some tasty delights...

Playlist

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Disquietmusik VI

Various Artists - Pop Ambient 2023

Ben Frost - 1899 OST

Paul McCartney - The 7” Singles

Nek - 5030

Vanessa Wagner - Mirrored

Leftfield - This Is What We Do

Aviva Endean - Moths & Stars

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Variation on Brian Eno's "Thursday Afternoon"

Noémi Büchi - Matter

Jonas Colstrup - At the Crest

Angelo Harmsworth - Singe

Allan Holdsworth Alan Pasqua Chad Wackerman Jimmy Haslip - Proto-Cosmos

Morrissey - Rebels Without Applause

Creek - Creek IX 1997-10-19

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Underground Like Doug McClure (Record Store Day Limited Edition)

Pêtr Aleksänder - The Whole World Laid Out Before Me

Snowdrops - Missing Island

Joe Loss & his Orchestra - Wheels Cha Cha (Single)

Edward Spark - A Hymn for the Theatre Rejects

Carl Cox - Electronic Generations

Friday and up to obtain some new music...

...and to prepare for the publishing of the new LPs by CBQ and Creek...

At 8...

...I suddenly realised I'd forgotten to upload most of the bonus tracks on the CBQ release - so it had to be postponed while I did that...

Which made me late for the place I walked to...

...to see if I'd lost...

I hadn't but I also hadn't gained - earlier this week, post last weekend's African experience, I certainly had...

Back to base...

I stopped on the way to sort out the books in this - none of which I took...

Home just as Anne was leaving for a long, leisurely lunch at the French Institute with chum Teresa..

For me, back to work re the new stuff and to formulate this weekend's podcast...

Brunch for me...

Looks a lot but was perfectly acceptable...

And it was quite tasty...

An afternoon of trying still to get to grips with the new computer and the updated software I'll be using...

That for the podcast creation, proved slightly difficult, causing multiple botch ups...

By five, I had almost finished the first half but was heading out to pick Anne up off the Airport Bus...

No tea for the Exec Producer so it was back to the cooker for me...

Some pasta with a sauce comprising a small onion, a spiralised half courgette, a few mushrooms, a sprinkling of Quorn mince, some passata and a smidgen of creme fraiche...

Another tasty treat from the world's worst cook...

I eschewed the football - though Anne was watching "Strictly" in any case - to record the rest of the podcast, the second half going a lot better than the first botch-wise...

Back downstairs for some telly, to which I promptly fell asleep...

Not to worry...

Highlight of the Day: Podcasting...no, wait, cooking...

The restoration of the past situation can be an enjoyable achievement, even if you're not quite sure how you did it...

Playlist

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Bartok

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Disquietmusik VI

Jessica Ackerley - A New Kind of Water

The Cure - Wish (Remastered 2022)

Black Sabbath - Mob Rules (2022 Remaster)

Pizzetti - Concerto dell'estate / L'Edipo re / Clitennestra / La festa delle Panatenee

Caspa & Rusko - FabricLive.37

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

The Tubes - The Completion Backwards Principle

David Bowie - Hunky Dory

Dvořák - Works for String Quartet Vol. 5

Dohnányi - 6 Concert Etudes, Variations, Op. 29, Ruralia Hungarica

Lambert - Reworks

Marais - Suites Pour Viole De Gambe Et Basse Continue

UK - Reunion - Live in Tokyo

Allan Holdsworth - Jarasum Jazz Festival 2014

Creek - 19/10/1997

Creek - 13/11/1997

Creek - 2004-06-08 (Live at the Cafe Royal)

Creek - 30/10/2004

Creek - Tarnished

Creek - The Return Of The Creek 2003

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Creek CBQ 2015

Creek - Creek 15: The Edward Spark Reconstructions

Nessa Barrett - young forever

Up again, well, you know, you kind of have to get up to actually do anything but, anyway, up early...

And listening...

I am liking the new blinds...

...and am gradually getting used to the new system...

The views from the office this morning...

To the kitchen for coffee..

Aw...

More listening, while I worked, mainly on getting the diary up to date...

...and on trying to get all my tracks back on iTunes...

A schoolboy error made re deletions which lead me to reinstate the library from the old laptop...

Masterstroke indeed...

The missing tracks were soon reduced from a couple of hundred thousand a day or so ago to just a few thousand as we left to visit sister Sheila and brother-in-law Andrew, to hand over Xmas presents for grandnephews Kerr, Dougie and Lockie...

Nothing for Cassie though...

Aw...

A nice lunch of homemade soup, rolls and homemade cake, accompanied by good chat...

Home and Fang popped by to use the iPad...

Back to work - a call from Sheila, mum had somehow gotten her Radio Times jammed inside her electronic chair...

Don't ask...

Anyway, yes back to work...

...and remastering and uploading the ninth installment of the Creek archive...

...before top notch Spaghetti Bolognese from the EP...

...by which time I had gotten the missing files down to around 500, which sounds a lot but, in the big scheme of things is just 0.17% of the almost 290,000 tracks I have on the drives...

And, those 500 are mostly old Capital Models rehearsals and a couple of large compilations I'd never listen to so, I'll take this result...

After two weeks of stress, I am very nearly back to what passes for "normal"...

In the afternoon, Croatia and Morocco emerged from their group, with No2 in the world rankings, Belgium going home...

And, this evening, despite winning 4-2 against Costa Rica (after being 2-1 down), Germany too were going home, after Japan pulled off their second shock victory of the group stages, against Spain, who scraped through on goal difference, ahead of the Germans...

Oh dear...

OK, I think that'll do...

No, wait, the final show of the latest "Taskmaster" ended with Dara O'Briain being crowned champion, beating Sarah Millican by 10 points...

Over the piece, we very much warmed to the newcomers to us, Fern Brady, Munya Chawawa and John Kearns...

Up early tomorrow re new releases...

Highlight of the Day: Getting all my tracks back...