first i was going to partially cover the bay window in my room with calico... which i have some of...
then i was going to take the things which attach the rail to the wall from the curtains on the small window, spread them out and use them for the bay window, cover the small window in calico...
i was stood on top of my bedside cabinet, screwdriver in hand, beginning to unscrew the first of the things when it struck me that i could just go to the shops and buy more of these things...
such is the reluctance with which i put on my DIY head...
so i began the process of refixing the curtain rail to the wall yesterday and i completed it today... i can't remember how long i left it last time, i could only find one reference to it in this blog... but this time we had dinah's bed to sleep in... no rising with the dawn like it was back then...
wednesday night to sunday afternoon... half a week, that's fair enough...
reluctant DIY...
so yesterday i went into the amazon and there was uncle filmo... we chatted and then i helped him get a TV/DVD player from argos, a completely new shopping experience for him, it's like shopping in a dole queue, he said...
i love how daft it is in there, finding what you want in a catalogue, writing it down on a piece of paper, going to someone else & paying for it, getting another piece of paper, going somewhere else & waiting for it, collecting it...
reminded me of old fashioned civil service caricatures... like the nightmarish world portrayed in brazil the gilliam film...
funnily enough another gilliam film was mentioned on the box of a DVD that we watched on the TV/DVD back @ filmo's, the one we watched is called la jette a film told entirely in still images... very beautiful, it was made in 1982 and inspired one of gilliam's films from the 90's... (i won't say which one, the DVD box told which one it was and it slightly spoiled the film for me)...
we also watched an ornette coleman film and a roland kirk/john cage film...
lovey to see the filmo...
i left there and cycled up to Wfloopy (shaman)'s for a game or three of chess and some great talk... he bringing out his dead... said he was glad to, most people snigger when you say you're a dead head... (as gillian welch was it seems)...
then today me & dinah went into the amazon only to find M & L of instant flight, it took a little time for all three of us to get on the same page, M knew from the off who i was, L remembered with the line oh... you're chet (baker) and it crystallised the night for me...
it was back when i used to play tiny gigs @ the effra in brixton, something i'd forgotten about, precursor to the vibe bar gig... M & L are going to meet moje later, a great old friend from that era, maybe 3... 4... 5? years ago...
wonderful to have bumped into them, somehow symbolic for my musical journey, reconnecting my current performance aspirations with that time and those performances...
x
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Friday, April 28, 2006
soft hard blurred clear
last night at around 10pm i finished the milk, i'd better get some more before the shops shut or i'll have to go out in the morning before i have my tea... being something like what i thought...
i'd been out with felinity @ eat & 2 veg and i was very well fed... i didn't go out again last night, i settled in front of the tv and watched six feet under on more4 intending to watch the larry sanders show on itv4 after...
so this morning when i woke up after not enough sleep i knew that i had to go out to the shops or forego my morning cup of tea... i put on my big coat and went to the shops before my shower, before anything, it was wierd...
before i set off for work i tried to pump up my bicycle tires but failed to... i've been failing to pump up my tires for weeks now, i just don't get how that pump works and spski's out of the country, he'll be back on sunday to answer my questions...
they were getting too soft...
near the end of my bicycle journey to work this morning i could see that something was stuck to my front tire, making a sound with each revolution, i thought it was a piece of paper but it turned out to be a drawing pin, stuck all the way in... so i took it out and was thankful that it was the end of the journey, got to work before the tire deflated...
then after work i cycled to a bike shop to have it changed, only it didn't seem to be deflating... the drawing pin had been sticking right into the tire... it didn't make sense...
so the man in the shop checked the innertube and it wasn't punctured... he said as my tires had been so soft the pin hadn't had enough resistance from the inner tube to pierce it... so he pumped up both front and back tires for me and i went out onto the street again...
cycled over to the bookstall under waterloo bridge and played G the bookseller at chess, he was playing someone else when i arrived so i cycled all the way to vauxhall bridge and back to kill time... really hard tires... no bounce... i felt every imperfection in the path... my bike rattled and my fingers holding the handlebars had to cling on really hard...
anyway he beat me and then i beat him, i've been meaning to play him at chess for a few weeks now, i'll be returning for a rematch in the near future, i cycled home to get a couple of things then went out again to the opticians, a sight/contact lens test with someone there i hadn't met before, P, very nice...
he gave me some daily lens's to keep me going until a trial pair comes for me next week, some new kind that allows my eyes to breathe more... these ones he gave me are stronger and i had that wierd attention to detail/almost too much precision thing going on... he told me that one of his customers doesn't like to have a properly clear prescription, he asks for it to be blurred a little,
i got on my bike with my too hard tires and my almost too precise eyes and i cycled up to manolis's where i read a ted hughes short story over my lunch, the rain horse was very good, it's in a collection of short stories he has in his cafe, edited by malcolm bradbury,
then since i've been home i've done almost nothing, just lain on my bed amongst the curtains and read and dozed, the not enough sleep catching up with me, dinah waking me up just before she went to work, a little love & affection perfectly suited to my just woken self...
strange day all round then for me, i still can't believe i went out to the shops before i had a tea this morning...?
x
i'd been out with felinity @ eat & 2 veg and i was very well fed... i didn't go out again last night, i settled in front of the tv and watched six feet under on more4 intending to watch the larry sanders show on itv4 after...
so this morning when i woke up after not enough sleep i knew that i had to go out to the shops or forego my morning cup of tea... i put on my big coat and went to the shops before my shower, before anything, it was wierd...
before i set off for work i tried to pump up my bicycle tires but failed to... i've been failing to pump up my tires for weeks now, i just don't get how that pump works and spski's out of the country, he'll be back on sunday to answer my questions...
they were getting too soft...
near the end of my bicycle journey to work this morning i could see that something was stuck to my front tire, making a sound with each revolution, i thought it was a piece of paper but it turned out to be a drawing pin, stuck all the way in... so i took it out and was thankful that it was the end of the journey, got to work before the tire deflated...
then after work i cycled to a bike shop to have it changed, only it didn't seem to be deflating... the drawing pin had been sticking right into the tire... it didn't make sense...
so the man in the shop checked the innertube and it wasn't punctured... he said as my tires had been so soft the pin hadn't had enough resistance from the inner tube to pierce it... so he pumped up both front and back tires for me and i went out onto the street again...
cycled over to the bookstall under waterloo bridge and played G the bookseller at chess, he was playing someone else when i arrived so i cycled all the way to vauxhall bridge and back to kill time... really hard tires... no bounce... i felt every imperfection in the path... my bike rattled and my fingers holding the handlebars had to cling on really hard...
anyway he beat me and then i beat him, i've been meaning to play him at chess for a few weeks now, i'll be returning for a rematch in the near future, i cycled home to get a couple of things then went out again to the opticians, a sight/contact lens test with someone there i hadn't met before, P, very nice...
he gave me some daily lens's to keep me going until a trial pair comes for me next week, some new kind that allows my eyes to breathe more... these ones he gave me are stronger and i had that wierd attention to detail/almost too much precision thing going on... he told me that one of his customers doesn't like to have a properly clear prescription, he asks for it to be blurred a little,
i got on my bike with my too hard tires and my almost too precise eyes and i cycled up to manolis's where i read a ted hughes short story over my lunch, the rain horse was very good, it's in a collection of short stories he has in his cafe, edited by malcolm bradbury,
then since i've been home i've done almost nothing, just lain on my bed amongst the curtains and read and dozed, the not enough sleep catching up with me, dinah waking me up just before she went to work, a little love & affection perfectly suited to my just woken self...
strange day all round then for me, i still can't believe i went out to the shops before i had a tea this morning...?
x
Thursday, April 27, 2006
curtains tunnel theatre
i tore the curtain rail (with the curtains) off in my sleep last night... a nocturnal disturbance violent enough to upset dinah... the strange circumstance of waking up to a crying girlfriend, then comforting her as i'm acclimatising myself...
when i woke up i was fiddling with the window fitting, i looked down and there was dinah, so i attended to her, looking up at the window and the lack of curtains and wondering if i was dreaming or not...
no memory of the dream that did the violence...
cycling in the rotherhithe tunnel under the thames i was truck yesterday by the lights reflecting off the tiles... the tunnel was built in 1908... at points along it there are 2 spiral staircases leading upwards, i suppose that they must be at the banks of the river... there was fresh air coming down the one i had a closer look at... locked of course... i wonder what evidence of those staircases there is on the surface...?
kind of panicky down there, partly to do with the polluted air, partly the cars rushing past (you have to cycle on the pavement, there are hardly any pedestrians) and partly the enclosed space... i was glad to get out of there...
i was on my way to my last schools visit of this year that was just south of the river... i was pleased to find that it only took me 40 minutes to get to the school, half an hour from my front door to the bottom of the regents canal (via victoria park) then 10 minutes under the rotherhithe tunnel and i was there...
i had one of those lazy, aimless journeys back afterwards, along the canal all the way to angel, then 20 minutes reading and filming one of the slowing bicycle wheel films, then a jaunt down to dinah's theatre to meet her between shows...
and then this morning, well, early afternoon, after the curtains, after dinah had gone off to work, i was woken from my half sleep by B (director) ringing me to ask if i could do some music for a theatre production he's doing... he who directed bash, my first theatre music thing (this one will bring my theatre music experiences to 3)... really nice to talk to him and great to be asked... no money... i can't wait...
x
when i woke up i was fiddling with the window fitting, i looked down and there was dinah, so i attended to her, looking up at the window and the lack of curtains and wondering if i was dreaming or not...
no memory of the dream that did the violence...cycling in the rotherhithe tunnel under the thames i was truck yesterday by the lights reflecting off the tiles... the tunnel was built in 1908... at points along it there are 2 spiral staircases leading upwards, i suppose that they must be at the banks of the river... there was fresh air coming down the one i had a closer look at... locked of course... i wonder what evidence of those staircases there is on the surface...?
kind of panicky down there, partly to do with the polluted air, partly the cars rushing past (you have to cycle on the pavement, there are hardly any pedestrians) and partly the enclosed space... i was glad to get out of there...
i was on my way to my last schools visit of this year that was just south of the river... i was pleased to find that it only took me 40 minutes to get to the school, half an hour from my front door to the bottom of the regents canal (via victoria park) then 10 minutes under the rotherhithe tunnel and i was there...
i had one of those lazy, aimless journeys back afterwards, along the canal all the way to angel, then 20 minutes reading and filming one of the slowing bicycle wheel films, then a jaunt down to dinah's theatre to meet her between shows...
and then this morning, well, early afternoon, after the curtains, after dinah had gone off to work, i was woken from my half sleep by B (director) ringing me to ask if i could do some music for a theatre production he's doing... he who directed bash, my first theatre music thing (this one will bring my theatre music experiences to 3)... really nice to talk to him and great to be asked... no money... i can't wait...
x
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
overwhelmed
so firstly, let's all breathe a sigh of relief that that advert for the gig is no longer at the top of this blog...
it happened... it was alright, sound man not really on the ball and a large group of loud men at the back shouting all the way through my set meant that i didn't enjoy it much at first, but as it went on i found a way in and it was good...
the second tune i played was a song i've been trying to write for weeks now and still haven't... the chorus is grace's name repeated, the verse on monday night was about me being in brighton the day she was born, before josiah even wanted to live in brighton, improvised in the way that i said it... i had a second verse idea about the melody to harbour walls but i only did the one verse... it was interesting, the first tune had gone down alright but i felt i needed to stake a claim to the space, in my own way, that second tune did that somehow for me...
improvising lyrics is something i like the idea of a lot... i'm thinking of not finishing that song anymore than it is now and doing it at gigs, using the verses as an open letter to grace, improvising but probably knowing the themes...
felinity was there with her flatmate E & her boyfriend G, P (poet) came with J, three lovely people i meet randomly in cafe's on or near the holloway road came... L from work came with a friend... dinah made it somewhere in the middle of my set, i looked up at one point and i could see her... raised a smile...
producer G was fairly dashing in a suit jacket over jeans, Hcello also fairly smart, me in the paul smith suit and one of the shirts i'd bought at gresham blake's on saturday...
the night was lovely, both M (cameron) and S who run the night were lovely... i was a social butterfly once i'd played, so many different people to see...
and it was the first of many such gigs that i hope to be doing with this trio... much to learn still... eager for experience...
since then i've been a little flat, or overwhelmed at times... funny the focus and energy that went into that gig and then the time afterwards...
cedric nash came round last night and we had a meal together with people in this house, very nice too, he is such a good energy to have around and we got on really well as a house for the first time in awhile...
i was up chatting to cedric & dinah until the early hours, quite trashed, a tiny absynth with cedric when he arrived, my share of 2 bottles of wine and then some smoking, we closed the evening listening to van morrison's common one album, very close to both mine & cedric's heart... he cycled off into the night and me & dinah played cards and laughed alot until we were a little straighter... even then it took me a long time to get to sleep, combined effects of getting trashed that night and the overwhelmed/lostness i was floating in anyway...
then today the rotherhithe tunnel... which i will tell you about sometime when i haven't told several days worth of stories...
x
it happened... it was alright, sound man not really on the ball and a large group of loud men at the back shouting all the way through my set meant that i didn't enjoy it much at first, but as it went on i found a way in and it was good...
the second tune i played was a song i've been trying to write for weeks now and still haven't... the chorus is grace's name repeated, the verse on monday night was about me being in brighton the day she was born, before josiah even wanted to live in brighton, improvised in the way that i said it... i had a second verse idea about the melody to harbour walls but i only did the one verse... it was interesting, the first tune had gone down alright but i felt i needed to stake a claim to the space, in my own way, that second tune did that somehow for me...
improvising lyrics is something i like the idea of a lot... i'm thinking of not finishing that song anymore than it is now and doing it at gigs, using the verses as an open letter to grace, improvising but probably knowing the themes...
felinity was there with her flatmate E & her boyfriend G, P (poet) came with J, three lovely people i meet randomly in cafe's on or near the holloway road came... L from work came with a friend... dinah made it somewhere in the middle of my set, i looked up at one point and i could see her... raised a smile...
producer G was fairly dashing in a suit jacket over jeans, Hcello also fairly smart, me in the paul smith suit and one of the shirts i'd bought at gresham blake's on saturday...
the night was lovely, both M (cameron) and S who run the night were lovely... i was a social butterfly once i'd played, so many different people to see...
and it was the first of many such gigs that i hope to be doing with this trio... much to learn still... eager for experience...
since then i've been a little flat, or overwhelmed at times... funny the focus and energy that went into that gig and then the time afterwards...
cedric nash came round last night and we had a meal together with people in this house, very nice too, he is such a good energy to have around and we got on really well as a house for the first time in awhile...
i was up chatting to cedric & dinah until the early hours, quite trashed, a tiny absynth with cedric when he arrived, my share of 2 bottles of wine and then some smoking, we closed the evening listening to van morrison's common one album, very close to both mine & cedric's heart... he cycled off into the night and me & dinah played cards and laughed alot until we were a little straighter... even then it took me a long time to get to sleep, combined effects of getting trashed that night and the overwhelmed/lostness i was floating in anyway...
then today the rotherhithe tunnel... which i will tell you about sometime when i haven't told several days worth of stories...
x
Monday, April 24, 2006
Vibe Bar 24th April (blog below)
where i'm at
woke today after 9 hours sleep with only 10 minutes before Hcello was coming round...
9 hours is alot but i clearly wanted more this morning... i guess i got 5-6 hours on saturday night and today is a big day...
rehearsed with H for the last time before tonight, singing this soon after waking up was interesting... by the end of the rehearsal my voice was suffering a little... much care to be taken through today, long enough day to sort it out before the gig... i'll be trying not to shout at all and i should achieve that...
so now i'm about to gather my self together and go eat with dinah, manolis awaits, we who ate in such style last night...
the conservatory restaurant, which i thought was originally built on 1791, (actually 1709 so the maitre'D told me) was absolutely the perfect environment for my suited self and dinah's elegantly be-frocked in a 30's style self... the food was really nice, although small, and was ridiculously priced, but it was perfect... largely for the place itself and for my beautiful girlfriend... we'd speculated for awhile exactly what an amous bouche was which we'd read somewhere they had in there and we were disapointed not to see it on the menu...
so when our waiter turned up by surprise with an amous bouche from the chef we were almost beside ourselves...
for now i'm clambering back into my adult self... once i've eaten at manolis's it will start to come in to focus... looking forward to wearing the suit for the second night in a row and soooo looking forward to playing my tunes with Hcello & producer G...
a few friendly faces in the audience will include felinity & dinah... maybe a whole heap more...
can't wait...
x
9 hours is alot but i clearly wanted more this morning... i guess i got 5-6 hours on saturday night and today is a big day...
rehearsed with H for the last time before tonight, singing this soon after waking up was interesting... by the end of the rehearsal my voice was suffering a little... much care to be taken through today, long enough day to sort it out before the gig... i'll be trying not to shout at all and i should achieve that...
so now i'm about to gather my self together and go eat with dinah, manolis awaits, we who ate in such style last night...
the conservatory restaurant, which i thought was originally built on 1791, (actually 1709 so the maitre'D told me) was absolutely the perfect environment for my suited self and dinah's elegantly be-frocked in a 30's style self... the food was really nice, although small, and was ridiculously priced, but it was perfect... largely for the place itself and for my beautiful girlfriend... we'd speculated for awhile exactly what an amous bouche was which we'd read somewhere they had in there and we were disapointed not to see it on the menu...
so when our waiter turned up by surprise with an amous bouche from the chef we were almost beside ourselves...
for now i'm clambering back into my adult self... once i've eaten at manolis's it will start to come in to focus... looking forward to wearing the suit for the second night in a row and soooo looking forward to playing my tunes with Hcello & producer G...
a few friendly faces in the audience will include felinity & dinah... maybe a whole heap more...
can't wait...
x
Sunday, April 23, 2006
from terrible 2's to dead posh
the only way i survived this morning, being woken @ 7, staving off waking up until 8 by putting her in front of the telly... (she asked for it... she asked for it all day in fact..) playing with her most of the morning until 12 when i agreed to let her watch a little bit of cbeebies again... the set top box... only for 15 minutes this time... then fun & frolics until her mum arrived around 3, only an hour late...
the only way that i managed to remain equinamible (if that's a word) was that i knew the food i would get at the amazon cafe once josiah got here... that vegetarian roast... oh yes ladies and gentlemen... oh yes...
grace was mostly a joy, we had a few tantrums today but i dealt with them amicably...
and now, having seen them on their way, and helped our neighbour with a childs trampoline that she needed putting up... i'm wiped out but i'm about to start getting my arse into gear for the posh dinner me & dinah have got coming... the lanesborough don't you know...?
x
the only way that i managed to remain equinamible (if that's a word) was that i knew the food i would get at the amazon cafe once josiah got here... that vegetarian roast... oh yes ladies and gentlemen... oh yes...
grace was mostly a joy, we had a few tantrums today but i dealt with them amicably...
and now, having seen them on their way, and helped our neighbour with a childs trampoline that she needed putting up... i'm wiped out but i'm about to start getting my arse into gear for the posh dinner me & dinah have got coming... the lanesborough don't you know...?
x
Saturday, April 22, 2006
grace
she's asleep in my bed, my dinah is taking this opportunity to stay away, also because her mum is away so her & Wfloopy shaman are having a lads night in as they call it... generally involves playing hogs of war, smoking, deriding keyboard players...
my journey to brighton was productive... partially marking the essays i need to mark, working out the groups for the composition task they start on monday... oh this part of the module, splitting them up to write and then just leaving them to it... drifting around resolving issues if necesary... sorting out equipment... drinking tea & eating cake...
sadly my apprentice J won't be there to share the experience, trying to persuade me to watch battlestar galacticor, opening both our minds to the learning of teaching, which he's near the beginning of & i'm a little further on but still with much to learn...
picked up grace just as josiah was about to sing in her gospel outfit, led by gospelK... they were great, although i spent too much time worrying about the girl to really get into more than a few moments... i love having her, but mixed in with social situations like that today is not so nice for me...
we drank a bit of wine after while grace ran around with some new friends... got chatting with R, R who had driven josiah's stuff away a few weeks back... i'd love to get drunk with that lot some day, they are a lot of laughs...
then josiah took me to gresham & blake where i picked up a couple of nice shirts for sunday & monday nights... (had to get two because we didn't back to london quick enough to catch the dry cleaners where my intended shirt for tomorrow night is)
after which grace and me swanned back up to london, no tantrums yet... played with the magnetic theatre again, started a wall marking how tall she is... ate, bathed... bedtime stories...
and now i've got a pizza on its way from la parma somewhere north of here.. unknown quality... if only la porchetta would deliver... just like jai's, such good quality food but steadfastly collection or eat in only...
x
my journey to brighton was productive... partially marking the essays i need to mark, working out the groups for the composition task they start on monday... oh this part of the module, splitting them up to write and then just leaving them to it... drifting around resolving issues if necesary... sorting out equipment... drinking tea & eating cake...
sadly my apprentice J won't be there to share the experience, trying to persuade me to watch battlestar galacticor, opening both our minds to the learning of teaching, which he's near the beginning of & i'm a little further on but still with much to learn...
picked up grace just as josiah was about to sing in her gospel outfit, led by gospelK... they were great, although i spent too much time worrying about the girl to really get into more than a few moments... i love having her, but mixed in with social situations like that today is not so nice for me...
we drank a bit of wine after while grace ran around with some new friends... got chatting with R, R who had driven josiah's stuff away a few weeks back... i'd love to get drunk with that lot some day, they are a lot of laughs...
then josiah took me to gresham & blake where i picked up a couple of nice shirts for sunday & monday nights... (had to get two because we didn't back to london quick enough to catch the dry cleaners where my intended shirt for tomorrow night is)
after which grace and me swanned back up to london, no tantrums yet... played with the magnetic theatre again, started a wall marking how tall she is... ate, bathed... bedtime stories...
and now i've got a pizza on its way from la parma somewhere north of here.. unknown quality... if only la porchetta would deliver... just like jai's, such good quality food but steadfastly collection or eat in only...
x
Friday, April 21, 2006
grime
i'm about to go out to see rollin' with the nines... not expecting much from it, partly to see all those grime music people in the cinematic flesh...
i had a lot to do today... and i've achieved quite a lot... less than half of the list i made, yes... yes that's true... but there's still time...
my last day to myself until wednesday...
going to get grace tomorrow for the night, josiah coming up to get her on sunday, then me & dinah are getting glammed up and going out to the lanesborough hotel for a ridiculously expensive classy dinner...
then it all happens on monday, Hcello coming round in the am, then off to londonbridge work with my keyboard, teaching afternoon & early evening, producer G picking me up from there @ 7:30 and then the gig... oh the gig...
rehearsed with G yesterday and it is going to be so lovely... it will also be the first time that Hcello & producer G will have met, let alone played together... but hey... i've met them both before...
ok... the film...
laters
x
i had a lot to do today... and i've achieved quite a lot... less than half of the list i made, yes... yes that's true... but there's still time...
my last day to myself until wednesday...
going to get grace tomorrow for the night, josiah coming up to get her on sunday, then me & dinah are getting glammed up and going out to the lanesborough hotel for a ridiculously expensive classy dinner...
then it all happens on monday, Hcello coming round in the am, then off to londonbridge work with my keyboard, teaching afternoon & early evening, producer G picking me up from there @ 7:30 and then the gig... oh the gig...
rehearsed with G yesterday and it is going to be so lovely... it will also be the first time that Hcello & producer G will have met, let alone played together... but hey... i've met them both before...
ok... the film...
laters
x
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
adventures with pianos
at the gig/party on saturday night my sound module was being a bit wierd... turning off for no reason i could see every now and again...
tody i decided to rehearse with the keyboard i'm going to gig with, get my emotional self attached to it... Hcello came round and we statred playing, a little wierd for me, having been practising on the fender rhodes fo so long...
anyway, midway through the first tune the module died... very scary... days away from the gig @ the vibe bar... found out what was going on and fixed it eventually but somehow it reset itself back to it's factory setings...
so suddenly i had to reprogram it to be how i wanted it again, a rehearsal with nippy tonight and in that band i use quite a few changed things within it...
so i've just spent an hour or so getting my head back into that headspace of how to program the little creature...
interesting... one of those times when a pain in the arse makes you look at something you might not have looked at and you gain from the looking... a new piano sound that i didn't realise it had that suits my soloing self, just as the piano sound i knew about suits my ballady/chord self...
packing up shortly and i'll be getting the tube down with my keyboard to nippy's rehearsal, shunning K's lift, partly because i'm not wanting to spend time with that man these days, but also because it's a journey i'm going to have to make next monday morning and it's been a long time, i don't want it to kill me then so it may well kill me tonight...
one of my very first posts on this here blog was about just how mad it is carrying my keyboard on public transport...
getting all the more excited about the gig next monday...
x
tody i decided to rehearse with the keyboard i'm going to gig with, get my emotional self attached to it... Hcello came round and we statred playing, a little wierd for me, having been practising on the fender rhodes fo so long...
anyway, midway through the first tune the module died... very scary... days away from the gig @ the vibe bar... found out what was going on and fixed it eventually but somehow it reset itself back to it's factory setings...
so suddenly i had to reprogram it to be how i wanted it again, a rehearsal with nippy tonight and in that band i use quite a few changed things within it...
so i've just spent an hour or so getting my head back into that headspace of how to program the little creature...
interesting... one of those times when a pain in the arse makes you look at something you might not have looked at and you gain from the looking... a new piano sound that i didn't realise it had that suits my soloing self, just as the piano sound i knew about suits my ballady/chord self...
packing up shortly and i'll be getting the tube down with my keyboard to nippy's rehearsal, shunning K's lift, partly because i'm not wanting to spend time with that man these days, but also because it's a journey i'm going to have to make next monday morning and it's been a long time, i don't want it to kill me then so it may well kill me tonight...
one of my very first posts on this here blog was about just how mad it is carrying my keyboard on public transport...
getting all the more excited about the gig next monday...
x
Monday, April 17, 2006
blewbury
with my parents down in the countryside for the night... a chance to see their new bathroom & kitchen, a little play on the piano that i'm going to move to my house in the near future, a drink with my blewbury old friend in about half an hour...
woke up deliciously late today, a proper amount of sleep, recovering from the party...
me & dinah went over to her parents last night for a meal, lovely, a good night, good conversations all round... i was struck by certain similarities between T, dinah's mum, & my mum, nothing i can put into words but they're there...
Wfloopy (shaman) & me got entangled in a synthesisor/guitarist argument... dinah putting her bass playing twopenneth in...
we also watched Dr Who, with david tennant as the dr... he was truly excellent, miles better than christopher eccleston... surprisingly good episode... made us laugh out loud...
then today my journey over here was really nice... the canal in london, beautiful day , the train journey longer than it should have been but this gave me a nice long book read... i'm reading a book dinah's leant me, can't remember the title just now, very good...
also nice just to look out of the window and see the landscape moulding gradually into the landscape of my childhood, we crossed a river twice between reading & didcot, which i guess is the thames, made me want to check on an ordnance survey map... or maybe just the internet now... yes, the thames it is...
anyway... laters potatoes...
x
woke up deliciously late today, a proper amount of sleep, recovering from the party...
me & dinah went over to her parents last night for a meal, lovely, a good night, good conversations all round... i was struck by certain similarities between T, dinah's mum, & my mum, nothing i can put into words but they're there...
Wfloopy (shaman) & me got entangled in a synthesisor/guitarist argument... dinah putting her bass playing twopenneth in...
we also watched Dr Who, with david tennant as the dr... he was truly excellent, miles better than christopher eccleston... surprisingly good episode... made us laugh out loud...
then today my journey over here was really nice... the canal in london, beautiful day , the train journey longer than it should have been but this gave me a nice long book read... i'm reading a book dinah's leant me, can't remember the title just now, very good...
also nice just to look out of the window and see the landscape moulding gradually into the landscape of my childhood, we crossed a river twice between reading & didcot, which i guess is the thames, made me want to check on an ordnance survey map... or maybe just the internet now... yes, the thames it is...
anyway... laters potatoes...
x
Sunday, April 16, 2006
partied
an absynth at 6:30 this morning with my dinah... my body wasn't having it...
we made it to bed by about 7:30... by 11:30 i couldn't sleep so i joined grace watching cbeebies on our new set top box... which josiah gave to us this weekend, partly so that grace could watch cbeebies while she (& me & dinah) slept off our respective hangovers...
the party had begun with me & producer G doing 3 tunes, part of our set @ the vibe bar a week tomorrow... part of a sequence of performances from people who live in this house (+ belgiun R)... producer G said afterwords how honoured he was to be part of that performance... the quality of the performances was very good... dinah did some, including a song she'd written in the early days of me & her... (don't brake my plastic heart in two)... i loved her all the more watching her sing it...
in my set were the two i've written for her in these last few months as well as harbour walls... a couple of nice comments after from two men whose opinunes i trust... Wfloopy (shaman) pointing out my ability to take the piss out of myself but still be good... and cedric nash pointing to the frankness in the songs... that he could here me clearly within the lyrics... this as well as the invalueable experience of performing in front of an audience that listens... (a luxury i may not get at the vibe bar)... great...
josiah & grace left a few hours ago and dinah was practically collapsed on the floor from hunger...
grace screaming the house down this morning... a house full of hungover people...
the magnetic theatre a few nights ago, grace with a captivre audience of hilda & spski & me... (grace dancing with hilda & T)
the fact that spaki wasn't at the party... missed him... i've been there, i've missed parties at this house & i respect his position on it... but he was missed...
dr K...
nippy & r9, who finally got her high healed shoes back after nippy's set last night, a good gig, maybe my last time with those shoes for awhile...
going over to Wfloopy & T's for dinner tonight, even though i've met them loads of times before it still has a slightly edgy meet the parents vibe to it...
x
we made it to bed by about 7:30... by 11:30 i couldn't sleep so i joined grace watching cbeebies on our new set top box... which josiah gave to us this weekend, partly so that grace could watch cbeebies while she (& me & dinah) slept off our respective hangovers...
the party had begun with me & producer G doing 3 tunes, part of our set @ the vibe bar a week tomorrow... part of a sequence of performances from people who live in this house (+ belgiun R)... producer G said afterwords how honoured he was to be part of that performance... the quality of the performances was very good... dinah did some, including a song she'd written in the early days of me & her... (don't brake my plastic heart in two)... i loved her all the more watching her sing it...
in my set were the two i've written for her in these last few months as well as harbour walls... a couple of nice comments after from two men whose opinunes i trust... Wfloopy (shaman) pointing out my ability to take the piss out of myself but still be good... and cedric nash pointing to the frankness in the songs... that he could here me clearly within the lyrics... this as well as the invalueable experience of performing in front of an audience that listens... (a luxury i may not get at the vibe bar)... great...
josiah & grace left a few hours ago and dinah was practically collapsed on the floor from hunger...
grace screaming the house down this morning... a house full of hungover people...
the magnetic theatre a few nights ago, grace with a captivre audience of hilda & spski & me... (grace dancing with hilda & T)
the fact that spaki wasn't at the party... missed him... i've been there, i've missed parties at this house & i respect his position on it... but he was missed...
dr K...
nippy & r9, who finally got her high healed shoes back after nippy's set last night, a good gig, maybe my last time with those shoes for awhile...
going over to Wfloopy & T's for dinner tonight, even though i've met them loads of times before it still has a slightly edgy meet the parents vibe to it...
x
Friday, April 14, 2006
CDR full moon
i seem to be getting more spam...
of the four emails that thunderbird delivered to me this morning (after taking away what it thinks is spam) one was from a real person, one was an email from blueyonder that i get every day telling me that my webspace is full... i find it comforting... the other two were spam...
the first opened with the line:
dear friends of the chang...
(am i a friend of the chang?)
and the second was from some company saying:
We supply our customers stainless steel pipes and flanges...
... and i guess it's just daft trying to work out why i in particulr have recieved these 2 pieces of spam... but try and work it out i do...
anyway, it's good friday, and this year has been the first year that i've noticed the full moon in the week before easter and linked it with the knowledge that easter always comes on the weekend after the first full moon after the equinox... trying to place what easter means to me and not getting much... egg rolling... pistachio nuts... christ born again i guess... just not that that engaged with that story these days, i do remember it being a good story...
started in on the absynth yesterday afternoon with hilda... me & dinah brought it back from prague, hilda brought the complicated ritual with the sugar and the burning...
then another one a little later in the early evening with spski... then another, then the three of us deported up to my room to wade through acres of photo's & video's (spski in particular somewhat nonplussed at the amount of camera action...)
then a tom & jerry, then half of the station agent, then i went out onto the streets of london with my book of haruki murakami short stories which i was not really in a state to read... tubed it down to shoreditch to meet producer G (& dinah) @ plastic people for CDR...
G & various students of mine have been telling me about CDR for a little while now, it's a club night where you can take your tunes... in whatever state of undress/readiness and they get played on a big system... very nice sound system it is too down there... you might have to wait a long time to hear your tune... producer G's tune (with my improvising keys on it) was played at around 12:45 am, G said this was good, the stories i've heard from my students have been their tunes being played at around 2am or later...
mad mix of tunes... very loud sound system... various different qualities of mixing so occassionally some harsh, very loud sounds coming to your ears... dinah patiently waited with me until the tune was played... long suffering but elegant... saw a couple of students (one of whom is no longer our student)... met an interesting producer called darko who had a couple of tunes being played there, one of which was directly after G's tune and it captured me & made us linger awhile longer...
then me & dinah made it out into the night and bussed up to crystal where we ate a little before returning home...
a slice of london after our prague break...
of the four emails that thunderbird delivered to me this morning (after taking away what it thinks is spam) one was from a real person, one was an email from blueyonder that i get every day telling me that my webspace is full... i find it comforting... the other two were spam...
the first opened with the line:
dear friends of the chang...
(am i a friend of the chang?)
and the second was from some company saying:
We supply our customers stainless steel pipes and flanges...
... and i guess it's just daft trying to work out why i in particulr have recieved these 2 pieces of spam... but try and work it out i do...
anyway, it's good friday, and this year has been the first year that i've noticed the full moon in the week before easter and linked it with the knowledge that easter always comes on the weekend after the first full moon after the equinox... trying to place what easter means to me and not getting much... egg rolling... pistachio nuts... christ born again i guess... just not that that engaged with that story these days, i do remember it being a good story...
started in on the absynth yesterday afternoon with hilda... me & dinah brought it back from prague, hilda brought the complicated ritual with the sugar and the burning...
then another one a little later in the early evening with spski... then another, then the three of us deported up to my room to wade through acres of photo's & video's (spski in particular somewhat nonplussed at the amount of camera action...)
then a tom & jerry, then half of the station agent, then i went out onto the streets of london with my book of haruki murakami short stories which i was not really in a state to read... tubed it down to shoreditch to meet producer G (& dinah) @ plastic people for CDR...
G & various students of mine have been telling me about CDR for a little while now, it's a club night where you can take your tunes... in whatever state of undress/readiness and they get played on a big system... very nice sound system it is too down there... you might have to wait a long time to hear your tune... producer G's tune (with my improvising keys on it) was played at around 12:45 am, G said this was good, the stories i've heard from my students have been their tunes being played at around 2am or later...
mad mix of tunes... very loud sound system... various different qualities of mixing so occassionally some harsh, very loud sounds coming to your ears... dinah patiently waited with me until the tune was played... long suffering but elegant... saw a couple of students (one of whom is no longer our student)... met an interesting producer called darko who had a couple of tunes being played there, one of which was directly after G's tune and it captured me & made us linger awhile longer...
then me & dinah made it out into the night and bussed up to crystal where we ate a little before returning home...
a slice of london after our prague break...
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
prague baby prague
was full of english people... every 3rd couple you saw in the street was english... we certainly were...
wonderful mini-break wih dinah... many stories, most of which i'll be keeping to myself...
had an hour on my own this afternoon before we started the gradual withdrawal process, the buying of provisions for the journey, the last meal out... the tram journey out to where the bus to the airport goes from...
i'd recorded the chords of this piece of music that is half falling dark lullaby & half rising chords from the past... wanted to see if i could make a start on some lyrics for it...
found my way down to one of the islands in the river... filming trams crossing the bridge... bright but cold day... may have found a theme there for the song, one or two hooks that i can gently pull at and spin out a true stroy about my life now...
x
wonderful mini-break wih dinah... many stories, most of which i'll be keeping to myself...
had an hour on my own this afternoon before we started the gradual withdrawal process, the buying of provisions for the journey, the last meal out... the tram journey out to where the bus to the airport goes from...
i'd recorded the chords of this piece of music that is half falling dark lullaby & half rising chords from the past... wanted to see if i could make a start on some lyrics for it...
found my way down to one of the islands in the river... filming trams crossing the bridge... bright but cold day... may have found a theme there for the song, one or two hooks that i can gently pull at and spin out a true stroy about my life now...
x
Saturday, April 08, 2006
spring has so sprung
firstly, i'm meant to be packing right now... this is to a certain extent, displacement activity...
ate in manolis' and spski & hilda met me there, we cycled off, hitting the canal beore camden (foolish) made it through to lisson grove... cycled through kensington gardens until we at last reached a great exhibition of black & white photography that was just great... yes... great...
i'm a little bit drunk but if i remember i'll link to it... german fella, vitkine...
one in particular looking like sheet music, actually telephone/electricity wires...
then we embarked once more in the parks, i led them to the canada memorial, which was similar in ripples to a waterfall in a terrible film that we three had watched last night... the blood of fu man shu... a few saving graces but many, many bad points...
we cycled up to picadilly, stealing behind for a stretch, cycling the wrong way down a one way street coming face to face with 2 mounted police... hilda later expressed regret that they hadn't engaged us in high speed street pursuit... horses chasing bicycles...
but they didn't... we arrived at the simpson's building, i lingered awhile in the novels section (mainly in M) part of a growing romance with books that i'm hoping to have again... then met them upstairs for a drink in the bar...
pricey, nice view...
then over to where dinah works to meet her in between shows, pints in the nell... before hilda headed south, dinah went back to work, me & spski headed home (him via curry hut) and here i am... just set my vacation flag on gameknot... about to put my laundry on... make sure i've got all i need to write music should i need to... check out train times...
this time tomorrow we'll be sipping cheap checq drinks in some romantic bar... (one can but dream)...
deliberately didn't take my camera out with me so you'll just have to take my word for it... it was a beautiful day... stunning sunshine and flowers and buds pushing through...
spring is here
me & dinah will not be here by tomporrow... x
ate in manolis' and spski & hilda met me there, we cycled off, hitting the canal beore camden (foolish) made it through to lisson grove... cycled through kensington gardens until we at last reached a great exhibition of black & white photography that was just great... yes... great...
i'm a little bit drunk but if i remember i'll link to it... german fella, vitkine...
one in particular looking like sheet music, actually telephone/electricity wires...
then we embarked once more in the parks, i led them to the canada memorial, which was similar in ripples to a waterfall in a terrible film that we three had watched last night... the blood of fu man shu... a few saving graces but many, many bad points...
we cycled up to picadilly, stealing behind for a stretch, cycling the wrong way down a one way street coming face to face with 2 mounted police... hilda later expressed regret that they hadn't engaged us in high speed street pursuit... horses chasing bicycles...
but they didn't... we arrived at the simpson's building, i lingered awhile in the novels section (mainly in M) part of a growing romance with books that i'm hoping to have again... then met them upstairs for a drink in the bar...
pricey, nice view...
then over to where dinah works to meet her in between shows, pints in the nell... before hilda headed south, dinah went back to work, me & spski headed home (him via curry hut) and here i am... just set my vacation flag on gameknot... about to put my laundry on... make sure i've got all i need to write music should i need to... check out train times...
this time tomorrow we'll be sipping cheap checq drinks in some romantic bar... (one can but dream)...
deliberately didn't take my camera out with me so you'll just have to take my word for it... it was a beautiful day... stunning sunshine and flowers and buds pushing through...
spring is here
me & dinah will not be here by tomporrow... x
Friday, April 07, 2006
picture heavy high & low places
straight in with two pictures from my travels yesterday, imagine the sun traveling from one to the other...i'd walked dinah to her work around 6:30 and i knew i had an hour before the sunset so i cycled upstream to get the right kind of bend in the river for these pictures...
my last post being about high & low states of mind, today i'm talking about the high & low places i've been going to in the last couple of days... maybe i should thin down that gig advert at the top... make sure people know that the blog continues as normal just underneath...so those pictures directly above, whilst also bringing attention to the blog under the advert... are the low... the water level... although had i been able to actually get right down to the water i would have done, these are from the thames path...
today i was cycling around listening to my shuffle and i decided to go check out the barbican highwalk again... that strange mix of inside and outside, like burroughs talks about in his dream book, the city of the dead, loosely based on tangiers where he spent many years... spaces that are domestic but suddenly become streets, covered to uncovered... you can travel (i cycled, but one could walk) along one stretch of high walk and suddenly you're in the barbican arts centre, carry on far enough (particularly unnerving if cycling) and you come out into the outside again...
no satisfactory pictures of the highwalks... plenty of the towers... i'll have to return on another day and try and catch the walks...
it's a very utopian idea... no cars at all obviously... also forbidden to cycle (although i was breaking that rule)... reminds me of mineapolis...
i realised today that i absolutely love cycling in pedestrian places... listening to my shuffle, sometimes going really slowly, very aware of the rightfully pedestrian... enjoying being an interloper... illegal of course... and the more i do it the more likely i'll get caught by the police and fined (£10 spot fine i think it is... maybe more)... but i do love it...
after the barbican i headed west, passing by st ethelreda's catholic church, the oldest catholic church in london...
a long and chequered history, used to house a beautifully out of tune grand piano in its crypt, sadly no more, in fact today i couldn't get into the crypt at all but i know that they got rid of it a few summers ago,i headed further west, finding myself on the pavement of the strand... still drifting slowly, listening largely to semble, saw somerset house and rolled in, wondered what it would be like to cycle through those fountains but they're down some steps... not wanting to dismount i rolled down a slope to the right, into a place i'd never seen before, steps led down quite a way, to the bottom of a spiral staircase that led up a long, long way...
so i carried my lovely £10 bike down the stairs and locked it up at the foot of this spiral staircase.. black metal affair, fire escape... (if i'd tilted my camera even more directly down you could have seen the bike in this picture)...climbed a long way up until i got out onto the roof of the building it was attached to, stepped over into a kind of path, again the fire escape, saw two signs pointing in opposite directions for the fire escape, one back the way i'd come, the other onwards up a ladder, which of course i followed...
i pity the people following that sign in the event of a real fire, it ends somewhat precariously at a brick wall high above the city where i sat for a little while and took pictures...
odd mixture of high & low, being able to see down into these arches that are below the level of the somerset house open square, at one point i could see a pillared archway through which i could see cars crossing the river @ waterloo bridge, i look forward to looking at that same pillared archway from the south side of the river...also looking forward to returning to this place on a sunnier day, the slight rain made it scarier than it needed to be... once dinah has finished working at the producers i'll take her up there as you can just see the big producers billboard on the theatre... i can imagine us now, giving it the finger joyously...
i realised by the time i'd got down to ground level that i'd left some marking in st ethelreda's so i jumped on my bike, this time swapping headphones for helmet, raced through the streets, passing a crowd awaiting dan brown's judgement at the law courts... picked up the cardboard envelope with the marking in it and headed home...
satisfying discoveries
x
Thursday, April 06, 2006
rich time
odd not to have posted since sunday, me & my often more than once a day blog...
(listening to this beautiful semble album)
it's been a rich time...
some real lows, many real highs...
H cello came round on tuesday, we played through a couple of the tunes i'm doing @ the vibe bar, i love how we sound, me & her, my voice against her cello... hmmm...
had a long awaited conversation with someone yesterday that proved to be most hideous... this morning i woke up with my dinah, went with her to crouch end and once she'd gone off to meet her mum (whose birthday it is today) i was sat in a cafe and only then did i begin to be in a good place with that conversation... 20 or so hours later...
it was a conversation that i'd initiated and i guess i was hoping to get some resolution (for us both) through the conversation itself, but not this time, i've climbed my way to an understanding and a resolution but entirely on my own (and with the love and support of some lovely people, dinah & hilda (G) in particular),
i've thought previously about writing a song from this situation, and it is the classic model for it, a situation in which i don't feel i'm being understood, a desire to be able to better express myself... not dissimilar to how i felt back when i was writing love is lies, and though this situation has felt just as bleak as that did back then the song that could come out of this would be a great deal more hopeful...
and funnily enough if i manage to write it i think i'll be performing love is lies and it as the two other songs in my set (beyond the three that i know i'm doing right now)..
currently in the process of the first deflea of the spring/summer, the weather is warmer and so i frontlined her with the help of hilda (G) last night, when i was still under the spell of the unease from that conversation... hilda (G) & dinah & me drinking sherry and playing cards eased me a great deal... the deflea itself surprisingly easy with hilda's help, balthazara hated me as she always does for an hour or so, although she was beginning to come round to love again just before i retired to bed, she's still quarantined to the basement and the outside for another few hours but she'd forgiven me by this afternoon...
x
(listening to this beautiful semble album)
it's been a rich time...
some real lows, many real highs...
H cello came round on tuesday, we played through a couple of the tunes i'm doing @ the vibe bar, i love how we sound, me & her, my voice against her cello... hmmm...
had a long awaited conversation with someone yesterday that proved to be most hideous... this morning i woke up with my dinah, went with her to crouch end and once she'd gone off to meet her mum (whose birthday it is today) i was sat in a cafe and only then did i begin to be in a good place with that conversation... 20 or so hours later...
it was a conversation that i'd initiated and i guess i was hoping to get some resolution (for us both) through the conversation itself, but not this time, i've climbed my way to an understanding and a resolution but entirely on my own (and with the love and support of some lovely people, dinah & hilda (G) in particular),
i've thought previously about writing a song from this situation, and it is the classic model for it, a situation in which i don't feel i'm being understood, a desire to be able to better express myself... not dissimilar to how i felt back when i was writing love is lies, and though this situation has felt just as bleak as that did back then the song that could come out of this would be a great deal more hopeful...
and funnily enough if i manage to write it i think i'll be performing love is lies and it as the two other songs in my set (beyond the three that i know i'm doing right now)..
currently in the process of the first deflea of the spring/summer, the weather is warmer and so i frontlined her with the help of hilda (G) last night, when i was still under the spell of the unease from that conversation... hilda (G) & dinah & me drinking sherry and playing cards eased me a great deal... the deflea itself surprisingly easy with hilda's help, balthazara hated me as she always does for an hour or so, although she was beginning to come round to love again just before i retired to bed, she's still quarantined to the basement and the outside for another few hours but she'd forgiven me by this afternoon...
x
Sunday, April 02, 2006
my pace
at long last i've set up a my space music thing...
longcatspace is where to find it... which i intended as being longcat space, but now i kind of like longcat's pace...
currently just harbour walls up there, no pictures, no friends (i even deleted tom... the friend that everyone has, everyone except me that is)...
me & dinah just went out to nambucca on holloway road to see some live music, 4 bands, of which only the first: jade fox was any good in my book, although the last (git knickers) were very good, although really not to my taste... too moptopy for me...
ate in the ever wonderful crystal of holloway road, and indeed we'd breakfasted at the incomparible amazon cafe on holloway road earlier, as my dinah so rightfully says... it's all about holloway road...
x
longcatspace is where to find it... which i intended as being longcat space, but now i kind of like longcat's pace...
currently just harbour walls up there, no pictures, no friends (i even deleted tom... the friend that everyone has, everyone except me that is)...
me & dinah just went out to nambucca on holloway road to see some live music, 4 bands, of which only the first: jade fox was any good in my book, although the last (git knickers) were very good, although really not to my taste... too moptopy for me...
ate in the ever wonderful crystal of holloway road, and indeed we'd breakfasted at the incomparible amazon cafe on holloway road earlier, as my dinah so rightfully says... it's all about holloway road...
x
Saturday, April 01, 2006
tunes
my sweet dinah left for work and i left for producer G's house in gypsy hill...
half a chance to see felinity and our folks but the do they'd been to (the parents) had no seats and they'd been standing way too long and in the end tiredness won & i didn't get to see them, partly because the session at producer G's went on more than i thought it would... very productive it was too...
i now have a very provisional backing for 3 of the tunes i'm doing @ the vibe bar (and yes, patroclus, please come...) the other 2 will be piano, voice, cello affairs...
i love working with producer G, something functional and fun going on there... we went to the pub for a couple afterwords, with his C, had to leave his cat rudi in the house sadly, he'll make a good boozer sometime soon i think...
then raced home to have a quick pizza and then meet R - chiro R - who put in the cat flap all those years ago... he came to drink wine and to pick up the cot that is the last of josiah's stuff to leave my room...
just have to get the piano from blewbury to london now...
a little drunk now, dinah preparing a ciperinia (yes, indeed, there is probably a correct way to spell that drink) for herself and then we're off upstairs to watch another episode of carnivale... good telly...
x
half a chance to see felinity and our folks but the do they'd been to (the parents) had no seats and they'd been standing way too long and in the end tiredness won & i didn't get to see them, partly because the session at producer G's went on more than i thought it would... very productive it was too...
i now have a very provisional backing for 3 of the tunes i'm doing @ the vibe bar (and yes, patroclus, please come...) the other 2 will be piano, voice, cello affairs...
i love working with producer G, something functional and fun going on there... we went to the pub for a couple afterwords, with his C, had to leave his cat rudi in the house sadly, he'll make a good boozer sometime soon i think...
then raced home to have a quick pizza and then meet R - chiro R - who put in the cat flap all those years ago... he came to drink wine and to pick up the cot that is the last of josiah's stuff to leave my room...
just have to get the piano from blewbury to london now...
a little drunk now, dinah preparing a ciperinia (yes, indeed, there is probably a correct way to spell that drink) for herself and then we're off upstairs to watch another episode of carnivale... good telly...
x
toilets i have known
i've often considered writing a toilet review section of this blog... i so appreciate a good public toilet... well, more often i'm found appreciating the toilet of a retail outfit, or possibly an entertainment building...
and obviously i'm not at the top of my spelling game right this minute as i write this...
today i worked in the morning and then was let loose on the thames for the afternoon... hoping to get a game of chess with the guy i bought carter beats the devil from on thursday... one of the waterloo bridge bookstall people...
cycling along listening to gillian welch... weaving my way between pedestrians... as the weather improves that strecth of the thames is going to get fuller and fuller with the walking... wounded or otherwise... and i may have to stop using it, even though i love cycling through pedestrian bits, being patient, going at the same speed as the walkers if necesary... being responsible even as you're being irresponsible...
i dreamed a highway back to you came on (shufflewise, came after a miles davis track (with charles mingus)) and i had to cycle a fair bit further than i was going to to accomidate the song, all 10 or so minutes of it...
ended near the NFT and popped in for a cup of tea & a pecan plait, taking advantage of the toilets while i was there... but the mens was being cleaned so i was forced (yes... forced) to use the disabled toilet which was a joy...
very well maintained, a tap you could leave on if you wanted to... (very important)
actaully the second disabled toilet i'd been this week, i'd found one in the barbican that i could fit my whole bike into on wednesday, solving a potentially awkward situation...
so anyway, i sat down with my tea & my pecan plait and i read solidly for a good twenty minutes or so... this carter beats the devil book is certainly a page turner, i've been taking weeks and weeks to finish books recently and i've read 177 pages of this one in 2 days...
echoes of jonathon strange & mr norrell, not just because of the magic theme but also the compulsiveness of it...
going roung to producer G's tomorrow, he lives not very far from the furthest point on that mad 35 mile cycling day i had a few weeks ago...
sang the neurotic love song to dinah yesterday and it was great... partly just to sing it to her whom i wrote it for, but also to practise singing to an audience... i recorded myself singing it today and i have a lot of work to do before the vibe bar gig (24th april)...
then H cello on tuesday, it's all beginning to happen...
my bed calls
x
and obviously i'm not at the top of my spelling game right this minute as i write this...
today i worked in the morning and then was let loose on the thames for the afternoon... hoping to get a game of chess with the guy i bought carter beats the devil from on thursday... one of the waterloo bridge bookstall people...
cycling along listening to gillian welch... weaving my way between pedestrians... as the weather improves that strecth of the thames is going to get fuller and fuller with the walking... wounded or otherwise... and i may have to stop using it, even though i love cycling through pedestrian bits, being patient, going at the same speed as the walkers if necesary... being responsible even as you're being irresponsible...
i dreamed a highway back to you came on (shufflewise, came after a miles davis track (with charles mingus)) and i had to cycle a fair bit further than i was going to to accomidate the song, all 10 or so minutes of it...
ended near the NFT and popped in for a cup of tea & a pecan plait, taking advantage of the toilets while i was there... but the mens was being cleaned so i was forced (yes... forced) to use the disabled toilet which was a joy...
very well maintained, a tap you could leave on if you wanted to... (very important)
actaully the second disabled toilet i'd been this week, i'd found one in the barbican that i could fit my whole bike into on wednesday, solving a potentially awkward situation...so anyway, i sat down with my tea & my pecan plait and i read solidly for a good twenty minutes or so... this carter beats the devil book is certainly a page turner, i've been taking weeks and weeks to finish books recently and i've read 177 pages of this one in 2 days...
echoes of jonathon strange & mr norrell, not just because of the magic theme but also the compulsiveness of it...
going roung to producer G's tomorrow, he lives not very far from the furthest point on that mad 35 mile cycling day i had a few weeks ago...
sang the neurotic love song to dinah yesterday and it was great... partly just to sing it to her whom i wrote it for, but also to practise singing to an audience... i recorded myself singing it today and i have a lot of work to do before the vibe bar gig (24th april)...
then H cello on tuesday, it's all beginning to happen...
my bed calls
x
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