i met my friend the other day. i only ever see him by chance and it's always in the same place it seems - a coffee shop. always at the same table, roughly the same time of day. he was sitting drinking his black coffee and i was power walking past. i was power walking purely coz i was convinced it was going to start absolutely peeing it down with rain and not coz i was on some crazy fitness regime or being chased down the street by a gang of irate squirrels hurling nuts. not this time anyway. walking is fun though, i like to walk. it's always a good way to process thoughts. i have no idea why i process thoughts better when i'm on the move as opposed to when i'm seated. maybe it's to do with the movement of the whole body and the flowing of information. or maybe not. is this just me? anyway, i had this weird feeling that he was sitting in there and i turned sharply to the window as i flew past and lo and behold there he was, roll up ciggie in hand, hunched over a hardback book scribbling like a man possessed by caffeine. it's strange how i knew he was there coz i walk past there most days and never think that. so i went in, got us both a coffee and we talked for a while. he's really happy with life and i think that's great. he's chucked his television out coz he's been a member of the white dot society for 3 years, basically it's an organisation that encourages people to consign the idiot box to the bin. as i result he reads more, has just got himself an electronic piano and he writes. his new mantra is to scribble anything at anytime, doesn't matter what. just sit down and write till blood trickles from your withered fingers.
if you want to give up tv have a look at http://www.whitedot.org/ . personally i think there's a lot of rubbish on the box but still some stuff that's worth engaging with. my life's definitely been enriched by shows like larry sanders, the prisoner, seinfeld, vic reeves big night out, the world at war, trumpton and peter kay's phoenix nights......and many more too of course. but not by pop idol / carol smillie / the vorderman / DIY shows / makeover progs / jim davidson / animals do the funniest thingss / scotland today / ITV /
did you know that there are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on earth? how anyone knows that is beyond me. but it is a fact apparently. i'm dropping a quick blog here coz i'm in such a hurry. i've been hurrying all over the place all week it seems, which is a good thing coz it means i don't stop and think for too long about some other things. i got sent some little sound clips and pictures of the king tuts gig with camera obscura today and they're really nice. thanks alot to stuart for sending those. i'll try and get the pics up on the site next week. anyways, it's sunny and there's a festival to bolt off too so i should leg it. oh, did you know that coulrophobia is a fear of clowns? i punched this into the internet (http://www.coulrophobia.com) and got a nice site. i didn't realise despising clowns had a commercial edge to it. maybe i've just stumbled into a whole subculture here. have a look. i wish i'd bought my 'i hate mimes' t-shirt before the festival ends. time to go. have a nice weekend.
well, i've not updated for a while. i've been on my feet for days it seems. the gig at medina in edinburgh went okay. got back on friday then back through to edinburgh again on saturday for some comedy and to breathe in the festival. recording on sunday went really well, laid down two 'live' acoustic tracks; 'and all the stars above us will remember ' and 'the sore feet song' though this title might well change. the album is nearly recorded and i'm very excited about it. played a support gig tonight for martin grech, it was a curious one, bit of a mix of musical styles but it went well and i got to speak to a few people who were into the set after the show. sad time too coz vin and chris are off to throw themselves into their own projects and good luck to them. i should sleep now. it's windy outside. i love to sleep when it's wild out there..
i wrote a song last night that i think is called 'bob dylan says'. it's not a definite title. i'm not even sure i like the song. but i wrote it nevertheless. if i remember it tonight i'll keep it. if not it'll be consigned to the song wheelie bin that i push around my flat. i'm going to have to get practising for the acoustic set in edinburgh on thursday. i'm looking forward to it, should be a fun night. that's what i was doing last night when i got distracted by this song. i'll be recording on the sunday, all day, then rehersing with the band hopefully on sunday night. i'm still confused as to what songs to include on the album. i find it hard to know what ones to bring into the studio and i worry that there are some good ones that i'm neglecting to record but i'm confident the 11 or 12 i pick will be strong and all the rest will be recorded at some point. anyway, the gig at barfly is on the monday and i'm well up for that too. it'll be a sad one though in a way coz as i've mentioned in the messageboard, vin the drummer is off to majorly rock things up. good luck to vin, he really needs to be let loose on a drumkit, definitely. he's been around since the very first gig a year ago and will be missed, as will chris who has to devote more time to his own project.
i was in argyll at the weekend, it was gorgeous. i sat on a craggy beach across from the isle of bute eating bbq fish and guzzling beer in the hazy sun. i thought i saw a seal but apparently it was a bird. my friends laughed at me coz i kept seeing seals. but they were all birds. i was a bit disappointed also coz it was a bit cloudy at night and i couldn't see all the stars. usually when you go somewhere like that it's amazing to look up and see all these stars that you don't usually see in the city for the lights etc. anyway, it was still wonderful to escape for a day/night even if it was into a cloud of hungry midges.
i've been spending some time on ebay searching for odd and unusual things, punching random words into the search engine to see what comes up. it really does cater for everyone that site huh? i'm also kind of fascinated by old airline things, like flight bags for instance. they just have so much charm and history attached to them. these bags could have some amazing stories to tell i'm sure. but bags can't talk. i find the whole idea of airline travel in the 50s, 60s and 70s quite interesting. the world was bigger it seemed and more exotic. there's just some romanticism there i think though. i can't really explain it. i'm trying to but it's probably not working so well. i think airports are really interesting places, honestly. i remember being in schippol airport in the netherlands (it's a massive hub airport). i was changing planes after coming back from the far east and i was walking around on my own looking to amuse myself for a few hours till i could board my flight to glasgow. so i got some peanuts and a coffee and sat and just watched all these people arriving from all these exotic places, all these cultures just melting into each other in this kind of artificially created little mini world. as a kid i used to lie on a lounger in the back garden during summer and without fail everytime a plane would fly overhead i'd get midly excited and look up and just imagine where it was going and what the people on board were like, their nationality, what they were doing at that very minute and where they were from. but it's not cool to look up at planes in the sky anymore, people just take them for granted. but i still look up and wonder, every time.
i'm listening to the sparklehorse song 'gold day', it's really beautiful and the sun is shining so it does feel like quite a gold day actually. i'm fully recovered from the weekend now, sat night's gig with camera obscura was hugely enjoyable and it felt just right somehow. it's always good when the bands on the bill sit well together musically. the next one will be an acoustic one out of town - in edinburgh in fact. i'll be taking myself off to edinburgh for a good few days to catch some of the festival. it's such a special city during that month as i've said before. it always feels good arriving on the train from glasgow and looking up to see the castle as the train nudges towards waverly station. i honestly never get sick of that sight. it's a stunning place to see. i'll also be getting rehersed for the barfly support slot on aug 18th and another recording session on the 17th. can't wait for that....
here's a recommendation for a summer's day. take some raspberries and put them in a chunky glass. then pour ice cold cava or sparkling white wine over the raspberries and watch a little pink fruity explosion take place. then drink the wine and at the end eat the raspberries. very refreshing and gives the tatebuds a nice tickle. apply some getz/gilberto to the record player and remain seated until the record finishes or until you float off to sugar mountain.
