ally's journal

i've been cheating on you dear reader, playing away from home, indulging in some bloggery elsewhere. i'm guilty as charged. in the build up to heading off to the far east i've been doing a japan-only blog which (if you're interested) you can have a look at here --> http://allykerr.jugem.jp/ . there's nothing wrong with a bit of cross bloggerisation though i reckon. it's healthy to scatter your seed.

i've been so busy recently. i can't remember a time when i've been busier, i really can't. but it's good, it's productive. on my time when i try and switch off from music/organising all things music related, i've been trying to relax by watching some really good comedy. at the moment that consists of a brilliantly funny australian show called 'kath and kim' and a brilliantly funny american show called 'curb your enthusiasm' - a product of the brain of larry david, co-creator of seinfeld. i'm a seinfeld nut so this show is perfect. i was wanting to watch some films like napoleon dynamite and the life aquatic but i'll have to put them on hold till i can train myself to sit still for at least ninety minutes. thirty is about the most i can manage just now. then i'm up and reaching for the guitar.

i sit and watch the tv and some random thought about japan hits me. or i reach for my pad to scribble yet one more thing down that i have to do. joe my assistant (see my introductory video on the video page of this site to meet joe) has been great though. he attacked me with his trumbone twice but aside from that he's been pretty cool.

oh, i must add something to my list. then i'll go try and relax a bit. i've had too much green tea though, it's loaded with caffeine and i drink it at night. bit stoopid really. can you tell i've had a lot of caffeine tonight? can you? can you tell? ? ?!!!!!!

hello again. there's introductory videos for me and chris leonard over in the video section of this very website. if you've got a little time, go have a looksee :) http://www.allykerr.com/videos/index_videos.html and scroll down to "Miscellaneous"

I once spent the summer in edinburgh coz the arts festival that consumes the city during august was happening. i was getting work experience (during uni i think) doing some running for an arts radio programme, just general dogsbody type stuff but i loved it coz i could wander about seeing lots of shows for free and just soaking up the buzz and creative energy of the city. i just wanted to be there at that time, there's no where else on earth i'd rather have been. one year i went to see a performer by the name of hovis presley. i don't recall why i was drawn to his act, i think it was because i'd heard him on a radio show presented by my then (and still now) favourite character comedian john shuttleworth. hovis was a big lad with a thick boltonian accent and a wit sharper than anything gillette could ever dream of manufacturing and a delivery so dry that it left most of the audience gasping for a pint.

his show 'poetic off-license' was just full of brilliantly witty poems and i was totally enamoured by it. i'll give u an example. i'm sure no one would mind as this is freely available on the internet:

I rely on you

I rely on you
like a Skoda needs suspension
like the aged need a pension
like a trampoline needs tension
like a bungee jump needs apprehension I rely on you
like a camera needs a shutter
like a gambler needs a flutter
like a golfer needs a putter
like a buttered scone involves some butter I rely on you
like an acrobat needs ice cool nerve
like a hairpin needs a drastic curve
like an HGV needs endless derv
like an outside left needs a body swerve I rely on you
like a handyman needs pliers
like an auctioneer needs buyers
like a laundromat needs driers
like The Good Life needed Richard Briers I rely on you
like a water vole needs water
like a brick outhouse needs mortar
like a lemming to the slaughter
Ryan's just Ryan without his daughter
I rely on you

i used to bump into him during that month. he'd usually be lying on the grass near princes's street in the aftenoon napping until his show started in the evening. he'd do a show every night for one whole month. we'd chat a little. he seemed a little lost but was utterly charming. apparently he refused to do radio (mark radcliffe asked him quite a lot but he was too nervous to do it live). one time he apparently left edinburgh during the festival (understandibly coz it got pretty intense) and tried to walk home to the north-west of england. he was spotted just outside a petrol station in bellshil in central scotland. i've never forgotten him but he came to my attention for all the wrong reasons today when i found out he'd passed away. it's strange how that was a few years ago but he's always been there lurking at the back of my mind. i love this line he wrote and delivered:

I once spent an evening with Lola or Layla
She said make me breathless
So I hid her inhaler

enough said really.

how will the weekend go? i want it to be productive. i want to be typing here on monday telling you that i made a little video for the website, that i wrote lyrics to my new song and that i caught some sunshine. i don't wanna lie in bed till 1pm and be paralysed by indecision as so often happens during my weekends. i have to watch i don't get caught up in the madness of a sunny friday evening where beer gardens and pubs pull you in and gobble up the hours of your saturday pint by pint by pint by jack daniels. i must resist.

last night we played the barfly and whilst i really enjoyed it i felt a bit in my shell. it happens with me sometime on stage. i become too aware of myself and too conscious of what i'm saying. we still did a great set though. james, al and chris were rocking. the reaction was great.

a slight glasses problem last night revealed itself. i can't see out the side of my new glasses so when i went to play a bar chord i couldn't see what the hell i was doing. so this is a worrying side effect of these new specs. hmmmmm. maybe i'll buy some more in japan. i'm so indecisive sometimes, i'd imagine it drives my friends crackers. but yes. new glasses + gig = blind chord changes. it's fine on non-bar chords (sorry, i'm not that technical with music) but when i have to look to see where my fingers are meant to be i can't see coz the gap at the sides between the glasses and my face reveals a haze.

i'd love to escape to the mountains this weekend as my friend sandy in canada will be doing. i'm very jealous.

here's a photo from last night's gig :) i'll see if there are any other decent ones.

last night chris and i started seriously thinking about the songs we're doing in japan and how we're going to tackle each of them. it's an exciting time. i drank chilled white wine and chris scoffed cold cans of stella artois in my front room. he also managed to inflate my travel pillow using the pinch technique and he briefly sported my new russian hat. i've decided that the hat will only be of use if we enter a new ice age. that's the only time you'll ever see me wearing that furry beauty. it might be quite good if i donate it to the squirrels outside though, i'm thinking of leaving it out back and seeing if they use it as a kind of tent for summer camping.

i have a team of squirrels that live in the trees out at the back of my flat you see. they go out in a pack, keeping watch for the cat that prowls around the garden next door. it's like a military operation, one squirrel darts out along the phone cable that runs from my window to the big tree out back and he calls the others on once he's convinced it's all clear. it's great to watch. one time when i was gazing out the kitchen window the cat chased one of the squirrels all over the grass for what seemed like a good few minutes. i held my breath convinced that the squirrel was a goner but he suddenly rushed up the tree much to the chagrin of the cat. i banged the window to get the cat's attention. he looked up and i stuck my tongue out at him. he wasn't happy and tutted as he strode off.

and in other news i'm really up for thursday's barfly gig with the band. should be a good night. i'm going to jump into james's drum kit at the end. apparently bassist al mitchell is planning on wearing a floral dress at this gig. miss it at your peril.

my friend stuart sent me this today..



i think this just about sums up the last month perfectly!

i bought a russian hat for some reason yesterday.



does anyone want it?

if i put the flaps down and wear my glasses with it i look like this..

scary huh? i look quite tired in that photo. been having trouble sleeping.

i got some new glasses on my travels. i've been slow to wear them..

they'll grow on me.

i won the lottery! well, £10. it'll pay for a few guiness that i fancy having tonight. or that ridiculous russian hat.

the gig on wednesday was good i thought. really enjoyed playing the new songs. the next gig is a support slot on thursday at barfly in glasgow. come along, it's free! then aberdeen a couple of weeks later then a little japanese warm up gig in glasgow then off to japan. chris and i can't wait. i bought a japanese phrase book today and an inflatable pillow.

but i can't blow it up. i want my money back!!

can you tell i'm having fun on my new computer :)