has it been over three weeks since i last updated? that's really poor. i've just come on quickly to say hello and pass on some festive greetings. i got ill on christmas day and have been feeling ill since then. my throat feels like it's been cut by razor blades and i'm hot one minute then cold the next. not pleasant at all. so my christmas/new year has been a wash out coz i've been confined to my flat. i had a really good week before christmas though, so it's not all bad. i just need to rest and hopefully i'll get better.
look what some kind person got me for my christmas. incredibly thoughtful :)
in return i made him this personalised mug.
i hope you have a really progressive, positive, wonderful, delicious, delirious, exciting, eye-opening, wild, crazy, calm and happy 2006. my new album should hopefully appear during the year ahead. thanks to anyone who has wasted time reading my ramblings, bought the cd/single, seen a show or got in touch to say hi:)
are you feeling sad? happy? i hope you're happy. if you're sad can i recommend an album to you to wipe away the winter blues? i don't know why, but at this time of year (running up to christmas, cold, wintery, frosty nights) i love nothing better than a good string arrangement in a finely written classic tune. i love optimistic, positive universal themes in songs. i love an album called 'as time goes by: the best of jimmy durante'. here's a link -->
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002MNP/qid=1133829198/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/203-8001466-0904709not everyone will go for this, but i adore the guy's delivery of these songs and i adore the arrangements. this is a perfect winter record, to be played in the weeks running up until christmas. it'll make you glow, trust me. stick it on your mp3 player and walk about on a freezing, crisp, sunny winter's day (maybe just as it's getting dark) and your cheeks will radiate like the bars on an electric fire. i'm also loving the strings that open the title track of richard hawley's new album "cole's corner". absolutely lush. i'd love to record an album with some really great string arrangements. actually, recording it in the run up to christmas woud be great. ah, a boy can dream.
as i'm sure i've said before, when i have too much time i get nothing done. it's sod's law. i'm not getting as much done as i want to right now. the pace is too slow and i'm getting dragged down and not doing as much as i should to get sprinting again. i am hard on myself, i know that. i mean, i wrote a batch of new songs recently, but it's not enough. i even forgot how to edit video. i made a little film and went to edit it and i couldn't work out how to split the footage. i mean, that's a basic. i can't get into my book and i can't sit still either. yet i have time. it's not fair. my friend told me that the feng shui is all wrong in my flat coz my seats aren't against a wall. i have to say i think he's on to something. maybe it does make me feel unsettled.
i'm really touched by the response to 'the sore feet song' from people from all over the place. it's lovely when people from far away write to say that they've heard it and enjoyed it. to take the time means a lot and makes me want to always produce the best that i can. it really spurs me on:)
anyway, if you're feeling jaded or cynical, go invest in jimmy durante. frank sinatra (the capital years) will do too, but take a chance on mr d. if you don't like it then exchange it for my cd and help fund my next record :P downloading isn't good for me at all.
