Thursday 2nd of July, 2009
Or at least I make sense out of them.
I spend the first part of the day practising for the upcoming LCG project, and most of the rest of the day doing corrections. And most of that time is spent not so much doing the corrections as staring at the piece of paper they're written on, hoping that they'll make sense. Eventually they do, sort of. Or at least I make sense out of them.
The St Vincent album is some sort of comfort, actually.
In the last couple of hours of the day I add a guitar solo to Mufti Day in order that I can upload it.
Wednesday 1st of July, 2009
I'm convinced I've forgotten all my songs.
I get up at 11:30, having slept from 7:30, having been afflicted by insomnia. I speak to an expert re an ongoing work problem (possible "insanity" is a better word than problem), and do some practising.
Pack up the Godin at 17:00 and get to the Barge. Lengthy soundchecking / rehearsal takes place. I'm convinced I've forgotten all my songs.
Begin something like 20:30 - I do Gravity, Nothing But Green Grass, Learning to Crash, River Rise and Iodine. There's a forlorn cry for The Things You Get, but I tell them to hang on until Christmas. Goes quite well, I think. I forget slightly less of the bridges in Nothing But Green Grass.
After a break the Jeays band takes to the stage and plays the new album, plus Cupid plus (by popular demand) Laughing Song and Geoff. Lots of fun, and I'm amazed at some of the things coming out of my fingers - I just sit and watch them playing.
Post-gig drink, then catch a 344 home.
Monday 29th of June, 2009
feedback besets them, like a drunken heckler
Lovely weather - I walk to the post office to send the Mix CDs I've made (the chap behind the counter gives me a first class stamp for each one, which I can't help feeling isn't enough, but there we are), then walk up, over Millenium bridge and past St Pauls to the Guildhall to sip orange juice from Pret a Manger and watch the North Sea Radio Orchestra in the sunshine, which is quite lovely, although as it's people's lunchtimes there are many animated conversations around, which is a shame. This is the pocket-sized orchestra (two strings, two woodwind, three vocals and several keyboards, plus guitar and percussion). Intermittent feedback besets them, like a drunken heckler.
(Speaking of drunken - I saw a street dweller having a conversation on his mobile phone. I can see how this is perfectly plausible - old phones can be given away, and Pay-as-you-go SIM cards are affordable. It's just that it's so twenty-first century.)
Walk to Maplins to convince myself not to buy anything (no, really, that's what happened. Perhaps it was the air conditioning), then to Liverpool Street to top up my Oyster and get the bus home.
Bounce down rough mixes of the songs I recorded yesterday.
In the evening to the movements (my foot, which was paining me this morning, mysteriously recovered during the NSRO performance - spooky, eh?).
Home - copious donburi by H: Mmm!
Sunday 28th of June, 2009
the same pattern as yesterday
Interestingly the day follows the same pattern as yesterday, weatherwise: starts out sunny and warm, and you think "Oh, well, that's nice", then in the afternoon gets cloudier and muggier, and still too hot. In the late afternoon it rains, then it clears up a bit. Ho hum.
Otherwise, apart from the supermarket in the morning, the day's achievements are vocal takes for A Long Walk in the Hills (better than yesterday's I think); Mufti Day; the retakes of Hey Hey Hey and Act of Will and I write and record lyrics for Mystery Dog and Fade Away. Perhaps I'll have enough stuff to keep me in uploads to JP.com until I get back from Sant Cugat.
Saturday 27th of June, 2009
Kind of heaven, I suppose.
A whole day given over to recording, or at least tracking new parts for a new song (A Long Walk in the Hills). Kind of heaven, I suppose. At the end I take out the banjo and add a banjo part, which is a kind of first. Also a basic lead vocal. I use Ben's microphone for this - the banjo takes are full of bummers, and the vocal take is kind of lousy, but they're very fine-sounding bummers and a very nice-sounding lousy vocal. So there's hope.
After that I go and get some noodles and watch programmes about Lee Miller, Annie Leibowitz, Linda Eastman-McCartney and Eve Arnold on BBC4, which makes me want to take photos, but I settle on finishing the lyrics for Mufti Day.
Wednesday 24th of June, 2009
the in-the-moment demand
Up... well, a little later.
Today is a clumsiness day, I notice this very early on. Not just me - the cable between my mixer and the station is pulled out by accident (leading to a certain amount of dead air time), and the noticeboard falls off the wall, along with a number of other minor occurences.
Today's Passport session is three Arabic musicians, who are very nice. I set up all the microphones, taking no chances. Obviously this takes a while to pack up, but am eventually chatting in the sun, drinking cappucino.
Home, then mix the session. Like last week's, it seems to be a little more difficult to mix afterwards than it was at the moment, largely because the in-the-moment demand is that things be heard, whereas afterwards there's the wish to make it sound nice. I manage it, anyway, and for an encore mix last week's session.
In the evening I make all the covers and CDs for the Mixtape round coming up (that is to say I have to do 11 CDs and covers). Good that that's done. H watches me make the covers and tells me she respects my madness, which is good, I think.
Monday 22nd of June, 2009
practising
Up at 6:00 - sitting, breakfast with H, then stretching, shower, etc.
Spend the day practising. Interestingly two gigs are called off, by two different people called Phil (Jeays cancelling the thing next Saturday, as apparantly there was insane double booking going on, and Hogg cancelling the Passport Extra tomorrow, or at least the performer part of it that I'd be needed for).
And more practising. I need it.
In the evening to the movements, then home to pasta by H.
That's it, really.
