Once again we grace the "orchestra pit" of Slains Castle for another night of totally groovin' tunes. Six musicians to squeeze into the pit this time (and seven if we have MC along with us for a couple of tunes), so I'll have to make sure I don't lop anyone's head off with me bass.
If you missed us last time (or can't remember, it was 3 months ago), here's a little reminder of how we roll:
Support from Jamie Rodden and Q-nim. Things get going (hopefully) at 8pm, it's free entry so head on down, let your hair down and dance!
Recently, we've made a couple changes to see if we can be a bit more healthy.
1) I'm joining Jayne at Zumba once a week. At present I am the only bloke attending this particular session. I had a brief flashback to school when the male membership of the recorder group dwindled away to just me (I left as soon as that happened - oh, if I knew then what I know now), but I just had an attack of "what the hell" and got stuck in. I lack co-ordination and tend to throw myself about like an idiot, but it gets the heart going and sweat running so I must be doing something.
2) We're doing Meat Free Mondays (http://www.meatfreemondays.com/) - it's been three weeks now and it's no bother - while I enjoy eating meat, I'm not completely closed minded to meals without meat. Quorn, as you can imagine has figured quite heavily in things so far but I will branch out and try some recipes as the weeks go on. Not my turn next week though, so I've got a bit of time to prepare :)
Hopefully these small changes will make a difference to health and energy levels. Not that I have been feeling unhealthy or lethargic, but I have thought over the past few years that I could do better. Time will tell.
When: Saturday 26th May 2012
Where: Macduff Arts Centre, Duff Street, Macduff
Doors: 8pm
Tax: £8 (£6 concession)
This should be a great gig, I'm really looking forward to it. To quote the COAST Festival programme:
"Two of the most articulate musical and good time music acts in the UK on the same bill! Martin is an 80s legend, who toured with Prefab Sprout, Aztec Camera and Janis Ian - "builds bridges between love and hate, between cradle and grave, between folk and pop, between the past and the present" - NME. Witty, eclectic, insightful, Martin is an intuitive and highly entertaining artist. The Oxbow Lake Band is a lively 5-piece rock/folk/jazz/funk/poetry crossover band. A must for every celebration of creativity, the Oxbows are likely to turn up with plug-in guest musicians and poets. Impossible not to dance to!"
Aye, so we're nae bad then. If you're up this way then why not drop by? Bring your dancing shoes!
This news item made me think, along with the other stuff, like people being pulled up for clearly jokey threats to blow up airports about how our freedom of speech is being eroded. Now it's not nice to wish harm on people, and advocating that someone be shot is a bit harsh. But surely all it requires is a time out, a calm down, and an apology? Who is actually going to shoot someone on the vague urgings of a tweet? Would a bomber say "I'm going to blow up an airport" before they go and do it? Preposterous.
Perhaps I should be arrested too. I have a confession to make.
The year was 1994, it was summer and the World Cup was in full swing. Beer was consumed and football was watched. The USA were playing the fancied Columbia in the first round. I vaguely remember it being an exciting match and I can still remember the feeling of utter disbelief when the unfortunate Andrés Escobar scored an own goal a striker would have been proud of in his attempt to cut out a USA cross.
I remember this moment like it was yesterday. A friend and I stood up simultaneously, pointed at the telly and in unison proclaimed "THAT BLOKE SHOULD BE SHOT!"
Anyone with a passing interest in international football probably knows what happened next. For those of you who haven't figured out where I'm going with this see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9s_Escobar - basically he went home and a week later he was shot dead outside a nightclub.
What I did is exactly the same as what has been happening in all this draconian smacking down of off-the-cuff remarks on social networking on the Internet. You had better come down and arrest me, for I have been a very naughty boy. Even worse, the "harm" that I wished on someone actually came true. Clearly that makes me prime suspect.
Or maybe some sense could be seen. It's very simple - either you arrest and charge all the 4000+ people who repeated Paul Chambers' chilling threat on Robin Hood Airport, or you let him off. He made an off-the-cuff remark for which he has apologised. Case closed.
Oh, and sorry Andrés, I never actually wanted you to be actually shot, like with a real gun.
Hey folks, as you might have noticed, I can't stick at this photo a day malarkey - even with a camera in my pocket at almost all times. I'm not sure what this says about me other than I'm either very forgetful or very lazy. Either way, I was always worried about the artistic value of what I was doing. I always want to have a point to the photos, something interesting to look at but it was getting to the point where I was resisting the urge to just point the camera in a random direction and fire it, just to have something to post. I didn't consider that to be a worthwhile use of my time, or yours come to think of it. So I've decided to can it.
From now on, there'll only be something here if I feel it's worthy of inclusion, be it pictures, video or words.
Photo taken at my friend Rich's house. Fed up with people saying that his home made speaker cabinet is white, I proved that it is cream by sticking a known white object on top of it :)
Photo taken in Slains Castle, Aberdeen. Went for a spy the week before we played here. It's interesting having the audience all around you and slightly above you. I think the band here were called Sort of Alive.
Photo taken in the bedroom. I'm a terrible one for having a poke about inside things, I've done it since I was a kid. Not so much "user adjustable" stuff these days though. That's one thing I like about bass guitars - apart from a few active instruments it's all deliciously "low-tech" - just wires, switches, pots and sockets.
Well, that's me 6 days behind in my "photo a day" thing including today. Furthermore it isn't the first time I've fallen behind - the big burps of photos might have given that away, after all, when am I far from a computer? I really have got a problem with attention span. I'm the sort of person who makes lunch the night before (oh, how organised) and then forgets to grab it from the fridge before leaving for work. Like today then :(
Lately I have been finding myself a little ill at ease with myself, a bit fed up, a bit demotivated and a bit lethargic. Only a bit. Not enough to lump it all under "stress" and take 3 months off work, but just a little gnawing feeling. I think I just need to get back to a state of being comfortable in my own skin. I'm a terrible one for editing what gets out into the world, in any interaction you can see me chewing words over in my head before I say them as I sift through the possible outcomes of what I'm about to say. Now there's nothing wrong with being a bit measured in one's approach to life and using words sparingly and appropriately but it seems that I spend so long mulling it over that the real me is buried somewhere in the middle of a convoluted flow chart in my head. I've got to realise that I can't control everything. If you don't share something of yourself then can anyone truly know you as a person? I can understand being like this with strangers, or people on the outskirts of your social circle - but with your friends, family and - most important of all - one's significant other? That's out of order and it needs sorted. It's been going on so long now that I'm losing sight of my understanding of "the real me". The worst part is that I'm not so sure that I even like the stuff that does escape the inner vault. I guess that makes me a crap editor as well as a dubious friend, an errant son and a rotten husband.
I'm hoping that typing that out is a springboard from which to start diving into conversations and letting the important people back into my life - properly.
Getting back to the original point (before I hijacked it) there's no excuse other than laziness with a side order of lack of motivation for this lapse in photographic service. It's not as if I've been rushed off my feet from when I get up in the morning to when I go to bed at night. I guess I've got some catching up to do, but to be honest I don't know if I'm going to bother. I'll know by the end of today.
