Month: July 2009

Great new songs in a classic style.

Elephant Shelf  ‘In Trouble Again’

70 minutes of music from Elephant Shelf .

Produced by the Delta Ladies.

All about the Hot August Fringe Continue reading “Elephant Shelf album ‘In Trouble again’”

Things are not quite going the way I expected on the whole.  Its coming up to 2 year’s  since I left the Civil Service and nothing has gone as I planed. I have learned a lot and mostly I feel less stressed and apart from a few minor lows I have not had any re-occurrence of serious depression but the plans I hoped to put in to action to support myself have flopped quite badly.

I have achieved quite a few things that I am proud of including:

• National Radio play for one of my Glass Cage songs
• Local radio play for Elephant Shelf
• Performing in a fringe festival
• Performing regularly as an accompanist in a west end venue
• Singing lead vocals live with a band regularly
• Telling  jokes as part of the duo act
• Recording and mastering a CD for Elephant Shelf  and getting 1100 pressed
• Playing at some very well known and respected venues
• Joining PRS

I could go on, its been quite a learning curve so on a personal level it’s been good and worth doing but financially its not going well.
I had hoped to do some IT freelancing but on the last project I got unwell and had to stop though ironically I seem to be functioning better than ever now. But I fall apart under any sort of pressure. There has to be something that I can do to make up the short fall financially with out cracking up again.

Give me a home where the Buffalo roam and I will show you the house of someone that just doesn’t care.

The Quality of  mercy may vary, remember other bards may be available.

No means No, but sometimes it means ‘I can’t be bothered to pick up the phone’

I seem to be hitting some sort of equilibrium in the mental health stakes now, and I can almost spend more than  5 minutes working on IT stuff but I think I have to find my way in the world using other means. It seems to have taken for ever to finish the Elephant Shelf Album but at least we did it finally. I would still like to make a proper Glass Cage CD but I don’t have enough money to actually press  a CD so I guess that’s not going to happen.  I have been very active in making opportunity’s for live performance so I should not feel to bad about that and I have a much larger social circle.

Date Posted: 15th January 2008

Current mood: quixotic

January and my Birthday approaches. I shall be making efforts to ignore it as much as possible in the vain hope that it will go away, as time seems to be passing very quickly now. I am still up to the usual rubbish. Its a great relief that Alison is eating again and is getting back to a more normal weight though she is still a bit wobbly on her legs, but that’s likely to be the effect of the medication rather than anything else.

A few Elephant Shelf gigs and some very enthusiastic receptions too.We are now working on our recordings again. Its a little tiring trying to fit it all in but we are getting there I think and we should be able to start selling Cd’s at gigs again at some point in the future. The Shelf is having its 300th gig party at the Salisbury pub on Saturday.We have got guest acts and your all invited. Except You because you have been very naughty

It amazes me that the band has lasted that long… Still the band that arm wrestles together stays together as they say.

Date Posted: April 2 2008

I did my last day at the office on Friday and had the obligatory leaving drink and presentation which was embarassing but I was also quite touched as I had not really expected it.A lot of folks turned up and I do feel a tinge of regret as I was there along time and if I had no ambition to do anything else maybe I could have kept on, but I think I would have been barking mad before very much longer. Also I had got used to a fairly maverick way of doing things and me and the corporate culture have got very far apart now. In a sense it allows me to complete the re-invention of self thats been coming for a long time.. Everyone was very nice but many were shocked as I had been working there 13 years and they had assumed that I would be there until I retired I suspect. I told them what I was expecting to do in future and everyone was very positive.

Most people were aware of my TG Status by the time I left and I was told that if I had wished to transition at work I would have been fully supported but the braincells were already well fried by that point and tempting as that might sound the job was just getting too much for me in the end. I was so stressed that I was forgetting how to do things which was quite scary. I am sort of in freefall at the moment and I will be trying to make a living from the music side of things for the next year, but if it doesn’t work out then I will be back in IT in some respect or maybe just filling shelves between gigs. I have a portfolio of other practicle skills that should get me through one way or the other.

I now feel a lot more relaxed and I am going to take a calculated risk on a new career (though its not really a new career as its something I have been envolved with for a long time) and also will take some time to study and improve my skills a bit. I am giving myself about a year to see if I can support myself as a musician. I don’t know how realistic that is but I am going to give it a try.I don’t need a huge income just enough to pay the bills and I Hope that is realistic…

Anyone remember this tune:
It’s a great tune

Nicked from Wikipedia

“Cast Your Fate to the Wind” written by Vince Guaraldi, was a track on Guaraldi’s album featuring his versions of music from the film Black Orpheus

It’s me blogg in it alright gorblimey apples and pears strike a light thank you god bless you govenor

> Few can wear white except Brides & sacrificial virgins>>
> Its not so lonesome in the saddle since I ‘came out’ on the range>>
> Due to my vegetarian diet of beans they called me Loathsome Cowboy Joe>>
>You can take a horse to water but its quicker crossing in a boat >>

Well apart from installing word press, a few other things.

I am just off to visit Wiltons Music Hall in E1 which is becoming very popular at the moment.