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.
Birthday blues
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.
Leaving the Comfort Zone >>
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
wit and wisdom!
> 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 >>
What I am doing today
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.
Diana Stone Musician & composer Violin Piano Guitar Vocals
Diana is a performing composer and muscian playing Piano Violin & Guitar. She currently plays with the Rock/Roots band Elephant Shelf and also the Delta Ladies who mix roots acoustic music and electronica. She composes in a variety of styles from pop to rock to Jazz and and classical music.Diana is also expert in multi-media recording and music production.
The Music
Actually a lot of the music is up beat and optimistic so figure that one out, I wish I could.Perhaps because music takes me to another place that I can not otherwise occupy, or maybe at the best of times opens a doorway for me. I think I have drifted through every musical style in the history of Mankind, or personkind perhaps, or am I getting a bit Californian: as I have always been interested in almost every sort of music from pop to the musicals and the classics, I would love to get into film /soundtrack writing but it is of course like every other part of the music world highly competative. In the last year I have got back in to playing live again with a band called Elephant Shelf, and I perform the occasional Glass Cage song with them. I am also doing acoustic versions of some of the songs in live performance from time to time. This is something that I would like to expand on when the time is ripe for it.
Why Glass Cage?
I am not really sure, its about being restrained by something you can’t see but is most definetly there. We all place restrictions on our hopes, and we are often scared to step outside the bounds and see what we can realy do.Is this pretentious or what.Whoops! Do you play live? I play live with a band called Elephant shelf.They are a Blues Rock & Jazz flavoured outfit all around london.Over the past 3 years we have done just under 450 gigs, so it keeps me busy, but I am still thinking of a way to get the Cage on the Road somehow.We also had a caberet venue called “The Bordello” in Stoke Newington which ran for about 6 months. We have booked bands into the Music Palace in Crouch End which we sometimes play and a new venue in West London called the Tune Inn in Acton which is modeled on the American style of bar and has a very good vibe to play at.
How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?
It opens exposure up to everyone, they can make up there own minds about what they want to listen too, it’s very democratic. Its great to have control over the music we make and to be able to let people hear it. Would you sign a record contract with a major label? I wish, dream on, someone please keep me in the style that I am not acustomed to !I will be re-releasing some material on cd later in the year, I just need to sort out better artwork. Band History: Almost a band so many times, but now back to being a solo artist with a virtual band. I am looking to put together a live outfit that will play under the name Diana Stone’s Glass Cage as I have musicians that I can borrow occasionally for this when they are not too busy.