Monthly Archives: February 2022

Diana Stone Sunny uplands

Maybe It’s Just Me

Delta Ladies, Diana Stones Songs, history, music, Musings, other, Piano, piano works

Wow, Ukraine. I didn’t see that one coming. Just at the point where you think maybe it’s finally  getting better again. Strange days indeed. History repeats itself over and over again. On the home I am  a busy bee now and its all new beginnings and crossing fingers that that the fresh shoots will break through the soil with the various new musical ventures. I am a little nervous still and it will take me a while to get back in the saddle again.   The UK has just dropped its covid restrictions this week and what was mandatory is now advisory. How comfortable people are is a another matter of course, and if behaviour will change much initially. I suspect people will be slow at first and very cautiously lift the veil? Maybe, but we are only just out of February and what with storms and much else, “Easy does it” may still be the preferred approach.  I am slowly working through my legacy  projects and now I am about to tackle the “Delta Ladies” French Album finally as I have been   putting it off for the last 2 years or so for personal reasons. But I think the time has come. There is not a huge amount to be done on it actually, maybe an overdub or two on one track, and the rest will be mixing and editing mostly and the decks are clear to do it finally. I got totally confused about which recording interface to use as well but I have figured it all out now just about. 

Here is a recent Piano tune which I would like to dedicate to those in Ukraine struggling at this terrible time.

 

Away from music time ticks by a little faster perhaps than it did as we go into the third month of this year. This is a very uncertain time for the whole western world, lets hope we are all stil here in a couple of weeks time? I feel a bit “Cuban Missile Crisis, 9/11, we are all doomed” at the moment. Lets hope I am proved wrong. I wish I had more to say.

A Buddhist Prayer for Peace

May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power and may people think of befriending one another.
May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wildernesses – the children, the aged, the unprotected – be guarded by beneficent celestials, and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood. 

Hopefully I will see you out there somewhere. 
  

   

Rain And More Rain Mostly

Delta Ladies, Diana Stones Songs, glass cage, music, Musings, other
Diana Stone and Jan Jackson
Diana Stone and Jan Jackson @ Broadstairs Blues Bash

It’s a bit damp again and my bones ache. February is going pretty quickly so far. I stil feel a bit out of sorts generally and very tired.  Its good though to be up and doing stuff again with other people on a regular basis musically.  It looks pretty certain that we are in the last phase of Covid-19 now and maybe life really will be almost back to normal by spring.  Many of my friends and acquaintances  are now back in to the old routine already.  Fingers crossed. My first pub gig for two years went OK apart from the travelling in a massive storm and through floods which was not so enjoyable. We got rebooked too. Financial concerns are still a bit of an issue at present though. I just have to hope that some of the new ventures will work out. I don’t need much, just enough. We will see. 

 

 

I have started getting a little more active again and it feels a bit strange to be honest. is this the new post-covid world?  Its amazing what a little bit of activity and social contact does, my mind is reawakening to what’s possible again rather that just thinking about managing everything in a very constrained manner. I am also not feeling so lethargic all the time. That’s a big difference. I should do a test later to see if hanging around with a lot of people has given me the plague again. If I am active again regularly I would expect my weight to go down to about 9st 8 or thereabouts again.

You can go by the pretty route and perhaps arriving is not always the most important reason for taking the journey.      

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” (Chinese: 千里之行，始於足下; pinyin: Qiānlǐ zhī xíng, shǐyú zú xià; lit. ‘A journey of a thousand Chinese miles (li) starts beneath one’s feet’) is a common saying that originated from a Chinese proverb. The quotation is from Chapter 64 of the Dao De Jing ascribed to Lao

 

 

 

 

 

Hold That Thought

Delta Ladies, Diana Stones Songs, glass cage, music, whatever

I may be playing my first gig plugged in gig  for nearly 18 months at a small festival, so I need to test some gear which I have started doing.  Hopefully it all still works.  It feels quite odd to be preparing for it though. I am a bit worried that it go badly wrong but fingers crossed anyway. Today at the time of writing I have had a messy day where not much seems to have been achieved despite my best efforts. Getting back on my feet after such a long break is an effort. Confidence wanes and all that. I am very likely to run into people I know, which may be a bit weird after so long. Currently I am waiting for a result on my regular covid test as I am rehearsing tomorrow with the Monday band that has not got a name yet, a few have been suggested and are under consideration.  I quite liked the ironic “Stairlift To Heaven”, though it is perhaps too near the truth and just a little bit to close to home. I have the usual level of February grumpiness to contend with too.  I am keeping up with my own personal music adventures along with the other projects too. I was recording today among  everything else I have been trying to sort out. I am stil very much in the one day at a time frame of mind too.  
So here is my most recent effort, a trance and violin instrumental vibe. 

Well some things never change and my anxiety just will not go away. It is  less severe than it was but its their like background noise all the time.   I should be more relaxed as there is much more for me to be positive about again, but the last couple of years have knocked the stuffing out of me.  I guess its the same for many others of course.  I have to try to plan but not worry too much. So I look ahead whilst trying to have no care for the morrow.  Mission impossible. The trees are starting to bud and everything is coming back to life locally. We still have building work going on in the street outside even as we start our 5th year here. Its not too noisy but there seems no end in sight to it. Today they were putting in extra drainage as well. 

‘We know what we are, but know not what we may be.’

(Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5)

As ever…