Monthly Archives: August 2024

A Pause For Thought

I started recording a thing with 12 string not sure what it will turn into yet though. sometimes interesting things are chanced upon that way. The electric 12 string makes a good noise used sparingly when appropriate. Its in standard tuning this time though. I am just pausing from that adventure at present. I have had a slightly rough week and been a bit below par. No particular reason that’s detectable though. The world externally is getting pretty crazy now and I have been trying to avoid the news as much as possible. Its grimm out there. So I shall ignore the larger world and concentrate more on life in the small for the present.

It’s beginning to feel rather autumnal around here now, though it’s likely to be a warmish September. As the leaves start to turn inevitably if you are anything like me thoughts of one’s own mortality start to creep into the mind. My body is quite creaky these days too. My backs been bad for years too.

A song with the aforementioned 12 string.

Everytime I read the news/watch I find more to make me angry in it. Everything that’s was gained in the last 50 years or so is slowly being thrown away by the last government and the new one doesn’t seem to be going anywhere worthwhile. And they are still fucking it up for anyone thats not wealthy. But why should they care, egomaniac twats most of them it seems.
Trotting out the same bollocks. Might as well turn to drink then as I don’t get on with drugs. Seriously what’s the point?

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. -Eleanor Roosevelt







One Step Forward Two Steps Backward Means All Work And No Play

Existential angst mostly. That’s what’s on my mind.

Labour and Conservative, what is the difference. Slightly less xenophobia?
Also the simplistic “working people” trope and still no proper “social housing” as in old school council houses due to misplaced ideology plus a few 100 other things….
So most people think it is one bunch of suits swapped for another (that’s actually what I think too).

The real ideological problem is in my opinion this: Clinging on to the old school notions that everyone wants the equivalent of a “middle class” lifestyle and sharing that view is in part the problem, Up north there are a lot of people who don’t share those views and are frankly often ill educated with a very narrow minded and naive view of the world. They are the ones and their descendants that Thatcher wrote off. They are the ones that supported Brexit, and some of them were rioting, possibly in part because that nice Mr Khan that owns the local 7-11 has a 3 year old Mercedes and they don’t… There needs to be a massive cultural shift. The arts need to be opened up to everyone. It will taken generations to fix. Not all old school socialist ideas were daft. Yes we need a strong economy and a skilled workforce, but also we need poetic road sweepers and homes for those that can work but will never be even hedge hoppers let along high flyers. Aspiration is fine but all the perspiration and grafting in the world won’t get you there if its not in the stars for you.

On a different subject I do YouGov polls. they did one today about “How Woke Are You”.
daft really, but the comments were interesting. A lot of guff about “woke” erasing british culture… I am so woke to the point that gammons are at risk of spontaneous combustion if I am within 3 meters of them.

And I just saw this from another occasional musical co-conspirator: “Statement from Ealing Blues Festival Founder Bob Salmons (aka musician Robert Hokum) as he bids farewell to the event he started in 1987 and where he remained Artistic Director, until 2024. “Well it’s not so much ‘Elvis has left the building’ as ‘Bob is leaving the park’ as I have joined the likes of Stephen Hawking and Rob Burrow in having Motor Neurone Disease and thus have to say ‘goodbye’ to the event that I have brought to Ealing’s Walpole Park since 1987.”

Blimey….

That was a shock.

Here are a few of my Tunes

  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    Just a sleazy blues
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    Sometimes you have a revelation and you can’t keep it to yourself so you end up singing about about it almost ecstatically. So I did. Go me. A very recent recording inspired by those moments of special sharing twined with enlightenment.
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    Tune in Gb
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    A few thoughts on lost opportunities' in a pop rock setting ballad.
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    Just cause you are a bad person by Diana Stones Glasscage
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    A stream of consciousness song.
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    I am So Empty Now by Diana Stones Glasscage
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    Safe For The Moment by Diana Stones Glasscage
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    A moment of pure joy letting go
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    jazz fusion world style instrumental
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    Simple acoustic guitar instrumental tune.
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    Autumnal Piano Piece
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    Wish You Would Let Me by Diana Stones Glasscage
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    False Prophet by Diana Stones Glasscage
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    In To The Dark by Diana Stones Glasscage
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    Third World Intervention by Diana Stones Glasscage
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    Hard Walk Into Sunlight by Diana Stones Glasscage
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    Ennui 11 by Diana Stones Glasscage
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    A mellow song for a rainy day.
  • by Diana Stones Glasscage
    A sad violin instrumental about loss.

Status Report Star date who knows what

I played a couple of gigs this weekend, one in a jolly irish run Pub in Watford and one in a Park in St Neots on a sunny afternoon with my trio 🙂

The landlady was Irish and did a Mrs Doyle when we arrived “Sure, and would you take a cup of tea” and told me her punters looked scary but were fine. So said no worry’s I have been playing in pubs for 20 years and had a beer instead. Neck Oil, which was nice.
Audience loving it but a few daft requests. We played outside in a shed open on one side. Garden had a barbecue going on. Women climbing on the tables and dancing and singing along. Not perfect musically as a different set because we didn’t have Clare with us. But it worked. Just like real life again. Audience of allsorts, a league of nations (Asian, Ukrainian, Black and Irish ) plus a birthday guy doing grandad dancing. That’s my tribe.

A pleasant gigging weekend like the old days almost with good humour and a bit of silliness. Today I am in recovery mode a little as the gigs were quite long and I don’t have stamina I used to either. A combination of age and being a bit out of condition post pandemic lock down. As I write unlike the last couple of days its very dull and a little on the cool side too. I am getting on with a few things but it will be a mostly chilled day. A new song brewing at present among other things. I do notice that I have been getting a tad grumpy latterly on my “rest” days recently. The paradox being the better things have gone the more of a come down it is afterward. I am doing a bit in my studio today though perhaps with slightly less gusto than is usual.

Had to laugh, a pub blues player complaining on facebook that pubs don’t pay enough so his band won’t play them. I have heard the same argument for about 10 years now. Going on about how expensive their music kit is. Felt like saying maybe you would get better gigs if you were actually decent entertainers, but I didn’t. I made a comment about the fact that pubs couldn’t pay so much as wet sales have reduced. I was broke before and I am am not much richer now. As Seasick Steve said “I started out with nothing and I have still got most of it left”. Live music is a special joy, interacting with the audience and the band. I really do enjoy every gig from the best even to the worst to some extent to be honest. The joy of the moment and all that.