England’s dreaming. Yes, bits of it certainly are, it must be said. I think I saw it today. There is a lot of very pleasant countryside to see here. Its all looking a bit disneyland olde England in the sunshine today. Appropriate I suppose as the king has got his hat on now. I had a brief trip out to to a local village (Felmersham) as I was suffering from cabin fever somewhat. I love visiting churches, I think it’s because I need redemption it helped a little, but as I write this the gloom has set in again. For the last few years we have had bright and very warm springs but this years been a slow starter all round. And whilst I have been busy things have not quite gelled as i would have hoped. Various band projects are progressing slowly at least. Perhaps a bit too slowly though for me. writing my thoughts down helps me keep perspective on it all though at least.
An unusual happenstance to get a track played several times in Vietnam as it is not a place people listen to my stuff a lot. Japan and Korea yes. But hey its progress I guess. My stuff is played world-wide as its distributed on over 35 different streaming platforms including chinese ones, but sadly not played enough…. Getting played in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi today is a novelty though. When I was a child those names were associated with newsreel footage of bombing on the TV news..
As I write it’s the end of the coronation weekend at present and a dull day in every regard. It’s raining outside and it’s raining in my head too.
So here is the song for you.
Category Archives: Musings
Still Dreaming because We Must
Yes, Still dreaming. It’s been a funny week with a lot of miscommunication and confusion. Hopefully this will pass. I have been recording in my studio or expanded broom cupboard
as usual, but the muse is tricky and hard to find. I have half finished stuff in process of course as ever.
Well never mind, Charlie gets to wear a big shiny hat tomorrow which is a cause of excitement for some. Me, not so much. I shall watch as its a hysterical event, (sorry I meant historical I think ) though with a few republican protests it might make a more varied TV show. Can’t wait to see them baton charging middle age middle class republican academics and pensioners, bring back the SPG, that’s what I say. Merry England where sculls crack under the boot. “What larks eh Pip”
The King would find the idea of people paying homage to him during his Coronation “abhorrent”, the broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby believes.
“During the service, the Archbishop of Canterbury will ask “all who so desire, in the Abbey, and elsewhere, [to] say together: I swear that I will pay true allegiance to Your Majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me God.”
For the first time, the public are being given an active role in the ceremony as they are invited to swear allegiance to the King. I would totally go for being revered, and I think I could be quite good at monarching or whatever its called. Dimbleby, a close friend of the King, told BBC R4’s Today programme he has “never wanted to be revered”. Well suit yourself mate but I think a spot of forelock tugging never did any harm or did it?
In other news. Just say no. You know you want to. I am happy with Bedford in the main and its workable for music stuff I have going on. Plus I quite like the countryside hereabouts and it’s all on hand. More space would be nice of course but really the only disadvantage here is not being able to get a “real” piano in the place. that reminds me I must make enquires as to were to get use of a decent piano for videos and stuff. I put my most recent live piano video on TikTok and since last night its clocked up 1777 plays. Piano videos seem very popular. I wish there was a way to exploit this more usefully. So far I have not come up with anything nearer than London where I could get my hands on a “real” Piano. It is mostly peaceful here and I get to do what I want when I want. That’s something I have never had before. On my French trips I could go for a stroll get a bit of sun and not meet a soul. Thats was a huge contrast to living in a tiny flat in a very busy part of central London. Here its often very quiet and at first it was great but sometimes its a bit weird. I am not a natural hermit. Its shame there is not a pub that is a safe walk away from home.
Recently at Biggleswade M&S. A women stopped me on the escalator “Della Ladies, remember me from the Red Lion” Can’t get away from it but I do miss that band as much fun was had over the 17 years of various incarnations of the band.
April Round Up….
Interesting, I was never a hippy or whatever I just briefly had the look and liked the far out music.
This from ye olde internet:
“Conflict took place in every year of the 20th Century; the world was free from the violence caused by war for only very short periods of time. It has been estimated that 187 million people died as a result of war from 1900 to the present.”
Thoughts about my relationship with music: It’s still great fun to do a good live performance or record a new song or musical work that I am pleased with. I don’t have the drive to create in the same way I used to though so more discipline is required to keep going. I suppose that’s just ageing. So now I have more time but I do spend a lot of time not doing much by my standards. But without the thinking time I guess there would be less creativity when it does start to flow. It’s in the quiet moments the mental health pixies start to agitate so that’s the difficult bit in the equation. Speaking to friends they are generally surprised at my overall level of activity.
I am enjoying opportunities to play live again and the social aspects. I do have more confidence these days though as every I go now I go on my own of course. That’s still a bit challenging.
But recording and creating music is very different of course. Both are very satisfying but very different creative processes. So internet websites and and internet radio and social media are my “gallery or concert Hall”. You can experience my art for free but you can buy it if you want to as well. Does this make sense?
The new rule is that if you make less that an £1000 turnover from self employed work you no longer need to declare it. Since lockdown I have only made about £800 from music or less PA.
A curious note: I can sing better with a corset on than off. Perhaps having the posture partially corrected makes breathing easier?
I have been rehearsing Jon Bickley as a tertiary adjunct of his Invisible Folk Club. I have not seen him for a while and also with Bob and Annette. It was a good session. I think Jon was surprised that we all remembered our parts well enough. An enjoyable and mellow couple of hours. plus quite a nice ride there and back too. Didn’t get the emergency alert on my phone though. I wonder how many people didn’t receive it?
I am practicing a few music bits for the Delta Gypsy mob too.
Plus started of a recording of a new tune. Did other stuff that I cant remember and feel knackered and aching again. If I go out I am OK but on my days at home I just seem to collapse in a heap. I think it is in part because I always feel a little anxious if I am going out anywhere different. Yesterday we used a rehearsal room we had not used before. It turned out OK though. Today I am tired and achy again. Weird or what. It has been raining a bit though which might explain the pains?
Its weird, I m OK say for a couple of days whilst I am doing stuff then wallop I am knocked out. maybe I am not sleeping well enough. I do dream a lot at present. Maybe I just need the spring to kick in properly. I still feel less well since Covid, but maybe its not that at. When I played with the Irish lot it was fun and I felt fine. There is a partly psychological trigger to all this I think, or feel.
So here is a spacey tune for you all and why not.
Some random person from the internet….
Fast Foreboding
A shout out to all of you folks struggling with arthritis and similar ailments. I have had a couple of really bad days, waking up at night with it and so forth. I have Ankylosing spondylitis, but also in addition my spine is twisted in 3 different directions(scoliosis, plus Kyphosis) which does not help much. As time goes on its harder to manage as I have gotten older. It also has left me with a not terribly attractive hump on one side of my back. One of the problems that occurs is that particular on waking I find it difficult to move around. That means that often my mornings are wasted. I do various exercises which help but this week has been a real struggle. So if you are having similar problems you have my sympathies’ as it’s the kind of problem that is not visible to others but can cause huge problems at times. Fortunately its only in recent years that it has started to cause real problems but at 66 I guess that is to be expected. I don’t think I will be running any marathons in the near future though.
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