Guitar

I'm learning guitar. So far I've played scales, and today my first ever chords. G, C and D.

My fingers now look like bishops' hats.

Am I supposed to be able to play more than one of these per song? Bollocks to that.

Laters

New Job

Just handed in my notice at Vital. I've been there since I came back from Thailand in May 2010 and had a much much better offer from Capula in Stone. Thirteen months in one job is quite enough, n'est ce pas?

Anyway a chance to work on the "Biggest ever implementation of an Archestra system" was not to be missed.

In other news, music weekend went well. Fell in love with a Sax player - or at least with his playing. The folk-singer-and-poet duo brought him along to do some improv between verses for their show in the Art Lounge. Absolutely stole the show, which is not to say they were bad - in fact they were very good, but he was sublime. He also played a mean flute as seen in the one photo I took on the night..


The following night's irish session was also excellent, and our singer Emma got a lovely round of applause for her two songs. Once again I'm in love. More of these sessions will be forthcoming, as soon as we find a new guitarist. Marco and Emma are off to Italy for the summer and we're all bereft at present.

Tooth update: My gob is proper sore, even five days after last week's emergency filling. I go back this friday for the root filling, but doubt he'll be able to even find the tooth through my swollen cheeks and gums. It seems I bit my cheek while it was all numb last week, and now we're in a vicious circle of more swelling/more biting. It's tear-jerkingly painful and I don't like it. There I've said it. I was premature with my no-more-comedy-faces-while-eating comment, that's for sure. I'm too young to have to suck my toast.

I can assure the reader, by the way, that I managed to get through those few sentences describing my dental problems without jamming my finger into the back of my mouth onto the offending tooth and talking like a dimwit. You all do it, you know you do.

More later, or sooner, whichever is... sooner.

Mirrorball

Hello.

Before we start, here's some music. I make no apologies for the "Heavy" nature of the Mogwai track - it's my blog after all. I do, however, urge you to turn the YYY track up to full and feel the hairs on your arms go up.

PJ Harvey - The Glorious Land
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Skeletons
Mogwai - Mogwai Fear Satan

I have loads to say but can't be arsed saying it. I'll have to do it in pictures - always remember that each one is, in fact, worth a thousand words...

Elbow! Mirrorball! I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. That guy (Guy) can surely sing. Good banter too, in fact the whole show was fantastic. I urge you all to go see them at the first opportunity.


Martin (It's that bloke again!) at the end of Paddys night. The evening was a success after an initial awkward period in which we had to move people from their saved seats to make room for musicians, then too many musicians turned up. We arranged our next "Practice evening" for 17 April.


Lyn and Lucy get vocal while Dave strums. Lyn will hate this picture - she NEVER sings in public.

Cheese getting cosy.

One for the Plexal guys. I had to retire my Plexal (Bangkok) rucksack due to the stitching on the straps threatening to give way. Took this before binning it, with a nostalgic tear in the eye.


Tyne tunnel opening - the actual moment when traffic first went through..
..my bit is the grey computer screen, second from left.


Lyn's hand a blur as she wows the crowd. Roger looks on, amazed.


Went for a nice bike ride yesterday on the old road iron. Doesn't look much does it? Ah well, it gets the job done. Note the lugggage rack - I now ride to work once a week.

In other news, I'm spending a lot of time in Newcastle doing bits and bobs on "My" tunnel. Night work, most of it. Ah well, it pays the mortgage. Wifey gets the evenings to herself, and needs them - the end of her degree is looming. Blimey, she won't know what to do with herself after this summer.

I've been busy transposing my vinyl records to mp3. Expect some extra-cheesy music on here soon. It's a long process because I bought the cheapest USB turntable, which came with the most awful software. I have to record manually, telling the system where the gaps in the tracks are, and typing in the artist, album name and track name. However, it's a labour of love, and the obvious short-cut ("Why don't you just download them all from Pirate Bay?") didn't even get a look-in.

More soon (yeah, right.)

A dream come true

Played music with some musicians - a working class boy's dream. I can't explain how that makes me feel. We had an Irish fiddle player, an Italian guitarist, an English ukulele and harmonica player, and me and wifey (no nationality) on Bodhran. What a lovely evening. No photos though, I was too busy banging the drum. Thanks Ursula, Marco, Roger, wifey, the audience of spouses and of course hostess and prime mover, Maureen.

Next one is in three weeks, and I hope it will be even better.

In other news, what a weekend we've had. London on Thursday evening, saw an opening night of art by Susanne Simonson. We were so blown away, we spent our kitchen on a painting.....
Not a cheap kitchen either. We also managed to quaff far too much crisp white, and both had Brazilians. Meals that is. Friday was the above-mentioned music soiree, then Sunday I was outclassed up hill and down dale by Lucy on the mountain bike. Never mind, it's all good, and I'll be fitter next time.

Lucy, don't get comfy at the front, my fitness will return...

They're here

All set up in my library, records to hand, laptop connected, headphones ready. What's missing? Ah yes, talent. Must arrange some lessons. In case you're wondering the album is Wonderful Life by Black. Proper 80's classic.

I'd been blowing the dust off the drums for five minutes before I was told "this won't work". Apparently my tapping was disturbing her thoughts even though she was three floors away and I had my headphones on. Soundproofing, that's the thing.

and another thing - what is it with me and road debris? Yet another back tyre was (nearly) binned the other day by a 40mm screw. I wondered what the rhythmic "doink" noise was every time the wheel went round. Pulled over to find this...
Scary init? Bike is running well btw, thanks for asking. Finally got it run in. I was coming through Whaley Bridge on 599 miles, approachng the A6 roundabout, and it clicked over to 600 miles. It's left for home through Furnace Vale at 30 mph, or right for the bypass which has no side-roads and rarely any policemen. Guess which way I went?

Later taters.

Pesky Pigeons Night

Wednesday, and we're off to the pub. Could get messy, especially the fight to avoid being nominated driver.

Here's a jolly ditty that reminds me and Lynny of a happy afternoon sitting in a bar in Chatuchak market getting slowly pissed with Maureen:

Electric Gypsyland - Usti, Usti Baba (Senor Coconut Remix)

In other news, my freight is in the Channel:



Not long now. Soon I'll be making myself unpopular with my heavy foot action and poor sticking technique.

Work is improving - I've gone from having nothing to do to having too much to do, which is much better.

Later, I'm busy ok?

Korea? Nah.

It's off. Staying home for the good weather.

Oh, and the drums have been through the Straits os Gibraltar - next stop Felixstowe.


I've made a space for them in the study. Hang on, that's the room above Odette's bedroom and has a wooden floor. Hmmm, anyone got any rubber matting?

Sorry O.

Laters

Drums update

(Tip - Start up the music while you read - it's an electronic track, bit of a head-nodder)

LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great

Nearing Valencia. Hope they don't stay for the weekend...



In other news, wifey's back with tales of Irish weather we've all heard before. Now our house really begins to fill up, with the arrival on Saturday of Emma and Jodie, and attendant furniture/luggage. Looks like a weekend of logistics is approaching - "Logistics" being a euphemism for lugging piles of stuff up and down stairs. So many stairs, why did I buy this stack of shoe boxes? I swear, if our house was a bungalow it would cover an area roughly the size of Wembley stadium. Oy, my back twinges at the thought of all those suitcases and bags. At least the weather looks to be improving. Plenty of tea breaks on the roof, that's the secret.

While we're on lifting and stairs, are there any non-crippled readers in the Bolton area, willing to dismantle Wifey's installation? The doors (roughly 20 and very heavy) need to be carried down two flights of narrow stairs and loaded onto a trailer, then delivered to a reclamation yard in Macclesfield. I was originally ruled out of this lug-fest due to injury, but now that I've successfully negotiated a squash training session without any increase in back pain, I suppose I'm back in the frame. (see what I did there? No, thought not)

Still thinking about South Korea but the agent hasn't called me, so I guess that means I'm not wanted. Sniff.

Tour update: a proper ding-dong yesterday between the only two riders in with a shout, Bert and the Schleckster. How can two men be so much better than two hundred others? I wish I was young, I'd love to have a go. But back to yesterday, it was really gripping stuff, the battle the fans have been waiting for, ten kilometres of just the two of them up a huge hill called Le Tourmalet, Schleck doing his absolute utmost to shake off the Spaniard, while the rest of the the field were left far behind. In the end they crossed the line virtually together, meaning there are still 8 seconds between them with one individual time trial to go before Paris. Mister Wiggins has set himself the target of winning that time trial, and he might just do it, but the top two are so far ahead that the only real interest is the comparison between them. Ok enough Tour talk.

Still reading? Well done. Bye.

It's in the Med

Just researched the vessel that's bringing my stuff from Thailand (MSC ALEXANDRA - she's a big one, see picture) and found a ship-tracking site. Apparently my drums are somewhere north of Tobruk in the Eastern Mediterranean. How that affects the ETA next tuesday I don't know. I'll have another look tomorrow to see how far it's moved.





Couple of things irritating me:

Adverts for online poker with real people in - don't get the idea that you're not sad and lonely.
Adverts for cars with no other cars in - don't get the idea that you won't be queueing to get along the high street just like all the other poor saps.

Actually I should just put "Adverts in General". I turn on the telly to be entertained, not sold things I don't need. Ditto the radio, although I only really listen to non-commercial channels.

Wifey's in Ireland for a few days, which adds to my grumpiness. Nobody to complain at me so I get anxious.

And finally, in place of a tour update, a quote:

"It is nice to be recognised for actually achieving something in life as opposed to spending seven weeks in a house on TV with a load of other muppets."

- Bradley Wiggins, after finishing 4th in the tour last year.

I like that.

Laters

Rejoice!

They just announced that after the BBC Trust's consultation period, common sense has prevailed, and 6Music is not closing.

Now I'm relieved because it'd be a bit daft spending all that money on a DAB radio just to listen to Radio 4, Radio 2 (occasionally), 5 Live (rarely), and Radio 1 (almost never), which are all on FM anyway.

In other music-related news, wifey has demanded I buy her the first four Mike Oldfield albums, which remind her of her lost youth. I remember quite liking them, but time will tell how much time has told. I have a feeling they are going to sound quite dated.

Tour update: Arms Legstrong had a good prologue and is high up the order; Bert the Accountant (Alberto Contador to you) is also doing well; Manxman Mark Cavendish fell on his arse yesterday, and our man Wiggins is nowhere.

DABtastic

My last boredom-fuelled purchase (curtailed due to limited disposable income) is working well. I've always wanted a DAB radio and now I have one sitting on my desk. I can get 6music on it so I don't have to rely on defeating the anti-streaming software they use at work.

Unfortunately that means I'll regularly be buying cd's due to hearing stuff I like. Sorry bank manager. It also means music will keep appearing on here. I hear something I like and of course everybody has to be bombarded with it.

Here's a thing - music appreciation. I was walking along the street the other day when I heard Whitney Houston's "I-yee-I-yee-I will always love-a-yooo" belting out of someone's house. I've hated it since it came out, being as it is a showcase for a voice I find too big and soulless. However, I got to thinkng, if that record is still giving someone pleasure after all this time then I need to rethink my definition of the term "Music fan". Some people must love that voice, or it could be "Pleasure by association" i.e. the record reminds the listener of happier times, which triggers nice feelings. Still, the person is happy on hearing the song - what else is required? Curious thing, music. Discuss.

The Wait Goes On

Just found out that my drums, together with the rest of my stuff, haven't even left Thailand yet. Damn these cheap options. I've just taken delivery of a 1963 edition of the classic drummer's instruction pamphlet "Drumming Techniques for Snare Drummers", originally printed in 1935. Loads of routines to improve technique, and I have nothing to practice on except a pillow. I despair.

Isn't this a lovely summer we're having? I was just unwrapping myself this morning after the ride to work (gingerly - my back is groaning) and having uncharitable thoughts about the English weather, when I suddenly had a flashback to Bangkok, where it was impossible to walk the 200 metres to work without sweating profusely. Which is worse? Bangkok every time.

Anyone got world cup fever yet? I had it, but two paracetamol and a hot bath sorted it out. I drew South Africa in the sweep at work, which should please the lodger. Prizes for winners, runners up and booby prize for most goals conceded... which one will I be most likely to win? Only joking Odette, I'm sure they will have a good run. England, on the other hand, will probably lose to the USA, struggle to get through the group stage and exit in unlucky fashion at the semi final stage, with yet another poor sap missing a penalty. What is it about Englishmen and penalties? Killer instinct missing? More like two left feet. Here at work they are all limbering up for the beer-and-telly-fest by playing the "Air Horn" app on their iPhones. Gosh, if I didn't like iPhones before, I sure hate them now. Apparently if you shake the phone the horn plays for longer. Please don't try it at home, apple fans. Speshly you, wife.

I'm off to restore a backup. Yes, I'm actually working. Isn't life wonderful?

Nice Sound

Fairly old now, but this one always gives me goosebumps..
Editors - Open Your Arms
Nothing more to say, really.

Laters.

All Sorts of Stuff

No Piccadilly buskers I'm afraid, but there's news of my new job, motorcycling revisited, Joan Armour-Plating and other quality items.

Firstly, the rather good Armatrading concert. We went to Buxton Opera House to see the singer/guitarist. We took in a nice meal en route with my erstwhile Bangkok drinking companions Peter and Tracy, which was nice. St Moritz in Buxton, £7.50 for two courses - you heard it here first. The concert was great, and I hadn't realised that Ms Armatrading is a very good blues guitarist, which was a bonus. She played for two hours, a mix of her hits and some album tracks. Tears were jerked during "All the way from America", I have to admit. Beautiful voice. And yes, she played Drop the Pilot.

Oi, what d'you think this is?
Wronnnnnnnnng! It's a fives court. A bit smaller than a squash court, and squash players would hate the black walls ("Where's the bloody ball gone?"). I haven't seen a fives court since school days. There were two courts in the playground at the Liverpool Institute, and I have to tell you I was unbeatable on them, even if we did make the rules up as we went along. Anyway, there are two of these at the sports club close to where I now work. I think I'll ignore them and stick to swimming.

Speaking of work, it's going well, thanks for asking. The journey in is a bit busy no matter what unearthly time I get up, but on the bike that just means I get to overtake more disgruntled car drivers.

It's a fantastic feeling to be riding again. The bike is a bit rattly and I have to decide whether to replace the camchain, or part-ex the bike and let someone else experience the sickening crunch as it gives way. Any suggestions?

Right, I better do some work. Be good.

Hyosung

Picked up the bike from the shop yesterday - hurrah!
Rode it home and felt 17 again - hurrah!
Remembered that the brake light switches are both useless and the brake lights stay on - booo!
Got up this morning to find the good-natured rowdies of New Mills had pushed it over in the night - booo!

Some pics from before they scratched it:Glad I changed the bars - mean 'n moody

Note new chain and sprockets


More soon - the sun is shining this morning but I have no time for recreational m/cycling. There's art to be done..

More later.

Letter to the BBC trust

I've sent this to the BBC trust, who are deliberating on the proposed closure of 6music:

****************************
Dear BBC Trust,

The closure of 6music would be a disaster both for me personally, and for British music in general. Here's why:

In the past year alone (and 6music has been around for 8 years) I've spent approximately £150 on music I heard and liked on 6music. I can assure you that I could not have heard that music on any other radio station. Therefore there would be no possibility of those albums being bought without 6music. Multiply that by 750,000 (the estimated listener figure) and you have a compelling reason why the UK music scene leads the world in terms of creativity and diversity. Without record sales the industry would die.

I listen at all times of the day, being fortunate enough to have a job which allows it. If 6music closed down, there would be no alternative for me but to turn to randomising my current collection to make my own playlist, and "Guessing" what to buy next. It's a depressing prospect.

The suggestions for putting some of the content from 6 onto other stations is ridiculous. It's like evicting the population of London and telling them there are some nice new estates on the Isle of Wight to live in.

I urge the trust to reconsider this awful decision.

Regards

Russell Hindley

***************************

If you feel strongly about the issue, or you just want to stay mates with me, visit this link and say your piece:

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/email-the-BBC

Be good.

About my music links

It's come to my attention that if you're reading the blog in an email, the music links don't work. That's because when you open the actual blog it surreptitiously loads the music player, if needed. Email doesn't do that.

SO what I'm saying is, if you want to hear what I'm on about you have to open the blog itself, not an email. Sorry and all that.

..Clear?

General chit chat

So, what shall I waffle about today?

Well, what about the terrible news that "They" are thinking about closing down 6music?

For those who don't know, and shame on you if you don't because I've blathered on about it on here enough times, 6music is a digital BBC radio station, available on iPlayer... http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlive/bbc_6music/ ..., either live or in listen-again format, and also DAB.

6music does not tailor its content for the mainstream, as do Radio 1 and Radio 2. That is its strength AND its weakness. The diversity of music on the station is huge, but be warned: tuning in "on spec" is like looking at the night sky through a toilet roll - you just don't experience the wonder of it all unless you give it a chance. You might be unimpressed by Orion's belt (especially if you haven't seen it before) but Orion itself is stunning, and beyond that the greater glory of the Milky Way is unparalleled.

I say - DROP THE TOILET ROLL!

Stop press - they just played all 23 minutes of "Echoes" by Pink Floyd. Who else would dare? Prog-tastic, pop pickers.

Anyway, I still hope they will change their minds. I've filled in the consultation... http://bit.ly/srconsultation ... and signed the petitions... http://www.petition.fm/petitions/6musicasiannet/1000/ .. and now I'm just hoping. The last eight years would have been (musically speaking) much poorer for me at work, if I didn't have the endlessly changing music scene as a backdrop to the daily grind. Yes folks, it's official, work is dull without music.

In other news, I went for a ride in 36 degrees yesterday. It was.... hot. I used the CamelBak so I was well hydrated, but boy does the sun slow you down. I will definitely be better when I get my e-replacement powder some time this week (thank you eBay). I rode up to friend Terry's house and played squash with him, then rode home. Needed a rest after that, I can tell you.

While we're on slowing down, Bangkok is definitely not built for cyclists. If cities can have opposites, Bangkok and Copenhagen are examples, and not just on the Celsius scale. There, the cyclist is king, lording it over pedestrians, buses and even, shock horror, the automobile. Here the cyclist is the runt of the road. I regularly have to pick the bike up and hump it over barriers, climb steps to overpasses, jump ditches etc etc. just to get where I'm going. And the diesel-belching buses, oy. I will persist though. Still a lot of fun.

Been listening to Turin Brakes for a couple of years now, and only lately realised how much I like this song:

Turin Brakes - Average Man

It's rare for me to like somthing with a slide guitar in it. Mind you, this one would benefit from it being removed. Stick a kazoo in there, anything but that awful caterwauling. Luckily it's only prominent in the intro. Must try to see them live. That might be possible this year, since a new album is now out and surely there will be a tour. Stop press - according to Wiki they are British, from Ballham, no less. I thought they were Canadian or summink. Ah well.

While we're on music, I've always heard people going on about how great Miles Davis is, and recently my drum teacher advised me to buy the "Kind of Blue" album, which I did and liked it a lot. I won't post any tracks here because that would make me a jazz fan, which I'm not. That said, it is a very good album, and I listened to it the other day on my way to "Niu's on Silom" for drinks with Bart. Niu's is a very cool and stylish Jazz/Blues bar and restaurant here, and for anyone visiting Bangkok I'd put it high on my list of places to go. Great musicians right there doing their thing within touching distance. I loved it. Actually I'd been there before with Lynny last time she was here. Poor love was still jet-lagged and she fell asleep. Mind you it's a very relaxing place.

Nothing more to say now, just checked the phone and I've taken no photos recently of interest, so sorry for the lack of visual input. It's all getting a bit wordy init. Does anyone care? Suggestions for content type please (More crosswords? More top tips? Naked photos of me?), on the back of a 1000 Baht note to the usual address. Yes yes, I've used that gag before, well spotted.

Be good.

Folk

Some music for you - and nary a drumbeat to be heard.

Alasdair Roberts - The hallucinator and the king of the silver ship of time

Mary Hampton - Island

Jesca Hoop - Hunting My Dress

The Unthanks - Nobody Knew She Was There

You have to sit down and relax to enjoy these. I did.

Be good.

French grip? German grip? Eh?

Had my first drumming lesson since coming to Thailand. The first thing Bryan (photo to follow) said, after watching me attempting to demonstrate my level of (ahem) ability, was that he wanted me to completely change the way I hold the sticks. Fairly radical I thought, but in for a penny in for a Baht. That means I came home with some fairly simple exercises, not the expected reams of new beats to try. Ah well, with wifey having gone home, I have nothing else to do (whimper). Tip...tap....tip...tap.....

Actually I've just done some reading on the subject and not sure I like what I discovered. Seems like more people prefer the old method for versatility. More to follow.

Broadband in the new apartment is imminent, or so I'm told, which is good because currently I'm using my mobile phone as a modem. It's cheap but slow - I'd say glacial. Back in the day, 115 kbps was twice the speed of the fastest modem, but now most websites are designed with BB in mind, so clicking on the bbc news page, for example, means you get all sorts of wizzbang graphics and video clips going on. Fine if you're on a 16 meg connection, but here I click links then go and put the kettle on. And getting my emails? Updating the blog? Forget it. I'm doing this in work (lunchtime, naturellement)

By the way, hello Keith, nice to have you along. Let me know how you're doing via email, or comment on the blog if you like - it's nice to have visitors.

On Lyn's last day here we visited the Jim Thompson house...Evidence we were there

For those who don't know who he was, neither did I until the visit, but nevertheless I'm about to bang on about him like he was my best mate. He was an American architect and entrepreneur who disappeared during a visit to Malaysia in 1967, having built up quite an enterprise in Thailand exporting silk products. His house in Bangkok is a popular tourist attraction now. It is built in traditional Thai style, on stilts and entirely out of wood. It is a beautiful and peaceful place, as are the surrounding gardens...

A plant

Two plants and a leaf.

Lyn and a plant. (No, not the author... hmm, bad joke)

..Quite a surprise in this crowded noisy city. The guide told us proudly how Thompson had designed the house after extensive research into traditional Thai methods. I couldn't help but notice though, that he had cherry-picked from that tradition rather than sticking to the letter of it. For instance, the "House" is basically six houses used as rooms, and he added ceilings, which are not traditional, to facilitate electrical wiring. It's full of beautiful antique statues, furniture and silk hangings. There's a restaurant and an exhibition centre on the site too, both recommended. Gosh, I sound like a tour guide. Anyway, afterwards we took a trip to one of the half-dozen Jim Thompson "Outlets" in town, and spent some money on silk. Job done. The rest of Lyn's last day was spent in Monsoon bar getting drunk and talking bollocks with Maureen. Great fun. Photos:

Fun with feet

Russell and Lyn distracted, Maureen quite focussed.

More fun with less feet.

It's now 51 days 'till wifey's next visit. Humbug. I hope you all get stuck in a snow-drift. Cheers!