What have I been up to? I hear you asking...
... no really, I do ;)
Well I'm going to tell...
Christmas break was luscious, richly luxurious in body and mind. Thailand was a ray of light. Heat, sun, culture, beach, good food and reading books for two weeks (The Magus by John Fowles blew my mind). Coming back to England was a shock - warm and t-shirted off the flight...immigration...customs... baggage...step out into the car park and SMACK, freezing, shivering cold...Bosh, welcome back to Blighty :)
New Years eve was jet lag, cheese, champagne and bed ashamedly and willingly early.
The year has been a flyer so far. I decided to pledge myself to the old school again and got out all my old cd's and a piece of hi fi equipment called a cd player. It is inspiring, listening to whole albums all the way through. Inspiring, that is, when they're good.
It's already Februaury. In January I played, by luck and planning, a run of great gigs and have started the year by adapting to my new songs in a live setting, it feels right.
Yesterday and the day before I played in the snow. White blankets and snowballs. London turned itself off for a day. It felt like a day off school or something guiltily fulfilling.
Drama Queen and Superbug is coming to Itunes soon, I did that last week.
So feast on The Queen and The Bug, indulge glutinously in a slice of pop/rock/funk and then get ready for Mad Masters and it's band of introspective, moody companions.
I have been writing again, not with a guitar, with a pen and ink. Ink on paper. It brings a sense of meditation and fulfillment.
The Time Traveller's Wife was also a great adventure. Right now I'm ploughing slowly through The Name Of The Rose... I can only manage about two pages every five or ten minutes without having to re-read and digest the words and sentences, images and history.
Yesterday I was mixing, editing Mad Masters and other stuff. Sonic arrangement, recording. After five months of fighting and complaining and wrong orders and delivery I received the soundproofing for my studio/bedroom (I'm not sure what it is really, but it's definitely a room). I put that up on the weekend and it all fell off. I had used velcro fixing. So i'm going to stick it up permanently now. It's made a welcome and long overdue difference already.
This weekend the Six Nations starts, the Six Nations goes perfectly with a point of Guiness, so I'm looking forward to this weekend.
How are you? How do you feel? What does 2009 mean for you? How are we doing?
