OUR plane lands a good half hour early…and we pretty much walk straight through Homeland Security…first time since we started coming to the USA that we haven’t had to queue for hours!
Our bags take a little longer to come onto the carousel, but overall it’s pretty seamless. I message Ginny to let her know where we are and she picks us up and takes up to the apartment. It’s minus seven, but a nice sunny day 🙂
John gets back soon after and we blether over a coffee then Margaret’s and I go for a wee walk along the East River. We’re not out long, though, ‘cos Margaret’s feeling the cold.
Back at the apartment GInny orders a load of sushi and we eat, enjoy a beer then get an early night. We’re puggled.
AFTER the usual early sourdough I hit the studio and start mixing the tracks for the Blind WIllie Johnson EP.
An online session with a guitar student gives me a break from the mixing then I get back to it.
After lunch I have some merch to finish then I edit some video from the Gartmore show to spin into tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream on Facebook.
After listening to the mixes and making a few adjustments I start a simple mastering process then take a break when my late afternoon guitar student arrives.
We’ll be up at 5am tomorrow (Tuesday) to get to Edinburgh airport for our New York flight and there’s a bunch of stuff to get sorted. I also need to get all mastered tracks, metadata and artwork for the new EP off to my digital aggregator for general release on Friday 6 March.
Suddenly it’s livestream time…all goes fine, then dinner and a not so early night.
UP AT a decent time for breakfast and a wee bit of a tidy up before our pals Jake and Ali stop by.
Having visitors is a good way to prompt a tidy up and the place is in good shape when they roll up.
We have a good couple hours catching up over coffee before they head off and I go in to the studio to finish recording the Blind WIllie Johnson tracks for the March EP.
In between takes I get some stuff ready for taking to NYC on Tuesday – I have some gifts and stuff for family as well as some stuff I wanna send to National in California.
A BIT of a mad rush to get out the door and off to Doune…we’re looking after the kids today and need to get there so Catriona and her pal can get off to St Andrews for a girls’ day.
Will’s come off night shift and in bed when we get there and we let Catriona and Lindsay get on their way.
After hanging out for a while we take the kids to McDonalds then to the park in Stirling where they potter about the skatepark on their bike and scooter.
When we get back WIll’s up and getting ready for another night shift. We chat or a while while the kids have dinner then Will heads off…and half-hour later Catriona gets back and we have something to eat before making for home.
BETTY drops by for a coffee and we’re still in bed…not sleeping, I’ve been awake for a few hours, made coffee and busy with some online stuff. Emails, socials, invoices, gig listings and stuff.
We have a coffee with Betty, then a late breakfast before I dump some more video footage into the machine in the studio.
After a ,little more work I head out on the loch for a paddle. It’s not a very nice day, but not too windy and probably the last chance I’ll have before we head of to NYC on Tuesday.
While on the loch I do a quick livestream update then decide to head back to the bay – it’s freezing and I can’t feel my fingers!
Back home a shower than a (very) late lunch before going to get some stuff done in the studio.
EVEN with a long lie I’m feeling completely broken. Everything hurts. I really need to get match fit….although I’m sure most of my aches and pains are down to the gear and set up rather than playing the show!
First job is to unpack the car at the studio and then the office. Next, there’s al the video footage to get off the cameras.
While the video’s downloading I take a wee walk and stop into Betty’s to sort a router issue.
Margaret’s away to get some shopping when I get back and I start importing another load of video. For some reason, though, I had the GoPro on auto exposure which has resulted in pretty much unusable video from that camera. Down to trying to do too much I guess – sound, lighting, soundchecks etc with the cameras on top of it all. I’ll learn one day!
AFTER breakfast I cut some leather for a new ‘impossible weave’ bracelet…I replaced the stud on my own one last week but damaged the leather and it’s bust. So time for a new one.
I dye the cut leather and leave it to dry – I;m hoping Maregareet might do the weave later for me…the process messes with my head!
In the studio I plug in everything that needs charged up for tomorrow’s (Wednesday) show in Gartmore before running through a. Couple of songs then restringing the guitars.
After a much-needed walk up the lochside I get back into the studio and prep more stuff for tomorrow’s show. Although the venue is nice, there’s no PA so I need to sort sound…and I wanna take some lights to avoid having to use the house ‘disco roadshow’ lighting.
UP EARLY to get the sourdough in the oven and it’s another grey, damp – and windy – day. Boo!
While waiting for the sourdough to cool we plan to go for a swim before lunch. Meantime, I get some work done before a session with a Zoom guitar student.
Once I’m done we go to the village and have a swim then home in time for lunch.
I have a prototype piece o merch – yup, another one – to work on then it’s into the studio to rehearse some more of my set for Wednesday’s show in Gartmore..
After my late afternoon guitar student is through I go back to the studio and prep for tonight’s livestream into the Wildcats’ Facebook group.
WE’RE not long up and finished breakfast when Catriona, Will and the kids arrive. Will said he’d drop by to leave something he needs engraved…but we weren’t sure if he was bringing the crew. Nice to see everyone.
They only stay about an hour and I tend a brisket on the smoker in the hope it’ll be ready in time for dinner.
I pack the merch order that includes a bunch of CDs and one of the guitar pins then make a batch of acrylic keyrings that I’ll put round the tables at Wednesday’s show…curious to see if folks like them.
The weather’s awful as I head to the studio where I start listing a show I’m playing for Huddersfield Blues Club on 19 February…Margaret’s trying to find a show/s around it make the trip more practical.
The brisket comes out the smoker and rests a while then we plate it up and enjoy it while watching Bills and Dorothy’s January livestream from Florida.
YESTERDAY’S swim has indeed created a few ‘sore bits’….but that’s maybe a good thing.
After breakfast I spend some time in the studio running through stuff for Wednesday’s show in Gartmore. It’s getting close!
The pewter reso guitar pins I cast yesterday need some finishing before I can attach the pins so I get that job out the way after lunch.
Having committed to releasing an EP of Blind WIllie Johnson songs at the beginning of March I set up to do some recording. Gonna need to get cracking on it.
I manage to make some progress by the time we meet Betty at the local pub for dinner.
