STILL not quite firing on all cylinders…but at least we’re not completely floored.
I was meant to be at the eye hospital today, but that’s had to be cancelled following the positive covid test…instead I hit the studio and get some work done before moving onto working on an idea for another new song using the three-string cigar box guitar.
Later in the afternoon I have an induction/online meeting with Help Musicians and some other grant awardees then it’s back to the house to make dinner….
STILL got covid…but not feeling totally fucked so gonna attempt to get on with stuff as usual today.
A PCR test arrives in the post – I’ve been asked to take one as part of a survey. I do that and package it all up – but it has to go in a ‘priority’ postbox…our local one isn’t, so that means a trip to the village at some point later today.
Meantime, I hit the studio to work on the front-runner in my new song writing efforts. It seems to be evolving, albeit slowly, so I reckon it’s time to record a very early first-version demo.
After lunch I get Margaret to drive me to the village where I post the PCR test and walk the four or five miles back home. I need the the fresh air and exercise.
I’m back just in time to grab a coffee and set up for a three-hour music streaming session with a mentor courtesy of Help Musicians. It’s a long session and focusses mainly on Spotify. It’s really interesting and useful…and I emerge with lots of ideas to put into practice to grow my visibility and following on the platform.
I close up the studio and go back to the house and start preparing our ancho, beef and butternut squash concotion for dinner…
A still from the Wildcats’ livestream – join my Facebook group here!
STILL full of the covid after a crap night’s sleep – or should I say, non-sleep. Woke up every half hour needing a pee, a drink of water and unable to get comfy.
Regardless, a shower and breakfast in the morning brings me back to life and i set up for my first Zoom guitar student of the day.
Once the session and the day’s routine admin stuff is out the way i make chicken ramen for lunch…hopefullyl we’ll both feel a little better after that. We have it outside in the sun and, as hoped, the ramen does make us feel a little better 🙂
I get back onto the songwriting then do a little prep for tonight’s livestream into my Wildcats’ Facebook group.
It’s a beautiful day out there and although I’m feeling a little low on energy, I go a walk up the lochside. The sunshine and the fact that it’s a local holiday in Glasgow mean the place is mobbed but I carefully keep my distance from everyone.
I’m home just in time for another Zoom student session then it’s straight on the livestream…phew!
WE’RE woken by the kids at 5am…then 7am. Margaret gets up to give them breakfast and keep them entertained while I try and get another hour’s kip.
I’m not feeling quite as bad as I did yesterday and once I’m up I get breakfast sorted while Margaret looks after the kids.
After we’ve eaten and I’ve tidied up I set about fixing the acrylic pickguard I made yesterday onto the three-string cigar box guitar. It’s a fairly simple operation and does the trick.
I’ve just finished when Catriona arrives to pick up the kids. We have a coffee and chat a while then they all head off.
Margaret’s not feeling good and thought she was just tired having been up with the kids, but a lateral flow test shows she’s now covid-positive now too…so she goes for lie down.
In the studio I try and work on songs but it’s hard to concentrate. I take a break and sit in the garden where I fall asleep for a good hour or so!
More songwriting efforts are followed by a short walk then, back home, I fire up the pizza oven for dinner…a kinda fusion of marinara and margerita pizza which works out nicely 🙂
My home-made acrylic pickguard for the cigar box guitar…
Uh-oh…well, ‘spose it had to happen at some point!
I WAKE up feeling pretty crap – gaughles, all blocked up, cough and aching all over – and do a covid test. Positive. FFS!
After a shower and breakfast I feel a little better. Margaret does a test and she’s negative. Interesting.
Will drops the kids off – we’re looking after them so Catriona and Will can have a night out to themselves. I try and get on with some work but it’s slow progress. I don’t feel so terrible I can’t do anything, but everything;s a bit laborious.
I make a batch of pizza dough – a different recipe I’m trying out – for tomorrow (Sunday). Despite the covid I still have taste, smell and, if anything, even hungrier than usual!
In the studio I work on the existing new song idea and come up with something else for the three-string. I notice the three-string is getting worn where my finger picks hit the body, so once I finish recording some ideas I hit the office and design and cut a clear acrylic scratchplate.
I take a short walk before dinner. Not very far but it takes me an hour and to use the word ‘amble’ is probably over-estimating my speed!
WHEN I wake up the first thing I do is check Spotify for the new release – Wanted (Dead or Alive). It’s still ‘locked’ for some reason. No point in updating any socials or doing any promo until it’s sorted.
I fire off an email to the aggregator (digital distributor) to see if they have any idea what’s going on then hit the studio to deal with some of the requests for help with web hosting, name servers and custom DNS records. Fun’n’games.
After another check I find the release is live on Spotify, so I gather the most popular service links, create a new landing page on my website and start the online promo. Better late than never.
There’s some confusion over the correct mail server addresses and subsequent MX records, so I start a ‘live chat’ with the hosting company and manage to get it all cleared up.
Next job is to sort an SSL certificate for Will’s glass art website.
With all this chaos and urgent requests for help I’ve not been near a guitar, let alone done any songwriting. I spend half an hour or so messing with ‘the’ new song idea then go and light some charcoal for the grill…it’s well after 9pm…
UP early and showered in time for my first guitar student of the day arriving. When folks come to the house there’s usually some frantic tidying to be done!
Once the lesson’s done I hit the office and finish off a batch of personalised pencils then realise that my Thursday 2pm Zoom student is at 12 noon today…I get to studio and online just in time.
After lunch I tackle a load of web hosting (long story!) for all my sites and others that i host on my own server. A couple of other folks have asked me to sort similar issues with their own hosting packages so I get busy with that.
A note comes in form Betty with an order for glass coasters. We’re taking dinner along there tonight, so I decide to get it done only to find the laser making no mark on the glass. Weird – it was working fine earlier. I check all sorts of things and when firing the test I spot some smoke coming ‘from nowhere’. It’s not nowhere tho’, as I soon discover. Somehow the air assist hose had got tangled round the front of the laser head and got caught in the laser’s line of fire. My test firing has made matters worse as the smoke was the laser shots burning a hole straight through the hose!
At least I’ve solved the mystery and some insulating tape will hopefully suffice as a repair. I get the coasters done 🙂
Anyway, it’s time for me to cook the Asian salmon and soba noodles to take along to Betty and Joe’s. While the cooking is underway I notice the West Highland Way engraving on one of the coasters is way out of line. Dunno how I managed that…I go back to the office and manage to knock out a replacement.
We have a good night with our pals and they love the salmon..and the pavlova Margaret’s made.
When we get back home I go into the studio to prepare some graphics and stuff to go live with links when Wanted (Dead or Alive) drops at midnight. The other promo can wait ’til the morning.
As it turns out it’ll all have to wait ’til the morning ‘cos the release hasn’t been unlocked on Spotify after midnight. Apple Music looks OK and ‘live’….but I need all the services to be up and running before I start promoting!
NOT surprised to wake up at 8am with a burstin’ heid! I have a pee, drink of water and a couple of paracetamol and go back top sleep for an hour.
I’m feeling a but better when I get up and we start making breakfast. Jim’s still out for the count having not even managed to get into the bed in the spare room. I wake him with a cup of tea.
We have breakfast and blether until I need to go tot he studio for a session with one of my Zoom guitar students then Jim heads off.
I get a few odds and sods of admin out the way, have some lunch then start an online mentoring session…part of my album release support package from Help Musicians includes mentoring on a variety of topics…I’ve chosen social media and livestreaming as things that I could do with some help/evaluation with.
We have a good, interesting session and we set up a follow up for a few weeks time.
It’s been one of these days where everything seems to go by in a flash and suddenly it’s time to head into Glasgow to grab some shopping and a bite to eat before going to Nice’n’Sleazy to catch up with our pal from Wisconsin, JJ…he’s brought a band over from the mid-West to pay a bunch of Scottish dates and Margaret helped sort a few venues.
We have a grand evening and get home sometime around midnight…
MY PAL Jim is coming this morning so I’m up early to get pizza dough ready for lunch and marinade some beef for the grill tonight.
I manage to get some work done before he arrives then we go a bike ride to Aberfoyle and the weather clears up to allow the sunshine through.
We blether all the way there and back – lots to catch up on as we haven’t seen each other for a good three or four years!
When we get back I fire up the pizza oven and we have some pizza and beer then go a walk up the lochside.
The sun’s still out when we get back and we have a drink in the garden before I fire up some charcoal and make the Vietnamese beef. Lots of wine and drams…and then Jim pull out his cajun accordion for a wee blast…neither of us remember going to bed!
A CHANGE in one of my scheduled Zoom guitar sessions works out well as I get a message form Fiona saying David and she are going for a paddle if I fancy going. I do.
By the time I’ve got my gear sorted they’ve arrived and are inflating their boards and we’re soon down in the bay and on the water. I hadn’t planned a paddle today as I’ve a lot on and the forecast wasn’t great…but it’s pretty calm out there. Calmer than it’s been in ages.
I’m back in time for a shower and to get on with my day’s work.
There’s some songwriting to progress and prep for tonight’s livestream into my Wildcats’ Facebook group. before I know it, it’s time for my evening guitar session with one fo my Zoom students.
The livestream follows almost immediately, but a computer clusterfuck means I have to do the livestream using my phone. It goes fine.
