I MANAGE to get most of my routine stuff out the way before my first Zoom guitar student comes online.
Once we’re finished, I do some more work editing live video from the Memorial Hall show – firstly for tonight’s live stream into my Wildcats’ Facebook group…and secondly for upload to YouTube and scheduled Facebook posts.
It’s a beautiful day – but I don;;t have time to go paddleboarding…and its a bit on the widy side anyway. Instead, I pack my Fathers’ Day campstove, a leftover burger from the weekend and ump on the bike for a wee jaunt up the lochside.
Back home I continue with the video editing until a courier drops off some supplies for West Highland Gifts merch including large wood rounds I need for some outstanding stock due at the village shop.
I get that all underway, finish the video edits and go a walk while the computer processes the final video files.
I have another guitar student then prepare for the livestream….
We make the most of it and spend the day doing jobs in the garden.
Margaret plants all the hanging baskets, fence troughs and other pots. I Peter between doing stuff int he studio, playing guitar in the garden and helping out.
We also sort the polythene on my wee improvised greenhouse which has been needing finished for weeks.
Later on I have a wander up the lochside then we have a relaxed evening and enjoy some leftover jambalaya form the other night.
When I go to close up the studio I come a cross this wee spiky pal 🙂
IN the studio I dump some more video footage from the last show into Final Cut then get on with some other stuff while it’s loading.
I’d taken a notion for a wee guitar headphone amp – the wee things plug right into an electric guitar, have some amp simulations and effects and let you practice on headphones. Thought it might be good to have en electric guitar in the house rather than having to hit the studio every time I wanna play.
After a bit off research I found none of them support bluetooth headphones/earbuds,..and then I remembered that a good few years ago I both an iRig gizmo – in face two of them – that allow me to plug a guitar or mic respectively into the iPhone or iPad. I’ve used the mic pre a lot for streaming and stuff but had forgotten about the guitar one.
I loads the free apron to my phone, plug it all in and figure out how I might be able to use it.
Meantime, Catriona and the kids have rocked up and brought me some Fathers’ Day gifts. We go and feed the ducks, have a wander around then go back to the house for some soup and hang out in the garden.
I make up some burgers to go on the grill later then go and meet a pal for a pint – I haven’t seen him in 20 years and re-connected recently through a Facebook paddleboarding group!
DAY/week five of the Academy of Music & Sounds’ online branding course starts at 10am…and I’ve a fair bit of work to do in advance. I should got it done yesterday, but paddleboarding and then beer, wine and whisky kinda got in the way!
I’m in the studio shortly after 8am to ensure I get everything done in time. The course is interesting – particularly in that there’s a variety of ages and genres in the small group. There’s seven of us doing the course plus our tutor, Hannah.
The day is quite relaxed with time allocated for us to get on with our various projects and assignments – the afternoon has opt-in session on PR/media and social media which generates some good discussion.
Once all’s done I get some other work done and finish off a bunch of fridge magnets for the village shop before doing some prep for tonight’s jambalaya. I get everything ready before we go and see Betty and Joe for an aperitif (or two).
WE sleep in a lot longer than we intended…and not even had breakfast when Betty drops by for a coffee and to buy some of my new West Highland Way glass coasters.
I hit the studio and get some work done and try and catch up a little on my ‘homework’ for the music branding course, It’s the penultimate Friday tomorrow, so keen to try and stay on top of the assignments and stuff.
While I take a break and put some glass coasters in the West Highland Way Gifts online store along with my leather paddleboaders patches…and some Dave Arcari glass coasters in my own online store I get a message form Fiona. The loch’s looking. pretty calm so do I wanna go for a paddle. Yup!
I hastily finish off the bits and bobs of work then get ready. We have a grand paddle out and round some of the islands and spot a couple of ospreys. Magnificent. Hope we didn’t;t disturb them too much as we paddled past.
We’re back soon after 6pm and Fiona comes in for a glass of wine. We’ve been drinking for a couple of hours when Steven, Fiona’s husband, rocks up and we carry one. Margaret rustles up an impromptu dinner and we have an unplanned but grand evening 🙂
I’M about to hit the studio for a video meeting with my music branding course tutor when – I get a message from the producer of George Ezra’s End to End film asking me to call her. I do.
Bad news – along with a load more content – my songs round the campfire with George have been dropped. What was originally going to be a four part series has been cut to a single hour-long film and much of the intend footage is on the cutting room floor 🙁
I’m kinda glad we’d keep the filming and my involvement under wraps. It’s disappointing, but it was fun to do and I was well paid for it.
My tutor meeting goes fine. Looks like I’ve a fair bit of work to do over the next couple days but that’s why I’m doing the course.
After a midday session with one of my Zoom guitar students I get busy setting up the Spotify pre-save for the upcoming release of Wanted (Dead or Alive). While I’m not wanting to over-promote it, I wanna spread the word enough to attract some new listeners and it also gives me a chance to take advantage of the fact that my ‘Scottish sea shanty’ version of the Bon Jovi classic commissioned for The Deadliest Catch featured in series 18, episode five.
In between times, some glass coasters I ordered have arrived so I knock ups. couple of prototypes – one for the West Highland Way Gifts’ catalogue…and one for my own music merch store.
Back in the house I start preparing the ancho, beef and butternut squash to take along to Betty and joe’s tonight. Margaret made this last time and I’m adapting for the Instant Pot which I think might make it even better.
We have a grand evening with our pals…and the ancho beef does indeed turn out pretty good 🙂
It’s pretty midgie on the island so I finish my coffee on the water!
UP at 6.30am to go for a breakfast paddle. It’s been a fortnight since I was last out on the loch.
The bay’s pretty calm but it’s a wee bit windy when I get out into the middle of the loch. I head for Clairinch but when I get there the wee place I normally land is quite sheltered – and full of midges. plus, there’s a tent there and I don’t wanna wake folks up doing a livestream and generally rustling about.
I re-plan and head for Inchcailloch. The midges are bad there too and once I’ve eaten my fruit, yogurt and granola I wait ’til I’m back out on the water to drink my coffee.
Back home I get a batch of egg bits in the Instant Pot and but he time ;ve had a shower and tidied up they’re ready.
After the second instalment of breakfast I post another TikTok video – this time a clip of Folsom Prison Blues form my show at Buchanan Memorial Hall. See it here.
I also upload a couple of new videos from the show to my YouTube channel and schedule them to go out on Facebook over the next coupla days.
One of the fenceposts in the garden is really rotten. I cut the top off the other day but the rot is all the way through so I ‘paint’ it with wood hardener…if it works I’ll cover the top with wood filler to try and stop it disintegrating completely.
There’s a bit of catching up to on the music branding course I’m doing with the Academy of Music & Sound since I bunked off early on Friday…and I have an online one-to-one meeting with my tutor tomorrow morning.
A still from my Wildcats’ livestream…click here to see a snippet of a least expected cover..something I hadn’t played in over 35 years!
AFTER my first Zoom guitar student of the day I get on with editing some more video from the Memorial Hall gig,
I loaded the rushes for a couple of songs into Final Cut yesterday and just need to edit them so I can include the end results in tonight’s livestream into my Wildcats’ Facebook group.
There’s a couple of extra leather patches I made for my East Loch Lomond Paddleboarders’ Facebook group. I dye one grey and one brown to complete the set – I have a purple one on my own hat.
I spend some time going through the plan and timeframe for my proposed new album. If all goes as I hope, it should be ready to hit the streets on Friday 18 November. You heard it here first!
There’s time for a quick walk through the woods and a couple of pre-livestream promo livestreams (!!) before I start gathering my stuff for tonight’s ‘episode’ and set up for a session with one of my Zoom guitar students.
The lesson is followed by go-live with the livestream during which I play Four Strong Winds – a song I haven’t played out even thought about for over 35 years! You can see/hear what happened here!
Haha…my first attempt at a TikTok video….see it here
WE have a bit of a long lie then, while Margaret’s preparing breakfast I plant a bunch vegetable ‘plugs’ our pal Sandy left for us. They need taken out their trays and properly planted.
I did some during the week but ran out of compost. I get a load more done before the rain comes.
After breakfast it’s still dry so I cut the grass then hit the studio. I wanna try my first TikTok post.
Rather than re-purposing video I decide to try and do something that will lip-sync to the chorus of Devil’s Left Hand using the real recording so other folks can use the sound and imitate it. That’s the idea, anyway!
It takes me a while to work out how to do it but eventually get there and post it. Not expecting much traction – after all it is only one, short first-time post.
I go a walk up the lochside – my first proper exercise in a few days – then prepare a bit of flank steak for sous vide cooking in the Instant Pot.
UNSUPRISINGLY I’m a little burst when I wake up. Showell and Nancy have to check out their accommodation by 10am, so they’ll be here soon after. We need to get up!
By the time I’m out the shower Margaret’s got breakfast well underway. We site act, chat and drink coffee until nearly lunchtime when our guests hit the road. It’s been a grand visit.
There’s a few things to get done in the studio including setting up a video edit for yet another couple of songs from the Memorial Hall show. be good to get them done before Monday so there’s not too much oaf a last minute panic.
Back at the house Margaret’s watching Andy Murray playing in some tournament in Stuttgart…I watch a little then crash on the couch.
There’s some pavlova leftover from last night so we take it along for Betty and Joe and end up staying for a pre-dinner glass of wine.
Back home it’s pizza time and a relatively calm and early night!
