UP at 6am to get the smoker going for the brisket. Once the temperature has stabilised and the meat in I make some coffee and deal with emails and social media.
After breakfast it’s straight into the studio in time for the first session of this week’s music branding course. I explain that I have to bunk off early today and manage to finish up at lunchtime.
I check the brisket, make some cornbread for later and a batch of BBQ sauce before we head off to Glengoyne where I’m meeting Bill and Showell for a tour – courtesy of out pals at the distillery. Margaret goes back to village where she meets Dorothy and Nancy…Nancy and Showell are staying the local pub tonight, and Dorothy and Bill are with us.
After our tour and whisky tasting, Dorothy arrives to get us home and we enjoy a few beers. The brisket is ready and needs to rest for a couple of hours after I take it out the smoker then we head for a wee walk so Showell and Nancy can see the village.
Back home have another beer then it’s time to eat. I’m a little disappointed in my brisket which is a bit drier that I’d hoped but everyone seems to like it…
Showell and Nancy head off round 11pm, Dorothy goes to bed first followed may Margaret who does all the tidying up and dishes first. Bill and I manage a good few drams before turning in around 3am….
We take Bill, Dorothy, Nancy & Showell a wee wander to the bay
AFTER my guitar student finishes up I get into the studio and deal with the day’s admin tasks, social media etc.
I need to get another couple of live video tracks edited and start offloading some video files from an external drive into Final Cut.
After some arancini for lunch I tackle the office tidy up. Jeez, it really is a mess. I did start the other day but this is a big job!
In between times a courier drops off a brisket I ordered online. We’ve got visitors from the USA tomorrow and I wanna give them a taste of home 😉
It’s still frozen tho’, so I leave it outside to start defrosting. Hopefully by tonight I’ll be able to trim it and put a rub on ready for the smoker early tomorrow. I’m estimating about ten hours but have to allow a little longer…!
I carry on with the clearout but by the time I back to the house to make dinner – Asian salmon, cold soba noodles and steamed sprouting broccoli –it looks messier than when I started. Oh well….
Ramen for lunch again…and the egg isn’t under cooked…that’s drops of chilli oil 🙂
STILL some ‘free + postage’ orders coming in. I get them packed up and down to the post box well before midday then get on with some work.
I take a break and make up a meal plan for the next week and send Margaret a shopping list then head back tot he studio. There’s an assignment to finish off for the music branding course I’m doing via the Academy of Music & Sound.
Ramen again for lunch then I move my attention to the office. It’s in bad need of a clear out and tidy up – mostly because of my merch prototyping and production activities.
I’m still at it when Margaret comes home with the shopping then I start the mushroom risotto to take along to Betty and joe’s for dinner….
I jump on the bike to personally deliver some merch up the loch side 🙂
OOFFT – a few more orders in but not anywhere near the deluge of the first few days of my ‘free + postage’ offers. I pack ’em up, print postage labels and take them to the postbox.
I’ll work out how I want to post them later – meantime, the weather’s fine and I have some merch to deliver further up the lochside. Rather than post it I take the opportunity for a bike ride 🙂
Back home I make some chicken ramen for lunch. By the time it’s ready the sun’s out so I eat in the garden then hit the studio – ;ve decided to release my acoustic version of Wanted (Dead or Alive) as a single. Why not?!
I check the mix and give it a (very) slight tweak then send it off to online mastering service LANDR. Not quite the same as using a proper mastering studio and experienced engineer, but as good as – if not better – than I could turn out myself if I’d a few hours to spare. At £7.50 for pretty much instant turnaround it does a decent job.
As well as getting the audio files and related metadata to my digital distributor (or ‘aggregator’) I realise I have no artwork so mess around a while and come up with a quick’n’dirty bit of artwork. Not exactly ward-winning art, but it’s a means to an end and I don’t have time to fart around too much. Release date is set for Friday 15 July.
We’ve got folks coming on Friday/Saturday and one of the chairs at the dining table needs a repair. I find some wood glue, a wee piece of felt to help jam the spar in and attempt a repair.
Margaret picked up a bargain at the supermarket yesterday – three monkfish fillets for three quid! Yup, three quid…normally would be over £20. I vacuum pack one and put it in the freezer. the other two are topped with tomato puree and chopped black olives then wrapped in parma ham and put in the over for 20 minutes. Turns out good!
A regular guitar song amongst the content in my Wildcats’ livestream…join for free here
AS soon as the day’s admin is out the way I get busy with the ‘free + postage’ mailings.
There’s zillions fo packages to be made up and postage labels, customs forms and all sorts to be done. I take a break for a session with one of my Zoom guitar students then carry on.
The sun’s shining so I have my lunch in the garden then continue the merch mailings. Apart form another break to take a walk up the lochside, I ‘m at it right until it’s time for weekly livestream into my Facebook group.
There’s some jambalaya left form last night which we have for dinner then it’s back to the office – more mailing labels. Worth it tho’…the ‘free + postage’ has brought in over £700-worth of additional merch sales 🙂
AS soon as I’m finished breakfast hit the office and work on finishing some of the ‘on-demand’ merch items that have been ordered along with the ‘free + postage’ CDs.
I want to prioritise the orders that have additional items so sort my spreadsheet, print it out and start making up the packages.
After a quick lunch break in the sun, I pass the leather hat patches and bottleneck pouches to Margaret for sewing and carry on packing. Once the priority ones are done I start creating online postage labels and get them ready for the post office tomorrow (Monday).
Having spent all day on the orders I go inside and start cooking up some jambalaya…and crack open a beer.
WE all have a bit of a long lie. I get some more online orders for the ‘free plus postage’ and additional merch orders logged on a s spreadsheet so I can work out what other items I need to retrieve from the merch store or – like hats, flasks and leather bracelets – I need to start making.
It’s a lovely day and Matty and I take a walk along to the community lunch in the next village and hang out for a wee while. When we get back Betty’s dropped by to see Margaret and Will and the kids have also rolled up.
I chat in between checking the merch processing then everyone goes their separate ways and we head to Duncan and Irene’s for a cook out.
Duncan’s bought a smoker and is keen for us to try the results of his new found interest.
Tom and Joyce are there when we arrive and we sit outside and enjoy a great spread of grub.
Made both the front page and page three in the paper 🙂
I WAKE up to front page news (again!) in the Stirling Observer about our paddlebaord fundraiser. Nice.
No time to gloat, though – I’ve a full day on the music branding course from the Academy of Music & Sound which is running every Friday and still has a few weeks to go.
It’s a busy day, and when I finish up with coursework I see my my inbox is flooded with more orders for ‘free plus postage’ CDs. I panic about overselling then take a look in the studio loft and find some backup supplies…along with a bunch of Bed Salts’n’All – an a album form Tim Elliott & the Troublemakers I put out in 2001.
This free plus postage idea is the best I;ve had in. while as folks are ordering other stuff – a lot of stuff – from my merch store. I spend a while collating orders then close ups he studio.
Matty’s arrived for the night and the weather’s great..we sit int eh garden and enjoy a few beers then I grill the marinaded chicken….
Local piper Willie Park entertains at Buchanan’s jubilee celebration
A LOT of the routine stuff is done by the time my regular Thursday morning guitar student arrives.
My ‘free plus postage’ offer has been pretty successful, especially as many folks are buying other stuff from the online store. Once I have all the orders packed up I realise I’ve only promoted the offer on social media…and haven’t sent anything out to my email list. I do that immediately.
I also notice that I’m in danger of not having enough stock to fulfil the orders so I check quantities remaining and put one stock control measures in place and make up some alternative bundles. Just as well as the orders are flooding in!
There’s a report to be done as one of the assignments in the music branding course I’m doing every Friday for the next few weeks so I make a start and hope to finish it in the morning before class starts.
We have an early dinner and take a walk to the next village where there’s a community jubilee party – hog roast, bonfire, beer etc. It’s nice to see so many local folks out and enjoying a social event. And the midges aren’t too bad 🙂
It’s quite late when we wander back home and have a nightcap….
I decide to clear out some old stock from the merch store and set up some ‘free + postage’ deals
IT’S the first of the month and all the direct debits and stuff have cleared out my bank account and PayPal…we’re officially skint again! Need to think of some ways to bring in some dosh.
Once one of my online guitar lessons is out the way I jump on the bike and head to the village to pick up a prescription. Nice to get out on the bike again after a month of paddleboarding.
After lunch I tackle the wetsuit – or should I say ‘sweatsuit’ – cleaning. My winter wetsuit was rinsed after I last used it (March?) and my thinner ‘summer’ wetsuit hasn’t ever been properly cleaned. The cleaner I ordered the other has arrived so I set about deep cleaning both wetsuits, my boots and gloves. It’s quite a nice day so they can hang up under the gazebo to dry.
The immediate cash crisis motivates me to set up the ‘free + postage’ deals on old merch stock that I’ve been ‘thinking’ about doing for a few weeks now. I set up the deals in my online shop, take a promo snap and spread the word.
I’m done in time to take dinner along to Betty and Joe’s where we have another fine evening with our pals.
