THERE’S a fair amount on my to-do list today so I’m up at a decent time and freight into the studio after breakfast.
As usual there’s prep for tomorrow (Sunday) night’s radio show. But I also have you think about the next two shows which will have to be prepared well in advance. We’re away Thursday to Sunday this coming well, then the following week we’re off to the Netherlands for BluesRoute Helmond.
Helen arrrives with the dug for coffee and they all hang out for a while.I go back to this studio and live them to chat.
Ticket links and info are in for the Americana mini-fest I’m playing in Hebden Bridge at the end of November so I get it on all my online listings and post some stress on my socials. I also need to update all the banner/cover pix on YouTube, LinkedIn, X/Twitter etc to show the upcoming Scotland shows.
Then it’s back to going through music submissions and starting to pull together an outline for the radio show.
We head along to Betty’s for dinner with Seaonaidh and Michelle and have a grand evening catching up.
NO TIME for lazing about today. Margaret has arranged a visit to the affordable housing for her fellow ELLCT (East Loch Lomond Community Trust) trustees and Betty to check out progress the trust-owned key worker housing and I've been roped int o take some snaps.
Everyone comes back to ours for coffee and I hit the studio to sort out the photos.
After lunch I go back to the studio and manage to get a recording of Cuttin' it Fine in the bag. A rough mix and it seems like it's good and pull off a final mix before the first of today's guitar lessons – this one's online then an in-person lesson right after.
A few minor tweaks to the mix then a basic mastering session. I decide on a release date of Friday 27 November and start adding metadata to the audio files....
It takes a lot longer than I expect to come up with new shirt/hoodie art!
I SPEND a fair bit of time on emails, admin and socials while driving coffee before breakfast.
An order comes in for some Loch Lomond earrings – clearly not ‘Dave Arcari’ merch, via the side gig westhighlandwaygifts.co.uk. There’s been a dramatic dip in sales since Brexit and increased postage/customs charges as most of the orders had been coming from outside the UK.
I don’t have any of the earrings made up so spend an unplanned couple of hours making a batch. I also need to dig out some black/gold acrylic for some reso guitar earrings.
Then it’s back onto t-shirt art. I have laugh of ideas round a similar theme but getting any of them to work is, let’s say, challenging. And I’m not willing to let AI help out for this kinda thing.
Eventually I come up with something and send it off to our t-shirt guy Kenny and give him a heads up on quantities and sizes of Ts and hoodies we’ll need. Hopefully he can make the design work.
Betty arrives Just before 8pm and I get chicken fajitas on the go then we all sit and watch Slow Horses. That latest series of drills. Good watch but the storylines are convoluted and…erm…slow. Pardon the pun.
AFTER an early online guitar session I have breakfast then go out for a paddle. As well as some exercise – and fun – it has an alterior motive…get some video footage for a reel with a general update.
I get home, shower, lunch then edit the video and post it round my socials. Next job is to make a vertical video clip with a wee bit of the new song to post as a reel.
Back in the studio I carry on trying out ideas for new t-shirts/hoodies. I can’t seem the guys I have on may mind to work in reality so juggle colours and variations.
By the time my evening guitar student arrives I’m no further on with the design and put it to the back of mind…until tomorrow.
I MANAGE to get most of my routine stuff done and last night’s Dave Arcari’s Deep Blues radio show uploaded to my Mixcloud before we head into Glasgow where we have a couple of appointments.
Once we’re clear we stop at Costco for a late lunch and some shopping then homeward bound.
Everything's pretty much ready for tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream on Facebook and I have some time before I go live so I get to work on some new t-shirt ideas.
Margaret and I both like the ‘blues comes in many colours’ idea but I’m not convinced of the old shirt design…I wanna take this ethos and make the shirt print more interesting…I get a rough idea ready to drop into the livestream for feedback.
The livestream goes roughly to plan then back to the house for dinner….
A LOT on the ‘the list’ today, so up early and into the studio to go through music submissions and get everything prepped for tonight’s (Sunday)Dave Arcari’s Deep Blues show on rock.scot.
Margaret’s got breakfast on the go and when Mikey gets back from the village we all have breakfast and I go back to the studio.
Once I have my ducks in a row for the radio show I get the car to the studio, unpack all the gear and get everything sorted out, tidied up and put away. It’s a job!
Next, I film a wee promo for tonight’s radio show giving some teasers about what’s gonna be featured and post it round various socials and other places online.
Then, video. I dump last night’s gig footage from the two cameras and take a look. It’s the first time I’ve tried this set up and there’s a bunch of rookie errors but the footage is good enough to edit some stuff together to spin into tomorrow’s (Monday) Wildcats’ livestream on Facebook.
I’M AWAKE early and think about getting up…then fall back to sleep until Margaret wakes me saying “it’s half past ten”! Fuck sake!
We have a coffee and nI deal with email and socials, doing a load of ‘on the day’ promo for tonight’s (Saturday) fundraiser show at Kilmaronock Old Kirk.
After breakfast I get a little bit of prep done for the radio show then start getting gear together for this evening. PA, lighting, cameras, audio recorder etc…plus, of course, guitars and stuff. With all this plus merch and Mikey it’s a tight squeeze, but everything gets in the car and we head for the Old Kirk to get set up.
All goes to plan and we’re pretty much good to go when doors open at 7pm.
While there’s a good turnout, the attendance from Gartocharn and surrounding area is disappointing considering the event is for their benefit. Thankfully a load of support from our area and folks travelling from outside the area make it all a success.
FIRST job of the day is posting a vertical video promo for Saturday’s show round the socials and stuff.
Next, finishing off the brass guitar pins ready for the merch case then it’s onto finishing the design for the ‘tap to pay’ tip jar.
I enjoy the challenge of designing stuff for 3D printing and am trying out a new app called Layerling which seems to fill he gap between simplistic design tools like Tinkercad and over-complicated (for hobbyists, anyway) Fusion360. It’s really good!
However, when I send it to the 3D printer’s slicer software I see it’s gonna take nine hours to print…and I’m not sure I have enough filament left on the spool. I start it off and hang out to check the first few layers where, if there’s gonna be a problem, any disasters seem to occur. Sure enough, on the second layer the filament comes loose form the build pate and things start the dreaded ‘stringing’. I stop the print, clean the plate…and the same thing happens again. Mmm…no time to sort this as my early evening guitar student is about to arrive.
After the lesson I come up with a plan B and use black acrylic and the laser to make the main body, use a heat gun to help from the base then design and 3D printing the holders to support the gubbins round the back.
Despite not what I first had in mind it looks promising and I bond all the parts together. We’ll see how successful – or otherwise – it is tomorrow!
Mikey arrives while I’m in the studio running through my set for tomorrow’s (Saturday) show at Kilmaronock Old Kirk then do a built of prep for Sunday’s radio show.
WE SPEND a while sitting up in bed drinking coffee and dealing with all the emails, socials etc.
In the office I polish up the brass guitar pins I’ve been making and get them ready for back pins to be attached…then back to the house to work on a design for the ‘tap to give’ enclosure for the card reader, display and other gubbins that will, I hope, make it all work.
After lunch we go to vote and Margaret drops me in the village where I go for a much-needed haircut then back home.
I’m a bit tight for time but get back just in time for an online session with one of USA-based guitar students.
There’s half an hour until my next session – and in-person student and his dad.
Back in the house I have a little time to work on the card reader enclosure before it’s time to make dinner.
