I have a long telephone meeting which finishes just as my final guitar student arrives for her late afternoon lesson.
There’s a couple of wee jobs in the studio – a radio indent for a new programme coming soon on Black Diamond FM and some guitar ideas for a co-writing project I’m working on.
Suddenly it’s time for the Wildcats’ livestream..then back to the house for dinner….
Homesick & Blue from Saturday’s Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival show…
WE HAVE a seriously long lie. Musta been needing the rest!
While Margaret makes ‘breakfast’ I take the gear back to the studio and try and tidy up a little.
Once we’ve eaten I go back to the studio and spend the rest of the afternoon editing video from yesterday’s (Saturday) show at the Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival. There’s three songs I wanna edit up.
It’s been positing rain since we got up but early evening there’s a break in the weather and I nip out for some much needed exercise and fresh air.
Then it’s back into the studio to finish my three edits before a late dinner.
Margaret caught this pic during my set at the Great British Rythym and Blues Festival, Colne….
AFTER breakfast at Rodge and Jan’s we drive to the Little Theatre to load in for my Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival set
Our pal Tom Attah is stage manager and makes everything go smooth – from load in to set up and soundcheck. The venue has a new foyer and the perfect spot for Margaret to set up merch.
I have a full house for my show and have one of my best ‘playing’ experiences ever. Everything just clicks into place from the audience, venue, sound/production to my comfort and performance.
Nice to get a chance to chat with folks buying merch after the show then we laid out and hit the road.
We’d have liked to hang out and catch some of the other artists and pals but we really need to get back put he road tonight.
Margaret does all the driving and we stop in Glasgow for some shopping – then home, a late dinner and a movie…and bed.
Great to catch up with our pals Chris and Mary…and get to Colne in time to catch Chris’s show 🙂
MARGARET’s birthday today….but not much time for celebrations as we need to get packed and hit the road to Colne.
Margaret sorts the merch while I get the gear and mark some sandwiches for the journey.
We stop at the bank in Milngavie – our nearest! – then make for Colne only stopping for a toilet break and to swap driving.
It’s 5pm when we get to Rodge and Jan’s and drop the bags before hitting the town to catch our pal Chris Martin who’s playing a ‘fringe’ venue at 5.30pm.
Next we wander to another venue for Walter Mitty’s Head then one more stop at The Dressers where there’s a band called Reivers before beading back to Rodge and Jan’s.
BACK to school! I got as message from the school in Balloch yesterday to see if was available to come in today (Thursday). Sure 🙂
I’m back home by midday and get busy finishing a batch of resonator guitar pins for the merch table on Saturday.
One of my online guitar students had an issue with Zoom and wants top do a quick test at 1pm….then back to the mercy.
After lunch I have a Zoom meeting with someone wanting to do some co-writing. We have a good chat and get the wheels in motion.
Finally I get a couple of hours to finish the guitar pins then I make up a set list for Saturday before going for a wander up the lochside. Seems ages since I got out for a walk…and the first brambles of the year!
OUR pal Sam drops by after breakfast to discuss a new website – actually, it’s more of a re-purposing of a now irrelevant website I did for her a few years ago.
After lunch I get some work done one the merch for this weekend’s show before my mid-afternoon guitar student arrives.
There’s a short break then a potential student and his dad rock up for a chat.
Once I’m clear I finish the draft news release for the local hydro society and circulate around my fellow directors…then we hit the local pub with Betty for an early celebration. It’s Margaret’s birthday on Friday…
AFTER coffee and emails I jump in the shower. When I get out I realise I have an online guitar student in five minuets, so a bit of a scramble to get sorted!
There’s a fair bit of merch needing made up for Saturday’s show at the Great British R&B Festival in Colne – caps and resonator guitar pins in particular. I engrave and cut a bunch of leather patches for the caps then cast a bunch of pins.
The leather patches need cleaned and put aside to dry. The guitar pins are pretty rough and need the spurs cut of and some tidying up round the edges.
I manage to get ’em all done before we head to Glasgow for the MRI scan re-scheduled from yesterday.
We stop at the village hall for a local community trust meeting then home for a late dinner.
AN EARLY start as I have all today’s online guitar lessons crammed into the morning as I have an MRI scan in Glasgow early afternoon.
I say cheerio to Les ‘cos I’ll be mid-lesson when she heads off. Jim and Hazel are tidying up their van ready to leave when I hit the studio…then my lessons kick off.
Back in the house I’m grabbing a coffee before the last session when the hospital calls – the MRI machine is down. The scan is rearranged for tomorrow (Tuesday) evening.
After the online session with my last session I rearrange the other stuff planned for Glasgow this afternoon for tomorrow – then reschedule the stuff for tomorrow afternoon and evening. Ooofffft!
I let my afternoon student know they can revert to the original time which they’r happy about.
Meantime, Margaret’s done a huge amount of post-party tidying up!
After my final lesson I prep for my Wildcats’ live-stream on Facebook including editing some video from Saturday’s garden gig to spin into the livestream.
UP EARLY – we’re hosting a garden get-together this afternoon and there’s lots to do.
While Margret gets breakfast sorted I hit the studio and get all the gear dumped after yesterday’s garden concert cleared up and re-connected.
After breakfast Bill and Dorothy head off and I get the gazebos back up to full height in the garden and some other stuff sorted while les and Margaret prep a load of stuff in the kitchen.
I go back to the studio to catch up on load of stuff then back to finish helping. Mikey’s arrived and it’s all hands on deck.
We have a brilliant afternoon of chat, food and drink with pals, relatives and neighbours.
I MAKE breakfast burritos then we get to work preparing for this afternoon’s garden concert.
First job is getting th gazebos up and secure…then sorting seating , tables and other stuff.
The PA, other sound gear and instruments get carted from the studio and and we soundcheck successfully without much bother, the EV PA definitely makes thing easier and less stressful.
Setting up the livestream, though, doesn’t;t go quite as smoothly. I have a camera set up outside and cables coming in to a switcher connected to the computer.
My ‘house’ laptop keeps crashing OBS so we try Margaret’s. It won’t even start up properly!
I try and old laptop from the office that’s used to control the laser but it’s too old to run the OBS live-streaming software and we eventually resort to Bill’s laptop.
Gates have been open for half and hour and it’s almost time for Bill to play by the time we get it sorted. I may have been a little stressed 😉
The afternoon goes great tho’ and we have a good crowd – we all have a blast 🙂
…and is joined by Dorothy for a couple of songs in his set.
