I finish off a wee run of new ‘acoustic guitar’ pins….now available in my online store
OFF to Balloch for my weekly Thursday morning session with some of the kids. We have a productive morning and two kids in particular are showing a lot of promise 🙂
A visit to the supermarket then home for lunch.
In the office I carry on with my new guitar pin prototypes then hit the studio where I do edit some video for my pal Kevin’s new single release tomorrow (Friday). I also prep a new landing page for his website which’ll go live at midnight.
Back in the office I finish the first batch of guitar pins and a pendant then it’s time for dinner…and for the first time in ages, we sit and watch a film… Poms. Margaret’s choice 😉
Great to catch our pals the Bonnevilles at McChuill’s on the first night of their UK tour…
I GET most of the day’s admin, emails and social media posting etc out the way by the time the postie drops off a wee router I ordered from. Amazon.
The router – if it works – is for the Behringer X-Air mixer. I’m not sure how these mixers are still selling as Behringer haven’t updated the control app in years and it now doesn’t work It’s only a third party developer’s app – Mixing Station – that has saved these X-Air mixers from becoming useless bricks.
And wheel the X-Air has built-in wifi connectivity, it’s flaky, especially in a crowded wifi zone so it really needs an external router. I’d been using an old BT Homehub but it isn’t ideal for a too many reasons to go into here. I found a small, USB-powered – and most importantly cheap – router from GL.iNet on Amazon. If it’s no use it can go back.
I get it rigged up with the mixer in the studio and it works a treat. Between that and the Mixing Station app I think we’re sorted. Still, I have my eye on one of the new Allen & heath digital mixers 😉
After lunch I design some prototype ‘regular’ guitar pins and pendants. Keen to add to my range and a regular kinda guitar might have a wider appeal. I do some test castings before it’s time to head into Glasgow. Shopping then off to see our pals the Bonnevilles at McChiuill’s.
We hit Costco where we also have ‘dinner’..then Tesco…then the gig. A grand night 🙂
FIRST job is to finish editing a video of Meet me in the City from the recent show at The Cluny, Newcastle. I’ll keep it under wraps until it’s been shown in next Monday’s (11 March) Wildcats Facebook livestream.
My video ads for the Dunfermline show have been running for an over a week and the stats indicate it’s been shown to some folks more than once. That means I should probably change ‘the creative’ to freshen things up.
I identify some recent video clips, add titles and edit up square, vertical and widescreen (see above) and update the creative in my ads.
In between times there’s visit from a late afternoon guitar student.
After a chat with my pal Blair who’s organising a Parkinsons UK fundraiser (18 May) I set up a ticket link on his behalf and start posters and socials artwork
Suddenly it’s after seven and I need to start prep for dinner…Mikey’s here and Betty’s coming…Asian salmon and cold soba noodles…
I MANAGE to get through quite a lot of my to-do list before my first Zoom guitar student of the day.
There’s a little more work and stuff to do before I go public with my Loch Lomond Business Directory website and I want to try and get a few folks to add advance listings…not just so it’s got some content, but also to test the system.
There’s some poster at to be done for the May show in Kirkcaldy then I prep for another Zoom guitar session – earlier than usual as I have a meeting tonight. No livestream tonight either.
After the Zoom lesson I have an in-person student arriving.
Once done, I get out for a wee walk, stopping in at Betty’s to take some photos of her electricity meters.
We head to the village hall for a community hydro scheme info meeting – grant applications opened on Friday and local groups have a couple of months to submit their ideas and applications.
FEELING pretty rubbish today…aching all over and the lurgy really seems to have got me!
When I finally drag myself out of bed and have breakfast I try and pull myself together, head outside and stack the wood I cut yesterday in the woodshed…then start splitting some more.
Fiona rolls up late afternoon and we go for a paddle. It’s a lovely calm evening and nice to get out on the water. Glad I pushed myself to do it.
In the studio I do a little more work on the local business directory website I’ve been pulling together. Very much still a work in progress, but I can maybe start inviting folks to add their info over the next few days then ‘go public’.
Mikey rolls up in time for (a late) dinner…he’s back on a local job tomorrow….
I get through a fair bit of wood before I’m rained off!
WE have a long lie drinking coffee and watching Saturday Kitchen in bed…I deal with all my emails and socials at the same time.
I’d planned to go for a paddle but the wind’s picked up so I postponed ’til tomorrow and finish off the packaging for the big batch of wedding fridge magnets instead. Good to have them done and ready for collection.
Next job is to tackle some of the wood that needs split and chopped. I get through a fair bit of it before the rain calls a halt to my efforts. Maybe no bad thing as I really need to make space and deal with some of the stuff in the wood shed before I do any more. Maybe tomorrow 😉
I spend a little time messing in the studio then we have dinner and go along to Betty’s where we enjoy a few drinks and a blether with Betty and her pal Liz.
A LUCKY glance out the kitchen window reminds me I have a guitar student coming later this morning.
She usually takes her dogs for a walk after her lesson, but it’s a nice day and it looks like she’s come early doors to take the dogs out first.
My pal Kevin’s new single Manos Arriba is out next Friday (8 March) and I’d suggested making it available to folks on his email list in advance via Bandcamp. So priority today is to overhaul his Bandcamp page, add a clickable image map to the header and get the new single uploaded and profiled.
Once done I get an email out to his mailing list.
Some more finishing and packing prep to be done for the big batch of wedding fridge magnets then email from t-shirt guru Kenny tells em my merch order is ready for pickup.
With no planned trips into Glasgow we decide to make a detour and pick them up then go straight to our pals in Helensburgh. The timing works out just right.
We have a grand night and my abstinence from the bevvy (over a year now!) means I can drive home.
Loch Lomond Home…a bit off a curve-ball for my encore at The Muse, Brecon….
OFF to the school first thing. After a good session I stop off at Aldi on the way home to pick up some alcohol-free Joker IPA…my current favourite and a bargain at £1.39 for a ‘proper’ sized can! There’s some other stuff we need too.
There’s still some work to be done on the packaging for the batch of wedding fridge magnets someone has ordered for their wedding guests so I run some ideas past the client.
I spend most of the afternoon creating content and posting for both my upcoming shows and also West Highland Way Gifts’ stuff which I’ve been neglecting a bit lately. I also post the v idea of Loch Lomond Home form the Brecon show a couple weeks ago – the full ‘widescreen’ video plus vertical edits for Tiktok and Facebook/Instagram reels.
The lighter evenings mean I can head out for a walk up the lochside even though it’s after 5pm.
Back in the studio I do some video editing for a pal. When I go back to the house Betty’s arrived and dinner is nearly ready….
NORMALLY my Wednesday morning guitar student comes into the house for her lesson, but Mikey’s working on the downpipes and the place is a mess, so we decamp to the studio.
I get a batch of t-shirts ordered then, after lunch, spend the rest of the day getting my news release about Kevin’s forthcoming single off to various press and online journalist contacts.
For dinner I have a stab at making mushroom stroganoff. Turns out really good – only improvement might be to use wholegrain mustard instead of Dijon…I don’t have any wholegrain.
We enjoy it while watching a slightly off-kilter film called Freelance which, to me anyway, is almost a spoof. Then bed…early start to go to the school tomorrow (Thursday).
MY pal Kevin’s coming to do through some promo stuff for his upcoming single. I also wanna film some green screen stuff for social content over coming weeks.
I have a mad dash to r studio to tidy up and set up the space before he arrives.
We spend a few hours ticking some things off the to-do list and we get one rough video footage in the bag.
The afternoon is spent on admin stuff in the office and getting a couple of merch orders packed up and postage applied – Margaert’s of to a meeting in Stirling so can drop them off at a post office.
Back in the house I do some prep for pulled pork tacos – Margaret’ll pick up a sandwich and get some shopping in Stirling after her meeting. I spend some time on the local business/skill directory idea then when Mikey gets back we have our tacos….
