AFTER an early online session with one of my remote guitar students I get back onto the website/hosting issue.
My next idea is to update Divi – one of the core building blocks on some of my sites – to a new version. It’s still in beta, but promises to be less resource hungry so it’s gotta be worth a try. I get all the sites that use it migrated fine…except this one, which throws up constraint errors in the process. Interestingly when I try to export all the posts from this blog in xml format for my archives the process crashes out. Mmm… yet another rabbit hole to go down. And again I’m out of time…
Today’s priority job is calling round the journals and radio folks in Sheffield, Huddersfield and surrounding Yorkshire before sending them news releases etc. My media database is pretty out of date, not least because of the changing nature (definitely not for the better) of the ‘traditional’ media.
A lot of the local and regional press has either fallen away or been bought over by bigger media organisations, and many of the staffers have been made laid off and it made impossible to reach anyone directly. A lot of radio has gone the same way and a lot of the music blogs that rose so rapidly have declined and/or disappeared even quicker.
Still, I get to chat with a few folks then move onto some social media stuff….then a walk yup the lochside before it’s dark.
THE website/hosting issue is really starting to piss me off. Thankfully it doesn’t seem to have interferred with a bunch of orders come through from folks in my Facebook Wildcats’ group ordering some of the ‘new old solid out stock’ I brought back from NYC and added to the web shop yesterday. I haven’t spread the word beyond the group yet.
Once orders are all packed up and ready to go I get back onto the website stuff and one by one, go through each site deleting any unused plugins and scripts in case they’re adding to the resource usage on the server. It seems to lighten the load a little, but things still aren’t right. I’m out of time for today tho’ and need to move on to other priority stuff…I’ll revisit (again) tomorrow!
Next job is edit promo video for upcoming shows in Yorkshire, Aldershot and Brighton as well as the fundraiser on 28 February for our local village hall. I need widescreen, square and vertical videos for each.
The videos take a while then I write up a news release for the Sheffield and Huddersfield shows coming up in a fortnight.
Betty’s daughter Kirsty and granddaughter Laurie are visiting from the USA and we’ve got to know them well having spent time with them both here and there…so we’ve invited them, along with Betty’s other daughter Shona, for dinner and have a grand night of laughs, food and drink
BACK to my usual Monday morning routine of getting the oven on early for the sourdough – then coffee and emails etc in bed as it bakes closed and open. Then out to cool for an hour.
After a mid morning online guitar session I spend a good few hours trying to work out what is causing the huge slowdown of all the websites. The hosting company says something is causing overload faults but I;m not so sure…this only started happening after a forced upgrade to PHP 8.4.
I strike a couple of possible causes off the list then resolve to check out potential memory issues – but that’ll have to wait ‘til tomorrow as my late afternoon guitar student is due any minute.
After the lesson I hit the studio and edit some video to spin into tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream on Facebook…then set about other prep….
AFTER breakfast I cut a mount to frame up something for Betty then take it along to her…along the way I bump into Michelle McManus and her family and have a quick chat. Haven’t seen her in ages.
Back home I prep the smoker and a huge slab of pork belly, get it all going then inflate the paddle board.
Once the temperature in the pit has stabilized I get the pork in and go for a wee paddle on the loch.
I work on a one-off bi of merch in the office then have a nap while the pork finishes off in the smoker. It takes a while so we have a late dinner – the pork turns out amusing and we enjoy it with rice, beans and a homemade Japanese BBQ sauce…
WE’RE finishing breakfast when Catriona and the kids arrive…and the usual chaos ensues 🙂
After coffee and chat they all walk along to see Betty and I get on with some work.
I get through a few of the things on my list then we film a wee piece for the local church heritage trust website…the church is closed and a small group of local volunteers is trying to secure community ownership. They’ve asked for video clips about the project.
Then it’s time to go to the village hall for a Burns supper and ceilidh….
Nice to have some quotes in Paul Slade’s book about classic murder ballads. On Amazon here.
ANOTHER lie in…I’ll blame jet lag although I don’t think I have it!
After a late breakfast I get some work done then we go for a swim and sauna at the hotel in the village.
There’s no word from the music supervisor about the Heroes’ vocals other than a note saying thanks for turning it round so quick. He’s passed it onto the producer and we’ll know more over the weekend. I was under the impression that everything was urgent as the track was being pitched today. Ah well, I’ve done enough of these things to be familiar with the “it’s urgent, we need it tomorrow” then they sit on it for weeks!
I have a young guitar student in for his second lesson then I marinade some chicken for the grill later.
MARGARET wakes me at 9.40am. My alarm’s been going since 7.45am and I was meant to be online with one of my guitar students at 9am. Fuck.
I call my student, apologies and we re-schedule. Thankfully he’s cool with it and understands.
We head off into Glasgow to a funeral stopping at Costco to pick up some stuff. I get a call from a music supervisor asking if I can record some vocals on a version of Bowie’s Heroes for a video game trailer. He’s looking for a Johnny Cash meets Iggy world-weary vocal and our pal Olaf has suggested I might fit the bill. I’ll take it as a compliment!
I’m uncertain of my vocal abilities to pull it off but they’ve checked out a load of my stuff and seem convinced I can do it. The reference tracks will be emailed over and I’ll give it a bash when we get home.
The funeral service is perfect for the occasion and I’m sorry we can’t go on to the purvey – I have a young guitar student coming later this afternoon and I can’t move the session.
Once the guitar session is done I load the reference tracks for Heroes into my DAW (UA Luna for those that are interested) and get busy. I get something down and share it with the music supervisor and his team….
Then it’s a late dinner before heading to the local pub to join Betty and some of her family for a drink to celebrate her 80th birthday…then back to hers for more wine!
THE PLANE lands in Edinburgh around 8.30am and we have a smooth passage through passport control, baggage reclaim and on to the car park bus.
My right eye – the one that had the cataract op back in October has been a bit weird for the last month or so...and even more noticeable while we were away, so I call the optician to discuss and get an appointment for this afternoon.
We pick up some shopping in Stirling and we're not long home when Margaret's new iPhone arrives.She's had memory and battery issues for ages and everytime we fix one problem another two come up. It's give or six generations out of date so really is time for an upgrade. I've decided to try and keep my clunky old phone going in the meantime,
The it's back in the car to the opticians in town – there's nothing immediately concerning and we head home.
WE have a lazy morning at Ginny’s – I get some online stuff done while Margaret packs the bags.
The rest of the morning is spent drinking coffee and chatting until it’s time for us to get an Uber ride into Penn station.
New Jersey Transit isn’t the most intuitive but we get to Newark to find the Airtrain to all terminals is out of action so we get a bus transfer to our terminal.
Once through security we find something to eat then make our way to the gate, Next stop….Edinburgh. In the morning.
AFTER a relaxed morning drinking coffee and enjoying bagels and cream cheese while updating my socials we head outside.
There’s still a lot of snow but the pavements (sidewalks!) are fairly clear. We walk to the subway and jump on a train to Penn where we buy tickets for tomorrow’s journey to the airport.
We stop for a sandwich then wander back to the apartment piking up ingredient for dinner along the way…I’m cooking dinner for everyone tonight. Pasta with cherry tomatoes, basil and parmesan.
