Had a great night at the Betsey last night, with a surprising amount of Veuve Clicquot being consumed by such a select audience. Thanks again to Blackheart and Karl Culley for some great music, and for the Lodge for being the most wonderfully supportive bunch of nutters as usual.

The single is on Amazon now – here’s a short link:  dalby.net/doctor

Finally a quick link to Karl on YouTube – live, this song went on for about 5 minutes, and was just jaw-dropping:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw3RWKCMkxo

So I get sent an email saying ‘We’re considering using your music for our up and coming acts CD – please check over the license agreement, and then let us know if you can speak to our President/CEO/Whatever at 16.00 tomorrow’

First thought is: Great – someone likes a track and wants to use it.

Then I read the licensing agreement. I have to pay them 300 USD. And so too, presumably, do the other 19 acts who are going to feature on the 20-track CD. So that’s a cool 6,000 USD for these guys, and as far as I can tell, they only need to make a couple of hundred CDs to satisfy each act that the project is real.

Once you figure it out, the vagueness of the opening mail becomes clearer. It’s obviously being sent to every act under the sun, so whilst the mail merge is sophisticated enough to mention your act by name, it doesn’t go into details like which track they like, or why they like it.

Nice work if you can get it, eh?

I know a lot of people will be wise to this kind of thing, but I could certainly have used other artists being open about this a few years back – so here’s my 2p now.

Had a load of fun on Dave Charles’ show last night. Played ‘Catastrophic Sheep’ and ‘Are You Real’ live, with the Mark Wallis mixes of ‘Doctor Can,’ ‘Go Figure It Out,’ and ‘Go Find Somebody Else’ all going out off the EP (that’s the EP I have to plan a release for, I know…)

Dave’s an inspiring guy to meet, who’s really trying to help new acts – his show is on Sunday night from 19.00 to 22.00 – check it out if you’re in the area:

http://www.davecharlesshow.co.uk/

Steve Lamacq played ‘Symphony of Silence’ on his Wednesday evening show, and was also nice about ‘Doctor Can.’ Also explained the lengths he had gone to try and download the track without success … listen again here – about 20 minutes in:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p2869

Verse 1
Doctor can you help me
I’m worried about my friend
She helps so many people
But she never helps herself
Have you seen it before?
Should I say any more?

Doctor she’s fantastic
She works so hard
She acts just like a grown up
But she wants to hide her heart
Would/will it hurt to be free?
Will she share it with me?

Chorus
No she won’t.
No, no, no She won’t.
No, no, no She won’t.
She don’t want sympathy

Verse 2
Doctor can you help me
I’m feeling low
I tried to help a good friend
But she didn’t want to know
She just smiled at me
And she don’t want to see

Chorus
No she don’t.
No, no, no She don’t.
No, no, no She don’t.
She don’t need help from me

Verse 4
Doctor can you see her
She’s sitting in this room
She’s checking on a patient
It’s funny but it’s true
Now she’s laughing at me
Can you get her to see?

Chorus
But/Oh she won’t?
No, no, no She won’t.
No, no, no She won’t.
She won’t take help from me

No she won’t.
No, no, no She won’t.
No, no, no She won’t.
She won’t take sympathy

From me

Lots going on at the moment. ‘Doctor Can’ is just going out into the world – got a few playlistings already, and an acoustic session at HFM radio. Also a nice review on http://www.unpeeled.net/singles.html

Got a good gig coming up on Saturday night at the Verwood Hub, and then a pretty busy week afterwards with slots at the Sunnyfields Biker’s Night, and then onto the Ringwood Waldorf School Bazaar.

Have a couple more tracks in the can from working with Mark Wallis – both sound amazing. Have also got budget to do another session, as soon as I can find space in the day job …

Just did an interview with Paul Turner of 247 Music Radio – going out on Saturday night. His show goes out in Singapore as well as the UK, so was nice to mention ‘Chinese Friends‘ to him.

Picked up a couple of plays on Venture Radio today – 16.55 on Phil Ray’s show, and then 18.20 on Steve Flynn’s slot. Missed both of them because I was driving home, and then doing bathtime Not that I’d miss bathtime though.

‘Farmer’s Son’ was played on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire today, on Keith Wedgebury’s show. Very encouraging

I’d recommend it. He comes across as someone who is both enormously talented and enormously dedicated. There is enough humility and self-examination in the book to make it genuinely moving in places. As with other old timers, his advice to any one new boils down to “if you’re good enough you’ll get your break.” The cost of his “extra-curricular” activities was very high for those around him, as he is the first to acknowledge.

Amazon link here