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

This is always a gently informative read. I had to smile wryly at the advert for ISAs that was stuffed in the magazine shrink wrap, though. I thought to myself, “now there’s someone who’s really thought about their target audience”

BD

Enjoyed playing the Metropole last night – another one to thank Nacho Jase for. Was good to have a few friends watching, and didn’t really want to stop playing.

Drive home was a bit hairy – down to 5 mph at one point going into Minstead, with my friend blithely saying ‘just a little dip here’ and me thinking ‘we’re going car skiing into that bloke’s garden’

BD

They just said “Roll the tape.” No rehearsal or nothing …. Muddy [Waters] didn’t come in and say, “I wanna rehearse.” He used to look at me and say, “Let’s just play the blues. That’s all you need to do.” Buddy Guy

Jas Obrecht, “Buddy Guy: The Happiest Man Alive,” Guitar Player (June 1993): 88-96

The quote was reproduced in Zen Guitar, by Philip Toshio Sudo, which I strongly recommend to everyone!

The Credit Crunch Song was picked up by the Tony Horne radio show this week, via their YouTube feature: Link here:

This week’s Best of YouTube

Very nice to finally meet Nicholas Dobson and Michael Mellender at the ICS Dragon’s Ball last night. Their enthusiasm for making music is really inspiring – very glad they made it over the pond to Europe. Am now the proud owner of an ICS ‘Destroy’ T-shirt

It was also very nice to see the Plan C Allstars and Buffalo Typewriter playing – both bands were formed specifically for this gig. I think it was the first time the guys in each act had played for many, many years. Highlight for me? Brother Buffalo’s searing synth solo in ‘Over the Line’ – very loud, and the crowd loved it.

BD

Just had my first Speech Level Singing class with SSPS. Frightening!  I can feel cavitities resonating in my head that I didn’t know existed as I hit notes I didn’t know I could sing. Goodness knows what I will sound like after a few months of this!