I had a tap on the door (I know most peoples are in the bathroom! ) and it turned out to be a couple of guys from the local church, I most lean off the bluesy Gospel stuff on the piano or the neighbors might get the wrong idea.They left me with a nice book about Abraham and wished me a happy new year so that’s alright…

I need to go out later today and brave the elements for a while and may make the trip to my usual watering-hole in St Albans the White Lion later on where rumour has it that the Frantastics may be playing.

Fairly knackered after the rehearsal I must admit though. Gave the thumbs up to a promotional video for a track from the forthcoming Elephant Shelf Album which Vicky Martin has put together from still images.

Then off to St Albans for a drink at the White Lion which is a bit of a Tuesday night habit. Had some surprising and slightly unsettling news when I got there which I may write about in a week or so.

I spent most of the night wide awake though as if charged with adrenaline which is not at all like me and may be the effects of the meds I am taking. After months of exhaustion and lack of drive its a bit of a shock to the system so I don’t know if its good or bad frankly. I should be working on a new composition but I can’t keep my mind on just one thing at a time right now.

Tomorrow should be a half-day in the studio for the last 2 tracks for the new Elephant Shelf album which feels like its taken for ever, but actually hasn’t really. Will there be jumbo kit-kats on offer at the local supermarket still?

Yesterday I had a jazz rehersal for our other,other musical outlet and it went quite well, thoughs it a bit different from most of the other stuff as there are dots to be read. All being well in a month or two we will launch our new venture on an as yet unsuspecting world!

I am not looking forward to Chistmas much as I always get overwrought and wound up about stuff, I have always found it to be a very uncomfortable time of year and tend to feel ill at ease. I also tend to get very morbid at this time of year too. HO HO Humn Bah Humbug and stuff. The Christmas decorations in the Kings Road are quite jolly though. Its not bad for window shoping thoughs that really all I do these days.

http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Tietze%27s-Syndrome.htm

Anyone else had this? Its a real nusiance as its FFing painfull and sneaks up on you unexpectedly. Sometimes its caused by the aftermath of a chest infection or sometimes just by over straining something.

Now we are not out giging till Christmas Eve though I have quite a few things to sort out this week.When you get use to being busy its odd having a bit of time to spare really though I will be using it to practice, but trying to remember not to over do it of course.

Yesterday my sister came down to visit from Colne and we spent most of the time chating which was pleasant enough. She is not in the best of health having developed diabetes and high blood pressure. I was recently checked for this and am OK at the moment fingers crossed.

I also was working on learning some Ray Charles and Dr John tunes as I have found some quite good transcriptions. Its frustrating when your hands don’t go to quite the right place though. after about 4 years of titanic struggle

I am finally getting to be able to sight read more complex music a bit. The trouble is having played by ear for the past 30 years its a difficult thing to do as you tend to play what you think you hear rather than what is written. Of course the music has an improvised content as well, but actualy getting down a tasty Ray Charles move or two is another thing altogether. Jazz and blues.boogie stuff written down is often very inaccurate or shorthand at best so for my befuddled brain its a bit of a workout.

Also last night I watched a recorded documentary about Prince. Hes got a lot of talent, but his songs don’t really do it for me.
Personal taste I suppose.

Work up in the middle of the night aching quite a bit and to get relief requires me to lay on my back, so a bit over tired and irritable today. I will go off for a rehersal later this afternoon which will get me in a better mood hopefully. I must remeber to do my streching excerises too as they do help a lot and not to spend too much time at the computer as that tends to make things worse.

Its interesting listening the rants about over paid over pensioned public service workers, which always come from the same sources and unfairness or otherwise.
The interesting thing is of course that two of said ranters of my aquantance are ex-coppers and so will have some sort of gov pension at some point?

I worked in the private sector for 17 years and as a civil servant for 13 years. Yes its very different and was in my case possibly a life saver making the move. I also saw a lot of how the other half lived.

Our society such as it is becoming more divided and many more doors are shut for both young and old and there is no more room at the inn.

My back is not up to getting serious with the accordion yet, but I do need that for the folksy stuff we are starting to do, perhaps in another month or so I will be able to get stuck in a bit.

My sleep patterns have completly changed now as I seem to sleep for exactly 6 hours no matter what, after having been permanently tired for about a year or so. My abilty to concentrait on stuff is much improved too and the pain has eased off quite a bit.My temper has not improved much though unfortunately.

Long term prospects with the music seem to be slightly better gigwise but not quite enough for financial stabilty yet. We have got some good stuff coming up though including Cambridge Folk Club for for the Deltas that should improve our employabilty though. If we can average 12 gigs a month that would get us about right, we doing between 5 to 8 at the moment, so its not a huge leap in the amount of stuff we do really.

I also need to try and get a bit of IT work again to help out with the cash flow which could tip the balance, its very competitive though of course, and I ‘m not. I am still 10 years of the state pension age so I need to be doing something to boost my income that won’t tip me back in to mental health problems.

There is still quite an issue about this, and it seems to me that regardless of legislation, its mostly lip service thats paid rather than actually following guidelines. I commented on a thread recently that I thought it may be easier to get employment if you have just transitioned than if you have had mental health issues as it is still the case that people regard depression as laziness and then there are all those really scary ones like schizophrenia (which is often conflated with bi-polar by folks that don’t know) though some symptoms are similar.

I had musician friend who was schizophrenic who I have now lost touch with who was mostly harmless, and I wonder from time to time how he is getting on. We spent quite a lot of time working on music together a few years back…

On Monday we recorded a Jazz album (9 tracks) and this is specifically for getting work, but a little different for me as everything was live including the vocals, though my voice held out OK, so its down to mixing it now. I am quite pleased with the rough mixes.

I am still feeling pretty rough at times as the bones are creaking and aching a lot, but I am assured that this is all part of the repair process and that apart from excercise and pain killers its just a matter of working through the process, though real ale is very effective in taking the edge off it(it is a muscle relaxant after all ). Its been depressing at times though, without a doubt.

One unexpected side effect that I have started excercises which should help with my posture. I have a life long spine problem,(basically a small hump) and the workout seems to to be helping with some of the postural issues I have. One of the worst things is that I can’t lift anything too heavy, but I have got a trolley for moving gear around which I should have got a while back but the old one broke and I didn’t replace it which was a bad move. I need a bit more advice as I may need a back brace of some sort, but I have been waiting for my ribs to fix first.

We did a support slot on Saturday night in Reading for Larry Miller at Reading Arts Center, quite a contrast from just the two of us in our extremely roots incarnation of the Deltas, but it went OK  phew. Larry is great, but very, very LOUD!

We are back in Reading in a couple of weeks at a little place called the Retreat which strangely enough has a very good selection of real ales. At this point you may be detecting a theme. Actually I am not a huge drinker, usually 2 pints max on an evening out. Rarely I will have a pint at home but mostly not. Next week we should be back in the studio to do more work on the band (elephant Shelf) album, which is nearly cooked now, and we have a couple of localish gigs at the end of the week which should be fun.

Got to go back to the studio for the ES Album this week, though we are getting quite near the final thing now

Also did a good gig at Cambridge Folk Club ( takes place at the  Golden Hind 335 Milton  rd cb4 1sp), a 40 min support slot to Chris Sherburn and Danny Bartley, to promote our Delta Ladies full gig there in February 2012.

Musically we are in a quiet period with the band excetera with only 5 gigs this month, but thats actually a help as its giving me a chance to build my strength up, but I would like to be busier and feel a bit more up for it.

I finally got my main violin fixed, so that at least is good health and a new stage piano which made its debute at the New Inn Witney on the first of October and seems to do the job OK, though I could have done without the expense. So at least the first gig of the month was a good one. Nothing this weekend though, but we have been in the studio a lot recently so thats not a bad thing at all, in my somewhat depleted state.

I managed to put together a 1000 words for Transliving mag about Elephant Shelf though I am not sure how interesting that will be to most readers of a transmag as its all very normal stuff. We are really just another struggling band and the TG aspect is a very small % of it. We compete on the same basis as everybody else re gigs and so forth. We do have a bit of a once seen never forgotten aspect though and we are a bit like Marmite in that people seem to either love us or hate us

There are a few annecdotes that I managed to dig up that may make it seem slightly more colourful, but apart from the bit where your are actually on stage its mostly hard work and so much driving as most of our gigs are well outside London.

Still if it all keeps together, we should be back to France and hopefull on to Spain, Italy and Holland for 2012 in various incarnations of the Shelf and Delta Ladies. Driving is often a lot more pleasant though outside the UK IMHO.