Diana Stones Blog

3 gigs this weekend one on Thursday at Cafe Rouge in Highgate that was mellow but good fun and we have been invited back in January if all go’s well. One up near Baldock which didn’t go quite so well as they normally have 80′s cover bands so a very retro duo was not quite up their street.

On Saturday night we were at one of our favorites, the Belle Vue in High Wycombe with full band. It was a very lively night and good fun.

The live sound of the band has mellowed somewhat though its actually more energetic, and we had some very complimentary comments from the punters who are mad enough to comeback each time we are there, and so must be real gluttons for punishment. It was pretty much a party atmosphere as everyones really getting into the mood for Christmas and the band was in a somewhat joccular mood too

I record most gigs on a small pocket recorder to get a real ldea of what we sound like, thats very revealing too, sometimes when you listen back its good news and sometimes its awfull! Last nights was mostly pretty good. We put audio clips from the live stuff on the website now. We used to do a lot of video, but its impractical in a lot of places, though we should really get some new stuff done for publicity purposes.

I haven’t been working on writing solo stuff  though as I have been doing a lot of studying and practice and I have felt rather uninspired. Some stuff just never seems to sink in. Also I am not a big fan of Christmas though as a child I really enjoyed it a lot. New Years Eve is always a good feeling though and I try to look back at the good things that have happened though the year.

I have been clearing out loads of old papers, you know the sort of thing. Electricity bills from 6 years ago, or credit card staments and that sort of stuff. I shred most of it and it goes in to our rather efficent recycling system that we have in Battersea for the last few years. On thing which I kept was a notice of the first domain name that I registered and that was way back in 1997. I first built a one page website in 1996 which came as a shock as I had not realised how long I have been using this internet thingy.
Almost makes you feel nostaligic for the days of 33k modems(unless your out in the countryside using dial-up as one or two poor souls still are). I also just hooved the inside of my number 1 PC as they are very efficient dust magnets and it makes the fans work very hard, this one has 3 pumping away and it must be about 6 years old now. I have still got my first decent spec pc which is about 10 years old and on a new power supply, runing linux dual boot with windows 98 me.
I have lots of notebooks with old song lyrics and bits of tunes, some of which got recorded and some which never actualy got to see the light of day as well, just so much stuff. No wonder the flat is feeling a little crowded. I used to write songs with people all over the place getting them to send me lyrics by snail mail and then eventually sending a cassette back. The pace of life seemd a lot slower then, so was it more fun or less? the fact that everything is instant or nearly so to me seems to have taken soem of the colour out of life, as we seem to need more and more stimulation.
On with the tidy-up operation now before its either the end of the world or time to watch Dr Who.

I think its time for the Christmas Message now.  So OK here we go Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
If you can’t be good be careful and if you can’t be either then you are probably me.
So everybody lets sing along.

Diana being Very-cold-in-Reim

Just been for a few days away in Reim in France  with Vicky Martin & Terry McInerny from Elephant Shelf and Clive Rawlings from Blues Matters and his wife Barbara (who also worked tirelessly to translate for us and smooth our passage)  to meet and also to do a guest spot with top French Blues Band Awek at a blues festival. We are  bringing them to the UK in 2011 for a tour in late spring or early summer. Very enjoyable, though our journey home was rather difficult as we got hung up in the snow in the UK, but we made it in the end. We also called in at one of our favorite hostelry’s the Cats Back in Putney where you will be able to see the Delta Ladies this New Years Eve.

I had a really good night out listening to Albert Lee & Hogans Heroes at the Castle in NW11. It was a mind bending gig. I have of course seen Albert Lee on TV and youtube, so I knew it was going to be good and it was.  It takes a lot to get me going but this gig was really great. Fantastic guitar playing, and a few surprises in the set list too, like ‘The world is waiting for the sunrise’, it couldn’t have been more varied and entertaining. Also the live sound is one of the best I have heard in any venue.

Diana Vicky & Albert Pic by Pete Mariosa

Albert Lee on stage Photo by Pete Mariosa

I was privileged to play there a week or so back with Elephant Shelf to a small but perfectly formed audience and prior to that I saw Georgie Fame, which was also a great gig. So thats the good stuff and it doesn’t get any better than that. Unfortunately the venue like many others is under pressure and is struggling to continue which is a great shame as its one of the really great places to listen to or play live music.  If you do see a gig advertised there its well worth the trip. They also offered me a job behind the bar LOL. I don’t think I would be terribly good at it to be honest, (though there are a few people I know who’s personal fantasy is exactly that, bet lynch eat your heart out) and I might be tempted to drink the profits. They do Real Ales and good food to so that would have been OK.

Today has been mostly involved in working on some web stuff (which I find incredibly tedious these days to be honest) and  running through some stuff on the piano and violin and a bit of tidying up. I am also getting used to using a video camera after a gap of a few years as I intend to start including video as part of this blog too. The camera is a bit flaky at the moment but its starting to behave  so I might be able to start using it properly in a week or too with luck.

Try being over 50 and having mental health issues. Then try and get a job with a mental health charity as you have exactly the skill set required then wait for them to not even bother to contact you although they say they run a guaranteed interview scheme...

Legislation does no good even those supposedly in the business of helping people with mental health issues discriminate against the very people they are supposed to be helping.

I suspect a lot of these Charity’s are run by 30 somethings who have never had any issues in their life. I think I may have to expose some of these people.

Any one from Mind Sane or any of the other lot care to contradict me…

I am still waiting for some sort of answer.

I asked for some advice in another place. Not the House of Lords, but another place out here in cyberspace. Silly me, I should have known that it was a bad idea. I have a few problems that I am trying to deal with and I am doing everything I can to find answers to them, so why do people get off on being so unhelpful? Its bad enough having to contend with mental health issues, debt and just finding away to keep existing  without getting grief off some seriously sad individual that gets a buz off internet trolling.  I can’t sleep properly and even my dreams are getting disturbed now because of the problems I am having. I won’t go into too much detail here but even the simplest things to seem to be getting difficult now.

Diana is a performing composer and muscian playing Piano Violin and Guitars. She currently plays with the Rock/Roots band Elephant Shelf and also the Delta Ladies who mix roots acoustic music and electronica. She composes in a variety of styles from pop to rock to Jazz and and classical music.Diana is also expert in multi-media recording and music production.

Really Really tired, like when everything is just too much effort? Yep me too. Its been a difficult time over the past few months and nothing seems to have worked out on a practical basis. Every idea I have had for scratching out a living has been a complete flop and I don’t know if its simply that I am not good enough at what I do or just a sign of the times. I do feel a little bit a drift now though.

I tried reducing my anti-depressant meds dose to see if I could get a little bit more motivation but that only makes me irritable and makes my concentration worse, and its looking more and more like I  am going to end up filing in and office somewhere or worse to survive and the thought is rather dispiriting after all the effort I have put in to everything else, particularly over the last 2 years or so.

The main thing is I can’t work the way I used to0,  my  mind wanders and after a a couple of hours I have just drifted away.
Deadlines get me stressed and my mind go’s completely blank plus there is the worry about money which is becoming more and more pressing all the time too.

I played at a garden party yesterday in my ‘Delta Ladies’ incarnation. We had a great time and everyone was enjoying it and we sold some albums too, only another 112 and we break even The house was in Lonesome lane.  For the first 40 minutes of the set my mind was just completly absent, I played OK but basically on auto-pilot, by the end I was feeling more normal thank goodness though. The thing is in previous work that I have done apart from powerpoint presentations you could not do it terribly well in an altered state of consciousness, though that did happen a few times I have to admit.

Here are some pictures taken by my good friend Ralph Stephenson.

Rosie and Diana in full flow at the Elephant Shelf Album Launch

This is one of my all time favorite pictures so far proving that you can have fun with Elephant Shelf

Will there still be buttered scones for tea?

Perhaps not