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March 31 High And Dry "... don't leave me high... don't leave me dry..." I dropped in to play at an open mic tonight. I knew the folk running the gig and they very kindly gave me a slot to play 4 songs. It's a small town... I also knew all of (bar maybe one) the people who were playing. Dubbel-in Tow-en Is A Very Small Tow-en. I enjoyed the set and the audience were really complimentary. Here's the problem, and I might have blogged this before, how on earth do I come down from the buzz ? Here I am at past midnight having got the bus home and I'm not quite ready for sleep. How do people (musicians, songwriters) come down from gigs ? I know some of the obvious stuff but bloody hell if I'm buzzing after just playing 4 songs how can I balance that with 'real life'. I still have to work tomorrow. Glass half full: people liked my songs and my performance. I liked the flattering words they used. So I'll be back for more next Monday :-) That Was The Week That Was I'm poleaxed ! So on Sunday last (22nd) I played a 30 minute set at the end of the night in the Bleeding Horse (The Apollo Sessions). I wasn't meant to close the gig - it just worked out that way. Unfortunately the act but one before me managed to almost clear the venue with their noise. The folk who remained were really respectful and a great audience. Got some lovely compliments. I tried a new song (Bed For Sale) and a cover version (Shipbuilding). I hadn't expected to be on so late and had had a skinful by the time I got onstage. I have no idea if it affected my performance. Well. Actually. I'll bet it did. I was certainly more daring. The week was taken up with work (office type work). A re-organization and general business stuff kept me busy. I don't usually do long days in the office but this week I ended up doing a couple. This got in the way of getting any writing or recording done. I picked up the guitar on Friday evening and did some more work on Bed For Sale because the lyrics aren't quite there yet (there's not enough death in the 3rd verse) and it needs a bridge/middle8. Saturday I spent the day spring cleaning. eBay is about to get hit with a bunch of stuff that I hope people will buy. Went to see Ireland vs Bulgaria on Saturday evening. Brutal match. When we conceded the own-goal I decided enough was enough and left Croke Park. There was a warm house, warm family and warm glass of red wine waiting for me. Stayed up far too late Saturday night. Watched a movie and then a bunch of music videos. With the clocks going forward it didn't work out well. 6:00am getting to sleep is not what I should be doing 'at my age'. Today (Sunday) was more productive than it should have been given my slight hangover and general shattered state. I did some more work on 'Bed For Sale' and practiced a couple of songs in anticipation of tomorrow night's open-mic. Feel suitably creative I grabbed my guitar and headed into the studio. Over a 2-3 hour session I managed to get 2 acoustic recordings completed. I might be able to use them for my Acoustic EP. This time around I recorded the guitar part first and then overdubbed the vocal. I was listening to a recently released Beatles bootleg (Revolution...Take Your Knickers Off) and spotted that Lennon had used this technique for 'Julia' on the White Album. I also spotted a lot of flubs and mistakes that were obviously fixed by those clever Abbey Road engineers and their razor blades. Good enough for Lennon... more than good enough for me. A very chilled evening. After dinner listening to BBC 6Music and thinking about the week ahead and what it might bring. Monday evening I've got to finish a conference call at 7:00pm and then get myself home and/or into town to play in Peadar Kearney's. The good people at Music Medium Live have moved to this venue. I expect that like most open mics it might be a bit chaotic. The rest of the week looks like it'll be taken up with conference calls and meetings, attempted gym visits and yearning for recording. Brian Cowen is a coward and so are the executives in RTE It started here http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2009/mar/22/cowen-hung-out-to-dry-in-national-gallery-hijack and it's gone here: http://www.mulley.net/2009/03/25/picturegate-or-whatever-we-call-it-is-not-about-a-facebook-group and here: http://www.caricatures-ireland.com/blog/the-taoiseach-has-no-clothes-and-rte-has-no-balls-the-brian-cowen-nude-caricature/ and here: http://whythatsdelightful.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/coming-late-to-the-party-but-still/ I think there's legs in this hopefully better than the above March 18 I’ve got blisters on my fingersA good weekend. On Sunday I played a short set at the Apollo Sessions (aka The Bleeding Horse Sessions). With Tuesday being a holiday in Ireland (St.Patrick's Day) I took Monday off and decided to leave the car at home and enjoy the gig.
I think Fiach and John have found a great venue (The Bleeding Horse pub on Dublin’s Camden Street). As far as I can tell the pub was an old house and has a myriad of staircases and balconies. In the backroom they setup a small PA and light which was just perfect for the room. In between pre-booked acts (of which I was one) it is an open-mic setup so anyone can wander in and play a couple of songs.
With it being that weekend it was no surprise to find plenty of tourists. Transient is how I would describe the audience. The same folk at the start of the night were not there when I did my set. I performed 4 songs ('Holding On', 'What Do I Know?', 'Be Alright' and 'Devil & The Deep Blue Sea'). I guess they went down well - are people just being polite when they applaud? Singer-songwriter insecurities like this do my head in ! I need to name and shame those SSIs whenever they appear. I think that’ll be the trick. To me, these songs are old. Some are almost 2 years old. I have to remind myself that to the audience they are brand new. Not that I am in the same league as Ron Sexsmith but I'm sure he thinks 'Secret Heart' is old as the trees and feels like a cover version when he's performing it. I'd feel short changed if I went to see Ron live and he didn't play songs like 'Secret Heart' and 'Lebanon Tennessee'. Fiach said something very complimentary after my set (along the lines of not being able to get one of my songs out of his head - see I told you it was a compliment !). John asked if I'd be back next week. I'd love to. Of course I would. But will I be overstaying my welcome ? There I go again with the SSI . . .
Inspired by the gig on Sunday I took some time on Monday to write a new song. ‘Bed For Sale’ was inspired by something Chris Difford said in the Songbook show. He met his song writing partner Glenn Tilbrook having read a note posted in a shop window “among the beds for sale”. That got me thinking about the story behind a bed for sale. What happened that the bed was for sale – and so on. I’m always looking for a story to build a song on.
Tuesday was a national holiday so of course I spent it in my studio… I’ve decided to pause working on my album for a couple of weeks. I’m going to get 4 acoustic songs onto an EP so that I can have something out there. Since I have the facility to duplicate & print CD-Rs and the cost of printing a simple envelope is not much it leaves me with no excuse ! Today my fingers are sore. No blisters (yet) but damn they’re sore. It’s been a while since I played guitar for so long. At the end of the day two things bugged me: my voice was warmed up but I could barely play guitar (usually it’s the other way around) and secondly I was disappointed at the quality of my performance. I know I can do better. I was trying to do it ‘live’ in the style of a radio session. It sounds like a demo. That’s not what I want. I’m going to have to do it like a recording: get the guitar down and then overdub the vocal. Guess what I’ll be doing for the next couple of evenings ? March 01 Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans
Our son Ben is 10 years old today. He’s a sweet, polite & good natured kid and we’re very proud of him. When Ben was born he was a very sick baby. He spent the first week of his life in an intensive care unit, the first couple of days on a ventilator. Nothing has come easy to him. Ben had to work hard to achieve everything. In the past year we finally got to the bottom of a learning difficulty that has made school more difficult than it should have been. Ben’s non-verbal learning difficulty is being managed really well and we’re seeing him coming on in leaps and bounds. I received some texts for Ben today and he was able to read them aloud himself. That was a big step up for a little man. Parent worry. It’s what we do best. Beats doing anything useful. Something has happened though. 10 years is a lifetime for Ben. It’s been a blink of the eye for us. I remember as a kid being sick on my birthday. It sucks. Ben was running a 40 degree temperature yesterday at 6:00am and I had to bring him to the doctor to get some help with the bug he’s fighting. One of his classmates has ended up in hospital because he started having breathing difficulties. Our crosses are all relative. Despite being wiped out and not feeling 100% he got stuck into the bowling & Qazar games before we headed to TGIF for a birthday meal with his friends. Personally I cannot stand the place but the kids like it. |
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