Elodie's Party, Sheffield

 

Fan Shop, Valencia

 

Clearing Out The Attic

I've spent a few hours deleting old emails- thousands of them. It is a very similar feeling to clearing out the attic (which is the next job); it's very common to be a tech hoarder, partly out of laziness and partly out of fear of letting go of the past.

Looking at the subject headers provides a weird summary of the past twenty years: one dismal narrative line contrasting with the other, bracing and positive. At times like this (between times) life slumps a little: when you've just done something really nice, going back to normal can feel dull. But without refuelling, I know the next journey can't happen. The old emails feel like a pair of shoes I've outgrown. I will stand taller without them.

What an interesting year it has been! The busiest January for years, taking a punt on a cold winter gig at The Waiting Room with a 'what is everyone going to do with their ten-minute slot' anxiety. It turned into one of those nights that you'd never be able to repeat. It was so similar to the things that me and Lester Square used to put on years ago, taking a big risk and hoping for the best; it was all the more touching for the fact that he was actually there, reading his very funny poetry. Burns Night afternoon, we did a heartfelt tribute to James McCallum in the Betsey Trotwood, and then I played at the Burns Night celebration at The Country SoulSessions, which was a lovely segue. I sang Cailin Moriun Sa too. Then in February, playing with The Would-Be-Goods and Railcard, an energetic and hearty evening for all concerned, and the bijou gig in Hythe for the Folkestone Songwriting Festival. And more!

The surprising-est surprise was not only being given the Jan Lewis Memorial award, but selling the work that I submitted. It's fired me up to do more, and in Valencia I found some embroidery thread at the market that will kick-start the next embroidery. I should get more patches done, too: I hope I haven't deleted the email from the company in Scotland that made the original one.

Normally, March is busy and so is May, but this year has been a mirror image of that. While I was away in Spain I began another song. I'm writing about a previously-invisible part of my life. Perhaps nobody will be interested, but how can I know until I've done it? I'm not a focus-group song writer; I don't work to a template. That's a job for artificial intelligence, and mine (what there is of it) is real with a mixture of structure, randomness and creative motoring that has to mean something to me before anyone else gets to hear it. 

It's rather ironic to write this while slobbing on the sofa with an empty tea mug, but it's quiet and I can hear people pottering around with vans on the street outside. Funny the difference sunshine makes to the detail of sound. Have you noticed that?

Charity Collector in Giraffe Costume

 

A Future Gig

I've got a gig gap now: I have to radically edit an academic book chapter down from 8000 to 5000 words (it's being re-published) and I also need to write another four songs for my next album, so I must sit still for a bit!
On the 1st of May I'll be singing with Gina, then from June onwards there will be a few things going on but I can't really announce them until the organisers have made them public.

However, this poster showed up last week- it's a fantastic venue, and I'm delighted to be going back for another afternoon, this time in great company!

Valencia (Mostly) In Photographs

Tremendous thanks to John and Gabi at Tiny Global for organising this- and to Lorenzo at La Batisfera for hosting the exhibition and putting on the concert.

I can't believe how well it went. Gabi is a genius for discovering that the perspex for the frames that I had thought was of such bad quality was, in fact, covered with protective film, and once that was peeled off they looked great. It took four hours to frame them and put them all up. I exercised muscles that I did not even know I possessed, but I think it was worth it in the end.

They had borrowed a Telecaster for me and John took me to the music shop to get some fresh strings, so I could re-string it. Once that was done it sounded lovely and sparkly and I could rehearse the songs for the Friday night. On Wednesday Israel came to interview me for his podcast, and the rest of the time I wandered around like a complete tourist, or flaneuse, as I prefer to describe myself.

I'd thought that there would be about 3 people at the show but there were ten times that amount and apart from a couple of songs where my fingers turned to unco-operative twigs because of the air conditioning ( the stage light thawed them out and I played the songs later in the set), and some of the usual lyric-forgetting in a couple of songs, I played for an hour that included some fantastic singing from the audience and a dancing toddler at the back (no swearing from me!). I had some great chats afterwards with people, including a couple from Finland, which was quite a coincidence because I can count in Finnish and had been planning to count in one of the songs in Finnish just for a lark (I forgot).

I'm back from Valencia now, with warm bones, a warm heart, and a feeling that there was something very challenging, then healing about the process. I love Spain: I want to go back!

Photos: Gabi, Israel and me

Gisele Pelicot, the Girl Guide

And here's the finished Girl Guide badge.

Beatriz Gonzalez at The Barbican- Go!

Offsprog Two suggested that I should go to this exhibition instead of to the Royal Academy because of the latter's dodgy sponsorship by Big Oil, and I'm really glad that I did. What an interesting and inspirational artist she is!

Some early paintings deconstruct Vermeer's interiors of women trapped inside with their woman's activities. By deconstructing, she belatedly frees them from their detailed prisons and brings brash colour to their memories.

Also, like Hurvin Anderson, she revisited some subjects again and again. As a draughtsperson, she was particularly good at capturing the angles of facial planes on tipped-back faces.

There are some hilarious paintings of the pomposity of (in particular) the British royal family in all their inherited smugness. She colourfully punctures pomposity in all its forms, painting portraits on wooden furniture, and even a redundant TV set. She printed on textiles- curtains, a new sort of domestic bliss. 

I felt that I wanted my own house to be full of artiness. It sort of is anyway, but I gave up after a while when I got music-busy again.

Which reminds me, I need to get on with packing.

'Not like this', Said God

Belle and Sebastian and The Loft at The Royal Albert Hall

Ruth offered me a ticket for last night's gig; her partner Dave is the drummer for The Loft, and it was a lovely surprise to be able to go to the gig. 

We met for coffee and Dave came out to join us; The Loft's uber-fan John joined us too and we talked about awful gigs we'd been to (Lou Reed) and great ones (Black Sabbath for me, Stevie Wonder for him).

Ten out of ten for friendly staff at the venue. It makes such a difference to be treated like treasure instead of an inconvenience! Not a mobile phone in sight, no grumpy scrolling: just patient people on hand to help.

Much to our surprise, we were placed in a box with a fabulous view of the stage. 

In the distance, a tiny version of The Loft played a tight set of catchy songs. Andy Strickland, The Loft's guitarist, was clearly having the time of his life- you could see his smile miles away, and he was roaming the stage with a joyful stride. The set went down really well, especially the last almost Motorik song, and Campervan stood out as a great single. Pete was in fine voice, and the band did themselves proud.

After a short break, Belle and Sebastian came on with a backdrop of the studio where they recorded Tigermilk. Confident, delighted to have made the transition from The Borderline to The Royal Albert Hall via The Shepherd's Bush Empire, Stuart Murdoch appeared to be entirely comfortable on the stage. He was surrounded by new band members and originals (Chris Geddes on keyboards), and Tigermilk was played from start to finish, with the addition of founder member Isobel Campbell's recorded voice reading from Rip Van Winkle. At one point, he roamed through the audience and had a dance with delighted fans. He had a lot of stories: wandering round Glasgow being avoided by the cool musicians, crossing the road when they saw him because they knew he was going to ask them to be in his band, and travelling on the Central Line in London, now dubbed the 'hipsters line' after the Elizabeth Line (faster, funkier) has taken over it's east/west role.

Behind the band films ran through the songs- and there was Kenji, selecting albums from his shelves, there he was on the big screen at The Royal Albert Hall! The films were tuned in perfectly with the lyrics- I think Tita Geddes may have been involved somehow, and they were notable for their pitch-perfect DIY aesthetic.

I thought the most affecting song from their first set was Mary Jo, which really got me in the heart for some reason. All of their songs, however, were rooted in real life, and Stuart gave us potted contexts of where they started. This grounded them for people like me who are not familiar with the album, and the overall relaxed vibe coming from the stage was really appealing. I had to leave after the first set (smoke machine related health stuff), but I could hear them storming through the next part of the evening. What a wonderful way to spend a Wednesday evening! Big thanks to Ruth for the ticket!

A Week Tomorrow In Valencia

 

Limited Time Reduction: 'Showtunes from the Shadows'

Temporary reduction! Both the vinyl album and the Cd are half price- the album is only £11!

https://helenmcc.bandcamp.com/album/showtunes-from-the-shadows

3 Scandi Dandies

 

E

I've been making recordings of the songs that I wrote in Newcastle. I got to the third one before I realised that they are all in the key of E. I don't like using a capo, but I need to use open strings; I guess they will all just have to stay in that key. And one of them's less than two minutes long.

It's getting progressively harder to record them because I did the easy ones first. I think I can do a bit more work on tomorrow's song and get it shipshape enough to record, but the last two need more work, particularly on the lyrics. I will have to take them for a walk.

Meanwhile, on a different guitar, I'm rehearsing the set for Valencia. My fingers have given up moaning about it, thank heavens.

Woman Feeding Gulls