Ari, Unfinished

 

Ears Rest

Gah! Gah! Command save!

I've got Driving Test-itis this morning. I failed four tests before understanding that I was fine until I thought 'I haven't made my mistake yet' and then made my mistake and failed. At the fifth one, I tricked my brain and managed to pass, despite the fact that I was nine months pregnant with Offsprog Two.

I've been recording guitar, and making a mistake every time I've been waiting for a mistake.

I've realised that what I hate about studios is constantly making mistakes in front of the engineer, who then gets further and further into the realms of passive-aggressive 'patience', which of course makes the playing get even worse.

Remedy? You have to know what you're doing before you get there.

At the kitchen table, I've been trying to play something that I can't play well enough yet, and expecting it to record well. Being your own engineer, you are able to blame yourself thoroughly for all this.

The other important thing is that the more you play something, the better the feel is. Even when I've played it correctly (I have), the feel is wooden and clumpy. Oh, I still have such a lot to learn, old thing that I am!

St Trinians Girls

 

Coming Up

 

June 10th John Peel Centre https://johnpeelcentre.com/JohnPeelCentre.dll/WhatsOn?f=505371

June13th Prince Albert Brighton https://www.seetickets.com/event/pauline-murray-helen-mccookerybook/the-prince-albert/3616963

June14th Golden Hinde, London https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pauline-murray-penetration-helen-mccookerybook-live-on-the-golden-hinde-tickets-1984895127759

July 18th Da Da Da, Sheffield https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Sheffield/Channing-Hall/DA-DA-DA-party/42375316/

July 19th Grayston Unity, Halifax https://www.seetickets.com/event/afternoon-of-story-telers/the-grayston-unity-hx1-1pu/3631481

July 26th High Tide Festival, Twickenham

Three Jaguars

I went to see three bands last night, and all of them featured guitarists who were playing Fender Jaguars.

The Punchline

Well, I got the punchline for the song, but the song itself only lasts one minute and forty seconds. 

Is that OK, d'you think?

Moving A Giant Safe (unfinished)

 

Songwriting Stuck

It's not a Songwriting Emergency. But I do just need one line- the punchline- fo a song that I started in Valencia. I'm going to take my head for a walk in a bit, and see if it bubbles up from my brain.

Elodie's Party, Sheffield

 What a lovely thing to be invited to play at! The birthday party of Da Da Da magazine in Sheffield on Saturday 18th of July

Tickets: https://www.skiddle.com/e/42375316 

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.