Scaledown

Played at Scaledown last night. I really liked it- it's upstairs in a pub in the West End and has little rows of red velvet chairs, almost like an old-time music hall if you use your imagination. The first act was Tristan Burfield who plays miniature tunes on his computer and gameboy, all very short and different, bit like a bag of sweets. Then there was me. I have divided all my songs into categories- loss, fantasy, biblical, lust, and people could choose what they wanted. Except I never did the lust one, I talked too much and missed it out. I wore glasses which gave a different twist to the occasion (i.e. I couldn't see beyond the microphone but at least I could read the little cards with the categories). Then there was Michael Ormiston, who played a Mongolian string thing with a wooden horse head carved at the top of the neck, which I desperately wanted, and did Mongolian throat singing. I have never heard it live before; it sounded like an electronic machine. Extraordinary. The club is having a rest for a while because of the World Cup but it's worth checking out in July www.theorchestrapit.com (sorry it's not a proper link but this computer won't do that at the moment). Thanks to Steve Beresford for putting me in contact with Richard who runs the club!