Yellow Toadflax Garden

This is my favourite wildflower, and it grows along and between the railway lines and just about everywhere in the north-east of England. This little colony has self-seeded jut outside the Baltic Art Gallery, where it has a perfect view across the Tyne.
Oh, you should have seen the fog on the Tyne last night!
The spindly bridges loomed out of the grey woolly mist; fuzzy pale street lights tried to puncture the thick gloom, and the Tyne was a dark mass below the train as we crossed over to the station. Such drama!
The show in Middlesbrough was lovely, I'll write about that next stop.
It was moved to the Old Fire Station because of the wet and wind so we had a dynamic reverb helping us on our way.

Tyne Tonight

Things Like This Don't Happen To People Like Me

Sunday Afternoon in Middlesbrough

It sounds like the title of an Impressionist painting, by a north-eastern painter in an anorak, perhaps. I am so looking forward to this- every so often I get to see/hear Gem and her band and it's always a pleasure; as well as making great music, they are a really nice bunch of people.
I will be battling through the gales in a titchy car with two Offsprogs and an Offsprog friend tomorrow. I have a steely driving nerve, a pack of chewing gum, and a one track mind to get to the Toon and put two of them on to a Glasgow Train in the afternoon; cross your weather fingers for us, plz.

Empty Pockets!

The lead has fallen out of my pockets- there was so much of it!
Now birds are flying into my lyrics.

Bin

I've even washed out the kitchen bin. I'm sure it's made your day to hear about that.

A Pointless Day

Under the weather, I slept beyond it being possible to do what was supposed to happen today.
No Nile Rogers for me.
It might be called being tired.
Last night I went to Pete Astor's celebration of finishing his album of covers at the Betsey Trotwood, which sounded very good over the Betsey speakers, then upstairs for Darren Hayman, the second time this week (I went on Monday too; I love to see what's on the musical landscape).
It was full last night and I appreciated the songs a lot more. The blend of vintage technology and Telecaster sounds lovely.
I wish I had a better camera, maybe something to think about before I plunge into penury and lentils in September.
Back to pointlessness, which I have to say is rather nice.

Muse, from Sounds of Equinox

The poet and writer Paul Scott Bates has a project called Sounds of Equinox where he sends his poetry to musical collaborators, and this is the video for the one he sent to me. He has worked with a really wide range of different musicians and it was really nice to be asked to do this one.
His whole project is here- take a listen- there is something for everyone.
https://soundsofequinox.bandcamp.com/album/correction
Thank you for inviting me, Paul. This was recorded by Olivia Hale and mixed by Anisha Bowri.

Thursday

Yesterday I was starting to finish, or finishing to finish (?) another recording project.
That sounds a bit w*nky, put like that.
But a while ago I had the idea of making a miniature LP- a 7" vinyl that runs at 33 r.p.m. with lots of miniature tracks on each side, mainly because I write so many short songs.
I started talking about it, and one of my students said 'That's a good idea. I think I'll do that!' which of course means that I had to do it.
Originally I re-recorded a bunch of songs, including some from the CDs that I have released over the years- Butterfly and Rock'n'Romance from Poetry and Rhyme, one from a children's musical for TheatreTrain about famous artists that I wrote songs for with Lester Square back in the day (Degas), and a couple of others that I'd never released. But then I wrote some more, and had to slash'n'burn to get the timings down to less than 7 minutes a side.
Yesterday was arranging day, and I love that. It was recorded with Ian Button again, and he has mellotron samples, so three of them have cello samples on, a bit vibrato-a-gogo but fairly natural sounding. It was fun going to town on the backing vocals too, and the rough mixes do sound good. They just have to be mixed now; there will be 100 of them pressed up and I will probably hand-colour the covers too.
So that's what's next.

Supposed To Be

I am supposed to be finishing writing a book, but instead I am writing songs.
I'm writing a little bit of book in between writing songs (mostly colouring bits of the e-manuscript in red, blue and green and shuffling them around).
It should probably be the other way around.
There is no-one to scold me about this lackadaisickability apart from me, and I'm not angry enough about it.
The Come Dine With Me omnibus was great yesterday, as well.

Roll on a rainy day or two perhaps.

Not Quite As Good As Bleep Bleep Blip

From Paree, a self-funded research trip in which I found out practically nothing but had a lovely time, which is a much better outcome, innit?

BBC Radio London, Gary Crowley

Thank you to Gary Crowley for playing 'A Good Life with a Bad Apple' again!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07ggxx3

Rough Sleepers/Homeless People

'Rough Sleepers' are rough wakers too.
They are homeless 24/7, and all too often the concept of 'rough' applies to the person, rather than their environment, in people's heads. 'Homeless People' are people without a home: people like you and me without a home to belong to, whether their roof is the sky or a bed and breakfast.
At the surgery the other day, a well-spoken young woman was making an appointment for her little daughter. Good-naturedly, she described her itinerant lifestyle to the receptionist. It was awful to listen to. She was being moved around the country with a school-aged child because that is what happens to homeless people, regardless of their age, gender or family circumstances.
I, Daniel Blake needs to be prescribed to everyone constantly until we can change this.
It is a national shame, and a personal shame.
I call on B*llocks Johnson to put a sock in his stupid Euro-posturing and protect UK citizens against... the UK government.
Yes that's you, Tories, who have been pursuing this cruelty to fellow humans ever since the Thatcher project came to fruition; and us voters, who haven't done enough to take care of our brothers and sisters.

I scream inside about this all the time.

Flexibility

Plans keep changing, and everything is beyond my control: go with the flow, and all will be well.

Yesterday was good. Thanks to Jono for coming to set up the JV1080 so I can do a bit of programming; it's fraught with quirks, but it will be fun to make a bit of pop music in my idle hours (ha!). It was nice to see Katy too, passing by for tea and cherries. I love your funny impressions Katy: the builders, your dad, and pompous ladies you meet on your travels in Poland. Ha ha!
Actually, I'm procrastinating. I should be writing my academic swansong, currently running at 70,000 words. It's a book on women engineers (that typo-ed as enginerds, which is rather a nice word I think I will have to copyright in case anyone 'borrows' it), and producers.
It's taken me ten years to write, punctuated by bereavements, other research projects like the She-Punks film and shorter bits of writing, a relationship break-up, making music and having sometimes three jobs to make ends meet. I have to respond to the editor's suggestions for changes, which are quite detailed and seemed daunting, but actually I made a start two days ago.
I aim to be finished the second week in September and ideas of a summer holiday have gone out of the window; August will be spent rewriting, every morning that I possibly can.
After that, there are several articles in the pipeline to be looked at, and then writing will become songwriting. Music pours out of the walls in this tiny house and I want to catch it while I can!
So that's the kettle on for a booster coffee (why can't I bring myself to say turbo-charged?) and then writing until the computer battery gives up!

Gideon Coe Plays 'Saturday Night With The London Set'

Last night- thank you so much Gideon! The Middlesborough gig is actually on Sunday 11th at 2 p.m.
Problems with dyslexia, I get things wrong.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00075zm