Somewhere in the bowels of this website, there’s a post entitled ‘About music’ which I wrote over 10 years ago. It served as an explanation, reason or excuse for my indulgence in playing the guitar, a journey hampered by limited talent and no knowledge of music theory but fuelled by wishful thinking. The post provided an account… Read More »
In the day, the discovery of ‘new’ music was down to tuning into radio stations, maybe watching a TV programme, or very simply heading for your local record store and browsing through the trays. Nowadays, it’s all down to algorithms. Listen to something online, and before you know it ‘we have recommendations for you’; because you listened… Read More »
The neural pathways through our brains seem to be able to throw random thoughts together in ways that defy any logical assumptions, unless of course you are seriously into seriously weird stuff. So, on the one hand, and like a significant proportion of the UK, my brain is trying to come to terms with the… Read More »
…not strictly true – the photos were taken over two days, a year apart! They were taken mainly around Boston Harbour, carefully avoiding the ‘Boston Tea Party’ exhibits – us Brits don’t like to talk about that too much! Both visits to Boston were business-related (a conference). This year’s conference was held at the Hyatt Boston Harbour… Read More »
And as the flames climbed high into the night To light the sacrificial rite I saw Satan laughing with delight The day the music died From Don McLean’s song ‘American Pie’ – commemorating Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) who died in a plane crash. Don obviously didn’t know about the Eurovision Song… Read More »
Picking up on the ‘Pioneers’ story in my previous post about ‘Doing Something for Nothing‘, I’ve re-worked and remixed one of the guitar instrumentals I recorded a while ago in order to dedicate it to the amazing group of matchday volunteers at the Saracens Rugby Club stadium, Allianz Park. (They may hate me for this!)… Read More »
My mate David, who had made the trek from deepest Dorset, and I were amongst the thousands who flocked to the Royal Albert Hall in London last night to pay homage to the Sultan of Swing, Mark Knopfler. On the London leg of his European ‘Privateering’ Tour, the RAH was rocking to an eclectic mix of recent… Read More »
Two new original instrumentals, and two vocals ‘Stay’ and ‘Hidden in my Eyes’, provided by Hayley Carter. ‘Hidden in my Eyes’ is an original by Hayley. ‘Aquamarine’ was the last effort that I recorded with my faithful old Yamaha AES620. It’s gone to a new home, and has been replaced by an Epiphone Ultra-339, which features on… Read More »
One of the purposes this website has served for me is to give me an outlet to rant, rave or comment about things I enjoy, or about things that get under my skin. Music has been a regular topic, because that’s what I enjoy; I guess it’s under my skin as well, but in the nicest possible… Read More »
There’s been a subterranean theme to some of my ramblings on here relating to music; basically what is it about music that can stir the soul, and why does some music achieve this and other music achieve the complete opposite? It seems it is necessary to delve into brain chemistry if you really want to… Read More »