Live And In Person in Newcastle

So I played a solo acoustic show in the mighty Cumberland Arms, Newcastle for Burns Night.

I played some songs I have written but not released; some songs from "Bonjour" (the album I made with Harry Pye); and some songs I just like,  eg "I Don't Want To See You Anymore" by Michael Shelley.

Half a set list.

I sang "Green Grow The Rushes, O" in tribute to Scotland's favourite tax-collecting, philandering bard.

Could you get haggis suppers or deep-fried pizza in the local chippies?, I enquired of the audience. You could not. I said, "There must be something you can get in a Newcastle
fish and chip shop that you can't get in Glasgow?". A voice piped up, "Botulism".

I tasted some Dalwinnie whisky with some good people.

I don't know about you but I love a post gig sing-along on the piano when no one knows the words. Instead folk clap along, getting faster and faster, exposing the limits of one's pianistic proclivities to the point where you may as well be wearing extra large oven gloves. Bliss.

Before the gig I had some tasty lentil soup and an amazing Turkish coffee in The Bake.

To those that don't know The Cumberland Arms - it's a grrreat pub. I stayed in a room upstairs and next morning they brought me breakfast.

During my trip I found time to visit the Laing Gallery.

Can you see the two faces?

I visited the beautiful Baltic Mills on the banks of The Tyne.

I had a stroll along the quay.

And then I took the train - and my fond memories - home.

(Thanks again for the gig, Owain.)

"Sorry" from David Sedaris's "Calypso" is great. But everything he writes is great.

A wee while ago I finally got around to doing the Glasgow City Chambers Tour. I recommend it.

I recently saw this...

...and this...

I enjoyed both.

In a few days I am talking to some composition students at the RCS about making music for film/TV:

So there you are.

January again

It's January...

Hope Santa was good to you. I've got new books from Billy Connolly and David Sedaris so I'm happy. (When I say "from" I mean "by". Just in case you thought...)

Apropos of nothing this lemon cheesecake recipe works.

Farewell, Neil Innes.

I have vague memories of The Innes Book Of Records being on TV when I was a kid. I saw him with the latter day Rutles a year or two ago in Glasgow. It was joyful. A good few years prior to that I saw a great, fun solo show at The Stand Comedy club in Glasgow. He told a wonderful story about the Bonzo Dog Doo Band recording "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour On The Bedpost Overnight" at Abbey Road, whilst The Beatles were in the next studio recording 'I Want To Tell You". The power of self-deprecation. He kept switching between 'stand up' and being sat at the piano. The venue had two mic stands but only one mic so he would sit down at the piano and the only mic was still on a stand elsewhere onstage. Some 'artistes' might have gotten a little frustrated. Neil incorporated into his schtick.

A wee while ago my pal Harry Pye asked me to record some long distance percussion overdubs on a version of Mike Nesmith's "Rio"- vocals by Neil Innes...

Farewell Alasdair Gray.

His mural at Hillhead Subway is a great gift to the city of Glasgow. Every once in a while I read On What Led To Literature from his Book Of Prefaces. An amazing chunk of condensed knowledge, including this zinger on the sexism of the Church:

"God's Word had refused to become flesh in the dirty vessel of a naturally pleased womb, so women without the priestlike strength to love God alone should submit to breeding Christians in a posture of stoical passivity".

And farewell to Jonathan Miller. He directed The Taming Of The Shrew for the BBC in 1980. In tribute, here is an extract from my News jotter. I was 10 years old and likely a bored and befuddled viewer. But I liked Fawlty Towers...

Some recent telly stuff for which I provided music...

• "Paddington: The Man Behind The Bear" was on BBC TWO on Boxing Day
• "Priest School" was recently on BBC ALBA;
• "Raymond Briggs: Snowmen, Bogeymen And Milkmen" was repeated on BBC Two on Christmas Day.
• "Trump's Mother" was repeated on BBC ALBA;
• And I worked on the current series of "Emergency Helicopter Medics" on More4.

What next? (he wondered, peering into the void).

I enjoyed In Search Of Dracula With Mark Gatiss. A brief chat with Martin Jarvis was somehow a highlight. I used to like him in Rings On their Fingers. 9 year-old me thought he was very lucky to be married to Diane Keen.

Along with composer Matthew Whiteside, I will be talking about how Composers might promote themselves at this event in Edinburgh on Friday 17th January.

And if you are in Newcastle on 25th January, I'll be performing some songs - solo acoustic - at the Cumberland Arms...

Tinkety-tonk! x