Edinburgh, Aberdeen & Glasgow...

So following on from Cardiff, Green Man Festival, Manchester and London, Teenage Fanclub just played three Scottish shows:

Auld Reekie...

...The Granite City...

...and Dear Auld Glasgow Toon...

The Barras is always amazing but I think that could have been my favourite show there. Norm thought it might be fun to play a Boy Hairdressers song in the encore - and we agreed.

Here's an intriguing poster from the dressing room of the Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen...

All being well, Teenage Fanclub's next show will be in Bilbao in November...

Last time we were in Bilbao this was going down...

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Yikes, right?

In other news I re-watched and loved this:

Must get round to The Sting sometime.

I'm savouring Smiley's people (the book), hanging in there with Vigil and The North Water and dipping into Schitt's Creek.

For Peat's Sake - a lovely doc about peat diggers on Lewis, directed by Alison Pinkney and featuring a bit of my music - now has a BBC Scotland transmission date...

And here's a wee thing about Show Me The Honey - my first composing gig for a CBBC show...

But enough about me. How are you?

Manchester And London - Sept 21

 Great to play Manchester.

Norman tuning up cos you're worth it.

Great to play London.

Norman still tuning up 24 hours later.

I'm slightly jealous that at around the same time I was scoping out posh-but-bland post-soundcheck fish and chips (subsequently eating them sat on a wall near Hampstead Heath), Raymond saw Michael blinkin' Palin "looking well" chatting to an apparent Monty Python fan in the street in Gospel Oak. 

I dug this....

...A dark tale superbly told. I loved how Simenon constantly moved backwards and forwards in time, all the while keeping you (well, me) guessing.

Now I am glad to be back in the world of George Smiley...

Does anyone do it better than John Le Carré?

If you missed this charming documentary, directed by Alison Pinkney and featuring some of my music, alongside George Jones and Dolly Parton...

...you can catch it here.

Series 3 of Ghosts is fab. Roll on Series 4...

If you want a giggle you could do worse than go and listen to what Jerry Lee Lewis does with "When A Man Loves A Woman".

Rub It In

I dug this; ç'était sombre. (Must re-watch the film it inspired sometime):

Layng Martine, Jr. (father of Tucker who produced Camera Obscura's album "Desire Lines") wrote my favourite Elvis song. I enjoyed his autobiography... Benny Goodman comes out of it well and Muhammad Ali's cameo is splendid. 

There's a good overall lesson about perseverance for anyone who is or wants to be creative...

All of which reminds me of this this groovy thing.

Now I'm reading some more Simenon...

The final episode of Stranger Things 3 was an emotional rollercoaster. Recent viewing also include Series 3 of Ghosts; 9/11 Inside the President's War Room and Vigil.

I was glad to work on music for this charming doc, directed by Alison Pinkney, about peat diggers on Lewis. Wed 8th Sept, 7.30pm on BBC One.

Check here for upcoming Teenage Fanclub activity... 

I'm off to listen to ABBA.