A muso's muse

Spent most of the night laying down the basic tracks for a new instrumental piece written in memory of a friend who died very recently - he was a very kind, gentle giant of a man and will be missed by many.

I hope this piece will be a fitting memorial - I'll post here when completed.

My apologies for the lack of writing - been in a bit of a musical wilderness due to many things including stress at work and a terrible bout of depression.

It's taken the sad news of an old friend dying very recently that's got me off my backside and doing music again properly - just finished writing the outline of an instrumental piece and have just started recording it this weekend and have just been looking at re-recording a piece I did about a decade ago - we'll see how things progress.

Hope all out there are OK

I know it's been a little while since I last jotted anything here - life's been so hectic of late thanks to the Lincolnshire Police!!!
No, I haven't been a naughty boy - in my day job, working for East Lindsey District Council, I work in the IT section and one of the pieces of software I look after is Academy which is the application that generates Council Tax (Booo...) Thanks to Lincolnshire Police being absolute twats and trying to extract an increase of 78% in their charges to the good people of ELDC it means we are in the process of having to go though re-billing 70,000 residents - just a little bit of work for me then!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway - Music

Been working on the final mix of a cover version of 'Numb' by Linkin Park with my daughter Hannah (age 9) - she's doing the vocals and I'm doing the rest!!

Utilising Midi to it's full for keyboards/synths/strings/effects etc with real bass & guitar plus maybe some additional Soprano Sax - haven't decided yet. Getting to grips with my Akai DPS12 has been fun but I'm really enjoying it and the potential of this little beast is just awesome.

When it's done I'll post here so you can judge for yourselves as to quality, content etc.

Hannah wants to do a few more tracks, basically as an Xmas pressie CD for friends/family, but she can't decide on which ones to do at the moment - I'm trying to steer her away from Britney's Toxic at the mo! Although I quite fancy having a go at her 'Everything' track - love the piano part to that.

She's also considering 'Rule the World' by Take That - which sadly I have to admit I quite like - now I never in a million years thought I would say that about a Take That track, but it is bloody good.

As for me - practice hasn't been as productive as I would have liked of late (see Lincolnshire Police above) but I have been managing get at least an hour everyday, predominantly on the Piano - as it's a digital one and I can pay late at night with headphones, bit difficult to do with a sax/flute/clarinet etc, etc! Although still doing plenty on guitar and bass too. At least now my fingers aren't red raw and sliced to pieces when playing guitar/bass so I can manage decent lengths of practice time at last.

Hoping in the not too distant future to quit at ELDC and get back into music full time after a 25 year stint away!! But more of that later.

chow

1. Who was the last person to call you?
Jayne, my wife

2. Where was your default picture taken?
My wedding

3. What's your middle name?
Steven

4. Your current relationship status?
Happily married

5. Does your crush like you back?
Oh yes

6. What is your current mood?
Very happy - it's my birthday

7. What are you doing this weekend?
Celebrating my birthday

8. What color shirt are you wearing?
Navy blue

9. Ever been in love?
Many times

10. If you could go back in time and change something, would you?
Probably not

11. Have a crazy side?
I dunno ask him! Why ask me ask him! Can't answer that he told me not too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12. Ever had a near death experience?
Yes

13. Something you do a lot?
Play music

14. Angry at anyone?
Frequently

15. Who can you tell anything to?
Me

16. Name someone with the same birthday as you?
Madonna

17. When was the last time you cried?
This morning

18. Who would you do anything for?
My family

19. If you could have one super power what would it be?
Power to heal

20. What's the first thing you notice about the opposite/same sex?
Usually eyes & smile closely followed by tits & ass!!

21. What do you usually order from Starbucks?
Never been

22. What's your biggest secret?
Sssshhhh - don't tell anyone else but...............

23. Favorite colour?
All of them

24. Favorite TV show?
At the moment Mock The Week

25. Do you still watch kiddy movies or tv shows?
Often

26. What are you eating or drinking at the moment?
Coffee & toast

27. Do you speak any other language?
Crap & Bullshit!!

28. Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
Getting all stressed out over my children's exams

29. Describe your life in one word, what would it be?
Fantastic!

30. Have you ever kissed in the rain?
Oh yes.

31. Ever kissed on the beach?
Oh yes.

32. What are you thinking about right now?
kissing.

33. What should you be doing?
kissing.

34. What was the last film you saw?
Braveheart on the TV

35. What are you listening to?
Linkin Park

36. Do you like working in the garden?
No

37. Are you on facebook or myspace?
Both

38. Do you act differently around the person you like?
No

39.What is your natural hair color?
Fair/blonde

40. Who was the last person you kissed?
My wife

Well another day, another year - today is my birthday, last of the 40's, next year we hit the half century and boy am I feeling old.

Looking forward to a day with the family and the wee ones getting all excited at opening cards and pressies - don't expect that I'll be doing too much music wise today except for an interesting rendition of happy birthday by the clan!

Any one else who has a birthday today or close by - many happy returns.

Catch you all later

psft

Humble apologies for not having posted anything recently - just been too busy.

Bought some more music goodies of late including a s/h Soprano sax - supposedly bought so the wee ones can learn as my tenors too big for them (they are Thomas 5, Freya 8 & Hannah 9) but I suppose secretly I've always wanted a baby one! Anyway they are having a good time trying to blow the thing and I'm having fun trying to teach them and remembering back to when I first started trying to learn woodwind (clarinet) all those years ago.

Now also have my new little bass combo, micro mixer, various mics and a diddy Yamaha Q10 - great little synth/Sequencer which I'm using as a music notepad because I keep coming up with ideas, don't write things down and then have tremendous difficulty in recalling them - sign of age I suppose.

Anyway, all my music stuff is bounding along brilliantly - practicing schedules are good (now managing to squeeze in a couple of hours on average daily) and just started doing some arrangements/recordings for my daughter Hannah as she wants to produce a CD as xmas pressie's for friends/family (move over Hannah Montana here comes'Ice Queen'!)

More later

Have fun

psft

Well, another hectic weekend trying to get some practice shoehorned in between taking wee ones to theater club & church choir, weekend shopping, visiting relatives, placating a PMT wife(!)etc.

Didn't manage to get any time to play with my new toy - an Akai 12 Track Digital Portastudio (got it off Ebay for a very good price). Have only managed a couple of sessions trying it out since I got it, but I think it will be more than capable for my needs. Also got a couple of mics & stands and a sack full of various leads for connecting everything up. May have to book a few days off work so I can have a really good session getting things sorted.

Will have to now start checking Ebay out for effects units & processors etc to add to my kit list! Just don't tell the wife!!

Fingers not aching quite so badly after this weekends piano practice sessions, however an hour on the 6 string elctro-acoustic has torn my fingers to shreds - can't wait until the skins toughened up again.

Planning on doing some woodwind work tonight (probably Sax) - at least until my lips fail!!!

Chow

psft

Well - I haven't taken my music seriously in a very long time (something in the region of 25 years!!) and after much soul searching etc I've now finally decided to get off my big fat arse and do something about it!!

Over the last ten years or so I've been slowly collecting a group of instruments (guitars, flute, sax, acoustic bass, digital piano etc) and have pretended to do practice in one form or another but haven't really got very far.

Main problem is having decided to finally get down to some serious work the old brain and fingers don't quite move as quick as they used to! Also found that following a pretty intensive hour or so at the piano the following day my fingers and wrists bloody ached like hell.

Just keep telling myself that the hard work will pay off and I'll be able to play somewhere like the standard I used to all those years ago (grade 8/Diploma).