Thursday 25 November 2004

I'm just back from a few days in London. Contractual restrictions prevent me from describing it in detail here, but amongst many other things I learnt a Bollywood dance routine, sang 'I fought the law' on (a small) stage with Tom Robinson, and had all my personality defects brought out into the open and ridiculed - OK, I'm exaggerating that last bit. All useful mulch. And I heard a rather good band called Flipron: well, I only caught a couple of minutes of their set, but a couple of minutes were enough to realise that they were a cut above the rest.

I also picked up my latest reed organ acquisition from Alison, and have unpacked it today after its Colorado-Seattle-Washington-London-Glasgow journey. It's a folding Pearl River organ, made in China a couple of years ago from dodgy plywood and then lacquered into submission. It's rough and ready in construction and sound: in fact it's so loud that my Estey is now cowering in the corner. Once I've tuned it I'll have to decide which of the two is the more useful touring option and get a flight case made accordingly. 

Speaking of flights, it's unlikely but not impossible that I'll join the Chris Norman Ensemble for their dates in Baltimore, NYC and Montréal in January, but I'll be spending my birthday in Quebec City with Suzie LeB and 'joli bois', and then in April Matt Wadsworth has come up trumps with lute & harpsichord duo dates in NYC and Montréal.  

Meanwhile back here last Thursday, I just made it to the Royal Concert Hall in time to play with Barbara Bonney and Camerata Salzburg - a nice bunch. I don't normally drive into town, and I miscalculated the time required to get into an already full car park, finally making it backstage just as the final movement of the previous piece was starting. Sitting helpless and frustrated in a traffic queue is actually a good way to get adrenalised for a short appearance in a longer concert, but it's not so great for the tour manager's nerves.

Today brought a meeting with our accountant about last year's accounts. This current year is a very quiet one for us (and getting quieter - eagle-eyed readers will notice one gig less on the events page), but 05/06 is going to be busy. So really I should be making the most of this year to plan ahead. When I've finished mulching. But it's very refreshing to have your accountant ask the question 'well yes David, but how does this fit your vision for the group?' rather than just thinking about the numbers.

I don't feel like listening to music much at the moment, as I've been trying to shake off a cold for the last couple of weeks so I can't hear as clearly as I would like, so some paper mulch has been working its way to the back recesses of my brain: a long-awaited reprint of the glorious McSweeneys 13, Clyde Fans by Seth which slowly but surely won me over, and joy when's yesterday's Guardian pointed out how good Michael Rosen's Sad Book is.