Wednesday 8 February 2006

How long my work list has become. But I had a good day's practising yesterday for next Tuesday's recital, with my mental state starting at 'why I am playing all this trivial music? I'm going to have to apologise to the audience' and finishing with 'ha ha, I must make sure people come and hear this'. That's what practice is for I suppose. Maybe I should do it more often. And maybe not. I like performing irregularly. It makes each concert a special event. If it's not special for me, how can it be special for an audience?

The excellent Irwin Chusid at WFMU in New Jersey (he of Incorrect Music Hour and Songs in the Key of Z fame) has expressed considerable interest in our versions of Daniel Johnston's Walking the Cow, and the Buzzcocks' Boredom, so some very rarified airplay might be in the offing. 

A new copy of the first recording of Einstein on the Beach arrived through the letterbox today, which is very cheering.  I lent mine to someone years ago and it never came back. It's much more visceral than the later version, which has its good points but doesn't quite catch fire the way the original does.

Yesterday I booked my flights to Nova Scotia for Boxwood in July, and further details arrived today of October's tour and recording in Montréal with Suzie LeBlanc and the jolly boys - looking forward to both of those very much.

But all of the above is experienced this week through a thick haze of stress caused by the shortcomings of certain parts of the Scottish education system.