Wednesday 6 December 2006

I took most of today off to go Christmas shopping, partly at my desk and partly on foot (and on the bus - some things might have been too big to carry on the bike). Special mention goes to Timorous Beasties along the road, and the second hand record shop round the corner from it, which furnished me with a DVD containing the video for Mike Oldfield's In Dulci Jubilo. I don't care if you think it's deeply naff, it captivated me at the age of 9 or 10 and still does. The DVD also shows video evidence of Fred Frith's 1974 ponytail but that's another story.

An ongoing tiresomeness of the past four months has been the complete refusal of someone in particular at Universal Music to deal with my request for a sample clearance for the Lion CD. I've done the official forms and supplied them with CDs, followed up by email, regularly chased by phone, and I still have no idea if or when the request will be dealt with. So unless I hear soon, I'll be removing a track from the album. It serves me right for trying to have any sort of relationship with a major record company - it's far better for my mental and musical health to steer well clear.