Monday 23 January 2012

I’ve just been watching Skins go out on E4 – you can hear my Vivaldi arrangement for tuned and untuned percussion here. And you can also see the great Crispin Harris as Simon Sweetcheeks: Crispin was in the cast (well, he was half of it) on my first ever job back in 1988, and in the van he would give me helpful advice on how to be profitably self-employed, as we were driven between Cumbrian village halls for him to play Oliver Hardy and me to play the piano and yodel unconvincingly. Also in the van were Alasdair McCrone who now runs Mull Theatre, and occasionally Minty Donald, now one of my colleagues in the School of Culture and Creative Arts. And Joe Sumsion, director of the Dukes Playhouse in Lancaster, and Bryan Elsley of course. Not bad for the cab of one van.

Anyway, an excellent weekend has just been had in the company of Alison, Pamela, and Olivia and her new (well, quite old actually) red dobro. We met lots of friends old and new at Milngavie Music Club on Friday night, an organisation that could teach a few festivals a thing or two about how to look after visiting artists. Fresh fruit and biscuits and tea and nice sandwiches in the dressing room before the gig!  Being left alone in peace and quiet to rehearse, but with someone on hand to answer questions!  Two tables set up to sell CDs!  We almost negotiated the perils of having instruments at both 440 and 415 without incident, except for one moment when Pamela picked up the wrong recorder and after the ensuing train wreck calmly asked Alison ‘Are you on the wrong instrument?’ ‘No, you are.’ (general hilarity) Alison and I also tried out some Tobias Hume as a dry run for a project in the summer which was rather exciting.  It’s genuinely startling music, as Hume just smashes through the barriers of what’s generally considered ‘normal’.

Then it was off to New Lanark on Saturday night, after I’d confused the M74 and the M77 and sent the other three on a rather roundabout route. On this occasion the Honda Jazz which serves as our band van and part-time Tardis contained a harpsichord, a cello, a bass viol, Olivia’s harmonium in its flight case, music and mic stands, CD stock, my suitcase and bag, a stool and probably some other stuff too that I’ve since forgotten.  When we made it back to Glasgow we all ended up back at Alison’s where a very civilised party ensued and we were entertained by Olivia and Alasdair Roberts, who even persuaded Alex Neilson to sing. I eventually cycled haphazardly into the night sometime after 3am.