Box frenzy

Ok today is boxing day. All was going well until I stupidly, (and not for the first time), twisted myself switching on a lamp whilst avoiding a dog. I've spent all day crippled with a twisted mid rift. Last time i did this, a year ago, I spent a month off work. I've spent all day sat paralysed with heat packs and compresses trying to push the muscle back in- I've also had some medicinal whiskey! I feel so stiff-need to get out gardening again.

Anyway, here's a picture of me and Mrs somers just prior to the incident. I'm sure my varied and massed readers were wondering what she looked like, I know you number at least two.

Hi to Anna who already knows of course,... and hi, happy new year to my very good carpetbaggin' friend in Canada.

Thankyou for the advice, I'll shift the monitor and shout at the sound guy!! ">Link

I also managed to grab hold of a piece of kryptonite.

Merry Christmas

Christmas day, lovely day, spent with Mrs Somers and my parents, excellent feast, then went to inlaws to house sit doggies and horse... Picture is of myself, Lucy, Mao mao and Grants... ">Link

Rock and roll suicide

Well, played first gig last week I spent all day getting so nervous I wanted to be sick. It's supposed to be an enjoyable thing, performing, yet I got myself into a right state!

Come the night, hardly anyone turned up. Out of the three bands we had the greater audience, mainly as the other bands had more members and made up the audience when we were on.!

We did a soundcheck half an hour before hand, where I kept asking the sound man to turn up my monitor. Anyhow...we get on stage, the first song one which has everyone start at once. Nothing! All I can hear is the rest of the band, very loud, nothing from my own instrument...and so the night carried on like that.

I'm told we sounded very good, but it was like playing air guitar (on a banjo though!). I heard nothin of myself. It was a very frustrating experience. Richard, being ever the optimist (and also the drummer!) was very supportive, saying it was just unlucky and to not be too downbeat, which is very sensible advice to a sensitive artist like myself! Anyway, pictured are my mandolin and pedal board, plus my two babies, the banjo's- a John Alvey Turner and a Barnes and Mullins, collectively about 200 years old, about how I felt at the end of the night. That's showbiz!!!! ">Link

Comfort in sound

Only one day to go before Alberts Kitchen preview their new banjo and mandolin player (moi!). I've spent the day checking connections, pickups etc.. there's so much stuff to fiddle with.

Spent the last couple of evenings building a new dragon for our final performance of the Chinese play, which went, well, ok. we felt abit rushed and didn't get the support we deserved but, hey, that's drama for you...

Thanx to the carpetbagger for acoustic advice, I'm waiting for a personal delivery of that tincture!

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Enter the dragon

Here is the ongoing dragon project, now painted orange, ready for his scales. I have to finish him by friday... Shit!

He is going to have black scales and maybe some fringing cannibalised from the old dragon (see below) The original unfortunately got squashed into a cupboard at the centre. I made an executive decision to retire him, rather than repair him. We are doing a final Christmas performance of our Chinese play on friday, so I want it to be impressive and memorable.

Dave the bus driver does a fantastic dance with the levithan being tamed by Chang (played by our Andy) who plays bamboo sticks to accompanying tunes... ">Link

There'll be a welcome in the hillsides...

Today I finally realized our dragon was over the hill. The dragon we made for our play that is (and not a real dragon as they don't live in england anymore, only wales). So tonight I started the new dragon project in my kitchen (not alberts!). He is of course made from high grade heat resistant cardboard, the same as was used for (packaging) Nasa's space shuttle. ">Link

A box with something in it...

Yay!!! I must apologize profusely for the previous dummy spitting episode, blogger is back to its old self, allowing me to post pictures that probably will be viewed by no one.

Tonight we had a band practise which went very well. I've finally ironed out all my problems arising from playing antique instruments. I can't stand the new banjos you can buy from guitar shops, my two playable instruments are both at least 90 years old each and sound wonderful. Only trouble is they act like 90 year olds, they can be awkward and moody, they detune erraticly and distort when amplified!

I've found that by playing through a chorus pedal into a bass amp I get a very clean sharp sound which works over the top of guitar, bass and Richard's drums (pictured!)

We have our first gig in a week, or should I say I have my first gig !...the rest of the band have played alot together, without the phenomena that is my banjo... I think it will be ok. They may be regretting letting me in!

Its Newark Antiques fair tomorrow, where I will be sourcing some new instruments, most bound for ebay, but you never know... I usually find something I fall in love with and want to keep-the instrument here is a prime example, a 5 string banjo with a ridiculous and un-necessary amount of tension hooks.

It sounds cool (although its a bitch to tune).

P.s. thankyou Carpetbagger for sticking with me during my recent lack of presence! I hope your tummy is feeling better. We need you to belly dance at our next performance!

Modern toss

For anyone who works on blogger, your new format is so incredibly difficult to fathom I nearly gave up, why change a perfectly usable format into something which is monumentally fucking stupid to use? Why? Aaaaargh! All I wanted to do was post a message about my new band ( put "alberts kitchen" into google) but I've just wasted an hour trying to paste links and add pctures, to no avail, now that I've changed to the google version. Why is it suddenly so awkward to use and why can't I add picture? I am really pissed off with it tonight. I would post a picture of me being pissed off if only I could get the picture download menu, which has disappeared from the fucking dashboard. Please feel free to comment.

Christmas is a coming...

Went for our christmas meal with my Whitewater students today. Lovely day! Food was excellent as was the company. I wore my suit, makes a change to do something festive without having to wear a costume! (for all the Americans out there thats what we call irony).