I love Xmas. On Christmas Eve, I received in the post my credit card bill containing various items bought for Xmas (OUCH!), a tax bill from the Inland Revenue to be paid on 31 January 2006 (DOUBLE OUCH!) and my first rejection email for “Dead Rock Star” (SATISFIED GRIN). I love Xmas.
But I don’t care. Do you know why? Because I own the best darned Christmas card in the WORLD. You might think that card you got from Autie Gladys of Victorian children skating on a frozen lake was good but my card will knock that into a cocked hat and then some. My card consists of a 3-D reindeer that you had to construct yourself. OK – so I only received ONE personal Xmas card from a corporate contact, but it still counts as a Xmas card and it is the best Xmas card I am ever likely to receive. I might as well meet my maker now. Anyway, here it is in its assemble-it-yourself cardboard splendour:
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What to do? What to write about? The festive season approaches with a gallop: the decorations up (half our lights blew tonight and need fixing tomorrow), the cards displayed and the turkey thaws – drip, drip, drip. The Missus has been recovering from a wretched cold and I am succumbing to the illness. Been feeling giddy and weak in the arm/shoulder area. For me, this is the first sign that I am sickening for something. And so, I respond with orange juice, plenty of fluids, paracetamol and some junk food. I find that the old adage about feeding a cold works. 🙂
Presents are wrapped and under the tree. My mother asked me what present I wanted tonight. I had the choice between a slow cooker and a vegetable steamer. I went for the steamer. I asked for a new set of kitchen knives from her and hoping she delivers. Our old knives are sooo awful that I’ve managed to slice the side of my left thumb open five times in about a month. I know a bad workman always blames his tools but a semi-blunt knife is more dangerous than a really sharp one…and no matter how much I try to sharpen our old knives they remain blunt in places. Sliced fingers crossed, eh?
It’s scary how quickly the year has gone. It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were watching The Producers at Drury Lane and visiting the panto at Stratford Theare Royal (all on the same day, Christmas Eve). No panto this year. I’ve decided I needed a rest and last year’s panto was a heap of steaming pantomime horse dung. I think we have a break from tradition every decade or so!
Yesterday, I was lucky enough to get an email courtesy of the David Gilmour website saying that I had been selected for premium tickets for his concert at the Royal Albert Hall in May. The tickets are expensive, but it’s my first gig booked of 2006 and I remember how much we enjoyed seeing him at the Royal Festival Hall. Today the tickets went on sale to the general public and sold out really quickly. Thank god for websites and the ability to pre-register!
Been steadily recording more music for the new CD. I’ve really had my head up my arse recently and I’ve finally managed to wrench it free and obsess about the things that are important to me. Making music and being generally creative is that. All those other bad habits are out of the window now. Gone, banished, not coming back. I’m going cold turkey….hmmmm….cold turkey.
Has a result of this sudden spurt of recording, I have a couple more minutes of stuff done for the project known as “Textures II” – though this title WILL change on completion. I edited together some of the completed bits in the order that I like and came up with 25 minutes of music – there’s another 8 minutes done but not glued together yet. Sooooo…I might be finished sooner than I realise!
Today, I have been messing around with the whole tone scale. When I play using a scale like this, I end up creating music that sounds like a certain progressive rock band. I did the drum loop myself and I am pretty pleased with it, but it is not completely finished yet. We have a beginning and a middle at the moment. There are no solos at the moment, but that might change. I like it because it is heavy and I like the busy drums. The drums almost sound real. I just wish I was a better player/arranger when it comes to drum tracks because I usually just let a loop run throughout a track and play around it. This is something I should try to address, but I just like doing things that way. That’s the problem with recording sometimes…you can’t be sure if you are doing it right. Hopefully, the final result will sound OK. Here’s what I’ve done so far:
Direct download: http://www.darrenlock.com/media/heavyking.mp3
Now I am just pleased because it is holiday time and I’ve got the Missus to myself until 3rd January 2006. What more could a boy want?
Due to various Internet issues, not been able to keep an update…but here goes.
The Xmas present I ordered for the Missus arrived on Thursday but I had to collect it from the local Post Office depot and pay import duty on it. Thinking that the weather was cold, I set out for the walk suitable dressed. As I walked up towards Pump Hill, I suddenly realised I was overdressed and the various layers of clothing were causing me to sweat profusely. Yuck.
Anyway, at the Post Office, the man was very pleasant and even had the change when I handed over my money. Very different to the last time I paid a visit. Though I must admit, I still can’t get used to entering warm buildings from the cold and my glasses steaming up. That’s bugging the life out of me.
Watching a TV show over the weekend about Xmas toys of the past caused me to relate my own story about Action Man and my general disappointment with presents. I remember getting an Action Man for a birthday present once and I was really looking forward to it, but imagine my surprise when my Action Man sported a full beard. Despite having Eagle EyesTM and realistic grip, the whole facial fungus aspect of my Action Man was off-putting. During this TV programme I was amazed when a similar model appeared and I realised that I had in fact owned the GAYEST looking Action Man in existence. Oh woe is me. Anyway, here’s a pic from a website to show what he looked like:
Hello Sailor, indeed! I should have kept him because a pristine one (including box) can fetch up to £280 at auction. I’ll tell you another disappointing Xmas present nearer the day. 🙂
Deep down at Studio Lock, I have been twiddling my knob and trying to come up with a new tune. I recorded “JayEmJay” or “Ball of Chalk” as a sister track to “Frog and Toad” – the one is meant to act as an introduction to the other (or something). While recording the other night, my entire night’s work disappeared without warning. Zappp! So I had to re-record it again. Sigh. Anyway, not sure if it works, the mix is a bit “busy” but here is a very rough version for my loyal reader to listen to.
Direct download: http://www.darrenlock.com/media/JayEmJay.mp3
Today, a headache caused by two violent hits to my head as I tried to fiddle with wires and cabling to fix my dodgy self-installed telephone/ADSL line.
Today it has been reported that 300 people are facing redundancy at the BBC as part of a 6,000 job cut cull. You can read the story here – though you’ll need to sign up.
See…see…? I was right about redundancies signalling the Xmas season.
I think the end of the year must be coming because I am running out of steam. What to write about? What pithy commentary should I spurt onto the page today? I don’t know. I’m out of ideas. Creatively, I am chasing my tail with my music at the moment. I need to find my way back in and I just can find a suitable groove to mine. Thinking of going through some old loop CD-ROMs to get inspiration but I can get bored with this sometimes. The drum loops I am creating are dull and boring and aren’t taking me where I want to go.
In terms of writing, my novel got sent off the other day. I very much expect that will be the last of it until seven years time when the Missus will chide me again and challenge me to write another novel. I’ll probably start giving out “Dead Rock Star” electronically to anyone who’s interested – just drop a line and I’ll send a PDF of something. Now it’s over and passed I feel totally disconnected from the work. Funny that…no…I just let go of things really easily knowing that I’ll have another idea.
God, I hate Christmas…
While faffing about on my PC, I found this tune that I recorded last year. I did upload it to the site, but I think it accidentally got deleted when I remodelled this place around the MovableType blog engine. Anyway, for your delight, for one night only, Gorgeous George and the Hammerheads present “Mr Straight”:
Hear this song: http://www.darrenlock.com/media/Mr_Straight.mp3
The lyrics are embedded in the file if you want to sing along!
Well I put the Xmas decorations up yesterday. Don’t worry, I’m not one of those chav households that has an illuminated inflatable Homer Simpson dressed as Santa in his front garden. At Chez Lock, we tend have a more humble approach to Xmas decorations, pitching our tent in the “Hey, look it’s the 1970s again” style of festive attire. We have an old synthetic tree from Woolworths which must be about nine years old now, some tinsel and some fairy lights around the front window that just screams 70s chic.
You can tell it’s Xmas because business start to close and people are laid off. Reading that job cuts are being made by Wicked Witch Sly Bailey at the Daily MIrror, it reminds me that I’ve still never forgiven her for indirectly making me redundant at Xmas 2001 from IPC. The ITV news channel is closing down and newly redundant are coming to a job centre near you. Why do they always choose Xmas, I do not know. Something to do with the financial year coming to an end, I heard, but there’s nothing more miserable than waking up on Xmas Day redundant. I spent January and February 2002 very sick with worry and it got to a point that I didn’t sleep for a week, such was the level of my insomnia through sheer panic. It’s something I don’t think I’ve ever recovered from. You put your faith into a company and you trust them and then one day everything changes without warning, especially when the head of the department says to you directly: “There will be no redundancies in this department”. Oh well, that’s life for you, ain’t it? Life’s shit and then you die. Any joy you find should be treasured because its worth more than a diamond encrusted platinum brick.
Well I read yesterday that one publisher I work for has ceased trading shares and has a debt of £25 million and is worth just £2 million. I submitted an invoice to them for five months work a while back and their system means that I don’t get paid for three months – such is the life of a freelancer. Anyway, I am sitting here biting my fingers raw worrying that they are going to announce liquidation before Xmas and I’m going to be up the creek with out the paddly thing. There’s no recourse for freelancers when companies go bust – you just have to write off the debt.
Fingers crossed, eh?
Been noodling around with the guitar the last couple of evenings. Not really found much of interest. There’s a loud idea and a quiet idea: basically the same thing but played in two different styles, but I’m not in love with it at the moment. I recorded this little bit of filler for the new piece to act as a bridge between two bits of music, but even though I spen the time editing all together, I wasn’t that impressed. So have Slow Dive:
http://www.darrenlock.com/media/slow_dive.mp3
In the post: an Xbox 360 core system – man, I feel really, really, really guilty. Good job I’m sending that MultiMix16 back for a refund otherwise the MIssus will string me up with my own knackers.