You are allowed to enjoy this…

The plan was simple. Head for the “Plume” and await bruv-in-law. However, we were running late (as per usual) and we were greeted by bruv at the zebra crossing. Apparently, no small children were allowed in the Plume and we had to make other plans. Luckily, the “Old Orleans” feedbowl on the roundabout caters for little folk and we awaited the arrival of in-laws before setting off.
Not been to the “Old Orleans” before, but it was decked out as a US eaterie. The food was OK-ish, but the booze better. A good time was had by all and we spent time chewing the fat and making a fuss of baby niece, who has grown loads since the last time we saw her. It was good to get together. We don’t do it half enough for various reasons.
I amazed The Missus by winning a requested tiger out of the grabber machine in the small arcade section in the establishment. It’s good to know that I can still impress her with my deftness on the old claw machine. My deftness is legend…
But yes, The Missus had a good birthday time and we had been celebrating most of the weekend. On Saturday night, it was sampling “Beers of the World” while listening to the latest Peter Hammill remasters. On Sunday, it was the family get together and on Monday a shopping trip was proposed to spend her birthday money.

One of my favourite films just happens to be “The Wicker Man” starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee. The Missus bought me back a great DVD version from the US a couple of years back for a birthday present. Whenever I watch the movie, I always think back to the first time I watched the film as an impressionable youth, who had no idea of what the film was about and the bleak outcome of the protagonist. I remember as the end image of the blistering sunset appeared, the sheer horror and disbelief at what I had witnessed. Surely the hero always wins? That film was the first ever time I’d seen the righteous man defeated – it was a valuable lesson.
Now much as been written about the movie and there’s lots of discussion if you google it, but for me it isn’t so much a film about paganism versus organised religion, but the story of a man who wants so desperately to be right and needs certain rules to make sense of his universe. In this case, it is Christianity, but it could easily be any other religion in the frame. There are a couple of moments in the film that Sgt Howie’s character could have escaped – if he’d have succumbed to Britt Eckland’s seduction, he would no longer been a virgin and been no use to the locals. However, he wanted to do the right thing: he wanted to find the “killer” of Rowan Morrison and be chaste for his impending marriage. Wanting to be right, wanting to bring law and order resulted in his downfall. The lesson is that even if you are right, it doesn’t mean you are going to end up in the right, as it were. It is almost a moral for these immoral times.
When the studio execs saw the intiial edit of the film, they suggested that a rain shower put out the flames and save Woodward’s character. In other missing edit of the film, the last few scenes show that the sacrifice has been successful and that the fruit has returned to Summerisle.
Anyway, why I am bleating on about this film? Well, the soundtrack recently appeared on the eternally fantastic eMusic website (the only music download site worth signing up for, IMHO) and I was thrilled to download it. Part of the magic of the film is the faux folk songs that accompany it. The band Magnet (especially brought together to create the soundtrack) manage to create songs that give the belief system on the island a greater depth. The most memorable song of the collection is “Willow’s Song” – the song that accompanies Britt Eckland’s saucy dance as she bangs on the bedroom walls in an attempt to deflower Sgt Howie. After listening to the album, I did a check on the Internet and discovered that quite a few other bands have covered the song too – it is indeed a very popular track. So I thought it would be a jolly wheeze if I recorded my own version as a tribute to the movie I like so much. OK – it’s not exactly the same and I fluffed some of the chords up and it’s really a song for a woman’s voice, but there you go. I did have this on the site, but I removed it because it was a steaming pile of old socks.
But if you want to hear the instrumental version of the original track used in the film, you can download it direct from the record label website here.

There’s something quite satisfying about doing regular maintenance to your guitar. What I mean by that is that I get a really good feeling whenever I take the polish and lemon oil to my Godin xtSA and my Fender Precision bass. I’m not sure why it feels satisfying, but I imagine it is a similar feeling that one might get if they were polishing their prized motor vehicle or giving their house a lick of paint. Last night, I went through the process with my aforementioned Godin and did this while The Missus watched some TV. I impressed her with the lemon oil, which I apply to the ebony fretboard. Before it was grimy and held the detritus of many man-hours of sweating and straining over the neck – the dirt seemed ingrained in parallel lines. But a generous application of lemon oil and the ebony fretboard shone with a deep, dark lustre similar to wet black gloss paint. I wiped off the excess material, left it for a while and then applied a second coat. The neck gleamed and seemed to suck up and be nourished by the oil. A liberal spray of polish to the body and a quick wipe restored the instrument to a “just out of the guitar shop” freshness.
Now I’ve been playing the Godin xtSA for about a year now and I vowed that I would keep the suggested guage of strings on the instrument and work with them. Now these guitars are meant to be strung with 10s and I’ve done my best with those strings but they are just a little too thick for my liddle baby hands. So I broke my resolve and strung her up with my favourite Ernie Ball Super Slinky strings – these are 9s. I’ve been using this particular brand and guage of strings since I first started playing guitar and they suite me to the ground. I tried with the other guage, but it didn’t work out. After 12 months of the experiment, I am back to my old ways and immediately the xtSA is beginning to feel like my instrument. The guitar sings and the guitar synth seems to track better with these strings.
I know it is a bit of a muso/techie posting, but I really enjoyed taking care of my guitar last night. It made me feel good and realise how my I love that instrument. Also, for anyone googling this, the problem with the xtSA nut can be cured by a healty application of carbon from a HB pencil. This cured my woes and I applied another black dusting in the grooves of the nut last night. Now I can use the tremelo arm without the top three strings going woefully out of tune.

Here’s another improvisation – it gets a bit flabby in the middle, but worth a listen.

Meanwhile, the copies of “God Pays” have been flying off the shelves. The last copy of current stock sits on a shelf in Ohio, USA, all alone…someone go give it a good home, please.

Chris Leibrecht recently got in touch as a response to the mailshot I sent out the other to promote “God Pays Debts Without Money”:

I just finished listening to “sow” for the second time. I’d like to congratulate you on your stunning efforts. Your music has the hypnotic feel of NEU and the playfulness of ENO. You’ve created tracks that gently envelop the listener in sound sculptures that are both active and meditative. A truly magnificent accomplishment!

Meanwhile, via YouTube Pete Harris had this to say:

You’re doing some great stuff there and kudos to you for putting your music out on YouTube. It has loads of ambience and in my opinion some of it would be great for film or vid soundtrack. Keep the vids coming and enjoy yourself.

And Eino Keskitalo said of the 24-10-06 Improvisation, via the comment button on this site :

I really enjoyed this one! Thought it was good. It’s fascinating to see you do all that stuff.

It’s feedback like that which makes it all worthwhile. (Mind you, on Google Video some guy said that I couldn’t play bass and my song was out of tune, so you have to take the rough with the smooth).
Yesterday, smack bang in the middle of the path, just by the front gate, I came across the following unfortunate creature:

Maybe I should have saved this for Halloween?