Aaah,  I thought I would be going to Times Square again or something for the count-down to New Years Eve, however I read some articles in the papers that were essentially ‘survival guides’ for the Times Square celebrations and I realised just how crammed and jam-packed the place is going to be.  Apparently once you’re there, you get penned in and cannot leave until midnight rolls by.  Add to that the large amount of security (mandatory rucksack searching by police) and the fact that the ‘bow tie’ area where they actually drop 7,000 pounds of confetti on the crowds gets totally filled up by 6pm.  Meaning that you wouldn’t actually see anything if you turn up later except maybe if you’re lucky enough to get a view of one of the large television screen…  Well not quite my idea of fun tonight,  especially on my lonesome.

So instead, I choose to practise my music theory in the relative peace and quiet of my Grandparents basement.  I run through the modes I’ve learnt on my newly acquired Yamaha Pacifica guitar.   Yes I have bought an electric guitar, finally I do my late-night recording sessions that I have missed so dearly.   Plugged straight into my Sound Interface Keyboard, and that into the Laptop, I can play and record in silence (thanks to headphones) in the early hours.   I will share with you here the good recordings as they happen!
Oh and the classic Marx Brothers movies are playing all night on public television so I might catch one of those too.

A happy new year to all and sundry.

My father announced that he was going down to New York to help his parents out for the holiday through to the New Year. I’d been meaning to visit my Grandparents on my previous trips up and down however I kept missing or skipping the opportunity. So it felt high time to go see them and help my father out some too.

So in my father’s truck we hurried down on the weekend before Christmas, I took with me my laptop, a new MIDI controller keyboard that I had ordered a week previous and some hard-drives full of music-making related material.

It was nice to be back in the little house of Merrick, NY. Mmm Suburbia. Much of the neighbourhood had attempted to out-do each other by filling their front lawn with assortments of kitschy inflatable snowmen, plastic raindeer and grotesque santas, their homes were lined with industrial-sized fairy lights and had transformed front yards into shining beacons of cheesy festiveness. It all seemed embarrassing to me in regard to the mild weather. Not a snow-flake in-sight.

I haven’t been outside of the house since Continue reading →

Hullo people, its been a while and certainly longer than can be excused, I apologise.

Things have ground to a halt in a number of areas in my life. I shall elaborate soon, The end of the year is drawing closer and it seems that a lot of things are in hiatus till the New Year emerges..

My Florida/East Coast trip long since ended last month and I have several entries to catch up on to bring the story to its conclusion. I promise those will be forth-coming..

So hang on folks, lots of ups, downs, backs and forwards as well as sideways to be documented here very soon…