Phil Does Music

Gamlingay Records' Battle of the Bands

2010-11-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

For the next three Saturdays Gamlingay will be rocking out to the sounds of 10 bands playing in this year's competition. Now in its 4th year, Gamlingay Records has organised this year’s events to take place in the Gamlingay Social club on Waresley Road.

There will be two heats, on 6th and 13th November, and a final on 20th November. The top 3 bands from each heat will go through to the final. Each heat has 5 bands in. The bands are:
Heat 1

A Thousand Sins
Noize
Manause Handshake
Lemon Escapades
The Scene Stealers,

Heat 2

Get Set
Newspeak
Ready for the Fall
Just William and the Outlaws
Neon Index

Entry to the heats is £3, with doors opening at 7:00 and the first band on at 7:30. Entrance to the final is £5. An ell event ticket is £10. Tickets can be bought in various Gamlingay shops or on the door.
---------------------------------

Gamlingay Records is a Community Record Label, set up as part of Forward Gamlingay!, a local development charity. It exists to promote local bands and teach them skills needed to succeed in the music industry. It is run by local volunteers. If people are interested in becoming part of it, the should contact Phil Hunt on 07711 771384 or at Phil@GamlingayRecords.org.uk

www.GamlingayRecords.org.uk

Update

2010-10-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

It's a very long time since I posted.

So here's an update since last time:

Lots of running, especially with The Hobbler, but also another marathon with Russell.
Lots of music, especially with Alexis in Alphah
Lots of recording, especially the Marais Ensemble.
Most recently, a trip to Spain...

Granada.

The best city.

I went on Thursday night, arriving Malaga at midnight. I hired a car, stayed the night in a hotel in Malaga and drove on to Granada on Friday morning.

On arrival I checked in to the Melia in the centre, wandered and had a siesta. I went to the cathedral and the Capilla Real, where Fernando and Isabella are buried al;ong with Philip the Handsome and Juana la Loca. Beautiful. I only took my iPhone, so the pictures are terrible, but here are a couple...

Then, one of the highlights, I went to my flamenco guitar lesson. I had booked this in advance at the Carmen de las Cuevas school. I took the shuttle bus up to the Albayzin, wandered around, as I was early and then went in. I spoke to Marilyn on reception who told me I had a lesson with no other than Emilio Maya. I'm ashamed to say I didn't know who he was.. I since do.
I went into the cave.... there are many houses / bars etc carved into the hillside and this was one. Whitewashed, roughly-hewn, full of atmosphere. I was directed into a dance studio to tune the guitar I had hired (for 3 euros!) and warm up. Emilio then came in and gave me a lesson. What a chump I felt!!! He was amazing and instead of fingers on my hands I had 10 thumbs. The hour went so quickly and in the end I could just abotu play what he had been trying to teach me.
I stayed behind and practiced some more (for another half an hour) and then, sadly, took he guitar back to Marilyn.

Here are soem shots around Carmen de las Cuevas

I asked Marilyn if there were any authentic Flamenco shows on that weekend, and she very helpfully marked three places on my tourist map.
I wandered up into the Albayzin and found a bar close to where she had said to go, taking in some beautiful views of the Alhambra on the way...

In the Plaza Larga, I sat in a bar, drank some beer, ate some tapas and waited. Eventually, at about 11:00, the music started. After speeches that bored, soundchecks that dragged on we were treated to loud flamenco, enhanced by the presence of Estrella Morente and Enrique Morente.
I meandered back down the Albayzin to my hotel, through streets too narrow to imagine. What an amazing, amazing day.

Edinburgh Marathon

2009-06-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

I won't bore you with all the details of my build up to the marathon, as I have written about that on other posts, but, just for context, my training seemed to be going really well until about a month before the race. I had reached 22 miles and been pretty consistent in my pace. However I then got a pretty heavy dose of flu and damaged a knee ligament which combined to keep me off running for 2-3 weeks. So in the end I was not feeling psychologically confident in my ability to finish, let alone record the sub-4hrs that I wanted. … And then I strained my groin a little the day before the race and ended up rushing to get to the start line in time due to children not getting up early enough :-(
However, I did get to the start line, enthused and in anticipation of a great event. The 2-3 days before the race had been very warm and the forecast was for blue skies, light wind and strong sun on race day. The weather Kens and weather Barbies have developed the habit of getting these things right nowadays and, sure enough, as the starting time approached, the sun was already high in the sky, and the runners were starting to get sunburn. I covered myself in suncream and, along with around 16,999 others set off.
Mercifully downhill at the start, the first couple of miles went by at 8:15 pace. Just about right for what I was hoping to achieve.
My legs felt heavy though, even in the first couple of miles. It didn't feel good and didn't feel right. And the temperature was climbing all the time. I think the majority of the race was run in 20°C+. Others have put it at an average of 22°C and others as high as 27°C in some places. But whatever the temperatures were, they were very high, much higher than the average for the time of year, and there was little break. I ran in the shade whenever I could, but for most of the time there was precious little shade.
My pace hovered around 8:30 - 8:40 for the next 10 miles or so - slower than I had hoped for. But my problems really started at about 12 miles. I was suddenly really tired and decided to pull over and walk for 20 seconds. This is something I have never done before, even on a training run. I have always kept going. I have always been able to keep going. But I felt slightly light-headed and so made my way to a shady wooden-gated driveway, drank something and walked. This was a psychological blow. A month previously I had been running half marathon distances and more every week and never had a problem, especially as early as 12 miles.
I don't remember much about the next couple of miles as we headed further out onto the coast road towards and past Longniddry, except the heat, the lack of shade, and the occasional runner being moved semi-conscious or unconscious on a stretcher by the first aid staff. In fact the first I saw was at mile 7!
At about mile 13 I started to get cramp at the bottom left of my right quad, a couple of inches above the knee - looked it up and I think it's the vastus medialis. This persisted, grew, and then duplicated itself like a virus into my other leg. I had to walk several times (which didn't help) and stop several more to massage the cramps away. I was able to get rid of it each time for anything between half a mile and 1.5 miles, and then would have to stop again and massage again. It was worst between miles 17 and 20 and then eased off for a little. But once I had got past 20 miles I felt stronger (thanks to Emma :-)). I also got through from 20-22 miles without another stop - this was about going further than I had ever done, and I pushed myself through it.However, miles 22-25 were back to several severe leg cramps, mostly on my right leg again and several massage stops and short walks (20-30 secs).
My last self massage was around mile 25. From then on it was just a bit of agony (which is not necessarily a bad thing!) with quad and calf cramps until the last half mile, which saw the crowds of interested spectators building in numbers and volume and a run along the final 5 furlongs of Musselburgh racecourse - alongside it and then onto an artificial surface for the last 2 furlongs or so. This new surface was a bit bouncy, but the novelty paled into insignificance….… as I looked up to see the racecourse grandstand full of shouting and chearing spectators making more noise than I can describe, with music and commentary. As I approached the line I heard a loud wolf-whistle and recognised the dulcet tones of my wife - I looked up and slightly behind me and saw her and my children high up in the grandstand waving frantically and shouting like only demented females can [with apologies]. I crossed the line in, I think 4 hrs 14 mins, and was pretty overcome by the enormity of the occasion and the feeling of having finished.
I collected drinks, medal (heavy duty, Matthew, and well worth it!) goody bag, banana and Special Edinburgh marathon beer, served by what I am sure were angels, and went to retrieve my kit bag.
I sat down and put some fresh clothes on and realised I had also hurt a toe - one of the nails had been rubbing (I hadn't really noticed it - so there was some good to be had from the muscle cramps!) and was now infected and nearly pulled off, and then went to meet my family back in the race course. It was quite an emotional reunion. I had tried to call my wife with 2 miles to go to say look out for me in 20 minutes or so, but couldn't hear her. She got a message from me with grunts and groans and thought I was in an ambulance somewhere. But I didn't get told off, just a hug and some chocolate milk.
My garmin time was 4:03:36 and chip time (due to the stoppages to massage my quads) was 4:08:53. I guess this is the time I should quote…
….. It's now two days later. At the finish I never wanted to consider running a marathon again. I remember saying to my wife that I didn't enjoy a single step of the run, though I loved the occasion. Now I think I will consider it, as I really think I can do under 4 hours, given better weather and preparation, but will be prepared to withdraw if training doesn't go well or actually if the weather is too hot.
As to the race itself, the course was fantastic - fast, by all accounts, and very scenic (coast, country house estate, sights and sounds of Edinburgh). The locals were very generous in their gifts of water, jelly babies and hose pipes / sprays to cool the runners down, and the finish was immensely memorable. There were pipers and drummers around the course, there were karaoke men singing the Proclaimers and there was local radio with their live road show. There were costumes, firemen and squaddies (for the ladies) and other heroes, like the 98 year Sikh man, the lady on crutches and the thousands doing it for charitable causes.
The race organisation worked well for me - slick in fact, though I understand that they ran out of water for the later runners. The organisers are saying that 6,800 bottles of water and 4,040 gels were stolen in the early hours of Sunday morning from water stations, which meant that for 40 minutes there was no water or sports drink between miles 15 and 21 for 40 minutes. That would have been absolutely devastating for me, even though I was carrying my own bottles and gels. There were also complaints from the locals about traffic gridlock - I guess you have to expect that if such an event is put on.
In summary, I finished 3,099th out of 8,260 finishers (which means I was faster than nearly 2/3rds of finishers. There was also a Hairy Haggis Team marathon where teams of 4 could complete the course (2 ran 8 miles each and 2 ran 5 miles each) which added a further 4,060 runners to the mix. I have anti-biotics for my toe-nail and my quads feel bruised and stiff and I am finding stairs very tricky. I was surprised and slightly alarmed by the muscle cramps I experienced, but my determination to finish and my visualising my goals got me round when my body was starting to fail me.And of course a big thank you to all in the ecademy running club for your support, encouragement, cautionary words and wisdom over the last few months. These have been a necessary part of the learning experience for the challenge of the marathon and without them I would not have got through, and probably would not have even got to the starting line. And of course, not forgetting my good friend the hobbler (from another place) and all the miles we have trudged around central London on Tuesday evenings - couldn't have done ti without you.
You can read more official reports of the race here and here from the Edinburgh evening news and also here from the BBC. Very limited coverage from this national broadcaster, compared to, say, the Great North Run and the London Marathon.
I would recommend the race to anyone wanting to try a marathon, as long as the weather is cooler. The course was flat and the organisation pretty effective, with inevitable travel problems around the start and the finish. Train services into Edinburgh for the start of the race were very limited at that time on a Sunday morning (non-existent from North Berwick area, where we were staying) so there were lots o cars on the roads, but, if treated as an adventure, none of these problems were impossible to overcome.
I'm sorry to have rambled on for so long, but, you know what…. I've completed a marathon!!!! :-)
Phil
pics to follow

2009-05-08T05:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't run since last Tuesday as I developed flu and then damaged by knee. I have seen the physio twice now and she has given me ultrasound and acupuncture. It seems I have damaged my medial collateral ligament (ligament to the left of my right knee cap, looking down at the knee). We puzzled over how it had happened but have now worked it out. When I had the flu I slept on my back for two nights (I am usually a side sleeper). The weight of the blankets meant I turned my right foot sideways, stretching the ligament. The good thing is it is much better today (she strapped it on Tuesday and again today) and I should be able to run on it at the weekend (still strapped), and, while I won't be able to run another 20+ miler, I should be OK for the marathon on 31st May.

So I'm feeling much better today than I was yesterday :-)

1001 albums you must hear before you die

2009-05-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

I got bought a book wth this title for a recent birthday. Today, using Spotify, I opened the book at random and listened to three albums:

1. From Elvis in Memphis - bit of a 'come back' album according the the blurb. He sings with great enjoyment. Loved it
2. Carole King - Tapestry - so many songs I knew and didn't know were her. And so real - listening to so much commercial stuff now it's a good reminder of how much things have changed. It seems to be about the music!! I know I should have known, but that is what this journey is about.
3. Stevie Wonder - Songs form the Key of Life - I'd been meaning to listen to this for ages, and hadn't got round to it. Glad I did. Talk about ahead of it's time!! And what a great instrument his voice is.

I know that his is just some other people's recommendations... but I'm loving the journey. Can't wait to open the book again next time and see where I end up! What a great day!!

Biggles FM

2009-01-09T08:20:00.000-08:00

I played live on the radio as promised. I ended up playing / interviewing for about 90 minutes, playing 12 songs, some covers and come originals. I had pretty much lost my voice on Christmas Eve so I asked one of my daughters to understudy for me and she dutifully learned about 10 songs. Luckly for me it held out and I did the last 2 songs (Christmas ones) as duets with her. My set list was:

My Destiny
Feel (cover)
Know that I'm thinking of you
Prison
59th Street Bridge Song / Homeward bound (covers)
This frustration
Every Breath You Take (cover)
She makes me want to cry
Faith (cover)
Out of Reach
Let it snow (cover)
Merry Christmas Everybody (cover)

Quite a few people emailed / texted in, including my sister, Grainne from Ireland, Tim and marie-Line from France, Jeff, Lynne from Warwick, Peter and Mike from work. I also said hello to Emma, Melanie, Sinead, Wayne and Debbie, Judith and family, oh and of course Jen.

And it was great fun. Alan the station manager interviewed me and Anthony sat in the studio. I had a few elementary sound problems which I should have sorted out: I couldn't reach the mixer, so when the balance was wrong I couldn't adjust it easily. I used a gate. WHY? It made the vocal sound terrible and pumpy. God I'm stupid. I had problems with leads and pedals - I had auditioned everything beforehand but they failed me on the day. And I didn't listen well enough to myself while singing - sometimes the vocal effects pedal was not engaged when it needed to be; sometimes my intonation left a bit to be desired. Shocking. But all in all, for a first radio performance I was pretty pleased with it.

Here are a few pics of me in action...and I might get a couple of sound snippets posted on the Record Label website. And sorry I didn't have a shave first, but I was feeling poorly!

A bit more about my radio gig

2008-12-23T13:38:00.000-08:00

Biggles FM

On Christmas Eve at 8:00 pm UK time I will be appearing live on BigglesFM, Biggleswade’s largest independent radio station…. Ok, only independent radio station… Oh OK, and it only broadcasts for two months a year within a 7 mile radius of, well, Biggleswade (Potton actually). However I will be singing and playing some of my latest songs as well as some well chosen covers. At least I think so, but I have bit of the lurgy at the minute and I’m not sure how well my voice will stand up to it.

So how and why is this happening? There was a local newspaper article advertising for bands to appear and I rang up offering the three bands we have on our community record label and Alan (the main man) made space for them even though he only had one slot left. He also asked whether anyone would be prepared to be a reserve for Xmas eve, so I volunteered. And it turns out the guy they have on Xmas eve will only be playing for 45 mins or so, so I am on for the rest of the show.

How do you get BigglesFM? Well if you are within about 7 miles of Biggleswade / Potton you can tune in on 87.9FM. If not you can log in and stream the station live at the BigglesFM website – http://www.bigglesfm.com/ You’ll need a computer that can play sound and then you can choose which application to listen in – windows media, itunes, default MP3 player etc.

The quality is really pretty good – and that’s even before I have started playing! If you let me know that you are going to be listening, let me know and I’ll try to say hello.

The other record label bands have also played – First of all The Jamlinjays (one of our Battle of the Bands winners played on 3rd December. It was bit tricky as we could not get a decent vocal monitor set up and therefore for the band it was quite tricky to hear what was going on. Jay was cool, as he had the phones on and could hear pretty much what was being broadcast. They played a good set, interspersed with hilarious band interviews. The two best lines being “As fresh as an air freshener” from Rich “Air Freshener” Jamlinjay and “We put it in a sweaty box and it comes out funky” from Jay “Sweaty” Jamlinjay. Top performance guys and Chris took some fantastic pictures.
The following Saturday 6th December Noize played on Frank Williamson’s afternoon show. They did 3 songs and got a great reception from our radio show hosts who really enjoyed it. Monitoring was easier as I took a headphone amplifier along which meant we didn’t have to rely on the room monitor, and we could keep Noize’s Noize to a relatively low level (that’s a first as I think they are the loudest band in the world!). They played a couple of their own tracks and a cover of Nervana’s “Territorial” !?!?!. Best interview question – “Would you describe yourselves as a poor band, looking at your equipment?”. One comment I would make is that Will’s amp sounded awesome that day – great sound. Wayne, Chris and Ashley came along as well and managed to get a request played for Debbie while in the studio with Frank.
Then on the following Saturday Phoenix Impact played. They played 3 of their own and two covers (I think the radio station manager was expecting just 3 in total, but they managed to keep putting off the one he wanted to hear until 5th!). We used a different room monitor, which fared better, but Paul, the lead singer, still used head phones. Great set guys. I took some pictures and will give them to Chris to see whether he can do anything with them. I’m not sure that all band members were particularly comfortable playing the last cover, as they had not all played it before!!, however it worked pretty well and went down a storm with the audience (that is me, two of my daughters, the station manager and the DJ).

Check out the pictures page to see some photos from all radio sessions. We look forward to continuing our partnership with BigglesFM when they are next on the air in the summer.

On the radio!!

2008-12-23T01:35:00.000-08:00

Phil Hunt - live on BigglesFM

I'm playing live on air on Christmas Eve. At about 8:00 pm (after someone called Chris Martin) I will be singing and playing some of my songs and some covers. It's on BigglesFM, a really local local radio station with a station coverage of about 7 miles from Biggleswade (Beds). If you are in the area you can listen on 87.9FM. if not you can listen live on-line at http://www.BigglesFM.com/ . If you want me to dedicate a song to you, let me know. I'm already dedicating one to someone in Ireland and one in France (and Jen, of course).

It should be a great laugh. I have been rehearsing quite a lot - it's not the songs, but the guitar changeovers which I'll get wrong!! (Oh and, of course, some lyrics.) So you'll find me playing a guitar line on a bass or vice-versa.

Check back here for a report after Christmas

Royal Parks Half marathon

2008-10-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

I'm running a half marathon tomorrow in London. Wish me luck!!

I went to France at the weekend to see an old friend

2008-09-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

It was his 40th birthday a couple of weeks ago and his wife had organised a surprise for him. His mum, dad, sister and me were to visit them for the weekend. I took the day off work and flew from Birmingham. After a nightmare journey to the airport taking 4 + hours and involving 2 major traffic hold ups I arrived and boarded the flight with my usual flying trepidation. It was a small 52 seater jet operated by BritAir for Air France and was pretty comfortable. I’m fine on an aeroplane – I just don’t like the thought of it. The plan was full and I only heard 2 other English voices as we headed south to Lyon, a few minutes late.
I was to meet his parents and sister at Lyon airport, though we had not arranged a time or place – they should have arrived 30 minutes or so before me. Once through passport and customs I searched the small terminal (Terminal 2 I now know) and couldn’t find them so headed to terminal 1 and met them looking for me. We had a pizza in the airport and waited for the daughter to arrive. She was a little late so we had 2 ½ hours to wait. My friend’s wife had organised for a taxi and we met the driver with whom I had a conversation about Lyon airport (they are building there at the moment) Scotland (we had both just been) and Anglo-French relations, and my French, which is normally OK felt very rusty.
The taxi took 35 mins from Lyon to his village (Mornant) and we were dropped off away from the apartment so that we could creep up on him. His sister rang the bell and from the top floor his wife’s head appeared whispering “he’s asleep”. It was 11.30-ish. She came down and opened the door and we went up into the apartment where Tim and his children were fast asleep.
His sister led the way, followed by me and then his parents as we crept into his bedroom to find a leg, back and boxer shorts. Marie-Line his wife woke him up and took a picture of him as he clocked his surroundings. His only words were “Oh” several times, dusted with a few light expletives.
I hope to get a copy of the picture soon.
We had a cup of tea with him and gave him some birthday presents (a good single malt and a picture of him with our entire day’s catch at Blenheim palace fishing lake some 20 years ago – one tiddler).
We went to bed, secure in the knowledge that the surprise had been total – his boss had given him the day off and come up with a plausible excuse when Marie-Line had requested it.
The next day we went and bought croissants and pains-au-chocolat from the bakery on the main square, played with his train set(!) went and had a fantastic lunch in a local restaurant – paid for by his parents and had a general catch up and natter. It was so good to see him and his family. It was as if we had never had 10 years without any significant contact. We also went to the local sports centre to sign his sons up for gym and tennis. All the sprts clubs from the areas were holding a type of “Freshers’ Fair”. What a great idea for Gamlingay. I will suggest it to Bridget. In the evening Marie-Line’s mother and her friend came around and Marie-Line prepared a fantastic meal of caviar, chorizo, guacamole, cheese, vegetables, mini sausage roles and, of course, champagne. That was a little tricky as they speak very limited English and Tim’s mum, dad and sister speak limited French, and mine was still very rusty (though it wouldn’t take too much to get it a little more fluent I think), but we all had a great time.
On Sunday we spent the morning eating, talking and eating some more. This include learning from Colin about some of the projectors that both he and Tim collect. You can see some of his that he has donated to a museum here. Tim then drove me back to Lyon airport where we talked about all sort of things before I got back on the 52 seater jet and headed north to Birmingham, where I struggled to get out of the car park and noticed a horrible noise in the car when going round corners or bends at anything above 30 mph… must get that looked at.

Highlight moments
Kath’s howlers
Tim’s arrival reaction
Marie-Line’s hard work and hospitality
Sue’s sunny disposition and laugh
Colin and Kath’s laughter
Trains and projectors
Tim’s butterflies here

Love and peace
Phil
x

Gamlingay Rock Festival

2008-09-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

Gamlingay Rock Festival
Current mood: breezy
Category: Music

I played at the Gamlingay Rock festival yesterday. I also did the sound. It was an interesting day as it was in a field, it rained and was quite windy too. And there was limited protection for the sound equipment. The event was organised to raise money for a local hospital ward, however so few people turned up that I would be surprised if there was not rather a large loss overall.

Set up
I got there at about 10.30 to find two lorries in a muddy field. Some people were trying to erect a gazebo to put the sound equipment in, but t would not stand up due to te wind. It was very flimsy. We set about setting the stage area up. The two lorries were not quite touching and were arranged to make a deep stage area… however there was a gap between them which made an 18" hole running the length of the stage in the middle – the drum riser was on one lorry and the rest on the other. Over the next hour or so some expert carpentry was deployed to get rid of most of the hole.

Meanwhile the gazebo had broken, so Wayne, star that he is, went to get another one (with sides) that would be more solid. This arrived with no instructions, so 4 of us worked out how to put this together and half an hour later we had some shelter for the sound equipment. Meanwhile Wayne called the owner who kindly came along to help us, but arrived after we had just finished.

Sound set up (fairly technical bolony)
I ran two mixers in parallel with one feeding the other (a Peavey 14 channel and a Yamaha 12 channel) which gave us enough i/o. I ran the drum mics (6 or 7 depending on the number of bass drums!) into the Peavey and submixed them to a stereo channel on the Yamaha, and then had vocals and guitars into the Yamaha which fed the PA and monitors. I also ran some reverb / echo from the Yamaha. We had 9 bands playing (including me) so by the end of the night, while I still had the drums submixed from the Peavey to the Yamaha, other tracks were pretty much all over the place – as we moved from 4 vocalists to 1; from 2 guitars to 1, an acoustic and a keyboard, to a Mac, a minidisk player etc. with microphones switching from instrument to instrument and the floor box getting increasingly deluged with rainwater. The monitors were soaked through and the PA took a hell of a weather pounding. All the electrics on stage survived, though it is remarkable that no-one got electrocuted. On reflection the organisers should have cancelled it, but once we were there and setting up we all wanted to play.

Sound check and running
Once we had sound checked we had some problems with many of the drums clipping, as well as the voices. I had applied a limiter to the main outs to control the overall volume level, as well as some equalisation. With the 3rd last band I ran into severe difficulties, as we had terrible crackling on one side of the PA, which we thought was water getting into the line somewhere. Wayne tried various things on stage, I tried various things at the mixer end. Eventually I worked out what the problem was – I was distorting the final output by pushing the limiter too hard. I got Wayne to turn the PA up to full while I cut out the limiter and dropped the mixer output volume and got rid of the problem. It also meant I could have a greater volume for Wayne's band (next up) as their back line was not mixed (except the drums) and the vocal levels could be pushed up. Had I had more time on the set up I would have compressed the main vocals and the drums, but it wasn't to be.

Bands
9 of us, from 2.00 until 10:30 in the rain on a stage open to the elements with wind and rain making a mockery of the late summer billing.

The first band up were called the Why Birds / Y Birds (can't find them on myspace so not sure what there name was). They were a four piece who looked a bit like Kings of Leon and had a great American rock sound. They were quite tight and charismatic and had the small crowd (30 people at that stage?) tapping their feet and moving a bit – not bad for a wet and windy outdoor gig. I don't know anything more about them, bit would certainly see them again. They were lead by their drummer but all four shared vocals and made a good job of it. I didn't recognise the songs so don't know whether they were their own or covers, though I suspect their own. Great to see.

Then we had a band whose name I didn't catch – a young three piece. They were fronted by their bass player, who had a terribly trebly sound, though he played pretty well,with some fast and accurate fingerwork. They were rather immature as a band and played the gentlest version of Pretty Vacant I have ever heard – the singer's voice was just far too nice. They wanted to be punks but were far too middle class I'm afraid. Their own songs were immature and simplistic and didn't work for me. Not much audience reaction either. But they had fun and they were quite a good spectacle.

We then had Noize – one of the bands on the Gamlingay Record Label. They were great as usual – playing their own brand of garage grunge which was loud and infectious. Will makes an enigmatic front mad with real rock star attitude – and the drums and bass were tight. I thought Will's guitar sound was over the top, but I think he did too, as he finished by smashing his guitar on stage which brought a brilliant reaction from the growing crowd – the guitar ended up smashed and its going on Ashley's wall – signed by Will I hope.

A real treat followed – Wayne and Paul (from Phoenix Impact) did a 15 minute acoustic set covering some classics, and once I had sorted the sound out (sorry about the feedback guys!) they sounded fantastic. They looked the part as well. You'll see that from some of the pics.

Phoenix Impact were next up (another or the bands signed to the record label). They sounded tight and seem to have come on quite a lot since I first heard them – Paul's unique voice sounds more mature and flexible and the bass and drums worked well together. They played some covers and some original material and their original songs sounded pretty polished.

I played next – my computer just about surviving the rain. It's always difficult to judge your own performance but it went down OK – it was lighter than everything else, so made quite a change from the day so far. I played 4 covers and 2 of my own – remembered nearly all the words (sorry George) but forgot to play Wayne's favourite "Feel" because the playlist names had not come onto the CD I used so I couldn't see it. Disappointed.

After me we had a band called Slippage (I think). A rock covers band who were quite professional. They were fairly tight (though the bass and guitar were not always in with the others – both together and separately) and their singer had a good rock voce – they played some later Rainbow, Whitesnake, The Who etc and did a good job.

Now, for me, the highlight of the evening. Wayne's band. Don't know what they are called cos they're not the Victims. They were awesome – this was my first experience of Wayne on stage and he's wild. They played AC/DC, Sabbath, Zeppelin and Wayne's voice was great- the lad guitarist who played a left handed SG was great, as were the bassist and drummer – the bassist getting a great sound from his Laney stack. Wayne never stands still and loves the whole deal – in fact he is the real deal. Loved it. There was also a cameo performance from young Ashley who played a bit of guitar on one of the tracks.

Finally we had the Abba tribute band, headlining (AbbaMax (?)), though we only had the singers and minidisk player. But they were great – the sang about 10 classics and had the whole of the meagre audience singing along and copying their dance moves. They spoke accented English and had all their moves off perfectly. All in all a great evening's entertainment.

I was also given a CD of Helen Penfold - interesting acoustic music - check her out and let us know what you think????
With better weather and a bigger audience this would have been a great event – the music was pretty awesome and the facilities pretty good. Thanks are due to Barry and Laura for organising it all, as well as to Debbie, Jen and our long-suffering children who sat and stood in the wind and the rain for many hours feeding us, watering us (pardon the pun) and doing any odd job we had forgotten about.

Lots of love

Phil

x

13.1 miles

2008-08-04T14:54:00.001-07:00

So I'm doing a half marathon in October in London for Asthma UK. Please come and sponsor me. You can find me at www.justgiving.com/phil-hunt

Culture!

2008-08-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

I’ve been a bit cultured recently. I went to see King Lear at the Globe a couple o weeks ago. I organised a trip from work and met a couple of Blue Alumni members as well. We had standing tickets in the Yard (£5) which was hard work, but fantastic value. You are 2-3 yards from the stage and feel right in there. Great music with a pure-voiced singer, a Sackbut player and someone playing a dragon headed trumpet. Fantastic. Excellent play (obviously) and excellent cast. The Globe is amazing – intimate, authentic and colourful. Next time, however, I will get a seat and hire a cushion.
Today I went to the Bridewell Theatre to see a 50 minute version of Romeo and Juliet. Again it is a great play (obviously) and the cast were good with Emma Powell (Lady Capulet) particularly striking. The theatre is small (it holds about 150) and there were about 100 people there. The set was minimal, with adders and planks. The lighting was OK but there were times where it got in the way. There was one scene that didn’t work or me – they did a dance scene (can’t remember which pop song they used now) which looked a bit self-conscious from many of the cast. Three of them were recent graduates.I feel quiet cultured up now and it also re-inspired me to get gigs. I’m building a list of locations to contact… watch this space.

Prison Blog

2008-06-23T07:53:00.001-07:00

I wrote this song at the weekend. I’d had the guitar pickings in m mind for about 4 weeks, so decided that I would record them and see where it took me. The first thing I did was added a solo ad lib guitar over the top – all on my Crafter acoustic so far, to which I added some reverb and delay as well as a light metalizer effect from Cubase. I added some bass – all along to a click track at this stage. I then, with a crappy dynamic mic, ad libbed some vocals. The chord progression was quite melancholic so I came up with the theme of being a prisoner deprived of his liberty and just took it form there. I was quite comfortable with it without drums but then I decided to add some from an electronic kit set from Proteus the synth. I varied the bass snare and HH sounds to be a bit different form normal for me.

Now where am I with it? Well it’s too long – nearly 9 mins – I think I can cut out 1-2 mins easily, but it will still be a long song. I need to change the bass sound as it is quite ugly and needs to be rounder. I also want to find some interesting synth sounds (from AbSynth?) as background moving pads and perhaps some lead synth bits.

I’d be really interested in your views on the song length and the other things I mention – you can find it as the first song on www.MySpace.com/HuntPhil and leave me feedback as well. Let me know…
Phil
xAnd a BIG sorry to Jen and my other girls – apparently I was a bit grumpy and huffy this weekend – it comes with being in prison and away from them, but I’ll try not to be as bad again xxx.

Scamb Records

2008-03-25T15:25:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Easter Monday, I ran the first recording session for the new record label. The first thing we are doing is putting together a compilation CD to showcase the five bands who have initially signed up. When I say 5 I mean three, plus songs from me and Wayne to give a bit more diversity and substance. I will put two of mine on – My Destiny and a shortened version of When I was a boy. Anyway, I had two bands yesterday – The Jamlinjays – funk rock rap and Phoenix Impact – Rock. The sessions were a bit slow in getting started but were sweet by the end.

The Jamlinjays put together three tracks, two of which worked really well.

We got a good drum sound and recorded 6 tracks of drums, 1 x guitar and 1 x bass directly with guide vox put out in the live room through a monitor which spilled a little, but considering the lack of acoustic treatment little enough not to notice once we overlayed the main and backing vox. I’ll add some reverb, delay and a bit of chorus to the chorus(!) and also have a play with some weirder FX on a double track of the main vox. I eq’d quite high, as the guitar was quite bass heavy and I didn’t want to lose that depth. Jay has a great lyrical sense and sense of rhythm and timing in his delivery and raps well. His lyrics are great too. Jon on bass (mostly, with some guitar) was great – he’s been playing 2 months (guitar before) and put in some impressive slapping. Guitarist Will was talented as well and dead cool. The drummer is excellent as well – real sense of funk and jazz in his playing, which all adds to an impressive overall sound.

Jay also played a CD he’s done the previous day with a mate in Biggleswade – hip hop – great beats and rap delivery.

For phoenix Impact, we recorded 3 tracks as well. Again, got a good deep drum sound. Overall not bad for a community centre recording. The bass sound was a bit flabby on early takes, so we tightened it up a bit at the bottom end and took the top end off that was creating too much noise. It was a full, bass-heavy sound that reminded me of a Rickenbacker on bass pickup only. Paul has a good voice – interesting and different from most – if we can capture that properly in the recording that could make the difference between a good recording and an average one. His guitar playing is good rock style. Again, good drumming, which makes a difference to the overall quality of the track.

Piston Head were unable to make this recording session, due to work commitments, so we’ll have to get them at a later date, so we can put the compilation together. I also need a couple of tracks from Wayne – could do a session recording Mayhem at same time as Piston Head?

Next step is to mix the tracks we laid down and prepare rough mixes for the bands. Once happy we’ll then master them.
Now, if only we could agree on a name……

Two weeks on...

2008-02-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I got a lot done on my last list. So here’s another:

GOC

I’d like to try to set up meetings in the bank and outsourcer for the clown company as I think they would find the proposition of interest. It is getting to the right people that is key and telling the right story. I may have identified the right people
With the bank, I need to summarise some Irish ARD requirements into intelligible bites and help the aristo with his plans.
With the outsourcer we’re in final proposal mode, so I may need to do some last minute / late night stuff.
I also got a call from an ex-client (the boffins) who want me to spend a fw days running a workshop for them. Tops.
Other than that it should be an OK week or two.

GOL

Very little progress – still need to do John’s and Vicky’s stuff and also Chris has given me an old reel to reel of a singer to transfer onto CD. I need to get some tape head clearer solution though as the reel to reels sound rather dusty! I met a lovely lady called Laura who is setting up in business as an OD consultant, but she also does a lot of work with the Prince’s Trust and thinks my team building / recording services might go down well there. I will follow up with her in a few weeks to get some introductions.

GOM

So much to do, so little time. I have entered a band competition. Hope to get selected to play and had to submit a CD and something to entertain them while they listened to the CD. I designed a cross word – see below, so you can have a go at completing as well: not the best perhaps….but my first attempt since O Level French I think! I did quite a good CD face (see picture on right), but need to get some proper pictures done if I am to go anywhere with this. Been toying with moving to Protools LE and am just working through the benefits / drawbacks compared to Cubase SX.

Things are moving on apace with the record label. I drafted a 10 month plan which involved recording a compilation CD and 3 EPs. I think I have daunted everyone. I also want to mock up a website as well and talk to iTunes to fund out how to get on there for the recorded bands. The Gaffer is exploring all funding options, including for some equipment. It’s looking good; though I am concerned that trying to develop a commercial recording facility is barking up the wrong tree. We’ll discuss that at a meeting tomorrow.

Home

Went to Ipswich v Watford and we lost 1-2. Watford didn’t play pretty but were effective. We were a little unlucky in that Alan Lee hit the bar and Walters had one just miss, but Watford deserved to win. Good crowd, good hostile atmosphere to Watford’s tactics – good game all in all. Have also started a house clearing programme. Anyone that’s been round will know what I mean!

So here's this week

2008-02-05T01:46:00.000-08:00

GOC
I have to draft 4 plans for the bank by the end of tomorrow – that’s going to take some doing. This week is also the one where I start to get some feedback from the Outsourcer and expect comment and interaction on my proposal documents. I am going to try to spend Wed and Thurs doing that. I expect I have a Blues meeting on Thursday evening. That’s GOC.

GOL

I must finish John’s stuff. It’s done with one query, the CD cover and also I need to find the tape I have lost. I will then put aside next week (evenings) to do Vicky’s CD. I must ask her for photos for the cover. I also should talk to Sheena about GOL training, though I think she’s on holiday this week, so should plan it for when she’s back.

GOM

I need to record a couple of my songs acoustically (BG and HPF), and then I need to add vocals to a couple of others (RM and perhaps do a better mix for SMMWC). I need also to finish the Loser and his Friend EP songs. Quite a way from that yet. Then I must enter the Cambridge band competition by 15th Feb., and drive the record label stuff along. I’d like to be MD of that. I also need to upgrade Cubase SX to v4 and make sure I can run it on both Macs, as well as getting hold of a software sampler to run on my older Mac and make sure I understand how to sync it (through midi) with SX running on the newer Mac.

What I really want to do is start doing some more radical stuff. Imogen Heap has inspired me to get a lot more experimental, together with Feist and Cat Power on Jools last night (through BBC iPlayer). Clearly I am not getting all that done this week. I will prioritise getting my current songs done first (BG, HPF< RM< SMMWC, and The Loser and his Friend) and also researching the SX issue during February and then take stock at the end of Feb.

Home

I must finish the last camcorder tape putting onto DVD. Should get that done by Wednesday.
I think with all this and Jasmine’s birthday next Sunday I should can the idea of going to Ipswich v Watford on Saturday. Also Jen's poorly with Flu

I wonder of writing all this down and publishing it will help me achieve more and get a little more focussed?

General update

2008-01-31T13:13:00.000-08:00

I haven’t posted for a while. I’ve been concentrating on myspace.com/huntphil and facebook. Difficult to know which to continue with when you have limited time. Anyway, the ankle is much better. I am running once or twice a week on it and it doesn’t give me any problems; however I have a serious calf problem which, according to my physio Lucy Haith may well be related to the ankle problem – I am probably over-compensating for my weakened ankle, thereby putting more strain on my calf. Whatever: it is it is painful.

Music-wise I did a gig a couple of weeks ago at the Man on the Moon in Cambridge. I also ran the sound for a local Battle of the Bands with a great Allen & Heath desk and things that we hired in for the occasion. You can find more pictures at my Myspace.com/huntphil site.

I’ve started two new contracts on the consultancy side with two brand new clients, one through my mate Howard and the other through Collette Harrison, who I was introduced to by my friend Susan (who I really must get back in contact with). One of the contracts is in the City, where I haven’t worked for 5 or 6 years. The other is in Hammersmith. Lots of travelling and too much time. But I get to go to the top of the very tall building in Canary Wharf which, by the way, sways wickedly in the wind.

My goal for this year is to play c. 1 gig every month - the Cambridge one was the first of these. I saw a post on Myspace asking for a band to fill a slot as a booked band had pulled out. Normally I would have not bothered, but I contact the guy and said I’d be happy to do it. He persuaded me to try and find a support band and bring as many people as we could. I found two bands to support me and we had a great night, though the audience was small – really just what we brought ourselves.

Have recently discovered Imogen Heap. Her song Hide and Seek has jumped towards the top of my favourite ever tracks. You can hear it on her myspace site at the minute myspace.com/imogenheap. Truly excellent – perhaps even genius???? Tell me what you think.

Saw a couple of bands at the Man on the Moon. Nothing very exciting, so I won’t bore you with the details.

Oh, I am also part of a group that is setting up a community record label to promote local talent in Gamlingay following on from the success of the Battle of the Bands competition. Watch this space for further details, but local bands should make themselves known to me if they are interested in getting signed an making an EP. And anyone local who wants to get involved talk to me or Bridget, Wayne or Chris.

Chris ad Dizz throw a great party - see dancing photo...

Love and respect

Phil

Gamlingay Battle of the Bands

2007-11-20T03:16:00.001-08:00

I ran the sound for the inaugural Gamlingay Battle of the Bands on Saturday. We had the local community centre which is a fairly large standard community hall and had 10 band splaying and about 250 in the audience. The day ran from 3.00 – 11.00 and there were two categories – under 17s and 17-25 yr olds.
In the order that they played, the bands were:
Under 17s
- Target n Takedown
- Default Affection
- Pretty Tied Up
- Call this a Comeback
17-25s
- Screwd
- Error 404
- Phoenix Impact
- The Jamlingjays
- Noise
- FTA
The standard was much higher than we had expected with all bands putting in good performances, with some of them great. The judging panel consisted of local music business luminaries who came along and decided on the winners and losers.
For the sound we hired and Allen and Heath GL2200 mixing desk, lexicon effects and behringer and Peavey PA management systems and achieved a loud but controlled front of house sound by keeping stage levels (relatively) low, which meant I could mix PA sound to suit the audience – always the better option.
We used my EBS bass rig, which performed impeccably (as you would expect) even when some a**e spilled beer on it. We had Marshall and fender guitar amps, which most guitarists stuck to and kept a core drum kit from start to finish.
I had Wayne Hipgrave helping me with the sound, a local celebrity and fireman – he was excellent – really calm and helpful – he sorted out a number of on-stage issues we had.
The under 17s kicked off at 3.30 and 4 bands played. The standard was surprisingly high, with some guitar playing worthy of much older musicians, IMHO. The first band Target n Takedown were excellent – a really difficult thing to do to open the event. Then we had Default Affection, a more funky sound. They were great too with great promise. Pretty tied up were the most punk we had with loads of attitude. Loved them. Call this a comeback were the last of the under 17s and were very good – they really got the crowd going and were a fine finish to the first part of the day's proceedings.
By 5:40 they had all finished but they had to wait until the end to find out who had won. That gave them the chance to chill and listen to the older bands. The winners of this section were Target n Takedown – the judges saw lots of potential there.
After they had finished local singer/songwriter, who had entered the competition with his band, only to have the band break up a week before the gig, treated us to a few songs, including some of his own.
The second part started at 7.00 and we were treated to some amazingly good performances. There were some real highlights, and all of the bands performed well and got sections of the crowd going. The first band on, Screwd were a revelation, with a distinctive sound, some excellent bass and some interesting songs. The eventual winners, Error 404, from outside the area, were very polished and early set the night rocking. Really tight sound and vocals with lots of harmony and counterpoint(!!!!!) The Jamlingjays (despite a rather old looking 25yr old bass player) were great with some amazing bass playing and quite an individual style. Local lads Phoenix Impact made quite an impression, with their distinctive vocal sound and some really good guitar playing, and one of the judges had said he will keep an eye on them over the next 6 months to see how they develop. We also had an amazing Nervana-esque band called Noise – perhaps a bit too copycat to win the competition, but really good. The last band, FTA were also amazing and really worked the crowd. Very tight and polished.
The evening ended at 11.00 and most of the clear up was done by 12:30. I wasn't able to get back on Sunday to help with more clearing up as I had to record a promising young jazz duo, but by all accounts the village was buzzing with talk of the gig and all consider it to have been a real success. To cap it all, the press team had worked really hard, and Anglia News did a small feature on the competition, showing the young section winners Target n Takedown and an interview with Bridget, our tireless organiser and inspiration. And my bass amp was on telly!!!!
Thanks to all who took part, came to watch or helped in any way. All our efforts were worthwhile. A special mention must go to Chris and her fantastic hot dogs. But let's not forget the lads who had made it happen and the adult volunteers who played such a massive part – you know who you are. Now please enjoy some of the left over beer!

Soho

2007-09-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

What a night! They had a goodbye bash for me last night and went out to a jazz club in Soho. Excellent music. Drank far to omuch beer and then wine and then beer again and so am very hung over today. More at another time I think. Wish me a speedy recovery.

A new beginning?

2007-09-20T05:46:00.000-07:00

I am coming to the end of a contract (mgmt consultancy) at the end of next week. I am really looking forward to it, as I should then have time to concentrate a little more on music and tidying the house. I have been commuting to London (mostly) for 19 months now and had forgotten how soul-destroying commuting can be.

On the plus side, received some very positive feedback on the songs posted on MySpace today. Now need to turn that into gigs!!

Music on-line

2007-09-17T04:20:00.000-07:00

I have at last created a Facebook and MySpace profle and uploaded 3 tracks to MySpace. When I was a boy, My Destiny and Out of Reach. Go and have a listen and let me know what you think.

I am lonely on there however, so come and be my friend.

Mixing a school production

2007-09-10T06:13:00.000-07:00

Today I am prepping a mix for a recording I made of a school show. I recorded the dress rehearsal as well as the two performances, using my Neumann mics and the quality is great (as you would expect). As I was performing too (on bass) I just had to set it up and let it run – there doesn’t appear to be any clipping (digital distortion). The speech levels are rather low, so I am cutting these chunks out and will normalise them up to an acceptable level.

I recorded with the two mics about 5m apart at about 8ft directed to hit the stage at just below head height, towards the PA n one side and the PA/orchestra on the other. I should get the chance to start mixing tonight.
On the running front I have completed three short runs since the ankle felt strong enough. They have been hard work and slow, but then I have put on nearly a stone in weight – I hope to reduce this over 3 months back to where I was… Wish me luck (but not pasties).

A long aniticipated return

2007-09-03T02:19:00.000-07:00

After 11 weeks of frustrating inactivity due to an ankle injury, I finally took my first steps back running (well jogging) at the weekend. At the end of a two week holiday in the English Lake District (and having done some cycling - from Runcorn to Gretna in three stages as part of a longer term project) I ran 2 miles. "Running" is flattering really, as I felt heavy, ungainly and slow. In fact I felt like I was waddling. I went slowly, watched my heart rate and even managed a bit of a hill, but you know, it felt so good - I came back with a pain in my knee. My knee hurt. My breath was short and rather laboured. My feet felt like they had been pummelled with a wooden mallet. And why did that feel so good? I had no reaction from my ankle. It just worked.

The worst gig in history?

2007-08-16T05:17:00.000-07:00

I played an impromptu gig the other night. I shouldn’t have, as it was probably the worst solo one I have ever done and one of the worst ever in any band/orchestra.

We were at someone’s 50th birthday party and 3 months previously when the party was going to be in a village hall with 200 people I’d been asked to play. A month or so ago, however, plans changed and it turned into a much smaller number of people at the birthday boy’s house.

The party was lame so I had this vision of me bringing the while thing to life. I went home to get my gear and couldn’t find my lyrics folder so, after much searching, decided to go ahead anyway.

I set up and played, but there were two or three songs where I really struggled with the lyrics. Bad decision. I shouldn’t have done them. Also I was putting all outputs through a mixer and using a monitor speaker instead of PA (remember it was just in someone’s house). But the volume of the monitor varied. All of a sudden it decreased markedly in volume and then just as suddenly, 5 mins later, it shot back up again. There must have been 15-20 people there and many of them stayed outside, so I was playing to anything between 2 and 10 people. I also am tired at the moment so one song was a struggle in a high bit.

After I had finished, 4 others took up the reins and did some stuff from a songbook – they were OK. Quite good bass playing, though I didn’t like the singer’s voice – it was a bit weedy.

Anyway, the party finished at about 1.00 and I packed up and went home, being thanked for “getting the party going”. The good thing is, I will never let myself be that bad again. I had not rehearsed more than 4 of the songs, and was consequently rusty. On top of the prevailing conditions it was a disaster from my point of view. The good thing is that people enjoyed it, and it got the birthday boy up singing and dancing.

If anyone has any pics, send them though and I’ll post them.

Have a meeting next week on that business idea I mentioned in the post below. Wish me luck. It could be the start of something…
Love and peace

Developments

2007-07-23T12:49:00.000-07:00

The last night of the performance went OK. I managed to wear my shades for the rock number towards the end which went down very well with the pupils. Need to find some time to work on the recording now.

I then went to Winchester to record the two teenagers, taking Vicky with me to be their accompanist. Having been told to expect 6 jazzy numbers we ended up recording 13 a mixture of classical and modern with only one jazzy number. The two girls had, however, beautiful voices and I hope I have captured them adequately. I expect there will be some problems, however, as I was also acting as page turner and I think we have some distortion on at least one of the mics. I used a new preamp – a focusright- I think I need to spend some time with it, as it wasn’t quite as I had expected.

Developments – I have at last received a reply from an organisation I have been chasing on a new business idea agreeing to meet up to discuss it. They have offered me a date next week which I cannot do, so I have asked for an alternative. Wish me luck, as this could be the start of something (which song was the signature tune of a dance band I us to play in).

Playing and recording together

2007-07-18T03:14:00.000-07:00

I have been asked to play bass and record a school production. We had the dress rehearsal on Monday evening - this was the first time the band had seen the music (though in truth we had been given the music some weeks before, but none had had the chance to look at it). The music was pretty straightforward for me, with a couple of tricky bits and once piece in 6 flats. Bt mostly it is just about getting to know the music and being able to put it all together. There are c. 50 pupils taking part including two of my children. I am lucky enough to be seen as the cool one on the bass.

For recording I am using my Neumann mics at the back of he hall with the two mics about 10 feet apart pointing slightly away from each other towards the edges of the stage. This gives me a good stereo image, though I thought I had timing problems (speed of sound) which was actually just the fact that I had moved one track slightly in the software, so that they were playing an eighth of a second apart

The recording quality is great (24bit 96K), the only issue I have is that I cannot ride the gain levels as I am playing most of the time – I have to set the input levels so that it won’t distort.

Dress rehearsal and first night recording seem OK – let’s see if they are better tonight for the last performance.

On Friday I am due to record a couple of teenagers singing some classical and a little modern stuff – different issues there – more anon.

Back on the road

2007-07-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

But not in a musical sense. Today I have just got back onto my bike after 4 weeks' lay off through injury. It felt sooooooo good to be outside. My ankle was OK - a few twinges and a little aching if I tried too hard, but it is GREAT to be able to do something again.

I would post a picture of my ankle but the camera seems to be a little defunct at the minute.

I received a call from the Vodafone woman again trying to sort a date out for the recording of her daughter and a friend. I will aim to do the date or I might miss the opportunity. Also I have been asked to come up with a tune for a song from a brilliant up and coming duo - one of my daughters and a friend of hers.

I love music!!

What a weekend

2007-07-09T10:28:00.000-07:00

What an amazing weekend. I could divide it into a number of sections:

1. Birthday
2. Entertainment
3. Home Improvements
4. Work
You’ll notice there is no music in there. The only music I managed was as part of number 1 – Birthday.

1. Birthday
It was middle’un’s 10th birthday on Saturday. Must be a lucky day – 07/07/07.

She had breakfast and presents and then had a ballet rehearsal for next week’s show. Her favourite present was, I think, her horse t-shirt, though the “make a tardis and cyberman’ Kit and Doctor who DVD came close.

After ballet we took her into Town to buy her new bike, which we chose, and had a big sandwich for lunch in a churchyard where a pretty girl and handsome boy were getting married.

Then we went to the church hall to set up. I meant to mow the lawn, but didn’t get the chance. The grass is about 9 inches long at the minute and makes the house look even more terrible than ever. After setting up we came back, Jen cooked pizzas and cakes and I found a way of suspending a piñata from a pulley in the church hall, having to take my ladder.

At the part there were about 25 children, and we were really worried they were going to riot at the beginning. You would think balloons would be harmless enough, but they were vicious. I got ballooned by this little dot of a girl who had a balloon punch like Frank Bruno. We calmed them down with the first game (balloon bursting) and then some formation dancing (Cha-cha slide seemed to work quite well). The party went well after that, though I disappointed 2 girls by naming someone else the winner of the girls’ dancing competition, and Jen had to put that right with chocolates. For he boys’ competition Ed and Jordan shared first prize with a sort of hip-hop tango. The piñata eventually broke, after everyone had had a shot with the blindfold on, and in the melee to get sweets one poor girl was given a bloody nose by a stray elbow.
We were finished and out by 10.00 pm and had some champagne back at home. And the music bit was that I was D.J. and Karaoke-meister (or is it sensei?)

2. Entertainment
My mum came to help with the party. A long-lost godmother to one of my other children also came to help, but needed picking up after the party had started – difficult when there was a riot going on with balloons. Mum went to get our friend, and afterwards we drank the champagne while the house settled into post-fiesta-chaos. The next morning I got up early to make sure our friend got back on a train to London, then came home. Mum left an hour later and we breathed a sigh of relief. Not that we hadn’t enjoyed having our overnight guests; we had. But it had been a long day and a quarter. I had a lot of work to do and I still hadn’t cut the grass.
The phone went. Jen’s brother, sister-in-law and still quite new nephew were coming for lunch! We had no food to speak of (other than left over-pizza). It was great to see them. We had lunch, talked, played “Cashflow” and looked at Jen's brother’s new trumpet. We had tea. Hey left at about 8.00. Again it was great to see them, but we were both exhausted.

3. Home improvements
I was determined to mow the lawn. Eventually on Sunday while the others walked the dogs I mowed the lawn. It only took 45 mins and I only jarred my ankle on the dog-burrowed, uneven, poop-interspersed surface once.

I also was determined to wood stain the front door fame. I and given the front door a second coat of paint after Uncle Jack and Aunty Anne’s visit during the previous week, and the frame looked tatty and un-loved. Trouble is it needed three coats. I got 2 done, as the weather was warm. About 3 hrs total, after mum left, including a trip to a DIY shop to buy the woodstain and a couple of add-ons. The second coat just before mowing the lawn while the others were walking the pooping doggies. Didn’t manage to get the third coat done.

I also managed to take a car load (Volvo estate mind!) to the dump, where I had to queue for 15 mins as everyone has the same idea as me.

4. Work
I also had a day’s worth of work to do (not music). I started it while Cashflow was being played, peppered it with door paining and lawn mowing, and stayed up until 1:30. I didn’t finish it, but got quite close and sent it out to some people.

Epilogue
While doing all of this, I managed to see significant bits of the British Grand Prix (Lewis Hamilton third), the Wimbledon men’s singles finals (Federer beat Nadal in 5 sets to take his 5th consecutive Wimbledon title) and the Mixed doubles final (Murray and Jankowic won).

I went to bed dog tired and thanking my stars for the enjoyable weekend and the fact that I could lie in until 7 a.m., as I only had to go to Cambridge today.

Further Fysical Frustration

2007-07-06T04:55:00.000-07:00

Back to the physio this morning. She did further ultrasound on the tendon over the top of the ankle bone and then started working on the one behind. Her face dropped, as she asked “does this hurt”. I don’t know whether she was prompted by her feeling of the tendon or the fact that I had recoiled in agony to the corner of the couch, but either was I confirmed that I did, indeed, feel that. After a little more prodding and thinking she said that she thinks I may have ruptured the sheath around the long tendon that comes from the calf muscle around the underneath of the ankle bone and that it would therefore take a while longer before it was healed.

That appears to mean that running for the next few weeks is still out of the question, which in turn means I will put on even more weight.

So let’s think of something positive (apart from the fact that, really, this is not a major problem for thee world). I have been dreaming up a business idea for the last few days and I think it may be viable. There seem to be a lot of other people trying to do the same thing, but do you know what? that makes me happy. VCs appear to have thrown millions at these start-ups, but I don’t see anyone yet aggressively marketing it to the target market I think might buy. Also, I came up with this idea independently, without any knowledge that others were doing it. That’s a good feeling as it makes me think maybe my ideas aren’t as cr*p as I sometimes fear. I’ll think about it a but more and decide over the next couple of weeks whether it is worth pursuing it seriously or not.

Separately, someone else wants me to record them for a demo CD. All in all, life’s not that bad after all!

Love

What's the alternative?

2007-07-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Saturday will have been 4 weeks since I injured my ankle, and I am really frustrated with not being able to get out and run. I'm sure I have your sympathy, as I know I'm not the only one to have gone through this sort of thing. I'm putting weight back on, feeling sorry for myself all the time and generally lacking energy. What can you suggest I do instead of running? At this stage I would be happy with serious sports / exercise suggestions or indeed not-so-serious suggestions which might be very far away from the closeted world of running?
In frustration!
Yours
Phil

It gives me no pleasure to have been right

2007-07-05T01:40:00.001-07:00

So there was another car bomb that failed to detonate and then a car driven into the passenger terminal at Glasgow airport.

How callous and arrogant to assume that your lives and beliefs are so much more important than those of others. I think I must be turning right wing – they say it happens with age – What is it? If you are not an anarchist at 16, communist at 20 and Tory at 40 there’s something wrong with you?

On the music front, I’ve been asked to record a school performance for sale to parents. About 150 double CDs is the estimate. Must get back in contact with my CD printer acquaintance and see what can be done.

The foot is still sore. It swells up on the join between leg and foot on top of the foot at the end of each day. Getting around London is no fun, but today, when Kings Cross was closed for overcrowding, I was let in. Vivan los crutches!
Love and peace

Mixing or cutting and pasting

2007-06-29T02:23:00.000-07:00

Again, first an update on the foot. It seems to be settling down now. Most of the swelling has gone, but I am travelling into London daily on a consultancy assignment and in the evening it is quite swollen on top of the ankle bone. I tried without crutches on Monday, but reverted to them for the rest of this week. Today they have discovered a gas-cylinder and nail bomb in Haymarket, about a mile from where my assignment is. This is on the day after Mr Brown has taken over as Prime Minister, so I expected something. I also expect there to be further discoveries / attempts today - that has been the pattern over recent years with these attacks. Getting home tonight will be interesting!

The bruising has virtually all disappeared now, except for on the side of my leg where it is still pretty purple (though not very pretty), very nearly three weeks after the fateful football fiasco and I am looking forward to increasing my mobility and perhaps getting back to some longer walks without sticks.

In terms of music I composed a piece for my wife for Christmas called "Unceremoniously carolled" for several players and too man instruments where most people had multiple parts. We played it at Easter, with my good friend John Brown conducting our make-shift orchestra and I recorded it using my new Neumann microphones (good ones for those who won't know). Unfortunately the playing wasn't up to the standard I had hoped(!) so there will be a great deal of cutting and pasting of different takes, and mixing to try to get a decent sound. We took some great photos on the day and I aim to produce a CD for all participants over the next few weeks, though I think it will be quite a taxing editing job.

I’m not quite sure how to approach it either, so it should be an interesting and rewarding experience. Again I will post clips somewhere (should really re-activate my myspace account) so that you can hear previews and final versions.

Love and peace.

Another work opportunity?

2007-06-24T09:03:00.000-07:00

But first the foot. It feels like it has slowed down its recovery. It is a little more swollen around the ankle than a few days ago, the bruising is really on its way out now. Here area a couple more pictures. You can see a little more the bruising on my leg and toes. The problem is, because the pain has mostly gone, I try to do more and then it swells and hurts. Take yesterday, I spent from 9.00 until 5.00 clearing things up n the house and garage (there is so much to do!). By 5.00 it was quite painful. I had been in and out of the garage, twisting and turning like a twisty turney thing, in tight spaces. I had to go back to the frozen peas for quite a while.

Anyway, back to the music. My wife came home from reflexology (foot-feeley) with the news that a friend of ours would like us to record him playing some Bach. He plays in one of London's top orchestras and is considering an exchange to Australia, needing to put together a CD to send.

Secondly, as I was busy putting up shelves late on Friday night, the office phone rang. On the other end, and quite flustered that she had not just got the answer machine, was a lady whom I had recorded as part of a 40-strong group on a ship in Gosport harbour. Her daughter and a friend would like to record a CD of c. 6 classical / jazz standards and would I be interested in producing it. Of course I would. We have to agree date and venue, but what a thrill to have been remembered and asked to do this, especially for someone's 14 year old daughter and friend - I think that shows a lot of trust in me and what I do, as it would take a lot to allow some (almost) stranger in to my daughters' lives.

I'll keep you updated with progress.

Continued incapacity

2007-06-21T01:53:00.000-07:00

I'm still struggling to walk properly, though I have ditched the crutches. I've seen the physio 4 times now and today we had acupuncture, as well as ultrasound, "manipulation" (a euphemistic terms for "seeing if we can pull the ankle joint apart") and deep tissue massage of the calf. It was also once more at 7.00 am. Mad things these New Zealanders, though I admit it gets me into the day well. Here's another couple of pictures of the injured foot, taken the day before yesterday. Yuk. Still all fat and swollen. The bruising has come out a bit more since I took these, and now middle toe is purple all over. Really purple, with slight jaundicey-yellow edges. Lovely.

On the music front, I completed a dance track at the weekend called Hard Day. It's not great, but it's the first I've done for many a year (and it sounds a bit 90s to me at this stage). It needs mastering yet, which I may get the chance to do at the weekend. Once done I'll post it somewhere. Let me know what you think.
Love

Swelling

2007-06-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

I went into London today for work. I was dropped off at Sandy station by my family and trekked in. I managed to get back at lunch time, but my foot was really quite swollen again by that stage. Not as badly as it had been originally, but it has shown me that I need to keep it elevated.

I finished reading Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie today. That puts things into perspective. Yes, my foot is sore; yes, my calf muscles ache; yes, my thighs are losing their hardness; and yes, my tummy is coming back again. But I think I want to spend my time being happier with things, so I will concentrate on the facts that we had some tremendous rain today, some warm sunshine and there are two loved-up rabbits outside my office window.
Back to the physio tomorrow morning. I’ll take a new picture of my foot to see how it is compared to yesterday.

Frustration in the rain

2007-06-14T08:33:00.001-07:00

Today it is raining heavily. Lots of good thunder and lightening, and a heavy atmosphere. It rather reflects my mood I'm afraid.

I went to casualty last night to get my ankle x-rayed, as per the telephone advice of the physio. They were pretty speedy actually at the hospital. Having been warned of a 2 hour wait, I actually got seen after about an hour and a half. The doctor said that it wasn't broken. He prodded and pushed various tendons and bones (which hurt a lot) and told me it could take from 2 - 10 weeks to mend. He offered to write me a sick note for my employer - but that's me, so there did not seem too much point in that.

This morning I went to see a physio. I've not seen her before - she is the new partner or employee of my usual physio who I could not get an appointment with. A kiwi, with a passion for English literature, she has just moved to near Cambridge to be in Europe and near such a literary hub. She seems to spend a lot of her time at the Orchard.

She prodded and poked and agreed that there was no fracture. Lots of ultrasound and another appointment for 7:30 on Saturday morning and a stiff strapping of the leg. I am left feeling bruised and sore from her work.

Today the muscle ache started. I have no idea about biology / physiology, but if I don't run regularly, after about a week my calf muscles start hurting. It feels like they are shrinking or stretching - I don't know which, but it is quite painful in a non-acute way and indicates that they are starting to lose some of their strength / elasticity. I guess someone will know what they are actually doing, as I assume this is normal. This is the start of the really frustrating period when I really want to get out there and really want to run far, and at the moment I really can't. Still, at least it is pouring with rain, so I would probably not go out today anyway!

Running injury

2007-06-13T04:22:00.000-07:00

I run regularly. Usually 2 to 3 times per week and cover around 10-20 miles per week, sometimes more sometime less.

On Saturday I was playing in a football match. In our village one of my daughters plays in the local under 10s football team. They were having a "lads v dads" end of season game. My daughter and I had been ribbing each other all week about how the other was too afraid to play. One evening I went into her room to say goodnight and she started making chicken noises. Her elder sister bounced into the room and joined in. Very funny.

Anyway, we arrived late, due to a ballet class, and got on to play the second half. Most of the dads were much rounder than me(!) and I did a lot of running. However on chasing a ball from a throw in I twisted my ankle badly. I carried on playing, in quite a lot of pain (and nearly scored twice!), but after the game it was clear that my ankle was quite swollen.

I have now been at rest and on crutches for four days, and am trying to make an appointment to see my physio. I rang a doctor on Saturday, who confirmed that it was unlikely to be broken.
I thought I'd use this blog to track my frustrations and progress in rehab (no. no, no).

The images above show my foot on day four (top), and also yesterday, day three (bottom). Nice and purple and still swollen.

Wish me luck in my recovery

The unfulfilling life of a performer.....

2007-05-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

Apart from the corproate teambuilding stuff I do, I also perform, either in a band "Troutface" or on my own. The last Troutface gig was however 2+ years ago and now one of our excellent guitarists Andy has moved to California. He's working on Santa Monica Boulevard. Sounds cool, but he's a Finance Director.

I have three solo gigs booked for the summer and had been merrily preparing. One has been cancelled, or rather, scaled back - it was supposed to be in a village hall for 100 people - it is now in a house - not sure whether I'll play or not. Another is a moving feast - it is supposed to be 16th June, but not sure if the venue can accomodate it (the house is having a patio re-done). The third is still on, as far as I am aware, though I haven't heard from the organiser for a couple of months.

And I am aching to perform so this all leads to frustration. If the worst comes to the worst I'll bore my wife and children with tired renditions of the same songs they've been hearing for months instead. Always a winner.

Just to say hello really

2007-05-07T14:05:00.000-07:00

Just started.

I am writing this to keep track of the vagiaries of my professinal music life - the ups, downs and sidewayses of things. You never know it might get interesting.

I write music, produce, record and perform in many different styles and run a company that uses a recording experience as a corporate team-building event.

I will, no doubt, up date this sporadically; but check back and see if it grabs your attention.

Best wishes

Phil