September
This month saw loads more zooming, principally because Michael Clarke has moved to Devon. No more popping over to Kings Heath for an hour or so and a coffee! Instead, I went to Devon for three days and we pretty much finished all the recordings.
I also recorded a podcast for Bill Laybourne’s FIELDWORKS
show on Black Country Radio Extra. This is a real incidental bonus for the project: another assessment point, and a new audience. It’s basically an interview about me, and the project. A good one for the archive, thanks Bill!
October
The Drawing Songs exhibition will open in the last week of October so much of the month is spent preparing the gallery, getting work framed and mounted, getting the lyrics book printed, and the cd duplicated. All the publicity and marketing shifts up a gear and I start to feel excited, but also a little relieved that it will be finished soon. The year since getting the funds in September last year has been very focussed, busy, and absolutely wonderful, but also in places rather exhausting.
One of the people I have met through the Discussion Festival is dancer Mel Simpson… who combines dancing with drawing, so she, Bill and I feel there might be some mileage in exploring some sort of collaboration. We have a chat, but decide to wait until 2022 so we can concentrate on it properly. I don’t have the brain space at the moment.
The exhibition goes well, is well attended and very well received. I do a live performance of six of the songs with Michael Clarke (after three hours’ rehearsal! Eeeeek!); a live drawing to sound session with Bill, equally well received but a very different experience for the performers and the audience.
November
At one of the gigs I attended earlier in the year I was introduced to Wayne Moseley, a really genuine music lover with an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of all sorts of music. He is a DJ for a couple of radio stations. We got to talking about all sorts of things art and music related and he also knows Michael, so turned up at Drawing Songs for the gig, and buys the CD. This lovely man then plays one of my songs
ALARMS
on Big City Radio in Birmingham, on Hive Radio UK in Manchester, and Smile Radio Online. The audience figures on my ACE evaluation will be at least double the predicted number!
December started with me tidying up the studio for an open weekend. It wasn’t hugely busy, but some lovely people came, chatted, ate cake, and bought some work.
The Sitting Room (trio, not enough room for a five-piece band) had an appearance on Black Country Radio to celebrate the launch of our second EP “Sitting Room Only”, singing live on the radio is a weird and wonderful thing, a bit nerve-wracking, but fun.
LEFTOVER
Then I shut down the studio really, in need of a break, and with a desire to celebrate our first Christmas in our new home in style, hoping all the time that we would be allowed to.
It has been wonderful! All my family around me, all tested and safe and well thank goodness. I’ve waved off one son and daughter-in-law this morning… the younger son still here.
I think there’s some cheese left in the fridge…
Happy New Year!
Thanks for reading xxx
