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Sunday 17 March 2024

WE ALL have a long lie. I’m aching all over and absolutely burst when I wake up.

A shower helps a little and we have a leisurely ‘brunch’ chatting and chilling for an hour or two.

I get a hard drive sorted to give Martyn to dump all the video footage form last night, Trevor and Emma hit the road…and Margaret and I go to get the rest of the gear from the hall.

Later on I go to pick up the hard drive from Martyn and top for a coffee and blether.

Back home I start getting some of the video files onto my system and tidy up the studio in readiness for tomorrow’s various guitar sessions.

Saturday 16 March 2024

For the finale I asked Trevor up to join me on Loch Lomond Home… (Pic: Jamie Houston)

I’M up early to take the first car load of gear to the hall and catch up with Martyn who’s putting in a load of cameras to film the show.

When I get back home everyone’s up and Margaret’s busy getting breakfast sorted.

I get the rest of the PA and lighting stuff in the car and along to the hall. I’ll get the main stuff rigged then Trevor will bring Margaret and Emma along in an hour or so. No point in them hanging about while I get angry with the PA set up!

And indeed I do get frustrated as the mixers refuses to connect with either phone or iPad. I end up having to totally reset the mixer which sorts the connection issue…but means everything has to be set up again from scratch.

While I get the rest of the setup done, the others sort the tables, chairs, merch and other stuff.

After I get soundchecked Margret and Emma go back to the house to get some dinner ready and I soundcheck Trevor then finish rigging and setting the lights. Martyn comes in to finish camera setup.

Trevor and I are about to head back to the house when Margaret and Emma rock up with our dinner! There’s only half an hour ’til doors open and they already ate…so had the brainwave to bring dinner to us 🙂

I have to go back to the house to get changed and pick ups few more things tho’…and when I get back folks have started arriving!

Trevor kicks off at 8pm for an hour’s set. he plays a blinder and everyone loves him and his music 🙂

We have pretty much a full house and there’s a great vibe. I kick off my set soon after 9pm and play for just over an hour then get Trevor up for the finale of Loch Lomond Home…then an enthusiastic encore sees us blast our way through Folsom Prison Blues….

We’re tidied up and home by midnight. Pizza, snacks, drinks and chat ’til 4am…

Friday 15 March 2024

We have a grand time at PJ’s Dunfermline……

EVERYONE’S still asleep when I get up and prep for my guitar student who arrives bang on time.

After the lesson I hit the office and get a few things done then it’s ‘breakfast’ time.

Trevor and Emma go for a walk and I finish restringing guitars for tonight’s show then we get all the gear packed and head for Dunfermline.

PJ Molloy’s is a great venue. Soundman Neil is waiting for us and soon joined by gig rep Derry.

Soundchecks are all done and merch set up with enough time for us to go out and grab a chippy for dinner.

The gig goes well for both of us and although it’s not a huge crowd, we have a grand time.

We’re back home lochside before midnight and enjoy some pizza, drinks and chat before bed. Big show tomorrow (Saturday)

Thursday 14 March 2024

A prototype mini guitar pin with wooden inlay….on sale here!

OFF to the school first thing…Margaret’s going to get some shopping so drive and drops me in Balloch.

I have good morning and we’re back home before lunchtime.

We’re not long back when the team from a production company in Glasgow arrive. They did some filming for a pitch to TV a couple of years ago…the timing wasn’t right so they’re giving it another go and wanna shoot some updated bits and bobs for a sizzle reel. Good to see them – and nice to know that their idea hasn’t been shelved. Fingers crossed for success this time.

Trevor and Emma are coming later tonight and I have a lot to get done. The guitar pins and pendants need finished…some for an order bound for the USA and the rest destined for the merch table at the two upcoming shows. Trevor is my special guest in Dunfermline tomorrow (Friday) and the local village hall on Saturday.

There’s also gig listing s postcards to be printed and set lists to be prepared.

In the studio I reset the mixer and start trying to configure the remote iPad app so things go smoothly during wet up at the hall on.Saturday

In between times I have a Zoom meeting with my pal Kevin about his recent single release and the next one….

Then it’s back to the mixer set up and configuration…and back to the house for dinner.

Trevor and Emma won’t be here ’till about midnight…before they get here we have a video call with our pals in Spain who re setting up a wee tour for me over there in October 🙂

Wednesday 13 March 2024

AFTER breakfast I hit the office to get the guitar pins and pendants sanded. The ‘regular guitars need filled with coloured epoxy – the resonator guitars just need polished.

While the epoxy is curing I print out some dye sub sheets to heat press onto tote bags for merch. The dye sub printer is playing up, though, and keeps losing its wifi connection. I among to find a suitable cable to hardwire it to the computer and get the printouts I need.

At the same time I start printing a batch of postcards with upcoming gig dates for distribution at this weekend’s shows.

I took a punt and ordered a Roland SPD::ONE stomp pad from Amazon. The ‘kick’ version isn’t available anywhere so I had to settle for the ‘electro’ model. The sounds aren’t really what I’m after but there’s a user preset that allows the user to loads in a.wav file of their own.. Also, if it’s shit, it’s easier to return to Amazon.

Anyway, it arrived with the post earlier and after a few minutes setting up and loading in my own sound I give it a whirl. Seems to work pretty good. Is it a keeper? Dunno yet…we’ll see how it does on this weekend’s shows.

Margaret needs to get familiar with the third party mixer app on the iPad…Behringer’s own hasn’t been updated and doesn’t work anymore. I have a bit of a hassle getting the iPad speaking to the mixer…then the mixer view is all fucked up.

I need to get the next stage of the merch production out the way and put on the pork belly for dinner. While things are cooking I get one of the guitars re-strung and watch mixing station video tutorial…

Tuesday 12 March 2024

Carnitas….

MARGARET’s off to Doune early to babysit…Freya and Aaron are both off school sick 🙁

There’s an order in for five acoustic guitar pins. I also need some more of them and the resonator guitar pins for the merch table at this week’s shows so I get busy casting.

A break for lunch then it’s back on the merch until may 4pm guitar student arrives.

After the lesson I get out for an hour’s paddle. The loch is calm but misty and make for a surreal experience.

Back home I get another stage off the guitar pin production process done then embark on dinner – carnitas. After getting the pork in the Instant Pot with all the other ingredients for the main part I make avocado sauce, salsa and tortilla dough.

It’s 10,.30pm but the time it’s all easy but well worth the wait. Then it’s chill time and a film about Chess Records – Cadillac Records – on Amazon Prime.

Monday 11 March 2024

An acoustic version of Walk the Walk from my Wildcats’ Facebook livestream

I TRY and fire through as much of today’s to-do list as possible before my first Zoom guitar student of the day.

After the lesson I go back to the office and start filming the guitar pin and pendant production process…folsk have been asking how I make them. With luck I might even have the video ready to spin into tonight’s Wildcats’ Facebook livestream.

After lunch I spend some time making a set list for this week’s shows in Dunfermline and Buchanan then have another Zoom session with a guitar student. We’ve moved his time from 7pm to 2pm which might make things less chaotic in the run up to my weekly livestream.

I get a little more filming of the pin and pendant production process before my afternoon guitar student arrives. For an eight year old she’s making great progress 🙂

It’s a bit of a race against time, but I get the ‘production’ video finished – well, a draft version – and all my stuff for the livestream sorted just in time…

Sunday 10 March 2024

Prototype of Conic Hill pin design…

AFTER breakfast I spend some time finishing off a couple of merch projects including a prototype of the Conic Hill pin.

Catriona, Will and the kids rock up and we go for a wee walk taking Aaron’s new electric quad bike.

We have soup and a coffee then they all head off and I get some work done in the studio.

I make sous vide chicken and pepper sauce which we enjoy on front of the telly watching Bill and Dorothy’s livestream from Florida.

Saturday 9 March 2024

I GET a fair amount of work done while we sit in bed watching Saturday Kitchen and drink coffee.

After ‘brunch’ we decide to try and tackle the big tidy up outside.

First task is to clear out the woodshed and cut up the pallets and other random big bits of wood that have just been shoved in there and talking up more then their fair share of space.

While I’m clearing the woodshed, Margaret starts on the garden shed which is in a similar mess…that’ll let me get the various power saws out to deal with the wood.

First, a circular saw then a mitre saw to cut down the pallets and other oversized bits of wood.

Next the log splitter and mitre saw for some of the logs we have waiting to be cut. Still hard work, but sure beats doing by hand!

There’s still a few logs and all the old decking to be done when it starts to get too dark and starts raining.

I make an experimental beef stir fry which Margaret reckons is the best I’ve done then our neighbours Jess and Drake come in for a few drinks.

Friday 8 March 2024

Cold outside…but never too cold to make pizza for dinner!

I PUT the guitar pins on sale in the West Highland Way Gifts‘ online store…and spread it round the WHW socials too. Double dunt.

Today’s the day my pal Kevin’s single is out. I’ve been helping him with various promo and strategic stuff. Hope it does good. There’s a few loose ends I need to tie up.

I send an email out to my mail list to let folks know about the new guitar pins…and tag on details fo next week’s Scottish shows.

There’s a lot of techie gremlins today. First, buy Facebook ad account has been suspended. Apparently my invoice wasn’t;t able to be paid.

No recent changes to my cards or other payment methods so not sure what the issue is. I try to sort it out in the Meta business manager and fight with it for a good couple of hours before I finally get it sorted…and my ads for next Friday’s (15 March) show in Dunfermline start running again.

No sooner than I have that sorted than an email comes in from someone wanting to but a guitar pin…I go to find the link freom my website to find the site is down. In fact, all my websites are down. F’sakes.

I get on to the hosting company who apologies for the outage…the sites are back up and running but he time I Finsih my ‘chat’ with support.

Tired of fighting with everything I parcel up a Merch order, take it to the post box and go for a walk in the woods as darkness falls.

Back home, I tinker in the studio for a while then it’s back to the house to get the pizza oven fired up and prep for dinner…

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