Enjoyed a very pleasant evening meal at our excellent village pub with two good friends. The conversation inevitably turned to the increasing incursions of age into our lives and its attendant debilitating effects on both body and mind.
Whilst our companions are a good few years younger than Emi and myself, (at least by some 11 or 12 years,) there was plenty of discussion about how the world wears away at the physical fabric of our bodies, and how time, once seemingly in infinite supply, suddenly seems ridiculously short and speedy.
These concerns, I suppose, are a regular preoccupation for those of us entering our senior years, no matter how much we try to deny them. As someone or other once said, (and I wonder who it actually was who said it,) "Old age isn't for cissies..."
All maudlin thoughts aside, the evening was well spent in the company of good people with a firm grasp of musical appreciation, and we very much appreciated their kindness and hospitality, (despite my hearing difficulties which made deciphering the across table conversation somewhat difficult at times.)
Work here still going on and on, (as always,) with more recordings and mixings for future albums. It's what I do, and what I am, and there's little chance of escaping it without incurring some kind of depression or darkness. It's what keeps me afloat in this world. Is that a sad thing or a wonderful thing? I don't for one minute pretend to know.
My activity veers constantly between feelings of elation and abject failure. There's no longer any attempt to polish my work to some level of commercial or popular approval. Impossible. There's no point or inclination to even try any more. All that's left is to just state the moment and be as true to it as I'm able, and then move on, and as quickly as possible. Damn the consequences. Stand or fall by art's ideals and authenticity, for whatever that's worth.
Meanwhile and once again, I'm contemplating this year's 70th birthday concert event with a certain amount of trepidation. Not allowed to reveal a date yet, (though one has been 'pencilled in,') but a potential title has been thought up. It will be a Clothworker's Hall event again, in Leeds, Yorkshire, and now has the working title of: "PLECTRONICA: A CELEBRATION OF BILL NELSON AT 70." Various surprises being lined up at the moment, but more of this later...
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