Travelled to Wakefield today to take my Mum shopping to the supermarket. Our regular Saturday visit had to be postponed until Sunday this week as Emiko had a commitment to help out at a local charity fund raising Christmas Fair.
Certain problematic issues to do with the upcoming 'Plectronica' event are now slowly beginning to sort themselves out. Much still to do but it's definitely getting there.
This coming Tuesday I have another eye injection session at the hospital, which, as usual, I'm not looking forward to, but the real downside is that it will rob me of a day's preparation for the event. The injections have a very negative effect on my vision for around 24 hours and my eyes are extremely sore afterwards, so very little work will get done.
Had a conversation with my guitar tech Andy Newlove who is in Berlin at the moment. Looks like he will be back in the UK the week before 'Plectronica' so will be able to pick up all my guitars and equipment a couple of days prior to the event. We're hoping to set everything up in Fairview studios sometime before the show so that the gear can be checked out and any problems remedied. I only use this full set-up when I play live, (the last time being over a year ago,) so we need time to make sure everything is still working. I also need time to remind myself where all the different sounds reside on my pedalboards. My Gus G1 midi guitar has to be tested too as its Roland synth interface is quite a complicated set up.
It's astonishing just how much 'kit' is needed for these basically one man shows. My live set up involves 3 different digital guitar multi-processors, plus a midi synth guitar unit, a looper and extra delay unit, an on stage mixer, e-bows and a couple of other gadgets, a stereo monitor system, etc. I guess that's a lot of gear for just one man, (with lots of guitars!)
I'm hoping to find time tomorrow to photograph some of the artwork I've made to offer at the event. I'll post pictures here in my journal if I get the opportunity.
Have attached a portrait of myself painted by artist and one time fellow Ings Road Secondary School pupil, Ruel Hudson. Hope he doesn't mind me showing it. We both attended Ings Road School in the late 1950s, early 1960s and also went on to attend Wakefield Art School together with Ruel taking a Graphic Arts course whilst I opted for the Fine Art one. (Note the Wakefield Star award Ruel's added to my baseball cap...a nice touch! )
That's it for tonight...
