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Traveled to Wakefield this afternoon as today marks the 13th Anniversary of my brother Ian's passing. Ian was born on April 23rd, 1953 and died on the morning of his 50th birthday, April 23rd, 2006, just two years after we'd been performing together, throughout the UK, with my band 'The Lost Satellites' on the 'Be Bop Deluxe And Beyond' tour. Ian is buried in Wakefield's main cemetery and Emi and myself took my Mother to lay flowers on Ian's grave, sharing a few moments of melancholy reflection. He would have been 63 today. The day of his funeral was a bitterly cold one. An icy wind whipped over us as we stood by the grave where he was to be buried. The deep sense of grief we all felt back then is impossible to describe. The freezing wind that cut across the graveside that day in 2006 served to underline the cruel reality of the situation and the sadness and loss in our hearts. It still haunts me to this day. But today the weather was more kind and the little avenue of trees that line the way to Ian's burial place were full of pink blossom. After cleaning Ian's headstone and laying the flowers we'd brought we stood quietly beside the grave, remembering. I thought about my little brother when we were both still kids living on Eastmoor Estate in Wakefield, playing in our back garden with the girl from the flat above ours, (Bronwyne Jackson.) I thought about our holidays together in the '50s, at Reighton Gap, Skipsea and Witherensea, how we'd played on the beach, building sandcastles and looking out across the vast blue sea, as if we were looking into an infinite blue tomorrow, stretching on for ever with the two of us, side by side, always there for each other. It was not to be. How could we know? Cut short, stolen by cruel fate. So now, there's just mum and me left from those carefree 1950s days. And mum is 91 years old this year and increasingly frail. This is what time and tide does and it does it to us all, eroding everything we hold dear, just as the sea erodes the Yorkshire coastline that my family and I loved so much in those summer holiday bygone days. Tragedy, joy, life and death. The stuff of dreams, of melancholia, the abundant fuel that fires Art. Well, if not a way of understanding all this, Art at least hints at a kind of universal sympatico, a gut-level embrace, a shared sensitivity about our apparently meaningless mortal condition that ultimately, and finally, transcends it. As Cocteau once said: "No longer to see Art as an amusement, but as a priesthood..." A 1950s photograph of Mum holding Ian with me sitting at their side in the front garden of the bungalow we sometimes spent a holiday in at Reighton Gap on the East Coast of Yorkshire. Dad with Ian and me in the front garden of the Reighton Gap bungalow, 1950s. Ian and I at the rear of the Reighton Gap bungalow with Dad's Hillman Minx car in the foreground. Photo' taken in the 1950s.

Finally knocked the new album into shape. Have arrived at a running order and chosen which tracks should be used and which left off. So, 'STAND BY: LIGHT COMING…' is now ready to go to Fairview studios for John Spence to master prior to manufacture. I'll need to fix up a date for the mastering as I think John is pretty busy at the moment. There will be 15 tracks on the album in total but, even so, there are still10 tracks left over, either as 'rejects' or simply because there wasn't enough room for them. I'm thinking of creating a couple of instrumental tracks to bookend these, thereby bringing the total to 12. I'll then try to seqence these tracks as a seperate album and make it a download only release for dedicated fans who are possibly interested in hearing what songs were left over from the main album. For now though, here is the final running order for 'Stand By: Light Coming…' 1:'FLICKER AND FADE.' 2:'GHOSTLAND.' 3:'I REALLY DON'T EXIST.' 4:'HEADLAMP MOON.' 5:'THIS IS NOT A DREAM. ' 6:'FALLING INTO BLUE.' 7: 'THE ANGEL WITH TELEVISION EYES.' 8: 'RUSTY BELLS.' 9: 'STAND BY: LIGHT COMING…' 10: 'MY SHADOW CAST BY MIDNIGHT MOON.' 11: 'THE WAY MY WORLD WORKS.' 12: 'NO ROOM IN MY HEAD.' 13: 'AS QUICKLY AS A KISS.' 14: 'LIKE AUTUMN LEAVES WE FALL.' 15: 'FADING AWAY.' A flyer for the album 'Stand By: Light coming...' A flyer for the 'Powertron' album...

Can't tell whether I'm coming or going at the moment, so many distractions but the biggest is trying to reorganise the next new album. As I've already mentioned in a previous entry, 'Vulcan Street' has been abandoned and I've had a complete re-think about the direction of the album. I've now sort of settled on a new approach and title and I'm about to completely re-shuffle the track running order to suit this. The album's new title is to be 'Stand By: Light Coming...' and I've written and recorded a track with that name to fit the concept. The number of songs recorded now far exceeds what I can fit on a single CD so there will have to be some heavy pruning. Just what tracks to leave out is the real problem. One draft running order didn't really satisfy me, so I'll need to experiment with another until I get it right. Any tracks left over will possibly make up a 'mini' album which I'll offer as a digital download only item. This will be a sort of curiosity piece for dedicated fans. All this chopping and changing is pushing the mastering of the album back though, and also the re-titling means I'll need to work on completely different images for the artwork. Lots to think about and to physically achieve. Other matters:- Went to Wakefield today to visit my mum who seems to be getting more frail every week. She suffered a fall last week, which was very worrying. She will be 91 this coming August so I guess things like this are to be expected, but I always think of her as being somehow indestructible. None of us are, of course, though that illusion infects. everyone to some degree. Mortality rarely troubles us when we're young, but, gosh, how quickly youth runs out. Weather warm and sunny today, above average temps for this time of year. Easter Sunday coming up tomorrow. It's also our wedding anniversary so I've booked a table at a restaurant in town for Emi and I to celebrate. Next year, 2020, will mark our Silver Wedding Anniversary and we're hoping to do something special with a limited number of invited guests and possibly a live musical performance by myself. As always, we'll see how things feel when it gets nearer the time... Right now I have to start work on 'Stand By: Light Coming...'

Watched in shock as Notre Dame cathedral in Paris burned out of control in a raging fire last night. Live on television, the sight was heartbreaking as the beautiful Gothic architecture, well over 800 years old, succumbed to the flames whilst Parisiens looked on in horror. I'd visited Notre Dame cathedral many years ago when performing with my brother Ian at a Parisian art gallery. I'd also performed at the 'French Church' in London, (which is properly titled the Church of Notre Dame and which contains a symbolic work by Jean Cocteau.) A long held interest in the esoteric, hermetic aspects of religious architecture, (partly as a result of my past involvement with Rosicrucianism, Martinism and other occult movements,) found much food for thought in the complex symbolism of Notre Dame in Paris, and in its more modest London namesake. In tandem with this, in the 1980s, I also became a member of an esoteric French Masonic Lodge which met every month in London. It was a very interesting time... I'd developed a love of, and respect for French culture back in my teenage years as an art student. It was then that I first discovered Jean Cocteau, as well as many other wonderful French artists. In later years, I found that Cocteau had painted a mysterious mural in the Church Of Notre Dame in London, a painting which has been interpreted by some as having Gnostic and esoteric meaning. It was enlightening to see this 'in the flesh' when I performed the 'Opus Illuminatus'/'Altar Pieces' set there. Paris remains one of my favourite cities, far more beautiful than London, so to see its great cathedral engulfed in flames was devastating. But this morning's television news reveals that the damage, whist still terrible, hasn't destroyed the building as completely as was initially feared and that it may be possible to rebuild and re-create much of what has been lost, (though some precious atrefacts contained in the cathedral's interior are gone forever.) It will be a massive job costing billions and will take many years to complete, but at least there is hope that this iconic, eight hundred year old edifice may be restored, if not quite to its former 12th century glory, then perhaps to a reasonable semblance of such. Here at home, the work I began last week on assembling a running order for my next new album has taken a dramatic turn. The album will now no longer be titled 'Vulcan Street', nor will it contain the track of the same name. I hadn't listened to the title track for two or three months but when I heard it whilst attempting to slot it in to the album's running order, I decided it wasn't good enough to warrant a place amongst the other songs. One reason for this was a sound within the drum track which resembled an electro-mechanical relay switching on and off. In isolation it was an interesting sound, or so I thought when recording it. However, in the context of the finished song and its myriad overdubs it sounds like a serious fault or glitch and its incessant clicking gets on my nerves. Perhaps in a different context it might prove interesting but it doesn't work in this song. And the song itself doesn't thrill me so much anyway. The consequence of all this is that I've dumped the song, and the album's title. So, ‘Vulcan Street' is no more, demolished, gone. I'll now need to restructure the album's track list and come up with a suitable new title. I have a couple of alternative titles in mind but will sit on them for now and see how things feel once the running order is finally settled. Some changes to the content of the album too: I discovered a few songs left over from the 'Auditoria' sessions that I'd forgotten about and will try to incorporate a couple of them into this latest album. One of these is the song 'The Woman Of Tomorrow' which I've revisited and remixed. I guess things aren't finished until they're finished... Other news: Last Thursday I travelled to London to film a documentary interview about Be Bop Deluxe's 'Futurama' album. Esoteric Records' Mark Powell conducted the interview which went well. Hopefully it will prove interesting to fans. Esoteric/Cherry Red are soon to re-release the 'Futurama' album in a similar luxury box set edition to the recently released 'Sunburst Finish' package. Remixes and extra goodies abound. Whilst at the record company's offices I also autographed a limited edition run of photo-cards which are planned for inclusion with the future re-release of the 'Modern Music' album. Managed to sign 250 of them in the afternoon before grabbing a cab back to Kings Cross station. Once on the train I had to test my blood-sugar levels and inject insulin due to my Diabetes. This required locking myself in the train toilet whilst I attended to the task. I never like doing this in public toilets...aside from the hygiene concerns it feels somewhat sordid. The injection has to be administered into my belly, which requires an undoing of trousers and there is always the fear, on a train, that someone will burst in to the toilet whilst I'm in the middle of the act. There's also the problem of the train's lurching, swaying movement which doesn't help matters. Why can't UK trains be more like their Japanese equivalents? Japanese trains always seem to glide smoothly over the rails. Earlier last week I fulfilled my appointment at the hospital for my regular eye injection. The scans revealed that the condition had deteriorated and that I required injections in both eyes this time. Having the procedure in one eye is unpleasant enough but it's particularly depressing having to endure it in both. It was well into the next day before the discomfort and black 'blobs' in my vision eased. I get really down and depressed about my gradually diminishing eyesight. These injections are not a cure, (there is no cure for this kind of thing,) but merely a means to slow its progress. But it doesn't get any better, only worse. Reading has become such a slow, laborious process involving not only spectacles but a magnifying glass too. And even then it's far from easy. I haven't yet made the change from my more hardware-based recording studio to the newer software-based one. I'm hoping to get this in place sometime in June with the help of my studio engineer friend John Spence and computer wrangler Paul Gilby. I must admit I'm more than a little worried about how my eyes will cope with a more screen-oriented, computer software approach. We'll find out soon enough I suppose… 2 pm now and I really should stop writing and get out for my usual walk around town to help reduce blood-sugar levels. Have to get back by 6pm for another telephone interview. But, whilst on the subject of town: I was browsing in WH Smith's newsagents the other day and when I came home I was shocked to find that someone had sneakily taken a photograph of me browsing the magazine racks and then posted the pic on Facebook for all to see. Whoever did it must have been standing near enough beside me to get a close-up shot, but didn't have the good grace to ask if I minded. Nor did they ask for my permission to post it on Facebook. I was really annoyed by the downright cheek of this and it upset me for a couple of days. Very rude. Oh, one more thing: Yesterday I was passing the Oxfam book shop in town and, on the spur of the moment decided to go in and have a look through the small rack of second-hand CDs the shop carries. To my surprise, in the section marked 'Jazz' was a copy of my solo album 'Return To Jazz Of Lights', (which, ironically, is not a jazz album.) Someone must have originally purchased it from my website and either found it not to his taste or simply ripped it to his computer before taking the CD to the Oxfam shop. Whatever, 'Return To Jazz Of Lights' is one of my absolute favourite albums, an album I consider to be amongst the very best I've recorded so I decided to liberate it from the Oxfam shop and so took it to the counter to purchase. Its price was £2.99, an absolute bargain! But how strange, having to buy one of my personal all-time best albums back. At least now it has a good home. A flyer for 'The Jewel', an as yet unreleased solo album...

Spent Thursday and Friday of last week with the super American guitar designer John Backlund and his wife Teresa who are over in the UK for a short visit. It was great to meet John who has designed three of the guitars I own, (the Backlund Model 100, the Super 100 DLX, and the Rockerbox.) John is a lovely guy who, it turns out, is into aeroplane designs as well as guitars so it was a great opportunity to take him out to Elvington Air Museum, on Friday, to look at some of the classic aircraft the museum has on display. John was particularly taken with the huge Victor bomber parked outside and said that, if he were to design an aeroplane, it would look very much like the Victor. The big hangar on the site contained a selection of World War One and Two planes including a massive Halifax bomber. There was also a 'Dragonfly' helicopter whose glass cabin looked like something from one of Frank Hampson's 'Dan Dare' comic strips of the 1950s. We rounded off the day by taking a walk around York to show John and Teresa the Shambles and the gothic Minster. We attended the evening prayer service at the latter, despite none of us being particularly religious, at least in the orthodox sense. But before all that, on the previous day, (Thursday,) we took John and Teresa out to Castle Howard where we had lunch before taking a tour of the building. Then back to our place to show John my studio and a little bit of my guitar collection before retiring to the village pub for an evening meal. On Saturday John and Teresa were travelling to Manchester so that Teresa could participate in the Manchester Marathon on Sunday. Today, (Monday,) they will be in London before flying back to the US tomorrow. Whilst on the subject of travel, I need to go to the station today to purchase tickets to travel to London on Thursday. I'm scheduled to be at Cherry Red records offices to film an interview about the making of Be Bop Deluxe's 'Futurama' album and to sign some limited edition postcards which will be included with the luxury box set reissue of the album, which will soon be released by the company. I haven't been to London for a long while, not since being diagnosed with diabetes four years ago, I think. There will be no time for shopping though, it will be just a working day then straight back home on the train. Django the cat will have to be left on his own all day until we return in the evening. That's something that always tends to worry me. I've kept forgetting to mention, here in the journal, the numerous magazine interviews I've been doing these last two months, mainly for American publications such as Goldmine magazine, Paste magazine and Mix magazine. There have also been features in the UK's Record Collector magazine, Prog Rock and Classic Rock magazines. The irony, of course, is that these interviews and features centre mostly around music I made well over forty years ago. I guess it's considered my 'commercial' era and is more well known due to the big record company backing the albums received. But truth is, it represents only a tiny fraction of my creative output. And it's sometimes embarrassing that I can't recall much about the making of those albums. I've made so much music over the years and never give the older albums much of a thought, nor do I listen to them. I can't even remember what tracks are on which albums, so little is my interest. But I'm pleased the albums exist and hope that their reissue will possibly point new and older listeners towards my contemporary recordings. One recent interview that didn't focus on the past was one held for a documentary about Musicvox guitars. I own two Musicvox guitars, (an Mi6 and a 'Space Cadet',) The interview was about my love of quirky, 'out of the box' instruments, of which I have several, including a great selection of Eastwood guitars. Here in my studio, I've completed the final track for the 'Vulcan Street' album. 17 tracks are now ready for this particular project. I have to take a little time out to listen back to them all and try to assemble a running order though I'm not sure if all 17 will fit on the album, or are worthy of a place on it. I'll be working on this over the next few days, trying out different running orders to see how things flow. Then I must make a final decision on the album's title before creating images for its packaging. There are a few days available at Fairview Studio for the album's mastering this month so I need to get my skates on. Tomorrow, (Tuesday,) is my regular hospital appointment for that old-time eyeball piercing ritual. A joyous occasion it is not. 😳 Try not to think about it... A flyer for the potential 'Tales Of Tomorrow' album... John Backlund, (right,) and myself at Castle Howard. Me at the air museum with the Victor bomber in the background... John Backlund and myself at the air museum... Another flyer for 'The Jewel' album...

Despite the fact that I now have enough tracks for the album with the working title of 'Vulcan Street,' I couldn't resist starting another piece. This track is titled 'No Room In My Head' and is a strange little thing. I say 'little' but it's over 6 minutes long and the lyric is not much more than the title itself with a scant few other words. Nevertheless, it's richly textured with a low down groove. I'll add final percussion today and then begin working on the mix. The actual album is all vocal-based and contains an eclectic fusion of styles. It will be interesting to begin putting all this material into some sort of running order, though getting its diversity to flow may be a challenge. This month, (April,) I've been given some potential dates to book Fairview Studio for the purpose of mastering a couple of new albums from my growing list of unreleased material. I'll have to decide which albums to give priority to but this newest one is tempting me. No packaging artwork finished for any of these yet, though I've got images prepared for several of them. Need to make a decision and then get the appropriate images over to Martin Bostock for him to work on the final layouts and typography. One difference with releases from now on is that the physical CDs will be manufactured and sold via 'Burning Shed' rather than Sound-On-Sound magazine, the latter having restructured the company to operate without warehouse or mail order facilities. If I decide to release one of the two albums I'll be mastering this month as a physical CD, it will be the first new album sold via 'Burning Shed.' I may release the other album as a Bandcamp 'download only' item. Anyway, something new to look forward to... A flyer for the album 'Magnetic Travels.' A 'Tales Of Tomorrow' flyer...

Spent the last couple of days changing a corner of my studio. I have two keyboards: an old Emulator E4K and a more modern Yamaha Motif 88. Both keyboards have been sitting on a large 'A' frame keyboard stand which occupied quite a bit of space in my studio. The Emulator E4K long ago got damaged when my old MPC 60 drum machine fell off the third level of the stand onto the Emulator's keyboard, breaking several keys in the process. The Emulator couldn't be played in the middle register due to the broken keys, though I kept using it for a while by transposing the sounds to either the lower or upper octave keys that still worked. When I purchased the Yamaha Motif, I stopped using the Emulator but kept it in situ on the stand with the intention of using a midi connection so that I could play its sounds from the Yamaha's keyboard. Well, that was the intention but I never got around to it as the Yamaha provided everything I needed as a stand alone keyboard. So, a few days ago I saw a metal six drawer cabinet for sale which looked like it might fit the space. My idea was to do away with the 'A' frame stand and the Emulator keyboard and place the Yamaha on top of this metal cabinet. After some slight hesitation I decided to go ahead and purchase the cabinet. The problem was how to get it up the stairs and into the very tight studio space. This required me to move various guitars and stands out of the corridor leading to the studio and also move a couple of items of furniture which narrowed the way. Then the keyboards had to be disconnected and got down from the stand. The piles of boxed discs, notebooks, cables, plugboard and other items that were stuffed beneath the keyboard stand had to be taken out of the room, the Akai MPC 2000 drum machine had to be discioneccted and moved out along with its supporting table and various other bits and pieces to completely clear the space. This took up all of Wednesday and was something of a nightmare as there was virtually nowhere to put all this stuff... The keyboards were very heavy to lift from their stands, especially the 88 note Yamaha which is built like a tank and is incredibly weighty. But, by late Wednesday evening the job was done and the studio cleared ready for delivery of the cabinet on Thursday. Getting it up the stairs and manoeuvring it into the studio was definitely tricky but I was eventually pleased to see that it fitted the space perfectly and looked much smarter and tidier than the 'A' frame with its clutter of stuff piled high beneath it. The next task was to sort through all of this stuff and allocate it to the drawers in the cabinet, then the job of reconnecting everything and changing the location of the MPC 2000. Furniture and guitars had to be put back in the corridor too. Once again, I was shifting stuff around until late last night but today it all looks much smarter and tidier. (See photo's attached to this journal entry.) Meanwhile, the Brexit debacle continues. This afternoon, Mrs May's withdrawal deal was rejected by Parliament for the third time in as many weeks. Both Parliament, the Government and the country are divided over the matter of leaving the European Union. It seems that no one has the guts to take the initiative and call the whole thing to a halt. The leave campaign was full of false promises and downright lies and now has been fined for breaching the official referendum regulations. There is also suspicions of Russian interference of the kind that attempted to tilt the US a elections in favour of Donald Trump. What a farce. My personal opinion is that leaving the EU is a huge mistake which will come back to haunt those who thought it would deliver some sort of grand British paradise. Unfortunately, it will be the so-called 'ordinary' people who will suffer the most. But where is David Cameron who was foolish enough to call the damn thing in the first place? Looks like he's keeping well away from it. It seems almost certain we'll have a new PM, now that May is set to step down from all this too, but who we'll get is a matter of some concern. Will it be the glib, toffee-nosed Jacob Rees-Mogg? Or perhaps Boris Johnson, a man aptly described this morning on tv as "just a pound shop version of Donald Trump." Or will it be that sneaky little 'Tory Boy', Michael Gove? The thought is simultaneously hilarious and horrifying. Where will it all end? I can't see a solution other than to pull the plug completely or hold another referendum. The 'crashing out' alternative doesn't bear thinking about. Whatever happens, I just hope that nobody ends up poorer, (and not just in money terms,) after all this is settled. On a happier note: I had a visit from my friend John Spence this afternoon. John is still in the process of recovering from his knee operation of a few weeks ago but is making progress. It's a slow and frustrating job for him but he's gradually getting better and I hope will be back in the swing of things before too long. Anyway, it was great to see him and hear about the two cats that he and Yvonne have taken in. Now I'll attempt a bit of work before it gets too late... Another flyer for the potential 'Tales Of Tomorrow' album. My new studio cabinet. Another view of the studio cabinet. And another view... And one more...

As I've probably mentioned before in this journal, I'm a member of a Facebook group devoted to ex-pupils of Wakefield's Ings Road Secondary Modern School which I attended in the late 1950s / early '60s. A recent post on that site by a fellow pupil, (also, like me, now 70 years old,) about the Mecca Locarno dancehall in Wakefield, prompted me to answer with memories of my own. I thought I'd copy my posts from that thread here out of interest. Here's the first one: "I used to go every Monday to the Mecca with my Ings Road school pal Ian Parkin. When we first went, they were still playing rock n' roll records. I particularly remember tracks such as Eddie Cochran's 'Summertime Blues' and Buddy Holly's 'Reminiscing.' Also tracks by Brenda Lee, Frankie Avalon, Neil Sedaka, etc. They sounded great played at loud volume through the ballroom's big Altec Lansing speakers. Ian Parkin and I would sit up on the balcony at the left hand side of the dance floor, as close to the speaker as possible. What a great sound it was. I loved the saxophone solo in 'Reminiscing' and every time I hear that record today, I'm transported as if by time machine back to those magic nights at The Mecca. We were too shy to ask the girls for a dance at first, but enjoyed watching them jive 'round their handbags. A little later, 'The Twist' became popular and Chubby Checker tracks got played. Also Little Eva's 'Locomation' single, which I loved. Then came Mod with great records such as 'Roadrunner' by Junior Walker and the Allstars, 'Midnight Hour' by Wilson Pickett, etc. By this time I'd aligned myself as a Mod and been down to London to Carnaby Street and bought myself some dark green and yellow checked hipsters, an op-art belt, a yellow checked shirt with button down collar and a narrow op-art tie. I backcombed my hair, styled like early Steve Marriot of The Small Faces. By this time of course, Ian and I had migrated from being passive watchers on the balcony to being eager chancers standing at the edge of the dance floor, trying to catch the eye of any dolly bird we fancied. It took a bit of nerve to walk out onto the dance floor and ask for a dance, we'd be worried about being rejected, but one time I'd spotted this girl in a black plastic mac' and short op-art patterned dress, dancing with a girlfriend. She looked a bit like Judith Durham from 'The Seekers' group, or at least she had a very similar hairstyle. I caught her eye and got a sweet smile in return and, after a little hesitation, strode out onto the dance floor and asked if she'd mind me dancing with her. She said ok and we danced most of the evening together, taking a break to sit up by the coffee bar with its aroma of hot dogs and fried onions, Coca-Cola syrup and coffee. At the end of the evening, the main lights in the ballroom were switched on and a record titled 'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal' was played to signal the end of the evening. I walked the girl I'd been dancing with back to her bus stop at the top of Westgate and we sheltered in a doorway from the rain whilst waiting for her bus home to Lupset Estate. I discovered that her name was Lynne Holliday and, just before she boarded the bus to Lupset, we arranged to meet again at the Mecca next week. A romance ensued and we became a couple, even planning to marry and putting a 'bottom drawer' together filled with various things we'd need for our future life. The courtship lasted four years and we had a lot of fun but eventually it ended, as those teenage romances often do. But, while it lasted, it was good and I remember it fondly. There was another hip place to hang out in the '60s and that was called 'The Place,' a small disco that some of you may remember being in Radcliffe Place, parallel with Wood Street. It was frequented by the in-crowd and played some great records, lots of Soul music, ('Land Of A 1000 Dances,' 'Do You Like Soul Music,' 'Mustang Sally', 'My Girl,' 'When A Man Loves A Woman,' etc,) and tracks by the Small Faces, Kinks, early 'Stones, and the emerging freak-beat scene that would soon cross over into fully-fledged psychedelia and the hippy, counter-culture movement. I loved it all and embraced fashion with enthusiasm and prided myself in being right at the forefront of the latest trends. Those of us who were teenagers back then were so lucky...we had the best music and fashion in the land!” And here is another post: "I seem to recall those Sat afternoon sessions at the Mecca too, but maybe that was a little later than 1958 when I'd only be 10 years old and too young to attend. But I did start going to the Mecca in my very early teens, to the sessions that were aimed at the youngest kids, and rock n' roll was still very much in evidence on the Mecca's playlists, as noted in my earlier post. However, my passion for electric guitars started earlier. My very first guitar hero was Duane Eddy. I used to hear his single 'Because They're Young' played often on the radio and one day, when I was off school and in bed with the 'flu, my mum bought me a copy of the single from Boots in Wakefield to cheer me up. And cheer me up it did! I played the thing constantly, and the b-side too, (a track titled 'Rebel Walk'.) I loved the sound of Duane's guitar and would make cardboard copies of it and mime to the record in front of my bedroom mirror, imagining I was playing in front of an adoring audience. And, of course, those dreams and imaginings miraculously became a lifelong reality, for which I'm eternally grateful. Other music of that distant time figured in my listening too: The Ventures, The Shadows, The John Barry Seven, Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers, Lord Rockingham's XI, The Fireballs, The Spotnicks, Link Wray, Lonnie Mack, The Champs, Johnny and the Hurricanes and many other instrumental bands of the late '50s, early '60s. I wasn't particularly interested in vocalists back then, I only wanted to hear those electric guitars and thought the vocalists got in the way of that! But Elvis figured because his guitarist, Scotty Moore, was terrific. I loved the sound of his guitar and his solo on 'Jailhouse Rock'. Bill Hayley was someone I liked too, because of the iconic guitar solo played by, (I think,) Franny Beecher on 'Rock Around The Clock.' My dad bought me a second hand acoustic guitar, a Zenith, and I began to teach myself to play, met Ian Parkin at Ings Road school, (who was at a similar learning stage,) and we became chums and learned together. My dad soon bought me an electric guitar, an inexpensive Antoria, and that led to the concerts that Ian and I gave at the school's Christmas parties, our first ever public performances. In the 1970s, I'd sometimes catch the train from Leeds to London to spend several days in Abbey Road studios, and the train would stop at Wakefield Westgate. As it pulled out of Westgate station, it would pass Ings Road school, which sat below the railway embankment, and I'd look out of the carriage window at the school as the train rolled past. (The school was still standing then.) I'd look at that old building and remember those first, rudimentary public performances, the nervousness I felt about playing in front of the other school kids and teachers, and the fantasies I had of being a guitarist, and I'd marvel at the fact that, all those years later, I was on my way to record in Abbey Road studios in London. Fate? Destiny? Good fortune? Sheer luck? Who knows...but, whatever...real Magic! Unbelievable!" With my Musicvox 'Space Cadet' guitar. A flyer for 'Magnetic Travels.'

Currently working hard on what I suspect will be the final album to be made on my old hardware-based recording equipment. Getting pretty close to the end of that, though once completed the album will require track sequencing and, of course, artwork. This is a vocal/song album with the working title of 'Vulcan Street' though I'm far from sure about keeping this as the real title. I may well change it, once I've assembled the track running order and got more of a handle on the album's feel. Here are the 14 song titles completed so far: 'FADING AWAY.' 'VULCAN STREET.' 'LIKE AUTUMN LEAVES WE FALL.' 'I REALLY DON'T EXIST.' 'THE ANGEL WITH TELEVISION EYES.' 'RUSTY BELLS.' 'HEADLAMP MOON.' 'AS QUICKLY AS A KISS.' 'WIDE AWAKE IN THE HEART OF YOU.' 'SERENE IN SILVER.' 'PLASTIC MAC'.' 'STRICTLY FOR THE BIRDS.' 'GHOSTLAND.' 'THE WAY MY WORLD WORKS.' The last title is still in progress and should be completed over the weekend. This list does not constitute a running order for the album though. Working out the final order of the songs will take time, trying out different sequences, paying attention to mood, key changes and tempo. There is still a large backlog of unreleased albums to deal with. Here's a list of them: 'PHANTOM FUZZBOX.' 'THE JEWEL.' 'AMPLIFIED DREAMS AND WILD SURPRISES.' 'ELECTRA.' 'AQUA MOON.' 'POWERTRON.' 'ASTRAL OVERDRIVE.' 'STUPID SERIOUS.' 'MAGNETIC TRAVELS.' 'STUDIO CADET.' 'CATHODE PAINTBOX.' If you include 'Vulcan Street', (whatever title it eventually gets,) you've got 12 unreleased albums coming sometime over this and next year. And I already have in mind 'Tales Of Tomorrow' and 'Think Tank' as potential future album titles to work on when my new recording system is installed. After all, once I've got it up and running, I'll be keen to get to grips with it and see what transpires. 😉 Going out for dinner this evening with two friends of ours. Will have to resist the temptation to have a glass of wine with the meal as I'm still 'on the wagon.' I have allowed myself a glass of ultra low alcohol wine these last few weeks, (just 0.5 % alcohol per bottle,) but low alcohol wine is higher in sugar than normal wine, so I have to be careful about my diabetes and blood-sugar levels. Zero alcohol wine has even more sugar content...I tried that and found out it wasn't at all good for my diabetes. The condition prohibits so much enjoyment but you have to accept and get used to it. The alternative is life threatening. Tomorrow we will be driving over to my mum's in Wakefield again to help her with her weekly shopping. The weekends seem to roll around at an increasing pace. I often find myself talking about the nature of time in these journal entries, (and in my songs,) but time really does seem to fly by these days. As one of my old songs from the early '80s 'Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam' album has it: 'Life Runs Out Like Sand.' Hey Ho...just do it... A flyer for the 'Phantom Fuzzbox' album. FLYER FOR THE ALBUM 'THE JEWEL.'

No one can fail to be appalled, sickened and horrified by the terrible mass shootings in New Zealand two days ago. A vile crime committed by a neo-nazi, white supremacist, far right bigot, spurred on by other hate-filled, ugly souls with heartless agendas that would drag humanity back to the dark ages, if they had their way. My heart goes out to the Muslim community now having to endure the grief caused by this foul idiot. It's difficult to comprehend the kind of insanity that drives these dangerous louts to such extreme acts of violence. And for what purpose? To what end? It seems we're in danger of seeing a resurgence of hateful, aggressive and intolerant attitudes fostered by the unfortunate rise of populism in many parts of the world. Sadly, examples of this are too many to mention. What happened to the shift towards more liberal, all-embracing, enlightened thinking that I was proud to enjoy as a teenager during my mid to late 1960s years? Where now is the possibility of a more gentle, creative society? What's to blame for this cult of ignorance? Is it a lack of enlightened education? Or is the nastiness that infects social media to blame? I don't know the answer, but I despair... Thinking back to the aforementioned cultural liberalisation that blossomed in the 1960s, I'm reminded of the time when, in 1968, I organised Wakefield's first free outdoor concert in Thornes Park. It was an unbelievable 51 years ago! 51 years, gone almost in a flash, so quick and yet so much has happened, both in personal terms and in terms of our wider world. I remember that concert as if it were only yesterday. I'd set the entire thing up from my desk at the West Riding County Supplies Department where I worked as a Local Government Officer in the soft furnishings department of that organisation. I'd later move to the job of computer progress chaser, working in tandem with the County Hall's first computer Department. Computers back then were big machines and the one installed at County Hall looked like something from a '60s spy movie. It filled an entire room and had spools of spinning tape, dozens of dials and clattering print-out machines that were more akin to old fashioned teletype gizmos than modern day laser printers. Todays digital tablets are far more powerful than that room filled with its spinning, jittery, clattering machinery. But, before I was promoted to Computer Progress Chaser I sat behind a desk in the Soft Furnishings section and ordered curtains and other fabrics for various Government establishments. The job involved me helping various people such as headmasters, police chiefs and basically anyone from a local government institution, to pick curtains and carpets for their offices. I'd then have to order the fabrics from various suppliers, and in the correct widths. This meant that I had to work out, from basic measurements supplied by these people, the correct length and width of material needed to furnish their office with curtains. It's fair to say that I was pretty much useless at this. The only part of the job I enjoyed was looking through the swatches of different patterned fabric and trying to guide the customer towards some striking op-art pattern or colourful abstract modernist material. I didn't like working there but, as they say, "it was a job." The majority of the people I worked with were extremely suspicious of me as I didn't conform to whatever a 'local government officer' is supposed to look like. I had semi-long hair, wore a pink satin tie and turned up for work in winter wearing the deep scarlet artificial fur coat that I would later wear on the rear cover of my 'Northern Dream' album. I was told to get my hair cut and tone down my clothes but I simply ignored it. I remember I'd got a calendar which had a black n' white photograph of a naked John Lennon and Yoko Ono, taken from their 'Two Virgins' album photo' shoot. The photograph showed them with their backs turned to the camera, no genitals or breasts visible. I'd pinned the calendar up alongside my desk but it caused a big controversy in the office. Various mutterings went on and it was reported to the section head who marched up to my desk and ordered that it be taken down immediately. I did as I was told but noted that some of the men at the other desks had nude pin-up, full colour calendars on display. I guess it wasn't the nakedness that offended them so much but more the fact that it was a counter-cultural hippy, and with a strange Japanese wife. Clearly, the new liberalism had yet to penetrate the corridors of local government. Nevertheless, I made good use of the office to my own ends and chose official local government notepaper to write a letter to the Wakefield Council department who controlled the use of the park's bandstand. I wrote, (in very polite and refined terms,) that I was seeking permission to stage an 'art event' featuring poetry and music on the park's bandstand. If I'd have said it was going to be a rock concert, akin to Wakefield's own 'Woodstock' festival, the proposal would have been a non-starter. Whether it was the obsequious, deferential tone of my letter or just the headed County Supplies notepaper it was written on, but permission was granted and I began to work on the content of the event. To stay true to the fact that I'd mentioned 'poetry' as being part of the event, I got a couple of people to read some counter-cultural poetry on the day. I planned to put my band 'Global Village' as the headline act but also arranged for a couple of other musical performances. One of these was a kind of 'supergroup' trio comprising drummer Martin Tagg, bass guitarist Malc Bryan and myself on guitar. This band was purely a one-off, assembled just for the concert. I called the band 'Buffalo Canvas' and it played heavy rock improvisations. I also appeared with a friend of mine from Art School who played acoustic guitar and wrote songs. His first name was Charles but I'm afraid his surname escapes me after all these years. He was very good though and I accompanied him on a nylon strung acoustic guitar. I remember that one of his songs was titled 'Jubilee Hotel.' So, in all, I appeared three times during the concert. I'd also used the office 'Gestetner' machine to run off some copies of a flyer I'd designed, advertising the event. I also did the same for a kind of souvenir program. I remember, the week before the concert, Alan Quinn, (Global Village's bass guitarist,) and Bryan Holden, (Global Village's drummer,) and myself standing in Wakefield's Bull Ring, handing out the flyers to the Saturday afternoon shoppers. The day of the free concert started with fine weather. We'd pooled various bits of equipment for the show and actually had a couple of Marshall amps on stage borrowed from a band with a bit more financial acumen than ourselves. Bryan Holden wore a kind of teacher's gown and I wore a white leather fringed and beaded waistcoat that had been made for me by Cath Wood who was one of the 'Holyground' girls. (Mike Levon and all the other Holyground crew attended too.) My outfit was completed by a pair of scarlet crushed velvet loon pants and a lilac grandad vest. Not long after the show got underway, it began to rain and by the time Global Village took the stage, the audience was getting very wet. So, I decided to invite anyone without an umbrella to join us on the bandstand and dance. Immediately, a section of the crowd clambered onto the stage and everyone started rocking out. It was great fun until a policeman, who had been sent to oversee any trouble, decided that this was putting too much stress on the structure and attempted to order everyone off, with only a modest success. But those were happy times and there was such a feeling of optimism in the air. If only there still was... A rather grainy photograph of Global Village's free concert in Thornes Park, Wakefield, in 1968, 51 years ago. This picture shows some of the audience up on the stage of the bandstand, sheltering from the rain after I'd invited them to join us. You can see Mike Levon of Holyground standing facing the camera in front of the stage. I'm standing sideways wearing the white fringed waistcoat mentioned in the journal entry and Alan Quinn is on the left with his bass guitar. The guy in between us in black with dark glasses is Martin Foye who compared the event. Martin was an old Art School chum of mine but sadly passed away some years ago. Alan Quinn is also no longer on this Earth. I miss their friendship very much. A photograph taken from the side of the stage of the park bandstand during Global Village's free concert in 1968. Centre of the pic is Alan Quinn with his Baldwin bass guitar. I'm behind him, slightly to the right with my Gibson ES 345 guitar. The person behind the microphone stand facing the rear of the stage, just left of Alan Quinn, is Charles who was the ex-Wakefield art student who wrote and sang his own songs that I mentioned in this journal entry. Alan Quinn, (left,) and myself performing in Global Village at the free concert in Wakefield Park in 1968. At this time my Gibson 345 guitar had its original tobacco sunburst finish and gold pickup covers. It also had the stuck-on initials 'WN' applied to the pick guard. I later removed these but there is still, to this day, a slight mark on the pick guard where the acid from the initial's glue had stuck to the plastic. In the late '70s, I had the Gibson refinished in a cherry sunburst and removed the gold pickup covers to expose the black coils underneath. I still, of course, have that guitar...it was the one that my father had bought me from Kitchen's music shop in Leeds in, (I think,) 1963. Behind Alan and myself you can see the jumble of amplifiers, amongst them the Marshalls we'd borrowed for the gig. I was using one of the Marshalls but Alan is plugged into a Selmer amp which is in turn plugged into a large Selmer speaker cab. (The Selmer amp is sitting on top of the Marshall and the Selmer Speaker cab is to the left of Alan.) And one more photograph from that day in the park in 1968, (which some of you may have seen before.) This is me with my Gibson 345, looking rather wistful I think. Maybe projecting myself into the future where I'm looking back on this time with equally wistful feelings.

More new recording equipment arrived today. I now have about two thirds of the kit I need to refurbish my system. I have the Mackie Universal Control Surface, (as reported in a previous journal entry,) but also have received the Behringer Ultragain Pro, The Zoom TAC-8, the Samsung 32" High Definition monitor screen, the Cubase Pro 10 software pack and two rack cases to mount the audio convertors in. All that remains now is to order the new Mac computer and its assorted peripherals. Oh, and the cables to connect all of this stuff together. The Steinberg Cubase Pro 10 package was a bit of a surprise in that I imagined it would contain a disc from which I would be able to load the software into the computer. When the delivery man handed me the package I almost thought nothing was inside it as it weighed so little. On opening the package I found a small black box, empty except for a small sheet of paper with a code number printed on it and a tiny USB 'dongle.' Apparently, I have to go to Steinberg's website, create an account and password then enter the code number, insert the USB dongle into the computer and start a download of the software. I suspect it will take a while to install as it's a very complicated piece of software. I'm not exactly a Luddite when it comes to technology but, on paper at least, all of this seems rather complicated. Anyway, I won't be doing that for several weeks as I haven't bought the computer yet and still have lots of work to complete on my current system. I realised, the other day while checking my lists of albums awaiting release, that there are two or three albums for which I have to decide on a track running order. I also will need to do the same for the two current albums on the drawing board. So quite a bit of work needed ising my old system before it can finally be put to rest. Have been spending a little time posting on the 'I Went To Ings Road School' Facebook page. As the title suggests, it's for ex-pupils of Ings Road Secondary Modern School which I attended in the late 1950s/early '60s. There are quite a few people from my class sharing their memories of their time at the school though, sadly, quite a few have passed away in recent years. One of those no longer with us is Ian Parkin who became a friend when we were at Ings Road together. As fans of Be Bop Deluxe know, Ian and I were at a similar stage of learning the guitar when we became school chums. We both were fans of the early '60s instrumental group scene and owned records by Duane Eddy, The Shadows, The Ventures, The Spotnicks, The Fireballs, The Surfaris, The String-A-Longs, Peter Jay And The Jaywalkers, Lonnie Mack, Link Wray and many others. We'd take it in turns to hold rehearsals at our parent's houses on opposite sides of the big playing field on Eastmoor Estate. We also would go to the Mecca Locarno Ballroom to listen to records being played loudly through the ballroom's big Altec Lansing speakers, records by Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and then 'The Twist' by Chubby Checker and on into the soul music era. We shared a lot of interests. Ian, like my father, was an amateur electrical hobbyist, building radios and other gadgets. Ian's nickname at school was 'Sparky' and whenever he was round at our house my dad would engage him in discussions about various circuits and gizmos. We stayed in contact throughout those early years and it was Ian who I bumped into one day whilst walking down Wood Street in Wakefield on my lunch break from my job at the West Riding County Supplies Department where I worked as a local government officer. Ian had been in a band called 'The Memphis Blues' with bass guitarist Rob Bryan but that seemed to have come to an end. We chatted and discussed the possibility of us getting together for a jam. We arranged to do this one afternoon at Primrose Hill Working Men's Club which Rob Bryan's father was the Steward of. I can't recall exactly how drummer Nick Dew came to be involved, (maybe he'd been in 'The Memphis Blues’,) but Nick was at the jam session and it all sounded pretty good. We decided to make a band from these basic beginnings and I wrote songs for it. Then we needed a name. I had lots of names and song titles jotted down in one of my notebooks and we soon had a short list, 'Will's Spirits,' 'Rudy And The Zips' and 'Be Bop Deluxe' were favourites. I managed to persuade the other guys that the latter was the better choice and so we became Be Bop Deluxe. I immediately set to designing a flyer and publicity booklet to hand out to promote the band and enlisted a photographer friend, Malcom Taylor to take the first photo's of us. And here is where a connection with Ings Road School comes in: When Ian Parkin and myself had been pupils at the school, we, like many other kids, used to visit a corner shop across the road from the school to but sweets and crisps at lunchtime. This little shop had a fizzy drinks dispenser on the counter that was connected to a gas cylinder of some kind that put the bubbles into the liquid in the glass dispenser. A paper cup full of the resultant fizzy drink cost only one penny and was very popular with the Ings Road kids. Licorice sticks and frozen 'Jubblies' were also popular, as were sweet cigarettes which contained picture cards in each pack. Collecting and swapping picture cards was a big thing back then. Anyway, when we were looking for locations for the first ever Be Bop Deluxe photo' shoot, I thought it would be nice to pose outside that same 'tuck' shop on Ings Road as both Ian and myself had a nostalgic connection with the shop. I was trying to write some songs that had a romantic connection to Wakefield and Yorkshire, ('Mill Street Junction,' 'Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape’,) so it all seemed to fit. (Not that anyone looking at the photograph would understand the connection to Ings Road School and Ian and I having been pupils there and using the shop each lunchtime in our years at the school.) The shop, and the old school, have long been demolished. Where the shop once stood is now just a busy road junction and the site where the school stood is now the location for an industrial shopping park. But the photo' of Be Bop Deluxe posing in front of the shop in our ludicrous home-made 'glam' gear still exists and I'm going to attach it as one of the images accompanying this journal entry. And once I've done that, I'll leave you to chuckle at how silly we looked back then whilst I get back to mixing a new track....😉 Another flyer for the album 'Magnetic Travels,' a future Sonoluxe release. One of the early publicity photo's of first line up Be Bop Deluxe posing outside the Ings Road 'tuck' shop where Ian Parkin and myself had bought snacks and sweets when we were schoolboys at Ings Road Secondary Modern School which was just across the road from the shop.

There are times when I, a reasonably optimistic guy, weep in despair at the sorry state of the world. As a young boy in the mid 1950s, the year 2019 seemed far, far away in a distant and magical future. I imagined a world in which harmony and love prevailed, where science would provide the technology to heal us, both physically and mentally, a world where everyone was well educated, informed, self aware and liberal. One, single, united and enlightened world where old-fashioned, outmoded conservatism was a thing of the past. A world where all its citizens would move forward with compassion, openness, tolerance and understanding, a utopian society happily devoid of the nationalistic squabbles and hatreds that seem to divide us today. And here we are now, actually living in that far future I imagined as a 1950's schoolboy, but what have we got? War and strife in various locations around the world, racial intolerance, brutal, dictatorial regimes, fundamentalist religious intolerances, the rise of nationalist, jingoistic attitudes in many countries, (including the UK,) mass shootings in the USA, teenagers stabbing one another on the streets of London and elsewhere. The spectacle of a once great America crumbling under the so-called 'Presidency' of a bigoted, sly, self-aggrandising crook, whilst here in the UK, we see a country crippled and heading for its own spate of self-harm due to the tragic outcome of the EU referendum. And whilst on the subject of 'Brexit,' I'm utterly astonished by the incompetence of this government and its resistance to giving us, the people who will suffer the consequences the most, a final say on whether we wish to stay or leave. The (worthless,) argument goes that, two or three year's ago, we had a referendum and that's that. But we were told so many lies about the benefits of leaving the EU and much more information about the truth of post Brexit Britain is now clear. The really democratic thing would be to offer us the choice of a final vote now that we know the facts. And if the leaver's are so sure their side of the argument would win, then what have they got to fear? I've listened to endless arguments by those who voted us out of the European Union and I find myself throwing my hands up in despair. Many would say that common sense just doesn't seem to operate in the world of the 'Brexiteers', (though lack of foresight certainly appears to.) There is an aggressive, belligerence in their argument that speaks volumes about their overall attitude. Many are, some would say, burdened with a dislike of 'johnny foreigner' and a suspicion and mistrust of anything other than 'great' Britain. But if leaving the EU continues along present lines, the loss of jobs, certain worker's rights, the loss of EU subsidies to farmers and institutions, rising prices for many European goods in supermarkets and new customs duties imposed on those holidaymakers travelling to France and Spain and Italy, well, it could end up being a 'shot ourselves in the foot' outcome. And so I despair. The 21st Century blues... Like a lot of people who are depressed about the state of these things, I try to divert my attention away from it all. I seek solace in little distractions, the most usual being to immerse myself in recording new music. I attempt to create my own, sympathetic and idealised world inside the many albums I've released, a stylised universe of warm, enveloping sound, a sonic cocoon to shelter me until a hopeful butterfly moment arrives. The upcoming studio refurbishment is another welcome, (I think,) distraction. Another item needed for the update arrived yesterday. The Zoom Tac-8 audio interface. On the way are three more items, the Behringer ADA 82900 Ultragain Pro unit, the 32" 4k monitor screen and the Cubase Pro 10 software. These should be with me by the middle of next week. Then all that remains will be for me to make the biggest single purchase for the new system: the Mac computer, keyboard, mouse and Superdrive disc burner. Finished mixing the instrumental track that has occupied me these last two days and have laid the foundations for another piece. All on my old system at the moment of course as it will be a little while before I can assemble the new one. I'll miss the old D8B mixing desk when it goes though. I've used these desks since the turn of the Century and they've helped facilitate and record all of the albums I've made since then. But all is change...

On Monday I travelled to Leeds to pick up my Backlund 'Rockerbox' and Musicvox 'Space Cadet' guitars from Gordon White at Single Coil Guitar Repairs. Gordon had dressed the frets and filed their rough edges down, resulting in a very nice, playable feel. He also fitted a Duesenberg tremolo system to the guitar. I'm very pleased with the result. The Backhand 'Rockerbox' had been taken to Gordon in the hope that he could fix the rotary pickup selector switch which was turning freely in the body of the guitar and not selecting the individual pickups. This proved to be a complicated job requiring the strings and the neck pickup to be removed to gain access to the interior of the guitar. Even with those items removed it was tricky getting inside via the small pickup hole but Gordon managed to tighten the nuts that secured the switch to the guitar's body and hopefully, it will hold. Ideally he would have like to fit a 'star' washer to the switch but the thickness of the wood of the instrument wouldn't allow enough room to fit one. I guess time will tell if will continue to work as it should, but if it fails again, the only solution is to fit a three way toggle switch instead of the rotary control. Whilst picking up the two guitars from Gordon I also dropped off my Backlund Super 100 with him. As mentioned in my previous journal entry, the Duesenberg tremolo unit had broken after very little use. I'd contacted Mike Robinson at Eastwood guitars, (who make the instrument,) and Mike arranged to send me a replacement tremolo unit. Mike also contacted Duesenberg to tell them about the problem. They replied that they'd had several of the tremolos fail and, on investigation, found that it was a 'bad batch' that had been manufactured at Duesenberg's factory. There's no way of telling if the replacement Mike sent me is one of the 'bad' ones or not, so it's a matter of keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't break like the previous one. Anyway, the Super 100 is currently with Gordon who is going to swap the units over. I'll be collecting the guitar from him sometimes next week. Different subject: Last week I had a hospital appointment to assess and measure my cataracts in preparation for a cataract operation later this year. I'd been given a booklet explaining the operation but hadn't read it. The night before the assessment I thought I'd better read it. The information it contained didn't exactly fill me with confidence. It seemed that there were various things that could go wrong, ranging from further deterioration of sight, blindness and even the loss of the eye itself. I have cataracts in both eyes so you can imagine how I felt about such possible negative outcomes. I had to be at the hospital by 10:30 which required an early start to get into town, through the centre and out the other side to the hospital. Traffic can be horrendous at that time of day. Nevertheless, we arrived early, Emi accompanying me as I wouldn't be allowed to drive home after the assessment as I had to be treated with drops in my eyes to dilate my pupils for the examination. The assessment took over two hours and involved an eye test, (which I failed dismally,) a close reading test, (ditto,) and various scans with different machines which required the aforementioned drops in my eyes. Then there was a wait to see the specialist doctor. After some considerable time I was ushered into the doctors office. He seemed a nice guy and asked me how I felt about having a cataract operation. I didn't say anything but gave him a look which communicated my trepidation. He then asked who had referred me for the procedure. I explained that I was having eye injections every few weeks for diabetic related macular degeneration in a different department, and that one particular consultant I'd seen had put me down on the list for the op. Other consultants had thought that the cataracts were not particularly advanced enough to warrant an operation, so I was a bit confused. The doctor then said that my cataracts were not really that bad...yet and that my macular degeneration problem was impacting my sight far more than the cataracts. He suggested me trying some prescription glasses to see if they might help a little but said that it might be a few years before the cataracts really required an operation. So, with a feeling of relief, I thanked him and Emi drove me home. My eyesight was even more blurred than usual due to the drops but by the following day they were back to normal. 'Normal' for me, of course, is not normal at all. I have great difficulty reading text and people's faces are a washed out blur until they are literally a foot away from me. It's incredibly frustrating. Anyway, next step is to go to an optician and get tested for glasses. Different subject again: The first of the items I need to refurbish my recording system arrived yesterday: A Mackie MCU Pro 8 DAW control surface. I haven't taken it out from its protective plastic wrapping yet as it will be a few weeks before I switch my current system off for good and begin to install the new one. Tomorrow I'm expecting delivery of another component, the Zoom TAC-8 audio interface. I'm also about to order another interface to give me enough input channels. The really big purchase will be the Apple Mac computer and monitor screen. I'll be dealing with those items soon, along with the DAW software and all the other bits and bobs I'll need to complete the setup. When it comes to changeover time, all my current equipment will need to be disconnected and carted out of the studio, which will be a big job in itself. God knows where I'm going to put it all. Today, a new reissue album was made available as a digital download on my Bandcamp page. The album is 'Electric Atlas' which was originally released as a limited edition CD in 2015. It sold out in just five days and has been unavailable until today's re-release as a download only album. The album has been incredibly popular with fans and its vocal based tracks are quirky but melodic. I'd forgotten just how good this one is, if I may be forgiven for 'blowing my own trumpet,' (or should that be 'strumming my own guitar'?) 😉 In the meantime, I continue to work on the two albums I have on the drawing board at the moment. The album with the working title of 'Cathode Paintbox' is getting the most attention right now with a track almost completed bar for a little bit of percussion and then a final mix down. Might get it finished by tomorrow night. So now, I'll sign off and get back to work... A flyer for a possible future album, 'Tales Of Tomorrow' may be one of the first projects to get underway in my new studio, once it has been installed. My new Mackie DAW control surface, photographed soon after I opened the box. In the foreground, my Musicvox 'Space Cadet' guitar, now sporting the Duesenberg tremolo arm that Gordon White fitted for me. The gold sparkle guitar to the left is my Musicvox 'Mi6' which also has a Duesenberg trem. Both guitars are nestling amongst various decorative cushions on the sofa in our lounge.

This morning I took my Backlund Super 100 guitar off its stand with the idea of getting Emiko to take a photograph of me with it to post in this journal for fans to see. When I lifted the guitar from its stand I noticed that the bottom E string was completely slack and detuned. I then realised that the next four strings were also detuned and slack. At first I thought someone had been in the studio playing a joke on me, but who would do that? There's only Emi and I here and Emi would never do such a thing. So I then tried tuning the strings up, wondering if the machine heads had somehow slipped, though how five of them would all slip at the same time is highly unlikely. Then I saw what the problem was...the guitar is fitted with a Duesenberg 'Les Trem' vibrato unit and it was skewed at one side. When I looked more carefully I could see that the metal connecting the roller part to the base plate seemed to have sheared off completely, pulling the unit out of alignment. Very strange. I can only think that it's metal fatigue or something. Anyway, it's not a fixable problem so I emailed Mike at Eastwood guitars to seek his advice. I sent a couple of photo's of the broken unit to illustrate what was going on. Mike said that he would arrange to send me a new 'Les Trem' to replace the broken one. When it arrives I'll get Gordon over at 'Single Coil Guitar Repairs' to remove the broken trem and install the new one and set the guitar up. Until I get this fixed, the guitar is unplayable. Luckily, I have a few other guitars somewhere I think! 😏 I was at the doctor's on Wednesday for the result of my blood test. (Part of my annual health checks.) It seems there's a problem with my liver. The doctor said this can be brought on by the medication I'm taking, but asked me if I drank alcohol. When I told him I enjoyed the best part of a bottle of red wine in the evenings he said it was far too much and asked how long I'd been doing that. I said "for many years". It's now one of my only remaining pleasures since I've been diagnosed with diabetes and had to give up chocolates and deserts and various other foods. (Red wine doesn't increase sugar levels funnily enough.) Anyway, the doctor told me I must stop altogether. "Forever?" I replied, looking absolutely downhearted. "Well..." he said. "At least for two months, then we'll do another blood test and if your liver has recovered, you can drink again, but only one glass per night." So, I'm now 'on the wagon' and feeling pretty miserable. After the stresses of the day I always looked forward to enjoying my wine, but I have to stay clear of temptation and hope that in two months time my blood test is more positive and I can pour myself a nice glass again. I did find a completely non-alcoholic wine at the supermarket yesterday and thought I'd try it. It tasted like 'Ribena' more than wine, but when I tested my blood-sugar levels a little while after drinking a glass, the meter reading was far too high. I checked the amount of sugar on the bottle's label and realised that it contained too much sugar for a diabetic person to have. Probably when the alcohol is burned off it turns into sugar. So that's out of the picture too.... 😳 Oh, well. I'll just have to tough it out and hope for better news at the end of April. The new forum on Dreamsville is now active and looks good but it will take time for fans to get used to it. There are some features that are missing from the old forum and I'm not sure they can be replicated on the new one, so there are plusses and negatives. Ok, tomorrow is another day..... Photograph of the broken 'Les Trem' on my Backlund Super 100 guitar. The arrow points to the sheared-off part that has caused the unit to twist away from its proper position. A flyer for the album 'Stupid Serious' which will hopefully be released sometime later this year.

Drove over to Leeds today to take two guitars to my favourite guitar repairer Gordon White of 'Single Coil Guitar Repairs' fame. https://singlecoil.co.uk The guitars were my Backlund 'Rockerbox' and my Musicvox 'Space Cadet.' The Backlund Rockerbox has had a problem with the rotary pickup selector, almost since new. It rotates inside the body, twisting the wiring and won't select the different pickup combinations. I contacted Mike Robinson of the Eastwood company, (who make the guitar,) about this last year and he kindly gave me a tip to fix it. It required removing the knob from the spindle of the rotary selector and tightening the nut that holds the control into the body of the instrument. This seemed to work and I was able to use the guitar at my 'Plectronica' 70th birthday concert last December. However, when I took the guitar out of its case recently to use on a new recording, the control had become loose again and was rotating freely inside the body of the instrument, which of course it shouldn't do. So, I removed the control knob again and tightened the nut on the shaft of the pot once more. When I put the control knob back on the shaft and turned it to select the pickup I needed, it just rotated inside the body again, as if the nut wasn't tight. So I checked it again but the nut was as tight as it would go, yet the entire pot continued to revolve inside the guitar, and twisted the internal wiring as it did so. Not a happy situation. So, Gordon is going to look into the problem and hopefully will be able to come up with a solution. The other guitar which requires attention is my new Musicvox 'Space Cadet.' It arrived from America a few weeks ago with some rather rough fret ends so Gordon is going to do a fret dress, file the edges of the frets to a smoother level and undertake a general set-up, plus fit a new Duesenberg 'Les Trem' unit to the guitar which I purchased a couple of weeks ago specially for it. I'm sure that when I get the guitars back from Gordon, they will be 100% the way I like them. Gordon looks after many people's instruments and is the go-to guitar tech for people such as Duane Eddy and Richard Hawley, to name but two. I continue to record new tracks for the 'Vulcan Street' album, despite the mixing desk problems I'm experiencing. Getting near the end of that album now but still have more tracks to work on for the 'Cathode Paintbox' album. I really want to get these two albums finished before dismantling my studio to begin installing the new equipment I'm planning to purchase. There will be a period of time when I'm unable to record due to the changeover, but also because of the time it will take for me to get to grips with a totally new way of working. As readers of this journal know, I'm a firm advocate of studio hardware, real mixing desks and effects processors, stuff you can actually feel and control without resorting to mousing tiny cursors about on a screen. In short, physically tangible stuff that weighs something, puts up a kind of resistance and feels accurate when I push the faders up and down and turn the controls. I'm afraid watching virtual 'television' images of mixing desk simulacra holds little appeal for me and feels very unsatisfying. But this is the route many of us who work using limited financial capacity home studio gear have been forced to accept. The old hardware is either discontinued or priced out of the market for all but the most established, major recording studios. No doubt I'll adapt to the situation, but I wonder how much my spontaneity and individuality will suffer at the hands of endless on-screen menus, mouse clickings and computer complexities and confusions... Oh, well, at least I have around nine or ten albums already recorded using my old, more familiar system. These will help to keep things active while I embark on this new venture. My 'bloody' eye now less bloody than before, though still feeling a little sore. Hopefully on the mend. Another doctor's appointment this coming Wednesday to discuss a problem that my recent blood test revealed. More of that later. I'll sign off tonight's journal entry with a list of the equipment I'm planning to purchase to refurbish my studio. Probably of little concern to most people, but I know there are some readers of this journal who take an interest in such things. So here's the list: BILL'S NEW STUDIO EQUIPMENT LIST. 1: MAC MINI COMPUTER (6 CORE.) 2: MAC KEYBOARD (BLACK) 3: MAC 'MAGIC' MOUSE. 4: MAC SUPERDRIVE CD/DVD PLAYER/BURNER. 5: ZOOM TAC-8 THUNDERBOLT AUDIO INTERFACE. 6: BEHRINGER 82000 ULTRAGAINB PRO. 7: MACKIE MCU PRO 8 CONTROL SURFACE. 8: CUBASE PRO 10 DAW SOFTWARE. 9: SAMSUNG U32J590 4K ULTRA HD 32” MONITOR. 10: GEAR4MUSIC RACK CASE FOR ZOOM AND BEHRINGER UNITS. An album completed but not yet released. And another completed album, awaiting release.

As I'd mentioned in my previous journal entry, I had another eye injection last Tuesday when the person giving the injection apologised for hitting a blood vessel. Despite that my eye seemed reasonably no different from the other times it had been injected, but the day after I woke to find it bloodshot. And the day after that it was even more red and has gotten worse, along with occasional short, sharp stabbing pains. I did call the hospital and the lady I spoke to said that the bloodshot nature of the eye sometimes happens if a blood vessel is pieced by the needle and should settle down in a few days. However, it still looks,bloody awful, (forgive the pun,) and feels uncomfortable and is watering more or less all the time. If it hasn't cleared up by Monday I'll have to call the hospital again. Meanwhile, I'm finally preparing to wave goodbye to my old Mackie recording system. I'm on the third mixing desk now, (which I had very expensively repaired some while ago,) but it has developed more faults, some of which are incredibly frustrating to have to work around. I'm losing a lot of time just getting the thing to boot up and behave itself. The upshot of this is that I'm planning to assemble a computer based recording system using DAW software plus a control surface and audio interface. I've been spending time looking at the different choices available to me and now have arrived at what I think will be the right combination of parts to get me up and running, (though I suspect the learning curve will be somewhat steep.) The Mackie system has been terrific, a great design that emulated the old-school way of working, with a real mixing desk but with digital recording to a dedicated hardware multi-track machine. But, sadly, it's become too unreliable, maybe because of the intense workload I've subjected it to over the years, and Mackie no longer make the product. I've toyed with the idea of getting it repaired again, but last time was difficult as the only place qualified to deal with repairs was way down in Surrey, and the price of the repair was steep. I've hung on to this system as long as I could, desperate to keep the same way of working that I've been used to all these years, but now, like everyone else, it seems I'm being forced down the computer software route. Everything is 'virtual' and nothing is real... Anyway, the journal will keep you posted on my progress, (or lack of it.) Hopefully, once I make the jump and spend a few weeks learning the new and unfamiliar stream, I might find the workflow easier and more productive. Or maybe, despite the financial outlay, I'll abandon it and put the Mackie system back in place, warts and all... The Backlund Super 100 DLX guitar that was bought for me by incredibly generous fans for my 70th birthday. The Musicvox 'Space Cadet' guitar which was also purchased from funds donated by fans as a 70th birthday gift. (This guitar is awaiting the fitting of a Duesenberg tremolo arm.) Two beautiful and unusual guitars that I'll treasure and play with gratitude to those fans who gave me such wonderful and much appreciated gifts..

Attended the hospital again this morning for another dreaded eye injection. The sight reading test results were worse than the last time I attended, (and they were bad enough,) but the doctor decided to just inject one eye today. Last time I needed an injection in each eye. Nevertheless, one eye or two, it's still an unpleasant thing to endure. The needle hit a blood vessel this time too, ugh! Next month I have to go for a cataract measurement procedure in preparation for my cataract operations, (in both eyes,) sometime in August. It seems that there's a six month waiting list for these operations. The lady doctor I saw today was from somewhere in Europe and very nice. Hope that this ridiculous Brexit nonsense doesn't scare her off. I feel embarrassed to be British sometimes. It's a bit of a medical week, this week. Yesterday I was at our local doctors surgery for a blood test. Then on Thursday I'm there again for my annual long-term-condition heath assessment. Also visited the local Pharmacy to pick up a fresh supply of needles for my insulin injections. Until around three or four years ago, I'd never visited the doctor for anything at all. Stayed well clear of the whole medical shebang for most of my life. Now though, it seems I'm never away from the hospital and associated places. I'm still working everyday in my studio, gradually nearing completion of the 'Vulcan Street' album. Having second thoughts about the title though. Not sure whether I should change it or not. It kind of suggests that there's a concept behind it but the songs aren't really linked in terms of themes. They do, however, fit a general 'pop-rock' style and all are, so far, vocal based songs. Have been using my new Backlund Super 100 DLX and Musicvox 'Space Cadet' guitars on the more recent tracks. Enjoying playing them, despite the infirmities in my hands. I'm trying to adapt as best I can but some chord shapes are impossible to form because of my arthritis and the diabetes caused 'Jupitrons.' (Actually that would make a good name for a band.) One of my favourite albums was reissued as a digital download on Bandcamp today: 'Return To Jazz Of Lights' has been unavailable for five years since the CD run sold out. I'm really pleased the album is once again available as I believe it to be one of my very best works. Despite the word 'Jazz' in the title, it's not really a pure jazz album but definitely has 'jazzy' overtones on certain tracks, but there's also a bluesy vibe to the album and plenty of guitar and vocals. Hard to describe but there's virtually nothing on the album that I would change, (and that's a rare thing for me.) I'm just about to power up my studio to begin working on a new song so I'll end here. But just for your interest, here are the titles of the tracks I've completed so far.... 'FADING AWAY.' 'VULCAN STREET.' 'LIKE AUTUMN LEAVES WE FALL.' 'I REALLY DON'T EXIST.' 'THE ANGEL WITH TELEVISION EYES.' 'RUSTY BELLS.' 'HEADLAMP MOON.' 'AS QUICKLY AS A KISS.' 'WIDE AWAKE IN THE HEART OF YOU.' 'Magnetic Travels' is a contender for the next CD release...maybe. 'Phantom Fuzzbox' was completed over a year and a half ago but still awaits its release...one to look forward to.

Today is New Year's Eve and I spent the last afternoon of 2018 at the hospital having my eyes scanned and injected. The scans revealed a quite dramatic deterioration in my vision since my last appointment and the consultant said that I needed the injection in both eyes again. So I'm typing this with some difficulty after enduring the needle inserted in each eyeball and the resultant soreness and black 'blobs' that are a result of these injections. After this procedure it normally takes 24 hours for my vision to completely clear and the soreness to subside but my left eye is particularly painful at the moment. The consultant also put me on a waiting list for an operation on my cataracts. Again, I have these in both eyes and he thinks that they've got to the point where they need to be removed. He reckons that my turn may come up for the operation sometime in August of 2019. Can't say I'm looking forward to that, but it may help improve my vision a little. My back injury pain from my birthday fall has just about gone apart from some discomfort if I twist my body in certain positions, but it's much better than it was. Christmas was both a pleasure and a pain because of this... Christmas Day was spent at home. Emi and I brought my mum over from Wakefield to our house for the day and Emi cooked the traditional festive dinner for the three of us. Nice and cosy. Boxing day was spent with Elle and Elliot and their partners Nic and Danny. Lots of gifts were exchanged and I now have several books and videos lined up to read and watch. All in all, a very merry time was enjoyed by everyone. I've heard that the Backlund Super 100 guitar that generous fans have arranged to buy for me will be delivered in around three weeks time. Can't wait! I can hear fireworks exploding outside as I type these words...New Year celebrations by some neighbours no doubt, (though it's only 6:30 pm.) Emi and I will spend the evening quietly at home with Django the cat and a bottle of Champagne to toast in the new year. We like sharing these warm, intimate moments together. Gone are the days of mad partying, but I don't miss them. So, as 2018 draws to a close and 2019 prepares to enter all our lives, I'd like to wish all readers of this journal a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and many, many thanks for your wonderful support of my music during 2018!

First chance I've had to bring this journal up to date since my birthday. A lot going on and not all easy to deal with. First of all, the good stuff: On my 70th birthday on the 18th of December I opened gifts and cards from fans that had been left for me at the 'Plectronica' event. To say that I was deeply touched by their generosity would be an understatement. A very sincere and heartfelt thank you to everyone who sent me a gift. All were most appropriate, warmly received and have found a welcome space here in my home as a constant reminder of people's appreciation of my work. Thank you so much! Emi and I spent most of the day trying to catch up with our late Christmas preparations, gift buying and so on, but managed to find time in the evening to go out for a meal together at a seafood restaurant in town. A most enjoyable respite from the seasonal madness that seems to have enveloped us lately. Unfortunately, when we returned home, I suffered an unexpected accident. Coming downstairs in the darkness late at night, I slipped on the stairs, fell backwards, hitting my back hard on the edge of the steps behind me. A nylon puffer jacket had fallen from the staircase banister onto the final step and, probably due to my deteriorating eyesight, I didn't spot it. When my foot hit that step it skidded on the puffer jacket and I fell backwards, injuring my back quite badly. For the next three days it was too painful to go out. Sitting down, getting up, twisting my body left or right, leaning forward, all these movements caused excruciating pain. The only relief was to lie almost horizontal. Over the next few days, the pain eased a little, bit by bit, but has not yet gone. I'm still experiencing discomfort though I'm hoping it will continue to improve. As a consequence of my physical incarceration, we're now even more behind with our Christmas shopping and so on. A desperate attempt to catch up a little will commence tomorrow. Having said that, we did manage to get over to my Mum's in Wakefield today to help her with her usual supermarket shopping. We also attempted to buy some of our own Christmas foodstuffs but still need to grab a few more gifts for family and friends tomorrow, which looks like being a very busy day. Christmas seems to get more intense each year. Or is it me that is simply losing energy and enthusiasm for it? A nice, easy, relaxed time with Emiko would be so nice...but other duties require constant vigilance to get everything done without disappointing anyone. One other good thing was that I managed to fix a loose tremolo arm problem on my Fiesta Red Fender Stratocaster. The tremolo arms on these instruments can quickly become loose and 'rattley' in their sockets. Fender do provide a fix for this in the shape of a little tiny spring which you have to insert into the tremolo arm socket hole. I sent off for a packet of these (which are only available in units of 12,) but, this morning, when the packet arrived, I slipped one into the guitar's tremolo arm socket and it did the trick, tightening up the arm and providing a much more firm and secure action. Very pleased with this as it means the guitar will be used much more in future. Whilst on the subject of 'the future,' I'm greatly looking forward to getting the Backlund 'Super-100' guitar that fans generously clubbed together to buy me as a fabulous 70th birthday gift. This totally unexpected gift has brought excitement and keen anticipation to the Nelsonic musical environment. I understand that it will be delivered sometime in January. That month is so often a let down after the Christmas peak but, this year, it will bring a very special uplift. New guitars always lift my spirits! Haven't switched on my studio for several days now. The last thing I recorded was the music for the 2018 Dreamsville Christmas video card. Must admit I'm getting a bit twitchy and feeling like I need to start laying down some new tracks. I've already got a list of titles written down that might inspire me towards recording new music. And just looking at a selection of my guitars makes me want to bring music forth from them. On the other hand, the backlog of unreleased albums has yet to be eaten into. But, the muse waits for no one. She's nothing if not demanding and unreasonable. A cruel but, ultimately, rewarding mistress. And so, as soon as time allows, I'll bow to her inspiration and once more place myself in her mysterious hands...

Christmas is coming and my priority has not been writing Christmas cards or buying gifts but instead concentrating on creating the annual Dreamsville website's annual festive audio-video presentation. The music was completed a week ago now, a six minute piece of drifting, nebulous, spacey melancholia,...but getting the visual accompaniment together has proved troublesome. The music was not without technical problems either, some of which slowed the completion of the track dramatically. (Too involved to go into details here, but suffice to say it took far longer than it should have taken but all, eventually, was in place and awaiting the video component.) I'd gathered camcorder images from the streets of York but really wanted to include sequences filmed in the interior of Castle Howard with its beautiful, softly lit rooms of old Christmas magic. I'd managed to spend an afternoon there capturing exactly that. But when transferring the footage to my computer in readiness for editing it to the music track, I accidentally pressed the wrong button on my camcorder and erased the entire thing. My poor eyesight seems to cause regular problems along these lines but this one was disastrous. So, next day, I drove out to Castle Howard again to try to reshoot the footage I'd lost. Emi and I got there in time for lunch and availed ourselves of a sandwich in the cafe before walking around to the front door of the grand old house to film the wonderful Christmas interior decorations once again. Turning the door handle to gain entrance brought no result. The door didn't open. I twisted and rattled it several times but it didn't give. After a moment or two, the door was opened and an official Castle Howard lady poked her head out and said, "we're closed." Astonished, I replied "but last admissions are 4 pm and it's now only a couple of minutes after 3." She, in turn, replied that, no, today it was last admissions at 3pm and we were too late to gain entry. No-one had informed us of the change. We've been regular visitors to Castle Howard for many years and have a 'Friends Of Castle Howard' annual pass and last admissions to the house have always been 4pm, not 3pm. But it seemed there was little we could do and so drove home without being able to restore the lost footage. All that was left was for me to set to work with the remaining York footage, so that is what I did. Not ideal, but at least something to work with. Now, a good few days later, I've arrived at a final cut and just need to convert it to a 'Quick Time' file, then copy it to a memory stick and pass it to webmaster Jon Wallinger to upload to the Dreamsville website, hopefully in time for fans to see and hear it before Christmas Day. Duty done for one more year. Now I need to catch up with various neglected domestic duties. Did manage to assemble the Christmas Tree in our lounge, drape the lights and garlands on it. Emi has added the baubles and other decorations to it. But she also has been preoccupied with various floral work these last two weeks...conducting Christmas wreath workshops as well as taking orders for floral decorations and commissions for front door Christmas wreaths. A busy time of year for us both, one way or another. My 70th birthday coming up on Tuesday and I haven't made any arrangements for us to go out for a meal or anything. Just haven't had the time to sort it out. 70 seems like such a big deal for some people, but, for me, it's not any different from any other birthday these days. Just another year, another notch on the bedpost, another abstract number which, somehow, doesn't relate to who I actually am, nor where in the scheme of things I'm supposed to sit. Time, whether we conceive of it as the past or the future, is somehow irrelevant, there is only NOW, this moment, eternally. Everything else is memory, illusion, or imagination..Santo and Johnny's 'Sleepwalk' comes to mind...I think we're all, (or at least most of us,) sleepwalking our way from the cradle to the grave. Perhaps awakening might seem too harsh, too real, too NOW... 'Tread softly, for you tread on my dreams'....

Just this minute finished, (at 10:25 PM,) what I think will be the final mix of this year's Dreamsville Christmas video music. I'll listen back to it tomorrow and decide whether it's ok or needs any further adjustment. If I'm happy with it I'll burn it to CDR and then transfer it into my computer and lay it down as the soundtrack for the aforesaid video. I've filmed a lot of footage to use for this year's Christmas video, none of which has yet been transferred from my camcorder to my computer. It will take a few days to sort through it all and select appropriate scenes which will then require editing to the soundtrack. It's a lengthy piece this year. The ones I've made previously are quite short but the music for this latest one lasts over six minutes. It avoids the usual Christmas melodies and adopts a more abstract take on the season. The footage I've captured with my camcorder encompasses shots of York's Christmas lights and Castle Howard's illuminations and interiors. Hopefully, the visuals will work well with the music. I'll probably get the whole thing finished by the weekend, providing there are no distractions. Unfortunately, at this time of year, distractions are many and diverse. Still haven't got around to writing and sending Christmas cards. Emi is busy with lots of flower arrangement work, Christmas wreath workshops and so on, so the more basic needs of the season fall to me...and I'm failing miserably I'm afraid. Anyway, back to the Christmas video, which I think will be titled 'The Crystal Lights Of Christmastown.' Or something like that. My studio nice and warm at the moment thanks to a spacey looking fan heater bought as a 70th birthday gift from fans, It's definitely made working here in the winter more comfortable...

One week today since 'Plectronica' and I'm feeling quite flat and frazzled by the present pressures of the season. Absolutely no Christmas cards written yet, (I've not found the time,) and no gift buying accomplished. A worrying state of affairs. This vague feeling of 'flatness' continues to haunt me despite attempts to overcome it... Was over in Wakefield today to help mum with her shopping. It pains me every time to see her struggling with the basics of life. But at 90 years old, it's inevitable that things become difficult for her. Mum is the last surviving member of my original family, the family that surrounded me in the 1950s. (And, of course, my mum was there from my birth in 1948.) My brother Ian is no longer here to offer a helping hand and share nostalgic memories of our childhood. My dad passed away in the late '70s and I've lost both my cousins, (Walter and Ian,) plus various aunties and uncles and ancient family friends. Finding people who played a part in that period of my life is a virtually impossible task. It's all a distant memory now, a flickering black and white film, faded snapshots in scattered photograph albums, small scale and slightly out of focus. There are echoes of remembered music, saxophones and strings. Simple, warm lyrics of songs that sing of more innocent times. Is every childhood a golden era? Or is that just the way it seems to each generation? My family, whatever it once was, has long dissolved into the mists of time and Mum and I are the only ones left that remember those long ago simpler days from the late '40s, early '50s. Drove back from Wakefield in the pouring rain and wind and then had a dinner of fish which Emi prepared. Have been trying to catch up with lots of emails since, mostly endless Facebook notifications. I'm not sure I would bother with Facebook, or any sort of 'social media' if it wasn't a means of keeping people in touch with my work. It certainly is a distraction from what really matters sometimes... Almost got my studio back in working order since dismantling elements of it to facilitate the 'Plectronica' event. All will be ready by tomorrow to start recording the annual 'Dreamsville' Christmas instrumental. Once that is done, I'll then begin work on editing the video clips I took in York the other day. Putting the two together will hopefully provide me with this year's video Christmas card. Received a lovely email from Harold today. He's now back in Los Angeles, a world away from this cold, rainy December Yorkshire. Also a very nice email from Dave Sturt, which I want to reply to soon. Despite all this vaguely anti-climatic vibe, I'm bursting with new ideas for future releases. The muse continues to fill my life with ongoing possibilities. Still have a wealth of material in the archives to release but I'm also steamed up and ready to embark on new adventures. Never sure whether this feverish creativity is healthy or not. 'Burning the candle at both ends' comes to mind, but it never seems like there's much of a choice. It's either constant creativity or oblivion. Time is inevitably running out, so it's important not to let go of the reins, at least not just yet. As one of my song titles states: 'Art Is Long And Time Is Fleeting.' I remember once releasing an EP box titled 'Permanent Flame.' Well, I don't know whether it's permanent or not but, damn, it's still lit and burning... View from the Hepworth Gallery, Monday 3rd December 2018.

This is the first opportunity I've had to write a journal entry since before last Saturday's 'Plectronica' event. Where to start? So much to tell... The event went extremely well and I was happier with my performance than the one I gave in 2017. Only a few minor moments when I lost the downbeat on the backing tracks on a couple of numbers, just for a few brief moments, but nothing to get depressed about. The audience were, quite simply, wonderful. From the moment I walked on, right through to 'goodnight,' they were extremely warm and very enthusiastic. I couldn't have wished for a kinder crowd and their appreciation went some way to calming my usual nervousness. This year was extra special as I was joined by 'Orchestra Futura' for three improvised pieces. And to put the icing on the cake, the trio of Theo Travis, Dave Sturt and myself were joined by very special guest Harold Budd on piano. Harold is one of my oldest and dearest friends and it was a joy to be on stage with him again, (the last time being his 'farewell' concert in Brighton, quite a few years ago.) Harold had flown over from his home in California to attend the concert, initially just to see my performance but generously agreed to sit in with us without any rehearsal. During the performance my guitars were tuned and brought on stage for me by guitar tech Andy Newlove who did a great job of helping to speed the transition between one guitar and the next. The sound was handled superbly by my old friend John Spence who also dealt with the live stream sound as well as the sound in the room. The live camera mix was directed by Paul Gilby who also took care of projecting my own backdrop videos onto the screen behind me. I was too busy concentrating on my guitar to have time to look around and enjoy the backdrops but I'm told it all looked marvellous. The event was split into two main sections, the performance itself and a live interview with myself conducted by Ian Haydock. I suspect we were only able to deal with a fraction of the very incisive and interesting questions Ian devised for the interview, (probably due to my rambling anecdotes,) but the audience thoroughly enjoyed it. There were a couple of surprises in store for me: First of all, Ian read out some lovely tributes from other musicians, all of which touched my heart and were totally unexpected. The tributes came from Harold Budd, John Foxx, Stephen Mallinder, (of 'Cabaret Voltaire' fame,) Kate St John and Iain Denby, the great bass player who recorded with me in the '80s. Extremely grateful and deeply touched by this. I never expected such a thing and everyone was so very kind in their tributes. Another huge surprise came when it was revealed that a number of fans had got together to fund the purchase of a very special Backlund 'Super-100' guitar for me. I'd mentioned, in an earlier journal entry, how much I liked this guitar which was being made in a limited edition of just 12 instruments. However, I also said I dare not buy one as Emiko would most likely go up the wall with me! But now, it seems some very generous fans have solved the problem by purchasing one for me. It will be delivered sometime in January, (once built,) and I'm very much looking forward to playing it. I may even have to set up another performance next year to show the instrument off... Backstage my mother, son, two daughters, grandson and nephew all helped to make the event a family affair. So nice to see them all together in one place. My eldest daughter Julia and grandson Luke had travelled up from London specially to attend. All in all, a wonderful evening... Getting home after the show I was greeted by all my guitars and equipment stacked in the dining room and lounge awaiting me to haul them back upstairs to their respective storage locations. It had taken me three days to get everything downstairs and ready for guitar tech Andy Newlove to collect. I suspected it might take about the same time to cart everything back upstairs. However, only today have I begun the process of moving the equipment because during the previous three days I've spent some absolutely lovely times with Harold Budd and his beautiful partner Elise. Harold and Elise travelled from Leeds on Sunday morning to check into a B+B in our village and Emi and I spent as much time with them as possible, thoroughly enjoying their company. On Sunday we took them out to Castle Howard for the day which, though rather rainy, was very pleasant. In the evening we went to a restaurant in town and had a fulsome meal and a bucketload of wine plus a lot of laughter. On Monday we took them to The Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield and then to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park before driving back to York and a meal in our favourite village pub. Harold and I reminisced about our various adventures together, the recording of 'By The Dawn's Early Light' in New Orleans, our concerts at the York Arts Centre and at The Ferrens Gallery in Hull, plus concerts we gave in Lisbon, Rome and Japan. Our friendship goes back a long way now, I think to the late '80s, very early '90s. Harold is, (if not already apparent,) a hero of mine, a remarkable, unique, intelligent man, highly knowledgable about art, a greatly respected composer and pianist. His work garners the highest regard from his contemporaries and I'm honoured to count him as a close and much loved friend. Looking at my own modest journey through music, I never cease to be amazed that Harold would share any musical time with me at all, but I'm thrilled and grateful that he does. I first came across Harold's work during the recording of the Red Noise album, 'Sound-On-Sound.' I was recording at The Townhouse studio in London and during a lunchtime break had gone into the West End to Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus to try and find some new albums to enjoy. Browsing through the racks I pulled out an album titled 'The Pavilion Of Dreams'. The title immediately struck a resonance with me and I saw that it was by Harold Budd. I turned the cover over and read the track titles, which also echoed my own sensibilities. I bought the album without hearing it and took it back to The Townhouse studio where I got John Leckie to put it on a turntable and play it back through the studio monitor speakers. And that was it...I fell in love with Harold's compositions, beautiful piano playing with that unmistakable touch that Harold has, and I've been a fan ever since. We didn't get to meet until a little later, after we'd both had tracks on the 'From Brussels With Love' cassette issued by 'Disques Du Crepescule' a Belgian based label. The cassette featured tracks by several artists, Harold included. My track was a kind of ambient piece titled 'The Way To The Shadow Garden.' Harold apparently heard it and liked it. A year or two later a mutual acquaintance, (Kevin Cann,) arranged for us to meet. We immediately hit it off and have been good friends ever since. It's been one of the most meaningful friendships of my life... On Tuesday we took Harold and Elise into York and wandered around the Christmas Market after visiting York Minster and 'The Shambles.' Then we retired to 'The Guy Fawkes Inn' for a rather nice lunch with a couple of glasses of wine before ambling though the city to spend a brief half-hour in York Art Gallery looking at the Lucie Rie pottery exhibition before taking Harold and Elise to the railway station for their trip back to London and their eventual flight home to Los Angeles. Always hard to say goodbye to friends who live so far away. You never know when you will next get a chance to spend time together, and time travels so fast these days. Emi and I missed them as soon as they disappeared into the station. The last few days had been filled with so much conversation and laughter. I'm usually quite a solitary person, not feeling a great need for companionship, other than dear, sweet Emiko and Django the cat. But Harold and Elise brought a certain spark, filling the days we spent with them with something special. A treasured memory... Now back to reality, (of sorts.) With almost all my equipment carried upstairs, I now have to reconnect the various cables to my studio set-up. Once that's accomplished I need to look at working on this year's Christmas instrumental and getting it recorded. Also need to take my camcorder into town and film the Christmas market and lights for the video which will accompany the music. And all this will then need to be uploaded to my website before Christmas itself. Considering that I will have to devote a fair amount of time to Christmas shopping, sending cards, getting food in, etc, this may be a tall order this year. And we haven't yet put the Christmas Tree up or decorated the house with the usual illuminations. Cherry Red Records were in touch today about another interview request, which I'm to do this coming Friday. And that's about it for now... Dave Sturt, Theo Travis, Harold Budd and myself at The Clothworker's Hall in Leeds on December 1st 2018. Photographed by Emiko Nelson. Harold at the piano, Clothworker's Hall, Leeds, 2018. Photographed by Emiko Nelson. Bill and Harold at The Hepworth Gallery, December 3rd, 2018. Photograph by Emiko Nelson.

Tomorrow marks the last day before 'Plectronica' and the stress is, naturally, mounting. Managed to make decisions today about what to wear, (always problematic at my age.) Did some ironing of clothes but will have to pack them tomorrow evening to avoid any creasing. Choosing stage wear is rather like choosing guitars...in short, far too much choice, but never enough. Ah, vanity, all is vanity, even when you're a heath challenged, frazzled senior citizen such as I. Fortunately I haven't yet succumbed to the drab conformity of many of my generation. No sleeveless wooly pullovers and creepy carpet slippers for me. As the old saying goes, 'sod that for a game of tennis!' A few emails exchanged today to clarify the timings of sections of the event and to approve the live stream credits. Tomorrow will be dedicated to packing clothes, shoes and toiletries, safety copies of the backing tracks, spare e-bow, my Campbell Custom Rocketship Transitone, a box of guitar picks and my folder of charts for each number, (not that I'll be able to read them with my eyesight problems, but at least I can gain some sort of false confidence from their presence.) Tonight, Emi and I dined out at one of our favourite eateries, the local village pub. A flagon of wine too much I fear, an attempt to steady my nerves and gain some false bravado in the face of current stresses. Nevertheless, we deserved a respite from the pressures of the last few weeks, albeit momentarily. Wish I could approach these events with more calmness and equilibrium. The problem, I think, is that they're so few and far between. Regular touring, especially with a band, brings a routine sense of confidence and bravado. However, doing just one gig per year, and that being a solo performance, definitely places things in a more dangerous arena. Memory is essential, remembering where sounds are located on a plethora of footswitches, remembering the key changes of numbers I haven't played for a year, or haven't played ever. Remembering who I am, where I am and why I am is just as confusing! (Hey, it's a surreal world when all's said and done.) I suppose the answer to all this is to do more gigs per year, but that brings additional problems to solve. Catch 22...well, it will be what it will be.

Another busy day. Travelled to Fairview to meet with Andy Newlove and John Spence to test my equipment and guitars out for 'Plectronica.' Needed to try the newer guitars in that environment. Also wanted to try to familiarise myself with the somewhat complex pedal board and processor set up I use live, (which I don't use in the studio.) I guess 'try' is the operative word. Since last year my eyesight has deteriorated dramatically and I can't read the pedal boards clearly at all. I was sometimes kicking in the wrong sounds as I played, which causes a kind of panic to set in. The panic leads to vain efforts to correct the mistake, which in turn leads to further footswitch errors, and all that leads to concentration being taken away from what I'm supposed to be playing. In short, I end up feeling unconfident, wobbly and ultimately depressed. I had to ask myself why I'm taking on one of these events again, with all the pressures that come with it. For the most part, it's just me, alone, standing there on the stage, improvising to backing tracks. There's not a minute where I can lay back, I'm constantly aware that there's an audience watching every move, hearing every note, and there's nowhere to hide. With a band, you're up there with friends, carrying their part of the load, but with these solo gigs, all eyes are on me and every musical embellishment has to come from me alone. I'm wondering if, at this point in my life, I'm making a bed of nettles to lie in. But at least, on three numbers in the live set, I'll be joined by Theo Travis and Dave Sturt so the pressure, thank goodness, will be less acute. A band of sorts. One thing I'm glad I discovered from this afternoon's equipment check, was that the Tokai Firebird guitar is too risky to use on the number I'd allocated to it. The heavy neck-dive whilst on the strap felt uncomfortable and the tuning wasn't quite as sweet as it should be. The guitar works fine in the context of the home studio, no problem at all, but live I feel that it poses too much of a risk. I basically haven't found the confidence in it yet to use in live performance. A pity but, there you go... So, I've come home looking for an alternative guitar to put into the set at that point. I think the substitute will be my Campbell Custom Transitone, the one that the brilliant artist Nicholas Del Drago hand painted for me. The track that I'd originally assigned the Tokai to was 'Beatniks From Outer Space', so it's appropriate I should substitute the Transitone as it features Nicholas' graphic science-fiction artwork. Good news: The Backlund Rockerbox guitar has overcome yesterday's problem with the pickup selector. Andy has managed to do the final tightening of the nut that holds it in place and all seems to be working ok. Hurrah! Got home from Fairview just in time to do the 'phone interview with Johnny Sharp, who writes for Prog Rock Magazine. The interview focussed mainly on my 40 something years ago past with Be Bop Deluxe. Always a difficult thing to tackle as I haven't exactly dwelled on that period of my musical life very much and am more concerned with the here and now. I guess that stage of my career was more closely aligned with the 'industry' and, like it or not, the industry keeps coming back to mine what was perceived as a commercial point in my musical evolution. I should be grateful and pleased, I suppose, but, having created so much more in the 40 odd years since, I hope I can be forgiven for feeling a little frustrated. 'Ships In The Night' is both a blessing and a curse. There's so much more to my story than that. Tomorrow, I'll try to decide upon stage wear. Not that anything I wear will disguise the passing of 70 years. I don't feel, mentally, 70 years old, but physically? Wear and tear, chums, wear and tear... A flyer for a forthcoming SONOLUXE release...

The last couple of days have been very busy with 'Plectronica' meetings. Yesterday, event organiser Ian Haydock came over from Preston to talk about the schedule and to get me to sign some of Martin Bostock's photographic prints that Martin will be offering for sale. Ian also brought some special posters designed by Stephen Weis for me to autograph. The posters look fabulous, very colourful and there are, I think, eight different variations, each one showing myself at a different stage of my guitar playing life, from the early 1960s through the '70s, '80s and '90s, right up to today. The images have been rendered in Stephen's distinctive graphic style and will look terrific framed and hung on a wall. I hope I can grab a set of eight for myself. Ian took the 288 CDs away with him, plus the pieces of art I've made for the event, the guitar I've decorated for the charity raffle and a number of out-of-print albums from my personal archives which will be made available on the merchandise stall. Sound-On-Sound are bringing some albums from their warehouse too so there will be lots of tempting goodies on the day. After Ian had left to drive back to Preston, Paul Gilby arrived to discuss the video projection and to get copies of the new videos I've made to project behind the performance. We also discussed camera a positions for the live streaming of the event and so on. I later took a couple more items of equipment downstairs that I'd overlooked in the general chaos of preparations. Today, Jon Wallinger arrived to discuss a couple of others things connected with 'Plectronica' and to pick up a copy of 'Auditoria' which he will need to upload a selection of tracks to my website to go with the official launch of the album next week. People attending 'Plectronica' will, of course, be able to purchase advance copies. Then my guitar tech Andy Newlove arrived to pick up my guitars and equipment, but, just before he got here I discovered a problem with my Backlund Rockerbox guitar. I opened its case to show the guitar to Jon Wallinger and when I demonstrated the pickup selected control I realised that it had come loose inside the body of the guitar and was rattling in its cavity and not changing pickups. I'd allocated the guitar to one of the tracks in Saturday's performance but the fault made it unusable so I sent a panic email to Mike Robertson at Eastwood Guitars, the makers of the instrument. Mike said he wouldn't be able to get a replacement guitar to me in time but suggested a way of fixing it which sounded much simpler than I'd first thought. It looked, to me, that the strings would all need to be removed and the neck pickup taken out to access the interior of the switch via the hole left by the pickup. A messy and fiddly job. But Mike said to simply pull the control knob of and reveal the hex nut underneath which would then need tightening on the control's spindle, before replacing the knob. When Andy arrived we managed to do this, though the spindle had dropped inside the guitar a little way. Andy was just able to get hold of it and lift it out enough to put in place the washer and hex nut on the spindle and hand tighten it. When he gets the gear over to Fairview later tonight, he'll try to tighten it further with something that won't risk scratching the guitar. Hopefully, it will hold up for the gig. Tomorrow I'll be travelling over to Fairview studio to check all the equipment which Andy will have set up. Any technical problems should show themselves there and then and can be addressed before the event on Saturday. (Though we've experienced technical troubles at the sound check on a couple of previous occasions which, luckily, we've managed to solve or work around.) When I get home from Fairview in the evening, I have to do a telephone interview with a journalist from Prog Rock magazine, which was arranged yesterday by Cherry Red records to help publicise the re-issue of 'Sunburst Finish.' It can be a little frustrating having to talk about an album I made over 40 years ago when I've created so much more music since then, but perhaps it might help direct a few more people towards my newer work too. The weather today has been cold, wet and miserable...I don't think it helps the arthritis in my hands and fingers one bit. My right hand has been particularly painful and it's hard to grip anything without suffering sharp discomfort. But that's the wear and tear of 70 years for you, I guess. Now it's insulin injection time again.... Have been toying with this title for an album for some time...maybe a future possibility...

Managed to haul the last of my equipment downstairs today after disconnecting it from the studio and placing it in the appropriate flight cases. It's an extraordinary amount of gear for just one person to perform solo. Most of it, of course, is taken up by the thirteen guitars I'm planning to play, which, as I've mentioned previously, are not exactly necessary in the greater scheme of things. But, heck, they're all part of the 'show', and I do like to show them off... Event organiser Ian Haydock is coming over tomorrow with several photographic prints that Martin Bostock is planning to offer for sale at the 'Plectronica' event. I've got to sign these prints so, after signing the 288 copies of 'Auditoria', my right hand will be tested again. And whilst on the subject of hands, my arthritis seems to have intensified in the last few weeks. My right hand is particularly painful and the fingers of my left hand are stiff and uncomfortable. I know that a few other guitarists of my generation and slightly older are suffering from the same problem, Eric Clapton comes to mind. But if I can play as well as Eric in the coming years, I'll be happy. On Tuesday, Andy Newlove, my guitar tech, should be coming to pick all my equipment and guitars up to take to Fairview so that he can set everything up and we can test it and discover any technical problems with the gear. Much of it only gets used when I play live, and these days that's a very rare occasion, so a lot can go wrong. One other thing I've done today is to print out the list of guitar changes for Andy. He'll need this to line up and tune all the correct guitars for each piece I'll be performing. I'm still concerned that some of the people who may avail themselves of the live streaming of the event may not be prepared for the fact that it's an entirely instrumental affair and won't feature any vocals or Be Bop Deluxe material. There are quite a few fans on Facebook, (but not on my website,) who, I suspect, haven't kept pace with my progress through the years and may think I'm reviving my distant past with this performance. Well, if that's the case, I'm afraid it's going to be a terrible disappoint for them. As the old saying goes: 'That was then...this is NOW!' New music for the 21st Century... My recent cold seemed to have subsided somewhat, though I haven't felt 100% restored, but tonight I'm experiencing symptoms such as sneezing and a runny nose again. Hope to God it's not another round of the virus. At this point in time, it's the last thing I need... A flyer for an album I finished a couple of years or so ago and which is waiting in the wings for an eventual release...

Finally packed away my selected guitars for the 'Plectronica' live set...all are now ready for guitar tech Andy Newlove to pick up on Tuesday. But tonight have tried running a couple of the backing tracks using my Gretsch 6120 archtop, and I have to say that it sounds great and plays like butter compared to some of my other selections for the set. Should I put this instrument in place for the performance and abandon some of my original choices? Or should I tough it out and use some of the more unconventional guitars that, perhaps, have built in constraints and limitations to both sound and playability but look great? I do tend to favour visual style as much as anything else, but that sometimes means I'm making a rod for my own back by using guitars that aren't always conventional in terms of their sound and playability... I guess the choices come down to ones that challenge me somewhat, and others that oil the wheels of technique more easily. Hmm...what should I do? I think, despite the disadvantages, I should stick with my original choices and, if it makes things rougher, tougher and less polished than I would like, then so be it... The Clothworkers Hall...the venue for 'Plectronica.'

This afternoon, my friend Steve Cook came over to cut my hair. Steve is a hairdresser by trade but, as fans of my music may know, also a one time member of 'The Gentleman Rocketeers' and 'The Lost Satellites' bands that I put together for some shows in the UK a few years ago, (Steve being one of the two keyboard players.) Always nice to spend a couple of hours chatting to Steve. Thanks to his expertise I'm now shorn of whatever untidy locks I had, (which, I'm afraid, these days are few and far between,) and feel sharper and more refreshed in the follicle department. Haven't managed much progress again with regard to event preparations, though I did do some domestic duties such as replacing dead bulbs in the bathroom lighting. Just one more guitar to assign to the live set list now...it's for the number 'Gloria Mundae' which requires a guitar that responds well to my e-bow. I'm trying to assign one of my Eastwood guitars to this duty as they feature slightly less in this year's performance than last year's, (which was heavily weighted towards the Eastwood guitars that I own.) I want to show a broader church of instruments this year so have included my D'Angelico, Hallmark, Musicvox, Gibson, Fret King and Tokai guitars as well. Having said that, there's still a formidable presence from Eastwood with the Astroluxe Custom, two Backlund models, and another possible Eastwood for 'Gloria Mundae.' I'm fortunate enough to own many fine guitars and I'd need a set lasting three hours or more to be able to bring them all into the spotlight. One good thing today was the announcement made on my website (and Facebook,) of the live streaming of the 'Plectronica' event. It's now possible to pre-book to stream the concert live into your own home as it happens, in real time. I hope this will help those fans who missed out on a ticket. What I'm not hoping for is that I make disastrous mistakes when playing the numbers. With the live stream, there's no going back and editing the clunkers out later! If anyone reading this journal entry is thinking of signing up for the live stream, I just want to say that this won't be a retrospective performance of old Be Bop Deluxe material. The concert part of the event is dedicated to far more recent material, all instrumental, kind of introspective and semi-ambient music with a couple of more up-tempo intervals, but certainly no vocals, no rock band histrionics and, indeed, no band at all, other than three numbers that will feature from my 'Orchestra Futura' improvising trio. So, if you're up to speed with my current output, you'll be in fairly familiar territory, but anyone out of the loop for several years will find it a little more challenging. Right...now that's been made clear, I'm off to decide on my finial guitar choice. A fun flyer for a forthcoming Sonoluxe release... The Clothworker's Hall, the venue in which the 'Plectronica' event will be held...

Spent a big part of the day choosing which guitars will work best with which tracks within the 'Plectronica' live set. I think I'm almost there with these choices now, though I still have a couple of numbers to finally decide on. I thought that a certain selection of guitars would work fine, then changed my mind and substituted different instruments. I guess the problem is that I'm faced with so many possibilities in this area. But, in the end, I had to take a gamble with a few untried choices. Just wanted to show off some newer instruments, I guess, regardless of their ultimate qualities. I can work with almost any guitar within reason. At least, that's what I hope... One late addition, but one which is very poignant and appropriate to what might possibly be my final live performance, is the inclusion of my iconic Gibson 345 Stereo guitar, which my father bought for me way back in, (I think,) 1963 when I was a teenager, (both in years and in 'The Teenagers' band I joined at that time.) That, (now vintage) Gibson guitar, with all its subtle alterations and incarnations, has shadowed my life and career for so many, many years... its story is my story, its soul is my soul, it embodies my memories and life experiences. It ties me irrevocably to the gift that my father made me of the guitar so many years ago. I still remember vividly going to Kitchen's Music Shop in Leeds on a Wednesday afternoon to test the guitars out and compare it with a Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman guitar. To be honest, I'd gone there with the intention of choosing the Gretsch, but the Gibson, when I picked it up, felt so right for me. And that, on that Wednesday afternoon, so many, many years ago, was what my father ended up buying for me. And thank goodness I still have that instrument in my possession today. Not just a great guitar, but a concrete link to my late father and the belief he had in me as a guitarist to take the risk of buying me such a wonderful instrument, and at great expense to himself. I don't know where you are in the cosmic ether, Dad, (if there is such a thing.) Or if there's a heavenly netherworld, or if you've reincarnated, or just vaporised and returned to atoms and electrons, (which you always said you would do in the end). Well, you made this boy a man with a mission. And this man, in turn. with a deep gratitude that you could, sadly, never ultimately know. But perhaps you do know...I hope so. Thanks, Dad, from my heart.