Just back from a very enjoyable gig at the 3 Horseshoes in Abbot's Ripton, which is a beautiful pub. It's probably the smallest room I've ever played in, comfortably beating the previous incumbent, which was the Champion of the Thames. One of the beauties of a small room, other than the intimacy, is that you don't need very many people at all for there to be a lovely atmosphere. Which there was. Dan Flay did a set first, which I thought was great, and went down really well. Rob Jackson played some guitar with me, which sounded gorgeous. I reckon we must have the highest quotient of broken hearts of any musical act in the world at the moment. Joint highest at least. I came extremely close to crying during "So Finally a Love Song", but managed to restrict it to a bit of croaking and some heavy duty blinking. I was feeling a bit vague all night - possibly because I spent most of last week either working or drunk. Or both. I'm going to take it easy next week. Anyway, the excellent Alias Grace are playing next month (Nov 12th), so if you're in the area check it out. The guys who put it on have a website at www.bjp-promotions.co.uk. I won't be there though because...
Setlist: St Swithin's Day, Phosphorus Burn, So Finally a Love Song, Easy Way Out, Alabaster, Watertight, Losing Out to Bullethead, Grateful Smile, Sleep Tonight, Ball and Chain, Soaked to the Skin, Edinburgh.
...as part of my taking my mind off things campaign, I've just arranged to go to San Francisco for the 2nd week of November. It's a similar, but more exciting, impulse to the one that made me buy a new mop this afternoon and throw out a load of clothes. I'll hopefully meet up with Dan for a bit, then generally hang around and maybe try and do some open mics or something if anyone at any will lend me a guitar. My dad was really generous with some air miles he had knocking around that were due to expire before he'd get a chance to use them. I'm a little bit nervous about going away on my own (I'm hoping I don't just go for days on end without talking to anyone), but I need to get used to my own company. If anyone knows anything good to do/see there, let me know.
MORI caught me just after lunch and suspiciously wanted to know my name and address for their confidential statistics. I suspect them of trying to catch out tax evaders.
I caught 2 Japanese students blowing dandelion clocks over the fence into my garden yesterday. Being English I tried to sneak into the house and pretend I'd not noticed. What I should've done was say "What do you think you're doing? Who do you reckon's going to have to pull up a million dandelions next year? My mum that's who!".
My next door neighbour has erected an enormous fence around the front of his garden. At first I assumed it was to stop Japanese students blowing dandelion seeds into it, then I wondered if someone had complained about the eyesore that is his garden, and rather than clean it up he's put it in an equally ugly container, which is somehow already looking run down, but I've come to the conclusion it's because he's a weirdo and he doesn't want people looking in. I'll never forget the time I caught him trimming the hedge with a flymo. Speaking of oddballs - what's with the woman who lives at the end of Kingston Street and is almost always standing in her front doorway staring into the road with a look of malice? And when she isn't she's peering out from behind the curtain in one of the upstairs rooms. It's quite unnerving.
Still got an answerphone message icon on my phone. I've got a theory it'll go away if someone calls me and leaves a message and I delete it. No real way of testing it for the forseeable future though unless I call myself from the landline. And that would be slightly tragic.