A reminder

Nothing posted here for a little while but I have been busy elsewhere - remember my music reviews page which is here and which has got reviews of the James Taylor gig from a couple of weeks ago, and a couple of more recent things too.

Sweet baby James

Having separated off my music blogs I am going to cross-post for a while to help those who want to find it.

So here is my review of last weeks James Taylor gig at the Royal Albert Hall.

http://rossonmusic.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/sweet-baby-james.html

Enjoy.

...when you're the driver of a train

I'm not really sure where the last week has gone. I was convinced it was only a few days since my last blog post, and it was all the way back on Wednesday.

What makes this even more difficult to fathom is that I've not been out every minute since then. Yes, a gig and a party pretty much booked up Saturday. Nice to catch up with a very good friend who is off to work in New York for a year, and I think I managed to conceal my huge levels of jealousy quite well.

But Sunday wasn't too full – I easily had time to write something. In part I think I am clearly getting more used to living on my own – the early need to fill every minute and keep really busy has gone. Don’t get me wrong, I still like to be busy and have never coped well with sitting indoors and vegetating, but four months ago a free night would have had me in a panic – now it’s a welcome chance for a rest and a long bath with a good book.

That’s another issue – I bought lots of books for the summer on the grounds I was bound to have time to read them, and I'm pretty much through them all. Most had the unifying feature that they were under a quid on Kindle, but actually there were only a couple that I discarded as not worth reading on the way. And I have consciously tried to stop hoarding books – I used to own hundreds which I never re-read, but couldn't bring myself to get rid of. They have pretty much all gone now and someone else can get some pleasure from them. So I need to replenish stocks in the coming days. Recommendations welcome.

I've a few days to make my mind up as my Kindle has also decided to pack up this week. It works, but only on Wireless rather than 3G, and has the battery life of an IPhone 3. Amazon are being very good and sending a new one – but it makes me realise how much I use the thing – “don’t know what you've got till it’s gone” etc.

Anyway, feel better for putting something up here – even if it is just a quick update written while eating my sandwich. I will write in more detail later in the week with a review of James Taylor at the Albert Hall.

The heat is on

The signs went up in my building yesterday to say that the communal heating system would be switched on at 8pm today, it being October 1^st. I don’t think this involves any kind of ceremony, by which perhaps resident Arthur Smith cuts a ribbon or pushes a big fake button. But it's an indication that winter is coming*.

Although it hasn't felt like that over the last couple of days. Coming back from a rehearsal late last night across London it was still warm as it approached midnight.

Coming up for me on Saturday is Voxcetera's autumn concert – please drop in if you happen to be in Muswell Hill at lunchtime – it’s a free one and has a wide variety of music so there is as they say something for everyone. And then next week I am going to see the legendary James Taylor at the Albert Hall. I have never seen him live, but am expecting the smooth rich voice and a tour through his high-quality back catalogue. If it turns out he is debuting his new thrash jazz album (a la Spinal Tap’s change of direction) I will be most disappointed!

And to complete the musical tour, I have my first rehearsal for Christmas things the week after. On the 12^th of October. I know this feels really early, but at least we have the excuse that we do need to rehearse stuff. It’s not like the shops merrily stacking up the baubles and Christmas chocolate for the next three months. Rest assured, I won’t be loading up my IPod Christmas playlists for a good couple of months.

I need to start thinking about Christmas I guess. It’s a time of the year that I love – concerts, presents, a decent rest and general peace and goodwill etc. Going to be a little different though this year given my change in domestic circumstances, and so I need to figure out what’s the best way of doing things. The kids are now firmly latched into the teen/young adult Christmas concept of excess and materialism, so magical present unwrapping hasn't been a thing for a while, but it’s these set piece things that are bound to feel a little odd.

And that’s pretty much the diary for the next week or so. I was planning to write something about the UK political party conferences, but even the headlines have been such a turn-off that I have completely failed to engage with them this year. And that goes for all of them. Nobody is really saying anything different. Rises in the minimum wage so that within five years people will be a little less close to starving, changes to complex pension regimes that I have no desire of trying to understand, and whatever it was the Lib Dems offered (was it to do with poodles or did I dream that?). It’s not exciting stuff is it? 

I love the fact that the Scots seem to have got real political excitement and engagement out of their referendum – but wonder that it will take for us to feel the same. 

*yes, this is a sneaky meta-data reference to try and get Game of Thrones traffic to my blog – sorry.