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At last a good Rock & Roll picture…Â
Taken by Roger Morton.
He takes great Photos which you
can see here.
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http://www.fantasticphotos.org/elephantshelf/charlottest/index.htmÂ
Elephant Shelf accompanying Glenn Patrik on his first UK GigÂ
http://www.fantasticphotos.org/thebluesroom/glennpatrik/index.htm
OK I think I am out of gas now, maybe its just the effect of not having the normal mood medication due to having the flu, but I feel really strange and I need some help from someone outside my present circle. My mind is clear as long as I am dealing with other matters than my own problems, which I seem to be spectacularly bad at just now. I keep getting these really odd moments when I think I can actually dig my way out of this hole the way other people do but it seems that for me that just being able to to use the abilities which I do have that are not too shabby is nowhere near enough to do the job.It is said that people rise to there own level of incompetence. I believe that I have transcended most levels of incompetency and moved to a point where I can delude myself sufficiently to go repeating the sathe mistakes. I have no real confidence that there is any point in trying to do anything now as trying and not trying seem to have produce the same outcome. There is a message being sent to me but maybe I am simply not getting it. What makes things worse is that I can see the possibility of the way things could be and its always just that little bit out of reach.
Bob Dylan has got a funny voice, wait I here you scream. Sacrilege! OK he is a genius, but he has got very a characteristic sound and manner that might well cause him to be rejected from the X factor auditions without a moments notice. Tom Waites? OK so my point is this. Should everything be pasteurized and homogenized and diluted and refined to the point of blandness to reach some anodyne notion of popular art. Well if its art no, but what if its entertainment with only a small a for art. Is it worth being true to your artistic conception or should you just take the money and run,(or just walk very fast without drawing too much attention to oneself) and what if you just want to be an artist?
I have just played a guest spot at the Portbello Gold with Vicky in our Delta Ladies incarnation, and it went quite well I think.
The usual mixture some Bluegrass a comedy song and a bit of folk rock. It took my mind off the other problems of impending doom for a while which helped.
I went to Bungay yesterday to visit the Fisher Theatre where Elephant Shelf is playing a double header with Rupert Herries on October the 3rd. It’s quite a trek as its up near Norwich and its a lovely place even though its a 220 mile round trip. Ralph and Vicky came with me and we checked out the theater for all the techie stuff ,arranging the get ins and so forth.
Gor blimey gov, its a fair cop, strike a light. Things ain’t what they used to be thats true enough. The Elephant Shelf CD continues to be played on some specialist stations in the EU and also on local radio in the UK too. 20 or so at the moment.
Having been involved in the production of the said item one is fairly pleased. Where this will all lead ultimately is up for debate really I suppose. Its rumored that there will be some festivals to be played in 2010 and we can but hope that it works out.
The long awaited solo CD Glass Cage solo CD is shelved for the moment due my just having to spend money on car repairs so thats that for the foreseeable future. I seem to be as mad as ever, and I badly need a job of some sort sooner or later. I have no idea what I am going to be doing in 2010, buts its getting to be quite a major concern.basically my money will run out around my 53 birthday. Eek.
I do feel OK apart from the usual feeling of impending doom which is quite rational of course considering the situation. I spent today between the Piano and the PC as usual. I am working on a basic but easy to use e commerce product, a sort of shop in a box with a reasonable cost including hosting that I may be able to market to boost my meager existence with. Its almost ready to roll out and it needs the right price tag. Too cheap just won’t do it I am afraid and the wrong price means no clients at all.
Diana is a performing composer and muscian playing Piano Violin and Guitars. She currently plays with the Rock/Roots band Elephant Shelf and also the Delta Ladies who mix roots acoustic music and electronica. She composes in a variety of styles from pop to rock to Jazz and and classical music.Diana is also expert in multi-media recording and music production.
Really Really tired, like when everything is just too much effort? Yep me too. Its been a difficult time over the past few months and nothing seems to have worked out on a practical basis. Every idea I have had for scratching out a living has been a complete flop and I don’t know if its simply that I am not good enough at what I do or just a sign of the times. I do feel a little bit a drift now though.
I tried reducing my anti-depressant meds dose to see if I could get a little bit more motivation but that only makes me irritable and makes my concentration worse, and its looking more and more like IÂ am going to end up filing in and office somewhere or worse to survive and the thought is rather dispiriting after all the effort I have put in to everything else, particularly over the last 2 years or so.
The main thing is I can’t work the way I used to0, my mind wanders and after a a couple of hours I have just drifted away.
Deadlines get me stressed and my mind go’s completely blank plus there is the worry about money which is becoming more and more pressing all the time too.
I played at a garden party yesterday in my ‘Delta Ladies’ incarnation. We had a great time and everyone was enjoying it and we sold some albums too, only another 112 and we break even 🙂 The house was in Lonesome lane. For the first 40 minutes of the set my mind was just completly absent, I played OK but basically on auto-pilot, by the end I was feeling more normal thank goodness though. The thing is in previous work that I have done apart from powerpoint presentations you could not do it terribly well in an altered state of consciousness, though that did happen a few times I have to admit.
Here are some pictures taken by my good friend Ralph Stephenson.
This is one of my all time favorite pictures so far proving that you can have fun with Elephant Shelf