Are you free Friday 21st October?

If you've checked out this month's Jazz in London you'll see that I'm listed as a guest for the fabulous, gorgeous and tremendously talented sitter Ian Shaw's upcoming October run at Pizza on the Park in London. Well, the date to put in your diary is Friday October 21st. How exciting is that?!

Rx

Direction of the taps

Well, I must be settling in at the Guildhall as I have now turned the taps in the ladies the right way on the last three visits. This might sound like a small feat to you but I have had some serious mishaps with excessive water jetting on turning the taps the wrong way over the last couple of weeks. Very embarrassing when one is trying to make an funky/cool/jazz cat type impression. Not sure my perspiring issue is helping with that and I'm worried that people are combining the excessive water jetting with the healthy glow and leaping to all the wrong conclusions. More Fat Face clothes and a new bag should sort that one out... only joking... well, sort of.

Glad to say that my 'blues' and 'blues, not blues' have not been laughed out of court. Certainly perked me up. Plus my head spinning has slowed to 33rpm from 78rpm when discussing harmony, largely thanks to the rather excellent Mr. Pete Churchill. Who says beige wearers aren't excellent human beings too? Plus we have an fab rhythm class with Trevor Tomkins which I actually look forward to. Tremendous.

I got the flat pack up. Just haven't managed to move all the stuff from my bedroom to the new 'office' - the hall. Wondering how many months this is going to take. I really hadn't gauged the fitting of everything else in with being a student. I'm quite sure I have more homework now than at any point during my education and I seem to have lost all capacity to fit things in. That would be things like washing, picking things up off the floor and remembering to order my tablets. All fairly liveable with except for the last which could become a bit of an issue if I don't get it sorted. I think I might have heard someone refer to it as real life or something.

We're lucky enough to have Troy Miller, ace drummer, heading our small band at the moment and he has written a fantastic tune called 'Searching' which I get to sing. Fantastic. Thanks Troy - I love it. You might see that one start to crop up if Troy lets me sing it on the 'outside'.

So, a few eight bar phrases to go before bedtime. Should be a matter of minutes... 120 or so.

Rx

The flat pack blues...

I have two key tasks this weekend. The first is to write a blues and a 'blues not blues' (a challenge if one is still getting one's head around a 'blues definitely is a blues') for my arrangement and composition class. The second is to assemble the new desk/desk shelf/shelves which will realise my cunning plan to return my bedroom to its original function i.e. relaxing boudoir and establish a real office. This means moving the ever increasing piles of stuff from my bedroom into my new office ie. the hall. From this you realise that my previous cunning plan to add an extra room to my one bedroom flat has gone down the pan and I am having to realise this plan conceptually. That all supposes I complete my flat pack furniture before coming to the conclusion that life is too short. Funny, I thought the music was going to be the key challenge. It is really. I'm just trying to big myself up and pretend that the word reharmonisation sits comfortably in my vocabulary...

It's been an excellent week 1 at the GSMD. Can't believe I'm actually a real student again. Someone told me yesterday they thought I was 25. Hooray! I did explain that it could be the complete lack of functioning nerves in the right side of my face working like natural botox. Dunno - sounds good though. It must be the vegan diet and intensive yoga and exercise regime that I have been committed to for the last ten years... Hahahaha! Forgive me, I lied. Not sure Ben & Jerry's fits in to any of those categories. Talking of which, have you tried Dublin Mudslide? Possibly the best ice cream ever in the world - unless something else is within arms reach and doesn't require movement.

Anyway, better finish the flat pack. Flat pack, schplat pack.

Rx

Tomorrow's the big day

I've just been putting my new pens in my pencil case and choosing which of the 17 new notebooks I should put in my satchel for my first day back at big school. Feels a bit strange I have to say. I'm now trying to work out what to wear.

It's been a while since I was at University. It kind of brought it home to me at the enrolment day at the Guildhall on Saturday. I kept bumping into mums of new students, waiting in the long, hideously sweaty queue to get our papers stamped, and they didn't look a great deal older than me. A slow dawning of realisation then permeated my very young looking body. I was actually 20 years older than some of the enrolling students who had just done their A levels. Eek! My fellow postgraduates should at least have done their first degree so I'll be at most a mere 17 years older than them. A trifling nothing. I must look up the word trifle. How can it mean both a mere nothing and a sumptuously gorgeous yummy afters? For those of you who haven't travelled north of the Midlands, afters is what we call dessert/pudding - albeit something that only usually appears with guests. Interestingly the US spellcheck on this blogger is encouraging me to replace it with 'aftershave'. They've obviously not been to St. Helens either.

I'm leaning towards my very best new Fat Face sweat shirt, which I'm convinced makes me look extremely cool, and a pair of Pumas. Can't go wrong. I really ought to go to bed. I'll just check my bag one more time...

Rx

Blimey, it's dark...

I just looked out of the window and it's dark, at 9pm. Blimey. That crept up on me a bit quickly. I've been in France for a bonus week and had a fantastic time. Not only did I laze around and do nothing, I had my new buddy along with me. And he called me willowy. I'm not sure anyone has ever called me willowy in my entire life. Actually, that's not true - I'm absolutely completely and utterly certain that no-one has called me willowy. It must have been the one inch heels on my sandals - it can fool anyone.

When I say did nothing that's also not completely true. I swam in the pool, sat at the cafe and had lunch, coffee, dinner, all at a fairly leisurely pace. Then wandered down to chat with the jazzers on the Med Summer School and listen to a few great tunes. I really can think of worse ways to pass the time. What a special week. I keep looking at the photos to try and pretend I'm still there. It's not quite working, and the dark sky has slightly brought me back to Clapham with a bump.

I'm putting together a chunk of new tunes for the weeks ahead (can you have a chunk of tunes? not sure my Gran would have allowed it in Scrabble...). A bit of funk and R&B just to mix things up a bit. Excellent. I've had some very good suggestions from my new buddy. Isn't it funny when you meet someone who you feel like you've know for ever. You keep wanting to talk about people you knew when you were young expecting them to know who you're talking about but then you remember you only met three weeks ago. Spooky. I'm missing our sitting sessions. We seem to have quality sitting in common.

I'm on plan 54 to try and turn my one bedroom flat into a five bedroom house by moving a few bits of furniture around. It just doesn't seem to be working. Not for lack of trying I assure you. Does this mean after nearly eight years (!) in one place I'm in need of a move?

By the way, Fionna Duncan is coming to town and she's bringing Ronnie Rae with her. They're doing a few gigs around and about and I would highly recommend that you wander along if you can. They have played a huge part in getting me on the jazz road and I love them to bits. Here's the scoop:
September 11th Ronnie Rae Quintet (featuring Clark Tracey, Mark Armstrong)The Fairway, Panshanger, Welwyn Garden City, Herts. Tel: 01462 624262
September 17th Ronnie Rae Quintet Pizza Express, Maidstone, Kent. Tel: 01622 683548
September 19th Fionna Duncan Quartet Ruislip Jazz Club, Ruislip, Middx. Tel: 01245 420475
September 20th Fionna Duncan Quartet Spike's Place, The Hermitage, Brentwood, Essex. Tel: 01245 420475

Big week next week - starting at The Guildhall. Whey hey! Can't wait!

Rx