The Return Of The All Seeing Eye

One day back in work after New Year's then another day in A&E for yours truly. Back in work again today, feeling much better. Eyeball still feels grainy, but it's not debilitating.

The antibiotics they gave me on Saturday simply weren't doing anything so I had to go back into the hospital and queue for 4 more hours... I'm beginning to think that maybe private medical insurance is worth it, after all. I left the building with anaethetised eyeballs and a new prescription consisting of 5x stronger antibiotics, plus two different types of 'artificial tear' to make me more comfortable! Yay! The antibiotics are preservative-free and need to be taken 6x daily and refrigerated. Plus they only last a week once opened, so I have two bottles to get through.

At least this time I was seen by a senior doctor who insisted that I should return ASAP to the proper clinic to try and figure out what's going wrong. Apparently 4 visits to A&E in 6 months is the magic number. Suits me! I finally have an appointment to be seen next Tuesday!

How about some guitar stuff, eh?

Well, the first thing that springs to mind is that the new term of Rockschool starts tomorrow. I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to get myself over there yet. Basically, it's bloody cold right now in London and whilst I'm fine to ride the scooter, I'm not completely happy with exposing Red to such unnecessary temperature changes.

I've actually missed the last couple of lessons due to Paris and then band practice, so I'm feeling like a bit of a slacker. I'll have to catch up with what's been learned in the interim.

Yesterday morning, as I was lying in bed with my eyes closed trying to get up the courage to haul my butt down to the hospital, Tim was spinning some old blues tunes. He was doing some last-minute cramming for an exam that afternoon and needed the distraction. The thing I love about blues stuff is that you can take a seemingly rigid format (12-bar, 8-bar etc) and twist it into something that sounds fresh and funky. Having learned "Strange Brew" for band practice I really got to thinking about how you can take something as simple as a I-IV-V progression but then rather than just playing chords, play riffs or fills based on those chords for the rhythm section. For some reason the sound of songs like that really excite me as they're kind of groovy.

Dah-dum, Dah-dum
Dum-dum
POW!

Dah-dum, Dah-dum
Dum-dum
POW!

Far out, man!

I've been exploring some stuff like this lately during my own little compositional phases. It's not that easy to come up with a simple yet groovy beat, but when you do, man, it's the best.

I think it's kind of an offshoot of my love of the whole jam-band thing. I have no problem listening to someone taking hours to build up to a crescendo just by repeating then modifying licks. I love that stuff. I particularly love it when you reach a peak then BANG, the whole band just takes off together in a different direction.

Ach... I need to get back to listening to some of my Derek Trucks Band stuff in preparation for Mardi Gras!

And it's time for my eyedrops again. Joy. Signing off!

Not To Be Picky, But...

This weekend I really struggled with "Taylor". I've been learning to play it without a pick, but on Saturday I decided that maybe I should use one after all. Changing horses mid-race was not a good idea! Forward one step, back two. As of Sunday night I've reverted to playing it with my fingers, but it means I've made no progress. As mentioned before, I have to show "Teach" how far I've got with it this Saturday. Given that I'm not going to get to practice as much as I'd like to this week, I'm up against it.

On Sunday night I re-watched the Classic Albums series "Disraeli Gears" episode. Once again I was struck by how often Eric Clapton admitted that they basically took other people's songs and re-did them, Cream style. Case and point was "Strange Brew" which was simply a reworking of a traditional blues "Lawdy Mama", which the band had already covered on a previous recording. Back in the day I would have thought that this was cheating, but frankly, if you can take a tune and make it your own then hey, go for it. After all, look at the famous intro lick from "Layla", often attributed to Duane Allman. Well, that lick was a direct copy of Albert King's "As the Years Go Passing By", only speeded up to change it from blues to rock. Same notes played in a different style and tempo equals different song.

This time round I took time to watch the bonus features on the DVD. They were mostly solo performances by each band member. Actually very cool and I can see myself transcribing a couple of Eric's performances and learning them myself. I jammed along to Jack Bruce's piano version of "We're Not Right". Turns out Jack and I would make a good duo. I don't recall hitting a single bum note, even though I've never tried playing along to it before.

In other news, two vaguely music related web thingys I came across recently are "Pandora Radio" and "Stumble Upon". Pandora is a neat take on internet radio, in that you can 'make' your own channels. All you have to do input a song or an artist that you like and Pandora creates a 'station' of songs in a similar style. Right now the stations I've created include the following 5 channels:

You Am I Radio
Placebo Radio
Rebirth Brass Band Radio
Freemasons Radio
Eddie Bo Radio

There are quite a few more in my list, but I'm not sure I'm ready to admit to all of them!!!!

Stumble is something entirely different. It's a collection of websites that other people have tagged as being 'cool'. While not specifically music related, you can search for pages about guitars, the blues etc. Had lots of fun looking at their tattoo pages. Some pretty neat stuff and definitely inspiration for my next 'inking'... which'll be a big one!

Lastly for the weekend, I'm 99% sure I spotted Pete Doherty of The Libertines/Babyshambles (and every single tabloid in the UK) fame in our hood on Sunday. If it wasn't him then it was someone doing a damn good impression. Trademark hat, very pale, stumbling, blank yet bemused look on his face.

I'll admit that to date I've actively avoided listening to any of his music as I don't have time for people who are famous simply for being (in)famous. Having seen the boy in the flesh, though, I felt compelled to listen to some samples on iTunes. I was surprised to find that his stuff didn't sound half bad! Perhaps a little derivative, but given what I just wrote about Cream...

London's great if you enjoy celeb spotting. You can barely go 10 feet without tripping over one! In the past year we've run into everyone from Danny DeVito (Taxi) and wife Rea Pearlman (Cheers) to Matt Lucas (Little Britain)... Michael Barrymore... some of the Derek Trucks Band... okay, so that was outside their last London gig, so perhaps that doesn't count... they had to be there...

"Taylor" notwithstanding, I'm actually feeling really positive and upbeat about my guitar playing right now. I genuinely feel like I should be in a band now. NOW! I listen to a lot of stuff that's out there and I know deep down that I really could 'do that'. I'm bound to fall flat on my face from time to time, but so f**king what, eh? Live and learn. My first 's**t or get off the pot' deadline is coming up soon, where I have to find some way to 'get out there'. I actually feel confident that I'm not going to make a complete a**e of myself for once! Mastering an instrument always has highs and low points, but you just have to keep on going and put some faith in the future.

What put me in such an optimistic mood? Bizarrely it was from re-reading Duane Allman's self-penned epitaph:

"I love being alive and I will be the best man I possibly can. I will take love wherever I find it and offer it to everyone who will take it - seek knowledge from those wiser - and teach those who wish to learn from me" (source: "Skydog: The Duane Allman Story" By Randy Poe)

I often feel like I was born into the wrong time. Duane's epitaph may sound very 70's hippy-chick, but it feels so much like 'me'. I was dragged, kicking and screaming, into this world a few short days after the fires of Woodstock died down in August 1969, the same year that the Allman Brothers Band recorded their first studio album. Music and life have changed so much since those days, morphing from something real, grounded in the now, into a disposable commercial product, bought and paid for on credit. Perhaps I need to add another bullet point onto the Fillmore Five Project Action Plan:

5) Change The World.