Eye, Eye, Captain

So, I had my appointment with the eye doctor. Same story... don't know why I'm having issues, but here are some handy hints, potions and ointments to sort you out for now. My current 'issue' is now a non-issue so I should finish up with the antibiotics I have... plus I have a new topical kind to massage into my eyelids before beddy-byes for another month to (hopefully) prevent re-infection. Take two asprin and call me in the morning...

Basically, I'm feeling like my warranty has run out and I'm now 'that car' you borrow from a friend which comes with a list of instructions on what to do if it won't start in the morning... "no, no, no... if it stalls then you need to open the petrol cap, pump the gas pedal three times then wait five minutes before turning the key again..."

You know what I'm talking about, right? For now, though, I'm on the ocular mend. Shit, if I were a celeb this'd probably be the time that I'd start going all yoga/macrobiotic/only eating certain types of carbs before 11am type of person.

Thank goodness I ain't no celeb, eh?

Other body parts aren't doing so well, but that's another story! Here goes. So, I spent most of the weekend trying to get back up to speed with my Rockschool stuff, reinstating practice/warmup routines to try and improve my fingerboard/picking accuracy. I spent a lot of time with some chromatic exercises, basically doing a 4-finger crawl up each string, moving up a semi-tone each 4 beats until I reached the 15th fret then spidering back down again. Ascending chromatics are easy. Descending take a lot of control so that you don't allow your fingers to flap all over the place like headless chickens.

I started off being completely useless, but after an hour or so most of my digits were coming under control. The exception was, of course, my wayward 'more tea, vicar' pinkie. I think I basically found that if I made sure I got my pinkie and ring finger down and positioned correctly behind frets on the 1-beat then everything would go according to plan. If I only got my pinkie lined up then things were certain to go to go to hell in a handbag pretty quickly. The thing is that you can get pretty confident, say, at 40bpm, then when you try 60, suddenly those drums are coming at you mighty fast!

I hate running exercises. Okay, so everyone says you really ought to do them and I agree but really, why can't you simply buy finger memory in handy 1GB blocks off the internet?

To the point! There must be one in there somewhere!?!? Oh yes. Fingers. Ouch!!!! At some point over the weekend my middle finger on my left hand started to give me gyp. Middle knuckle. Ow, ow, ow. At first I thought that maybe I'd twisted it or something. Last night after the gym it was miraculously better again, even though just holding a dumbell over my head was a dicey (possibly DUMB) idea at the start of the training sesh. Woke up this morning and, once again... ouch! I slightly suspect that it might be digital gout. Lots of red wine and meat over the Xmas period. I've had gout in my foot before, and this feels similar. I guess I'll lay off the sauce for a few and see whether that helps. No, I'm not giving up meat! ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!

What else?

Oh, before I forget, due to a scheduling faux pas I'm not going to be able to make the Magic Ship headlining gig at the Half Moon in Putney on Friday.



Just because I won't be there doesn't mean that you guys won't have a good time if you head on down there. Go check out the band!

Last but not least I actually dragged myself down to the open mic at the Spice of Life pub in Soho last night. I hadn't been there since I realised that the team from Up All Night had moved to a different venue and the quality of the acts had gone down. Well, I don't know what happened but several of the guys who used to play there were back, some sporting brand new images...

...and some not (we'll leave that subject alone, eh?)

I don't know if it was my mood or if I was finally seeing the scene as it really is. Most of the singer-songwriters basically traded off a) their looks or b) their vocal stylings. The 'material' wasn't there. Everyone used the same chords and chord forms, injecting key variety using a capo. Ironically, the one song I actually liked was performed by a guy who I really didn't care for, stylistically. The lyrics were basically aimed at a guy who'd just been dumped by a girl who had been cheating on him, but nevertheless he who felt like it was all his fault. Doormat city.

Oh, and there was another guy who basically looked like a skinny little Hollywood brat (jealous? ME?), who could play really well and sang with a voice reminiscent of a drunken Ray LaMontagne. I'm not certain, but I don't think the drunkenness was affected.

The thing I do like about open mics is that, sat there in the dark, listening to this new and unfamiliar music, I get inspired. Usually lyrically. I'm not saying that anything I come up with is good, but the ideas just pop into my head without me sitting down and trying to induce creativity.

One idea was came to me whilst watching the twinkie Ray LaMontagne chap. Not my type at all, yet as he sang I became absolutely fascinated by his performance, which gave me the idea for a song about not finding someone attractive until you saw them in a different light (eg singing/performing) at which time their beauty shone through.

Another one was about being in a troubled relationship and feeling like although your partner was going through a tough time you had to find a way to stay happy and positive to keep things together, even though on the surface that might seem heartless or even cruel.

Yes, all of which sounds very much like well-worn singer-songwriter fare. Eugh!

Maybe I should stick to rock shows!

AND HOW COULD I FORGET TO MENTION...

The Derek Trucks Band's new CD, "Already Free", is in stores and available for download RIGHT NOW!

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!