Last week:

I made my first return to the Ship Inn in Leeds last Tuesday (July 6) since about 2007. I was doing an open mic night with Katie and am pleased to say the night is going pretty well. I do believe the pub has been closed and re-opened since I was last there so it's good to see things picking up. The management are very keen on live music, so this bodes well.
From our point of view, the little duo sounded excellent! I think we also got the best slot to play when it was both fairly busy and people were attentive. We played 5 songs on what was our 5th outing. We also now have a name, 'The BitterSweetShop', is slightly more catchy than 'Katie and Paul' or 'Her and Him' or whatever.

Seriously though, it was a good night, one of the most enjoyable gigs I've had for a while.

The camcorder I think I mentioned last week had it's first test outings on Wednesday night. I'm aiming to run it connected to my mixing desk, singing into a mic, rather than just using the in-built mic. Of course, using the keyboard means it has to be plugged into something. I still need to do a bit of work on the sound and balance, but hopefully I'm not too far away from recording a few songs ready to post on youtube.

Don't forget, you can already friend me or subscribe to my youtube channel, where you'll find a few videos of my old band.


This Week...
I liked it at The Ship Inn so much I'm going to go back tonight (July 13th) and play a solo set. I should also get chance to test the camcorder before it's off to the European Stock Car Championships at Northampton, probably my favourite weekend of the entire season.

A-Z of Music:
Did you know it's 25 years ago today since Live Aid? By which I mean the original and best one. I always feel like that was the zenith of my musical taste, the artists from around that time, and the stage at which they were at in their careers. The really strange thing is I was only 6 years old at the time and barely remember it taking place. But then there are many strange things about me. I feel like it was 'my era' for some reason.

Queen and U2 were arguably the best on the day, working the stadium rock concept to the max. I also found Sir Bob himself to be one of the highlights, giving his all during 'I Don't Like Mondays'. There were so many others as well.

It's such a shame they had to bother with Live8 in 2005. The artists that played the first time around were much older and the ones who were younger lacked the talent, passion and stagecraft to bring the event to life.

Ok, I think that doubles as the moan of the week too. I'm still having problems with Facebook but won't bore you with the details. See you next week.