OLYMPIC FEVER is gripping the nation at the moment, and I must say it's making the world a more positive place in general.  I did my bit over the weekend, travelling down to London to watch the Tennis final at Wimbledon on Sunday.  The weekend was already going well from the night before, as we sat in the hotel bar watching Jessica Ennis and Mo Farrar run to gold.  The atmosphere in the bar was tremendous. 
Despite getting soaked walking into Wimbledon on Sunday morning the day was very special.  I got a superb view of the action as Andy Murray won gold, and nearly got another later on.  In addition there were the Williams sisters and Viktoria Azarenka (she of the owl noise), all in all a day I'll remember for a long time.

GIGS
Back up North, I performed at The Ship again on Tues 31st July.  Just before I started my last song I got a shouted request to play a Joe Cocker song.  It's a nice feeling to actually get a request like that, rather than some of the stuff that's been shouted out over the years.  So an impromtu (that means un-rehearsed) version of 'With A Little Help From My Friends' followed.

STUDIO
I've been recording vocals for BitterSweetShop.  We're going to do a mini-album of the songs in their 'live' format, ie just keyboards and vocals, no overdubs etc...  All the vocals have been recorded for the 6 songs so it's onto the mixing next.  Shouldn't take long as there's only a maximum of 3 parts playing (2 voices, one keyb.), but with mixing anything you should never tempt fate!

LISTENING
I was very excited to listen to the new (yes, new) Beach Boys album 'That's Why God Made The Radio'.  It's been recorded to mark the 50th anniversary of the band.  Yes, all the classic elements are there but there's no real gem of a song, and it all sounds strangely dated to me.  It certainly sounds like the Beach Boys but from about 40 years ago.  Maybe that was the idea, but I'd rather have a timepiece that relates to the here and now rather than something that's purely nostalgic.
I also listened to a Melissa Etheridge album 'Brave And Crazy.'  I had the pleasure of seeing her perform in Huddersfield supporting Bryan Adams many years ago and I like her style.  She's a bit of a female Bruce Springsteen in a way, lots of emotion and power in the songs.
Next up was Deacon Blue's 'Raintown' album.  It's worth it for 'Dignity' which to me is a highly moving song.

More news coming soon!