Two busy days among a good start to the month.
First yesterday, the 'presentation' event for the Snow Business total raised; £347.21. The money was transferred to the charity on Monday so this was a symbolic event, but it was lovely to finally meet the charity staff and clients, and to see the space. I was handed a laminated award to the group!:
The brilliant local photographer Peter Robinson came to photograph the event. I rather liked this photo, with my concealing the surprise mock-cheque! Bernard the chairman here is apparently well over 90. It was nice to see Mike Drew too, who travelled to meet us for the event.
I left the original cover artwork with them. They hope to frame and display it, so I made up a description document with an image.
After that, preparations for the Red Cow Open Mic. After the opening by Victoria Kettle, I performed Rock and Roll is King and Pictures on my Telephone, then Deb and I performed Mr Tambourine Man, Skin, and A Muscle Illiterate. John Lindley came too, and I enjoyed his great reading of Survival Techniques (A.K.A. "never go in without your skin"). He kindly mentioned my creation of the cover to that book, and shrewdly brought a book or two to sell. I signed one and had a nice chat with its new owner, a man who is clearly something of a polymath.
These events are already following a pattern, with several regulars: Victoria Kettle and Nigel Stonier, Rowan Kettle and Egan Stonier, Thea Wade, and Nastee Chapel, and one could even say myself and Deborah. A four-piece folk band from Northwich appeared and performed three songs. They were a little like The Poachers, with a better sound but, in truth, the songs were not as well written as John's. Newcomer June Holland performed an wonderful bluesy song in an amazing voice, followed by another female singer-songwriter with a more country edge.
I got in at nearly midnight and listened to a few older songs for inspiration of what to perform next. The songs on Secret Electric Sorcery suddenly sounded better than before, though I nit-picked at various aspects of the balancing. For me, the hard part is the balance between a full recorded-version sound, a band sound, or a more intimate 'solo' sound. Singing and playing piano is a lot harder than singing and playing guitar. Perhaps I could explore some of the MODX features for pre-programmed backgrounds; arpeggios for the basslines, or for the siren sound in Hitler in High-Heels for example.
This second open-mic had two innovations for me compared to the first. I've made my clampable music stand (I didn't use it, on this occasion), and a holder for the sustain pedal, which generally worked well. I also decided to focus on the outfit more, it's clear that this open mic is a finished performance product arrangement, not an experimental 'rough around the edges' gathering. These acts are polished final sets, and usually performed from memory. The sound set-up worked better than before for the busy sound man, but the change between acts was still long, perhaps 30 mins of the 2 hours or so were technical changes, tuning-up etc.
I slept badly, somewhat achey and weak, and arose at 9am, still needing more sleep. Deb arrived at 10:20 and we went to Macclesfield and The Macc Art Lounge to collect my paintings, which had kindly been pre-wrapped for me. This speeded up the collection process but means that I'll have to re-wrap them in the coming days.
I have a busy few days, tidying things away and preparing other things. There are a few interesting opportunities on the horizon.
