The singer-songwriter, and great guitarist Paul Parish came round on Monday evening to run though a live version of at Cat Covid!, and one of his songs, for the next open mic event. I sent him the sheet music a few days ago and he'd mastered playing the complex tune. I (foolishly) didn't really practice or look at the music until a few hours before he arrived, and felt out of my depth at my clumsy run-throughs, but we got there in the end, and now I know what to rehearse for next week. It sounds wonderful.
After that, two full days working on Argus. I keep thinking it's complete, but the final stages, these little corrections take forever. I've updated the program again, removing the unused second 'music' track option. It would be troublesome to remove in future, and it's better all round to have the 'Screenshots' path on the main film window. One downside to this change is that it invalidates all of the screenshots I've taken.
After that, I added the manual section for the sequencer and updated other parts. At 11,839 words it can be called complete. I'd like to add more, a Menu Reference, some Tutorials perhaps, but that would take a lot more work, and doing this for SFXEngine was time wasted. If Argus proves to be popular, I'll add those things, perhaps after the 50th sale.
Deb and I went to the Crewe Cultural Forum meeting yesterday, which was surprisingly pleasant for a meeting. I (and we) have had my/our most social year since 2019. My plan for 'The Mark Sheeky Show' is feeling redundant, because we now have three regular open mic places to perform at, and a relatively busy calendar.
Today I've rehearsed more of Desperate Joy, and changed the words a little again. These word changes have really made it hard to perform. Here are the final words:
On the fringe of the ultimate high
You'll find her riding
Tracing the sky
On speed
She'll be flashing her glittering eyes
Selling feelings
For a packet of sympathy
And she doesn't care a thing for the world
Except for it all
Except for it all
It's the way
When your veins are on fire
She will grasp
She will catch
But not know why
Watch out for her charms, they're a ploy
They're a cry
of desperate joy
She will love
She will love
She will crumble and cry
Watch out for her tears, or you'll die
of joy
desperate joy
She will waltz with the flowers, their acid aroma
Romancing them all
Romancing them all
Like a queen
like a superstar laser beam
She will grasp
She will catch
But not know why
Watch out for her charms, they're a ploy
They're a cry
of desperate joy
She will love
She will kill
She will crumble and cry
Watch out for her tears, or you'll die
of joy
desperate joy
Today I even changed the music. The first chorus ends in C-minor, rather than Major. This hugely improves it. It doesn't sound like Dylan, but more Gothic, like Depeche Mode or Lou Reed or Nick Cave.
