The Life And Times of T-Bone Travis

More photo's

2011-10-11T19:17:00.002+01:00

More iphone photo's

2011-10-11T17:51:00.002+01:00

All of these photo's were taken on my iphone using hipstamatic and camera+

I think they are really cool!!!

Iphone apps

2011-10-10T23:41:00.002+01:00

I've had an iphone for a couple of years now but until recently hadn't really bothered with apps much.
However, I have been checking out the camera apps and have found some really cool ones.

My favourite one so far is called Hipstamatic which emulates old film. All the pictures below were taken with that app and I really like the way they look, very grainy but much more atmospheric, for want of a better word.
I found another one called camera+ which is really good too, although haven't got round to using that one yet (having too much fun with hipstamatic!!!!)

There seems to be a community of iphone photographers online with websites etc devoted to photo's taken on the iphone, some of them are great, it really surprised me what brilliant results people are getting. In a world where you pay through the nose for everything it is refreshing to get something so cool for 69p....result!!!!

Iphone photography

2011-10-10T23:23:00.006+01:00

Cream - Lawdy Mama (Live 1966)

2011-08-17T13:41:00.000+01:00

Eric Clapton

2011-08-17T13:38:00.013+01:00

A few weeks ago Claire and I went to the Albert Hall in London to see Eric Clapton, I have to say I was disappointed by his performance to the point of being bored. I grew up listening to EC and loved his fiery blues playing, in fact it was EC that made me want to play the guitar myself and a few million others too by all accounts. But for a long long time now I have felt his playing has been really muted and sterile and he seems to have lost the fire he used to have. But why???

My theory on this is his choice of guitars, for a long time now he has been using Fender Stratocasters and while they are great guitars in my humble opinion they just do not suit his style of playing, he seems to get a weedy sound from his guitar as witnessed at the Albert Hall gig recently. Compare his sound to Stevie Ray Vaughan for instance, now there was guy who knew how to get a sound out of a Strat, as did Hendrix!
It makes me sad when I hear people talking about EC as though he is just an average blues player, he's not, he has influenced generations of great guitar players from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Gary Moore to Eddie Van Halen to Robben Ford to Eric Johnson to Slash to Joe Bonamassa to Derek Trucks the list goes on an on, and even Hendrix was a fan, the story goes that the first person Hendrix wanted to meet when he arrived in London was Eric Clapton!! Of course Eric was influenced by the Blues greats, B.B King, Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and Robert Johnson etc, but it was the fire and intensity and the guitar sounds he brought to the music that turned so many people onto the blues.
During these times EC played Gibson guitars which have a much fatter sound and great singing sustain and it was this sound that influenced so many people. In fact every blues/rock guitarist that has ever plugged a Gibson guitar into a Marshall amp ( and lets face it, that's most of them) owes a debt to Eric Clapton. I'm sure if it wasn't Eric Clapton it would have been someone else eventually but the name in the history books is his!!

I found these clips on youtube and they immediately reminded me why I and thousands of other people loved his playing so much.
He's playing a Gibson 335 here and he sounds great, the other clip is Cream live in 1966 playing Lawdy Mama, don't know what guitar he is playing here but it's definitely a Gibson, probably SG or 335 (although whoever uploaded the video used some later footage of him playing a Strat to go with the music) listen to the sound and fire in his playing and do remember this was 1966, people had not heard guitar sounds like this at the time. I have a friend who saw him with The Bluesbreakers and also saw Creams 2nd gig, he says Clapton was a tour de force then and was the player everyone was trying to emulate.

Of course he is entitled to use whatever guitar he likes and play whatever type of music he feels like playing. But for me and a lot of other people it's his blues playing on Gibson guitars that sums up Eric Clapton!!!! I wish he would ditch the Strats and start using Gibsons again!!!!

Eric Clapton - Have you ever loved a woman

2011-08-17T13:01:00.001+01:00

Rain again

2011-08-09T13:22:00.007+01:00

This is a new track I made recently called Rain again (it was belting down with rain when I recorded this one)

This was inspired by Frank Zappa, he used to take guitar solo's, and pieces of music from one track and put it in another track which was in a completely different time signature and key and interesting things would happen! I tried to applied that logic to this track.

The sax was played by Clare Hirst a great English sax player who has her own jazz combo and also plays with lots of other people including Mica Paris and a bunch of other people I can't remember, she also played in David Bowies band at Live Aid, check her out she makes great music.

Anyway, I recorded a session in the studio a couple of years back with Clare, Barry Andrews, and Martin Barker. Unfortunately, the project never saw light of day but I still had all the recordings so used some of the sax from that session and put it in this track. I did the drum programming, bass, guitar, keys, etc. quite proud of this one.......it's a bit mad though!!!!

I try to vary things a bit and make different types of music, (I get bored easily) I've made electronic Drum'n'Bass, Jazz, Reggae, Acoustic guitar songs, Ambient Chill-out, Rock, even a piece I wrote on the piano which I want a string quartet to play. But still my greatest love when it comes to guitar playing is The Blues, it's my favourite style of playing, I never get bored of playing the Blues. I have some great drums, (again from another session I recorded a while ago) so I'm using them to make a Blues tune and I am going to make it an instrumental and use a whole load of different guitars on it. I'll post that one when it's finished and some of the other new tracks I'm working on.

01 Lover Merv Carswell re-mix

2011-08-09T12:54:00.003+01:00

Another re-mix, this time for Lighterthief.
The track is called lover and features Julianne Bastock on Vocals

Wont re-mix

2011-08-09T12:24:00.006+01:00

Wont re-mix by Merv Carswell

This is a re-mix I did for Sierra Hurtt recently, the track was originally acoustic guitar and vocal. I took her vocal and put a reggae groove around it.
Quite pleased with the way it came out!!

Camping In Dorset

2011-08-09T11:54:00.001+01:00

Went camping in Dorset last week for a few days, I'm not a big camper I have to admit but the weather was great and I enjoyed being outside for the week, we all had a nice time. The jurassic coast is amazing and gave Claire and I an opportunity to take some photo's.

Below is a selection of photo's taken on the trip, I like them a lot but am still learning to use my camera hence a lot of the pics I took didn't come out too well. I am now shooting in RAW and that really helps as you can manipulate the photo's to a greater extent in photoshop. A couple of these shots were saved by being able to change the exposure in the RAW editor in PH which is great as they were over exposed even though I thought I had got the settings right on the camera.

A selection of photo's taken on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset

2011-08-09T11:44:00.000+01:00

Photography Course

2011-07-30T00:41:00.002+01:00

I attended a one day photography course today with my daughter and her chap in Bristol.
We learnt about ISO, aperture, shutter speed etc, which has always been a mystery to me.
Below are some photo's I took demonstrating some of the techniques we learnt, not very interesting subjects but I was pleased that they were all taken in manual mode as opposed to auto which is the norm for me.
I'm on holiday next week so that will give me the chance to take loads of photo's and try out my new skills, such as they are.

Bristol

2011-07-29T23:59:00.000+01:00

Ollie And Clucky

2011-07-13T18:55:00.004+01:00

Rocking Out

2011-07-13T18:53:00.003+01:00

Jude

Couldn't eat another thing!!!!!

2011-07-13T18:52:00.002+01:00

Katy after the family BBQ

Freddie

2011-07-13T11:00:00.003+01:00

freddie

2011-04-22T23:56:00.002+01:00

My beautiful grandson Freddie!!

Sophie & Tilly

2011-04-22T23:52:00.000+01:00

This is Sophie with her lovely little pet hamster Tilly, actually one of these two is a monkey, guess which one?

Ollie

2011-04-21T15:54:00.001+01:00

Beautiful plumage

2011-03-20T22:08:00.000Z

T-bone showing off his beautiful coloured feathers....a handsome boy indeed!!!
Pictures courtesy of Claire

Re-Mix

2011-03-18T09:52:00.005Z

Alchemy (Rehumanize Mix) by Sierra Hurtt

Finally I have found a way to post Audio onto blogger....hooorah!!!

So the first post is a re-mix I did for American artist Sierra Hurrt and the track is called Alchemy.

The re-mix featured on her Imaginarium album released in 2010

Hope you like it!!

Now I have found a way to to do this I will be posting lots of music I have done or have been involved with in one way or another

T-bone the parrot

2011-03-06T14:02:00.001Z

A new member of the family.....T-bone, a green cheeked conure.......not tame yet, but he will be!!!

Guitars

2011-02-28T21:17:00.002Z

Portsmouth

2011-02-28T19:42:00.001Z

These are some photo's Claire took on board HMS Warrior. I think they're really nice shots.
She certainly has a good eye for a photo!!

That's me in the background taking a photo from the other end, nowhere near as good as Claire's though!

Photo's

2011-02-28T19:14:00.000Z

Some photo's taken on HMS Victory & HMS Warrior in Portsmouth at the weekend

Mothers day

2011-02-16T22:27:00.001Z

While I was in the local village shop tonight I got into a conversation with a lady and somehow it turned onto the subject of mothers day. She asked me if knew where the tradition of mothers day had come from....I didn't! Apparently, back in the day children were sent to work as servants in rich folks homes and once a year they were allowed home to see their families for the day. On their travels home they would pick wild flowers to give to their mothers. What a moving tale, it's amazing what you can learn in the local shop!!!

oH YAY!!!

2011-02-16T21:52:00.001Z

Below Albert Collins Keith Richards and Robben Ford playing the hell out of the Fender Telecaster, what a great sound!!! just three of the reasons I wanted one.

The Stones video's are from a dvd recently released of some gigs they did at Madison Square Gardens in 1972 when Mick Taylor was with them and they were at the height of their powers. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and it reminded me why I loved The Stones so much, what a brilliant band they were, so many great songs. Well worth a look if you are partial to Keef and the boys!!!

Albert Collins - Iceman

2011-02-16T21:41:00.000Z

Rolling Stones - Happy (From "Ladies & Gentlemen")

2011-02-16T21:37:00.000Z

Rolling Stones - Tumbling Dice (From "Ladies & Gentlemen" DVD & Blu-Ray)

2011-02-16T21:35:00.000Z

Robben Ford & The Blue Line - "Start It Up"

2011-02-16T21:24:00.001Z

Sheep

2011-02-16T21:14:00.003Z

Had to stop this morning on my way to work as a farmer decided to move his sheep from one
field to another by herding them onto the main road. There must have been a hundred and fifty of them all trundling along, I was sitting in a sea of sheep. What a cool way to start the day and made me think how much I love the countryside.

Actually I often see wild life on my way to work and wish I had the time to sit and just watch for a while. There are two birds of prey that I see most days on my way to work, they always seem to be in the same place, they are often sat on a wooden gate which opens into a field but I have also seen them hunting gliding and swooping through the air.....amazing to see. I am no expert on birds I'm afraid so not sure what they are but after looking at some pictures on the internet I suspect they are probably buzzards.
I keep meaning to take my camera over there and try and get some photo's but alas I'm old and never remember anything...haha!!!

My boys

2011-02-16T20:53:00.001Z

Ollie reads and Freddie is engrossed

Bella

2011-02-16T20:45:00.000Z

The lovely Bella, a very cheeky little cat!!!

Fender Telecaster

2011-02-16T20:33:00.002Z

This is a guitar I bought on ebay a few days ago, it's a Fender Telecaster and I'm picking it up on Saturday
from Peterborough. Have always thought it would be great to have one of these guitars and I have had a couple of copies but they weren't very good. So it's getting like I can't get in the flat for guitars now(slight exaggeration) , but I do use them all and I figure that I should be able to have the guitars I've always fancied now I'm getting on a bit......haha!!!!
So now I have those cool Telecaster sounds to add to the other great guitar sounds at my disposal.....whoopeeeeee!!!! I feel a funky blues album coming on!!

Jake

2011-02-08T18:39:00.003Z

Minal, Wiltshire

2011-02-08T18:38:00.000Z

Fog on the hills

2011-02-08T17:58:00.001Z

Took these on the way to work this morning, the pictures haven't come out as well as I hoped but you get the idea!!

My old Les Paul

2011-02-07T10:17:00.003Z

Found these pictures of my old Les Paul, It's a 1972 Les Paul Custom. I owned this guitar for many years and did more gigs with it than I can remember. I used to play it through an old 70's Marshall head and cab, it sounded great. My mate Nick was quite upset when I sold it, he said it was the best Les Paul he had ever played and said I would really regret selling it. Well even though I have some really nice guitars I must admit I do wish I still owned this one. Of course now it's considered a vintage instrument and would cost a small fortune to replace. Mind you another friend of mine used to own a 1958 flame top Les Paul which he sold for the then going price of £450!! Those guitars are now the most prized electric guitars of all and you can practically name your price....oh the benefit of hindsight eh! Still, we owned them, we played them, and had a lot of fun in the process, so all good.

A little bit of Marrakech

2011-01-23T19:14:00.001Z

I bought this lamp in a small shop in Marlborough last week. It's made out of goats skin and decorated with henna. It stands about 5-6 feet from the ground and gives off a nice ambient light that makes my living room feel really homely. Apparently it was made in Marrakech, a place I very nearly visited.....so close!!

Anyway I was just messing with my camera over the weekend and took this, don't know why but I really like this shot....think it's the colors!

Freddie comes to stay

2011-01-23T19:01:00.002Z

This weekend I had my grandson Freddie come to stay for the first time. The very wonderful and extremely long-suffering Claire came for the weekend too and was brilliant in helping me look after him, thank you Claire!!!.

I know he is my grandson and I'm sure all grand-parents say this but he is adorable and was a delight to have for the weekend, so happy and content....and he slept all night too!!!! The big smile that greeted me when he woke first thing Sunday was just lovely!!

People have said for a long time that the great thing about being a grandparent is you get to spoil them and have lots of fun and then give them back!!! well I think thats true and I certainly did have a great weekend looking after him, look forward to the next one!!

Ciao

2011-01-06T00:32:00.002Z

Since arriving back from Ibiza I have been virtually deaf due I think to ear wax.
My ears popped as we made our descent into Stansted airport and I've been deaf ever since.
Apparently I have to put Olive Oil in my ears for a week and then attend the doctors where the nurse will syringe my ears out.....lovely!!!
Anyway I've poured so much olive oil down my ears I'm beginning to talk Italian without even realising!!

Ciao

At last, a 335!

2011-01-04T23:50:00.008Z

These are my two favourite electric guitars. The one on the left is a Gibson 335 which I purchased about a month ago and the one on the right is a Fender Stratocaster which I've had for about 4 years now.
These 2 guitars are like chalk and cheese they really are. The 335 has a luxurious feel to it when you pick it up, the neck is very quick and feels lovely to hold. The pickups are quite high output but retain that lovely warm tone these guitars are famous for. The sustain you get from this instrument is amazing, even better than the Les Paul I owned for many years, in fact it is so easy to play that it almost feels like it's playing itself.
The Fender Strat on the other hand is quite hard to play by comparison, you practically have to strangle the notes out of the guitar, it certainly isn't big on the sustain front and never ever feels like it's playing itself, you have to work this guitar. Of course when you do it sounds amazing and you are rewarded with one of the best electric guitar sounds ever, and of course it's iconic design still looks amazingly futuristic, even now. I love both of these guitars even though they couldn't be further apart in sound and style.

I find it fascinating that both these guitars were designed in the 1950's as were the Les Paul and Telecaster, and still to this day they have not been bettered, these are still the guitars that most players lust after. It is amazing that they got the design and feel of these instruments so right at the first attempt, not many things you can say that about!!!

I am going to take some better photo's with a decent camera and post them at a later date. I would also like to put some sound recordings of these guitars up but am not sure how to do it, does anyone know if you can add an audio player to blogger? so far I have hosted my music on Myspace and created a link to that from blogger but I would really like to be able to upload audio directly to blogger. Anyone?????

France

2011-01-04T23:33:00.001Z

This photo was taken by my daughter Katy on a recent visit to France, I thought it was a great shot so decided to post it!!! click on it so that it opens up to a bigger size, it looks much better like that, top work Katy!!!

Freddie

2011-01-04T23:26:00.000Z

Yes I know but I couldn't help it!!!!!! how cute is my grandson????

The Royal Albert Hall

2011-01-04T22:57:00.003Z

Claire and I visited the RAH in November for a concert by The Cinematic Orchestra. We had a great day in London visiting Covent Garden and watching the street performers and just generally wandering around. I was born in London and though my family moved when I was very young I still have that going home feeling whenever I visit. I'm a country boy at heart but London is a special place for me.....I have been going there my entire life and I love the magic of it, the smell of the underground, the red buses, the amazing buildings and of course the history and the famous places, I never get bored of it......magical really!!!
We had a lovely day together, the gig in the evening was really good and we went home happy.
Anyway below are some pictures taken on my phone from that day.

I must remember to always take a proper camera with me when I go out, these were taken on an iphone and aren't a patch quality wise compared to the photo's taken in Ibiza with a decent digital camera!!! Still, a nice reminder of a lovely day

December In Ibiza

2011-01-04T22:00:00.001Z

The photo's below were taken over the Christmas holidays while visiting a friend in Ibiza.

It was a really lovely time of year to visit as the Island was completely devoid of tourists, this made exploring so much more pleasurable. Places that would be jammed full of people in peak season were like ghost towns.....lovely!!!!

My friend who has lived in Ibiza for 10 years now, and who knows the Island well, very kindly spent the week driving me around and showing me all the places of interest.....thank you Daisy you are a star!!!

The weather was lovely with blue skies and sunshine which I have to say was so appreciated after the freezing cold of the U.K. Yes a lovely time was had and thanks again to daisy for being such a fab host!!

Ibiza

2011-01-04T21:26:00.002Z

Over The Hills

2010-12-11T10:09:00.002Z

Took this photo on my phone on the way to work yesterday, doesn't quite capture how amazing everything looked but it's not far off

One last picture

2010-12-08T10:06:00.002Z

Ok one last picture of Gerty!

RIP Sweet Gerty

2010-12-01T13:04:00.004Z

It's with a very heavy heart that I must announce the death of my lovely Gerty.
She was a beautiful animal with a cheeky little character and I will miss her.

Claire, a most fabulous artist

2010-11-26T21:59:00.003Z

This is a painting that my girl claire did many years ago, I think it's so cool and has a real magical quality about it. I wouldn't pretend to know anything about art but I do know what I like and the first time I saw this painting I found myself looking at it for a long time.

Unfortunately the picture was destroyed a few years back by a water leak and this photo is all that's left, a real shame I would have really liked to have this painting or a copy of it on my wall.

Claire sent it to me a few days ago which to be honest was a big surprise for me as I had no idea that she could paint, I was gobsmacked. Because of children and general life occurrences she hasn't painted anything for a long time so I am on her case to start painting again. I think if you have a talent it is a real shame not to use it., anyway Claire has promised to try and re-create it for me.

This was one of 3 pieces of work Claire showed me and they were all really good.
You are very talented my girl!!!!!!!!

Jeff Beck

2010-10-26T10:38:00.001+01:00

Seems everybody is out on tour at the moment and I've been fortunate enough to grab tickets for some great gigs. The picture above is from the Jeff Beck gig I attended on Sunday night at the Colston Hall in Bristol.
I have long been a fan of Jeff Becks music and guitar playing and have wanted to see him for a long time. Needless to say it was brilliant, the music was fantastic, the band were amazing and of course Jeff Beck played like only he can. It really is quite staggering how he manages to produce all those sounds out of his guitar using only his fingers (he doesn't use much in the way of guitar fx's) he truly is a master and at 67 years old is still leading the way when it comes to guitar playing.......simply brilliant!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I saw Porcupine Tree at the Royal Albert Hall, Mr and Mrs Dancin are huge fans of the band and very kindly bought me a ticket to the gig (thanks again you two).
I'd not been to the Albert Hall before and was really blown away by the building, what a fabulous piece of architecture. I was talking to one of the doorman who was telling me a bit about the history of the place, apparently the dome roof of the building was made in Manchester and then brought down to London, quite amazing really when you consider it was built in the 1800's, how long did that take!!!
Anyway, again the band played superbly and the crowd seemed to love it, they did an extended show and played for nearly 3 hours. I have to admit that I am not all that familiar with the bands catalogue and only really know one of the albums, but I did enjoy the music and have to say I have a great deal of respect for Steven Wilson (the bands leader). Progressive rock is not exactly the most popular of music forms these days but it goes to show if you love what you do and stick with it you will find an audience, and he certainly has.....hats off!!!!!

Looking forward to seeing Nick Harper next month down In Winchester. I have seen him many times before, in fact he lives somewhere around here and has often done pub gigs in Marlborough where I live.
He is a great musician and songwriter and always puts on a good show. Mr and Mrs dancin will be coming down for that one and staying with Claire and I so we look forward to spending some time with them again.

10 things I love about Claire

2010-10-12T13:35:00.003+01:00

Because Claire has had a rough couple of days at work and is feeling a little put upon, and because it's a year since we first met I decided to list 10 things I love about her.

1, Very loving and affectionate
2, Loves animals
3, Loves nature and is often moved by acts of nature....sunsets etc!!
4, Really appreciates good music
5, Has been really supportive of me and my musical meanderings
6, A great sense of humour.....makes me laugh so much!!!
7, Even when things are not going well rarely moans or complains and just gets on.
8, Very laid back and so easy to hang with
9, Always has a nice smile on her face
10, She sure is pretty!!!

Questionnaire

2010-10-08T16:15:00.001+01:00

If you could have super powers what would they be and what would you do with them? (Please feel free to be selfish, you do not have to save the world!)
Were you to find your self stranded on an island with a CD player...it could happen...what would your top 10 bloggers island discs be?
If you were a smell what would it be?
What bird would you most like to be?
If you were a bird who's head would you poo on?
Are there any foods that your body craves?
What's your favourite time of year?
What's your favourite time of day?
If a rest is as good as a change which would you choose?
If you could have a dinner party and invite any 10 people from the past or present who would they be? (Living or deceased.)

These are my answers....

1, If I had super powers I would save the world, I really would!!! every man woman and child would have food warmth comfort and above all else love. Injustice would be eradicated and all would be equal....well except me of course because I have super powers. On a personal level I would love to travel through space and marvel at the galaxies and staggering displays of stars and planets....that would be amazing!!!!

2, This is my list for today....it would be different tomorrow, and the next day and the next.....

1, Kind Of Blue....Miles Davis

2, Abbey Rd.........The Beatles

3, Blood On The Tracks.....Bob Dylan

4, Aja.....Steely Dan

5, Hejira.....Joni Mitchell

6, One World.....John Martyn

7, All Things Must Pass....George Harrison

8, Wish You Were Here.....Pink Floyd

9, Tapestry.......Carol King

10, Rickie Lee Jones.....self-titled

3, Lillies...or Tar.....I love the smell of Tar....sorry I know it's supposed to be only one but i can't make up my mind.......oh alright then Lillies

4, A Hawk....they can spot a mouse from a distance of a mile, always an advantage to have great eyesight.

5, It would be the person who drives onto a roundabout and blocks the whole roundabout so nobody can move.....hate that!!!!

6, I have a bad chocolate fetish, I could eat several bars of Galaxy a day to the point of feeling sick...........(I don't of course)

7, My favourite time of year is the summer because I have 6 weeks off work and have time to do what I like to do, also the days are long, even if they are not always sunny!! well this is England, dear sweet England..........I love summertime!!

8, I do love dawn although I hardly ever see it, I like sleeping as well you see!! I live on a farm and the sunsets can be amazing so that's also a favourite time of day and mostly I am awake to see it.

9, I think Change

10, This question really did make me think, and while I was really tempted to put the likes of Tommy Cooper, George Best etc, I realised the people I would most like to invite to a dinner party would be the people I love or miss most in my life. I thought of my Dad, both sets of grandparents....all of whom have passed away and who I would dearly love to see again, I thought of my Children and grandson, friends etc. So here is my list, not of any interest to anyone else I'm afraid.

1 My Dad, 2 Lilly, my grandmother, 3 Beattie, my other grandmother, 4 Fred.....my grandfather, 5 Evan, my other grandfather, 6 Katy... my darling daughter, 7 Ollie my mad Son, 8 Freddie my lovely new grandson, 9 My friend Gary who died when he was only 22 and finally, 10 Claire....my one and only!!

If the dinner party could be extended to say 20 people then I would have loved to also invite Mr & Mrs Dancin....for I love them both, Ian and Sal, Tone and Sue, Gaz & Sam, Nick and few other people that I consider to be my closest friends!!

Furthur Goat Developments

2010-08-05T20:11:00.001+01:00

Well as you know I have been looking after Heidi the goat for a few weeks now taking her for walks etc. I happened to mention to Sarah who owns the farm that it would be sad if she was taken away from here as I've grown quite attached to her now and would worry that she was being cared for properly. So a couple of days ago Sarah knocks on the door and she's got Heidi with her with a ribbon tied around one of her horns, "I've bought you a present" and hands me Heidi, Sarah had bought Heidi from her present owner and given her to me as a present, what a cool thing to do, I was so surprised! so anyway Heidi is now my goat and I am now responsible for her care. Fortunately I have a couple of friends who are very happy to help out with walks and just making sure she is ok. I've had cats, dogs, birds, guinea pigs, ducks, fish, but this is the first time I've ever owned a goat!!! It's quite a responsibility but I don't mind and at least I know she will be cared for now.

Dusky walk

2010-08-03T12:29:00.000+01:00

Another stroll around the farm as the sun was going down, the sky was amazing last night!

Meg

2010-07-29T21:20:00.000+01:00

This is Meg one of the many dogs that live on the farm here. She wanders in every now and again to say hello and scrounge any food that might be going!! A sweet dog with a lovely temperament

Goat update

2010-07-29T15:06:00.001+01:00

This is the goat I have posted pictures of before. She appeared on the farm a couple of months ago and I have been looking after her for the last month or so.

A few days ago I met her owner who gave me some background on her. Apparently her name is Heidi and she is 9 years old and the lady who owns her hand raised her from a kid. She was kicked by a horse when she was younger and had her back leg broken which explains why she has one leg bigger than the other. The lady who owns her keeps a lot of horses as well and so doesn't have much time for her so is very happy for me to look after her. I like to take her for walks around Minal as it gives me a reason to get out and walk and Heidi seems to really enjoy it too.

I knew nothing about goats when I started to look after her so visited the The British Goat Society website which was very informative. Goats it seems are very sociable animals and make great pets as they are very loyal and because of their intelligent and inquisitive nature are great fun to have around. I don't know any other goats but Heidi certainly fits this description, she is a lot of fun.

Black Forest

2010-07-28T21:42:00.000+01:00

I went down the shoe

2010-07-28T17:02:00.000+01:00

I'm working on a new tune, I guess you could say it's got a Frank Zappa/Tom Waits influence. The lyrics are based on the wonderful and frankly weird experience of visiting our village pub The Horseshoe!! hence "I went down the shoe"

I thought I'd post it for anyone who may be interested.

Click on the audio player on the right of the screen to hear the tune.

Welcome to Blogger Claire

2010-07-28T02:28:00.000+01:00

Ollie in the cornfield

2010-07-26T22:14:00.000+01:00

Mildenhall Wiltshire

2010-07-26T22:01:00.000+01:00

This photo reminds me of an old painting....taken by Claire again.

2010-07-26T20:38:00.000+01:00

Love this photo too, Stitchcome, Wiltshire....photo take by Claire.

Red

2010-07-26T20:22:00.000+01:00

Another Photo I like

Thats you that is

2010-07-14T00:27:00.001+01:00

And for my last post for the night a sketch from Baddiel and Newman, history today, always makes me laugh!!

Acoustic Night

2010-07-14T00:11:00.000+01:00

The last Sunday of every month we have an acoustic night at the Green Dragon in Marlborough run by Gaz and Nick.
It is open to anyone who wants to come and have a play and is always a good night with a great atmosphere.
The picture below is me, Ian, Gaz, and Sierra, (Nick was playing bass but is out of shot) we were playing one of Sierra's songs called Rooftops

Freddie

2010-07-13T23:52:00.001+01:00

This is me with my grandson Freddie

Spain

2010-07-13T23:48:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to Spain on their world cup victory.....European an now world champions!!
It was heartening to see the best team in the tournament win, they definitely deserved it.
Very disappointed to see the press giving the ref such a hard time, I think on the whole he had a good game!!

Goat

2010-07-13T21:17:00.001+01:00

I get some pretty strange looks from the cars driving through the village, not often you see someone walking a goat.
I'm amazed by how chilled-out she is, she will happily walk behind me or by my side and never attempts to run off. Most people seem a bit wary of her initially because she is quite a big animal but she is is very friendly and has a lovely soft and mellow disposition. She loves Claire and follows her around when she is here visiting. We haven't given her a name yet so she gets called goat most of the time, must find a name for her.
The pictures below were taken while walking her on Sunday.

Pat Metheny Group - Phase Dance (live '91)

2010-07-11T13:09:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd post this for anyone out there who is not familiar with this awesome band.
This was the first song they played last night at the Barbican......stunning!!!!

2010-07-11T13:07:00.001+01:00

Pat Metheny

2010-07-11T12:34:00.000+01:00

Every once in a while you experience something that effects you right to the core.

Last night was such an occasion, The Pat Metheny Group live at the Barbican in London. I've seen many great bands and artists over the years, Paul simon, John Martyn, Little Feat, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones (in 70's when they were a great band) all spring to mind, and countless others too, but never have I been so moved by a musical performance as last nights show at the Barbican. The music was exquisite and the bands playing was faultless, they played to a sold out venue for over two hours and received a standing ovation at the end. At times the music was almost other-worldly and took you on an journey that literally made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, I guess beautiful is the only way to describe it.

So thank you The Pat Metheny Group for a fantastic night, a musical highlight for me that I will remember for a long long time.

What a weekend

2010-07-09T17:39:00.000+01:00

What a cool weekend I'm about to have!

Tonight (Friday) The Marlborough Jazz Festival

Saturday.....The Pat Metheny Band @ The Barbican in London.....really excited about that!!!

Sunday The village (Minal) duck race

And on top of all that the weather is glorious again!.....yee-haw!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Horse

2010-07-07T23:51:00.000+01:00

And so it goes

2010-07-07T23:31:00.000+01:00

Well, world cup what can I say....so disappointing!!! I don't mind the fact that England are out but the manner in which we went out and the fact that we were so poor is really frustrating.

I have watched all the world cups since 1970 when we lost to Germany so I am well used to England losing. Every time the world cup or European Championships come around the whole country goes into a frenzy.....surely this time we can do it!!! The sad fact is English players are just not good enough to compete with the best in the world, and that was so obvious once again this world cup, we were dreadful!! None of our so called world class players performed, it's no use blaming the manager it's the 11 players on the pitch who are to blame, they just do not have the technical ability to compete at that level. I don't know why this is or what the answer to Englands dismal record is. So it's Holland v Spain and it looks like it will be a cracking final, if I was a betting man my money would be on Spain.

Grandad

2010-06-20T12:20:00.000+01:00

Freddie Franklin born 9.00 this morning!! mother and son doing well!

Haha I'm a grandad.....yee-haw!!!

Congratulations Katy and Russ!

Black & White

2010-06-18T13:12:00.000+01:00

Resonator

2010-06-16T00:36:00.000+01:00

Sway

2010-06-16T00:22:00.000+01:00

Groovy

2010-06-16T00:19:00.000+01:00

Pidgeon

2010-06-16T00:11:00.000+01:00

Colours

2010-06-16T00:09:00.000+01:00

My Girl

2010-06-13T22:57:00.000+01:00

Took my recently acquired camera down to Eastleigh to see Claire and take some photo's.

Fortunately she was a very happy and co-operative model.

These are some of the shots I got and I have to say I'm really pleased with them.

Sofa, so good!!

2010-05-31T14:16:00.000+01:00

Some friends and I have formed a new band called Sofa, it's myself Ian, Gaz, and nick.

We have 3 acoustic guitars and bass and it's really really fun.

Last night we played in The Green Dragon in Marlborough and seemed to go down very well indeed, lots of very appreciative comments from the audience so we were pleased.

It was only a short set as the night is a sort of open mic cum jam affair that Gaz and Nick arrange the last Sunday of every month. We played 50 ways to leave your lover (or 50 ways to love your lever as it's now known), Moondance, Can't stand the rain, One of these nights, and a really bluesy version of Honky tonk woman, we also jammed around Need your love so bad and Long train runnin, was a lot of fun and nice to come away from a gig and not be deafened by loud electric guitars and drums etc!!

Yeah it was a really nice evening made even better by the presence of my heavily pregnant daughter Katy and her friends and also the lovely Claire.........fab to see you both!!

Looking forward to doing more gigs and also writing some songs of our own.......what fun!!!

Have you seen the little piggies

2010-05-31T14:11:00.000+01:00

Some more new arrivals on the farm in the shape of little piglets. There 22 so far with more due to be born anytime. This is some of them suckling up to their mother.

Love this picture, reminds me of a Disney film, they're ridiculously cute!!

Claire with goat

2010-05-31T14:01:00.000+01:00

We have a new goat living on the farm, she is very friendly and likes to be fussed.

This is Claire and goat getting to know each other yesterday afternoon!!

Top weekend

2010-03-20T20:14:00.000Z

Good weekend so far, last night (Friday) went to see my mates band doing a gig in the Vic in old town, lots of people turned out the band played great and everyone had a good time. Bumped into some old friends that I hadn't seen for a long time and had a good yak! nearly didn't go, driving home from work it was pouring with rain and just generally miserable, but glad I made the effort to go out again, had a good time.

Today drove down to Eastleigh in Hampshire to visit my friend Claire, drank loads of tea and talked nonsense for hours, listened to loads of music and had a fab time. Pouring with rain again unfortunately so we didn't get to go for a walk which would have been cool. Still, spring is threatening to arrive so the next time we meet up hopefully there will be some out door activity.

Can't wait for the weather to change, I have a newish camera and I'm dying to get out and take some photo's and feel the sun on my back. It's been a long winter and I'm really looking forward to the clock changing at the end of this month....light evenings at last!!!

George Best

2010-03-06T13:09:00.000Z

Like most little lads growing up in the early seventies George Best was a big hero for me.

This is how I remember him, playing for Man Utd in that 70's kit and running rings around everyone. I spent hours upon hours upon hours kicking a football against the garages out the back of our house pretending to be him and of course always scoring the winning goal in the F.A cup final at Wembley to rapturous applause from a 100,000 fans........normally beating Arsenal...ha ha. It was sad the way things turned out for him in the end but I will always remember how good he was and how exciting he was to watch. He was and still is for me the Greatest footballer ever!! Thanks Georgie you made a little football mad lad very happy!!

The Sea

2010-03-06T12:33:00.000Z

Ok I was on the beach filming the students doing a dance routine when my phone rang, as I fumbled to answer the phone I hit the wrong button and it took this photo. It's blurred and totally out of focus but for some reason I love the way it looks........my friend Nikki loved it too and said when she looked at it she could actually hear the sea!!! Mind you, we were stood on the beach at the time....ha ha!!!

Mercury Sea

2010-03-06T12:26:00.000Z

This photo was taken on the beach in Boswinger. Again not the best quality photo but I love the way the sea looks like mercury washing over the rocks.

Another pic of Mevagissey harbour

2010-03-06T12:19:00.000Z

I didn't have a decent camera with me as space in the mini-bus was pretty limited and I had all the video equipment to take. So these photo's were taken on my iphone, I was really pleased with these photo's even though the quality isn't as good as they would have been if taken on a decent camera.........still, they capture a mood I think! I was pleased that the Gull decided to swoop in to view just as I took the picture.........well done Gull!!

Mevagissey Harbour

2010-03-06T11:54:00.001Z

I have been in Cornwall for most of this week. I took a bus load of dance students to a little place called Boswinger on the south coast where they worked with two choreographers from the Cscape dance company. We were blessed with the weather as the day we left (Monday) the sun decided to shine and the sky was blue, (it had been grey and raining on the days leading up to the trip). I love the sea and especially the Cornish coastline so it was a real tonic to be away from Wiltshire and breathe in the sea air.

These photo's were taken on the beach in Boswinger and at a place called Mevagissey which was about 6 miles away from where we were staying, a very quaint harbour village.

My role on the trip was to drive them there and make a documentary of the trip, so I have a whole load of video editing to do next week!!

Not so Secret Story

2010-02-23T21:11:00.000Z

Ok so after my big speech at the end of last year where I decided I would post regularly I have in fact posted nothing....ha ha good start to the year!!

So I am sat at my computer listening to Pat Metheny (more about him later) oh actually lets get it out the way while I am here. Yes Pat Metheny, I have tickets to see The Pat Metheny Group at the Barbican Centre in London on the 10th July and I am really really looking forward to it. I have quite a few of his albums and I love them all without exception, in fact a friend sent me a copy of his album Watercolors tonight which I had not heard before......just brilliant!

I have to say that for me he is such a beautiful musician, really captivating tunes and of course fantastic guitar playing and musicianship. Whenever I am a bit stressed or feel the need to chill out I invariably reach for one of his albums. So yes can't wait for July, and of course it will be summer and the cold and dark of the English winter will be long forgotten and we will be basking in sunshine in our t-shirts and shorts. Oh alright it's England and it will probably be raining but at least it will be light and warmish, you never know we might just be having a heatwave, goodness knows we are due one.

Well my darling daughter Katy is due to have a baby boy in June which we are all very excited about although I won't go on about that too much as there is nothing worse than people wittering on about there kids, grandkids, like they are the first ones to ever have one. Most of us have children and those of us of a certain age grandchildren so no big deal really........but it is my first grandchild and I feel I have every right to crow just a little and be a proud grandad.

I saw the photos from the scan a few days ago and you can clearly see him chillin-out in his mothers womb......ha ha!!! he looks a cool little dude, can't wait to meet him!!!

Look into my eyes!!

2010-01-09T09:19:00.000Z

Jakey...scrappy dooooo!!!

2010-01-08T22:09:00.000Z

On Wednesday this week it snowed and dumped around 6 or 7 inches of snow on our village. Now if you happen to live in Canada or Austria or Greenland this is nothing more than a light smattering. But, this is England and we are just not geared up for snow so the smallest amount causes havoc and generally brings the country to it's knees. Nobody can get to work, all the Schools have to shut and everybody heads for the hills armed with sledges, plastic trays, snowboards and anything else you can fly down the side of a hill on. It doesn't happen very often but I love it when it does.
All of the photo's below were taken over the last couple of days in the village.

.

Nick Drake

2009-12-28T00:19:00.001Z

A friend recently introduced me to Nick Drake and I'm loving it, thanks Claire!!
Really like this tune, so mellow.