Music to keep

Currently being very boring and talking about nothing but a new CD that arrived in the post from my old school friend Ana Laan. Ana lives in Spain (what she was doing in a school on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors in the early 1980s has always been a mystery) and she is a fantastic singer and songwriter. 'Chocolate and Roses' is Ana's second album (follow up to 'Oregano') and features more songs in English than the last one. This CD is better than you can possibly imagine. Ana has a my space thingey and you can hear a song or two there. 'Chocolate and Roses' should definitely be released in the UK.
That's it. I'll shut up now.

Live and direct

Very much enjoyed appearing as part of Wordfringe at Aberdeen Library last week. I had wondered how I would fill an hour but in the end I could have gone on for much longer (whether the audience liked it or not). I felt like one of those blues guitarists who just want to play all night...odd feeling but fairly pleasant. Exciting and relaxing - like all the best altered states. Many thanks to all who came out to see and hear 'Lost in Music'.

Pushing, pushing

I attended the launch of Aberdeenshire's writing magazine 'Pushing out the Boat' in Banchory last night. I have a poem in it which always feels good! I'm not used to anything like literary events but it was OK. Even my faithful companion survived it (and enjoyed some of it) and that when there's a Champions League semi-final on TV at the same time (the true test of love and devotion...).
We especially enjoyed the readings by Stephen Pacitti, Morag Skene and Haworth Hodgkinson but it was all interesting. Roll on the rest of Wordfringe...