musings

allison crowe, a wonderful canadian singer who used to be managed by a pal of mine, was detained at gatwick airport under suspicious new “legislation” regarding touring and visiting artists. story here.

hope they get all that legalese sorted out before my next visit.

finally getting the studio gear unpacked and set up today. it’s been all but impossible with the cafe, family, visitors etc, but I’ve got a window of opportunity now. I’m also going to be doing a few ‘live shows’ again on second life, if you’re into sl, look me up. I perform under the avatar name ‘billy thunders’. it’s a funny notion, watching this animated version of oneself ‘performing’ to fifty or so other cartoon dopplegangers. but it’s a nice way to quasi-rehearse, and I’ve picked up some fans along the way.

still working thru what to do with the cafe. we’ve stripped the menu way back for the weekend, big touristy one coming up and we can’t risk having the old kitchen gear collapse on us like it did at easter. I have two gigs the following week, it’ll be great to get this weekend behind me and move forward.

check out delaney c. walsh, especially her duet with leon russell on ’stranger in a strange land’. killer pipes, this gal.

happy b-day for tomorrow to chavaleh.

we’re reconsidering the cafe plans. we might continue trading with everything ramped back drastically, which would make it basically coffee, tea and light meals. discussions continue.

vale producer russell dunlop, longtime john paul young guitarist ian miller and former dots guitarist maurice frawley. three more reason for me to get off my ass and write/record/tour.

happy b-day to stewart peters and claire o’meara.

we’ve reached a verdict about the cafe, and as expected, we’ll no longer continue running this place as it stands. there’s far too many issues with the mechanics of the building and equipment, but mainly it’s the lack of trade. most other businesses in the village report substantial downturns over the past six months or so, and I don’t expect that to change much over the next twelve. so we’ll wind things down after the end of the month.

so there’s a plan b in place that involves the gypsy gal and her pal to set up shop over in the next village doing coffee. without food & room for music, I won’t be involved on a daily basis, just the overall marketing and biz stuff. so that’ll free my weekends up again for live shows, which I’m looking forward to.

what I’m really looking forward to is finally getting the studio set up and back to work. when we close the cafe, that will free up one of the rooms that has excellent acoustics a nice vibe. so I’ll have no excuses not to get to work on a new album. finally.

r.i.p. stephen bruton and poodie locke. just two more reasons to get back to what I’m supposed to be doing. great quote, bruton to kristofferson: “what are you going to do, just sit around and wait till they throw dirt on you?”

I don’t plan on it.