Larry!

Love's Alive

I was really pleased to record Stephen Hall at the Lagan Sessions, a few weeks back:



Love's Alive deals with the loss of loved ones, the regret of not getting right with them, moving on and the eventual reconciliation on the other side.

When I get up there I'll go and seek them out / my father and my brother, together, there's no doubt / smiling at each other 'cuse they have both discovered love's alive / Love's alive, find it when you can / Love's alive, don't you feel it?

Comfort, optimism and positivity are lacking from most aspects of life these days.  This song is much like a hug.  More of this sort of thing.

More info:
http://www.randallstephenhall.com/
https://soundcloud.com/lagansessions
http://lagansessions.com/

Cyclepath!

Its been fifteen or so years, but I've decided to ride a bike again.  Once I got my driving licence, back in 1997, I never really needed to cycle anywhere. I'd need a pretty good reason to be back in the saddle after all this time.

www.makelifeyourlegacy.com are attempting to raise awareness for organ donation. Specifically they'd like to see the current organ donation system change from an opt-in to an opt-out arrangement. They've organised a 30 mile bike ride to get the ball, and all of us, rolling.

I've been getting some practice in.  On Monday night I rode to Belfast from my parent's house and grabbed a coffee at Starbucks in Victoria Square.  The main reason for this destination was mostly down to not having my wallet with me, but being able to pay there with my phone. Hooray for convenience!

It was a lovely, sunny spring evening, with much less rain than normal. I stopped along the way to take some photos.

The menacing looking storm clouds came, one after another, bringing short bursts of rain all evening.

Beside the M5 motorway, the reclaimed land, which has looked so harsh for most of my life, now looks as if it has always been there.










Being out, by myself, disconnected for a few hours, was exactly what I needed.  This is hopefully the stuff of new songs and finding some time alone with God to enjoy his creation.

Roll on Saturday. Here's hoping I don't need to avail of the transplant service myself, come the end of the trip!

New Season, New Fears

I'm beginning my 'other job' which will run for the next 6 months. I can't tell you what dread this fills me with. It will either be the best of times or the worst of times. I've never started a season feeling like this.

This position is one of the things that has given me the most and stripped me of the most confidence in my life. I'm great at it, but all it will take is a handful of nay-sayers and I'll be toast.

I'm tired and I'm not up for any kind of fight. I'm going to put everything into it, hope and pray for the best.

If you are inclined, pray for me too. I'll need it.

Currently listening to:

"Be The Song"

Foy Vance

Lunchtime recordings

Over the last few years I've had writer's block. There are good reasons for this: 1. I'm not that interesting. 2. I don't really have much to say. 3. I'm crazily busy. All of these things make jack a dull boy.

Recently I've been playing and recording guitar in my car. This is thanks mostly to the lovely Cardwell family lending me a small guitar that goes everywhere with me. The second contributing factor is time. When I'm waiting on my beloved, and others, I've got sparadic unpredictable pockets of free time which need to be put to good use. The last part of the puzzle is my iPhone and an app called FourTrack.

FourTrack is, as the name suggests, a four track recorder. You can lay down a recording in the first track, then listen back while recording a second track, then a third, then a fourth. Once your four track masterpiece is captured you can alter the levels of each track, change the pan left or right and even mix the four tracks down to two tracks, giving you room for two more tracks to be recorded.

Armed with guitar, time and technology I can jam away, find something I like then record a few layers to see if the tune is worth developing. All this aside, there is no substitute for actual creative ability, which I'm finding comes hard these days. I'm starting off with some pretty unremarkable results, but hope that in time, and with the required amount of practice I might start creating things to be proud of.

As I go I'm going to start posting recordings on here as a mechanism to measure progress.

Currently listening to:
After the Storm
Mumford and Sons

Then I Discovered Facebook & Twitter

....and stopped writing in my blog.

Time for a change me thinks. Out you come, I know its bright, but your eyes will adjust shortly.

Currently listening to:
"Backbone"
Ken Haddock

Hararya Max Fredrick Hanna?

Congratulations to the Hanna family this morning; For unto you is born, this day, in the city of George Best International a son, who is (Max)imillion Fredrick Hanna!

Caddy rain

I was up at the caddy road house today in the thunderstorm.

I recorded a short audioboo about this experience.

Check that out here