Articles from: 2012

Today Sam had his first experience of the Great Outdoors… out the back door of the studio that leads into the garden – weeds! flowers! stone walls! wet earth! SMELLS! he made it as far as the archway door, but I couldn’t tempt him onto the lawn… It’s wild, watching curiosity and fear vying for supremacy…

And then, gilding the lily, I took him over to the Big House for the first time…. I don’t think he’ll ever be as comfortable there as he is in the studio – too overheated, and too full of dog smells and other people… but he didn’t freak out completely, and I cannot stay on in the studio indefinitely – diana is leaving any day now (none too soon, we are at each other’s throats) and I cannot leave mum alone in the house… I don’t want to leave sam alone either, so he’ll have to come with me… perhaps he can commute…

I need to mix the TWIR recordings, I need to keep working on Vagabond, I need to start work on Orfeo… I need to keep a focus on my work, along with everything else…

It’s 10.30 pm and Sam and I are ensconced in my studio with the gas fire turned up to the max, while the temperature outside plummets below zero. I made the hour+15 drive across the moors between Newcastle and upper Teesdale three times today, but it was a glorious day for it, I got a nap in between, and all is well. After leaving Sam at the cargo terminal in JFK yesterday afternoon looking extremely unhappy (he behaved like a total WILD animal for the first hour he was in his carrier), I got him back here finally this evening, in time for all us other Leishmans (mum, sis, aunt, cousin and myself) to repair to the Fox Hounds for Tuesday night fish supper, while Sam roamed the studio checking out all the corners – he seems remarkably well adjusted, I think British Airways did him proud – and the fish leftovers went down very well….

Mum is a lot frailer, having difficulty breathing, but still game, and says sis has looked after her brilliantly. D. herself seems good, and will stick around until after mum’s b’day on the 15th…

and so we head into the next chapter…

October… how did that happen? The Stein is done for now – it’s a great project and I look forward to the next step – Karin is a joy to work with.

And so my week back in my old life draws to a close. It’s been a bit odd, living in my apartment, me and Sam, as tho’ this was my life again – I guess it is my life, for this week anyway – except for the bare walls and the fact that every time I reached for something I had to remember “oh, it’s packed away”… I didn’t take advantage of the city and go out every evening to a concert or play – I hung out at home with Sam, relishing time to myself, at home, and got ready for the Recording Session That Never Was. The main purpose of this week, apart from seeing friends and getting it together to ship Sam back with me, was to get a demo recording of part of “vagabond”, to which end I spent many and many an hour in scheduling hell and chart making (I even had to cancel the picking up of my archives, another of the reasons for being here, as I didn’t have time to sort through them). But the best laid plans… Kilgore, the studio owner/engineer, had the flu and as I couldn’t risk taking the bug back to mum, we finally had to cancel – it was actually K (a good friend and huge supporter of mine, without whom Baseless Rumors would never have been made) who was responsible enough to finally pull the plug… devastating as it was, I know there was good reason: plus what I was actually attempting to do in a few short hours in the studio was crazy even by my standards… I’m such a Kamikaze… The knock-on effect was that I got a day off on the finest day of the week and took a great bike ride along the river, which was much needed, and the next day (only yesterday) Zafer, the oud player/violinist/percussionist who worked with me on 21 Positions, came over to my house with another friend (Rami, player of rik, frame drum and dumbek) and they spent 2 and 1/2 hours laying down all sorts of grooves for me – Zafer is also a wonderful percussionist & the 2 of them together were a joy… so I have lots to work with as I move forward… doug also laid down some guitar, always a source of inspiration… I was really sorry not to get the 3 singers into the studio, but I’ll just have to find others, and do the recording, in London – a good reason to start building the contacts over there…

That evening was Beka’s great feast for me in Brooklyn – twelve great folk around a big table, the best possible way to spend an evening – another wonderful gathering of friends, with fabulous food – the earlier one was the impromptu dinner in Nyack on my way down from Colgate, where I managed to get all 6 of my nyack buddies around the table at Rinde and Ellen’s – what a gift… I am blessed with amazing friends who are also great cooks! Beka had just taken delivery of an old Smith & Corona typewriter that she had had refurbished; it was set up next to the dinner table – what a thing of beauty – so that everyone could type something during the course of the evening, and I had a group love letter to take home with me – thank you one and all! I feel wrapped in a blanket of warmth and affection…

And then as a final gift, this afternoon I had a music making session at my house, just 4 of us in this beautiful room (which has the best acoustics of any room in nyc, to my ear). Doug on clarinet and guitar, Matt on guitar, Marika on cello, and me on bari uke and vox – so sweet, so fun… I really needed that…

I have given all the paperwork for the new subletter contract to Maria at Gatsby – now we just cross our fingers. Penny Lynn seems a perfect fit. We live in hope that this time… Sam now has a collar with name tag and bell, he doesn’t seem to mind… I’ve been tempting him into his carrier with treats, but he’s not too keen. Tomorrow is going to be a Great Big Adventure, but it will be over at some point and we will both be in cotherstone… god speed…