Where is mecca?

No jamie and kirsty are not prayin to Allah but having stretches for poor jamie's back :-(

blackford hill

kirsty at the top

I have just been for a walk with jamie, kirsty and the dog up blackford hill (well... half way up it!). the views were beautiful. The sun was setting and the sky had a pinkish tinge. There were lots of tiny tiny little frogs and some bats too. Cara chased rabbits for ages and has now crashed out on the sofa :-) best to let sleeping dogs lie.

gig at the lot

jamie had a gig on Sunday night - supporting erin hill at the lot. The lot has brilliant accoustics and atmosphere. All in all jamie's gig went well - apart from the pre-amp battery dying on the first song - and some tuning issues. I find myself over critical because I know how good he can be. I think everyone enjoyed it though. The website has had its first purchasees - need to be getting compliments slips etc sorted out.
Unfortunately Jamie has hurt his back (lifting a box of cds!) and is quite sore :-( poor jamie.

my ma

just a quick wee blog - its been a busy weekend. My mum has been over and we spent some time at the festival etc. here's some pics to tell the story...

going to the cinema on friday night - by the way the break-up is just as depressing as the title suggests

me and my ma

my ma - out on the town - lunch at the lot

From the bus stop

I'm having a go at blogging from my mobile. Have noticed that autumn is on its way. Check out these leaves!

brand new

well last week was full of brand new things...

1) jamie's new cd has arrived - well i say cd - i mean cd's - we have 6 big boxes of them hanging about the house. his website is up and running too - check it out - www.jamiewilsonmusic.com and please buy a cd - so that i can have my spare room back!












2) a new phone!! with 3.2megapixel camera - yay!! so i can take pictures all the time :-) for those "i wish i had my camera with me" moments. its been good fun so far - i'm sure after the fuzzy iain archer pictures you avid blog-readers will be glad to hear the news!



3) having my aunt marilyn and uncle ian over for a cup of tea! - sorry no pics folks - but it was really good to see them and to spend time with them. they normally live in africa so it was defiantely a brand new experience to have them round :-)

4) webcam - i had my first web-cam chat - i dont have a webcam but it was really cool to be able to see hazel and peter and to hear them talk. i reckon it would be really cool to use with kids - will have to try and talk my brother into getting one. although it would mean less of the pyjama-wearing computer use.

5) going for a whole week without blogging!

sweeping the clouds away

this is one of my faourite photos taken with my new phone - its the cloud over glasgow.

i love the golden edge to the cloud and the rain underneath - but i hav enever seen a cloud's shadow in the sky before and i was so glad to catch it with a camera - truely amazing!

it has been a while. last week was very busy with work and play. it has left me pretty tired out. its probably the reason for my bad tummy and my sleepy head :-( feeling a little fragile after it all. so i'm off work today.
saturday saw jamie and me going through to yvonne and dl's place for the evening. it was really good to see them and to get to spend some proper time with them... see the wedding photos etc. it was also a chance for jamie to have a go on yvonne's new guitar :-)

yesterday (sunday) Molly (from church) had lots of the young(ish) people round to hers for lunch - there were about 25 of us - it was really good - here's some photos of the crowds

mel and the gang - the big table

Iain Archer

the man himself - Iain Archer

well last night I went to see Iain Archer - live in Edinburgh :-) I'd been looking forward to it for ages and had bought myself and Sarah tickets for it for her birthday (hmmm... why did that not seem really selfish at the time - its a bit wrong to buy someone tickets to a concert that you want to see!) Anyway Sarah had to work :-( so to save the prospect of going on my own Arlene offered to accompany me having heard nothing of Iain's songs and nothing about him.
Well i must say i had the best night ive had in ages! Iain played some of hs older stuff and some new ones too. The best bit was standing front row and being able to see all his effects stuff - he must have had at least 20 different pedals and 3 different mikes!
He also had Matt Jones - who plays with lots of big names that i cant remember - on stage with him playing keyboards/tambourine/computerised drum thing/£1.99 argos kazoo kinda thing. He was genious - the tambourine was stuck to a stool with gaffa tape so he could play it with one hand while playing keyboard with the other!

this is matt playing an instrument that looke d like one of those kids plastic keyboards except it had a pipe that he blew in to get the noise - it was very comical to watch but with a cool sound

Iain talked a bit about Northern Ireland and his new album "magnetic north" is coming out soon. I wish sarah had made it cos no one cheered when he said he was from bangor (maybe co. downers dont cheer - they maybe think its uncouth?). He didnt play wishing - no surprise there I guess!
It really reminded me of going to see him when i was 15 in belfast - i remember the quote at the time that van morrison said "this boy is a litle bit special". I think that was meant to be a compliment!

this fringe is too long

A rather odd man with a backpack wandered up to my work today and asked many strange questions. He looked like Michael Palin and for a moment I could have been fooled. After realisation that he most definitely was not the mighty Palin I was losing patience (lets face it I probably would have lost my patience if Michael Palin walked up and asked 100 stupid questions too).
It was like being a tourist information point - he wanted to know what the fringe was... was it religious or political? I told him it was art - but it got me thinking... The fringe is all around me just now I have to fight my way into work and usually arrive with handful of flyers (despite my "no thankyou" efforts to dispel the enthusiastic fringe-evangelists). I stand at the bus stop to go home and the people that walk past are all different colours. I dont mean that racially I mean literal - orange and blue and pink - and with the most bizarre props. The worst fringeans being the street performers at the top of the road that shout things at you as you walk past - so that the crowd of 30+ people laugh at you - I wish I could make out what they say. Everybody is vying for my attention - desperate to tell me how exciting their drama will be or how amazing their musical is. To be honest even the most raving of reviews wouldnt get me to go near a musical! I feel kinda sorry for all these poorly paid performers who come to edinburgh and have to spend the best part of their day convincing people that they are talented.
It does bring a good atmosphere to the place and I am looking forward to seeing Iain Archer play on Thursday (I went to see him when I was 15 in Belfast!) but I'll be glad when they all pack up and go home :-)

my space

I have officially been termed an "internet geek"having dipped my toes in the northern irish favourite site - bebo - and found some old friends there. Also been checking out some musicians myspace sites where you can listen to their music for free. Having travelled all around the world wide web I have returned to blog here - at blogspot - for this is my home - this is my space.