It’s hard to write down but the last week or so has been very difficult for a lot of us round here since our friend Lynne died. It was her funeral on Monday just gone. She’s going to be missed by all who knew her, she was a really lovely person.

The hearse was to be escorted by motorbikes as Lynne’s long long time friend is president of a motorcycle club. We all met up at the pub where she lived and worked in preparation for the procession. Those of us who don’t ride bikes were going to follow on in our cars.

Outside the pub it was really something to see, all her friends were there standing and waiting amongst all the bikes that were lined up along the street ready to follow on in procession. The hearse arrived and set off followed by at least 50 gleaming bikes some of the riders having removed their helmets as a mark of respect. Some of the bikers took it in turn to stop other traffic at the lights so we wouldn’t get split up on the four or five mile drive to the cremortorium. Later, a lot of the bikers said that they’d had difficulty seeing as they were filling up with tears as they rode along to the place where we would pay our last respects and say goodbye to our dear friend. We were all very emotional and moved by the occasion and the experience of the procession. At times it felt like we were in some scene from a film and it put me in mind of a place like New Orleans, maybe, where a procession of mourners would be passing along a road and all the bars and saloons would be empty because everybody had gathered to line up and watch the funeral procession go by. It really was a very fitting send off and I think she would have been very proud.

Goodbye dear friend and may you be forever free.

This idea was born on the 9th May 06 and I’ve given it a working title of ‘The Highest Ground’.Please update Flash Player to view this video.
The video shots are taken near where I live. The light was so pretty and mesmerising on that day I felt I had to take some pictures to capture it. I remembered about the video I’d shot after I’d got the song sketch together and I think they fit well together.

NOTE ABOUT THESE CLIPS

One of the ways we start composing new songs is with a simple musical or rhythmic sequence which I ‘jam’ melodies over until I’m happy I have something that has meaning to me. I thought these song sketch ideas might be of interest to some of you and so I’ve decided to make little movies of some of them and post them up. They don’t all mutate into finished songs, those that don’t often spark off other ideas which we develop in other ways. The pictures are generally recorded with miscellaneous portable implements I carry around with me for spur of the moment things. Please feel free to sign up and leave your comments and please remember that all the material is copyright.

I’ve called this song sketch ‘Genevieve’. I started it on the 5th May and added to it a few days later. Please update Flash Player to view this video.

The visuals are snippets of stuff I have lying around on my laptop that I collected just for this occasion.

NOTE ABOUT THESE CLIPS

One of the ways we start composing new songs is with a simple musical or rhythmic sequence which I ‘jam’ melodies over until I’m happy I have something that has meaning to me. I thought these song sketch ideas might be of interest to some of you and so I’ve decided to make little movies of some of them and post them up. They don’t all mutate into finished songs, those that don’t often spark off other ideas which we develop in other ways. The pictures are generally recorded with miscellaneous portable implements I carry around with me for spur of the moment things. Please feel free to sign up and leave your comments and please remember that all the material is copyright.

Today is my birthday so it’s a fitting day to start a new blog. I intend to post regularly but my past experience of these things says I’ll probably go through phases, so we’ll see . John has promised to try and contribute too so that should fill things out a bit as well.

I’ve also decided to post up the occasional song sketch that sometimes start out our compositions. I’m going to put images to some of them for no good reason other than I have lots of bits and pieces of video and pics that I accumulate and they need a home and purpose. I’m posting up two such sketches today to start things off, Genevieve and The Highest Ground, and there’ll be more to follow soon. You’re all welcome to leave your comments on these and other things I post but you have to register to do so which I think is fair enough.

So here we are. Another year, a new blog and a new album coming…. I wonder how I’ll feel about it all this time next year……