Guitars and Life

I'm posting this from the airport lounge in Boston awaiting my flight back to the UK. Another week trip to the USA over. My passport runs out later this year and I need to get a new one organised soon. My current one looks battered to hell, all the coat of arms off the front is warn away, various stickers are still attached to it from various old airline/airport procedures, the picture in the back looks like some goon I met once years ago and it is full of old immigration stamps and chads of paper from stapled visa cards etc. I've just done a count up and and there are 37 USA visa stamps in there. So that is roughly 4 trips a year on average - how many miles is that? It's about 3300 miles - most (not all) are trips to Boston so that is 6600 * 37 which is near enough a quarter of a million miles! A few are to New York and at least one or two to Michigan etc. so it's easily over that. I got to briefly see my friends The Sue Menhart Band last night. I needed to drive up ...

I've just posted a review of my Yamaha CPX over at Rock-Til-You-Drop

That title didn't work! :-) Sorry Sir Paul and John! Cold, snowing, storm warning... blah blah. Forgot my hat! Darn! Still the lady gave me an upgrade to an SUV , I looked blank at her "Four wheel drive" she offered. "Oh a four by four" I replied and it was her turn to look blank, and after sampling one for breakfast my ex-pats rant about sausages is right - they have no idea out here... like the tea... awful! Here for work through the week and hope to see The Sue Menhart Band on Thursday night before heading back to Boston and home on Friday. I've booked into a hotel in Cambridge but thinking I might stay here and then get up silly o'clock on Friday morning to go back to Boston. TBD as they say. Right must off to work now then.

My brother is getting married in August - in Scotland - Gretna Green. I'm the best man! *pause for proud moment* He wanted us to look like twins! i.e. both in same suit etc. So yesterday we went off to Bluewater to sort it out. Apart from both going "Really nice" to one then noticing it was £500! It all went well and we exited M&S with suits, shirts and new shoes for my brother - black brogues... he clearly thought it easier just to buy what he knows I'll wear anyway :-) But twins?! :S He is taller than me, thinner and has blond hair. So we look totally the same obviously :-) Still, it's what he wants and he deserves it after all he went through trying to save his last marriage and having it all thrown back in his face in the end and he is the happiest I've seen him in years. Best man speech is started - needs further work. My daughter who is the literary genius in the family has offered to be editor on that. We know where we are going for the Stag do as w...

Congratulations to Amy Williams but what the hell possesses anyone to jump on a tea tray and launch themselves down a mountain is beyond me. Amy Williams wins Skeleton Gold.

Today I had to say goodbye to the best boss I have ever worked for - he is leaving our company unfortunately. He had moved on to pastures new and greater some years back and I rarely see him these days as he is based at another site in the UK and spends a lot of time in USA. However still sad to be saying good bye and at the same lunch two other people who'll be leaving in the next few weeks as part of the ever onward drive for efficiency savings, one of those management euphamisms that you know means someone somewhere loses their job. It was a fun time reminising about the good old days of the old teams we were part of over the years. But is was also quiet a depressing time, it's said to see these people leave. Also shows how we're all getting older - as time goes by I'm almost one of the oldest in the departmement now and one of the longest served within the company. Still wheels continue to turn and it's all just the turning of time and tide isn't it. I ...

I've put up a couple of live tracks onto my Reverbnation player. Let Me Love You Tonight - is a new song that debuted at the gig that I'm quite proud of and sounded pretty good. My Baby - is different as a solo acoustic piece so I thought I'd lob that on there as well. Enjoy! For the technically minded / interested read on... I took along my Boss BR-600 to the gig on Sunday, it's a digital multitrack recorder and is what I use to make my "studio" recordings. It's a really simple (apart from the drum tracks that still loses me) little 8 track device. Anyway you can power it off 6 AA batteries and it has a couple of little built in mics. I've used it like this just to capture early demos of songs as work in progress at times. I thought to myself "I can record the set" - mostly so I could listen back and learn from it for future performance. Which I have! Anyway Fourdinners asked for some tracks to play on his scooter forums radio show this ...

Another video from Sunday Maps by Phil Campbell

I enjoyed another live set at The Libertine this lunchtime. Thanks to all who came along. Here is Johnny the Horse... there are another two loaded up at my Youtube channel .

Happy St Valentine's Day. Funny many people drop the Saint but be fair you had to perform miracles to get that so maybe we should have a campaign to re-instate it. Whatever - have a happy one with your loved one(s).

I watched an interesting programme last night. I’d recorded this week’s Horizon which was dubbed “To Infinity and Beyond”. Now I know these days many complain about the media dumming down science for the masses but this programme captured my imagination and got me thinking. Firstly did you know that one of the largest known numbers is actually Graham’s number . Not named after yours truly but after Ronald Graham who used it in some proof or something in 1977. Mr Graham is suitably wacky for a pure mathematican in that he is also a circus performer and president of some juggling society! Of course I think that is such a good name for a number :-) Apparently it is so big you need some special notation to write it! It is massively bigger than a google which is 10 100 . And then a googleplex which is 10 google which is a seriously big number. We are now well beyond the number of atoms in the entire visible universe! Then the programme tried to explain infinity which was described...

I like Raymond Khoury’s books since his first one “The Last Templar” went through my hands. He writes a good thriller. He keeps you enthralled by not making the plot too easy to guess, he weaves multiple lines into one and most of all I like the style of his writing. It isn’t the usual thriller pap where for some reason inane dialogue between the characters is introduced to get the reader up to speed. The underlying premise behind this book is an interesting plot line. A miracle sign appears seemingly imploring humankind to listen to a higher power about the damage our modern society is subjecting the planet to. However it isn’t a miracle, it’s a set up obviously by the devious, powerful business men. However the sub-plot about motives there is another interesting side diversion in this book. True to the format there is an unlikely hero who is trying to find his brother, or prove he is dead and prove the business men were behind it. There are sub-plots about religion and how it ...

He sent this around our team today and I thought I'd share it. HOW TO STAY YOUNG 1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them' 2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. 3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' 4. Enjoy the simple things. 5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. 6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive. 7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge. 8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help. 9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to th...

So here is the planned set list for the gig on Sunday. I'm risking it starting with the 12string for 3 songs. Only one is in Drop D and that is the last number. A bunch of new covers are included to add variety. My material is indicated by being in bold . I'm including a brand new song that really only started as a chord pattern idea late last week - I found a scribbled lyric idea from a while back and - totally rewrote that apart from one line, but it's in the set for it's debut. All is well I'm writing songs with maj7 chords in them again. :-) I've also dropped all the instrumentals apart from Gypsy as they didn't really work in the context of a venue like The Libertine. Remember all my material (excluding the brand new one) is available for preview at www.reverbnation.com/grahamhunt Give a Little Bit Rise Up Beautiful Waterfall Let Me Love You Tonight You Make Me More My Baby Johnny the Horse Maps Babylon Thank You Within I Used To Know Her Gypsy

Well I have to say that was a surprise performance by England - I thought at best we'd be holding onto Wales' coattails in a desperate attempt to not be defeated. In the end I think England just about deserved the victory. Wales first didn't look like the team of the last few seasons, especially in the backs, too many mistakes and indecision. The sending off was crucial is has to be said - would England have won without that 10mins only playing 14? At least this season it wasn't England committing the stupid things like that. Still lots to do in the England side though, we still didn't make use of the width at all. We could have potentially scored quicker before half time if the forwards hadn't been intent in battering the Wales line. In the end Haskill got the try and good job if we'd have gone in half time without that I don't think we'd have won and we had overlaps like mad on the right that they didn't think of exploiting. So better England -...

99p - I stil think you're being had. That isn't a replica of any Elvis guitar I remember. Either a J-200 - as he is pictured with laughably or the old Martin D-45 (I think that's right) he used in the 50s with ELVIS on it in sticky letters. But that thing! What the hell is that?

What Physics students do after exams are finished and they are "bored"... A guess the song competition with Son-of-Furtheron blazing away on his LTD EC-1000.

I was looking at my gratitude list today thinking to myself "I haven't updated that since the weekend". I then notice that I'd put on there over the weekend "New DAB radio for the kitchen". So yes I'm grateful for that as it has replaced the very old and knackered cassette/CD/radio boom box we'd had for years with something that sounds much better and much smaller and won't mean all that fiddling about trying to tune into Radio Kent on snow days to find out if the school is shut just go to the menu and press a button and Radio Kent is there. Plus I get to listen to Kerrang or Planet Rock while I'm cooking :-) But I digress; I was disappointed that I'd put that on there actually, it's a small and materialistic thing, nice yes but in the grand scheme of stuff not that relevant. So I took a few minutes to contemplate about what I am truly grateful for. If the DAB radio wasn't there my life would be unaffected. So I got to thinking......

I was heading to the shop at work this morning for my first cup of tea to start the day and overheard someone on their mobile to someone else... "Could you possibly give me the briefest of briefs just prior to the pre-briefing for the briefing meeting" What nonsense... still it all keeps the wheels of commerce turning doens't it.

Sunday 14th Feb.

About time I did a CD review... Tall Stories - Skyscraper. So what's the scoop? Ex Journey vocalist Steve Augeri reforms his early 90s band and releases a followup to their 1991 debut CD. If you like melodic rock a la Journey, Boston, Def Leppard et al then you'll like this. There has been much written about Journey without Steve Perry but whatever you say Mr Augeri is a good vocalist. Much of the material is written and produced by guitarist Jack Morer who is frankly a class act. Stand out tracks for me are the opener Tomorrow and Stay. Give it a listen. Okay - I'll come clean, the drummer in Tall Stories (Tom Dafaria) is a mate of mine and I feel bad it took me so long to get around to buying this that I'd thought I'd push it for them :-)