Guitars and Life

I'm listening to an eclectic mix of music at the moment. Belloheads Hedonism - you must listen to that great in your face folk music - trust me throw prejudice away and try them. Robert Plants latest, Steve Earl, Richard Durrant (classical guitar) and then I keep coming back to Heaven and Hell or Black Sabbath the line up with Dio singing. Why? Just brilliant metal that is why and also the sad loss of Dio meaning we'll never get any more. My son and I watched them live at Sonisphere 09, as they took the stage an ominous black cloud descended and the heavens open, how apt!!! But we stood in the rain and watched one of the best bands ever play a brilliant live set. Sadly we would have seen them back up Maiden at the same venue a year later but you all know what happened Ronnie James Dio succumbed to stomach cancer in May 2010 and sadly that was that. Here are two memories from that day... thank the Lord for YouTube :-) This is Bible Black off the only studio Heaven and He...

So nearly 7 months ago I waved farewell to my old job and company smiled sweetly at the generous redundancy settlement and wandered off into the sunset. In the intervening time I've pondered on what I would like to do, what I can do and what people are likely to actually pay me to do? Firstly I thought about a complete career change but frankly some of the options I looked at there had issues, I wasn't completely sure of my commitment to them, saw difficulties possibly with starting on the lowest salary etc. In the end I struggled to with it and realised without that 100% commitment I was going into something that I'd end up with regrets about, it wasn't worth that. Who knows I might still come back to it at another career junction in the future having had a look at it. I've tried being a professional singer/songwriter... well that has been my only source of income for a while!! However unless we have some unbelievable spell of mammoth deflation what I earn isn...

I'm drawn down a rockier band orientated muse at the moment. So I've been recording a couple here is Looking for a Lover and Demons. Enjoy

I would say for most of my life I've been a "non-royalist", that is to say I'm not a rabid supporter and find much of the trappings of the monarchy a outdated anachronism. I don't like the pomp and splendour with it - I think it overblown, too expensive, and condescending to the general population. However as I've got older I've had to asked myself - "So say you could replace the monarchy. What would you do?" And increasingly I find myself struggling to come up with an alternative. Do I really want an elected president? Hmm... possibly not. Why not? Well it'll mean again candidates who are there for themselves not the people. Candidates on zealot missions which might spark the public for a period but potentially leave us with messy legacies. Also look around you, this maybe again a product of my age and getting to realise that no one is any better or worse than another generally but here is a question. Where are the statesmen (and wome...

I went to see this film last night. Firstly - it is a heart warming story, one many of us obviously already know well. It is a tribute to the film's makers therefore that it is a captivating watch even though you know several of the important plot points... i.e. you know his Dad dies, you know his brother abdicates, you know that war is inevitable and you know that he did indeed conquer his stammer. Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter... well you can't go wrong with a cast like that can you? And in the "bit part players" Michael Gambon, Timothy Spall (doing a really very passable Churchill) etc. and just the cast alone is of actors who I have great respect for. Apparently the director and cast did have access to Lionel Logue's diaries and patient notes which were unearthed in the family archive by his grandson who has written a book on the story as well. So some of my scepticism about the accuracy was allayed. Of course George VI went on to be an ...

The news has been full of the shooting in the USA of Gabrielle Gifford. I read the following story with sadness... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/us-politics/8249300/Gabrielle-Giffords-shooting-US-gun-law-likely-to-be-unaffected.html I don't disagree with the statement that the gun is not evil only the person holding it... however surely in a culture where there is so much blood shed through guns you need to readdress that? I've had this conversation with American friends who go into the "right" and "freedom" mode that I just will never understand. A handgun has only one purpose - to maim or kill humans, it is not a hunting weapon - a gun is not a defence weapon as it will not stop the bullet from the guy pointing the gun at you. You have to shoot first and this spiral precipitates this gun culture in the psyche in the USA. I had hoped that this very public tragedy might lead to a better debate in the USA about this issue - s...

I dropped Son-of-Furtheron back at university this weekend. So with Mrs F back at work as of last Wed and Daughter-of-Furtheron back at school as of last Tuesday we are pretty much back to normal now... well as normal as we ever get around here! Although D-o-F will be out of school for a week soon as she has "work experience" week. Never seems right when that came for my son I thought "he is too young for this" but she is 15 now - where have the years gone? We timed the run to deepest, darkest Mordor (Ceredigion in other words ;-)) brilliantly. We'd thought of going on Friday but the weather didn't look great so delayed a day. Great planning it turned out, as we had a really good run - my sons flat mate had a terrible journey on the Friday as the weather caused some accident on the A44 which is the main route into Aberystwyth and that meant detours through some tricky roads. If you know West Wales at all you'll know that there aren't many roads...

I've stuck these up at RTYD if you'd like to look - big thanks to my son for his expert wielding of his camera to get these Find more photos like this on ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP's Mature Musicians & Bands Network

I was called up on Tuesday by a company that an old colleague and friend now works for in the USA. They are actually a UK company. I'd talked to my old friend about what I was settling on as my next career step. Basically more than one person has commented in my converstations in the last few months that a) I'd probably find a good cultural fit in a small company and b) I'd make a great consultant - i.e. someone coming to help out client companies with projects, programmes etc. So this old friend works for just such a consultancy - they have an excellent reputation. I talked briefly with him about what I was looking for and he graciously has recommended me to them. I went and had an initial interview/discussion with them today. It went really well - yep there are some things that'll be a culture leap for me such as possible long term assignments based on the client site which could be anywhere and also the working for the consultancy not the client so there is an ...

So hello 2011 and farewell 2010. Now how to pronounce it... "twenty ten" sounded best as does "twenty twelve" but "twenty eleven" sounds odd and "two thousand and eleven" better. Just me I guess. So 2010... the awards... Best gig... blimey difficult, Supertramp were great, a schooltime love and only time ever seen them live. Dave Mathews excellent... in the end though, Joe Bonamassa at Folkestone I think just gets it as the best live show this year I went to. Best album? Hmmm.... Joe Satriani Black Swans and Wormholes was very good, Robert Plant Band of Joy as well... but I'm going to give it to... (Drum roll) Linkin Park A thousand Suns. So this year I lost a teenager - my son is now 20. I lost a job through redundancy as well :-) Mrs F and I celebrated our silver wedding anniversary and we had two significant family weddings, my brothers and my nephews. Best thing this year? Getting the 2010 Rock-til-you-drop Outstanding Achieveme...