Getting 'myself' back

Normal life (or what passes for it here) has slipped away over the last couple of months. I've managed to carry on with the day to day grind, though some might doubt if that includes any housework beyond the absolutely necessary, but grief has stopped me constructing sentences to form blog posts - either here or at OurBookReviewsOnline, and has definitely put an end to a desire to go out for fun. Folk have suggested going out as a way of  'cheering up' or 'getting over it' but my gut instinct was having none of that - it wouldn't have felt right. There's been plenty of dog-walking, sunset-chasing, grandson buggy-pushing trips to country parks and nature reserves but when it came to proper evening's out I've cancelled on gigs I said I'd attend, missing some touring artists I really wanted to see, but I just couldn't face going.
This last week without me really noticing something changed and I feel like I'm back to my normal self.


First I went out to a gig. Dave Giles is a guy I've known for a couple of years and he's come to feel like a friend. Since I last saw him perform, he's been up to exciting stuff - heading out to Nashville to record his new album, and bringing the musicians who played on it over here on tour, so when he came to Nottingham last week I decided to take the plunge and go see him, and I realised how much I'd missed been out in a happy crowd.

Over the weekend, our youngest daughter was home playing at a gig/birthday party on Saturday evening but earlier we spent the afternoon at Chatsworth catching the first day of the house being decorated for Christmas.








The next day we took her home with a lovely drive through the Peak District and a break for lunch at Lyme. It's how our weekends used to be - full of varied activities and experiences.





Tuesday saw me out again; this time to the theatre to see Alan Bennett's The Madness of George III. Mark Gatiss was amazing as 'Mr King', the rest of the cast fab, the set and costumes wonderful, and it was one of the best pieces of theatre I've seen in a while.



In part it feels like it's been yet another crazy full week, and certainly everything didn't run smoothly to plan, but it's been better and more stimulating than most of late. I feel more settled, and much more 'myself' for it. Now perhaps it is time to get back to 'normal'.

Busy, busy, busy. Can I have a rest now, please?

It's been one of those non-stop, out-every-night weeks - and now I'm exhausted!
It started really last Sunday, getting up at six in the morning ready for Leicester marathon (fortunately, no one was expecting ME to run!)

Monday evening we were at a gig organised by my youngest daughter at JT Soar in Nottingham, with Meg Garner's personal, intimate poetry, a set from my daughter playing as Ayres, local guy George Gadd playing anything and everything except music from his new ep, and 'on-tour' artist Chloe Glover. I've seen Chloe before, back in June, singing her mix of  ballad-style songs and 'loud shouty stuff' (her words, not mine! ) and liked her music then but haven't really got round to checking it out properly. Seeing her again convinced me I should!


I might have got away with staying in on Tuesday, but I thought I should nip to to see my parents, nearly a thirty mile round trip, so it takes a chunk out of the evening leaving no time for lazing in front of the TV

Ayres

Wednesday was another gig night, this time at The Speciality Coffee shop in Nottingham, to catch Dave Giles and Lewis Fieldhouse on tour with a special addition to Nottingham's bill of Ayres opening for them. It was an unusual location - a cafe - discovered by Dave on a previous trip to the city, and somewhere I must have walked past several times but never noticed. it was certainly lighter and airier than many gig venues - and had seats for all :)

Dave Giles

On Thursday we were off out to Nottingham Playhouse to see Arthur Miller's classic All My Sons, about a family torn by the death of a son in WW2, and a cover-up at the family armaments factory.

By Friday I was hoping for a night off and a chance to sit and read my book, but I was made to go running. I'm sure it's good for me but it was dark and dismal and hard work.

Weekend at last - that's supposed to be a time for rest, isn't it? Anyway ... the past couple of days we'd been checking the weather forecast regularly due to incoming storm 'Brian' and with rain expected anytime after Saturday lunchtime and then hanging around for most of the weekend, we decided to chance the morning drizzle and have a walk round Chatsworth gardens to catch the sculpture exhibition again. Of course, we managed to get wet, though not as much as on our previous trip, and we did see all the exhibits at last. I just wish we could have found a bright sunny day.

Then in the evening, guess what? we were off out to Nottingham again! Third gig of the week, third venue - The Maze, this time to see good friend Joe McCorriston and his mate Gaz Brookfield.

At last! It's Sunday, I'm going to stay in all day. In fact, I might be tempted to stay in all week!

Back at Chameleon - Lewis Fieldhouse and Dave Giles

Lewis Fieldhouse

It was back to the good old Chameleon Arts Cafe last week to catch the Nottingham leg of Lewis Fieldhouse and Dave Giles' "Pay What You Want" tour. (It shows how my habits have changed to even start to think of going BACK to a venue)

It was an unusual gig in a couple of ways - firstly ticket prices. Entry was (as you might guess from the tour's name) 'pay what you want', so you could pay £10/20/more for a ticket, pay less with maybe the intention of buying a cd, or if you were short of cash this week, or could only drop in for an hour, you could get in for as little as, well, nothing. It seems to be 'all win' for the punter - it's as cheap as going to a pub open mic and the music's better. For the guys on tour though it seems a bit risky - after all they've put money up front to pay for venue hire, travelling and lodgings, and might not recoup those costs. I suppose the hope is that whereas as tickets at, say, a tenner might put folk off going to see two musicians they've never heard of, people can go along for free, listen to the music and either add to the donation bucket, or buy cds and merch. It's a gamble, and I'd love to know how often it pays off, but it doesn't seem polite to ask!

Dave Giles

Second unusual thing?  Instead of the regular 'headliner plus supports' set-up, the two guys were sharing the honours evenly. So there was no local (relatively) unknown to start the evening but straight into music from the guys you've gone along to see; a 30 minute set from Lewis Fieldhouse, followed by same length by Dave Giles, and after a short break they both came back with 40 minutes sets each. Again, it seems a win win situation for the punter - it gives the audience more time to get a feel for each performer's music, or if you can only get along for part of the evening you're still likely to catch one set from the musician you wanted to see.

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening (though some heating in the room wold have been nice). Both artists fall into the singer/songwriter, one man and his guitar, though with different styles of music. I'm hopeless at trying to describe music in any meaningful way so go and listen to them both on Spotify or Bandcamp or whatever; I shall be doing!