12th February 2004: Another visit to the Woolpack in Buckingham where, this time I had a much better time of it. The playing was not great but the crowd talked all thru my performance anyway and 2 scotches helped the nerves no end.
31st January 2004: Caught a show by a troop called Camino de Flamenco. Very well presented tho obviously a school putting on a show. The main guitarist was called Tito Heredia. I'm hoping I can pester him enough to give me some lessons. An absolutely excellent player.
22nd January 2004: Back down the Woolpack this week I finally made my debut as a flamenco. Stage-fright was a real problem tho. If you check out the forum you can read all about it. Overall response was excellent tho I was very critical of my performance.
17th January 2004: Popped out with my mate Chris to check out the Rockin' Armadillo's set with my erstwhile guitarist buddy Alex Hall. Great to see that after nearly two years of enmity we managed to bury the hatchet and get on again like old times. And he played a blinder too. Cool!
15th January 2004: Paid a visit to a very nice acoustic guitar club in Buckingham today. Situated in a rather nice pub and amazingly packed to the gills with enthusiasts. If my nerve holds up this is to be the venue for Pepe's debut next week I will play my Soleares, Alegrias and Farruca pieces and hopefully crack a few gags to lighten it up. There really is noone else there doing anything similar to I hope I'll make a splash.
5th January 2004: Well this is a turn up for the books. This morning I came into work and found an email on my PC from Chris Welch, longtime friend of yours truly and erstwhile songwriting partner. I havent' seen him for about six years and we are meeting up again at the weekend. In the meantime we are furiously emailing each other trying to catch up on lost time. How did we lose touch it just seems crazy now.
2nd January 2004: Happy New Year everybody. Not a good start for me have just found out that someone has been ordering goods over the phone using my debit card. Just when I didn't need to lose any money. Bugger. I hope it gets better from now on at least.
29 December 2003: A really crappy day for me today. Having inflamed sinuses and a stinking cold I selflessly dragged my aching body into work this morning only to collide with the security ramp at the entrance to the building, That's about �300 pounds worth of damage to the car. I need to start gigging again if I'm going to pay for all this.
25 December 2003: Merry Christmas one and all. A big thanks to the many and varied afficionados who have signed my guestbook recently. It's amazing what a bit of shameless self promotion will do.
11 December 2003: Whilst this is my first diary entry, things have been looking up on the Flamenco front. Today was my second meeting with Paul Varney, a guitar teacher and flamenco nut like me who lives only a few miles away. The web has an amazing ability of bringing people together. Paul has been very kind and given me a few pointers here and there. Mainly pouring scorn on my hackneyed old repetoire and showing me what modern flamenco can sound like. I'm now furiously practicing the Solea falsetta he showed me and getting my head around the rhythm for Bulerias which I had totally got wrong. Thanks again Paul. |
