October 16th

2pm: One of the best days of the year, certainly one I had been looking forward to for a very long day. Yes it was a beautiful autumn day in this most beautiful city, yes i had a great cup of coffee on Granville Island in the sunshine, yes here I am stretching my legs along the rive below Stanley Park. Yes I had a great plate of sushi for lunch - but above all I got to see my beloved Teenage Fanclub play tonight, an awesome show - i was right at the front, practically under Norman's nose such was the low stage - they were magical as usual - even though he politely declined to play Shock & Awe. I first saw them as a penniless student nearly 20 years ago in Manchester, hard to believe how circumstances change & time flies! An unforgettable night.

September 28th

8pm: Spent this evening with Tabby & Charlie making mixes for their new CD player. They have got the music bug big time, wonder how long they will be listening to my taste in music before peer pressure takes over.

May 31st

11pm: The Sadies live at The Canmore Hotel. Undoubtedly the best band in Canada at the moment, I love The Sadies - here they are on the 2nd night of their stop in Canmore, probably into song number 25 of the night. Myself & George lapping up their cosmic country sound. The Ho is a neat place, totally in tune with the band - after a 2 1/2 hour show, incredibly they still left the crowd begging for more!

May 30th

11pm: A cold evening, the sort of evening for alphabetizing (is that a word?) one's CD collection!!

May 3rd

11.45am: Music Monday at Tabby's school - all the kids in the various grades performed to varying levels of accomplishment - Tabby & the gang performed a nice little song. It was a pleasure to see the hard work that went into the performances, some talented kids - not least a quartet of local Native Indians who performed an excellent number.

May 1st

9pm: Catherine MacLellan & The Olympic Symphonium at the Communitea Cafe in Canmore. I quite enjoyed the opening act, maybe a touch too melancholy for my mood at the time but quite exceptionally gifted musicians. Catherine M. was different class as well, a kind of Laura Cantrell/Eillen Jewell hybrid (which is just about perfection in my book) she came with a neat repertoire of pretty frank songs about her life experiences. Her dad wrote Snowbird, one of the all time classic MOR songs - I didn't realise the family connection until afterwards, it might have explained the somewhat mature audience - probably reminiscing back to the days that particular song made it big in 1971!! Earlier we had George & Lesley round for a really nice Viertnamese flavoured lunch on the deck, al fresco as well..........

April 24th

8pm: Well it snowed all day today, not that cold but enough to curtail serious outdoor activity. Plenty of quality time with the kids, Tabby in particular is taking a real interest in music. She loves taking a CD from my shelves & copying the cover - like her grandfather, she is a seriously talented artist. I played her The Stone Roses - one day I will tell her about my adventures in Manchester in the late 80s, I thought at the time The Roses were the greatest band to have ever walked this planet. This poster on my office wall is of one gig I never made it too, much to my eternal regret.

March 17th

10.30pm - I am numb at just reading the very sad news of the sudden death of Alex Chilton at only 59. Chilton was the lead singer for the influential but at the time under-rated Big Star. Big Star pioneered the way in the whole powerpop genre, all harmonies, ringing guitars & simple, sweet pop songs often quite melancholoy in nature. Really at a time when crappy glam rock & interminable prog ruled the world in the early-mid 70's they were out there ploughing their own furrow. I first heard of them in about 1988, in Brighton at one of the clubs frequented at the time by the likes of Alan McGee, Everett True & Bobby Gillespie. In fact I can clearly remember, as if it was yesterday, the first time I heard September Gurls, (at that little dingy, long gone & smokey club up near Churchill Square), sparkle out of the speakers & onto the dancefloor. Those first few chiming chords seemed to stop the world momentarily & I knew my love affair with music would be taking me in whole new directions. RIP Alex - a sad, sad end to the day for sure.

February 23rd

9pm: Corb Lund & The Hurtin' Albertans on stage at the Eric Harvie Theatre in Banff. It was a most entertaining concert in front of an appreciative audience - the guitarist was absolutely masterful switching between lap steel, lead & banjo. Corb served up a whole host of Alberta themed songs & some inspired covers including an excellent Perpetrators song that sounded like something Bob Wills or Hank Snow would have been proud to call their own. Earlier I invested several hundred dollars in my first set of XC skate skis & boots - I am slowly mastering the technique, it is not in any way easy but I will get there! )

ps - I know it's a poor picture but the security folks were cracking down on cameras & so I really  had no time to compose this shot, taking it while they were looking elsewhere, there was an excellent upright bass player but he got chopped from this picture as I only had half of him in the frame!)

February 11th

9pm: I'm working my way through the sumptuous Beatles Mono boxset - $200 from Amazon & worth every penny. I spend far, far too much money on Cd's but one day the kids will inherit a vast library of excellent & diverse music - they'll probably flog it on e-bay but at least I will have tried in my quest to provide them a musical education!

February 1st

7.30pm: Pete & Sabrina in their beautiful new house in Toronto. I spent a fine Monday evening with Pete that included Ukulele practise, bluegrass, fish & chips, record shopping, an acoustic shoegazing band & Pete's encyclopeadic friend who reeled off more facts about 80's indie rock than i care to remember.

January 30th

11pm: The utterly beguiling Meg Baird at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn. Meg is the lead singer of top-notch wyrd-folk group Espers & I could not believe my luck that she was playing a solo set in Brooklyn that coincided with the Saturday night I had to myself in town. The venue itself, an old jam factory converted into a minimalist art gallery and concert space was a beautiful setting & the surprisingly sparse audience - probably no more than 50 people - was perfect. Meg finger-picked her way through her repertoire of old English folk tunes & Gothic Americana - a memorable evening, a dash of culture.

January 16th

1.30am: You Say Party! We Say Die! at The Canmore Ho. Playing to a large boisterous crowd at about 1.30am - we love The Ho - it's a good music venue, graced over the years by many of Canada's best bands. YSPWSD are a fine group out of Abbotsford, BC. They have made a name for themselves here & in the UK & the set they played tonight was pretty sharp. I need a new camera though for this project though, my little Canon powershot isn't doing this task full justice & I can't lug the big SLR everywhere - time for an upgrade I think.

January 4th

Acoustic 12 string which I am slowly learning to play; plans were to photograph our weekly indoor football session - but only 6 people turned up & it didn't really happen. Trying to find something interesting to shoot today was a challenge as it was the first day back at work - so with just a little time left I turned to my trusty guitars.