Back to the real world

Monday morning in the shop and I've got a hangover. A bad hangover. Serves me right eh? But it was a good day yesterday which ended with far too much to drink with East (as usual) and drummer extraordinaire Dave Bateman (not so usual- he's teetotal) in the hallowed confines of The Pipemakers Arms in Uxbridge. We'd spent the afternoon at Ruff Rockers Rehearsal Studio with Andy C. on bass and Simon Thompson on harmonica- yes, it's the return of The Barflies, fresh from our recent-ish performance at 'Re:View' at The Beck Theatre and ready to rock. Well, we will be when we can decide what direction we want to 'rock' in. A splendid time was had by all, much of which was filmed by East which I fear means that he's preserved rather a lot of references to worshipping the devil, any or all of which could turn up on The Price's website or YouTube worryingly soon. Not good frankly- perhaps that's the real reason I've got such a bad headache?

In the meantime it's been a busy week in the shop, with George becoming the latest work experience person to be unreasonably insulted by yours truly (only once, honest!) and Simon being recruited to the Pro Music staff meaning that I might actually get a day off sometime in the not-too-distant future. Then again- what would I do with one of those? Well I could do my accounts- judging by the amount of receipts and bank statements I've got lying around that would be time well spent. Or I could catch up with all those other 'little jobs' that I keep saying that I 'must get round to'. Or I could have some time off- it's ok to do that isn't it? Isn't it?!?

There's a few gigs coming up too; Blues Brothers at Maidstone Pizza Express this Saturday, The Price at The Duke of Wellington this Sunday (Attila The Stockbroker's 'Belgian Beer Festival'- excellent!), then depping for The Pistols in Northampton next Friday. I'm also doing 2 more dates with Foxy's Ruts next month- more about them nearer the time. But I really hope that we can get The Barflies off the ground- it feels like it's time to get out and play for the sake of playing rather than as a 'job'. All this Ruts-related stuff lately has got me thinking back to the times before I played guitar, when I would watch other people play and wonder what it was like to be able to do that, to express yourself in that way, at a time when I don't think I could make very much sense out of anything in the world other than knowing that there was something very big missing from my life. Playing the guitar and, maybe more importantly, making music with other people gave me a chance to be heard, to have a voice in a world that didn't otherwise seem to be too interested in me. I'm still not sure that what I do makes any difference to anybody else apart from me but I do know that every time I pick up a guitar to play I feel very lucky indeed to be able to do it at all- it really wouldn't be the same without it.