Shane Kirk's blogs

[Shane (Skirky)]

Hello there - long term lurker, short time poster here, however in common with those who believe the function of the board is to log on, tell people they've written something on the internet and then go away again until the next time, I thought I'd tell you that I've written something on the internet. Obviously, when I say 'on' the internet, I mean it's available to read there, not that it is about the internet, per se. One thing that isn't included is an account of the exchange I was able to have regarding the merits of Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue thanks to the erudition of the TAW hive mind when I enquired as to whether it was worth a punt or not. Once again, thanks for the good steer, and may all but a paltry smattering of you have a happy, prosperous and a thoroughly hoopy 2012.

http://www.skirky.blogspot.com/2011/12/they-say-you-play-high-barn-twice-in.html

[Shane (Skirky)]

What Ho, Chums! I've been at the writing again - this blog is about doing some recording, and contains links to The Rocking Vicar's website, where I had a thing published at the weekend, and to a free copy of the song in question on Soundcloud.
http://www.skirky.blogspot.com/2012/01/in-company-of-strangers-while-ago-i.html

[Shane (Skirky)]

This one, like the last, is also about recording, and dwells briefly on how to persuade people to come and play on your stuff for free - or as near as you can schmooze them down to over the course of a few phone calls and some email correspondence. People can be surprisingly generous with their time and talent which is how I once found myself in a KFC on the A120 buying supper for a vegetarian, en route to gaining myself a Pegg number of two (or possibly three). But that's another story.

http://www.skirky.blogspot.com/2012/02/you-book-sarm-west-for-tuesday-and-get.html

There's a list of Pegg Numbers here - http://www.stocton.org/peggnumj.htm#dyblejudy

[Shane (Skirky)]

I have done another writing - http://www.skirky.blogspot.com/2012/02/this-song-was-number-one.html

One thing it doesn't mention is the incredible Jamie Lawson, who started his set in Kelvedon with a jaw-dropping version of Bacharach and David's I'll Never Fall In Love Again and included this heart-stopping little number mid way through a wonderful master class in singer-songwriterdom. I thoroughly commend his work to the house.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0Rhw-1oS58  

[Shane (Skirky)]

Unbelievably, I am very rarely called upon to step in at the last minute, as they say. Nevertheless, my "Further On Up The Road" had them in floods that time at jam night...
http://skirky.blogspot.com/2012/02/perfectly-good-guitarist-i-am-not-now.html

[Shane (Skirky)]

The Ipswich Community Radio remit to broadcast has been renewed for another five years, which is both a tribute to the hard work put in by the sole full time employee - Nick - and a lasting testament to the vision of those who first came up with the idea of broadcasting from a caravan in the middle of Christchurch Park, during the 1989 Ipswich Music Day, as part of the Venue for Ipswich campaign. Who on that committee would have predicted that in 2012 I'd be having an email conversation with someone who broadcasts a similar show in New Zealand? "What's an email?" would, I think, have been their first response...  

http://www.skirky.blogspot.com/2012/03/spirit-of-radio-on-fortnightly-basis-i.html  

[Shane (Skirky)]

Met up and played with some old bandmates at the weekend and realised that it was exactly twenty two years since we officially broke up. I even remember the last song we played together, which was Richard Thompson's Shoot Out The Lights, beings as how the only two groups the four of us were agreed on were del Amitri and Husker Du, and Bob Mould had been playing a version of the RT showstopper live around that time. The drummer is now a barrister and I assured him that, should I ever decide to kill someone, I'd definitely be putting some work his way. "What I think you mean is" he replied, already earning his commission "...if you were to be accused of killing someone...".
Anyway, did I ever tell you about the time we were woken by an unusual sound emanating from outside our lodgings...?
http://www.skirky.blogspot.com/2012/03/it-was-twenty-two-years-ago-today-to.html    

[Shane (Skirky)]

Latest blog hasn't got a lot of content, to be honest, it was more an excuse to post this up - http://soundcloud.com/doyoudoanywings/theodore-time-spent-in-los The evening did give us the chance to relive some on-tour moments with As Is, not least the bass player recounting the missing words round from our tour of Denmark, viz the phrase "That's an expensive musical instrument - you can't use it as a *blank*!"
Two diiferent people have independently compared Theodore to Teenage Fanclub, incidentally. I'm not saying they're right, I'm not saying they're wrong - merely reporting the facts.  

[Miguel Cajon (Mick)]

Teenage Fanclub eh?

[Shane (Skirky)]

Teenage Fanclub eh?

I hear they're getting on a bit as well...  

[Shane (Skirky)]

More free music, and a tangential discourse which takes in how the titles of songs, as with films, are sometimes better than the finished items themselves. Trivia you may find helpful when scrolling through are that The Chelsea Hotel, where Bob Dylan stayed up all night writing Sad Eyed Lady of The Lowlands (there's another one) is on West 23rd Street in New York, and the punchline "...Oh, that'll be our Monica!".

http://www.skirky.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/rolling-and-tumbling-ive-always-really.html  

[Shane (Skirky)]

I should add that the live tracks I've been putting up on my blog come courtesy of Pete Freshney, whose regular gig is recording Gardeners' Question Time.

[Andy]

Peat Freshney, then?

[Shane (Skirky)]

Indeed. He gets all his t-shirts from Fruit of the Loam.

[Shane (Skirky)]

Anyone looking for a good read for the Spring could do a lot worse than this little beauty - http://www.amazon.com/The-House-Beartown-Road-Forgetting/dp/0375507272 - which I enjoyed (if that's the right word) so much that I wrote a song about it. How and why is summarised within this latest blog - http://www.skirky.blogspot.com/2012/04/whats-difference-between-bafta-and.html wherein I also touch briefly on my ultimately disappointing flirtation with Hollywood.  

[macademis]

Skirky Goes To Hollywood?

[Shane (Skirky)]

You might have a chuckle at this - http://www.skirky.blogspot.com/2012/05/hi-is-that-kanye-wests-furriers-i-was.html
Incidentally, Emma Hartley, late of this parish, had a hand in marketing an App that pointed out the nearest late night drinking establishment to wherever you are in That There London. Does anyone know if there's a similar one identifying your nearest iconic album sleeve landmark?

[northseajoe]

You might have a chuckle at this - http://www.skirky.blogspot.com/2012/05/hi-is-that-kanye-wests-furriers-i-was.html
Incidentally, Emma Hartley, late of this parish, had a hand in marketing an App that pointed out the nearest late night drinking establishment to wherever you are in That There London. Does anyone know if there's a similar one identifying your nearest iconic album sleeve landmark?

Loved the Baker Street anecdote, but your friend wasn't far out with his guess.  I was there a couple of weeks ago and there is a large advertising poster along the lines of  'Will everyone please stop whistling that song?'.

[Shane (Skirky)]

I was helping out at The Maverick Festival at the weekend, and I think it's fair to say that I may have gazed over the horizon of my comfort zone. Not mentioned in this piece is the utterly adorable and vastly talented Amelia Curran, who performed like an angel, and helped me above and beyond the call of duty by serenely opening my stage two nights in a row in the face of circumstances which may have driven a lesser woman to throw a hissy fit. As is so often the case I find that the more talented the performer, the less diva-like thay are likely to be up close. I do urge you to explore her work if you get the opportunity.

http://www.ameliacurran.com/

http://www.skirky.blogspot.com/2012/07/right-ive-sawn-all-four-legs-off-piano.html

[JeremyRS]

Nice blog,nice to say hello, albeit briefly given your duties,  thought the festival went rather well myself.  The usual few small gripes, plus the major one of the beer queue on Friday, and given the hurricane blowing when I arrived on Friday my tent is no more, but all in all, a good weekend.