Tweakin'

Hi there. Well, today I've been busy tweaking my draft of the book, just altering the odd word or sentence construction here and there. Despite starting this process yesterday afternoon I'm already a third of the way through the whole document. Working at that rate I think there is a good chance that I will finish the book next weekend, which is very exciting indeed after all of this time. A friend of mine, who is involved with publishing suggested that when I have finished the draft I should leave it for a period of six weeks, go back to it and see if it still cuts the mustard, so taking his advice on board this is precisely what I'm going to do. Reading through what I've written today I'm fairly happy with it. Will I still feel happy with it in a short while? Hopefully, but we shall see....

Yesterday I also booked my flight to Berlin to see what will undoubtedly be a fantastic live Ashra show in June. Very much looking forward to that and also to returning to the UFA Fabrik where the band originally rehearsed for the Correlations album in 1978. I last stayed at the UFA in February of 2010 and met both Manuel and drummer Harald Grosskopf there. That occasion marked Harald's first return visit to the location since the late '70s, so that was a great experience (and you can read all about it in my blog post from February 2010, titled Ich bin eine Berliner).

There is a story behind both of the photographs in this post. The picture above was taken just off Brick Lane in London a couple of weeks ago by my good friend Mr. Stephen Iliffe. This was the weekend when we were lined up to see Agitation Free at the Jazz Cafe. Unfortunately the concert was postponed until November but we made the most of the weekend, paying a visit to the Rough Trade record shop on Brick Lane, then heading through the Docklands area and on to Greenwich to have a look at the space observatory, something I've wanted to do for years. A great time was had by all.

The second photograph appears courtesy of Sid Smith and was taken at Mr. Drayton's Record Player, which takes place at Newcastle's Tyneside Cinema every Thursday night. Each week Mr. Drayton, a radio producer, stand-up comedian and music enthusiast plays a classic album on vinyl and the audience listen, whilst relaxing and watching a related slide show. It's a truly great night and big thanks goes out to Mr. Drayton for reawakening my interest in vinyl after buying CDs for many years. The photo above was taken a couple of weeks ago when I won the quiz, receiving a book and the princely sum of five english pounds as a prize. After listening to two classic albums I'd call that an unbeatable night.

Now, does anybody know where I can buy some MG albums on good quality vinyl? My collection is on CD. The hunt begins....

Cheers! Back very soon.