There are always some great collaborations of musicians performing different takes on well known songs - see the excellent Jack Bruce & Lau version of Sunshine of Your Love below. Unfortunately I missed the Tribute to Gerry Rafferty due to playing my own gig, but there were performances of his songs by the likes of Rab Noakes, The Proclaimers, Ron Sexsmith amongst others, I am told it was a thoroughly good night.

Paul Kelly was a rare treat for me as the Australian songwriter performed an acoustic set of well crafted songs to the crowd at Oran Mor, he is a huge name down under and deserving of a large following this side of the hemisphere.

View Farka Toure -  was unleashing some fine African rhythms in The Arches with elements of John Lee Hooker and Albert King from his piercing electric guitar, fantastic show.

Showcasing some local talent was the Hazy Recollections shows at the ABC. I managed to miss the start of the show due to the bouncer taking a dislike to my camera (blog to follow) but caught excellent performances from Doghouse Roses, Foy Vance & Finlay Napier & The Bar Room Mountaineers

I'll take it easy throughout February.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/celticconnections/2012/ for video clubs

Back from a great trip around the Netherlands. It nice to get out Amsterdam and see other parts of this great country.

All the gigs went well and everyone was really friendly and hospitable. Really enjoyed my visits to Middelberg and Groningen, lovely towns at opposite corners of the country. Den Bosch was a great place to chill for 2 days and gasp at the price of shoes in the shop windows.

There were only a few minor mishaps to report,  starting with my first night in Amsterdam. I got locked out the room in the Hostel on my first night at 4am as the security swipe card lock had broken, fortunately not many folks were about at that time to see me running about in my undies trying to get help. The night watchman was initially freaked out and once he stopped laughing and calmed down enough he took, a painfully slow 40minutes, to find a 'traditional' key. By the time the door was unlocked there were 3 of us all standing about in our undies in the hall way at 4.40am. This did not look good at all.

One great thing about travelling in Europe (or indeed anywhere outside the uk) is the fantastic efficiency of the train system. These trains turn up when they are meant to, have more seats upstairs, free wifi, travel fast and silently across all of Europe. The efficiency is such that trains often get split in two and the 1st few carriges go to where your meant to be going and the rear carriages go to PARIS!!. A heart attack jump and sprint onto the platform to the correct side of the train narrowly averted me eating a croque monsieur for lunch.

In Groningen I played a gig for Wishful Music with the guys from Broken Down Suitcase , a well named, and well performed Canadian/New Zealand old timey duo. However, there was a medical emergency towards the end of the gig where a girl went into anaphylactic shock from eating nuts and had to get rushed to hospital (pleased to report all was ok and she made a full and quick recovery) but at the time most folks thought she was just extremely moved by the music.

So all in all a successful trip, and big thanks to all those who helped out with accommodation food beers and chat - see you in 2012.

As another August has been an gone it takes with it any chance of a decent summer and another Edinburgh Fringe.

I had another great time performing at the Fringe this year and very thankful to all those who came along on the nights.

Performing at the fringe requires a whole set of planning, organisation and marketing skills, the most important being transport to and from the venue.

Everyone will be aware that driving in Edinburgh is a no no, particularly during the Fringe, however when faced with the alternative of The Last Train Home, these 2 options are close contenders for which is the lesser nightmare.

This year i chanced both options.

My first attempt to visit Edinburgh for a comedy show this year failed due to inclement weather (flash floods on the railway lines). As a result trains were cancelled, roads were blocked and i missed the show.

so.. for my first gig i though it better safe than sorry and decided to take the car. However due to my planning expertise, I had chosen the date and time of my gig to coincide with Hearts biggest european game in decades - Hearts vs Tottenham at Tyncastle - only 500m from the venue. This resulted in huge traffic congestion, nowhere to park and 1hr 40mins journey time from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Major headache.

The following week having learned my lesson, I opted for the lottery of train travel.

I had to fight my way through hordes of zombies, not unusual for a Friday night in Glasgow, however this was due to the filming of the Brad Pitt film World War Z. Apart from that,  45 mins on the train, no bother!

Great gig, a few beers and it was time to head home. We decided to get an earlier train to avoid 'The Last Train Home' however this was soon to be regretted. It turns out that the 11pm train stops aeverywhere on  the way home!. 1hr 30mins, and 1 severely zombied escapee with a sore head who awoke on the train in Edinburgh (having fell asleep and missed his stop) meant that every single passenger was on a red alert for their own safety.

It seems the odds are stacked against you when trying to get back late at night to Glasgow, although traveling by public transport means there is no need to visit Edinburgh Zoo, or indeed watch Brad Pitts forthcoming zombie film.

The music news is full of tributes to Bob Dylan as he turns 70 on this very day and with a current catalogue of over 500 songs, and 34 albums we have a lot of great songs to be thankful for over his 70 years.

You may not like his voice, or some of his live performances, but I am confident everyone will have a favourite Dylan song, if not sung by the man himself, a cover version by one of the thousands of artist who have interpreted his songs over the years.

One of my own favourite cover versions is by Eliza Gilkyson singing Love Minus Zero/No Limits and With God on Our Side, sung in French by Hart-Rouge both outstanding examples of the power of the Dylan cover song and both found on the Nod to Bob 60th Birthday tribute album. (A Nod to Bob 2 the 70th Tribute album is just out)

Whilst his songs are often attributed to a moment in time e.g 'Blowin in The Wind'  'The Times They Are a-Changing' they more often than not transcend time and can be equally poignant across the decades. This for me is what makes a great song.

I suspect it's every songwriter's dream to write a song that lasts forever (it is mine), and Bob Dylan certainly has given us fair number of those, now i just wonder what he wants for his birthday?

On Monday night a friend and I were trying to find a bar to go to where we could sit and exchange some ideas on songs in the comfort of a nice pub. Our first choice Lauries, was ruled out as we discovered it was now closed on Monday nights, and then it came to me, Uisge Beatha -  a place where I've done that sort of thing before and always welcomes a jam session, so of we went to give that a go.

Upon entering we politely asked the barman in Dram (formerly Uisge Beatha) if we could sit quietly in the empty room and tinkle on our guitars exchanging some ideas. However, the barman pointed out that there was still 10minutes left of The Game on the multitude of flat screen tvs and hinted that it wouldn't be suitable for the handful of people that were in the bar to be distracted - non of whom appeared to be in the least bit interested in the football.

This new incarnation of Uisge Beatha seems a flat screen shadow of its much loved former rustic self,  with its 'made to look old' decor, the bar famous for its music  sessions, and thoroughly ancient decor seems to have lost what made it a great place to be in the first place.

ah well, off we went and were welcomed into the bustling Bon Accord where we enjoyed a beer and some chat about great songs and occasional non offensive (honest) light picking on the geetars.

I recently helped a friend out in his choice of guitar purchase. He was looking for something Like a Gibson Les Paul without the price tag and had narrowed it down to an Epiphone Les Paul or a PRS. I had a shot of both of them and much preferred the wide neck and general feel and sound of the PRS not to mention the fact that it was cheaper.

The upshot of his PRS purchase was free tickets to meet MR Paul Reed Smith himself when he visited Glasgow's Oran Mor last night along with some fantastic session guys and a full collection of his finest instruments. There was a question and answer session, aswell as interesting demonstration of the acoustic properties of the wood that is used in PRS guitars and some top class session musicians turning up the voltage to show what the guitars could sound like when played very well!.

Despite Mr PRS enthusiasm for handing over my credit card details in exchange for one of his fine guitars, I decided to stick with my Gibson Les Paul, but maybe I'll add a PRS to the collection in the future, it did sound fantastic and is a truly versatile and easily playable electric guitar.

Via a bit of surfing I discovered Greg Brown's yet to be released album 'Freak Flag' which is currently streaming for free on the No Depression web site.

A similar service but focusing more on a page to place your music on is bandcamp - which my own mp3s are on. Bandcamp doesn't have the community / social networking aspect of soundcloud but does have great features for getting music to fans - e.g. download codes.

The less said about myspace the better, it's dying a quick death. For a great article on the demise of myspace visit Andrew Dubber's Blog

shawlands - before the arcade (1936)

That’s right, a record shop, when was the last time you heard of one of those opening up!?

Southside Records situated within Shawlands arcade, sells all kinds of 2nd hand vinyl and cd delights at decent prices. Go check it out.

Further on the musical agenda for the southside this year is the opening of a new music venue. The Glad Cafe , who are planning on providing the southside with what it's been long over due - a decent live music venue. Fingers crossed.

Another part of Shawlands which is shining the light for southside culture seems to be Skirving Street, which hosts a number of coffee shops –  Biscuit , Beanscene and 1901 deli aswell as a number of boutiques and the aptly named - Young’s Interesting Books. The southside has been hard hit by the recession but it’s great to see these local businesses surviving.

For an invaluable local guide to all that's on in the southside of Glasgow visit  - Southside Happenings

The picture of the old Embassay Cinema on Kilmarnock Road (how things have changed eh?)was found on Virtual Mitchell , great resource for seeing how Glasgow has changed through the years. 

My thoughts are with all the people in Christchurch, New Zealand who are suffering greatly due to the earthquake this week.

So far most folks I know in Christchurch have reported in safely either directly or via friends and I hope that continues to be the case. Communication has been difficult and a lot of people have been displaced from their houses so i hope that is the reason for not hearing from everyone.

For a city, Christchurch remains a relatively small and close knit community and I doubt anyone in the region will be unaffected by these events.

It makes for grim viewing but when I look at the images of what remains of the city, all the familiar buildings and my favourite places seems to have gone and the task of getting it back on it's feet seems gargantuan.

As the tragedy unfolds and the realisation of the loss hits, I hope everyone pulls together to get through these difficult times, as lives, homes and communities will need to be rebuilt.

Take care Christchurch.

Latest news 

stuff.co.nz

tvnz

I borrowed my dad's car recently and to break from the monotony of the road I chanced a listen to what ever was in the cd player. On this occasion it was a pleasant surprise - Don Williams, which has been a staple for in car journeys with my dad ever since I was a kid. As such i know all the the songs and the words.

His song Amanda was getting played and the line 'Im proud and 30 and still wearing jeans' sent a shiver down my spine. I was instantly transported back to a childhood memory of me looking at Don's lp covers with him wearing jeans, denim jacket and cowboy hat and thinking that 30 was a long way off and how old he was. needless to say im now over 30 and proudly wearing jeans.

Sideburns with Don