The week ahead

This is in a way , a week I've been waiting for for months and , yes its a good thing that is happening but  its quite scary too. On Tuesday 24th May 2011 I am finally getting rid of my nasty inflamed extremely painful gallbladder * fanfare*. Hopefully its just an overnight  stay and then back home with a three to four week recovery just taking it easy and getting well again.

Next week therefore will mostly be taking place from my sofa! In other  good news next week will also bring a new laptop to replace this prehistoric desktopI am on and a laser jet printer and .....tada!!......fibre optic broadband. Wow 21st century girl or what!

Two weeks until Wychwood good people happy days, I am rather thinking that the sun will shine on us, the Pimms will flow and happy shiny people will be loving all the good toons , poetry, food and myriad stalls that will abound.

So far today has seen me in domestic goddess mode, rocks cakes made for the Alzheimers Society meeting, my sister is the Support Services Manager for Gloucestershire and they do the most amazing work. Later on I will be preparing Lemon & Thyme Chicken with roast veggies and a white wine & lemon sauce. I may sound a little sound but hey, sometimes I rock!

So good people I leave you with this advice go check this out www.kathrynrobertsandseanlakeman.co.uk, the brand new & updated site from Sean Lakeman & Kathryn Roberts , good news for all folkies!

Planning ahead

It seems the wonderful Wychwood people have been brilliant enough to let me have a pass again for this year's festival,thank you soo much!! I was pretty new to the whole blogging from a festival last year but did gain invaluable experience and this year I am making a plan as to what I intend to cover.

One of the things I am really keen on doing is spending time covering some the emerging talent that will be performing in the BBC Introduces area I've put in a link for people to have a look and what is really exciting is the amazing diversity I have to say I am particularly looking forward to The Voodoo Kings, Cuba Cuba and Jessie Grace. It's a fantastic launchpad for these groups and one of last years most popular acts Rook and The Ravens are in the Main Arena last year and rapidly making a name for themselves http://www.wychwoodfestival.com/bbcintroandmore/.

I am intend to devote time to the Poetry and Literary side of Wychwood as well and I am hoping to put together a soundscape for each day of the festival.

Tomorrow I will talk some more about the acts that I am looking forward to the most, up and coming gigs Seth Lakeman on Saturday at The Derngate in Northampton which I will review and festivals I am hoping to go to this summer. I would have blogged yesterday but I just had to make Chocolate Chip Cookies, you know how it is!

oops better late than never....

I guess you could say I've been rather neglectful of late , in fact downright non -existent but in my defence its been a really bad time in my life and without boring you with the details it goes like this, depression....get better......back to work....possible redundancy.... collapse at work....a trip to A&E , Morphine...( waaaay tooo nice!) ......diagnosed with gallstones that requires an operation...more depression. Thats the short version!

However I am now starting to feel human again and music is making its insistent way back into my life it started with the fab Mark Chadwick album, seeing him live with, treat of treats , Dan Donnelly and Sean Lakeman.

There then followed a bizarre happening, after seeing Teddy Thompson support Seth Lakeman a few years ago, I harshly dismissed him as boring and didn't listen to anything else by him.....how foolish. One sunny morning driving in my car along came 'Looking for a Girl' on the radio, it was as they say a real OMG moment, readers he is wonderful beg ,still or borrow the new album 'Bella' it as a sublime piece of music, I hooked and the Jazz Cafe in Camden town in August beckons.

I am also thrilled to bits that Sean Lakeman and Kathryn Roberts are now gigging again as Poppy & Lily their gorgeous twins have decided they can!! What great news for the folk world and not only gigs but a new album as well.

So I promise this will be the first of a summer of blogs charting not only my musical highlights but my own personal journey on the road to recovery...they are intrinsically linked. This is now being sent to the lovely people at Wychwood Festival in the hope I can start off with a bang and blog from Wychwood. Here's hoping.

well this is a departure..........

Firstly it seems that once my mum has had an ultra sound scan of her heart then they are confident that all will be well once the correct treatment is prescibed........hurray & thank goodness the last week has been hideous but I have had fantastic suppport from friends and family( and I would just like to say right now how much I love my big brother), for which I am very thankful.

Onto happier things, until last night I had not heard of a group called Thirty Seconds to Mars, but I am now going to see them in December 1 2010 with friends at Birmingham NIA.......its Jared Leto's band which I'll admit helps alot! but they are really good in a rock/almost prog rock/americana kind of way. Apparently they are HUGE so this will be my biggest gig in a long long time and its good because you just never know who's out there until someone points you in the right direction.

This is them

http://thirtysecondstomars.thisisthehive.net/blog/

Before that though I have two Seth Lakeman gigs in Garforth and Frome with some lovely friends.but , time for a personal rant, how frustrating it is to be a Seth fan when we hear that the album launch date for Hearts and Minds has been put back yet again to 19 July 2010. You do learn to expect this but sometimes record companies really do take the proverbial! It will surely be worth the wait I just hope it doesn't affect sales too much.

In which I learn what really matters

Oh dear so much of this was meant to be a happy blog about fun times but unfortunately life seems to have decided to through me a curve ball.
The long and short of it is I spent most of last Friday with my mum in hospital whilst she had various tests to establish why she has fluid on the lungs and why subsequently she feels so ill. Its off to the doctors tonight to find out the results and how we deal with whatever is thrown our way.

What it has done is made me realise how ridiculous it is to get caught up in petty situations that really don't matter, what matters is life and death and in this instance its my Mums life. Its focused my mind and brought me up sharp.

I hope that once we know what the probem is and how it can be treated this may well be a cathartic excercise, writing it all out has helped. Do if you read and understand thank you and if not , well at the moment I don't blame you!!

In which lessons are learnt...........

I have decided to write Wychwood off as a disaster on a personal level, but not in any way as a reflection of the wonderful music and atmosphere that prevailed there. I would love to return next year and hope that a misunderstanding and migraine do not prevent me from enjoying the whole three days.



So, as to lessons learnt; Well I learnt that my tendancy to impulsive behaviour may possibly have spoilt a friendship but I've held my hands up and apologised from the heart and can do no more. All that remains is to see what happens.

I have also learnt that in spite of that, I am lucky to have some fab friends who see beyond this rashness into what I hope is a good heart and for that I thank them. Its taken me a long time to accept that I am a good person and that people like me, so I have learnt to at long last like myself.....result!

So what next?.... well the next jaunt in Folkland will be down to Bristol to meet up with the lovely Jenny & Kath and others for the signing session/album launchette for Seth Lakeman's new album Hearts & Minds and then onto Frome on 14th July to see Seth at The Cheese and Grain. This promises to be a fu time with some fab people and I can't wait.



To those who have been there and not judged thank you so much.

Wychwood The First Time

The first impressions you have of Wychwood is what an amazing setting it is, nestling in the rolling Cotswolds with amazing vistas as far as the eye can see So after much anticipation it finally arrived.

First stop was to sign in and get my wrisband with 'press' on it, making me feel absurdly self important and then on into the main event.

There is no doubt this is a festival with a truly lovely vibe, well organised, lots of really good quality food stalls, and bars and stand selling everything you could possibly want. I met up with my friend who is working as a steward and another friend with her husband and two little girls. We spent a lovely hour listening to a mightily impressive set from Justin Currie, ex of Del Amitri, I intend to buy the album, his strong vocals and beautiful tunes perfectly suited the setting. The sound sytem here is truly impressive, loud and clear.

The main event of the evening was the amazing Levellers and they did not disappoint, a barnstorming set that got every one up and dancing including me as I unleashed my inner child and ran & twirled and with my friends girls. They encored with 'its a Beautiful day of course , and the last song of the night was an awesome rendition of 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia'. Listening to that in the warm fading light surrounded by happy smiling dancing people is one of my top musical highlights of this year.

Day Two I am meeting up with fellow bloggers, as well more friends and will take time out to explore The Healing Gardens and Workshops and try to locate the press tent as well. I will be back with Day Two...