I feel a little down-beat tonight - unusual for me, but with a war and PMT!!!!!!

I honestly don't know what to make of this war. I mean, I feel so bad for those people who are out there fighting the battles for Tony & George...I don't have any qualms about not supporting this war, that doesn't mean I don't feel for those who are out doing the real dirty work. I didn't support it before they sent troops in and I certainly don't buy into that emotional blackmail stuff that I really ought to support the war because 'that's our boys out there' - eh? Am I supposed to support the fact that they are killing and being killed? Acht, it leaves me sore, Why, why, why? The average age of the US Marine Core is twenty one years old - TWENTY ONE YEARS OLD! - babies really. And, one last thing (although, I dare say I'll be back here at some point) WHO ON EARTH COINED THE TERM 'FRIENDLY FIRE'? How ludicrous is that?


1st March - 9th March: - Had a fantastic night at the Comedy Club...anybody ever go? As ever, the quality of acts was excellent and one of the headliners, Andy Zaltman (an American guy who looked a bit like a young Art Garfunkel), was absolutely fantastic. He was kind of expecting folk to have a heckle, you know because he looked a bit like a young Art Garfunkel, but what a smart guy...he obliterated Saddam Hussein, George W and Tony before they got near to being 50 miles from Bagdhad, or wait, was that 60 miles,nope, 50 - ah, whatever, it depends what channel you're watching! (there I go, only 100 words from my last war mention, I gotta stop it!).

So, straight from the Comedy Club to The Magdelena Sisters - ouch! Any reviews? Anyone seen it yet? Anyone gonna? If you are, then you wont be rushing straight out to mass I dare say! I thought it was a tremendous movie. I love Peter Mullen and the way he understates things so beautifully. This movie is no different in that respect...Go see it. Mind you, my mum's horrified - 'that's not the way it was in MY school!' Yeah, but I seem to remember hearing that the girls weren't allowed to wear black patent leather shoes incase anyone got pregnant by showing the reflection of their underwear in their shoes!

NO, NO, NO, I don't want to talk about DONNY! I didn't get tickets - after all that - I didn't get effin tickets. What a bummer. Anyway, I don't want to talk about it anymore, I've met him - right? Donny? Donny who? !!!!!!!!!

Sibel, who writes to me from Paris, kindly put me on the guest list for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers the night AD (after Donny). However, I was so DaD (disappointed about Donny) that I didn't really have the heart to go. BUT, as the SECC is only minutes from my house, and, as Sibel had gone to all that trouble, I thought I'd just go for it...

Over I went...'hullo, my name's on the list' (kind of hoping that it wasn't) 'oh aye, hello Carol, there you go, two tickets'. Aw naw, we were definately going to see RHCP...! Well, how glad was I? We went in to the venue (not a particularly warm, friendly or atmospheric venue) and it was electric...and this was before the band came on stage! Hmm, I could feel a wee rumbling of excitement...I was beginning to forget that I was DaD...then the band came on...Donny Osmond who? They were absolutely tremendous! From the minute they came on stage, they never stopped. I now know why flea is called flea! The lighting/stage show was absolutely incredible too as was the sound...were there only 5 guys up there?

Saturday 8th March was the day where I could watch the Celtic -v- Rangers game from 12 - 2 then the rugby was on from 3 - 4.30. HEAVEN! Not only that, I got to clean my house in between. Okay, you say, she only spent an hour cleaning her house - ah well - caught!


10th - 16th March: - This was a great week for Carol Laula stuff...I am getting close to deciding what songs are going to be on the new album - mind you, for the first time ever, I don't have a title for it in advance, NOR do I want to be involved in the production of it. I can't really explain the change, but I just know that I want one. Stuart MacLeod will be producing the album along with David Rogers...we'll see what happens...actually, now that I've said I'm going to take that step back from production, I'm getting cold sweats...its the control freak in me!

A new band I have come across - Stylus Automatic - asked me to produce a single that they want to put out. The song is called 'American Town' and is really worth a listen...watch this space.

I think I mentioned that I had to review an Art Garfunkel album recently...well lo' and behold, I had to review a Joan Armatrading for the Janice Forsythe show too (why do I always get the oldies...? I'm beginning to see a pattern develop). Well, it was a tough one...you see, it didn't exactly blow me away but I always try to find something positive to say...so there I was, trying to squeeze out a good thing about the album - it wasn't that hard, the album wasn't exactly horrific or anything - but did Janice not say 'well I think you are being incredibly nice about it, because I thought it was absolutely minging...ghastly!' Eh, no Janice, don't sit on the fence, tell us what you really think!!!!

On Saturday 15th I took Caitlin Rose out on the moped to go for some nice breakfast...ah, it was magic fun. Happily, Caitlin loves it too! But, more on that later...

On Saturday night, I went to my boss's house for dinner - I kinda really like my boss and always want to make a good impression. So, I said to Amanda...'right, we're going to my boss for dinner, so, no getting pissed and no doing the splits...!' Well, I guess I don't really need to tell you that Amanda got pissed and did the splits, while singing Cabaret - the worse thing is, that when she started singing Cabaret, it was ME who started shouting 'splits, splits, splits...' Ah well, so much for good impressions...mind you, it was only a few days later that my boss told me that funding was in place for my consultancy for another couple of months! Wow! So, anytime things are bad from now on...I'm just going to think 'splits, splits, splits...'


17th - 23rd March: - On Monday 17th, I got to go to another gig. This time it was Tracey Chapman in the Armadillo. I have always been a fan and remember going to hear her once in New York...not see her, but HEAR her. The scene...there is a summer stage (outdoor) in the middle of Central Park, they have concerts every Tuesday (?) throughout the summer and one night my pal Rita came home and said that TC was playing. This was at the time she had released New Beginnings, so, 1996. Rita said that it was something like $35 per ticket and that we didn't have to worry about getting one...'uh, okay' said I, the mean Scot. Well, we got there about 6pm and headed for the perimeter fence of the summer stage - all the time I'm thinking 'is Rita going to jump the fence?' No danger, when we got there, there were hundreds of people sitting around outside the fence. Some had BBQs, bottles of wine, some were reading the paper after a long day at work, families were there with their children - it was incredible. What I wouldn't do for some guaranteed good weather! We sat and listened to TC for about 2 hours. Her voice, live, was stunning, I don't know what she was wearing but she sounded great! Tonight at the Armadillo was no different, except she looked great too! She seemed a wee bit embarassed mind you when all these Glasgow Folk were shouting things like 'Gaun yersel hen' and 'we love ye Tracey, yer MAGIC' (and that was just Lynne and me!)

That gig kept me warm for a couple of days...then the war started! Moving on...

I had a good wee chat with the programme controller and head news reporter at Q96, there's talk of me doing a specialist music show every now and then. We'll see what transpires, but in the meantime, I'm going to go in there on Easter Monday and have a wee bank holiday afternoon on air with Gary Burgess.

Another thing that kept me warm this week was the last of my SongSchool workshops in Paisley...did I tell you about that? Just quickly (if I can do such a thing!). I run songwriting workshops now and then, and this time I did it with 20 4th year pupils in St Andrew's Academy. It was absolutely wonderful. They all performed their songs that they had written, and got a certificate with a silver CD on it - if they were chuffed, I was beside myself...I maybe go on about it a lot, but there's a lot of talent around that just needs a little space. One thing happened though, that I really gotta tell you. I think that I've been lucky, I've never had a real job, always had a good and fairly young lifestyle, you know, don't look too old...and then...one of the girls came up to me in week two and said, 'excuse me, I think you might know my GRAN' - OUCH! That hurt! Your mum maybe, but not yer gran surely? As it happens, I do know her gran - but only because she was my tutor at college - PHEW! - not a schoolmate!

Hey, I had a wee unexpected gig in Paisley...I went to record some comedy as a favour for 'Mistress E' (a comedian) and to listen to Stylus Automatic. Well, when I got there, two of the acts hadn't managed to get to the gig, so, some opportunist person asked if I'd do a couple of songs. There you go, last minute and it was great fun. I don't think I sing enough...my neighbours don't agree!

And, still, there's a war going on and Tony and George are reminding us that it will only be 'two days before we are in Bagdhad'...'coalition troops have taken Umm Quasar'...'the Iraqi people will welcome our intervention'...'coalition troops are still fighting in Umm Quasar'...'we are only 50 miles from Bagdhad'...'No casualties, only those who have died in 'friendly fire'...


24th - 31st March: - This was the week that I was in recording with Stylus Automatic. You know, I really enjoyed it, and I love being in the studio - particularly in the capacity of being the big fancy-nancy producer. But it made me realise - I'M A REAL NAG! Its my way or the highway...! The poor guys, they hadn't done one or two things - pretty important things, like write a lyric here or a guitar part there - and there's me, the big hot-shot-not-producer - 'oh, did you FORGET that you were coming into the studio? Did you FORGET that the radio wouldn't play sweary words and that you'd need a radio edit. And then it happened...I looked into the booth and caught my reflection on the glass...except, it wasn't me...nope, it was my Gran Harley looking back at me, preparing, as she always did, to crash the trays together to get us out of bed at nine am in order to get us up for morning mass. Oh yes...! Even when my brothers hid those effin trays, she used pot lids - and here she was, in the studio, producing a single for Stylus Automatic - AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH - I've missed the 'turning into my mother' stage and cut straight to my grandmother!

Actually, I don't mean to give her a hard time (particularly now that she's dead and able to haunt me) but when we got back from mass and after she would grill my brothers about the gospel, making sure that they'd been to mass and not up in the top field lighting bracken fires. She would tell us fantastic stories about the gypsy families...and how auntie Cathy kept hearing the banshee at night, but no-one else did...that was why auntie Cathy finally died because the banshee had been beckoning her! (Not because she had been hearing the banshee for about 65 years and had a heart condition - what can I tell you? I was only young!) What really scared me though was that either auntie Cathy or the banshee might get back to my gran and tell her that the only reason that my brothers knew anything about the morning gospel was because they made me tell them on my way home from mass...only minutes after they had set fire to the bracken...! Sorry guys, but I've always been a 'wee clipe' - right?

This year was our turn to host the neighbours' Oscar Night! You know the scene, we all get a bit dressed up, drink champagne and watch the 4 hour re-run of the oscars, fast forward the speeches and look at the movie clips and try to work out who that is, or what did they win their last oscar for - mayhem really! Its usually hard to avoid the news all week so that you don't know who has won what - this year, needless to say, that was rather more easy. This meant that I didn't know one thing about the oscars, except that it was an unusually sombre ocassion. Well, that would be right! I don't know what's to blame, fizz, sombre ocassions or PMT, but four out of seven of us fell asleep...I STILL don't know who won an oscar and for what! This leaves me concerned for next year...we're never going to know who won what, when and for what movie...! Still, I think it was a good thing that I fell asleep - I was PMT grumpy!

However, my grumpy mood lifted the next day...'why' I hear you ask? Well, it was mother's day and I got to spend the day with my mum and god-daughter - I was still grumpy but not for long. The weather was great, the food was great, the company was great AND we went to Loch Lomond - tell me anyone, where is more beautiful than Scotland when the sun is shining? I really enjoy the sunshine (especially when on the moped)...which brings me full circle almost - THE MOPED!

Well, I told you I took Caitlin on it...she was a little afraid at first, then she got really into it and couldn't wait to get back on it. So, I thought I'd see if my MUM wanted a go...are you kidding? I couldn't get her on it fast enough! I thought, you know, her knees are a bit sore now and it might be too cold for her and she's asking 'can you lend me another jacket?'. So, off we went...'now mum, just stay with me...lean when I lean and stuff...'. We were off, and she was whooping and screeching and waving her arms around - it was mental! When Caitlin was on, it was all serious and holding on tight - then the mad woman gets on! Actually at one point she had been holding onto my waist and let go...and just for a fraction of a second - I thought she'd gone! I could see the headline...hysterical 65 year old, thrown from moped (for being too rowdy!) But nope, she was still there - happy mothers' day mum!

And so, that was my month...fun, frolicks and PMT, just like most months actually. I feel cheery now that I have looked back and re-enjoyed the month. I hope that you had a good one too. And, if you have friends or family involved in the war I hope that they are safe from any harm and home with you soon.

Be well...and let's hope for peace

Carol