1st - 12th October: Well, can you believe it? Wee Neo is now one year old. Time for his MOT! You know, I remember when I was a wee girl, my family finally managed to afford a car - well a wee red van with rust spots all over it actually! And, come MOT time, I remember my mum waiting by the telephone with a really serious face, waiting to be told the bad news - ie how much it would cost to fix the effin thing! - funny, but I'm sure there was no fixing it, it should have been scrapped as soon as we bought it, particularly when you consider that the front wheel fell off it when we were going round a corner, with six of us in the back!

Anyway, Neo?...he was fine, passed his MOT with a first class honours and a new number plate - and I'm faster and more furious than ever...in fact, my 'nod' is getting out of control!

I went to see an old hero of mine on the Ferry - well, probably a hero of anyone who was fifteen when Dean Friedman released 'lucky stars'. Mind you, in my naïveté, I thought it would mainly be girls who were into Mr F - oh how wrong I was...!

This was a mental night. Dean Friedman was incredible...you know, very entertaining and his voice sounded as young as it did back then. But the Ferry was mental! Suffice to say that my accountant was there! Seriously though, most folk seemed to be forty something and were out of their heads on booze and singing at the top of their voices along with Dean. But the funniest thing was that during 'lucky stars' (if you don't know this song - sorry - but its sort of a conversation between two folk and the guy had just seen his ex-girlfriend, and the new girlfriend was all upset, and blah blah blah...) Anyway, DF started singing the song his part, probably fully intending to have some girls from the audience sing the girl part but no, oh no! This big 6.5 foot guy ran up to the from of the stage and started singing the girl part to Dean Friedman at the top of his voice'...yes I still love you...I wasn't angry...'. I don't know how I looked, but everyone on the Ferry just stopped singing and stared at this guy...DF just broke down in laughing hysterics...ah, it was crazy...and I guess you had to be there - !

As for the album? This week, Ronnie Garrity was mastering it - in other words making it all run together at the same volume with a couple of seconds in between track etc...I'll have it in my hands VERY soon...

Did I mention that I am going to Mexico on Christmas Eve for 3.5 weeks? Oh I did? Oh, well, sorry - but I am! With that in mind, I started a Spanish Class...well whit a laugh! We have to do a wee intro to the rest of the class (in Spanish) telling certain fact about ourselves...well, I am Carol and I live in Glasgow, Scotland. For my job, I work as a brain surgeon and my hobbies are politics and playing poker - do you think they know that I was making it up? I find languages difficult, but I'm getting there with it and, most importantly, I will be able to ask for two beers and find out where the caves are!


13th - 19th October: Coming up this week was the first weekend of the New Bands Festival...I told you about that last month, but it was really hotting up. Q96fm had been running trails and doing live sessions with some of the bands who were playing. It was all getting really exciting. The bands were all finalised as was the venue and everything. The first weekend was an acoustic weekend and I gotta tell you, I saw some amazing acts...

I told you before about Jake Cogan, the eighteen year old from Wishaw. Well she performed along with Sandy Jones (who recorded my 'Naked' CD) on guitar, opening the festival. It wasn't too busy, but with the performance Jake put on, there could have been 50 people or 50,000. No one would notice, all eyes and ears were on her and her amazing voice - incredible. I hope that you get a chance to see her. Scott MacDonald played too, it was great to hear him live. His playing and his patter were excellent. Needless to say however, I have a penchant for female singer/songwriters and, along with Jake, I got to see some crackers this weekend. Namely, Catherine O'Halloran, an Irish singer/songwriter living in Glasgow - she is a real natural on stage - and has a brilliant voice. Another girl I saw is Natalie Clark. She working with wee Stuart Brown, writing material. This was her first gig. Again, like the others, she was incredible. The music from all three of these women was very different, yet completely inspirational. There were other acts too, for example, Ruth Martin, Stylus Automatic and Deque Rivers. It was a highly successful weekend, although, as I said, it was poorly attended.


20th - 26th October: I started some workshops in schools in West Dunbartonshire this week too; two high schools and two primary schools. Nothing to report here, except that the primary kids were mental, with one of the offering to write a song with the word mother****er in it! Eh? yeah, well, I'm not sure that's going to work, particularly as the headteacher is a NUN! Needless to say we wrote a song WITHOUT the word mother****er in it!

For the New Bands Festival, this weekend was to be the electric weekend for the festival. Well, that was...interesting! I couldn't make the last night, which was a bummer because I had booked loadsa bands that I'd wanted to see that night. Now, I don't want to mention names or anything here, but the Friday night was...like I said...interesting! One of the bands had kind of talked their way into getting onto the bill, which was fine cause I wanted the bill to be as eclectic as possible. But its funny how the older band (who should know better) were strutting their stuff, acting like it was their gig and that they would show these youngsters a thing or two...it kind of did my head in...if only because this was NOT the spirit with which I wanted the festival to run. The were going on about having more people there and they should go on last and blah blah blah, Acht, bloody musicians - they dae ma heid in! Mind you, it was much busier than last week!

By all accounts the next night went really well, except that one of the bands didn't turn up! Still, James Dean informed me that it was a great night - the fact that it was really busy was great too! It meant that my first ever New Bands Festival made something like a £3.80 profit!!! Here's to next year's!

The reason I couldn't make the last night of the festival was because I was playing in Edinburgh. Now here was a pretty magic gig!

I have played a couple of times in The Pleasance Cabaret Bar for Juniper Promotions. Now, mostly it has been fairly quiet on the attendance front, but this time it was mobbed. I don't know if it was the press before hand, or the talking up the new CD or whatever, but...it was busy. Sadly Big Stuart couldn't join me...this was a real bummer, particularly as we were playing some tracks from the new album. However, big Alby was there, playing acoustic base and making me look good!

Before we went on, Lee Patterson opened the set...well, this guy was tremendous...he played guitar and sang, he also played bodhran and tambourine AND the floor. He was manic and wrote songs about everything - including Kylie Minogue! Look out for him...he's well worth a listen.

I had my new wee guitar that night too. Well, it was weird. Not only is it REALLY small, but I decided to learn to play it differently, you know, use my fingers more often and no pick. It was a bit difficult, but the who show went really well. As ever, we play for about a hundred hours and I'm getting quite into telling some stories in between songs...I know I always talk too much...but this night I was having a fair old time to myself. It was a great show that I enjoyed immensley, not least of all because it was well attended and that Jan from Juniper was reaping some of the benefits of her belief and her staying power...thanx Jan. I wish there was a way to articulate this, but I don't think there is...mind you, I'm going to try...! (oh joy I hear you say)

Sometimes you play a show and its great...all of the pieces are in place: the songs are right, the audience is magic and it just works...and it becomes a 'good gig'. Other times the pieces are almost in place, the audience is good and it becomes an absolutely 'MAGIC gig'. As far as I can see, there seems to be no formula, no missing or added ingredient which makes the outcome different...maybe its just how I'm feeling myself, because no one can make me think I had a Magic gig, if I think I only had a great one. Wow, hands up those of whom made ANY sense out of that???

So, sorry about that...moving on...

I played in the Sunday in Hamishes Hoose in Paisley as the kind of host for the end of festival party. Some of the acts who played at the festival came along and had a free drink and a sandwich AND played some music. It was a great wee night which saw me sing (and forget the words again, of) Puppy Love, but I didn't feel so bad when Jake Cogan sang John Denver's Leaving on a Jet Plane!


27th - 31st October: This was pretty much a family week. I have two nieces in Jersey who came to visit. The are five and four years old and they are absolutely stunning looking wee girls. My brother, who is gorgeous, has pretty sallow skin and their mum, also gorgeous, has the most piercing blue eyes - the result is that the wee girls are both beautiful with sallow skin and bright blue eyes. The also have lovely personalities...you know, you can just be walking along with them, or pushing them in a swing and they'll just say 'Thanks, I love you auntie Carol' ... at which point I make an appointment with the sperm clinic!

Another quick thing I started this week...A YOGA COURSE. Now, I cannot move, dance or even hit my guitar with much rhythme. In fact, I remember going to a salsa class and trying all the moves - and loving it too by the way, thinking I was great - and then in the mirror, I caught the eye of my two friends, Sharon and Lynne, absolutely killing themselves laughing at my dancing! So, you can imagine, to go to a yoga class is a pretty big thing for me! I was more than a little nervous - funny, stand me in front of thousands of people and tell me to sing...no bother...! However, stand me in a room with another twenty doing yoga....argh! Anyway, I LOVED it...I can do a great downward dog, AND I can almost salute the sun...aint you impressed.

Anyway, I'm just talking rubbish now...its time to go and get ready for my up coming gigs...I have many new songs to learn...

Have a great November and make it along to any show that you can...I look forward to it!

Carol