To Where I Am Now
Tuesday December 17th 2024
I started with a sesh with Rene in Vermont today, I didn’t know the history of the region but always thought it was lovely word to say and it didn’t take a genius to imagine it must be from French - and here it is:
Explorer Samuel de Champlain
French explorer Samuel de Champlain claimed the area of what is now Lake Champlain, giving the name, Verd Mont (Green Mountain) to the region he found, on a 1647 map. Evidence suggests that this name came into use among English settlers, before it morphed to "Vermont", ca. 1760.
Ok now we have that out of the way, I’ve been to nearly all the US states, even if it was just driving through some of them, but I’ve never been to Vermont (or Alaska or Hawaii). But now I have had a sessioneer from Vermont, I’ve babysat a cat called Hawaii and had a girlfriend from Alaska - do those things count?
As I finished, Dan and Daniela were at the front gate. They were dropping by after seeing some apartments for their move in February but it was an early visit and they were gone before dinner as they have a flight back to Madeira at 3.15 AM - could be an early night.
I went to the electricity shop and picked up two of my lamps that were having their switches replaced. It’s a routine operation for unhealthy lamps. The lava lamp base was spending another night as Susannah at the shop has ordered the right colour switch, she only had a white switch and it looked odd on a black cable. It would be like replacing the wrong colour door on your BMW. But as I went there it started to rain and I was too close to the shop to turn back for a brolly. I thought, carrying lamps back to The Archive in the rain, is probably not the best idea. It was spitting and then the drops got bigger and then I was at the shop. I feared the worst, walked outside with the lamps and it had stopped - thank you lamp god.
I dropped them off at The Archive and went down to see Carlos at the guitar store to pick up some dupe money that he had from the market, and in turn to take to the record store to pick up some records ordered that had been behind the counter for ages. I’m working on the theory that dupes money goes to new records. I realise that priorities are rent and bills and into the new year I’m going to be doing my very best to figure out how to monetise this amazing place. On that note, thank you to everyone who has donated and helped support the In Deep Music Archive in 2024 and at any time previously - it’s worth it, now come and visit.
A trip to the psychedelic psupermarket, as I tried to get enough food in without having to make too many extra trips over the holidays. Catching up with emails now, I have a solo to record for Blueburst and a demo song to record for a new song written with sessioneer Rod in Vancouver in the coming daze. Music forever.
Music today has been Frank Zappa - Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar (1981). Two full discs of nothing but guitar solos, haha. I played this record a lot on my ‘boom box’ on tour in the eighties and find it invigorating. Different bands, different tones, he’s one of the only players that plays fast that I like. And this a warning for all the men, he died of prostate cancer at the age of 52 in 1993 - get checked.