Some Musical Weeks

The last five weeks have been the most gig intensive weeks I've had.

There's been two gigs with the new covers band, the first two ever, and also three Mimosa gigs, one of which was recorded, not to forget Muse at Wembley stadium. As my daughters would say; cool.

Last Tuesday night was the last one for a little while as the summer season approaches and there isn't anything in either of the band diaries until September. I mean the last gig, not the last Tuesday. There'll be normal practices so hopefully some new things to learn and there may be a new sax player in Mimosa so plenty of work to be done there too.

If you haven't picked this up already then I'll let you into a secret; I love knowledge. I love to learn and try to gain new knowledge from most things I experience. Sometimes knowledge can be garnered from seeing people do things wrongly. There are so many things I've picked up from watching a situation and realising that I could improve upon it by doing things differently. Often they are situations in which I have looked at my own behaviour and decided to improve it for next time.

So, the last five weeks has been great fun and also a massive musical learning experience.

Here are just some of the things I learned:

1. Music is my thing. It turns me on and it fires me up.

2. There are hardly any things I can imagine that would be more enjoyable than playing your own songs to an enthusiastic audience.

3. I'm missing my practice kit.

4. Mistakes in a gig are normal and good as long as you befriend them, embrace them and smile.

5. Playing covers is so different to playing originals. A good covers gig can feel a bit like coming back from Thailand and boasting about the number of attractive women that chatted you up. A bad originals gig can give the satisfaction that I would get if I had been turned down by Jennifer Aniston and Britney on the same night. Sort of.

6. Having big ears is one of the most important qualities in a great musician. Like Noddy. Although I can't quite understand why there aren't more elephant bands, particularly African elephant bands.

7. I really don't like those Franz Ferdinand songs.

8. When I grow up I want to be famous.

9. I don't think I'll grow up.