November Swoops In

November swoops in. Things to do, always things to do.

I said I would mention other projects as they arise. A while ago I suggested to my friend Ed that we should collaborate on a book of haiku and photographs. I have written (and revised) a sequence of haikus and he has been assembling the appropriate photos to accompany each one. Some we had to put on a back burner because they were seasonal in nature. One required a blustery autumnal day. The perfect conditions arrived on Sunday, so I persuaded him to accompany me down to the river. Hey, let’s not beat about the bush; this is the haiku in question;

Windswept, middle-aged,
And sitting by a river;
Current position.

So, we needed to get my dishevelled self in there with the suggestion of wind and the ripples in the river. I used myself from the opposite consideration to vanity – how could I ask someone else to take it on? It was wet down there as it had been raining hard overnight. Anyone watching may have wondered what was going on. Strangely, there weren’t many other people about.

Setting up a Turn Up Recordings page has me thinking about other possibilities. In particular, a collection of Pig’s Eye View material over the years seems to be in order. I’ve had a listen to some of the stuff in the vaults. I’m still standing – just. Having whittled down the selection on the criteria of at least listenable recording quality, songs I am happy with and performance, I have come up with a collection. I may tinker with it a bit, but Ed can help me in levelling out the volume levels.

I’ve included Happy Valley as part of the PEV story, as we were the same people under a different guise for a while. I regard Los Contrabandos as separate, as it was decidedly before with a substantially different line up. Over the years we had quite a number of members, quite apart from guests who helped out at one time or another. I was lucky enough to work with a succession of good singers; Pim, Darren, Ed, Claire and Natalie. Was there a reason they all moved on, one by one? Was it the same reason? We’ll get as many of them into the collection as possible.