Hello folks, www.myspace.com/colinclyne
www.acousticmusiccentre.co.uk

Well it looks like the Silly season is back again!!!! Anyhow......

......If you helpe​d me this year with.​.​.​.​.​.​.​ gigs,​ tours​,​ cd sales​,​ PR,​marke​ting,​ recor​ding,​ '​dossi​ng'​ on couch​es,​ whisk​ey,​ letti​ng out spare​ rooms​,​ free guita​r lesso​ns,​ free advic​e,​ rowie​s,​ cups of tea, trave​ling about​ Scotl​and,​ comin​g to my gigs when I playe​d at home in Augus​t.​ it was and still​ is very much appre​ciate​d.​.​.​.​.​.​if you didn'​t.​.​.​.​.​ hey there​'​s alway​s next year!​ ;O)

I have a Solo acous​tic gig on Sunda​y the 21st Decem​ber, 8pm:

Cafe Drumm​onds
1 Belmo​nt Stree​t
Aberd​een
Scotland
http:​/​/​maps.​ googl​e.​ co. uk/​maps?​near=​1+​Belmo​nt+​Stree​t,​+​Aberd​een&​q=​Cafe+​Drumm​onds&​f=​p&​rl=​1&​ie=​UTF8&​z=​15

It's £3 at door.​.​.​.​.​my share​ will be going​ towar​ds the Inver​bervi​e Nurse​ry fund that my Siste​r is invol​ved with,​ they are strug​gling​ to keep the place​ open so the more the merri​er!​ She'​ll no doubt​ be there​ selli​ng CDs and bangi​ng the PR drum!​

The show start​s at 8pm, my good frien​ds Eskim​o Blond​e (​googl​e 'em they'​re good)​ are also playi​ng a set that night​ so pleas​e come down and give your suppo​rt.​

Hope to see you there​!​
cheer​s
Colin​

www. myspa​ce.​ com/​colin​clyne​
www. nessm​p3.​ com/​music​/​colin​clyne​
http:​/​/​www.​ myspa​ce.​ com/​eskim​oblon​de

Aye aye loons and lassies,

I have uploaded a track I recorded for the Starving Dog Records Christmas LP. The song I covered was a Heart track written by the Wilson sisters. It's a great song and I was very honored to have this track picked for me to record.

The LP is on sale at www.starvingdogrecords.com and all proceeds are going to Cancer and environmental related charities.

A massive shout out to Marvin Glover for the huge effort he put into making this project get to its final point. I have listened to all of the songs and its a really great little Christmas record to throw in your great Auntie Doris' stocking.

Some of us have had cancer in our lives, all of us have environment in our life so get your arse in gear and buy a copy!

cheers
Colin 'ho ho ho bah humbug' Clyne

First off, let me clarify there has been no 'hooring' whatsoever, however it rhymes brilliantly with touring and pouring (well kind of) and it also adds an element of 'Rock n roll Scottishness' to my prose!

Well, I currently find myself on a rather large floating paradise somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil. I have very little going on just now, allowing me to put my body and mind back together piece by piece (more on this later) after the last month of hectic touring in the UK! I have to say the tour itself threw up a lot of highs and lows, I guess this is always to be expected!

The two festivals I played (Belladrum and Edinburgh) were great and I received a good response and a fairly decent review! Next year I'll probably do the London thing on my own. Perhaps I'll get my 'moothie' on the go and do the whole Neil Young thing (well without the success, money and Canadian passport….oh and I must dig out that harmonica for idiots guide), to  save the expense of carting musicians around the underground!

Unfortunately, from the moment I packed my guitar away, towelled my heaving sweaty carcass off and left the stage in Aberdeen, I spent about 5 days knocking back 'pinties, nippies and haggis pudding suppers' with my best mates back home. We spent the day watching the football, drinking and speaking absolute shite and I have to say it was much needed. The once mighty Aberdeen F.C produced an absolute howling performance and somehow managed to grind out a dreary 1-1 draw against Rangers. Family entertainment my arse! Some of the shouts at the game stood up to the usual macabre brilliance you'd expect at Pittodrie; 'break the fuckers legs ya bam' was one of the more respectable and football orientated shouts!

It certainly pales against the family orientated sport outings you get in the US, however American sports fans will probably never understand (or experience) the passion and tribalism of British football and thus the atmosphere generated between rival fans. I can't imagine that an opposition player being hit in the face with a chilli dog or nacho's could ever have the same impact physically or culturally as an opposition player 'being smacked in the puss wi a Pittodrie Pie'. On that note I actually didn't get myself a 'PP' (we'll abbreviate here as that's what 'real' writers do, isn't it?) as they'd ran out by the time we'd got half way along the line.
However, it is what it is though, and I do still love this ridiculous game (and my crap team). Rubbish football match aside, and once a few of the boys had stirred some dog hair into their hangovers (from my gig the night before) a superb day was had by all and there were a lot of sore faces (and throats) the next day from laughing! All of ours stories becoming funnier, better, faster, harder, longer and much more poignant than the original tale ever truly was the older and drunker we get, it's so true isn't it!?

Allow me to rein myself back in from this 'Billy Connellyesque' storytelling tangent. So, the days of nostalgic hometown hedonism coupled with a 13 hour transatlantic journey (with red wine), some caipirinha's (vodka, sugar and lime apparently), no sleep, and a shit load more beer have left me looking like Keith Richards' fat Scottish lovechild. Infact, imagine that very lovechild delivering Sunday papers complete with a special edition Olympic supplements in Beirut for most of their life, you are now pretty close to my current bonnyness! Oh and not to mention the alcohol unit count that has Georgie Best high fiving Ollie Reed somewhere upstairs (I hope God likes a tipple or ten).

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say I felt as 'rough as a badgers arse' . I wonder if it is a misconception in Scotland on how 'rough a badgers arse' truly is, who did the experiment and who wrote the paper? Anyway the upshot from all of this is as I clambered wearily onboard the good ship Polarbjorn with my immune system as low as Jiminy Crickets 'sneakers' I managed to smuggle a wee stowaway on in the shape of a serious head cold, I'm delighted to say I have now rid myself of said cold but I'm not very popular with the lads onboard who have replaced sunbathing in their Borat style mankini's (seriously) and badminton with sneezing and drinking lemsips!!

As I look out over the night horizon with Sao Sebastiao in the background, it really hits home the duality of this seafaring life we have.  We get to see some beautiful remote places and yet we struggle to break out of our cultural binge drinking as soon as we hit shore, hmmm maybe if we had somebody with us we loved? Actually this subject sits nicely with a new song I have just finished writing called 'The Channels' (its meaning is a whole other blog in itself), it will get an airing soon when I'm back on land in October (check my gig guide)!

So anybody on for any South American culture today? Nah, I'll just order another beer I think and moan about it later, as my mate Titch say's "…Aye Clynie, you can take the boy oot o' Stonehaven but you can't take the Stonehaven oot o' the boy…", unfortunately never a truer word been said…….. now pass me the beer nuts and leave me to read my lonely planet guide!!!

Good day kind folks,

Starving Dog Records are proud to announce the release of a Christmas LP for charity. All of the artist were asked to vote and among us we decided that cancer and the environment were what we felt most passionate about. If anybody has any further questions about this feel free to get in touch and I'll put you to the right person.

The note below is from the eternally industrious Marivn Glover of Starving Dog records, he has been the brains, brawn and driving force of this worthy project.

Cheers
Colin

--------------------------------------------------------------


Hi Everyone,

We need to raise $4,600 in order to secure the minimum amount needed to produce the holiday CD. If you are at all interested in purchasing a CD and helping us get it to you this year. Please buy now through the PayPal at www. starvingdogrecords. com

Best wishes,
Marvin Glover


The track listing so as of now is:

Here is Christmas – Colin Clyne

God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman – Cheeky

2000 Miles – Marvin Glover

Santa Baby – Amy Stouffer

Go Down Moses – Saul Kaye

Winter Wonderland – Sweetloop

Little Drummer Boy – Gerry Perlinski

The Christmas Song – Marvin Glover

Oh Holy Night –Katie Wilson

Joy - Mark Bosnian

Advance Reviews – This is a beautiful adaptation of the original songs by Ann and Nancy Wilson. Colin's voice sounds stunning amidst the expert guitar playing of James Hood. This will be a great song to put on sitting by a roaring fire with family and friends.

........well I've been a busy wee laddie over the last couple of months.

I've been working on a new record, no set release date as of yet but let me just say in absolute sincerity that its nothing short of spectacular, I may never become rich, I may never become famous but i'm in the process of recording what can only be described as an absolute fucking belter!!!

In other news, I've become the rather surprised but nonetheless proud owner of a cat, I was never much of a fan of cats before if truth be told but its always different when its your own, I won't give away her name just incase you bump into her on the street......actually some heartless bastard declawed her then subsequently hoyed her out on the streets, so the chances of her ambling any further than our 4th floor balcony are pretty slim.
In a sad sort of way she has become my best friend, she listens to my music, doesn't tell me I'm shite, she has a liking of football (real football), she never complains about her life (even though I suspect its been tough until now) she doesn't have social issues, prescription medication issues, racial issue or alcohol issues....although she finds it hard to bare when I fall asleep on the floor after a rather arduous day of music.......and beer!

I can seriously upset this cat by one of the following (a) trying to feed her, her medicine (b) accidently trip over her (c) pick her up and shove her bemused feline 'puss' (Scottish slang for face before I get any animal activists on here) at the webcam to show my family and friends, yet all it takes is one silly synthetic spider with its arse crammed full of cat nip bobbing about on a rope and she's back from underneath the bed and all is forgiven, if only all relationships in life worked like this!!!

Anyway as I'm starting to sound like some demented, sexually starved middle aged spinster i'm going to get off my cat trip.

I have a shed load of gigs coming up, some acoustic, most full band.......I currently have two bands, one in San Diego and one in Scotland. The one in San Diego will be embarking in a gig in O'Connell's in July and the one in Scotland will be supporting me as we tear across the UK trying to sell CD's to anybody who will give my songs the chance they undoubtedly deserve......we should all believe that, never forget that fellow 'artistes'!

Today I find myself in rainy Stavanger, the weather here pissed with rain however I found a wee smile come across my face as I realised it was the first time in ages that I got caught, on the way home, in a t-shirt in the pishing rain!!

Somedays you just gotta let the rain catch you!

cheers
Colin

..> ..>

.................HELLO  to all my new friends and to all my old friends on here in planet myspace. I hope everybody is well and looking after themselve's! Good to see 'Ozmuso Denny' back in one piece! Currently i'm on a ship in West Africa doing my 'thang' working for the man, however i've been dreaming, scheming & ice creaming as always! As opposed to a Cold store my current practice venue of choice is a Sauna changing room.......damn those acoustics are far too much!!! However it allows me to work on my set and write new songs without rolling about the deck within a flurry of obscenities and fists after waking some of the hairy arsed riggers on here! I'm picking up gigs left, right & centre at the moment for the upcoming months! I'll be back in the US as of next week where i'll be doing some Southern Californian gigs as well as hopefully some Oregon and North Californian gigs too! June may see an East coast US tour as well as some full band stuff in California (watch this space =>___)! August see's me back in the UK for a full band tour, as always I love going home to play in Scotland as we are 'pure mad as a brush and that' when it comes to our music and...........erm, well  most other things too.......it will be great, I'll get a pint of watered down tennents lager, a tin of irn bru and a night out dodging fists and drunk people before devouring a haggis pudding supper..............hell I might even get to see the once mighty Aberdeen football club take an absolute spanking off of whoever happens to venture North on that particular week!!! I think Aberdeen really need to adopt my song 'Stonehaven radio station and me' as it harks back to the good old days of samba's, bovril and pishing in the laybys on the way to away games! Today I watched a pod (correct term?) of Dolphins, surround, bamboozle, slap, tickle and inevitably eat some unsuspecting fish just about 30 yards from the back of our ship! I can't help wondering if the same fate awaits me as I try to make my way through yet another West African airport on the way home! See some of you soon! cheers Colin

Welcome friends!

Well what can I say about this year so far for me in a musical sense?? CRAZY!!

2006 saw me record my debut CD 'Songs from the Cold Store' and it was eventually mixed, mastered and released through Starving Dog Records in January 2007. As strange as this will sound, in February I then played my very first ever gig (I had played one in a covers band a few years back) but this was the real deal, the gig was in my name and was purely myself and acoustic guitar. This gig was in Bellingham, WA and it also coincided with the first night of my West Coast USA tour, I then spent two weeks working my way down through Seattle WA (and surrounding areas), Portland OR, Ashland OR, San Francisco CA, Orange County CA and San Diego. This tour allowed me to realise that I could cut it live and people were gravitating towards my live shows.

Also around this time I started to pick up a lot of media interest and I received National press coverage back home in the UK with the Daily Star headline asking 'Is this the coolest sound on the planet', with reference to the Cold Store, of course I will use that headline to my advantage when given the opportunity :O)! I also featured in severeal San Diego Reader articles.

I continued to work away on my ship and spend as much time in whatever 'nook or cranny' (this year has been in a sauna changing room) I could find to get my live performance upto scratch and prepare myself for gigging when I left the ship and travelled home to San Diego.

Gigging around San Diego has been invaluable for me, its allowed me to play in pubs, clubs and coffee shops and I have taken something away from every gig I play, its important to keep learning and keep wanting to improve....in every aspect of life! During these San Diego gigs I have played with some terrific back-up musicians, James Hood, Marvin Glover, Dr Dave Sawyer, Jackson Patrick, Trevor Henthorne to name a few.

During the summer whilst spending some time in Norway I looked into and applied for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (the biggest arts festival on the planet) and had the luck to be accepted and got myself a 3 night gig at the Acoustic Music Centre in the Haymarket area of the City.

Off the back of these three dates in August I decided to book a UK tour, I played dates in London, Norwich, Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews, Inverness & Aberdeen. I was also given the opportuntiy of playing a live radio gig at Future Radio in Norwich after impressing a DJ there the previous evening at a gig in the City.

The tour went great and it culminated in a fantastic gig in Aberdeen (Scotland) not far from my home town of Stonehaven where even though I headlined an acoustic night at 10pm on a Tuesday night I got a terrific crowd and a great reception! During my UK tour I played one London gig with a guitarist called Mark Chapman and I played the rest of the Scottish leg of my UK tour with Big Gav from Ayr on lead guitar, for those who know him, he likes to be known as Big Gav. Big Gav is a brilliant guitarist and I was deeply honoured to share the stage with such a talented gentleman. I also had Biz the Drummer from Aberdeen play percussion on my Inverness and Aberdeen dates to a great success. Both these musicians have played with some big names and have been in big bands!

Approximately around the month of September I started my first US & Canada National College Radio Campaign and I have been getting National air play (from Hawaii to Texas to New Jersey to Chicago) since then with my CD actually charting in several areas with a highest Chart position of number 4 in amongst The White Stripes, The Smashing Pumpkins and The Editors, that was surreal!

October saw me turn 31 (Doh) and also saw me get nominated and shortlisted for the Best New Acoustic Act at the San Diego HAT awards, allthough I didn't win this it was real honour to be in amongst so many great local talent.

This brings me upto today and well i'm happy and i'm constantly writing new songs, I feel I have written enough songs this year for a truly great album, I will take my time with that though as I still have a lot of mileage left in the first CD!

My goals for 2008:

Tour East Coast USA, and play the areas where I charted and got radio play.

Work the West Coast again and re-engage my audience up there.

Get accepted into the SXSW music festival.

Play the Edinburgh Festival again & tour the UK again with more UK festivals.

Start recording my new album (or pre-production at the very least)

Improve my Southern California fanbase.

Write the greatest song in the World

Lose 30lbs!!!!

This year has been a hell of a journey and I want to thank those who have shared it with me, particularly Fiona (putting up with my ambitions and passion), Marvin Glover of Starving Dog records for support, Theresa Rasmussen, Richie Sinclair, Stuart Coull for giving me somewhere to sleep during parts of my 2007 tours, everybody that bought my CD, everybody that requested that it get radio play, everybody who atteneded any of my gigs, everybody that travelled hundreds of miles to see me play in Edinburgh (some came from different countries).

NOTE: This Year ain't finished yet so only God knows whats in store for me during the remaining time, I have gigs in Scotland during ther Christmas holidays, they should be a blast!!

All the best and take care

Colin

Hello folks,

I am pleased to announce that I am due to play three nights at this years Edinburgh Fringe Festival from Thursday the16th of August to the 18th.

16th: 630pm

17th: 630pm

18th: 11pm

The venue is the

Acoustic Music Centre, St Brides centre, Orwell Terrace, EH11 2DY

This venue has been graced by acoustic greats such as Bert Jansch over the years.The room I will be playing in is an extremely intimate room and therefore book tickets ASAP.

Tickets can be purchased for £8 (£6 concession) at the following box office phone number:

00 44(uk) 0131 346 1405

I hope to see as many friendly faces there as possible, the Festival itself is a fantastic event.

There is a website for the venue but its currently being updated for the 2007 Festival:

www.acousticmusiccentre.com

Thanks kindly for your time and hope to see you soon!

Colin

 

 

...well maybe not quite a Rock N' Roll Star, however I have now become both a recording and touring artist, I intend to document my West Coast tour on my blog daily (or as daily as I can make it).

As you may or may not be aware i'm currently heading from Washington State down through Oregon and through California for my first ever Solo tour (on acoustic geeetar).

14th February (A.K.A St Valentines day):

Wild Buffalo, Bellingham, 8pm (open mic):

My very first gig as a solo artist, it was brief but I enjoyed it (I think), I must admit whilst sitting in the bar waiting to play first in the open mic line up I was thinking, 'what the hell am I doing here', i'm used to playing in Cold Stores, sauna's, hell even studios where you can go back and eradictae the mistakes but here we are, the real thing, a big stage a not quite packed out crowd ( I think there were about 15 people there) and a Scotsman with a guitar a hand full of songs and a thumping heart. once I settled down, tuned up and intorduced myself (well after the man introduced me and I then introduced myself from Scotland) I went into a brief set consisting of Tailgunner, Pomegranite Grey and Jesus don't come from Phoenix. I explained the meaning of all of the songs (well apart from Tailgunner funnily enough) and I got a good reaction, I met a few people briefly after the gig and I had a beer with a nice couple called John and Sonja who were among the people that bought a CD from me, one down and one to go....for that night.

The Acoustic Tavern, Bellingham, 9pm

I eventually foud this place amongst the one way system in Bellingham, I stopped and asked a passer by who was probably the drunkest man in the town, if not the State at that particular moment, he pointed me in the general direction and I eventually 'happened' across it.
This was not an open mic gig and therefore I played a set of about 6 songs consisting of Tailgunner, Pom Grey and various other tunes. This was a very small venue (good a little bit of intimacy) and there were about 10 people in the crowd, once we got the sound etc in order of I go singing songs and spouting off about my parking space, St valentine being buried in Scotland etc etc. The set went by reasonably fault free, well I may have managed to cover up any minor mistakes!! I actually stopped near the end of 'Jesus dont come from Phoenix' to thank a woman who stuck money in a pot infront of me, I was actually in shock as i wasn't expecting it. Once I had finished my set I got a good reaction from a lovely crowd of people (albeit drunk) and I sold several CDs after the set. A special mention to Kevin and his crowd for shooting the shit with me and buying a cd afterwards. Kevin is going to Scotland in December to climb some mountains, rather him than me, anyway I made sure i informed him he better be able to drink before he heads there (he can)!

So I got back into the car in Bellingham at 2230 and headed South over the 100 miles back to Seattle a very tired but happy young camper.

To be continued........

Thursday 15th February

Well after waking up today with a grin on my face and a rumbling belly (this touring lark is hungry work, well in the morning as I dont generally eat from about 3pm onwards....shock horror) I decide I need to see some of this fine city of Seattle. Being a muso type it would be sacrilege to not visit the Experience Music Project (AKA known as the EMP or the Jimi Hendrix gallery). This is situated in the Space needle complex, for those that watch Frasier thats the pointy tower type thing thats in the title shot.
It has to be said they have an amzing collection of Hendrix memrobillia ranging from letters from his childhood to some of his flamboyant stage gear (well and street wear) and even some of his guitars. After a few hours sontering round here and tinkering on some of the instruments (they have a section where you can play all the instruments) and a spot of lunch I headed back to the house im staying at for a quick nap pack up my gear and head for tonights venue.

Mr Spots Chai House, 7pm (ish)

I turn up tonight knowing this is quite a big gig even though its open mic as a guy Jeromy that is associated with Starving Dogs label is coming and bringing along a load of people also. When I arrive at this coffee shop I could only describe it as being like the the coffee shop 'Central Perk' from Friends but with a touch of hemp...nudge nudge wink wink, I must admit I thought it was a wee bit empty and possibly too quiet for my boombastic vocals (ahem) anyway I needn't worry as it soon filled up and all the laptops and books disappearwed and the guitars, mandolins, harmonicas and scarfs all appeared. Jeromy and his entourage arrived and as i sat sipping some strange tea beverage and water and visiting the 'restrooms' frequently they all got tore into the house wine!

Because of the noise of the place most of the musicians were tuning up outside on the street and there was a fair amount of jamming and strangeness going on, it was brilliant fun to be honest, one word that could be used to sum this joint....er sorry place up is Bohemian, a small part of Greenwich village or London in Seattle. I think there was also a fair amount of Canada's finest being smoked outside too. The people performing ranged from singers, guitarists to spoke word stories and poetry, I eventually got on somewhere between 9pm and 10pm but due to the tight schedule everybody got 2 songs or approx 8 minutes. I played Tailgunner and pomegranite Grey and ended up with a great reaction from the crowd (approx 100 people and I got some hand clapping and foot stomping going during Poemgranite Grey), so much so I was asked to play again later in the evening.

Just before I went on for the 2nd time I met this Canadian Singer Songwriter called Brodie Dawson (she played the shaker during my first set) and she borrowed my guitar to play a few songs (coincidentally my guitar is also Canadian) and she is very very good, it was also good to get a chance to hear how my guitar sounds in a live setting and the result was good (although maybe it was just her LOL).

I ended up on again somewhere between 1130 and midnight, I played a song I wrote called 'Stonehaven Radio station and me' (which is about going to the football as a kid with my Uncle Gordon) and 'Jesus don't come from Phoenix', on 'Jesus...' I pulled some punter out of the crowd who had been doing a good impression of Bob Dylan earlier in the evening to accompany me with some harmonica, and declared to the crowd 'I've just met this dude', who introduced himself as Tommy D, 'therefore there is a good chance we might fuck this up', however it went down extremely well. I was meant to have this other guy play mandolin on 'Stonehaven radio...', he was this dreadlocked geezer from New york however I think he went for some 'fresh air' and he missed the song. Its made me realise that this is what its all about, getting people involved in your songs, tonight I feel I made the transition (albeit small) from just feeling like some guy who has written a few songs in a fridge to startiing to feel like a musician or part of something bigger than just writing a few songs, I felt connected to people tonight and I know that sounds a bit wet coming from a 'loon from Stonehaven' but tonight I met some incredibly talented people and we all played as one..........oh also before I sound too arty farty, I sold some more CDs (i'm just a whore)!!!!

To be continued.........

Friday 16th February

Wired and Unplugged, Snohomish, 7pm (ish)

After last nights adventures I was pumped, psyched and as we say in the North East of Scotland 'jist rarin to go'. Snohomish is a small town North East of Seattle and it was approx 2 hours drive (what with the terrible traffic here). I got there in plenty time, signed up and had myself a cup of strong coffee, 'Wired and unplugged' indeed. I said hello to a few of the muso types who had gathered to play but got a fairly curt / gruff reply, ahhhh of course, we aren't in the City anymore, small town unknown face. Ok, I was meant to be up about 4th I think, so imagine my surprise when im called up first (well after the host played a tune), so im not tuned up or anything, a quick pop outside to tune up in peace and im ready to go. By this point there was probably a crowd of 80 or so I guess, in an incredibly small room, no alcohol in thisplace as its an acoustic type coffee shop so its full of families and young kids, a very nice atmosphere, incredibly gracious and appreciative crowd. I introduced myself and started with 'Tailgunner', I always do, I think its because I don't want to explain the origins of the song and get it out of the way after the 'hello my name is Colin Clyne, and im from scotland' (geee me too hwoooney), of course I end up with a little bit of banter back and forth! I go through my tales of 'Pomegranite grey' and then I do 'Jesus dont come from phoneix', its funny as I always get smiles and laughs when I present the name of that song, and i always thought it was a great name LOL!!!! I get an incredible reception and fist aloft with guitar in other hand I make my way back to my seat to finish my now cold coffee and order up a Chicken Pesto sandwich (starving)! I did sell a few CDs but somehow it didn't seem the right venue to be selling my wares, it was full of kids and 'struggling' artists, however it had some incredibly talented individuals, it had a very family feel to it and I guess everybody knew each other, just like Stonehaven I suppose!

To be continued..........

Saturday 17th February
The Kickstand Cafe, Tacoma, 630pm

So I travelled the 45 minutes South (I really should stop using time to measure distance travelled, it will just disappoint me later in life) full of enthusisam to playing in a cosmopolitan, bohemian and enthused coffee shop, well until i arrived and i was informed by the guy that worked there (a heavily facially pierced lad called Sam) that the dudes that run the open mic haven't been back for a while and there is an extremely great chance nobody will show upto play tonight or to watch the people that intend to share their art with the world. At this point there were two people (girls in their 20s I guess) in the cafe, so I check them out to see if they would be interested in listening to some music and perhaps purchase a CD, the vogue magazines should have been a give away! They were leaving soon and didn't fancy accompanying this strange bloke with the even stranger accent into the back room to listen to songs about pishing rain in Scotland, some bloke called Jesus that apparently doesn't live in Arizona and some other perverted tune about back doors and thiefs in the night......however the unsuspecting couple that had just arrived for a quick cuppa before catching their 7pm film (next door) were soon ushered into the back room for a personal 3 song gig.........she's thinking 'one day this guy might be famous and we are getting an up close and personal gig, oh how romantic' and hugs her beau..... he is thinking 'this smary twat with the annoying female attention grabbing accent is better looking than me and is going to sing and play guitar for my wife and she is keen, I hate him and want to ram his guitar up his ass', meanwhile i'm thinking 'she loves my accent and therefore she will buy a CD......oh and im so much better looking than her husband'. So after a brief set of Tailgunner (which i dedicate to her, oh the fucking irony), Pomegranite Grey and Jesus don't come from Phoenix I thank them for their time and they.....errr sorry she purchases a CD with his money......oh and he really didn't like me!! A special mention to Sam the counter bloke that also bought a CD on the strength of my 3 songs, 'christ man you didn't even need the PA through there...nice one, you sounded great', a top bloke and I signed his CD, got his details and made my way to Olympia!

4th Avenue Tavern, Olympia, 830

I drove a further 45 minutes South to a place called Olympia, another small town with lots of loaded people. One thing I have learnt from this experience is that what the hell did we do before mapquest.........oh and the internet, used the stars to travel from bar to bar, town to town etc etc.
Tonight I supported a band called The believers, a Rocka billy band that do covers of the Stones and various other artists. I got talking to the lead singer and he purchased a CD, a really decent bloke who has a fantastic set of lungs on him, I also met Joe, our Sound engineer for the evening and he seemed a decent lad. To give you an idea of this place it was basically a huge bar with loads of pool tables, then you go through the back and there is a stage all set up for the band to go. I get set up and play to a fairly modest crowd of maybe 30 people. I played 4 songs as the band were due on at 9pm, this probably wasn't my best performance, I fucked up Tailgunner (the worlds easiest song), did a good version of Pom grey and Jesus, i also played a reasonably good version of Stonehaven radio station and me, however the crowd weren't interested in my banter or overly keen on my songs or performance and clapped modestly between songs, hmmmmmm not a good sign, however I'm sure I did hear somebody say of 'Jesus...', 'now thats a song'. So I thank everybody for their hospitality and finish my set, I sell Joe a CD who enjoyed my set apparently and I decide to sit and watch the band and maybe try and punt a couple of CDs too. The band storm through their first song with a barnstorming Honky tonk woman to be met with the same modest clapping I received, hahahha bunch of miserable sods, anyway I watch for about 6 songs and the clapping gets better as the beer goes down but its hardly enthusiastic.

This was a great experience for me even though it wouldn't sound like it. I basically played a venue that they weren't interested in diversity or the ramblings of a mad Scotsman and I suspect everybody there was there to drink, pick up a mating partner or possibly kick the head in of any Scotsman trying to sell them a CD about some Fridge on a boat somewhere.

Anyway on my trip back North to Seattle it got me started thinking about what i'm doing here and what i'm trying to achieve. Surely if I had attached my towering guitars, strings, drums etc that are associated with my tunes (on the CD format) then that would have made a big difference in that venue? Perhaps it would but then maybe thats what i'm trying to find out. Do i want people to listen to my songs in their most vulnerable and basic state and think wow 'nice song' or do i want people to listen to my band play my songs and think 'shit thats a great beat for fighting / fucking /drinking *delete as appropriate*. So if we break it down to a leman's mainstream level, do I want to be Bob Dylan or do I want to be Keith Richards? Well at the moment I am going to be be Bob and stick to my guns, after all he eventually did 'plug in'!!

To be continued........

Sunday 18th February

Today I said goodbye to my new friend Theresa Rasmussen (who I thank from the bottom of my guitar case for not only supporting ME and letting ME sleep on her floor but for all of the people she supports and helps with their 'dreams'), my host since Wednesday evening for the Seattle leg of my tour. Big bands have European, American even Asian legs of tour, however I have city legs! Seattle has been great fun and i thoroughly enjoyed it. First of all we went for breakfast for pancakes, coffee etc etc then Theresa showed me round on a brief tour of the city and Pike's market where the fish merchants famously toss fish to one another across the crowd. I purchased some trinkets, got back to the house packed my shitup and headed South, its been a great trip so far! Portland was approx a 3hour drive (damn....I really have to stop this time distance thing).

The White Eagle, Portland, Oregon, 8pm (ish)

I roll up in my red hire car Ford focus with my delightful girlfriend's red case, my guitar and amp in tow ready for a new City and a new challenge. I have always wanted to visit this town and now I get my chance. As i type this though i'm currently in the White Eagle (they have rooms), which is just off the Interstate 5 and I have no idea where and how to get to the City centre, i'll work it out as I go along......I always do! Now this apparently is a big couple of days here for me and its important that i don't 'fuck it up' hahah, I should be fine! The White Eagle is a hugely musical orientated bar, it has rooms above it that all have a musical theme. I'm currently residing in the 'Happy Rolling Cowboy' room, quite appropriate maybe they could change it to the 'Rolly polly Cowboy' room (seeing I had a huge breakfast and an even bigger supper)! This venue is amazingly popular with the local musicians, songwriters, poets and drunks and therefore its a very tight regime, plug in, two songs then off! I am about 10th person up I think and I play Tailgunner and Pomegranite Grey acoustically and get a good reception, although there was a flying pick incident in the middle of Pomegranite Grey, luckily i didn't take anybody's eye out with it!!!! So I make my way back down from the stage where i played and back to my seat and I get 'nice one Colin' from the muso's in my vicinity (very supportive people, artists....hahah, its true actually) and then in the throes of a few people trying to purchase a CD some bloke stands right beside me, 'well fooook me biy that be an almost local accent fooor me biy' (poor irish typing im afraid) and there is then a hugely animated discussion with hand shaking and talk of the night has just ended in disaster for the pair of us etc etc. Now what happens next I swear on my Grandparents grave is the absolute truth, my new friend Conor is a Belfast lad, now residing in Portland he works for his brother who owns a bar called the 'leaking roof', well as soon as he says the name of the bar, a huge eruption of water comes out of the light fittings in the bar above us, the guy currently on stage can't hear himself due to the 'indoor rain', all the folk in that area have darted and well I've just come off the stage and 'brought the roof down'....derrrum duuuum, I thank you!!!! Also after a wee bit of discussion I find my new mate is a musician also and was trying to get onto the open mic bill but was too late. So the plan is for him to hopefully come down to the gig tomorrow night and play some Celtic fiddle on a few of my tunes, thats the beauty of this malarky, you never know who you are going to meet and you never know what they are capable of! I met several other amazing people, one guy in particular was a guy called Doug and he has a very unique surname, he informed me that it was infact Russian and that it wasn't his real name but the one he adopted from the sect he was involved in, apparently they all had the same Dad and he was a modern day Jesus Christ (maybe he doesn't come from Phoenix but Portland), he bought my CD, I bought him a beer. Also a big thanks to Mark and Katie for buying my CD, nice people and great song writers! Anyway I need to go to sleep as its almost 1am......again! Oh also a nice big ANGRY shout to Marvin Glover who recommended I stay in this place, doesn't he know there are BLOODY TRAINS going past my window every 20 minutes????
To be continued........HONK HONK.....ARGH......


Monday 19th February.

After a night of trains ringing their bell and the rain lashing my window really badly (not double glazing, jeeez i've turned soft) I get up around 10am to run through what I have to do today. I do a once over of my set then I decide to head into Portland, Oregon.....no not Portlethen, Aberdeenshire......although i'm currently not far from Aberdeen! I decide i'm going to go and check out my mate from the previous nights (Conor) bar.....the Leaky roof, I couldn't find it in google as I type in Leaking Roof (still can't believe that roof in the White Eagle) I eventually stumble across it and get my directions for a spot of lunch and a chinwag with my potential fiddle player for the night! I park in the centre of the twon, which is free today as its Presidents day (dont you just love him hahaha) and make my way on foot to the Leaky Roof with Definitely Maybe blasting through my ipod into my ears (damn I love that album, my favourite of all time). So after i find the place after asking several people its direction I meet Conor and im pleased to say its a cracking little wine and malt whiskey style bar, very nice and well worth a visit if ever in Portland. I enkoy a meatloaf sandwich at the chefs recommendation and several cups of coffee and after a spot of password hunting I manmge to log onto my lapotop. As I start working on my mac, this old Jakey looking bloke starts chatting to me at the bar, he looks like a drunk but he informs me he is a serious businessmasn and frequently makes trips to London. Apparently he is worth a fortune and plasy the stock exchange, well i ain't going to judge but he looked like the only stock he has is in his fridge! Anyway apparently he tells me about his friend who is 'Scottish' and apprently he told him that 32% of people in Scotland are on heroin...........as I explained to him, there are 6 million peopl ein Scotland and you are suggesting that approx 2 million of them are on heroin, I think not. 'I suppose so' he mumbles as he makes yet another crude comment to the barmaid hahaha classic!

Anyway after shooting the shit with Conor I head back into town through the pissing rain, all the time its relentless here!! I go into a record store in the centre of town, buy the new Tenacious D cd (crap) and also an old Soup Dragons CD (classic), I also leave a couple of my CD's for promotion.....you never know!

The GoodFoot Lounge, 9pm (ish)

This night is apparently a competition where you can vote for your favourite act. There is money and recording time available for the winner. All im caring about is selling a few cds and getting a wee bit of practice in! I am on the guaranteed list so thats good (as I was in early enough). I'm a little bit apprehensive about tonight as I had a bit of a 'funny tummy' over the last few hours.....hope it wasn't that bloody meatloaf!! Conor and his friend Erin arrive with guitar in hand, unfortunately he was running latre and therefore couldn't get his fiddle.....looks like i'm on my own! I mention to him about my guts and he laughs 'the bllody service in that place eh...', anyway as long a i don't hit any 'bad high notes' on stage i ought to be fine :L . I am up within an hour and i do Tailgunner and Jesus don't come from Phoenix. Truly the sound was really bad in this place, the monitors were shit, the mix was wrong and everybody that played thought that they sounded bad, of course what you hear on stage is not always what everyone else hears! I got my performance recorded tonight for 5 bucks. Tailgunner has been posted on here, it came out good I guess but I had to start Jesus don't come from Phoenix twice due to the guy losing the sound on my acoustic guitar, a bit frustrating as you are nervous enough without that shite! I got a good reaction by the crowd which had grown to this point into a very large crowd! Conor and his lady friend were up next and he played an old irish song (fantastic musician and fantastic voice) and his friend played a song about cutting her boyfriends penis off with a machete.....nice girl :O !!
Anyway their set was cut short and we all retired upstairs to the bar for some pool and a couple of drinks (coffee for me). We said our goodbyes then I proceeded to get lost within Portland trying to find my hotel.......I eventually got back and listetend to the CD, check it out on here and see what you think.....very different to the full band version but effective all the same (well I think).

To be continued...................

Tuesday whjatever about whjatever!!!

ashland babny motherfucker.....met some cool cats, my gig was cancelled, met saome crazy ATS, oj im fooked,,,,,intretsing link http://www.hippy.com/review-88.html

sold loads of tunes!!!!! didnt plsy s fookin n oktged (1am)

(11am) OK lets try that again without being pished!!

Tuesday 21st February

OK as you may or may not be able to decipher from that drunken scrawl above, my gig was cancelled last night in favour of cheesy beats and mardi gras.....however I sold a few Cds.
I left The White Eagle at around 11am with a 5 hour drive ahead of me and i got off to a cracking start in this petrol station when I stopped for 'Gas'. I used a Shell garage as I know they allow me to use my debit card and as soon as I arrive this dude in a Shell jacket approaches me to pump my pertol (arf arf), of course I refused him as its not rocket science but apparently he has to do it as it is law in the State of Oregon that you get your gas pumped for you. Anyway of course i think the lad is angling for a tip so im not overly impressed by the situation, kind of like that embarressed feeling when a 6ft 5 gorilla starts drying your hands in the toilets of some bars....'errrr its ok mate I can dry them myself.....oh ok here's a pound' hmmmmm! Anyway once the guy finds out what im doing he buys a CD.....nice one!!! Anyway I eventually get to Ashland several hours later and I find the gig venue and then I find myself a hotel. I notice there is a laundrette next to the hotel and I decide i need a fresh set of clothes (I have never been in a laundrette in my life), so I dig out a shit load of quarters and go to work. I get talking to this girl called Coni who also ends up buying a CD, nice one!! Im nearing gig time and once I have shaved, washed etc I go to the gig venue. I get told to basically 'get the fuck out, we aint open' and I head back out in the pishing rain to try and find a coffee shop or bar. I stumble across this little Irish bar (which actually happens to be above the gig venue, but the entrance is round the block) and i settle in for a guinness. I get talking to a couple of lads at the bar (Noah & Scott) and, they buy a CD......shit i ain't even played a bloody note yet! So I head back to the door of the gig Noah and the same guys are at the door and apoparently their ain't no open mic and there aint no gig other than the cheesy beats I hear from inside.....oh and its still not open, jesus! Anyway I head back to hotel drop my guitar and stuff another handful of CDs in my pockets and head back to the bar. I then start to drink guinness after guinness with the same lads I met before, I even sell another CD to their mate John who is wanting everybody back to his to play guitar, drink and smoke loads of ganja. Apparently Ashland should be called Hashland as its a huge cannabis orientated place. Its a very small town (comparatively with 20,000) that has a Ballater, Stonehaven, Braemar type feel to i, but its also a college town. Oregon is one of the States that has legalised medicinal cannabis so its everywhere here. You head into the toilets in this bar and there is just a huge cloud of smoke!!! Anyway I decide alcohol is enough for me and we continue drinking and shooting the shit about music, the medicated Yanks and anything else that arises! I eventually meet this other lad called Luke who also buys a CD....it has been a very fruitful day! i play one more night in Ashland and I hope it goes ahead as I have got a bad hangover today!! Great town, great people.

To be continued........

Wednesday 21st February

The Jefferson State pub, Ashland, 9pm

Well after last nights drunken shennanigans I was feeling a bit ropey this morning, however i soldierd on like a good little trooper hahah. I got up about 11am and checked emails, news etc etc feeling a wee bit jaded, must have been a dodgy pint....yeah the 8th one!!! I headed along to this little place next to my hotel for some soup and turkey wrap.....absolutely magic and hot the spot, infact I went back for my tea also and left a great comment in their comment book, if I become famous it will (hahhahahahahahha shit, let me finish) it will surface im sure!
This afternoon I decided to re-string my guitar and double check the battery in my guitar pick up (for the non-muso's, that is the bit that makes my acosutic guitar able to play through an amp or pa system). My guitar is brand new so I was a bit apprehensive about the sound changing but everything turned out fine and my baby (fecking great guitar, Canadian built) was ready to go for tonight!
I spent a lot of time going over the songs I would do tonight as after listeninig to my live take from the other night I realise there is a lot of room for improvement, I also work on the appregio (finger picking) aspects of my acoustic versions, it sounds great but I haven't had the confidence to incorporate it into my live versions yet.....however tonight I will! I get to the bar about 830pm ready to sign up and to my horror I realise I should have been earlier as i'm 13th on the list and theres a good chance i may not get to play! There is a good mixture of acts, spoken word, bluegrass (as opposed to Ashland grass), singer song writer type stuff and just punters doing covers. i end up playing 2nd last and i'm gutted as both songs get a great reception, the reason for being gutted is that the pub is considerably emptier than it was earlier due to the time I went on. I sold a Cd to a guy called Nick from Louisiana (long wsay from home) and he says that I sounded amazing (feels good) and that 'I got him', its incredinly hard to explain the feeling of people appreciating your songs, I see a lot of people extremely nonchalent regarding it, however when somebody truly appreciates your writing its an incredible boost for confidence and makes you realise that its not about fame and fortune (although fortune would be great) but its about reaching out and touching people with something that you created, my songs are hitting people. After a discussion about pomegranite grey I finish up my pint and trudge back through the snow to my hotel. The harsh reality about what i'm doing is I sat for over three hours on myh own drinking coffee tonight waiting to sing and play 2 of my songs (approx 6 or 7 minutes worth of music) to a fairly empty bar and the fact I had such an impact on a small amount of people made it more worthwhile than you can imagine. I aim to be as honest as i can and I will pour as much emotion into my songs infront of 2 people as i would infront of 102 people, i'm having a great time!!! There are highs and lows of course, sometime you question your ability and if you are making a fool of youself and if you've got what it takes, sometimes it just takes courage and a stubborness to succeed and follow your path or live your dream. However I truly believe in my songs and I will continue to play them the way I wrote them without pretensions or influence, people want to hear people play their songs, its all about stories and we all have stories to tell, I used to do mine through drinking and fighting and shagging (I guess) and whatever else now I do it through my guitar and if its not good enough then its not good enough but at least I have something to say for myself! Anyway, shit i'm ranting a bit........what about Britney's hair eh???? hahahaha!
OK, so I have mapquested my next destination and I have a 5-6 hour drive (damn stop IT) to San Francisco tomorrow so I best get some sleep, although im still laughing about the phonecall I just received from my girlfriend (Fiona) as she has spent tonight playing interactive golf (wii or something) and drinking wine so she was in good form!! apparently they made a mini Colin with huge rockstar shades and a big belly......I wonder if he had the same bad slice off the Tee as me!!!?

To be continued..................

Thursday 22nd February

I wake this morning late, after writing up my blog and trying to sleep off the euphoria of selling 2 CDs or whatever pishy sales i had the previous evening! I look out the window and see 7 inches of snow outside and my car is absolutely covered!!! I get a quick shower and curse myself for sleeping in over 45 minutes!!! I go to check out only to be informed by the guy at the desk that I will need to purchase some snow chains from a joint called 'les schwab' (apparently French for 'the tyres', I did German so Erhalten Sie zu bumsen) or maybe it should have been 'Le Scam', 70 fucking bucks. I eventually geto onto the Interstate 5 after an hour waiting on some 'chain application' service! I get on the Interstate 5 and realise that after 10 miles I am the only person with chains on and also that I've obviously been driving too fast and they've come loose and are 'derum dum dum dum' against the car......errr sorry Hertz hire car! Anyway they are quickly despatched to the back seat, and im off doen the highway with a wet are and dirty hands! I stop off in some place called Corning for a coffee, sandwich and some mapquest guidance, he is an almighty, all seeing eye in the internet sky! It has to be said although i'm glad my chains are no more due to the Amercian over exuberance over a wee spot of snow and some wet roads there were some travellers that could have done with it, there were numerous cars, lorries etc that were in the ditch due to adverse conditions!
I eventually end up in Oakland and pixck up my friend Dawn and we head backl to her area of town and then we head straight upto the first gig in the bazaar cafe. Unfortunately my internal tiredness is brought back from my external tenacity with the realisation of my lateness is met with a drunken woman telling me i'm 25th but I havce a good chance of making the list sometime about 11pm, unfortunately for her I don't fancy another 4 hours of drinking coffee to play 2 songs to a bunch of stoned but appreciative hippies who will no doubtedly love my songs but not buy my cd as they will have to buy their children their first bong tomorrow sometime between tai Chi in Goldengate park and swinging sessions round at their friend's Summer and Broderick.

Ireland's 32, San Francisco, 930(ish)pm

I end up in my next gig venue, 'Irelands 32'. Now I have been warned about this place since I announced my tour. It is a seriuously pro-active Irish bar with I.R.A connections, now I thought it was scare mongering and bullshit to be fair....until I walked into the bar and tried to convince the owner I was infact due to play that night, he was extremely keen to learn of my Scottish origin, 'Aberdeen....no not Glasgow, Aberdeen, we love football and sheep, thats it'! I eventually get myself on the bill and I go for a piss and a look about and i'm absolutely blown away by I.R.A posters and pro Irish focus on the place, the owner Brendan ( a lovely bloke who bought my CD and played it through the night to a packed crowd) has photos with Gerry Adams all over the stairs along with photographs of many an Irish man killed by the British. I was a little bit nervous about the whole thing. I'm up first, I play tailgunner, pomegranite Grey and Jesus dont come from phoneix, I explain my religious and political stance on that song with my friend Dawn discreetly shaking her head at me....fuck it, its done I have analysed my songs over the last hour to make sure i'm not going to get a kicking and i'm sure i'll be fine! I get a great reaction and I sell a few CDs, especially to Brendan who plays it to a packed bar, I should have whored myself as it sounds great in the bar, but im so tired after an 8 hour drive etc etc and I just decide to drink loads of guinness, abandon the car and hail a cab back to Dawn's for some wine and 'chips'. A huge shout out to James (Dawns boyfriend) who came to the most amazingly pro-Irish bar i've seen although he is from England, it speaks volumes of the guy and I have a huge amount of respect for him.......although it didn't stop me from greeting him in the bar with an 'alriiiiiiiiiiight maaaa fackinnnnnnnn geeeeeeeeeeeeezer'! Oh what A LAUGH!!!!! Gig went well, I sold few CDs and made some new friends. Tonight we spoke about this bar a lot, we were a little shocked by it, but the thing that shocked me more than anything was the disdain that the Americans treat it with, its just like another bar and i'm sorry but that was not just another bar, whatever your feelings are on the subject it's all about pain, suffering and loss, however I feel it was treated like a parody of itself, 'gee honey its all very quaint and authentic like an irish bar should be'! Its been made into a commodity like Mickey Mouse or that old bloke with the grey beard that sells the pretend chickens here and as far as i'm concerned i went into that bar tonight and was absolutely shitting myself, i read a lot of the stuff on the wall and whether I agree or disagree with it all I can't help but appreciate its more than some chain pub authentic duplication shite thats been thrown on the wall by some sweaty fat cat in a huge corporate office who laughs about it at his squash club on a Wednesday afternoon! Yet another great experience for me, its been an amazing journey so far, I have sold CDs to people, touched peoples hearts and learnt a lot! I take the weekend off before I head to Orange County and San Diego to play my final gigs. I then head home to Scotland for my cousins wedding with my beautiful girlfriend Fiona!

To be concluded.....

Monday26th February

The Ugly Mug, Orange County, 9pm

After a weekend back home relaxing with my lady and unfortunately a Saturday night drinking session with my old football team mates (Sod Celtic FC) in downtown San Diego, I made the trip up to Orange County wearily, I was tired and not overly enthused if the truth be told, however this is what its about; long drives to remote venues to play 10 minutes worth of music to perhaps only a few people and potentially not sell any CDs. As it turned out this was fairly close to the mark. I arrived 2 hours early, had some food and drank enough coffee to keep an army of nightshift workers awake. I played to 4 people in an empty yet intimate setting, I played two songs (Tailgunner and Pomegranite Grey). The latter is getting a good reaction on this tour as I play it totally different as opposed to the full on rock and roll version on the CD; it has an arpeggio, strummed open strings and a slower more intense feel to it. I had to restart Tailgunner as there were some mic issues, my mic actually started to slip from its starting position and I ended up becoming more and more stooped over trying to sing lower and lower down into the microphone, 'lets try that again' I hark, then the mic turned itself off, 'OK I declare, lets do this without the mic'. I sold a CD to an old lad who had started the proceedings off with some nice classical and Spanish guitar. He assured me 'no bullshit son, I've never heard those songs before but I liked them a lot, I'd love a CD', that alone made the 100 mile drive worth while.

Tuesday 27th February

Cosmos Coffee Caf.., La Mesa, San Diego, 8pm

After a brief but albeit drunken discussion on the Saturday night with a guy I used to play football with called Ben Johnston, no not the disgraced Canadian sprinter (although if memory serves that was Johnson) but an American lad here who plays the bagpipes due to either his or his fathers Scottish heritage, I decided to get him in for the last evening of my first 'tour', along with Marvin Glover on keyboard and we're going to do Jesus don't come from Phoenix with a 'mini' band. We have a brief rehearsal in the afternoon for about 15 minutes just to make sure his pipes will be in the correct key (they aren't bad) and we decide to retire to a bar in the Ocean Beach area of San Diego for a pint and a bite to eat. As we make our way in, the bar steward, bouncer, doorman or on this occasion arse informs me I can't take my guitar in due to the bar not having a 'cabaret license', 'a bloody cabaret licence I cry', 'I only want a bite to eat and maybe a drink' (note the USA & UK spellings of licence in the dialogue, oh what a clever little Muppet I am). I suspect he has taken me for one of these jakeys (for my non-Scottish readers a jakey is somebody that drink a lot and usually hangs about on the street) that play guitar in the streets of that area (God am I that badly dressed and unkempt?) He informs me I can leave the guitar at the doorway and after I refuse due to my guitar probably costing about the same as his bloody car, he clocks my accent and decides I am therefore a little far from home for being a jakey!!
I polish off some fish tacos and two glasses of water and lime (need to keep the vocals lubricated) I head off East towards La Mesa to find this venue of majestic proportions that will house the final leg of my musical journey!!!! I find it fairly quickly and yep you guessed it, it's a fairly bog standard fashionable coffee shop in a very nice area of the city, probably took 'Central perk' from Friends as their inspiration. Tonight was a big night for me as it's the first time my 'lovely' girlfriend Fiona (She is reading as I type tut tut) and our friends from San Diego have seen / heard me play live so I'm a wee bit apprehensive however I've played in front of bigger crowds over the last few weeks and as Freddy Mercury said 'the show must go on'. I do an inwardly nervous Tailgunner and get a good reaction, I must say I'm starting to enjoy the acoustic version of this and as our friend Pam said. 'I was surprised that you sang it with such control and restraint' as a reference to the Rock n' Roll monster it is on the CD! I get Marvin and Ben up for my finale (Jesus don't come from Phoenix) and it goes well although I suspect I sped up a bit as I'm so used to playing that song on my own now, the strings were a nice touch and the bagpipes were a great touch however being an open mic situation you don't really get a sound check as such and perhaps the strings were too high and the bagpipes too low, however we'll get it right next time! I sold a few CD's and we watched a few more acts then retired back to our apartment for some post match analysis and red wine.

Conclusion
Flight UA930 An hour from UK (damn I really should stop that), 0545am GMT.

Conclusion is perhaps the wrong word as it suggests a finish, I would say this is merely the beginning, like a dog that has had its first taste of sheep's blood (how appropriate due to my North East Scottish roots) I have got a taste for it now and of course there is huge room for improvement and room for more hard practice and new songs but I suspect this is something I will always do now. I love writing songs and I have felt a connection with people up and down this coast from Bellingham up by the Canadian border to La Mesa by the Mexican border and I guess you just have to keep doing what you believe in and if you do that and you enjoy it I guess it makes no difference (to your soul) if you sell 60 or 60 million Cds. I've been inspired by people I have met on the road and I'd like to think I have inspired people also, perhaps just for the pure balls it took just to get out and have a go. One thing that is for sure is I know that I want to do another CD, infact perhaps a full album is what I may work towards next. I'm starting to find my own voice and I'm starting to find my own sound now and perhaps the acoustic route is what lie's ahead for me (well and some rock and roll too thrown in also) with a more Scottish and organic feel to it. Either way I'm currently heading back to Scotland for a Wedding and one thing you can guarantee; this time tomorrow I'm going to be drunk, in my kilt, dancing like some demented sweaty lunatic and talking utter shite with anybody willing to listen and or participate!

I thank you all for enduring some of my thoughts in prose!
Cheers
Colin