Hey folks,

Thanks for tuning in. Lots to say/imply.

Those of you who know me well (and I'm proud to say that is most of you) know that I am techincally incompetent   but at least I have a sense of humour which is why I spelled 'technically' wrong' there w/o anybody noticing...but - hey!- I am considering starting up a proper, professional blog concerned not with me me me the way some writers' blogs are, but with literature, culture and life in general. This sounds mad  and ambitious but at least I will be doing something useful...I hope . I will see what help I get there.

Those of you who are in this area can come along and see me this Saturday doing a talk/reading at 1600 in the Neuen Ebracher Hof, Unterer kaulberg 4, Bamberg, Bavaria.

The paperback of The Stornoway Way seems to be doing very well - partly, no doubt, due to a positive review in The Guardian this week. Thanks to the supercool and thankfully-on-the-mend Torcuil for phoning me on his mobile from Ullapool to tell me so. Apparently one of my short stories was published in the Saturday Herald recently, too.

Oh, hey, since yesterday my website seems to be ...dead. I am looking into this. Virtual exorcists, voodoo dudes, necromancers...I don't know.

Here is a quotation frmo Family Guy:

Lois: So doctor, is Peter healthy?
Doctor: My goodness, you'll be dead within a month.
Peter: What?
Doctor (revealing comic he was reading): Oh, Hagar the Horrible, if you keep up that lifestyle of pillaging and eating giant turkey legs, you'll be dead within a month. Now, onto you.
Peter: So, what do you think? Pretty healthy, eh?
Doctor: Well, Mr. Griffin, let's take a look at your physical results. Argh! There's a spider in here. Now, here we go. Mr Griffin, you're going to expire in a month.
Peter/Lois: Argh!
Doctor: This is your driver's licence, isn't it? Now, unfortunately, I'm afraid you're going to die...
Peter: Argh!
Doctor: ...when you watch these Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts.
Lois: Will you just tell us how Peter's health is?!
Doctor: Ah, Mr. Griffin, I'm not quite sure how to say this. Kim Bassinger? Bass singer? Bassinger? But now, onto the cancer.
Lois: Oh my goodness!
Doctor: You are a Cancer, right? You were born in July? Now onto these test results. My, they're much worse than I thought.
Peter/Lois: Oh!
Doctor: My son got a D minus on his history test. Now Mr Griffin, that liver's got to come out.
Lois: What?!
Doctor: It's been in the microwave for three minutes, it'll get dry. Now-
Lois: Please, please, we can't take any more schtick.. Please just tell us, is Peter healthy?
Doctor: Oh, yeah, he's fine, he's just really fat.
..

I will say more soon.

For now - good night & thanks,

love,

kevin

Hey folks,

Thanks for dropping by. You are looking good. With cheekbones like that you could rule the world. And when you do, just remember that I was your friend.

News: the first paperback edition of my novel 'The Stornoway Way' (Penguin Books) comes out in the first week of September. I haven't seen it yet, but I think it looks cool from advance material.

I have a few gigs in Scotland and Germany coming up and you are most welcome to come along if you are in the vicinity/neighbouring country, etc.  unless of course you are a raging psychopath

First off, there is my reading of new material at the Hebridean Book Festival (how new? well, let's just say that I might be asking you to write some of it for me)...

Thursday 31st August 2000-2100 (8-9 in old money) - An Lanntair, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, followed by Our Small Capital (legendary band on the up-and-up).

 I will also be doing a gig (details tbc) the following week as part of a Suicide Awareness cause. Further details about that and the German gigs to follow.

I hope you are so well it feels exquisite. Surely someone feels that way?

Anyway, 

Peace,

Kevin

Meanwhile the online but offbeat shop has opened at

www.KevinMacNeil.com

It doesn't sell books or records. Hey ho. Never knowingly conventional. You can get those - the important things - elsewhere. This shop is just...ah, whatever. I don't believe in the hard sell.

Meanwhile (Part II), tiredness and whatnot won't keep me away from Singing For The Blue Men. Especially not the whatnot.

Aye.

(If none of that make sense, don't worry...

'Aye' is a Scots word that means 'Always' or 'Yes'. Singing For The Blue Men is the novel wot I is writing at the moment. For many reasons, it is - it needs to be - important. I am giving nothing away about it until it is finished except that it will be nothing like my last novel, The Stornoway Way. Good to be different. Always.

Hmmm. Come to think of it, maybe only people who know me or my work should read this blog. Fine and good. I wish all of you well. Otherwise disregard.

I should just finish by passing on the first joke my mum has ever emailed to me...no, wait...it is funny...

A bus of 100 ugly people crashes and they all die........
>> >>>
>> >>>They all arrive in heaven and God says before you go in I will
>> >>>grant you all one wish, the first person says "I wish to be
>> >>>beautiful" the next does the same and the next, God gets to
>> >>>about the 15th person and realises the man at the back is
>> >>>laughing his head off, but he carries granting wishes, all the
>> >>>people are still saying the same thing.......
>> >>>
>> >>>I want to be beautiful, I want to be beautiful, I want to
>>be
>> >>>beautiful,
>> >>>
>> >>>Then God finally gets to the man at the back who was
>> >>>laughing............. ..>..>
>> >>>
>> >>>God says " Before I grant you your wish please tell me what you
>> >>>are laughing at?"
>> >>>
>> >>>"Nothing" says the man
>> >>>
>> >>>"OK" says God  "What is your wish?"
>> >>>
>> >>>The man says........
>> >>>
>> >>>"Make them all ugly again!"
)

Told you it was funny.

Peace,

Kevin

A quiet moment's reflection in memory of my old schoolfriend Andy Edwards who passed away at the weekend.

Puts life in perspective.

Requiescat In Pace

So a few people have been asking what life is like in the Bavarian Palace and I am too lazy to respond to each and every email so here is a generic one instead.

Well, dammit, life here is pretty good. The view from my (one's) balcony is stupendous and I have never lived in such a fantastic place. I reckon when the year is up I will be barricading myself in here! Some random Mexican guy swung by yesterday and was gobsmacked. 'Aye carumba!' he said. 'My gob is smacked.'

Meanwhile I am trying to be fit and active - not just writing a lot but cycling and walking. I need to work hard - for my conscience and for my deadlines.

Oh hey, and to the people from Lewis - fight those guys trying to demolish the pyramid! It's been there since at least 1989 BC.

Respect and peace and other big words,

Kevin

Hey there and greetings from the Bavarian palace. I've been a bit slack with this blogging thing but, you know, life gets in the way.

I wanted to draw people's attention to a couple of bands, one of whom I know personally, the other I just stumbled across on myspace.

First up, the mighty Alecto. www.myspace.com/alectoband

I love this band, and not just because they are from Lewis. I saw them do a 20 minute gig once that was one of the best gigs I think I've ever seen. Their supercharged post-rock instrumental sound is just awesome.

Similar (but different) are these guys www.myspace.com/lastgoodbyemusic

Again, very atmospheric music (check out 'The Dreaming').

That's about  it. I am pushing on with my work here, novel and film are coming on. I will be back home in September to do some readings and/or gigs with Willie if he's free. There is talk of me doing a reading one night in An Lanntair, followed by Our Small Capital. Now that would be fun, so we'll see if our schedules work out.

All right, take care and keep in touch. Those who have sent me books or CDs are surely the greatest people on the planet.

Peace,

Kevin

Hey folks,

Am still quite exhausted by the whole thing...thanks again for being so cool, those of you who came to the opening nights of The Callanish Stoned. Wow, I couldn't have wished for better audiences supposing I'd paid everyone to laugh! (Uh, which I didn't.) The play tours Scotland this month...and Ipswich on April 1st (no joke).

Thanks to the cast for being so dedicated. Crikey, they worked hard...way above and beyond the call of duty.

Tour dates are on my website. Come along if you want a laugh. Be quick, though, many dates are selling fast. I don't know what audiences outwith these hallowed shores will make of lines like "Ya wee maw-faced clibean!" or "How can someone so pretty smell like a fish", but hey-ho. It's all in the name of art and makes sense in the context of the play. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive (for the play, I mean, not those lines). Sold out audiences here woo-hoo!

What else? I'm still planning to move to Bavaria in April. That'll be a change! Just when I feel my home audience are tuning in to what I'm doing...co-dhiu...

Our (William Campbell and Kevin MacNeil) new song (Every Month) sounds pretty fine to my ears. Best thing we've done, I reckon. Willie - my mate and songwriting partner - has a band called Our Small Capital and they are off to Texas for the SxSW festival - good luck to them! They have an EP out more or less now and new T-shirts that are so cool they will eventually be more common than Ramones T-shirts!

Dammit, it feels exciting to be alive these days in this part of the world.

But I am tired. Very, very tired.

But, as everyone keeps saying, it's all

good!

Kevin MacNeil