Dispatch from behind the guitar (2)

Monday: Second WaveForms night at St Johns:

It was never going to be as good as the first one, but the first couple of pieces were strong enough. I was more aware of, or concerned about, the audience this time. I ran two of the pieces together, as I'd done spontaneously last time, but I found myself introducing some disturbing notes into the loop, and it built up quite a menacing sound, which was then augmented by frequent police sirens outside. I realised this buildup had been going on for ten minutes and I was less than ten minutes from the end of the set, so faded it out decisively and tried to restore a harmonious atmosphere with the last improv, which to these ears sounded a bit of a mess. As I stood up at the end, however, I noticed more people had stayed than last time, and several came up to me to thank me and ask about CDs. As ever, the musician is the last person to whom you should address the question 'how did it go?'.

Siglo last night:

The Wright Brothers had played Siglo on Saturday to a population (not an audience) of hen nights and clubbers, so when the Ms Fi Misfits and the Norman Lamont Festival Ensemble set up last night we were expecting indifference. Fortunately some of Mary's friends and family were there from the start to make us feel wanted, and both sets proceeded in a fairly energetic and comedic way. At one point three girls came up to make a request, but it was for 'Happy Birthday' which we were glad to provide; I'd heard that mutant free-jazz eccentric Nyk Stoddard had had a request for a Girls Aloud song, so we got off lightly. (Nothing against Girls Aloud, lots against the notion of a Lamont version of Girls Aloud.) Although we'd done precious little rehearsal, there were a few points last night when my Ensemble actually felt like a band. That was fun.