Day 427

Day 427

Monday March 6

From the last few days before the weekend and now as a result of yesterday, I suddenly have quite a bit to do. First there’s a proposal to finish for agents into which I have to add that the Diaries have Scott Devine’s endorsement. Then I have to get to work organising a tour/circuit of care centres to prepare for the grant. But before all that I have a decent sized Spanish project I recieved on Friday night with a deadline of this morning. I told them straight away I wouldn’t even be able to begin it until this morning hopefully to get it to them tonight or tomorrow morning. But before I get to that, I feel my priority is completing the first draft of the book proposal. With that done I decide to sit on it to have a final look over tomorrow before starting to send it.

Also coming into this week I have my first Musicians’ Union meeting to think about which is coming up on Thursday. I’m hoping to also get some thoughts and advice from them on the grant and maybe identifying someone who can help with it.

Another thing for today’s agenda is to call PJ at The Boston but when I do he says he doesn’t have his diary with him. Try again on Wednesday.

Bloody hell. I receive an email that reveals the main possibility I’ve been rejected for job after job with the casting agency, even including huge crowd scenes, which has really left me perplexed and frustrated – they require a DBS certificate which I didn’t have. This is to prove that I have no criminal record. I’ll leave alone the whys and wherefores of how this oversight has happened but the email includes a link to where I can apply for one. Hopefully once that’s sorted out I might start getting confirmation notices rather than release emails and then finally be able to begin working as a TV and movie extra.

This all reminds me of an installment of office comic strip in Dilbert from the days before the internet was omnipitent. A department is closing down because they haven’t won any contracts for six months. One of the managers asks his intern to fax a letter to head office to this effect. Everyone looks on horrified as the intern puts the letter in the fax machine the wrong way round meaning it will come out the other end blank and the implication hits them all at the same time. Yep. That’s been the person responsible for the menial job of faxing all their contract proposals.

Day 428

Tuesday March 7

Going over the book proposal and my messages to Scott covering what we talked about at the bass show takes a lot longer than I thought and it’s all a lot longer than I planned. Among other things, I cover what’s happening with The Insiders and the Middle East possibility. I still have idea what’s going on there but that’s all part of the story. Three hours after sending the message to him, with which I send all the proposal bits, I get a text from the Middle East guys. Alright, they’re only looking for a guitarist not a bass player but yep. Still going on. I guess I’ve just got to wait for the next vacancy to come up. And when and if it does, I’ve been warned that it could require availabilty for an immediate start so it really could just kick off out of nowhere.

Now I’ve got the proposal finished I start sending it out. Each agent wants it presented a little differently so it has to be modified for each of them. You’ve got to treat every individual proposal as a job application. It’s not a case of just mailshotting. After working on that for a bit I get on with researching care homes and preparing a new package and introduction for them

Then I start applying for my DBS for the extra work which, if all goes well, I see as money that can start coming in now. But the internet keeps crashing so I can’t upload the required files.

Onto the calls to the care homes and it’s like the bars all over again with bosses not in or not available. Maybe Tuesday’s the bad day or maybe I’m just unlucky today. I don’t know. But with the DBS frustration and now that, I feel it’s time to call it a day or drive myself crazy.

Day 429

Wednesday March 8

PJ at the Boston calls me. He wants us every month and gives me dates up to September starting on May 20. From that venue being a totally closed shop we’re in.

Then I get emails from two major agents within a minute.

One of them is an offer from Scarlett, the international one. Unfortunately we’re booked on that date. Oh well.

The next one is from an agent that, as far as I can see, is THE one to be involved in, certainly as central London is concerned. They like what they’ve heard and want us to audition for them. However, they only hold auditions on their designated recruitment days and don’t yet have such a day set aside for London. They’ll let us know when they do and confirm the invitation.

After fruitlessly going to some care orgnisations it occurs to me that there must be voluntary organisations that organise tours and events and that kind of thing. And yes. I find some and start applying and contacting.

I get my first bite from the care home project as a Camden organisation gets in touch. The lady there has been desperately searching for someone to play some of their places and asks if I’m free to meet her sometime next week. We make a date.

After hitting some practice and catching up with writing, my plan for tonight is to do a little more practice before getting stuck into the latest Spanish project. I’m going to hit it for an hour or two and then pick up what’s left first thing tomorrow morning, quite possibly for the same amount of time again. Maybe another hour to finish it off. But before all that, I decide to pop to the local shop for a few bits. On the way back I realise I’ve forgotten grapefruit juice. It was the main reason I went so I really want it. I start walking back but don’t get there. Instead I bump into Luca, the owner/manager of the Italian restaurant by my house. He’s off to The Boston for a pint with Chef Dave of The Vine. Would I like to come along. OK. I can have a drink or two and get home early enough to tackle the project for a bit. It’ll just be a later night than expected. So off I go with him, my backpack laden with the earlier shopping.

We walk in to meet Dave with the football on the telly. Barcelona V PSG in the last 16 of the Champions’ League. Cool. With PSG having won the first game 4-0, effectively ending the tie and causing this one to be all but a dead rubber, I’d completely forgotten about it. When we walk in, it’s at 71 minutes in the second leg with Barcelona needing three goals to score. They’re winning this game 3-1 which means they’re now meandering to a 5-3 aggregate defeat. They need three goals to win it; with the away goals rule, a 5-5 draw won’t cut if for them. It’s clearly over and not worth watching so we just hang out at the bar chatting over a few drinks. A casual glance up at the TV a little while later shows just two minutes of normal time remaining with Barcelona still needing those three goals. Like I said, not worth thinking about. Then Neymar scores a fantastic free kick. The pub wakes up a bit but it’s still not really game on. Five minutes injury time is posted up. Oh. OK. The whole pub gets caught up in the action as Barca get a penalty a minute or so over the 90. Scored by Neymar. Now, unbelievably, incredibly, the impossible is suddenly on. And yep. With momentum fully on their side, Barca sends the whole football world into a frenzy with a lastest of last minute goals to win the whole thing and go into the quarters. And yes, the whole pub explodes and goes crazy as well. Throughout the evening, the guys have been generous with the shots and pints and I can’t claim full innocence in this either. A few times I tried to say goodbye and slip off but they weren’t having it. Now the shots come out again. Yes I have my own mind but to be fair I really don’t take much persuading. It’s all great fun but the night goes on. And on. From simply trying to return to the shop to buy the forgotten grapefruit juice before starting work, I end up on an all nighter. This comes to a staggeringly drunken end in Aces And Eights, the bar across the road from the Boston.

Now a word about the footy. There has been some shouting about dodgy refereeing and conning for the penalties but, while I do go mad at that kind of stuff, if the other team keeps you out of their area you can’t get a penalty. And the referee didn’t score Neymar’s free kick or make his wonderful pass for the final goal which was just as wonderfully finished. Despite all the controversy that will linger over it in the coming days, it remains the most breathtaking comeback and end to a game I’ve ever seen. Apart from maybe this one.

Day 430

Thursday March 9

When I was training to be a journalist we were once given a weekend assignment. Nothing too mad about that except I had a friend coming down to London that Friday afternoon for the weekend from Warrington. He’d never been to London before. We had a great time seeing all the sights and going out each night. I saw him off on the coach on Sunday evening. For some reason I can’t remember, my worksheets had been taken for me on Friday by someone and they had it at their house somewhere in south London. I went down there and collected it, arriving at 9pm. My classmate couldn’t believe how late I was. ‘It’s impossible for you to get this done on time,’ she said, staring at me with a level of incredulity I’d never encountered before. ‘I just finished it an hour or so ago. It took me all weekend.’ Bear in mind this was a tough post grad course that had already managed to reduce a few people to tears. To be told this was an impossible task was no small thing. ‘I’ll do it,’ I said. A bit cocky of me considering I had no idea what I was up against. ‘Well good luck,’ she replied. When I took the papers out for a quick look on the tube home I was staggered. Bloody hell this really was a whole weekend’s work. And now, not long before the rest of my classmates were turning their thoughts to going to bed to be ready for Monday morning, I still hadn’t even got started. And I was about to attempt this on the back of a heavy weekend.

I got home at 9:30, turned any clock I had towards the wall and began. After I don’t really know how long, I went outside for a walk, deliberately avoiding discovering the time. I walked for about 20 minutes, the biting cold really helping to force me back to full alertness, then returned to complete it. Only then did I look at the clock. It was almost 4am. With one short break it had taken me well over six hours. In my entire journalistic career still to come, I never had a one off-job or deadline as intense as that. I just really wish I could remember the reaction of my classmate when I handed it in with everyone else the next morning. Well, just a few hours later really. I’m also not entirely sure how I got through that day’s two hour shorthand class with which we started everyday.

I’m reminded of that this morning when I wake to the deadline for my Spanish company. Balls. I didn’t do a single thing on it last night. Now I’ve got to get it done this morning. I may well have said this before but in my entire journalistic career, including training, I never missed a single deadline. I’m not going to miss this one either. Especially not for something as self inflicted as the worst hangover I’ve had for some considerable time. I prise myself out of bed, get the computer working and open up the files. I stumble into it. But there’s no point in rushing. I’ve got time as long as I keep a steady rhythm. It’s a very painful morning and when it’s finally finished I allow myself a moment of triumph before sending it off. As soon as that’s done I go back to bed, disbelieving that as tired and battered as I’ve been so far, I’ve still managed to complete the whole job. This isn’t quite as epic as that journo training assignment but it was enough to remind me of it, and it certainly earns its mention in the same pages.

I rouse myself again a little after one which gives me time to shower before heading off to the next part of the day. My first Musicians’ Union committee meeting. By now I’ve started to come round a bit and by the time I get there I’m almost a fully functioning person again. This is essentially a meeting about how to modernise the union a little. How to fully engage younger musicians and help them to see the union as being something they want to be a part of. There are nine people in the room so a very manageable number for a discussion and arranged in a kind or round table manner. As we get into things, what comes through quite clearly is that the union isn’t particularly up to date in social media or even some of the more fundamental workings of the internet. So much is still done by leaflet which the members here think is just a touch archaic.

We also speak a little about open days for non members and the form that could take. What would get people talking to people they’ve not met before to create a sense of a network? I suggest some kind of live show with members playing then opening it up for anyone to come and play. I talk about this for a little and say somthing like, ‘The best networking events I’ve ever seen are jam sessions. It’s so easy to talk to people. Anyone who’s been on stage suddenly becomes completely accessible from an opening a conversation point of view because anyone can go up to them and praise what they’ve just done and bang. Two people are talking who’ve never met before. This goes double for anyone who decides to play as they’ve now shown the room they’re a guitarist or drummer or whatever and maybe someone out there is looking for one of them. And of course once you’ve played you’ve shared something with the people on the stage and that can become an initial bonding process. And apart from all that, provided the music isn’t too loud, which is of major importance, everyone out there can talk with a lively backdrop and it can even facilitate conversation.’ I tell them here about the time me and Dan played backing music for a networking event, not wholly dissimilar to what we’re talking about here. The feedback we received was that we not only added a sense of life to the room but also helped people who had never met to use what we were doing as something of a conversation starter. I’m not entirely convinced my suggestion is received with particular enthusiasm by the chair members but it does generate some discussion around the table.

There’s also talk of a web revamp, maybe including podcasts and video sessions. The behind the times feeling comes up again when one of the chair people starts talking about the logistics of making videos. Not in a negative sense but considering out loud about how such a thing could be done and what it would entail in terms of resources and financing. It sounds like he’s talking at least 10 years ago, maybe more. Someone cuts through that. ‘All you need now is an Ipad or even a phone. That’s your video camera. Some people talking and that’s your video. We have great interviews in the Musicians’ Union monthly magazine. Film or record some of them and put them out on the website.’ I join in by suggesting a white part of the room which could be used as a backdrop just to continue the theme that everything we need is right here, including the very thing we’re talking about now. We’re told there is a podcast available to which someone replies it was someone reading out a leaflet or some kind of list. Hardly the kind of thing to grab anyone’s attention. I suggest here they could do worse than check out Scottsbasslessons and see what ideas they could take from that site in terms of podcasts, the Academy Show and other elements which make up the site. A few people in here know it well and yes, they think SBL could certainly be used as a source of ideas for content for improving the MU’s own website.

By the end of the two hours I feel I’ve contributed as much as anyone else in what has been a quite productive and lively session. And I mean lively in its positive sense, not as in argumentative. However, I sense a certain amount of irony in the fact that in a meeting which discussed the importance networking everyone leaves quite quickly and I don’t get the chance to meet any of my fellow committee members. But at least I’m able to catch a few of the chair members for a chat before I leave. With this I take the opportunity to tell them about the care homes project and ask if they have any thoughts. What comes back is a few places I hadn’t thought of to look for funding. When the time’s right I’ll check them out.

I get back home an email from The Calf in Clapham who had told me of their budget for live music a few days ago. It fell quite short of our expectations and I politely told them so. I thought that was the end of it but now they’ve upped their offer. Still not quite to what we were asking for but a little more than halfway between our two positions so a sensible come back. I’m happy with it so check with Dan and he says yes too. So back to them now to see what dates they have to offer.

Day 431

Friday March 10

In contacting care homes during this week I had the idea of calling head offices of organisations. I thought this was a pretty good call as I could pull in multiple centres with one contact. So far, while people I’ve spoken to have liked the idea, they’ve been saying the best way to proceed would be to contact each individual centre. I’ve been setting them to the side and persevering.

Today I call a lady at a care centre who I had a meeting with back in February last year. I’d been holding off on calling her until I’d spoken to a few people. I was hoping to call her when a few things had been set up. Nothing so far so here we go. She remembers me and is very happy to hear about the development of the idea. She says they have 11 homes across London. A key colleague of hers is back next week and she says she’ll talk to him about the possibility of, in her words, farming us out to them. Now that’s more like it.

A few more calls and I have another small hit as I talk to an operations manager who is happy to coordinate our email with her different events managers across five of their homes in London and the home counties. A little while later I reach one other person who gives me an email address for the person who coordinates between their homes. Right. We have a beginning. There’s a long way to go but today I’ve made three contacts covering over 20 centres. Add to that a meeting set up for next week with another organisation and we suddenly have the beginnings of a project to talk about.