S*T*U*F*F* Reloaded

Later with Jools Holland is rattling away on the TV. Aside from the mighty White Stripes, its been a bit uninspiring to say the least. I saw the White Stripes play in Top Of The Pops once. We were all sitting there thinking, “here we go with a royal display of bluffing…” at which point they just came on and blew everyones’ heads clean off with a killer track called “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground.”

Not much to report. I’ve been having the best time at home with my little boy Luka. When I got back from the tour, he just didn’t want to know - it was pretty close to heartbreaking for a few days - but I just gave him time to get used to me being here again and its cool now. I am constantly amazed how much he can say and do at the age of 18 months - including change DVDs in the player. Names are his favourite thing, much to the delight of all my friends who come round to be greeted in person.

Strange how far away the touring all seems now… it all kicks off again in a couple of weeks with the start of the European festival season. I’ll be on the road pretty much non-stop from the middle of June to the end of July, and am visiting quite a few places I’ve never been, which should be great. The festival vibe is a lot more laid back than doing our own shows, except for the almost unbearable stress around stage time - no soundchecks, and only the dreadful experience of the Coachella festival to bear in mind as a taste of what to expect.

Now that dreadful part of Later With Jools when he sits behind the piano and overplays all over a tune. Sigh… same as it ever was. The vocalist is one line in, and he’s already taking a solo. Dreadful. Now the real solo… oh dear - it smells a bit.

Diane has switched over to “Big Brother’s Big Mouth”. The UK seems to register the changing of the seasons with the coming and going of Big Brother. I actually watched the opening night of this series - the first time I’ve ever watched any of the programme. It was as horribly woeful as I thought it would be… but has the same addictive quality that forums have - you just can’t help dropping in to see what’s going on from time to time. No. You can help it. I will not be watching it… I have a guitar over there, and I need to get my head around ActionScript 3.0 (GEEK!!!).

My good friend Foy Vance is on the road right now - go and see him play if you can.