S*T*U*F*F* Reloaded

My lemon of a MacBook Pro is no more - Apple are finally replacing it with a new improved one - 2.4MHz, 4GB RAM, big video card, 200MB hard drive, a reasonable upgrade from the one I bought over a year ago. Its a happy end to a sad saga, finalised in Regent Street Apple Store upon production of a lot of paperwork relating to my problems with the MacBook Pro. I can but hope that the new one is built better than the first one.

The “fault” with the MacBook turned out to be the user-modification applied by my young son Luka, who decided that putting a 1p piece in the slot-loading combo drive would enhance performance. It did not, achieving only horrific grinding noises as my burning of “Songs for the Deaf” failed at the first attempt. However, the lovely guys at the Apple Store didn’t charge me for this episode, and I am very grateful for that.

This post is getting way too geeky so I’m off.

Last year during the Air tour in the USA, I was discussing with JB & Nico the fact that Moon Safari was 10 years old in 2008. Its always easy to look at something like that and feel melancholy, retrospective, maybe slightly negative? For them, they’ve gone on to produce other great work; but Moon Safari, in all its youthful playfulness and naivety, was, and will always be, the album for which AIR is remembered.

Then I had an idea - wouldn’t it be nice just to celebrate the fact that the record was part of our collective consciousness, part of the soundtrack to the end of the 20th century? It was the record that tied people all over the world together… so the concept for MoonSafari2008 was born. The guys loved the idea and we had a meeting about it on the way to visit Apple HQ in Cupertino, California.

I’m delighted to say that after a monumental amount of work over the past couple of months, the site has gone live, and I’m very pleased with the result. I’m not going to “go all techie on yo ass” but there is a fairly ludicrous amount of fine detail in the coding. I’m hoping we’ll get another round of development time… well, that’s for sure, as AIR are so happy with the site that they’ve asked G-RAFF to do their main site later this year, which will be massive.

I have finished touring with AIR for the time being. We finished up with two sell-out, standing-ovation nights in the Sydney Opera house after perfect days of Bronte Beach breakfasts and Bondi café hangouts, Japanese food, sun, swimming and seeing old friends. Then the late-night drift - rooftop bars and Hernandez café at dawn… I do love to visit Sydney. But to get to walk down to Circular Quay, up to that magnificent iconic building - and to go INSIDE up to the stage was truly a magical experience.

The whole tour was filled with a very positive spirit, and was immensely enjoyable - one of the best I’ve ever been on.

I played the guys the new material from my album, and it got almost embarrassing as Nico harped on and on about how much he loved it - very flattering, and I was delighted. Its also a testament to Jules Maxwell, who is producing it, that he managed to get something out of the ordinary… which Nico picked up on. I just want to get it done now. Finished and out there. Now that Moon Safari is live, I might have a chance of getting some time to breathe. Ah - no - wait - there are all those OTHER projects to finish first… starting with a new site for Brendan Perry.

Ah well… its all good stuff. Creative fun, and long may that last. I was discussing that with my fine old friend, the mighty Foy Vance who has been working away on some amazing new stuff that is nothing like he is known for… if it gets out there, you’ll be in for a shock. And while I’m at it, I must mention the fact that he sprung a surprise bottle of Bushmills 1608 400th anniversary whisky - signed by the master distiller no less - upon me. I was blown away… what a man! Class.

So… please go and tell your Moon Safari Story. You can find mine tagged as “G-RAFF”

Apple’s policy of not replacing dud machines really winds me up. Its a joke. I got a LEMON of a MacBook Pro to start with, and I just knew it. It cost a fortune, but apparently that does not entitle you to a computer that works without causing constant headaches.

I played ball with them all of last year, knowing from the start that the machine should have been replaced at the outset. In less than one year, the logic board has blown, the screen needs replaced, the case was replaced, top and bottom, the keyboard replaced and the battery a couple of times. Now the keyboard has started to go again.

And they think its OK to put professionals through this kind of hassle… if nothing else, it takes about 3 hours round trip for me to go to the Apple Store, wait, speak to someone and come back. And I may lose my machine for days at a time. I just had the world’s most pointless conversation with “Anders”, a senior support technician who specialised in the line “Yes, I understand, but there’s nothing I can do”. Pathetic.

I just feel trapped - I love Mac OS X, and can’t possibly imagine using any other operating system, but the hardware? That’s another thing entirely. This computer has been nothing but a pain in the ass, and I’m stuck with it… have to take it in for ANOTHER repair. As I’ve said before, if you could put Mac OS X in a high powered PC, I would do that after this experience.

Not cool Apple.

Rant over.

Its been pretty full on. Sometimes things just go mental, and you have to try and keep up. I’ve just finished typing a comedy email in French, as my little boutique web design agency G-RAFF has been commissioned to do a website for AIR. I’m so chuffed about it… it was in the same week as 5 other projects (or very likely projects) appeared.

Its been a real trip getting my hands on the original Moon Safari artwork, seeing all that beautiful work up close, being able to work with it and create something new. A real privilege, like I’ve been given the keys to the treasure room of a museum. We are going to do something lovely - very simple, but effective… watch this space. It is absolutely gorgeous artwork, I must say. Its amazing how sometimes a classic album like that just lucks out and gets a classic piece of art to go with it - a lovely synchronicity.

Martyn James Brooks and I have been discussing the artwork for my new album. I love talking with him about visual ideas - he’s a real livewire and drifts across a whole spectrum of concepts in a matter of minutes. What’s lovely is the fact that we will get right down to the details, yet at the very last moment, when the film is developed, he’ll finally get his idea… that’s what happened when we did the shoot of Emma, the little girl on the cover of Angels In Drag.

The recordings have been going very well, with Jules Maxwell steering the good ship to a result. As I’ve said many times, I have the deepest respect for Jules; his vision for my work and especially my voice, is something I would never have found in a million years. And looking at everything else I’ve done before now, it all seems fake. He’s amazing. Its sounding good. The general tactics have been to drop the vocals by an octave… I can sing really, really low, so Jules was keen to explore “the primal rumble”. Songs have started to make sense, become coherent, and sound like they were honestly delivered by the person that wrote them. I can safely say that’s the first time in my life that has happened. It also happens that all the vocals are single takes - with no drop-ins. All the flaws and mistakes will live happily ever after, without AutoTune or any such rescue remedy.

I was also delighted by the fact that my good friend, ally and power-meeting colleague Leo Abrahams contributed some wonderful guitars to a couple of the tracks. He’s made a significant mark on this album, not least the fine bottle of Amarone we shared at Il Bordello after exiting the studio doors.

Speaking of wine, I indulged a bit this week. And why not? I remain resolutely convinced that wine is to be enjoyed at the most unremarkable of moments. To take of its true magic, you have to let it transport you out of the mundane and into its world… this is best done with no distractions. Its a bit like a control experiment. If you’re having a fancy dinner with great food - sure, a nice bottle of wine can enhance the evening no end. But sometimes its great to just open a nice bottle and let it be your evening’s entertainment - or in my case drinking half and leaving the rest overnight to see what it does.

In my case, this has happened twice this week - nothing really outrageous, by any means, but a couple of lovely bottles. A “Bodegas Riojanas” 1998 Monte Real Gran Reserva on Wednesday, and a 2003 Chateau Bellegrave Pomerol tonight. Drunk slowly, savouring every drop, with the backdrop of suburban London… nothing to jump up and down about. Just that nice relaxed feeling when your child is in bed, and time comes dropping slow.

I’ve just finished a recording session up at our studio with Jules Maxwell - he’s producing my new album. We got really stuck in this week, digging out the sessions from last year and trying to make sense of what’s been done and what had to be done. Jules is just amazing - with such a clear vision of something I can’t see until its there, and it is all just right. He has been getting me to sing in my bass register, which is great… it sounds like, well, me. I never really had the bottle to do it before, but he is conquering every demon. “Turn the drums down… no, mute them completely… ah - THAT’S IT!” or “No, the vocal just isn’t happening. Don’t perform it. Don’t even try. Just let it be.” Infuriating advice, but sometimes its just what I need to hear.

Its very stripped back - mostly just guitars and vocals, with a little bit of bass and the odd bit of foot stomping or clapping. Quite a remedy to the bombastic overblown sound of Angels In Drag, but it just seems the right thing to do. Its having a much more profound effect on my audio guinea pigs - they are bursting into tears, gasping in amazement. I’ve been fortunate enough to have some wonderful guitar magic added by my great friend and ally Leo Abrahams whose website I’m currently designing and building… its been a great creative experience and will be lovely when its done.

Recording on a Friday night is good. Especially when followed by heading back to where Jules is staying - in the rectory of St. Olave’s church in Fenchurch St., a 12th Century church where Samuel Pepys is buried. THe church was open so we went in and looked - although it was dark it had a wonderful sense of space, and the silence was pure magic in the London night. He heated up some spaghetti bolognese from last night and we tucked in over a Leffe Blond. That’s a beer by the way, not a variety of woman.

I love the drives home from the studio late at night. I stick Radio 4 on and catch the shipping forecast, usually as I cross Tower Bridge. There’s something really special about driving through London late at night. All those magnificent buildings and world famous monuments, bridges, just yours for the taking. You take a snapshot in your mind and just keep going.

I’m drinking a last glass of my Corton Pougets 2000. I had most of it last night as I cooked dinner for Diane and fancied a bottle of something beyond the ordinary. I had bought a nice bottle of Faugères as an excuse to talk French with the guy from Nicolas in East Dulwich, but eventually decided to go for something a little more on the special side from my small collection of special keepsies. The chap was amazed when I chose the Faugères the first time I went in there. “C’est pas bien connu…” Funny, it was a Faugères that made the guy in Le Savour Club in Paris stop treating me with disdain and more like his only son. I asked if he had any “Abbaye Sylva Plana” and he said “Vous connaissez ce vin?” - You know this wine? His smile was something I won’t forget. If you ever see Abbaye Sylva Plana - Le songe de l’Abbaye I think is the name of the wine - buy it. Its about €12 and tastes just fabulous. Do yourself a favour and leave half of it overnight. When you come back to it next day you will weep with delight as it touches your lips. Magic.

Diane gave me a Valentine’s Day gift of a wine tasting in June… a special tasting of the “Whites of Burgundy”. Brilliant, as I haven’t got much of a clue about whites, really. I was advised that 2006 Burgundian whites are a great investment, and while I don’t dispute the authority of the person who told me, I’d like to discover a bit more by means of the nose and tongue. Though I fear for the effect on my bank account.

Right - must sleep. I have to get up and deal with the amazing little fellow that makes me laugh my loons off - my wee boy Luka… and he could be up as early as 7am. If only 2 years olds could grasp the concept of “a lie in”.

We had a manic week of friends last week - fantastic! Some pals came over from Belgium (photo of beers attached), then the mighty Martyn James Brooks came to stay with us during a week-long shoot for Time Out.

Friday night was the big one… Nico (Nicolas Godin) from Air told me one night during the tour last year that he really wanted to eat haggis again. I don’t know why, so don’t ask. I invited him to come to our annual Burns Night Supper, but as it was September and people in general have a tendency to just agree to these things with no intention of ever coming, I took his affirmation that he would be there with a modicum of disbelief.

Suffice it to say that he made the trek from Paris, bearing Dominique Laurent Gevery-Chambertin 2001 and a big smile. Some other great friends came down from Edinburgh and St. John’s Wood; and the stage was set for our big evening. Just fabulous food (haggis from William Rose, neeps and tatties, Balvenie scotch and a tribute to our French contingent in the form of fine Burgundies).

Trick of the night had to go to Ian Hartley, who crowned the evening by announcing that he had purchased me a square foot of land in Glencairn, thus legally entitling me to be known as Laird Stephen Jones, a title which I fully intend to avail of and have put in my chequebook.

Once everyone left, I decided to upgrade my computers to Leopard, the latest Mac operating system. In such an operation, one must always fear the worst (though my last upgrade to Tiger was perfect) so I took a full backup, hoping that a royal beard would not be grown in the aftermath of clicking that one word “Install”.

The upgrade was seamless beyond belief. Nothing had changed, nothing was lost, it was just, well, all shiny and stuff. In fact I really dislike the look of Leopard, and can’t wait until they give us the option to lose some of the Vista-like appearance. All this semi-transparent eye candy is just ugly, pointless, and makes the screen look cluttered and busy. I went so far as to replace the dock icons with a set I designed myself that more closely resemble the old Tiger set.

Having said that, it performs rather amazingly well. All my applications were faster, the new Finder is lovely, and I quite like the little “web clips” feature where you can save little bits of web pages (almost like screenshots) in your dashboard so you don’t always have to go to a website, and they are live… for example, I have the next 8 trains leaving from Sydenham to London Bridge… so don’t have to even bother opening Safari. Sweet. Anyway, I’m getting a bit geeky so I’d better get back to my tea.

I like the writer Haruki Marakami a lot - well, not so much recently, as I think his novels have become a little less intriguing than they were. When I lived in Japan, I was delighted to find a collection of small, palm-sized versions of Murakami novels which were unpublished in Europe at that time - Norwegian Wood (in 2 parts), Pinball 1973, Hear the Wind Sing and a two-part version of “The Wild Sheep Chase”. I bought a set for myself and a set for a friend, but thought nothing more of it. I ended up trawling Kanda in Tokyo for every last remaining copy of “Hear The Wind Sing” I could find, and continue to give these as gifts to Murakami fans that I meet. I gave one to Leo Abrahams when we met for the first time, in Lab bar in Soho, to discuss him playing for S*T*U*F*F*.

A few years ago I was in a bookshop in Soho when I saw a stainless steel case with “Norwegian Wood” engraved into it - it was a collectors’ edition of the book, one of five hundred made. I opened it up and saw that the signed card had number 101/500 printed on it… when I lived in Japan, in the halls of residence of Okayama University, I lived in room 101, so I bought it for £50.

Now I find that some nutter is prepared to pay £195.00 as a starting bid for the limited edition on eBay (not my copy, which is not for sale), and there is a signed copy of “Pinball 1973″ for over £500!!! I do find that there is a certain joy in getting these things before they are sought-after, for the right reasons… because you like the creator, you like the quality of the item.

I just don’t really understand collectors… and I dread to think how many beautiful guitars are languishing in specially made display cases when they could be making music. I collect only dust.

Is there any other sport apart from snooker where the winner can just keep going when they’ve already won?

I’m up late, waiting for an emergency gas engineer to come round. I called them at midnight, supposedly to have someone round within one hour, but calling them again at 2am, I was told it wasn’t in the system. If the house explodes, someone sue them please.

I hope it doesn’t come to that. But there is a strong smell of gas at the back door, and I’d rather someone found out where it was coming from and made it go away.

I had an interesting foray into the world of allergies today. I was never allergic to anything growing up, but when I cam back from Japan, had developed severe allergies to (a) cats and (b) kiwi fruit. It must have stemmed from my diet during that year, but it was quite a shock when I ate a kiwi fruit (as you do when they are your favourite fruit) and felt my lips, throat and mouth starting to tingle and itch, followed by a tightening in the throat to the point where I could hardly breathe - almost like an anaphylactic shock. It was grim. So I started to avoid kiwi fruits, thinking nothing more of it.

Until today, when my friend Didier from Brussels gave me a spoonful of raw pollen just to see what it was like (strange fellow eats it every day!) and the same thing happened, though not quite as severe. So I looked it up, and saw the connection - the pollen is the key. In the table of possible triggers were a few other things that have made me feel a bit odd too - walnuts for example. Just the other night a friend gave me a slice of coffee and walnut cake, and when I announced I thought I was slightly allergic to it, Diane pooh-poohed this with the “that’s the first I’ve heard of it” speech… I feel vindicated now.

Where is this gas guy? What is the life of a 24-hour gas engineer like? I’ve no idea, I just wish he would hurry up so I can get some sleep before getting up at eyes-bleed-o’clock to take Luka swimming.

So am I the only one who was disappointed by the MacWorld keynote speech by Steve Jobs of Apple? Well, I suppose its not every year you can release the iPhone, but seriously, releasing the MacBook Air, something that is thinner, smaller and lighter than anything else is more like average Japanese manufacturer marketing material. It will date very quickly, and although it is quite an engineering feat now, I can’t help thinking its just another computer. I didn’t feel like that when I saw the PowerBook for the first time, or the iMac, iPod or indeed the iPhone… something about those products just had magic, an other-wordly creative mystery about them. Like when the Beatles released “Sgt. Pepper”, you suddenly realised “So THAT’s what they’ve been doing all this time!!”

Anyway, I’ll get over it. But I was hoping they’d produce something really special. Sorry - the MacBook Air is cute, but I will never own one.

Get your ass over to iTunes to download Leo Abraham’s single with KT Tunstall - I can’t believe its on there!!! Brilliant, and the best of luck to that amazing person who makes me fluctuate between wanting to give up and never wanting to do anything other than music on an almost daily basis.

Also, I added a short and daft video of my friend Conor eating a burning Pringle on YouTube. It was recorded on an old mobile so quality isn’t exactly broadcast… Bye for now.

I am starting to record some guitars. I couldn’t find a pick anywhere… until I remembered my friend Richie brought me a little present from Paisley Park… he snaffled it off Prince’s music stand in the studio!!

No wonder they sound funky.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but we’re all led to believe that this symbol means “recyclable” - am I right?

Well, it doesn’t. And I was shocked to find that out. Check this out - from the site Valpak which controls the “Green Dot” symbol in the UK:

“The UK Green Dot® is not a recycling symbol it is a trademark agreement only; therefore, it is not mandatory to display it on packaging in the UK. For information about recycling symbols please visit our recycle-more website at www.recycle-more.co.uk.

The UK Green Dot® licence does not represent compliance with the UK Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2005.”

So, if you’ll excuse my French, seeing this symbol on a package means precisely fuck all. Well, it does mean that the company have forked out some money to get the symbol… I did visit the “recycle-more” website to see what they had to say about ye olde green dot… and got much the same, ie. all this symbol means on packaging in the UK is that the company that made it paid us £235 per year to use the symbol, but doesn’t mean that the package can be recycled in any shape or form… see it for yourself.

In my opinion that’s verging on misleading, as this symbol is the “leading brand” of recognisable “recycling” symbols.

When I did discover this (thanks to my mum), I started looking more closely at packaging to see how easily one can tell if a thing is recyclable or not - and its a complete minefield. Of course we are never really told what symbols mean, but I actually think it should be made EXPLICITLY clear that packaging can or cannot be recycled using, perhaps (BRAIN WAVE) a short sentence like “THIS PACKAGE CANNOT BE RECYCLED” like you tend to see on most plastic from Sainsbury’s (yet another reason not to go near the place).

I hate the whole concept of social networking, the building block of “Web 2.0″ - the way we use the internet now. Actually, while we’re at it, the whole “Web 2.0″ thing is starting to get a bit dull, but I’ll post about that on my company blog (G-RAFF BLOG) in due course. I don’t use Facebook, I deleted my account at MySpace when I realised what was going on there, and vowed to steer clear of anything remotely resembling a social networking site…

…but I have been seduced by Last.fm. Its beautifully put together and actually delivers something that improves my life. I tried the radio thing and it played track after track that I enjoyed, showing me a few new artists and bands I’d never heard of. In keeping with my determination to make this a creative year, I uploaded the whole Angels In Drag album for listening and free download, so if you use Last.fm, and happen to like the album, get on there and do whatever you do to say its cool.

I’m just opening up Logic to get stuck into some more music - lots going on right now, and its sounding good and very exciting…

The Flow is what happens when your creativity starts to work. Take for example a little tiny piece of music that I wrote in Australia four years ago, maybe more. Just a high acoustic guitar thing with a foot tapping. I kept coming back to it as I liked the groove and the chord sequence, but could never get anywhere. But yesterday, I opened it up and just knew what to do with it - 20 minutes later it was layered up with a chorus, some bass, loads of BVs and a cool lead vocal idea… its all down to “The Flow”, which in my case has been stagnant for a couple of years (well, sort of). But the floodgates are open… like I said, its going to be a creative year. I’m working on a record for a friend - ie. writing and recording one for him, in return for a tea-chest which he is making me.

Local history… I was in the local cafe this morning, Sugahill on Kirkdale, Sydenham, which for my money does the best double espresso around (after a year with Air, its unrealistic to drink anything else). Two old guys were sitting there chatting away - I remembered one of them from the old incarnation of the cafe before it closed and reopened - anyway… he asked me where I got my shoes (a pair of Crocs) which proved to be the opening to one of the most fascinating conversations I’ve had for a long time. Both of them were experts on local history, going right back to Victorian times, and in exquisite detail, such as informing me about the atmospheric railway that once ran through here. I’d never even heard of one. Its becoming a lost treasure, the art of spontaneous conversation with strangers in public places, but I would like to see it revived. I sat there utterly fascinated for an hour as I was given a full and colourful account of this area where I live.

Lastly chickens. If you eat chicken, and didn’t see Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s show on Channel 4 about chicken farming last night (its on Tuesday nights), then check out his site Chicken Out. Its basically a campaign for free-range chicken to become the norm, and for things like misleading labelling to be removed from supermarket chickens - a point with which I thoroughly agree.

We made a decision years ago not to buy supermarket meat and poultry, to take advantage of the fact that we live in London and can therefore source good meat from organic and traceable suppliers. Our current butcher is William Rose on Lordship Lane, which is fantastic… sure, it means spending a little bit more, but not that much, and the difference in quality is astounding. Not to mention the fact that its nicer to buy from someone who knows your face and gives you a smile when you come through the door, rather than a contemptive glare as they ask you if you have a Nectar card. Most of us buy food according to price, and in such a furious economic climate, I can understand that, although I don’t subscribe to that myself - I do think its a matter of priorities sometimes… two less vodka and cokes a week would buy a free-range chicken. Two packs of cigarettes is a mixed organic box of veg from Abel and Cole. Anyway, I’m not much of a preaching sort, so I’ll pack it in right now. Nonetheless, hats off to Hugh for creating an interesting programme for me that sums up what’s good about television - its informative, well put-together, political, provocative and actually means something.

It makes me laugh that people still look at the feature list on the iPhone and say that its just not as chock-full of goodies as some other Nokia or Sony Ericsson device… if you have tried one, you’ll realise that this completely misses the point - its the interface and the way it reacts to its owner that makes it so amazing. For me, this kind of comparison is like looking at the 1-page menu on the door of the Fat Duck (Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant) and saying that it just doesn’t come close to Little Chef - I mean, they have a 10 page menu!!!

I don’t have one - a couple of good friends back in Ireland have them (my envious streak was growling like a hungover puma) and I enjoyed having a brief twiddle over coffees and wine (as it were). What struck me is just how much thought has gone into what people actually need when using a phone - for example, you do a search for a restaurant, and it comes back with a map and all the contact details, where one tap on the screen will add this whole thing into your contacts, another will call them, another can email them… etc. etc. Its just an awesome interface.

If only Orange would start offering them… It won’t surprise me if the next generation of iPhones get announced at MacWorld 2008 and I’ll be tempted to jump ship to O2 yet again.

I just had a flash of Kenya in my mind, and re-read the post above wondering just what kind of a world do we live in? iPhone? No, but some bread would be nice.

Its insane, and I have no answers.

I have always enjoyed writing complaint letters. In fact, if the truth be told, I think I have a real penchant for this activity. There are few occasions in life when one gets a chance to use grammatically complex English to convey a simple point, but when those chances arise, I believe it is our responsibility to take them.

It started a long time ago when I was fifteen, still at school. I got stuck on a train just outside Holywood (Northern Ireland) for an hour - there had been no warning, or information given during the delay. Just a silent train sitting there for one hour. Eventually the excuse was given that it was “emergency repairs” - a ridiculous statement, as we were literally seconds outside a station, and should have been given the chance to get off and find alternative means, and I suspect it was not such an emergency that the crew had 20 seconds to get there as the train left Holywood station… anyway, I digress. I wrote a strongly-worded letter to the PR guy at NI Railways, and got a £10 travel voucher. Brilliantly though, the next train I took (using that voucher, ironically) was also delayed by some equally nonsensical fiasco, so I wrote another letter to the same guy saying how this was absolutely outrageous, and got a voucher for £20 that time. A real teenage Victor Meldrew in the making, eh?

Cut to 2007, coming back from Hong Kong in November on a British Airways flight - my entertainment system didn’t work, and I had a one hour baggage delay. The letter, not entirely devoid of outrage and vehement accusation, was duly dispatched.

Just this week, I discovered that Skype had disconnected my SkypeIn number with no warning, so another furious torrent of “justified verbal abuse” landed on them via their email contact form.

This morning, I got a £75 voucher from BA, and 100 Euros of credit plus a new number for a year from Skype. Better than a punch in the teeth, I suppose. My friend Leo Abrahams and I were planning to create a Flash-based “complaint letter generator” using the most elaborate English we could muster… never quite got round to it, but may do this year, as I’ve vowed to have a creative year. Even if what I end up creating is utter nonsense.

Starting with the stop-motion video of the Air tour 2007.

No, I’m not trying to get search engine hits with the post title… I am just getting increasingly upset with the tendency of reporters to throw a horrific or shocking statement into their pieces on television.

*** Please don’t read the next bit if you don’t want to be disturbed in the way I was - skip to the next asterisks ***

I am responding in particular to a piece on the BBC where a female reporter was walking around the site of the church in Eldoret, Kenya that was burnt down in the violence - bad enough - but then finished with a description of how a woman managed to escape through a back window with her three children, but as she got out, some of the perpetrators grabbed her three-year-old and threw them back into the inferno, where they perished in the flames. To be left with such horror is disturbing beyond belief. It left me devastated - I’ve been trying really hard to believe in the good bits of humanity, then you hear something like this and are left reeling… in my case in tears. Its so visceral when you have a child of your own - you would do anything to protect them, and to imagine this kind of violent attack on a helpless little person who you love desperately is unimaginable.

Did she need to say this just to hammer home the point? Was she just too freaked out and had to get it off her chest? I was horrified enough just looking at the scene and imagining how grim it must have been.

*** OK after here ***

I just think that reporting is beginning to resort to the same fate as British television in general - just push the shock factor because people love it; they just can’t get enough. Violence included, it seems - am I alone in feeling like my head is being hijacked?

I grew up in Northern Ireland, where news was never exactly a bundle of laughs, to say the least. Every day was death and destruction - we became immune to it even without the explicit descriptions of what exactly was going on - and I’m pretty sure there could have been quite a bit of graphic detail had reporting standards been what they are now. What I wonder is if the children of today will become immune to ever-increasingly shocking news, making almost nothing seem inhumane.

I do suffer from being unable to rid myself of nightmarish visions like this - they pop back into my head during banal moments, like travelling on the tube or buying an espresso somewhere - so I wish they’d stop, and it makes me all the more determined to avoid watching TV. You could argue that I’m burying my head in the sand, trying to avoid the realities of a cruel world, and maybe you’d be hitting on some truth there, but I can’t superimpose these horrors on the smile of my little boy as he plays without a care in the world, feeling safe as can be.

On another note, I threw up a quick stop-motion video collage of the Air tour from this year on YouTube. Not exactly Oscars material but its a bit of fun.

Saturday morning, and a right stormy one it is too. I love these northern skies, especially with the view from my mum’s house where you can look right out over the town and the sea… Christmas is over, and I always feel a bit weird in the days that follow - like no-one quite knows what to do, just waiting for something, counting down to New Year. I have a fire lit, and am working on my iMovie of the Air tour - full of stop-motion videos JB and I made when we were on the road… it all goes well until you find that iMovie can’t put a subtitle on anything less than 2 seconds long. Sigh. So much for fast cuts of multiple photos of countries.

Luka is glued to his new “In the Night Garden” (ITNG) DVD. We don’t let him watch much TV in the day - usually a session in the morning to help with the blur that happens in a parent’s head trying to cope with the early start. ITNG is bonkers, so I think we’ll keep it that way. I didn’t know that Derek Jacobi was the narrator of ITNG - dear me… I once saw him in a play in the West End, “Becket”, where he was magnificent playing the lead as Thomas Becket, so it seems a little odd to hear him talking about how everyone loves to ride in the Pinky-ponk and counting Pontypines. It makes me wonder (on a serious note) whether he just looked at the paycheque and thought - “Yes, I’ll have a bit of that”, in which case, are we crazy to try and consider any kind of artistic integrity? Or did he REALLY want to do it?

I want to do more music next year. Its been so inspiring working with Air this year. I’m hatching plans to work with loads of people… but the main problem is that its now so difficult to make a proper living out of music, especially if you don’t want to tour. I don’t want to go away in 2008, apart from the swan-song (where does that phrase come from?) tour to Australia with Air, so I guess I’ll stick with my usual mix-and-match of graphic design and music that has made the last 7-odd years so fascinating - if for no other reason than it means I can work on music projects for free. I do want to do some good things this year and generally be more creative - though on the 31st December, that sounds strangely like a New Year’s Resolution so I’ll stop right there.

I am considering selling a guitar for the first time since I sold my first ever guitar - only because I want to buy a vintage Guild guitar I saw up in John Dickinson’s workshop the last time I was there getting my Telecaster set up. (So, does anyone want to buy a Lowden LSE-II (LSE 2 for sale)? Spruce top, rosewood back and sides, some magnificent inlay work and generally a cracking sparkly instrument. Amazing for pop rhythm tracks. I’m using it on the Air tour at the moment, but only for one or two tracks per show, and I think I’ll sell it once the tour is over.)

Even now I’m not sure I should part with it, but I have already have another old Lowden that used to sit in the common room of the factory in the late eighties (hence the 3-digit serial number 206), which by insane chance came to me, and is without any shadow of a doubt the most magical acoustic guitar I’ve ever played or heard. I would gladly give every other instrument I possess away if it meant I could keep that beat-up old guitar. Guitars sometimes find their owners… and this Lowden wants to find someone else for some reason. In days gone by, I would just have kept it and just bought the Guild as well, but as I’ve found over the past few years, families are expensive things to keep and my one-time £5000 per year instrument budget doesn’t exist anymore, finding its way into sofas, cars, Lego and other sundry items. Including Pontypines.

Hope your 2008 is absolutely amazing. A friend of mine was telling me that she managed four achievements this year, and listed them - sure enough, for her life they were great milestones which made me very happy for her. Maybe that’s a better thing to do… just resolve to say how many achievements you want on your list next December. I’m going for three.

Now, I am an Apple fan - not one of the obsessives, but I’ve used their computers and software for a long time now. And I will never go to that slice of ugliness known as Windows. But I have a problem - the new hardware sucks. I’m now into my 4th day of sitting in this Apple Store waiting to see someone about this MacBook Pro which was clearly a faulty machine from the outset. New batteries, a broken logic board, replaced case top and bottom and now the screen - and they just won’t replace it. Replace every part, yes, but not the computer… which to me, a person who uses it for production work every day, is just ridiculous.

If you could run Mac OS on a powerful PC machine, I would do that. But you can’t yet, so I’m stuck with this good-looking but ultimately overpriced and underconstructed machine.

Whine over.

Back in London after what was really a most excellent tour. What a year - touring with Air… it sounds almost surreal to me to write that. Their music has been a massive inspiration and I’m now keen to get some more music going, having realised a few home truths about where I am happiest in life. Guitar in hand, microphone nearby and some kick-ass musicians. Yes, there is a lot to do.

We bought a Christmas tree today, mostly for Luka’s benefit. I have, like most parents, been looking forward to the time when your kids get all excited and it makes Christmas magical again (presuming you felt like that about it when you were young). I didn’t imagine for a second that Luka would start this by the time he was 2 years old, but when I put up the tree, switched on the lights and suggested we decorate it, he was nearly hitting the ceiling with glee. What a sweetheart. We spent about 2 hours putting up baubles and stars… and he had a big ear-to-ear grin the whole time. Lovely, and so cute.

I drove down to the tour bus yard today in grim weather to pick up all the wine I acquired on tour… what a nice couple of boxes. On seeing them, Diane just rolled her eyes… she knows I’m incorrigible, and getting worse with age. But when I see labels like “Corton Pougets”, “Chateau Kirwan”, “Vina Tondonia”, “Poliziano”, “Vasse Felix” - they just fill me with an irresistable delight. Having said that, however, I must now stress that I am on a post-tour detox for a while. No alcohol for as long as I can manage… not easy as we have a wedding to go to on Friday… but ignoring that minor blip, I should manage to make it until the next wedding the following week - in France - when the mighty Jules Maxwell ties the knot!

No more Air in 2007! Looking forward to the Australian tour in 2008, though. Time to get my act together and finish my album that I started with Jules Maxwell…