Make Something Happen!
(With apologies to those who've seen it else-net.)

I have this conversation with people - they say 'let me know when you've got a gig near me!' And I do try, but the gigs come and go and sometimes it's not a day you can make anyway... so I'd like to invite you all to turn that on its head, and Make Something Happen instead.

Say you'd like to have me and the band come and play locally but I don't seem to have anything booked near you. Or maybe I did but you couldn't make it. I love that you want to know when the next thing is, and I really appreciate your support, but you know what? You could make something happen yourself and have the gig you want PLUS the feelgood factor of 'I did that!'

This way to the Talis Kimberley warm fuzzies....

1. Folk Clubs. Yes, I play these. Ask Walthamstow Folk Club in London. Talk to your local one and tell them about my music, and that you think they should book me. Tell them you'll bring your friends along if they do - and mean it!

2. Festivals. Especially folk festivals, but all kinds. They like feedback from punters, and suggestions for acts they should book. What have I got, what has my music got, that other acts haven't? Modesty forbids... oh, alright then. My FB carries reviews that can be quoted, OK? Or I can send you some 'blurb' to give you an idea what to say.

And hey - when I say festivals, think about what I do and care about; I'll play knitting conventions, literary festivals, CPRE gatherings, I'll sing for the Rare Breeds Survival Trust or Friends of the Earth or Fairer Votes or Save the Libraries or learn to knit or Transition towns or Climate action groups or the Slow Food campaign; if it's green, eco, foodie, crafty, folky, literary, heritage or pagan, then I've songs they'll want to hear. Truly.

3. The aforementioned Transition Towns / green groups. If there is a group in your area who are trying to raise awareness of climate and fossil fuel and other issues - or if that's not your thing, then social justice campaigns press my buttons too - talk to them and tell them they should put on a concert - I might well do a fundraiser for expenses and dinner, it's been known! Tell them they should get relevant live music to embellish their next event, not just a band, not any band, not a pub band or a covers band, but a band with songs about local living, plastic spoons, the cost of fuel, public apathy, how to make quince jelly, climate change and knitting... that celebrate the humble washing line and the the postman's name and the apple orchard and the Cotswold sheep... I've been to green events where there was live music that had nothing green about it. Tell them they're missing a trick, and that my songs can illustrate what their event's all about. Be bold. Be honest.

4. Failing any of that appealing to you - I have been known to do the odd house-concert, and the odd party as well. I've performed in a new age shop/gallery, down the end of the garden, round the campfire and in the sitting-room.What you'll need is to get people along to hear me - your gaming group? Your re-enactment group? Your Tortoise Association friends? All the above plus the guys from work, why not? And your next-door neighbours as well.

* * *

I work solo and with the band, so your place won't be too small.The band grows or shrinks to fit!

I will need my travel expenses as an absolute minimum.

Tea and food always help.

I am always happy to discuss my fee structure - I'd rather negotiate my way into a gig than out of it.

If people are paying to hear me, I do expect a fee unless there's a VERY good reason.

If people aren't paying to hear me, what's my very good reason for wanting to travel and perform for you? Good. So long as there is one! :-) (eg Transition Town, fundraiser for something I'm glad to support)

Yes, there are Youtubes. Point people at them so they get some idea what I do...

Yes, there are pictures and bio on my website for downloading.

Yes, I can do a local radio interview.

Yes, you can link to my website / FB etc.

And link. Unusually, this one's public.

Or quote it if you'd rather.

Yes, my FB is public.

Yes, yes, yes.

If you enjoy and support my music - if it's ever moved you or made you smile - please tell your corner of this great big busy world of ours that I am here, writing songs like nobody else, about things that matter, and I'm singing them with my band, and that we put on a fine show, we work jolly hard, and we engage with our listeners completely. I get hardened metalheads come up after sets and tell me they can't stand folk, but that was really good. I get teenagers friending me on FB because they went somewhere with their mum, and you know, I was actually pretty cool and they liked the one about Brian Cox. I get folk who never go to gigs telling me how much they enjoyed the one about the bees, or the one with the knitting it, or the book song... and I want to sing to them all, and I want to sing for you.

So please - make something happen?

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'Clever Men' - new song on Bandcamp
http://taliskimberley.bandcamp.com/track/clever-men

Just to let you know, a newish song up on BC for you. This one's been out in the wild for the last few months.

If you like it, share it onwards... that's always the biggest favour you can do me!

Thank you.

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Fun with music again
I'm reaching the point where my fingers now go off on their own while I play the concertina, and trying to think about where they should be slows them down. Except where they falter and tangle, and go 'hey, brain? Help us out!' and then the thinking comes in again.

Some tunes are just a delight. I've been playing Shepherd's Hut and Kemp's Jig round and round, as both have lovely shapes on the English, and am trying chords now too for other songs. It'll be some long while before I'll play in a performance, but I begin to believe that time will come eventually.

The cats have got used to the noise, thankfully.

* * *

And I've imported a desk to my studio, which helps - I'm doing more laptop/Tascam/bits of paper stuff than I'd anticipated, and this helps. As does a very fine rehearsal yesterday, and my Litmus Paper has approved two new pieces.

All good stuff! And gigs to look forward to as well. How's your weekend?

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Wormery?
Has anyone out there got experience of running a wormery? I'm getting interested in trying this, and there's a handy little space outside the back door, but I'm just at the asking-around stage, not to mention the looking-around-the-place-to-see-what-could-be-turned-into-one stage.

So far I've concluded that the three wooden trays currently holding salads would be *ideal*. Unfortunately they're full of salads. Well, except the spring onions, which haven't germinated (old seed).

I like the idea of the stacking trays, and I think the kitchen scraps go in the top and eventually the black gold comes out the bottom, but it's all a bit hazy in between...

And Mrs Brown chicken had some grain from my hand this morning, and is Not Budging from her eggs. All the books say 'encourage the hen to go outside for half an hour a day to eat and drink and exercise' but they don't say how... and if she were in the wild, she'd have to cope, right?

Yes. I know. I really need more livestock and projects. Shush, I'm not listening. Lalala.

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Silly
Too much has been happening to keep up with here, though I will try - in the meantime, here's my take on the current state of the country: I rather hope Clegg chooses not to choose. He doesn't *have* to deal with anyone. Cameron can try running a minority Govt if he likes; he's not put enough on the table to deserve LibDem support, imho.

My brain threw this at me in the car on Saturday:

* * *

Tweedledum and Tweedledee and Nick Clegg playing Alice;
Said Tweedledum to Tweedledee, 'Who's going to the palace?'
Said Tweedledee, 'We can't both go, so, Alice: you must choose!'
But Alice sent them both away - she had too much to lose...

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Wacom Tablet for sale
C has found the tablet frustrating, and ultimately has gone back to analogue formats... so his Wacom Bamboo Tablet is here unloved and he would rather have money towards his driving lessons fund. Which is fair enough.

It was bought in December from Wacom as a reconditioned model, and there's nothing *wrong* with it; it just doesn't suit C.

Anyone interested? Reasonable offers?

* * *

In other new, still here, gardening, singing, getting stuff done, hoping to be at the SWiGGLe on Saturday. Will likely be bringing a friend, I know you'll be nice to her!

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Mercedes Lacket books, and updatiness
Back from a few days away, lovely break in Dorset in a B&B. May update properly later. Snook in a giglet and snared another. Home to manymanymany lists of things that Need to be Done. Must spin those plates harder.

To wit: I have a number of Mercedes Lackey books from David P, which I am happy to pass on once I have read them. I have indeed already read several and would like to mongol or even post them on to a new home.

Who fancies Valdemar books? Serrated Edge? Bardic Thingies? Will list properly if interested.

Heads down and see you at the end of the summer holidays.

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Christmas Spending: Breaking the Habit
Is there a tactful and inoffensive way to ask for less, not more, this Christmas season?

I mean, I love opening presents too. But I already have too much stuff. A lot of my friends have too much stuff. And the list of things I don’t have, but would like to, and which can be wrapped up in paper, is very short.

Because mostly, what I want are time and experiences. I want to spend time with her. I want to visit there again, with them. I want to invite him to supper. I want to learn how to do so-and-so. I want to run a workshop with X, Y and Z trying out such-and-such. I want to enjoy Q’s company. I want to relax with P. I want to visit G and H, and have them visit me. And then I want to do it all again, and you can’t give me that; nobody can, except perhaps myself, when I learn how to live my life better.

It’s not even about the money, although goodness knows enough people I care about are less well off than they would like this season, and likely to worry themselves into a large saucepanful of guilt. It’s rather more the question of the resources used; the raw materials and the energy used to obtain them, the manufacture and the packaging and the delivery all have their cost. Add to that the human cost – the stress and the feeling-bad, the last-minute, the crowds and the parking. All of that is taken out of our souls, and our souls’ sanity.

I’ve gone through the guilt and the panic in years past, trying to buy something special for everyone I can and for whom I can afford it. I don’t want to play that game anymore, and I don’t want anyone else to on my account. Does anyone out there actually keep a list of those to whom you gave and who did not give to you? Or account of the comparitive worth of their gifts and yours? Is that how you keep score of your dear ones? Really?

It’s already socially acceptable to say ‘We don’t do cards’. Can we extend that? Please?

I had a lovely birthday this year. Some of the things which brought me the most delight were a card from a friend overseas which held pressed flowers from her garden – the last violets – and a crochet pattern torn from a magazine from another friend, and from a third, some special seed potatoes because she gardens too and thought I might like to grow something different.

You could say I got some potatoes, a piece of paper torn from a magazine and some dead flowers for my birthday. You’d be wrong. I know that I got a very great deal more, that those three things in particular meant a great deal to me and brought me much joy.

So if I don’t give you a gift this Midwinter, please believe me that it does not denote the less affection or regard on my part. Maybe I know that you also have too much stuff.

And if I do give you a gift this Midwinter, it may be something I made, or cooked. It may be something I already had and thought you could use. It may be secondhand, local, handmade, or consist of data rather than substance – a recipe, a poem, an embroidery pattern. It may be my time in showing you how to bake cinnamon rolls or how to knit gloves. Or it may be something to eat and drink, which takes up no space at all once consumed.

And if it’s none of these, I would like to give everyone who reads this freedom from Christmas shopping guilt. Ting! There. Let go of the consumer con-trick. Most of us have too much stuff already, and we really don’t need this frenzy that turns precious resources into rubbish, money into debt, and sane folk into gibbering wrecks. There are better ways. Let’s find them.

(Post deliberately left public: copy, link, pass on as you will.)

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Good wishes for E, please, who went to the doctor yesterday to discuss her haemoglobin and the next thing we know the GP has arranged for an immediate blood transfusion, so we dash home to hurl things into bags and then go off to Great Western Hospital.

I'm off there again now, don't yet know if I'll be bringing her home or no, have cancelled today's stuff. C also home with bad cough. Think of us, hey.

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Foodie calendar going begging
I got the xmas BBC Good Food mag, which came with a calendar. Big enough to write stuff in, opens to A3-ish per month, seasonal recipe on each month. Surplus to requirements here. Any takers?

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UK folks: today's TV all clashes. Help!?
Sorry to post a plea out of the blue when I've been so quiet here so long. But it's like this: we missed the first showing of 'Peter and the Wolf' and so we'd like to vid the repeat today. Except that it clashes with 'Spirited Away' (which is, admittedly, probably available commercially). nd it also clashes with 'A Wizard of Earthsea' - I adore the books, but have heard nothing of this dramatisation/film. It might be splendid! Or pants. Does anyone know?

Is anyone out there in the flist in the same dilemma? Can we trade vids? Is the 'Wizard' any good? Is 'Spirited Away' worth a look?

What are we trying to vid this evening? Help, flist, help!

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Bankrupt pants for a few weeks
... with everything going on here I am just not getting to my pc, so please email me if anything vital happens, or else know that I might possibly wander by. I should not be doing paperwork at 11pm on a Sunday. Assorted love and hugs as appropriate.

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Butter and pumpkins and giglets
Well. Last Friday I had a giglet for the Swindon Wildlife Trust, which was lovely - fewer than twenty people but all really involved; some poetry, a slide show on local nature reserves, (unexpectedly featuring P from the bbq I'd sung at earlier in the year!) and 2 half hour sets for me, totally unplugged, with V beside mostly on acoustic bass.

I talked a lot about the influence of the Englsh countryside and its folklore on my songs as I went, and had a ball. Beign prioritised for the hot drinks at half tme was lovely. Having a piece of apple cake saved to take home for the family was delightful. Hearing the raffle winner go 'Squee! I know what *I'm* having!' just in front of me - and choosing the Talis CD - was really sweet. Hearing Eric Barnes on '15 ways to worm your cat' had us falling off chairs. All together just the kind of small local gig for a good cause with nice people and no stress that I like doing once in a while.

Samhain was quiet - I like it that way. P and I planted a sprouted acorn (spent Sunday at the Arboretum with M&A wanolj, and P found several acorns sprouting; filled pockets with chestnuts and bags with leaves. Lovely.

So, we planted that, and P made a leaf collage, and we cut our pumpking from the garden, and carved it; C nd I carved the two we had in the veg box. We've since acquired our neighbour's pumpkin too, which is huge. Pumpkin pie was made and given away (diddy ones to neighbours) and candles lit - I saw the evening in with candlelight in the kitchen to feel the dark in my bones.

Yesterday three local friends came round to learn buttermaking, and butter was indeed made; I showed new friend J round the garden (she asked) and after she and E had left, S stayed and played with P, and they told each other stories and took turns playing harp to accompany the tales. It was *beautiful*. My daughter seems to have the idea that stories and harp go together - and I swear she's never heard me do it.

Today was catchup and cook day as the kids are back after a long half term. Hello late Autumn, cold, bright and clear; the seeds have fallen and the darkness closes in, but that's well too.

And both my children have gloves/mitts I've knitted them. I'm proud. Next, C's hat, then something yummy for me.

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Oh, one of *those* days
...when my R&D on new baking for the market tomorrow did not exactly work (toffee too runny. Chocolate emulsified. Resulting caramel squares perfectly edibe - with a spoon - but not saleable. So I've sent V off to Ellendune Ents with a plateful for teabreak.

Tried showing my pal's eleven-year-old how to crochet; I don't think I'm very good at teaching this. Then my sis-in-law rang and then the door went and then it was teatime and then V had left his mob at home so no idea when arriving as left keys as well so locked off bike therefore walking.

My green fluffy scarf developed a ladder *shortly after being 'played with'* - and it's a ***** to inpick so I'm doing it in stints. In between knitting gloves for C. After which, mitts for P, a hat for C, and we'll see about the fluffy scarf, P, hmmm? I want a superduper cardigan but haven't found a gorgeous enough pattern.

I have been good and done a bit of notation most days this week again. (Invokes the power of Some...) Finished 'Siren song' which had me stymied for months. Started Pale Shamen.

The washing machine has died. It may just be the fuse. Or not. Tomorrow I shall get the Wonderwasher from the garage and see how it works. Hurrah for emergency backup plans, anyhow.

And hurrah for lovely teenage sons who make me cups of tea and give me hugs when I am stressed. (just the one, actually, but I'm jolly glad he's mine.)

Made my first ebay sale today, which was a nice small triumph. Now to list something else... the world is now my lobster...

I have a small gig tomorrow. Owing to having the lurgy Friday through Monday, I have about 70% energy and voice - cattarh, not sore throat, I hasten to add, I would have cancelled already were it throat. It's for the local Wildlife Trust, for free, so I'll just play it really low key.

Oh, and I finally spoke to the landlord at the Beehive again, who has booked me for not one but two dates next year. Looks like I'm on a 6-month rota now. Hurrah! Sunday afternoons, March 4th and Sept 2nd. Who knows what the line-up will be by then...

Looking at that lot, you know, has made me realise it's not been such a bad day, really. Think I'll take up my son's invitation to watch some of 'Die Hard' with him.

Yes, we have low taste in movies. But we also have squidgy caramel slices!

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Introducing...
...and will you all please give a big warm welcome to emsy, whom I've never met except we nearly did once, and she hangs out in all the cool places like cadhla's LJ, and Gloucestershire, and, cdbaby, and, er, next year's UK filk con.

So be nice to her, cos she's new to think whole filking thing, but I reckon she'll fit right in. Some of you she knows already, but that's no reason for me not to do a bit of a ta-daa! on her behalf. Which I hereby duly do. Hello, Emsy! Enjoy!

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Easy tea
Since I've had the lurgy again (I know, using up my sick days...) and today is my 'feel better mostly but still not much energy' day, yet also my 'omg I leave my to-do lists for three days and they go bananas, how many tasks? And all this washing?' day (I'll stop there before this gets *too* much more like a Cheddar Gorge entry) - so maybe I'd done a little too much today, but I've wrestled the lits down from dreadful to merely bad.

And in the freezer there was Dave Clement's Canadian Chili! Now defrosting. Easy tea. Thank goodness. And Dave Clement, who showed me how.

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Recommended 'Listen again' on BBCR4
I commend to my flist the BBCR4 programme 'Finding a voice' which I enjoyed at lunchtime today. Hildegard von Bingen to Nancy Sinatra via Maddy Prior and with Barbara Dickson; the female voice in singign and songwriting. Enjoy.

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A nice little giglet
I seem to be songwriter-in-residence to a local performance poetry group, the Pulsar Poets. Today they were having one of their quarterly-or-so performance evenings, and trying out a new venue, the Calley Arms in the nearby small village of Hodson. Thissuited me well as Id' noticed thta the Calley Arms often has events, so I though I might be able to slip in a demo and promo pack whilst giving a free taster, so to speak, of my music.

It's a very laid back thing, doing maybe four songs after all the poets have had a go, and then the same again after the interval. I did Jam Tomorrow, My Lady of the Underpass, Red Riding, and Twelve Gold Horses for starters, to a good response, and then went to get a drink in the interval. A nice lady offered to buy me a drink, saying nice things about my music, and she turned out to be the landlady, so that worked out. She'd enjoyed my first mini-set and was delighted to have a demo. Fingers crossed.

I was then coralled into persuading a young lass of maybe 14 into reading - she'd come prepared (not to mention with her family) but was feeling timid. I sat and had a chat with her and she said she'd think about it - something I said must have worked as she went up in the second half and read some very commendable poems with quiet assurance. My second set was Head of a Pin, X-Libris, When I was a Mermaid, and Uffington Hill.

Emily's (the young lass) mum came and thanked me afterwards and we got talking - turns out they're local farmers who have just taken over my local butcher and are stocking him with local lamb. Lovely! I'm a regular there so I said nice things about the butcher and his staff, all true, net result a very positive vibe all round. And an invite to drop in and say hello when I'm next at the butcher's.

We'll be having local lamb for Sunday roast, then.

My spirits were only dampened slightly by the fact that the sunroof on the car seems to be stuck on slightly open somehow, and it's been heavily raining for some time. It was certainly raining in my car all the way home, but I'm drying off. Now I must package up the baking for tomorrow's market befoer heading to bed with Miles Vorkosigan and maybe a row of knitting. Lovely. Goodnight, LJ.

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Flipping ebay
I've juts listed an item for sale. I wish I could feel more triumphant, but it's taken me a ruddy hour and a half to get there. On top of the hour I spent setting the flipping account up ages ago. Three false starts, several lost pages and a completely ******* useless help system which offered me a topic and then refused to disgorge it, however I went at it.

I know I'm not thick. I may not be a techie, but I'm not thick. Furthermore, when I looked at Amazon Marketplace, I got over a dozen listings up from a standing start in an hour. If *they* can make their interface make sense, why the **** can't ebay?

Grrrrrrr. What a waste of my admin time. Which is not unlimited.

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songbook update
While I remember - Vaurien has chucked a bunch more lyrics up on the website, in case anyone missed that. Most of what I did at FC is now there.

Oh, the songbook? As in paper version? Yesssss... that's one of many projects trundling slowly along. Though I did some very useful market research (Danke, das Reihenfolge auch Kuchen!) regarding the level of detail people are likely to want in such a thing. My conclusions: varied level of detail, primarily the melody and chords for basic playing, plus important harmony lines or key instrumental lines as appropriate - up to, the whole score, for perhaps a selected few pieces.

Plus of course illustrations, photos, recipes, background to songs, inspirations, etc. Comments invited!

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