Piano found on Ben Nevis

How odd. Judging by this picture, I'm not sure how they could tell that this object had indeed once been a piano. The full story is well worth a read.

My sister recently bought a piano and is having terrible difficulty finding someone to take it up the stairs. Pity the people who delivered this one didn't leave their card. (Mind you, her stairs are a bit narrower than Ben Nevis.)

update 18/05/2006: Success! Kate's piano is now safely installed in it's new home upstairs.

This Sunday on ITV: Miss Marple

The Miss Marple episode which I worked on will be showing this Sunday (April 30th) at 9pm on ITV. Here's the blah about it from the ITV listings. (Just in case I have any visitors from the US, I think it shows there on PBS on July 23rd.)

The episode has a very creepy feel to it, which Dominik's music enhances greatly, so definitely a nice way to spend your Sunday evening.

I'd also like to apologise to all my regular readers for not blogging much recently: sorry Stu. There, that's done.

This Tuesday: Eileen at the 606

Just a quick plug for my good chum Eileen Hunter, who is playing at the 606 Club in Chelsea on Tuesday April 18th.

Request for friends

Just set up a new MySpace account, but every time I look at my profile there it says 'Angus has no friends', which is a little hurtful (and quite uncalled for).

So if anyone out there is on MySpace, please add me as a friend so I can feel better about myself.

Big Band Gig this Saturday!

I'll be playing with the John Ongom Big Band at the Heathcote Arms in Leytonstone (map) this Saturday (8th April), from 8pm.

It will be mostly tunes from the swing era - Count Basie, Frank Sinatra.. that kind of stuff.

Entrance is free, so please come along!

Miss Marple: The Sittaford Mystery

I've been doing a couple more night shifts working for composer Dominik Scherrer. Dominik has scored the music for the recent Miss Marple films starring Geraldine McEwan, which have been showing on ITV. The latest one that he has been working on is called The Sittaford Mystery, and he asked me to help out by doing editing and mix preparation at his studio on Brick Lane. There was alot to do: around 46 cues amounting to an hour of music, but there are not many distractions when you work through the night, so I just kept on ploughing though it.

At the risk of sounding like a brown-noser, I think Dominik did a great job with the music for this, and I really recommend looking out for it when it airs.

I'm also pleased to report that I discovered a great place for full English breakfast in the morning (I decided my usual place, Ponti's, was a bit drafty). There's a huge Wetherspoons pub at Liverpool Street station called Hamilton Hall, and their breakfasts are very fine and also excellent value for money.

Saturday Nights at the Bohemia Café

Another great jam I often attend is run by Pierluca Taranta at the Bohemia Café in Hackney (map) on Saturday nights. The house band is Luca on guitar, plus bass and drums - last night it was Lance and Vladimiro. The music starts at around 9pm and goes on till after midnight.

Last night was a quite special night for me, as most of my family came along to eat and to enjoy the music. Luca's trio started the night with several standards. They sounded so good that I must admit it was a little daunting to be the first to go up and join them. But I wasn't sure if my folks would want to stay right to the end of the evening so I thought I should play something before the band took a break. As it turned out, there was no hurry, as once my sisters and mother got into the red wine there was no stopping them.

A few other musicians played a tune or two after the break. I particularly enjoyed the contributions from violinist Maria Bruccheri, and from the singer and oud player from Turkey (oops I seem to have mislaid his name) who rounded off the evening with some wonderful middle eastern music.

So I really recommend coming along on a Saturday night, whether to join in, or just to listen - the music is great, the food is great (and very reasonable), and the atmosphere is very friendly.