Go Cards!!!

Over a year ago Sue turned me and my whole family into official Cardinals fans. We have the T-shirts to prove it.

Can’t tell you how proud we are to win the World Series.

I’m on a course at the moment in the north of England (with limited www). But when I get back home we’re going to party.

S.


PS Quote of the day: many are the authors of success (especially when a party's at stake)

The journey home went like clockwork. From the many times I’ve now done this trip, I’ve discovered that the biggest problem is not adjusting to a new time zone but missing out on a full night’s sleep. I think I’ve nailed it now… I’ve this routine that gets me as much sleep as possible on the flight across the Atlantic. This time I was actually fast asleep before we took off. And I didn’t wake up until a burly US Airways flight attendant bashed into my leg with the breakfast trolley.

So now I’ve been home a day or so and it’s just wonderful to be back with the family. Moo hasn’t left my side and Poppy has made me over 20 pictures since I arrived. Home cooking, English weather, daily breakfast and bath time routines, the serenade of the sea throughout the house on the Autumn tide, the tick-tock of the kitchen clock, getting into my 4x4, Costa Coffee on Bognor Regis high street, family, friends and a familiar bed with 2,400 pocketed springs and Egyptian cotton sheets. It was heaven climbing into bed after being twisted up in a metal tube for 8 hours.

Looking back on the last few days it already feels like a dream. If it wasn’t for the WAJ discussion board and a bunch of emails from chums I KNOW I talked to in St Louis I could be persuaded it was all in my head. I realised on my way over that –

(a) There was a bunch of people I meant to catch up with that I didn’t get the chance to
(b) There was a bunch of people I never got to say goodbye to, and
(c) Watching '24' on my iPod is better than 'Lost' when travelling by air!

So here’s to WAJ 2007. It’s already in my schedule. Thanks to Sue and everyone else who made WAJ 2006 the best ever.

Yours wondering how to tell the children I’m going to be away this weekend again,

S.

3.14am and I've just got back to my Cool Springs suite in Nashville after another magical WAJ. For me it was the best WAJ yet. James T took the wheel for a large chunk of the 6 hour drive (thanks James) so I was able to chill out. We rigged up James’ Mac on the dashboard with episodes of ‘Lost’ and wired the sound through the car stereo. It was very cool.

Guess I’ve mixed feelings right now… on the one hand I’m missing all the wonderful friends I’ve enjoyed being with over the last few days, and on the other hand I can’t wait to get home to my family... I’ve just spoken to Sandra, Poppy and Moo as they were having breakfast. I know I’m going to notice a difference in the children when I get home – Moo’s conversation has already developed a lot compared with when I left.

My top 10 highlights of the last couple of weeks (no order):

1. Getting to meet so many old and new friends in the WAJ family over the last few days, listening to their work and being blown away by the level of their craft
2. The Friday night writers’ showcase – always a highlight of my year – and such a privilege for me to be part of it for the first time this year
3. Videoing home to Sa – it’s been a lifeline and an instant window into life back home
4. My cowrites over the last couple of weeks – I’ve so enjoyed each one – I’m going home with a bunch of very strong songs from this trip
   
5. Hearing Holly say that she wanted to demo the very first song I played her from this trip (“See Your Face”)
6. Dinner with Ross (I’m looking forward to breakfast with him at Cracker Barrel on the way to the airport tomorrow)
7. Buying my new Larrivee ‘Nashville guitar’ and getting to road test it at Brian’s church on Sunday and accompanying Twila during the WAJ showcase (even tho I did mess up my B-flat minors)
8. Getting to the gym, buying a big salad at Wild Oats and coming back to watch Invasion, without having to ‘reward myself’ with Marble Slab or Coldstone Creamery
9. The owner of the Greek restaurant running in on our faculty dinner, whirling his finger into the air and proclaiming ‘deserts are on the house’ on the Cardinals getting through to the World Series.
10. Getting to know my room mate – Don Poythress a little better – I was relieved when I saw he really did bring his ear plugs!

Yours feeling very sleepy,

S.

Last few days have been crazy. 10 new songs. And there’s a chance of another song coming out of the WAJ master class. Given the time out for WAJ and other stuff that’s good going, so I’ll be going home very happy. Lots of stuff to work on, demo and more ideas to chase. Some interesting opportunities to ponder.

This week I’ve written with James Tealy, Dave Clark, Christie Sutherland (a Country artist), Joel Lindsey & Daniel Kirkley (new artist) and Twila LaBar. There have been times when I’ve felt inspired, moved, way out of my depth, tired and more. But I’m so grateful to all my cowriters for allowing me to suck, for their ideas and for our truly wonderful songs. It’s great to feel like my writing is moving forward. I'm sure it is but sometimes it’s difficult to notice baby steps.

Yours so looking forward to driving up to WAJ tomorrow,

S.

Yesterday’s challenge was to sing at a Nashville church filled with amazing musicians and come out the door alive. I came out alive. In fact, they asked me to go back in the evening. And next time I’m in town, only with some ‘merch’ (a CD). At supper I was also invited to sing at Nashville’s women’s prison. I need to think about that one... what if they got to find out my wife's a DA?

But they made me feel so welcome. Brian has a wonderful group of genuine, generous and fun people. It was a privilege to be there. In the closing prayer yesterday evening a veteran harmonica player who'd just got back to church after being in hospital with cancer prayed the sweetest prayer echoing the lyric of 'Unfair' and thanking God for my visit. It was a humbling moment. There’s something about that song that reaches beyond where the words and music go. Thank you Gina and Lisa.

Had a long chat with Poppy yesterday. She’s a little fragile at the moment. So’s Moo. Sa’s doing such a great job while I’m over here. Parenting is demanding – just anyway – but when the children are unsettled it must be tough. And Sa’s got them full-time from Wednesday when Poppy goes on half term holiday for a week and a half. Think of her, please!

This week I’ve got 2-3 cowrites each day before heading off to St Louis for WAJ. Can’t wait. Today I’ve two artist cowrites. They're always fun.

Yours wondering how they made that peach cobbler last night,

S.

Had a cool couple of days – preparing, writing, hooking up, sleeping, gym, stuff. Few highlights were:

• Finally meeting Scott Kryppayne – he popped into BBMP and we chatted for a while. He’s written some great stuff. Great guy.
• Buying my new ‘Nashville’ guitar – I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated about not having a nice guitar of my own here. It’s a wonderful Larrivee that just sings to me. I already know I’ll miss it when I go home.
• Supper with Ross – we went to Jays and had a great time, as always. Can’t believe I was 40 minutes late. I’d fallen asleep and woke up half an hour after I was supposed to be there. I just don’t do that.
• Videoing/Skyping home. What would I do without my MacBook?
• Waking up early and getting into ‘Invasion’. I’m hooked.

My chum Brian White invited me to sing at his church (Centerpoint) tomorrow. That will be fun. I’m pretty much ready to go but the thought of singing to the incredible musicians that go there is, well, interesting. If you’re in the area we start at 10.30.

Just thought - in less than a week’s time I’ll be at WAJ and meeting a bunch of online friends I’ve gotten to know over the last year via blogs, the WAJ discussion board, chat and e-mail. It’s funny to think that this time last year I hardly knew them at all. It will be lovely to hook up.

Yours hoping they won’t be disappointed!

S.

The last two days I’ve had the pleasure of writing with James Tealy. James is a great artist writer and it's always great fun to write together. He almost came to stay with us a couple of times over the last year. I’m determined to get him over to write, chill out, see some castles and soccer and (here’s my secret agenda) record a worship album at my studio. We wrote a monster song called ‘Unstoppable’. It almost threw itself at us. I love it.

Before he left our cowrite I showed him my latest prototype of SongTools. It’s been 12 years in development and he's the first person to see it over here. His reaction was worth the wait and he’s my first recruit to stress test the beta version once it becomes available. Tho it still may well be a while.

Talking about stress – I couldn’t help smile in the gym last night. I was pumping away on some aerobic device to get my heart rate to 75% of its peak and I looked down to see the people on the cycling machines. Well, I say cycling. They were the sitty-downie type of cycling machines. So there they were, armrests down, watching TV, sipping coke and moving their legs about two revolutions a minute. Now that’s what I call a workout!

Had a couple of long video calls with Sandra. iChat is truly wonderful. It’s like we open up a window and we're suddenly part of each other’s lives again, 6,000 miles away. I can hear the TV, noises from the kitchen, Moo stirring during his afternoon sleep. Feels like I’m really there. When two people are physically in a room together there’s level of communication beyond what you can hear and see. It’s like communication by ‘hanging out’. And that’s just what we did. We left the window open and just hanged out for an hour or two. The downside is she got to tell me what she had for supper - Rabbit in a brandy mustard and crème sauce. It causes me physical pain thinking that I missed that.

Yours wondering how long before we get to gastro-chat,

S.

Day two, four and a half songs up.

The journey over was great in the end. No CIA waiting to give me a grilling at immigration. And, fortunately, I didn’t need my guitar at 30,000 feet. Had some space on the plane to stretch out a little and discovered a great smoothie bar in Charlotte airport. So I arrived in pretty good shape.

Got an upgrade on my car so I’ve a Charger. Feels like a cheap Merc. Also got a great deal on my room – two room suite for $37.50 a night with free membership to the local ‘Y.’ It costs $7.50 just to use the gym at Felpham Leisure Centre. I like this place.

It’s great to be back in town. I forget how easily the writing comes here. Songs just pop out. My first cowrite was with Belinda. She’s such fun. We finished off one song and got a long way through another. I was going to tell you all about that yesterday but I lost my power cable. I left it at BBMP by mistake. Three quarters through my evening cowrite with John Cox I ran out of power. So I was stranded on a tech-less island for 12 hours. No video home, no emails, no blog, no DVDs, no writing tools, no...

I got to speak with Sa and the children before my cell phone ran out of power (and my adaptor for that was also at BBMP). But it was wonderful to hear them. I think the Poppy and Moo are having a tough time of it right now. They’re both sleeping with a sweater of mine to remind them of me. Thanks Grandma A for that one. I hate to think of them going through stuff tho.

The schedule is looking good. Just a couple of gaps but that will give me a chance to prepare the sessions I’m doing at WAJ. I also need to do some power networking. So my all-time record for a 2 week Nashville trip (21 songs) looks safe right now.

Travel tip #1: If you’re wearing an iPod going onto an aircraft don’t play cinematic rock… the drama in the music makes you feel like you are in the cast of ‘Lost’!

Yours wondering if I could catch an episode from series three while I’m here,

S.

HALF EMPTY

At 5.35am the alarm on my phone went off and within minutes I was sitting in the taxi that had crept up to our house without me knowing. Somehow the driving rain, the howling wind and lumping luggage into strange cars smelling of old cigarette smoke got into my bones. Leaving three angels sleeping peacefully to go on a two-week business trip doesn’t get any easier. I thought it might but I was wrong. It like someone’s moving needles in my forehead this time.

Sitting on the train, half snoozing, half imagining the journey to Cool Springs was over, the stark fluorescent lights made my eyes ache. The voice of that crazy woman who announces the stations all the way to London Victoria seemed all the more shrill. They should make a softer, mellower announcer for the 6.13 from Bognor Regis to Gatwick.

At the airport the baggage handlers threw the first hammer at my plans and told me that I’m not allowed to take my guitar as hand luggage any more. OK. So my choice was to have my guitar trashed or my laptop. I checked the guitar in. No one on this planet will ever get me to put my MacBook on that conveyor belt of death.

There was no Starbucks in Gatwick North Terminal. Is this 2006? Who’s running this show? The next best thing turned out to be a very distant cousin of a major coffee chain that sits next to an ill-ventilated smoking zone. When I asked for my grandé latté they reply in Eastern European tourist English that they only have ‘Medium’. My breakfast was a banana that had been beaten within an inch of it’s…….


HALF FULL

I jumped out of bed to my serenading cell phone, realising that I had no time to waste. The night before I had totally prepared for a quick exit, bags sitting like a dog waiting for its early morning walk. A big jolly taxi driver kindly heaved my bags into the car and we sped off into the rain to an unusually quiet railway station. The automated ticket machine bleeped out my credit card and before I knew it I was sitting on the train less than twenty minutes from being cradled in our wonderful bed in a deep sleep.

I could hardly sleep last night because, well, I just get too excited before I go on these trips. I am living my dream. And I know that’s rare. I’ve invested so much to get on the ‘naughty step’ of a staircase I knew I was made to climb from childhood.

The empty train slowly filled with an exotic mix of people going to work, holiday-makers, night workers ready for bed and relatives returning to life up north from another world in Sussex.

At the airport I settled down with my laptop and a latté to exchange a few emails before starting to write my blog. So grateful I’m not going to Lagos. Also so grateful that I can keep in touch by site, sound and written word to Sa, Poppy and Moo and the rest of my family and friends left behind in England so easily….

Yours gradually pulling myself together,

S.

Had our first log fire of the season this evening. I’d forgotten how nice it is to snuggle up under ‘wolf’ (our huge furry fleece) and watch a film or just chat late into the evening against a flickering fire. Today has been one of those days when the ordinary seems very special. Guess it’s a function of me flying off on Monday.

It’s been a manic week. Seems like there’s always too much to do in too little time. I guess it’s always been that way. But I’ve got a lot done. A lot of business and a lot of creative stuff. I’m building a brand new studio and that’s taking up a lot of time. There’ll be some new kit (like, upgrading my network of PCs I run the studio with) but it will be a lot more convenient when it’s finished. I’m so excited about having something totally purpose built for me to my own specifications. I also did a lot of preparation for the next couple of weeks in Nashville and WAJ.

This afternoon we went for a family blowy walk along the beach. Poppy and Moo each had their Minnie and Mickey toys wrapped up warm in toy prams. They were both on good form. It was one of those moments when I had to take a mental snap shot to remember such a wonderful, ordinary but very lovely set of moments back home.

Today I heard that they are probably going to single my Sheri Easter/Vince Gill cut. That would be great. Another special moment.

Yours wondering how I can match that in my next cut,

S.

Been working today on a lovely song. It’s well and truly lodged in the CD player in my brain with the ‘PLAY’ button stuck on. It’s a privilege to work with such gifted writers. I’ve a slight problem… they were thinking ‘power ballad’ whereas it’s coming out pretty soulful. I hope it’s not too much of a surprise for them. I do love the way it's turning out tho.

Yours needing to go to bed to put a decent vocal down in the morning,

S.

We have clearly given the children the wrong message: Mummy and Daddy’s DRESSING ROOM is very different from the entire family’s DRESSING UP ROOM. There is a world of difference… really.

After my ‘beverage run’ this morning our two little ones came parading into our bedroom wearing undergarments of ours on their heads, Sandra’s multicoloured socks had been made into mittens, Moo was wearing a pair of Sa’s high-healed shoes, Poppy had one of my favourite City shirts on back to front and Moo had a pair of my manky old sports socks wrapped around his neck like a cravat. If I paraded myself dressed like that down Chichester high street I would probably get arrested. In fact my manky old sports socks are probably a public nuisance all on their own!

Maybe it’s something to do with de-cluttering a couple of months back – the children look at our well ordered wardrobes now and instead of seeing a nightmare of chaos they see a wonderful world of infinite possibilities?

Yours worried that I might have to go out and find some replacements before I fly off for a couple of weeks next week,

S.

Sunday evening and after a hearty but chaotic traditional roast lunch and a family snooze I’ve just ‘winterised’ the garden… deflated blow up bouncy things, put the cover on the trampoline, emptied a sand pit already filling with water, found a space for mini gazebos, picnic chairs and tables, beach balls, buckets and spades and I’ve put as much as I can in the back of the garage. Can’t believe how much stuff there is. And it’s going to have to be compressed further because I’ve got plans for our garage (more about that another day).

The weather has already rewarded my faith in autumn rain by giving us the most incredible downpour and high winds coming in off the sea. Great big drops of rain are now smashing against the windows. There was a waterspout spotted along the coast earlier this morning. Not surprised, the clouds had that ‘big weather’ look about them.

This week is my last before I fly to the US for two weeks. It’s going to be manic. I’m determined to get a head start on my packing. But it’s funny how travelling abroad somehow makes me want to finish up everything. Stuff that’s been lurking on my to-do list for months somehow has to get done. That’s what this week will be all about. It does actually matter this time because, looking at my schedule in the run up to Christmas, there’s only a couple more weekends I’m home. That makes doing stuff like rummaging around in the garden at the end of a sleepy Sunday afternoon a very grounding and necessary exercise for me.

Yours feeling a little windswept,

S.