doo be doo be do
Good Day - or possibly Good Night - if you are one of my midnite blues cruisers. Now where was I before I so rudely interrupted Myself?
Here is a question for you...what is the connection between The Hat and his Blog, Frank Sinatra and Led Zeppelin? A Hat? Blue Eyes? Incredibly Old? Hugely Rich? Dead? Barking Mad? A Babe Magnet? Nah...possibly, maybe some of the above. The Hat still has a pulse apparently or so he is told by the Dodgy Babes who adore his Blue Eyes and the Barking Mad gene is still in good order....but if you haven't yet guessed, the answer is simple. The HatBlog is making a Come-Back.
I thought you'd be excited, so here is my attempt/alibi/some excuses for getting out the quill and parchment again...
1) Popular demand. The faithful Mrs Trellis in North Wales (I bet you've missed her) has not stopped spamming me every day with her green ink letters demanding more mentions of Stevie Ray Vaughan and her neighbour's nine year old nephew Blind Deaf Kenneth, who apparently is recording an EP as a faithful 'hommage' to SRV....
Then there is the strangely irate lady in Edgbaston who regularly used to read the Hatblog in bed and now has to talk to her husband instead.
There are also a lot of blues lovers who blame The Hat for their sudden obsession with posting pictures of their cats on Facebook now they have time on their hands.
Also, there seems to be a rich seam of ex-pats out there sitting in offices, going mad under the ceiling fan for news of the blues in Blighty. I have received a two page email from a man in Saudi Arabia who apparently uses the Hatblog to impress his boss with his knowledge of the minutiae of feedback, wah-wah and American drummers. I am greatly touched by these and other heartfelt appeals and feel obliged.
2) To spend more time with his family. Nah, I'm not a disgraced MP - and why on earth would anybody's family want to spend more time with me anyway?
3) On Holiday or In Bed like Brian Wilson. No holiday but there is some truth in this in that - as many of you may know - for the last couple of months the Hat has indeed spent an obscene amount of time in bed fighting off the man with the scythe. However, he was successfully confused and beaten off by me, a stash of hallucinogenic pills and George Thorogood, L.R.Phoenix and Tom Waits on repeat. You will understand therefore that the Hat Brain has been somewhat infected, affected, injected, inspected and rejected - and unable to deal with too many long words let alone those Beloved Capital Letters and Long Sentences....
4) Offered large sums of money and payola. Sadly, The Hat no longer knows anyone with any money - and anyone who remembers payola is either dead or in prison.
5) Other Diversions. This is true. Many of you will know that the Hat now has a Facebook page, which is interactive if need be, and a while back I set up The Hat Reviews blogsite - which does what it says on the tin. This was by way of an experiment in that it separated the opinionated and occasionally rambling Hatblog site from raw review, criticism and analysis. It has become clear very rapidly that this stand-alone site works very well and gets a good reach. Artists, in general, appreciate a serious review of more than a line or two and it is always a pleasure to see Hat copy, however judgemental, picked up and used on websites and elsewhere. Yes, old blues writing habits die hard.
6) Love. Not as in the way you know it Jim, (but I am forever hopeful, given that the Moon is Eclipsing and good stuff is apparently coming The Hat's Aquarian way - er - soon)... No, but as every blues lover knows, it is an enduring love.....passionate, annoying, unreliable, irritating, entertaining and wondrous. Once you exchange that glance across a crowded blues room, you are Done For. It will get you into trouble and take up your time. It will seduce you into wild ways; you will spend money you don't have; you will comment unfairly on its shape and structure; you will complain that it keeps you up all night; you may even blame your instrument; you will experiment and find ecstasy for an hour or two and always want more, more, more...
OK. I own up. I don't need an excuse. I still have a lot of things to get off my little chest, that have snuck in whilst I was away. I'll Be Back. Soon.
Pip Pip!
The Man in The Hat
No pills were taken during the making of this Blog
I thought you'd be excited, so here is my attempt/alibi/some excuses for getting out the quill and parchment again...
1) Popular demand. The faithful Mrs Trellis in North Wales (I bet you've missed her) has not stopped spamming me every day with her green ink letters demanding more mentions of Stevie Ray Vaughan and her neighbour's nine year old nephew Blind Deaf Kenneth, who apparently is recording an EP as a faithful 'hommage' to SRV....
Then there is the strangely irate lady in Edgbaston who regularly used to read the Hatblog in bed and now has to talk to her husband instead.
There are also a lot of blues lovers who blame The Hat for their sudden obsession with posting pictures of their cats on Facebook now they have time on their hands.
Also, there seems to be a rich seam of ex-pats out there sitting in offices, going mad under the ceiling fan for news of the blues in Blighty. I have received a two page email from a man in Saudi Arabia who apparently uses the Hatblog to impress his boss with his knowledge of the minutiae of feedback, wah-wah and American drummers. I am greatly touched by these and other heartfelt appeals and feel obliged.
2) To spend more time with his family. Nah, I'm not a disgraced MP - and why on earth would anybody's family want to spend more time with me anyway?
3) On Holiday or In Bed like Brian Wilson. No holiday but there is some truth in this in that - as many of you may know - for the last couple of months the Hat has indeed spent an obscene amount of time in bed fighting off the man with the scythe. However, he was successfully confused and beaten off by me, a stash of hallucinogenic pills and George Thorogood, L.R.Phoenix and Tom Waits on repeat. You will understand therefore that the Hat Brain has been somewhat infected, affected, injected, inspected and rejected - and unable to deal with too many long words let alone those Beloved Capital Letters and Long Sentences....
4) Offered large sums of money and payola. Sadly, The Hat no longer knows anyone with any money - and anyone who remembers payola is either dead or in prison.
5) Other Diversions. This is true. Many of you will know that the Hat now has a Facebook page, which is interactive if need be, and a while back I set up The Hat Reviews blogsite - which does what it says on the tin. This was by way of an experiment in that it separated the opinionated and occasionally rambling Hatblog site from raw review, criticism and analysis. It has become clear very rapidly that this stand-alone site works very well and gets a good reach. Artists, in general, appreciate a serious review of more than a line or two and it is always a pleasure to see Hat copy, however judgemental, picked up and used on websites and elsewhere. Yes, old blues writing habits die hard.
6) Love. Not as in the way you know it Jim, (but I am forever hopeful, given that the Moon is Eclipsing and good stuff is apparently coming The Hat's Aquarian way - er - soon)... No, but as every blues lover knows, it is an enduring love.....passionate, annoying, unreliable, irritating, entertaining and wondrous. Once you exchange that glance across a crowded blues room, you are Done For. It will get you into trouble and take up your time. It will seduce you into wild ways; you will spend money you don't have; you will comment unfairly on its shape and structure; you will complain that it keeps you up all night; you may even blame your instrument; you will experiment and find ecstasy for an hour or two and always want more, more, more...
OK. I own up. I don't need an excuse. I still have a lot of things to get off my little chest, that have snuck in whilst I was away. I'll Be Back. Soon.
Pip Pip!
The Man in The Hat
No pills were taken during the making of this Blog