by Enormous on June 26, 2008
Audrey and I passed an old man near the shops this morning who had apparently just fallen over. He was already being helped by several people so I did not feel obliged to stay and offer any assistance myself.
Moving on, towards the post office (I had several letters to post and needed to stock up on chinagraph pencils), I overheard a couple of women talking about the incident.
‘The old fellow lost his glass eye on the pavement,’ one of them said. ‘It fell eye-down and nobody knows what the back of a glass eye looks like.’ I believe it was entirely possible to appreciate the point she was making, although her assertion did sound faintly ridiculous.
It made me think of the sea captain from the Simpsons and also, for some inexplicable reason, my new artist friend Katy who lives a few doors down from Audrey and me. She was decorating the outside of her house when I said hello to her on the way to the pub with Nelson on Sunday and the results of her efforts looked quite wonderful: very much like one of the quay-side cottages in St Ives in Cornwall that my little companion and I are hankering after.
An auspicious omen if ever I saw one.
Tagged as:
Art,
Audrey,
Cornwall,
English Village Life,
Pretty Girls
by Enormous on October 3, 2007
This is liberating. More things have gone. I have been taking bags and bags of CDs, books and clothes down to the Salvation Army shop all morning. (I will probably go in and buy them all back within a few weeks but I have given myself a stiff talking to, and I also made a solemn promise to Audrey that I shall resist the temptation to do any such thing.)
I am most of the way through dismantling the big dumb studio as well. This is probably the most significant area of my life that needed attention. I am now no longer tied down to this annoying village. Most of the recording equipment is now either in my spare room or will shortly be found for sale on EBay. I now only work from home – wherever that may be. Yay!
Yes, Big Arena Studios is now situated chez Fantastic and is a very well-organized, efficient, aerodynamic, little state-of-the-art facility indeed. (Or it will be when I have finished with my soldering iron, hard-wiring everything in over the next few days.) I have decided that from hereon in, it will be used primarily to offer digital mastering services. More importantly, apart from anything else, it will be completely dedicated to Enormous and other Big Arena Records recording artists. No more shit heavy-metal bands. I shall also be offering my services as a freelance sound engineer, programmer and producer whenever I feel the urge to venture out into the outside world.
For the record, I can highly recommend this process of streamlining one’s life: it is something I should have done ages ago. It reminds me somewhat of when I was 17 and doing my A-Levels. I resolved one night to completely clear from my bedroom walls all of the various music posters and N.M.E. clippings that had been plastered there throughout my teenage years. I remember feeling brave and heroic then as well, but I never regretted my actions.
Presently, I cannot deny that I feel wonderful. I feel a whole lot lighter, both physically and spiritually. I feel as inspired and invigorated as I did when Nelson and I crossed the Sierra Nevada from Lassen County and the Fredonyer Pass in the north to Tehachapi Pass in the south fifteen years ago. (We actually cycled to Land’s End in Cornwall but I thought the Sierra Nevada thing sounded more heroic and glamorous.)
Tagged as:
Big Arena Records,
Big Arena Studios,
Cornwall,
NME,
Recording Studio,
Starting Over,
Streamlining