Songs from Space

Alert: A Better New Year?

2012-01-08T09:21:00.001-08:00

A Better New Year?

I'm going to be in intermittent contact with my web-based cronies for a couple of months now as we start 2012 with some new treatment for my daughter. We're hoping she'll be able to return to health through this and have a much better year to look forward to. So all the prayers, good thoughts and general rooting are very welcome at this time. I'll be communicating from my iPad whenever the wireless conditions allow and it looks like my January project will have until next January to come through. Maybe have to start thinking about Easter stuff now. I know a lot of you had your troubles last year, too. So here's to a good new year for us all. Mark.

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-24T02:00:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

It's Christmas Eve and this rounds up the Humphrey Annual from 1984 with a Merry Christmas from Humphrey and all the creatures.

Alert: A Very Merry Christmas To All Our Readers

2011-12-23T09:37:00.003-08:00

A Very Merry Christmas To All Our Readers

Alert: A Very Merry Christmas To All Our Readers

2011-12-23T09:37:00.001-08:00

A Very Merry Christmas To All Our Readers

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-23T03:30:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

The second act of the panto should tide us over until Santa comes tomorrow night!

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-23T02:41:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

The second act of the panto should tide us over until Santa comes tomorrow night!

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-22T02:00:00.000-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

Three days to go until Christmas and here is part one of the awesome Star Wars pantomime!

Alert: Help My Friend

2011-12-21T04:49:00.001-08:00

Help My Friend

Just as we're preparing for Christmas and some new treatment for Lucy in the New Year, I am reminded just how lucky we are in the UK to have the NHS. This message arrived today from, Brian Dorbuck,Â one of my musical buddies. Fred is a colleague of mine - we recorded a song together a year or two back and have stayed in touch ever since. Here is the message. If you can help, Fred and Inez would be very grateful. Hi all, Our good TFK friend Fred Lessing has a dire medical situation in his family. His wife Inez has cancer and needs a specialized procedure that is not covered by insurance. He says, "It has been confirmed today that our health system only offers my wife "whole brain" radiation treatment, which will allow her live for only a few more months, and basically transform her into a vegetable a month after the treatment. The non-covered treatment, however, will extend her life by years." If you can help Fred and his family by sparing a few dollars or Euros this holiday, please send to him using the following methods: 1) PAYPAL to flessing@daymoon-music.com 2) BANK TRANSFER. Fred has created a dedicated bank account. Here the details: (account owner) Maria InÃªs Lessing, (bank) Santander Totta, (IBAN code) PT05 0018 0003 2208 7571 0202 9. Adds Fred, "We REALLY need any help we ca get now as we have to collect roughly 15,000 Euros in a week's time!" Thank you, Brian

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-21T02:08:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

It's the Winter Solstice, today, and, look, the wizards are out in force!

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-20T02:24:00.003-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

Oh no! It's the Balrog!

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-20T02:24:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

Oh no! It's the Balrog!

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-19T02:05:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

More weird characters for you. Christmas is just around the corner, now. Can't wait!

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-18T02:01:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

Who is that guy outside the window? It's Super Ron!

Alert: Better News For Christmas

2011-12-17T09:59:00.003-08:00

Better News For Christmas

We had a big meeting with my daughter's haematologist yesterday after an anxious week. It could have been very bad as she's been struggling to fight off Hodgkin's disease for over a year now with limited success. However, the latest chemo seems to have backed the illness into a corner and the New Year will see us trying to finish it off. It's a tricky customer though and we will still need all those good thoughts and prayers that so many of you have been sending. Now we're planning Christmas with Grandma for the first time in years. It's really great that Lucy has the energy, thanks to a lot of medication to be able to do this and we're looking forward to a family Christmas together. Have a great festive season, yourselves, and thank you to all who have been giving your support over the last year.

Alert: Better News For Christmas

2011-12-17T09:59:00.001-08:00

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-17T02:01:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

Look at the way that potato-peeler noise just obliterates the word balloons! What a nuisance!

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-16T02:11:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

The next part of the annual features a classic Humphrey cartoon. Happy Friday!

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-15T02:13:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

Plenty of weird characters for you, today.

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-14T02:01:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-13T02:24:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-12T01:00:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, the second part of an annual Humphrey.

Alert: A Message from Humphrey

2011-12-11T16:22:00.001-08:00

A Message from Humphrey

I hope you enjoy my only ever annual and have a very happy Christmas.

Alert: Humphrey Annual 1984

2011-12-11T01:20:00.001-08:00

Humphrey Annual 1984

The Humphrey Annual as it appeared originally way back in 1984.

Alert: Complete Gail Scott: Space Pilot volume 3 in Kindle Comics

2011-12-10T15:36:00.003-08:00

Complete Gail Scott: Space Pilot volume 3 in Kindle Comics

[Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon DE, Amazon France, Amazon Italy, Amazon Spain]

Thanks to the wonders of scanovision as described in my last post, Gail Scott: Space Pilot is now complete, to date, in comic form on Kindle. All three of the first webcomics are now available to read, gloriously fully illustrated and in Kindle friendly format on your local Amazon Kindle store (for readers in US, UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain - more coming soon). If you are expecting a wonderful Kindle ereader for Christmas, here's a good way to start your library, with three created-for-Kindle comics; or you could start off your loved one's collection with the Kindle you're getting for them. Either way, Gail and her friends will not disappoint, providing family-friendly fun and adventure for the Christmas period.

[caption id="attachment_1173" align="aligncenter" width="226" caption="The 1984 Humphrey Annual"][/caption] Speaking of Christmas, this website is hosting a unique Christmas countdown. Starting on Sunday, the once lost but classic 1984 Humphrey Annual will appear, one page per day, from Sunday up until Christmas Eve. 1984: a special year, predicted in literature, birth year of the Apple Macintosh, and the only year for which there ever was a Humphrey annual. If there's sufficient interest, I may make a special complete downloadable pdf edition available over the Christmas Season. So leave comments. Let me know you're there and reading Humphrey, and I'll see what I can do.

Alert: Gail Scott Comics Homogenised

2011-12-07T13:02:00.003-08:00

Gail Scott Comics Homogenised

If you pay a visit to the 'Webcomics' link, you will find that I've updated the first episode of "Gail Scott: Space Pilot" into something more in keeping with the style of the later episodes. This has involved a new technique called digital analogue scanovision, wherein I edit out all of the old shading, captions and balloons from the scanned pages, using the Gimp, print the chopped up images onto nice art paper, then draw in the gaps behind the old captions and balloons by hand, and rescan the pages back into the iMac. Then I add the lettering elements back in using Comic Life 2 and the wonderful WebLetter Pro font by Blambot. The results are there to see in the "Who Is Mr Mentor?" section of the webcomics archive. A byproduct of scanovision is that I also have these pages correctly formatted for the Amazon Kindle device. So expect a complete collection of Gail Scott comics to appear on Kindle soon. As I am on the topic of the Kindle comics, I'd like to thank all of those people who have been buying the Gail Scott comics over the last few months. This has been very gratifying and is helping the whole project to look much more respectable. If you are enjoying these, I'd be very grateful if you'd post a short review on the Kindle site. That will attract more nice people to come along and read about Gail, Lynn, Sir Robert and Mentor and encourage me to get on with creating volume two. Thank you, all.

Alert: Who Is Mr Mentor? 8/8

2011-12-07T12:33:00.001-08:00

Who Is Mr Mentor? 8/8

The newly equipped space travellers agree to accompany Mr Mentor on a demonstration voyage of a few days. So what is the mysterious job he has in mind? And how do you fly a spaceship?

Alert: Who Is Mr Mentor? 7/8

2011-12-07T12:17:00.001-08:00

Who Is Mr Mentor? 7/8

The friends are more comfortable in their new spacegear. The magnetic boots allow them to adopt an agreed upright position and the tight-fitting bodysuits prevent their blood flow from concentrating in their upper bodies. Sir Robert has a happier tummy and Gail and Lynn discuss the overall styling.

Alert: Who Is Mr Mentor? 6/8

2011-12-06T15:19:00.001-08:00

Who Is Mr Mentor? 6/8

Once in orbit, the team can unstrap from their seats, only to discover the wonders of low gravity. As the girls struggle with their skirts and Sir Robert struggles with the contents of his stomach, Mr Mentor apologises for not properly equipping them before take-off with flightsuits and magnetic boots.

Alert: Who Is Mr Mentor? 5/8

2011-12-06T14:08:00.001-08:00

Who Is Mr Mentor? 5/8

Our friends strap in as Mr Mentor launches the ship. Quickly it rises above the Earth, revealing our homeworld in all its beauty.

Alert: Who Is Mr Mentor? 4/8

2011-12-06T13:51:00.001-08:00

Who Is Mr Mentor? 4/8

Bthooorrm! A rocket ship blasts down onto the moor from a clear highland sky. Mr Mentor is at the controls. Anyone for an excursion?

Alert: Who Is Mr Mentor? 3/8

2011-12-06T13:40:00.001-08:00

Who Is Mr Mentor? 3/8

The scene is a beautiful but lonely moor, overlooking a glen. Gail, Sir Robert and Lynn have driven to the coordinates left by Mr Mentor, but where is he?

Alert: Who Is Mr Mentor? 2/8

2011-12-06T13:25:00.001-08:00

Who Is Mr Mentor? 2/8

Issue 1 Page 2

Gail Scott and her Air Transport Auxiliary friends Sir Robert Laverock and his daughter Lynn are meeting for dinner a year after the end of the second world war. In the first months of peace, the country is slipping back into its prewar values. The skilled women who rose to the challenge of war work are expected to go home and support husbands who do the real work, older people are expected to retire. They begin to feel a little gloomy when a mysterious stranger appears with the offer of a job.

Alert: Who Is Mr Mentor? 1/8

2011-12-06T12:57:00.001-08:00

Who Is Mr Mentor? 1/8

Issue 1, Page 1 of Gail Scott, Space Pilot.

One of the problems with adapting the old 8-page comic story format to a page-by-page webcomic is that the splash page sits in all its mystery for a week before the story starts. I hope this is mysterious enough. ...and I've just updated the page to our new higher production standards. I hope you like it.

Alert: Meanwhile Back On Earth 3

2011-12-03T02:29:00.001-08:00

Meanwhile Back On Earth 3

Alert: Happy St Andrew's Day

2011-11-30T06:51:00.001-08:00

Happy St Andrew's Day

May I wish you a happy day on this great Scottish holiday. Not many folk seem to have the day off. Instead we're having a range of public sector strikes. Since these are a protest against the UK government's policies, maybe there's an element of national pride in there, although our Scottish Government does not officially approve. Enough of politics; this is the day of old St Andrew, a fisherman and a pal of Jesus. Scotland adopted the old boy posthumously and named the capital city after him. The national flag features his cross in silver over an azure ground (not that horrible dark blue worn by our soccer team) which is often to be seen in our skies when aircraft cross contrails in the busy airspace over Scotland's central belt. The day starts a three-day school holiday, here in sunny Dumfries and Galloway, and our number one son is enjoying the break. Have a slightly better day, if you can, wherever you are.

Alert: Drawing Again

2011-11-29T07:31:00.001-08:00

Drawing Again

Ann is helping Lucy with her trip to the hospital this week and I've been holding the fort at home. After some light housework, I found time to bring out the latest episode of Meanwhile Back On Earth and finish the pencil stage of its creation. It's the morning after the saucer crash and the Laird is calling someone we know for advice.

This time I'm trying the techniques of the old newspaper artists and working with 3H and 8B pencils. I like the ability to get fine detail and bold shading.

Alert: Hear Me On Yes Music Podcast

2011-11-21T10:40:00.001-08:00

Hear Me On Yes Music Podcast

I had a nice chat with Kevin Mulryne on Saturday. He runs the Yes Music Podcast and you can hear the result on his site. We were talking about the Fly From Here tour and, in particular the Glasgow show which I attended only the week before. It was a great show and I hope my enthusiasm comes across.

Alert: Home Again But It Was A Good Trip

2011-11-17T07:40:00.001-08:00

Home Again But It Was A Good Trip

Finally getting a few days at home after an extended stay in Glasgow. Lucy had a longer stay in hospital. So it's been a couple of weeks since we've been doon hame. Not that a couple of weeks in Glasgow has been a bad thing. In between treatments, we've been out on the town, enjoying the restaurants and entertainments. Restaurant recommendations are many. Eastern food abounds but we've adopted Yo Sushi in Silverburn, for a fast and enjoyable eating experience, and Wudon on Great Western Road for a more relaxed meal. Both cater to the gluten challenged. Just ask. Italian is also a big feature in our diet and we especially like DiMaggio's just up from the Royal Concert Hall, handy for disabled parking and gluten free pasta, and Little Italy in Byres Road, home of gluten free pizza. The world's tallest multiplex cinema, CineWorld off Sauchiehall Street, hosted us on a number of occasions. We can heartily recommend Crazy Stupid Love (hilarious), Ides Of March (gripping) and The Three Musketeers (beautiful in amazing 3d). Add to this he fantastic Kelvingrove Museum and other cultural delights and we kept ourselves entertained. But it is good to be home.

Alert: Happy Hallowe'en

2011-10-29T07:37:00.001-07:00

Happy Hallowe'en

The skies have turned greyer and the daylight darkens. Winter must be on the way and Hallowe'en ushers in Summer's end. Now the rain falls and the wind howls. Hope it's not as wild as this on Monday night and the local kids will get to go guising. I'm not sure whether we'll all be home on Monday. Lucy might be home or in hospital but is planning an evening with some fun scary favourites: Ghostbusters, The Addams Family, maybe the Creature From The Black Lagoon. I hope to have cleared my cold to share that with her and that she's back home to share with Ann and Simon. We'll manage some combination of family fun, maybe virtually. So, here's a Hallowe'en pumpkin head to share on the night. Have a fun time.

Alert: Meanwhile Back On Earth #2

2011-10-20T11:40:00.001-07:00

Meanwhile Back On Earth #2

The Laird returns to the flying saucer, hoping to move it to his garage. (c) 2011 Mark Toner, all rights reserved.

Alert: A Wee Update

2011-10-04T02:38:00.001-07:00

A Wee Update

I'm back in Glasgow, supporting my daughter through some more treatment. Wonderful staff here who are very helpful. Updates and comics on the site here will be a little less often but there should be a new 'Meanwhile' before the end of the month.
Until then, please post your comments on the comics. Let me know what you like. I'll check in when I can.

Posted from WordPress for Android

Alert: No Comic Tomorrow, Sorry.

2011-09-28T07:28:00.001-07:00

No Comic Tomorrow, Sorry.

Hi, folks.
I'm blogging from my phone as I've had to zip off and deal with a family emergency involving the delivery of a giant Pudsey Bear. I'll post the next 'Meanwhile' as soon as I can.

Posted from WordPress for Android

Alert: Humphrey

2011-09-25T16:05:00.001-07:00

Humphrey

Humphrey was a comic strip I drew in the mid-80s when I was supposed to be studying for a PhD at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh. The real people who worked there were represented by an assortment of weird characters and the adventures are semi-autobiographical, written by Paul Holmes mostly with some by me and others by Steven Beard. Beware, numerous in-jokes.

Alert: Magister: Moths

2011-09-24T23:18:00.001-07:00

Magister: Moths

This is the first issue of the Magister comic which I created with writer Graham Sim. We ran out of steam part way through issue two, due to lack of a publishing outlet in those far-off days before web comics.

Alert: Humphrey

2011-09-24T23:13:00.001-07:00

Alert: Humphrey

2011-09-24T23:12:00.001-07:00

Alert: Humphrey

2011-09-24T23:10:00.001-07:00

Alert: Shazap and Android Girl

2011-09-24T23:00:00.001-07:00

Shazap and Android Girl

This is here for reference. RenZelen and I cooked up a mad comic idea started by her use of the phrase "Kiss my batteries!" in a tweet. This was a reference to a song lyric by My Chemical Romance but it reminded me of an ancient schoolbook that recommended licking battery terminals to see if there was a charge (not now recommended). Anyway, Shazap!, Â the idea of a sad superhero who has to suck his electric energy from batteries was born. Kissing Android Girl became a more elegant charge up solution for him and now the idea is open to all creatives that can follow @RenZelen or @tonertweets on Twitter. We're waiting to see what adventures arise for this pair.

Alert: Humphrey

2011-09-24T22:58:00.001-07:00

Meanwhile.... begins.

2011-09-23T12:19:00.002-07:00

Meanwhile.... begins.

Just when I thought there would be a break in comic publication here, I've been inspired and started 'Meanwhile Back On Earth.' This is in the shape of a newspaper strip and in three colours, if you include white. The actual choice of colour will depend on the subject of the issue. The story is what happens on Earth while Gail and her friends are away. It will feature many characters as the action spans decades and involves international intrigue and bids for world domination. I'm looking forward to reading it myself. Gail will be back too, but once I've renovated Issue 1 and released it for the Kindle. Then 'New Worlds, New Hopes' will begin. In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy 'Meanwhile...' which will fill the usual Thursday slot.

Meanwhile Back On Earth

2011-09-22T03:01:00.001-07:00

Meanwhile Back On Earth

"Meanwhile Back On Earth" relates what happens back home while Gail Scott and her friends travel to Ursa Major. All stories, characters and artwork Â©2011 Mark Toner, all rights reserved.

Humphrey

2011-09-18T16:15:00.001-07:00

Gail Scott, As Mars Turns

2011-09-14T23:15:00.001-07:00

Gail Scott, As Mars Turns

Interview on E-book Endeavors

2011-09-14T17:24:00.001-07:00

Interview on E-book Endeavors

I've just been interviewed by Lindsay Buroker about my Kindle comics over on her E-book Endeavors blog. Lindsay is a published author with a few of her own books on Kindle. I can heartily recommend the Emperor's Edge series, a wonderful mix of swords and sorcery with steam punk. Tomorrow sees the release of the last Gail Scott comic for a while. This finishes 'As Mars Turns' and the first volume of the series. Gail will be back later in 'New Worlds, New Hopes' the first part of volume 2 and, in the meantime there will be new comics in the companion series 'Meanwhile Back On Earth.' However, before I can start drawing that, I will be updating the art for 'Who Is Mr Mentor?' which was originally hand-finished, balloons text and all and was impossible to reformat for other electronic outlets. I'm redrawing the frames completely separately this time so that the art can be repurposed to Kindle, web comic, print comic, tablet comic or whatever else might come along. The magic software that will allow me to format the pages is going to be Comic Life 2. I remember the original Comic Life as being a fun way to present your holiday photos but version 2 has grown up to become a full comic processing system much in the style of the old 1980s ComicWorks. I'll probably blog some more about this as I go. So time to get busy drawing, and I'll see you around the web very soon.

Subscriber Information for www.ayesongs.com and www.spacepilot.co.uk

2011-06-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

Hi, folks.

You'll have received a little email a couple of weeks ago, saying that I was trying to set up a notification service for you. This doesn't seem to be working (although let me know if anything came through to you). So I've changed tack a little.

If you'd like to receive updates about the site there are now two ways to get this. Have a look at the bottom of the latest Comic post and you'll see a little message about RSS feeds and Twitter. The first link from there, takes you to the RSS feed page. If you click on the link at the bottom right on the RSS feed page you can receive updates to your email from the RSS feed. Alternatively you can click on the Twitter link and find my Twitter user page. By following me on Twitter, you'll also get blog and comic notifications as well as the wisdom of my semi-regular personal tweets.

Two ways to subscribe to the blog and all from your favourite postings. Hope this is useful to you.

Cheers,

Mark.

Touching the Past

2010-02-23T05:27:00.001-08:00

There's been a little break in my blogging recently as I've been busy honing the new Arbelos sound with our expanding lineup. It's a wonderful rich, symphonic sound now and we're looking forward to this year's gigs - a special treat awaits our audiences.

We've also reached back into the past recently as Noel has been meeting with a mellotron, parts of which have been used by legendary musicians such as Cream and King Crimson. You can read Noel's story here, on the Arbelos web site.

Orignal From: Touching the Past

Ayesongs blog now on Twitter

2010-01-16T13:13:00.001-08:00

I'm working to put this blog onto Twitter now. You can follow me there by checking my links page. Hopefully one of these WP plugins will magically have all of this bloggy goodness up on Twitter, too.

Orignal From: Ayesongs blog now on Twitter

A Proper Winter

2010-01-05T01:26:00.001-08:00

Unusually, Scotland is still receiving fresh snow, more than two weeks into this cold weather. Looks like most of the country's councils have now run out of road salt and we're in for a deep freeze this year. Schools haven't gone back after the Christmas holiday and Dumfries and Galloway's children can enjoy uninterrupted sledging. Let's hope the gas supply holds out.

Orignal From: A Proper Winter

And now it's official.

2009-12-26T15:03:00.001-08:00

[caption id="attachment_231" align="alignright" width="448" caption="Fresh snow fell on Christmas night."][/caption]

Well, not only did the snow hang around until Christmas Day, but we also had a fresh fall that evening. The Scottish bookies won't be happy, but there are a lot of happy kids who got to go sledging on Christmas Day. The phrase "living memory" comes to mind when trying to think of Dumfries white Christmases. We've been very lucky with this one and did our best to make the most of it. There's a little bit of a thaw on now but we're expecting more snow to follow. So the snowy theme on this site is likely to continue for a while yet.

Orignal From: And now it's official.

It Might Just Be White

2009-12-23T15:59:00.001-08:00

So this is what's been happening here this week. We also haven't had the luke warm rain to follow and it looks like there might be a layer of snow here for the rest of the week. There may be a white Christmas this year?

I can't remember when we had snow in late December. Probably the last time this happened was in the 1960s.

Even our garden robin was impressed and posed for this Christmas card shot.

Now we're hoping for scenes like this on Christmas Day. Alth0ugh the weather forecast is for fog - more likely from past experience. :)

Orignal From: It Might Just Be White

Busy with Christmas

2009-11-26T04:06:00.001-08:00

It's not yet St Andrew's Day and I'm already snowed under with Christmas tasks. Not that I mind as it is a pleasant thing to work at.

[caption id="attachment_221" align="alignright" width="340" caption="Arbelos' Christmas song"][/caption]

My band Arbelos is performing in Christmas With Arbelos And Friends on 12th December and we are in the midst of rehearsals and publicity work to make sure it is a success. It's been a lot of fun so far, not least because we have two great new members in the band. Jenny Johnson now plays keyboards for us in true Rick Wakeman style (we need to get her a cloak) and, just this week joining us from Galloway Folk, is Alex Cook. Alex plays a wonderful array of percussion instruments bringing a much-needed rhythmic dimension and a real world-music feel. I'm so excited by it all that I've even started repairing my guitar synth. Expect sitars at a gig soon!

The show also features two Dumfries performers that I have shared the Brigend stage with in the past. Cheryl Easton has had a fantastic Homecoming Year with her Burns show Tea With Clarinda and now she is helping us out with a range of classical and modern Christmas music. The whole package will be bound up with the sparkling wit of local thespian (and my next-door neighbour) Ian Rennie who will introduce the music and tell some Christmas tales.

As if that weren't enough, we are also launching a Christmas song When Snow Falls At Night as a fundraiser for UNICEF and we are providing a Fairtrade stall for refreshments during the show. All great stuff in the full Christmas spirit.

Come along and support us. Tickets are £5 and you can get them from Arbelos or in Dumfries at Barnstorm Records. The venue is the Brigend Theatre, Dumfries, and it starts at 7.30pm on Saturday 12th December.

Now if I can only find time to write our family Christmas letter and start sending cards....

Orignal From: Busy with Christmas

Back in Scotland

2009-11-01T16:12:00.001-08:00

I had a great holiday in Canada (thanks, Gareth and Anita, for your wonderful hospitality) and now Simon and I are back home. He's back to school and Ice Hockey (good result last night against Elgin, 8-4) and I'm back to working with the band.

My songwriting buddy from Arbelos, Noel has been writing a new Christmas song and I've just added some bass, lead guitar and vocals. It should appear soon, probably as a charity download from our UNICEF fundraising page (last year's).

[caption id="attachment_217" align="alignleft" width="199" caption="Simon and I with a wooden bear"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_218" align="alignright" width="300" caption="A real grizzly waiting for his tea."][/caption]

Orignal From: Back in Scotland

A Little Personal Tour

2009-10-19T18:16:00.001-07:00

I'm right in the middle of a short holiday, visiting family in Ontario. Son Simon is with me and we are having a great time. We've got lots of photos and video. So a fuller report will follow. Look out for Thanksgiving, Timbits, Hockey and museums soon.

Orignal From: A Little Personal Tour

A Hint Of Winter

2009-10-07T03:20:00.001-07:00

I woke this morning to the sound of scraping on car windscreens. We're no sooner into the autumn than the first frost has arrived. Typical Scottish seasons - they can turn up at any time during any day - and it looks like we've had a little bit of winter this morning.

Orignal From: A Hint Of Winter

Holiday Preparations

2009-09-28T12:48:00.001-07:00

You may have noticed that the Hallowe'en decorations are up a little early this year. This is because I have to start preparing for my Canada trip mid-October and I need to start advertising the Arbelos Christmas concert before I go (yes, we need to start preparing early for that). So, to make sure the web pages don't start to look old while I'm away, here is the Hallowe'en look.

I've had a lot of fun with DAZ Studio and GraphicConverter on this one. Thanks to all the people who make those amazing 3D models of vampire costumes and scary scenery. You can check out what they do over at the DAZ 3D website.

So, exciting times ahead: Canada in time for Thanksgiving, back to Scotland in time for Hallowe'en and then intensive rehearsals with Arbelos for Christmas. The holiday season starts here. ;)

Orignal From: Holiday Preparations

Daytime TV in Space

2009-09-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

Our area recently switched to digital TV and I've been rediscovering old 60s and 70s programmes that I only dimly remembered. One of these was 70s show Space 1999 and, as I picked up a few episodes, I noticed some parallels that I hadn't spotted before. Firstly, I'd forgotten the quirky combination of Thunderbirds and Outer Limits style plots, but then I noticed a format change introduced in the second season that reminded me of another series.

I'm not sure how well known Space 1999 was in the US, but maybe some future TV creators saw it and some ideas bedded in, deep in their subconscious. In order to refresh the series, a couple of new characters were introduced in the form of second-in-command Tony Verdecci and alien scientist Maya, between whom an on-off romantic relationship developed. These joined the regular stars Commander Koenig and his girlfriend, chief medical officer Helena Russell.

This foursome of leading characters rang a bell as I remembered the big space show of the 80s. Star Trek: the Next Generation featured a Captain and his Medical Officer who eventually found romantic involvement and a First Officer and alien crew member who were linked by a shared history. Maybe Captain Picard and his crew enjoyed less cheesey plots and a slicker production, but it looks like someone recognised a solid character format when they saw one.

It always fascinates me to observe the creative process in operation. No idea pops out of a vacuum. A creative person soaks up influences from all over the place and the really good ones execute the treatment of these ideas in a way that sparkles with its own spirit and something new is brought into the world.

Orignal From: Daytime TV in Space

Comics Feed

2009-09-20T14:37:00.001-07:00

I've been having some fun looking over the last thirty years of comics that I've been involved with. The reason being that I just discovered Webcomics Nation, which is a great site for comic creators to distribute their work electronically. You can pick up a comics feed from there just as easily as you can get a video feed from YouTube.

So I started a Webcomics Nation account and started putting comics on it. The first series is Humphreyman's True Stories that I drew way, way back in the 1980s from scripts by Paul Holmes. I'll try and post some episodes regularly and you can pick up the feed from my Comics page on this site.

Orignal From: Comics Feed

Galactic League of Marshals

2009-09-11T01:48:00.001-07:00

Orignal From: Galactic League of Marshals

Concert Going

2009-09-11T01:02:00.001-07:00

It's a while since I've posted. Must be because of the concert-going. I'm having too much fun to be posting blogs.

Last month we went to see Bill Bailey in Glasgow. I've seen the DVDs and watched BB on television but this is the first time that I've seen the man in his natural environment - a packed theatre. I was not disappointed. Mr Bailey is either a comic genius or from another planet. In either case, he is immensely entertaining and it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The down-side is that I seem to have a Bailey-meme somewhere in the depths of my psyche that was activated by the live experience. I found myself looking at the world from the Bill Bailey perspective for weeks afterwards and was unable to prevent myself voicing this point of view, much to the bewilderment of the earthlings around me.

This week, we were back in Glasgow to see the Fleet Foxes. My son Simon introduced me to these Seattle-based musicians earlier in the year and we were quite excited to see that they had made it to Scotland. It is so nice to find some genuinely new music and even nicer to discover that the makers of this music are talented enough to carry it off live. I'd even go so far as to say they sounded better playing to an audience than they do on the recordings. If they come your way, go and see them. You won't regret it.

Now we're back in the mood for live performances, we are looking forward to hearing Howe, Squire and White featuring David and Wakeman in November, at the Usher Hall, and, we hope, Them Crooked Vultures also in Edinburgh, in December. I can't wait!

Orignal From: Concert Going

The Galactic League of Marshals

2009-09-10T21:12:00.001-07:00

by Mark Rudolph

Orignal From: The Galactic League of Marshals

Cool Pictures From Space

2009-08-17T14:47:00.001-07:00

A little space probe has been orbiting the Moon and taking pictures. The LRO has sent back photos which show the descent stages of the old Apollo lunar modules, still sitting on the lunar surface after forty years. You can follow this cool space mission over on the LRO web site where the latest images are being posted. Better photos of the Apollo sites are promised as they optimize the LRO's orbit.

[caption id="attachment_89" align="alignleft" width="256" caption="Where the Eagle landed."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_90" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell left a bit of a trail with their wheelbarrow."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_91" align="alignleft" width="256" caption="The first Lunar Rover is parked near here."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_92" align="alignright" width="256" caption="The legs of Orion."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_93" align="aligncenter" width="256" caption="The last outpost of humanity on the Moon"][/caption]

Orignal From: Cool Pictures From Space

A Moment To Take Stock

2009-08-13T14:00:00.001-07:00

My band, Arbelos, has had an interesting few months as we dipped our toes into the world of live touring. We played in Dumfries, Edinburgh and Glasgow and had a lot of fun doing as well as learning about the process of bringing our recorded music to a real-time performance. Now we are taking stock, planning the next CD and a very special show for December.

The live experience has me thinking in new ways about song writing and I am trying to create my music with performance in mind from the start. Once the band can really play a song, then we'll start to put down the album track rather than growing it in a computer layer by layer. The clever recording stuff can still go in there but on the back of a stronger core performance.

For December I've hired my favourite theatre, the Brigend in Dumfries. This is the home theatre of the Dumfries Musical Theatre Company, which was called the Dumfries Musical and Operatic Society when I was a member many years ago. It was in that very theatre that I met my wife.

The new show is tentatively entitled Christmas with Arbelos and Friends and is the first in our new-format live performances which will be more strongly themed, possibly telling a story. This time we have gathered some musical and theatrical friends to help us along and hope to make a memorable piece of seasonal entertainment.

Orignal From: A Moment To Take Stock

Pete Prown IS Sir Clive

2009-07-17T05:44:00.000-07:00

A very interesting CD just landed in my letterbox today. Old Nanoook, tireless supporter of the Flower Kings, has sent me 'Guitar Safari' by Sir Clive & The Raging Cartographers. Closer inspection reveals, under the pith helmet, Pete Prown of Guitar Garden fame. Pete appears on 'Gardens of Virahanka' as the voice of Achilles.

So what does a Guitar Safari sound like? Well, Sir Clive has done a lot of globetrotting. The opening track 'Attack of the Mysterons' seems to originate from British SF puppet shows of the '60s, but 'Quiet Blues' and 'Haybale' are pure Americana. Then 'Evil Surf' is just that: surf rock with an evil twist.

Mr Prown brings his vast experience as a guitar player to this CD, exhibiting accomplished laid back jazz and intense shredding, European style rock and the blues; a tour de force of guitar styles. This one is definitely going in my car stereo for the summer as I safari across the lands of Aye.

Orignal From: Pete Prown IS Sir Clive

It's Bastille Day

2009-07-14T13:36:00.001-07:00

A very happy 14th July to our Gallic friends. Scotland has a long history of friendship with France and, in the spirit of the Auld Alliance, I wish all of France a very special Bastille Day.

Joyeaux Fête Nationale!

Orignal From: It's Bastille Day

The Fighting 69th

2009-07-11T16:17:00.001-07:00

Just went to a gig at the Venue, here in Dumfries, supporting my neighbour Andy Simpson and his band, the Fighting 69th. Andy is a great bassist and we enjoyed his music.

It was a small but enthusiastic audience and we also caught Eirrin Todd, minus her band, who played a great acoustic set.

Support your local musicians and get out to a gig soon.

Orignal From: The Fighting 69th

Hello, Blogger

2009-07-02T17:36:00.001-07:00

Now that my main website, here at www.ayesongs.com is now Wordpress powered, I'm hoping to join up my far-flung and oft-forgotten blogs around the web. Tonight is the turn of my old Blogger account, now being animated by the breath of renewed writing.

It's taken a bit of setting up, but now I can spread the proggy influence further. Here's to more blogging.

Orignal From: Hello, Blogger

Rendezvous With A Satellite

2009-07-01T17:30:00.001-07:00

My band, Arbelos, has been making a slow tour this year. We started in Dumfries back in April and performed in Edinburgh last month. This month we are making our way into outer space from the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow. This is the venue for the Satellite 2 Science Fiction Convention and Arbelos will be playing at the Dead Laika Party on Sunday 26th July.

The weekend of the convention follows on from the actual date of the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11’s lunar landing and the Apollo programme will be one of the themes of the convention. This makes it an ideal venue to continue touring Arbelos’ new suite of Songs Of Apollo’s Children. We also get to play Sunjammer to Colin McInnes, Glasgow’s own designer of solar-sailed spacecraft.

I plan to be there for the full weekend and flog some CDs to help pay for the gig. Noel and Ken will arrive on the Sunday with the PA and other heavy equipment necessary to launch Arbelos towards the Moon.

You can keep posted on the Arbelos Tour Of The Worlds over at the band website. The convention has its own site and you can sign up there for a very reasonable rate.

IMRadio Artist Widget

2009-04-20T01:24:00.001-07:00