Dear World, It was a brilliant, sunny day at wherever I live, today. Brilliance of a different kind was also in evidence - because most of the members of my new band came over for a rehearsal. We were trying out Roland "V" drums (electronic drums), Zeta midi cellos. mallet cat (midi vibraphone thingy) and other similar cosmic bollocks. Very encouraging. Our two cellists will now have no trouble at all morphing themselves into a drumkit while the percussionist rushes off to prove his World Dominance potential on the xylophone. What you do, - (in case you don't know) with a midi instrument is, you send a code from your real instrument (in this case a cello) which tells a little box that you are playing, say a D natural, fortissimo. The box tells another sound (say a choir or something) to sing a fortissimo D natural, and - Robert is the husband of your Auntie! You get a D natural choir note played by a cello. At the kick of a footswitch, you can convert the choir to a pickled Zambibwian nose-harmonica or a the Brass section of the New Foundland Symphony Orchestra. Hurrah! I'm off to Germany later this week to perform a short recital for e-park records, my new European partners for Dramatico Records. In between all these things I'm trying hard to get plenty of stuff written and arranged for the band to record in June and July. I'm also trying to organise streaming from this site - of audio and videos - so if anyone knows how I can get some sort of trigger to somewhere that hosts streaming - please let me know (Virginbiz sites like this one, amazingly don't/can't support streaming). I guess I have to link out to somewhere else. Boffins please advise. Well, that wasn't a hilarious, recipe-infested newsletter, but sometimes you just get what you get.I'm feeling quite serious at the moment. Maybe I need a bloody good run around the garden in a Womble suit. But then again...maybe I don't. Take care, Mike May 2nd, 2001 Dear World, Yesterday (Tuesday) was Steve (my engineer's) birthday. He was twenty-three. Damn. How can anybody be twenty-three? Here's a picture of him blowing out the candles on his Marks and Spencer's chocolate caterpillar cake at the lunch we had for him. Spaghetti Bolognese in the conservatory - (not as good as the Ritz, but nearer). A lot has happened on the music front this week. Well, last week, to be more accurate. I agreed a Worldwide record deal with a major classical label - for the new group, who are now formed and ready to record. They will all report to Batt Control on June 4th for two months' residential recording and rehearsals prior to a launch in the Autumn. I am thrilled with my choice of people; - there are eight in the group now - (name of group and names of players yet to be announced) but in instrument terms, they are - flute (girl), oboe(girl), violin/vocals (boy) cello(boy) Bass guitar/cello/vocals (girl), Classical/electric guitar (girl), another classical/electric guitar (boy), Percussion/drums (boy). So four boys and four girls. I expect them to be self-sufficient on stage, - that is to say - not to need a backing group or backing track, - although there is the chance we would augment them with a few extra players for bigger gigs. Mike
April 18th, 2001 Hello. Just got back from OZ, where a quick week in Sydney was followed by a quick week in Melbourne. I do in fact have some great pics of the Opera House and Harbour bridge taken from my poncey yacht in 1981 - that was Braemar, the boat I had then, and in which I circumsised the globe.We anchored off the Opera House and watched the fireworks on New Year's Eve and it was stunning. So stunning that my slightly intoxicated first wife jumped off the boat in shark infested waters and swam round the yacht, fully clothed, to celebrate, - realising afterwards that she had been wearing a £25,000 diamond-infested watch. In those days £25,000 didn't even get you a waterproof one. Mad days they were. Once again, the picture doesn't really prove it - you have to believe me. Also, they were the harmless smoked salmon variety. Not your fearless type containing raw sharks' bollocks or anything, but very good with that green mustard that blows your brains out on the way down after it's bounced off the top of the inside of your skull. Anyway - I was pretty impressed. You have to get all the right bits, like squares of Japanese seaweed, dried, then cook the rice and add in this stuff they give you - I think there's sugar in it - but it makes the rice go all claggy so you can roll it up and it doesn't separate; in fact you want it to be all the things you don't usually want rice to be: sticky and claggy! Then you roll the lot up in the seaweed with all the bits like salmon, avocado and stuff - and cut it into rolls - then you eat it with the ginger shavings and Wassabe mustard and soy sauce. Hey! Go and make some now. Don't wait a moment longer. Anyway. Enough. Back in London after a perfectly nice flight back (I always think people who moan about travelling from or to Australia are whingers). Think about it - you sit in a plane for 26 hours and you get out halfway across the World, 12,000 miles from where you began. Meanwhile, back in London - quite a lot to get back to - including timetabling the recording sessions for the new band - and release dates. My deadline to finish writing and arranging the album is the end of May - so lots of work to do - (why am I writing this, then, instead of writing music? Because THIS is easier!). We'll record in June and July, and mix in August. Got to tear myself away now - will add some more in a week or so. Don't go chasing waterfalls. Regards Mike
April 12th, 2001 Dear World, Just a quick newsletter-ette at the moment as I am in transit in Australia and back on April 17th. So I'll leave the most recent complete letter under this (for those who haven't read it yet) - and give you just a few thrilling lines to keep you going until I get back! This little note will be improved upon soon, but right now - it's 12th April and I'm off tomorrow to see my mate Daryl Somers who lives about an hour south of Melbourne. He's great value and I'm looking forward to seeing him after a long time. We share lots of interests. Those of you who are Aussies or Aussie-aware will know that he is Dead Famous in OZ and a Good Bloke to boot. He's getting plenty of Tucker in for the day. We'll all probably sit on the beach and eat something or other. Yesterday we went to a wine place called Yerring Station near Healsville, where we ordered some food to complement our wine. Lots of Love Mike
March 18th, 2001 Hello again. Last night we had a party at Batt Control for the purpose of celebrating my brother Dick's 50th birthday. Bloody 'ell! Doesn't seem long ago we were pitching camp by some foggy river while Dad dug the latrine and I was cooking the baked beans. Last week I got further with the formation of my new group - although no decisions yet - so if you are a candidate checking out the site - DON'T WORRY! (Yet)... I've also been writing like mad for the new album which I will record with them this Summer. This week the story broke that I have written the music for the Conservative Party for the forthcoming general election. It was leaked by a genuine mistake when a journalist happened to overhear a senior conservative party official talking at an off-the-record dinner party. That's what the SECRET was last week - that I couldn't tell you. So Newsnight, that serious-minded current affairs TV programme presented by the supposedly sensible and even-handed Jeremy Paxman, described the music as having been written by "one of the Wombles". You wouldn't credit it, would you - that a serious current affairs programme could be so cheaply tabloid.(Although I DID laugh). I learn something every day - and the thing I learn is NEVER that I underestimated people. Always the opposite! Anyway, I'm used to cheap Wombley jibes. You make your own bed in this business - but sometimes, after 30 years you think they'd grow up enough to mention one or two of the other things. And also I get all this "Why are you a conservative?" - as if I had just told people I'm a a pornographer or a car thief. The fact is, I have always felt that the country is best led by conservative economic and incentive values for small businesses, - if tied in with a strong sense of caring for the underprivileged and less well-off. I think Tony Blair is a nice and very competent bloke, but he really vaselined the labour party into being something it wasn't in order to make it electable last time, - just at the time the Tory party had distanced itself from the country by seeming unfeeling and lacking in humility.We needed a change then - I think many conservatives were even a bit relieved. But with all this euphoria over the budget, and Gordon Brown being hailed as a good chancellor, let's not forget we follow the USA in and out of recessions and growth periods. The Conservatives paved the way for the current (or, in light of the stock market crash, perhaps I should say "recent") economic stability by facing up to the demanding and aggressive unions in the seventies, -which Labour never did, because they were/are funded by the unions - and yet a strong Labour opposition rightly brought the Conservatives down when they started acting like they had a God-given right to govern. Now I think the conservatives are building a new and more compassionate philosophy (rather like a reverse of the hybrid labour- conservative philosophy adopted by Tony Blair to get Labour in last time) - and I reckon a new generation of conservative MP's - backed by a caring and demandingly humane public - would be a good thing for Britain.I think William Hague is a good man and sincere in his wish to bring this about. That's why I wrote their music. I'd be a communist if I thought it would work, but it doesn't. Where does the sharing stop, in Marxist thinking? At country boundaries? Within Continents? What if Mars had starving millions? Would we send half of Earth's resources? Where would it end? Worldwide sharing of resources and food? Ideally, yes. But then you'd need a World Government. Who's going to Rule the World and not get corrupted!? The guys who run Radio One can't even do THAT without becoming too big for their boots! Compassion and sharing has to come from the individual conscience, not JUST from rules. Labour's "Stealth" taxes are fine by me. The money has to come from somewhere. I just remember the seventies, under Labour, - when you paid a quid in the pound tax off your income. You felt you might as well give up! Meanwhile, back at Normalness - This week I continue to write for the new album, and am also very busy with several other projects. Getting ready for a trip to Australia. Writing a stage show for next Christmas. Organising the administration for my new publishing company.Looking out of the window. Watching Comic relief and revisiting the horrors of Rwanda. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? Hope you are getting along OK. Love, Mike
March 4th, 2001 Dear All, I've spent the last three weeks writing a score for the Royal Philharmonic, the purpose of which is, for the moment, SECRET - so I can't even tell YOU. But it's been a marathon, trying to write and orchestrate 20 minutes of music for an 80 piece orchestra in three weeks. Actually, if you get 6 weeks to write a whole film score you're lucky, - so the intensity isn't unusual, - it's just that this commission hit me unexpectedly,so it's been a bit difficult to fit everything else in around it. Not complaining, though. We recorded at Whitfield Street studios yesterday - Saturday 3rd March - and it was (despite the wonderful collective personality and dedicated musicianship of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) - the session from Hell. Let's just say I had a bit of trouble communicating with the engineer. Don't ask. It's too horrible. I like to think I'm good in a crisis - which came in handy yesterday! Nevertheless, we came out with some great work, - beautiful playing from my beloved RPO, under trying circumstances - and they helped me to overcome the studio-based difficulties. Nice to know that all eighty of a room full of people are on your side and trying to make it happen for you. Today, the legendary and brilliant Chris Spedding was here all the way from LA to do guitar overdubs at Batt Control, and I took a picture of him in THE CHAIR -(same chair as that in which I am pictured with BOND - see button on the left - (coloured blue - saying "BOND").
Chris Spedding having a bit of a sit down in the big chair... I have, incidentally, auditioned a good few people for my new, seven piece classical crossover band - and unfortunately there are too many good people to choose from, so it is going to be a difficult decision. But I DO know that the band will be terrific. It has just struck me that there is actually no precedent for this band - it is a bit like SKY was in the late 70's (John Williams' band) but young and Sorry there's no recipe today! Or - if you don't like my recipes, - I'm happy to announce that there isn't one this week. Make your own one up! Chuck loads of things into a pan and let it all mush together. Can't hurt anybody! Some cornflakes, a dash of brandy, a little cornflour, some red wine and a few finely chopped pieces of bacon and some diced Ostrich. Nothing can go wrong. This week, -I think it was Tuesday - we woke up to several inches of snow, and - never mind foot and mouth - the sheep in our field were all WHITE - even though some of them are really black. It must be the pits to be a sheep, standing in a field, minding your own business, and then suddenly this freezing cold white stuff just comes along and covers you, without even asking. View from Batt Control earlier this week, before it snew. Anyway - I've been overdubbing Chris's guitars all day long and it's now very late - so thanks for tuning in - and come back soon! Stay cool. hang loose, boogie down, swing low... Peace and Love, Mike February 11th, 2001 Dear All, Well, I suppose the time has come to drag myself off the couch, switch off the documentary on Frankie Howard and sprinkle a little fun into your lives by updating the newsletter . I haven't written a new one for nearly a month. It also struck me that I haven't done a recipe since18th MAY 2000 - so I guess I really ought to share my latest culinary creation with you. OK, then, - it's a dull, bleak, sometimes rainy day and you live on top of a hill, so the wind drives up the hill and forces itself into the cracks round the old windows. You put on a record. In my case on this occasion it is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing "Nimrod" from Elgar's Enigma Variations - conducted by... ME! - (that's the sort of bloke I am) but in your case it would probably be some old bollocks like Frank Ifield sings The Springfields, or a little Mills Brothers gem like "Paper Doll" on a 78, or any Motorhead album (they all sound the same). Whatever it is, get two or three duck legs and some bits of pheasant breast. We're going to make Batty's Duck and Pheasant Casserole. Don't panic. You can get the bits from Waitrose. Try to get organic, - you (probably) don't want all that oestrogen they pump into non-organic poultry nowadays. You can also put some chicken bits in as well if you want. Any old bits of poultry will do. Actually I lied when I said this was a new creation, - I make up all sorts if casseroley things these days and I've chanced this way before. We have an AGA cooker in the kitchen (it's so much more convenient than having it in the bedroom) - and it's great for these "chuck anything in and leave it til it's done" dishes. I do them when we're recording, because they are quick to prepare even though the cooking time is an hour and a half. You can put anything in - fish, meat, whatever you want. But today it's DUCK and PHEASANT. So! Cut some big onions, say three, - in chunky rings. Get a small punnet of those baby cherry tomatoes. Cut up about three apples. Find a metal roasting dish or an oven-proof casserole dish. Pour a little olive oil into it, and then lay the poultry across the bottom of the dish. Personally, I sometimes quick-fry the breast portions for about 1 minute before putting them in, but strictly speaking that seals the flavour in - and really you want the flavour to get out all over the place for this dish.
The Aga cooker at Batt Control Anyway, - put the onions, tomatoes and apples all over and in between the poultry, and cut up loads of mushrooms and add them in; - (try to get some of those shitake mushrooms - [cepes] - they're great for flavour). Add some mixed herbs. I wouldn't put garlic in this one, personally. I don't think it goes too well with the gamey/poultry flavours. Fruit goes well. Anyway. Make up some chicken stock in a cup, - say three stock cubes with hot water, - and pour it in. Make a loose paste of some cornflour and cold water. Put THAT in. Then get some cheap old red wine and splash THAT in.
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