Mandy Woods
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No more sleepin' under the stars...

5/8/2013

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Picture
OK, it's been a while, I admit, but getting back to normal after three nights under canvas when I'd sworn I'd never do such a thing ever again has taken some doing. I know I'm supposed to be some sort of cowgirl rancher chick, and you might think that as such I'd be up for kipping under the stars at the drop of my very expensive leather hat, but I invented this particular variety of cowgirl, and so I can say with some authority that British cowgirl rancher chicks don't do tents. Full stop. Period. Yeehah.

Anyway, forgetting the tent business and the strange weather and the fact that for a while we (M and I, that is) thought we had no means of boiling water and therefore no means of making tea, the festival was a great success from the performance side of things. Randy Moods went down a storm, new friends were made (including two lovely women who provided us with cups of tea at the time we thought we had no means of making our own, and who thus became known to us as The Tea Ladies, and who then came along to my performance), and CDs were sold. We did, however, pack up and head out on the Sunday evening, when another rain-soaked night under canvas seemed a night too much. Call us wimps if you must - though I prefer 'Ladies Who Like Their Creature Comforts'.

Moving on... yesterday I had occasion to chat to Ian Joules of Joules clothing and Joules Yard, a very funky cafe and live music venue behind the Joules boutique in Market Harborough. We talked of dogs and of music, and I really liked the laid-back, rather American feel of the place, so I shall be taking Joleen (my beloved guitar) along with me to the open mic there a week on Thursday (15 August).

There's another gig in the offing too - a fundraiser for the Hillingdon Women's Centre, somewhere I've driven past soooo many times on my way from London back to Oxford, but only ventured into last month when, following an audition for The Voice (that's a story in itself...), I found myself walking from Hillingdon tube station to the Oxford Tube bus stop. I got chatting to the centre manager, and as a result of that chat we've decided to set up a music night on either 21 or 28 September, with me and one or maybe two other female singer-songwriters. The details have yet to be worked out, but it will definitely be happening - so watch this space!

One other thing - I won something!! The Melange Factor singing competition to be precise. More precise than that I can't be as I don't really know any more than that. But it's nice to have won something - something where people had to vote on videos of our performances posted on You Tube. Winning may change my life... but there again, it may not. To find out if it does, once again, watch this space... ;)

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A plan

20/1/2012

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I have an idea, and that in itself is something, given that I've been battling in a dormouse sort of way against nodding off all day (I think it's the over-zealous storage heater that makes the place feel like a sauna during the day and makes me all dopey;  though to be fair, I probably can't lay all the blame for my dopiness at the feet of the heater). Anyway, back to the idea. I'll write my bits in, say, blue (bluebird, get it?), and Amanda can be creative and choose any other colour she likes, or keep it simple and stick to dull old black. What do ya say to that, Amanda? I know, I can't help it, the creativity just keeps exuding from my pores.  I say I'll be a blackbird or a greenfinch.......yellowhammer?......

Sad to say, the Killingworth Castle gig in March is off - two days after we played at David and Braham's Acousticana evening earlier this month, it shut its doors. We're trying not to take it personally. Seriously though, it is sad for all the music that's been happening there, and some of us are now actively seeking other venues where Acousticana can continue to host music evenings once or twice a month.

Amanda wins the prize for the most suggestions (actually, the only suggestions) as to what my YouTube handle stands for. I've adapted one of them, and it's now official: silvaymn stands for 'Silva, Yikes! Mis-spelt Name!' Yeah...... I'm an'ideas' kinda gal :-)

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Missed a day - oh well, move on...

19/1/2012

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Just discovered to my frustration that it's not possible to change your YouTube username. Once you plump for a name, that's it, you're stuck with it for life--you can't even change it by deed poll like you can with your birth name. Which is mortifying for me as a professional editor and proofreader, as it means I'm now stuck with a typo for a user name. :-( For the record, it should have been silvawymn (Silva being my dog and wymn being the 80's feminist spelling of women that became part of my online moniker when I was living in the US and every normal-sounding handle I tried for with AOL was already in use). The name I am stuck with on YouTube, however, is silvaymn, with the w missing. Any suggestions as to what I could claim I intended by 'ymn' will be gratefully received. Yemen? Yeoman? You Mis-spelt Name? (These are my suggestions, love) See below for explanation of last sentences of paragraphs. Guh.

We ventured back into the wilds of Hampshire yesterday to pick up the pick-up (not, however, in a pickup). Amanda's guitar now sounds fabulous amplified and I'm lusting after a beautiful Dave King parlour guitar that was sitting there in his workshop waiting to be played. Not that I need another one - in fact, we both need rhinestone-studded spectacle leads more than we need more guitars. I've left my specs at Amanda's twice in one day and hers are invariably not where she expects them to be. It may be a function of age, regularly misplacing your glasses, but we thought that rather than be embarrassed by it, we'd make a feature out of our scattiness, with the rhinestones. Ok, I just worked out how to do this Blog thing....        hmmmmmmm...... think this is right.... good grief! Oooops...... how will anyone know that the last (important) sentence on each day's blog is from me - ?????  
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