Back home after two weeks away in the Caravan (http://travellinginabox.blogspot.com) and I'm all full of vigour and new enthusiasm. My notebook is bulging with a crop of new ideas – after a visit to the Bakelite Museum, in Somerset, I'm thinking about how Bakelite Punk might be an interesting place to go. Hmm.
I also had a musical awakening. I've found it very hard, recently, to like any of the music I've been hearing. Everything seems derivative. There's nothing new out there. I've been thinking that maybe the twelve notes have, after all, been used up in all the possible combinations and that there really might be nothing new under the sun. Then, yesterday, we were strolling around Bath, enjoying the sunshine and the wonderful buildings and in the square a solo guitar player was just starting up. From the first notes we were hooked. This was something special. We stayed for the whole set, couldn't tear ourselves away. He was selling CDs. I bought one. Had to. I'm listening to it now and it is fabulous. His name is Ben Powell. Remember that: Ben Powell, and you can hear him on www.benpowellguitar.com or even buy his CD, called Preliminaries, which I cannot recommend highly enough.
What else? Oh yes, they're selling the new 3G Kindle in the UK from 27th August. A week before my birthday. Well, that does it, doesn't it. Can't help myself.
