Saw the film one more time tonight. That makes three times. And I have to say that I enjoyed it the most this third time.

First time was the Marketing Screening by United International Pictures in Sydney months and months ago. It was a rough cut, much of the special effects weren’t finished, the lighting was all wierd and dark, the whole film just felt… well, unfinished. And quite rightly so! And the whole time I was concentrating so hard, trying to get every last detail, and then mulling over something that had just happened, thereby missing a bit of the dialogue in the next scene.

So then when we saw it on Monday, I sat there concentrating on how the finished version compared to the rough cut. Once again, missed out on bits which would have made the film more layered to me.

But this last time, I just sat back and enjoyed the film as a fab story, and experienced what was really a breathtaking ride at times – there were some scenes which made me gape like I haven’t done in years. And with the signing today, I saw the cast in a whole different light. Found myself paying more attention to Adam, and noticing a stack of stuff that I’d missed the first two times. Laughing at jokes and lines I’d not heard before.

Seriously, if this movie does not make it big then the world has gone mad and lost all sense of good taste.

Wow. Wow wow wow.

What a couple of days… where to start?

From the beginning, I suppose. Back in mid 2002, I heard that my hero, Joss Whedon, creator of such masterpieces as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, along with lesser known credits like Toy Story, was starting a new project. It didn’t yet have a name, all I knew was that it was going to be a sci-fi. Joss Whedon, sci-fi, winning combination as far as I was concerned. I did google searches every few days after that (it was exam time, I should have been studying and writing essays, but the internet is a terrible distraction at a university library), until finally I was rewarded with the name for the show: Firefly.

Soon after a website was created by Fox, and a forum was attached to it. Me being the geek that I was, and not having a forum to be addicted to at the time, I joined up and began to talk to people who, like me, loved Joss’s work, and couldn’t wait for some more. Some cast members posted there, but Adam Baldwin was the only one who really took to it, and is a more regular poster than me there. We’ve exchanged the odd post, but I mostly stay out of the political threads where he posts, so I never really thought he was that aware of who I was amongst the horde of other people on the forum.

Months and months passed, and the show was finally released in the US, and it was then that the details (for the purposes of the blog) get a little hazy, but suffice it to say that through means … less than completely kosher, I began watching the show in sync with the US airing.

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Och, it’s all come to an end but it’s all just beginning. We saw Mark and Shannon off at the airport today, knowing that although we’d see Mark again coming Christmas time, Shannon has made the decision that he’s not going to keep on with the playing with a band which plans to be based on the other side of the world from him. He will be sorely missed, grumpy attitude and all.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The past week in Glasgow has swept by in a rush of gigs, lunches, pubs and pints. We played a lunchtime at George Square, where the weather was surprisingly obliging. We played a couple of vaguely informal late night sessions at the Festival Club at the piping centre, where really we were merely accompanyment for the drinking masses (although a thouroughly aimiable and appreciating mass!).

Probably the most exciting gig (or noteworthy for so many reasons) of the Piping Festival for us was the gig at The Arches, a nightclub under Central Station. I’ve never seen a venue of its like, but then I’ve never been much of a one for underground raves. This one was surely underground. The name of the venue really said it all: it was a vault – nay, a warren – of arched ceilings an interconnecting chambers, all built out of red brick. The resulting acoustics were, as Jamie so succintly put it, akin to playing in am indoor swimming pool – lots of reverb, and quite muddy. Hat goes off to Jamie for mixing such a difficult gig – I’ve been told from a number of sources that the sound was quite good, especially given the difficulty of the room.

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OK, so I’m almost over the pipes now. Almost. I feel like I’ve been hearing pipes all day, everyday, for the past week. And come to think of it, I have! Like Simmo says, you kinda get numb to it after a while…

We have about 5 gigs here in Glasgow before the end of the tour (and one in Edinburgh at the Speigeltent), and they seem to have been very well recieved. It’s so funny, Mark can’t walk a few steps without bumping into someone he knows, or knows him. What’s more, I’ve discovered that this blog has thrown the rest of the band into infamy as well – Shannon was walking down the street the other day, and was stopped by a petite, cute-as-a-button Louisiani, who said (in her ridiculously adorable accent – up there with Scottish/Estonian) “excuse me, are you Shannon?”

Turns out that she’s Dee from Mark’s piping forum, and has been reading the blog, and knows all of us by sight from the photos. I walked in to where she’d stopped to have lunch with Mark and Shannon, and she greeted me like a long lost friend – totally ace chick, we’ve been hanging with her a bit this weekend. It’s nice to know that there are folk out there who don’t know me personally (or even through my forum), but have been enjoying tales of our adventures. So here’s a big shout-out to all the folk on the piping forum – howdy folks!

Long time readers will remember my housemate Kaylene from Australia. Well, Kaylene descended on Glasgow a few days ago to Do Scotland, and to spend a bit of time with her fave housemate. Heaven help Glasgow with the two of us here.

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After the gig yesterday afternoon, we were taken back to stay at what must have been the poshest establishments I have ever stayed in, an Edwardian seaside hotel in the shadow of the Mourne Mountains. I’ll not even bother trying to describe it, and I felt totally self conscious taking photos inside this behemoth, but I’ll share some of the photos that we took on the beach before dinner:

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We’re sitting here backstage at the Celtic Fusion festival in Co. Down, Northern Ireland. Frances Black is soundchecking onstage at the moment, and we’re surrounded by folk from Celtic Storm, practising their steps, which lead us to think about the first people who decided that this whole Irish Dancing thing would be a funky way to dance.

“They’re dancing kinda like they’ve got a stone in their shoes,” says Shannon.

“Nah,” puts in Jamie, “it probably all started when someone dropped a fag down their trousers”

I thought I’d do a wee blog about the whole gig thing, and what happens when we first get to a venue.

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TRAFFIC! That’s the story of our drive yesterday from Northern England down to the Eastleigh Festival, near Southampton. We arrived a little late for our soundcheck, but as the first band on, it didn’t really matter too much – it meant that we didn’t have to get all our gear off for someone else to do their soundcheck.

From a practical point of view, being first band on a bill has it’s benefits – you get to soundcheck last, leave all the gear onstage, finish early (ie start drinking early – I never drink before a gig). Only problem about being first on is that the crowd is usually smaller, more chilled, and less likely to be in the mood for our music. We’re more of a late night, techno dance kinda sound, and mid afternoon is not quite the right sort of slot for us. However, being an as yet relatively unknown quantity at many festivals (although there were some people who’d seen us at the Hebridean Celtic Festival, and had travelled quite a distance to see us that day! Cool!), it’s understandable for us to be more of a warm up act at the bigger festivals.

There was this one little girl, probably about 10 years old, in the very front row at Eastleigh who just made my gig for me. She was really getting into the set, and she’d make regular eye contact with me and her sunny little face would just light up in the biggest of grins. Then I’d start grinning as I was playing, and she’d start grinning even more, and then I’d try not to giggle as I was playing. What a little cutie. It’s funny how little things like that can completely colour your impression of an event. Eastleigh has been one of my favorite gigs so far, all because of that little girl.

Later that night, I finally got to see the band that Jamie has been raving about for the whole tour, a group of Scottish lads by the name of Croft No 5. I should know by now that I can trust Jamie’s taste (he’s been their sound engineer for years now), but I was surprised at just how much I dug the sound they made. Funky, layered and original yet accessible, they were the best band I saw that night, probably the best band I’ve seen all this tour, and we’ve been on the bill with a few big names at various festivals. Definitely going to check them out again.

And cool lads too – we had brews with the Croft boys in the “VIP” tent (where the alcohol is the same price as out front, but there are just less chairs!), and they’re totally good value.

But alas, the night was cut short by the need for at least a few hours sleep – we had to catch a 9 am plane the next morning for Ireland, which necessitated meeting in the foyer at some ungodly hour this morning.

Been a little lax with the blogging, due partly to an initial lack of any one largely significant thing to report, and then to being on the go continuously and not having good internet access…

The past few days have mostly been eventful in a totally noneventful way to anyone but me and my friends. We’ve had 10 days off from gigging, most of it spent in Glasgow, staying at Strathclyde University, hangin’ about, rehearsing, writing, just relaxing, really.

I went to spend another day in Edinburgh, crashed at Webmaster Matt’s place, where he and his housemate cooked up a veritable feast of home cooked goodness, while I and Matt’s friend (a charming lass) sat back on the couch, drinking wine and watching the boys be domestic. I can see a pattern emerging, with this whole “girls sitting back while boys do the domestic work”. I think I like it, although I feel perversely guilty, like I’m skiving off something that I should be doing… Got my first bits of the new seasons of Stargate and Battlestar Galactica too, which Matt may or may not have obtained by nefarious means. Matt’s a good person to know, and not just for his housemate’s cooking…

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