News

It’s been a long time since I was last in a recording studio, and when I was last between the baffle boards, almost a decade ago now, I had no inkling that I’d be brandishing a ukulele the next time.

I was in my showbiz pal Mikey Rowe’s studio recording my dodgy uke version of Blue Moon of Kentucky for the In Search of Elvis audiobook. It was all relatively painless - for me anyway, I can’t speak for the people who’ll be listening to it when it comes out.

You really can’t beat the ukulele. For a start, it’s portable. Having spent most of my musical career (ha!) dragging guitars and amps around, all too frequently on public transport, to carry a little, light case makes me wonder why I ever bothered. Most of the audiences did too, but that’s another story.

I picked up a copy of Coast magazine in Smith’s recently. In it there was a feature on Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen’s holiday home in north Cornwall. Blow me down if one of the pictures didn’t feature a small pile of books on a shelf, at the top of which was a certain book about the shipping forecast. I, of course, take that as a clear celebrity endorsement…

Right, lots of running around today, ferrying CDs between recording studios. A signing at Stanford’s too, so I’d better get my skates on. Thank goodness I’ve just seen news of the fog on News 24 too - I thought it was my eyes after my second post-prandial calvados after dinner last night.