Despairing of #Channel4, such a disservice to Kevin McCloud, and his classic car road trip programme...he's saying words to the effect of 'listen to this car arrive'...but there's a Debussy Arabesque playing underneath so that's that...

A week ago: 4 days of annual leave, 6 days in Italy…Refreshed, relaxed and preparing to come home. This week: 2.5 days off sick with what feels like COVID, but like the effing Directors Cut version. I look at this photograph and mourn the person I was then 😭 #ImmuneSystemOfAPaperBag

…more from Liberty Alice during their first gig outside of Beats & Treats😇 We’re on stage again Friday evening 2nd October at Laycock Cider Barn, Purse Caundle DT9 5DY (free admission however bring cash or card for the bar and pizza)🍕🎵🍺 @katyashman.bsky.social

Mark Eames@markofclubs.bsky.social · 4w ago

A bit like when football clubs qualify for their 1st ever European Cup competition, our house band Liberty Alice played their inaugural away fixture last Saturday night in a village near Salisbury😎 We return to home turf tomorrow evening for the latest edition of Beats & Treats at Laycock Cider Barn

Today we cross the Apennines!

Romans innit.

@milesbsn.bsky.social and I aren't tuning in to Strictly this year, and instead of the Saturday evening requirement to clap on beats 2 and 4, we're carrying on with #AperitivosAndArias Currently prepping an innocent-looking cocktail to accompany a rerun from the Met from way back in 2020...blimey🍾🎶🏛️

Enjoy it M&G - you'll totally rock it!

Mark Eames@markofclubs.bsky.social · last mo.

Nervous excitement! The little house band from Beats+Treats have our 1st pro gig (people pay to get in) as we’re among the lineup tonight for the latest edition of The Langfords Acoustic Cafe. Do swing by if you’re close to Stonehenge or Salisbury or Warminster or Wincanton😇 @katyashman.bsky.social

It's been fun working on this music & am absolutely over the moon to have sold a few already! Always a strange moment when you hit publish & they go into the void!🕯️✨ Thanks to music lovers in the UK & US for supporting us (so far), & of course diolch to @milesbsn.bsky.social for the proof reads!

This is very much in my wellhouse 💧 Penmon Priory crosses, St Seiriol’s Well, Penmon Point, then on to Din Sylwy in search of another well, then a yomp up Bwrdd Arthur to the trig point, and collected sloes along the way. 🌿 Lots of listening, wandering and well... research 😉

A MOST PARTICULAR INVITATION You are cordially invited to Bath. There will be: Love. Society. Secrets. And, quite possibly, someone saying something they ought not. Jane Austen's Bath: Love, Society & Secrets 💌 🪭 🤫 Only with the @guidltours.bsky.social app

When I said no-one wanted to see it... 🤣 @milesbsn.bsky.social I think we could take this to our next gig...

The bassoon 4tet of #EmilyInParis that we’ve just arranged/published is one of the funnest things I’ve worked on in recent months…I just need to persuade @milesbsn.bsky.social to record it 😇 (too many notes for me!) 🇫🇷🥐☕️🛍️

No one is ready to see the Regency Wandering Winds…am I right? 😅 @milesbsn.bsky.social rocks a top hat though, better than I do a bonnet… full reveal soon! 🎩👒

Laurence is coming to Beaumaris on Sat 22nd August ☀️ It will be a gorgeous day to hear some beautiful music - either 3pm and 7pm - (or book for both!) at St Mary's and St Nicholas's Church wyldebritain.com #NorthWales #WyldeBritain #Bassoon #Beaumaris

And breathe.

Fantastic 🙌👏🏻🙌👏🏻

Mark Eames@markofclubs.bsky.social · 2mo ago

…our house band Liberty Alice also includes lovely Pete Knight on bass (he played on tour in John Coghlan’s Quo) & our set is an eclectic bunch of covers to start each monthly Beats & Treats. We tried this tune for the 1st time in rehearsal 24 hours earlier, as you can tell☺️ @katyashman.bsky.social

Got a lovely woodwind trio going on for this work in progress and am considering both tempo markings to be honest…

Going back to iTunes for a bit (old school perhaps, but...) and all the music I've already bought and stored albeit forgotten on a hard drive... so many recordings I rushed to add to the library on first listen, discovering them again is weird, but lovely. This is particularly joyous!

@milesbsn.bsky.social will 💚 this because…the Maestro of the music from these childrens programmes we love…notably Ivor the Engine (particularly bassoony of course) and the Clangers, was Miles’s bassoon teacher at one point (I love shouting about this incase you hadn’t guessed) 😊🙌🧡

Mark Eames@markofclubs.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Mornin’ @katyashman.bsky.social and @milesbsn.bsky.social ☺️

To everyone who has spent the last two weeks (that have felt like two months) navigating systems and IT labyrinths…May your passwords finally work, may your inbox grow quiet…and may the weekend bring no further ‘we’ve identified another issue…’ emails. Cheers to that.

Venice has ruined us slightly. Every time we hear church bells now, we instinctively wonder where the nearest Rio/Canal is.

At what point in our evolution did we start having nightmares and what point do they serve? I’ve always had distressing nightmares but I’ve just woken from one so bad I feel physically ill 🤢🤮 Why on earth did my mind conjure it up and where did it come from?!? They always start as normal dreams too.

10 years ago today, @milesbsn.bsky.social and I spent a rather extraordinary day travelling around Dorset, giving 17 concerts in 17 churches to raise money for the Dorset Historic Churches Trust. Many of you followed our slightly mad adventure and it remains one of our happiest memories! 🎶

Lovely to pop in to the chapel this evening with @milesbsn.bsky.social It’s a welcoming, well-loved space, and this was the first time I managed a close up look at the well!

It's not often I listen to the OST in full before going to see a movie, but I'm beyond intrigued about The Odyssey. And I love an Aulos!

Just watched our first #FNOTP in a few years, lots of reasons why really...and am not a classical music snob in the least, but Wonderwall was not doing it any favours. Would've loved some of the sus4 harmonies to have been sung... what a waste of those fantastic voices! Lovely Finzi 😍

@milesbsn.bsky.social and I first came to Venice to celebrate a birthday. We never imagined it would become the city we returned to again and again. This @guidltours.bsky.social audio tour is a love letter to the music, stories and quiet corners that kept calling us back. Here's your invitation 💌👇

Fantastic stuff 👏🏻🌻🌞 Amazing music and musicians as ever! Thanks for sharing 💚

Mark Eames@markofclubs.bsky.social · 4mo ago

…& the Beats & Treats crowd on 3rd July enjoyed some “folk+popular music” served up by local duo John Bullock& Andrea Haas😊The Laycock Cider Barn in Purse Caundle is always the venue & we host this on the opening Friday of every month. Do join us 7th August if you’re nearby @katyashman.bsky.social

In the scheme of random things, I was just thinking…what if someone’s not into birthdays, would they celebrate (for example), their 20,000th day on earth?! Then of course I just had to check…and tomorrow is my 17,000th day. I’m such a weirdo sometimes 🤣

Just leaving this here, and it's only for fun (honest!)...but if you'd told 16-year-old me that one day I'd be imagining curating an Arthurian Britpop festival lineup, I would have been deeply confused. @markofclubs.bsky.social #ArthurPop #NoDragonsWereHarmed