You may have noticed that the Hallowe’en decorations are up a little early this year. This is because I have to start preparing for my Canada trip mid-October and I need to start advertising the Arbelos Christmas concert before I go (yes, we need to start preparing early for that). So, to make sure the web pages don’t start to look old while I’m away, here is the Hallowe’en look.
I’ve had a lot of fun with DAZ Studio and GraphicConverter on this one. Thanks to all the people who make those amazing 3D models of vampire costumes and scary scenery. You can check out what they do over at the DAZ 3D website.
So, exciting times ahead: Canada in time for Thanksgiving, back to Scotland in time for Hallowe’en and then intensive rehearsals with Arbelos for Christmas. The holiday season starts here. 
Our area recently switched to digital TV and I’ve been rediscovering old 60s and 70s programmes that I only dimly remembered. One of these was 70s show Space 1999 and, as I picked up a few episodes, I noticed some parallels that I hadn’t spotted before. Firstly, I’d forgotten the quirky combination of Thunderbirds and Outer Limits style plots, but then I noticed a format change introduced in the second season that reminded me of another series.
I’m not sure how well known Space 1999 was in the US, but maybe some future TV creators saw it and some ideas bedded in, deep in their subconscious. In order to refresh the series, a couple of new characters were introduced in the form of second-in-command Tony Verdecci and alien scientist Maya, between whom an on-off romantic relationship developed. These joined the regular stars Commander Koenig and his girlfriend, chief medical officer Helena Russell.
This foursome of leading characters rang a bell as I remembered the big space show of the 80s. Star Trek: the Next Generation featured a Captain and his Medical Officer who eventually found romantic involvement and a First Officer and alien crew member who were linked by a shared history. Maybe Captain Picard and his crew enjoyed less cheesey plots and a slicker production, but it looks like someone recognised a solid character format when they saw one.
It always fascinates me to observe the creative process in operation. No idea pops out of a vacuum. A creative person soaks up influences from all over the place and the really good ones execute the treatment of these ideas in a way that sparkles with its own spirit and something new is brought into the world.
I’ve been having some fun looking over the last thirty years of comics that I’ve been involved with. The reason being that I just discovered Webcomics Nation, which is a great site for comic creators to distribute their work electronically. You can pick up a comics feed from there just as easily as you can get a video feed from YouTube.
So I started a Webcomics Nation account and started putting comics on it. The first series is Humphreyman’s True Stories that I drew way, way back in the 1980s from scripts by Paul Holmes. I’ll try and post some episodes regularly and you can pick up the feed from my Comics page on this site.
It’s a while since I’ve posted. Must be because of the concert-going. I’m having too much fun to be posting blogs.
Last month we went to see Bill Bailey in Glasgow. I’ve seen the DVDs and watched BB on television but this is the first time that I’ve seen the man in his natural environment – a packed theatre. I was not disappointed. Mr Bailey is either a comic genius or from another planet. In either case, he is immensely entertaining and it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The down-side is that I seem to have a Bailey-meme somewhere in the depths of my psyche that was activated by the live experience. I found myself looking at the world from the Bill Bailey perspective for weeks afterwards and was unable to prevent myself voicing this point of view, much to the bewilderment of the earthlings around me.
This week, we were back in Glasgow to see the Fleet Foxes. My son Simon introduced me to these Seattle-based musicians earlier in the year and we were quite excited to see that they had made it to Scotland. It is so nice to find some genuinely new music and even nicer to discover that the makers of this music are talented enough to carry it off live. I’d even go so far as to say they sounded better playing to an audience than they do on the recordings. If they come your way, go and see them. You won’t regret it.
Now we’re back in the mood for live performances, we are looking forward to hearing Howe, Squire and White featuring David and Wakeman in November, at the Usher Hall, and, we hope, Them Crooked Vultures also in Edinburgh, in December. I can’t wait!