What’s it all about then?  I’m sure you often wonder about that. 

Well so do I.  

There are several possible answers to that rather ambiguous and immense question.  In no particular order, here are a few… love, balance, survival, power, sex, cabbage, passion, knowledge, hors d’ouvres, socks, pressure, jealousy, furniture, speed, money, television, dental hygiene, paper, technology, family, stamp collecting, oil, frozen food, religion, underwear, betrayal, soap, fun, pain, curiosity, sneakers, drugs, art, nostalgia, sport, charity, nosebleeds, toys, duty, alcohol, music, babies, history, curtains…   I could go on but I sense you’re already getting bored.  However, if any of the above strikes a chord somewhere within your cranium, then read on.  

Or not, as the case may be.

Still here?  Good.  It is a bright morning here in my head and the sun has just introduced itself to the day.  That, of course, is of no interest to you whatsoever, but to me it is of paramount importance, otherwise I wouldn’t be here punching at the alphabet for some reason or other, sitting in a hotel room at the end of a tour.  Actually there is a reason and that reason is to make a modicum of sense regarding the year that is just about to become a memory – 2009, to be precise.  What was it all about?

As you may or may not know, I am occasionally prone to absurdity as I live a life of rational illogicality which involves a ridiculous amount of travel and standing on platforms making hopefully pleasant vibrations with my bass guitar in time and in tune with three or four other lost-and-found souls, specifically for the general public.  It’s not exactly heartening to think that I may be one of a soon-to-be extinct species, but then again who am I to wallow in the troughs of conjecture?  Doubtless, there will future musicians who will entrance and entertain with noises that might or might not resemble the riffs and rhythms with which we are most familiar but will nonetheless be meaningful, in a meaningful sort of way to those who seek meaningfulness, if you catch my meaning – and I think you do.  Change is inevitable and quite necessary.  Even so, it’s difficult to get my head around the fact that I have been doing this music thing for some time now.  Lucky me.  What’s that all about? Well, about forty-five years, give or take.  It’s about that.

2009 has been a time of colossal change.  Funnily enough, the more things change, the more things stay the same.  I’m still nineteen years old in my head, still thrilled with the music, still searching for elusive delights, still putting things off, still struggling with the muse, still seeing ahead whilst looking sideways (or vice versa), still dreaming…

And that’s what I do.  Life is good, despite the crap it sometimes hurls at me.  Fortune, good and bad, has hovered over me as I navigate the muddy waters of progress.  This past year, fatherhood and grand-fatherhood have revealed the rarely felt depths of emotion, not experienced since my daughter Gillian came into my world thirty odd years ago.  Lucinda and Xavier are the searchlights by which I will see the way ahead.  My partner Myriam and my daughter Gillian are both wonderful mothers and for that I am eternally thankful.  My geography has altered as well; Switzerland is my new home and has made me welcome, at least until they find out that I can’t yodel too well.  And I’ve no idea what that is all about!

The band has found new energy whilst regularly circumnavigating the itinerary.  Of the gigs we’ve played this year, many are still ringing with the sweet sound of people enjoying themselves in my ears.  (I know that doesn’t sound quite right.)  Fresh evidence of recording activity is rumoured to be in the works for 2010, as is that elusive animal, the solo album, which has been almost finished several times before scurrying away to a dark place and hiding away.  But I’ll track it down… soon.

I appreciated all the birthday greetings.   In case you were expecting a reply, don’t, because one normally doesn’t do that sort of thing, does one?  One does, however, feel a keen sense of gratitude tickling ones bones.  While we’re on the subject (gratitude, not bones), I appreciate meeting so many people along the long and windy road this year – the extended family just keeps getting more and more, er… extended.  Family, fans, friends and fellow musicians have all contributed to the mosaic that makes up my year; Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule, Ted McKenna, Jon Lord, Walther Galley (of Café Bertrand), Gottard and Joe Bonamassa to name-drop but a few.

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Before I go on too long (bit late for that) I would like to wish an old friend, Ronnie James Dio, all the best for a swift recovery.   I also wish that for all the people I know that are going through rough times right now.    

So, while I’m in a wishing mood, I wish everyone a giant celebration over the holidays and heaps of optimism for the coming year. 

Peace and laundry.   That’s what it’s all about.

Oh, and good luck,

RG, December 2009