I have hung/rehung some of the pix of the Scillies � there were already a load in the kitchen along with a few of LA and Crete. I put up a couple of recent chalk pastels and the one of the Neolithic grave. I relocated a Scillies rooftop scene switching the background from white to black paper � this flat had a second floor deck which was really good fun � I can remember sitting up there reading about the history of Minimalism. It definitely looks better in the new situation � near the electric kettle. And the pastels of the beaches suit the yellow paint on the kitchen walls. I wonder whether it should be so easy to live with one�s graphic creations. I certainly couldn�t get up each morning and stumble down to make the tea listening to the same compositions.

I can remember being surprised when I discovered that Steve Pheasant painted some abstracts. I wished I owned one now.

Yesterday I celebrated the return to the recording gear with a couple of outrageous ploys � well they felt outrageous at the time. Listening to side 3 of the complete works of Webern I came across the very last section of the Op 27 Piano Variations which over a year ago I had tampered with. Yesterday I went back to the sequence and for reasons connected with the luggage in the Scillies I connected up the XG box to the PC�s MIDI out. The XG is just packed with goodies � the main problem is getting at them. Anyway I shoved the SONY condenser mike into one of its sockets and started putting some acoustic guitar on the track � and that seemed to get more and more out of hand as I went further into the track. I am mixing the result on the Tascam as I write.

This finale of the Op 27 was very much an afterthought � I spent much more time on a chunk of the first movement which I now no longer care for � it just seems quirky. Whereas this bit I must have thrown off tone afternoon seems to have something I really like � both structure and development � and to have taken something from the original. There�s an organ line I put on from somewhere that I cant imagine � well teenage listening to Jimmy Smith perhaps.

Things went from bad to worse with Face. I took a digital MD copy off Gilbert�s CD into Cubase Go and then put some flute line using the mike that came with the Dell � not the most high spec bit of kit I would think. I threw the paint at the wall and then did a fair amount of tidying up in the Cubase editor � this felt outrageous. Finally I put some FX on the flute line � some EQ chorus and a little medium delay � a bit like the way the flute was recorded on the first Paul Wheeler session I did at Capital.

I suppose the �trick� is not to think about doing it while you are doing it. Which is I suppose Robin speculates that you get round to taking up paintingI am going to use this track as a subconscious driver for the next phase. I have it in on a MD following my first Hammond based shot at Faces and preceding the digital copy of Gilbert�s guitar part.

Going through a couple of A-D transformations has taken a little edge off Gilbert�s guitar part and I know he worked hard to get the original sound. So I think I probably need a different path next time to try to maintain more of the sonic integrity of the original. Currently I don�t give a stuff about the sonic integrity of the flute � some of the wave forms are squared off but to me it�s the same as when you get clipping on an electric guitar � just another expressive trick. I need to think about whether to go for more formal coherence on the flute part � I don�t feel terribly inclined to. At the moment it reminds me a bit of Roussel.

The BBC2 programme on Reggae was gripping. What can one say about Bob Marley? Truly a global original and visionary. I hadn�t realised what an innovation The Harder They Come had been although I saw it several times when it appeared. The film came from the culture it represented � one which had never ever been portrayed in that way before � you get some brilliant songs thrown in as a bonus. The programme was good on the links between reggae and punk and also between dub and hiphop. With each new instalment Jamaica rockets in my estimation as a creative centre.

Needless to say James watched Ray Mears recreating the survival skills of the partisans in Bellarusse. I dragged myself away to work on Face having already spent some of the day reconsidering the encirclement at Stalingrad.

Vita has found a flat for me to buy in the West Midlands. She says she will design the interior for me and have a room there for when she comes to stay.

I am not sure I will manage to get into the DTI in the early part of this week. I quite fancy having a crack at St Mary�s Gfd with my new pastel paper.

Interesting article by John Densmore about royalties in today�s Guardian.

Wrestling (sometimes) with technology. I didnt manage to get Musicmatch working - the thought is that maybe this software doesn�t do the clicks when it plays WAV files to USB. This is a bit of a longshot I agree - and anyway I didnt get close to testing the proposition. But I did get the scanner working and managed to scan in one of my watercolors to surprise myself how much control I have over the digitised image. Obviously there is a path here to follow here.

The luggage has managed to secure a few extra days on Scilly given that the boat which links the island to the mainland has technical problems and its not clear when its going to be fixed - very fortunate luggage! But somehow I didn�t make much progress with fixing the shower which I broke yesterday. It still works after a fashion - well thats what I think.

I did try some of the new administrator facilities which Peter has put into www.kwase-kwaza.org. I can add comments to the links (maybe I can even add a link but I haven�t worked this out yet). I can certainly put news items in and I managed to do this with a couple of things. So this means it will be much easier to keep the site changing with the times. Peter mailed to say that there are plenty more developments in the pipeline. Exciting.

I did some work on a verypostFifths idea. I plugged the SONY condenser mike into the portable MD and put down a flute line based on the two hexachords which are at the root of the original piece. I played that back as a minute long loop through the HIFI into the kitchen which has a tiled floor and played against that (still with flute) with a couple of mikes placed to make it feel as if there might be two players in the space and recorded the result on the Tascam cassette Portastudio. And then I added some acoustic guitar. I think maybe I�ll take a stereo mix into Wavelab and add some effects. Then I started following some blind alleys before recovering to try a piccolo/flute duet on broadly the same lines (but with no guitar). There is obviously a difference in sound between the picollo and the flute. Now is about the optimum time to record the pic - I don�t imagine my muscles will stay at the current level of trim for very long. I would like to take the flute/pic duet stuff in the direction of Nono�s writing - how to lose an audience in a few easy steps.

I like the Area 51 in Byron�s Bed . There ought to be a UK response about the wonders of Venice Beach or 52nd Street.