Where work and life meet

When I was teaching, I had to constantly consider the balance between work and life. The scales were always tipping in the wrong direction - I was living to work, rather than enjoying my life. Certainly, in the last few months the balance was impossibly skewed in favour of the hours I was dedicating not to teaching but to satisfying the bureaucracy. But that's another story.

Now I find myself unable to tell the difference between the work I do and the life I lead. I choose to write more often than choosing to socialise. In fact, I enjoy socialising with the people I work alongside.

Of course, it's partly influenced by my decision to stop drinking. Not entirely a free choice, but rather dictated by the ridiculous strength and number of drugs I'm having to take to get through my shoulder injury. It's saving me a fortune and giving me so much more time to live.

I am honestly blessed with my clients. They don't necessarily pay me the most money I could get elsewhere, but they give me the freedom to write and to interview some exceptionally interesting people.

Turns out, the easiest way to get the balance right is to enjoy your work.That's when life gets really good.

Posted via my iPad

Comments

Big Wade - 'Piano Man' out now

Big Wade and Black Swan Theory collectively blends funk, soul, jazz and everything that fills the cracks between those genres: his new album - Piano Man - on all major streaming platforms ahead of the Piano Man Tour 2024 , which has dates across the US. Piano Man brings a selection of original and covers, including a stunning version of Autumn Leaves , which reinvents the song as the funky, electronic Autumn . Big Wade's voice takes the song's melody and improvises around and around, with backing vocals and a deliberately sparse arrangement underpinning the song. Similarly, on Children of the Ghetto , the lead and backing vocals blend in with the soulful musicians of Black Swan Theory. Electronics are used with dexterity, often expanding the vocal lines, as in the ethereal and ghostly opening of Don't Let Me Go . However, the tools never dominate - simply adding depth and layers to the funk. Never more than when Big Wade enters a new world in Interludes , including vocals...

Playtime: 'Morse Code Through The Lights'

Every once in a while, an album drops into your inbox and isn't going anywhere. Morse Code Through The Lights is just such an album. Incontrovertibly controversial, this won't be everyone's cup of tea, but this one has absolutely, instantly, made it onto my list of top albums of 2024. Drummer Tom Bancroft and his band Playtime, which began in Edinburgh as Adventures in New Music ten years ago as a weekly session, have produced something delightfully experimental and brilliantly creative. Four of Scotland's most-established jazz musicians - Martin Kershaw (sax), Graeme Stephen (guitar), Mario Caribe (bass) and Tom Bancroft (drums) - tried out new music and new ideas together. Once lockdown struck in 2020, they decided to explore the possibilities of improvising music together online, partly for something to do, and partly because it was something they could do for their audience. Most of us discovered - or thought we had - that improvising online was difficult or impossi...

Remembering season 20 of Harmonious World

In June 2020, I released the first episode of my podcast - Harmonious World - and I had no idea how much delight it would bring me to share conversations with musicians from around the world. Whether you're a guest, a listener or one of the collaborators who have helped me find my guests, thank you! I now have listeners in 2, 475 cities across 129 countries, so wherever you are, welcome to our collective musical attempts to make the world more harmonious. Season 20 guests were: Chris Gall Sultan Stevenson Fotina Naumenko Quinn Sternberg Tara Minton for International Jazz Day Nicole Zuraitis Dave Keech Ute Lemper Vonn Vanier Iain Farrington Cecilie Strange Becca Wilkins Dave Handler

Hilary Seabrook - writer, podcaster, musician

Search This Blog