After the relatively slow start to 2009, and the lovely, restful Christmas break, I’ve started organising things for the year, and as I start booking things in, it looks like a pretty busy one. In fact… the past week or so has meant a rapid takeoff in the amount of work and travel I’ve been [...]
Categories: Book,Business,Music,New Zealand,Whisky
Tagged: Book, Business, Internet, Music, New Zealand, Seminar, Whisky
David McInerney, Tom Arnott, Adam Regan and me – after a spectacularly successful DJ gig at the Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath I often do top 10 or 20 lists (and sometimes even top 100 lists) of music from the year gone by. I generally spend quite a bit of time over this, and then [...]
Categories: Birmingham,Business,Music,New Zealand,Travel,Whisky
Tagged: 2008, Birmingham, Business, Internet, Music, New Zealand, Personal, research, review, Seminar, Travel, University, web, Whisky
Clutch came over this afternoon for a couple of whiskies and to play musical join the dots – a game in which I play a song from my collection, then he plays another from his that is connected in some way (the rules are a bit vague). Bobbie was upstairs with the laptop watching something [...]
Categories: Whisky
Categories: Birmingham,Whisky
There’s this sense you get, when you’re talking to someone who knows a little bit more about something you’re interested in, that they have access to something that’s just a little bit outside you’re reach. Like when you play chess or tennis against someone you know can beat you – but they have to work [...]
Categories: Whisky
Clutch and I made our way to Stourbridge by train yesterday evening. There was a tasting of Springbank Distillery whiskies happening at a specialist shop there called Nickolls and Perks. I happen to have bought a bottle of Springbank’s 10 Year Old Longrow 100 Proof when last in Edinburgh and had loved it to bits, [...]
Tagged: Birmingham, Springbank Distillery, Travel, Whisky
I had the distinct privelege of being with Clutch when he opened a 40 year-old bottle of Longmorn. He’s following this up with a trip to London to watch his fiancee run the Marathon, then his wedding in Scotland, his birthday, and a month in New Zealand on honeymoon. It’s sad to think they’ll all [...]
Categories: Whisky
Tagged: Whisky
I played a Game of Go with my friend Dan last night. He’s slightly better at it than I am, so although he kindly made a few silly mistakes that allowed me to gain some advantage around the edges, he pretty much took out the centre of the board and ran away with the game. [...]
Categories: Birmingham,Games,Whisky
Tagged: Birmingham, Games, Whisky
I had to show you this. If nothing else, this was the highlight of my trip to Edinburgh last weekend. Of course, I met great people and had interesting conversations. Even bought records and did a lot of sightseeing around the city. But the Port Ellen was the bit I got most excited about, I [...]
Groningen I’m in the North of Holland this weekend, giving a presentation at something called Lopend Vuur. It’s a music industry thing, and I explain it a little bit on my New Music Strategies website. It’s a part of the country I haven’t been to before. I’ve visited Amsterdam a number of times, and I’ve [...]
