BLOG BREAK (PART 2)

(written by Islander)

Being at least moderately realistic, I realize that not all of our visitors in a given week will visit us every single day. Some people will land on this post without having landed on the one a week ago, which was another break from what I usually do for NCS on the weekends. In that week-ago post I shared the news of Andy Synn‘s impending wedding and why that would alter our usual coverage of music for a handful of days. I also re-shared that news in a new-music roundup a couple of days ago. But since some of you will have missed those, here’s a quick recap:

Today is the day when our Andy Synn will take his vows in front of family and friends in a beautiful place on the outskirts of his hometown of Nottingham, England. I am happy to say that I will witness it in person, as will our fellow NCS slave DGR and a few other close friends from our side of the pond.

Along with DGR and some of those other friends, I’ve been in Nottingham since last Wednesday, and Andy and his bride-to-be have been our gracious tour guides and dining/drinking partners. I’ve visited some cool places, enjoyed a lot of excellent food, and drunk way too much scotch and gin, culminating in a wonderful dinner last night at the wedding venue.

Needless to say, I haven’t spent much time listening to music and almost no time writing about it. So, there will be no SEEN and HEARD roundup today and no SHADES OF BLACK tomorrow.

The stay in Nottingham will continue after this weekend until our return flight on Wednesday. It will include a show that Andy and his band Beyond Grace will perform on Tuesday evening (the honeymoon will occur at a later date). Until I’m back in Seattle on Thursday morning I doubt I will write anything for NCS, but we will have posts anyway — because DGR delivered a stack of reviews before we left home, and I have some good interviews from Comrade Aleks in the queue too.

This has been a great trip so far. Really looking forward to seeing Andy and this beloved tie the knot. Also looking forward to making big dents in the excellent single malts Andy has laid in for the after-party, secure in the knowledge that I only have to walk about 20 yards and climb one flight of stairs to get to my room for the night. (But wish me luck anyway.)