Dear Readers,
It has been a slow and tentative start for your humble Scottish troubadour into the world of online streaming, as you might expect from one whose true passion is live performance itself. But having done a couple of shows for the Bert Jansch Foundation last year, a private online concert (more about that later!), the album launch for ‘Hand On My Heart’, a tribute to the legendary David Bowie five years from his passing and most recently a show for ‘Music From Scotland‘ on Facebook (which can still be viewed here for a limited amount of time only, so please be quick, donations are still very welcome and can be transferred using this link) I’ve become a little more active of late.
On this very Sunday I shall take another exciting and bold leap by becoming Scotland’s only native performer at the world famous Gung Haggis Fat Choy supper, a cultural celebration combining Robert Burns Night with the Chinese New Year originating in Vancouver and started by the wonderful and charismatic Todd Wong. Details to follow of this year’s online celebrations (plans are still taking shape) but I can confirm it will take place on Sunday evening in Canada, and in the early hours of Monday morning in Scotland and Europe.
I hope to do another live stream in due course also, perhaps next month, which will be announced here as soon as I know the date. There is obviously no right or wrong way to approach live streaming, and from my peers, I see everything from those who perform several times a week across various platforms or at least weekly, to those who don’t do it at all (my original stance during the first hard lockdown when I was immersed in writing and composition). Now that I’ve started, my preference is definitely to space them out a little to keep it fresh, after all in the real world under normal circumstances, people would tend to perhaps see me perform a couple of times a year at most. For the last show I did a requests show and I was overjoyed to receive requests for 28 songs and 5 instrumental pieces across every single one of my song-based albums as Simon Kempston, in addition to the last three instrumental albums. I now wait patiently for the theme to emerge for the next show, another requests show or something else entirely….?!
On a separate note, should you wish to book me for a private online concert whatever the occasion, please do not hesitate to contact me through this website or any of my social media channels. These can be arranged through Zoom, Skype or Facebook as you wish, I can guarantee you a wonderful evening’s entertainment at a very reasonable price (which can be discussed of course!). And you’d be helping keep a self-employed touring musician maintain gainful employment, what could be better than that?
In other news, from my previous entry you may have notice I opened the year as I left last year’s, with a new release. I have been very happy with how the video to ‘Forever Take The Blame’ has been received, please keep liking and sharing and of course, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here if you haven’t done so already.
The album itself is available here, and is the first song-based album I’ve not been able to tour. I’m really looking forward to performing concerts again and to sharing all these songs with you live, which is where I truly believe they belong and where they will truly come alive. I’m practising hard for the day when this will be happen in order that I will be well prepared – in the meantime, if you haven’t already done so why not consider purchasing the album so that you can be ready to sing along when that day arrives. And if you have already done so, why not give the gift of music to a loved one or a friend?
Back to the guitar now, and as winter fades from the view of my living room window and the first rays of sunshine emerge from behind the clouds, I thank you all for taking the time to read this, it means a lot.
Until the next time, stay safe and healthy, my friends.
SK x