I am in my Milan home, trying to come to terms with the fact that in 10 days we are going to start recording our new album. I have downloaded the demos of the selected songs on to my iPod, so that I can play them wherever I am (at the gym, mostly). I know I have to work hard, especially on guitar songs (I am much less at ease on guitar than on accordion).

Lisa called me today in panic from her home in the Apennines: our website says our Mexico City gig is on January 5th. It should be May 1st: the server admin have changed the date format - again - to the Italian format of day/month. I have to change this.

Lady J also called me, she’s doing a radio interview in Florence. Medhin is somewhere out there in Milan, trying to lend a hand to this bunch of African refugees (from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan). They had been squatting in a condo in the city center, until the local police kicked them out a couple of days ago. Now it seems they have found some sort of lodging. We are four pretty unlikely people to be in a band together… which is good, I think.