Hi thousands! I realise that you'll all have been marking time until my next post and that you've had to wait far too long but I've been very very busy! I'm still presenting Cita Ciega on Aculco Radio, I'm still in Heart n Soul, which hasn't exactly been demanding much of my time recently but will again soon, and I'm now in another band called Inner Vision Orchestra! The IVO, as I affectionately call it, is composed almost entirely of blind and partially-sighted musicians, was set up by master Indian musician, Baluji Shrivastav and is currently on a 7-date London tour. The next gig is at St Ethelburga's Centre for Peace and Reconcilliation, Bishopsgate, on 2nd June at 07:30 pm. The musical mix comprises a Bolliwood song, an Afghani song, w improvised pieces featuring me and classical pieces too. So you just can't afford to miss it! You really can't! Well, you can if you want to but don't, all right? If you can't make that one, how about eating in the dark? Now you know you sighted folk like pretending to be blind. If you don't, you should. Come and eat in the dark at Dans le Noir, 30-31 Clerkenwell Green, London, EC1R 0DU, while we, the IVO, entertain you with our eclectic mix. If you can't make either of those, well, you should stay in more. No, seriously, the last of our 7-date tour is in Nehru Centre, 8 South Audley street, W1K 1HF. Obviously we'll be going for broke and it's likely to be the best one! Can't be sure about that though so you'd better come to all of them! Lots of love, Rikki x

I think I've published that last one at least twice. I thought you will have enjoyed it so much you'll want to read it again, nothing to do with my incompetent blogging skills, of course!

Hi, Cita Ciega listeners! Apologies for not having blogged for ages. My excuse is I've been busy at work recently and haven't worked out how to access this from my laptop at home. There's some Jaws conflict or some such nonsense. For those uninitiated in the joys of screen readers for the blind, in general, or Jaws for Windows, in particular, and want to find out more, please go agoogling. Anyway, Cita Ciega on Aculco Radio which I do every Saturday, remember? It's not going to be live this week, I'm recording the show on Fri 23rd Dec and my guest will be a young lady whose initials are DG she was born in Syria, her family moved to Italy when she was 12 and now she's a volunteer on Aculco. It's going to be a wonderful show during which I shall be asking her to speak some of her beautiful mother tongue, Arabic! She even spoke about reciting some Arabic poetry which would be lovely! There will, of course, be some improvised music too. On Sat 31st Dec my guest will be Baluji Shrivastav, a North Indian classical musician, who has played with Stevie Wonder and Massive Attack amongst many others! We will be improvising together and it will be fantastic! The following Saturday 7th Jan Linda Shanovitch will be my guest, an amazing singer, improviser and wife of Baluji, with whom she has worked extensively, as well as in her own right. I could have asked both Baluji and Linda to appear on the same show but they're both too good not to have a whole programme each! Come Mon 9th Jan I am training with my new guide dog, Acorn, so won't be appearing live on CC and may not on the following Saturday 21st but keep listening and reading and you'll find out! Have a wonderful Christmas holiday, a very happy New Year and keep listening to Cita Ciega into 2012!

Hi, Cita Ciega listeners! Apologies for not having blogged for ages. My excuse is I've had stuff to do at work recently and haven't sussed out how to access this from my laptop at home. there's some Jaws conflict or some such nonsense. For those uninitiated in the joys of screen readers for the blind, in general, or Jaws for Windows, in particular, and want to find out more, please go agoogling! Anyway, Cita Ciega on Aculco Radio which I do every Saturday, remember? It's not going to be live this week, I'm recording the show on Fri 23rd Dec and my guest will be a young lady whose initials are DG she was born in Syria, her family moved to Italy when she was 12 and now she's a volunteer on Aculco. It's going to be a wonderful show during which I shall be asking her to speak some of her beautiful mother tongue, Arabic! She even spoke about reciting some Arabic poetry which would be lovely! There will, of course, be some improvised music too. On Sat 31st Dec my guest will be Baluji Shrivastav, a North Indian classical musician, who has played with Stevie Wonder and Massive Attack amongst many others! We will be improvising together and it will be fantastic! The following Saturday Linda Shanovitch will be my guest, an amazing singer, improviser and wife of Baluji, with whom she has worked extensively, as well as in her own right. I could have asked both Baluji and Linda to appear on the same show but they're both too good not to have a whole programme each! Come Mon 9th Jan I am training with my new guide dog, Acorn, so won't be appearing live on CC and may not on the following Saturday 21st but keep listening and reading and you'll find out! Have a wonderful Christmas holiday, a very happy New Year and keep listening to Cita Ciega into the 2012!

Hi, Cita Ciega listeners! Apologies for not having blogged for ages. My excuse is I've had stuff to do at work recently and haven't sussed out how to access this from my laptop at home. there's some Jaws conflict or some such nonsense. For those uninitiated in the joys of screen readers for the blind, in general, or Jaws for Windows, in particular, and want to find out more, please go agoogling! Anyway, Cita Ciega on Aculco Radio which I do every Saturday, remember? It's not going to be live this week, I'm recording the show on Fri 23rd Dec and my guest will be a young lady whose initials are DG she was born in Syria, her family moved to Italy when she was 12 and now she's a volunteer on Aculco. It's going to be a wonderful show during which I shall be asking her to speak some of her beautiful mother tongue, Arabic! She even spoke about reciting some Arabic poetry which would be lovely! There will, of course, be some improvised music too. On Sat 31st Dec my guest will be Baluji Shrivastav, a North Indian classical musician, who has played with Stevie Wonder and Massive Attack amongst many others! We will be improvising together and it will be fantastic! The following Saturday Linda Shanovitch will be my guest, an amazing singer, improviser and wife of Baluji, with whom she has worked extensively, as well as in her own right. I could have asked both Baluji and Linda to appear on the same show but they're both too good not to have a whole programme each! Come Mon 9th Jan I am training with my new guide dog, Acorn, so won't be appearing live on CC and may not on the following Saturday 21st but keep listening and reading and you'll find out! Have a wonderful Christmas holiday, a very happy New Year and keep listening to Cita Ciega into the 2012!

Hello again, thousands! I hope you've got your soul ears on because on Saturday 29th October at 05:00 pm (London time) Monica Bunbury is going to be my guest on Cita Ciega. She's chosen 2 really lovely soul classics to perform with me and 4 other trakcs to listen to, including one by my favourite singer, the amazing Donny Hathaway. I'm really looking forward to Monica being on my show as soul music is very close to my heart! and I know we'll have lots to say about that and many other subjects. Don't miss it! Cita Ciega, 05:00 pm (London time) on the wonderful Aculco Radio (www.aculcoradio.com).

I hope you've all listened to the amazing Farsa Moneda who were on Cita Ciega live at 03:55 pm and repeated at 05:00 pm on Saturday 22nd October. If not, there should be a podcast soon on www.aculcoradio.com. they were excellent! They are a trio: Maria plays Spanish guitar, Violeta plays violin and sings and John plays cajon and other percussion. They play Coplas, traditional Spanish songs, which they perform and have arranged beautifully. I was so happpy to have them on my show! Lovely people too!