You Dont Need a Weatherman to Tell You Which Way the Wind Blows or The Pumps Dont Work 'cause the Vandals Took the Handles



Calm after or before the storm. What a week of freak weather. Vandalised by horror windblasts & endless rain.

I decided to head out for a Sunday stroll. The rain appeared to have slowed down to a 'smirr' & I thought I saw a ray of sunshine. Repeating much of the 'Between 2 rivers walk mentioned earlier on these pages.

I got a bit of a shock at the high water level on the River Leven. I cannot remember it ever being so high. Mind you some of my younger days on the banks I may have been a little high myself. The pumps dont work.

How Do You Know When You Are Dead?

I suppose posing this question is a bit too deep for this light-hearted blog?

The effects of global warming on these last few winters would suggest that the answer is: when the rain stops.

Relentless rains & strong winds haunt these snowless winters for me. Regular roof tile replacement & a spring/summer battle with the slabs in my driveway & the moss & mushrooms/toadstools on the lawn, stop me from getting bored.

I should really read up on fungi as some of them could be edible. This reminds me of the doubt & my confidence in my father’s knowledge of fungi as he grew older.

In the cold dark winter mornings time slippages seem to occur too. My alarm is set at 7.15 a.m. I awaken & turn it off & have a quick snooze, only to find at least half an hour just disappears.

By the time I pee & get the coffee made, another half hour vanishes. There are indeed mysterious forces at work in the winter.

It is small wonder that in northern europa, there are so many pagan & Celtic festivals in the depths of winter. This tradition carries on today…. .e.g. Celtic Connections has just finished & Instal @ Arches just around the corner.

Perhaps this was to appease the gods that controlled, light, time & the weather.

There is a doubleplusgood side to these long dark nights. You can listen to Drum Circus – ‘Magic Theatre’ from 1971………its well crazy (missed it first time around) & you can puzzle over the issue date for Simaril – ‘Voyage of Icarus’ (2007) as it sounds as if it was recorded at the same time as Drum Circus.

Like I mentioned above, there are many strange forces around during the dark days of winter.

Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack

I am back playing 5 a side on Wednesdays. If the truth was told it was 6 vs 7 last week.

My team mates have such ridiculously high expectations of me. I have not played since before xmas. I admit that my match fitness left something to be desired.

However at 54 years of age & playing against an opposition that included among it’s rank: one quality under 18 years old & two others in their twenties & despite the fact that I scored a hat trick (one from outside the penalty box!), my colleagues still moaned at my effort.

I do not want to stir trouble, but I have to say that I covered more ground in the game than many others. Also I tracked back to defend, whenever we lost the ball.

I am away to sulk & listen to something related to previous ‘angel’ posts: Nice – Azrial (angel of death) to cheer myself up!

Time to pause for thought. In the words of Lothar & the Hand People: Today is only yesterday’s tomorrow.

Cronos

What is it with Spanish speakers and their obsession with insects & surrealism?

Recent events have alerted me to this phenomena, e.g. the movies ‘Cronos’ & ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, Renoir, Dali, ‘Le Chien Andalus’, Jean Borges, Pedro Almodovar.

Mandrake Memorial

I have mentioned this forgotten band previously in this blog. I am listening to them again as I write this. To these ears they have all the best bits of the Doors crammed together.

What else is keeping me amused at present?

Perry Leopold’s 2 albums: Christian Lucifer & Experiments……..Orient Express & Oriental Sunshine….Brave New World’s On Reading Aldous Huxley…, Dengue Fever, In Gowans Ring, Magic Carpet & all the albums from the Jewelled Antler Collective, Bowerbirds – Hymns for a DarkHorse, Skygreen Leopards………….& on & on & on…………

Ambient Fridges

Just because I am branching out in other directions & widening my musical tastes, does not mean I have given up the ghost on the sound of the glitch, the fans, the fridge, the birds, water, the rush of traffic & all the other ambient sounds that make up our rich daily lives.

I was telling one of the other chaps, who still shares this house with me, that I have to open the bathroom window in the a.m., not because of any unsavoury smells, but because I just love the ambient sounds drifting in through the open windows, especially early in the a.m.

Alternative echoes of this sound can be heard in the work of Andrew Chalk (ex-Mirror) & his new album ‘Time of the Hayfield’ is special.

In between I have been listening to Moth Electric’ ‘Lil’ & this drinks from the same fountain.

Rules of Engagement

Well I caused a complete uproar in our house this weekend by making a realistic decision, concerning all the vinyl clutter taking up shelf space in our kitchen.

I had big plans to be completely ruthless & I was very tough. I threw out items I had on other formats & I kept those sentimental or downright outstanding albums, that I may or may not use to sample, if I ever have some free time in this hectic life.

It was such a life-changing, cleansing moment. I am still wallowing in the ‘feel good factor’.

I have a friend who is in a similar mess. Huge collections of the same albums in various formats.

Daydream Believer

Sad to report the death of John Stewart writer of the tune made famous by The Monkees or Robert Wyatt depending on your point of view.

So one last time: ‘Cheer Up Sleepy Jean

Daydream Believer

By John Stewart

Oh, I could hide 'neath the wings

Of the bluebird as she sings.

The six o'clock alarm would never ring.

But it rings and I rise,

Wipe the sleep out of my eyes.

My shavin' razor's cold and it stings.

Cheer up, Sleepy Jean.

Oh, what can it mean.

To a daydream believer

And a homecoming queen.

You once thought of me

As a white knight on a steed.

Now you know how happy I can be.

Oh, and our good times start and end

Without dollar one to spend.

But how much, baby, do we really need.

Cheer up, Sleepy Jean.

Oh, what can it mean.

To a daydream believer

And a homecoming queen.

Cheer up, Sleepy Jean.

Oh, what can it mean.

To a daydream believer

And a homecoming queen.

Never Enough Time

I have such a backlog of albums to listen to at the moment. To get onto the current playlist, you have to be really special.

I remember John Peel complaining in a light-hearted vein about the sheer volume of music he had to cope with.

Moving up near the top of the pile is an album I keep hearing, when I ask son no 2 what he is listening to, when I ask him to turn the volume down.

9 times out of 10, it is Nostalgia 77: a kind of jazz funk in a modern house style.

One Man’s Exotica is Another Man’s Esoterica

Maybe you are already deeply entranced in Swedish Psychedelia or the new ‘freak folk’ & I am speaking to the converted?

Perhaps Italian Bossa Nova & Italian 60s/70s movie soundtracks are already your bag man & you have been diggin’ that fab, groovy in-sound for the way out since the Beatles stopped touring?

My listening experience is undergoing a complete overhaul (as it should) & my cd player is giving me strange looks every time I hit ‘play’.

However, I am rewarded by hearing a wide range of gorgeous, new sounds, well new to these ancient ears.

What has led to this change? Certainly a download culture that encourages you to listen to other sounds you would bypass if you had to invest in the crazy price of cds each time. You could not afford to make mistakes before.

For too long popular culture has dictated what is available for us i.e. a very limited range with a short shelf life.

From the visual point of view look at what happened with the video rental business. I know that it is in the dvd format now, but it does not seem that long ago, when there was a wide choice of videos in e.g. World/Global cinema/art house in the outlets. Now what do you have? The same number of items, but with only the top ten titles.

This echoes what has happened to your tv choice. You have a wide range of channels, but I challenge you to find something that will hold your interest for more than 5 seconds.

In my library I have tried to redress this balance, trying to get back to basics. I have around 1000 titles, but this is not the same ‘pap’ you would find in the dvd rental shops, but we are going back to that choice of World Cinema/classic movies & art house films.

The Dumbing Down of Everything

I hardly ever watch anything on tv these days since it appears to have been taken over by morons to create fodder for other morons.

However sometimes you do get a quality programme. Take for instance the 3 part series: ‘Extreme Pilgrim’ hosted by Peter Owen Jones or should that be Reverend or Minister.

I did not intend to watch it, but my wife was intent on viewing it. I began dipping in & I got drawn into it. The first programme was about Shaolin monks & Peter was right out of his depth & I thought he was a right prat. However during the 2^nd programme where he was in India with the Sadhus, I began watching more seriously.

I could relate to his amoebic dysentery illness at the end of his India trip, although hep b is more my disease of choice in India.

I mentioned the series to our kif, & he checked it on the bbc ‘watch again’ option. I was busy trying to catch Gilles Peterson on the ‘listen again’ option.

His search among the major world religion is very interesting, as he is looking at it from the Christian point of view.

The last programme was superb. The star was Father Lazarus, a real cool dude with girly headgear, a massive beard & a well-dodgy undefined accent, who lived for 8 years in a cave in Egypt’s desert. Outstanding!

How Did We Get There From Here?

Our Kif was reading ‘White Bicycles’ & I was trying to convey how totally alive the music scene was at that time.

The John Peel shows ( & Pete Drummonds) were crucial in understanding what was happening. Labelled ‘Progressive Music’ prior to ‘prog’ being a ‘dirty’ word & used in a different context.

Originally this meant all the new exciting radical stuff like: Family, East of Eden, High Tide, Quintessence, Tyrannosaurus Rex (acoustic), Pentangle, Fairport Convention, Edgar Broughton Band, Roy Harper, Nick Drake, Michael Chapman, Bridget st John, Kevin Ayers, Ron Geesin, Ten Years After, early Fleetwood Mac (with Jeremy Spencer doing his Elvis & Elmore James impersonation), Chicken Shack, Third Ear Band, Liverpool Scene (this writer’s favourites), Bread, Love & Dreams, Incredible String band….the list goes on forever really…………& this is mostly the UK bands.

There was so much happening so quickly. I tried to explain that the Beatles & Stones were not really in the same ball game. They were ‘pop’.

Record labels like Island, Harvest, Dandelion & Vertigo were producing the sweet stuff.

I could be way off the radar here, but I see parallels today with the whole ‘freak folk’ or ‘wyrd folk’ scene. There is a growing output of new stuff appearing. Originally a lot of this was released on vinyl in small quantities, but it is now gaining momentum.

I was ‘up with the scene’ when I began diggin’: Devendra Banhart, Animal Collective, Jewelled Antler Collective, Vashti Bunyan, Vetiver, Joanna Newsome….etc…but I suspect this will be seen in the fullness of time as the first wave or the tip of the iceberg. I suggest it’s time to get aboard, before global warming melts all the ice.

I have been catching up with this material of late & I have been grooving to e.g. Skygreen Leopards, Bowerbirds, Tree People, We’re Late for Class, In Gowans Ring, English Heretic, Volcano the Bear, Wooden Wand…………….etc.

Other items of interest: Perry Leopold, 18^th day of May & Mandrake Memorial.

People probably think I am a little crazy getting up at 7 a.m. on weekend mornings to listen to the above artists & to type this, but I can cope with this.

Not a Drop to Drink

I thought we had escaped the ravages of the recent storms unscathed, but the wild winds must have removed or lifted some of our roof tiles. We have rain coming in & some water damage. I just hope none of my meagre cassette tape collection is ruined.

It is a bit farcical as I am topping up my radiator every morning as I seem to have sprung a leak in either the radiator or the hoses.

If I could only get the rainwater from the roof directly into the radiator (a distance of only around 12 feet downwards), I would save so much valuable time in the morning.

Funny that I am about to listen to the new version of Gavin Bryars ‘Sinking of the Titanic’ recorded with input from Phil Jeck. Reminds me to play Clouds ‘Watercolour Days’ & ‘Scrapbook’.

In addition I just watched the badly acted, but strangely disturbing movie: ‘Open Water’ on tv.

Life in a Scotch Librarian's Sitting Room, Part9


Finally caught up with Richrd Young's 'Saphie' album.... superb. I knew he lived around the West End of Glasgow, I had an idea we shared the same profession (as does Stephen Pastel) & that he worked in the Mitchell. He is appearing at INSTALL next month at the Arches so I thought I better catch up.


Where do we classify this album? Non-librarians switch off now. It is kind of ambient with a spooky vocal....i.e. reminds me of Sigur Ros.

Wound I place it in Wyrd Folk an area I am exploring at the moment? I am not sure.

If you wish to discover what this Wyrdness is all about the best link is below:


http://www.theunbrokencircle.co.uk/index_Menu.htm

How to Survive in the Desert Amid Wars of Mass Destruction & The Hell of Burning Oil Wells In a Clapped-Out Toyota Cressida: a Short Guide for the Over 50s

Do not put any faith in 4-wheel drive vehicles, sand ladders, spare this & that, extra petrol, extra water………….etc……

Put your faith where it belongs: in God.

Pay attention to nature around you. Learn from it, do not try to fight it.

Take flight where appropriate. Remember your Kung Fu or Tai Chi at all times.

Learn to bend with the wind, go with the flow. Use local knowledge when available. Learn the language for goodness sake.

Always trust the Bedouin. Make him your friend. He makes a bad enemy. As an escort to safety once, he has accepted the responsibility, he cannot be bettered.

Become that grain of sand that drifts off the dunes in the hot winds.

Freak Out!



Whether ye be a twitcher or a bumbling beekeeper or an ancient librarian, there is still some right freaky shit out there that can smack yore bitch up bigstylee and that's no mistake.

Take the above album a new discovery for me listened to in daylight if we get any at this time of year. It was the correct dreich dark weather to hear this album

There is a bucketful of the freaky/wyrd folk about & its doubleplusgood, if you are into that kinda ting.

Reminds of the feeling I got when I first heard 'Black Ships Ate the Sky'. I know its a work of genius, but hey kids do not listen to it in the dark!

Procrastinating


Our moods dip down after that Xmas & New Year buzz. Winter turns colder & the days only lengthen at a snails pace.


Well I have the ideal solution. I have finally supplied the links to the NWW (Nurse with Wound) list of totally mad, inventive, superb, crazy, rare, hard-to-find albums.

I have managed to get ma paws on many of these over the past few years, but its a quest that supplies rich rewards. Not for the faint of heart.

http://tgk.konshak.org/nww/tgksnwwlist.html

http://tgk.konshak.org/nww/start.html

http://tgk.konshak.org/nww/

Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)





This angels & demons thing seems to go on & on.

Referring to a previous post, we as a family sat down last night to watch 'Constantine'. I must admit I enjoyed it although the actors all appeared to have problems taking any of the plot seriously.





Tilda Swinton as Gabriel was outasite, far out soul brother, as we say on the left bank!

Interesting Walks for the over 50s Without the Aid of a Walking Stick or a Map & Unaccompanied by a Dog: no. 23 of a 175 part series

Time allotted = 2 days (late starts make this 2 x 2 hours!)

Objective = investigate alternative ascents of Kilpatrick Hills to Loch Humphrey

Day 1 Base Camp. Overtoun House (No time for dog suicide watch duties!). Basic error no. 1: should have paid attention to the omens i.e. darkening sky, drifting snowflakes.

This was new territory for me as I did not know you could ascend to the Loch from this approach, but I always enjoy a fresh challenge & exploring virgin territory.

Climbing as the snow fell heavier, but there were many fresh views of the River Clyde & the surrounding hills before the sky disappeared. I had one of those ‘Land of the Grey & Pink’ moments: just prior.

Struggling with the dusk & the heavy snow above & below, I headed back down before reaching my objective, but I thought perhaps next time, if I selected the main route, I could retrace my steps in this direction.

Day 2 Base Camp Power Station just off the A82 at the main path to the Loch.

Equipment check: yesterday’s walk suggested I wear the Happy Highlanders old jaiket under my own. I will also try using my ‘Weather Man’ umbrella & take my mobile as I have Terry Riley’s ‘No man’s Land’ on mp3s that I can listen to as I step into ‘No Man’s Land’.

The start was again in snowfall and as I climbed this grew heavier. A sensible person would have turned back! The brolly gave some shelter from the driving wind & snow, but soon I would have to abandon the brolly as the howling winds would make this piece of kit a burden to me.

Onward & upward. Soon I would stop passing people heading down. I was on my own against the elements.

The wind & snow was stinging my face, I could not see the path any longer & there was severe drops on either side.

Fashion note: Green wax jackets are not so last year!

My hopes of checking out yesterday’s route were dashed. I was amid a total whiteout.

At the Loch, I saw the snow drift off the banks into the water & I was reminded of a time & a place far away with warmer temperatures, when I would watch warm winds play the same game with sand dunes.

As I turned back I could not even find the footprints I made minutes ago. They had been covered with snow.

At home I told my sons of my adventure, they did not believe me as there had only been rain at sea level. They asked for evidence & I pointed out all my clothes soaked through & hanging up to dry. They suggested this was only rain. I told them to take a walk outside & check the hills, but they would rather play some new American football game on the Playstation.

Seeking comfort in the company of angels at the turn of the year.

Reading Sally Vickers – ‘Miss Garnet’s Angel’ set in Venice & focusing mostly on angel Raphael, but the other major 7 get a mention: Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Mishal, Saraquel, Gabriel & Remiel.

The origin of the above are mentioned in the novel. Whether it is from the Talmud, the original versions of the bible or some ancient Persian text are not important.

Reflecting this mood, I was also listening to the Masada String Trio – Azazel: book of angels & Marc Ribot’s Asmodeus.

John Zorn’s Tzadik label is certainly doing it’s bit to revitalise the angels.

Maybe I should watch Wim Wenders ‘Wings of Desire’ again soon.

The Last Great Discoveries of 2007

What a terrific year it had been for digging in the old crates & re-discovering lost gems of a bygone age.

Dando Shaft was a prime example for this writer, but there has been many others. One band from that era that I am digging for the very first time is: Free Design.

The album is called the best of & it has all the elements that I love about the 60s: bossa, sweet vocal harmonies & pure groovyness man.

I am reminded of The Peddlers, 5^th Dimension & more modern fab, groovy bands like Pram, Stereolab, Broadcast & the High Llammas.

Heebie Jeebies

Always ahead of the game forging & framing fashions, bucking the trends. Son no. 2 is going to the flicks to see ‘I am Legend’.

‘You’re kidding’ I answer, I had just finished reading the novel. Furthermore I did inform him that there was a non-pc reference to ‘Mohammedism’ on page 126.

After he had seen it & we chatted it was almost as if it was a completely different story.