Fables of Reconstruction


If it's raining it must be August. Being inside is not so bad as you can discover new things. Take Faun Fables - Mother Twilight. I am not sure if the high constrato voice belongs to the guy or the gal, but it is so beautiful..........at times I am reminded of Jon Anderson, the Yesman.......it is a new band of wierd folk for me & I see that this month's 'Wire' has reviewed another of their albums.......

Can Blue Men Sing the Whites


I often wonder if Librarians can acquire too much Library Music. I would hazard a guess that this Librarian is so obsessive about this type of music that he has more than anyone(sane).

I do not count sheep to drift off to sleep but obscure library music labels..........kpm, chappel, brunton......., conroy, amphonic..........

What's in a name?


I mean how common is the name 'Walter' around these parts? Yesterday my day was full of 'Walters' & there is an even greater chance of seeing 2 of them today. Wierd.

Dorothy Ashby


'Say Hi To the Rivers & Mountains' . Any band that sings a song about Dorothy Ashby is 'way cool' in my opinion. I would say that was almost as cool as listening to Alice Coltrane. The more I hear of the High Llamas the more I love them, check them out!

Outsider Music

If like me, you likes your sounds ‘off the wall’ or ‘off the map’ (a little like South Ossetia until recent events) you will appreciate Ghedalia Tazartes’ Diasporas’.

I have had this cd for years, but it was way down my playlist & only given rapid promotion because of last month’s ‘Wire’ article on the artist.

It was on the excellent Nurse With Wound list & rightly so. It is a work of genius/madness.(This reminds me that another outsider artist: Daniel Johnson is featured in the documentary ‘The Devil & Daniel Johnson’ is being shown again this week on tv.)

There wont be many copies of ‘Diasporas’ bleeding out from I-pods on your way to work this a.m. that’s for sure.

I am reminded of all the other true talents working in this area: Holger Czukay, Sun City Girls & Roberto Musci & Giovanni Venosti.

If you do not like the fact that most world music has become insipid, over-produced, ethnic-lite for the coffee table set, then grab a hold of this crazy album that crosses borders & back within seconds & focuses on all the interesting bits of ethnic music throughout the world & runs riot with it.

For Monty Don

I used to look at other people’s gardens & think that those pansies, petunias & marigolds are ever so boring. Why does everyone have these same elements in their garden.

From experience now I can see why. They are easy; they re-produce new flowers all the time, especially if you deadhead regularly.

I have had some outstanding hanging basket displays of petunia over recent times , but this year has been different thanks to some freebie pansies from a local supermarket. Despite the relentless rain, I have pansies everywhere & while they are way down my list of interesting flowers, they have supplied a colourful display for what might be called summer by some, & monsoon by others.

This is in a nutshell why I take pleasure from the contact sport that is gardening. You are in total awareness of the seasons & you notice each little bud as it appears & one even finds surprises along the way e.g. I did not plant nasturtiums this year, but I have outbreaks of them all over.

It’s Not Killing Me

I finally got a copy of Mike Bloomfield’s album ‘It’s Not Killing Me’ on cd. It was a constant vinyl companion during my early days. Sweet…it still sounds awesome.

I also caught up with Warm Dust’s amazing ‘Peace for Our Time’ & another masterpiece by Eddy Detroit called ‘Jungle Captive’.

The latter is a new one on me, but it is getting repeat plays at the moment.

Urban Myth

I was invited by my daughter-in-law up to their house for fresh coffee (she was headed out) & my neighbour told me this fascinating, but far-fetched tale about a deer holding up the 10.00 a.m. train to Glasgow. It was on the tracks at Yoker Station.

This all sounds like one of those urban myths. I did encourage my children to use their imagination & I took great delight in filling their heads with stories jam-packed full of Celtic elaboration, but this takes the biscuit.

I was telling my 5 year old friend this story as he will start at the school, next to the station. I do not know if he understood, he mentioned ‘lovehearts’ when I said ‘deer’….perhaps he was thinking ‘dear’ & those kids romantic sweets……….i had to mention reindeer & then he was suggesting santa left it there since xmas.

Olympians


Hi I would just make it clear that I totally refuse to watch any of these events (even the beach volleyball) until


1) China gets out of Tibet
2) Russia & USA get out of Georgia
3) Brits get out of Afghanistan
4) Zionist out of Palestine
5) USA out of Iraq
6) Scotland gets it's freedom.........no Saltires allowed at these mental games full of showbiz barbie dolls pretending to be little chinese singing girls......................we dont want any 'butcher's aprons' ever flying over either Scottish soil or Scottish oil.

Here Be Lions & Dragons


I know like me you are totally obsessed by Hadrian's Wall getting the World Heritage Status, but I am more concerned with the areas outside the Roman Oeuvre.


You know they called these 'no go areas', not the asbo heartlands they have since become, but called them 'Hic Sunt Dragones', 'Hic Sunt Dragones' or less excitingly 'Terra Incognita'.

I guess they were just big fearties.

Effervescent Elephants

Sometimes you waken up and wonder if you did throw the bairn out with the bathwater. Take Hannibal for instance, an exceptional leader & doer with a tactical brain this size. He gave them Romans a drubbing or 2. Some say he gave them such a hiding that he created the need for the rethink & the wherewithal to build the Roman Empire.

However like all great men, he was not perfect. Take for instance the achievement that he so well remembered for: taking his fighting elephants over the Alps. Stupendous result & all that mate, but he could not use them & they all died.

Crop Rotation

Ok this was to be today’s playlist: Spoils of War self-titled, rare album from back in the heady 60s & Spirit’s ‘Son of Spirit’ (the Spirit album I am least familiar with), but I was diverted, as often happens, by a newer cd by the Franciscan Hobbies (did the Franciscans have hobbies? Perhaps they did gardening…ect…) – ‘Walls are Stuck’ and strangely enough I got stuck on a track about angels: ‘Asmodeus’.

This dire wet summer has also shaped this playlist of late to include all those artists that lift me up: Sufjan Stevens, Vetiver, Devendra Banhart, Kings of Convenience, Beirut, High Llamas, Animal Collective, Panda Bear…….Joanna Newsome & recently Josephine Foster.

I was almost put off of the latter by listening to a mini album of what can only be described as depressing leider, but her other cds are much better.

Play for Today (There will be no Huns in Europe)

First of all let me apologise if anyone takes offence with the subtitle above. (‘Hope you die in your sleep Nacho Novo’) as it is not very pc.

I finally got around to watching most of the Peter McDougall’s plays for tv for the 2^nd time after a 30+ year gap.

I watched ‘Elephant’s Graveyard’, ‘Just Another Saturday’ & ‘Just a Boy’s Game’ one after another. The latter with Frankie Miller giving such a rich performance. It is such a pity that he is so ill now & a shadow of his former self. It was so good seeing wet Greenock housing estates during the mid 70s & their entrenched Bigoted attitudes.

How the world has moved on, but I fear that it has moved a lot more slowly in Inverclyde & throughout the West of Scotland.

(What’s So Funny About) Peace Love & Understanding?

I watched the bbc4 sessions last night with Nic Lowe. As a longtime fan since the Brinsley Schwartz days, I would have been easily pleased, but you do forget how hugely talented the man is.

It is much more than, ‘I kent his faither-in-law’.

You Can Pull No Punches, but You can’t Push the River

I cannot explain it & it has only happened since the re-location of my place of work, but I am becoming obsessed by rivers.

Recent death - defying trips down the River Findhorn aside, I am spending a lot of time by rivers.

Even on that weekend on the River Findhorn, I also managed a riverside walk by the Spey.

This compulsion might include my favourite local stretches of water: the Kelvin, Cart, Clyde, Leven & I cannot exclude the fascinating Forth & Clyde Canal.

I did mention before, that I knew it was a Celtic thing, but I was very happy living alongside the Ganges in Benares/Varanasi a long time ago.

I enjoy being around the bbc hq & the Science Centre in Glasgow because of their proximity to the river.

I am off now to listen to one of my favourite Brian Eno tracks, yes you guessed it: By This River.