Literate & Numerate

Librarians are not just concerned with alphabets. Numbers excite them too. This is not the correct forum to discuss the pros & cons of the Dewey Decimal System, but I feel that I could do justice to the topic elsewhere.

Numbers are everywhere, we cannot escape their influence. Look at the passing fad of Karbala & see how it’s been picked up by the young & the trendy.

In the past, the time of ‘Apocalypto’, realising the creative use of numbers gave you a lot of power. Power of life over death. The Pharoahs had it sussed too. A quick glance over the Stonehenge & the other standing stones of Britain & a passing knowledge of astronomy & arithmetic & perhaps botany, gave you something to do during those short summer months of long days.

Listening to Tom Waits ‘Ol 55’ & the Doors ‘5 to 1’ & the Manfreds ‘5,4,3,2,1’ & then I realise that perhaps I have set some kind of Scottish world record for someone in their 55^th year playing 5-a-side football 5 days in a row at lunchtime.

‘5 seconds to testify, ladies & gentlemen, I give you the MC5….’

No Fitba for Old Men


That is now 3 days in a row I have played 5-a-side at lunchtime! If God wills it, I am hoping to step out onto the 'hallowed turf', well the gym tomorrow, as well.

Not bad for a pipe smoking balloonist in his mid 50s, with 1 eye on the wicked windy weather & another on that nifty 18 year old defender, bred from the finest arabian racehorses & another (how many is that?) eye on the back of the net.

The sad news this evening is that it looks like Celtic have blown the Premier league title.

Rugby



In case you missed it. The media have been kin of quiet about it. Yesterday a small little country full of no-hopers with their backs against the wall took on an enormous force & sent them homeward tae think again.

Soundtracks

I caught the last 5 minutes of a dodgy Chevy Chase movie but as the titles rolled on the screen, I heard Paul Simon’s ‘Kodachrome’ & this set me off thinking about cool soundtracks. (What is it with Chevy & Paul, Al?).

There are so many clever & fascinating soundtracks around these days. My current favourites include: ‘Love Lisa’, ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ & ‘The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’.

My life has been mapped with reference to many epic scores & they have stayed with me all my life. I first became aware of the genre with Ennio Morricone’s work with Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns in the 60s. I have since jumped right into the Italian soundtrack weirdness.

Another Italian, who has recently died, but produced stupendous films with tremendous music was Michaelangelo Antonioni. His ‘Blow up’ & ‘Zabrieski Point’ lit up my life. The latter even had a great Pink Floyd track on it: ‘Heart Beat- pig meat’. This was perhaps their last decent piece of work.

A hard to find, but a firm favourite is Harry Nilsson’s ‘The Point’. Did I actually see this movie at one time or is that just in my head? Also crucial to my Third Ear Band collection was their soundtrack to Roman Polanski’s ‘MacBeth’. There is a family/clan connection with the latter as I believe the ‘beatties’ may have held the jaikets for the mighty MacBeth clansmen.

Mad mental sounds jump out at you, never mind the visuals in Jodorowsky’s ‘El Topo’ & ‘Holy Mountain’. Don Cherry puts in a terrific shift on the latter.

I haven’t even touched on the sheer quality & diversity of the Boolywood features. I will leave that for a future post.

Pocahaunted @ Cannery Row

Is Pete correct? Is the overall spooky weirdness of ‘No Country for Old Men’ due to the fact that there is little or no music on the soundtrack? I will have to check it again.

This a.m. I am haunted by Pocahaunted as I listen to their big, post-rock epics & start reading ‘The Dark River’ by John 12 Hawks.

I really should not open this book as I am stressed out with my backlog of reading materials for my 2 Reading Groups & the clock is ticking.

Meanwhile, I have opened Donovans’ autobiography, which has been ‘on loan’ from the College Library since we acquired it. Pete’s recent visit reminded me to re-start it.

In fact, Pete’s visit reminded me of how much we used to love John Steinbeck’s ‘Cannery Row’. Recently, when the Happy Highlanders were slumming it in the Lowlands, the ‘Cannery Row’ movie came on tv. I did not concentrate on it with the visitors, but I have made a mental note to try & catch it as it looks ‘well crazy’ like the novel itself.

The More Things Change

Little did I imagine as I was recording Michael Hurley, the Holy Modal Rounders or the Pearls Before Swine tracks on my Grundig 4 track open reel recorder that a lifetime later, that I would see Michael Hurley live in Glasgow at the 13^th Note Club basement, with one of of my sons & my friends.

It has just came flooding back to me as I am reading ‘The Wire’ article on Michael Hurley.

The past few years have been strange like that, e.g. Michael Chapman & Bridget St John, Mike Heron, Robin Williamson, John Renbourn….etc @ Fraser Centre, Milngavie. Most of these artists I had also recorded from Peel c1969.

Hang the DJ

There is more to life than music. Spare a thought for Andy Kershaw. He was riding the crest of a wave, on top of his game, mc-ing this & that, all over your radio & tv, then suddenly: bang….the dream is over.

He only gets about 5 lines in the tabloids as his life falls apart. I for one miss his rich accent & devil may care attitude.

Out but not Down


If there was ever any doubt about the name 'Paradise' & the fact that someone shines celestial light upon the righteous, check the photo above taken by the son that is moving next door in July.

ZenYoga Requirements for the Over 50s

1. An Empty Mind

2. One hand Clapping ability

3. Trees silently falling in the woods that no-one hears

4. And a Party of Special Things to Do

Skygreen Leopards

Hands up those that think the ‘Skygreen Leopards’ are the new Holy Modal Rounders or the new Pearls Before Swine?

No Country For Old Men

What a superb movie. However as someone who struggles to put my Beatles boots on each day, I wonder how the ‘old men’ managed to put their cowboy boot on & off.

I get pains in my back, my shoulders & everywhere else!

A Visit to the Barbers: Guide for the over 50s

Even simple tasks like getting a haircut can be troublesome. Gone are the days when you marched into the barbers & pointed at pictures of Paul Newman or Steve McQueen & said I want one of those please.

My latest request is for a George Clooney. However I was warned away from an ‘old man’s haircut’, by some of the more enlightened hairdressers at the College. I always get my hair done there now, as it falls well within my price range.

I was told that my current haircut is ‘well-funky’, ‘naturally messy’ & it had that difficult to achieve ‘just out of bed look’.

To be honest, I am still a bit uncomfortable with it, (my wife is still in a state of shock), but I was in the hands of experts & they said I suited it, so it stays put until it grows out.

Further Tales of Freakery

Instal 08 pt 2

If I thought Marginal Consort were awe inspiring, as with most Instal events, the best was yet to come.

I did not have a Scooby about what I expected from Cherry Blossoms ( on relection neither did they?).

On the surface they were down-homey, old timey, reminding me of the Fugs or the Holy Modal Rounders with Yoko Ono & Umm Kalthoum & Ofra Haza joining in on vocals. Sometimes I heard the Sun City Girls jamming with the Incredible String Band & the Monty Python collection of silly voices.

Originally from Nashville did they say? They suffered at the start with poor sound quality. The rustic, lost, rambling, amateur, happy, good vibe, craziness of it all put me back into the 60s.

The stage was shared at various moments with the main act MV & EE, but there was no demarcation lines here. Both bands drifted into each other in a mesmerising psychedelic soup. A member of Astral Navigations was on harmonica at the end.

Matt Valentine is carrying on the great acid guitar drift & ragas of Jerry Garcia & his Tie-dyed tee shirt shows he has an superb taste in garb. EE was sporting a snazzy gypsy skirt. We were back in the 60s. Everything was way too groovy.

Note to the fashion police tie-dyed tee shirt are way cool!

What kind of freakery is this?

Instal 08

I only managed one day this time, the Sunday 17^th feb. This was because I was anxious to catch MV & EE & the Golden Road.

I was running a little late, but this was ok as in the past it did not start exactly on time & besides it would be a long day. On entering my jaw dropped to the floor as I started to drift into the cacophony of noise that was Marginal Consort doing their best to sound as epic as AMM or Phil Niblock.

5 Japanese composers of various pedigrees were using/abusing various acoustic sound sources & treating them big style. I was bang in the middle of a 60s happening with the Fluxus brotherhood providing a bent Morricone soundtrack that arced & diced the room.

I managed to secure a seat next to a crazed chap who chucked his collection of bamboo off-cuts over his shoulder onto the stone floor, where it would roll next to my toes making the most beautiful sounds. Sometimes he would pick up twigs (brought from home trees) & switch them through the air contorting his body in a kind of Zen dance, kung fu, step. This also sounded grand.

In other parts of the room, there was complimentary madness & similar freakery (what kind of freakery is this?). There was water being poured from jugs, bubbling, flutes & a terrific unearthly clang that echoed the trains passing below us. It sounded like huge rocks falling from a great height. It probably was, but it was just outside my view.

3 massive hours into the piece, I was drifting off into a droning nap, when the music wound up. Many of the audience had the attention spans of the gnat & wandered in & out disturbing others with their non-essential chat & drinks.

However, they did not shake off the immensity of what we had witnessed. I asked Barry why there was now this huge gap after this performance & before the next. He stated it was to absorb the effect & to get some food. I took his advice & got the opportunity to practice my pigeon Turkish.

A Butterfly Caught in the Midst of a Hungry Locust Storm

Newspaper reports inform us that we are living our lives faster than ever before.

Consuming more, driving faster. Working more hours, multi-tasking, rushing everywhere, continually searching for the latest fad, watching more dumb tv…..etc …are we happier?

The death of the Maharishi in Holland recently snapped me back to those liquid, languid days, where there was more time. More time for meditation, reflection & stepping back to take stock of one’s life & what is important.

I was zapped back to glimpses of pure joy & happiness: Heart in Afghanistan & streets full of horses & carts & bells ringing & Colva Beach, Goa in 1973. Is it that long? It seems like a different century. In fact it was. Maybe it is just me that has changed?

A time to listen in awe as Mick Jagger read his poetry for the death of Brian Jones in Hyde Park, when we had real summers & a time to breath deeply, as he released those butterflies into those beautiful blue skies.

Observations from the edge of the Precipice

What is going on? Whenever I try to park the car in the drive squeezing in past inconsiderate neighbours’ vehicles, my gate posts suddenly move.

They think they do this without me noticing, but I have evidence on the front side of the car & bust bumpers.

Apart from these tiny things, the exhaust system decided to pack in. You are trying to recover from expensive car repairs & then you get hit with another.

First it was the pc that packed in, then the exhaust & now my CD player wont read!

None of the above are really life threatening & I know for this I should be thankful & believe me I am, it is merely an inconvenience, things that can be sorted.

With all this going on you hardly notice that Celtic are on their way out of Europe & Scotland’s rugby squad are heading for the wooden spoon.

To turn this depression on its head & to end on a positive spin, as I am writing this on a laptop, I can play Kevin Ayers Unfairground, his first album in a long time. It is like he has never been away.

Storm Gardening for the Uninitiated

I will have to ask big Monty Don what kind of gardening it is, when you spend your time going around picking up plantpots, that have keeled over in the gales & re-planting bushes, who’s roots are exposed every time the wind speed picks up?

Each Sunday & even during the week this is how I have spent my time. I realise now with hindsight, now that my hanging baskets are in bits, that I should have wintered them in my hut.

Also I should have tied my plastic table & chairs together & attached them to something that could withstand daily windspeeds in excess of 80 mph.

If anyone requires evidence of global warming then check out my messy garden after these gales that are new to me.

Out but not Down



I dunno about you but I cannot find any solace whatsoever in the fact that Cetic were beaten by the best side in Europe. I know it was probably one of the best games at Paradise & I had to listen to it on the wireless.

We were beaten by a much better side. Bhoys against men. Miracles can happen & a shock result might occur. Would you bet your but n ben on it?

Congratualtions to the other half of the old firm for their result in Athens that takes them further in another of the diddy cups they participate in.....

Beasties in the Hard Drive

Apologies for the relative silence over the past week. Technical problems that my I.T. colleagues called : beasties eating the hard drive or something like that.

Perhaps I am being targeted by a hit team that does not like Celtic football club or 60s psyche or Swedish or any other kind of psyche, freak folk or any other kinda freak, or library music or anything to do with libraries or crazy librarians.

Speaking of which I got back into totally crazy mode @ Instal @ arches last night. More later………….back with a vengeance!

More News from the Terraces

Had to create a new, pretend, big toenail from elastoplast so that I could get off the bench for 5-a-side on Wednesday. For the first time I failed to find the back of the net. It must have been the injury.

To compound matters Neeraj, on the other team, tackled me & landed on, you know that part of your foot you have to target during escape techniques in the jail & it makes your assailant drop you like a hot potato. Well that’s what happened.

As usual being totally crazy, I played on through the pain.

Speaking of feet & footwear, I have resurrected my old pair of what used to be called ‘Beatle Boots’ back in the day.

I know my wife meant well (she always chooses my clothes & tells me what to wear!) when she bought these for me, but as the years pile on, it’s becoming more difficult to pull on these ‘trendy’ boots. There is a good chance I will put my back out in the process.

Life is a struggle & then you die.

Spot the ‘Wire’ Reader

Reading George Burt’s letter in the ‘Wire’ 288 made me think about the number of ‘Wire’ readers as a percentage of the population of Scotland.

Personally I know quite a few around the Glasgow area alone. I would suggest that there is a disproportionate number & I would guess that this gives rise to such a cutting-edge, music scene, with innovations such as the excellent Instal festival.

There is also a healthy lack of status attitude among Glasgow’s terrific talent. I would include musicians often seen around the area like the ‘Wire’s own David Keenan, the superb Richard Youngs, Bill Wells & George Burt. I have spoken to both George Burt & Bill Wells with the past year & they both exude this ‘down to earthiness’.

Perhaps this confinement to a small also helps create such a cauldron of creativity. The Scottish Music Centre is only a few hundred yards from Mono. I would argue that within that distance the ‘Wire’ is studied in minute detail. I have ‘someone on the inside’ so I know this is a fact.

I would also venture that there are a large number of Scottish librarians devouring the magazine every month & if they are like this present writer, they ensure that they take the whole month to read it, as they await the next publication date.

Kings of Convenience

When I first heard ‘Riot on an Empty Street’ I thought how novel & fresh this sound was. Note to self: I should listen to KOC more often.

I admit I heard shades of Simon & Garfunkel, but thinking back, I now realise with the gift of hindsight, that what I was also hearing was a superb tribute to the music of the ‘Free Design’.

This unknown 60s band, to these ears at least, have formed the creative background to so many interesting current bands, e.g. Stereolab, Broadcast, High Llamas ………etc.

Why they failed to make an impact in the 60s is obvious. They were so contrary to the music that surrounded them. They were so out of step with psychedelia. We can see that now because we have the advantage of being able to cherry-pick the best sounds of that period.

Personally at this stage I am so glad they stayed true to themselves & made no effort to ‘go with the flow’ to use a phrase from my white water rafting career move.

The Free design are the freshest sounds I have heard in a long time & this music was recorded 1967-69.

What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been

Staying indoors due to adverse weather conditions. Turning introspective.

My son & future daughter-in-laws failure to locate Airdrie Town Hall last night for the Pirates of Penzance, got us thinking this a.m. about the distance travelled.

Thinking about living under the, soon to be burnt, Grosvenor Hotel & the total madness of adapting to that first year of marriage & coping with the craziness around us.

Working in the Glasgow libraries, college in Manchester, back to Glasgow. Going to the Middle East twice, jobs in Bell College, Hamilton, Bearsden & Milngavie, North Lanarkshire, Kilmarnock & now back in Bankieland.

Thinking about the area around that has provided me with work….i.e. from Kilmarnock in the south to Cumbernauld in the north & the clapped-out vehicles that got me around this area.

There are many parts of this fair land, I would wish to see before the end. I have had the opportunity recently of visiting the islands of Mull, Iona & Arran. I do not really know the Borders or the Kingdom of Fife, hopefully I will get the chance to put this right.

At my luncheon date last Thursday, I was chatting to a girl who’s parents are selling an apartment in Pathos, Cyprus & this set me off dreaming of our wonderful last holiday abroad in 1992 on our return from the Middle East.

Certainly as the weather closes in again, I long for a long holiday in the sun.

3 Things not 7hings (‘Wire’ reader joke for Pete)

Trapped indoors due to adverse weather conditions give me the ideal opportunity to catch up with some groovy, fab sounds, man.

I managed to obtain some 3 Mustaphas 3, that I have on vinyl & tape & a whole raft of Sun City Girls cds that will gladden my heart.

Along with this, I acquired tons of the late great Derek Bailey’s work & many GHQ cds. The latter is a new venture for me & rewarding in that ‘freak folk’ genre.

3 elusive Free Design albums are bringing a smile to my wintry lips & 3 of Wynder K. Frog’s essential albums from back in the day & I am catching up with 3 albums of that freaky Swedish psychedelica.

From the Subs Bench

How many 54 year olds waken up in the a.m. with severed & broken big toe nails? Not many I would guess.

My primitive attempts at major surgery will hopefully get me off the sub bench for Wednesday & back into my usual goal-hungry, form.

Last week my total was a mere one goal, I missed a number of clear chances trying to be over ambitious. My team mates screamed for me to first time everything & not to be over-elaborate.

Anyway I watched the Celtic play a decent game in the Scottish Cup on Saturday. If only they played like that every game.