Shady Grove

I finally got to visit the fossil grove in Victoria Park. I had really wanted to see the spring flowers, as they looked spectacular glimpsed from the main road. I was disappointed when I saw them up close, they had passed their best.

I was shocked to discover that the fossil grove was actually open. This is the first time I have found it open. I like the building’s 1950s railway station look, however, I was less impressed with the interior & the same 1950’s lighting. Does it have to be dark & dingy?

Furthermore, I have more ancient fossils sitting in my garden, most of which were brought back from a petrified forest in the middle of a Saudi desert.

Yes, it was interesting to finally see those petrified tree stumps & it is good to have that sense of ancient history & picture the Caledonian forest running rampant, before the city planners got a hold of the area.

The Spoonbenders @ the Eggshell Repair Workshop

Where do we go from here? Follow the Jacques Tati career path?

I love all that amateur DIY stuff. I used to laugh at my father’s awful attempts at DIY before it was named this. His hand-crafted bunk beds & sofa repairs, were truly the work of hands destined for other things. Am I becoming him?

There is absolutely no harm in being a bungling Jacques Tati in this mad world full of the next fad, the next best thing. I do not think my sons see this yet. This world needs that anarchic sense of fun, that less than perfectly-formed wall, those paving slabs that buckle in the rains, nothing that runs in a perfect straight line.

I must admit I do attempt to use a spirit level, but I believe that this is not this device’s true purpose….i.e. for detecting the presence of ghosts.

Sure there is a place for perfection & it is always better to get someone to do a good job. This is not a perfect world, sometimes the cracks in it are what makes us fell human. My own Bombay taxi, driving skills I cherish so much, are a prime example, I would not have it any other way.

I can see an affinity with the work of all the Outsider Artists of the world & I do have a passion for those artforms.

The Mississippi Half-Step, Toodle-oo, The Mud Shark & the Mud Wasp

I just thought I would throw in the long title for the credibility of referring to both the Grateful Dead & Zappa in the one heading, but really we are here to mention the mud wasp.

My son has asked for suggestions for his stag weekend soundtrack & I realise my chances of getting anything played are as remote as Glenmore.

He has already pooh-poohed my request for an all-day Merzbow fest. (Mr Akita has certainly been prolific enough!).

This morning I was listening to some 7 a.m. Scandinavian neo-folk as per usual & I left the mp3 running as I went for a shower. Half way through & I thought there was a plane crash in the living room as there was an almighty cacophony that shook me to the rafters.

I hit the volume button rapido, It was only Astro ‘Mud Wasp’.

Do not listen alone & whatever you do do not ever stand on one!

The Glorious Game

What a week of highs & lows for both sides of the Old Firm.

Rangers go crashing out of the UEFA final & their fans run riot in Manchester. Tommy Burns dies of cancer @ 51.

I had never met Tommy, although my son has been in his company. By all accounts he was a well respected & loved man & he had such an impact on other people’s lives. He was a man of strong faith & principles & I was so delighted to see the Celtic fans applauding the Rangers supporters paying tribute to Tommy at the gates of Paradise. I think this shows that there is hope in defeating the divisive sectarianism that destroys Glasgow.

Mind you I did chuckle a bit when the fireworks went off in my neighbourhood after the game. This was to celebrate Rangers losing! However I do live in a very one-sided area.

Personally I blame Walter Smith’s lack of ambition & vision. He seems to be prepared to win the game by boring the fans & opposition to death. You have to attack to win. Yes, a solid defence is terrific, but you don’t win by defending.

I wish we could go back to the old fashioned type of football, two wingers & three strikers. All this nonsense about the lone striker. I have never seen this tactic work.

Recently, I watched Celtic Vs Hibs. What a spectacle. An exciting, open game full of drama (yes the odd error), a sheer delight to watch & I am sure it was the same to play in. The highlight for me was Filipe Morais, who is just like his countryman, Cristiano Ronaldo, but with a slightly less technically-formed , skill set. Portuguese football (if you exclude the love of diving at every opportunity) reminds me so much of the real Scottish game of our rich past.

Perhaps we should pay closer attention to their game & forget all about our apparent desire for big Dutch strikers. I believe the need has passed. Scott McDonald Vs Van Venegoor illustrates the fact so well.

Buena Vista

Usually my Friday nights are spent relaxing with Joe Swift & the rest of ‘Gardener’s World’. Last night my son phoned to tell me he had an extra ticket to see the Buena Vista Social Club. It has been a long time since I had seen them live.

Nature had changed the line up radically, but I jumped at the opportunity to see them again.

I was not disappointed. They were every bit as exciting as I expected. Slightly different, but it was so good to see the new blood keeping the sound alive.

Lucky Pierre Vs Alice Coltrane

I recently acquired Lucky Pierre’s cd ‘Dip’. This is my 2^nd album by Mr moffat’s other band. The previous one I had was ‘Hypnogogia’. Any cd that has a track title ‘Weir’s Way’ is way cool.

‘Hypnogogia had such an outstanding track: ‘Sometimes I feel Like a Motherless Child’?. I remember when I first heard this on Gilles Peterson’s show & I just had to run out & buy the album.

It is early days for me to know my way around ‘Dip’, but on initial plays, I am deeply impressed. I feel as if I am listening to some of Alice Coltrane’s deep, meditative grooves, while lying in a hot tub. The spirit of Satie is not far away either. I just want it to go on forever, but I suppose I can always hit ‘play’ again.

A recent visit to Gartocharn possibly brought Tom Weir into my head anyway. I met a chap there who wanted Duncryn Hill renamed after the wee man. It’s a funny thing about Scotland, it is jampacked full of many more wee men & of course those big hills.

Threshold Houseboys Choir

If, like me, you often wonder what would have happened to Tonto’s Expanding Headband if Little Stevie Wonder had not bought them up lock, stock & barrel & stopped them producing such innovative works of beauty, then I suggest that you give a listen to the Threshold Houseboys Choir’s ‘Form Grows Rampant’.

It also reminds me a little of White Noise’s ‘Electric Storm’, but a remixed version by Sun City Girls working in their ethnoforgery mode. Perhaps there is a touch of Dengue Fever in there too, but I am aware of some Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV connection that I will have to check.

Sally Go Round the Roses

It’s that time again: the West Dunbartonshire Book Festival has started & that also means that Glasgow’s West End Festival is already on the horizon.

I managed to attend the inaugural event as I did last year. It was held in the superb Millenium Hall, Gartocharn with it’s intensely beautiful backdrop.

Although I had watched Sally Magnusson (I KENT HER FAITHER) read the Scottish news up until 7 p.m. when I left the house (with a seriously dodgy exhaust fault in the vehicle!) & I arrived at the event @ 7.30, Sally was there looked relaxed & vibrant for 8 p.m.

This was in itself an astonishing achievement, knowing the potential for traffic hold-ups around the Glasgow area. She delived her talk on Eric Liddell showing how he was much more than the character portrayed in ‘Chariots of Fire’.

She kick-started the festival, which is now in a period of transition in it’s 8^th year, making the journey from being organised by a friend & colleague, to an event that is designed by committee. Whether this will work or not we shall find out in the next few weeks.

Pragmatism or how to Survive Beyond the Summer of Love Without Compromising (Too Much)

Check out & witness that the road to excess does not lead to the Palace of Wisdom.

It is not better to burn out than fade away.

Avoid the Money god at all costs.

Learn to love yourself with all your faults & then you can love others with all their faults.

Do not get obsessively upset by the ‘me’ generation in their 4 x 4 dropping fat kids off at the school gates & clogging up traffic. John O ‘Farrell nails this so well in his ‘May Contain Nuts’.

I feel such pity for people who live their whole lives always tidying up & trying to buy happiness by buying more & more stuff than their neighbours.

Be content with what you have.

‘Be Here Now’ as Baba Ram Das (Dr Richard Alpert to all those acid heads out there) wrote in his useful guide for living. Check his almost total collection of writings in that super little shop in the Findhorn Foundation, where the road sign have hidden depths & where ‘Slow Down’ really means slow down. Sound advice.

Saturday Night Behind the Iron Curtain

Why does all the problems with the car occur, when the other driver is behind the wheel?

Of all the places in Glasgow to break down why did it have to be Govanhill? Many of the recent Eastern European Immigrants in that area have changed the place so much.

One of my ex members of staff had to move elsewhere, although she had just moved into it. She had obviously bought the flat in the daytime at a knockdown price & had not realised how the neighbourhood comes alive at night.

Even the breakdown lorry driver had a tale to tell about the last time he had a call out in the district & almost had all his tools nicked as he was loading a car onto his breakdown truck.

Anyway the vehicle in back at base (can I say ‘al quieda’) & not be flagged up on the cia/m15/mossad websites?

Although I got a new exhaust recently, I believe I only got 2 thirds of a whole one & it’s the other bit that went. Sods law I believe.

Fron the Lowercase World of Glitch & Squeek

I am becoming fascinated with the combination of whatever I play on cd running in parallel to the birdsong & other natural sounds, bleeding in from outside.

I can see many possibilities with this new format. This a.m. I finally got around to playing Harry Smith’s stupendous ‘Anthology of Folk Music’ & it is every bit as important & refreshing as the critics say. While it was playing my favourite early morning blackbird sang along & it created such a wonderful blend.

Tropical Paradise of the Head

Switch off. Take time out. Practice breathing. Put yourself in that other place. That safe place away from the noise & the hustle & bustle of everyday life.

Get your priorities sorted out. How? It’s not easy in a life bombarded by external events. Find a quiet spot.

An alternative approach & one that I would recommend is to grab hold of a good ambient recording that you really enjoy & wont get bored with over time.

Those Windham Hill or ECM jazz records used to do it for me, but now I am more inclined to natural sounds. Not the new-agey, whales, wolves or loons type sounds but more likely Chris Watson albums or Geir Jensens superb recordings from Tibet.

Certainly I would avoid at all costs the Conet Recordings of the numbers stations or Ghost Orchid’s Introduction to EVP as they would either freak you out or make you think too much.

I would ignore some of the Touch label items like The Runaway Train or the other one about a UFO sighting for the same reason given above, but the Touch label has a wealth of other natural sounds.

The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game

I came in for my usual lunchtime feast of Hommos & Pita bread & there were 2 bits of mail.

One from the snp informing me about the next meeting & the other a postcard from Tobermory, once home to my great grandpa & now hosting visits from mad, mental Highlanders, who rabbit on forever about some minor team in the Premier League.

What is going on in this country?

Here Comes Summer

Backtrack: Muswell Hill back gardens, always sunny, harry mcreynolds, alphonse dezutter, joe walsh’s rocky mountain high, steely dan, the Windsor free festivals, football in Alexander park with the rest of the ex-pat, clydebank crew, days that never end….

Between Two Rivers

How to Survive a Nuclear War, Pt 73

Put your fingers in your ears, close your eyes, breathe through your anus & catch a falling star & put it in your pocket & save it for a rainy day.

Nothing Lasts


The Japanese have it sorted they take their hols when the blossom comes out. I took the day off to captures these flowers before the winds turn them into petal carpets.

Blossom


Summer is coming & it is time to get outdoors.

A Man Who Knew Stuff

Synchronicity banging on my door every day, perhaps it is near my exit time.

Yesterday a phone call from New Zealand catching up after 30+ years. Today an email after a 9 year gap in communication, so perhaps it is time to get my ship in order.

Maybe it is because I am now working on the banks of the Clyde, just like my father, my grandfather & my great grandfather that makes me so nostalgic?

How to be remembered? Best 54+ striker Scotland has ever produced? I fear that I peaked last Friday, getting 3 carefully, crafted, goals within the first five minutes, putting my side well out of sight of the opposition.

Perhaps, it goes with the territory, Librarians are expected to ‘know stuff’. I would wish to be remembered as someone who ‘knew stuff’. I am sure that most of my esoteric & arcane knowledge is totally irrelevant to the rest of the world………e.g. best psychedelic or drone albums of 1969!

What is your favourite time of day?

My answer to this question would have to be between 7- 8 a.m. That pint of quality java & that first hit of tobacco & at present, musical accompaniment from either Charalambides or the Double Leopards.

The latter puts me in a very safe place, a haven, where I have a peaceful time to think.

Always the drone, we all come back to the drone. Is that why I love Ivor Cutler & his harmonium so much. Is that why William S. Burroughs’s drawl sits so comfortably in my memory.

Double Leopards wrap me in a warm blanket, a comfort zone, keep me grounded & force me to relax as the caffeine & nicotine do their job. One takes you up & one brings you down, echoing ‘White Rabbit’, alice & the Jefferson Airplane.

Henry Cow

Reading the ‘Wire’ Primer on the above band, reminds me that I must listen to this band much more. I have all the lps, now on cd. I have no excuse.

I saw them live. Could it have been in 1974 as support to Captain Beefheart?

As someone with a large bent nose, it is great to enjoy bands with such remarkable noses like Henry Cow & the Mothers of Invention.

Snake Oil & Smoking Mirrors

Sometimes I have to take radical steps to catch up with my listening backlog. Recently this has meant piling all my Charalambides/Cul de sac/Comets on Fire/6 organs of admittance cds onto Mp3/Wma discs so that I can just put it on & leave it.

With the Charalambides disc, I just keep going back & replaying the individual albums again as I cannot believe the beauty of what I had just heard.

Hearts & Souls & Minds across the Oceans

Weird world full of crazy coincidences & madness. I just got a phone call & various emails from my friend les, who resides in Oz, but is currently in New Zealand.

He had recently been in Goa for a couple of weeks & wanted to phone me & thank me for planting that seed in his head a hundred years ago.

As he was eating his Goan fish curry he told his new wife about me.

What can I say. I was almost speechless. However if we are not on this earth to help each other & do things like this we may as well give up.

The Hills Have Eyes

Switch off. Take time out. Practice breathing. Put yourself in that other place that safe place. Feel the rocks with your eyes shut, hug the trees, lie on your back & stare at the clouds. Get away from the hustle & bustle of everyday living. Get your priorities sorted out. Life is for living.

An easy alternative to reach ‘that place’ & one that I would recommend is to get hold of a suitable ambient cd, one that you would enjoy hearing many times without getting bored. For this writer that would be recordings of natural sounds rather than the naff new agey blandness that exists. Good examples would be Chris Watson’s cds or Geir Jensen’s field recordings of Tibet.

Certainly I would avoid the Conet Project recordings of numbers stations or Ghost Orchid’s Introduction to EVP as they make you think too much.

A lot of terrific materials can be found on the Touch label, but again avoid the Runaway Train & the other cd about Ufo sightings for the same reason given above.

The Confused Librarian’s Garden

Why use the adjective above, is this from Confucious? are we talking Chinese-stylee garden?

Let’s go back in time & look at this subject chronologically. Librarians love order.

Check the numbers; 2 young boys in tow. Let’s grass everything so they have space to play football & cricket & it will save us going to the park (although it is not far away!)

As 1 of these offspring is getting married soon, perhaps we should recall that day playing cricket, when I hit a huge 6 over the hedge & smacked a window in the next street. Naturally, I blamed the kids & ran indoors.

As they grew older (& more sensible?), I reclaimed more of the garden for plants, bushes, trees & flowers.

As I grew older & became a driver, I required a driveway. Time for the hard-landscaping. The working parts of the garden grew smaller & the enjoyable bits got bigger.

Paving & decking removed much of the grass-cutting chore. I had a smaller area to work on, so I could focus my efforts in being creative.

As the concrete appeared, I tried to balance this with the use of plants in pots to soften its effects. A Mediterranean colour scheme was utilised. This required Homebase to blend their ‘off the shelf’ blues to get the hue just right. Blue flowers were also selected, but perhaps I should have been bolder & went for those bright, bold, oranges & reds?

As stated above, librarians need order, how would I now arrange these plants? By size, by species, by colour, alphabetically, by bloom date?

Should I have a mix of shrubs, trees & flowers? I tried to get all round interest in the garden. I needed something for every season.

Time passed. I was toying with the idea now of an oriental garden. I knew my DIY skills are very limited, so it would have to be simple. Thus no water features except my tears & plenty of rain.

I had brought some Japanese style stools from the happy highlanders that we moved from indoors to outdoors. They required a swift black painted makeover (has to be done at this moment again due to a harsh winter).

I wanted a Japanese archway leading into the back garden. I thought of curved ends like the letter ‘pi’, but I kept it simple 3 pieces of timber painted black.

I could have climbers going up & along this & hanging wind chimes. Ornamental grasses, blue bark, solar lights, gravel, rocks…etc…bird tables, bird baths, bird feeders…….I am getting there.

Hanging baskets & a hammock for that mid- air suspension feeling. Everything getting blasted by the wind.

Yesterday I was out in the storm, fine-tuning the metal & bamboo wind chimes. Getting the right balance in sound. I am sure Monty Don would appreciate the latter.

I play this silly game with the local foxes. I plant loads of bulbs underground & then they come & eat them up! How do they locate them inches underground. Are these like truffles for foxes?