Choices


Go and see Jackie Leven (again) @ a bowling club in Anniesland or watch Manchester United Vs Celtic.

Sorry Jackie!

DONT LET THE SUN CATCH YOU CRYING



Sun City Girls, Sun Ra, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Black Sun, Blue Sun & Cold Sun - Dark Shadows........check them out if you can.


Blue Sun - Live has got that raw, live sound you remember from 'Kick Out the Jams'.

They seem to have been kicking the bong around a little though, while listening to too much Doors, James brown & Wynder K. Frogg!

Revenge of the Selfish Shellfish



If someone asked me where I had been recently, I would have to admit I had been in a very crazy & scary place.



This would be inside the minds of Steve Stapleton & David Tibet as I had decided I was going to get a deep listen to my, dare I say complete, collection of Nurse With Wound/Current 93 & offshoot/related albums.

This is a mammoth task (not mammoth tusk!) but I am on the case. I am a little dismissive of the purely instrumental albums & tracks as I find I enjoy the stuff with the weird, gothic, neofolk vocals.

I am enjoying this journey, but it is only the beginning with a long way to go. I had put it off for so long, but at the moment, there is so much rewarding material.

Even the play on words is fun as you can see from the title, above.

Tap Dancing on a Dirty paper Cup


Saturday morning & I am up early to do the ‘bouncy bouncy’, but instead I gave Hafdis Huld’s ‘Dirty paper Cup’ a listen.

I careless accepted the offer of a seriously strong cappuccino from my neighbour next door last night, so I struggled to get any sleep. I should know better by now!

PC problems & laptop problems have slowed the contributions to this blog quite a bit. When did life become so complicated?

Gosh this Hafdis Huld album is ‘so nice’ in a French ye-ye way, a bit like my wonderful 3 ‘tap-ins’ last Wednesday.

Campsie Clachan


With my wife & mother-in-law as passengers there was a limit to my travels yesterday.

I thus made some future plans, God Willing & laid down some markers for explorations of the Campsies. I found myself a base camp & I hope to explore around this area over the autumn & winter.

Squidnapped

I am on a crazy diet these days, it appears, where I only eat prawn shaped food groups, eg. Cashew nuts or half of onion rings or half calimeri.

Music for Levitation


Henry Texier – Amir
Cold Sun – Dark Shadows
Perry Leopold –
Ghedelia Tzartes
Alcest
Dirty Projectors
TV on the Radio
Chris Hinze Combo
Sufjan Stevens
No Neck Blues Band
Nihilist Spasm Band
Musci & Venosta
Magna Carta – Seasons
Paddy mcAloon – I Trawl the Megahertz
Nicola Conte – Rituals
After All
Terry Reid
David Axelrod
United Bible Studies
Sam & Valley – My Favourite Clinic
Faun Fables
Badgerlore
Rex Holman
Necks
Marispol
Pentangle
Fugs
Barn Owl
AMM
This Heat
Sun City Girls
Caravan
Soft Machine
Various – Far Out Bossa
Liverpool Scene
Pantaleimon
Richard Youngs
Volcano the Bear
Daniel Padden
John Fahey
Beirut
Kings of Convenience
Animal Collective
Panda Bear
Pocahaunted
Bird Tree
Feathers
Eddy Detroit
Son of Earth
Janek Schaefer
Jandek
MV & EE
Micah P. Hinson
Microblind Harvestmen
Pekka Streng
Castanets
Devendra Banhart
Jana Hunter
Family
East of Eden
Quintessence
Grahame Bond
Larkin Grimm
Funki Porcini
Caretaker
People Like Us

The Way of the Samurai

‘I only went out for a walk & finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in’.
(John Muir)

Could this be a definition of Scottish zen? It is stating something that we are all aware of, but we could not state it as succinctly as above.

There has been that Scottish – Japanese link in the arts & culture for a while. Even thinking back to those superb novels by Alan Spence & the current Pastels/Bill Wells/Tenniscoats/Mono/Domino relationships going on today, Glasgow has opened up to the Japanese collaborations.

I would hope that this is a 2 way process.

Alone in the Dark Forest


Sometimes it does you some good to lose yourself in a dark wood. You know the edge of the forest, where no-one ever goes, because the sun never reaches it.

You feel the temperature drop suddenly & it is damp & you can smell the dampness & see how the frost is never far away from this hidden, inaccessible, corner.

I often search out these lesser known tracks. Today I did so & found myself lost & directionless. I could not see above or through the forest & I kept ploughing deeper into the dark places.

The stillness & the peace & quiet make it all worthwhile. It can be difficult to find this solace anywhere.

I am reminded of the desert, when a few wrong decisions, a couple of wrong turns or guesses can put you in mortal danger.

On a personal level, I really do not worry overmuch, as there is a celestial navigator steering the ship.

Bummer Road

Remember that time when you recorded all those Grateful Dead live versions of ‘Dark Star’ back to back & played them lying on your hammock in the sun on your mp3 player?

It happened to me again as I had collected a large number of Matthew Valentine & E. Elder’s space ragas recordings & I began to drift off & out & in. Truly clutching the kosmik.

Fleshmarket Close


Busy week on the library front that included a trip to Edinburgh & Stirling on following days. Jetlagged.

It has been such a long time since I have been in the home of Scottish government. My time there was brief & spent at the National Library of Scotland for a meeting.

It was such an odd day that began with me attending the funeral of one of my friend’s father.
On the train out to Edinburgh, I had great intentions of a) catching up on my reading for the meeting or b) listening to some new sounds mp3-ed on my moby.

I did neither of these, because the chap sitting next to me taking photos, from the window was obviously foreign & possibly, arab. Being a ‘weegie’, naturally I started a conversation & being a ‘smart ass’ this was totally in Arabic all the way from Falkirk High to Waverly. The journey passed in the blink of an eye.

The capital has changed so much since I was last there. They have built a castle on a hill.(haha). I was busy looking for all the Rebus locations & yes I did cut through Fleshmarket Close.

On the return journey, I was with 2 colleagues from the meeting, but it was not all library chat, we discussed gardening over a cruel Scottish summer & the position, value & cheap cost of having an allotment in today’s credit crunch year. Once again the journey was painless.

As I changed trains at Partick, I met another of my schoolmates, Dennis & I filled him in concerning the earlier funeral & the fact that another schoolchum has mentioned him name at the funeral.

I do not wish to make a big thing about the latter coincidence, but it was so ‘Magnolia’.

The journey out to Stirling was by fast car, but it is one of my favourite journeys on a clear day, which it was. It is no wonder one of my cousins lives on this route. Probably for the same reason as her, I feel very comfortable & at home in this area between Drymen & Stirling.

Looking at My Wierd CD Collection I had to Laugh Out Loud



Two titles of recent vintage that spead the smileys include:

• The Last Time I Took Acid, I went Insane
• We Should have Smoked the Salmon First
  

Showaddywaddy in Kirkcaldy

Busy doing stuff not posting as regularly, hopefully this will change.

Sometimes you just have to try & fathom out what is really going on? A couple of fine examples illustrating my point follow:

Recent concerts in Glasgow with arguably the best 2 Scottish male singer songwriters in the world, both at very different venues. Blue Nile @ Concert Hall was pindropping & Jackie Leven was his usual professional self. These were my last 2 concerts & they were outstanding.

Here is the thing though: I met chaps from my previous life in the ‘nick’ at both concerts (although they wore different contrary uniforms behind the wire).

We exchanged pleasantries, chatted about the concert….etc…..but don’t you think it is a bit weird for this to occur at my last 2 gigs in sequence………..smacks of the old 12 Monkeys to me.

Now that my Bombay taxi driving days are over, I thought that I would apply to the de-commissioned IRA in case they require a getaway driver for suicide bombers.

Beat Poem on Hearing of the Death of Hector Zazou




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I Miss you

The Time of the Season



Taking my time updating as I try & remember any summer this year.

As the berries in the garden sprout, ripen & darken, my thought turn again to that autumnal blanket of rusts & reds & ochres. My listening pleasures reflect this cycle of nature.

Out comes Sufjan Stevens on repeat play, Magna Carta - 'Seasons' & Paddy McAloon's 'I trawl the Megahertz'.

On go the fleeces & out of doors, more this autmn/winter. Must must must.

Fitzcaraldo Does the Loch Thingie


Ok let's just get one thing straight, the Vikings may have been the first dumb blondes, but I find it inconceivable that they could have dragged their longships from Loch Long at Arrochar all the way up that steep gradiant to Tarbet on Loch Lomond.


I was stating this to 2 of my neighbours as we chatted away the time in our gardens without actually doing any work.

An admirable occupation for a Sunday afternoon.

Rained for 40 Days


Just a passing observation to ponder: are suicide notes always spellchecked?

Cold Sun, Warm Dust

I finally got around to listening to the cult, stone classic cd, that has been on my playlist since, Moses was a boy & since I first caught sight of that Nurse With Wound list.

Of course, you guessed, I was referring to Cold Sun’s ‘Dark Shadow’. I was a little wary of the hype initially that always colours these psychedelic discoveries, but this album does live up to its praise. I would put it up there beside other recently discovered gems such as Warm Dust’s ‘Peace for our Time’.

From ‘Blows Against the Empire’ & ‘Kick Out the Jams’ to a cup of tea & a comfy sofa

Is that going to be the limit of my needs? That is all it will take to make me happy? A comfortable chair???

Meeting my old mate from teenage days & his ‘devil dug’ at my mothers, as he is now a drinking buddy of one of my brothers, made me realise how old I must be now.

Although in truth, I would have struggled to identify him in a line up, as the lines, creases & wrinkles tell a tale of an ill begotten life.

Am I the same even with this George Clooney haircut?

Does Common Sense Play It’s Part in the Beautiful Game?

The short answer would be no.

My friend les, who lives in oz, once convinced me that 5-a-side was a triumph of mathematics, geometry & logic. It was all about maximising the use of speed & space. Rapid passing of the ball, no physical contact, no dribbling, no tackling.

As my 5-a-side season is about to start, how I wish my team mates would engage in some of the above concepts.

Is there something wrong with the Scottish psyche? I heard yesterday, that one of my team mates would continue to play this season, although he is on the waiting list for 2 hip & 2 knee replacements. He is much younger than me & because of his age, they are going to just treat him with morphine.

My own aches & pains have continued over the damp summer into an even damper autumn.

I met some of my old Monday night crew (in the days when I could play more than 1 game per week!) & that team is riddled with broken this & that, strained this & that, but they all still turn up as expected every week.

Normal people would have given up the ghost years ago or would have shifted their passion to bowls.

What creates this crazy behaviour? Is it the constant pressure to feel young? To still perform on the park? Perhaps it is, what it is for me i.e. that feeling of being totally alive in that moment & of being here now!

If only this passion for the game carried on, onto the park, when salaried players are involved.

The Man Who Couldnt Cry


Well I dont know I have done a fair amount of tear shedding in the past few years. The last time was at my neighbour's wedding!


I seem to have gone all retro at the moment from Randy Newman to Loudon Wainwright's 'Recovery' his old songs redone.


It is a tremendous album that closes with the above title. We seem to have had 40 days & 40 nights of non-stop rain here as autumn creeps in.

Harps & Angels


Great to see Randy Newman move away from making his millions writing naff movie soundtracks long enough to produce an exceptional album.

Lyrics like God bless the potholes in memory lane. Quite. I mean I misinformed a friend about me having the latest Calexico album. Not true yet.

Also good to see that the 'Wire' magazine has finally got around to publishing another candid letter from yours truly.

Fit Like

As I was listening to Fit & Limo’s killer psychedelic/krautrock version of ‘Dark Star’, I began to remember, what I had heard on radio 5 during wafts of ‘Rule Britannia’ as England beat some pub team in their first game in the World Cup qualifiers.

I still do not believe what I heard in this day & age. One commentator suggested Andorra & the smaller countries….e.g. Luxembourg……etc…should have to undergo some knockout competition before they are allowed to play with the best teams.

As he was going through his list of small countries, Mark Lawrenson added Scotland to the list. I assume this was meant in jest or was it?

Let’s Get Lost

I have spent most of 2008 trying to locate my video of Chet Baker’s ‘Lets Get Lost’.

So I was a little perturbed to discover that one of the happy Highlanders, who had come down for Jackie Leven @ King Tuts had been to see it recently in Inverness.

His tales of the Tilda Swinton film festival in Nairn or Elgin made me smile & realise she is way cool.