Al Zeheimer


What to answer when memory fails:


'It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards' l carroll

I Tweet, Therefore I Am



The observant readers will notice the new 'Twitter' section running down the right hand side of the page.

Now this gives me 6 Levels of Synchronicity or is that 9. If 6 was 9 Voodoo Chile (slight return)

6 Degrees of Separation


Perhaps it is a sixties thing, I dont know, but I do know that I dont care if it's uncool to watch BBC 2.

Last night I was shocked & awed by the documentary on the 6 Degrees of Separation, synchronicity, Network science & the Kevin Bacon game.

What this tells us about human nature, God & how the world works will have great benefits in the future concerning the study of viruses & other tings.......I am sure.

Unfortunately, I wont be here to witness it, but you will!

Zonal or Man Marking?


I heard some heated comments in the library & you know you have to get involved. They were discussing a subject dear to my heart: why Celtic are stuck on using this zonal marking at the back like Liverpool.


Let's face it recent results have shown: it does not work!

Off the Beaten Path

Mucking about with my rather extensive collection of works on the Australian Extreme label

You know the one that includes such artists as Fetisch park, Pablo’s Eye, Muslimgauze, Merzbow……..etc.. I realised that there were numerous references to the work of The Beats.

As I am still operating within the shadow of the Beats, I can dig that.

Examples would be: ‘First Thought, best thought’ (Ginsberg) & ‘Sampling Virus’ (Burroughs).

Kip of the Serenes

Over the years I seem to have drifted straight into the set of a David Lynch ‘Twin Peaks’ world where everything is out of sync & strangely strange, but oddly normal.

Perhapschance it is an age thing.

At work, I keep meeting people that I know from my past. Maybe an example would illustrate this phenomenon: William, an ex-crane driver from Ravenscraig, who grabbed the opportunity of re-education after redundancy & worked with me in the jail, now works with me again & we do lunch together twice a week.

Looking at old photos last weekend, I realised that 2 of the guys in the Riyadh pictures, were also my companions earlier in a very remote part of the Kingdom. The chances of this occurring are nigh impossible.

Last Night a Bulletin Board Saved My Life

Re-listening to the Threshold Houseboys Choir, because my next door neighbour was talking about going to see them @ Stereo in Glasgow.

I am reminded of Roberto Musci & Giovanni Venosta, who operate in that world music fusion field.

I used to have many discussions about the latter across the world via bulletin boards. Does anyone remember that form of communication?

The Return of the Bent & Twisted World of Gene Hunt


At last something other than 'Gardeners' World' worth watching on the TV.
'Ashes to Ashes' takes you back to that non-pc world of free speech where men were men & women had really bad hair & shoulderpads.

On a serious side, recent events have proven that the police had not really changed at all. They are still there to prop another dodgy, corrupt, Goverment although this time it is Labour: a party that Keir Hardie would never recognise as Labour............


the more things change..............

More Album Titles to Leave You Screaming in the Dark or Falling Off Your Hammock




Dollboy - Beard of Bees
Vertonen - The Ocean is Gone, the Ship is Next

Death By Cheesecake


It has been a few weeks since I have slipped under the spell of the Ethiopean groove coming from Mulatu.

The cover above reminded me that I still only have 1 Tigrena (sp)/English dictionary although I now know of 7 Eritreans using my library.

In the Middle East I used to 'hang out' with the cool Eritreans & I have forgotten most of my vocabulary.

I am fascinated by this ancient language & Aramaic........it just looks so beautiful & takes me back to similar writing on a rock in the desert 100k from anywhere, where my Toyota Cressida let me down for a short period & we were stranded with no water but God blessed my wife & boys & we were saved again from certain death for the 3rd time in the kingdom.

In fact a previous student, who also worked in Riyadh knew some of the Eritreans drivers that I worked with. It is a strange place this world, for sure, Amen to that.

I Blog , Therefore I Am



Crawling out from the isolation tank, the think tank or the Sherman tank with echoes of '68 Czechs.

By the way did I tell you about the time I was arrested & held up by tanks in Athens in '73 or later arrested for gambling cards in Kabul 74?

I cannot recall, but I do know that there are only 2 kinds of people in this world: there are the bean counters & then there are the men of vision, usually without a bean to their name.



Unfortuntately the former outnumber the latter even in this crunchy credit time of the beast.

Didnt He Ramble



With 2 public holidays in May, I plan to leave aside the Hoi-Poloi & get out there among the bracken & the heather.

Woodend Bowling & Lawn Tennis Club


Maybe I should not be allowed out on my own to gigs. I am still trying to straighten my bent head after the Arches with David Thomas Broughton.



Perhaps Alan @ the above WBLT should consider the latter for a future tour.

It was odd turning up at a gig & watching the young nimble ladies tap ball over the net & the old cosgers on the bowling greens (some vacancies I was informed by alan!)


Anyway Robin Adam was plagued by noisy leads or noisy connections & it took a while to get that sorted, but he did deserve his recent award.


The main attraction was of course, Dan Arborise, who I had recently missed @ the Fraser Centre in Milngavie.


He is billed as a cross between John Martyn & Nick Drake. I would put the percentages @ 90% John Martyn & 10 % Nick Drake, but he is much more than this. He is severely & screamingly talented & his own man.


Catch him when you can.

Time Keeps On Slipping, Slipping Into the Future



This blog has been all over the place lately. Maybe that's just the way life is for everyone?


My last week has been well-crazy. What kicked it all off? The funeral of a friend & college lecturer, who was murdered. I do know a lot of murderers & I have known a number of people who have been murdered.

I also saw this week that an ex-colleague from a penal establishment is taking a petition to the Scottish Parliament, over the unworkable contract they have with the Scottish Prison Service. Well done.

Then there was that performance by David Thomas Broughton, pure mind bending hallucinations all round.

Recent entries covered that bridge to nowhere. What is that all about?

Then him next door starts chatting about Sleazy, Jonh Balance, Genesis P-Orridge, Coil, Throbbing Gristle & gets me talking about how good the Threshold Houseboys Choir are & how it is a pity that Mr Balance & Mrs P-Orridge are dead & then having to explain the dodgy sexual lifestyles of the members of Coil & TG.


Why cant he ask AP? Or check the 'Wire' archives..........


Anyway my neighbour has worked out how we can connect via 'Twitter' to this blog.


Watch this space. Dont go away!

Majick Shoes



Sporting what my team mates named my Paulo De Cannio football ballet shoes, I managed to repeat a move from a few weeks ago & get only one goal, but one of pure lyrical quality, just to prove it is not flukiness.


I had a sudden thought: as I near the age for the travel pass, will I still be playing 5 - a -side??

Weasels Have a Happy Time On Holiday

Weasels Ripped My Flesh

Rainbows in Arched Air


Those wags at the Arches thought it was humerous to have me sitting on a cushion on the floor for the hour that David Thomas Broughton played, no performed the other night.

Despite my athiritis, I was totally enthralled by the gig. I dont know if the ever so chatty student clientele, knew what to expect, but even they were shocked & awed out of their tiny brains..

I knew his music & had an idea of what to expect, but I did not expect, the Jarvis on acid, the hellfire preacher, the man possed by evil demons, the scariest, most disturbing & exciting gig I have been at for a long time.

This Yorkshire Merzbow is the best thing since Pearls Before Swine. Catch him while he still lives.

The Bridge & the Burn


There is no roads (nor does it look as if there ever was) any roads going to or from this enigma.


I suspect evil secret goings on surrounding this bridge. If anyone has any ideas, let me know............

Location

As I said previously, it is in a field, about halfway between Croftamie & Gartochan.

Springtime Conspiracy Theory, no 666


This bridge, a work of Engineering marvel, stuck in the middle of nowhere has puzzled me for years.

Try to find it on 'Google Maps' & you may possibly disappear. (I did, but the aliens brought me back, unharmed!).


It goes nowhere, comes from nowhere, it serves no purpose other than to cross over a trickling little burn.


Why is it here? Is it a folly like I first thought?

I have taken further photos to follow in the next few postings, suggestions most welcome.

Proof Positive


Sometimes we do not realise that we live in the most beautiful country in the world.

In order for it to appear so, we have to put up with the odd, inconvenient shower.

Outdoors, Man!


A break in the weather & a weeks holiday so its out & about on the nearby hills for me.

Arcadian Driftwood

I was listening to the Band’ s ‘Stagefright’ as I was doing a favour for one of my elder son’s mate & this remastered version took me right back there to that dodgy flat in Belmont Street in Glasgow’s West End.

It was always summer, was it a summer of love?

Anyway we were so happy, everything was possible & we were at the top of our game.

Note to self must listen to The Band more.

Favourite Band Names pt Z

Napoli is Not Nepal.