'Time Keeps Slipping into the Future’.

Wearing long black Civil Defence wartime greatcoats & carrying black umbrellas with steel points that could double as weapons (a la John Steed in ‘The Avengers’ or Alex in ‘Clockwork Orange’, that we saw before it got banned in cinemas).

Listening to MC5 ‘Kick out the Jams’: our first exposure to what a live concert should sound like on vinyl & Procul Harum’s ‘Salty Dog’ & the Doors first 2 lps on Grundig 4-track open reel recorders: the i-pod of its day. Our whole life lay before us unmapped. We could do anything go anywhere & some of us did…. With bells on!

There was a constant soundtrack to our lives & various places we woke up in. Hearing the songs immediately triggers memories of places & happy times. Weekends at Noblestone, Bonhill listening to Sly & Family Stone: Belmont St, Glasgow & Nilsson ‘Son of Schmilsson’ & ‘The Point’ & the Beach Boys ‘Holland’. Round the corner on Maryhill Road at the Pacetta’s place with the endless Grateful Dead lps. My bit under the Grosvenor with the Kevin Ayers, Roy Harper & Soft Machine & early morning visitors you didn’t expect.

Muswell Hill, London & Steely Dan in the back garden on those endless summer days. St Georges Hospital lying in bed with hep b & Mahdu robbing me tapes & books & Santana’s ‘Caravanserai’ always playing. Mahdu not named Mahdu then, but struggling to keep it together disappearing for hours in the toilet in a worse state than I was & he came to visit me. Chasing him out of his squat in Maida Vale. This was the second time I chased him out of London & home for his health.

What a time we had & then you wake up one morning & look in the mirror & see a fat, grey haired old man & you think where did the time go? This time last year we went to Mull & Iona for the first time. It seems like it was only a couple of months ago, but it was a year ago. ‘Time Keeps Slipping into the Future’.

Librarians Love Lists


As summer slips away, I have fond memories, to keep me going over winter, of lying in my hammock listening to this Radio 1 'One World' special on the 'new folk' movement


Monday 5 JuneFolk Tales presented by Huw Stephens


01.00 Devendra Banhart - 'Hey Mama Wolf'
Vashti Bunyan Vashti Bunyan - 'Diamond Day'
Vashti Bunyan - 'Feet of Clay' (In session at Maida Vale)
Devendra Banhart & Vashti Bunyan - 'Rejoicing in the Hands'
Joanna Newsom - 'Bridges & Balloons'
David Berman from the Silver Jews Silver Jews - 'Room Games & Diamond Rain'
Nils Okland - 'Biberslatt'
Jolie Holland Daniel Johnston - 'Walking the Cow'
Jolie Holland - 'Ghostly Girl'
Tom Waits Tom Waits - 'How's It Going to End'
Vetiver - 'Amerilie '
Microphones - 'The Glow '
Linda Perhacs Linda Perhacs - 'Parallelograms' (1st play in the world)
Sierra Cassady from Coco Rosie Coco Rosie - 'Noah's Ark'
Bonnie Prince Billy - 'Careless Love'

02.00 Jana Hunter Jana Hunter - 'Crystal Lariat'
Alison Cotton from Left Outsides
Left Outsides - 'Leaving the Frozen Butterflies Behind'
Wayne Coyne from the Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips - 'Evil Will Prevail'
Allison Brice from The Eighteenth Day of May
The Eighteenth Day of May - 'Cold Early Morning'
Josephine Foster - 'Who Will Feel Bitter At The Day's End?'
Adem Adem - 'Statued'
Adem mix :
Scatter - 'My Son David'
Tim Buckley - 'Song for the Siren'
Shirley Collins - 'Dabbling the Dew'
King Creosote - 'Circle of My Demise'
Serafina - 'Ground in a Council Flat'

Getting Old

Am I embarrassed or proud that the Stones are still strutting their stuff in their 60s? Personally, I believe they should have folded after their best album: ‘Their Satanic Majesties’ an album I still love deeply to this day.

However as Loudon Wainwright approaches 60 this month, we can see he is still producing great material. His offspring are doing ok, too. Reminds me of Blood, Sweat & Tears – ‘Child is the Father to the Man’. If anything he is improving with age. Yesterday, I met a lifelong friend who has only 1 year to live, he is only a year older than me & we were constant companions during those heady days of the late 60s/ early 70s. I am still in shock.

I have lost so many friends over the years, but it is important to focus on the new friends you make over this time.

These last few days have been strange. I have taken ages to write this as we have been so incredibly busy at work. I have worked in difficult situations before, e.g. while Saddam was bombing my library with Scud missiles & I have upset double murderers during my working days within libraries, but nothing can scare me like the wrath of Librarians who have days & days of solid data input into a catalogue, that should have appeared automatically.I can feel the death threats mounting. However, I am optimistic & hopeful that the dark days are behind us & we can move on.

Also I am trying to finish work in the garden between heavy showers. Its frustrating: charging up the drill only to find it impossible to get out due to the torri tential rain.

If 6 was 9: everybody’s dying: Arthur Lee. Should have went to see him over the past 2 years, when he was touring. Thought he would go on forever like all my companions from childhood. He has left a great body of work, mind you for the past week, I don’t think I have played any music after 1967: been listening to the Seeds, Standells, Electric Prunes, Chocolate Watch Band, Strawberry Alarm Clock & my current favourite: Southwest F.O.B. – ‘Smell of Incense’. I don’t know much about the latter, except that I love it. Am I getting so old that I am listening to this old music or is it because it sounds so fresh today?

Anyway, I found another corner of the world to ‘hang out’. This is where you can find other like minded oddities like Professor Roger Ruskin Spear ex- Bonzo Dogs (I actually saw him live in Greens Playhouse a hundred years ago!). It has taken me forever to discover the ‘Freak Zone’ on bbc radio 6. I cannot remember (old age) when it broadcasts in ‘real time’ (whatever that is) I will post the website address later. Looking at the recent playlists this is my music collection & this is what I would play in a 3 hour slot.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/freakzone/

They Did It To Jesus, They Do It To the Lebanese & They Are Doing It to Us Too

The Herald
MARTIN WILLIAMS
August 07 2006

TWO Scottish human rights activists were injured after being hit by a plastic bullet and debris from a stun grenade fired by the Israeli army during a demonstration on the West Bank.
Margaret , 52, suffered severe bruising after being struck in the back by a plastic bullet while she was marching with hundreds of people in the village of Billin in memory of more than 1000 people who have been killed in Gaza and Lebanon.

She said that she and her husband, John, were deliberately targeted.
John, 53, with whom she formed the Glasgow Palestinian Human Rights Campaign, suffered facial injuries after a stun grenade exploded at his feet, causing him to be deafened in one ear.
These grenades create a noise of up to 160 decibels and are used in crowd control.
The couple are in the area to provide humanitarian aid to children and teenagers in refugee camps in Palestine.

They raise money from their home in Bishopbriggs and travel to Palestine three to four times each year to deliver toys.
They also work to raise public awareness about the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza.

Mr and Mrs Pacetta said they had put up a poster in the West Bank village bearing the message, "Stop the Bombing of Lebanon and Gaza – Over 1000 Dead", and were walking away when the army began firing tear gas canisters, concussion grenades and potentially lethal rubber coated bullets.

Speaking from the West Bank, Mrs P, a former bank secretary, said she was struck as she and her husband were heading back to their flat.
"We turned our backs and as we walked away the Israeli army just started firing on us. We were deliberately targeted and they fired at our backs. My husband was holding his face and as some of the Palestinians were asking if he was okay and I felt this thud at my back. It was extremely painful.

"I knew it was a bullet because I could hear them. I was just hoping it was not real bullets. The fact we were walking away and they were still firing was so awful.
"We were definitely and deliberately targeted as internationals. This is a clear violation of human rights and international law."
Her husband said there was "no justification" for the army response.
"If you are in a peaceful demonstration with Israeli peace activists and people from all over the world, you would expect it was safe to go there. You don't expect what they call a civilised army to open fire at peaceful, non-violent demonstrators who are walking away.

"I can understand if we were throwing rocks or something, but all we did was put a poster up and walk away and they started to fire at us."

Last Great Wilderness

Managed to catch up with this movie on tv this weekend. I have been looking for it since I knew the Pastels had done the soundtrack. I had heard most of the music already. I had no concept of a plot but then this was not a problem, as I don’t think that the director had one either.

It meandered through the most beautiful country in the world at its harshest, but some would say most picturesque, time. If anyone knows what the film was about, please send a comment.

David Hayman had a typical menacing role, but eventually he had to wear a dress as did Bill Wells. This may be difficult to imagine, it was odd to see. Good to see the Pastels in a movie. Not many librarians make it to the big screen. I have a distant memory of being an extra in a Bollywood epic during the early 70s, but this may have been a hallucination, they were strange days indeed.

By the way apart from continuously playing Koop' s Waltz for Koop cd, I have been on a sort of mahavishnu trip. I tell you 'Inner Mountain Flame' followed by ' Between Nothingness & Eternity' helps blow the cobwebs away as I type this @ 6.30 a.m Saturday.

Can Blue Men Sign the Whites



Recent BBC 4 documentaries reminded me of how great the Bonzo Dogs really were. I have almost worn out vinyl copies of ‘Donut in Granny’s Greenhouse’, ‘Keynsham’ & ‘Gorilla’.

The title of this post was their tongue – in - cheek response to the 1960s UK blues boom.

Liverpool Scene is another of my favourite bands of this period & they also satirised this movement with, ‘I’ve got thos Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack, don’t go back, John Mayall, cant fail, blues’. I have lucid memories of that time & listening back to those albums I am amazed, how much they have stood the test of time & how fresh they sound. Other prime examples, would be Savoy Brown, whose song ‘Bamboo Grove’ was in my cd player they other day & lets not forget the Groundhogs, whose first lp was ‘Blues Obituary’ & who’s lead guitarist, Tony (T.S.) Mc Phee appeared on many of Mike Vernon’s Blue Horizon labels compilation. The original Fleetwood Mac & Chicken Shack did the same. Incidently, there has been a whole raft of these Blue Horizon albums available for download on other blogs.

It is difficult now to imagine how big a movement this was & how great an impact it had on other styles of music, e.g. jazz & folk bands…e.g. Alexis Korner (R.I.P.), John Mayall & Graham Bond. The members of these latter groups were to go on & push the boundaries with the next stage of development: psychedelia or progressive music as we used to call it back in the day…………e.g. Cream, Ten Years After, Family, Edgar Broughton Band, Pretty Things, Traffic, Trees, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Occasional Word….etc. Many of these bands began by playing R & B, but soon they got caught up in the lifestyle & tripped the light fantastic. Some went out there too far & never came back………..Syd Barrett (R.I.P.), Graham Bond….etc..

For me at this stage of my life, I am constantly re-discovering wonderful sounds from that period………..at the moment it is Comus………….superb, fresh, exciting………when they came out they were lost amid so much terrific material………..now that I am getting a chance to hear them…………the wait was well worthwhile……..

DRONE TO DRIFT

Note to self: must listen to more Scott Walker & David Sylvian. Although in truth, I have listened to both recently. I finally got Scott's 'Climate of the Hunter' on cd & his new album 'Drift'.

However what I have really been listening to & enjoying is Nine Horses (David Sylvian) song 'The Librarian' for two very obvious reasons. Here is the superb lyrics:


The Librarian


Keep you head down Keep you head down While they’re firing low You’re too young child To know the difference
Oh my pretty Oh my sweet girl It’s a marvelous place They put weights down In your coat tails to burn you out
Lest you fly Lest you take off And show whomever what’s what. It’s one outrageous lie after another
Turn their lights out Change the channel Before we lose the heart To fight against belief in what they’re saying
There’s a hotel With a dark room At the end of a corridor I will meet you To the strains of Allah
We will lie back On a pillow of the whitest snow And the silence we were promised Will engulf us

Lay your head down Keep your head down While they’re firing low You’re too young child You’re too young child
We will wake up From the dreams that bury us We will tunnel our way out By moonlight
From the dark room To the white streets and the snow banks We’ll invest in one another’s future
Oh my pretty Oh my sweet girl It’s a marvelous place She designed it With escape routes For you and me
So to the library With your new card Grab your favorite books Look for blueprintsTo the strains of Allah Here we go….
Benevolence is in back Of everyplace you look It’s not a monstrous face she is hiding
If I see her I will tell you You’ll come quickly If you see her Don’t hesitate just go
But til then

Keep your head down Keep your head down While they’re firing low You’re too young child You’re too young child
You’re too young child Here we go…

Some People Are Hoping to Challenge Terrible Warcrimes

Having a Laugh


Clearing out the loft, I came across this old photo of Keith & I in our swimming pool in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia................

Helpless

How can we accept the fact that American planes full of bombs, that were used to kill innocent children, 60+ this weekend in Qana, Lebanon, are landing at Prestwick Airport. This is shocking. Ireland would not let these war criminals use their air space. I want to do something about this, but I feel so powerless. If ever there was a reason for us having independence & our own country back, this & that illegal bombing of Iraq should have alerted the Scottish people to scream for independence from the rooftops.

How can we let George Bush & his puppydog of war, dictate what happens in Scotland. How can we let the Zionist war criminals continue with their ethnic cleansing.

Those who are about to die salute you or great undiscovered classics from the past

I decided to start this series of classic albums from the past as it has been a recent pursuit since I joined the download culture. I would love to understand the technology involved, so that I could host these albums zipped on a server somewhere. In the meantime I will give space to what is a very personal history of my favourite albums over the past c37 years. I will be glad of any comments/suggestions.

Ok lets begin. I have already by cunningly mentioning Colloseum’s masterpiece in the title of this post.

• Jack Bruce - Songs for a Tailor
• John Fahey – First 2 albums
• Donovan – Sunshine Superman & Hurdy Gurdy Man
• Chicago – Chicago Transit Authority
• Blood Sweat & Tears – First 2 albums
• Scott Walker – everything!
• Tyrannosaurus Rex – acoustic albums
• United States of America – USA
• Joe Byrd & Field Hippies – J. B. & F. H.
• Pearls Before Swine – Balaklava/Use of Ashes/One Nation Underground
• Captain Beefheart – Trout Mask Replica/Lick My Decals
• Can – almost everything
• Nick Drake – Five leaves left/Bryter Later/Pink Moon
• David Crosby – If Only I Could Remember my Name
• Quintessence - anything
• Red Krayola – God Bless/Parable of Arable
• Soft Machine – all early stuff
• Wild Man Fisher – An Evening with
• 13^th Floor Elevators – Anything
• This Heat – This Heat/Deceit
• White Noise – Electric Storm
• Santana – Caravanserai
• Caravan – In the Land of Grey & Pink
• John Wall – Fear of Gravity/Alterstill
• John Watermann – Calcutta Gas Chamber
• Strafe FR – everything
• Hafler Trio – everything
• Zoviet France – everything
• Justin Bennett – anything
• AMM – anything
• Tranquility Bass – Let the Freak Flag Fly
• Bernard Parmegiani – everything
• Third Ear Band – 1^st lp/Alchemy
• Stereolab – everything
• Broadcast - anything
• Muslimgauze – everything
• Chris Watson – everything
• David Axelrod – everything
• Basil Kirchin – everything
• Eugene Chadbourne – anything
• David Sylvian – everything
• Zappa/Mothers – Freak Out/Hot Rats/Uncle Meat
• Roberto Musci & G. Venosta – Messages & Portraits & anything else
• Sun Ra – anything
• Alice Coltrane – anything
• Miles Davis – almost anything
• Edgar Broughton Band – Wasa Wasa/Sing Brother Sing/Inside Out
• Traffic – Mr Fantasy/ Shoot out/On the road
• Occasional Word – Year of Great Leap Sideways
• Spirit – anything
• Pink Floyd – ‘More’
• Blodwyn Pig – Ahead Rings Out/Getting into This
• Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties
• Syd Barrett (R.I.P.) – Barrett/Madcap Laughs
• John Martyn – Tumbler/London Conversation/Solid Air
• Van Morrison – Astral Weeks/Its Too Late to Stop Now
• Tim Buckley – everything
• Harry Nilsson – ‘The Point’
• Holy Modal Rounders – Have Moicy & anything else
• MC5 – Kick out the Jams
• Doors – everything
• Groundhogs – Blues Obituary/Thank Christ for the Bomb/Split
• Michael Chapman – Early stuff
• Roy Harper – Early stuff
• Jerry Yester & Carolyn Hester – Farewell Alderbaran
• Ken Nordine – everything
• Sun City Girls – Carnival Folklore
• Pretty Things – anything
• Savoy Brown – anything
• Paul Giovanni – ‘Wicker Man’
• Peddlers – everything
• Comus – everything
• The Necks – everything
• Animal Collective – anything
• Books – everything
• Clogs – everything
• Laura Nyro – anything
• Bridget St John – Ask me no Questions/Songs for the Gentleman/Jumblequeen/Thank You For
• Moondog – everything
• Liverpool Scene – everything
• Carmen – Fandangos in Space
• Fire – the Magic Shoemaker
• Reality – Second Hand
• Beau –
• Marc Brierley – Hello
• Pete Brown & Piblokto – anything
• Trees – Garden of Jane Delawney everything else
• Graham Bond Organisation – everything
• Brian Auger Trinity – everything
• Clouds - island label – anything
• Nirvana (British- island label) – anything
• International Harvester – everything
• Kevin Ayers – early stuff
• Pentangle – everything
• Kevin Coyne – Marjory Razorblade
• Amon Duul – everything
• Nucleus – Elastic Rock/Belladonna
• Quicksilver Messenger Service – Happy Trails
• Fugs – everything
• Henry Cow – everything
• Matching Mole – everything
• Exuma – Exuma
• Giles, Giles & Fripp – Brondesbury Tapes/Cheerful Insanity
• Hatfield & North – Hatfield & North/Rotters Club
• Nico – Desertshore/Marble Index/Chelsea Girl
• Goblin – all soundtracks
• Peter Hammill – anything
• Cosmic Jokers – Galactic Supermarket
• Faust – everything
• Brainticket – everything
• Nicola Conte – everything
• Grateful Dead – early stuff
• Jefferson Airplane – early stuff
• Pere Ubu – everything
• Silver Mount Zion – everything
• Godspeed You Black Emperor – everything
• Devendra Banhart – everything
• Eden Ahbez – Eden’s island
• All Saved Silver Freak Band – For Christians, elves & lovers
• Jack Arel – everything
• Dorothy Ashby – Rubaiyat/In a Minor Groove
• Les Baxter – everything
• Beach Boys – Surfs up/Holland/Smile/Pet Sounds
• Chris Bell – I am the Cosmos
• Beta Band – 3 eps
• Biota – Bellowing room/Tinct
• Jane Birkin – everything
• Blind Faith – Blind Faith
• Country Joe & Fish – everything
• Disinformation – everything e.g. R & D 1 & 2
• John Duncan – everything
• Merzbow – everything
• Funki Porcini – everything
• Fila Brazilia – everything
• Heights of Abraham – everything
• Serge Gainsborough – everything
• Gotan Project – La Revancha del Tango/Lunatico
• Guru Guru – everything
• Jon Hassell – everything
• Brian Eno – everything
• Harold Budd – everything
• David Toop – everything
• Terry Riley – everything
• John Cale – Church of Anthrax
• Steve Reich – everything
• Richie Havens – almost everything
• Xhol Caravan – everything
• Incredible String Band – everything
• Jandek – everything
• Philip Jeck – everything
• Karminsky Experience – everything
• H. P. Lovecraft – II
• Love – Da Capo/Forever Changes
• Harvey Mandell – Righteous
• Shuggy Otis - everything
• Marr’ Del – Mystery of Love
• John Mayall – Early stuff
• Rapoon – everything
• Rare Bird – everything
• Tontos Expanding Head Band – everything
• Tom Rapp – Sunforest
• Arthur Russell – World of Echo/Another Thought
• Richard Scott & Rex Casswell – Magnificence of Stereo
• Slapp Happy – Casablanca Moon
• Skeleton Crew – Learn to Talk/Country of Blind
• Judee Sill – everything
• Skalpel – everything
• Stars of the Lid – everything
• Stock, Hausen & Waterman – everything
• Stephen Stills – I & II & Manassas
• Band – Music from Big Pink
• Spooky Tooth – everything
• Tortoise – everything
• Throbbing Gristle – everything
• Psychic TV – everything
• Ralf L. Wehowsky – Tulpas
• Ryoji Ikeda – everything
• Ya Ho Way 13 – everything
• Robert Wyatt – everything
• Ivor Cutler (R.I.P.) - everything

Radio

During these long summer days, I often wonder what possesses my neighbours, when they have their radios blaring at full volume. The sunshine makes them happy, so they want to share this happiness by forcing everyone to listen to the drivel that comes from most uk radio stations.

We could & should have decent radio in this country. Most other countries in the world have sensible broadcasts. The germans are a good example of what can be turned into an artform. i.e. horspiegal? Radio 3 does get close to this brilliance sometimes e.g. with ‘Between the Ears’ or ‘The wire’ or some of their excellent radio plays. Examples of the latter can be found on ubuweb (e.g. with Scanner & Ergo Phizmiz.

By selecting the best, from my point of view, my weekly digest consists of: Gilles Peterson (radio 1), planet latino (radio Scotland), alt 60s (radio 2), mixing it & jazz on 3 (radio 3) & various programmes from Resonance fm. This is enough for me to cope with at the moment, but I do feel that it is a medium that has been sidelined, because of television that has now become trash. Young people are returning to decent sensible radio i.e. radio Scotland & ignoring all that insane, dj talking garbage, that the radio stations think that the young want & what in effect is more of that reality tv crap candy for the ears.

http://www.ubu.com/

Droning on & on


Listening to Xhol Caravan’s ‘Motherfuckers’ from 1972: a krautrock masterpiece & thinking about the drone.
I mentioned in previous posts about the Scots fascination with latin music, but it is easier, historically to understand, why we enjoy the drone so much. Personally, I am in - deep. Yesterday lying on my hammock nodding to Terry Riley’s ‘Rainbow in Curved Air’ followed by his ‘In C’ & then Tony Conrad & Faust’s ‘Outside the Dream Syndicate’ shows where my head is at.

I have always been fond of Indian music since the 60s sitars & tablas etc & Bollywood epic soundtracks & I smile when I remember listening to live Afghani drones in Siggis, Kabul November 1973. Strange to think that music was forbidden in that country for so long after the rise of the Taliban.

Much of the music I enjoy listening to has a high drone content..e.g. krautrock, psychedelia, new psychedelic folk, old psychedelic folk (e.g. ISB). Likewise much of the electronica/glitch I enjoy has that constant buzz……….e.g. Hafler Trio, Zoviet France or the World musics that do it for me...e.g. Tibet, Morocco, Bali, so gamelan or gnawa or shaman or Buddhist chant……….chant brings me nicely to the chanter, not the singer, but the bagpipes & aside from the tartan shortbread image, bagpipes can also be ok…………I remember I used to think it was just homesickness that was calling me in Riyadh, when I kept thinking I was hearing the pipes, but I soon found out it was some kind of army base & they had Pakistani pipers.

Dont Try This At Home


Coffee crisis could not get that required early morning lift. Try to wake up to some decent music, however much my son & I enjoy Iron & Wine we both agreed that it was too soporific for this time of day & I chose to play Boris & Merzbow's combined efforts.

Too melodic I cried, Merzbow-lite. I prefer Masami Akita on his own with his banks of faulty overdriven guitar pedals that makes a unbearble noise like scree on Cairngorm during a harsh winter's day.

Actually the cd got better once the guitars drifted off into space echo reverb territory & Merzbow introduced some sweetness with his trickery.

Not for the faint - hearted & definitely not to be listened to without the java & the Gold Block.

Just Another Diamond Day

Hi just took a weeks holiday. It didn’t begin very well with cloudy skies for the first 4 days. Mostly dry therefore ideal weather for working in the garden. I had some heavy slabbing to undertake. I have to make my gardening life easier as the years go by.

In order to further this aim, I had bought, a state of the art, top of the range, hammock. This was how I would rather spend my days. Searching for those slow lazy days of summers past. At the end of the week they arrived. Intense heat, too hot to work. I just put some of my old half forgotten mixes onto the trusty minidisk player & drifted into another world. Sheer bliss. Lying on the hammock, there was no need to travel on a holiday, putting up with queues, screaming weans & all the rest of that stress. I could do all my travelling internally; eyes closed reliving all those crazy border crossings another lifetime ago. I was travelling through Afghanistan without the aid of a safety net and without bumping into all those British squaddies. What in heavens name are all those soldiers doing in Afghanistan. It makes no sense at all Mr Blair!

Trying to get any work done in the garden is a major task in itself. This is not because I am lazy, far from it, or because I set myself such tough objectives. It is because all my neighbours are so friendly and we all have time for each other. As soon as you try & start something, that would be completed in say, half an hour, they all drop by to chat. Maybe we are protecting each other from doing too much particularly on hot days. This phenomena reminds me of the street sweeper in that Jacques Tati film, where he sweeps the main square for a couple of seconds until someone stops to talk to him & it goes on & on.

Like the street sweeper, many of us have now lived in this street for a long time & this accounts for much of the chat. My sister-in-law is the latest arrival, but she knew most of the gossip already from my wife. There are 2 sisters & their mother all within whispering distance of ourselves & my sister-in-law. I actually find all this re-assuring and it is superb to live among people you can turn to, friends who will help you if they can, or tell you who else you can turn to, if they cannot help.

The hammock has been tried by just about all my neighbours, all shapes & sizes and there has been a lot of interest in obtaining one for themselves. I better climb back on before that sun disappears.

New College


I am looking forward to our move to a new building next summer. I have obtained some recent photos of its futuristic design.

Holy Mountain

The above photo shows me & my family in a state of shock & awe after borrowing a copy of 'Holy Mountain' from my friend, nick. I enjoyed 'El Topo', but I am sure some might find it a trifle odd? However in order to clear the room, I clicked the play button on the remote & by the time the Conquest of Mexico re-enacted by toads had began, I was all alone.

Utter madness, mayhem & to my scrabbled brain pure psychedelic pleasure.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Jodorowsky

Bossa Nova

Sitting here chilling after a hard graft in the garden and listening to my mate, Nick Peacock’s superb latin mix on Planet Latino. It started with a version of Mas Que Nada, I haven’t heard before and I have heard quite a few! Nice one. Then it just got better.

I began to wonder what is it with Scots and latin music. There is a high proportion of us that really obsess about latin music. It was always there when I was younger: the MPB sound of bossa nova & it was around in much of the jazz I listened to. Although it was only much later when I really got into that Blue Note groove. Also at that time I was more concerned with all things psychedelic.

Then there was a big push for the Buena Vista sound. I was so happy when the Happy Highlanders could not make the Buena Vista gig @ Kings Theatre a few years ago & myself & my youngest son went along & got totally blown away. He is more a Cuban music fan than I am, I am more enthralled with the Brazilian sound.

Anyway I would just like to state what a great programme this is on Radio Scotland, a radio station that has turned into something great over the last few years.

In A Minor Groove

Finally took a week off work & that means I can find time to listen to some lost sounds like Dorothy Ashby’s In a Minor Groove from 1958. I am doing so as I type this @ 7.30 a.m.

This is after a late night out @ another superb gig @ King Tuts Wah Wah Hut. I put myself in the mood by working with bamboo in the garden during the day. I am still worried about the water leak I have from the car. However driving into Glasgow as a double rainbow illuminated the Science Centre convinced me that the night was going to be special.

The support artists were odd I suppose. There was an Icelandic girl singer in the style of early Bjork or Joanna Newsome. She seemed totally unrehearsed, chaotic, lost, confused & crazy, but she charmed the crowd with her honesty & immense talent.

She was followed by a solo shahuhachi flute player, who was oblivious to the rising chatter and went on & on for what seemed like hours, but it may have only been about half an hour. He had a good sense of humour though, as he asked the appreciative audience, if they wanted him to go through his solo again. He only gave us short highlights as time was pressing.

All this meant the headliners: Animal Collective were late coming onto the stage. This was their second visit to Glasgow, the last time was @ the ABC, but as they had just come off the festival circuit, they were happy to play such a small intimate venue & it showed. They just created such a big, full, intense sound live. Once they hit a groove & stay on it is so hypnotic. It is difficult to describe their style of music. The King Tut flyer has them compared to Can, Amon Duul & Sun City Girls. I have seen the latter live @ Instal @ Arches & they blew me away. Animal Collective did the same last night. Krautrock for the 21^st century. They also include what seems to be some of Can or Holger Czukay ethnic forgery in a style just like Sun City Girls, where they got lost in Tibetan, African, Voodoo or Native American chanting & raised the roof & bent the bamboo.

Books, Clogs & the Penguin Café Orchestra

After a recent concert by the Books & Clogs @ the Arches, I realised I should go back & listen to the Penguin Café Orchestra as both of these bands reminded me so much of the latter. Yesterday I listened to PCO’s Union Café & it is so good. We are exposed to many of their earlier tracks e.g. Music for a Found Harmonium via adverts on tv. In fact, am I correct in suggesting that the music for adverts is getting better? Last week during the breaks in the football, I heard Donovan’s Sunshine Superman followed by Vashti Bunyans ‘Diamond Days’.

It is only natural that a Librarian would end up listening to a band called, The Books, but being a Librarian has its negative side. We always need to classify objects, items etc it come with the territory. This is why bands like the Books, Clogs, PCO & another band I saw @ the Arches a while ago: the Necks, fall between the cracks or should that be: between the stacks? 3 of these bands names also cause problems for Librarians as they all begin with ‘the’: the indefinite article an absolute nightmare for Classifiers!

Are the Necks jazz or minimalists? Are the Clogs the same? All I would suggest is that they are a combination, stylistically they cross borders. What they all have in common is that they all sound good to these tired ears.

Listening to a lot of the new folk or psychedelic folk artists these days, you soon realise how much cross pollination goes on. Many of these artists have included a range of ethnic nuances or glitchy bits in their sound. A recent discovery: Camille’s Le Fil has a whole range of unexpected colours in her sound.