It is the first Friday of a new month, and propitiously, also the first day of a new month. Please come in, help yourself to some chocolate from the Christmas Tree, pour yourself a suitable libation from the sideboard, gather round the roaring log fire and tell us all – what have you been listening to, watching, reading, or otherwise distracting yourself from …. all this ?
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Yet another long list of albums played.
A Gong binge – Paris-Bataclan Live 1973, Roanne-Club Arc En Ciel Live 1973, BBC Radio 1 Sessions + Edinburgh Live 1973, You (1974), Shamal (1976)
The Jazz Composers Orchestra – The Jazz Composers Orchestra (1968)
Henry Spencer – The Defector (2023)
Time Is Of The Essence – Half Moon Switch (2015)
Rachel Sutton – Trouble In Mind (2013), A Million Conversations (2019)
Elina Duni, Rob Luft – Lost Ships (2020)
Wendell Harrison – An Evening With The Devil (1972)
Elis Regina, Toots Thielemans – Elis & Toots (1969)
Rob Luft – Dahab Days (2023)
Carla Bley, Steve Swallow – Duets (1988), Go Together (1993)
Enzo Zirilli’s Zirobop – Ten Past Never (2023)
Patchwork Jazz Orchestra – The Adventures Of Mr. Pottercakes (2019)
Fred Thomas – Electrofeit (2015)
Gilad Atzmon, The Orient House Ensemble – The Whistle Blower (2015)
Various – Klezmer Musicians Against The Wall (2010)
John Zorn – Electric Masada-50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 4 (2004), Pellucidar-A Dreamers
Fantabula (2015)
A minor Kenny Dorham binge – Afro-Cuban (1957), Show Boat (1961), Una Mas (1964)
Randy Weston – Blues To Africa (1975), The Spirits Of Our Ancestors (1992)
King Crimson – Radical Action To Unseat The Hold Of Monkey Mind (2016)
Dan Berglund, Magnus Østrom & Friends – E.S.T. 30 Years 2023-10-13 Filadelfiakyrkan, Stockholm
Brian Eno, Baltic Sea Philharmonic – The Ship, Live RFH 2023-10-30 Early & Late Shows
Henry Cow – Concerts (1976)
Sultan Stevenson – Faithful One (2023)
Various – JazzNewBloodAlive 2016 (2017), JazzNewBloodAlive 2017 (2018)
London Brew – London Brew (2023)
Mari Boine, Bugge Wesseltoft – Amame (2023)
On TV.
Just Dr. Hannah Fry – The Seret Genius Of Modern Life
Out & About.
Jazz at The Elephant, North Finchley:
Rachel Sutton (vocals) with Roland Perrin (piano) and Aurora Mannola (bass guitar) on November 5th, Roberto Manzin (tenor sax) with Tim Lapthorn (piano) and Phil Scragg (bass Guitar). Both gigs with Jeremy Shoham (alto & soprano saxes) and Rick Finlay (drums).
The Half Moon, Putney:
Stanley Dee play Steely Dan. Nov 12th.
Karamel, Wood Green:
Tomorrow’s Warriors Youth Ensemble. Nov 16th.
The Cockpit, NW8:
Hejira play Joni Mitchell. Nov 17th.
Kings Place, Kings X:
The Necks. Nov 20th.
The Dublin Castle, Camden:
The Unfunkables, Stanley Dee. Nov 24th.
Other Stuff:
My car was in the garage twice for repairs. Firstly for a faulty oil pump on the 2nd (£278.50) and then to fix some faults in the turbo boost system on the 9th (£231.94). Both times collected from my place and returned later the same day. Insurance will be the next expense, in early January.
My big sister (74) had a fall and face-planted (stitches in chin and forehead plus a few cracked ribs) mid-month. She tripped over her dog while out walking it. They brought her from her local hospital to the big one just down the road from me for scans etc. I had to collect her from the hospital after she’d been seen to (about 6 hours, mostly sitting waiting, but they kept her supplied with tea and sandwiches) and drive her home. She’s O.K. just a bit sore.
What did you think of the Hejira gig @Mike_H?
The third time I’ve seen them and they just get better and better. The saxophonist Ollie Weston has borrowed a bass clarinet from someone and he used it to good effect on a couple of the songs. Bass clarinet is one of my favourite instrument sounds.
The Cockpit is an unusual venue in that the tiered seating is all around the performance area so the musicians play facing each other in the centre. The sound was really good and the musicianship is first-rate. Because they’ve gigged the material quite a lot recently, the arrangements have been subtly improved since I last saw them at the Jazz Cafe.
They have quite a few gigs and other performances at The Cockpit and it’s a friendly, well-run place.
I completely neglected to mention what I read during November.
A couple of enjoyable physical book re-reads, i.e. Iain M. Banks’ “Look To Windward”, prompted by a recent mention of it in this blorum, and Michael Chabon’s “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union”, prompted by certain world events. I particularly enjoyed the Chabon book.
On my Kindle I read this year’s Arkady Renko detective novel by Martin Cruz Smith “Independence Square”, which deals with the recent and current conflict between Russia and Ukraine and also Renko’s declining health. Can’t imagine this book being published in Russia just now. Compared to the best of the Renko novels, “Gorky Park”, “Polar Star” and “Wolves Eat Dogs” it’s a bit lacklustre but it’s not terrible. I can’t see how a further novel in the series could work, as the Renko character appears to have come to a full stop.
Apart from these, I’ve been catching up on some of the many issues of “Private Eye” that have been accumulating unread. Not so much humour in these lately as we gaily trundle towards hell in our handcart. It’s mind-boggling the amount of incompetence and greed (and combinations of these) that goes virtually unmentioned in the mainstream press and media. Private Eye can be a rather depressing read at times.
Not so much a trundle as we hurtle towards he’ll at frightening speed.
..and the proof of that is that the word hell will be autocorrected to he’ll. If you need convincing that the internet is the innermost circle of a narcissistic he’ll, observe the result as you type the past tense of the most ubiquitous and fundamental of verbs, the verb to be and the machine corrects it to we’re, confirming that you are a prisoner in an infinite hall of self-regarding mirrors of a virtual stylee..
Seen
Long nights don’t always mean staying wrapped up indoors and we managed a couple of days out in November. First off, we went to two recordings of Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast. The first was during a couple of days in Norwich, where the guests were comedian Alasdair Beckett-King and actor Emma Sidi, and very entertaining they were too. The real treat was the second recording, at Leicester Square Theatre itself this time, with Jon Ronson talking about his books and an upcoming series of Things Fell Apart, with insights on the culture of comedy and media narrative. The other guest was Ross Noble, who is the funniest man on the planet and it will be worth with hearing the finished podcast just for his stories about Australian Celebrity Apprentice and the round of ‘weed charades’ (although may be a tougher sell in audio-only).
Our other big day out in the smoke started at 8 Bishopsgate the newest, highest and free-est high level viewing platform in London. It’s well worth seeing, with amazing views from the City to Westminster. Tickets are free but must be booked in advance. We then headed to the west end for a matinee of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane, a return visit after seeing it in Southend earlier this year. My other half likes the play more than I do, but the spectacle makes up for any flaws I perceive in the narrative.
From there we walked to the South Bank, taking a detour via the Palestine demo in Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Parliament and the Covid memorial Wall, for a Bert Jansch tribute with a line up including Chris Brain; Bernard Butler; Sam Grassie; Brigid Mae Power and Steve Gunn; Sarathy Korwar; Sam Lee; Jacqui McShee and Mike Piggott and Kevin Dempsey; Robert Plant’s Saving Grace; Daisy Rickman; Martin Simpson and Louis Campbell; Kathryn Williams; James Yorkston, Ranjana Ghatak and Jon Thorne; and compère Stewart Lee (C+Ped from the South Bank website). It was a terrific night of music, and surprisingly varied given the common source. Who knew that what the world needs is jazz/raga fusion versions of the instrumentals from Bert’s album Avocet?
Television takes an upturn at this time of year, and I’m among those who greatly enjoyed the return of Doctor Who which has been analysed in depth on here. Other than that, Boat Story (BBC) was a fun, if perhaps unnecessarily violent, twisting narrative involving the shenanigans around a wrecked boat and a huge haul of drugs. If the clear influences of the Coen Brothers and Tarantino made it feel a bit 90s that was fine by me as that was my peak film-going era.
Jason Isaacs makes a decent fist of portraying the older Cary Grant in Cary (ITV). The script doesn’t contain any surprises for anyone familiar with Archie Leach’s unhappy childhood and compresses some details in a way that could be confusing to anyone who doesn’t, but in addition to the troubled life story there is enough sunshine and glamour to provide some escapism. Just don’t expect Archie Leach to be the same person Cary Grant was; as he famously observed even Cary Grant wished he was Cary Grant.
The most welcome television of the month is the return of Two Doors Down (BBC) for its 7th series. Along with The Detectorists it’s the best and best observed comedy of recent years, and there are more laugh out loud moments on this suburban Glasgow street than in Danebury. I also cheered aloud when Cathy made her return. Doon Mackichan’s portrayal of one of the great sitcom monsters was sorely missed in series 6. A particular highlight is episode 3, when Ian’s first boyfriend turns up on Eric and Beth’s doorstep and Eric tells Gordon some of the things he now wishes he’d been able to say to his son.
Heard
As ever I’m rather awed by people here who can listen to dozens of new albums a year and come up with reasoned critiques to rank them at the year’s end. I have listened to some ‘new’ in November though, starting with Thea Gilmore’s self-titled album. Not many people wait until their twentieth album before going eponymous, but after her last record rebranded her as Afterlight to mark a break from her traumatic marriage from her ex-husband and musical partner I guess there is an air of ‘and this is the real me’. The record itself is a beauty, mixing spoken word and sung vocals into a solace and rallying call for belligerent malcontents everywhere. It’s probably not where I would advise new listeners to start, but anyone who has followed her career for decades will find their loyalty rewarded.
Another artist I’ve followed for a long time is King Creosote, and the new album I Des is well up to scratch. To be honest I could live without the final, 35 minute long track Drone in B♯ which does exactly what the title suggests, but if your patience wears thin with that one there are 50 or so other King Creosote albums to investigate. The new Madness album Theatre of the Absurd Presents C’est la Vie is a hugely enjoyable collection too, although I’m sure there are others who have followed the band more closely who will have more to say about it.
Finally, from music to podcasts. The latest in ‘The Rest is ..’ stable from Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger podcasts is The Rest is Entertainment, Marina Hyde and Richard Osman discussing topical stories from popular culture. The podcast is only one episode old, but it’s an inspired pairing of one person who knows the media very well from the inside and one from without. I found the discussion of why Nigel Farage was paid so much for I’m a Celebrity, and why he was a poor choice, fascinating.
Read
The best book I’ve read all month is Big Beacon , the latest from Alan Partridge. These days I prefer Partridge as written or spoken word (I don’t have Spotify but I’ve read that the audio book is available on Spotify Prime). In alternating chapters Partridge tells the stories of his return to television and his mission to restore a lighthouse after he once again is forced to make a rapid departure from the screen. That scarcely matters though; it’s the perfectly detailed lack of self-awareness combined with petty vindictiveness towards everyone else that will have you howling with laughter. I guess a lot of people will wake up to a copy of this on Christmas Day, and you should be suitably appreciative if you’re one of them.
Jingle balls, jingle balls…
I won’t mention musicks as I’ve just contributed to the end of year poll as a passing fancy and I wouldn’t wish to impose my tastes any further in that regard but that still leaves…
Reading.
As I haven’t contributed to this venerable institution of a thread for a couple of months due to my cooling my heels for a period the following is a snapshot of my reads from that period plus the last month.
I think I mentioned the last time I contributed that I had re-read Wolf Hall in preparation for finally completing Hilary Mantel’s magisterial trilogy. Well I finished it and found both Bring Up The Bodies and The Mirror And The Light completely satisfying. I’m so glad I finally got around to reading these.
The Glutton by A.K Blakemore reminded me of Perfume by Patrick Suskind. It’s set in the same or very close to the same period of French history and along with the main protagonist being an outcast due to a lowly birth and a distinctly odd quirk of behaviour probably accounts for my slight feeling of deja vu. Despite this I found it most engaging and it is beautifully written. The Vaster Wilds from Lauren Groff is similarly beautifully written but I struggled a little with this. I blew hot and cold with it over it’s length, sometimes enjoying it immensely and other times toying with putting it aside. I didn’t, I completed it and will cautiously recommend it to those who find the premise of a young girl surviving alone in the inhospitable wilds of pre-revolutionary America enticing.
I read The Secret Hours by Mick Herron, of course I did. It’s tremendous but I guess those who dig his books will be down with that already.
I continued indulging myself in the writing of Claire Keegan by reading Small Things Like These which is completely wonderful. Ms. Keegan packs in more humanity in a short space than most writers can manage over considerably more pages.
Yet another writer new to me is Mary Lawson. After seeing her work being recommended by Anne Tyler I decided to dip my toe into her work by reading her debut novel Crow Lake. It blew me away. It may well be my favourite read of the year. It’s between this and Demon Copperhead and I can’t choose between them. I have bought everything else from Ms. Lawson I can find. I am having to show some restraint or I will just binge them all and I want to savour each one so I’m going to eke them out.
I recently finished a collection of essays and other bits and pieces by Elspeth Barker called Notes From The Henhouse. Elsbeth Barker who is remembered mostly for her semi- autobiographical novel O Caledonia and it is quite uniquely entertaining. We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson being the closest comparison I can come up with only far more amusing and a lot more Scottish. This recently published collection compiled by Elsbeth’s daughter doesn’t disappoint. Eccentric and ofter laugh out loud entertainment. I highly recommend it as I do the aforementioned O Caledonia which as luck would have it is currently available at a reduced price as an ebook at the Kindle Store.
Seen.
I’m not going into much detail about these. Only Connect and Shetland are just about the only live television I watch everything else is streamed. On iPlayer I’ve just finished
watching Kin. A decent tale of warring Dublin crime families. Well made if predictable fare. I’m on series five of Ray Donovan and his wife Abby is dying of cancer. Predictably I’ve been finding it a bit of a difficult watch. I took in Irvine Welsh’s Crime and enjoyed it’s decidedly Irvine Welsh vibe greatly. On Apple + it has been all about the third series of The Morning Show and Defending Jacob both of which I enjoyed without completely loving a bit like Bosch Legacy over on Freevee, good but generic cop/ gumshoe stuff.
A.O.B.
I’m still awaiting a consultation about my arthritic right hip. As far as I can ascertain my old bones are still undergoing the triage bit. I’ve been waiting almost two months and counting. Still others are having it worse than I so I’m not complaining.
As mentioned elsewhere I indulged myself with a piece of new audio kit and it’s bloody lovely. I can actually access Tidal hi-res Flac. Tidal still haven’t rolled this out for Tidal Connect yet which is annoying but the native Tidal app on the streamer handles it with aplomb so I’m content for now. It’s also been a boon to be able to take advantage of the USB C input on the R2R external DAC I use in my amp/speaker chain simply because it sounds a tad better also being able to hook my headphone amp to the balanced analogue output of the streamer has meant I can remove the DAC that handled the conversion for my headphones previously without any noticeable drop in quality so now I have a spare DAC!
Wassail darlings.
I always spend the month thinking “ooh I must mention that in the Blogger Takeover when it comes” and then I forget half the stuff I’ve watched and listened to.
Watched:
Hijack – A new drama on Apple Plus starring Idris Elba as a guy caught up in a plane hijacking. We binged it this week and it was unbearably tense and undeniably thrilling. I don’t want to think about the plot too closely as there were quite a few twists and I’m sure it would all fall apart if you examined it too closely. But immense fun over its seven episodes.
The Crown – I enjoyed some of the past series of this, but it just seems to have really slowed down and got a bit dull now it’s reached the 90s. I maybe just don’t care enough about all the Diana stuff.
Nights out:
An unusually sociable month for me.
Goose: Anyone heard of this band? I hadn’t, previously. They are American, and stopped for a night in Glasgow on a European tour. I enjoyed them immensely, but I think they only really make sense live (I watched some of their stuff back on youtube afterwards and it just wasn’t the same). They come under the category of a “jam band” apparently, which seems to mean every song is extended out to at least 15 minutes. That might not sound like your thing, but it’s much better than it sounds: the sound and lights were impeccable (I think they travel with their own sound and light people) and the musicianship was absolutely first class (very much in a kind of Old Grey Whistle Test TMFTL muso style). The crowd also lifted the atmosphere with their enthusiasm.
Australian Pink Floyd: A return visit as we saw them the same time last year. This time they were doing the whole DSOTM album from start to finish – but that only took up the first 40 minutes of a two and a half hour show. I think I was maybe expecting too much though: the setlist was almost exactly the same as last year, with all the same big hitters and very little else. Still, I suppose they need to cater to the favourites, don’t they? Sound and presentation were absolutely impeccable, as I reported last year at this time!
Me too – always spend half the day when the post appears thinking”what was that thing I watched?”
Maybe it’s an age thing (or possibly the stuff I am watching isn’t that great to be truly memorable?
I keep gig dates in my desktop diary just so,I don’t double book or forget anything, but I often can’t recall whether that good programme/book/album I want to recommend was in the last month. That’s why my entries on these posts are quite often gig only. Also, I tend to write far too much then delete bits (still leaving far too much), so I need the time to bash stuff down.
Heard: Only one new thing in the collection this month: Madness The Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’Est La Vie.
And flipping good it is too
Seen:
Secret Genius Of Modern Life makes a welcome return
– Boat Story on BBC1 is a darkly comic story (with a fairly high body count). Thinking it started as a straight drama, couldn’t get a commission so they stuck some daft situations and a misplaced musical number into it. And all the better it is for it too.
– Six Four started well (including Frankie Miller for the title theme) but then sort of ground to a halt and just sort of ended
– Brawn GP doc on Disney+ reminded how unlikely their success was, but also reminded how they so nearly grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory.
The story almost reads like a Hollywood script – F1 Team loses their main backer (Honda), decides to carry on with limited resources, someone has a smart idea about car design, they build the car and start winning, those with the money catch up in developments, but the little guys win through … and then flog themselves off the Mercedes Benz for £100m
Read
Nothing – really having trouble with getting into reading stuff (without getting distracted or nodding off).
One shall persevere and no doubt I will be able to report on the dull things I have read in the last month
When I fall out of love with reading and no new titles stimulate the urge (which I think happens to most people every now and then) I find choosing a book I remember really enjoying but haven’t read in eons is the way forward. I have a few such titles on my shelf ready for such purpose.
I get that, bit like staring at the CD shelves and the choosing something familiar.
I’ve got a couple of old favourite books I could fall back on. I’ll give it a whirl
I do that as well, but also find that sometimes, like the past couple of weeks, when I can’t think what to read, a book comes to mind that someone recommended years ago, and it seems the right time to try it. For some reason, when someone recommends a book, at the time it seems like you’re being set homework, and I don’t feel like following it up.
The most recent example for me was The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon, which is set in the fifties among what would now be called the Windrush Generation. This was recommended to my by someone I worked with years ago, during a conversation about VS Naipaul’s House for Mr Biswas, which I think is a great novel.
My friend was from the same Trinidad/Indian background as both Naipaul and Selvon and thought Selvon was a better writer, and it is a good book. Written as though it was a West Indian speaking but not so strongly that you can’t follow it, or work out the dialect from the context. More of a series of stories than one narrative, but well worth a read.
I think my friend’s slightly grudging view on Naipaul, was based on the fact that he had known him and his family, as he went to college with Naipaul’s brother Shiva, and he thought “Vidia” was a huge snob with an affected accent,
Oddly, that means I have met two people who have known winners of the Nobel prize for literature. The other had in-laws who were neighbours of Kazuo Ishiguro’s parents. The only thing I learnt, is that both Ishiguro and Naipaul in their early books used lightly fictionalised versions of their own families and friends as the basis of characters in their novels, even though Ishiguro’s early books are set in post-war Japan and not the Woking he grew up in. Maybe that’s the way most fiction works.
I don’t think I’ve ever re-read a novel. Strange really. Maybe it’s because I know what’s coming though that doesn’t of course explain why I re-listen to music.
Saw: Billy Bragg, 37 years after failing to get into the acoustic tent at Glastonbury and listening outside. An outstanding gig for me, plenty of chat between a good selection of back catalogue, rounded off by playing Life’s a Riot…. in its entirety as the encore. I’m now the owner of a rather lovely Milkman of Human Kindness T Shirt too. Great sound too.
Reading:
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. I don’t usually take much notice of The Booker but I heard this discussed on the radio. It has a slightly annoying unconventional style with no speech marks and conversations all in one paragraph but the story is promising so far.
AOB: was in Cardiff this week where there seems to be a larger than average homeless population and Big Issue sellers. I don’t carry cash any more but there’s a vendor in Brighton that has a card reader. I wonder how common that is?
On a recent trip to that London, a busker near the South Bank had a card machine setup inviting punters to contactless pay £2 a pop
I’m not sure I should be posting on here, as I have little to report of cultural value or interest. For the third month in a row, I have been listening to Maggie Rogers – I’m now up to her last album ‘Surrender’ which is full of big sounds and elements of her quirky self from earlier album, albeit quite different from my previous favourite ‘ Blood Ballet’. I feel quite monomaniacal, but also quite happy to have a focus for a considerable time, batting down the cravings of new that the book I was reading the month before ‘Dopamine Nation’ was warning about.
Surrender’s been on fairly constant play, and is like an aural blanket – comforting while not too bland to wash over leaving no mark. Apparently she wrote it during Covid at the same time as doing a Masters in religion and public life, writing a thesis which “examined cultural consciousness, the spirituality of public gathering and the ethics of pop power” and the album was part of her thesis. I like the idea of live music as a forum for engaging physically with the implications of her text and she certainly looks like she’s having a fun time in the recorded live shows I’ve seen and this track for example is quite a raucous noise, detracting from the fear I sometimes have that she is the Dido de nos jours.
Reputedly she claims to have visual/auditory synaethesia, and I can kind of feel that in her music – it makes me act like Ally Sheedy in the Breakfast Club – though not the bit where Molly Ringwald makes her up for Emilio Estevez – more the bit where she tugs her sleeves, closes her eyes, and dances in spirals around and around, just soaking up the sound.
One book has been on my bedside table this last month – Who Owns the Future by Jaron Lanier. Although it’s 10 years old, it feels very current, as he writes about the coming age of the information economy. In 2013 it might have seemed to many of us (me) like a fable told by tech geeks, in 2023 with ChatGPT and AI spoken about almost continuously, it seems prophetic and a valuable assessment of what may come. It’s been on my bedside table because I haven’t read much of the damn thing. But what I have read has given me plenty of food for thought.
Highlight of the month was a trip to Bristol to see The Necks. They were awesome. Beautiful improvised music, casting spell after spell.
It’s a while since I had been in Bristol (many previous work trips) and this was my first weekend there. St Nicholas Market was great, and I picked up a Charly Elmore James compilation – One Way Out – which I did own back in the day, and that has been on heavy rotation since we got back. The meal at Pie Minister was awesome, too.
I have also been enjoying getting back in touch with Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones, as ever, and I picked up Frank’s Wild Years on vinyl – it sounds much better than I remember the CD being.
Other main listening has been The Gun Club – The Las Vegas Story. It’s one of several LPs that I got from the bargain bin on a recent trip to Dundee. My original copy has been played flat – this is the recent-ish remaster. It sounds amazing BUT it has the heinous crime of a bonus track (from a different space entirely) on the LP. I find that most irksome.
I have enjoyed reading Zoe Howe’s biography of Lee Brilleaux – fond and insightful – which has led me back to listening again to the mighty Feelgoods. I know the Wilko era is canonical but they made great records with Gypie Mayo, too – all of them were built on the foundations of a sorely under-rated drummer, The Big Figure.
I have not watched much of note – Only Connect is a perennial touchstone.
A tough month for great ones passing on – Shane McGowan, John Byrne, Geordie, and the hilarious (and much put-upon) Brigit Forsyth
I missed the magnificent Scott “Top Ten” Kempner of The Dictators and the Del-Lords from the list. A great songwriter, and fabulous rhythm guitar player, a rock and roll true believer
Cinema:
‘May to December’, with Natalie Portman and the brilliant Julianne Moore – who doesn’t feel the need for Botox, looks all the better for it, and is getting great parts accordingly – and ‘Anatomy of a Fall’.
Both recommended, quite similar films. A specific incident that has ramifications afterwards for the female protagonist for a few decades and a few years, respectively. Neither goes for a big reveal at the end, and both pieces are all the better for it.
Sport:
The local teams, rugby and football, are doing the business. The away journeys are so long, the visitors are usually too knackered to play!
No record shop anywhere update:
There is no record shop anywhere, it’s 2023, and so yet another Beatles’ release slips away. I’m not going to run after it, and so I dug out ‘Live at the BBC’ from 1994, 29 years ago, the same amount of time from the original recordings and its appearance, as from ‘now and then’ (heh! heh!).
It is still effortlessly the best post-‘Let It Be’ release, and is unlikely to be surpassed.
Otherwise – woke alert – it is, Dusty b-sides and a stupendous Billy Fury at the BBC in the late-60s CD notwithstanding, black music all the way.
I do not like buying online but succumbed for once to get five Ace CDs, two of which completed the Dave Godin series. I reckon if I ever get asked to go on ‘Great Lives’ on Radio 4 (unlikely!), I’d pick Godin. A pacifist who worked in a hospital rather than partake in National Service – what’s more useful? – the gradual timeline of the ‘Deep Soul Treasurers’ series is due, in no small way, to Godin insisting that the artists (black) were tracked down and paid. Just think, tracking down the artists and paying them. Cosmic! Don’t tell Jimmy Page.
Oh, and spying a gap in the market bigger than the gap in Tottenham’s trophy cabinet, a guy has started selling CDs (and books and magazines) from a trestle table. You never quite know when he’s going to be there (if it’s raining he won’t be), but he sells real quality CDs at £3 a pop. Got Ace’s ‘Fame Studios Vol. 3″ at that price… Southern Soul… what a compilation… the next package from Ace will definitely be including Volumes 1 and 2 of that series.
And a couple of the local chazzers have, seemingly overnight, upped their game on the CD front. Considerably so. Perhaps someone said something to them?
Newspapers
Done a massive tomb on local sport and have had a bit of sideline in recent weeks – the Golden Age in a local town. You’ll love this… did you know, the Sainted Dave spent the Christmas and New Year of 1968 in Illogan? No, really, he spent it with an old sparring partner, Gerry Gill, and did a couple of gigs in Falmouth that hardly anyone attended.
Re-reading the bible – ‘Days in the Life’ – as a supplement to this research.
LIVE: A couple of nights out this last month, as different as chalk and cheese. First of all, the cheese of Dundalk’s Mary Wallopers, in Oxford. A medical school chum has retired there, via Denver, and, as the person who first introduced me to the joy of Irish music, I thought he’d like’em. Which he did, a lot, as did I, a riotous lively hooley, very redolent of the Pogues in their 80s heyday. (With that thought striking a sonorous note, in the light of this weeks news.)
Secondly, to the Shepherds Bush Empire for the only UK date of Israeli superstar and worldwide star, bar this country, where he is largely unknown. Clearly the timing of this tour sits uncomfortably with world events, something he rued on, sagely and sensibly. A one man tour de force of piano, guitars, loops and percussion, his odd and idiosyncratic vocals an exotic centrepiece. Tremendous.
SEEN: As others have commented, Boat Story was an odd mix of gore and grotesquery. I think I liked it, but not as much as the latest Breeders, also with Daisy Hegarty. Praise be that Slow Horses is back!
HEARD: December is always busy, as I try to catch all the missed oversights of the year, pre poll. Being generally in the humbug camp, the Xmas offering from the Furrow Collective has come as a delightful surprise. A late goody has been the second album from Our Man In The Field, which is a lovely bit of Americana, via Tyneside and London. Recommended.
@retropath2 it may help the Israeli superstar if you gave his name.
Is it Jesus Christ? He’s a superstar from that part of the world.
I bet it’s Uri Geller.
@pencilsqueezer boom and indeed tish.
Wow! Jesus Christ is a musician as well? He seems to be capable of anything.
Oops! Asaf Avidan.
Read:
A strange reading month, mainly due to a lack of time. I sped through a second hand haul of old kids books (eight of them) before trying to read Arturo’s Island by Elsa Morante and absolutely loathing it, so didn’t finish it.
But the highlight of November was the first volume (of two) about Stockholm between 1850 and 1950 (= when it was published). I collect books about Stockholm, and these are some of the best I’ve read, entertaining and full of information that I’ve never read anywhere before, and all of it extremely interesting (not always the case…) It’s a bit of a tome, as is the second volume which I’m in the middle of now, but the kind you don’t want to put down.
Also, I didn’t read on my commute this month, which is where I get a huge chunk of my reading done usually, which explains why I read so little. I just couldn’t find a paperback that I wanted to read, and I only have dull books on my e-reader (plus, it’s getting way too cold to use it, the battery dies if I pull it out of my warm bag into the freezing night air of the bus stop on my way home from work…and that’s when and where I need it).
Heard:
Bought a final small CD haul for 2023 and have slowly been going through them; again a time problem, but I’m now in the middle of a mini vacation when I’m planning to get through them – and every other album bought in 2023 – to determine what my list for the year will be. But I can say a few words about the albums I’ve had time to hear a couple of times:
Sufjan Stevens – Javelin is just OK for me so far. Definitely better than the marmite that was C&L, but I can also find it a bit frustrating that he sounds almost exactly like on his first albums. Yes, it’s pretty, but a bit (dare I say it?) dull and too saccharine. It’s good, but it’s not what I’m in the mood to hear in 2023.
The Handsome Family – Hollow is another that has yet to surpass the OK mark. Not as good as their previous album, or at least not as immediate as that one, hopefully it will grow on me.
But I was pleasantly surprised by the new album from Tinariwen: Amatssou. I mean, I always love their albums, but I didn’t have high expectations this time, thinking that I would probably just find it more of the same and thinking I was growing tired of it. But to my surprise I immediately thought it was brilliant, one of their very best. In reality it’s probably just a case of Right Album at the Right Time, I can’t really put my finger on any huge differences from their other output offhand!
A few more to listen to this weekend, sadly no Madness. James Blake, Lisa O’Neill, Animal Collective, Kylie Minogue, Iron & Wine (Live) plus a few more listens to last month’s haul.
Then on to ranking!
AOB:
Very busy month at work and at home, and the past week all while having a really bad cold, but I was still going to work, which left me feeling quite exhausted. Happy to now have five days off, but sad that it won’t be used for its intended purpose – friends of mine from England were to come here this weekend to get the full Swedish Christmas experience, but illness in the family unfortunately forced them to stay at home. Pity also because the timing of the intended visit was perfect – we have a ton of snow since a week or so, and more snow appearing every day! Which, contrary to popular belief amongst most AW:ers isn’t a common experience here anymore. It’s usually at the most two days of snow and then it melts away. This time around it looks like we’re getting almost two weeks in Winter Wonderland – too early for actual Christmas of course, but snow AT Christmas is almost unheard of…
Well, sans guests I will now stay indoors for a couple of days to get well (finally) and just relax, before going out and about at the beginning of next week to enjoy the snow and cold before it (probably) disappears. My Christmas tree is up and looking glorious, the Limoncello Pannettones have been bought and stashed in the pantry, my three Advent calendars have been started, last night was the annual company Julbord (Swedish Christmas smörgåsbord), and I bought a new snug down jacket for half price on Black Friday…winter and Christmas is off to a good start after all.
I haven’t read, seen or heard anything of interest this month. Apart from this advert, which I really enjoyed. Robert De Niro’s best role in decades, Asa Butterfield is equally good and they have a nice chemistry together.
I didn’t realise it was an ad at first, I also enjoyed that.
BOOKS: I felt the need to re-read Ursula Le Guin’s ‘The Farthest Shore’ (book three of the original Earthsea trilogy) so did so – via a combination of an audio version (useful because I started when I had a heavy cold/virus of some sort and listening was easier) on YouTube and the book itself. I went on to re-read the latter half of ‘A Wizard of Earthsea’ (the first of the trilogy) and ‘The Other Wind’ (the fifth and last book of Earthsea). She had powerful ideas.
WATCHING: Only Connect, Shetland, only bits of the current BBC snooker tournament (too busy this week past to commit to it fully)…
LISTENING: Right this minute, listening (while grafting at a work deadline) to unreleased live Mahavishnu, hoping the planets align in January to allow for commercial release possibility… I’ve also been enjoying Anthony Toner’s new covers collection ‘Ghost Notes Vol.2’ – a fabulous set of late-night songs. In similar mellow / Celtic Soul vein, Joby Fox’s album ‘I Once Was A Hawk, Now I’m A Dove’ has finally received physical release and is in the post. More funky, but still in that acoustic music / songs-based vein, the new album by the always good Brooks Williams (& Aaron ‘The Hat’ Catlow) has just arrived – Anglo-Americana with deft guitar, fiddle and double bass. Also arrived, unexpectedly but most welcome, is the expanded remaster of the eponymous 1972 album by Australian jazz-rockers SUN (from my pal Legsyboy in Oz).
AOB: Lots… I’ve been working towards a first-ever (and likely last-ever) concert by my 27-year ‘studio ensemble’ the Legends of Tomorrow – it happens this week Dec 7. If I thought it would last that long I’d have given more thought to the name back in 1996. Barry Devlin decided the world needed a TV documentary about me/the Legends, and filming has been going on since August, gathering steam recently. I’m somewhat in awe of some of the names who have agreed to be talking heads – but I’m no less thrilled (yet terrified) to be working with over 25 mostly local musicians/old friends on the concert, covering sounds from chamber music to Irish trad to fusion (yes, we’re doing a Mahavishnu number) to a sort of folk/country-rockish classic rock. It will be filmed for excerpting in the doc and multi-track recorded for a live album. The logistical challenges have been significant, but the goodwill around it all is palpable. I was on Radio Ulster talking about it yesterday (with splendid local songwriter Taylor Lally also on the show, performing live): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001sv36?fbclid=IwAR3bj1OpADJU1nXJA3CI6jdGIqlcG4lDLlS0sZrCJ95oJm5SWlxp7UDXEq8
I haven’t been sleeping well recently – performing a full concert with so many moving parts and so much responsibility is massively out of my comfort zone. Wish me luck!
Pob lwc Col. ✌️
Obviously, I should have said ‘Wish me luck… in Welsh’ 😀
Here’s some good luck in English, Colin, or should I say “break a leg”? Or is that just for actors?
…either way I’m looking forward to watching the documentary.
Maybe “break a string” works for musicians?
… another prospective viewer of thew doc here too
…a prospective breaker of strings here. I have no stage fright – the only thing that worries me ahead of the show is that all my songs are in a variety of tunings. It’s the tuning up that worries me…
I am waiting for my Brooks Williams to land in the post. I loved his album with Rab Noakes- Should we tell him – Songs by Don Everly.
Seen:
Shetland, of course; Secret Genius of Modern Life, of course; but the highlight of the month for me was BBC4 showing Bobbie Gentry’s five TV shows from 1968 and 1971 – guests included Jerry Reed, The Hollies (with Nash!) and Donovan. I have a vague memory of seeing these before (it’s the kind of show my parents would have watched) but it was great to see them again. BOBBIE GENTRY!!
Read:
Thanks to a kick in the pants from Tiggs, I’m reading The Rest Is Noise – which I bought some time ago but never started – all my favourite composers are early to mid 20th century, so I’ve no idea why I didn’t get stuck in when I bought it! I’m not very far into it but it’s seriously good! Also reading the Tony Benn diaries covering 1990 to 2001 (Free at Last, I think).
Heard:
Well, it’s been wall to wall Beethoven here this month: symphonies, piano sonatas and quartets – not sure why. I’ve also just started properly listening to J S Bach – I detested this kinda music as a teenager and it’s taken me until my sixties to really appreciate what it’s doing. Solo violin sonatas and partitas and the Well Tempered Clavier, since you ask…
Wait till you get to the Cello Suites and Mass in B minor…
Funnily enough, Colin, the solo cello suites were the only Bach pieces that I really knew and occasionally listened to – I learned cello at school and the teacher used to get us to listen to various cello pieces, including this. I had the Pablo Casals recording at one point – long gone…
Re: J.S. Bach – yeah, the H-moll Messe is simply GIGANTIC.
And when you listen to the Brandenburg Concertos be aware that Bach never actually heard them himself (except in his head)
SEEN
Robert Plant and Saving Grace at the Bournemouth Pavilion. The Pavilion is a lovely traditional theatre, and a good concert venue. It’s the first time I’ve seen Plant live, and he doesn’t disappoint, and backed by a terrific band, particularly Suzi Dian on vocals and assorted instruments. With a smattering of Led Zeppelin songs and a selection from his solo albums, it makes for a great evening.
WATCHED
I really enjoyed the docu-drama on Shakespeare: The Rise of A Genius – with some effective contributions from the various talking heads. But the format didn’t work so well for Caesar: Making of a Dictator which fell into the trap of being too melodramatic – it would have been more effective at half the length, and concentrating on the talking. Seeing David Tennant back as Doctor Who was a joy, and I’m hoping for better storylines, which was the big flaw of the Jodie Whittaker era. And slowly working my way through Succession – half way through the third series. How can it be so compulsive to watch something where you can’t like any of the characters?!
HEARD
Very much enjoying the latest from Madness, as others have discussed elsewhere, and continuing to enjoy Hackney Diamonds and the latest offerings from Wreckless Eric and the Lilac Time. Also a chance discovery in the (otherwise pretty poor) HMV Southampton of Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico in concert at Le Bataclan in 1971
READ
Two excellent but very different crime novels this month – Satsuma by Bob Mortimer was a delight, and well deserving of the Wodehouse award. And Jane Harper’s Exiles was a tense thriller, with well observed characters – easily up to the standard of her previous work.
I’ve also just started the first of Ian Bell’s 2 volume biography of Bob Dylan – Once upon a Time. Early days, but very readable and with a healthy dose of scepticism when it comes to believing anything Bob Dylan says about his background and childhood!
AOB
Over the last few months I’ve taken to doing more walks in the countryside with friends, and this month I discovered Savernake Forest in Wiltshire – wet, muddy and quite delightful!
Watching the Caesar programme in particular I wondered once again why the dramatised scenes are always shot in exactly the same way. I can easily understand why they are silent, so the programmes /production expense can be shared with multiple countries, but why are they always shot in slightly slow-motion in milky light, with all the characters not directly involved in the action reduced to a blur?
All watched by ominous looking crows and starlings!
November is usually busy, which is a good thing, to get it over with. It’s the epitome of ‘dank’, isn’t it? The number of days I look out in the weak first light and start singing the opening line of The Queen is Dead: ‘To this land’s cheerless marshes’ indeed. The fields are awash round here.
SEEN:
Concert for Bert. Well worth the trip down to The Smoke.
The annual event of An Autumn Trilogy as the good folk of Chester Folk Festival keep our spirits up outside of festival season. Local wonder Keith Price did sterling work. Eleven Monkeys headlined, including Alex from Spiro / Three Cane Whale. Trouble is, if your compositions twist and turn in their key and time signatures, you have to be bob on to carry it off and to take your audience with you. I was interested in what I was hearing, but there was a weak link in the band, that put the audience on edge, not sure whether what they were hearing was deliberate.
Nick Dow brought his rich voice, fine guitar work and deep knowledge of English song to our club; it’s not often I have seen quite so many people wanting to thank the artist personally.
MEANWHILE:
It’s the second Saturday in November, so it must be Audlem Bagpipe and Hurdy Gurdy Day. Huzzah! Definitely more gurdys than bagpipes this year. I can happily just sit and wallow in a session like this, just as a listener.
But better still is to dance. At one point last weekend at Kinnersley Castle in Herefordshire, the stage was occupied by one gurdy and three nyckelharpas. Heaven!
LISTENED:
Camel. A lot of Camel, as you will find out. I bet you can’t wait.
Well, I know I can’t wait…
A bit later than usual to this but here we go, even though I’d concur with others on here that November seemed like a bit of a barren month.
SEEN:
Not a lot quite frankly. Boat Story and Shetland about the only standouts for me.
HEARD:
The new Madness album is a treat from start to finish, which I have written about elsewhere on here. Happy to have managed to get tickets to see them at Kingston Pryzm at the end of January, which is much smaller than they usually play.
The Pretenders “Relentless” is alright, not brilliant but better than Ms Hynde’s other more recent efforts.
The Jasmine Minks “We Make Our Own History” just sneaked in under the barrier for November and it’s a jangly delight from the original Scottish Creation chaps. A nice mid-life, reflective listen.
READ:
Geoff Deane’s “From Mohair Suits to Kinky Boots” is a memoir from the ex Leyton Buzzards and Modern Romance singer who ended up a screenwriter of some renown. This was occasionally laugh out loud entertaining, although a slight caveat would be that in a similar vein to Robert Elms’ books, people living outside the south-east might find the London references, cockney rhyming slang and geezerisms a tad grating.
AOB:
My knee replacement surgery has now been booked for 7th December after the original date of November 28th had to be rescheduled after it transpired that no-one at the hospital had actually booked it in, despite me having two voicemails confirming it was definitely taking place. Only after a phone call to check details the day before did I actually realise, otherwise I would have turned up. Ah well. Really looking forward to having it all completed now, not to mention the couple of months or so off work…
November was a fallow month for all manner of reasons (my job’s been bonkers, Mrs F’s job even more bonkerser, having our kitchen renovated, illness).
Seen:
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
All the M:I films are bonkers but brilliant, and this is no exception. A bit like going to Las Vegas – great to look at, but you don’t want to think too hard.
Flamingods at the Portland Arms.
I last saw them at the same venue in 2019 and they blew me away with thier blend of ‘Middle-Eastern Psychedelia’. This time round the sound was poor, every dirgey tune went on too long, and they’ve become the much less interesting ‘olive-skinned Hawkwind’. On the day my guts were a bit dodgy and I skipped the support (I only went at all because I had bought advance tickets), and someone in the crowd gave me the ‘flu. Bugger.
Heard.
Ellie Walker & The Folly – Sink Or Swim.
I’m lucky to count some very talented people amongst my friends. I missed the album launch gig, though, as it was the week after the Flamingods and I was in bed with the ‘flu at 8pm.
Read:
I started on Daniel Rachel’s Two Tone book but my brain was too foggy and I put it down after two chapters. The fog is finally lifting now.
AOB:
My first dose of the ‘flu for about five years really knocked me out for a couple of weeks, and I’m still coughing a month later. Being immunosuppressed, it is easier for me to catch germs and harder to shift them, which is why I was in Shielding for the Covid years, but at least I’ve avoided pnuemonia this time. I will probably avoid going out again until the weather picks up, so roll on Easter.
Offspring the Younger has had an awful Summer and Autumn, with what seem like early symptoms of inherited Crohn’s disease. A trip to a Gastroenterologist, cameras inserted in both ends, and a MRI indicate no visible disease (yet) but he still has the symptoms. So, good and bad news. Out of desparation, I made him chicken and white rice, which seems to have worked and he’s been stable (if bored). He’s off to see a consultant Dietitian to start a FODMAP diet (which is, essentially, “try things one at a time and don’t repeat the things which make you ill”). It has been horrible to watch, even worse than when I went through it myself – I was in my early 40s and already ticked off most of my bucket list. He’s only 18 and hasn’t really started living yet. And I feel reponsible.
Best wishes to the younger, Steve. I hope it’s good news long-term.
I forgot to add, I binge-watched both Deutschland 86 and Deutschland 89 (having previously seen Deutschland 83) over a weekend of ‘flu. Neither were particularly new (2018 and 2020) but both very good if you like that kind of thing.
All of my offsprings’ issues are blamed on poor genes inherited from me. I, therefore, accept all responsibility for all of their great qualities, of which there are multitude.
Seen: Soda Blonde in Dolan’s, Limerick.
A band that have grown in confidence since I saw them in the same venue about one year ago. A great live band now and lots of between-song banter, which I like. Frontsperson, Faye O’rourke addressed the unrest in Dublin city two nights previously which had unsettled the whole country. Not surprisingly, she spoke out against bigotry and racism. Highlight was when she came down to the middle of the audience with band-mate Adam and they sang un-amplified with an acoustic guitar.
Off-Menu Podcast Live Recording in Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin
One of my daughters bought tickets for this some months ago and I had forgotten about it. A Monday show, so I had to finish work a little early and drive to Dublin with her to meet her older sis where I parked the car and walked just 10 mins. to the venue.
Off-menu is one of my favourite podcasts with the likeable lads James Acaster and Ed Gamble. Part one of the show was very good, with James and Ed riffing off the full capacity audience and ad-libbing hilariously. Part two was the podcast recording with guest Tommy Tiernan. Now, I like Tommy in Derry Girls – as the Dad he plays a solid dependable role – and he has a chat-show on RTE with an interesting premise – he dosen’t know who the guests are until they walk onto the set. However – he is not as funny as he thinks he is in his own head and after a promising start, he decided to make it the Tommy Tiernan show, disregarding most questions and rambling down dead-end trains of thought. Also playing the stereotypical Irish man when confronted with something interesting – “ah, sure, we don’t have starters here at all, at all – we just go straight for the plate of spuds”. His menu ‘choices’ were too surreal to be interesting and his “I’m fuckin’ mad, so I am” act became tedious. It was disappointing I thought and one I’ll be surprised to see make it onto the podcast feed.
Heard: Enjoying most of the Stones album. I bought a new album by Jacknife Lee, he of Telefís – this one a collaboration with two drummers, Budgie and Lol Tolhurst and with guest vocalists / musicians. Sounds interesting so far. Also the Fizz album (not Buck’s)- nothing startling yet but the four-part harmonies are well-produced and sound great.
Seen – not much that springs to mind. Nice to see the tenth Doctor and Donna Noble back on the screen for a few episodes. Watching some older seasons of Great British Bakeoff on the Channel Four player.
Read: Just one – The Trees by Percival Everett. One of the strangest books I’ve read in recent years. The decendants of the men who beat Emmet Till to death are being picked off one by one in apparent retribution for that crime. The tone is weirdly comic – the racists reminding me of the sheriff in ‘Live And Let Die’ weirdly enough and there’s a couple of very clumsy cameos from Trump. I think I liked it but not sure how much.
Quite a busy month.
Attended a talk by an old friend at the Folklore Centre in Todmorden about witchcraft. Intriguingly one of the names he put up had the same real surname as me,then he proceeded to not even mention her in his talk. Had to ask later.
The same night I attended a conversation with Martin Carthy where he expressed frustration at not being able to do concerts during covid as this was his living and also his raison d’etre. Bit rusty in some of his playing but he’s 81 and it was still good to see him.
Then Bill Kirchen who I saw with Commander Cody 50 years ago superb guitar player which made up for his support band as they were a tad lacklustre. During the interval talking with a younger friend about the ripper programme we touched on the saville one. He doesn’t have a TV but said years ago he’d seen the documentary about saville and his late brother’s wife appeared. It turns out she was the optician that saville wanted her to visit him at home and I said she appeared at the end of the Long Day.
The next day was John Tams in Penistone someone who I’ve listened to for years and am always happy to see in concert. Superb singer and raconteur. Unfortunately towards the end there was a scraping of chairs and eventually a shout of “if there was a doctor there.” Another musician John Adams had been taken ill, understandably there was no encore as Tams wanted to see how his friend was. He appears to be OK.
Which leads me to the following week Dave Gorman in Halifax as one of the observations he made was that one of the things you don’t want to hear in a theatre is a request for a doctor. Last minute decision to go but I’m glad I did. I imagine some of his stuff will appear in a later TV series.
On the last day at the Cat Club in Pontefract the author John Niven in conversation. I’d read his Big Pink novella earlier in the year by chance and took this opportunity to see him. Talked about the book and about his latest book about his brother’s life and his eventual suicide. I shall read it later as at the time I saw him it coincided with the anniversary of a suicide in my immediate family.
Packed for a holiday which is why I am in Portugal now and avoiding the snow and cold in the UK. Tomorrow I aim to swim outdoors on my birthday which is something I’ve never been able to do.
I was trying to remember Dave Gorman’s name yesterday and could only come up with “Went around the world finding everyone with the same name as him”. Hardly narrows it down, I mean we’ve all done that.
Was the John Tams gig you saw supported by Northumberland farmer Graham Bell? He’s a regular at our club, what with him now working in the middle of the Cheshire Plain instead.
The very one I greatly enjoyed his set and thanked him after a chat with his mum who I was sat next to.
I’ve now read the CV from this Blogger Takeover guy, and I think we should hire him. He’s got all the interests and knowledge needed to join this site and I think he’d fit right in.
I assumed it accounted for the dominance of Cabaret Voltaire on the blog.
My wife very kindly bought me a pair of Apple pods with noise canceling, which are great. But accompanying the pods was 6 months free of Apple Music. So:
Heard: New releases were King Creosote’s Ides, and OMD’s Bauhaus Staircase. Both are very good, and both are entirely what you might expect from them. But my discovery of the month – year, in fact – was via Apple Music, and it’s Kid Canaveral. They’ve been going non-stop. In my head, it’s guitary pop with just the right amount of observation and bitterness in the lyrics.
Read: Restarting the Charlie Parker books by John Connolly. I also read, finsihed, and swore, about the Stephen Coonts book I got from the library. He started out as a decent writer – Flight of the Intruder and the bext three after that were all genuinely good books. After that, the descent into extreme rightwing fucknuttery makes it unreadable.
Watched: Finally, Reacher S1, and it pleased me more than a tv show should have done. Great casting, true to the book. The first 4 seasons of Chuck. And that’s about it.
AOB: Our three year tour of Alice Springs ended in October. We’re in the middle of a two month Home Leave, encompassing Texas, a trip to the UK to see my family, and then…back to Alice for another two years, via Hawaii. To my surprise, I’ve missed Alice, which I now regard as “home”.
Heard: just the one Mrs Wembley. I bought the final album by Michelle Holding & Bonz. It’s called Satisfied, Tickled Too and like its predecessor Struck Lucky was recorded by my friend Dave Howard (of the Oldham Tinkers) in his house. It’s her final album as, not to put too fine a point on it, she is terminally ill and announced a few months ago that she had decided to seek no further treatment. I’ve seen her and Bonz play a couple of times and they are absolutely my cup of tea. Michelle doesn’t write her material but has an excellent taste in covers. 2 that ticked my fancy on this album are Pretty Penny by Steve Tilston and a seriously dark song called Jasper and the Miners written by Paul Siebel whose song Louise it somewhat better known.
Actually I’ve just realised I bought 2 albums, or if this was in October I don’t think I reported it. I know a very talented lad called Tom Harris who is a professional piano player and composer. These days he’s based in Leeds and does a fair bit of teaching. He hangs out with some similarly talented people who helped him create his debut CD which is called Buddleia. He launched the album with a video of the most commercial track, featuring his tune set to a poem by Maya Angelou. It’s delightful:-
Seen: my folk club Folk at the Barlow in bustling downtown Edgworth (between Bury & Bolton) is having a great year. We had our first sellout for a while in mid-November featuring Granny’s Attic with support from The Waite Collective who are a mother & 2 daughters from Chester who mostly sing unaccompanied. My first time seeing them and I was very impressed. Granny’s Attic were spectacularly good.
A few months ago I crowdfunded Michele Stodart’s new CD Invitation and booked to see her perform at the smaller downstairs venue at Bury Met. I like the album a lot but was wondering how her live performnce would compare. A few weeks before the gig she announced she’d be touring with a band and would play the new album in sequence. I’m pleased to report that on the night she was great, performing with a 4 piece band who included David Ford who I’ve never seen before but I know has fans within this community. The band included 2 ladies, Emma Holbrook on drums and Holly Carter who played pedal steel and shared bass duties with David Ford. They played the new album in the first half then after a short breal played another 45 minutes of new and unreleased material. Michele said she had hooked up with David Ford via Zoom during the pandemic and once restrictions were dropped they met up and wrote an album which has yet to be recorded. On the basis of the one track they performed I’d buy it, no problem. It was a splendid evening to an audience of about 40 paying £17 a ticket. I can’t really see how that stacks up financially.
Glad you enjoyed my friends the Waites. Kat and Becca are my regular dancing partners! They have recently started singing for dance for the French repertoire, in which I also dabble; we may end up working together at some point.