Apologies for the delay in firing the starting pistol for this edition of the gathering, Friday was disrupted by “stuff”.
Nonetheless, we are all here now and I hope you are ready to share what you have been up to over the last month, and if there is anything coming up we should be aware of
Started the month with a week’s holiday in Santorini with my sun, relaxing, sunning watching sunsets and eating.
Home two days down to London for a family barbecue that coincided with some football, read that month’s Mojo instead of the football.
Still down in London went to see the Eno film and later the Accidentally Wes Anderson exhibition then later in the week the Linda Thompson Proxy Music concert. All most enjoyable. 0
Found that B Eno is talking with Joe Boyd at Foyles in London in September so it’s a train down to that. Heading to a Sons of Cream concert now.
Oh and for the first time I saw Madness, that’s the band not this country.
Part of the reason for our trip to Santorini was to visit the open-air cinema, no choice of the film so we saw Mamma Mia, I believe it’s governmental law that it has to be shown every other week.
Surprisingly enjoyable especially outdoor as cats roamed the cinema.
We went to an open-air cinema in Athens. The choice of Yesterday was not ideal but we were well disposed to it given the pleasant vibes and a bar where we could order a few glasses of white wine. The audience seemed to enjoy the movie.
I recall, some 41 years ago, working on the Western Med, the open air cinema in the local village was quite the thing. A van would drive round the campsites with a loudhailer proclaiming the joys of ‘ le cinema d’ete’.
Having been laid up for three weeks with a busted knee (see Twang’s recent thread) I’ve been busier than usual trying to entertain myself…
Read:
How To Say Babylon. A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair is a gripping, poetic and harrowing depiction of growing up in a strict Rastafari household in Jamaica, and finally managing to break away from the dictatorship of her father. The fact that we get a very moving reconciliation at the end gives an extra layer to her story, and we also get an overview of the history of the Rastafari movement, which is very interesting and often surprising (not necessarily in a good way…) Strongly recommended.
Finally got around to reading World Within a Song by Jeff Tweedy, and enjoyed it a lot. The subtitle “Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music” should give you a clue; in short chapters and vignettes Jeff tell us about songs that made an impact on him or contains the key to beloved memories. Not all of these songs are great songs, but many are made great by their personal connection to him, and over all he preaches tolerance – except towards Bon Jovi, perhaps… In between the song chapters we get short anecdotes from Jeff’s life in music. His prose is very humorous and I spent a lot of time giggling throughout the book (as well as a few tears), but he is 100% serious in his love for music. It could have been twice as long without outstaying its welcome, IMO. My kind of music book!
The third non-fiction book that I loved in July was Shakespeare. The Man who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench (with Brendan O’Hea). I’m a huge Shakespeare-nut since early childhood, so reading Judi’s take on every role she’s done in every play of his that she’s been in was absolute bliss – and again, very funny! This is also a great format: the two of them sit down and talk about one play at a time, and one character at a time (when she’s played more than one in the same play). Judi has a photographic memory and can quote any part (including parts she’s never played) at any moment from memory, which she does frequently to prove points and explain how she sees the motivation of the people in the plays.
Besides the play and character analysis we also get a ton of anecdotes about co-stars, directors, theatre companies and all of the back-stage shenanigans, as well as snippets from her upbringing etc. I could barely put it down.
My PC Jersild project is in its final stretch, two more novels read in July (one of them I’m still reading the end of in August), only one other novel and a couple of non-fiction works left to go. I’m taking it slow now, to make it last as long as possible.
Found three childhood favourites second hand that I very happily re-read. Two of them are Swedish, but you might know of the third (and if you don’t, you should look it up!)
That book is Jessamy by Barbara Sleigh, a fantasy tale of the time traveling variety (think Nesbit – House of Arden etc) and one of my first fantasy reads (alongside said Edith Nesbit, CS Lewis and of course the High Fantasy worlds of JRR Tolkien).
Seen:
So many things, unusually…but I had lots of time to kill and couldn’t/can’t really move about much with this knee injury.
A few documentaries: Catching Fire – The Story of Anita Pallenberg, Little Richard – I Am Everything, and one about TLC. All of them good, none of them great. Also tried to watch the Pete Doherty documentary, but turned it off quickly, as it was trying to be poetic and rubbed me the wrong way, managing only to be pretentious (and I actually belong to the minority who likes a lot of his music…)
Watched lots of easy-to-digest docu/competition series like The Great Pottery Throwdown and several years worth of LAOTY and PAOTY, plus re-runs of Danish antique dealers hunting down bargains to buy and resell and auctioneers selling everything from live stock to art… Comforting to the point of falling asleep, occasionally.
Saw a few films on the Swedish public service site – after watching a few I started to question why all of them had LGBTQ themes, until I remembered that it was Pride month…doh!
Among them was Supernova with Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci (OK a bit too slow), and Dating Amber (an Irish film that I had to look up just now to remember what it was…so not a new favourite). And a bunch of classics as well.
My enjoyment of the Judi Dench book made me go to YouTube to find the RSC musical version of The Comedy of Errors, which I remembered watching on TV when I was young, and I quite enjoyed seeing it again. I also went to the “Open Archive” channel for old Swedish public service TV to find the version of Twelfth Night that I watched as a kid. Some of it held up well, other less, but I was entertained enough by it.
Since I don’t own a TV, and don’t subscribe to any streaming services, the only Olympics stuff I’ve watched is the daily summary show, which is probably enough. Strange, coming from someone who used to take time off from work for every Summer Olympics (from 1984 to 2016) to park in front of the telly and watch e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, writing down my running commentary on the whole circus into what used to end up amounting to four or five big notebooks! Those days are gone.
Heard:
The only new album I’ve received since the last BTO is the delayed delivery of Living Thing by Anna Tivel, which I’m enjoying a lot. Standout track is probably “Desperation”, but all of it is genuinely lovely, and I probably pick that one just because it’s quite different sonically from the other tracks, not necessarily better. It’s been a while since I listened to her previous albums so I can’t really compare and rank it against them – and all of them are good!
Also kept listening to last month’s star, Stung! by quirky aussies Pond, and I’m only enjoying it more and more with each listen. Great energy.
Waiting for three new albums to arrive, the slightly eclectic mix of Marc Almond, Nathan Bowles and Jake Xerxes Fussell, looking forward to all of them!
AOB:
Other than me suffering this unfortunate knee injury and creeping about on crutches, my sister also had some rotten luck when it turned out that the surgery she had to remove her skin cancer didn’t get all of it. She’ll have to go in again, and this time they’ll have to do some reconstructive work using skin from her arm, so they’ll be able to go deeper and make sure all of it’s gone (it’s right in the middle of her face, so very visible if it isn’t done up nice, not the first priority of course, but still important).
My vacation will be somewhat botched by this knee business, but I might do something in the autumn instead to make up for it.
Saw Squeeze at Kelvingrove Bandstand , fantastic as always. Support act had Glenn Tilbrook’s son as front man – he sounds very like his dad.
Read The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. Really enjoyed it although not exactly a feel-good read!
Saw: If I might slip into August for one day, on the 1st I saw Jerry Douglas in Glór, Ennis. One of the worlds finest musicians, there is no doubt that he is a virtuoso on his chosen instrument. I love his session work with other artists and bands – his playing on T Bone Burnett’s eponymous album from 1986 is sublime. But I felt that there was a lack of variety in what we heard – his between-song stories were very entertaining and he has a decent singing voice that was a bit under-used. A sister of Maura O’Connell came on to sing one song. It was impressive but by the end it was sufficient.
Heard: As already pointed out by @vanfan and others, the new VM live album is very good and very well recorded. My only minor gripe is the fade-out at the end – I like live albums to finish properly.
The Tom Petty country covers album is likewise very well recorded but a little unadventurous. From what I’ve heard so far, nobody strays too far from the source material, with some singers using exactly the same cadence / pauses / inflections as TP did on the originals.
Ian Hunter’s Defiance Part Two is like stepping 45 years back in time, but in a good way. Fair play to him.
Watched: Two recent Olivia Coleman films on Netflix. Wicked Little Letters was good fun with a poingnant undercurrent, OC and Jessie Buckley both excellent with good support from Timothy Spall. Joyride is from 2022 and is better than the clip on Netflix might have you believe. Decent.
AOB: I took two weeks off. I went abroad for the first time in six years – a week in Corfu. Lovely. Second week – a few days up around @Jaygee ‘s neck of the woods – Roscommon Town / Strokestown / Lough Key – very pleasant. And the remainder in Co. Mayo – very nice.
Cinema:
‘The Conversation’ – so good, I bought it twice – almost certainly the only 50th Anniversary release I’ll listen to or watch in 2024.
‘Thelma’ – American film about a woman in her 90s who goes across town with a fellow friend (Richard Rowntree) to recover money lost online. Malcolm McDowell turns up as a very unsympathetic character near the end. Recommended, but not ‘that’ recommended.
‘The Crossing’ – unlikely too many of Tommy Ten-names’ chums will have watched this film about an older lady travelling from Georgia to Istanbul to find her sister’s Trans’ child, believed to now be working in the sex industry. Beautifully shot, a picture with real heart, and be assured, very, very, very woke. I loved it, and anyone I know who has seen it loved it.
Sport
Thirteen pre-season matches down, the local league starts this Saturday. Just a reminder that the F.A. Cup has already begun and now, not after Christmas, is the best of the tournament by a long way.
The Olympics. Really enjoyable. I’ve just let EuroSport do it all for me as I can’t be bothered to pick and choose, and the last couple of nights of the track and field from 6 to about 9.30 has been thoroughly enjoyable. How good is that Pole Vaulter?! A better bet than hanging around with football hooligans from the dire 1980s in Tamworth, I’d have thought.
Following the three-ring-circus of the Ashes (“No, please Pat, you take them home with you, we insist”), this year’s West Indies side were a competent Division 2 county outfit at best. I imagine Sri Lanka will have more about them. I hope Vic Marks does more than one Test for their visit.
Music
Hit on a groovy idea. Having to… erm… clean the house, the address card box thingy had loads of blank address cards in it, so… now it’s a 60s Soul L.P. card thingy. Ask Alexa to play a specific record gleaned from the U.S. R&B LP chart from 65-69 – The Artistics, Tyrone Davis, Marvin, Otis – listen to it to make sure it sounds good (some of the earlier Motown ones sound a bit too airy, with too much bass for my liking), and write down the release date, label, songs on one of yer cards. Great idea, doing about one a day, and listening to all the L.P. s those punters in ‘Summer of Soul’ might well have been acquainted with in 69.
And good news, my £36 CD player celebrated its first birthday last week, so we’ve been having a Russell. Technology can definitely be over-thought. Again, less is more.
We had a lovely week on Islay – great food, great beaches, a couple of distillery visits.
No new music listening to report, but I can confirm that Court and Spark is a magnificent album, and also that The Best Of Little Walter is an album of endless depth.
No watching to report.
I enjoyed Kid Congo’s autobiography – an unflinching telling of a wild life, shot through with humour and joy, and with a great sincerity. There are many great details and insightful comments – The Cramps saw themselves as magical beings, Nick Cave appointed him to The Bad Seeds with the identity of “The Misfit”, Jeffrey Lee Pierce still visits him in his dreams.
I am astonished by the detail of his recall – who all was there for each adventure, what shoes they were wearing, what they were drinking. (DRINKING MIDORI IN A LESBIAN BAR WITH SIOUXSIE SIOUX!!) It would be an astonishing recall if he had spent his life teetotal !!
*Voiceover* “Kid Congo Powers did not spend his life teetotal”
The energy level dips when he goes through rehab, and lifts again as there are several interesting threads where he comes to terms with the difficulties and losses in his life, in stages, and becomes more aware of his place in society and then finds more peace and companionship in his life.
Highly recommended
its been a busy month – we had a trip to Scotland to visit our eldest whose at St Andrews and decided to stay there over the summer instead of coming back to Singapore. So a couple of long flights gave me a chance to catch up on some of my media backlog….
Heard:
Main listening continues to be the new Mono album (Oath), the new Lo Moon album and the new Decemberists album. All excellent. Also enjoying the new Travis album (LA Times) and a couple of listens in to the Van Morrison live album. Aside from that, I’ve been digging into the back catalogue of the Gary Kemp / Guy Pratt Raconteurs podcast, which is always entertaining.
Seen:
Finally managed to catch up on a few on the wishlist – enjoyed 3 Body Problem on Netflix, the third season of Alex Rider (light but entertaining) and a few BBC Four docs that have been pending. Funny thing is that at home, we rarely watch TV, but on holiday in a rented cottage, we would watch TV – watched The Jetty as it aired (not too bad) and One Day on Netflix (I loved it, but then I knew the book).
Read:
Mainly magazines on Readly and “We Need to Talk About Kelvin / Marcus Chown”
As I answer, yet again I’m in a field: this time at the top of Sidmouth. Hence, as ever, my last month includes the first week of this. My first Sidmouth, it pouring scorn on such folkie pretensions I might have. This is hardcore @thecheshirecat territory, wall to wall and street to street sessions, workshops and ceilidhs, with more Morris teams than you’d think the tradition could sustain. There are orthodox concerts, more my bag, but given the geography of the town, it is a question of staking your claim early, I.e. queuing, with no option to move on to any contemporaneous. So, a little different from my usual tendency to “graze” at festivals. But you acclimatise quick, and provided appetites are quenched by 3 or 4 shows a day, it’s all good. So who’ve I seen? Bigger names would be Steve Knightley’s Dream in Colours, as described elsewhere by @nigelt, Oysterband, Phil Beer(with Paul Downes), Karine Polwart, John Kirkpatrick(with his ex-wife, Sue Harris) , Phil Cunningham/Aly Bain and Blowzabella. Lesser names I would commend include Windjammer and The Wilderness Yet, each young trios with new ways of approaching what would be folk in the pure sense of the word, each offering hope for the otherwise AW similar demographic, age wise, extending deep into the next couple of decades.
A bit of a culturally quiet month for me with not much listening or reading achieved, but I didn’t want to pass on the opportunity of mentioning a film I saw recently. The Quiet Girl, which came out in 2022, is the debut of Irish director Colm Bairead. It’s filmed largely in the Irish language with subtitles, and tells the story of a neglected 9 year old girl whose disinterested parents send her away to spend the summer with distant farming relatives. The plot is perhaps a little predictable, but the performances of all the main characters are luminous, and the filming exquisite. A quiet air of sadness and loss hangs over the whole film, and it is at times unbearably touching. It’s a simple unassuming tale that weaves a magical spell, now touted as one of the best Irish language films ever made. I felt hugely moved from start to finish, and was compelled to immediately watch it again. Highly recommended.
Yes it’s a lovely film, based on the novella Foster by Claire Keegan. The camera likes that young actress. I remember the lovely scene where the uncle (?) asks her to collect the morning post and off she runs, full of joy.
For me and my family, July was dominated by my dad’s funeral – organising it all at the beginning and attending it at the end.
I wrote in May’s “Takeover” about my dad’s successful operation for bowel cancer and his complete recovery and reversion to his old self. Later that month he was hit by a car while he crossed a road and he died in ICU a few days later. The delay between his death and obtaining permission to hold his funeral was due to police investigations, a post mortem and consideration regarding prosecution by the Procurator Fiscal. The wait seemed interminable for the family, but particularly for my mum. Couldn’t be helped, of course…
Not much more to say, really.
Bloody hell, Fitz, what a terrible thing to happen just as he got clear of cancer. A very cruel twist of fate. Sorry for your loss.
Thanks, Gary
I can’t express how sorry I am to hear this.
Gulp.
Condolences.
I am so desperately sorry to hear this, Fitterstoke.
Every condolence to you all.
I can’t imagine how your mum must feel after such a cruel blow, just as hope and joy seemed to have won. Unbelievably sad.
Big hugs to her, you and all of the family.
My condolences.
So dreadfully sorry to hear that sad news, FS. My sincere condolences…
Oh fitterstoke that’s awful – so sorry to hear this. Very best wishes to you and your family.
That’s simply dreadful. Condolences to you all.
Blinkin eck. That’s cruel for you and yours. Condolences.
Sorry to read this, and my condolences as well.
My father died on the day we were packing to go on our summer holiday, so I saw my family off, then headed to the UK to be with my mum and sister. As he died (peacefully) at home, there had to be a post mortem – a slow decline from Parkinson’s but no specific cause. The funeral was finally held this Tuesday.
It was good to have 3+ weeks with my Mum, getting on with the process of living and dealing with the sorrow and loss. But these procedural delays and complications can be frustrating.
I hope you have had time to mourn and grieve with your family.
What an awful time for you all.
Sincerest condolences.
What everyone else says
Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts.
So much has passed since the 1st July, it’s hard to comprehend that July still included the tail end of my Breton holiday, so the first gig was a fest noz in a cowshed in the middle of bastard nowhere. Either my fluency in French had deteriorated while I was away, or some of the introductions were in yer actual breton, so it was pretty hardcore.
Five days after getting home, I was off to Ely Folk Festival, a small fish in the festival pond, yet still offering some well-known names. In fact, they possibly try too much to widen their appeal, as many of the bigger names were barely folk. Still, I’m not going to object to getting a chance to see Boo Hewerdine performing some of the songs taken internationally by other artists. Jez Lowe closed the Sunday night on great form. Then we had a stonking singaround til three in the morning. (I then got up to catch the first train home in order to make an afternoon session in Blackburn. My head felt like I had been mugged. Still, sleep deprivation – you can cope with it every now and then, eh?)
Then someone jumped in front of my train cf my thread elsewhere, so I got some more lovely sleep deprivation. That did somewhat make a hinge in the month.
Cambridge Folk Festival. I used to go every year, but as I became more of a participant, the lack of decent singing and any dancing to speak of caused me to take my trade elsewhere; also, they shifted the week so it clashed with Sidmouth. Anyway, this year there was no clash and a crowd of us all decided to go again. Given where I was at that moment, this proved to be as good a place for me to be. I didn’t need to be that engaged with what was on stage. I was among friends, enjoying the convivial open air festival ambience and the weather was friendly too. I really just chilled and let it all wash over me.
That said, the singing sessions have been given more of a push and there were certainly some things which cut through to me – quebecois Genticorum were a joyful start to Sunday, McGoldrick, McCusker & Doyle are always worth it and Fantastic Negrito was … well .. fantastic. I knew Retro would advise me to choose Blue Rose Code for the closing show, and I was glad I was there; he’s one passionate performer. Leyla McCalla did some wonderfully adventurous things musically, but alas there were no CDs to take home to consolidate the love. I did come away with the Fake-Poets Guild CD; if the programme could just say ‘weird’ in the write up for performers, I would know exactly where to place my cross.
Again, Cambridge’s definition of folk is definitely of the broad church variety, but that suited me fine. In fact, the moments that cut through were both most definitely ‘pop’. Birdvox, Inge Thomson’s new vehicle, brought joy with a rendition of Kate Bush’s The Big Sky, scat vocals on the lead out ‘n’ all, and a frail Justin Currie still packed a punch coming on as a guest of Blue Rose Code.
Sidmouth is in August (and Devon).
Never commented on this thread before so I will start now.
Just back from my holiday (2 weeks in Croatia) to be welcomed by the deluxe edition of the debut Fish album ‘Vigil In a Wilderness of Mirrors’. I bought this on cassette in 1990 when it was released and played it until the tape broke.
Remembered all the songs but never really went back to it until I saw a message about the deluxe re-release.
It is truly a great album and a perfect complement to his Marillion albums but with more political lyrics. The band he has is excellent on the album as well and the documentary on the blu ray was very enlightening.
Recommended!
Missed this – that Deluxe Edition would sit nicely on the shelf with the Marillion ones.
I admit though, I haven’t listened to it for a while (tonight, I will be rectifying that).
I firmly believed that Janick Gers was all over that album – I’ve just looked and he only appears on one track.
Drums provided by Mark Unprounceablenamefrombigcountry, and John Keeble on 1 track.
For years I was convinced I’d seen the Spanner Ballet tubtumper play with The Cult – turns out I merely met him at a gig somewhere (ie stood next to him at the bar and said Hello) and he was wearing a Cult T-Shirt.
Synchronicity!
I was at Bradford Uni between 1983-87 and got to know by sight, and the odd chat, Rob Heaton the drummer in New Model Army in the student bar.
At a gig I attended by The Cult at Bradford St George’s Hall in 1986 he recognised me and came over for a chat. My girlfriend at the time was very impressed!
I also bought this on cassette on release!
Can’t honestly say I’ve revisited much in the last thirty years, but I am tempted by this, especially as a quick mental interrogation suggests I still know all the words…