Come all ye, gather round the picnic table, have some food (vegetarian options in the orange cooler, vegan ones in the green cooler), have a drink, (non-alcoholic options are clearly segregated over there in the blue cooler) and tell us all what you have been listening to, watching, reading, or otherwise using to help you pass the time since we last met.
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New albums from Jason Isbell and Alison Krauss came out in March. The former is a stripped back acoustic affair while the latter is Krauss’s first album with Union Station for quite a few years. Both are rather splendid. Lucinda Williams released the seventh in her ‘Lu’s Jukebox’ series of cover albums recently. The others have ranged from middling to diabolical, but this time round Lucinda has a go at The Beatles. I must admit to pretty low expectations, but it’s surprisingly good with some well chosen less obvious covers, Rain being a particular standout.
Mrs B and I went to see Rumours of Fleetwood Mac this month. We had tickets to see FM at the O2 a number of years ago, but were unable to go, so seeing the tribute band’s tribute band was about as close to the real thing as we’re likely to get. The sound was a bit ropey in the first half of the show, and the volume was ear-splittingly tinnitus inducing, but they were bloody good! All the predictable crowd-pleasers were played note- and voice-perfect, along with a middle section consisting of 5 songs from the Peter Green years. We enjoyed it so much we have booked to see them again on their massive 2025 UK tour.
I read Mike Campbell’s excellent memoir as soon as it came out last month – reviewed elsewhere on here, and highly recommended. I’ve also read a biography of the late pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones by Fiona MacCarthy. Burne-Jones walked a fine line between pre-Raphaelitism and surrealism and has long been one of my favourite artists. Fiona MacCarthy’s book gives a very readable account of his life without any elitist intellectualising about his work.
I also read London: The Great Transformation by Philip Davies this month. I’m a sucker for anything about the Smoke, and Philip Davies has form in this area, having published Lost London, a mammoth coffee-table book of high quality black and white Victorian photographs of the city a number of years ago. The Great Transformation is more of the same kind of thing, a huge tome of stunningly reproduced black and white photographs documenting the changes the city went through between 1860 and 1920. It’s currently at a bargain price from Amazon, and is well worth a read.
@Boneshajer as a live act The Rumours of Fleetwood Nac are much better than the real thing.
Saw them a couple of years ago and they were superb start to finish especially the Oeter Green interlude.
I buy CDs in bulk from charity shops most days but rarely have the time to play them. It’s a hobby and a curse but someone has to rescue them.
Currently listening to and enjoying the number one album KOKO by Lottery Winners. I actually bought a new copy from the band’s pop up shop in Leigh last week and got it signed before their free gig. Luckily they provided seats for the more mature fans in the crowd. First live gig in over a year.
Hey Beany!
Seen
Not been to the cinema for ages so it’s mainly been TV. The well discussed Adolesence was obviously a highlight. Also enjoyed the Amazon show “Last One Laughing” – if you know / like “8 Out Of 10 Cats”, its basically the same gang with Jimmy Carr hosting – 10 comedians in a room for 6 hours and if they laugh they are out (well actually they get a yellow card first). It had Bob Mortimer in, which is probably all you need as a recommendation.
Heard
Few new albums being played this past month, including the new ones by Steven Wilson, Alison Krauss, Sam Fender, The Darkness and Jason Isbell which all seem to have been discussed on here. A couple of under the radar ones were The Blue Stones / Metro (easiest comparison would be a Canadian Black Keys) and the new one from Tom Petty keyboard player Benmont Tench.
New one from Held By Trees (who I have harped on about on here before) arrived today. Not listened yet though.
Read
Nothing much. I got obsessed with a YouTube thing called Lateral by Tom Scott where they solve lateral thinking questions and so have been reading the accompanying book.
AOB
A couple of weeks in Japan at the beginning of the month was ace – did the northern coast from Kyoto (Hikone, Kanazawa, Toyama) which was away from the usual touristy bits (although we did one night on Kyoto). Been many times to Japan (it’s reasonably close from here) but this was the first time we hired a car – so easy – correct side of the road and everyone is so gracious. Did an ace Sake tasting at Toyama – 15 mins for Y1000 (about a fiver) and you could try anything from the extensive fridge. We managed about 10……
It’s been a big month for shows, so I will restrict myself to those (Other than pointing out that the new series of White Lotus is absolute pony. I know I shouldn’t be negative in this thread but it needs to be said.)
First up was Honeyfeet at the Jago in Dalston, a matinee show re-arranged from last November due to band illness. It was well worth waiting for though, the wonderful Rionghnach Connolly in fantastic voice leading her band through a set of soulful, folk and hip hop inflected tunes in an intimate club setting. Fusion done right, and although the whole band were all excellent I was particularly taken with the drumming of Phil Rowley.
Next was The Churchfitters at the folk club at Colchester Arts Centre, our local gig venue. I wasn’t too familiar with them before, and like Honeyfeet they combine different traditions to an impressive effect. Their quirky addition is unusual instruments including musical saw, a mandolin made from a frying pan and some guitar-type instrument with 10 strings which was fashioned from a Mercedes hub cap. I wasn’t convinced by the first couple of numbers but they won me over with musicianship and enthusiasm by the end of their set.
I needed no convincing by Peat and Diesel at the 100 Club on Oxford Steet though. Their 2023 show in Southend was the best we saw all year and we grabbed tickets for this as soon as they went on sale. Just as well as it sold out in about a day. I was surprised to see them playing such a small venue in London and thought it wouldn’t have been too ambitious to try somewhere the size of The Roundhouse or Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
Anyone familiar with the band will know to expect huge tunes and lots of singalongs (a Saturday night crowd in the middle of London enthusiastically chorusing, ‘Oh I am a country boy and I don’t like the city / I’d rather be at home watching the telly’). It’s a limited but highly effective formula which makes for a great night out, so long as you are close enough to see the band who play seated. The closest thing to a spectacle was a guest appearance by Calum Dan (the man with the transit van) who briefly danced onto stage.
Then it was back to Colchester Arts Centre for Katherine Priddy, another artist I was familiar with since seeing her opening set for Richard Thompson a couple of years ago at the London Palladium. Her most recent album The Pendulum Swing may be my most-played of the last several months. Any doubts that she could produce music as effective in stripped down arrangement with just her and George Boomsma on second guitar were quickly put aside. Her voice is a wonderful instrument, with a breathy flute-like timbre which she controls brilliantly.
Circumstance conspired so that we couldn’t take an extended break on a week off, but we did manage an overnight trip to Cambridge where we went to see The Guilty Men at Junction 2, partly because of Clive Gregson’s involvement in the band and partly because the show was so close to our Travelodge on the edge of town that it would have been rude not to.
Whether with Richard Thompson, Christine Collister or solo Clive and I cross paths once a decade or so, and his latest enterprise brings him together with a couple of members of a more recent version of Barclay James Harvest and the man who has drummed for 10cc since the early 70s. That gives a good indication of the music to expect – song-led with superb playing and 4 good singers among the 5 members of the band. It’s just a shame that one 40 or so people were there to see a really good show, and I suspect the band’s near-invisibility on social media may be partly to blame.
Finally, another local show as a Clacton-based theatre skills academy brought Little Shop of Horrors to the tiny Headgate Theatre in Colchester for a couple of shows. We caught a Saturday matinee, because why wouldn’t you go and see Little Shop of Horrors if it was playing within walking distance of your home? The problems with the show are in no way due to the young, enthusiastic and hugely talented cast. The first section is too long, and even that is front loaded with almost all of the great songs so the last two thirds can feel like a wait for the reprise of the theme tune at the curtain call, only interrupted by Suddenly Seymour. But if there is another version locally in year or two I’m sure to be first in the queue for that too.
Cinema:
‘Cottontail’ – A Japanese film that ends up in the Lake District – a widower fulfilling his wife’s wishes that her ashes be sprinkled there. Really rather touching, you know where the film is going but it’s great getting there.
‘Twiggy’ – Impossible to imagine how anyone could get a documentary on Twiggy wrong and, sure enough, it’s a cracker. Bizarrely, it dovetails almost perfectly with the Led Zeppelin film! Twiggy – what a legend.
‘The Last Showgirl’ – Set in Las Vegas, I have never seen anything Pamela Anderson has been in, but this – described as a ‘career highlight’ in the advert – is excellent, and, following her show-stopping performance in The Bear, Jamie Lee Curtis does it again!
Not planning to purchase anything American now, and so I’m not sure what I’ll do next time a U.S. film comes on at the local cinema. Let’s see.
‘Flow’ – Won the Oscar for Animated Film, and it’s easy to see why. Going to see it again soon. It’s got a cat in it. I’m in. Maybe I’ll go three times.
TV:
Erm… ‘The Monkees’. Done about twenty episodes, all in their original order. Fantastic. Thank you Rewind TV.
Radio:
It’s back! Proper Cricket on the radio, get it while it’s there, they put the red ball away for three months in May.
Other programmes include the new Alexei Sayle series, and Mark Watson and Plum House repeats. Oh, and the Paul Temple episodes on BBC4 Extra – ‘The Gregory Affair’ – are madder than a box of frogs.
Music:
Following on from RC’s Yardbirds’ issue and Mojo’s ‘Beat Surrender’ CD, this month’s Uncut is essential… The Small Faces, with a CD – ‘Something Nice’ – that I suspect will beat all-comers on Vinlys Day. That’s two wonderful ‘free’ CDs in the first three months. Yikes! I’ll be able to do a Top 8 in December at this rate, instead of my usual 3 or 5.
I’ve dug out the 1997 ‘The Autumn Stone’ CD as a result and am tempted to get the new 3-CD version from the Small Faces’ own web-site (£25).
What a truly strange release that was in 69… a hits LP, a live LP ‘and’ a new LP all at once!!! If they’d stayed together, a conventional LP would have been incredible. Much more interesting than dull ‘ol Led Zeppelin, who weren’t nearly as good but ran off with all the riches. Sad.
It seemed to take forever to get to January 59th, and now b*gger me it’s April
(and I still haven’t done anything)
Heard:
* Sam Fender still spinning happily
* Matt Berry – Heard Noises (another winner from the polymath man who (a) just can’t sit still, and (b) just makes it sound so effortless)
* Chris Pope & The Chords UK – … But Then Again, The Best Of (a canter through his back catalogue with re-mastering, re-recording, and acoustic departures)
Seen:
* Adolesence – much discussed, and not sure I’ve met many people who haven’t seen it in revent weeks.
* Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars – it was honest, worth a watch, and if nothing else got Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs off the shelf (long overdue a listen that was)
* The Rise Of The Comic Strip (Amazon Prime) – new documentary telling the tale of how the group got together, what they did on the way, and when they fell apart. Wasn’t much about their transfer to BBC, or return on UK Gold though (maybe there’ll be a part 2 – The Fall Of The Comic Strip?)
* The City Is Ours – BBC series, only seen one episode – promising but could be a bit formulaic/predictable. Sean Bean is Sean Bean, a drug lord in Liverpool with a Sheffield accent
Read:
(and this is the section I have trouble populating. Does the instructions for building Ikea furniture count?)
Heard
I am still marching through “1000 albums you must hear before you die”. Some of the slog is uphill, and there is far too much generic indie (Jack White, Travis, Pavement, The Kings Of Leon) in recent weeks), but I did enjoy hearing Belle & Sebastian’s Tiger Milk for the first time in many years, and Willie Nelson’s Stardust, which was arranged by Booker T. Jones. (Yes, THAT Booker T).
Mainstays of regular listening in the last wee while have been Don Cherry, especially Brown Rice, T Rex, both Slider and Electric Warrior, and as we have had more sun, I’ve been digging out Dr Alimantando (Best Dressed Chicken In Town) and both Hugh Mundell – Africa Must Be Free by( 1983 and Augustus Pablo (the dub of that album, and Original Rockers, and lastly Linton Kwesi Johnson – Bass Culture / LKJ in Dub.
Read
Bill Wyman’s Blues Odyssey – his take on the history of the blues, told with love, and great pictures.
Rory Carroll – Killing Thatcher – a fairly even-handed telling of the story of Patrick Magee, the Brighton Bomber, which includes thought-provoking insight on Norman Tebbit (who I never expected to empathise with) and the police bomb disposal teams, as well as the IRA bombers. The denoument was particularly sharp for me as it takes place in several locations from where I grew up – Queens Park itself, The Queens Cafe, and a one-block-long street in Shawlands where several friends from bands lived.
Seen
Still nothing of note – although the trailer for the Amazon series Last One Laughing did look good – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq3s4incNGU
AOB
AOB 1 – Senora Malo celebrated her birthday recently, and we had a big party for it (she and her twin sister had been saying for a long time “no, no need for that” and then, in January they happened across a venue for it and said “Yes, Party is on. Can both your bands play?”. So we all had a wonderful time with friends from all down the years, and our children dancing to everything too. A wonderful celebration, naturally bittersweet as we thought of our dear friends who did not survive to celebrate with us.
Make the most of the time you have, celebrate your long-lasting friendships, because you never know the minute.
AOB 2 – I started drawing, in a vaguely habitual way, about 10 years ago, and I have really enjoyed spending time scritching with pen and ink. I have taken part in Inktober for the last 6 years or so, and started 2025 with an app, Sketch A Day. It is exactly that – you get a prompt, you draw the thing, and you share it on that app, and wherever else you like.
Recent prompts have included Fly, Desert, Flow, Strength – I have really enjoyed making marks that represent them, and also greatly enjoyed feedback from friends who are entertained by the drawings. If you have a hankering to make some art, draw, sing, play – GO AND DO IT!! You do not need to be WONDERFUL at it to call yourself an artist. Make your mark, sing your song.
Scritches – https://imgur.com/a/scritches-jBYYbgJ
Have I really fitted all this into March? While still in full employment?
I had a whole week at Halsway Manor (National Centre for the Folk Arts), with back to back courses: Breton dancing by week, trad singing at the weekend. It was like having a folkie package holiday to Somerset. Halsway Manor is a delightful spot, nestled with much felicity under the Quantocks, looking into the sunset behind the Brendon Hills. It wasn’t even the only trad singing weekend that I had in March. It is a given that the market for such things is made mainly of retirees, but if keeping the brain active is a way of staving off cognitive decline, my peer group is going to be retired and active for a long while. The co-ordination and multi-tasking required for Breton dancing is quite the mental workout, likewise remembering double digit verses of your average murder ballad. I should be around for a while.
The month kicked off with Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis & Karine Polwart, for which I made a special effort in travelling to Birmingham, and an opportunity for a meet up with Retro. It did feel like a special occasion; the trio had made clear that we’re unlikely to see this show again, and I’m glad that I went. But, to me, it didn’t make the transition from being three concurrent individual performances into something greater. I make no bones; I was there to see Karine Polwart, and neither the show nor the album changed that. Her material hits home pinpoint, but I was relatively unmoved by the rest.
Manchester Folk Festival came along too, with more Retro rendezvous. The current incarnation of Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings doesn’t work for me; it’s the arrangements that are my problem, though I certainly couldn’t fault the band. Lisa Knapp and Gerry Diver, on the other hand, brought the oddness and individuality that was lacking a couple of nights earlier. I was delighted too to get some well-chosen excerpts from their previous solo albums – Hidden Seam and The Speech Project respectively. I never expected to get the chance to hear the latter live.
But the pinnacle of the month was my second favourite male singer in the land – Bob Fox – at our folk club. (One of the perks of being on the committee is that you can get to sharp elbow a support slot for your favourite artists; I’m gradually acquiring quite a haul.) He’s been doing the troubadour thing for decades and is consummate as a singer, as a storyteller, as a musician, as an entertainer. My only regret was that I should have plundered the merch table even more.
I am forgetting. I also got a first glimpse of Laura Veirs, at The Deaf Institute. Distinctive, compelling and surprisingly worthy of the considerable inconvenience of going to a gig when you’ve got a 0330 shift the next morning. Ugh.
As I am housebound apart from unavoidable appointments and a weekly limp to my nearest supermarket for groceries my life is very uneventful. This means I have little to contribute on this thread or indeed on any other. Nevertheless…
Heard.
I listen almost exclusively to classical and jazz nowadays. I’m still embarked upon my Maria Callas project despite being frequently sidetracked by digging into a large box of Pierre Boulez discs and an even larger box of George Szell recordings. These forays are supplemented by a burgeoning number of slightly smaller box sets and a growing pile of single and double disc recordings.
Jazz has been all the usual suspects most recently reinforced by the latest releases from Anouar Brahem and the second outing by Vega Trails. Both lovely, both highly recommended.
Read.
I embarked upon a selection of the books on this year’s Women’s Prize longlist. I’ve read seven to date and I’m currently engaged upon an eighth. Of the seven I’ve completed two stood out for me Birding by Rose Ruane and The Artist by Lucy Steeds, needless to say neither of these have been selected for the shortlist so in this as in most things I find myself swimming against the current. As it ever was.
Seen.
Adolescence of course, nothing else of note or at least nothing else has left much of an impression upon me.
A.O.B.
I’m expecting a phone call from an opthalmology nurse on Tuesday as the next step to my finally getting my much longed for cataract surgery. Still all quiet on my now desperately needed hip replacement surgery. I’ll have been waiting two years very shortly. It’s stopped me painting. It’s stopped me from seeing friends. It’s stopped me from having anything resembling a life. I am now considered disabled and it sucks.
Other than that stuff I’ve cancelled my Tidal subscription and breathed new life into my Qobuz subscription. Tidal stopped playing nicely with my streamer so it had to go. Plus it’s American and Qobuz is French. Elbows up as our Canadian cousins have it.
Completely slipped my mind but Big Visit the new release from Emma Rawicz alongside the pianist Gwilym Simcock is a bit properly good.
Just finished playing Anouar Brahem’s album as I was reading your above blogginations, Peter. A lovely album with lots of room given to Django Bates’ piano and Andrea Lechner’s cello. Not sure I’d call it jazz really, it’s sort of contemporary chamber classical/folky to my ears.
I’m a bit cheesed off too, with how Tidal seems to be heading. Never was entirely happy with the interface. I’ll be giving Quobuz a (free) try and I’ll be moving over in that direction if I like it.
Missed last month’s Takeover for no good reason, but I’ll try and get my thoughts/memory in order and contribute to this one later.
Jazz has become a very elastic term. The Brahem occupies a space that I find appealing.
Tidal has become a trifle buggy for me at least, dropping out especially when using connect so that coupled with a far better classical roster on Qobuz plus better renumeration for musicians and it being French not American made the decision easy. I’ve been a subscriber previously and all my favourites and playlists were intact when I rejoined which was nice. I rejoined Qobuz Club too which is a forum for Qobuz subscribers, not essential but a place to idle away the odd half an hour now and again. Oh and a connect function for Qobuz is finally in beta so hopefully that will be rolled out soon-ish.
Saw:
John Watterson with his tribute to Jake Thackray and Les Barker.
Having seen Fairport at the Union Chapel in February i saw Dave Pegg with Anthony John Clarke at Black Dyke Mills in Bradford.
To Manchester to see the completed Sounding the Century exhibition at the library and to attend a small concert which meant I saw the Oldham Tinkers again after I’d last seen them about fifty years ago. Quite a diverse range of acts including the late Victor Brox’s wife Annette Reis. I had to leave before the end as I’d arranged to meet my son who took me for a curry.
As mentioned on another thread I saw the film Time Travel is Dangerous if only to spot the locations in Muswell Hill.
Watched: linked to my son’s computer he suggested I watch ” A Touch of Cloth” a spoof of television detective series a most enjoyable watch.
Can’t think of much else.
A Touch of Cloth had some great moments…
“Are you laughing or crying?
– I haven’t laughed since my wife died
Why did you laugh when your wife died?”
Like many others I watched Adolescence, more out of necessity than entertainment. Everyone was telling me I should because I work with young offenders and have done for 25 years – I’ve met the likes of Jamie over the years. It’s never the same story. I’ve posted my initial observations on the other thread belatedly. I managed to miss it. As I said there, a colleague described it as being similar to those shows where Greg Wallace shouts at people in a factory. As a drama I found it frustrating in spite of all the excellent acting. I might post again on the other thread when I’ve considered my responses more.
The cultural highlight of the month for me was listening to the audiobook of John Cooper Clark’s I Wanna Be Yours on my daily commute. It was so entertaining and his narration had me laughing my arse off. I’d highly recommend it to anyone with a fondness for him. It’s also an interesting cultural history and his eye for detail and probable research ahead of writing really adds to it.
Other than that I’ve come late to the Word in Your Ear podcast which I’m finding more hit than miss. Again it’s good company on my commute.
In other cultural news I’ve wired up a 7 speaker surround sound set up in my den with a cheap second hand receiver and extra speakers I had around the place. All I need now is a good TV and the time to watch anything.
Mrs B and I set off on a 27 day trip to the Antipodes on 27th Feb, arriving home safely on 26th March, knackered, slightly heavier and considerably lighter of wallet. But no regrets! This means I missed last month’s Blogger Takeover. Had I not missed it I would have enthused about the concert at Folk at the Barlow (for whom I am currently the booker) by State Of The Union aka Boo Hewerdine and Brooks Williams who were fantastic and also the nicest guys to deal with. Their set included all but 1 of the tracks from their latest album Paper Tigers which is very good.
I would have also enthused about an album someone gave me after seeing the artist as support to Fairport Convention. I refer to Small Talk Songs by Danny Bradley. A new-to-me artist but blimey, what a cracking guitarist, singer and songwriter! And beautiful cover art! My other top gig in Feb was the wonderful Rachel Newton playing solo at Bury met in the small room. I was slightly worried as to how entertaining she might be as a solo artist but the answer was “Very!”. She was excellent throughout.
On to March. We flew out via Hong Kong where Mrs B picked up a tummy bug that slightly hindered our first few days in Melbourne where her sister had lived for about 35 years. We were all short of energy and appetite but managed to do stuff such as the wonderful Yayoi Kusama Exhibition at the NGV. We recovered in time to enjoy our 2nd visit to the Port Fairy Folk Festival and enjoyed it enormously. Not a lot of Folk, it has to be said but I liked pretty much eveything I saw. Of the artists I knew, John Smith was great, likewise Bonny Light Horseman, Katie Spencer, Vika & Linda, Ruthie Foster, The East Pointers and Lucy Farrell. I also enjoyed my first experience of Dean Owen and the Sinners who played the closing set in one of the 4 Festival tents. Of the new-to-me acts I enjoyed Hannah Aldridge and her band, Hana & Jessie Lee’s Bad Habits, Jon Muq, Irish teenage sensation Muireann Bradley, The Briscoe Sisters. An unexpected delight was the local Find Your Voice Collective, a 230 strong inclusive choir who, with a crack band and an excellent young autistic singer called Jason Paton-Lee played songs from Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen concerts. I was sceptical about this, but it was brilliant! I’ll see if I can put a bit of it on YouTube and link to it. That might take a day or two.
After that we flew to Christchurch and greatly enjoyed an 8-night small-group coach tour of South Island Scenic Highlights. Just wonderful!
I would have loved to do Port Fairy on one of my trips to The Land of my Father, but it has never happened.
John Smith and Lucy Farrell – lovely.
Currently listening to A La Sala by Khurangbin. Their records are quite similar I suppose but I find them absorbing. A nice vibe.
There is also The Best Of Fleetwood Mac 1969-74. A great listen, I would put this on in preference to the earlier and later records.
We are watching Yellowjackets. Things happen here that I have never seen in a TV drama before though are also familiar tropes. It’s really quite wild. It’s what happens when you’ve been through shocking trama and the long lasting effects on a group of women. It’s also very funny. Never a dull moment through several seasons. Sometimes I feel it’s getting quite silly but they pull back from the brink. Juliette Lewis,is great in it.
The Horrors new album seems to be a return to form, not that I have heard much since Skying. There’s a feel of goth music playing on a car journey after a night on the town. An atmosphere of that.
OK, I’ll do the fun stuff first, so you can easily skip the depressing health updates…
Read:
Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior was a novel that I ended up enjoying a lot by the end, but it did have a chunk in the middle, before it switched narrator, when I thought it dragged a lot. If you read it, stick with it – it gets much better. Set in Brazil among tenant farmers living no better than slaves, it is full of myths and saints and revenge and magic.
Then on to Human Acts by Han Kang, which was the only book of hers that I had left to read. It’s very grim and made me cry floods, but it’s a beautiful novel that gives voices to the victims of the inprisonments, torture and killings following the 1980 uprising in Korea. Her ability to write about the grimmest subjects in such poetic language, and still describe the atrocities without flinching or sugar-coating, is brilliant and leaves the reader feeling both devastated and uplifted at the same time – or perhaps cleansed is a better word than uplifted.
After that experience I needed something light and funny, so I turned to a Shirley Jackson novel that I found in a charity shop, Life Among the Savages, which did the trick. Originally a bunch of short stories written for magazines, and you notice the shift in tone and tempo between the chapters, but mostly she did a good job turning them into a cohesive novel. The stories are autobiographical about her chaotic family life in rural New England, with her husband and kids. Often very funny about a family of obstinate and excentric adults and children, trying to get along and survive on very little money.
Then I turned to another autobiographical story, The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. She and her husband suddenly stood homeless and without income, and they decided to pack a tent and sleeping bags and start a long-distance walk by the coast, despite him having been diagnosed with CBD. Interesting story, part memoir, part travel book.
I also finally read the final part (of four) in the fantasy series I mentioned I was re-reading the first three parts of last month. Thankfully it was satisfying and worth both the wait and the re-reads of the first three.
Heard:
Thanks to being off work for three months since my knee op, I’ve been reluctant to buy anything I don’t really need, but I did order the latest album by Sarah Klang – a favourite Swedish voice – called Beautiful Woman. It only just arrived in the beginning of this week and for reasons you’ll find out in the AOB section I haven’t had much time to listen to it yet. But from what little I’ve heard, it sounds great, her voice is as wonderful as always and the songs sound good and seems like they have the potential to grow into favourites. I’ll get back to it in next month’s BTO.
Also got the latest by The Delines – Mr Luck and Ms Doom, but have only heard a couple of tracks so far, so got nothing to say. Same with the acoustic version of last year’s album from Mdou Moctar.
AOB:
So; health update. This week I was scheduled to start working at 50%, which I did, Wednesday through Friday. This despite my knee having gotten worse again, but I thought I might as well try, if just to see what I actually can and can’t do.
First day was OK-ish, painful but I got through the four hours I had to. Second day was worse, and the pain was still there the next morning. Went to work anyway (because I’m stubborn) and spent three of the four hours in torturous pain every time I walked on my right leg. Barely made it home afterwords, and needed a LOT of painkillers to get through the night.
So me and my boss agreed that I needed more time to heal; it was a test and it didn’t work out. My physio had already sent a request to my orthopedic surgeon last week, about my knee getting worse instead of better and needing a follow-up examination/MRI. And I’ve now sent him an email request to be put back on 100% sick leave and to see him as soon as possible. Will hopefully hear back tomorrow or Tuesday.
On a more hopeful note; my soon to be 94 year old mum had intestinal surgery on Friday and it turned out well, as far as we can tell so far. They couldn’t do the planned procedure thanks to adhesions they found as they opened her up, but they quickly switched to plan B to still hopefully fix the problem. It’s a little too early to tell how successful it was, but she’s feeling better right now at least (and she’s alive, which is the most important part!)
Dad had a health scare in late March, being rushed into hospital with a bad urinary tract infection (due to his prostate being enlarged). He’s back home now, getting homecare visits three or four times a day. Very tired, but still stubbornly cooking his own meals and not letting the homecare workers do much besides emptying his catheter bag…that’s strong going at 98 (or “98 ½” as he said when they asked his age at the hospital)! I was thankfully able to visit him despite my useless leg and the long distance travel, before the leg got even worse.
Finally; my novel is still going strong, 185 pages written now – didn’t have as much time to write this week while working, but if I have even an hour free I do write, and on my days off I spend three or four hours most days writing and re-writing. Really enjoying myself and without it this spring would have been miserable!
Sorry to hear about your and your parents’ health travails @locust – but you’re all clearly made of strong stuff! Hope things improve soon.
Thanks, @Blue-Boy.
As an update I can add that my dad had to return to the hospital last weekend with blood in his urine, he came back home today, tired but feeling as well as can be expected.
Mum will be coming home on Friday, she had to stay in hospital because she was very dehydrated and needed some time to get the food and bathroom stuff sorted before getting sent home.
I had an appointment with my doctor yesterday and the pain and problems are attributed to the severe chronic inflammation in my knee that hasn’t gone yet. Got some mild anti-inflammatory pills for a short kickstart (he looked at my kidney stats and judged it to be OK, despite my Type 1 Diabetes) plus a cortisone shot in the knee.
And now I’m at full time sick leave again for another month…
Oh well…I guess that’ll leave me time to finish writing my book, at least. Glass half full.
Sorry to read of your travails Lo. Being in pain is miserable. Keep on writing, listening and reading and in time these difficulties will pass.
Thanks, Pencil – same to you; hoping your hips will get some attention from the NHS soon!
Listened (stumbling through music):
I’ve been reflecting on my music habits this last month. As I posted, I discovered the ‘Riffusion’ AI music generation website earlier in the month and had a good time thinking of genres and song ideas to mash, merge and generate. Almost literally every person who I introduced it to thought it was a terrible idea, with unappealing tracks generated. I quite liked some of what I was able to produce, but there was a certain formula to most things it came up with, no matter how I tried to force it away from generic harmony, melody and rhythm, it never came up with anything as caustic and unlistenable as Aki Streeter*.
Next I discovered Marc Rebillet, the manic looping, sampling street performer. At first I thought he was mad. Then I recognized the method in his madness, and enjoyed a few of his lengthy YouTube performances. But it’s not the sort of music that has lasting appeal for me. It’s best enjoyed in the moment, then forgotten. I can’t see myself listening to it regularly.
So I returned to my favourite form of listening – selecting a genre or subset of my cloud-based music player, and pressing random play. Through some kind of alchemy, it always seems to find, among the 58,000+ tracks, something just right for my mood and current frame of mind.
I also had a rare moment of time on my own in the house this weekend. While tidying up in preparation for various rooms to be painted over Easter, I put Laurie Anderson’s Life on a String CD on my ancient JVC hifi. As my long-unused speakers pushed out her laconic tones, it did really feel like she was in the room. Pulp’s We Love Life was considerably less impressive, but it did make me wonder what other CDs in my collection would be worth playing out loud. There’s 2 mornings a week when I can do this without complaints. Maybe that’s a project for future weeks?
Reading (like a snail):
I finally finished Braiding Sweetgrass, the reflections of an indigenous academic botanist/ ecologist, who insightfully weaves together native American culture & wisdom with well grounded and sourced plant science. What are really a series of not-entirely connected articles on different aspects of US ecology, plantlife and lore was linked, if at all, by a spirit of abundance, generosity and connection that runs counter to the predominant global culture and economy of scarcity, competition and isolation typified by the Mango Mussolini.
I also started reading ‘How Migration Really Works’ by Hein de Haas** – 21 myths broken about one of the world’s current bête noires. It’s good – as rigorous and uplifting for me as the writings of Danny Dorling – and presents so far in what I’ve read, with factual and statistical support, the case for migration being the logical outcome of a country rising out of poverty, rather then the desperation of a world threatened by conflict and climate change.
AOB:
My younger daughter has started learning the cello, and I have been accompanying her to her lessons. It takes about 2 hours with travel, to get her to her 30 minute lesson and it’s really worth it – sitting in with her and her wonderfully humorous and friendly teacher is a delight and a learning experience. I love the harmonious, earthy tones of cello strings, and I can tell my daughter is captured by the instrument. Her older sister has been learning the violin for several years now, so it’s no penalty to have them practising their instruments at different times of the day instead of my JVC stereo.
Wishing warmth and wellness to one and all as the northern and southern hemisphere swap their lengthening and shortening daylight hours.
* so pleased we all let all that slide almost uncommented off the front page. I hope the troll got bored by the lack of response.
** the second book by a Dutch author in several months, after Bessel van der Kolk’s trauma masterwork ‘The Body Keeps The Score’ – is there a theme there, of rigorous, liberal Netherlanders giving sane, sourced perspectives in a world panicking and tripping on short attention span alarmism?
I am halfway through The Body Keeps the Score. My counsellor recommended that I read up on mindfulness, following the suicide last summer, but apparently my family’s choice of Christmas present was a little heavier than she’d anticipated! It is true that my experience is but trivial compared to the Vietnam vets and abuse victims that populate the pages, but it’s a fascinating read all the same.
Seen: after relentless prompting, I finally started watching both Mad Men and House – enjoying both so far. Also rewatched the BBC Tinker, Tailor… – but that’s comfort watching, I can practically recite the lines.
Read: “Europe – an intimate journey” by Jan Morris. Interesting book: part history; part politics; part travel book – and split into bite-size chunks, which makes it a good book to have in the pocket or backpack when out and about – I’ve mostly been reading it in coffee houses. Also just started a book about the Mahler symphonies – “Beauty and Sadness: Mahler’s 11 Symphonies” – good so far…
Heard: revisiting Shostakovich’ output and very much enjoying re-familiarising myself with the sound world. Now doing the same with Mahler (but that’s April, really).
Also the new Steven Wilson; and the Boz Scaggs “Memphis” album – chalk and cheese and both very good.
AOB: the previous few years seem to have caught up with me and I was advised to seek help for depression. Which I did (ongoing) – hardest bit was the initial GP appointment where I had to speak about it, but I’m glad I did. Also, due for a radical prostatectomy in early May – so that might be contributing to the downswing (although I’m grateful to be having the op, it’s difficult not to worry about it – and post-op condition).
Email if you wish A. You can have my phone number if you like. I’m always happy to chat.
Cheers, Mr P – appreciated.
You’ve inspired me to start my trawl through the Dohnányi Cleaveland box with Shostakovich 10 which will probably lead to my listening to a few of his string quartets played by the Emerson String Quartet this evening. I’m easily led. We need to talk about Mahler…
Two films this month:
No Other Land – A must-see documentary. Hopefully its deserved Oscar win means it gets seen by those people who usually refuse to watch anything from a source that’s sympathetic towards Palestinians.
Mickey17 – I found this movie utterly pathetic. I think perhaps Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette and Robert Pattison thought embarrassingly hammy overacting might distract viewers from the embarrassing stupidity of the story.
Well this has been a good month. I managed to get to a couple of gigs both in Brighton/Hove (actually). The first was the Delines at the Old Market, a new venue to me but it was perfect for the smoky tales of disappointment which seem to comprise the Delines catalogue. I was humming them all the way home!
A few days later I was off to the Gondwana record label night in Btighton Dome Haymarket. This is a new addition to the Dome, not in the sense of a new building but rather an old one lovingly restored. It is standing only so not good for the aging Hound knees and back but the evening was splendid. I came across Gondwana via Matthew Halsall and haven’t looked back. There were 3 bands on. The first was Paradise Cinema which was just Matthew Wiley (from the Poritco Quartet) and a sampled backing track. He has apparently spent time in Senegal listening to and recording drums and parrots. He improvised over them open soprano sax but I am afraid that for me at least it jumped the Gondwana Shark and remained unmoved . The next 2 bands were far better.
Svaneborg Kardyb were sublime. They are a duo from Denmark. Keyboards, drums and electronics delivering bowel loosening bass! They are a bit like EST with a spot of 4 tet/floating points and are heartily recommended.
Finally it was Jamsmine Myra and her big band. She is a lovely Halsell esque saxophonist and her band flutes, bass clarinet, harp, guitar, keyboards and drums let the music breathe. I loved it.
I really recommend Gondwana for those who like spcace in their music.
I have bought the Vega trails Sierra Tracks album and the new HIromi Sonic works albums both of which are sublime as well as the best of World Party album for a spot of nostalgia
Watching has been Whit Lotus, contrary to the general views i really enjoyed it and the slow pace, but I have to concede that ending was a bit rushed
Reading has been the 7 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. A bit too clever for its own good and a disappointing ending. I have turned to a biography of Sigmund Freud by ay of a change following a recent visit to the Freud museum in Vienna
Other than that I turned 60 this week so a lot of celebrations and holiday plans and looking forward to all the imminent bank holidays!
Happy Birthday young ‘un. Gondwana are a blessing and I throughly agree about the new Vega Trails it is most lovely as indeed is Jasmine Myra’s last album.
A pedant writes: the Gondwana night was at the refurbished Corn Exchange. They spent a lot of money refurbing the Corn Exchange, excavating under it to provide storage as well retractable seating. Rigging points are much improved too. This has left the main Concert Hall looking a bit tired although the PA is decent in there. I do a regular Christmas job in the concert hall and have to run 100m of video cable from the top of the circle, next to the sound and lighting control down to the stage, which involves going behind seats and dropping down a couple of steps so as to minimise trip hazards. It’s the longest part of the job but fortunately, the house crew did it last time. They’re all lovely and severely underpaid. Really, there should be permenat CAT5 lines for this sort of thing now, I suppose it’ll come.
https://architecturetoday.co.uk/brighton-dome/
Thanks! I am relatively new to Sussex and assumed their physical proximity meant they were part of the same venue. A fact that was reinforced by the fact I got my ticket from the Dome box office😀. Having said that thanks for the info and the really useful and interesting link. Sadly I didn’t get Kamari Washington tickets for Monday otherwise I could have looked at the venue with better educated eyes. Best wishes ‘ hound.
Somehow, as per, it is mid month ahead getting around to considering March. And it was a good ‘un, ending off with the Manch Folk Festival, in that right trendy Northern Quarter. I got to meet, for the first time, my editors from At The Barrier, sharing decent coffees and amiable pints at various hipster dives. Very AW dudes, I thought, if next gen (in one case), but made up for by the fact his Dad knows @beany . As reported by @thecheshirecat , we also met up once more, for a couple of the shows. He didn’t take to this round of Jon Boden, here with his Remnant Kings. Me, after struggling with his duo work with John Spiers and even the might of Bellowed, suddenly had the scales fall, and I was converted. Laziness means rather than regurging content, this link shows what other fun was had:
https://atthebarrier.com/2025/03/28/manchester-folk-festival-live-review-2/amp/
Otherwise I had also teamed up with our feline chum for Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart, as they toured the excellent Looking For The Thread album I had loved so much last month. It was an excellent evening, musically and convivially, even if the Buddha bowls consumed left their cooking oil smells with us for the rest of the evening.
Listening wise, the years continued to give, with boozer new material from Lisa Knapp & Gerry Diver (Hinterland), seen also at MFF, and Reg Meuross’s Fire & Dust, his Pete Townshend produced Woody Guthrie project, with his own Guthrie influence songs and some of Guthrie’s own. A band including Phil Beer and Geraint Watkins can only add to the expertise on show, and does. Edwin Collins’ latest and possibly last, Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation, is doubly good, as it has songs that are instant and those that grow, many doing both. Less sure, as yet, about the Blake, Butler and Grant (Bernard, Norman and James, that is), which needs a few more listens. It is fine but the whelm has yet to find its level.
Same old, same old on telly. Except I watched a full week, day by day, of Come Dine With Me, as my daughter was one of the participants. It was strange to see her on the TV screen, buy her biased Dad thought she took to the medium like a duck to confit. (It was the Birmingham episodes, should anyone still be watching the show. If anyone did, anyone guess which she was?)
Began and am still reading James Kelman’s How Late It Was, How Late. For those who find Irvine Welsh’s prose too easily penetrable, it is an odd tale, but becomes believable, at least, so far.