Modern Times

Just in case I gave the impression that I don’t listen to recent music, I will review the latest album by Bob Dylan. Here goes: Bob discovers J.J. Cale & rips him off like he did with Martin Carthy & Bert Jansch in another lifetime. End of.

If gardening is the new rock & roll & fishing is the new kung fu, is Gordon Brown, (or John Reid another in the Parcel of Rogues): the new Tony Blair?

Alasdair Gray in 1992, wrote about the benefits of small countries having their own self- government. This was particularly important if the small country had a wealth of natural resources. At the time there was a whole cover up & black operation to smother any ideas of the Scots acquiring this wealth that should obviously go to our colonial masters.

Amid this bitches brew, Alasdair Gray points out that throughout history, there has existed this parcel of rogues, who are motivated totally by self interest & who do their utmost to put their own country down. Is this not treason? Hanging should be their fate, not the top seat in government. Certainly, if I was English (God forbid), I wouldn’t take too kindly to a smug bunch of tartan toe-rag, know-it-alls, running my country. I think the voters will show this in the next General Election. Enough of this rant & back to the music. Didn’t Bob Dylan used to be a protest singer, political, Jew, born again Christian?

‘If it keeps on raining, the levee’s gonna break’ – pure J.J. Cale. However, I would like to state that I am a big J.J. Cale fan so that I am enjoying this cd.

I am now remembering a John Cale gig @ Glasgow’s City Halls, back in the day & we were all there, all my friends in some sort form of abandonment. Many of these friends are now dead or facing a 6 month countdown. This last week, I heard of another clean living friend, who had worked in the shipyard gaining an apprenticeship, & then went back to College/University to get his degree & changed careers. I used to meet him swimming or at the sauna, he kept himself fit. He dropped dead at work. He was a couple of years younger than yours truly. When your time is up.

Happier times, happy trails.

Broken Flowers

Just caught this movie on dvd recently. I had heard the soundtrack & loved it & I do like Bill Murray as an actor, although I did think that ‘Lost in Translation’ was just that: lost.

However I was lost in ‘Broken Flowers’ it just seemed to drift without purpose. The music is the best & most haunting part of the film & Tilda Swinton showed how you can alter your appearance with a long black wig.

This is how Osama Bin Laden has eluded his predators. Although some Black Operators have leaked the story of him dying of, what is it this time? Kidney failure, no its Typhoid.

Another movie I have just caught up with was ‘Hotel Rwanda’. This was not as harrowing as I had expected. It was a terrific film, but the harsh realities of what happened there & of how it was allowed to continue make my blood boil. It doesn’t surprise me, nor does any cruelties showing man’s inhumanity to man. Palestine is a daily record of these extreme atrocities.

Arran, not Iran

A September Weekend turns into an Indian summer: God smiles on the righteous. Lets hope that no mad US president decides on a nuke strike, while we are on this island.

Happy Highlanders meet us off the ferry @ Brodick in the sunshine. We were staying with them in their ’Log Cabin Home in the Sky’.

I had left my car in Ardrossan, so it was pleasant to be a passenger as we toured the Island listening to Alt. Country. Not as rugged an island as Mull, where we had our break last year, but it was very much like one huge working farm. The island’s dairy products reflect this & the milder, Gulf Stream weather, accounts for their farming success & the number of palm trees around are beautiful. I thought I really was back in Iran again.

Day 2 was even better & divided into 2 very distinct tours. Part 1 was a walk out to the standing stones on Machrie Moor. I am an avid fan of Julian Cope’s (cannot cope) book on the standing stones of Britain, that has a huge section on Scotland & I bought a Reference copy for one of the libraries, I used to work in. Sadly it has gone out of print. I am also reading his book on Krautrock at the moment. Anyway, nothing prepared us for the totally awesome & gobsmackable experience of these stones on Machrie Moor. The little roadside sign & the lack of a proper car park did not indicate how superb this site was, although to be honest either I am getting older or the distances were incredibly inaccurate!

From the first set of standing stones, we could see another & from the next set, we could see another & from the next set, we could see another & from the next set, we could see another & from the next set, we could see another

Etc : 6 sets. As we approached the last set, amid much snickering about telling my wife, who stayed in the car, that I had done a Billy Connolly, we hit bogland & for the first time in years, I got my feet really soaked, they were to stay this way all day, squelch, squelch, squelch.

Next up was a visit to Brodick Castle. I am not that interested in the insides of the castle, but the gardens were like those of Eden. Here was a glimpse of Paradise.

I will never forget the feeling of being in the walled garden among more butterflies & bees than you could ever dream of, wonderful, unreal & heavenly bliss.

Curves in Rainbowed Air

My younger son has decided we are going to attempt to clean up the loft & make it a more manageable dumping ground. For the foreseeable future we are as a family going to attempt this lifechanging exercise.

The area has been divided up into zones. This is how I found my old 'hippie trail' sleeping bag. If you look closely, you may ask yourself what caused all those minute burn holes. Well thats another story.

How Did We Get Here From There

Spending all those years abroad in a war zone, meant I had to catch up on a lot of new music on my return. During that short time so much musical changes had occurred, perhaps inspired by that second summer of love. Mind you when one looks around, one doesn’t witness a world full of love. Certainly there isn’t a lot of love in the USA & Britain’s weapons of mass destruction, that are killing & maiming innocent women & children all over the Middle East.

Dance music had exploded in the uk. I had to immerse myself in house, techno & drum & bass for a while. During an earlier period in my life, I wanted to learn about classical music & I learned by spending 2 or 3 years tuned into a very informative and pompous radio 3. I still listen to classical music, but now it’s the newer cutting edge pieces by artists like Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley…etc… Radio 3 has a number of decent programmes that I listen to on a weekly basis e.g. ‘Mixing It’, ‘Jazz on 3’,’Hear & Now’, ‘Between the Ears’ etc..

As the years pile on I have had to become very selective in the listening process. I am still fond of the odd decent house tune or good Detroit techno or intelligent techno e.g. Wagon Christ, Aphex Twin, Muslimgauze or Black Dog. As I write this I am listening to the latter’s album with Black Sifichi & it is so outstanding. I was in contact with Black Dog’s Ken Downie via a Bulletin Board (remember them?) while I was working @ Bell College.

At that time using Bulletin Boards I got in contact with 2 friends, Eric & Steve, who got me involved in the whole Industrial/Intelligent Techno scene. From a shared interest in Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Zoviet France & especially the Hafler Trio I was to move into an exploration of pure sound or more non-musical sounds, soundwalks, glitches………etc…….

I am still around that arena with occasional backsliding. Now for instance, I am listening to Johnny Cash American V: 100 Highways, but during the period of writing this, I have played Vashti Bunyan, Devendra Banhart, Linda Perhacs, Astor Piazzolla Remixed, Koop, John Mayall, John Martyn’ s ‘Dusty’ & ‘The River’ & the Allman Brothers Live @ Filmore East.

My current obsessions include Psychedelia, Krautrock, Ye-Ye Girls & jazzy lounge.

‘If you could read my Mind’ now I am puzzled: who used to sing that? ‘I will Meet you Brother Further on up the Road’. Looking forward to it: Mr Cash.

Tartan Terrorism




Sometimes you feel so fiercely proud to be Scottish. 2 wins out of 2 in our World Cup campaign helps. It’s a bit early in the campaign to go all out Ally MacLeod, barking mad, but there is a faint glimmer of hope. Mind you we are in the so-called: ‘group of death’ ( we always seem to be & England end up with countries you’ve never heard of & I am far-travelled).

The English media’s coverage of Andy Murray’s rapid rise to the top lightens the heart. However, it is only by being involved in 3 Reading Groups, that I gained exposure to George Douglas Brown’s ‘House With the Green Shutters’. I found this lost Scottish classic to be so enjoyable & a constant page turner. A joy to read.

It is difficult being a librarian when you cannot choose the books you read. For the past 3 years, someone else has done this for me. I have discovered that this had led me into reading titles I would have avoided, but also almost all the titles I have read have been superb…e.g. ‘Time Travellers Wife’ , ‘Kite Runner’, ‘Kevin’, ‘No Great Mischief’, ‘A Gathering Light’….etc……

Its also very useful as the years pass by to learn new things. I work in an educational environment, so it is easy. I am in the process of learning to drive a 15 seat minibus & I am enjoying the experience.

Also I finally got around to listening to the Akron Family today & I would recommend this, but not while driving a 15 seater & reading ‘Green Shutters’.

Happenings

There is so much going on in Glasgow. You would think we had more hotels than you could ever need, but all 12, 500 rooms were full this weekend.

The weather didn’t really suit the Indian Summer Festival in Victoria Park, but it did stay dry most of Saturday. There are many bands at this event I would have liked to see…e.g. Camera Obscura, Fall & Antony & Johnsons. Devendra Banhart was playing @ the ABC, Sauchiehall St. We passed by the ABC & hundreds of kilted members of the tartan army who were celebrating the rebirth of the 6-0 winning Scotland side. Yes, we are back & proud.

No, we were not on our way to Hampden Park to see Robbie Williams, but to the fairly, empty CCA, where there were more people on the stage than there was in front of it, in the audience.

I have such high regard for Raymond MacDonald & Geoge Burt. I have caught them a few times @ Brels, during the West End Festival playing with one of my heroes, Lol Coxhill. Sadly they didn’t perform together this year.

Also there is the connection surrounding the cd they recorded about the Tobermory Clock, that has a personal history in my family. I bought that cd recently & visited the clock last September. So, one year later I managed to persuade my wife to come along with me to see MacDonald & Burt with the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra. The venue has such a history for us, when it was the Third Eye Centre. Mind you at that time there wasn’t all those semi-clothed drunken girls & boys cruising Sauchiehall St.

The actual concert itself reminded me of one of the 60s ‘Happenings’. We were told there was 6 pieces (6 goals, 6 improvised pieces….co-incidence?). There was such diverse sounds with varying dynamics. My wife & I agreed on something & this was that the quiet piece was our favourite. There was an AMM Keith Rowe/George Burt connection with the latter.

It was weird again, after the concert, to be walking amid the kilted throngs & the miniskirted girls with thongs in Sauchiehall St. It was such a sharp contrast to where we had been during the previous 90 minutes (another fitba reference!).It was a very enjoyable affair & thanks to the Happy Highlanders for letting us know about the event.

Son Nos. 1 & 2


This Was Our Reaction to the Fact That Celtic Were in The Same Group as Man Utd for the Euro Championship

If the Profile Fits, Wear It

Thinking of visiting friends on Scotland in miniature: Arran, over the September weekend. I hope we will be the only’ Weegies’ on the Isle. Just thinking how silly it is to remake the ‘Wicker Man’ one of my favourite films in the USA. Isnt that silly, it’s like making an American version of ‘Get Carter’! Oh, wait a minute, someone did!

Anyway the media has created mass hysteria. Last week some swarthy gents were taken off the Arran ferry. Were they speaking Arabic? No that was on a flight from Dubai to Manchester. I spoke to 2 students, who will be flying back from Dubai to Manchester to start University & there is a high chance they may speak Arabic on that flight. I should have warned them, I was talking to them in Arabic last week at the college. I will probably see then next in an orange jumpsuit on TV from Guantanmo Bay.

Good job they don’t check passports on the Arran Ferry. Mine would give even the slowest passport – official, much food for thought: Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. If he looked closely at the Saudi cities & areas visited (assuming he could read Arabic), it would be orange jumpsuit for yours truly.

I hope they don’t ask me about my time working in prison, where I used to deliver books & tapes & talk in Arabic to Algerian prisoners, picked up during the last wave of mass hysteria.

I am reminded of the time I was held up by tanks in Greece during the Generals revolution or the long journey across the desert during the first Gulf War, or being arrested in Kabul for playing cards or the time I had to reverse the motor at 90 mph as 2 Bedouins pulled guns on each other & I had to get my wife & boys safe. Being a librarian does have some excitement!

I don’t want to harp on again about if we had our own country, we wouldn’t have all those enemies that Labour’s foreign policy has created.

‘Joy to the world was a beautiful girl, but to me joy meant only sorrow’. This Nilsson song keeps going around in my head from Nilsson - ‘Son of Schmilsson’ maybe it’s because Joy from the library has taken a few much needed days off. Enjoy.