Richard Skelton

As an avid ‘Wire’ reader, I am often intrigued by their range of articles. I was not aware of it but some recent acquisitions I have were by Richard Skelton (see ‘Wire’ Feb. 2007, p12) under his many aliases.

Personal tragedy, i.e. the death of his wife in 2004, has spurred the 33 year old to lose himself in the creative process & the results are spectacular. His releases on his own label: Sustain-Release (www.sustain-release.co.uk) come out under various monikers e.g. Broken Consort, Carousell, Harlassen or Heidika.

As librarians we cannot help classifying or giving a taxonomy to ‘things’ so I would have to peg Richard Skelton’s work in either a post rock or a folktronic genre. However his output doesn’t really fit comfortably into either bracket & each album fluctuates across a broad spectrum. I like to think of it as a kind of minimal drift ambience, but perhaps that’s just me being silly!

In recent times this voyage of discovery of all this new post rock…whatever new music has been a real labour of love. There is a wealth of real quality music around. Not the MTV & other media-led pap we are constantly exposed to, but deep under the surface if you choose to look you will find great treasures. I feel that this is a very worthwhile quest & I have spent a good, many hours searching & the rewards make it worthwhile.

Fab gear just discovered includes Mono, the band not the record shop, café, club, restaurant in King St, Glasgow & the self-titled cd by Det Gamla Landet.

Epitome of Cool

No I am not talking about Chet Baker, Steve McQueen or even Audrey Hepburn. I am thinking about a sad librarians Friday night that usually consists of viewing music programmes on bbc 4 (the only tv channel worth watching). I am seldom disappointed & often enlightened.

Last night’s documentary on J.J.Cale was exceptional. His songs have always been drifting around our house since way back when. That cool, smokey voice & laidback sound certainly fits in with my frame of mind.

He has been given a rebirth of sorts with Eric Clapton paying back some of his dues. Although he has recorded inferior versions of ‘After Midnite’ & ‘Cocaine’. Clapton’s sound around the time of ‘461 Ocean Boulevard’ owed so much to JJ. Early Dire Straights stole this sound too.

However watching JJ, I now realise that he had such a sensible anti-commercial stance throughout his life. He kept his whole musical life within his own grasp. He did own up to a rather colourful past (I mean who did not trip the light fantastic at that time).

A recent discovery for me has been David Munyon, who has strong elements of that Cale sound. I had ‘Song for Danko’, a recent release that I love & this week a copy of an album called CD3 was brought down from Aviemore.

Too much ping in the pong

Who thinks a librarians’ life is quiet?

Yesterday my mate ‘Caff’ appeared after perhaps a 2 year gap with an enquiry & I tried to source his needs. However he carries so much baggage & is so far ‘out there’ he wears me out. He talks so fast about everything & anything I found it difficult to focus. Its odd to recollect that his partner is so calm & teaches tai chi (she taught me at one point).

After this, perhaps it was due to this freaky visit, I got totally whitewashed at table-tennis. I mean, I consider myself a decent player, although I didn’t begin until I was almost 30 & working in the Mitchell Library. Later I was chosen to represent King Saud University College of Agriculture at the game. Although I have not played since grudge matches in Glenmore perhaps 15 years ago, I would have expected to have retained some skills. My colleague, Tommy gave me a quick lesson on how far I still have to travel. It was like playing Shane Warren. The ball was spinning embarrassingly & I totally failed to read any of his serves.

I had tried, & failed, to get someone to sort out how to stop 41 year old toilets from smelling. It reminds me of Batha or Harra in Riyadh or Mumbai on a bad day. I decided to bring stuff from home. Will this stop the pong? Watch this space. Do you remember Ping’s House on Dumbarton Road?

Russian Choir

Last weekend we had been told about a performance by a Russian Choir in St Aloysius church in Rose St, Glasgow. My friend, Leo had told me it started @ 4 p.m., so although I had to take my wife to another church later that evening, we thought we could do both.

Unfortunately, on our arrival in the church, Leo informed me that his rehearsal was @ 4 pm & the live gig was @ 5 pm. We sat for a while & Leo was wiring up the p.a. & his wife & son were walking around. A sudden commotion drew my attention to one of the side altars. An old woman had fallen, while searching for her mobile phone. Strangely enough Mr Saidenough, (what a name!) & myself both ran to lady’s rescue simultaneously & took an arm each to lift her up.

This reaction by both of us, spoke volumes about the fact, that although there may be slippage in full understandings between myself & Leo as far as language goes, but when it comes to the basic human communication & feelings & motives: we are both exactly the same.

Despite the woman’s peril (she was actually ok, just a little shocked by the fall), the fact that we both reacted in the same way, shows that we are brothers under the skin & both contain hearts that beat to the same rhythm. I have strong faith in God & I will not try to hide this fact & the incident I have just described convinces me that someone or something pushed that woman to the floor to ensure what happened next: did!

Anyway, we could not stay for the performance, hopefully we will get to another. Midweek, Leo brought in a cd cover (cd to follow) as he recorded the gig. I will look forward to it!

Taxonomy of Metadata



Well that all my days off from 2006 accounted for & I am back to the mundane world of work. Mind you I spent today at a workshop on Metadata & Taxonomy. Why does no-one ever speak English in this country anymore! Anyway the drive over the back roads to Stirling via Drymen, Buchlivie & Arnprior to Stirling is one of my favourites journeys in the world. It even surpasses the Kyber pass & that long road through the Troodos mountains in Cyprus, or the ricketty passage to Katmandu on the old wooden bus with heaving dysentery! Zooming at 60 mph with a tank fulla deisel, time in hand, strong winter sunshine beating down & reflecting off the tops of the surrounding mountains, Fila Brazilia tapes blaring in my ears & not a care in the world. Heaven.

Politics of Ecstasy

Enough of food already, time for some politics. Who wants to take holidays in January? I had to use them or lose them. There was too much work on over last summer.

My wife & I decided to drive towards Glasgow & leave the car at the Science Centre & get a healthy walk in the freezing cold air. As we drove past my birthplace, we were surrounded by heavy traffic & a heavy police presence. There was the launch of the world’s most advanced warship, the type 45 destroyer: HMS Dauntless. Hold on a minute. Is this not a weapon of mass destruction? I suppose we here in Scotland should be grateful, that this is keeping at least 2 shipyards alive on the Clyde?

I mentioned some of this to my neighbour who was standing outside the new BBC building. He had parked his car at Partick & watched the launch from the north side of the river & he was on his way to buy some tickets for the Celtic Connections festival. We also passed Louise Batchelor who was filming a link, on the riverside at sunset, about Ambulances for the evening news.

Lots of to-ing & fro-ing as my friend had just returned from Palestine with her 83 year old ma. Is Mrs Carmichael then the oldest living ‘terrorist’ in the world? She has to undergo humiliating body searches. Some of her escapades are mentioned below with kind permission from her daughter.

Well today my mother and I travelled to meet a dear friend

Well today my mother and I travelled to meet a dear friend of mine in Ramallah with 2 young daughters. We were held at the terminal for approx 2 hours, of course for security. The funny thing being although it was meant to be for security, the Israeli Army just stood around laughing and joking whilst holding all the buses up.

Eventually they came on and made us all get off the bus and stand in the pouring rain. A journey which should take approx half an hour took us three hours. So soaking wet and dripping we walked along to my friends with some toys for her children.

After visiting my dear friend, my mother was saying oh it will be wonderful to get back early for one night. No such luck for her. After receiving a phone call from a young boy whom I knew in Scotland and returned to Ramallah to live. He picked us up in his car and we headed to his home.

Such, such wonderful hospitality again. Eat, Drink, Eat Drink. We danced and joked the night away with such wonderful laughter. Every time I come to Palestine I am filled with such warmth from the people here.

Even not doing an activist role here, you can still see the oppression and humiliation that is heaped upon and upon the Palestinian people here. Queuing at checkpoints, having to pull their jumpers up, taking their shoes off. All in front of people.

If the Israeli Army do not like what they have, they simply take it from them and rip it up and throw it in their faces. This is all true. My mother is horrified and has not really seen anything yet. It is enough for her though. She no longer can look the Israeli Army in their eyes as she cannot understand how they can do this to another human being. Nor can I.

My mother and I visited our dear friends in Aza and Aida Refugee Camp today and once again force fed and watered.

Towards the end of the day we went back to Aida Camp for dinner and my mother was sitting quietly in her chair when all of a sudden BOOM, BOOM, BOOM and shots being fired. She jumped out of her chair with a look of horror in her eyes. What is that she asked, and of course the reply being 'Oh just the usual, you know. The soldiers are here in the Camp again'. My mother rested her head in her hands for a few minutes and asked out loud 'Why does the world not do something about this, this is wrong'.

We all looked at each other in silence, shaking our heads listening to the gunfire outside the house and streets.

An hour or so later, we had to make our way back to Al Quds to get our luggage in time for leaving tomorrow early morning. Still angry at what the Occupation is doing here, I asked an Israeli Soldier, a young girl what the shooting was. She replied 'Oh, it is the Palestinians playing with fireworks'. I told her she was talking rubbish, that we knew it was the soldiers and the whole world also knew. She turned and with a straight face said to my mother and I 'WE ARE THE GOOD GUYS, THEY ARE BAD.

She then walked away laughing. Make up your own mind, who the bad guys are.

Aida Camp still has no gas cylinders, the Israeli Army are not allowing them through the checkpoints etc. They have actually been cooking on bits of wood chopped up. I kid you not.

I am now going back to my hostel to get ready for my early morning trip to the Airport. VIP treatment once again. My mother is carefully packing everything away and I keep telling her not to bother because they will take it out for her.

A Kitchen Gurus Guide to Houmous or How the Chains Keep Us Dipping, Part 1 of a Two Part Trilogy

Let us begin by stating that costs are the prime movers in this adventure. You cannot beat a good value for money return. However as far as the rival dips go: e.g. taramasalata: Sainsburys wins hands down, no question- with their smoked salmon concoction. This, hands across the sea, mixture suits me personally, as I am half Greek, or is it half Scottish, on my mothers, or is it my fathers, side of the family. No matter, it rocks like the MC5.

Now, back to the hommos as we say in Arabic. No one seems to be capable of creating a decent rocket flavour, but Tesco do go all out to produce exotica. However, I would question their tactic of calling these apparent afterthoughts: toppings. This is in my opinion a cop-out, e.g. pesto or balsamic vinegar & red onion. Although I must admit that the latter is dynamite. Also when it comes to Lemon & Coriander houmous, Tesco are in a class of their own, everyone else is having a laugh.

Sainsburys is second to Tesco as far as quality goes, but the gap between is substantial. I have a new exotic product from Sainsburys in the fridge: avocado, but you have to be very fast in our house as believe me a shoal of hungry sharks would be in a long queue behind my sons.

Morrisons is by far the best when it comes to cheapness & Asda is not even at the races. They just provide an insipid selection because their competitors do so.

Outside the big chains: Roots & Fruits do a decent Rose version, this is their red pepper variety. However, I would hope that my boys & my work colleagues would agree that yours truly makes the best.

Alice Coltrane & Michael Brecker R.I.P



Wind, rain & death................2007 hasnt started very well ..

Smiling Men with Bad Reputations

Last night I returned to Milngavie’s Fraser Centre for a gig by Mike Heron. Considering he played Woodstock with the Incredible String Band, the low turnout in Milngavie might have puzzled him.

I have seen Robin Williamson with various line-ups & as a solo performer & I was under the misapprehension, that the ISB was mostly his creation. Last night convinced me otherwise.

Looking like the long lost twin of Lou Macari, who was badly in need of match fitness (that thickening of the middle section of our bodies happens to all of us alas!), he gave a memorable, high calibre, performance that flashed us all back to the day.

As usual at any of the related ISB gigs, everyone knows the words,(even if they are an lp side long!) & they all sing along.

My wife accompanied me this time & she was equally bowled over by this impish legend. He had the makings of a great sound with his daughter Georgia playing drums, keyboards & singing. Another guitarist was in tow & believe me, especially in the second set they were cooking & the sound was awesome. All the old songs were given a new life. I was not too impressed by the version of ‘The Greatest Friend I have in Life’, but perhaps that is because I play the old version myself, but the rest of the old material was hugely improved.

These gigs at the Fraser Centre in Milngavie are the best ever, the least publicised & the most intimate performances lets hope they continue.

The Devil & Daniel Johnston ( number 9………..)

More 4 showed the premiere of this documentary this week. I had heard of him before, naturally, but I was not aware of how damaged he had become. I have always been a fan of ‘Outsider Music & Art’ since my youth.

I was reminded of Wild Man Fisher, but I would have to admit there is a raw beauty & purity that shines through. I have bits & pieces on cd that I have listened to recently & I will re-visit these with greater insight.

His obsession with the Beatles & the no 9 was interesting. I also find numbers mystical & the same numbers have followed me throughout my life. Its always been 3s & 9s. Everywhere I have lived has these numbers in there. Even while I am typing this I had missed a track from a cd & I copied it somewhere else & naturally it was the 9^th track.

FM3 (number 9……….number 9…….)

Finally got my head around the 9 loops that live in my buddhamachine. I thought it only held one loop over the festive period, but an extensive bit of research online, pointed me in the right direction & I can now get lost in loopoland.

Very inconsiderate of our Chinese cousins not to have instructions in English, but perhaps this just adds to the mystique.

Isnt it odd the way freaky coincidences occur? In this post we have 9 loops in the fm3 & in the post that follows, we become aware of someone’s obsession with the Beatles No. 9.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71y5CXgXg-I

The Focus Group in Belbury Poly

New Year, new attitude. How pleasant it was today walking down by my new place of work in July. I have a new mobile phone that houses an mp3 player, so I was listening to Belbury Poly & The Focus Group while I wandered through the building site. At least the rain had stayed off today for the first time since the start of November, 2006. I first heard of those 2 bands from an old ‘Wire’ feature. I was intrigued by the whole Ghost Box label & I recently acquired a selection of cds that are superb & the latest thing in my life.

I had to walk as it seems that my car might be passed its usefulness. Who needs a car anyway? Fortunately the high winds we have had in combination with the torrential rain had blown over the fences so that I could access the building site unchallenged. It was a bit disturbing from a security point of view to have spent a good hour wandering around without anyone else approaching me.

It was an emotional journey as I walked across the slipways that guided the big ships out of the yard. The ghosts of all those workers (including my father) weighed heavy on my shoulders, tears came & I picked up a ‘chuckie’ to take home to my garden in memory of those great feats.

On my return home, I had a quick lunch & then I borrowed my son’s bike for a cycle down the Forth & Clyde canal. The first dry day in such a long time & it felt so good to be outside & getting exercise. If I can only keep this up for the rest of the year???