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ultravioletqueen · 3 years ago

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Nombre completo:jackson cody warren

Alias:jacky,sony,jack-jack, ghost emo

Edad:23(al morir)

Fecha de nacimiento:12 de junio(cancer)

Tipo de sangre:antes B +,ahora ninguna

Ocupación:fantasma musical

Ocupación pasada:compositor de música

Shows/juegos favoritos:accion(fullmetal alchemist, hellboy:dogs of the night)

Comida favorita:helado de mora azul

Instrumento:guitarra,vocales(aunque sabe tocar muchos más instrumentos)

Animal favorito:azulejo

Altura:1,85cm(5,13)

Familia:aliza warrens(madre) stephan warrens (padre)

Arma:ninguna

Habilidades:creación de construcciones, levitación,forma inactiva, posesión de objetos, creación de ilusiones, casi invulnerabilidad, forma humana, creación de hondas de sonido, creación de música hipnotica,electrokinesis, sabotear tecnología.

Personalidad:jackson es un chico reservado, el cual en vida nunca fue muy conversador(rasgo que aún conserva en muerte) debido a que es muy tímido con gente nueva pero cuando se abre es bastante amigable e incluso algo bromista, puede llegar a ser muy sarcástico cuando está en confianza.jackson tiene sus ideas claras y no es nada fácil hacerlo cambiar de opinión,es muy terco y llega a ser obstinado.

Jackson no es muy bueno al entender los sentimientos de la gente que lo rodea, siendo que a veces no es capaz de ver o detectar los sentimientos de los demás además de no tener miedo de ser directo y hasta algo gráfico con sus palabras haciendo que lo lleguen a etiquetar de insensible, pero jackson no tiene malas intenciones y no busca ser de esa manera.

Algo que caracteriza a jackson es su pasión y su creatividad, siendo capaz de crear notas musicales originales y mostrar su amplio conocimiento de los instrumentos que toca, la música formó parte importante de su vida e incluso en su muerte.

Jackson posee una personalidad algo depresiva, pues al no poder vengarse no podría ascender a otra vida, esto causa que de vez en cuando jackson tenga episodios depresivos donde lamenta no poder haber sido más rápido o no poder hablar con sus padres debido a su condición actual. Jackson tenía una buena relación con sus padres y les tiene mucho cariño pese a que ya no puede verlos por el miedo a asustalos.

Un tema que hace enojar a jackson es el de su muerte, siendo que cuando menciona esto llega a tener episodios o flashbacks de ello haciendo que tenga un comportamiento agresivo o que empiece a usar sus poderes a lo loco, cuando éstos episodios terminan jackson se muestra arrepentido y promete que no volverá a pasar.

Apariencia:jackson es un adulto joven palido de pelo negro con una mecha de color índigo/morado, tiene ojos azul oscuro y tiene la piel pálida, normalmente viste una camisa morada con una calavera(cuando estaba vivo tenía una nota musical), una chaqueta azul opaco, pantalones flojos azul oscuro y converse negras, completa su atuendo con su collar que lleva una nota musical.estando muerto sus escleroticas ahora son negras y sus pupilas siguen del mismo color.

Historia:jackson en vida era un aspirante a músico junto a su amigo ryan(el cual fue su amigo de la infancia) y soñaban con ser músicos muy reconocidos e importantes, en una de sus demostraciones conocen a un cazatalentos que les ofreció ser su manager a lo que aceptaron,con el tiempo empezaron a ganar mucha popularidad y ganaban mucho dinero, sin embargo el y ryan antes de uno de sus conciertos tuvieron una discusión muy acalorada,básicamente ryan quería recibir la mayoría de los ingresos y sentía envidia de que jackson fuera más popular, sin que lo notará ryan saboteo la guitarra de jackson y en pleno concierto la guitarra empezó a fallar y jackson sufrió una descarga eléctrica de 500 voltios, matandolo debido a la fuerte descarga y las quemaduras que recibió. Sin embargo no se esperaban que volviera de entre los muertos para buscar a su ex mejor amigo para pagarle con la misma moneda,sin embargo cuando estaba a punto de cumplir su venganza ryan sufrió un accidente letal por conducir ebrio, por lo que jackson perdió su sentido y vago en los bosques durante días, meses, años, hasta que se encontró con la casa de cierto esqueleto.

Trivia

Ryan no tomó responsabilidad de su muerte y siguió siendo músico además de usar las canciones de su difunto amigo para ganar dinero haciéndolas pasar por suyas.

Jackson actualmente vive en la casa de lewis junto con otros fantasmas(mi headcanon es que varios fantasmas se hospedan ahí, como en el fanfic de house of strays) y constantemente toca varias melodías junto a los Deadbeats.

Jackson tiene miedo al agua debido a que cuando era adolescente casi se ahoga al intentar surfear.

Jackson murió en los 2000.

Jackson descubrió su capacidad de hipnotizar cuando tocaba su guitarra y dejó a vivi, Arthur y juliete como zombis embobados, esta habilidad sólo funciona en seres vivos, pero también funciona para calmar a otros espíritus.

Los padres de jackson eran músicos, y estuvieron muy emocionados al saber que su hijo también disfrutará de la música.

Su voz headcanon sería caleb hyles en inglés y bastian cortes en español, ambos youtubers que se dedican a hacer covers.

Jackson padece del síndrome de asperger, una variación del espectro autista.

Su ancla está en su guitarra debido a que murió sosteniendola.

Su canción tema seria killer in the mirror e hypnotize de set it off.

Jackson es de Irlanda.

Full name:jackson cody warrens

Alias:jacky,sony,jack-jack, ghost emo

Age:23(deceased)

D.O.B:june 12(cancer)

Blood type:formely B+, now none

Ocupation:musical ghost

Past ocupation:musical performer

Favorite shows/games:action(fullmetal alchemist, hellboy:dogs of the night)

Favorite food:blueberry ice cream

Instrument:guitar, vocals (although he can play many more instruments)

Favorite animal:bluebird

Height:1,85(5,13)

Family: aliza warrens (mother) stephan warrens (father)

Weapon:none

Skills: Construction Creation, Levitation, Idle Form, Object Possession, Illusion Creation, Near Invulnerability, Human Form, Sound Wave Creation, Hypnotic Music Creation, Electrokinesis, Technology Sabotage.

Personality: Jackson is a reserved boy, who in life was never very talkative (a trait that he still retains in death) because he is very shy with new people but when he opens up he is quite friendly and even somewhat joking, he can be very sarcastic when he is in confidence. Jackson has his ideas clear and it is not at all easy to make him change his mind, he is very stubborn and becomes stubborn.

Jackson is not very good at understanding the feelings of the people around him, being that sometimes he is not able to see or detect the feelings of others in addition to not being afraid to be direct and even something graphic with his words making him They come to be labeled as insensitive, but Jackson has no bad intentions and does not seek to be that way.

Something that characterizes Jackson is his passion and creativity, being able to create original musical notes and show his extensive knowledge of the instruments he plays, music was an important part of his life and even in his death.

Jackson has a somewhat depressive personality, because by not being able to take revenge he could not ascend to another life, this causes that from time to time Jackson has depressive episodes where he regrets not being able to be faster or not being able to talk to his parents due to his current condition . Jackson had a good relationship with his parents and is very fond of them even though he can no longer see them for fear of scaring them.

One issue that makes Jackson angry is his death, being that when he mentions this he has episodes or flashbacks of it causing him to have an aggressive behavior or to start using his powers like crazy, when these episodes end, Jackson shows himself repentant and promises that it will not happen again.

Appearance: Jackson is a pale young adult with black hair with an indigo / purple highlight, has dark blue eyes and has pale skin, usually wears a purple shirt with a skull (when he was alive he had a musical note), a jacket opaque blue, dark blue loose pants and black converse, completes his outfit with his necklace that bears a musical note. being dead his sclera are now black and his pupils remain the same color.

History: Jackson in life was an aspiring musician with his friend Ryan (who was his childhood friend) and they dreamed of being very recognized and important musicians, in one of their demonstrations they meet a talent scout who offered to be their manager to what they accepted, over time they began to gain a lot of popularity and made a lot of money, however he and ryan before one of their concerts had a very heated argument, basically ryan wanted to receive most of the income and was envious that jackson was more popular, without Ryan noticing it sabotaged Jackson's guitar and in full concert the guitar began to fail and Jackson suffered a 500 volt electric shock, killing him due to the strong discharge and burns he received. However, they were not expected to return from the dead to find his former best friend to pay him in the same coin, however when he was about to fulfill his revenge Ryan suffered a fatal accident due to drunk driving, so Jackson lost his felt and wandered in the woods for days, months, years, until he came across the home of a certain skeleton.

Trivia

Ryan did not take responsibility for his death and remained a musician in addition to using his late friend's songs to earn money by passing them off as his own.

Jackson currently lives in Lewis's house along with other ghosts (my headcanon is that various ghosts stay there, as in the house of strays fanfic) and constantly plays various tunes alongside the Deadbeats.

Jackson is afraid of the water because as a teenager he nearly drowned while trying to surf.

Jackson died in the 2000s.

Jackson discovered his ability to hypnotize when he played his guitar and left Vivi, Arthur and Juliete as gawking zombies, this ability only works on living beings, but it also works to calm other spirits.

Jackson's parents were musicians, and they were very excited to learn that their son will enjoy music too.

His headcanon voice would be caleb hyles in English and Bastian Cortes in Spanish, both youtubers who are dedicated to doing covers.

Jackson suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a variation of the autism spectrum.

His anchor is on his guitar because he died holding it.

His theme song would be killer in the mirror and hypnotized from set it off.

Jackson is from Ireland.

#oc #msa #mystery skulls oc #Jackson #profile character #Profile

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doomandgloomfromthetomb · 5 years ago

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Dylan on the Devil’s Holiday

An October 31st treat from James Adams! Check out an all-Halloween Dylan mix/essay — take it away, James!

One of my first acquisitions back in the B&P trading days was a two-disc CD-R set called “All Hallows Eve and More.” It was a recording of Bob Dylan’s riveting performance at New York City’s Philharmonic Hall on 31 October 1964. The show is mesmerizing and ambitious, restless and hilarious. It was a jewel in my bootleg collection.

An earlier LP version of the bootleg was called “Halloween Mask” (or “Halloween Masque,” depending on which side of the Atlantic your copy was pressed). Dylan provided the title by making a funny comment during the show. After a heavy and emphatic version of “Gates of Eden” and a false start on the sex comedy of “If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else You Got to Stay All Night)” Dylan giggles:

“Don’t let that scare you. It’s just Halloween. I have my Bob Dylan mask on. I’m masquerading.”

Indeed, it was Halloween and that slightly stoned exchange with the enthralled audience must be the most memorable moment in Dylan’s Halloween performance history. In 2004, Columbia released the concert tape officially, making it Volume 6 in Dylan’s Bootleg Series.

The Philharmonic show wins the prize for best costume, but there are many Dylan Halloween highlights. A year prior, he spent two hours in Columbia’s Studio A during “The Times They Are A-Changin’” sessions and left with the fantastic album version of “Restless Farewell.” In 1971, he spent time at Allen Ginsberg’s apartment, jamming with Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and David Amram and improvising music to accompany William Blake poems. Gregory Corso was there to hang and you can listen to the tape at the Stanford University Library. In 1998, Dylan had a studio session with Joan Osborne and together they recorded an upbeat version of “Chimes of Freedom,” for a television miniseries about the ‘60s. In 1987, Dylan spent Halloween at Barry White’s house. Maybe they discussed whether candy corn is delicious or disgusting?

Most of Dylan’s Halloween highlights occurred on the road and that’s what this mix aims to capture. Collected here is a chronological mix of live* Dylan performances recorded on October 31st – Halloween. It begins with the 1975 iteration of Rolling Thunder (a night when Dylan wore an actual mask onstage) and stretches all the way to 2013. (Dylan’s last Halloween show occurred in 2018 but there are no known recordings of that Knoxville, TN performance).

I picked what I consider the most interesting performances from each night but the content and sound quality varies widely. Occasionally the performances are scary. They’re always interesting. I avoided selecting duplicate song titles. I included the rare occasions when Dylan acknowledged Halloween from the stage and preserved that “Bob Talk.” There’s even a cheesy Halloween-themed joke!

My favorite Bob Dylan Halloween moment occurred in 1977. Dylan again spent the day with Allen Ginsberg and the two passed hours discussing Dylan’s film “Renaldo & Clara.” The result is a riveting and insightful interview where Dylan uncharacteristically shares deep insights into the meaning and complexities of his art. (“This movie stops time in a way that no American movie ever has and I don’t think will. What we’ve done is hold on to something which seemed to be escapable, and we captured it and made it real.”)

That evening, Dylan, Ginsberg, and Dylan’s partner in filmmaking Howard Alk donned masks and grabbed guitars. Together they roamed the streets of Malibu as undercover troubadour ghosts, presumably blending with nervous trick-or-treaters and impatient parents and offering impromptu performances on dark sidewalks and street corners. Can you imagine?! The idea is stunning.

Dylan isn’t playing a Halloween show this year. He is on the road, though, somewhere between Chicago and South Bend. If you live near there keep your eyes wide while roaming the streets after dark. You might just catch a glimpse of someone wearing a Bob Dylan mask before they slip away into the shadows again.

* There is one exception to this rule. Track number 4 is a studio recording from 1985, though the performance is clearly recorded live to tape. I’m not certain it was recorded on 31 October but that date is plausible and proposed elsewhere. Given the quality of the recording and the performance—but especially the title and subject of the song—there was no choice but to include it here.

Track List:

1. Isis – 1975 – Plymouth, MA – War Memorial Auditorium 2. Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat) – 1978 – St. Paul, MN – Civic Center 3. Masters of War – 1981 – Kitchener, Ontario – Kitchener Arena 4. Baby Coming Back from the Dead – 1985 – Los Angeles, CA – Cherokee Studios 5. Ballad of Hollis Brown – 1989 – Chicago, IL – Arie Crown Theater 6. Wiggle Wiggle – 1990 – Charlotte, NC – Ovens Auditorium 7. Gotta Serve Somebody – 1991 – Wichita, KS – Civic Center 8. Man in the Long Black Coat – 1994 – Washington, DC – Warner Theatre 9. Blind Willie McTell – 1997 – Tuscaloosa, AL – Coleman Coliseum 10. Love Sick – 1999 – Chicago, IL – University of Illinois Conference Center Pavilion 11. Country Pie – 2000 – Evanston, IL – Welsh Ryan McGaw Hall 12. Mississippi – 2001 – Madison, WI – Kohl Center 13. Positively 4th Street – 2004 – DeKalb, IL – Convocation Center 14. Band Introduction – 2004 – DeKalb, IL – Convocation Center 15. Thunder on the Mountain – 2006 – Madison, WI – Kohl Center 16. Gonna Change My Way of Thinking – 2009 – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom 17. Queen Jane Approximately – 2010 – Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre 18. Forgetful Heart – 2011 – Hamburg, German – Boxen Arena 19. Beyond Here Lies Nothing – 2013 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Heineken Music Hall

#bob dylan

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disinvited-guest · 6 years ago

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12/31/2018 Philadelphia Recap

The wait for this show was absolutely wonderful, as I got to reunite with old concert-going pals (in case you were wondering, @monopuffstan and @integrityproject remain as wonderful as ever) and meet several new ones. Even if the concert hadn’t been absolutely wonderful, hanging out with all of these awesome folks would almost have been worth the trip itself.

We had a wonderful, if cold and soggy, wait. Flans walked right through our line to get to the venue with a polite “excuse me.” I happened to be one of the people in his way and I shuffled to the side, mortified.

Once we got inside, things became a bit less jovial. I did not get along with the people to my right, who were more than a little drunk. I’m not going to include their antics in the recap, but they did have a negative effect on how much I could hear and see of what was going on onstage. Reminder: there is a bootleg of this show floating around, so you can listen to what I missed.

JoCo came onstage at 9:20 sharp wearing a tuxedo with a very stylish bow-tie. After playing Artificial Heart, he commented faux-disapprovingly on what the crowd was wearing “I thought this was a party!” He told us he had never played a show in a tux before and was worried for two reasons: that it would restrict his range of motion, and that he would sweat through it in 5 minutes.

He played Shop Vac, then mopped his face with a towel and warned us that it was happening. Someone shouted at him that he should take off his suit, and he responded that there was “nothing underneath.”

The crowd cheered at this, but JoCo responded that we were cheering now, but “after, you’d be disgusted” and that he’d be all over the internet the next day as a “weird asshole.”

Introducing Future Soon, he told us that instead of looking back on 2018 we should look forward into the Future. Afterwards, he took of his bowtie, warning the crowd that this was “As far as I’ll go.” He introduced the next song as being about getting old and being sad about being old “but that’s okay,” which led into Glasses.

“I have a new album,” he told us after the song ended, “It’s called Solid State and that’s all I’m gonna say about that.” When the crowd cheered in response, he gave a world-weary sigh and continued in a grudging voice. “Of course we need a concept album about sci-fi.” He sighed again, then added “And how the internet kind of sucks now.” Another sigh “And how technology will either destroy us or save us. One last huge sigh and then “And I’m sorry, but there’s a companion graphic novel.” With the crowd cheering counterpoint to each on of his sighs, it was truly hilarious.

While messing with the laptop he had onstage, JoCo told us that “The album makes a lot of bleep bloop sounds. This is just a normal acoustic guitar. It doesn’t make bleep bloop sounds, so I brought out this. This is a computer.”

The computer made excellent bleep bloop sounds as JoCo played All This Time. Putting his guitar down after the song was over, JoCo picked up the machine with knobs and buttons all over it (If you haven’t seen him play Fancy Pants on this thing, my description isn’t going to do it justice. I’m begging you to look it up on YouTube.) He warned us that on this machine “Even when I’m well-rehearsed, I’m barely hanging on.”

He immediately put the lie to his words by showing off a bit of what the machine was programmed for. He then explained the song, verse by verse, before actually going into the song. I was unprepared for just how glorious it was. He added a bit of Auld Lang Syne into it, singing along a bit before declaring that no one knew the words anyway, and a bit of Single Ladies, and topped it all off by having the machine tell us “Gonna be the best in everybody’s pants.”

After returning to his guitar, JoCo brought up his wife, which got a cheer from a few people in the crowd. “Some fans of my wife here,” he said, bemused, before moving on with his story.

Apparently, before he met his wife, she wanted a tattoo, but didn’t have a particular one in mind. “Which I later learned was typical of her, to have a goal in mind without considering the steps in between.” She looked through the books in the parlor, “like

at a barbershop” JoCo explained to us, and picked out one she liked. She got the tattoo, but regretted it. Once he and his wife had started dating- “and I had an opportunity to see it,” he added in wickedly, getting a cheer from the crowd- he asked her about it and she grumbled that it was stupid, and she had just wanted the idea of a tattoo. Recently though, his wife went in again and got quotes put around the tattoo, so now it is actually a tattoo of the idea of a tattoo. All this talk of tattoos led, of course, into the song Your Tattoo.

JoCo mentioned that They Might Be Giants would be on his cruise, but that it was too late to buy tickets because it was sold out. He told us it was a missed opportunity and that we should have followed his blog. He then introduced the next song, I Feel Fantastic as a “song about how you’ve all made me feel tonight, but it’s also about being on drugs.”

Afterwards, he left the stage as we cheered. After a few seconds, Flans came onstage, a scrap of paper in his hand. The crowd’s cheering greatly increased. He came up to the mic and announced “The owner of a blue Dodge Neon double-parked in front of the venue. Move your car or you will be towed.” The paper in his hand did say something about the car, so I have no doubt it was there, but somehow the context made it hilarious. Having gotten all car-related news out of the way, Flans announced “Jonathan Coulton, everybody!” leaving stage as we cheered JoCo back on.

JoCo thanked everyone, then had us practice our “part” for Re: Your Brains. The first time around was too good. He explained “Zombies get distracted. They can only think about how much they want brains. Some weren’t good singers to start with and rotting doesn’t help.” Our next attempt was much better/worse, so he started into the song. Afterwards, he thanked everyone once more and left the stage.

Immediately, that same stage was swarmed by the crew. I got a glimpse of Fresh’s socks, which were full-color prints of a basketball player in the middle of a slam-dunk. There was no riser for Curt, confirming that he wasn’t there.

The intro music came on quickly, followed by the band. There was very little banter at this show. I think they were worried about what point in the show they would take their break for midnight. They played their first several songs without pause, starting out with The Communists Have The Music, then Twisting and I got a mouthed “hi!” and a smile from Danny. During Why Does the Sun Shine, Linnell told us that everything on the sun was a gas “copper, things that aren’t gas, iron, and even gas.” He told us he was doing a voice so that “the tone of voice makes you think I’m condescending and impatient.”

They played Birdhouse in Your Soul, then went into Particle Man pausing only long enough for Linnell to grab his accordion. He didn’t add another song into the interlude, simply switching into a minor key for a description of triangle man. During the Famous Polka, Dan and Linnell executed a wonderfully in-synch kick (though not nearly as high as the Flans kick photo that’s been going around from that evening). The audience all contributed to the song, chiming in with a fair imitation of the “doop-doop”s the bridge has in the recorded version. It was one of those crazy-beautiful moments of serendipity you only get at tmbg shows.

After Famous Polka ended, they had the first banter of the evening. Discussing his day, Flans told us all a story about his stop at a Popeyes next to a museum he had visited. At the Popeyes, he was waiting next to two women and a man speaking “not-from-this-country” Italian. He then pointed out to the guy that Popeyes! also spells ‘Pope yes!’ and the group found it hilarious (after the guy translated the joke to his companions). Flans felt like it was a great start to the the year, and was about to say more but broke off to add to his story. Apparently one of the women “the only English word she knew was ‘leg’” had done the Pope blessing thing with a chicken leg. Flans demonstrated the motion to us, then said that in the new year he wanted “less of this-” miming pushing something away, “and more of this-” repeating the chicken-leg blessing.

Linnell decided that there were “little dramas like that going on at every stop on the turnpike.” He decided that at the Molly Pitcher stop they were chanting “We want a pitcher not a chicken-leg itcher” This prompted them both to start listing stops on the turnpike, some real and some decidedly not. Eventually, they decided they were losing the crowd with all of their outdated references. Flans asked Linnell if he was still jetlagged. Linnell responded that he was, then explained to us that he was still on Scotland time, where “it is very late at night right now.”

“That’s what this next song is about!” and they started into Memo to Human Resources. I was so excited that it took me a few lines to calm down enough to actually pay attention to the song. I’d been chasing it all year and honestly thought I’d never hear it live.

Flans introduced the next song quickly “We have a new album out. It’s called I Like Fun and this is I Left My Body.” From there they went straight into Science is Real. It was the first time I’d seen them play it without Flans using a cheat-sheet for the lyrics, and he did mumble a few of the words he forgot.

I believe it was here Linnell brought up Clara Barton as another potential stop on the turnpike, and both Johns began asking the crowd about the nature of the stops; if there were criteria for naming them, if there was a list of stops, etc.

Eventually, Flans introduced Dan Miller on the keyboards “anything is possible!” Dan extended his index finger like he was going to play a note, then pulled it back, shaking his head. Danny watched the whole process with extreme interest.

“Don’t mess with those dials.” Flans told Dan.

They played Let’s Get This Over With and Doctor Worm, during which Flans was a bit distracted, looking of stage a lot, and even heading off once or twice. During the Doctor Worm solo, Danny had to cover a bit of his part.

Flans came back downstage and they played Robot Parade, starting slow and gradually becoming more and more rocking. Flans attempted a human theremin during this song. He gave the audience 15 seconds “for people who know what a theremin is to explain to people who don’t know what a theremin is.” He then counted down the 15 seconds. I’m not sure how much explaining was done, as a large portion of the crowd counted down the 15 seconds with him. He then gave a brief explanation and began. It didn’t work super well and he wrapped things up quickly, but it was fun to be a part of.

Next up was a quick introduction to Trouble Awful Devil Evil, and it was also when my asthma started acting up. I used my inhaler and when I refocused on the stage Danny was watching, presumably to make sure I was okay. After Linnell put down his little clarinet for Trouble Awful Devil Evil, Flans briefly introduced him on the Contra Alto Clarinet before they played All Time What.

Flans had Dan play a note on his guitar to show off the synthesizer, which Linnell claimed could “make a guitar sound like any instrument.” Dan made a face and Flans amended “Well, any instrument purchased at a Radio Shack.”

They played We Want a Rock, then went straight into Bills Bills Bills. During the start of the song, Dan posed next to Danny, guitar held at a precise angle, foot tapping. He then nudged Danny and demonstrated the pose for him until Danny copied the pose and played that way together for a few bars.

Afterwards, Flans told us that the count-offs for the evening were “provided by Al Gore.” He then proceeded to explain to us that they had seen other bands start without count offs and had been really impressed, but then “we switched and no one noticed.”

“Until now,” Linnell told him.

The two debated whether or not it was too technical for the audience to understand, but then Flans decided we were pretty smart “Three-fourths of them knew what a theremin was,” and they played Letterbox.

They moved from Letterbox into Spy. The ending was as fascinating as always, with Flans and Linnell each adding their bit, but rather than actually ending the song, they simply transitioned straight into Dan’s intro to Istanbul. It was great to see the song getting the full Dan Miller treatment once again. He was truly amazing. At one point, he was playing one-handed, just plucking at the frets, at another point, he pointed to the crowd for a cheer before continuing on. He even attempted to trick the rest of the band into thinking he was wrapping things up (they all got ready to start) before continuing on for another several seconds. The whole thing was glorious.

During the song itself, Danny gave me a goofy look, and I snorted in response, then immediately covered my nose, embarrassed. Danny cracked up laughing and walked away. During one of the fake endings, in the space where Dan and Curt had ‘battled’ in other 2018 shows, Dan and Danny did the same for a bit, switching off for a few lines, which was amazing.

As the song was wrapping up, Flans went around getting everyone's attention and wiggling his outstretched fingers at them. This marked their departure from the setlists and led, accurately and amusingly, into Fingertips.

During I’m Having A Heart Attack, Flans did his boy band bit, but instead of facing the audience for it, addressed off stage right, where I had noticed Robin hanging out in the wings earlier. I don’t know if she was still there, so I’m not sure if it was intentional or not.

Dan did the first of the two whispered “Fingertips” without incident, but as he was about to repeat himself, a guy in the crowd shouted “Fingertips!” in the near-silent room. Dan pointed in his direction and steps back from the mic and the band moved on to I Walk Along Darkened Corridors.

They went straight into The Guitar from there. Trying to get close enough to midnight, they ended it with a big solo for Danny which was absolutely amazing! Danny never gets enough time to shine in my personal but admittedly biased opinion and this was an amazing chance to see all that he could do. Dan and Linnell stood next to each other behind the keyboard to watch Danny. Dan looked over to Marty, keeping time on his set, and motioned to him that he stunk, pinching his nose and grinning. Marty must have responded with a worried look because Dan immediately waved it off and gave him a thumbs up. Linnell did the double point to his eyes and then to Marty in an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture.

Danny’s solo was truly amazing, it was well over a minute in length and just when you thought it couldn’t get more awesome, it did. The whole thing was made even more interesting by the fact that, since it was somewhat to stall for time until midnight, every so often Danny would glance over at Flans to check how much longer he wanted him to keep going. Eventually, they wrapped up the song and a sweat soaked Danny accepted a new water bottle from Fresh while toweling off his face.

There was still more than a minute before midnight when The Guitar wrapped up. Linnell decided we should “take a moment to remember the people in the crowd we lost along the way.” The Johns went back and forth on this idea for a while, with Flans mourning “the people who were brought by their friends and are never coming again.”

Eventually they brought up a projection that had instructions for counting down, screaming for 2019, the words to Auld Lang Syne, etc. The countdown was started at 15 seconds to midnight, but the crowd started out too slow, and in trying to catch up began counting too fast. We overshot our goal and began celebrating the New Year a second or two too early. They played Auld Lang Syne into an absolute explosion of confetti as things onstage devolved into an absolutely beautiful chaos. Fresh, who was helping the confetti tech load the cannon, was eventually pushed out of the process by an incredibly enthusiastic Flans, who loaded the cannon at double speed and moved it back and forth so it would hit everybody. The confetti got absolutely everywhere, covering the stage and the crowd for the rest of the show.

Onstage was an absolute hugfest. Danny hugged Dan, then went over behind the drum riser to hug Marty. Fresh got a hug from Marty then ran offstage pumping his arms like he’d just won a prize. Dan lifted Marty off of his feet while hugging him. There was evidently champagne offstage as someone later set the bottle on an amp. Flans chugged some directly from the bottle.

As the last of the confetti settled, Flans took the fan that was set up onstage and began using it to clear off some of layer of confetti coating absolutely everything, making a joke about needing a clear stage. Danny scooped up big handfuls and ran around throwing them over people in the crowd. At one point, Marty saw him at it and asked why he hadn’t thrown any confetti over his head. Danny eventually obliged, although he waited until the encore when Marty wasn’t expecting it. Linnell had the opposite problem, seeing Danny carrying a handful of confetti and worrying it was meant for him. Danny saw his worried expression and indicated it was meant for the crowd and Linnell relaxed. The crowd itself was also throwing big crumpled handfuls of the stuff, which packed a bit more of a punch than the drifting flakes, and just about everyone, onstage and in the crowd, got hit by one of the clumps.

Eventually, Flans brought the show back into motion. He thanked the band, the crew, and the crowd then told us they had a few more songs. They played Dead, a poignant counterpoint to the beautiful insanity preceding it, with Dan Miller watching from the wings. At one point he waved to someone in my general section of the crowd, but when I turned around to look, I couldn’t see anyone looking in his direction. He came back on for Man It’s So Loud In Here, which was introduced as the last song of the night. They left the stage after that, leaving us to cheer for their return. You could tell that people were tired. While the crowd kept up it’s cheering before each encore, a lot of the wild enthusiasm usually present was lacking.

The first encore began with Mrs. Bluebeard, which I’m always happy to hear live. Dan Miller got the bit he had been so frustrated with in the fall without any problems, and was clearly pleased with himself. Flans thanked everyone once again and they played Damn Good Times, with Dan wow-ing the crowd with another amazing solo.

Flans, Linnell, and Marty were the only ones returning to the stage for the second encore, soon followed by John Carter and Fresh carrying out the glockenspiel. Fresh and Marty had another mallet spin-off, with Fresh having improved his game since the Buffalo show, but Marty still the clear victor.

They played Shoehorn With Teeth, with all due decorum going into the playing of the glockenspiel. Flans forgot which verse he was starting at one point, starting partway into the first line.

After the song was over, Flans told us that they didn’t know where the other tassel was. Linnell decided that the number of tassels showed how skilled the glockenspiel player was, and that you had tassels removed as you moved up the levels. Marty, he explained, was a one tassel player, but would eventually have the other tassel removed. Fresh, back onstage to remove the glockenspiel, made a big show of acting like he was removing the remaining tassel and then ‘changing his mind’ and leaving it.

By then, Dan and Danny had returned to the stage. Flans told us all that this was the last song “for real now. Last time we were lying.”

“This is the song we like to do last.”

They played the Mesopotamians, then left the stage for the final time.

As soon as they were gone, Fresh was out onstage, assisting the girl next to me who had lost her glasses over the railing towards the end of the show. Her efforts to retrieve them had made me feel less than charitable about the whole situation, but it was wonderful how prepared Fresh was to help her. While Flans, Danny, and Marty were passing out stickers and setlists, Flans even brought over his fan to blow away some of the confetti from the spot and make finding the glasses easier, eventually handing the fan to Fresh so he could continue the search.

I didn’t quite cry leaving, but it was a near thing. I hope for many more concerts to come, but since have to take a break from my touring habit, this show was a wonderful high note to end on.

#tmbg #recap

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bcdrawsandwrites · 6 years ago

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Neither Can You Rating: T Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Family Characters: Héctor, Ernesto, Imelda, Coco, Julio, Pepita, Dante, Miguel, Óscar, Felipe, Victoria, Rosita… possibly others. Warnings: Violence, broken bones Description: “Do you care about your familia… more than your music?” Héctor didn’t have to think twice to answer yes. But the grin on Ernesto’s face sent a chill down his spine as the man continued, “Are you willing to put that to the test?” View all chapters here! FFN Link | AO3 Link | dA Link

Chapter 12: The Sound Summary: In which Ernesto prepares his next move.

His phalanges danced effortlessly across the strings, coaxing the same notes out of the guitar that had won over the hearts of millions. Well… the notes plus the sound of his voice, of course, but he wasn’t much in the mood for singing right now.

Honestly he wasn’t much in the mood for playing, either.

When life gets me down, I play my guitar.

The memory of the line left a bitter taste in his mouth. While they’d always allowed him a little creative liberty over the scripts, that was one bit the writer had been so proud of, and everyone else had agreed that it was a lovely line. And, always one to keep up good relations, Ernesto had let that one slide, even if he couldn’t fully agree with it. True, playing his guitar did tend to ease his pain… but only when people were there to listen.

And here in an apartment three towers down from where his mansion stood, there was nobody to hear him play. No one aside from that stupid neighbor of his who would hit his broom against the ceiling if Ernesto played too loud, anyway.

Heaving a sigh, Ernesto moved to set the guitar aside, only to give a sharp gasp at the sound of something scratching at the side of the chair—

Scratching, kicking, scraping, screaming—

No, no, that’s not what it is. Shuddering, he glanced down at the floor to find Diablo looking at him with his big eyes. “What, you want me to keep playing?” he asked, and the alebrije wagged his tail eagerly. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight, and stooped down to scratch the chihuahua behind the ears. “Well, I suppose you’re a better audience than none at all.”

He re-settled the guitar in his lap, starting up a different song this time—a more energetic one. Even without singing along, he could still hear the words in his head as he played:

Senoras y senores

Buenas tardes, buenas noches

Senoritas y senores…

You like it, hermano? I wrote it for us! We can start with it as our opening num—

His hand seized up and abruptly he stopped playing, setting the guitar aside and rising to his feet.

Basta—that was enough practice for one day.

Gritting his teeth, he crossed the room and strode into the kitchen. The other alebrijes—who had been intermittently whining at him all day—immediately charged after him, yipping the entire time. Ernesto automatically went to fill up their food bowls (cheap plastic ones that he took a moment to scowl at—their nicer ones were still at the mansion) before pouring himself his third cup of coffee for the day.

Not his usual comfort drink, but that would probably lull him into a doze, which he did not want right now.

Ernesto watched the alebrijes chomping at their food, glad to see them apparently satisfied for the time being. He loved his pets—he truly did—but ever since he’d been forced to take a temporary leave from his mansion, they’d been insufferable. Constantly whining, constantly upset, constantly trying to pull him around to different places… He couldn’t blame them for being upset at suddenly being moved to a newer, much smaller home—he wasn’t particularly happy with it either—but it didn’t make them any easier to deal with.

“Soon we’ll be back home,” he said absently, not entirely sure if they understood or were even listening to begin with. Though Clara did look up at him, cocking her head for a moment before resuming her meal. “Soon everything will be taken care of, and we can go home, and go back to sharing our music with the world.”

He hoped so, anyway.

Exhaustion tugged at his bones as he leaned against the counter, resting his head in his hand.

It had all been… more difficult than he’d expected.

At the start it wasn’t too hard—more annoying than anything. He hadn’t lost his money or any of his possessions, exactly—he’d been moved out of the mansion for his own protection for the time being. He still had what he needed to pay his guards and his… associates… and it wasn’t like he was actually in trouble with the police. No one was ever punished for crimes they committed in life—death was supposed to be a “fresh start” of sorts.

Not that people wouldn’t still hold those crimes against you, of course.

But more than that—he hadn’t, exactly, done anything illegal that night. Nothing any more illegal than he’d done before, anyway. A few of his paid “friends” already knew about the cenote and how he used it, and as for the child… well, there were no laws against harming the living. (There were now, but retroactive punishment wasn’t really a thing here.)

No, none of that had been the problem. He’d committed no crimes, and the police really couldn’t do anything to him, in spite of what the newspapers said. (“DLC Still On the Loose!” read one headline a month ago, as though he were actually on the run.) The problem wasn’t any of that—it was the public’s perception of him.

That entire mess had been recorded, somehow, and there was little to be done about that. Oh, he still retained some loyal fans, thank goodness—those who denied that he’d actually murdered anyone, or who could easily see there was no proof that he’d stolen anything, or who just didn’t care either way and only wanted his music. And that was nice, at least—he still retained some of his familia.

But it wasn’t enough.

Those who now hated him far outweighed those who still supported him. It was a PR nightmare, trying to figure out what to do about that recording. At the very least, he’d been told, he’d never actually admitted to the murder of Héctor or the knowing theft of his songs, but his attempted murder of that stupid child was a different matter. Right now they were trying to work on some solution to that—perhaps that he had been so overly-stressed from the event, from such serious accusations, and from the surreal experience of meeting a living child that he had temporarily lost control of his actions. A flimsy excuse, but… perhaps one that had some truth to it. He had been stressed—that child was trying to ruin his entire career, his reputation—and when under stress, people may resort to… extreme measures.

Ernesto knew a lot about that sort of thing.

But even if they managed to convince the public that the decision had been made in a moment of extreme stress, all of that would still leave a bad taste in their mouths. Not many wanted anything to do with him anymore aside from shouting at him in the street or even trying to attack him, at a few points. He couldn’t get near enough to any place to actually play music.

Unlike a certain other musician.

Taking a deep gulp of coffee didn’t quite wash that bitter taste out of his mouth. Héctor had been living the dream since then—the press was all over him and constantly wanting interviews, he had a growing fanbase, and he even had that little bonus of getting his familia estúpida back. Yet he wasn’t performing concerts, or even singing or playing a few choruses for his fans! A perfect waste of his talent—some things never changed. Or maybe they would—maybe Héctor would start throwing concerts for his beloved fans. Whatever the case, all eyes were on him, now.

And that was where the hardest part had started.

Once again Ernesto swallowed down another mouthful of coffee, and rubbed his forehead against the oncoming headache. Ay. It wasn’t supposed to be so hard. This wasn’t like when he’d made that fatal toast with Héctor, or even when he’d tried to get rid of that child. There was no murder here—not even an attempt. There were no fatally poisonous drinks, no bodies to hide, no friendships to permanently end. It should have been easy.

Tracking Héctor down had been easy. Finding out when he typically left the house, where he wasted his time—none of it was particularly difficult, with the media following him around anyway. They’d quickly found out about his visits to the shanties, and one of his men had mapped out the route he took. Then it was just a matter of finding the right spot, placing the fake order, and…

He pressed the heel of his hand into his head.

When he’d poisoned the drink, he hadn’t been entirely sure what would happen. Héctor could have dropped dead, or he could have gotten so sick that he couldn’t possibly board the train. Ernesto had been prepared for either case, but the former was what had happened. He’d done what he had to do, and that was that. The guilt had been there, but success and tequila had mostly chased it out—ultimately, it had been worth it. The nightmares had come, filled with the bitter taste of tequila, the smell of burning coal from the train, the feeling of dead weight in his arms.

But never with those sounds.

It was the one thing he’d failed to prepare for. He’d had the threats planned and ready to follow through with, his men had gathered the required tools, others were made aware of the situation, and they’d found the best location, but the sounds—why hadn’t he prepared for the sounds?!

He should have gagged him, if that were possible. He should have muted him first (but then there was that rattling and rasping and gagging and—), or broken his ribs first (crack, crack, crunch), or soundproofed the other room so he at least couldn’t hear what they were doing, or…

Every time he fell asleep they were there. Even when he was awake the noises were there; he’d hear the slightest scuffle or yelp that was just close enough and they would morph into those sounds—

Ay, Héctor never made anything easy.

Ernesto’s hand trembled with a specific pain he’d never felt before last night, and he stood up straight, massaging his palm. That, at least, he knew how to deal with. He’d felt a near-constant nausea back when Héctor had first died, but it left in time. Soon enough the pain in his hand would leave, too.

Just like Héctor’s fans would soon grow tired of waiting for their beloved musician to play for them. They’d miss those songs, eventually, and Héctor would never be there to perform them. They’d turn to other musicians, other bands, other mariachis, but it wouldn’t satisfy them. No.

Soon enough, they would come back to him, and all of this suffering would be worth it.

“Yip! Yip!”

Ernesto looked down to see that the alebrijes had finished their meal, and now Lobo was barking at him, both his little paws on his pant leg. Sighing, Ernesto reached down to pet the dog, only for him to duck away from his hand, darting off to another part of the apartment.

He had a feeling where the dog was leading him.

Rubbing the metacarpals on his right hand, he followed the dog through their little apartment. The other alebrijes seemed to catch on to this and bolted after Lobo as well, Zita yapping all the way. And, sure enough, they stopped at the closet door, all of them pawing and jumping and barking and whining all at once.

“No, no,” Ernesto said, wincing. “I’ve told you, those bones are not for you.”

That only seemed to make them bark louder, and he turned away quickly, heading back for the kitchen. That had been another oversight—of course the dogs would want bones. They could probably smell it from out here. Even if he wanted to dispose of the wretched thing right now, he wasn’t going to do it that way and risk the poor dogs choking. He needed to call Luis and ask him to pick up some bone-shaped dog treats from the store, and perhaps then they’d quiet down until the week was up.

To his surprise, the moment he reached for the phone on his wall, it began ringing.

He jumped back, giving a cry of surprise, only to roll his eyes at his own skittishness. Honestly, he shouldn’t be so on edge right now. Taking a moment to prepare a fake accent if he needed to, he picked up the phone. “¿Hola?”

“Señor de la Cruz, it’s Rafael,” came the voice on the other line, and Ernesto relaxed a fraction.

“Sí. What is it? Did something happen?” He twirled the phone cord in his fingers absently, eyes flicking down when he felt Zita tugging at his pant leg.

“We, uh, got word from Heraldez.”

His hand clenched around the cords and he hissed a curse into the receiver. Immediately Zita yelped, scampering away. “Oh, wonderful. And what did that ‘investigation’ turn up?”

“Uh… well… that Rivera woman and some other relative—an abuelo or something, I don’t know—of hers gave statements about finding you-know-who weeping in a doorway. They went to the spot, acted all thorough, and were gonna lead ‘em to say there was nothing there, but that abuelo caught on to the cleanup.”

Ernesto gritted his teeth. “And?”

“And… well, Heraldez said that they’d need a statement from him.”

His chest tightened, as did his grip on the phone cord. “And what did he tell them?”

“Uh… he didn’t, last I heard.”

“Which was?”

“About ten minutes ago.”

Heaving a sigh, he felt the tension leave his ribcage. “Good,” he said, releasing the phone cord and letting it thwap against the wall. “I’ll need one of you to come over here.”

“…Sí. Will I need to bring anything, Señor?”

Ernesto’s gaze drifted across his apartment, past the playing and yipping alebrijes and over to the closet door. “Anything you think will be useful in serving as a reminder.”

“…Sí. Anything else?”

In a moment, the sounds filled his mind: bang, bang, snap.

Shriek.

“…A large wad of cotton, if you would.”

“Si, Señor de la Cruz. I’ll be there in half an hour.”

#ernesto de la cruz #hector rivera #coco #pixar coco #coco spoilers #neither can you #my writing #fanfic #here you go folks #here's what ernesto's been up to

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shriekbackmusic · 6 years ago

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Virtual Sleevenotes, Credits and Lyrics for ‘Barry Andrews: Lost Pop Songs 78-80’

TRACK LIST 1 Rossmore Road 2 Win a Night Out (with a well-known paranoiac) 3 Freak 4 Me and My Mate Can Sing 5 Mousetrap 6 Bring On The Alligators 7 Sargasso Bar 8 Feeding Time 9 Muscle & Movement 10 Opposite Way in the Rush Hour 11 Taking Over ICI 12 Vampyr Skinhead 13 Big Soft Safe Family

MUSICIANS 1-3 clarinet: Frank Abrams, trombone: Ian Bateman, guitar: Rob Hendry, Robert Fripp, Bruce Mcrae, bass: Dave Marx, drums: Richard Wernham, engineer: John Strudwick, backing vocals: Bruce Mcrae, Patti Palladin, Clara Harris, Steve New, Marion Fudger. Recorded at Rockstar Studios, Fitzrovia, Mixed at Regent’s Park Studios, St Johns Wood. 4-7 guitars and bass: Dave Marx, drums: Rob Wilford, engineer: Hugh Padgham, Producer: Martin Rushent. Recorded at Townhouse Studio 2, Goldhawk Road. 8-10 guitar: Jon Ellis, bass: Dave Marx, drums: Richard Wernham, engineer: John Strudwick, recorded at Pathway Studios, Islington 11-13 bass: Marion Fudger, guitar: Rob Hendry, drums: Richard Wernham, engineer: Eric Radcliffe, recorded at Blackwing Studios, Borough.

The songs on this album have been lying about for a looong time, as you see. The reasons for this are twofold: 1- it’s juvenelia, really - undeveloped, derivative. Trying stuff on for size. An artist not in complete control of his medium, if you like. So I was not in a hurry to expose it, I guess, for its flaws are obvious. 2 it’s precious, unrepeatable, unvarnished. Truly an account of Process as someone’s aesthetic develops. It’s fascinating to me, of course (‘each man loves the smell of his own farts’) and, I have to assume, as an article of faith, that it may be to others. So, as a one-time-for-all-time thing, I was hesitant to release it. Anyway, here they…are, these songs which are inextricably bound both to a critical time in my life and the interstitial flavour of the historical moment: the end of the 70’s in good old (post-war, now post-60’s) UK. The dingy, dark, money-strapped days of Callaghan and Heath on the cusp of the New (fake) Gold Thatcherite Dawn.

London still grubby, edgy and un-Developed in a lot of places (squats still available - for instance) and Punk, which had roared for a couple of years - having redefined pop culture, via getting Pissed and Destroying - was about to stagger off into the wings, fresh out of ideas.

the Roxy Club, Covent Garden in 77 (it’s a shop selling Speedos now. Out with the Bin Bags in with the New Shiny Pants!)

The Clash and Pistols albums of 77 had permeated, by 79, everywhere they were likely to go (surprisingly far) but their offspring - the ninety-to-the-dozen, political, permanently furious form of *Punk was on the wane. ‘New Wave’ as a catch-all term for anything that was neither hardcore (with a little ‘h’) Punk nor Old School Rock was becoming the mot du jour. Another strange little sub-genre was Power Pop (which my old firm XTC could be described as, although to be fair, we were doing it well before the term was coined). Blondie, The Rich Kids, the Rezillos: all were attempts to make ideologically (yes!) acceptable the idea of melody and upbeat themes in a landscape where (Iove this term) *Ramalamadolequeue was rapidly wearing out its welcome.

(the Rich Kids - ft. Steve New, the baby deer. They’re not signing on are they? They’re Rich.)

Personally, these tunes cover, as historians say, ‘the long 78-80’. Roughly from the end of my time with XTC to the beginning of Restaurant for Dogs which was (sort-of) the R&D for Shriekback, although definitely with its own sovereignty and aesthetic.

Rossmore Road source: 1/4″ tape This came to light in a box of old tapes (Lordy I wish I had more tapes). It’s the first mix John Strudwick and I did for the single but I wasn’t happy and, rather sportingly, Virgin let us remix it. This version, though, not only has the ‘son trouveé - ‘asking for directions’ elements at the beginning and end (hilariously furious posh guy who - you can hear - I have managed to wind up even in the few seconds it takes to ask where Rossmore Road was. How? I really was an annoying, chippy bastard in those days - you can see why I felt paranoid (see below).

I was playing with Robert Fripp’s League of Gentlemen at the time and Robert kindly offered to come down and bestow his guitar benediction upon my humble pop tune (skills which were to be deployed, rather more usefully, on Bowie’s ‘Scary Monsters’ later that year - which Robert had taken a break from rehearsals with us to do (‘I have redefined the parameters of modern guitar playing’, he self-deprecatingly declared, on his return).

We got off to a bad start and never got beyond it: we plugged Fripp in and played the tune - John the engineer had assumed, totally reasonably, that this was a ‘get familiar’ go-through before we started recording.

As producer I should have been clearer - very much so, as it turned out because Fripp threw a total hissy fit when told we hadn’t recorded his 1st take. He gave us a rant about Heroes etc - how all his most genius work had been 1st or second takes. I apologised. He made a somewhat passive/aggressive show of graciousness in spite of this clear affront and the atmosphere was kinda tense after that. Someone else who hated me. Just great.

And anyway, what we would have got (and, on the 2nd take, did get) was - Fripp fans forgive me - 70’s prog-hero solo guitar noodling (very good guitar noodling, but still) - which loftily ignored the song’s structure so entirely that you had to choose between either just showcasing Robert or actually crafting the song. On the remix we ended up using one note (at the top). I honestly couldn’t find anything else that properly fitted. On the present mix, however, if you listen carefully, you can hear Fripp doing his flash, busy thing - it’s mixed as loud as I dared but you can hear it doesn’t really work and, if it hadn’t been him playing it, it wouldn’t have been there.

An inappropriate and inelegant use of resources, as he might have said. Interesting to hear though, perhaps, in a vestigial tail/snake legs sort of a way.

conceptual stuff about RRd.

ROSSMORE ROAD (NW1) The 159 runs along it Round the corner from Baker Street There's a dolls house shop on the corner Of Lisson Grove and

Rossmore Road Rossmore Road

Turn left at the DHSS in Lisson Grove You find yourself in Rossmore Road And there's a number of public buildings And a safety barrier down the middle of the road

In Rossmore Road In Rossmore Road In Rossmore Road

White and yellow lines and street signs And public phones and traffic cones And belisia beacons on the central reservation All humming now, all humming now, all humming now

To the north The Grand Canal Round the corner Regent's Park Next stop on the tube Marylebone Road And you can see Balcombe Street from Rossmore Road

The 159 runs along it Round the corner from Baker Street There's a dolls house shop on the corner Of Lisson Grove and

Rossmore Road Rossmore Road Rossmore Road Rossmore Road

In Rossmore Road White and yellow lines and street signs North of the river South of the circular Under the road Above the railway

All humming now, all humming now, all humming now All humming now, all humming now, all humming now All humming now, all humming now, all humming now All humming now, all humming now, all humming now All humming now, all humming now, all humming now All humming now...

Win a Night Out (with a well-known paranoiac) sound source: 1/4″ tape

Very pleased with this, I am still. Sui generis as they come. Blur before Blur said somebody. OK I’ll take it. I was (I think) actually thinking about Patti Smith’s Piss Factory - and Land and Wave, those half-poem, half-song tunes of hers. This, though, suffused with the provincial UK, late 70’s consciousness you get when you perhaps smoke too much grim hash and take too much speed. Interesting sexual punishment element to it also. Because it’s two dates: one rustic and one urban, then an extreme post coital reverse followed by a horrific denouement (Nazi Vivisection! The worst kind) which shows that, as they say: ’just cos you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you’.

This is, obviously, autobiographical (apart from the vivisection). This arsy, scruffy little bloke, oppressed by the forces of reaction and class, who seems to attract humiliation and brutality wherever he goes, even though his intentions are just to have fun and get laid. It’s a little poem about fear and self doubt which, around ’79 there seemed to be lots of. So I made a record. More expensive than a therapist but it has a trombone player..

WIN A NIGHT OUT (WITH A WELL-KNOWN PARANOIAC)

We could rendezvous in a country pub I know in the heart of rural England where the landlord sports moustaches just like Jimmy Edwards and the crisps and pickled onions on the bar are numberless as the stars at night We're just about to order scampi in an Elizabethan basket when two neckless men in blazers and cravats approach our table and say - "sorry - this bar is exclusively for the use of Nobel prize winners, latter day saints, people who have seen God and selected relatives of our dear Queen, and furthermore, you worm, there is mud upon your plimsolls". I reply that I am a member of most elitist cliques you care to name and the blood which courses (at an ever increasing speed as it happens) through my veins belonged once to the Cuban royal family, but, they don't listen and they just pour my drink down the sink and say "this is not what we mean. In this life, one is either U or non-U and if I were you I'd make myself bloody scarce.” I even try to show them my credit cards but unmoved they say "OK sonny, it's time you were taught a lesson and there's only one thing that your sort understand"

Win a night out with a well known paranoiac Win a night out with a famous paranoid Win a night out with a well known paranoiac Win a night out with a famous paranoid

At an Iberian eatery in the west end, we could gaze at each other across saucers of yoghurt and bits of crusty foreign bread - and then - I could order a carraffe of Asti - we could have so much fun. We could discuss things like communism and chart positions with the lack of inhibitions that separate the truly liberated from the herd - but - I should mention that I talk quite loud as a casualty of inexpensive foreign wine and neither am I unaware of the restive noises from the party sitting close by. But as I'm in the middle of my funny story about the Arab and the underwater toilet, I can't stop now 'cause I'm in too deep, as I'm coming to the part where I say (in my best joke telling voice), "so the Arab says to the attendant, right...

‘Of course as we know five thousand pounds of pressure can suck out almost anything,’ and it all goes quiet and a little girl is saying: "Daddy, what a horrible man" and Daddy replies, "don't worry darling 'cause I've just made a phone call to your crypto-fascist Uncle Roger and he'll be here quite soon, and make quite sure he doesn't upset any little girls... little girls any more"

Win a night out with a famous paranoiac Win a night out with a well known paranoid Win a night out with a well known paranoiac Win a night out with a famous paranoid

Lying in your crumpled bed on Sunday morning, you said your Mum and Dad had gone away to a conference in Bath and I believed you like a fool. Now you get up, go to the window and you turn a pot plant round. I study your naked bottom with a twinge of lust but I'm not twigging that something's going down. There is a sound of the heavy boots upon the stairs and the door crashes open and in comes your Dad with some faithful retainers and some ex-Army mates from the Conservative Club. And I figure they must have been waiting all night because your Dad is clutching two reels of infra-red film and he's looking dangerously pale as he shows me the microphone under the bed, and I'm just about getting the message: all is not too groovy

As you stand there in your dressing gown laughing at me, then in comes your Mum in her nylon house coat with her hair hanging loose like a suburban Harpy and she advances towards me with an army surplus bush knife, clearly bent on wreaking havoc down below the navel and she's just about to get stuck in when I wake up... and yeah, it was all a dream

I'm really in a hospital bed. There is a smell of formaldehyde in the air, and a couple of doctors with swastikas on their arm are doing something to the brain of a sheep and in the corner is a huge zinc bath containing some sort of reptile and the nurse is saying "be a brave boy and drink it all up". And I realise I can't feel me legs and the shape in the bed isn't my shape at all and I wanna cry out but I can only bleat

Win a night out with a well known paranoiac Win a night out with a famous paranoid Win a night out with a well known paranoiac Win a night out with a famous paranoid

FREAK source: cassette So Funk was the thing - but let’s take it and fuck it up with our English voices and anti-slick playing. Let’s actually take the funk/fun out of it. Disco hatred was the tip, kinda. I recall saying in an interview that it was like scratching up a big lairy american limousine with the nasty, rusty keys of your squat (there’s also an unreleased Restaurant for Dogs version we recorded for Warners with Nick Launay which takes this approach to its theoretical limit: it’s pretty hard to listen to). We are, in fact, so alienated from the subject matter that I sing ‘just come on down to the fifth floor’ instead of ’54’ - the iconic New York club, me not having heard of it (though - quirky historical note - Shriekback did actually play there in the place’s last week - on the Sacred City tour).

Dave’s ‘confused Dutch person’ on the end is a nice random element. Like he’s wandered in off another session.

4 Songs from Town & Country EP (Virgin 79) Me and My Mate, Mousetrap, Bring on the Alligators, Sargasso Bar sound source: vinyl Ah T&C - I sort-of despise thee. No-one was taking care of my career development - especially not me - after XTC so I got stuck in a posh recording studio with the Strangler’s producer way before I should have been. This you can hear from the ‘apprentice piece’ nature of this EP. All influences fully on show and sellotaped together. A ‘band’ which, you can tell, has only so much in common and which was kinda thrown together. An adolescent ferocity in the delivery not masking very well a slew of insecurities. ‘Calm Down’ I want to tell this snarling young herbert, ‘nobody thinks you’re cool anyway. It’s fine: do an album about a fish, why dontcha?’ As it is, we get a variety pack of New Wave/Post Punk styles and lyrical tropes: Me & My Mate (the Clash obvs: stage democracy, anti-rockist groupy exploitation, DIY fanzine-esque self-expression for the working classes, Patti Smith reference). Mousetrap A classically-trained-but-recently-listened-to-Elvis Costello/Joe Jackson Bitter Relationship song. I like the spoken word bit that deconstructs a Well Made Play in 4 lines though (for those who don’t know, The Mousetrap is the longest running show in the West End - since ‘52!). The ‘Darlings’ repeated hookline was a reference to my lovely Aunty Rene who worked many years in the box office of various West End theatres (the Adelphi and the Prince of Wales I think - and since you ask) and had adopted a fabulously camp way of speaking through long exposure to gay theatrical men. Her poodle Chico was ‘my little Treasure Island’ and everyone else was ‘Darling’.

Aunty Rene (2nd left) with her theatrical crew and actress Anna Neagle at the Coalhole on the Strand 1968)

MOUSETRAP Been playing Shaftesbury Avenue For a thousand years or maybe two - darlings Done plenty bum gigs in my time But everything's alright now

In the mousetrap In the mousetrap

We fall in love most every night We're quite ridiculously tight - darlings And yeah I feel some kind of freak Getting killed six times a week

In the mousetrap In the mousetrap

It's nearly half past three Gotta do a matinee I don't understand this game Why everything's the same

But as the show go on and on And on and on And on and on and on and on and on And on

I know the punters mustn't see How mundane it seems to me - darlings But sometimes I wish I could screw Someone else in Shaftsbury Avenue

In the mousetrap In the mousetrap

Curtain up - exposition Development of character Plot - unravelling slow Sustaining interest, gathering momentum

Till they unmask the killer Then a twist right at the end And it's all over till tomorrow night

In the mousetrap In the mousetrap

Sargasso Bar definitely the best of this bunch. Although the Small Town Observational style is a little irritating (alright, Bazzer, you’re a Poet of the Everyday and you are so very alienated) it is here for the first time that a certain mock heroic, magical-realist aspect started to appear in my writing. ‘they raise their glasses in 2/4 time and they study the latecomers as they slither in beneath the door’. XTC did a version of this which failed to get onto GO2. Not too much different I think but I recall Andy Partridge’s objection to the line: ‘we’re surrounded by the Eels of Death’. He felt it was the sort of hippy, trippy kinda image which XTC Stood Against. I felt it was - well - mock heroic and magical realist. This conversation went nowhere, obviously, but it was instrumental in making my decision to leave the band. These people just didn’t get my shit…

SARGASSO BAR Couple in the corner Now she's crying on his shoulder Well they're a couple of Modern Lovers Sort of Kevin and Isolde She's embarrassed by his footwear He's embarrassed by her hair But he doesn't really care He says it's murder staying emotionally aware He's another Lost Soul But he's only come here to die And get high

In the sargasso bar, the sargasso bar, the sargasso bar In the sargasso bar, the sargasso bar, the sargasso bar

Big John in the wooly Football training in the evening Well he got married married married Now he only thinks of leaving And he's surrounded by the blubber Watch the terylene stretching As he makes a point about his car When you're on miles to the gallon You know where you are And he's here every night, he's such a regular guy He gets high

In the sargasso bar, the sargasso bar, the sargasso bar In the sargasso bar, the sargasso bar, the sargasso bar

We came in from the rain Now we're surrounded by the Eels of Death Everyone nervous and everybody couldn't care less We raise our glasses in 2/4 time We study the latecomers as they slither in beneath the door About this time of the night There's more and more and more and more Well, give them ten minutes then they all go home to die Cos they're so high

In the sargasso bar, the sargasso bar, the sargasso bar

Bring on the Alligators yeah, dunno about this one really. Clearly I’m really working the magic realist tip again but to what end? It’s clearly meant to be funny, what with the Polish ‘1234’ in the middle and the ‘cocktail bar’ quiet section at the end and all but it’s all trying a bit hard for my liking. The awfully Lahndun working class accent I have on all these tunes is also a bit abrasive. My estuarine whine is of course part of me but it is underlining, unecessarily and stridently I feel, the ‘prolier than thou’ ethic which I had bought into wholesale during Punk. Let it go, dude…

2 LOTS OF DEMOS source: cassette Well, now we were getting somewhere.. Listening back now, 40-odd years on it really does seem to me that the year (ish) between the EP and this first set of demos represented a huge leap in my - er - self development. The life in XTC - still living with Ma & Pa or on the road within the Mothership of the band - record company, management, everything being done for you (at the expense, as it turned out, of knowing what was actually going on..hem hem). It’s cosiness and material sufficiency came at a price I could no longer put up with. Time to go, clearly.

I remember leaving the last outpost of that world - the nice flat above the Townhouse, paid for by Virgin while we were recording the EP but now, since recording had just finished, off limits. So��I could go back to Swindon - or step out into the scary metropolis, where all the safety nets have been packed away, and see what can be made to happen. Me and a girlfriend (who had signed up when I was a (sort-of) pop star - she was in for a taste of the real musician’s girlfriend’s lot now alright) went over to my old schoolmate’s flat in the East End (he was at college in London) - it was pouring down of rain as we walked across Tower Bridge. No money for a cab - the XTC wages had long been cut off.

Youth seeks a Rite of Passage, does it not? This seemed to be mine. I felt noble and scared and reckless and Hungry for Experience. So, these tunes were written after a year of London, of squatting, signing on, meeting loads of new people, getting sick, getting well, hanging round the ink well - no, actually, after a particularly avid speed binge and a dreadful mini-tour with the T&C band I developed serious chickenpox (more virulent in adulthood, it turns out). I was the Elephant Man for a while. The body was having its unignorable say about all this new input. But the tunes were definitely better. More individual. Not trying so hard and, sometimes, there was a Showing Forth of something really quite juicy and new (and I don’t just mean the pustules, har har).

Feeding Time I submitted this to Shriekback’s publisher when he asked if we had anything that might do for the Eurovision Contest. He never quite looked at me the same way again, I thought (nil points pour moi).

I had been working at London Zoo (west gate and Reptile House: taking money on the door) that year and eating in various Camden/Kilburn greasy spoons. These two experiences were to produce this little gem. A Meditation on Eating. I think it needed doing.

Points of interest: Dave Marx’s great bassline which is really the hook and the armature. Jon Ellis’s glistening ‘egg’ chord. The ‘Taking Your Order’ on the fade (Prawn Cocktail! The 70′s are strong in this one...) I had earlier recorded this with some ‘opera’ singers (from the BBC West of England Chorus - including Mrs Evenett (contralto) my old French teacher) singing the ‘Feeding Time’s’ in fine bel canto stylee. Which I may release at some point.

FEEDING TIME Putting things into my body at Feeding Time White wine and little damaged bodies from the bottom of the sea inside me still feel hungry when I reach the end and I won’t feel good when it’s Feeding Time again. I watch him from the corner at Feeding Time sometimes he is hideous to watch as he shovels his chops inside him and his belly is beginning to distend and I know he’ll feel great when it’s Feeding Time again

but in the meantime Eat - don’t stop Eat - don’t stop Eat - don’t stop

Biting Viscera and gristle at Feeding Time listen to the lobsters whistle crack their legs open suck out what you find inside The spaghetti as it glistens at Feeding Time like spirogyra on your wet lips munching masticated chips in your mouth with lots of wine Eggs! Eggs! Soft and warm romantically slipping down inside and I wish it could always be Feeding Time and I wish it could always be Feeding Time (let’s see what’s on menu.. I’ll get an onion bhaji.. …prawn cocktail …three more pappadums…)

Opposite Way In The Rush Hour You know, it’s a bit cheesy and self serving but I still dig this. Our hero is heading off to some gig (some horrible, low paid, nightclub-type gig - let’s say in Edgbaston. Or Stoke). He’s hitching his way up there to meet the band at the soundcheck and it’s just getting dark. He looks at all the Regular Folk coming home from work: old geezers on pushbikes, factory workers - UK manufacturing has still a few years in it at this point - young girls (that might have been mating/marriage material in his former life) wait at bus stops and the cosy tea (the evening meal not the drink - important class-related point) on the tables, visible through the shortly to be curtained windows and our man gets all Springsteeny-sentimental about his self-ordained High and Lonely Destiny. Noble chords, I think, and very clever drumming by Rich Wernham (he was bloody good, I must say - as Nick Lowe said - ‘you can get away with murder if you’ve got a good drummer’). The absence of traditional last chorus repeats, instead dissolving into a babble of voices was indicative of some creative, envelope-pushing Thort, I would say. The boy’s finding his feet..

OPPOSITE WAY IN THE RUSH HOUR Going the opposite way in the rush hour watching the cars going past in the night. Factory gates let out the day shift - they escape on their bikes. Daughters go home on the bus, see you’re not one of us. The sensation is sweet and it’s sour. Going the opposite way, opposite way, in the rush hour.

Closer to being a part of the big system: so near and far from all that you seek. Closer to where the big heart beats you into submission then rocks you to sleep. Curtains still open The news on the telly they’re making their tea and I want all they’ve got but somehow.. keep on going this way: opposite way in the rush hour.

Street lamps come on now, those front rooms look so warm now. Old men with empty lunch bags pedal homewards and the girls wait at bus stops as the weekend unfolds. Once it would have felt so right heading into the hot sticky heat of the night

…it’s not a question of honour or a question at all Just the way that we choose to live now Going our opposite way… opposite way… opposite way…

Muscle and Movement Painfully sincere (and unintentionally camp) credo from the Squat years. Fucking grim, mate. It was cold, self-flagellating and unecessarily unpleasant. Here is the mantra behind that lifestyle experiment ‘pain is knowledge and knowledge is wealth.’ Jeez, give this guy a cuddle...

MUSCLE & MOVEMENT Fed up of sitting around with my legs crossed Pretending and smiling and saying ‘yeah, cheers then’ avoiding the whites of their eyes. (and another thing) And another thing- don’t try and tell me you’re gonna get something together when everything’s going your way then the limit’s the sky. You can’t always hide on the side watching people who do things bigger than you. You can’t have a permanent stop to the things that displease you or give you unease. ‘Cos all that matters is Muscle and Movement flesh out all your fantasies with Muscle and Movement (ain’t no such thing as security, just Muscle and Movement Muscle and Movement

as you relax at the end of the day there’s another tomorrow staring at you as it stands at the top of the stairs time is a swine it just keeps coming at you battering you to the floor as you try and stand up yelling you’ve had enough save it for somebody free - don’t talk to me I got no symapthy pour out some more of that wine everything’ll be fine just stay drunk all the time but remember that Muscle and Movement is all that makes you what you are Muscle and Movement standing still don’t get you too far it’s Muscle and Movement Muscle and Movement

it’s hard but it’s true that there’s nothing to cling to nothing to belong to and nowhere is more important than where you are now and there is no rest for the wicked, no rest for the wicked or peace for the innocent or the don’t knows (this lines indecipherable) cos there ain’t nobody got the things they need (same) cos the things that you lack are what you never get back cs the only secret weapon is Muscle and Movement

Muscle and Movement nothing happens by itself Muscle and Movement pain is knowledge and knowledge is wealth

Vampyr Skinhead & Taking Over ICI Well, it’s here that I claim total responsibility for the Two-Tone/Ska Revival that was to occur later that year. No, honest - no-one else was doing this stuff at the time (or they were but no-one had heard of them yet). These two tunes were, moreover, direct descendants of my song ‘Super Tuff’ from the XTC album (btw, that title came from the strapline of a Bruce Lee movie ‘Bruce Lee - Super Tough - but also Tender,’ so I was also anticipating Tarantino and all that kitsch martial arts movie stuff from the 90’s - could I be any more prescient?) Actually, exciting self delusion aside, I claim only to have had my finger on an historical pulse which had been throbbing away since the 70’s and which obviously many others had also been party to. As I say somewhere else ‘it’s ok to have a great idea but you have to get off your chuff if you’re going to start a cultural movement’. I wasn’t dedicated enough, clearly, but I was quietly and briefly, a canary in that particular coalmine.

The idea of reggae as this parallel exotic, possibly dangerous sub-track to Pop/Rock had been around for quite a while and kept bubbling up out of the Zeitgeisty swamp to varying amounts of mainstream attention. Bob Marley (pretty much just him) had Broken Through to become the reggae artist that unitiated white people liked and played at parties to show Cool. U Roy, Big Youth, Scratch et al remained the province of hip white people (as we liked to think of ourselves). But, under the audacious banner of ‘Fuck Art, Let’s Dance’ the Ska revival, the Two Tone label, Madness etc were to mine the accelerated beats, fruity grooves and edgy vibes of Jamaica (along the lines of Desmond Dekker and Toots and the Maytals) to international chart success. Of which more in a minute..

Since Punk there had been this strange symbiosis (which is easy to forget, it’s so non-intuitive) of reggae with Punk which had continued, unabated since the days of the Roxy Club. This, eventually, had permeated the wider scene. So, when XTC would play, in 78, gigs in Birmingham or Leeds, the disco would always be alternating, say, the Drones, Chelsea or the Pistols with Althia and Donna, Steel Pulse or Culture. It was a tacit admission, I would say, that the Punk formula was a limited one and, while its brutal austerity had been bracing (and a welcome antididote to Old Fart music), people still needed melody and sensuality and Actual Dancing.

But, there had been, in my late schooldays (early to late 70’s) an earlier, more schismatic appearance of Reggae (in its proto form of Ska) which I had observed firsthand in my Comprehensive provincial schooldays with all its codes and brutalities (kinda charming and nostalgic now; fairly scary and intense at the time). There was a 2 tribes battle going on at my school and in the UK generally: the Skinheads and the Greboes/Hairies (vestigial, usually non-ideological Hippies, really, sometimes with a component of Biker). It was a pretty one-sided battle: the Skins were an embodiment of working class, unsmiling rage and violence (’Aggro’ and ‘Bovver’ were their coinages (graffitti in my town read: ‘S.T.A.B (= Swindon Town Aggro Boys) Kick to Kill’). It was a culture of fighting and machismo which picked on pretty much anyone (it became a white racist movement eventually of course: ‘Paki Bashing’ being one defining activity but, as is documented in ‘This Is England’ TV series, the Skins didn’t start out that way: look at all that ska and blubeat. Also, in Swindon in the 70’s there wasn’t much opportunity to get the ol’ racism going - there wasn’t a single black or Asian kid in my year at school; only one or two in the entire school - so the Hairies/Greebs would have to do as a Victim Class, I guess.

The mostly docile, pacifist, great-coat/tie-die-wearing, patchouli-smelling, Topographic Oceans-carrying quasi-hippy was always good for a bit of a kicking (though I suspect, the lack of physical challenge made them a bit uninspiring - football hooliganism probably gave the Skins more of a work-out). At any rate, the hirsute, messy look and, (NB!) the usually university-bound, middle class nature of the Hairies was a walking provocation to the neatly groomed, fashion-conscious, mostly working class (went to work instead of Sixth Form: fuck school and Uni, let’s make some short-term money - therefore doomed for life to the factory or site) Skinheads.

This schism was enacted in the music, as it often is: the long-winded, effete, sexually inert tropes of Prog, the self-indulgent, solo-wanking, adolescent-boy mirror-gazing of hard rock versus the clipped, disciplined, concise sexy beats of Ska and pop reggae (showcased particularly in the ‘Tighten Up’ series of compilations). It really was chalk and cheese.

There was, btw, a whole genre of dirty ska songs, epitomised by Prince Buster’s Big Five single (‘funky spunky man in Big Five, screaming steaming night in Big Five…there will be water all over the bed…water all over her head..’ (!)

One night after a Manfred Mann’s Earthband show at Swindon College (deep Hairy territory, obviously) when the crowd were reluctant to go home, the promoter stuck a Ska tune on the PA which cleared the room like tear gas. Hard to imagine now. Like I say, Tribal. So, when I started writing songs (Pop Songs! For Bands!) I felt I had struck a fruitful vein in observing the horrified yet strangely fascinated viewpoint of the oppressed Other (Hairy/Greeb/insert Ethnic Group) as he is subdued and brutalised by his natural predator, the Skinhead.

Form following subject matter, this would, of course, be couched in a mutated form of reggae which, though, as a fledgling Hairy (with already insufficient hair, aIas!) I was forbidden to like - I must say it did exert a fascination. It was so alien. Alien is interesting. Thus, in Vampyr Skinhead we have, again, a randomly predatory hardnut - this time he’s going door to door terrorising people (‘no compunction as he hammers down your door - or elects to clamber in the window - he is swift and he is sure..’). The image really did come to me in a dream: this ferocious little fucker doing his rounds of the estate, like a Clockwork Orange version of the Man from the Pru. Definitely a Viz magazine character there, I reckon... The sound of a Ska beat still had, for me, the menace it did when the Skins at school danced their clipped, butch, slightly-ridiculous-but-I-fucking-dare-you-to-laugh, scary little dance to it.

Non Cultural Studies note: the riff is played on a WASP synth - I guess the 1st affordable synthesiser. Fairly horrible but it had one good sound so hey... No actual keyboard - a flat plate which was murder to play and ‘explains’ the really obvious cock-up on the intro which we didn’t have time to repair. It wasn’t mine btw (the WASP not the cock up).

VAMPYR SKINHEAD Vampyr Skinhead knock at your door Don’t sell brushes or Brittanica no more He no check for pushing leaflets through the door or collecting money for the football he lives outside the law. He’s just out on the street with his boots on his feet and I would give a lot to know what he’s got Vampyr Skinhead.. Vampyr Skinhead Vampyr Skinhead strikes again Vampyr Skinhead feel no pain gonna do it again and again and again

Vampyr Skinhead come down your way and he’s not from anywhere silly in the USA. Not religion that he’s peddling door to door he’s not looking for the meter (he wouldn’t know what it’s for). He’s just out on the street with his boots on his feet and your little sister’s crying but he’s not. Vampyr Skinhead Vampyr Skinhead Vampyr Skinhead

Somebody’s gonna get uptight, gonna get hot and they’re gonna make mincemeat of him someday... Somebody like Peter Cushing gonna wreck the curtains while he’s sleeping then they’ll be nothing left but a pair of Marten’s and a pile of dust…

Vampyr Skinhead come down your street he’s a monster and he’s got sharp litle teeth. No compunction as he hammers down your door Or elects to clamber in the window - he is swift and he is sure. Out and I would give a lot to know what he’s got Vampyr Skinhead…. Vampyr Skinhead…. Vampyr Skinhead……

V.S.’s Nemesis...

Taking Over ICI was an attempt at a pure pop reggae tune - with a socialist/punky spin. Lovely playing by Rob (gtr) and Marion Fudger (ex wife of Dave Fudger, charming chap who used to write for Sounds and now worked for Virgin Publishing - he got me the gig with Iggy Pop). Rich Wernham (also of the Motors). Cracking organ solo dontcha think? I had chops in those days - before Quantise fucked me up.

TAKING OVER ICI Alone I just didn’t dare make my move to trash organised laissez-faire but since you nibbled my ear Cadbury-Schweppes and Lever Brothers quiver in fear. All the multiples are whining. All the big nobs are resigning. Since I found out you loved me, I’m taking over ICI Taking over ICI Alone I couldn’t handle myself let alone the redistribution of wealth. But, since I found out you care, I could trash the System single-handed I swear. Can’t handle all their wheeler-dealing - prefer to hear rich people squealing… Since I found out you loved me, I’m taking over ICI Taking over ICI… Taking over ICI..

Big Soft Safe Family Rather as ‘Paranoiac’ was: a one-off, never to be repeated thing. Deeply and nakedly autobiographical. Musically quite original, I venture. Shmershy chords the like of which I hadn’t used before and a confidently slow groove. Vignettes of my respectable working class, late 60′s, Mike Leigh previous life suffused with the cheap cynicism of a young sprat who didn’t realise how lucky he was. They’re all gone now.. and - spoiler - I actually never had an aunt from Torquay (but she rhymed).

BIG SOFT SAFE FAMILY The relatives are all on their fifth cup of tea. Their rapid eye movements are something to see - all lying to each other and smiling alternately. Your mum and your dad and your aunt from Torquay they are none of the same as they once used to be but they’re all of them, gloriously in the Big Soft Safe Family

We all of us have a particular smell I know their’s and they know mine habitually well. They worry about me and I worry about them I’m surprised you can’t tell. We use the same toilet and eat the same food and we savage each other when we’re not feeling so good but blood is thicker than water and ultimately we’re a Big Soft Safe Family

We’re slowly aquiring the things that we need they’re very pleased with our progress indeed. They were saying we looked very happy and of course we agreed. Respect due to father and love due to mum and the daughter is lovely and so is the son. Illusions die obstinately in the Big Soft Safe Family

#shriekbackmusic #Shriekback.com #xtc band #punk rock #roxy club #skinheads #two-tone #70s

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mswiftie9090 · 7 years ago

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My Swift Life

2007: I heard Teardrops on my Guitar at a Claire’s in a mall in LA after flying from Guatemala for like 12 hours. I spent 2 weeks trying to figure out who it was, including when I screamed at the girl at Claire’s “WHO IS THIS?! WHO IS THIS?!”

2008: I was lonely while living in France learning how to speak French. Love Story made me smile every day for like 3 weeks.

2009: I start dental school, first generation college student. I am making my parents so proud. Change is playing. I learned to play the guitar with the song Jump Then Fall. I wanted to tell a guy, lets call him Tall Dude, I liked him. He did not think I was good at playing guitar. Chip off of my self esteem.

2010: I bought a record player because @taylorswift made a vinyl and danced around my house with my record player playing. In the back of my mind, I am starting to wonder about my choices. I wish I’d never grown up.

2011: I went into a deep depression because I realized I spent three years going to school for something that felt wrong. I dropped out of school at the start of December. I was in New York when I told my parents. My dad told me I was a disappointment, a failure, said I’d never be successful, and it was a shame I had to waste how smart I had been. My mom could not look at me. I planned my suicide, I was supposed to die January 2nd 2012. Except on December 26th, 2011 Taylor released Safe and Sound. That song saved my life.

2012: Played Safe and Sound for months until I managed to stop crying. I left the country, I got into a new school, and made the Dean’s list. I played 22 twenty two times for my 22nd birthday. My mom apologized, and we danced together during my birthday all 22 times. Tall Dude asked me out, I told him to suck it.

2013: Second week of October, my dad has a massive heart attack, five open heart surgeries. The cause was an embezzler who stole all of our money. He is dying, I sing a stripped down version Sweeter Than Fiction next to him in the ICU. I wonder if he can hear me. I am about to drop out, I need to help my family, I feel like it was all for nothing. I have no energy to live, because whatever happens, I still love my dad. I’m staying I decide, except my dad wakes up, and it honestly is Sweeter Than Fiction. November, I saw Taylor live for the first time. I cried during all too well, thinking of who I had been only 2 years before, and everything that happened with my dad. I danced during 22, because I was 22 at the time. I thanked Andrea when I briefly met her, did not explain exactly how her daughter saved my life twice. I made Dean’s list for the third time in three semesters.

2014: Graduated from College with honors, got into the only school I applied to for my master’s degree. Taught a 2 year old how to shake it off, when baby-sitting because I needed to make a living.

2015: Got offers from multiple schools to do my PhD in. My dad helped me write the commencement speech for my master’s graduation. He never apologized for calling me a failure, but having him listen to me practice that speech was everything. I visited New York again, cried because I was someone else before, 2011 Melanie was gone. I had succeeded. I see Taylor, and sing Clean while crying over who I was, and everything that has happened. I drove across the country with an infinite Taylor playlist, because I was about to start my PhD, and it is all coming together.

2016: Working on my research at a national lab. People ask me what it feels like. I cannot believe that is my life. My mom tells me a respected professor said “she’ll never have to look for a job, people want to work with her. She is just that good.” I cry while listening to my favorite throwback Change.

2017: I passed my qualifying exam. I attend my first scientific conference. I become responsible for my own little corner of the world. I am getting results. I am excited. I am doing better than I ever was.

2018: St. Patrick’s Day A friend just assaulted me. I think it hurts more because it is someone I cared about. I cannot put together the person he was three weeks ago, compared to who he is now. I want to quit school. I want to go home. I do not want to see him because he is so well liked. Except, I have lived through so much. Fuck him. Even if it still makes me cry. I am not giving up. I am letting everyone know who this fucker really is, because if a man talks shit I owe him nothing, and he had it coming. I can’t wait to see her May 12th, Santa Clara. I will scream I Did Something Bad with a real meaning behind those words.

Future: I will have obstacles. I will have tremendous joy. I will have a lot of Taylor songs that will become my anthem, and help me get through something or to celebrate something.

#Taylor swift #red #1989 #reputation #speak now

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starlingsrps · 6 years ago

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anna tate char. dev. (short)

ORIGINS & FAMILY:

Name: anna verity tate

Nickname: annie

Birthday: august 3, 1997 (DEAR GOD.)

Age: twenty one

Gender: female

Place of birth: mobile, alabama

Places lived since: mobile; nashville

Parents: zeke and sabrina tate, 40

Siblings: clara, 17; jacob, 12

Relationship with family: good and close as hell. her mom was her manager for a long time until she started getting bigger than county fairs and her parents have been nothing but encouraging when it comes to her career. she and her mom moved to nashville by themselves when anna was sixteen and now that she's starting to become a Name and be played on the radio, she's trying to pay them back for everything they've done for her but they won't let her.

Children of her own?: no and she's a long ways off from them.

PHYSICAL

Height: 5'5

Build: lanky

Complexion: fair and freckled

Distinguishing features: expressive faces, bright smile

Hair color: light brown

Usual hair style: usually styled to be wavy and she likes to flip it around and play with it.

Eye color: blue

Glasses? Contacts?: both

Style of dress/typical outfit(s): jeans and a t-shirt if she has it her way. jeans and a tank for performing.

Typical style of shoes: boots. anna is a boots afficianado. with her first paycheck for selling a song, she bought a pair of fryes and they are still her first love.

Health: reasonably good

Grooming: good!

Jewelry? Tattoos? Piercings?: pierced ears, rarely for jewelry, "be brave" tattooed on her right wrist

Accent?: thick southern drawl

Unique mannerisms/physical habits: she tends to stand on one leg like a flamingo when nervous

Athletic?: ish? like she runs when she can't relax.

INTELLECT

Level of education: GED

Level of self esteem: pretty good! she's still new to all of This and negative comments can sometimes get to her but she's starting to develop a thicker skin.

Gifts/talents: song writing, singing, guitar. she's also friendly as hell.

Shortcomings: she's still learning how to hold back pieces of herself in interviews. she's a mouthy little shit usually and oops.

Style of speech: pretty even but fast when she's excited or nervous.

Artistic?: yes!

Mathematical?: yep

Makes decisions based mostly on emotions, or on logic?: emotions

Neuroses: she's superstitious before performing - left boot on first, spare guitar picks always, hand written set lists.

Religious stance: raised baptist

Cautious or daring?: daring.

Most sensitive about/vulnerable to: some of her songs are really personal and she's hesitant about putting them out there but what the hell why not

Optimist or pessimist?: incurable optimist

Extrovert or introvert?: extrovert

Level of comfort with technology: good! again, management is trying to get her to be less personal on her instagram but she can't help it.

RELATIONSHIPS

Current marital/relationship status: on print, single but really dating sawyer williams

Sexual orientation: heterosexual

Past relationships: ehh not really? she's been so busy for the past few years that it's kind of fallen by the wayside.

A social person?: yes!

Most comfortable around: pretty much anyone tbh

Oldest friend: sadie rose perkins, her best friend back in mobile. they talk every single day.

How does she think others perceive her?: she hopes it's good.

How do others actually perceive her?: talented performer and songwriter, little too mouthy sometimes.

VOCATION

Profession: musician

Past occupations: songwriter

Attitude towards current job: it is the Dream

Attitude towards current coworkers, bosses, employees: she loves her band and her road crew but her manager needs to stop threatening to take away her phone

Salary: p good p good

SECRETS

Dreams: just to keep doing what she's doing as long as she can

Greatest fears: writer's block

Hobbies: riding her bike, song writing

Past sexual transgressions: nah

Crimes committed: oh god no.

What she most wants to change about her current life: she takes all of these cute pictures of sawyer and can't post them so what's the use?

What she most wants to change about her physical appearance: she's made her peace with what she's got

DETAILS/QUIRKS

Daily routine: perform perform perform travel travel travel sleep sleep sleep

Night owl or early bird?: night owl

Light or heavy sleeper?: heavy

Favorite food: bagels

Favorite book: harry potter

Favorite movie: walk the line

Favorite song: “take me home country roads" by john denver. or "any man of mine" by shania twain. or "jolene". or-

Coffee or tea: diet coke

Type of car she drives: nah

Lefty or righty?: lefty

Favorite color: orange

Cusser?: she's trying to knock it off

Smoker? Drinker? Drug user?: no / not legally / no

Pets?: lil bit, golden retriever back home with her parents

#c: anna tate

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theladysilvermoon · 7 years ago

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My time with the 12th Doctor:

With the Christmas Special coming soon, I'd like talk about one of my all time favorite Doctor's from Doctor Who, the 12th Doctor played by Peter Capaldi.

Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor will always be special to me 'cause even though I was introduced to Doctor Who when it returned in 2005, the 12th Doctor is the first Doctor i have followed from start to finish in chronological order by the time it aired. I have seen of episodes of both Christopher Eccelston, David Tennat and Matt Smith, but not all of them and not in order.

I think what I like most about 12 is that after almost 10 years with three young actors playing the Doctor it was so refreshing to have an older actor be the Doctor. And I know right from the start when he was announced as the Doctor fans were pissed that they chose an older guy, because they were so used to a young looking Doctor. And I think Capaldi and the writers took notice of that 'cause his Doctor is anything but boring, he is a sun-glass wearing, confident, stuck-up, cynical and entitled doctor who wears hoodies, plays electric guitar on a tank and don't take shit from no none. And I love that!

you can tell his doctor has been around for a long time, so it's natural that he would be a bit unsocial and unsympathetic, but at the same time if people are in danger because of his involvement he won't hesitate to step in and take the hit and if someone he loves dies because if him his guilt almost overwhelms him.

Which brings me to his companions. As much as I love Clara I never really felt their chemistry. It can't be easy for a new old Doctor to take over an old companion and vice versa, but I feel Clara did her best to bring out the good side of the doctor while she herself grew as a character. But my favorite companion of 12 is no doubt Bill, she was so different not just because she was openly gay but she was a like an everyday person that managed to catch the doctor's attention. She's a working class girl, doesn't know much of the world and has a troubled past, but she doesn't let that affect her and keeps a fun, positive personality. Plus she has a geeky side to her which I love about her. It’s also interesting that both of 12′s companions got such a sad ending, yet both got a second chance to live a different kind of existing.

Favorite 10 Episodes: These are my favorite episodes of the 12th doctor so far, one day I might re-watch all 3 seasons of the 12th and my opinion might change. These episodes are in no particular order:

Mummy on the Orient Express In the Forest of the Night Last Christmas Hell Bent The Husbands of River Song The Return of Doctor Mysterio The Pilot Thin Ice The Empress of Mars The Doctor Falls

Final appearance:

The last episode of any Doctor is always special, but I admit whit “Twice Upon a Time” I’m looking forward to see the 12th together with the 1st Doctor played by David Bradley. I really have no idea what the special will be about or how it can top season 10 finale (The Doctor Falls), but I do hope it will tie in to Capaldi’s tenure as the Doctor and give him a good ending.

The future is female:

Of course the most important thing people are looking forward to, is the moment the Doctor regenerates into a female Doctor played by Jodie Whittaker. I have not watch anything with her which i’m happy about, ‘cause then I form a better opinion of her as the Doctor. The hole dynamic of the show is gonna change with a female doctor. What kind of personality will she have, what kind of companions will she have, how will her enemies - both new and old - react to her and what kind of adventures will she go on. Let’s all hope for the best.

#doctor who #the 12th doctor #peter capaldi #tardis #twice upon a time #twice upon a doctor #david bradley #the 1st doctor #christmas special #doctor who christmas special #jodie whittaker #12th doctor who #mark gattis #the 13th doctor

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kuixotic · 7 years ago

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if possible,all the music asks?

1:A song you like with a color in the title

Yellow-ColdplayI’ve loved this song for a long time and it’s just been a staple of my life,given Coldplay could be considered my top band as well :D

2:A song you like with a number in the title

1985-Bowling For SoupYOU CAN’T TELL ME THIS ISN’T A BANGER

3:A song that reminds you of summertime

Young Volcanoes-Fall Out BoySee this is actually a direct memory to summer because the summer before junior year I actually went to see Fall Out Boy and Paramore.Young Volcanoes was on the setlist and that was an experience I would love to not forget!

4:A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about

La La La-Naughty Boy ft.Sam SmithIt’s not like this song brings up bad memories which would make me dislike the song,but the message/attitude reflects the situation I was in with an old friend.You could say the whole situation was (and still is) pretty childish and it kinda goes with the whole ‘covering my ears’ thing that La La La has.

5:A song that needs to be played LOUD

LA Devotee-Panic!At The DiscoIt was a heavy tie between this,Planetary GO from MCR,and Death Valley from F.O.B because they are all ‘speeding down the highway on adrenaline and bass boost power at 1AM’ songs.LA Devotee is my headphone testing song lmao

6:A song that makes you want to dance

Dancing Just Like This(mashup between I Don’t Feel Like Dancing and Something Just Like This)-oneboredjeuAt first I never really liked the mashup but then I started listening to it more and it’s just so..happy??You can’t be upset listening to it and you definitely can’t keep yourself from moving.

7:A song to drive to

Death Valley-Fall Out BoyTO VALHALLAAAAAAAAAAAAA

8:A song about drugs or alcohol

Nicotine- Panic!At The DiscoThat guitar motif coupled with that drum beat is so kickass,and then that bass guitar before the chorus GOD YES

9:A song that makes you happy

Les Miserables(medley)- Santa Clara Vanguard 2013 CorpsI’m a DCI nut,so when I saw this on Semi-Finals night in theaters you could only imagine my reaction to the big hit.Goosebumps and the euphoria that followed after is definitely a reason as to why I’m going to keep up with playing music as much as I can.

10:A song that makes you sad

Shenandoah-Frank TicheliOh god.My senior year of band was this song.I don’t cry much from this song but in the times I played during rehearsal and ultimately my last performance assessment,I would be bawling my eyes out in the back of the percussion section.We had a guest clinician come in one day and they told us to play with a lot of emotion for this piece,the last few notes (the open fifths) to consider it almost as if two people were saying ‘goodbye’ to each other.When I was getting ready for graduation processions the band was playing to fill in the time,and they played this song.I was so close to losing it at graduation man.I guess it doesn’t really make me super sad,but it definitely makes me emotional and very sentimental.

11:A song that you never get tired of

Viva La Vida-ColdplayYou can pry this song from my cold dead hands.It’s such a classic,it’s so good.Everything about it is just so GOOD.

12:A song from your preteen years

Dynamite-Taio CruzI think this is right around I got to middle school/end of elementary?This was such a GREAT song growing up.To be quite honest I don’t know why people trash on pop music,it has the capability of just being really fun and feel good music?And it’s not like it’ll take a lot of effort to listen to the song unlike say a classical piece.You just listen and enjoy yourself.

13:One of your favorite 80’s songs

Take One Me-AhaIs it because I played this my sophomore year in band?NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAlthough for real this is such a great pop piece,I get happy when it comes on at work and you can definitely catch me trying to hit those high notes and failing.

14:A song that you would love played at your wedding

I Know That You Know-Leslie Odom JrAssuming I were to get married,I’d love to dance to this song.Leslie’s voice is just so smooth and gentle and I feel that would be perfect for an intimate moment.Maybe not ‘first dance’ material,but for sure a couple’s dance.It was a bit of a difficult choice between this and Halo by Beyonce but I feel Queen B would be a bit expected.

15:A song that is a cover by another artist

Hey Soul Sister-Lucky ChopsPOSSIBLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE COVERS BY THEM.It’s so fun and energetic!!!Gives me the illusion of walking along the French Quarter of New Orleans following one of those amazing jazz bands.It’s such a pure cover.

16:One of your favorite classical songs

Jupiter,Bringer of Jollity,Gustav HolstJUPITER MY FAVORITE PLANET.For a year or so we would play the chorale section for the homecoming court during a chosen football game every season.I decided to look up the piece one day out of curiosity because hey it’s called The Planets Suite of course I’m gonna go listen.I loooooove Jupiter,while I do love Mars just as much,Jupiter is just perfect and lives up to the name of being jolly.

17:A song that would sing a duet with on karaoke

Take Me or Leave Me-RENT soundtrackI can’t sing for the life of me,but this is such a fun song to belt out at 3 AM with a bunch of friends.(at least I’d think so,I haven’t done that c’: )

18:A song from the year that you were born

Barbie Girl-AquaYeah,I WENT THERE.Unironically I would probably jam to this because the beat will get me going lmaoo

19:A song that makes you think about life

Wait For It-Hamilton soundtrackFor as long as I knew of Hamilton(basically end of 2015) this song has been such a motto to me.My senior year was a bit rough in the sense I was growing distant from everyone I knew,as well as finally feeling the weight of my losses the year before as well as pain from that school year.Not to mention I got rejected from my first choice university and had to change plans a lot.The song really changed my outlook on things,and even to this day I heed the advice of waiting for certain things to fall into place.To this day I have an index card right by compute with the words ‘Wait For It’.

20:A song that has many meanings to you

How Far I’ll Go-Moana soundtrack(I’ll be linking the Voctave cover given it’s been what I listen to the most)I mean how can you not decipher a meaning with a song about a young girl trying to follow her desires while living up to the roles and expectations of those around her?Everyone can relate to it.It could be about physical things we want,metaphysical,anything.It could be a song purely about adventure or looking for what you want in life despite not knowing what you’re looking for.

21:A favorite song with a person’s name in the title

Jolene-Dolly Parton(and Pentatonix)I’m no country person but Jolene is a pretty good song.And then a while ago it seems there was an increase of popularity for the song with Miley Cyrus covering the song as well as Pentatonix.

22:A song that moves you forward

Defying Gravity-Wicked soundtrackThis song is so iconic.The first song I heard from this musical and it has SUCH A GREAT MESSAGE.My personal favorite line is “And if I’m flying solo,at least I’m flying free” because as stated earlier,senior year was a little rough (I went through my first breakup after having such a shaky beginning to get it)and so this song is like a positive ‘fuck everything’ view which I was in need of during those times.It’s such a freeing and empowering song especially with Elphaba’s parts.

23:A song that you think everybody should listen to

You Will Be Found-Dear Evan Hansen soundtrackI had gone through a rough patch a few weeks ago just feeling really depressed and overall helpless,not wanting to reach out because I didn’t want to drag anyone with me.I felt VERY alone.This song kept popping up in my recommended videos and I gave it a try.Not even through the first stanza and I was in tears.I’ve always turned to music for my issues and rough patches,and this song has been the most effective ‘get-up’ song.When I first heard it I felt extreme comfort and felt things would be alright.It’s my turn-to song,and I really want everyone to hear the song and take the message to heart because it’s such a relatable subject matter and it’s true.We really aren’t alone.Even if you don’t feel you have someone to talk to,you can always turn to something.

24:A song by a band you wish were still together

SING-My Chemical RomanceTo be really honest I knew about the group all through middle school but didn’t listen to them as they weren’t my genre.I had a friend send me this song as one of those ‘comment and I’ll send a song the reminds me of you and why’ things and(as I was a wee freshman just now popping up in orchestra rehearsals bc I was reliable)she told me this song should serve as a confidence boost.Of course,I heard this song after the group broke up but it’d be very nice to have them get together and right up some other things like this song.Not that I have anything against the emo label they have,but this style also suits them pretty well.

25:A song by an artist no longer living

Remember the Time-Michael JacksonI was a good fan of MJ at the rip age of about 8,my sister being the absolute MJ nut of the house and knowing all his songs.We had a Michael Jackson game for the wii similar to Just Dance,all the albums on the house computer,all the movies he was in,we had a friggin database of his discography lmaoI remember hearing about his death,I remember just sitting in the living room while my dad played Man in the Mirror on the computer speakers.His songs were such jams and say what you will but his tunes are legendary.

26:A song that makes you want to fall in love

Tus Besos-Juan Luis GuerraMY GOD WHAT A SONG.I remember hearing this once on the radio and enjoying the 50′s/60′s doo-wop feel it had.I found it again after scrolling through youtube and it’s just such a pure song.I feel it really captures the whole notion of “I’m just really in love with you and call me annoying for fawning over you so badly but you’re amazing”.It makes my little heart dance with happiness.(here’s a link to side-by-side lyrics so you can see the original and the english translation :D )

27:A song that breaks your heart

I’ll Cover You(Reprise)-RENT soundtrackIf not for the events preceding this song,the emotion behind it is just so heartwrenching.

28:A song by an artist with a voice that you love

Niagara en Bicicleta-Juan Luis GuerraBACK AT IT AGAIN WITH JUAN LUISI’m Dominican,this man is purely Dominican,everything he sings about is from the Dominican perspective.Don’t get me wrong I love my Puerto Rican salsa but Juan Luis,what a VOICE.It may not be substantial but his voice just has this earthly quality,just like any folk artist out there.I love him so much.(lyrics again because I’m gonna make you all bilingual lmao)

29:A song that you remember from your childhood

Who Let The Dogs Out-Baha MenGiven I first heard this song in a Rugrats movie you already KNOW this was going to be a major part of my childhood!I had a cassette of these guys and this just brings back fond memories of living in Pennsylvania sharing a two story house with my cousin,my other cousins coming over all the time and all of us getting into messes.Good times.

30:A song that reminds you of yourself

Bright-EchosmithIt’s space related.How could I not.The laid back(ness?) of the acoustics is really what I strive to be.This song is laid back,gentle,it kinda has a sense of wonder for space and is a very dreamy song in general.It’s my ideal self I guess I could say,just really laid back,life and wonder back in my eyes,and just a wholehearted love for space.

Wooowee thanks anon!I’ve also created a playlist for this rather than linking every song,as this post would get long very fast.Consider it a personal mixtape of sorts?

#anonymous #answer #this took a good amount of effort and love to put this together #im gonna be listening to this mix a good amount #Anonymous

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behindthespotlightfic · 8 years ago

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chapter 12

January 12, 2017, 9:20am.

“Come drive me down to the central station, I hate to leave my river tyne… For some damn town that’s god-forsaken, fare thee well, Northumberland…”

Mark Knopfler, another legendary guitarist, murmurs an Irish-infused slow tune through my headphones as I fly away from Louisiana and head to Tennessee. We’re spending our day off in Memphis. It’s barely nine a.m. in the morning, and I haven’t slept enough -last night I headed to bed kinda late: half an hour after John dropped me at the hotel-, but I can’t drift into any kind of slumber despite being the only one in the plane who’s awake. So I spend my time listening to slow songs, caressing Finn when he shows signs of waking up so he falls asleep on my shoulder again, and thinking about yesterday.

Last night was one of those occasions when one doesn’t realize what’s happened until the next day, when waking up. I don’t remember thinking a lot, especially after the first half hour; I think I just tried to relax and play it cool. But today I see everything with a clearer mind, and although it seemed to me that John felt more comfortable regarding the fact that I was there, I still feel the need to apologize. I shouldn’t have suggested it, nor try to convince Flea. Of course, it’s not as much of a big deal as I thought it was when I was there in the bar, but…

I connect to the plane’s VIP wifi network with my phone. Suddenly, I find myself scrolling through John Frusciante’s Spotify page, going album after album, words and names I don’t know, melodies and harmonies unknown. I only know his work with the Chilis, because I never got curious about it. Until now. It all seems so… different, so special. He seemed special too; he looked like someone from space, someone who’s used to the way we live but never really settles. So in an attempt to see how that translates to his music, I choose a track named “Wednesday’s Song”, just because it’s Wednesday, and turn up the volume.

“You’ll make it through the day, see things another way and behold…”

And yes, he does sound unique. It’s a guitar-driven track, but although it’s simple in terms of melody, the harmonies and technique seem so layered and complex that the least I can do is admire it.

By the time we reach Memphis, I’ve listened to the entirety of Shadows Collide With People, the album Wednesday’s Song is from, plus two more albums, Curtains and The Empyrean. There are more electronic sounds in the latter, but I still enjoy it. I smile at the fact that Josh collaborated in so many of his tracks, but then I suddenly remember they don’t talk to each other anymore and everything looks slightly more bitter. Anyway, the rest of the crew wakes up, so I leave my thoughts behind and, with a morning kiss I give to Finn, my good mood returns.

____

Four hours later, it’s been a while since the plane landed, and I’m going out to have lunch with the band plus Steve. It’s always weird, being “the band, plus the two cameras”, but neither of us care about it. Actually, we’ve joked countless times about having a posse name. But I’m not with Steve right now: right now it’s five minutes to one, and Flea and I are in front of our hotel, waiting for a taxi to drive us to the restaurant we’re meeting in. The rest of them have been taking walks around the city, but the two of us have stayed, in my case because Finn and I wanted to have an intimate morning, and Flea’s stayed just because. He probably wanted to try new ideas on the bass guitar or something.

“…yes, as quick as possible. Thank you.”

“Flea.” I say when he hangs up the phone.

“Hmh?”

“Could you give me John’s number? If you think he would be okay with it and you’re too, of course.”

The question takes him by surprise.

“Um, yes? But why would you want John’s number? Also, you’re with Finn right?”

“Flea, come on! I don’t want to hook up with John!” I laugh. “I just want to apologize. I don’t know if he was really comfortable with me being there.”

“He was. Well, not at the beginning of the meeting” he corrects himself, chuckling at my sceptic glance, “but eventually he was. I think you made a good impression on him.”

I smile. “That’s great, I’m glad. But still, we lied to him and it was my idea, so still…”

“Alright, Amy, give me a second and…”

The taxi’s here. We get in, and he sends me John’s contact details.

“Have you talked to the guys about last night?” I ask him.

“Nope.” He shrugs his shoulders. “All they wanted to do this morning was sleep.”

“I saw”, I smirk. “Seems like they headed to bed late too, just like us.”

“Exactly. So I was hoping to tell them now, when we have lunch together. Plus, you’ll be there with me so you can tell your version of the story.”

“Yup. Actually, they’ll be dying to know about what happened, so we’ll have to retell regardless.”

“Yes. By the way, was it awkward when I left you two alone? I’m sorry I abandoned you in such a position.”

“Don’t you worry. It was fine. Like, in some way it was awkward, but not too much. There were lots of silences between us”, I say, hinting a giggle, “but they were those calm, peaceful silences. Not the awkward kind. What was awkward was knowing I was in such a situation, but that was a minor thing.”

“That’s good to hear. I had a really good time there with my pals from the Rebirth band, but don’t you think I forgot about you: I wondered how you two would be doing all the time.”

“You didn’t have to, we were fine” I smile. And it’s true.

When we reach the restaurant, a classy-looking sushi place, we find we’re not the first, nor the last to arrive: Chad and Justin, his older son, are already there, as well as Steve.

“Long time no see!” Flea rejoices. “Sometimes I forget you’re a sound assistant at all, Justin… I barely see you around.”

Justin has worked with us since we started the tour for this last album, The Getaway, and even though he’s quite young to be already in the industry, that’s mostly because he’s certainly really good at it. He’s more of a loner, and because of the age gap, he doesn’t usually join us; he prefers to skype or text his friends there in L.A. But he’s a very nice boy, and it seems he’s agreed to come with Chad today. A thought flashes through my brain: as he works in the sound department, he probably knows Finn. I make a mental note to talk to him about that as soon as possible.

“I’m an independent guy, it seems…” Justin says with a smirk. “Nah, I just prefer to get to know every alley of every city we play in. He knows how I am”, he adds, pointing to Chad.

“He’s a lost cause”, he sighs, taking a sip from his beer, which is practically empty… and they haven’t even ordered anything yet, besides drinks.

“Shall we wait for Anthony and Josh till we tell you all about last night?” I ask.

“Yeah, I don’t mind waiting”, Steve answers.

So we wait, making small talk, until the missing arrive and we order our Japanese feast.

“Well then”, Anthony begins, “what was that about? I think I’m gonna kill myself if I have to wait one more second to know about it.”

I laugh. “We won’t delay it any more, then. He did arrive late, though!”

“Yes, but we didn’t mind at all. It was like turning back time, it went really well. When he sat down it was a bit weird because he didn’t expect Amy to be there, obviously, but after a while…”

And so the meeting is rekindled between Flea and me, told with excitement to the eagerness of our audience. The reactions are quite mixed, going from doubt to joy to insecurity again, but overall they are glad John is back, they are glad John and Flea met, and I’m kind of a collateral effect, but I don’t mind because I didn’t care as much about it all as I cared about their happiness… and they seem to be happy, so my mission is completed. Josh, especially, looks very relieved: I can see he isn’t able to fully relax yet, but he has stopped biting his nails, and he’s turned into more of an observer, thinking and processing it all. He even smiles a bit. I can see what he told me, that he hasn’t got his life together at all, but he seems to be handling it so well.

Me, I’m intrigued about John. Some questions pop in my head, regarding their friendship, their band dynamics, and Josh and John’s relationship. But I let them talk; it’s their moment. I know who to ask all these questions. And I wish Finn was here, but he had some calls to make, so I guess maybe next time.

In the end, we all decide Flea should keep in touch with John, and eventually try and suggest him to meet the rest of the band. We have to tread carefully and softly, that’s what we conclude. This seems like a mission, like Clara was my own mission a few days ago. They have their own past, their own issues, and it’s their job to figure them out. But they don’t have to do this alone. Steve is here, I’m here, Justin is here. And we’ll get through this, just like we’ve done with everything so far.

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redsoapbox · 7 years ago

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PAUL LEWIS / INTERVIEWS WITH VAN MORRISON AND SNATCH IT BACK

A gathering of the It's a Wonderful Life Club, that met each Christmas in the Lewis household to watch Frank Capra’s famous festive film - Left to right, Paul Lewis, Rob Jeffreys, Me, Huw MacDonald and Mandy Morris, sitting. Taken around 1990 - I think we are all singing along to our friend Big Al Davies, tragically just out of shot!

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the passing of my great friend Paul Lewis. We first met, back in 1984, while working in the post room at Companies House in Cardiff - I was reading a biography of Jack Lemmon on my morning tea-break, and Paul wandered over to talk about Cinema. It didn’t take him long to get my measure - if he mentioned a Hollywood classic, whether it be Twelve Angry Men, The Searchers, or Bringing up Baby, then I had a view worth expressing. I was even able to hold my own on the silent movies of Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. However, when Paul threw in Akira Kurasowa, Jean Luc Goddard or Ingmar Bergman my limitations were exposed for all to see. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed with my new colleague and soon to be best friend (we eventually ended up being best man for each other).

That chat only scratched the surface of Paul’s knowledge - it soon transpired that you could apply the lessons of that first conversation to music, literature, photography, architecture - just name it. As this is primarily a music blog, however, I’ll stick to Paul’s influence in that department. Paul, at the time of his death, had established himself as one of the leading blues journalists in the U.K. - even appearing as a guest on the legendary Paul Jones’ The Blues Show on Radio 2. I was lucky enough to tag along with Paul and his wife Wendy on many occasions, as he reviewed and interviewed iconic figures like Van Morrison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Cardiff’s very own local heroes Snatch it Back.

So Karen and I will be raising a glass tonight to Paul’s memory and to our continuing friendship with Wendy and the Lewis clan. I’ll be listening to my favourite Snatch It Back tune, “Kind of Loving I Need”, Van the Man’s “Into the Mystic” and, perhaps, something from Nanci’ Griffith’s Little Love Affairs to remember the good times by.

The interview with Paul and Wendy’s beloved Snatch it Back, (the band played at the couples evening wedding reception - what a gig that was!), is available to read through the British Blues Archive and the UK Blues Federation (www.ukblues.org), and a link to the interview, which originally featured in issue No.17 of BBR Boogie, can be found at the foot of the page, together with a video of the band in action. As for the copyright of the interview with Van the Man, where Paul’s forensic knowledge of his subject really shines through, I’m winging it - but I think Paul would see the funny side if I received a letter from The Belfast Cowboy’s solicitor threatening to sue me!

Van Morrison in his skiffle/rock ‘n’roll years.

1991 Van Morrison interview

by Paul Lewis

From Now Dig This, December, 1991, pages 22-26

Van Morrison is, without question, one of the giants of the rock era. Having first emerged as a prime mover in the British r&b movement of the early '60s with his Belfast band Them, Morrison has remained remarkably faithful to those roots, developing a musical style at once highly original but also greatly indebted to his early heroes - the blues singers and jazz musicians; the 'voices' of gospel and r&b; the original rock n rollers. His lyrics are peopled by legendary names - Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, Leadbelly etc. - figures that appear almost as characters in an ongoing dialogue; indeed the beginner could amass a terrific record collection simply by checking out the clues that Morrison sprinkles. To get a fuller picture of the man's musical background and primary influences, I met with Van on a recent trip to South Wales. We were joined by a mutual friend, Gordon McIlroy (Wales' leading promoter of blues, r&b and rock n roll gigs), and the conversation was lively, informal and enlightening. What emerged was an engrossing guide to the musical roots of one of our most important performers.

Paul Lewis: Can I start by asking how you got introduced to the blues and rock n roll and all that kind of stuff? I know your father was a great collector of blues and jazz records...

Van Morrison: Yes, well that's really it - I sort of grew up listening to it. You probably heard that before.

PL: And wasn't your mother a singer?

VM: She did some singing, but never professionally. She did some local sorts of shows.

PL: Did she sing jazz?

VM: I don't know exactly what it was. I think it was just the stuff that was happening. I mean the dance band era, that sort of thing...

PL: How did your father get hold of his records? Was there an outlet in Belfast?

VM: Yes, Solly Lipsiz was the guy's name. He had a jazz record shop in the High Street in Belfast - a collectors' shop. It was very small, a very small shop, just shelves of...well, they had 78's then, and they had 10-inch LPs and EPs. Nowadays you can go to these big stores, Virgin or something... In those days you had to go to a specialist shop to get any jazz or blues records.

PL: Was there a lot of interest over there in Belfast then?

VM: No, there wasn't a lot, just small pockets really. There were just small pockets of interest.

PL: So when did it first hit you that there was something you might have liked among your father's records?

VM: Right away! When I could breathe, I think. I just connected with it right away. The first things I heard were Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Clara Ward Singers...

PL: All the gospel people...

VM: Yes. The earliest thing I can remember hearing was gospel, but I heard Leadbelly too, right from the beginning. I don't know the exact sequence, but I heard it all at once. And he was into the big band stuff as well, so I heard Tommy Dorsey and Harry James - because that was his era - so it's all mixed up, you know. But I connected with the gospel and Leadbelly - heavily connected with Leadbelly - and that's how I got into music in the first place.

PL: How old were you when you started playing music yourself?

VM: Well, I got a guitar when I was about 11 or 12. Then I got this Alan Lomax book, and I learned the chords and picked the shapes out of this book. It was called 'The Carter Family Style' - that was what I initially started learning on guitar. And I was trying to pick up also what Leadbelly was doing, but that wasn't in there. If you did The Carter Family, then you could pick up from there, you know.

The Carter Family - Maybelle. A.P and Sarah

PL: You mentioned The Carter Family; did your father have any country records as well?

VM: Oh yes. Well I heard Hank from friends in the street. Friends of mine had the Hank Williams stuff, so I heard that from five or six doors down - they used to leave the doors open. One of my father's friends used to bring all these 78's over, they used to have 'Hank Williams Nights'. Have a few drinks, listen to Hank all night.

Gordon McIlroy: Hank parties! That's unbelievable. Never happened here, you know, never...

VM: That happened in Ireland all the time. It was a big thing.

PL: Ireland's got a strong tradition of country and western though, hasn't it?

VM: Yes, because I think they're very connected you see. The cultures are very connected.

PL: So, guitar was your first instrument - did you play in any bands early on?

VM: No, it was what you'd call 'folk' then. I can remember when I started playing, there weren't any guitars around, apart from on the records by Leadbelly, Josh White, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. You never really heard guitar. You saw it on television - somebody like Ivor Mairants, or you saw people like Elton Hayes. And there were some comedians who played guitar - like I saw Max Wall play guitar once. But it wasn't 'in' then by any means; the guitar was not an instrument then.

PL: When you say 'folk' music, what exactly are you referring to - not 'traditional Irish folk music'?

VM: Yeah. Well when you started, you had to play on your own, because the players weren't available. It was so isolated to have a guitar. You'd see Delia Murphy, who was an Irish folk singer... There'd be Steve Benbow, who played Irish folk music - and English - and all kinds of stuff that you'd see on television. The only local traditional folk group that I heard were The McPeakes. But folk music was not something that was readily available; your entrance into playing guitar was folk music but it wasn't something that was everywhere, not where I was. You couldn't just walk in and hear it, as you walk in and hear rock n roll later on, when the guitar became fashionable and all the teenagers were getting the records. But people like Elton Hayes you'd see on television, so you'd only have that to go on: one person with a guitar, singing a song. Robin Hall, Jimmy McGregor - that's the only thing you'd have to relate to. Either that or the Leadbelly records, or Jimmie Rodgers who I listened to a lot as well. All of a sudden, in the next five years, I think it was - in this part of the world, the UK and Ireland - it was Lonnie Doneganwho brought the guitar *in*. When I started playing they called it a banjo - that's what they called it! So they didn't really register about the guitar until then. I think Donegan was before all the rock n roll stuff...I can't quite remember the sequence.

GM: Donegan made the players, without a doubt. The *players* came from him, I believe.

PL: Had you been following Donegan through the 'trad' period with Colyer and Barber?

VM: Yes. My father had the Ken Colyer records and the Barber records - things like 'Precious Lord', where Donegan was singing in the Barber band. When 'Rock Island Line' came out, it was a Chris Barber record, so my father bought it and that's how I heard it. But what I connected with was that I was hearing Leadbelly before that, so that when Donegan came along, I thought everybody knew about it. So in retrospect now, I realise I was really lucky then - I didn't realise it then, because I thought everybody was hearing the same things I was, but they weren't. So consequently I think I was really lucky to grow up at that time and hear what I heard then, you know.

PL: Had you been trying to tell other people about these records you were listening to, and meeting with resistance?

VM: All the time, all the time. The 'country' people were the most relatable to at that time. My friends who had brothers or uncles or fathers into country music were the most relatable. Hank Williams was *the* most relatable thing, so those people who were into Hank, I connected with them. But they weren't jazz or blues people per se - they were into Hank, so there weren't a lot of people that I came into contact with that were into it. I used to meet people that were much older than me when I went to the collectors' shop, but I didn't really start connecting until the '60s. But the skiffle thing was the bridge really because that sort of crossed over - when I was going from Leadbelly and blues into skiffle, it translated very well. The next thing for me was the early '60s when all these groups started to emerge; then it was like everyone understood it, you know.

PL: Was there a skiffle scene among young musicians in Ireland as well as over here?

VM: Oh yeah, absolutely. That was what was happening then.

GM: I think all the musicians in this country came from skiffle, more than from rock n roll. When they brought rock n roll over here, nobody could play it. Couldn't play it directly...

VM: In that period, in Belfast, the one guy that I've heard of that was playing rock n roll was Brian Rossi. He was playing at The Plaza Ballroom, the Mecca ballroom in Belfast, and he was the first person that I saw that was 'rock n roll'. He had a three-piece because they didn't have the electric bass then - they had two guitars and a drummer. The bass wasn't in then, wasn't happening. People didn't know about it. In rock ‘n’ roll they didn't have electric bass until a couple of years after that, it was very slow to come in. But they had a piano, Rossi was playing piano, two guitar players and a drummer. He was the happening thing in Belfast.

PL: What year would that have been?

VM: Oh, '50s - late '50s. He was from the mid-'50s on, I would say. I wasn't getting into these sorts of venues until the late '50s, you know, because I was too young before that.

PL: How big a part did radio play in your musical education?

VM: It was actually more the records. I mean I heard things on the radio, but it was more the records that my father had. The radio stuff was just additional - you know, the AFN and Luxembourg - but it didn't really play as big a part. The records were the main feature.

PL: What was the first rock n roll record you bought?

VM: The first rock n roll record...it was the only one I could get actually, the only Bill Haley record I could find: 'Razzle Dazzle' (see right). I can't remember the other side...

GM: 'Two Hound Dogs'!

VM: That was it! 'Razzle Dazzle'/'Two Hound Dogs'. That was actually the first 45 I bought when they made the changeover from 78's to 45's.

PL: Did your father approve of the rock n roll stuff as well?

VM: Yes. But the thing is we were so much into jazz that it was sort of part of it, but it was more background, it was just passing by. We were so much into jazz and blues that rock n roll was peripheral. I mean we liked it, but it wasn't in my face all the time, because of the wealth of other stuff, you know. At the time when I got into rock n roll, I was also into jazz saxophone. I started studying tenor with a guy called George Cassidy in Belfast, learning to read music, so when I entered the rock n roll thing, it was coming from that end of it, that angle. So the whole thing wasn't rock n roll, there were other ideas and things I was listening to. People like 'Fathead' Newman, who was playing with Ray Charles - so that was sort of running parallel.

PL: And were you into all those r&b 'honkers' - the Earl Bostics and so on?

VM: I listened to Sil Austin, I had a Sil Austin record...'Pink Shop Shoes' was one of the tracks. I used to listen to him before I went to school, to get me up for school, you know. I heard 'Honky Tonk' too, but I was more into listening to a guy called Jimmy Giuffre than I was to rock n roll. I decided I wanted a sax when I heard Giuffre doing 'The Train And The River'. I couldn't get enough of it after that. If ever there's anyone who was a footnote or asterisk it was him, he's my main influence on saxophone.

PL: I suppose your father would have had his records with Woody Herman, so presumably that would ultimately have come from those?

VM: No, not really - I mean I liked that music, but I didn't connect that strongly with it, not as much as I did with r&b. My father had the first record that Parker played on, 'Dexter's Blues' with Jay McShann, so I heard that, but again I didn't connect so much with that as I did with this other stuff later on. I don't even know what it was called, just some sort of fusion. They didn't call it that then of course - today they'd probably call it fusion. In between Jimmy Giuffre, the Bill Doggett thing with Clifford Scott and The Bill Black Combo would be my area. And then I had these Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan Quartet records that I listened to quite a lot. But when I heard 'Ray Charles Live At Newport', that was it. I started to understand something about the harmony, harmony phrasing, playing together, ensemble - all that kind of stuff. But that's what I was studying - more the jazz end of it than the rock thing at that point. When I joined my first rock n roll band, I was still listening to blues and progressive r&b and jazz. I never saw rock n roll as the whole picture.

PL: Were you playing the sax in a showband?

VM: No, no this was strictly a rock n roll band. It had two guitars, drums and saxophone. We had a piano player but he didn't stay there. He was working in another job, so it was like two guitars, drums and a tenor playing "Peter Gunn" and "Tequila" and all that kind of stuff. Then we actually became a showband because in Ireland you had to have more bodies to work. Because groups weren't really happening there - they were everywhere else with The Shadows etc., etc., but for some reason the promoters didn't want groups (laughs), they hated, you know, 'guitars, bass and drums' groups, they just didn't want to know. You had to have a horn section, you couldn't really work properly if you didn't. All the showbands had horn sections and a lot of them were really good, like The Royal Showband, Dixielanders, Swingtime Aces, Clipper Carlton... The horn sections were the main thing, so you had to have at least a seven or eight-piece band to work.

PL: Is that scene still thriving in Ireland now?

VM: No, no, it's all gone. That went with the ballrooms, they went at the same time. You had these five-hour dances, you see; the band would have to play for five hours for dancers. And people would come from everywhere, out of the woodwork. Some of these gigs were in the middle of a field, you know, in a ballroom. The Royal Showband were huge at the time and they went to Vegas for six months of the year. They'd come back and they were the biggest draw in Ireland.

PL: So presumably you were involved in this scene for quite a while. Were you trying to introduce r&b into it?

VM: Yes. Well, what happened was I was gradually trying to creep r&b in - we had this group situation and we had this piano player who was into Jerry Lee. So he used to come and listen to my Jerry Lee singles, and we'd gradually try to introduce them, and then Ray Charles. Bit by bit it was becoming more of an r&b band. And then we went to Germany where we could virtually play what we wanted. So at that point, it was no longer a showband, they wanted more r&b in Germany. They had showbands there, but they liked r&b, they wanted "What'd I Say" and "Sticks And Stones", you know...

GM: Jerry Lee had been down there at The Star Club. There's an album out of Jerry Lee...

VM: And Ray Charles had already been. So that was when it was beginning to turn around. And then a strange thing happened, just as we started to kick off on the r&b thing - we were playing a club in Heidelberg - I can remember the exact situation. We'd done three or four numbers and then we were announcing the next one when this American G.I. - there were a lot of G.I.'s coming in - he came up to me and said, "You guys ever heard of Dave Clark?". And from that minute, everything changed. All of a sudden it was groups again. So I went back - Calais, Dover and London - and it had all changed from six months previously. Now, the group thing was back and The Beatles were the biggest thing, and The Dave Clark Five. The r&b thing with horns was less predominant, you know, and then of course The Rolling Stones came after that. So, after Germany I went back to Belfast and opened an r&b club at The Maritime Hotel.

PL: So the band in Germany, was that Them at that point?

VM: No, no, completely different band, much better musicians. This is something I'll never understand, you see. The musicians in this band, we'd never got any commercial success, and I started this other situation from complete scratch. You know they actually just went their separate ways and got jobs in different bands and I got a job with Brian Rossi at The Plaza Ballroom in Belfast. I was playing some tenor, playing some harmonica and sang a couple of numbers, so I had a spot with Brian Rossi.

GM: What were the numbers then - rock n roll?

VM: No, it was r&b - that's why he got me. Because he was rock n roll, complete rock. His thing was like Jerry Lee, you know. He was like Jerry Lee, Little Richard...so he had that going. What was I doing? I was doing r&b numbers, like Ray Charles - "Sticks And Stones" or "What'd I Say", or some slow r&b songs, and I was sticking some tenor solos in as well. Then, during this period, there was an ad in the Belfast Telegraph which blew me away when I read it. It said: "Musicians Wanted To Start R&B CLub". I went and met these guys and they were in some other business - I don't know what exactly, but they weren't in the music business. The said, "We want to start this r&b club in Belfast and we're looking for people". There was only me and this other guy there; only two people showed up from the ad. So I went out and found this club, it was a Seamens' Mission; it was called The Maritime Hotel and they had a room set up, that's really where I made it - well, it came out of that situation. I had to just get musicians in at short notice, so the people that I really wanted, I couldn't get. I got another lot of people and we went into this club known as Them, and then it built up from there.

PL: Do you think that you did your best work (with Them) at that club, rather than on record?

VM: Oh...well, it's hard to say. Yeah, in some ways - energy-wise - yes, and as far as stretching the numbers out goes...I think a lot of it was more intense than on record. The records didn't really capture the whole thing because they were limited, you know. Like when you made records in those days, it was all 2:58, wasn't even three minutes, so it never really came across. Live gigs were much more stretched out, you know...

PL: Presumably you still like that club atmosphere?

VM: Oh yes, I think I'm at my best in a club situation, but it's difficult for me now to get that situation. It's not so readily available now.

GM: It's difficult to cope with the people that want to come in, you see. It's too "high-profile" sort of stuff. If you could move in, like, say come in tomorrow, without anyone knowing, it would work.

PL: You were obviously listening to the Chicago blues people - Muddy Waters, guys like that - by this point...

VM: Well, I heard the first Muddy stuff, his folk things, the Library of Congress recordings, I think, on French Vogue. Vogue were issuing records in England - 78's - when I heard Muddy it was from the 78's. You know that "Rollin' Stone" song? "I'm A Rollin' Stone", Muddy Waters? I hadn't heard the electric stuff by then, I heard that later on. But Sonny & Brownie, I heard them electric before I heard Muddy. Sonny & Brownie made an electric album, I heard that before I heard Muddy Waters, so that was like the first electric blues band I heard. I think it was called 'Back Country Blues' or something, but it was with an electric band.

PL: You mentioned that you'd started playing harmonica earlier; who were your influences there?

VM: Oh, Sonny Terry. The first one I connected with was Sonny Terry.

PL: Was that because you'd been buying those records - as a guitarist - to listen to Brownie McGhee and then thought: "Well, I could have a go at harp as well"?

VM: No. As far as guitar goes, I was just sticking with Leadbelly and doing the runs on 6-string - nobody had even heard of a 12-string guitar - and I thought: "Well, where can I get a 12-string?". They used to think I was insane when I was 12 years old and talking about 12-strings. They wanted to put me away. So I was trying to play the Leadbelly runs on a 6-string guitar, the best I knew how - I played more like Lightnin' than like Brownie McGhee, the Lightnin' style. Lightnin' and Leadbelly were the two main influences - and Hooker.

Van Morrison & John Lee Hooker

PL: When did you get into John Lee Hooker?

VM: It was an album on the Audiolab label, Hooker was on the one side, on the other side was Stick McGhee.

PL: Of course he'd played with Sonny Terry as well...

VM: That's right. He was Brownie McGhee's brother or something. But anyway, to get back to Hooker: the Hooker record was like it was done in an echo chamber. The guitar and the vocal were soaked in this echo. I'd never heard anything like that, there was nobody doing that. That's where I got "Baby, Please Don't Go" - from that. I mean, Hooker's name was on it, it said: "'Baby Please Don't Go' (John Lee Hooker)", and it was his arrangement that I started to work on.

PL: So you hadn't heard Big Joe Williams or any of those older versions?

VM: No, but it turns out that he never wrote it either. (To GM) You know the guy who wrote it...

GM: The original was Papa Harvey Hull and Long Cleeve Reid, in the 1920s. Incidentally, a funny thing happened the other week: we had Paul Burlison - Johnny Burnette's guitarist - staying in Cardiff. I think he set a standard for most of the British guys. You know "The Train Kept A-Rollin"? That's possibly where the lick came from for Van's version of "Baby, Please Don't Go".

VM: I think that's where Jimmy Page got the lick from - 'cause Jimmy Page played that lick on my record. But I'm sure he got it from "The Train Kept A-Rollin". I didn't really get this until years later, that it was the same riff, because I'd been listening to that record by Johnny Burnette.

PL: Were you aware of many of the rock guitarists of the time? Cliff Gallup?

VM: Oh yeah! WIth Vincent I was, yeah! For me, that was what the whole rock n roll thing was about. I heard the Johnny Burnette Trio first, then Vincent. I met him later on, about '65. I hung out with him, he was at The Royal Hotel in London and I got to know him a bit. He'd been to Egypt and he'd just got back; he was a really nice guy. For me he *was* rock n roll. I like Burnette, but not as much as Vincent. Whatever rock n roll is, for me it is Vincent.

PL: What about Jerry Lee?

VM: And Jerry Lee. To me, I couldn't say he was rock n roll. Jerry Lee's everything - he's jazz, blues, gospel, rock n roll... Jerry Lee to me means 'everything'. Vincent was to me what rock n roll was about.

PL: You recently did a gig with Jerry Lee. What was he like to work with?

VM: Easy. Dead easy. Very professional.

PL: You seem to me to be drawn to these people who cross over all these genres. I mean, Leadbelly is hard to pigeon-hole, and Jerry Lee as you said...Ray Charles... Would you say that's true - you like people that can straddle jazz and blues and country?

VM: Definitely. I think for me that's a key.

PL: I mean, you do that yourself...

VM: Yeah, I do.

PL: What about Ray Charles? When did you pick up on him?

VM: Oh, I bought three records - one was The Johnny Burnette Trio, another was a Ray Charles EP; it had "Don't Put All Your Dreams In One Basket", "Sittin' On Top Of The World" - it was the one they keep putting out every three years or something. But the first thing I ever bought by him was "What'd I Say". The first time I heard it was on AFN, late at night. It was a live version - it must have been out in America... The one I got was, you know, "Parts 1 and 2", and I was hooked. I was completely hooked after that.

Ray Charles & Van Morrison

PL: How about Elvis?

VM: I heard an Elvis Presley record - on Sun - was it his first record? It had "That's All Right Mama" on it...

GM: The first one we got was "Heartbreak Hotel". "That's All Right" never came across...

VM: I remember hearing one that was a Sun record. Somebody must've got an import. It was acoustic, had no drums on it. Must have been an import then, but I heard that one. But I never connected with that, I connected more with Vincent than I did with Presley.

PL: Did you explore all that stuff later on?

VM: I played it! When I was in a rock n roll band, I played it, jumped across the stage - did the whole thing. I did rock n roll for a couple of years really.

PL: Did you get the rock n roll films, the Alan Freed films, in Belfast?

VM: I saw 'The Girl Can't Help It', I saw that one. Vincent was in that. Little Richard... But I used to see Vincent on 'Oh Boy!'. He was on that fairly regularly, and 'Boy Meets Girls' and all that. Used to watch that every week. I remember seeing Ronnie Hawkins and Gene Vincent on 'Oh Boy!' with Joe Brown.

PL: What about the British rockers?

VM: Oh, Johnny Kidd, man. Johnny Kidd. He was it for me as far as the British end went. I remember he came to Romano's Ballroom in Belfast and he had a three-piece: guitar, bass and drums - and him. That was it, but it was like a big sound.

PL: What year would that have been?

VM: '62.

PL: Was Mick Green with them then?

VM: I think so, yes. But I mean, remember all those three-piece groups that came along much later? They were doing that *then*.

PL: The 'power trio' bit.

VM: Yeah, exactly.

PL: What about English r&b in the early '60s? Did it pre-date you doing it, or was it happening at around the same time?

VM: It was happening at the same time, but we didn't know. For instance, we played The Cafe A-Go-Go in Newcastle...

PL: The Animals' place...

VM: Yeah, but then nobody knew anything. They said there's this band in here called The Alan Price Band or something like that, which apparently became The Animals, but we never heard them. But we played this r&b club in the early '60s. I think there was a lot of crossover...probably Eric Burdon was doing the same kind of thing I was, but we never met each other then. This only came about when we had records out. We'd made a couple of records and The Animals and The Yardbirds and The Rolling Stones had records out, what, in '63 was it? The first British r&b of that type I heard was The Downliners Sect. It was at The Ken Colyer Club, there were doing it then, really doing it. I heard The Pretty Things later, we were on tour with The Pretty Things, but The Downliners Sect were *it*.

PL: What about the slightly earlier ones, like Alexis Korner, Cyril Davies and people like that?

VM: I heard Alexis during the skiffle thing with Ken Colyer, but you had to come to London to hear things like that then. Nowadays you could be in the outer Hebrides and you'd still be able to hear it, but then it was much more isolated. Alexis came and played the club I started about four years after I got it going.

PL: Were you, as a band, slightly out of it then, coming from Belfast? I mean, a lot of these bands evolved out of people that were sleeping on Alexis' living room floor. And they were all intermingled, those London-based bands...

VM: Yeah, probably yeah.

PL: Would that have made it harder for you?

VM: No. We met The Downliners Sect early on, when I was playing in a showband. I came through London and talked to them quite a few times, we went back to see them a few times, and so I started the r&b club I reckon about six months after that.

PL: Did you get many other bands in there outside of your own?

VM: Oh yes, loads of them. Because when it caught on - it took a while to catch on - but when it did, there were suddenly lots of r&b groups around, that came out of the woodwork, that just got into that when they discovered it could be done. Nobody thought it could be done before that. They just though: 'Oh, it's not gonna' work, it's not like a pop record...'. But when it did work, a lot of people that were playing in showbands suddenly wanted to be in rhythm and blues.

PL: I'd like to ask you about some of the people you met that had come across from America in the early '60s, some of the bluesmen that came across...

VM: I met Little Walter. We had a manager who brought us to London to stay at this hotel, called the Aaland Hotel, it was in Bloomsbury. We were sitting there for weeks, you know. We were having a jam session downstairs and all of a sudden these people were wandering through and somebody says 'Little Walter's coming in!'. I thought I must be dreaming, you know. And sure enough, he did, he came in. And I used to go for Chinese food for Little Walter - there was a Chinese restaurant a couple of streets away. I was always saying, "Well, can you show me anything on this harp?". But it was very tough, I mean he was tough, he didn't give anything away. His style was so 'off the wall' - I think he even had a number called "Off The Wall"! - that there's never been anybody since...the things he could do were just incredible. He had a scientific approach to playing the harp. As far as blues goes, he's the top, there is *nowhere* else. The outer limits. There's nobody to touch him. For me he's the outer limits.

PL: How different was he from someone like Sonny Terry?

VM: Well, I'm more like Sonny Boy Williamson, that's my speed. Walter, when he took the instrument to such an extreme, I haven't heard anybody come anywhere near it. But Sonny Boy, for me, I could manage my way around a bit, you know... But Walter was way, way beyond everybody.

PL: Did you meet up with anybody else then?

VM: We backed Jimmy Reed as a group - I backed Walter as well, backed him on guitar - met Jimmy Reed then, and I met Hooker in the same time period. That's really when I became heavily involved with Hooker.

PL: Hooker seems to have inspired you in all sorts of ways - phrasing and everything...

VM: I don't know what it is, but he had some sort of soul. He's got so much soul. When I heard him during that time, he had an acoustic and he came down to breakfast - he was just sitting around with three or four people in a room, and he got out the guitar and he started to play and I haven't heard anything like it since. It was just magic.

PL: I know you're not overly keen on much that's been written about you, but I came across something in 'Rolling Stone' that I'd like your opinion on. It was in a review of Paul Butterfield actually, it said: "Unlike Van Morrison, for instance, Butterfield always conceived of the blues as a tradition, not as a sensibility". Do you agree with that?

VM: Well, not really. I think I see it as both. The thing about it is, if you take Leadbelly or Lightnin' or Hooker, they're not always playing 12-bars. The blues is not always 12-bars, but somehow we've got it in our heads that that's where it is. I mean, some stuff Lightnin' does is not 12-bar - he plays different shapes. He's got records where he plays folk shapes. There's lots of different angles, but blues is a way of life. And it doesn't have anything to do with this thing about colour. When I was a kid, I used to think it was about 'black people' and this and that, but Hooker says "Blues is the truth", that's how he puts it. And I believe that. So whatever the truth is for you, that's what the blues is.

PL: You've always been quick to credit your influences in your own songs...

VM: A lot of that is tongue-in-cheek - you mean on the last album?

PL: Yes, well there's a couple on the last album: "Real Real Gone" and "Days Before Rock n Roll", but also going back to "Cleaning Windows" and so on.

VM: The last one ("Days Before...") was tongue-in-cheek, but "Cleaning Windows", that was reality. That was when I was listening to Blind Lemon, Leadbelly and Jimmie Rodgers.

PL: Do you see yourself in the role of some sort of educator?

VM: I think I could do that, it's a possibility. If I had a platform, I could get into that, it's a possibility.

PL: Do you ever think of doing an album purely in one of those styles? I know you did the folk album with The Chieftains, but a pure blues one or a pure rockabilly one...

VM: Oh, many times. Well there's stuff, actually unreleased material that is in that vein. Over the years you record things and there's only, like, 40 minutes on an album, so there's a lot of stuff gets 'canned'. This stuff exists, but it's long-winded going through all this material, finding out where the tapes are and getting it out.

PL: What was it like having Hooker record one of *your* songs? That's a rare occurrence!

VM: That was really strange, because Hooker recorded a version of "T.B. Sheets" and didn't give me any credit! At first I was really pissed off... Then I realized it was John Lee Hooker doing a *version* of it. He's doing an adaptation of it, it's not exactly the same. But I think if it had been anybody else, I would have done the legal trip. But seeing it was Hooker, I just don't see I could. I mean, it was a compliment, wasn't it, really, to do it - he would come to my gigs and say, "I dig this number 'T.B. Sheets', man. I wanna' do this number." You know, it's a compliment really.

PL: Were you involved in the 'Healer' project at all?

VM: He wanted me at the beginning to start on it, but they couldn't find me, they didn't know where I was physically, and they were trying to get in touch with me. By the time it got off the ground, Carlos (Santana) had got involved in it, and it became too far gone for me to get involved, but I became involved in the next one. I did two numbers for the next record: "Serves Me Right To Suffer" and "I Cover The Waterfront".

PL: You worked with Mose Allison...

VM: Yeah, I did a thing with him, two years ago, I think, in Bristol. A TV programme...

PL: Oh yes, but what I was thinking of was the concert that came out on video - that was from America though, wasn't it?

VM: Oh yes. Actually, the one in Bristol was better; there were more songs, it was stretched out a lot longer. The one I did in America was very rushed; the Bristol thing was shot over two days. There was much more chance to get into it, and he was playing some of my songs, which was good. But Mose has worked with me a lot, I mean been on shows with me for a long, long time, going back about 12 years. He's been on a lot of my shows in America. I saw him quite a lot when I lived over there. Sometimes I'd go see four sets in a row, you know. It's a completely different style, his music, from mine, but I really like it - I like his songs and I like what he stands for, what he's saying. He's a friend of mine; I've hung out with him, talked to him quite a bit, got a dialogue going - it's good.

PL: Of course you were playing with Georgie Fame around the same time, and he's obviously very influenced by him as well...

VM: Yes, I think Georgie's probably more influenced by Mose than I am. I don't really put Mose under 'influences', I put him under 'inspiration'. But Georgie's been into him for a long time as well. Georgie's a friend of his, too.

PL: How did you link up with Georgie? I imagine your paths must have crossed back when you were in Them and he was playing at The Flamingo?

VM: Well, our paths crossed, but we didn't actually connect up. We had the same agents when I was in a group called The Monarchs and he was playing at The Flamingo. So we had a lot of people in common, but we never actually connected with each other.

PL: Do you see much of the contemporary blues scene?

VM: No, it's like I have difficulty when the translation gets lost. I mean if you're brought up on Shakespeare, then it's difficult to read other things that aren't up to the same level. When you hear these people when you're very young - and it goes in all the way, it penetrates all the way and you absorb all that - the other stuff just seems feeble. I'm not putting it down, it just doesn't register. I always have to go back to Sonny Boy, Walter, Muddy Waters - I have to go back to these people because with the new stuff, there's something that's not there, there's something missing. I think it's got to do with people living it, and it was the consequence of this life and the way they really felt spiritually as well. And it's got watered down through the years. I mean it's good that people are still playing it, but there are very few things that I can say come anywhere near it. You know, I think the blues has become something else, it's become another vehicle. I think it's a good musical vehicle, but I don't think it's what it started out as it's become chipped away. It doesn't really have the depth of the original stuff is what I'm trying to say. There are very few people now that are penetrating the depth of it. For me, Butterfield was the last person that penetrated the depth of it. I haven't come across many people since then that actually were living the thing to that extent, anywhere near that.

Issue no 17 of BBR Boogie can be read here http://www.britishbluesarchive.org.uk/Docs/Blues_Review/Blues_Review-May91.pdf

Snatch it Back live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkKc88k_ZDQ

If you trawl the blog archives, you will find some of my own Van Morrison reviews.

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dolphingirlfriend · 5 years ago

Text

dunbar - ch 9 “empowered voices in the public eye” 186 - 206

using text delivery to speak an important social message

blues and gospel artists spoke to their audiences - about justice and building community

tracing african traditions into america

today - african american can mean - people of African descent whose families were taken into slavery during the trans-Atlantic slave trade or those who have immigrated during the 20th and 21st centuries

the stories in this chapter are connected to people whose ancestors were taken as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries - an est 9-12 million people were captured, bought and sold. they had no material goods and carried traditions + rituals internally

call and response - one musician (or more) performs a musical phrase or statement - (the call) - another soloist or group answers with a phrase or statement (the response)

griot- west african musician-historian -one-stringed instruments and mouth bows in West African areas were possibly reborn as one-string diddley bows + harmonicas in the rural south - griot is a predecessor of blues

blues scale - in western terms, a major scale with a flatted third, fifth and seventh tones - pentatonic/modal melodic systems in Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria - sound like the blues - pitch flexibility, not an exact scalar system

pentatonic - a five tone melodic system

modal- music that is based on modes (sequences of whole and half steps) other than a major or minor

melisma- a succession of multiple pitches sung on a single syllable

syncretism- the blending and merging of two or more distinct cultures into a distinctive new culture - blending of African and Christian worship styles - tribal worship + spirit possession blended with Christian traditions in the south.

spirituals in the rural south

field cry/field holler - improvised monophonic song with flexible pitch and rhythm, sung by workers in the field. (blues and gospel is linked to 19th century spiritual - umbrella term for black religious music in the time of slavery)

blues-related scalar systems, moaning, flexible melodies - predecessors (believed to be) or blues and gospel style

beyond the music

sojourner truth (1797) and harriet tubman (1829) used vocal music - truth used hymns and songs to convey messages about freedom - tune of auld lang syne “i am pleading for the mothers/who gaze in wild despair/upon the hated auction block/and see their children there”

“go down, moses” was used as instruction in the underground railroad

textual references carried double meaning - the “chariot” of “swing low, sweet chariot” - enslaved people to heaven, but also freedom on earth to a new land

tubman used “wade in the water” for people to step in the water to avoid dog tracking / and perseverance.

women’s song has a long history of walking through trouble, not around it, on the path to ultimate freedom (bernice johnson reagon)

impact of the great migration

end of slavery wasn’t true freedom for african-americans - families still didn’t have money, couldn’t reconnect - it meant sharecropping situations

poverty, discrimination, lynchings, boll weevil infestations - prompted black people to move out of the rural south. many moved to north cities - known as the great migration.

when the mississippi river flooded in 1927, the delta farming area was further decimated, and there was another migration

about 1.5 million black people moved from the rural south to urban centers of the north by 1930

crowded conditions, segregated housing, need for employment, and discrimination up north

community was built in safe spaces - churches and nightclubs

gospel church: the musical cradle

gospel - black religious music that emerged in urban centers during the early decades of the twentieth century - covers a number of subgenres: quartet singing, arranged choral singing and solo work - genre began in the 1910s

2 branches of black church existed- conservative, reflective worship - favored in mainline traditions like Methodism, and a more exuberant style in the sanctified church - like Pentecostal, Baptist churchs, allowed worshipers to move with the spirit.

sanctified church - used elements of traditional african musical ritual - dancing, moaning, body percussion, invoking spirit possession with rhythm

church was a place of community for women, to escape and combat prejudice (spiritual and emotional survival) - much more women than men

church community supported women musicians - musical training, leadership, moral support, monetary support - women who had their start in the black church were - toni braxton, tina turner, aretha franklin, big mama thornton

analyzing the gospel sound

“surely god is able” - marion williams - considered by many to be the most accomplished gospel singer of the twentieth century

vamp - repeating musical accompaniment common in jazz, gospel, soul, musical theatre - usually outlines a single harmony or harmonic progression over which a soloist improvises

expanding the female pulpit: moving gospel to the world’s stage

women - gospel was a ministry parallel to male preaching

arizona dranes - blind pianist of the sanctified church, played with a barrelhouse-style piano blues - combined rag-inspired melodies with boogie woogie bass lines (boogie woogie - piano style emerged in the 1930s, featured a syncopated melody against a driving, repeated bass figure)

many of the record companies were controlled by white entrepreneurs - race record market - targeted sales to the african-american community

black owned companies - black swan records, arose during that era

the battle of the image

black community continued to purchase records into 1930s- but the radio was about to come into the picture

women who led the development of gospel within the church, also led the way to commercialization of the genre into the nationwide community

sister rosetta tharpe - she moved into the commercial world, but began to be questioned about her sincerity. she started her career in the church. she played guitar at six, and traveled with her moth around the country. she moved to the nightclub + theatre scene by 1938 so she could reach more people and by 1939 she had a huge national audience

she performed at “the cotton club” which catered to a white upper-class audience (and this was featured in life magazine). they featured people like duke ellington, bessie smith, louis armstrong. her stage presence began to change from conservative dress to stylish gowns

the gospel audience grows

the doors into the secular world were open for gospel stars

almost all the gospel greats of the era were women - clara ward - and the ward singers - marion williams and mahalia jackson

gospel singer stage presence was not provocative, but it was flashy - glittery dresses, dangly earrings, high piled wigs. some chose church robes, but with rhinestones and jewels

some felt there was too much sexuality, also the people who produced the music were white and they were taking advantage of the success, while dictating presentation style and sometimes even the spiritual message

mahalia jackson - walked the sacred-secular line, and was regarded as a devout carrier of the gospel message. she delivered the word with a blues inspired sound.

the blues on stage: another public forum for women

the night club scene of the 1920s featured blues singers

the blues performer projected an image of confidence and control, rather than ‘contented servant’ or promiscuous temptress

blues lyrics spoke about history, culture, race, class, and sex

like the women of west african lament traidition - they used music to deliver a message

rural blues/ classic blues - blues that originated in the south, accompanied with guitar, and classic that emerged in urban centers- accompanied by piano and drums

the blues performer spoke to middle-class audiences about challenges of every day life - lost love, broken families, separation, poor housing, working all day, keeping the family functional, sexuality - cheating men, exploration of new sexual freedom in first generation beyond slavery (okay).

leaders of the classic blues style

many performers have been ignored because there’s less “value” (it’s misogyny) on the classic blues tradition

gertrude “ma” rainey- was a link between rural and classic blues styles- rainey chronicled the encournter with the blues

the recording industry was largely closed to african-americans prior to the 1920s until mamie smith was discovered. her 1920 recording of ‘crazy blues’ on okeh records is considered to be the first recording by a black blues artist

bessie smith - 1923 “gulf coast blues” and “down-hearted blues” sold about 800k copies, the first year she recorded. she was dismissed as an inauthentic star because she sang songs written by others. she sang songs about the feelings of black female workers, about power relations with men

bessie smith taught the blues through the aural tradition - many people still learn through her recordings today

memphis minnie - doesn’t fit the classic blues mold. she was born lizzie douglas in mississppi delta region in 1897 - she had a lot of rural style. she wrote her own music and could play guitar. she had a virtuoso picking style, and developed to a smother post- Depression era approach. she favored provocative clothing and stances. she was known for beating up men who went after her and sometimes displayed a pistol.

minnie used an electric guitar - her recordings from 1941 are some of the first electric blues style

langston hughs wrote about her - in chicago defender in january of 1943 - she had amazing music and could talk about community and history

ongoing blues impact: artists and styles

blues women often are omitted from recorded history after bessie smith

willie mae “big mama” thornton - daughter of a gospel church singer and preacher, but wrote and performed blues tunes. she recorded “hound dog” in 1952... spent seven weeks on the r and b charts

elvis presley heard the song - he covered it as a rock and roll tune - and it was known by almost every american as an “elvis” tune. most people didn’t know what it meant, or that it had been first recorded by a black woman. she also wrote “ball and chain” which was covered by janis joplin in the 1960s

ruth brown - credited for formulating the rock and roll sound - she recorded under r and b labels but was restricted from rock and roll charts

meanwhile, white artists such as patti page received fame and fortune covering her songs - brown had a string of hits on the atlantic label in the 1950s - atlantic was dubbed ‘the house that ruth built’. she didn’t receive much money.

margie evans, nina simone, koko taylor, deborah coleman

summary

gospel and blues have impacted a wide array of popular genres in the twentieth and twenty first centuries - country blues, country gospel, doo wop, rhythm and blues, rock and roll... soul music - black power, pride and freedom

#module 2 #readings #women in popular music #summer 2019

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