The Cake & The Rain.

Good morning world, it is Saturday! I’m listening to the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I had a nice day yesterday. I caught the bus over to Warminster at 11.00 and looked in all the charity shops for second-hand books for my shop. It was slim pickings I’m afraid. I am getting very choosy about what I buy these days. The very last shop of all was Dr Barnardo’s and I found a nice hardback copy of The Cake & The Rain which is a memoir by the songwriter Jimmy Webb. I might get a few quid for that hopefully. Then I met S when she got off her bus. We went to Lidl and I carried her shopping to Wetherspoons, or as we call it, Spoons. I ordered a bottle of chardonnay and we retired to a corner where I asked her to take my photo for publicity purposes (See photo). We whiled away an enjoyable hour or so, drinking and chatting. It was the first time I had been out for a few days. Eventually it was time to catch the bus home again.

When I got home, I found the postman had left a card saying there was a parcel waiting for me at number 17. I was delighted to find that it is a nice hardback book published in 1995 in the USA, Krishnamurti 100 Years by Evelyne Blau. It was published to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of K’s birth in 1895. I immediately looked in the index, as you do, and found there was a whole page devoted to Van Morrison who as you know was influenced by K. I’m going to enjoy reading this book before I sell it on.

Anyway, the weather forecast for the weekend is quite good. I might go out for a long walk tomorrow. If I do, I’ll tell you all about it. Enjoy the weekend.

We Are The World

I sold another book today, a nice hardback copy of Specimen Days by Walt Whitman published in 1979. I’ll post it tomorrow when I go to Warminster to see my friend. I’m not going out today, it is too rainy and windy. I’m quite happy indoors, alone but not lonely. I have my books and my music to occupy me, and there are plenty of household chores to do if I feel so inclined. I had another listen to Mariee Sioux earlier and I’m listening to What a Beautiful Place by Catherine Howe at the moment. What a nice album it is. I am a sucker for female singers.

I just put two books in my shop. Firstly, a limited signed edition of Sleep, Pale Sister by Joanne Harris. If you haven’t heard of her you might have seen the film of Chocolat which is her most famous book. The other book for my shop is The Voice Is All, The Lonely Victory Of Jack Kerouac by Joyce Johnson. It is a memoir by Joyce of the days when she was Jack’s girlfriend. I haven’t read it unfortunately. The number of books I mean to read is growing by the day. I ought to set time aside every day for reading.

Last year I read a page of Krishnamurti every day. I have finished that book now and have ordered another one. I’ll tell you about that when it arrives. Last night on youtube I watched a speech he made to the United Nations in 1985. You can find it if you have a spare hour on your hands. It made a lot of sense to me. Afterwards, there was a question and answer session and he was asked by a man in the audience, “How can one person changing their life change the whole world?” and K replied, “Try it and you will find out”, which I thought was a really good answer. 

After the disappointments of Brexit, the UK election, Trump, climate change, Syria etc I have just about given up on politics. It is political ideologies, organised religions and greedy corporations that are destroying the world. We are all individually responsible for helping to create this mess. The world will only get better when each individual person gets their own house in order, and that is what I intend to do. I'll start today by tidying this place up a bit. See you tomorrow.

Year Of The Monkey.

Storm Brendan had abated, and the sun was shining. It was nice to get outdoors and feel the beat of the street. I had sold a book overnight, A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut, so I parcelled that up and took it to the post office.

When I got home, I replaced that book with my signed copy of Year Of The Monkey by Patti Smith. I only acquired it recently. Hopefully I might get the chance to read it before someone buys it. I think Patti is great, I’m looking forward to seeing her in Bath in May. I’ll write a full review of that when it happens. I can’t think of anything else to add today. I’m listening to BBC 6Music at the moment. They are playing Health Fanatic by John Cooper Clarke. I’m seeing him soon as well, so there is lots to look forward to. I think more rain is forecast for tomorrow, so it might be another day indoors. See you tomorrow.

Faces In The Rocks by Mariee Sioux.

It was a wild and windy Tuesday morning. The weather forecast was grim as well. “I won’t be venturing out on a day like this”, I thought to myself.  I knew there were plenty of jobs I could do indoors to pass the time, but I couldn’t get motivated to bother. Suddenly, I was shaken from my reverie by a knock on the door.

It was the post lady with a small package which contained a CD I had ordered a few nights ago. It is called Faces In The Rocks by Mariee Sioux. I had stumbled across her on youtube and liked what I heard. It is her first studio album, released in 2007. I am on my second listen now and I must say it is a very nice album indeed. I would describe it as psychedelic folk music. There is very much a native American influence. Mariee plays acoustic guitar and sings but she is accompanied by a female native American flautist called Gentle Thunder who plays native flutes, buffalo drum, cymbals, rainstick and bass drum. Her father Gary Sobonya plays mandolin. There is also a bass player and a cellist.

If you like music by the likes of Nick Drake or Vashti Bunyan I think you would enjoy this album. Mariee Sioux also reminds me a little of Linda Perhacs, especially in the pure vocal harmonies. It is very atmospheric, haunting and ethereal. There are only eight songs but it lasts fifty minutes. It is too early for me to choose a favourite song (possibly Bundles) because they all sound great. The whole album has a consistency of mood which has created a nice vibe in my house today. I am quite surprised that I hadn’t heard of Mariee Sioux before, but I am pleased that I have discovered this wonderful album. I have added a video of the opening track Wizard Flurry Home to my blog page to give you an idea of what the album sounds like.

Wizard Flurry Home by Mariee Sioux.

Frazzled.

When I got up this morning, I found that I had sold another book overnight. A signed copy of Frazzled by Ruby Wax. That is one of the wonderful things about the internet, you can make money even while you are asleep. That made three books which I took to the post office today. After that I went to the supermarket and bought some provisions and scurried home. Storm clouds were gathering, the wind was getting up and it was beginning to rain. I put a couple of books in my shop to replace the ones I sold. It always takes ages because I start reading them. One of the books was a biography of Lynyrd Skynyrd which isn’t really my thing. Someone will enjoy it though and it’s in very nice condition.The other one is much more to my taste, called Ring Of Bone, the collected poems of Lew Welch. I only discovered him recently. He was an American poet associated with the Beat Generation. When I looked him up on Wikipedia I discovered that he was the step-father of the singer Huey Lewis which I found quite interesting. I’ll tell you more about him later when I’m more familiar with his work. Apart from that I have just been pottering about. 

Christine Keeler.

There is a series on the telly at the moment called The Trial Of Christine Keeler which is a fascinating insight into the Profumo Affair which brought down the British government in the 1960’s. It led me to start looking on the internet for more background. Some of the events took place in the Flamingo Club in Soho, London and I was amazed to find that the resident band in the Flamingo at the time was Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames. In fact, one of the members of Georgie’s band was the brother of Lucky Gordon who was one of the protagonists in the whole affair. I’m looking forward to next Sunday’s episode. I think despite the wind and rain I might go for an early evening pint before University Challenge. See you tomorrow.

Christine Keeler, David Bailey, Penelope Tree & Marianne Faithfull.

Groovin' On A Sunday Afternoon.

It is Sunday afternoon in the universe, the sun is shining, and all is well. In the background Miles Davis and John Coltrane are playing. The album is Live In Stockholm 1960. I bought it in a charity shop a few years ago. Before that I was listening to Keith Jarrett, Mysteries/Shades. It was a Spanish friend of mine who told me how great Keith Jarrett was and I think the penny has finally dropped. I was in the mood for some cool jazz instrumental music. One can listen to it without thinking about it, you don’t have to concentrate on words. You can experience it creating your mood unconsciously. When I was younger I didn’t listen to much jazz, but I find I am getting jazzier as I get older. I might put on Terry Riley next for a bit of January Sunday minimalism. I actually sold a couple of books this weekend. My signed  Buster Merryfield was snapped up and I sold a memoir by Cyndi Lauper, so I have been pottering around, preparing them for the post office tomorrow. I’ll replace them in my shop later on.

I think we are in for some stormy weather tomorrow. Storm Brendan is heading our way apparently, so I don’t think I will be going far this week. I’m off to the kitchen now. I’m going to make a vegetable stew that will last me about three days hopefully. See you later.