Good Oak.

Pigeon in my yard.

 When I got up this morning, I found that about four inches of snow had fallen overnight. The first real snowfall of this winter. The sun came out eventually, so I got well wrapped up and went for a brisk walk around Westbury. The area around the churchyard mainly. I took a few pics. I was only out for about half an hour, but it was good to get some fresh air. Yesterday I watched Cheltenham from League 2 take on Manchester City in the F.A. Cup. Man C are one of the biggest teams in the world, but Cheltenham took the lead and were still winning with about 15 minutes to go, but City scored three times to win the game. That is the magic of the F.A. Cup where lowly teams get the chance to play the best. My team Peterborough United are up to 3^rd place in League 1 after another win, so it was a good afternoon of football.

Westbury Church.

I read another chapter of A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold last night. I’m enjoying reading it now. The chapter I read was called Good Oak and was about sawing down an oak tree which had been destroyed by lightning. They were sawing it up for firewood. As you know, you can age a tree by the rings that are created in the trunk each year. He could tell that this tree was about 80 years old. As he sawed through the years of the tree, he recounted what had happened during those years. It was mainly concerned with the depletion of the wildlife in Wisconsin, such as the disappearance of passenger pigeons, lynx, and cougar. It shows that even in the 1940s people were becoming concerned about mans negative effect on the environment.

 I started watching a film called Pawn Sacrifice which was about the chess player Bobby Fischer. He didn’t seem to be a very likeable character, portrayed as a paranoid, racist, control freak. I expect it wasn’t all his fault. I think he was probably on the Asperger’s spectrum where people can be brilliant at one subject but can’t cope with anything else. I’m not a psychologist, so I don’t really know. I am afraid I fell asleep before the end of the film. That will do for today because Manchester United are playing Liverpool shortly. I’ll tell you who wins tomorrow.

Addendum: Manchester United won 3-2, a really good game.

 

 

 

Urban Ghosts by Willow Springs.

I have cheered myself up on this dull rainy afternoon by listening to an album by Willow Springs. It is called Urban Ghosts and I must say that I have enjoyed listening to it just as much as their other album Night-Time Radio which I wrote about a couple of months ago. Basically, Mark Crockard is Willow Springs. He writes all the songs, sings, and plays a plethora of instruments, acoustic and electric guitars, upright and electric bass, keyboards, mandolin, and harmonica. He is ably assisted by other musicians including Mandy Bingham and Lisa Brady on vocals, Marcus McCauley on acoustic guitar and mandolin, Keith Ward on piano and keyboards, Rik Gay on drums and percussion and Chris Haigh on fiddle. The album is produced by Mark and Vic Bronzini Fulton. Mark duets with Mandy on the haunting opening track I’m All Over You which features excellent acoustic guitar by Marcus. There is a strong country flavour to A Room For Two. I particularly like the dobro playing of Colin Henry on this song. The likes of Johnny Cash or Waylon Jennings would have enjoyed The End Of The Pier Show with its driving beat, great harmonica playing and acoustic guitar by Rueben Agnew. By contrast It Still Hurts is a much sadder song with a nice piano introduction. I love the fiddle playing of Chris Haigh on Gone Southbound. Tender Lovin’ Feelin’ is a great ballad sung by Mark and shows the talents of Keith Ward to full effect. Heart And Soul has Rik Gay’s percussion to the fore and the guitar playing is wonderful.

It will be Valentine’s Day soon, so you could do worse than buy this album for a loved one because there is a nice ballad called On Valentine’s Night on this album. A New Blue Horizon is another nice slow ballad, and Autumn Blues has Lisa helping out on vocals. The fiddle playing gives the song an eerie ghost like quality. Maybe that’s why the album is called Urban Ghosts, it’s a great title anyway. You Saved A Drowning Man is one of my favourite tracks. It gets quite funky in places and where they sing ‘whoo whoo, whoo whoo’ reminds me slightly of Sympathy For The Devil by The Stones. The album ends with Together We’ll Walk In Beauty another great number which makes you click your fingers and clap your hands.

I have really enjoyed listening to this album today. Musicians have been hit really hard during this pandemic and lock down, so they need our support. Let’s hope it isn’t too long until the likes of Mark Crockard and all the other musicians around the world can start playing live again and bringing the music to the people.

 

 

Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

I finished reading Where The Crawdads Sing last night. I must say that it is one of the most enjoyable books I have read for ages. I can see why it is a best seller and I am sure when it is filmed it will be a huge box office success as well. I am grateful to the Facebook friend who recommended it. It is an addictive read. You must keep going to see what happens next, right up to the sad conclusion and when you think the story is over, there is one final discovery, when the truth is revealed. Having said all that, I do have one or two reservations about this book. I had never heard of the author Delia Owens before, so I looked her up on Wikipedia. She is an American zoologist who worked in the African countries of Botswana and Zambia with her former husband Mark Owens on conservation projects. Their time there was very controversial, and they were criticised for their methods of dealing with poachers and their archaic view of Africans, which she denies. This is her first novel, published at the age of seventy, although she previously published memoirs of their time in Africa.

The plot of the story is very clever because it is a murder mystery story as well as a romantic coming of age tale and an observation on the beauty of nature, so it will appeal to followers of many genres of writing. It begins in 1969 with the discovery of the body of a local football hero Chase Andrews. Then it goes back to 1952 when the protagonist Kya aged six is abandoned by her mother, then her brothers and sisters, and finally by her drunken abusive father. The story travels forward in time as the feral Kya grows up alone in a shack in the swamplands on the coast of North Carolina. She is shunned by the people of nearby Barkley Cove who refer to her as The marsh girl. The book shows the snobbery and hypocrisy of a small town which has lots of churches, but no real Christianity. Kya’s only friends are a black couple Jumpin’ and Mabel. Although you can’t help liking these characters, I think their portrayal is quite patronising, like racial stereotypes. especially big fat Mabel with her ample bosom. Black people are always being portrayed like this.  It is almost as if the author is trying too hard to show that she is not racist. ‘Methinks she doth protest too much’, as Shakespeare once said.

Kya has two love affairs, firstly with Tate Walker who teaches her to read. He goes off to college and doesn’t return as promised. Secondly, with Chase Andrews who proves to be a complete scoundrel. Kya gives up on romance and finds inspiration in the flora and fauna of the coastline. She studies the mating habits of such creatures as the damselfly and the Praying Mantis and how the female treats the male. To reach conclusions about human behaviour from insects seems a bit far fetched to me. I think we are a bit more complicated than that. I found this book quite educational though. As well as learning a bit about nature, for instance I found out what palmettos are. It is a type of swamp cabbage, also grits, and I learned about writers such as Galway Kinnell and Aldo Leopold and singers like Miliza Korjus.

The two threads of the story finally converge in 1970 at the local courthouse. I will not tell you anymore in case you read it yourself. I think you should because you will enjoy it immensely. We are not talking Charles Dickens here, I do not think it is a classic novel, but it is a gripping read which builds to a very emotional conclusion. Also, it deals with subjects relevant to the world today, such as the importance of caring for the planet. One thing that encourages me is the fact that Delia Owens brought out a best-selling novel at the age of 70 which shows that it is never too late for anyone to achieve their ambitions in life.

David Bowie - Heroes (Live at Glastonbury Festival 2000)

TIM HARDIN (with Twiggy) - The Lady Came From Baltimore 1974

The Reckoning by Sharon Shannon.

A cold but beautiful sunny morning. I have been dancing around the kitchen to my new CD called The Reckoning by Sharon Shannon which arrived a couple of days ago. I ordered this album because I have enjoyed Sharon’s cheerful lockdown sessions on the internet during the long months of this pandemic. Not only the music but also introducing us to her house and her pet dogs and cats. When I opened the package, I found that there was also another CD included for free. I haven’t played that one yet, so I’ll tell you about it another time. I now have five albums by Sharon in my collection. It has been a remarkable achievement to produce this album during a lockdown because Sharon and her collaborators were not able to record in the usual way. They all had to record remotely in such locations as Galway, Bath, Lanzarote, Copenhagen, London, Dublin, Quebec and other places. Craig Mulvagh deserves a lot of praise for helping to produce such an enjoyable album in difficult circumstances.

Right from the first notes of the uplifting opening track Merry-Go-Round which Sharon wrote with the great Donal Lunny you feel more optimistic and the toes start tapping. Festival goers will love this music in the summer if we are allowed out again. The title track The Reckoning was written with Jon Allen who sings the lead vocals. Daddy Shannon’s Jig / The Bealacana Polka is dedicated to Sharon’s dad. Bealacana is where she comes from in County Clare. I see that Unlocked was partly recorded not too far from me at Black Earth Studios in Bath. It features Susan O’Neill on vocals. The Beast From The East has some great guitar playing by Albert Serrano and piano by Luke Dunford. Harmony Hall is named after a venue that Sharon played in Japan last year. It features a group called Dreamer’s Circus who I think are Danish friends of Sharon because it is partly recorded in Copenhagen. I have shared a video of Sharon and Dreamer's Circus to this blog page if you would like to hear it. Silver Dollar / Audrey’s Polka features some wonderful viola playing by Maire Breathnach.

I love the next track Off To Californee (Mursheen Durkin Revisited). When I was a kid, in our house we had the original record of Mursheen Durkin by Johnny McEvoy. This version is produced by reggae legend Dennis Bovell and features spoken words by Linton Kwesi Johnson. It was an inspired idea to bring Ireland and Jamaica together, and the result is brilliant. Timbuktu is another track partly recorded in Bath with Justin Adams on guitar and drums. Refrains d’Irlande is another of my favourite tracks. It is sung in French and features a French-Canadian group called Le Vent Du Nord. Their contribution was recorded in Quebec. This album certainly is diverse multi-national world music. The Jolly Roger features Sharon on electric guitar for the first time. She had never played instruments with a plectrum before but set herself five days to master this tune. It was great fun watching her play the guitar on Facebook back in the summer. The final track is quite poignant because it is dedicated to her pet cat Pixie who sadly passed away recently and is called Pixie’s Farewell. Congratulations to everybody who worked together to produce this great album during very trying times. Listening to it, you would never have guessed that it was recorded remotely all over the world. Let’s hope that by the summer we will be back to some semblance of normality and Sharon can play her great music to a live audience again.

Sharon Shannon feat Dreamers' Circus - Harmony Hall