Dystopia.

I won’t be going for a walk today. It is too cold and dull. The forecast for tomorrow is better, it should be sunny and up to 5 degrees Celsius. I was up late again last night, I watched War Of The Worlds starring Tom Cruise. I don’t really like him with all that Scientology stuff, but the film was quite entertaining. With the world in the grip of a pandemic and the foundations of western society being attacked in Washington, it seems strange to have an apocalyptic dystopian disaster movie on the telly. After that, for a bit of light relief I watched Stevie Nicks in concert on Sky Arts. I’m not a big fan, but I enjoyed it. I think it was about 3.00 in the morning when I went off to bed. I had a brisk walk to Tesco earlier to get some soya milk and a couple of other items. This new variant of the virus is so contagious I am wary of even going in shops, so I didn’t hang about in there. There was something like 1,350 deaths from Covid in Britain yesterday. It really is shocking. The NHS is becoming overwhelmed.

On a lighter note, I am still doing my Tai Chi. If you don’t know what it is, I have shared the video of the first lesson below. Anybody can do it in their own living room. It is very gentle exercise and even though I am only a beginner I can feel the benefits already. I cannot think of anything else to say today. If I do finally get out for a walk tomorrow I will take my camera and show you some pics.

 

Golems & Heroes.

I was in bed today until about 11.30. I think that is because I stayed up late last night. I watched a film called The Limehouse Golem starring Bill Nighy. It is a kind of Jack The Ripper type film. Some of the scenes were quite gruesome, but I enjoyed it and the plot has a good twist at the end. I always enjoy Bill Nighy films, he is a great actor and I like him even more since I discovered he is a big Van Morrison fan when I was seated next to him at Nell’s Club in London a few years ago. After that, I realised that it is David Bowie’s birthday today. He was born on January 8^th, 1947, so he would have been 74 today. I stayed up and watched his performance at Glastonbury in 2000. I cannot believe it is already 21 years since we saw him on that magical night. Time seems to accelerate as you get older. I have shared a great little film below of Bowie singing Heroes at Glastonbury.. It contains footage from 1970 and 2,000. I'll dedicate it to the health workers because they are heroes. Apart from phone calls I hadn’t spoken to anybody for a few days, until I said, “Thank you” to the postman yesterday when he delivered a book I had ordered called Where The Crawdads Sing. You might have heard of it because it was top of the bestseller lists. I have read one chapter so far. I’ll let you know what I think when I have finished it. I think I am going to enjoy it. Apart from that, the day has drifted by and it ain't dark yet, but it's getting that way. I think I have been cooped up for long enough. If the sun is shining, I may go out tomorrow, if I can borrow, A coat to wear as Randy Newman once said.

 

David Bowie - Heroes (Live at Glastonbury Festival 2000)

Peckish.

Peckish Sparrows.

Brrrr…, It is freezing today. I noticed when I brought in the wheelie bin that the birds drinking bowl was frozen over, so I put some hot water in it to melt the ice. One good piece of news, you know I said a couple of days ago that I had not seen my robin for ages, well, I spotted a robin fleetingly earlier, which is encouraging. I tried to photograph him, but only got a couple of sparrows. I bought the birds some new bird food yesterday called Peckish Complete Seed & Nut Mix which they seem to like.

I was watching the BBC News channel all last night. I could not believe the scenes from Washington. There is enough footage available to identify the culprits, so I hope they are all arrested. The instigator of it all is Trump. He should also be arrested and charged for his treacherous behaviour. His legacy will be to be remembered as the worst President in American history. I should not bang on about America, we have enough dodgy politicians here in our own country. 

Hyacinths Growing!

The Covid situation here is the worst since it began, over 1,000 deaths in Britain yesterday for the first time. On a brighter note, I saw in our local free paper the White Horse News that they are rolling out the vaccine in Westbury now. The over 80’s are getting it first. I do not expect to hear anything for a couple of months yet, but at least there is hope on the horizon. I wonder if Glastonbury will happen this year? It looks doubtful, but you never know.

I just did my Tai Chi which I am really enjoying. What shall I do for the rest of the day? Hmm, there is plenty of housework to do if I can be bothered. I might tidy up a bit. At the moment I am listening to Marquee Moon by Television. I chose it at random. A really nice album. There are connections with Patti Smith who is one of my favourites. I see the sleeve photo is by Robert Mapplethorpe who Patti used to live with. That will do for today, see you tomorrow.

Black Sheep Boy by Tim Hardin.

Today I thought I would talk about an album I bought recently. It is called Black Sheep Boy by Tim Hardin. It is an eighteen-song compilation designed as an introduction to his work. On the internet I saw that December 29^th was the 40^th anniversary of Tim’s death. He sadly died of a heroin overdose at the age of 39. I did know about Tim Hardin, mainly because he wrote such songs as Reason To Believe by Rod Stewart and If I Were A Carpenter which I knew by Bobby Darin and The Four Tops but I was not very familiar with his own work  as a singer-songwriter in his own right. My curiosity was aroused, and I looked him up on YouTube and liked what I heard, particularly a song called Lady Came From Baltimore. I decided to order an album and chose this one because I thought it would contain his best songs.

I will not tell you about every song because I cannot think of anything to say about some of them. I do like most of them though. Right from the opening title song Black Sheep Boy you get a sense of melancholia in Tim’s voice which pervades nearly all the songs. You can tell that he was not a happy person. I wonder if that was due to his heroin habit which he acquired in Asia when he was in the marine corps, or did he seek out drugs because he was unhappy? The first song shows what a good guitar player he was. Tim also plays piano on some of the tracks. It’ll Never Happen Again has string arrangements which I think were added by the producer Eric Jacobsen who you might know from the Lovin’ Spoonful. I read in the notes that Tim didn’t like the added strings. I don’t mind them. Misty Roses has a kind of Latin Jazz feel to it which I like. Stan Getz and Astrid Gilberto came into my mind. Red Balloon reminded me a lot of his big hit If I Were A Carpenter which strangely is not included in this collection. I recognised How Can We Hang On To A Dream because it was covered by British Prog-Rock band The Nice who featured Keith Emerson. It is a great song. I think I like Lady Came From Baltimore because it tells a story. I like storytelling in songs. I found a video of Tim singing it on UK television with none other than Twiggy which I found surprisingly good. I shared it to this page if you want to hear it. Most of the songs are quite short, around two minutes. The longest and the only live song is You Upset The Grace Of Loving When You Lie.

One of my favourite songs is Tribute To Hank Williams. It reminded me for some reason of Song For Woody by Dylan. I expect Tim recognised a kindred spirit in Hank who was another soul tortured by substance abuse. I think Tim’s version of Reason To Believe is the best one. Rod’s version is great, but Tim’s has the authentic emotion of living it himself. The very last track Unforgiven is also one of the best, an emotional song with piano accompaniment.  When I was reading about Tim on Wikipedia, I discovered something interesting. In the Autumn of 1968 Tim and Van Morrison shared a double bill for a residency at a club in Greenwich Village. They would have known each other as well because they both lived in Woodstock. The club was called the Café Au Go Go. At the very same time Van was recording Astral Weeks in New York. 

It makes me wonder if Van watched Tim perform, or maybe even jammed with him. If so, did Tim Influence Van in any way, even subliminally?. There is an underlying feeling of melancholy in the songs on Astral Weeks which is not quite as evident in earlier recordings of the songs. I cannot see much similarity from this album of Tim’s except maybe the flute playing on Speak Like A Child reminded me a little bit of John Payne’s flute playing on Astral Weeks. I am probably looking for things that aren’t there. Anyway, I am very pleased that I bought this great CD by the brilliant but tragic Tim Hardin.

 

 

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

So Wired Up.

Scruffy Shed.

Tuesday morning and the news is that we are back in total lockdown. It does not make much difference to me because I was pretty well locked down anyway. Only essential shops are open, and we can go out for exercise. Although it is cold today it isn’t raining. I decided to venture out into my garden and do a bit of tidying up. I gave the clematis a bit of a trim because it was growing all over my shed door. There are lots of buds on it. I think it will be in bloom in about four weeks’ time. I also cut back my bay tree, so that it doesn’t get too big. I put lots of dead nasturtiums and other stuff in the green bin as well. I think I was out there about an hour and soon warmed up once I got busy. I felt quite pleased with myself for making the effort. Luckily, Davies the hardware store is regarded as essential, so I went round there and bought a big tub of white masonry paint for my wall project. In the instructions it says that it should be used in a temperature of at least eight degrees Celsius. It is only just above freezing at the moment, but next week it is supposed to warm up a bit, so that will be next week’s project.

Tidy Shed!

I just did module 5 of my Tai Chi, I am really enjoying it and feel a lot more energetic. That might also be due to not drinking as well. At the moment I am listening to Jackie Wilson Says by Van Morrison ‘I’m so wired up, don’t need no coffee in my cup’. I can’t think of anything else to say now, so I’ll leave you with a word of warning. If you think that 2021 is certain to be better than 2020 just remember the words of Samuel Pepys. During the Great Plague of 1665 he wrote in his diary, “This year has been shitte, I’ll be glad when it is 1666 and I can go and buy a nice pie from Mrs Farriner’s Pie Shoppe in Pudding Lane”. The Great Fire Of London started in 1666 in Farriner’s Pie Shoppe! (He didn’t really say that, I just said it for a laugh)

See what I mean about the shabby wall. I'll sort it out next week.

You'll Never Walk Alone.

Gerry Marsden.

Monday morning arrives cold and damp. I sit in the kitchen watching the birds coming and going at the bird table. A gang of noisy sparrows, blackbirds, big fat wood pigeons and collared doves. I used to have a robin greet me every morning, but I haven’t seen him for ages. The poor little blighter must have perished. Now that my blue garden wall is exposed with lack of flowers growing, it is looking quite shabby with patches of brown and green. I toy with the idea of painting the patches with white masonry paint to give the illusion of clouds against a blue sky. Sunflowers might look great against that background. Hmm, maybe,  If I don’t like it, I can always paint the whole wall white. We shall see.

I see on the news that Trump is getting madder by the day. He has been phoning people up, trying to get election results changed. It is quite scary, wondering what further craziness he might get up to before he goes. The Covid news here is grim, the situation seems to be getting worse. I will be glad when we get through to Spring and hopefully things are better. Also, I heard the sad news that Gerry Marsden has died aged 78. I was never a fan, but he was part of a happy era of our childhood. After I did Day 3 of my Tai Chi yesterday, I went for a bit of a walk to get some fresh air. I only got as far as Lidl, but I met a couple of friends and stopped for a little chat. Before the pandemic I might have just said hi and kept walking, but these days you appreciate some human contact, even if for only a couple of minutes. Last night on Facebook a friend recommended a book called Where The Crawdads Sing. I ordered a copy. I will let you know what I think of it when I have read it. Anyway, that is enough blather for today. See you later.

Wilson.

Sunday morning. I was up early today by my standards, at about 9.30. I think that might be because of not drinking. It was dull and rainy but seems to be brightening up a bit now. I was listening to Keith Jarrett while doing the washing up, but turned it off, preferring to listen to the sparrows chattering outside. I hung up my 2021 calendar in the kitchen which I had forgotten to do. It is a British Birds calendar; January is the Blue Tit (Cyanistes Caeruleus) I used to get them nesting in my garden a few years ago. It would be good if they came back again. Last night I watched a film called Cast Away starring Tom Hanks. I really enjoyed it, but I am not sure it is a film I should be watching during a lock-down when I have not seen another soul for days. It is about a man who gets marooned on a desert island. He gets madder and madder with loneliness and starts talking to a football which he calls Wilson. It makes me think I should go for a walk and say hello to everyone I meet. I might do that later.

I have taken up Tai Chi. Last year I started doing indoor yoga, but that only lasted nine days. I thought Tai Chi might suit me better. I found it on YouTube. If you go on YouTube and search for Tai Chi Five Minutes A Day, Module 1 you will find it if you want to join in. While I was tidying the living room just now, I found a copy of the Western People which Katherine my niece in Ireland had sent me a few weeks ago. It had an article about my brother Paul in it. I cut it out and scanned it. Hopefully if you click on it you will be able to read it. Anyway, that will do for today. Have a nice Sunday.