One of my favourite books isThe Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg and The Testament of Gideon Mack is a modern retelling of that story. The original was published in 1824 and set in the late 17th and early 18th century. Gideon Mack is set between the 1950s and 2005. The best way to enjoy these books is to read both.
I read Justified Sinner at school, possibly for SYS English or higher English and I loved it. A few years back I saw a play in the Tramway theatre that was an adaption of the book (again modernised) and more recently I have been trying to read other novels that borrow from Hogg. Gideon Mack is one of the best.
I understand that Robertson won prizes for Gideon Mack and made the long list for the Booker prize. The book should have won in my opinion. It is well written, readable, thought provoking and sad whilst being funny.
Gideon Mack follows the format of Justified Sinner with an introduction from the 'editor', the main text from the Testament written by Mack, and a fact checking post-script commissioned by the editor. Taken as a whole, like Justified Sinner, Mack proves to be an unreliable narrator.
The story tackles religion, belief, hypocrisy, happiness, sadness and concepts about truth, self reflection and evil. The characters are well rounded. The world portrayed is similar to the Scotland I have grown up in.
I encourage everyone to read this book. I'm sure it will be a feature of Scottish Literature courses until Scottish Literature courses no longer exists. It will be constantly compared with it's ancestor and there will be discussion about shared characters and sly nods from Gilmartin.
I intend to read more of Robertson's books.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Friday, June 28, 2019
Wednesday, January 02, 2019
Beastie Boys Book
I've been digesting the Beastie Boys Book for the last month or so. It's amazing, disjointed and brilliant just like the band. I've been listening to the audiobook due to my lack of free reading time. It's one of the best audiobooks I've ever encountered. They have invited a stellar cast of narrators including Snoop Doggy Dogg, Kim Gordon, Chuck D, Will Ferrell, Bette Midler and Steve Buscemi as well as many many others.
The narrative jumps about from their childhood, through early punk adventures, Bad Brains and Black Flag concerts, New York Discos, career low-points (Def Jam), clothing labels, recording with Lee Scratch Perry and lists of equipment, recipes and mix tapes. Everything is in this book.
Much of the book is a tribute to Adam Yauch, MCA, who died in 2012 from parotid cancer. His fellow Beastie Boys clearly and understandably miss him. In some ways he appears to have been a pathfinder for the band and is credited as being the Beastie who made things happen.
The physical release is beautifully illustrated with photos and comics strips reminiscent of the old Grand Royale magazine from the 90s. It's a thing of beauty but the audiobook is worth your time too.
A fitting legacy for a great band. Sadly, I never saw them and I deeply regret it. I am glad I had their music (and their music videos).
The narrative jumps about from their childhood, through early punk adventures, Bad Brains and Black Flag concerts, New York Discos, career low-points (Def Jam), clothing labels, recording with Lee Scratch Perry and lists of equipment, recipes and mix tapes. Everything is in this book.
Much of the book is a tribute to Adam Yauch, MCA, who died in 2012 from parotid cancer. His fellow Beastie Boys clearly and understandably miss him. In some ways he appears to have been a pathfinder for the band and is credited as being the Beastie who made things happen.
The physical release is beautifully illustrated with photos and comics strips reminiscent of the old Grand Royale magazine from the 90s. It's a thing of beauty but the audiobook is worth your time too.
A fitting legacy for a great band. Sadly, I never saw them and I deeply regret it. I am glad I had their music (and their music videos).
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Stan Lee - RIP
I never met Stan Lee. I never had a chance. He did come to Forbidden Planet in Glasgow but somehow I never knew. Stan Lee did have an impact on my life in many ways. I've spent a lot of time reading Marvel Comics in the last 40 or so years and Stan Lee was responsible for many of them.
The first american comic that I read/owned was issue number 3 of Super-villain Team Up featuring Namor, the Submariner and Dr Doom fighting some even more evil fish people. It was a bit crap. It came from a neighbours house and I read it from cover to cover many, many times. I still have it somewhere. I remember all the strange American adverts from the seventies and the slightly yellow paper. It wasn't brilliant but it was my first comic presented by Stan Lee.
I had probably seen some Spiderman reprints by then. I was certainly reading the Marvel UK weekly Star Wars comic as a very young child in the early 80s. The old sixties Marvel cartoons were broadcast as part of Glen Michaels Cartoon Cavalcade in Scotland with Captain america, Fantastic Four, Iron Man and Spider-Man. We also had the seventies Spiderman cartoon as well as Spiderman and his Amazing Friends and the Hulk.
Stan Lee infected every part of our culture. He reached Scotland from New York and taught us about heroes and trying to be good. His personality shone through in his Bullpen Bulletin. He had a heart and he tried to do the right thing. He was cheesy and a bit of a self-promoter. He didn't give his collaborators enough talent but he changed the dreams of lots of kids. Like me, those kids are often successful adults and we live in a world that has seen both the Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy on the big screen. Back in the early eighties this was unimaginable.
My fiancé's niece can name most of the marvel superheroes on a poster in our house and she is 3. Stan continues to shape young minds. His imagination lives on in all of us.
RIP
The first american comic that I read/owned was issue number 3 of Super-villain Team Up featuring Namor, the Submariner and Dr Doom fighting some even more evil fish people. It was a bit crap. It came from a neighbours house and I read it from cover to cover many, many times. I still have it somewhere. I remember all the strange American adverts from the seventies and the slightly yellow paper. It wasn't brilliant but it was my first comic presented by Stan Lee.
I had probably seen some Spiderman reprints by then. I was certainly reading the Marvel UK weekly Star Wars comic as a very young child in the early 80s. The old sixties Marvel cartoons were broadcast as part of Glen Michaels Cartoon Cavalcade in Scotland with Captain america, Fantastic Four, Iron Man and Spider-Man. We also had the seventies Spiderman cartoon as well as Spiderman and his Amazing Friends and the Hulk.
Stan Lee infected every part of our culture. He reached Scotland from New York and taught us about heroes and trying to be good. His personality shone through in his Bullpen Bulletin. He had a heart and he tried to do the right thing. He was cheesy and a bit of a self-promoter. He didn't give his collaborators enough talent but he changed the dreams of lots of kids. Like me, those kids are often successful adults and we live in a world that has seen both the Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy on the big screen. Back in the early eighties this was unimaginable.
My fiancé's niece can name most of the marvel superheroes on a poster in our house and she is 3. Stan continues to shape young minds. His imagination lives on in all of us.
RIP
Thursday, February 09, 2017
Drawing
I used to draw a lot when I was a kid. I guess this was because I was an only child and I didn't always have much to do where I grew up. I was also a massive comic book fan so I drew my own comic books as a kid. I was never any good but I did it a lot. It was always something enjoyed but I knew I did not have the ability to make a career out of it. I always fancied myself more as a writer but life eventually got in the way and I put my dreams away in a box and got a real job.
Bills need to be paid and I have expensive tastes.
Recently I saw an advert for a course on creating digital comics at a local college and I decided to give it a whirl. It's on the night when my partner has her yoga class so it gets me out of the house and it doesn't interfere with joint plans. I had the first class this week and it was great fun. I still enjoy drawing, just for my own pleasure and I don't mind if anyone else is interested.
The class was an interesting mix. There are young kids, still at school, who seem to be into manga and pinky stuff as well as older blokes, some in their mid 40s, who are comic book nerds just like me. The class is run by a bloke who has an art school degree and used to play drums in a sort of Godflesh style metal band.
We did stuff on basic drawing techniques as well as an exercise where we had to create a comic against the clock. It was fun.
I'm looking forward to next week. I'm not going to be Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko or anyone like that but I will have fun. And hopefully draw some angry and bitter comic strips.....
Bills need to be paid and I have expensive tastes.
Recently I saw an advert for a course on creating digital comics at a local college and I decided to give it a whirl. It's on the night when my partner has her yoga class so it gets me out of the house and it doesn't interfere with joint plans. I had the first class this week and it was great fun. I still enjoy drawing, just for my own pleasure and I don't mind if anyone else is interested.
The class was an interesting mix. There are young kids, still at school, who seem to be into manga and pinky stuff as well as older blokes, some in their mid 40s, who are comic book nerds just like me. The class is run by a bloke who has an art school degree and used to play drums in a sort of Godflesh style metal band.
We did stuff on basic drawing techniques as well as an exercise where we had to create a comic against the clock. It was fun.
I'm looking forward to next week. I'm not going to be Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko or anyone like that but I will have fun. And hopefully draw some angry and bitter comic strips.....
Friday, September 12, 2014
I think journalism may be dying but it may also be coming back to life
As a child I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to write comic books and science fiction novels. Later on, I wanted to be a journalist, telling the truth on behalf of the people. I wanted to fight censorship and do good stuff for people. I wanted to catch all those lying politicians and shine a bright light on their bad deeds.
Hopelessly naive.
I used to respect the media. I would read 2 or 3 newspapers a day. I saw the BBC as a bastion of truth, noble, erect and trustworthy, standing tall against injustice, serving our proud British nation and helping out oppressed people around the world. I bought every single bit of the beautiful lie.
The old newspapers were always partial, depending on the whims of Lord Beaverbrook or whoever held the purse strings. Over time, watching the Murdoch empire and the Daily Record, I realised that newsprint was often grubby. The hands of tabloid journalists are often stained red with the ink of their gutter journalism. No matter how hard they scrubbed, sometimes that spot of ink would inconveniently stay there as they were made to account for their writings years later. Sales have fallen and the stature of British print journalism has diminished.
I still held the BBC in high regard. Friends from other countries tell me that they have never trusted the BBC, that they call the BBC the British Brainwashing Corporation. That's pretty sad. It is now clear that the BBC are partial, especially in the recent debate surrounding the Scottish independence referendum. The BBC seems to be actively campaigning against Scottish independence. One suspects that this may be to protect 10% of licence fee income. It does feel like a step away from impartial comment.
The BBC has also been damaged by the horrific realisation that prominent members of the on-screen BBC staff were apparently rather unpleasant in real life. These nasty realities seem to have been common knowledge around the BBC. Nothing was done. A strong institutional reputation was tarnished.
So the media of my childhood has betrayed me. Betrayal is perhaps not the correct way to frame the situation. It is perhaps fairer to say that I have come to see the media in it's true light. My expectations of the BBC and Fleet Street were higher than they could reach. It's not the fault of the media, it was my youthful innocence that was to blame.
In the future I guess the media will be different. The bell has been tolling for newspapers for a while. Print newspapers may not exist in 20 years time. I think we will continue to have good quality written journalism on websites. There will be a lot of dross out there but there will be some pearls too. Unfortunately there is no editor online and you can always find some evidence to back up your maddest prejudices. You must become an editor and you must filter things carefully and avoid becoming a member of the 'tin foil hat' brigade.
The decline of old media will hopefully lead to a maturation of the reader and the development of critical skills. Hopefully with time we will begin to evaluate things and make our own decisions. Sadly, the world is full of conspiracy nuts with poor filters. We may need to rely on our paternalistic media overlords for some time.
That should be OK as long as they don't try to tell us how to vote........
......oh.
Hopelessly naive.
I used to respect the media. I would read 2 or 3 newspapers a day. I saw the BBC as a bastion of truth, noble, erect and trustworthy, standing tall against injustice, serving our proud British nation and helping out oppressed people around the world. I bought every single bit of the beautiful lie.
The old newspapers were always partial, depending on the whims of Lord Beaverbrook or whoever held the purse strings. Over time, watching the Murdoch empire and the Daily Record, I realised that newsprint was often grubby. The hands of tabloid journalists are often stained red with the ink of their gutter journalism. No matter how hard they scrubbed, sometimes that spot of ink would inconveniently stay there as they were made to account for their writings years later. Sales have fallen and the stature of British print journalism has diminished.
I still held the BBC in high regard. Friends from other countries tell me that they have never trusted the BBC, that they call the BBC the British Brainwashing Corporation. That's pretty sad. It is now clear that the BBC are partial, especially in the recent debate surrounding the Scottish independence referendum. The BBC seems to be actively campaigning against Scottish independence. One suspects that this may be to protect 10% of licence fee income. It does feel like a step away from impartial comment.
The BBC has also been damaged by the horrific realisation that prominent members of the on-screen BBC staff were apparently rather unpleasant in real life. These nasty realities seem to have been common knowledge around the BBC. Nothing was done. A strong institutional reputation was tarnished.
So the media of my childhood has betrayed me. Betrayal is perhaps not the correct way to frame the situation. It is perhaps fairer to say that I have come to see the media in it's true light. My expectations of the BBC and Fleet Street were higher than they could reach. It's not the fault of the media, it was my youthful innocence that was to blame.
In the future I guess the media will be different. The bell has been tolling for newspapers for a while. Print newspapers may not exist in 20 years time. I think we will continue to have good quality written journalism on websites. There will be a lot of dross out there but there will be some pearls too. Unfortunately there is no editor online and you can always find some evidence to back up your maddest prejudices. You must become an editor and you must filter things carefully and avoid becoming a member of the 'tin foil hat' brigade.
The decline of old media will hopefully lead to a maturation of the reader and the development of critical skills. Hopefully with time we will begin to evaluate things and make our own decisions. Sadly, the world is full of conspiracy nuts with poor filters. We may need to rely on our paternalistic media overlords for some time.
That should be OK as long as they don't try to tell us how to vote........
......oh.
Saturday, May 24, 2014
living in a science fiction present
My grandfather didn't have a television until 1980. My father grew up in a house without electricity, heated by coal fires, in a remote costal area in Scotland. They lived 200 metres from the sea and they saw seals every day. They didn't always see other people on a daily basis. A lot of time was spent reading books or out living a rural life. And shooting stuff.
My grandfather died in 1987/1988. I don't think he ever saw a computer (although I'm not entirely sure). He was born in a croft in 1903. I'm writing this on a fancy laptop. I'm streaming music onto my iPad beside me. Technology like this only existed on Star Trek and in the science fiction novels and comics my father read.
My grandfather left the UK twice (as far as I know). In the late '70s/early '80s my parents brought him to Lanzarote and Malta with us for family holidays. Until then he had never been in a plane. He did live in London where he worked as a servant in the 1920's and 30's so I guess it is possible that he may have travelled abroad at that time. I don't know and I guess I never will.
As a kid I never imagined that I would at some point own something like an iPad or a smartphone. I could could conceptualise a mobile phone as I had seen walkie talkies. Early chunky mobile phones were available in the '80s but only for the very rich.
Possibly the most amazing thing now is the internet. Vast amounts of knowledge, science, music, media and art are available free, instantly at the touch of a button. I did my first degree before scientific papers existed as PDFs. I had not used the internet or sent an email before I went to university. I spent years looking for books, comics and music. Now it's all there.
Our ability to communicate has improved too. I play scrabble and chat with someone in Hong Kong every day. I know and care about someone in Hong Kong. As a child in the West of Scotland I would never have imagined such a thing. I dreamt of America in movies and comic books and later in records. I was lucky enough to visit Europe and I knew about World War 2. Beyond that I knew that other cultures existed but I didn't really believe that I would ever interact with these distant places in any meaningful way.
When I was a kid for a while I wanted to be a spaceman. When I was very young I wanted to be a soldier but thankfully I got over that idea very early. Most of the time I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to write comics and novels. As a teenager I wanted to be a rock star or a journalist. I had a vague childhood idea of being a scientist but only in a sort of very vague science fiction/spaceman way.
I never thought I would be a doctor. Doctors were the people my mother worked for, a class apart. Twenty, twenty-five, thirty years later, here I am. How the fuck did this happen?
I sit in a posh flat in Glasgow living in a science fiction present, parts of which echo the William Gibson books I read when I was 10. Parts of this are so much better than I ever thought would be possible. When I watch the television news and hear borderline racist, anti-immigration political beasts from UKIP talk, I hear echoes of Mosely and Enoch Powell and it's all gone a bit dystopian.
What would my grandad think if he was alive today? His generation fought the nazi's and gave us the Scotland we have today.
My grandfather died in 1987/1988. I don't think he ever saw a computer (although I'm not entirely sure). He was born in a croft in 1903. I'm writing this on a fancy laptop. I'm streaming music onto my iPad beside me. Technology like this only existed on Star Trek and in the science fiction novels and comics my father read.
My grandfather left the UK twice (as far as I know). In the late '70s/early '80s my parents brought him to Lanzarote and Malta with us for family holidays. Until then he had never been in a plane. He did live in London where he worked as a servant in the 1920's and 30's so I guess it is possible that he may have travelled abroad at that time. I don't know and I guess I never will.
As a kid I never imagined that I would at some point own something like an iPad or a smartphone. I could could conceptualise a mobile phone as I had seen walkie talkies. Early chunky mobile phones were available in the '80s but only for the very rich.
Possibly the most amazing thing now is the internet. Vast amounts of knowledge, science, music, media and art are available free, instantly at the touch of a button. I did my first degree before scientific papers existed as PDFs. I had not used the internet or sent an email before I went to university. I spent years looking for books, comics and music. Now it's all there.
Our ability to communicate has improved too. I play scrabble and chat with someone in Hong Kong every day. I know and care about someone in Hong Kong. As a child in the West of Scotland I would never have imagined such a thing. I dreamt of America in movies and comic books and later in records. I was lucky enough to visit Europe and I knew about World War 2. Beyond that I knew that other cultures existed but I didn't really believe that I would ever interact with these distant places in any meaningful way.
When I was a kid for a while I wanted to be a spaceman. When I was very young I wanted to be a soldier but thankfully I got over that idea very early. Most of the time I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to write comics and novels. As a teenager I wanted to be a rock star or a journalist. I had a vague childhood idea of being a scientist but only in a sort of very vague science fiction/spaceman way.
I never thought I would be a doctor. Doctors were the people my mother worked for, a class apart. Twenty, twenty-five, thirty years later, here I am. How the fuck did this happen?
I sit in a posh flat in Glasgow living in a science fiction present, parts of which echo the William Gibson books I read when I was 10. Parts of this are so much better than I ever thought would be possible. When I watch the television news and hear borderline racist, anti-immigration political beasts from UKIP talk, I hear echoes of Mosely and Enoch Powell and it's all gone a bit dystopian.
What would my grandad think if he was alive today? His generation fought the nazi's and gave us the Scotland we have today.
Tuesday, December 03, 2013
sometimes it's nice to meet your heroes - End of an Era 2, the final ATP holiday camp festival and Mike Watt
The ATP festival concept was brilliant but sadly it has now run it's course. This weekend I attended the ATP chalet festival at Camber Sands in Rye. For work and financial reasons I never made it to the early festivals but I always looked at the line-ups with awe. A good friend of mine plays in Mogwai and actually curated the first ATP festival but the first one I made it to was curated by Jeff Mangum in 2012. I loved that experience and went back to the Deerhunter event this summer.
I was sad to hear that the festivals were ending. I am not privy to the reasons for this but running a big festival has to be difficult in harsh financial climates. Pontins certainly did not roll out the red carpet for guests this time, requiring us to bring our own linen.
The line-up for this festival was brilliant and contained many personal favourites. Slint, Shellac, Loop, Girls Against Boys, Michael Rother, Mike Watt and of course Mogwai. Attendance was required despite my fears about the notoriously unpredictable late November weather. In the end I made it to Camber Sands without any snow having made a stop at the British Museum on the way.
Slint too had a quiet PA but it was great to see them again. They played most of Spiderland as well as a track from Tweez and a track from their EP. I had hoped that we might have seen more of the mythical Slint documentary film but there was no joy. After the concert I ended up in the Mogwai party chalet and in a drunken haze I met David Pajo. He seems like a nice guy, even when confronted with an intoxicated Scottish Danzig fan.
The next morning was a bit of a red wine haze. I woke up early and went to Camber Sands beach to contemplate infinity. Camber is probably fairly nice in the summer but it's a really small town. I wouldn't want to live there. The locals were nice but the holiday camp is certainly grim. This time we brought food with us so we didn't have to buy overpriced rubbish in the Nisa store or toxic waste from the onsite food outlets.
The beach itself is beautiful. I took a few photos before my hangover really kicked in. I was able to watch the Dismemberment Plan play a set that drew heavily from 'emergency & I' but after that I had to lie down for a bit to prepare myself for the evenings festivities. After my much needed beauty sleep I caught a bit of 23 Skidoo and the Pop Group. Neither band really set my world on fire but it was nice to see 'we are all prostitutes' played live.
Comets on Fire were a different thing altogether. They took to the smaller downstairs stage and tore the place apart. I've been listening to a couple of their albums which are enjoyable enough. The recordings did not prepare me for the rock fury of the band on stage. Blending Mudhoney, the Stooges and Sabbath they sent an electric shock through the crowd. Rocktastic.
My hangover was a bit worse on Sunday. I managed to reconstitute myself in time for the Michael Rother set at 3:30pm. It was pretty good but I preferred the Neu heavy set that I caught in Primavera a few years before. My recovery was complete in time for the Mike Watt set. He was playing ll Sogno Del Marinaio, a sort of opera about sailors. It was nice, instrumental passages with intermittent vocal flourishes. He finished his set with a cover of Funhouse by the Stooges (i think). Watt is a great hero of mine but I'll return to this topic in due course.
As a coda to an amazing festival I had an amazing experience on the train from Rye to Ashford. I met Mike Watt on the platform and I spent about 30 minutes talking to him. SST punk was a big thing for me and I remember first hearing the Minutemen after buying the Post-Mersh volume 3 CD from Tower Records one boxing day (maybe 1991?). Watt is one of the nicest men alive and when he heard my accent he asked me if I knew Dep from Monorail Records. When I told him that Dep had advised me on Minutemen records over the years he smiled. I think he regards Dep as a sort of missionary.
Watt spoke about his need to constantly tour. He sees life on the road as being like that of a sailor, like his father who was in the navy and served in Vietnam. Watt told me that he saw little of his father growing up and that he feels he only got to know him in his thirties by which point he was dying of cancer. Watt himself said that he had decided not to have children as he felt family life was incompatible with life on the road.
He suffers from arthritis and needs to have a knee operation next year. He'll need to to take 6 months off from touring to do that. He says that this will be difficult as he doesn't know what to do when he isn't touring.
He told me a bit about how he recorded some of his records, how they got free studio time to record one song but managed to record all of the first side of 'buzz or howl under the influence of heat' by pretending it was one song. He told me that he originally wanted to use images from the magazine Scientific American for the cover (indeed the title came from Scientific American) but the photo cost too much so Joe Baiza drew a sketch of him and D Boon instead.
Watt is an inspirational musician and his life and words have meant a lot to me over the years. After I finished talking to him, changing trains at Ashford International I listened to all 175 minutemen tracks on my iPod back to back. They took me most of the way back to Glasgow. I thought about the life of Mike Watt and how he has given so much to me. I don't think he's a rich man but he is a good man. Like most American musicians he won't have free health care and nobody buys records now so musicians have to tour to make money. If anyone reads this think about buying a mike watt record (fIREHOSE/minutemen/anything) or go to a mike watt gig. He's a good bloke.
With the ATP concept, Barry Hogan did a good thing and has given me some amazing experiences. I hope he does something new, similar and brilliant again. Maybe even in Scotland?
I was sad to hear that the festivals were ending. I am not privy to the reasons for this but running a big festival has to be difficult in harsh financial climates. Pontins certainly did not roll out the red carpet for guests this time, requiring us to bring our own linen.
The line-up for this festival was brilliant and contained many personal favourites. Slint, Shellac, Loop, Girls Against Boys, Michael Rother, Mike Watt and of course Mogwai. Attendance was required despite my fears about the notoriously unpredictable late November weather. In the end I made it to Camber Sands without any snow having made a stop at the British Museum on the way.
Pontins is not scenic and reminds me of my home town of East Kilbride. I guess it provides an appropriate back drop for alternative rock but I wouldn't want to spend an actual holiday here.
On the first night I saw Thought Forms, a band I was unfamiliar with. They made some cool Sonic Youth-y noises and jumped about. I liked what I heard so I bought up their back catalogue. I'll look out for them in the future.
Thought Forms
After Thought Forms I caught Om and the Fuck Buttons set. Om were intense with a great Sabbath/stoner rock sound. I have a few records by Sleep, the band that Om developed from and they were just as good. After that the Fuck Buttons hit the stage. They made some great noises. I don't have any of their records but I enjoyed seeing them. Finishing off Friday night was a one-two whammy of Shellac and Slint.
I saw Shellac in Glasgow last weekend and this was the 5th time that I have seen them since 1994. I bought the first Shellac singles as they came out back in 1993 and they have always been one of my favourite bands. They played a great set although they were oddly quiet (dodgy PA). They even played 'wingwalker'.
Shellac wearing their evening suits
The next morning was a bit of a red wine haze. I woke up early and went to Camber Sands beach to contemplate infinity. Camber is probably fairly nice in the summer but it's a really small town. I wouldn't want to live there. The locals were nice but the holiday camp is certainly grim. This time we brought food with us so we didn't have to buy overpriced rubbish in the Nisa store or toxic waste from the onsite food outlets.
The beach itself is beautiful. I took a few photos before my hangover really kicked in. I was able to watch the Dismemberment Plan play a set that drew heavily from 'emergency & I' but after that I had to lie down for a bit to prepare myself for the evenings festivities. After my much needed beauty sleep I caught a bit of 23 Skidoo and the Pop Group. Neither band really set my world on fire but it was nice to see 'we are all prostitutes' played live.
Comets on Fire were a different thing altogether. They took to the smaller downstairs stage and tore the place apart. I've been listening to a couple of their albums which are enjoyable enough. The recordings did not prepare me for the rock fury of the band on stage. Blending Mudhoney, the Stooges and Sabbath they sent an electric shock through the crowd. Rocktastic.
Comets on Fire
I had been listening to Loop stuff in an attempt to prepare myself for this concert. I sort of missed Loop as a teenager spending more time listening to Spacemen 3. In recent months I have taken a bit of a crash course in their stuff but it didn't really click until I saw them live. They managed to make an immense noise with the hitherto 'polite' upstairs PA system. Their repetitive drones drove the crowd mad and a plague of crowd surfing spread though the room. To ice the cake they encored with 'mother sky' by Can. I was grinning from ear to ear. Once more I retired to the Mogwai party chalet where I had a close encounter with some rather nice 15 year old Glenlivet. I stumbled back to my chalet at around 3am with a smile on my face. My hangover was a bit worse on Sunday. I managed to reconstitute myself in time for the Michael Rother set at 3:30pm. It was pretty good but I preferred the Neu heavy set that I caught in Primavera a few years before. My recovery was complete in time for the Mike Watt set. He was playing ll Sogno Del Marinaio, a sort of opera about sailors. It was nice, instrumental passages with intermittent vocal flourishes. He finished his set with a cover of Funhouse by the Stooges (i think). Watt is a great hero of mine but I'll return to this topic in due course.
Mike Watt
After Watt came Girls Against Boys. I've been listening to Girls against Boys for many, many years. I saw them 2 or 3 times in the mid nineties but I haven't seen them for a long long time. I was rather excited to see them again and I wasn't disappointed. The sound was slightly ropey during the first song but they managed to shine anyway. They kicked off with 'tucked in' before playing an action packed set. The strength of the Girls Against Boys back catalogue was highlighted by the fact that they managed to play a great show despite missing out classics like 'I don't got a place' and 'sexy sam'. The new songs that they played held their own against the old material. It's a shame that GVSB never had the success they deserved.
Girls Against Boys
The next big discovery of the weekend was Goat. Goat are a Swedish band that wear masks and play intoxicating rhythms. They make you want to dance. I suspect them to be the Knife in disguise but I am told that this is not the case.
Goat going bongo crazy
Finally the last ever ATP festival was closed by one of the best bands on earth. Mogwai. I cannot write an objective word about mogwai, especially when they got me drunk all weekend and gave me a stage access pass for their set. However, I will honestly say that they played a brilliant set. The new material is amazing (especially 'remurdered' and 'blues hour'). I remember first hearing them play Helicon 1 about 18 years ago in a very small room and seeing them playing it again in a very big room in front of some very excited fans was great. Mogwai curated the first ATP festival and it was fitting that they closed the last one.
Mogwai playing mexican grand prix
After they finished the DJ played 'Teenage Riot' by Sonic Youth and it was all over. The crowd went mad. I was able to nip on stage and take some photos of the departing crowd. Somehow I had found the 'make everything look drunk' button on my camera. I ended up in the surprise party for Barry Hogan at 2:30am. I shouldn't really have been there (although I was again abducted by the 'gwai) but it was nice to hear his words on a series of events that have meant a lot to people with good taste. I don't know what he'll do next but I'm sure it'll be good.
Watt spoke about his need to constantly tour. He sees life on the road as being like that of a sailor, like his father who was in the navy and served in Vietnam. Watt told me that he saw little of his father growing up and that he feels he only got to know him in his thirties by which point he was dying of cancer. Watt himself said that he had decided not to have children as he felt family life was incompatible with life on the road.
He suffers from arthritis and needs to have a knee operation next year. He'll need to to take 6 months off from touring to do that. He says that this will be difficult as he doesn't know what to do when he isn't touring.
He told me a bit about how he recorded some of his records, how they got free studio time to record one song but managed to record all of the first side of 'buzz or howl under the influence of heat' by pretending it was one song. He told me that he originally wanted to use images from the magazine Scientific American for the cover (indeed the title came from Scientific American) but the photo cost too much so Joe Baiza drew a sketch of him and D Boon instead.
Watt is an inspirational musician and his life and words have meant a lot to me over the years. After I finished talking to him, changing trains at Ashford International I listened to all 175 minutemen tracks on my iPod back to back. They took me most of the way back to Glasgow. I thought about the life of Mike Watt and how he has given so much to me. I don't think he's a rich man but he is a good man. Like most American musicians he won't have free health care and nobody buys records now so musicians have to tour to make money. If anyone reads this think about buying a mike watt record (fIREHOSE/minutemen/anything) or go to a mike watt gig. He's a good bloke.
With the ATP concept, Barry Hogan did a good thing and has given me some amazing experiences. I hope he does something new, similar and brilliant again. Maybe even in Scotland?
Wednesday, November 06, 2013
A thought...
Bloody hell, I've been writing and publishing this blog now for more than 8 years.
My activity has been intermittent but it is a sustained body of work. I accept that most of it is shite and that few people read it but I've stuck with it for a long time. I've now published 664 posts. Wow.
My activity has been intermittent but it is a sustained body of work. I accept that most of it is shite and that few people read it but I've stuck with it for a long time. I've now published 664 posts. Wow.
Fantagraphics Kickstarter Project
Fantagraphics are one of the best comic book publishers in the world. They publish intelligent books by intelligent people. They make comic books that are art. Their books are often beautiful.
The first Fantagraphics comic that I remember buying was Hate number 1 by Pete Bagge. I actually bought it from Bagge himself at the Glasgow Comic Convention in 1989 (or around then). He signed it for me. I was really too young for the comic at the time. I must have been 12 or 13 but I became a massive fan.
Fantagraphics also publish Robert Crumb, Love & Rockets, Castle Waiting, The Comics Journal, beautiful reprint collections of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, English language translations of the works of Tardi, collections of Pogo by Walt Kelly. All amazing comic art that fights for space on my cramped book shelves. They don't really publish potboiler superhero rubbish. I am glad that they exist and I hope they continue to exist.
So, I've pledged for a couple of things on their Kickstarter and I hope that some other people do the same. They have had a bad year in 2013 with the death of Kim Thompson, Fantagraphics co-founder, and the subsequent disruption of their publishing schedule. They are raising money to stay independent and stay afloat. I'm happy to give them cash directly instead of buying from Amazon. I see it as a donation to an art gallery or a museum. It's just that I get to have this art at home with me.
Anyway, check it out.
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
welcome to 2013
I've been fairly crap with this blog recently. I've not had time to update it due to being fairly busy at my full time clinical job while still finishing off my MD thesis. I'm also a bit older and possibly a bit more boring.
I am now based in Glasgow full-time again which is good for me on a personal level. I was working on the other side of the country for 18 months while still living in Glasgow and that was hell. This was compounded by my flat having a leaking roof and some flooding for several months last christmas.
I have been to some decent gigs that I've not fully written up in the past few months. I saw Grizzly Bear at the Barrowlands (interesting, some great songs but not totally mindblowing), Animal Collective at the ABC (ok not amazing) and Mission of Burma at MONO (great band hampered by poor sound). I have tickets for a few good things next year including My Bloody Valentine, Sigur Ros, and Desperadicos (Bright Eyes). I'm also going to ATP again.
Anyway, I hope to write here more this year. I might even have some interesting stuff to say (although I wouldn't bet on it).
I hope that anyone reading this has a great year in 2013
I am now based in Glasgow full-time again which is good for me on a personal level. I was working on the other side of the country for 18 months while still living in Glasgow and that was hell. This was compounded by my flat having a leaking roof and some flooding for several months last christmas.
I have been to some decent gigs that I've not fully written up in the past few months. I saw Grizzly Bear at the Barrowlands (interesting, some great songs but not totally mindblowing), Animal Collective at the ABC (ok not amazing) and Mission of Burma at MONO (great band hampered by poor sound). I have tickets for a few good things next year including My Bloody Valentine, Sigur Ros, and Desperadicos (Bright Eyes). I'm also going to ATP again.
Anyway, I hope to write here more this year. I might even have some interesting stuff to say (although I wouldn't bet on it).
I hope that anyone reading this has a great year in 2013
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Charlie Brooker
I've just finished reading 'Dawn of the Dumb' by Charlie Brooker. It's a collection of his journalism from the Guardian and it's rather entertaining. Brooker writes about modern society and television and he seems to share several of my opinions and attitudes.
He also wrote 'Dead Set' which was fucking brilliant and he presents 'Screen wipe' which is great. There is a new BBC4 show called 'News wipe' coming soon and I am looking forward to it.
To read some of his writing check out http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/charliebrooker
He also wrote 'Dead Set' which was fucking brilliant and he presents 'Screen wipe' which is great. There is a new BBC4 show called 'News wipe' coming soon and I am looking forward to it.
To read some of his writing check out http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/charliebrooker
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Further adventures in songwriting
I wrote and recorded another song with one of my friends the other day. It's a bit more introspective than the last one, sounding more like Arab Strap, Mogwai or dub. It's about having a hangover (which we both did when we wrote it).
I came up with the bassline and played it. My mate programmed the drums and played guitar. I then mixed the music track and wrote lyrics. We took a few attempts to get the vocals right. I think it's good but it needs more work.
It's called 'army of 1000 stoned drummers' for no real reason other than the dub-like sound and I'll stick it on myspace when it is finished.
funky
I came up with the bassline and played it. My mate programmed the drums and played guitar. I then mixed the music track and wrote lyrics. We took a few attempts to get the vocals right. I think it's good but it needs more work.
It's called 'army of 1000 stoned drummers' for no real reason other than the dub-like sound and I'll stick it on myspace when it is finished.
funky
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Songwriting
Just spent the afternoon writing a song with one of my mates. We used a drum machine, bass, thinline telecaster, effects pedals and handclaps. I wrote the words and some of the music while my mate wrote most of the music and supplied the talent.
The song is called 'Peace out (with your piece out)'. In many ways it is an anti-war song and a plea for cultural integration. Musically it is a rip-off of the Violent Femmes.
It will appear on Myspace soon.
The song is called 'Peace out (with your piece out)'. In many ways it is an anti-war song and a plea for cultural integration. Musically it is a rip-off of the Violent Femmes.
It will appear on Myspace soon.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Fantasy alternative careers
I've just been chatting to one of my best mates about the jobs we could do if we were not able to continue in our current career. The job market in my chosen profession is a bit of a bastard at the moment. If the worst came to the worst I might have to seek work in a different field.
I've had lots of jobs over the years, many of which have been shit. The worst job I ever had was working in a record shop over christmas. It just really pissed me off. I've had other jobs that have been much better than that. I liked stacking shelves, I liked being an auxillary nurse, I liked working on a switchboard. I like being a doctor.
But if I had to pick another job, what would it be?
Obviously I would love to be a writer but you can't just show up at the job centre and say 'give me a job as a writer, please'. It doesn't happen. Also, being a writer for pay sounds like hard work. I think you really have to sell yourself and hustle to get paid. I'm not sure that I have the drive to do that. I prefer an easy life.
I decided that I would like to work in a book shop. Good hours, not much pressure, pleasant working environment, customers can read. It's all good. It would be like a holiday. I would get paid. If the worst came to the worst, I could do it.
I could work in a supermarket again if I had to. You do what you need to do to survive. That's life.
Just don't send me back to Our Price
I've had lots of jobs over the years, many of which have been shit. The worst job I ever had was working in a record shop over christmas. It just really pissed me off. I've had other jobs that have been much better than that. I liked stacking shelves, I liked being an auxillary nurse, I liked working on a switchboard. I like being a doctor.
But if I had to pick another job, what would it be?
Obviously I would love to be a writer but you can't just show up at the job centre and say 'give me a job as a writer, please'. It doesn't happen. Also, being a writer for pay sounds like hard work. I think you really have to sell yourself and hustle to get paid. I'm not sure that I have the drive to do that. I prefer an easy life.
I decided that I would like to work in a book shop. Good hours, not much pressure, pleasant working environment, customers can read. It's all good. It would be like a holiday. I would get paid. If the worst came to the worst, I could do it.
I could work in a supermarket again if I had to. You do what you need to do to survive. That's life.
Just don't send me back to Our Price
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
my adventures in rock journalism
I started my new job in a new department on monday. It's so much more fun. I just love it. Less boring routine stuff and more cool interesting stuff. I've been ecstatically all week. I danced out of the handover meeting in my old department on monday morning. Politically this may not have been sensible but what the fuck? That job was stressful and, so far, this one is cool.
The title of this post is 'my adventures in rock journalism'. When I was a kid all i wanted to be was a ROCK STAR. Kinda like kurt cobain without the icky blowing your head off bit or like shaun ryder without the pharmaceutical sponsorship. And if I couldn't be an actual rock star (cos face it, i'm not that pretty and the chicks don't dig me that much) i wanted to be a ROCK JOURNALIST. When I thought about maybe the rock stars would give the journalists some of the left-over groupies as a sort of promo thing.
That is how the mind of a fourteen year old guy works.
I actually gave it a shot.
At university, as I have previously mentioned, I wrote for the newspaper. I reviewed CDs and I interviewed a few bands. It kinda sucked.
The first band that I interviewed was an american alt-country band who made a few critically acclaimed CDs. They were called 'horse-sparkle' or something like that. Work it out, anagram fans. They were a bit weird.
The singer guy had problems. He had recently had a near death experience. He allegedly took lots of drugs and then fell over and lay on the floor for a while. His muscles got damaged messing up his kidneys and he had several nasty infections.
During the interview he was trying to freak me out. He had a bottle of perscription drugs (painkillers I think) and he swallowed them by the handful during the interview. He seemed really shy and edgy. He asked me what i studied at uni (biology) then he told me how he used to break into the medical school in his home town and play with the corpses. He may have said something even more disgusting but I can't really remember. He just seemed like a cock.
He only brightened up when I asked him about literature. He liked cormac mccarthy. It was the only thing that he seemed at all interested in. Other then drugs (opiod drugs I think). The cello player was nicer. She liked the butthole surfers whuch impressed me. My finished article gave more column inches to the buttholes than the band I interviewed.
Another group that I was meant to interview was the Beta Band. They just fucked me about for a week setting up meeting times and then cancelling them. They were a bunch of total wankers and their tour manager was king tosser. I'm not bitter. I got two tickets for the gig for free. I sold one of them making a tidy profit. Some of their records were good.
The worst thing I did was interview a close friend of mine who is in a successful noise rock band. I stitched him up. I asked questions like 'don't you think the guy in embrace is a knob?' andhe would agree saying 'talentless bastard. you can't polish a turd!'. When I wrote the interview up I made my questions more innocent - 'what do you think of the current music scene?' - while keeping my mates answers. (This was the interview where I slipped the c-word into the paper regular readers). My pal was told off by his manager. The interview was pretty good though.
I eventually decided against journalism because I don't have the killer instinct. I wouldn't want to publish a story if I thought it would hurt someone. Journalism appealed to me in the truth and justive, investigative watergate way but in reality it seemed to be dirty little men telling dirty little stories.
And the rock stars wouldn't give me any women.
phunks
The title of this post is 'my adventures in rock journalism'. When I was a kid all i wanted to be was a ROCK STAR. Kinda like kurt cobain without the icky blowing your head off bit or like shaun ryder without the pharmaceutical sponsorship. And if I couldn't be an actual rock star (cos face it, i'm not that pretty and the chicks don't dig me that much) i wanted to be a ROCK JOURNALIST. When I thought about maybe the rock stars would give the journalists some of the left-over groupies as a sort of promo thing.
That is how the mind of a fourteen year old guy works.
I actually gave it a shot.
At university, as I have previously mentioned, I wrote for the newspaper. I reviewed CDs and I interviewed a few bands. It kinda sucked.
The first band that I interviewed was an american alt-country band who made a few critically acclaimed CDs. They were called 'horse-sparkle' or something like that. Work it out, anagram fans. They were a bit weird.
The singer guy had problems. He had recently had a near death experience. He allegedly took lots of drugs and then fell over and lay on the floor for a while. His muscles got damaged messing up his kidneys and he had several nasty infections.
During the interview he was trying to freak me out. He had a bottle of perscription drugs (painkillers I think) and he swallowed them by the handful during the interview. He seemed really shy and edgy. He asked me what i studied at uni (biology) then he told me how he used to break into the medical school in his home town and play with the corpses. He may have said something even more disgusting but I can't really remember. He just seemed like a cock.
He only brightened up when I asked him about literature. He liked cormac mccarthy. It was the only thing that he seemed at all interested in. Other then drugs (opiod drugs I think). The cello player was nicer. She liked the butthole surfers whuch impressed me. My finished article gave more column inches to the buttholes than the band I interviewed.
Another group that I was meant to interview was the Beta Band. They just fucked me about for a week setting up meeting times and then cancelling them. They were a bunch of total wankers and their tour manager was king tosser. I'm not bitter. I got two tickets for the gig for free. I sold one of them making a tidy profit. Some of their records were good.
The worst thing I did was interview a close friend of mine who is in a successful noise rock band. I stitched him up. I asked questions like 'don't you think the guy in embrace is a knob?' andhe would agree saying 'talentless bastard. you can't polish a turd!'. When I wrote the interview up I made my questions more innocent - 'what do you think of the current music scene?' - while keeping my mates answers. (This was the interview where I slipped the c-word into the paper regular readers). My pal was told off by his manager. The interview was pretty good though.
I eventually decided against journalism because I don't have the killer instinct. I wouldn't want to publish a story if I thought it would hurt someone. Journalism appealed to me in the truth and justive, investigative watergate way but in reality it seemed to be dirty little men telling dirty little stories.
And the rock stars wouldn't give me any women.
phunks
Monday, November 28, 2005
I always wanted to be a writer.....
I'm having an easy week this week cos I have study leave from work to do an intensive revision course for a professional exam I have to do. An easy week! I scored 45% in the pre-course test so I hope the course works. I have two months before the actual date so plenty of time.
Because this is an easy week it gives me time to reflect on life. I have a great job. I know I bitch and moan about it but it is great. It's just a job that I never dreamed of doing as a kid. I never even thought about it till I was 21 and I'm just really really lucky that I fell into it. I can't really imagine myself doing anything else now. I don't think anything else would satisfy me.
I'm wandering off topic. The title of this post is 'I always wanted to be a writer.....' and that's true. That's me. I always wanted to be a writer. I guess that's why I like blogging. It's the vanity publishing of the modern era.
When I was a kid I just wanted to write comic books or science fiction novels. At around the age of twelve I wrote a script for a Captain Britain comic and posted it off to Marvel Comics in London. It was totally unpublishable because it featured a LSD crazed gang of mutant neds beating up a drunken Captain Britain (LSD, alcohol and gangs were VERY cool at my school) but I still have the very nice rejection letter they sent. It has Spiderman on the letter-head.
Later on I wrote for the university newspaper at my first uni. I had the dubious honour of being the first student (in the 550 year history of that uni) to slip the bad 'C' word into the paper. The editor wasn't doing his job. I was told off. I then reviewed a CD by some obscure american band and randomly embedded the sentence 'Noel Gallagher is a 'c'' into the body of the text resulting in another warning. The editor was really shit.
That was about 10 years ago and I haven't really written anything since. Sure, I wrote loads of rubbish lyrics for the rubbish bands that I played in but they do not count. (Anyone can write 'Fuck you! FUCK you! arrrgh!) I haven't really written anything since.
I guess I could write work related stuff for journals, etc. but I don't know if that would be fun. I'm not sure that anything I would have to say on work related topics would be that original.
I was presented with an interesting opportunity on Sunday. I walked down to a comic geek-fest thing where a couple of successful local artists were signing stuff and chatting to people. One of them was actively recruiting people to write for a Viz style humour comic and asked me if I would be interested. It was tempting but I don't know if I could write that sort of stuff. I don't know if I could write and force it to be funny.
What would I write? Autobiographical stuff? That's essentially masturbation and there is a lot I couldn't write about. Some stuff is too personal. Other stuff could be funny but it would be ethically wrong to write.
Hunter S. Thomson was (and still is kinda) my hero. The energy in his stuff is amazing. I loved the innocence and wide-eyed amazement of Kurt Vonnegut. I like the simplicity of Charles Bukowski although I do think he's a misogonistic asshole. I like some PJ O'Rourke stuff (even if he's a republican).
I like plenty of trash as well: Chris Brookmyre, Neil Gaiman, Carl Hiaasen, Ian Rankin, Terry Pratchett, Chuck Palanhuk. The list goes on and on.
I just wish I had something to say or that I had the ideas or the time. The one thing that my job steals from me is time. I know I probably have about 8 more years of training in front of me. I'll wake up and I'll be 40. A lot of the time I don't even get a chance to read. The job is fun though.
I always wanted to be a writer......
Phunky
Because this is an easy week it gives me time to reflect on life. I have a great job. I know I bitch and moan about it but it is great. It's just a job that I never dreamed of doing as a kid. I never even thought about it till I was 21 and I'm just really really lucky that I fell into it. I can't really imagine myself doing anything else now. I don't think anything else would satisfy me.
I'm wandering off topic. The title of this post is 'I always wanted to be a writer.....' and that's true. That's me. I always wanted to be a writer. I guess that's why I like blogging. It's the vanity publishing of the modern era.
When I was a kid I just wanted to write comic books or science fiction novels. At around the age of twelve I wrote a script for a Captain Britain comic and posted it off to Marvel Comics in London. It was totally unpublishable because it featured a LSD crazed gang of mutant neds beating up a drunken Captain Britain (LSD, alcohol and gangs were VERY cool at my school) but I still have the very nice rejection letter they sent. It has Spiderman on the letter-head.
Later on I wrote for the university newspaper at my first uni. I had the dubious honour of being the first student (in the 550 year history of that uni) to slip the bad 'C' word into the paper. The editor wasn't doing his job. I was told off. I then reviewed a CD by some obscure american band and randomly embedded the sentence 'Noel Gallagher is a 'c'' into the body of the text resulting in another warning. The editor was really shit.
That was about 10 years ago and I haven't really written anything since. Sure, I wrote loads of rubbish lyrics for the rubbish bands that I played in but they do not count. (Anyone can write 'Fuck you! FUCK you! arrrgh!) I haven't really written anything since.
I guess I could write work related stuff for journals, etc. but I don't know if that would be fun. I'm not sure that anything I would have to say on work related topics would be that original.
I was presented with an interesting opportunity on Sunday. I walked down to a comic geek-fest thing where a couple of successful local artists were signing stuff and chatting to people. One of them was actively recruiting people to write for a Viz style humour comic and asked me if I would be interested. It was tempting but I don't know if I could write that sort of stuff. I don't know if I could write and force it to be funny.
What would I write? Autobiographical stuff? That's essentially masturbation and there is a lot I couldn't write about. Some stuff is too personal. Other stuff could be funny but it would be ethically wrong to write.
Hunter S. Thomson was (and still is kinda) my hero. The energy in his stuff is amazing. I loved the innocence and wide-eyed amazement of Kurt Vonnegut. I like the simplicity of Charles Bukowski although I do think he's a misogonistic asshole. I like some PJ O'Rourke stuff (even if he's a republican).
I like plenty of trash as well: Chris Brookmyre, Neil Gaiman, Carl Hiaasen, Ian Rankin, Terry Pratchett, Chuck Palanhuk. The list goes on and on.
I just wish I had something to say or that I had the ideas or the time. The one thing that my job steals from me is time. I know I probably have about 8 more years of training in front of me. I'll wake up and I'll be 40. A lot of the time I don't even get a chance to read. The job is fun though.
I always wanted to be a writer......
Phunky
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