Can't quite place it...

In April of this year we heard of the news that Levon Helm, the troubadour at the heart of The Band had passed away. I wrote an article on his autobiography This Wheel’s on Fire however I wanted to offer another piece along the same lines, but this time on the revival of folk music in Britain.

For me, the style of American folk which I love (that of place names, historic struggles and battles, ditties about carpenters, fishermen and the sunny side of life) has never managed to come to the fore in British popular music. Apart from listening to Bob Harris’s country broadcast on BBC Radio 2, access to British folk for me has been limited. That is until Mumford and Sons arose a few years ago. For me, Mumford and Sons epitomise that early folk sound of the Band; a rip-roaring cacophony of instruments and harmonic voices creating a spine tingling moment. For a modern Rag Mama Rag check out I Will Wait or Little Lion Man. They may start slow but soon get going.

Lyrics-wise, Mumford are generally emotion-centric, like many artists of the current generation. Personally, I have found the most liberating piece of new folk music to be Two Fingers by Jake Bugg. Biased I may be. I don’t profess to have championed Bugg’s early musical life. To be honest, I only discovered him in the summer but I cannot stop listening to the Nottingham-born boy now.

Jake Bugg refers to Clifton in his Two Fingers. Not referring to a desolate outpost in Mississippi, no. Clifton is a suburb of Nottingham. For someone who re-wrote Dylan’s Oxford Town with lyrics about Ilson Town I find myself optimistic to this public acceptance of English place names. Perhaps Ralph McTell shares this too?

Now I don’t pretend I’m a wordsmith. I received a shit shit shit thesaurus for Christmas. I do know, however, what words sound good, and I know that some place names sound more Romantic than others. For example Memphis, Tennessee sounds nicer than Leeds, West Yorkshire. Folsom Prison feels like a dirtier establishment than Dover Immigration Removal Centre. Rock Island Line has a greater ring to it than Midland Mainline.

The Americans go a further step by using places in their names. I am unsure why this is the case, but perhaps it gave them a greater prominence when trying to market records. The Tennessee Two, Mississippi John Hurt, Bull City Red, Alger Texas Alexander, Louisiana Red, Memphis Slim, Memphis Minnie, St Louis Jimmy Oden, the great Kokomo Arnold and, finally my favourite, Lafayette Thomas. I doubt we will ever see the likes of Nottingham Norris, Camden Chris, Headingley Harry, Richmond Ritchie and the Thames Two but for now, a little mention of a UK town in a song will do for me.

Happy New Year!

Must dash...

So, I have started to grow a beard. Well, ive nearly entered my third week of beard growth. However according to beard.org, I should leave it for at least 4 weeks first before even attempting to shape or style it.

I have certainly experienced the usual comments:

Lost your razor?

Being lazy?

But then after about a week and a half I started to get more interested comments:

Are you growing a beard?

It suits you

Nice whiskers

Now I have bearded colleagues offering me advice and help. The most recent one went along these lines: "I know you probably don't have any of this, but if you do have some conditioner, then you should try that." Well actually, dear reader, I have a Lush facial scrub with lavender oils and sometimes use a conditioner now and again to keep my face soft and soothed. I have had to wash my face mid-way through the day but this is seldom.

So, am I glad that i've decided to keep up with the growth? Definitely. From the articles I have read, a beard is a sign of manliness. It's also a sign of committment and dedication. Yes, it's easy to start to grow a beard. But the constant comments, the itchy face and the subconscious twirling does niggle me but it seems well worth it.

For an interesting selection of sites about beard growth check about the manliness blog and a comprehensive site about everything beard related.

Arrival in Marrakech

The time on my phone read 02:15. The taxi was coming at 3 and I awoke, dizzy and drained. I had been drugging myself up on Benylin and pain killers, flu plus and anaesthetic throat lozenges. I had been swigging from the bottle all day and now I was feeling really awful. We took a taxi from Bushey to Gatwick. I was drifitng in and out of sleep. We headed to the check in queue. Walking round the ropes, round and round I was taken back to the time I had over-indulged on a trip to Holland and was struggling to stand up at Passport control in Calais. Anyway, back to the present. I was dizzy, white, sweating and needed my freakin Benylin! I had to duck under the rope, run to the toilet and, well there ya go. Start as ya mean to go on!

Skip forward three hours and the plane is setting off. EasyJet, the pioneers of budget air travel. Always remember big ole Stelios on that programme talking about his company. What started off as a routine take off procedure turned into the biggest bloody shit storm of money making opportunities. The EasyJet flight crew should have been called the EasyJet Commercial Team. Every few minutes they were selling something. I remembered the words of one of the staff "We hope you have a relaxing flight!" How the fuck can  I relax when you're asking me if I want a drink, a snack, Hello or The Times, booze, fags, perfume, gadgets, more snacks, more drinks, lottery tickets then...a collection for UNICEF. The charity collection was almost delivered as an after-thought. I searched through the in-flight magazine for any mention of UNICEF. It was on a page towards the back after the posture pedic chair adverts and DIY Shagging. What a joke.

Anyway, we arrived in Marrakech and it was about 9.30. The heat wasn't so imposing, it being only 25c. It soon heated up when we paid 15 Euros to travel 3 miles in a taxi.

Doing the needful...

One can never fully prepare for the rigours of international travel; in my opinion, anyway. This is especially compounded when traveling to a country and especially a continent you have never ventured to before. As much as preparing for something such as this is important, as long as you can just “do the needful” (a suggestion when traveling to Bangladesh some years ago) then I am willing to open up my senses and mind to new experiences and “chance” some parts of my holiday.

I have read and heard so much about the city of Marrakech. I think I was first made aware of the magic of this Moroccan travel haven through The Apprentice and was amazed by the colour and diversity of the place. Then, when a good friend suggested earlier this year that he may embark on a trip and was wondering if I would accompany him, I thought why not? And now, seven months down the road I find myself writing up a list for my holiday there. With space a tricky thing to manage (one hold bag between three) I am trying to pack light and economical but this is to prove tricky as we near the trip departure day.

I think back, again, to when I traveled to Bangladesh in 2009. I was working for CAFOD at the time and the charity and its partners in Dhaka had “done the needful” and all I had to do was pack then turn up to Stansted on the day. I packed a rucksack full of items but I had only reached half of my 25 kilo limit. I had done the sensible thing and packed my lightest and worn my heaviest. I recall turning up at the house of a colleague and the look on his face sort of read is that it? Where is the rest of your stuff? That evening I experienced a different evening in London, relaxing in his garden whilst the evening Summer sun peaked through the tall trees and I treated myself to a few cheeky Continental beers prior to bed time. One thing I failed to mention, however, was that I’d left all of my toiletries in Ilkeston. That meant a trip to the Tesco Express to raid their stash of Diarolyte, Jungle Remedy, Ambre Solaire and Colgate. I thought best to exclude my usually obligatory Durex. Hope springs eternal and all that jazz!

When I got to Bangladesh I found that I used some things more than others (and would have had no use for the prophylactic anyway). So when I do leave for Morocco on Sunday morning I think I shall be entering over-prepared in the true British sense, but, as long as I have done the needful then I need not worry about anything else. 

The Band

If you're not aware of the American band The Band who wrote songs such as The Weight, Rag Mama Rag and co-wrote with and worked alongside Bob Dylan then the first thing you need to do is read up on them then listen to some of the songs. This blog post will concentrate on their albums and musical direction as documented in This Wheels On Fire written by Levon Helm, arguably the group's founding member.

Levon dedicates much to his early life and his life on the road with The Hawks and then a sizeable chunk on the early life of The Band and their recording successes of the first few years. Levon writes with passion and a love for his music. And, even though he notes his importance and his worth as a musician, he does not hold back on thanking his companions for their talent and direction, specifically Garth Hudson.

I first heard about the Band from a creaky old VHS which was in a dusty cardboard sleeve and simply read 'The Last Waltz' on two sheets of masking tape written in a black biro, my Dad's shooty handwriting. I was curious to watch it so after my parents went out shopping one morning I drew the curtains and popped it in. I was a bit disappointed when, instead of an adult art film it turned out to be a couple of spindly guys on stage playing rock and roll. I noticed some of the names which flashed on the screen too; Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Dr John... (luckily, my parents thought it right and true to doctrinate me in their faith: music. I was aware of these artists from LPs and tapes which were strewn around the floor of my Dad's old green VW Beetle.)

As I watched this tape and learnt more about their story, my body shaked with excitement. Even now when I hear the first few bars of Rag Mama Rag I feel a shiver down my spine. Music is great when it does that to you! I switched off the video and placed everything back in its place. Clearly, my life had been changed forever and the way I viewed music had altered.

I forgot about the Band for several years. I was going through a period where it seemed ok to say no to your parents. Where it was morally wrong to agree with them on anything, even if you would rationally have agreed to it anyway. Rag Mama Rag came on the radio whilst Dad was dropping me off at work one evening. I was filling shelves in Wilkinson's and, instead of rushing out to the excitement of work for another 4 hours, I stayed in the car and listened. At that point, there seemed to be a connection between my Dad and I. The next day we were off to Nottingham to buy The Band on CD. It is their second album and I think, their best. We played it all the way through then I played it again. I was hypnotised by Helm's rhythmic drumming and the combination of three or so voices. This wasn't like the Beatles. This was something different. The music of The Band was drenched in the earth, each song dripped experience and hardship. It wasn't so much "I love you baby, yeah" more like "My baby left me and my harvest was bad...i'm dying, but i've still got some whisky left." Only those who have immersed themselves in The Band will know what I mean.

Anyway, it's clear from their first two albums, Music From Big Pink and The Band that the group were at their creative best during this time. Helm remarks that during this time they had not been damaged by money. They were just loving the creative process of song writing and recording and they buzzed from it. They were not bothered about song writing credits as Helm thought that as the whole band had created it it didn't matter. However, the song writing credits are extremely important as that is where the majority of the royalties go. Tthe majority of the songs on the album were written by a mixture of the members but all the world thought they were written by 'J.R.Robertson' or Robbie Robertson. He was the lead guitarist and very much the business man. He worked and built up a close relationship with Albert Grossman (the notorious penny pinching manager of Bob Dylan) and I suspect some underhand tactics had resulted in Robertson pocketing the money. As a result, there was a lot of resentment between Helm and Robertson and then when they began work on their third album, Stage Fright, there seemed to be less of that creative spark. True, the album is still a terrific one, probably the most consistent sound, but who wants consistency? We want to be challenged, our ears have been trained to seek oit new and different sounds. The commercial failure of this album also showed The Band that they would have to change. Unfortunately, they didn't, and The Last Waltz was the last time the Band performed together in its original lineup.

Listening in a different way

In my job I often get told that someone needs to listen more. Or, more appropriately, they need to listen in a different way. Perhaps they aren't listening to the things they should. Perhaps they are not taking in what they should be listening to.

I sort of know what I am telling them to do. Otherwise, why would I tell them?

Yesterday I was watching Sky Arts and saw a cracking documentary on the Doors' eponymous and debut album from the late 1960s. It was the first Doors album I bought and love most of the songs on it. In last night's documentary they seemed to make a number of subtle comparisons between the songs of the Doors and the Beatles, perhaps suggesting that, musically, the Doors were more talented and therefore perhaps deserved more success, or more recognition for their songs. At one point a music critic, on speaking about The End said "well it ain't no Obla-Di Obla-Da is it?!"

The program (which is being repeated a lot at the moment) looked at the majority of the songs from that album and looked at how they were made. What musical parts contributed to the songs, and what the thinking was behind each one. They said that to be in the Doors, you needed to be able to do more than three chords. Indeed, the poetic lyrics of Morrison, the bass keys then treble of Manzarek, the at-times bossa nova beat of Densmore, and an almost inhuman, magical guitar of Krieger made the Doors one of the greatest bands which ever blessed those sacreds airwaves.

So, next time you listen to the Doors, don't just listen to them. Really, really listen!

Just a quick one...

that's what she said! Sorry, couldn't resist it.

I heard on the radio this evening that if Leeds were in the US then we would be experiencing a hurricane of sorts. However the weather person (me being PC there) said that in Britain we actually call it something about extreme low pressure system or something or other. Typical Britain to play everything down. As I type this shortened blog post out I can hear the rain battering the back of the house and the wind whipping up through the guttering. Alliteration for you there.

Not as many unique views today. I think was down to shameful publicity on facebook yesterday, and a plug from Colin. No such luck today. I shall aim to blog every other day. Work is quite busy!

More than the dance...

I have been reading reviews of a box set of the Office (UK) which was released last year. There was one reviewer who said that this box set was great apart from one thing; the image of Brent doing 'the dance.' This, coming from someone who titles their review "ignore the nitpicking." However, this aside, the reviewer actually makes an interesting point about the most famous (or infamous) parts of comedies and sitcoms about how each one is remembered for its most popular part or scene (more of this shortly.)

The dance from The Office may be one of those groan-out-loud parts for regular fans of The Office however it typifies the relationship that Brent had with his office. He wanted to be liked, seen as an almost demi-God in their eyes (like in Appraisals S2E2), wasn't bothered how he achieved it, but when you watch The Dance (see the capitalisation of it now?) you see something very sad at the end when the colleagues are perplexed and are probably internally thinking "who is this guy that the office don't respect him, yet he is the 'boss'?"

These events in the life of the sitcom need to be in there though, and need to be remembered. Think of the falling-through-bar incident in Only Fools, the Germans dining room scene from Fawlty Towers, Frank Spencer on roller skates in Some Mothers Do Ave 'Em, "Don't tell him, Pike" in Dad's Army. These are all remembered as the most popular parts of sitcoms. Rather than there being bad things I think they allow the unique viewer an inroad into the sitcom and from there they will discover the rest of the series.

Take, for example, your first album you bought. Well, this is not always a good idea as my first album was I've Been Expecting You by Robbie Williams (yes, his most popular selling UK album, but I went nowhere afterwards) No, instead, take the iconic album you bought because it was the one on all the t-shirts and was in Stuart Maconie's Top 100 albums ever list. For example, The Beatles Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. Although I don't feel this is the best that the Beatles ever produced, I feel it led me into the Beatles so that I felt I wanted to discover what happened before and after it. I now consider myself a 'fan' of the Beatles despite never being alive to see them.

Another example for you. A less popular one but one that is relevant to me nonetheless. Take Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart. This album is one of the most difficult albums to listen to when listening to an artist for the first time. It's totally incongruous with the majority of things I have heard in the past and it needs a good few listens. It isn't actually my favourite Beefheart album, but it delivered me into the world of Beefheart that I now know and respect.

I really think that it doesn't matter about us remembering one or two moments from sitcoms as they are like a guide leading us to other areas. We need a centripetal force as it were, so we can fully enter into that world. If you don't fully explore then I believe you're a bit ignorant. Now i'm off to listen to Best of the Ramones.

Brent on him being the Boss and moving on: I don't look upon this like it's the end, I look upon it like it's moving on you know. It's almost like my work here's done. I can't imagine Jesus going 'Oh, I've told a few people in Bethlehem I'm the son of God, can I just stay here with Mum and Dad now?' No. You gotta move on. You gotta spread the word. You gotta go to Nazareth, please. And that's, very much like... me. My world does not end within these four walls, Slough's a big place. And when I've finished with Slough, there's Reading, Aldershot, Bracknell, you know I've got to-Didcott, Yately. You know. My-Winersh, Taplow. Because I am my own boss, I can-Burfield. I can wake up one morning and go 'Ooh, I don't feel like working today, can I just stay in bed?' 'Ooh, don't know, better ask the boss.' 'David can I stay in bed all day?' 'Yes you can David.' Both me, that's not me in bed with another bloke called David.

A new start!

Hello dear readers. What a joy it is to be in front of you once again, and what an honour from me to you knowing that you are reading my thoughts and words. Many thanks.

I have just spent a really nice afternoon with my friend's Father. He has a blog that he contributes to regularly and has been an inspiration for this new project. You can find his blog here.

Just as I was about to leave my friend's house a program came on the TV about David Croft the writer and general comedic genius who, along with Jimmy Perry brought us shows such as Allo Allo, Dad's Army and Hi De Hi. Whilst I doubt I could ever be as successful as him, I would really like to have a go at writing some comedy pieces this year. I have attempted to write with people in the past however it has always been more work on my part and this is annoying. I will keep you posted, dear readers.

And in homage to Colin, I leave you with a link to another website that has very little bearing on this post here