Tangled up in Blue
Certified Senior Citizen⭐
Van Morrison:Lit Up Inside.Selected Lyrics.A good excuse to play the tracks again.Cleaning Windows up next.
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Question What are you reading?
Tangled up in Blue
Certified Senior Citizen⭐
Van Morrison:Keep 'Er Lit.(New Selected Lyrics).
Vol 2 of Lit up Inside (which drew on about a third of Van's lyrics).This volume is still acceptable but probably only for more diehard fans.
Vol 2 of Lit up Inside (which drew on about a third of Van's lyrics).This volume is still acceptable but probably only for more diehard fans.
Tangled up in Blue
Certified Senior Citizen⭐
Just started The Selected Stories of Patricia Highsmith: Under a Dark Angel's Eye.Chilling.
Rob Noxious
Retro Supremo⭐
Keith Warren’s move from England to Mango Island in the Phillippines in 2000 confronts him with daily cultural schisms which he proves able to manage with the aid of his trusty humour and warmth which just about edge out his varying degrees of frustration with how things are done in his new homeland. From re-building a house on stilts overhanging a shore of Guimaras Bay with the help of local builders, to adventures with ‘The Pig’ – a jeep of unpredictable behaviours – and descriptions and ruminations on encounters with local characters, the Kafkaesque bureaucracy and a musical experience of hospital treatment in Room 202, this is a most enjoyable and revealing insight into embarking on a wholly different new way of life from that of living in ‘safe European homes’ (Joe Strummer, 1978). It’s a book written with affection as well as intermittent bemusement and it’s bound to make you smile, especially the tale of ‘Fixing A Hole Where The Rain Gets In’. Keith Warren is a natural story-teller and he’s got several fine ones to tell here.
Tangled up in Blue
Certified Senior Citizen⭐
Just started Kamala Harris's The Truths We Hold:An American Journey.
Rob Noxious
Retro Supremo⭐
I don’t usually read Science Fiction but I was intrigued by this novel due to its quirky take with villains as the heroes of this tale. And what a rum bunch ‘Evil UnLtd’ are, with their leader Dexter Snide as the driving force of their ensemble. It’s a hugely enjoyable read and the author’s humour shines through in this escapist delight with some subtle contemporary social commentary too.
Tangled up in Blue
Certified Senior Citizen⭐
Just started Jackie Kay's excellent "biography " of Bessie Smith.
Napster
No ⭐
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahnemann
Tangled up in Blue
Certified Senior Citizen⭐
Currently reading Roberto Bolaño's Cowboy Graves.Quite enjoyable.The RB industry (considering he died some 18 years ago) is still in full swing it would appear.
Massimo Giovanni
Old Timer⭐⭐
The Sentinel, Jack Racher #24, quite poor but topical.
Supposedly written by Lee Child but in reality it is by Andrew Child, the less talented brother, 5/10
Supposedly written by Lee Child but in reality it is by Andrew Child, the less talented brother, 5/10
Rob Noxious
Retro Supremo⭐
This autobiography is very well-written and provides good insights into the complex persona of Pete Townshend. A gifted and original musician, he wrote pop hits initially and then rock anthems as well as composing a rock opera (‘Tommy’) before creating possibly the finest concept album of all time, the four-sided double album ‘Quadrophenia’. Pete’s long-aborted ‘Lifehouse’ project, in which he envisaged the internet before it became reality, took its toll on his mental health in 1970-71 but it eventually became a radio play in 1999 and many of Pete’s songs written for it found their way into The Who’s finest single album, ‘Who’s Next’. He has had a solo career too, with successful albums - including ‘Iron Man’ (conceived in tribute to Ted Hughes’ children’s story) which inspired the film ‘Iron Giant’ - as well as still making music with the remaining and founding member of the original band, Roger Daltrey.
Pete provides a great account of the social milieu of post-war West London in his childhood and how music fired his imagination and compensated for what he describes at his academic failure. Attending Ealing Art College imbued him with an understanding of auto-destructive art and he applied it to The Who’s stage act with dramatic results. For Who fans, Pete’s own history of the band (which has been so well-documented elsewhere) is quite revealing. He concedes that Roger was the band’s leader but sees himself as the provider of its “blood transfusions” through the song-writing for the band. The requirements of The Who’s touring schedule and the effect on his own health, most notably in the progression of his hearing loss, became too much to sustain in adversity though and the band ceased as a recording and performing entity in 1983 - until they returned for a tour in 2000 to help pay off their bass player John Entwistle’s debts.
Pete provides an enlightening account of the subject that led to his arrest and caution in 2003. We learn early on of how Pete had repressed memories of sexual abuse whilst in the care of his grand-mother and though it wasn’t until he had psychotherapy in the mid-eighties that he became more aware of what happened, it had caused him anxiety and low self-esteem throughout his younger life and partially informed the subject matter of ‘Tommy’ - though Pete needed John Entwistle’s help to write the songs about the abusive Uncle Ernie and Cousin Kevin as it was still too close and personal for any kind of self-assurance in dealing with it himself. Pete acknowledges that his actions in downloading illicit material were misguided when he was intending to use it to inform his efforts to expose the complicit nature of “online banks, browser companies and big-time pornographers … in taking money for indecent imagery of children.”
Pete provides a candid and saddening account of his previous addictions and the difficulties that he had in trying to sustain his marriage for many years. Life has taken a much better turn for him in respect of managing the former and in finding new and sustained love in more recent years and it’s quite a life-affirming conclusion to the book in his letter towards his eight-year-old self at the end: -
“Respect yourself. Try to remember that not everything in life can be perfect. You will make mistakes. That’s inevitable. But you are not ugly. You will only be ugly when you behave in an ugly way.”
To declare an interest, I’ve been a big fan of Pete’s since I was fifteen and I’m delighted that it’s been a happier time for him in these more recent years. He paid his thanks to fans, his “greatest supporters and allies” in his acknowledgements at the end but I know most of us owe him so much more. Thank you for the music and all your great ideas, Pete.
Pete provides a great account of the social milieu of post-war West London in his childhood and how music fired his imagination and compensated for what he describes at his academic failure. Attending Ealing Art College imbued him with an understanding of auto-destructive art and he applied it to The Who’s stage act with dramatic results. For Who fans, Pete’s own history of the band (which has been so well-documented elsewhere) is quite revealing. He concedes that Roger was the band’s leader but sees himself as the provider of its “blood transfusions” through the song-writing for the band. The requirements of The Who’s touring schedule and the effect on his own health, most notably in the progression of his hearing loss, became too much to sustain in adversity though and the band ceased as a recording and performing entity in 1983 - until they returned for a tour in 2000 to help pay off their bass player John Entwistle’s debts.
Pete provides an enlightening account of the subject that led to his arrest and caution in 2003. We learn early on of how Pete had repressed memories of sexual abuse whilst in the care of his grand-mother and though it wasn’t until he had psychotherapy in the mid-eighties that he became more aware of what happened, it had caused him anxiety and low self-esteem throughout his younger life and partially informed the subject matter of ‘Tommy’ - though Pete needed John Entwistle’s help to write the songs about the abusive Uncle Ernie and Cousin Kevin as it was still too close and personal for any kind of self-assurance in dealing with it himself. Pete acknowledges that his actions in downloading illicit material were misguided when he was intending to use it to inform his efforts to expose the complicit nature of “online banks, browser companies and big-time pornographers … in taking money for indecent imagery of children.”
Pete provides a candid and saddening account of his previous addictions and the difficulties that he had in trying to sustain his marriage for many years. Life has taken a much better turn for him in respect of managing the former and in finding new and sustained love in more recent years and it’s quite a life-affirming conclusion to the book in his letter towards his eight-year-old self at the end: -
“Respect yourself. Try to remember that not everything in life can be perfect. You will make mistakes. That’s inevitable. But you are not ugly. You will only be ugly when you behave in an ugly way.”
To declare an interest, I’ve been a big fan of Pete’s since I was fifteen and I’m delighted that it’s been a happier time for him in these more recent years. He paid his thanks to fans, his “greatest supporters and allies” in his acknowledgements at the end but I know most of us owe him so much more. Thank you for the music and all your great ideas, Pete.
Attachments
Tangled up in Blue
Certified Senior Citizen⭐
Just finished Todo Bajo El Sol (Everything under the Sun) a graphic novel by Ana Penyas.Don't normally read gn's but this is a good account of property speculation in Spain from 1969 to 2019,set in the Valencia province.Since it's published by Penguin/Random House there should be an English edition on its way fairly soon.Well worth looking out for.
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Tangled up in Blue
Certified Senior Citizen⭐
Currently reading Sweet Bitter Blues :Wahshington ,DC's Homemade Blues by Phil Wiggins * and Frank Matheis.
*One half of the Cephas & Wiggins acoustic folk Blues duo (who I saw at the Cerdanyola Blues festival a few years ago here).
Excellent account of the local DC acoustic Blues scene.
*One half of the Cephas & Wiggins acoustic folk Blues duo (who I saw at the Cerdanyola Blues festival a few years ago here).
Excellent account of the local DC acoustic Blues scene.
Tangled up in Blue
Certified Senior Citizen⭐
Just started Will Birch's Cruel To Be Kind:The Life and Music of Nick Lowe.Excellent biography.
Tangled up in Blue
Certified Senior Citizen⭐
Currently halfway through Mike Gayle's excellent All the Loney People.A clever, feelgood novel (nothing wrong with that in these times) telling two parallel stories, that of a black Windrush immigrant to Britain and his mixed marriage as well as as that of the same man as a widower in his 80's in modern day GB.
Tangled up in Blue
Certified Senior Citizen⭐
Just started Kazuo Ishiguro's Kazuo and the Sun.So far looks like a worthy successor to Never let me go. Despite Private Eye's friendly **** take in the current issue).
Rob Noxious
Retro Supremo⭐
A brilliant collection of short stories by Raymond Carver.
Tangled up in Blue
Certified Senior Citizen⭐
Currently reading Peter Rankin's informative official biography of Joan Littlewood:Dreams and Realities.Honestly had no idea that JL was a communist, nor that her first husband was Ewan MacColl.Only black mark from me is that JL didn't like football at all,apparently,Remember seeing a production of her Oh What a Lovely War,directed by Alexander Bridge (IIRC) at the Palace back in the day.My kind of theatre.
Rob Noxious
Retro Supremo⭐
This was Raymond Carver's 'breakthrough' collection of short stories from 1976. Everyone's a winner. Either my memory's getting far worse, or I didn't get around to reading this beauty when I bought it probably about twenty years ago. If you've not read any of the great man's work, it's frippery-free and directs you straight to the possibilities of what's going on in the minds of his well-etched protagonists but there's always room for your imagination to fill in the gaps. I'm going to try to find another of his collections that I know is somewhere around Fort Nox in the hope that I've not already read any of the gleaming gems that are bound to be contained within. But even if I have, I know that there'll still be much to admire.
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