Showing posts with label Summer Solstice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Summer Solstice. Show all posts

Friday, 21 June 2019

It's The Summer Solstice


This came upon me quite suddenly , it's the longest day , the most light , there's sunshine, and it's Friday so basically a very very good day. Although we always assume Friday is good , many people I know work weekends so the Friday thing is not always a huge positive, but I do definitely like Friday because tomorrow provides the opportunity for a lie in , though I probably won't take it.

There's a lot of events and celebratins of The Solstice and thanks to the Internet we can find out out where they are happening and if we want go along to them. Obviously Stonehenge is a husge focal point for this as a sacred place for the Druids to see the Sunrise there.

Then we start getting into the pagan and natural religions which would later be homogenised and corrupted by Christianity, but the Pagan stuff is always more respectful and more fun to be involved, although I am very irreligious.

The number of videos about Stonehenge is big (see here) with lots of facts, theories and hokum, but it is a totally impressive structure, and though simple there's a lot of weight in those stones and remarkable accuracy in their positioning.

Hawkwind played many  festivals around Stonehenge so we will go with the "Watching The Grass Grow" thirty odd years back and the 1984 Festival. Wouldn't surprise me if they tried to be there today but todays corporate security will never allow it.

Thursday, 21 June 2018

Solstice Song


The sky is blue, there's not a cloud up there, and this morning when I went into the shower I was hit by the heat of the sun before I switched the shower on. IT's also the Summer Solstice so it's the longest day of the year and looking outside it looks like we are going to have a gorgeous and long day with many hours of daylight.

There are lots of things happening and am tempted to a couple of events tonight which are in the town centre and really with the fact it's th elongest day I should take advantage of the extra daylight that we have, although I also have Los Coyotemen at The Globe tomorrow night so this does look like being quite a busy week, but all the more enjoyable for it.

Weather is still very warm, but that is a plus, cold weather is fine as long as you can find somewhere and some method to actually warm yourself up.

I am combing my memories to think of an appropriate musical piece to go with this post, maybe something druidic and arcane, maybe some Julian Cope or Incredible String Band. "Painted Chariot" is leaping at me though I have already used it for my  #LikeNoOther series here. I'd also forgotten that Julian Cope appeared in my second ever post here which was a short overview of my exposure to Krautrock because Julian had produced a book with the same title on the subject.

In the end I've gone for "Parlipap" by Spirits of The Sacred Grove, so enjoy The SUmmer Solstice.

Monday, 31 July 2017

Speed and Goundhogs


I used to be able to write a blog post in ten minutes. These days it often takes me an hour or more. The irony being that less and less people seem to be reading, that isn't a problem as I mainly write for myself and to instil a sort of discipline to get something down, which I may wish to remember. I've been doing this for ten years or so and some of my early posts were extremely short.

I like to think that I can write at least 250 words, but I don't think you will get this today as I need to get off to work fairly rapidly , and as it looks sunny I want to walk at least part of the way, but I need to get in , do a few things then zip off to a podiatry appointment (due to a cancellation, they rang me and said they knew I preferred early appointments so did I want to come in this morning? That was Friday, I love the NHS).

I also noticed last night it seemed to get dark earlier, and we are past the Summer Solstice so the daylight hours are getting less.

Anyway it's Monday , it's time for work, and Nemone on  6Music mentioned Groundhog Day so why not go with "Cherry Red" by The Groundhogs, a sound which I always think inspired Franz Ferdinand.

Have a good one friends.

Wednesday, 21 June 2017

Summer Solstice Discoveries, Rembetika and Surf Music


Today is the Summer Solstice and looking out the window it's raining and we have heavy thunder. I haven't seen any lightning yet, but that's just a matter of time, although the weather is saying it's going to be a hot and sunny day (in the south).

The radio and Facebook are full of the corpfest that is Glastonbury. I think that the Eavis family have done a great job and deserve their success, but so so many people go to Glastonbury because it's Glastonbury and the music seems irrelevant. They then start complaining if this year's Robbie Williams isn't headlining. It's almost like X-Factor, you know what to expect, and sometimes it may not be to your taste. This Friday Radiohead play the Pyramid Stage, a relic from the very first Glastonbury (in concept), and the BBC are broadcasting lots of acts. I've never been to Glastonbury and doubt I will ever go, but these days there are so many alternatives that I don't feel I am missing out.

Just seen my first lightning  followed by crashing thunder.

The main reason I am writing this post is because I was reading Electric Eden this morning and discovered something about "Misirlou". I'd always assumed it was a Greek folk song picked up by Dick Dale and "surfed up". Most peoples first contact to this piece was on the opening to Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction", Tarantino has a way of unearthing great records for his films, think of "Little Green Bag" by the George Baker Selection, Tarantino's inclusion in "Reservoir Dogs" moved it from Sunday afternoon Radio 2 to cool.


But the western gestation of "Misirlou" predates Dick Dale by some years. A guy called Steve Benbow was stationed in Egypt and taught himself guitar to fill his boring days. One of his favourite tunes was a Greek Rembetika song called "Misirlou" (which apparently means "Egyptian Girl". Rembetika is a particularly harsh Greek folk music form so was suited to Benbow's steel stringed acoustic.  I think Benbow recorded it and it was also recorded by Davy Graham as "Miserlou"(sic).

I couldn't find Benbow's recording but found a celebration concert by Peter Oliver.

Whether Dick Dale picked it up as a Greek folk piece or from Benbow's or Graham's recordings I don't know, but if you've read this you now know about it.

SP if you are going out north of Watford take your umbrella and waterproof gear or you may get quite wet. I'm not sure if I will hit my 11K steps today but I did make 15.5K yesterday and am 30K ahead of target.

Have a great day everyone.

Saturday, 21 June 2014

The Longest Day 2014




Summer Solstice Stonehenge
Well today is the longest day , the summer solstice and we've had a lot of sun, and it's been hot. There have been celebrations throughout the country and it's nice it's been on a weekend so people can make the most of the extra daylight.

Although it's close to 11 pm and the sky is quite dark, so I can't take a photograph. I started the weekend off with a great gig and today I mowed the lawn , so I'm now taking it easy for the rest of the weekend.


Hope you have all had a great day and enjoy a similar day tomorrow.

Friday, 21 June 2013

Summer Solstice

Well the longest day is here and light is fading , celebrations are taking place and I was struck by a pause for thought I heard today on BBC Radio 2. The guy said that rather than celebrating the longest day and  midsummer and the light , lots of people see it as the return of darkness and it's all downhill from here.

There are many ways to view things and when the weather is good certain people seem to focus on the fact it will soon be raining. Celebrate the moment , and remember when it rains you don't have to water your gardens. Usually the positives to take from every situation but it's not always clear what the positives are. Anyway the guy talked about shining the light and I'm going to choose this video I did of "Illuminating Hadrian's Wall" soundtracked by my daughter Juliet's favourite band Ash playing "Shining Light":



Tuesday, 18 June 2013

18

More than halfway through June (it's already the 18th), and the Summer Solstice draws near . Than immediately makes me think of "Ring Out Solstice Bells" by Jethro Tull , which is essentially a winter song so I will stick with my original June's Tune, which is just based on the day and is going to be "18" by Alice Cooper. Although Alice Cooper surpassed this many times , it's still a great song , the American equivalent of The Who's My Generation:


Oh and it's still far, far too hot