Psychological Barriers

Yesterday I had a doctors appointment in Shieldfield , East of Newcastle Centre over the Central Motorway, I live in Fenham to the West of the city centre and took the first bus that actually terminated in the city centre (it's the only one on that service that does).

A bus that would have served me just pulled out as I arrived so I walked down to the next stop where there were huge queues and I thought  "Could I walk? But it is across the Central Motorway" . Immediately I was placing a psychological barrier to stop me actually walking there. I looked at my watch and had 21 minutes to make my appointment and thought well I may as well try.

Six minutes later I was over the motorway and one bus stop away from the surgery, I kept on walking and five minutes later I was in the surgery , just over ten minutes from town centre to my doctor's surgery. My blood pressure was initially up after the walk according to their machine in the waiting room and the doctor was slightly concerned so retook it and all was fine. It was just after a brisk walk your blood pressure can go up.

Coming back I thought I can wait for a bus or be back in town in ten minutes walking. I chose the latter, and also took some photos and video of the Central Motorway on Instagram here.

This is just one example of the barriers we put up to stop us doing things when really we would benefit from actually doing that thing.

I now have to walk to the Post Office to pick a delivery and think I will go with "Walkin'" by CCS.

Trust In Techno

On Monday morning I had to get up at 4:45 Am , my alarm normally goes off at 5:45 and while it's fine to switch on an off , it's messy to change the alarm time, so I set my phone alarm for 4:45. No we are generally well served with technology, things generally work and failure is normally an exception, so generally you can trust technology (although computers and be a bit awkward and phones are not really phones anymore they are computers that, among other things allow you to make phone calls.

I also use mine to send videos to my dad and he, under Francesca's direction is getting a lot easier with sending video messages., and this all generally works.

If you press the light switch the light turns on or off, same with any number of devices so when I set the alarm on my phone, that should have been it until the alarm sounded, but I woke up at 1AM , 2AM , 3AM , and 4:30 AM . I am not sure why because I trust the technology but each time I woke I thought I had missed the alarm. I hadn't of course, and eventually at 4:30 I just got up and switched the alarm off, so it never got to sound.

So we'll go with one of my favourite bands The Alabama 3 , a live take of the excellent "You Dont Dance To Tekno Anymore" from their "Exile on Coldharbour Lane" amazing debut, and any time listening to the Alabama 3 is time very well spent.

The Grey Quiet

This was a phrase that came to me when I was out early Sunday morning, the sound of my footsteps disappeared almost before my feet hit the floor , there were no vehicles and the only person I saw was someone soundlessly walking their dog. The dog never barked. There was no wind, there was just an uncanny stillness in the air. It was quiet, and the quiet seemed to swallow all the sound.

It was an almost science fiction scenario, imagine if it was always like that. I'm sure there is at least a short story in this scenario, but it was something I just wanted to write down. Maybe I will revisit it sometime in the future.

Normally in life there is sound and movement but when you are the only thing moving and making any sound it gives an unusual feeling of loneliness. There are times you need to be alone, but not all the time. When I write these posts I can only do it when I have my own space and time.

So I still haven't finished "Riders on the Storm" but John Densmore has reached the making of "LA Woman" and according to him the word "Mojo" is a negro word for sexual prowess, I'd always assumed it was sort if charisma. This comes from the phrase in the title song of the album, as I 've said seven minutes, one and a half chords and a riff and totally brilliant, "Mr Mojo Risin" which is an anagram of Jim Morrison. To record the album, which Paul Rothschild didn't want to produce , so he didn't, the band co produced it with long term engineer  Bruce Botnick and "regressed" from 16 Track to 8 Track recording, recorded it in a couple of week and credited all songs to the band, going back to the situation with their first two albums, and producing one of their best discs.

So I am now off to the doctors and leave you with "LA Woman"

Chain Tarot

Today was my second appearance on Radcliffe and Maconie's "The Chain" and you can hear my low key conversation with the lads about 136 minutes in to this show for that next month or so, The link was very simple so I didn't really expect it to be taken up but I went from "Book of Love" by Magnetic Fields to Magnetic Fields Pt 2 by Jean Michel Jarre who has surprisingly only appeared on The Chain once until now. My friend Graham heard me and reckoned Elvis Costello and The Attractions could be a good link, he has a week to get his email off to them.

Probably my favourite Christmas present was the Dali Tarot set and was wondering, given that I have about six tarot decks whether I should try to use them. I do love the art work on the deck but basically reading Tarot is done differently for everyone and is based on intuition and interpretation, so you may draw the hanged man but that can be taken as an end, a beginning, a change , lots of interpretations.

It is similar to the I-Ching but I suppose you could take any set of random object to prompt you to interpret what you actually see, Like many things people look for answers, but really the only answers can come from you, and things will only happen if you take actions to make them happen, things seldom drop into your lap unexpectedly (though I once found £20 on the street, obviously I couldn't return it so I kept it) but when I was last in Settle we found a wallet which I took to the Police station and they knew who's it was from a photograph in the wallet.

So I may use the Tarot and it may point me in a direction, but I will always have the benefit of some amazing artwork in my hands.

Strange Days

I started this blog in 2007, so this in my thirteenth year of blogging. That year I posted six times. This is my tenth post this year and it's the eleventh of January, so despite the fact I said I was going to be more relaxed about my posting I am almost averaging one a day, though it does help if you have something to stimulate your writing.

Also as I have said, some of my blog posts were single line items, barely worthy of a post it note. I think my posts are now a little more involved and hopefully better quality, though that is determined by people who read it, although I still only have five followers, and a few people who comment on facebook although that last two months have had over 50K page views , but again only ten comments over the last thirteen years. I have deleted spam advertising comments but that points to a hell of a lot of robots or skimmers.

I was surprised to find that from my last post my friend Robin has a signed copy of the John Densmore book "Riders on the Storm" and shared the Guardian article by him with me and my eldest daughter is a fan of the album "LA Woman" which I really didn't know at all. It is great to discover good things about family and friends through unexpected interaction. Facebook is useful at time.

So I am half way through "Riders on the Storm" and it's still interesting and more than readable and they have just finished recording the album "Strange Days" which was the first Doors album I bought. I was surprised to find that the eleven minute "When The Musics Over" was recorded without Jim Morrison and the vocals were added afterwards, although they had played it many times live. "People Are Strange"  is a doors song that everyone knows probably from the Echo and the Bunnymen cover from "The Lost Boys" but we will go with the title track from the album.

I'd also never realised that the front and back cover of the album were two halves of the same photograph.

Strange Days Indeed ......

Riders .....

The John Densmore book "Riders on the Storm" is not living up to it's dark first chapter but is still an engaging and interesting read.and is endorsed as "The Real Thing" by Robby Krieger The Doors' guitarist on the back cover.

Jim Morrison could sing and come up with some pretentious but excellent lyrics but as a person could be an absolute arse, but as a band they produced some great music.

Really the most important member of the band is the drummer, they can make or break the sound, they hold the performance together. In our first gig with The Bok we used a pick up drummer. Two songs in we told him to stop because he was ruining the songs. I saw a band supporting the Buzzcocks at Newcastle University, can't remember who it was, but their set was ruined by a bad drummer.

In my opinion The Doors produced four albums worth having , their debut, "Strange Days" (the first of their albums that I bought), "Absolutely Live (my favourite) and "LA Woman" (in my opinion their swansong). There were odd songs from other albums that I liked, particularly  "Five To One", and "LA Woman" has two stand outs, the title song which was seven minutes , one and a half chords, a memorable descending riff , though I suppose  "The End" is twelve minutes based on a couple of notes, eastern style improvisation and stream of consciousness. Then there's the sublime "Riders on the Storm"  deceptively laid back and menacing.

So really that's my opinion of The Doors' music and albums but have another two hundred pages of the book to go, so I'm wondering if I will discover any more interesting facts.

It's a freezing Friday morning, so have a great day, and we'll go with "Riders on the Storm".

.....on the Storm

The rain is gently hitting the window pane and it's dark outside , although the back neighbour's security light  which is on permanently and has been for over a year (must cost a fortune) , and was wondering what book to read after "Special Deluxe" by Neil Young.

Another which was destined to go straight to a charity shop without me reading it. This would have been ironic as it has an Oxfam sticker on the back which means I probably bought it from Oxfam when I was working there pricing music after I left EE, so that is like five years back. The book is "Riders on the Storm:My Life With Jim Morrison and The Doors" by John Densmore the drummer with the Doors.

Like the Neil Young book I am very apprehensive about this and it starts almost like a modern gothic horror story, but more than readable. Now I lump Jim Morrison with Shaun Ryder and Morrissey , partially responsible for some amazing music (and some rubbish) sometimes great on stage but you wouldn't want to socialise with them for any length of time. Also Jim Morrison's lyrics were often incredibly pretentious , but pretentiousness can sometimes result in great music if you don't take it seriously (think "The End" and "Horse Latitudes") .

Anyway the book has now morphed into Densmore's early life and how he learned the piano and the the drums (separately in marching bands)  and is rolling along nicely.

No doubt I will report more as I go along and it means I get to share some Doors with you. They took their name from a William Blake line:

"There is the Known

And The Unknown

And In Between

Are The Doors of Perception"

So I'll go with "The End" as it is probably my favourite Doors song.