From The Perspective of an Outsider

 "Always on the outside,

Of Whatever side there was"

Is a line from Bob Dylan's "Joey" from "Desire" which has always applied to me, and I have just finished the 116 page "taraNtula" and starter "The Outsider" by Albert Camus described by JG Ballard , my favourite author , as one of the most important novels of the twentieth century "A beach murder....blood and sand" so I obviously cant resist that, and this clocks in at 118 pages and I will finish it before Goof Friday is out even though I am a slow reader. 

"The Outsider" is a far easier read that "taraNtula" because it follows a normal narrative rather than teh stream of consciousness outpouring of the Dylan novel, which although short has still taken me the best part of a week to finish. I enjoyed it, as it is anything but a normal reading experience.

"The Outsider" is moving along nicely and is a convenient point on the way to my next book, but is going along nicely and will see it it makes me want to read anything more by Mr Camus.

Today I went for a walk with my daughter Kirsty and granddaughter Alexis and on the way to the town moor I noticed the perspective of buildings that seemed to move from left to right as I walked forward in an apparently straight line. These included the Civic Centre , the RVI, St James' Park and the Freeman Hospital. It's all perfectly natural but still a little disconcerting.

While it's only a small thing it does give me an excuse to share "Perspective" by Peter Gabriel from the "Scratch" album , his second solo outing

The Loquacious Calvinist

I haven't a clue why that phrase was in my mind on this last day of March , the last day of the financial year , on this sunny morning. It is probably that the last two things that I have picked up to watch have religious overtones.

"Apostle" on Netflix featured Dan Stevens and Michael Sheen and is a very claustrophobic kidnap tale based at an isolated Highland Island community  reminiscent of "The Wicker Man". It also disturbing and in parts gory and in my opinion spoilt by the vague mystical / science fiction unexplanations of what is going on. Reminding me of the finale of "Night of the Demon" a great , worrying horror film , spoilt by the studio insisting on the appearance of a rubbish monster at the end. I can't find any way of watching it except on Netflix but here is the IMDB link.

"Apparitions" is a six episode BBC series from 2008 that I found on Amazon Prime, from an idea by Martin Shaw and features him as an exorcist , so comparisons with the film there, but it's extremely good and certainly blurs the lines between good and evil including potential possession of a serial rapist by a saint and a lot of police involvement. Again there is a high gore content and don't get too attached to anyone but I am finding it gripping and Martin Shaw is always watchable and the appearance of Neil Pearson and a Prison governor is also a plus, but I always think he's not totally serious because of the "Drop The Dead Donkey" connection.  You can always find fault with anything, byt this is a fr=great series.

This morning I link I have lost a contact lens in my left eye, I can feel it there as I write, so I have to just wait until it works it's way round to the front and then I can see properly. It is annoying typing with one eye blurred but this is only the second time in twenty years of soft contact lens wearing that this has happened , so nothing major.

When I started this I pulled out a random cd "Triologie" a best of Trio. I believe that "Da Da Da" was made as a bet with their students and became a worldwide hit, so I am going to share this minimalist anthem with you. The Wiki page is here.

"Trio was part of the Neue Deutsche Welle (or NDW); however, the band preferred the name "Neue Deutsche Fröhlichkeit", which means "New German Cheerfulness", to describe their music."

The Weight

I was quite surprised when I converted my weight from kilograms to stones and pounds,  My weight is not really going down although I am hardly ballooning, but I remember being close to twenty stone and always feel that's roughly where I am. Sometime it the last two years I dropped below a hundred Kg which was a big landmark for me and have been trying (not very hard) to get below 95Kg.

Although I am diabetic , I love chocolate and sweet stuff although as I get older certain things I used to find irresistible now don't hold as much attraction for me , such as fried breakfasts and most meat although I am still OK with fish.

Anyway this morning I weighed 94.6 Kg and when I converted it to stones and lbs it came out as 14 stone 13 lb which is a lot less that the twenty stone that I think of myself as. The 209lb still seems a lot to me and I have to get under 200lb / 90Kg , just to do it which meats losing another five Kg or ten lb. When I got hit by 'flu' or COVID about fifteen months ago I dropped to 92Kg but then put it on when I got better.

Given what I've already lost I don't see the 90Kg as impossible , and it's not all that far away. 

So I know this is a short post on a sunny Tuesday morning, and the obvious song is "The Weight" by The Band. Incidentally it was included in the film of "Easy Rider" but due to contractual wrangles the version on the soundtrack album was replaced by a version by the band Smith, who I have never heard of before or since. The scene from "Easy Rider" is on Youtube, and beautiful thee minutes of roadtrp thru The NAVAJO NATION (US 89 North to US 160 East to KAYENTA,then US 163 to MONUMENT VALLEY,AZ/UT) feturing Peter Fonda , Dennis hopper and I think Hack Nicholson riding pillion

Did Anything Happen To Music .. or Did I Miss It?

There are usually times in history when musical scenes reboot themselves, probably starting in the nineteen twenties when recorded music became a thing and we had early jazz , blues and crooners making the way into the public consciousness via vinyl and radio. Gramophones and radios were commercially available and spread to sound through the populace especially in the USA and UK.

Six years ago I published a personal history of musical media from the wax cylinder to today's digital streaming here.

After the war we had crooners , Jazz , Western Swing and the beginnings of Country and Western. Rock and Roll was the first big flash propelled by Bill Haley & The Comets "Rock Around The Clock" the film "The Blackboard Jungle" and the genesis of the teenager as someone who could buy things including music, plus the tribalism of Teddy Boys and the like.

In the sixties there were Mods and Rockers, Skinheads psychedelia , ska and reggae , garage rock but this was just a quite smooth progression , resulting in some major rock bands and an unfeasioble amount of money and pretension. In the seventies we also go glam and all along the mainstream kept morst of the public satisfied as it still does today.

Then punk hit , hating the establishment , and prog rock (but ironically loving Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk") but still referring and eulogising krautock , reggae , sixties garage rock and more, while pursuing a minimalist shoestring sound epitomised by The Buzzcocks "Spiral Scratch" , which is why I was so disappointed by The Sex Pistols "Never Mind The Bollocks" as to me it was a heavy metal album, so sounded good but more metal than punk.

This resulted in lots of small independent music which was eventually absorbed by the big labels. 

And since the during the eighties we saw Goth , and Grunge and Baggy at the start of the nineties, and while there is always good music coming through there's been no big band since the mid seventies and no small bang since the early nineties.

So did I miss something or did I just get old? Franks Zappa said that when the old guys were in charge of record labels they would always give anything a shot. Could you imagine a major label releasing "Trout Mask Replica" or even "The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads" today?  Sing the young guys moved in it's all about product and markets , not art and music.

So what should I share, I'll go with the Bill Haley song.

On Comedy

Just a few Sunday Morning thoughts on the nature of comedy. One of the problems I sort of see for a comedian is that once a joke is told it's out there, it's done, so sometimes you will see the great comedians who actually tell stories, to which there may or may not be a punchline , but the journey provides the fun.

I am lucky enough to be casually acquainted with some truly great comedians John Scott , Gavin Webster , Louise Young , Rahul Kohli and Simon Donald.

All these people can talk , but obviously put a lot of work into what they say and I have seen and chatted with all of them at The Stand and various places in Newcastle.

Sometimes comedy can only work as the written word such as the Jerry Saltz one which you can see to the right. I've tried verbalising this and it just doesn't work , and the really good thing about this is that it makes your mind think. 

When a comedian is live they have to keep this up all the way through , otherwise they die on stage.

But on writing this I am thinking that once you hear a joke then that's it , but it isn't. A good comedian you can watch tell the same jokes over and over , but really the jokes and one liners provide a framework for the act to be delivered.

Though not the same it's like going to see a band who's songs you like. They will play the same songs but maybe in a different order, embellish the style or strip it down to give you a different experience.

With TV Comedy I can watch "Black Books" , "Father Ted" and "The IT Crowd" over and over, "Fawlty Towers" I find more difficult but it is still dunny and always loved the rearrangement to to hotel name at the start of each episode. Again it's a pleasure for me and the characters being total enjoyment.

So while I could take an excerpt from a TV show or one of the acts I listed, I will just link through and their names and share the wonderful "Comedy" by Shack with you , because it is a great song.

The Steppenwolf Coincidence

This has nothing to do with "Steppenwolf" as such (I am half way through "taraNtula" by Bob Dylan) , but I had recorded "Batman vs Superman" and "Justice League"  (although I and many still say "taped") and started "Batman vs Superman" and then thought is was not very good (I have a TIVO). I deleted it after ten minutes then realised that "Justice League" was the follow up, so recovered and started watching it.

Batman and Superman are not exactly paragons of virtue but Jeremy Irons as Alfred is worth the price of admission (many of his statements based on "Oh you screwed up again , so I will sort it out") , it turned out that it was more that watchable and I enjoyed it.

So don to the point of the post , in "Justice League" the main baddie is the Golden Steppenwolf , though he didn't look very wolf like and is just a standard devil figure intent on bringing the world to heel and into darkness based on some cod religious mythological configuration , and this reminds me of the text of "The Pentateuch of The Cosmogony" by Patrick Woodroffe  (art and text) and Dave Greenslade (music) . 

I enjoyed "Justice League" even more than "Batman vs Superman" and it comes out that Batman is really past it and the Justice League ends up consisting of Batman , Wonder Woman, The Flash , Cyborg , Aquaman and eventually Superman. Next up is "Aquaman" for me because it is available on Amazon Prime.

One of my favourite lines (and there are lots of those) is when Aquaman asks Batman "What's Your Super Power?", Batman answers "I'm Rich".

Growing up I loved Greek, Norse and Irish mythology as well as moving further afield and these have provided fertile fields for a lot of the DC and Marvel Universes, the most obvious being Thor and Wonder Woman's origins.

I wasn't sure what music to share , but given the Justice League scenario we will go for "End of the World" by Andy Mackay from his debut solo album "In Search of Eddie Riff".

SteppenwolfRed , taraNtula and Soused

"Steppenwolf" is finished with the surreal Magic Theatre sequence in which Harry murders his true love who is actually a figment of the drug addled saxophone player's imagination who transforms her into a doll and pockets her. Was she real or not? A weirdly impressive book by Hermann Hesse. 

I am now revisiting "taraNtula" by Bob Dylan , yes the spelling is correct and the stream of consciousness approach and dialogue actually seems to naturally follow on from the end of "Steppenwolf" and has given me an idea for a book or at least a long piece of my own. While Dylan had his position as an established artist to attract an audience it may be that barring an unexpected twist of fortune mine will remain unread and it will probably not be an easy read but hopefully , like "Steppenwolf" there might be tempting breadcrumbs in there for readers.

As I write this I am listening to "Soused" by Scott Walker and Sunn O))) one of the most incredible sounding experiences I have ever heard. Scott Walker is a true total artist and Sunn O))) are premier noise drone purveyors and together they take you somewhere you have never been before and will never go again although you always have the option to revisit.

So I will share, once again the opener from "Soused" "Brando" with the video directed by Gisèle Vienne , and I do think these three pieces of art go together without necessarily complementing each other. I've included the Scott Walker documentary "30th Century Man" by Stephen Kijak below which is worth a watch. I've done it a few times, very impressive and informative.