Currently in
freelance no-man’s land, I am looking to attach myself to a suitable creative battalion
in need of a renegade pair of hands but after six weeks without work, I am
starting to enter the semi-retired/unemployed/when will I work again? state of
mind. Things always work out eventually though and the attitude of whatever
will be will be, must prevail. Speaking of whatever will be will be, I am off to
Wembley on Sunday with my two boys to see the mighty Aston Villa take on
Liverpool in the F.A Cup Semi Final. It may only be the semi and not the
showpiece final but a day out at Wembley is a day out at Wembley and how many times
will all three of us be able to go and watch Aston Villa play at the home of Take
That, Ed Sheeran, AC/DC and the NFL? It may never happen again. In any case,
semi finals are often a lot better than the finals. Liverpool will be firm
favourites but it is all about enjoying the day, the occasion and the
atmosphere. As long as the team put in a performance to be proud of, you can’t
ask for any more.
Recently, we
have discovered a great way of getting away, which is to stay at a friend’s
house whilst they are themselves on holiday, or in this case visiting relatives
oop North. The favour will be returned of course, when the opportunity arises.
The weather was good last week and we spent time on the beaches of Deal,
Broadstairs, and Walmer. It is good for the soul to sit on a beach every now
and then and in this case, listen to the sea rattle through the pebbles, as
they get sucked back into the ocean. Or to eat fish and chips, (from Peter’s,
of course,) in the ocean’s mist at Margate, or to discover ancient chalk
monuments, towering out of the water, at Botany Bay, with graffiti scraped into
their surface like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics (see Head Space Daily Image.)
“How’s Annie?
How’s Annie?. . . How’s Annie?” I can remember it as clearly as if it were
yesterday, as a seventeen year old, watching the final episode of Twin Peaks,
just before Agent Dale Cooper smashed his face into the bathroom mirror,
possessed by Bob, the evil spirit of the woods and dark overlord of The Black
Lodge. Recently, I finished watching the box set. Many of my memories from
watching Twin Peaks the first time around, are rooted in the quirky, humorous
elements – the damn fine coffee and cherry pie, the dancing dwarf - and of
course the beautiful cast. Sherilyn Fenn was a massive crush. On second
viewing, the show is truly sinister, full of lost souls looking for something
to hang on to, set against an aura of hopelessness and underlying evil. The
dwarf is a devil. The first season is incredibly sinister and
unnerving and whilst it loses its way slightly in season two, that final
episode is one of the most weirdly wonderful, abstract and disturbing pieces of
television ever made. As Laura Palmer says backwards to Dale Cooper in the
surreal depths of the Black Lodge, “I’ll see you again in twenty five years,”
lets hope the new series, which is due to be shown exactly twenty five years
on, actually happens.
I was writing
this edition of Head Space Daily yesterday, sitting on a bench in Blythe Hill
Fields, the left side of my neck slowly burning, as I looked towards Canary
Wharf. With the sun to my left, high above me, a group of people at the bottom
of the hill were playing a game of Boules, which was well, very French...
Now for a music
update:
The mass
conversion of my vinyl to MP3 is gathering pace. I have eleven compartments
rammed full of records and have almost completed the upload of music from the
first one. In some cases I am quite literally rediscovering records that I have
not played for ten to twenty years. Yesterday it was a pleasure to reacquaint
myself with the Yam Who? reworks of various artists. There is plenty to be
heard in todays Head Space Daily Tune. . .
ALBUM OF THE
WEEK:
An album to
have caught my attention recently, is Lustmore
by Lapalux, which is on Ninja Tune,
who are on a roll at the moment. This to me is best played late at night, in
the nether world between darkness and light, as it captures a semi conscious,
slightly twisted, dream like state. Perhaps his music should be used as part of
the soundtrack for the new Twin Peaks series. Lapalux meets Angelo Badalamenti,
now there’s an idea.
CHARITY SHOP
CORNER:
My latest
charity shop vinyl discoveries – from the Kent coast – have been Marvin Gaye, I
Heard It Through The Grapevine; Willie Hutch, Brothers Gonna Work It Out and a
Ray Charles collection. Not bad for £2.50.
OUT AND ABOUT:
A couple of
weeks ago I saw Andreya Triana at Village Underground. She has a beautiful
voice and was accompanied by a string quartet on this occasion. Having seen her
eight times now, I need a Triana break. You can have too much of a good thing
and she is now moving in a slightly different direction. The bar just off the
main room was quite rowdy, with it being the Thursday before Good Friday and
the noise clashed with the performance but Andreya handled it with good humour,
a laugh and a joke. I can see her having a long career and envisage seeing her
at Ronnie Scott’s twenty years from now.
A fully fledged
Ronnie Scott’s regular, Carleen Anderson,
who sang on one of my all time favourite albums, Road To Freedom, with Young
Disciples, is playing Jazz Café in May for which the tickets are in the bag.
Before then, I will be seeing Sharon Van
Etten, in a couple of weeks time, at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Hearing her
voice fill that space will be magical. Following those two, comes Unknown Mortal Orchestra at Islington
Assembly Hall, towards the end of May, after which, it will be nada until more work
arrives and more funds can be earned on which to have a life. Until then que
sera, sera...
