'a quarrel in a far off country. Between people of whom we know nothing.'
Neville Chamberlain 1938. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time. To describe the brewing conflict between Germany and Czechoslovakia. Now the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
'I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore !' Lots of highly stressed American Citizens. Network, 1976
* this is seriously long and probably rambling piece. So prepare yourself or don't bother. There's plenty of more interesting and better stuff to read. By contrast with other pieces like this that I've written on here, much of this was actually written on the day I'm writing about. You know. Like a diary ! I'll try to follow that way of doing things for future gigs I go to and write about on here. I've got any number coming up in the next few weeks and months.
We live in extraordinary times. There seems to be no avoiding that. Early on Friday evening I woke from the sofa after a long day teaching online and doing paperwork. I went over to my laptop, turned to the news and prompted by that watched probably the most remarkable TV I've ever seen. A clip with eerie reminders of the living past.
A Ukranian president visiting the White House in search for a peace deal for a war torn and vast land. To be met by an American president and vice president who proceeded to enact an odd tag wrestling ritual. One setting the other up to slam dunk their bewildered guest. All the while demanding that he say 'Thank You' for what they were doing to him and his homeland while he attempted to keep his temper and maintain a feasible future for his country.
After a bit of anguished back and forth he proceeded to rush to his waiting car and head back to the airport and from there to London. A President and remarkably his host shouting after him 'Come back, when you're ready for peace !' Before he left, he asked what seemed to me to be a reasonable question of the Vice President at a certain point 'Have you ever been to The Ukraine.' It was clear the Vice President hadn't but still felt entitled to speak on behalf of it regardless, It's a vast territory The Ukraine. Approximately the size of Mainland Europe.
I called my mum. Made myself some tea, Texted friends and family. Listened to some music. Scrawled through social media. Then went to bed, I woke up the next day, Came downstairs. I was still rather in shock. I put a Simon & Garfunkel record on.Thought a bit about Marshall McLuhan and Network. Trial by and on television, Wondered why everything had to be on television. Wasn't this pretty serious? Why were people starting to shout about World War Three? Not finding answers to these questions I made a cup of tea and went to run the bath,
'Hello darkness my old friend. I've come to talk with you again...'
I don't really have normal days anymore. I'm happy with that. It's the weekend. Though to be honest I don't distinguish between weekdays and weekends anymore. I'm self employed. Teaching German business people online from Monday to Friday, Something I like doing and which doesn't really feel like work if I'm honest. It's a process I enjoy and learn from as well as getting paid. I've been teaching for almost thirty five years now. I hope I know what I'm doing.
This also allows me to go to the cinema or to gigs during the week if I want to without disturbing my rhythm. I've got another gig today. Simon & Garfunkel seems like a great way day to start the day. The sun is rising. Simon & Garfunkel provide a calming narrative. But don't kid yourself. Their's were confusing, violent times. Just as ours are. But music can provide the best escape I'm finding. Narratives to lose yourself in. A compass. A map..
It's March. I realise eventually. So money will have gone out of my bank account today. Never mind. Some more will be going in in about a weeks time from now. I'm not obliged to go out with the tin just yet. Or take my Atlantic Boxset, a prized asset to the record shop across the road. I hope I never do. That was a present. Take a deep breath as a good friend advised me recently. Good advice..
On the turntable Simon & Garfunkel give way to ELO's Greatest Hits. One Side has an opening track called Evil Woman . Side B starts with Sweet Talking Woman. I prefer the sound of the Side B Woman I must say. But I'm a slave to narrative so I go for Mrs Evil first ! Turn To Stone turns up midway through Side A and I proceed to listen to it any number of times as I make my way though the morning. Fantastic song from The Electric Sound Orchestra. Those guys had great hair. And great tunes !
I have my bath. Good. Personal hygiene matters. To other people and to myself. I have some of my best ideas in the bath. This time for my lessons on Monday. How to interrupt. Politely and less politely. Should I show the meeting at The White House to my students. No probably not. Just post a link to it . They can look at it if they want to. How to make a point and how not to make it. The importance of respect and conceding sometimes. Trying to reach a consensus. Hidden agendas.
I come out and put Mr Blue Sky on. ''It's a Beautiful New Day.'I look at the heavens from my desk window. It looks like it is. I get dressed and pack my durable M&S shopping bag. The one with great carrots on it. I'm going to my Fitness Centre which is five minutes from my flat. In the Royal Station Hotel. Where Queen Victoria stayed the night. And Kurt Cobain. But not together apparently. Though everything is up for grabs these days. In this Post Truth world. You decide.
I put on another record and go upstairs and dress. Clean pants and socks. I reach inside my t shirt draw and unwrap a black one. Richard Nixon bowling at The White House. .This seems apt. I wonder if the bowling alley is still there in The White House and Donald rolls a few to warm up for his day of global misdirection and acquiring wealth and fame. A wrecking ball more like with that guy. In a room with wall to wall mirrors. King In Mirrors.
I'm playing The Colorblind James Experience debut album from the mid Eighties. Considering a Move to Memphis. Classic American leftfield Indie. I wonder if Donald likes their work. I doubt it somehow.. They didn't sell any records. Take the Skinheads Bowling Donald. No. Camper Van Beethoven didn't sell any records either. Both bands were to good for popular acceptance, Too good for Donald.
I nip across to Beatbox Records. Sam of No Teeth. We chat. We agree. On music and politics. We generally do. I like chatting to Sam. I buy some milk and head to the pool. Adam is at the desk. I ask him if he thinks Donald Trump is a Russian spy. He's unwilling to commit himself either way. Sensible lad Adam. I mention The Godfather. He said he hasn't seen it. I recommend it as the best way to understand the world. I'm an optimist but life has taught me to be a realist too.
I go to the sauna. I had a bit of a turn a few weeks ago after spending too much time in there for a few months during my stints at The Fitness Centre. My blood pressure had been too high and I think I pushed it too much. But I've had the necessary check ups and it's important that I start going back. Just need to change my routine.
Chris is in the sauna when I go in . It's always nice to see Chris. He's a good bloke. Smart. The person I've known longest from this place, We compare notes. On the best circuit routine. On politics. On the football. Which for both of us really means Newcastle United. We agree on all three. And on The Godfather. I'm a teacher. I return to the same subject matter. I know it can make me dull and irritating. Hey put in a complaint against me. You won't be the first. Or the last. We bid each other farewell and I'm off home. Feeling better for my forty five minutes.
I listen to I Am by Earth Wind & Fire while I warm my quiche. Now there's a band. Slick musicianship. Hey. I like and venerate The Velvet Underground. But I can't play them all the time. Boogie Wonderland. Star. Ask your local Indie band to take a shot at those two. I warrant they won't have the chops. I imagine the result would be pretty embarassing really.
After I Am comes Simple Minds Sons & Fascination. I'm beginning to feel good. Cocky even. I've taken exercise and I'm going to see a great band, Parastatic at The Star & Shadow Cooperative a couple of miles away from where I'm sitting. I went to see Mattiel on Tuesday night. By the end of the gig I was tired and left early. Let's see where we go, how we do tonight.
When I listened to and reviewed Parastatic's latest record Concrete Reborn on here the other day it reminded me of a few things. This Simple Minds album particularly. A record I bought when I was 18 and loved. I first bought New Gold Dream when it came out and worked my way backwards from there.
I resolve to play a few other records Concrete Reborn reminded me of. Pylon's Gyrate. Life Without Buildings. So I go to the sofa and soak up the sound. Seeing Out The Angels. It's impossible to explain to people younger than me how good Simple Minds were. Before they decided misguidedly to follow the highway that U2 were laying and became seriously bombastic and naff as they became huge. Oh Jim. Oh Charlie. It didn't have to be that way.
In the end I don't bother with Pylon and Life Without Buildings but put on Fear of a Black Planet. instead. Still quite an extraordinary album 35 years on. It and Public Enemy are just something else frankly. There's so much going on.
By the time I get Oscar Peterson on I'm relaxed. Sometimes you just find yourself things to worry and fret about. Or at least I tend to. Neurotic is perhaps a term that could be applied. I have my moments. I'm my mother's son. It's my mum's fault !!!
As the light fails I put on The Cure's Faith. The Cure are always a good band to listen to as the light fails. Al, one of the guys who works with Sam in Beatbox said some interesting things about The Cure and how the public perception of them has changed over the last couple of decades. How they've risen to the pantheon. With The Beatles and Bowie. This wasn't something you'd have anticipated in The Eighties. The music press were quite mean to them and Robert Smith in particular. Respect to them. Good luck. Faith just sounds MASSIVE this afternoon.
From MASSIVE to Massive Attack. I work out my route. I have a couple of hours to kill. I channel flick and watch some political analysis and then suddenly I see the news that David Johanson has died. The last of The Dolls. Time to pause and send a text to the friend I saw them with. Put on Lonely Planet Boy. I love pretty much everything about that band, but that seems the song to listen to right now. It must have felt lonely sometimes to be the last Doll.
And then I'm ready to go....
Now is the post script. The actual event I'm writing this post about. It's Sunday morning. I've had my bath and I'm listening to John Coltrane's A Love Supreme.On the chair beside me I have a copy of Parastatic's's Concrete Reborn which I'll listen to as I dress and eat my breakfast before going to church.
It was a great evening. I left just after six and came back after eleven. I forgot about that ridiculous melodrama of such global import whuch enacted itself out in the White House in Washington on Friday night. For the most part. There was some back and forth on social media with friends of mine who were processing what they'd seen. For the most part I just enjoyed the moment.
I left my flat and walked down to Newcastle Central Station. The night felt glossy. That's an adjective I like. To describe a pleasant evening. When it's not cold and there's a sense of anticipation. Almost hanging in the air. People around you are heading off to their own destinations. To enjoy their own Saturday nights.
I took a taxi to the Star & Shadow. I had been planning to take a bus, Expand my geographical awareness of the city I've been living in for fifteen years. But I couldn't find the bus stop. So I parked myself in the back of a taxi and got driven there by a really friendly and forthcoming Pakistani taxi driver who has lived in Newcastle for many years.
We talked. Or to be more strictly accurate, he talked to me. About his life. His two marriages. His six kids. What they're doing with their lives. His relationship with his homeland. About how he has property in Oxford but prefers it here. About when he will clock off this evening.
He did ask me about my life. He was a nice man. When we drive up to The Star & Shadow Cinema, he pointed out the bus stop opposite where I would be able to take my bus home. I thanked him and exited the taxi and went into The Star & Shadow.
It's a great place. I saw Subway Sect playing at the former venue, many, many moons ago but it's the first time I've been to their new venue. I immediately felt at hime. Safe. My name was on the guestlist. I only saw one person I knew during the evening but I felt as if I was among friends that I didn't know. But the fact that I didn't know them was mere detail.
There was an Anarchist Bookshelf in the small library at the back of the large foyer and cafe area laid out with a comfortable set of tables and chairs. A wall socket where I charged my smartphone. 'Well I am just a modern guy.' I like to have my smartphone fully charged.
I spend much of the evening in the lobby. I like to sit down these days. I don't like to stand up all evening if I can avoid it. Anyway the lobby area of The Star & Shadow is enough of an evening for me.People Watching David Johansen has passedand now I feel like Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell in New York in the early Seventies 'We were like spies...'
Anyway, you're never alone in 2025. You have your smartphone for company these days. I speak to the friendly lads at the merch stall. They're in a band too. Supported Parastatic last night. I tell them who they remind me of. Simple Minds when they were great. Pylon. Life Without Buildings. They nod. They know the names if not the music. You have access to everything these days. It was much harder work 'When I was a lad...'
Late Girl who later sings with Parastatic is first. She has a slide show where the moon is constantly rising over concrete skylines. It reminds me of Koyaanisqatsi the Philip Glass soundtracked film about modern existence.
Next come Watchers who are a highly emotional and full on local guitar band. The singer opens his lungs and emotes. I wonder for a moment whether I am witnessing U2 supporting Simple Minds in 1980. They were better than that. But a little bombastic for my tastes. In the last song the singer begins to chant as the guitars crash and burn around him. Final mantra. 'I need to spend more time with those that I love.' He chants that for ages.. . Fair enough mate. That's a great idea. But he wails it as an ongoing act of hypnosis to such a degree that I'm slightly relieved when they finally put down their instruments and troop off. I trust to track these people down and spend more time with them. Some quality time .
Parastatic do everything that I hope they will. A female singer spouting Futurists tracts. Marinetti.Walter Benjamin. Le Corbusier. Never mind that. Kraftwerk and Neu! Simple Minds and Pylon. Sculpture and Function.A backdrop of sculpture rising and crashing down. A motorik machine drummer. Bearded guitarists and keyboardist. Programme Operators. With their pocket calculators. Showroom dummies. They're just terrific. I must buy the album.
I've bought the record. I'm off into the night to catch my bus. The last thing I hear is a very excitable young man shouting 'That was really good!' I agree wholeheartedly mate. One last thought. If you want to be happy in the present and look foward to the future. Try to learn from the past. If you want to be a TV star go on television. If you want to be president. Try to act like one occasionally
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