Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Whistle Test

I stayed for 2 nights at my friend Brian’s and as well as the usual over-indulgences we watched a couple of DVDs. The first was the Borat film. I cried with laughter – particularly the dinner party scene – and I have not done that for a very long time. The Fast Show Christmas special from about a decade ago was probably the last time.

On Monday night we indulged, as two ageing rockers in the Old Grey Whistle Test DVD and I enjoyed this as much as Borat but in a very different way. I’d forgotten how great The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were as live performers. Clem Clemson was a magnificent guitar player and a showman. Also featured were Tim Buckley (a magical ‘Dolphins’ recently well covered by the Soul Bossa Trio) – if he had lived where would his career have taken him? An intense sexually charged performer. John Martyn, Bill Withers, Emmylou Harris and Curtis Mayfield represented the singer songwriter genre and all were excellent. I surprised myself by thoroughly enjoying a great Lynard Skynard performance and Jan Akkerman and Focus were also terrific. I have a good Akkerman album called Tabernacle where he plays the lute and it illustrates what diverse and talented musicians these were. The low point was Elton John and it re-enforced my view that although he wrote a couple of classic singles his legacy does not go beyond that.

This truly was the age of supercharged live performances. I do not hark back to a golden age of music however. Times have changed. What I do think is that each generation has a musical style which defines it and in that early seventies era it was great rock music and its subsidiaries. Rock music is now a creatively dead music form but other genres have come along to replace it. Not better or worse. Just different. To illustrate the point, in a future blog I will list some great 21st century albums that I believe enhance any collection.

A different topic. I blogged recently on Sarko and Sego and I am pleased to see that they made it through to the 2nd round. France will have a choice between two fairly distinct sets of policies. What interests me is that commentators are saying that the 85% turnout is a sign of political maturity. You could easily say that this is a sign of its political immaturity. A huge number of people in France clearly believe that France’s decline will be reverted by politicians rather than by themselves and a shift in their own attitudes. For all the ‘new dawn’ rhetoric in 1997 when Tony Blair got elected in the UK only 60% of the electorate voted. The rest of us continued to take responsibility for our own lives.

Song of the Day: ‘Dolphins’ – Tim Buckley

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

George Kelly

I often find myself, when reading psychological research that makes academic breakthrough, agreeing with everything that is written but today I made an exception. For example, when studying political theory when younger I can recall agreeing with everything John Stuart Mill said ‘On Liberty’ as well everything in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ‘Social Contract’. As I now research my next book – ‘Brilliant Idea’ – I came across George Kelly’s excellent work in the 1950’s on ‘Personal Constructs’. I have often used the idea that many of us live our lives according to an autobiography that has been written – in other words we become prisoners of the kind of person we have been up to now rather than aspiring to the kind of person we could become. The prisoner is the kind of person who says ‘I am as I am’ with no recognition that we can and do change.

The idea is that we all have different ‘constructs’ or interpretations of what is real and will often live accordingly. When that construct is challenged it creates great difficulty/anxiety for us. Kelly states, and I believe wrongly, that this is not the same as saying ‘my world is THE world’. I think that an individual’s interpretation of the world and all of the ‘events’ and occurrences that occur within that individuals life that create our overall interpretation, are the building blocks (and blocks is a good word here) that can, if we are not careful, suck us into an increasingly one-dimensional existence. We do not allow for the possibility that we might be wrong and perhaps only do so after great internal struggle.

It may be that I am mis-interpreting Kelly’s work – and therefore applying my own personal construct to what he wrote. But I did find much to enjoy in what he said and recommend to any readers his repertory (or ‘rep’) grid) which will help you understand your own ‘personal constructs’, around values and personality issues, so much better. Are you a prisoner too? Mark Brown covers this in his ‘Dinosaur Strain’ book very well.


Music of the day: It is not often I recommend classical music but I bought Tamas Vasary’s 1965 interpretations of various Chopin piano pieces in Montpellier yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed them. (Deutsche Grammofon)

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Vincents

I have two old friends called Vincent. The first is an actor, Vincent Regan, who has recently starred in the Hollywood blockbuster 3000. Vincent and I shared a place in Tooting in the early 1980’s in Garratt Lane, Tooting with another actor Charlie Daish. To say Vincent is still a friend is a bit disingenuous because I haven’t seen him for a couple of years and may not see him again. I say this because I read that in the film it would seem that Vincent has the perfect six-pack on his forty-year old body. This was commented on in the papers accompanied by a comment from a friend (was this you Charlie). ‘He didn’t have the perfect six-pack when we went for a drink recently!’ It is of course all done in post-production. It is hard to know what is real now and probably explains why I rarely watch films at all. Or indeed read novels. Reality is the thing for me.

The second Vincent is someone who I regularly keep in touch with (and is a film-maker) and I mention him because he has bought a house very near me in the South of France. We are both very near a place called Beziers. This is rugby country and in the 1970’s and 80’s Beziers could ly claim to being the world’s best rugby club. They were French champions 10 times in 14 years and boasted a fearsome pack of forwards. I went to watch they play in a relegation battle a couple of years ago and the intensity of the occasion felt like a mediaeval bear-pit. I have been to other clubs in France. The smaller club matches are the most fascinating. Even the tiniest villages can raise a team and the games conform to all of the stereotypes. There is nearly always a 30-man punch-up, the wings are all incredibly thin with very tight shorts and the forwards all squat, hairy and immensely strong. They also take place on Sunday afternoon, right after lunch, so most of the crowd is lubricated by large quantities of vin (very) ordinaire. I used to live in a village called Coursan and we went to watch them play once. The match had been awful and eventually the thirty players started fighting. Right after this Coursan produced a moment of sublime brilliance amidst the rubbish. They ran the ball from behind their own goal-line and it went through about 20 pairs of hands and the fly-half ran the ball in un-opposed and in flamboyant celebration. The crowd erupted, as did I, and we forgot for a moment that we were watching a village team and thought we were at the Stade De France . France in a nutshell – tons of mediocrity laced with the thrillingly unpredictable.

On Friday week my team, Narbonne play Toulouse. If they lose they will almost certainly be relegated for the first time ever. I wish them well. I will be there.

Slowing Down

I am particularly enjoying the new Air album. After Moon Safari and the excellent soundtrack to Virgin Suicides they had rather lost their way, to the point where I questioned if they still had any ideas left. But the new one ‘Pocket Symphony’ is a great return to form. The track Mer Du Japon is one that I am particularly enjoying.

It is rare that bands or individuals who produce great albums very early on are able to sustain it. This to me is actually less to do with their own lack of creativity and more due to the demands of record labels who want more ‘product’ – usually identical to the last one. So they are immediately under pressure to have something to say even when they have nothing to say. The creative process is, for the most part, not a switch that can be flicked on when needed. I read a good interview with Scott Engel (Walker) of Walker Brothers fame. He produces an album every decade with fascinating results. He said this in a recent Sunday Times article about how the creative process works for him:

‘I sit and wait. It takes a lot of silence until the right line will come. I have to wait until something comes that I don’t expect, something that surprises me but that I know is right. Or maybe I am just really slow!’

In his book ‘A whack on the side of the head’ creative writer Roger Von Oech came up with the great line:

‘Slow down, or nothing worthwhile will ever catch up with you’.

For me it is the deadline that lubricates the creative process. But I also have a different speed. I make a point of writing up many of my random thoughts even if they have no apparent significance at the time. It is amazing how often I refer back to my jottings and how useful they become when I need creative inspiration. Don’t get it right, get it written.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Business books can be interesting

Many of the books that have sold well in the business environment were not necessarily written with that audience in mind (‘Emotional Intelligence’ is a good example). With that in mind I list the ten books I always go to if I want to stimulate my thinking around work and human behaviour. I only half apologise for including one of my own…


Hare Brain Tortoise Mind – Guy Claxton

Very often we think best when we are not consciously thinking about a specific thing. This book helps us to understand why that may be the case and why slowing down can help us generate great ideas and make better decisions.


Dinosaur Strain – Mark Brown

A personal friend so I am biased but if I ever want an interesting ‘take’ on work related subjects or a deeper ‘know yourself’ exercise that goes beyond pop psychology territory then I always go to this book. I particularly like the way that Mark subtly removes his work from faddish thinking while always offering a stimulating alternative view.


It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be – Paul Arden

As it says on the cover ‘The world’s best selling book by Paul Arden’. I fell for it… But this is just a very interesting look at a much-abused subject. Did you know that Victoria Beckham always wanted to be more famous than Persil Automatic? Did she succeed?


Understanding Organisations – Charles Handy

Everything you want to know about how organisations work. Particularly useful if you want a central reference point for all the seminal workplace research work that has been done in the last fifty years.


The New Leaders – Daniel Goleman

Uses his work on Emotional Intelligence to show how we can learn to be leaders. The best book on leadership I have read (I admit that there are few good ones – and particularly strong on leadership styles and adapting your style to the person and the situation you are in.


A Whack on the Side of the Head – Roger Von Oech

This is just a great book – an innovative way of showing us how to be more creative and innovative. Full of contradictions as all good books should be.


The Doctor and The Soul – Viktor Frankl

Everyone cites his book ‘Man’s Search For Meaning’ but this for me cuts very deeply into my own soul and raises so many ‘ah-ha’ moments that I almost feel it was written for me.


Learned Optimism – Martin Seligman

Does exactly what it says. Balanced too because he shows how pessimism can be a very healthy emotion if it propels you into positive action.


Riding the Waves of Culture – Trompenaars, Hampden-Turner

Far more than a book that tells us why people from other cultures behave in the way they do. In fact the authors say directly, and I endorse this, that the book is really about how individuals see the world in the way that they do and how we can adapt our behaviour according to their world-view.


Mind Your Own Good Fortune: How to Seize Life’s Opportunities – Douglas Miller

Sorry…

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Rap

Rap music has a terrible reputation among the chattering classes because of its highly misogynistic tone. But within the dross there are some golden nuggets that anyone with an interest in black amercian music should own. Of course historically we have the great early seventies works of Gil Scot Heron and The Last Poets and the eighties excellence of The Sugarhill Gang and Grand Master's Flash and Melle Me. Michael Frantii continued this in the nineties through the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and Spearhead. And if you like something really hard-hitting with great social commentary then I recommend the following. I thank fellow blogger Dan Davies for reminding me of black performance artist Sarah Jones classic pop at the current crop of rappers who see only 'hoes and bitches and booty' rather than women. To see her perform this with serious conviction is something else (available on DJ Vadim's album 'USSR: Life From the Other Side').

Your revolution will not happen between these thighs
Your revolution will not happen between these thighs
Your revolution will not happen between these thighs
Will not happen between these thighs
Will not happen between these thighs
The real revolution ain't about bootie size
The Versaces you buys
Or the Lexus you drives
And though we've lost Biggie Smalls
Maybe your notorious revolution
Will never allow you to lace no lyrical douche in my bush
Your revolution will not be you killing me softly with fujees
Your revolution ain't gonna knock me up without no ring
And produce little future M.C.'s
Because that revolution will not happen between these thighs
Your revolution will not find me in the back seat of a jeep
With L.L. hard as hell, you know
Doing it and doing and doing it well, you know
Doing it and doing it and doing it well
Your revolution will not be you smacking it up, flipping it or rubbing it down
Nor will it take you downtown, or humping around
Because that revolution will not happen between these thighs
Your revolution will not have me singing
Ain't no nigger like the one I got
Your revolution will not be you sending me for no drip drip V.D. shot
Your revolution will not involve me or feeling your nature rise
Or having you fantasize
Because that revolution will not happen between these thighs
No no not between these thighs
Uh-uh
My Jamaican brother
Your revolution will not make you feel bombastic, and really fantastic
And have you groping in the dark for that rubber wrapped in plastic
Uh-uh
You will not be touching your lips to my triple dip of
French vanilla, butter pecan, chocolate deluxe
Or having Akinyele's dream, um hum
A six foot blow job machine, um hum
You wanna subjugate your Queen, uh-huh
Think I'm gonna put it in my mouth just because you
Made a few bucks,
Please brother please
Your revolution will not be me tossing my weave
And making me believe I'm some caviar eating ghetto
Mafia clown
Or me giving up my behind
Just so I can get signed
And maybe have somebody else write my rhymes
I'm Sarah Jones
Not Foxy Brown
You know I'm Sarah Jones
Not Foxy Brown
Your revolution makes me wonder
Where could we go
If we could drop the empty pursuit of props and the ego
We'd revolt back to our roots
Use a little common sense on a quest to make love
De la soul, no pretense, but
Your revolution will not be you flexing your little sex and status
To express what you feel
Your revolution will not happen between these thighs
Will not happen between these thighs
Will not be you shaking
And me, [sigh] faking between these thighs
Because the real revolution
That's right, I said the real revolution
You know, I'm talking about the revolution
When it comes,
It's gonna be real
It's gonna be real
It's gonna be real
When it finally comes
It's gonna be real

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Sarko-Sego

The talk here in France is of the impending presidential election and the two principle contestants – Sarko and Sego - Nicholas Sarkhozy and Segolene Royale. In broad terms Segolene is the socialist candidate who wants to continue and expand the role of the state in improving people’s lives and Nicholas Sarkozy is the economic liberal who wants to free up the French economy from excessive state control. So a classic right/left confrontation. There are other contestants such as Francois Bayrou who lives in the middle (and may just sneak in a la Giscard D’Estang in the 70’s) and Jean Marie Le Pen who sits on the right and is a narrow-minded bigot.

I am currently witnessing some of the problems in the French economic system at first hand. It is alarmingly difficult to do anything vaguely entrepreneurial without the state first of all giving its ‘permission’ through a bureaucratic system that most of the people who work in it do not seem to understand. I believe that the current France crushes the creative spirit - how many great French creatives can you name in the last 50 years compared to the fifty years before that? It has one million less small businesses than the UK and this would be ok if there were jobs for everyone but there are three million unemployed and millions more ‘saisonnieres’ – seasonal workers who are paid not to work for 7 months of the year. I believe that unemployment is the ultimate indignity. It is even more offensive for the French government to make it doubly difficult for those with the drive to push themselves out into the world to do so. The French really do seem like rabbits stuck in the headlights. Too de-sensitised by the pervasiveness of the state to allow words like initiative, creativity and hard work to enter their lives and too nervous of uncertainty to allow themselves to be rid of bureaucratic shackles. The ultimate sign of the state-sponsored crushing of the individual spirit were the recent demonstrations by many young French who wanted ‘fonctionnaire’ type jobs for life just like their parents had. I found it very sad indeed that an age group with its collective life ahead of it should want ‘certainty’ for the next forty years. All that zest squeezed out so young. One can only imagine what they might be like at the age of 40 or 50. Compare the youth of a rapidly growing economy like Spain to the young French and there is a real sense that over the next 30 years European politics may undergo seismic shifts.

The young French are leaving. 300,000 young french now reside and work in the UK (mostly London) which explains why Sarkozy has been vigorously campaigning in London for French votes. His daughter works in banking in London too. Segolene Royale wants to roll out a state sponsored programme that will put 500,000 french to work and to increase taxation to pay for it. To my mind governments in the modern world do not create jobs - they get in the way of those who have the energy and foresight to do it. They can do much to create the environments in which jobs are created by loosening their grip on the individual and on those with entrepreneurial spirit. I feel that the UK’s current economic strength has come from this self-same loosening. We have many social problems in the UK but I do not envy the French ‘social model’ one bit. It crushes human endeavour and that to me is a terrible sin. If I had the vote here, Sarkozy would get it. And I am not right wing.