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
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
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)
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.
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.
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…
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
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Northern Ireland
Seasoned observers of Northern Ireland politics scarcely believe it to be true. Fire and brimstone preacher Ian Paisley in the same room and talking with Gerry Adams who says that Ian Paisley was the reason he became a republican and terrorism endorser in the first place. In an environment where there have been many false dawns this could actually be the moment when Northern Ireland becomes sane. When I saw terrorist Gerry (‘jelly’) Kelly being interviewed with Ian Paisley Jnr on Newsnight later you began to realise that this might actually be for real. Then interviewer Gavin Essler recalled that the first time he had interviewed Kelly had been in a prison in Holland and you realised how much both sides have had to swallow to get to this point.
One thing that has not changed much in the last thirty years is the cast of characters. I suppose the upside of this is that if you cannot win over the most intransigent then nothing is for real. On the other side of the coin, Ulster politics will need to move on rapidly and it will be interesting to see what the next generation of politicians will do. I think one point that needs underlining is the weakness in Sinn Fein’s position. I personally feel that many south of the border are not really interested in taking on the burden of the Ulster economy with 30% unemployment, a massive state benefit burden and poor infrastructure. Ireland itself (minus the 6 or 9 counties) is an economic success story but is not so powerful that it could absorb Ulster easily. Look at what happened to the German economy after 1989. What is happening is that the Dublin Government is investing in Ulster (the Dublin-Derry motorway for example) and perhaps we might see a gradual absorption over the next fifty years. The tipping point may occur when Catholics form the majority population in Ulster.
I have an emotional interest in all of this because I lived in Portrush, Northern Ireland for three years when I was a student. I remember going, as an observer, to Coleraine to witness a Unionist demonstration against the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement. I have never felt so terrified in my life. I don’t suppose I will ever feel again the tension among the 20,000 crowd as Unionist politicians led the ‘no, no, no’ chanting that exploded from everywhere. I spoke not a word so as not reveal my English accent (the irony of being English in a crowd of UK ‘loyalists’) and got away as soon as I could.
Good luck to Northern Ireland.
Music of the day: I played some Davy Spillane (ex of Moving Hearts) in Irish tribute. The ‘Out in the Air’ album which I have not listened to for 10 years.
As a footnote; the thoughts occurs to me that sometimes ‘life’ tells us something. My last two blogs have related to Kosovo and Northern Ireland and my involvement in those places. I am not a destiny type (as anyone who has read my books will know) but perhaps I was always meant to be close to ‘trouble spots’. I wonder if readers notice similar patterns in their own lives?
One thing that has not changed much in the last thirty years is the cast of characters. I suppose the upside of this is that if you cannot win over the most intransigent then nothing is for real. On the other side of the coin, Ulster politics will need to move on rapidly and it will be interesting to see what the next generation of politicians will do. I think one point that needs underlining is the weakness in Sinn Fein’s position. I personally feel that many south of the border are not really interested in taking on the burden of the Ulster economy with 30% unemployment, a massive state benefit burden and poor infrastructure. Ireland itself (minus the 6 or 9 counties) is an economic success story but is not so powerful that it could absorb Ulster easily. Look at what happened to the German economy after 1989. What is happening is that the Dublin Government is investing in Ulster (the Dublin-Derry motorway for example) and perhaps we might see a gradual absorption over the next fifty years. The tipping point may occur when Catholics form the majority population in Ulster.
I have an emotional interest in all of this because I lived in Portrush, Northern Ireland for three years when I was a student. I remember going, as an observer, to Coleraine to witness a Unionist demonstration against the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement. I have never felt so terrified in my life. I don’t suppose I will ever feel again the tension among the 20,000 crowd as Unionist politicians led the ‘no, no, no’ chanting that exploded from everywhere. I spoke not a word so as not reveal my English accent (the irony of being English in a crowd of UK ‘loyalists’) and got away as soon as I could.
Good luck to Northern Ireland.
Music of the day: I played some Davy Spillane (ex of Moving Hearts) in Irish tribute. The ‘Out in the Air’ album which I have not listened to for 10 years.
As a footnote; the thoughts occurs to me that sometimes ‘life’ tells us something. My last two blogs have related to Kosovo and Northern Ireland and my involvement in those places. I am not a destiny type (as anyone who has read my books will know) but perhaps I was always meant to be close to ‘trouble spots’. I wonder if readers notice similar patterns in their own lives?
Me, Me, Me
Why was I so averse to the work I am currently doing with the legal profession that I alluded to in previous blogs? Who knows? I am thoroughly enjoying it. 3 hours per day which frees up valuable thinking time but I am actually enjoying the company of those in ‘the professions’ after several years of working mainly in the not for profit sector. My client is not quite magic circle but just gets into the top ten legal practices in the UK and the top 100 in the world. And today they have asked me about doing other work for them in the future. However the opportunity I am currently working through with Mark Brown may change everything for me and could mean that I will soon have to turn down work. The question is – which would I choose not to do? The lowest paid is often the most rewarding and I do want to see my Kosovo work (see blogs passim) through to completion. Ahtisaari – the UN special envoy to Kosovo - has today suggested that Kosovo will indeed gain independence and as I have been working there for nearly five years I feel that I have been in my own small way helping to make a difference. I have trained a huge number of workers from the both the UN and OSCE there and I like to think I have played a part in the change. The Kosovo work will be the last to go if (and the ‘if’ is looking more like ‘when’) the opportunity flowers. And I will be back there at the end of April for nearly two weeks.
My parents are separating after 41 years of marriage. My mother has found a partner who lives in Yorkshire and it seems she has more or less moved in with him. He is sixty and wealthy and will no doubt look after her. It all seems strange that only a few weeks ago she was chasing Poles (double entendre intended) around Europe. And now she has left my father. My dad turned up in South London last weekend and we went off to watch some rugby. He has a ‘lady friend’ himself – my father’s ability to bounce back is superb – but I feel that his extreme haste in telling me this suggests it is a reaction thing to maintain his own self-esteem. A good thing too I suppose as long as he doesn’t attach too much to it. My sister and I are both fairly cool about the whole thing – there is so little time and it is so sad if we spend too much of that time unhappy. In fact I think we both agree that this should have happened years ago. Never hang on unless there are children involved.
Music of the day: Ein Deutches Requiem – Brahms (Rattle)
My parents are separating after 41 years of marriage. My mother has found a partner who lives in Yorkshire and it seems she has more or less moved in with him. He is sixty and wealthy and will no doubt look after her. It all seems strange that only a few weeks ago she was chasing Poles (double entendre intended) around Europe. And now she has left my father. My dad turned up in South London last weekend and we went off to watch some rugby. He has a ‘lady friend’ himself – my father’s ability to bounce back is superb – but I feel that his extreme haste in telling me this suggests it is a reaction thing to maintain his own self-esteem. A good thing too I suppose as long as he doesn’t attach too much to it. My sister and I are both fairly cool about the whole thing – there is so little time and it is so sad if we spend too much of that time unhappy. In fact I think we both agree that this should have happened years ago. Never hang on unless there are children involved.
Music of the day: Ein Deutches Requiem – Brahms (Rattle)
Friday, March 23, 2007
TV's Ulrika
TV (as in television not transvestite) nights can be healthy. A complete tv night is rare for me but enjoyable when I do it. So the other night it was a programme on Ulrika’s sex addiction followed by Marbella Belles.
I enjoyed one and found the other appalling and it may surprise readers to hear that I thought the Ulrika programme the poor one. It began apparently as a programme in which Ulrika would investigate the idea of sex addiction in others and how it can be overcome but quickly became a moderately titillating expose of Ulrika’s sexual past with all the juicy bits left out. It felt like the viewer was being manipulated and that the modest Ulrika expose was always in the mix. We got to hear about Ulrika’s need for love and attention and nobody made the observation that her doing this on television was actually fuelling this need explicitly. She had the option not to but chose to do so and so fed the Ulrika attention industry further. She can only blame herself.
In Marbella Belles we were treated to an apparently superficial group of people living in a world of spray on tan, ‘shampoo’ at lunchtime, vulgar jewellery and ‘drinks’. One of them freely admitted the vacuity of it all but amidst the froth were single mothers who had come here without a penny and had set up million pound businesses and others with a general ‘haveago’ attitude. Their values were certainly not my values in some respects but I admired the energy. The lady however who delegated all of her child caring responsibilities to the Asian maid and whose main occupation seemed to be smoking in a horizontal position was appalling. As she said herself she drops her kids at school has a couple of fags and then does nothing for the rest of the day. She was shady about where her husband’s money had come from (this may have been revealed in an earlier programme) and I was reminded of the quote about Brits abroad – those who live in France vote Tory, those who live in Italy vote Labour and those who live in Spain have recently held up a Post Office. Allegedly.
Music of the day: Catch-a –fire – Bob Marley
I enjoyed one and found the other appalling and it may surprise readers to hear that I thought the Ulrika programme the poor one. It began apparently as a programme in which Ulrika would investigate the idea of sex addiction in others and how it can be overcome but quickly became a moderately titillating expose of Ulrika’s sexual past with all the juicy bits left out. It felt like the viewer was being manipulated and that the modest Ulrika expose was always in the mix. We got to hear about Ulrika’s need for love and attention and nobody made the observation that her doing this on television was actually fuelling this need explicitly. She had the option not to but chose to do so and so fed the Ulrika attention industry further. She can only blame herself.
In Marbella Belles we were treated to an apparently superficial group of people living in a world of spray on tan, ‘shampoo’ at lunchtime, vulgar jewellery and ‘drinks’. One of them freely admitted the vacuity of it all but amidst the froth were single mothers who had come here without a penny and had set up million pound businesses and others with a general ‘haveago’ attitude. Their values were certainly not my values in some respects but I admired the energy. The lady however who delegated all of her child caring responsibilities to the Asian maid and whose main occupation seemed to be smoking in a horizontal position was appalling. As she said herself she drops her kids at school has a couple of fags and then does nothing for the rest of the day. She was shady about where her husband’s money had come from (this may have been revealed in an earlier programme) and I was reminded of the quote about Brits abroad – those who live in France vote Tory, those who live in Italy vote Labour and those who live in Spain have recently held up a Post Office. Allegedly.
Music of the day: Catch-a –fire – Bob Marley
Friday, March 16, 2007
The Legal Profession
I find myself working with the legal profession on two fronts at the moment. The first is professional and the work I return to the UK for on Sunday. The professions believe they are unique and like nobody else but when it comes down to it they have the same souls, hearts, brains and bladders as all of us. But in one way they are different - service. I am just selling my house and it seems that the world of email has not quite reached the legal profession yet. The solicitors of my buyer have raised a number of fairly minor points about my house with my solicitors. The logical thing to do would have been to phone me up or send me an email outlining those points. I could then reply to them right away. Instead it seems that this all has to be done by post. A letter to me which will take about a week to draft no doubt and then another week for them to reply to the buyer's solicitors. In the meantime I continue to pay for a house I am not living in and the buyer continues to rent a house they don't want to live in. The solicitor gets their cash either way. Am I sounding bitter? Probably not. Just frustrated.
This has been a non-week I am ashamed to say. Preparing for some work I really do not want to do, waiting for approval for a book idea which sadly seems unlikely to happen and also waiting to hear about work in Kosovo, Rome and Nepal. I have not mastered the art of 'waiting' for anything and sadly impatience is probably the thing that damages my well-being more than any other. I seem unable to do anything slowly. I either don't do it at all or my pace is frenetic. I love that latin phrase 'Festina Lente' (make haste slowly). The old motto of the Fabians. But I have to learn to apply it to my life.
I realise the 'down' tone of this and recognise that a number of you read my blog for the positive angle. Today, I guess is just one of those days and even positive thinkers are allowed the odd one! I suspect my return to London will fire me as it usually does. I am a city animal.
Today's music; Free Form - Joe Harriott
This has been a non-week I am ashamed to say. Preparing for some work I really do not want to do, waiting for approval for a book idea which sadly seems unlikely to happen and also waiting to hear about work in Kosovo, Rome and Nepal. I have not mastered the art of 'waiting' for anything and sadly impatience is probably the thing that damages my well-being more than any other. I seem unable to do anything slowly. I either don't do it at all or my pace is frenetic. I love that latin phrase 'Festina Lente' (make haste slowly). The old motto of the Fabians. But I have to learn to apply it to my life.
I realise the 'down' tone of this and recognise that a number of you read my blog for the positive angle. Today, I guess is just one of those days and even positive thinkers are allowed the odd one! I suspect my return to London will fire me as it usually does. I am a city animal.
Today's music; Free Form - Joe Harriott
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Remember me
I enjoy it when I know that people have thought of me and make the effort to do something to show their appreciation for work done. Such was the case today when one of my participants (Laura) at the workshops I ran in Germany recently got in touch to email me some photographs of the fun times over the two days and to ask about buying my books in Germany. She was not the person who recruited me so had no need to create a professional veneer but had done so out of kindness and because she had enjoyed herself. This simple pleasure will probably mean nothing to readers but is what makes my job worthwhile. As a consultant you do your job and then go home and it can be frustrating not knowing how much impact you have had. I have found my forte working with large rather than small groups as I hope recent work in Macedonia and Germany attest and I really must pursue this. To know you made a difference is I think the primary motivator for most of the employed and self-employed. It is such a shame that so few managers tell their staff this when to do so would raise the motivational levels so much. And it costs no more more than kindness.
A quick change of subject. I got back to France for a week with my little ones. I am away a lot but when I am there I am very 'there'. Much more so than say the working parent who leaves the house at 7.00am and does not re-appear until 7 or 8 in the evening. The joy of seeing my children was added to by the success of the england rugby team against the french. I asked Lily my eldest who she wanted to win. She said France because she was french now. I wonder what she will feel when she is 20 or 25? With huge numbers of young french moving to London for work and other stimulation my suspicion is that she will continue her education in the UK.
Song of the day: I believe in Miracles - The Jackson Sisters
A quick change of subject. I got back to France for a week with my little ones. I am away a lot but when I am there I am very 'there'. Much more so than say the working parent who leaves the house at 7.00am and does not re-appear until 7 or 8 in the evening. The joy of seeing my children was added to by the success of the england rugby team against the french. I asked Lily my eldest who she wanted to win. She said France because she was french now. I wonder what she will feel when she is 20 or 25? With huge numbers of young french moving to London for work and other stimulation my suspicion is that she will continue her education in the UK.
Song of the day: I believe in Miracles - The Jackson Sisters
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Soul Damage
When I was in Germany recently one of the members of the team working with the Kyoto Protocol came up to me and said ‘I’ve just realised that you are living the life I want to live. Writing books and consultancy’. I was surprised by this and as I reflect I probably am living the life I think I would have felt ideal five years ago. But isn’t it strange that the enjoyment of it is likely to come more in the reflection than the actual doing. There is so little time to reflect when doing that the pleasure, even though I admit I am vaguely conscious of it, is hard to pin down. I suspect that this is a crucial part of being a human being. If we all got satisfied in our twenties there would be little to drive our race on. And that is the reason that we are wired up to enjoy the hindsight rather than the present. We would stop too soon otherwise.
I am ashamed to say that I am just about to conduct an experiment on myself. I have accepted a contract to do some work that I am bitterly regretting taking on. I got too deep into discussions about some work that I thought I might like to do that I cannot extricate myself from. The experiment is to see if I can motivate myself to do something I have no interest in, or desire to do. Of course I shall be a professional but I suspect I will internalise some frustration and will have to make sure that I have a way of letting it out. I am also figuring out that the client is unlikely to be reading this!
In my blog at the beginning of the year I said I suspect that I would be travelling and writing a lot. I have been asked about the possibility of going to Nepal. I am shaking at the possibility.
And still the opportunity of a lifetime barks very loudly at me. Would it give or save ‘soul damage’? My soul is already damaged and I must not damage it more. The possibility of successful repair is likely to come only by risking the chance that the damage could be increased. But is my motivation based too much in the financial possibilities rather than the intellectual nourishment?
Music of the Day: I am generally not one to re-tread my youth but I really enjoyed Bowie’s ‘Moonage Daydream’ this evening.
I am ashamed to say that I am just about to conduct an experiment on myself. I have accepted a contract to do some work that I am bitterly regretting taking on. I got too deep into discussions about some work that I thought I might like to do that I cannot extricate myself from. The experiment is to see if I can motivate myself to do something I have no interest in, or desire to do. Of course I shall be a professional but I suspect I will internalise some frustration and will have to make sure that I have a way of letting it out. I am also figuring out that the client is unlikely to be reading this!
In my blog at the beginning of the year I said I suspect that I would be travelling and writing a lot. I have been asked about the possibility of going to Nepal. I am shaking at the possibility.
And still the opportunity of a lifetime barks very loudly at me. Would it give or save ‘soul damage’? My soul is already damaged and I must not damage it more. The possibility of successful repair is likely to come only by risking the chance that the damage could be increased. But is my motivation based too much in the financial possibilities rather than the intellectual nourishment?
Music of the Day: I am generally not one to re-tread my youth but I really enjoyed Bowie’s ‘Moonage Daydream’ this evening.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Liz Smith
Every Monday I try to listen to Robert Elm’s listed Londoner on his BBC London show. This week he featured Liz Smith, star of The Royle Family and a number of Mike Leigh films as well Peter Greenaway’s ‘The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover’. Hackneyed phrases like ‘National Treasure’ would have come to mind before this show but I will remember her interview for one comment she made in deadly seriousness amid all the jocular banter she and RE developed during the interview. Early in the interview she outlined the early part of her life. Her mum died in child-birth when she was two. At the age of 7 her dad (whom she adored) met her at the school gates and said he was going away for a while. She never saw or heard of him again. Her grandparents took her in and within a year her grandfather died. She created happiness in her life by entertaining and making people laugh and thus gave birth to the talent that would serve her so well later in life. She married young, had children and then her husband left her. As she said herself, her life up to that point had been one of loss. They went on to talk about her success as an actress which happened after the age of 50 (with her children now in their twenties) when a very young Mike Leigh cast her in ‘Bleak Moments’.
After the talk of success RE asked her if she was tempted to stick two fingers up to those who had abandoned her (and particularly her father). She was honest and said yes. But then said ‘…but I think these things are done so much better in deeds rather than words’. And the second half of her life has been an inspiring testimony to one who could have been bitter but who chose instead to live the possibilities in her life to the full. What a remarkable spirit. I will remember the way she described winning a BAFTA and getting her pensioner’s bus pass on the same day. At the end a clearly emotional RE came to realise that Liz Smith had been served vegetables at his mum and dad’s fruit and veg stall at the top of Portobello Road in 1946. My eyes moistened.
On Saturday I did very well not to succumb to temptation. Either age is reducing the desire for a good time (I hope not and think not) or age is telling me not to risk the long-term for the pursuit of the instant. What would my speech to 250 willing participants at The One Life exhibition at Kensington Olympia have been like had I done so? I suspect the answer actually has less to do with age and more to do with the dreadful cold I seem to have caught. I hope it doesn’t last four weeks like the last one. My resistance is low and it screams to me that I should be exercising more.
I am missing my daughters like crazy. Little Izzy spoke to me on the phone and kept saying ‘airplane’ to me. This is how she knows that daddy gets to France and it is her code for saying ‘daddy, when are you coming home?’ Soon, my darling, soon…
I must find out more about Oli Barratt whom I met through my good friend Adam last Thursday. He seems to be a networking entrepreneur extraordinaire and I would like to know more about he has become successful. I think he and his connections could be very useful in my new book. But I hope I have something to offer him? Bad networkers do it it for personal gain. Good ones do it for mutual benefit – although the motivation for doing so should always be through a genuine interest in the lives of others first.
Music of the Day: - The new Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam single.
After the talk of success RE asked her if she was tempted to stick two fingers up to those who had abandoned her (and particularly her father). She was honest and said yes. But then said ‘…but I think these things are done so much better in deeds rather than words’. And the second half of her life has been an inspiring testimony to one who could have been bitter but who chose instead to live the possibilities in her life to the full. What a remarkable spirit. I will remember the way she described winning a BAFTA and getting her pensioner’s bus pass on the same day. At the end a clearly emotional RE came to realise that Liz Smith had been served vegetables at his mum and dad’s fruit and veg stall at the top of Portobello Road in 1946. My eyes moistened.
On Saturday I did very well not to succumb to temptation. Either age is reducing the desire for a good time (I hope not and think not) or age is telling me not to risk the long-term for the pursuit of the instant. What would my speech to 250 willing participants at The One Life exhibition at Kensington Olympia have been like had I done so? I suspect the answer actually has less to do with age and more to do with the dreadful cold I seem to have caught. I hope it doesn’t last four weeks like the last one. My resistance is low and it screams to me that I should be exercising more.
I am missing my daughters like crazy. Little Izzy spoke to me on the phone and kept saying ‘airplane’ to me. This is how she knows that daddy gets to France and it is her code for saying ‘daddy, when are you coming home?’ Soon, my darling, soon…
I must find out more about Oli Barratt whom I met through my good friend Adam last Thursday. He seems to be a networking entrepreneur extraordinaire and I would like to know more about he has become successful. I think he and his connections could be very useful in my new book. But I hope I have something to offer him? Bad networkers do it it for personal gain. Good ones do it for mutual benefit – although the motivation for doing so should always be through a genuine interest in the lives of others first.
Music of the Day: - The new Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam single.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Walking and thinking - multi-tasking!
Conscious of all the random thoughts I jotted down yesterday I took a 4 mile walk at 8 this morning and tried to make a mental note of what jumped into my head:
What must it be like to be a woodpecker with a headache?
I really fancy some Green and Blacks white chocolate (need subsequently satisfied)
If you have a little money and want to make more, act like you don’t have any
Freedom is freedom from the need to be free
Can you make love with your ego?
Staying alive is a lot less fun than being alive
You children are to you when you are old as you are to them when they are young
The inevitability of gradualness
Is it possible to sell a house, from offer to completion, in under two months?
Going to a café in Crystal Palace for a coffee and noticing that every single occupant (around 10) was speaking French. And preferring to listen to them than read The Guardian or Private Eye.
What came first – morality/ethics/empathy or religion?
Thinking of a photo of Lily, Isabelle and Daisy (7,2 and 5 months respectively) and hoping that it will be a woman’s world in the future
Realising that the rain stopped just as I left the house and started again just as I shut the front door. Sometimes things are ‘meant to be’.
Remembering my 2-hour conversation with Prof Mark Brown yesterday. Do jobs exist to which nobody is suited? I extrapolated the argument in my mind – do people exist to which no job is suited? And why don’t we put the two together – the people to whom no job is suited and the job to which no person is suited? Or are we doing that already?
Which comes first: the heart or the head?
Emotionally committing myself to a project on mood and music. And then uncommitting myself when I got home.
Thinking of the thrill of entertaining 60 people for 2 days in Germany last week. How nice it is when clients are honest and say – ‘let’s have some fun for two days and get everyone to know each other better’.
Realising that I hadn’t thought about sex for two hours. Or about all the people I know who are being unfaithful.
I need more positive thinking stories
I must buy ‘Conceptual Blockbusting’.
I sometimes feel like I am living my life through other people and that can be a healthy anti-dote to my monstrous ego
What happened to Maple Road Market, Penge?
Who is the world’s greatest sportsman or woman? (Federer)
Isn’t it strange how the music you listen to last before you go to bed is still in your head the next morning (Vangelis’ ‘El Greco’)?
Extreme nervousness about selling London house – disconnection from my favourite place, a tighter connection with a place I am not sure I want to be connected to at all.
Thinking about property at all actually makes me instantly unhappy
What must it be like to be a woodpecker with a headache?
I really fancy some Green and Blacks white chocolate (need subsequently satisfied)
If you have a little money and want to make more, act like you don’t have any
Freedom is freedom from the need to be free
Can you make love with your ego?
Staying alive is a lot less fun than being alive
You children are to you when you are old as you are to them when they are young
The inevitability of gradualness
Is it possible to sell a house, from offer to completion, in under two months?
Going to a café in Crystal Palace for a coffee and noticing that every single occupant (around 10) was speaking French. And preferring to listen to them than read The Guardian or Private Eye.
What came first – morality/ethics/empathy or religion?
Thinking of a photo of Lily, Isabelle and Daisy (7,2 and 5 months respectively) and hoping that it will be a woman’s world in the future
Realising that the rain stopped just as I left the house and started again just as I shut the front door. Sometimes things are ‘meant to be’.
Remembering my 2-hour conversation with Prof Mark Brown yesterday. Do jobs exist to which nobody is suited? I extrapolated the argument in my mind – do people exist to which no job is suited? And why don’t we put the two together – the people to whom no job is suited and the job to which no person is suited? Or are we doing that already?
Which comes first: the heart or the head?
Emotionally committing myself to a project on mood and music. And then uncommitting myself when I got home.
Thinking of the thrill of entertaining 60 people for 2 days in Germany last week. How nice it is when clients are honest and say – ‘let’s have some fun for two days and get everyone to know each other better’.
Realising that I hadn’t thought about sex for two hours. Or about all the people I know who are being unfaithful.
I need more positive thinking stories
I must buy ‘Conceptual Blockbusting’.
I sometimes feel like I am living my life through other people and that can be a healthy anti-dote to my monstrous ego
What happened to Maple Road Market, Penge?
Who is the world’s greatest sportsman or woman? (Federer)
Isn’t it strange how the music you listen to last before you go to bed is still in your head the next morning (Vangelis’ ‘El Greco’)?
Extreme nervousness about selling London house – disconnection from my favourite place, a tighter connection with a place I am not sure I want to be connected to at all.
Thinking about property at all actually makes me instantly unhappy
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
What is this thing called love?
I have been thinking about things I have written in my books and at the moment I am very drawn to something I wrote in my Positive Thinking, Positive Action book. In that book I wrote about stability and risk zones and in particular that many of us who take risks in life need some aspect of our life that is very stable. I have been thinking about this a lot this evening (Monday 26/2) and why many who have serial affairs are also very tied to their domestic conformity because it gives a framework around which to live. In other words we can only take risks when we know that there is a stability zone to go back to if things go wrong - it is safe to take a risk because there is always something stable at base. In fact the paradox may be that those who practice serial infidelity may attach more psychological nourishment to their stable (married or not) relationship than the wholly faithful partner. Of course, the apparently faithful partner may be a tearaway too but has learned to keep a secret!
As I think about this I realise that I am targeting my comments very personally. And I wonder who, among those who read this, imagine that it is targeted at them? That matters less than the person I am thinking of who maybe needs to take a risk because the stability is stifling them. Who are you?
I have had a huge pile of random thoughts over the last few weeks which I always record in a notebook , and I will drop them all here – for future reference:
‘Only engage, and then the mind grows heated. Begin it, and the work will be completed’. John Anster 1835 translation from Goethe’s ‘Faust’
Being more than a ‘never’ person.
Out of the box…but within the box’s container
Loveland (float on).
If I was a jazz musician I would want to be called Ecclestone Wainwright the Third.
‘What we call luck, what we call chance, is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. If you stay ready, you ain't gotta get ready." Will Smith
The thought that everyone is having more sex than we are is what gives many people all the purpose they think they need in life. Life becomes a big catch up job after the age of 40. I am fast believing that this is the most sexually active of all age groups. It’s just that at that age we have learnt not to tell to tell everyone about it. Remember John Betjeman at 90 – ‘Any regrets John?’. ‘Yes, I wish I had had more sex’. 40 is the new 90…
No regrets, no tears goodbye…death terrifies the person who has a guilty conscience about his life - someone who has not lived the fullness of it and its possibilities.
Do you have opinions or are you a prisoner of your opinions?
Would the internet have survived without pornography? And why did the number of women accessing pornography on the internet grow by 40% last year? By 2010 women will have caught up with men.
Number of women I know who admit to watching pornography = 1. Number of men I know = Almost all of them.
Why does MS Word not recognize google in its spellchecker?
Advert in The Times quoted in Frankl’s ‘Doctor and the Soul’ – ‘Unemployed. Brilliant mind offers its services completely free. The survival of the body must be provided for by adequate salary’.
Jealousy is an emotion of possession, not of love. (Frankl as well – both noted on the tarmac while refueling at Ankara airport – a good use of ‘dead’ time).
I want to re-read Douglas Coupland’s ‘Microserfs’ and ‘Generation X’’ but I have lent it to the person who is currently having an affair with... The person doesn’t know I know. And the three dots doesn’t know I know.
‘Learnt a new word today – ‘Interiority’. It means being inside someone’s head’. Coupland.
The whole town is laughing at me.
Sexual love transcends everything. Those who love truly do not feel jealousy. Their concern is for the happiness of the other person.
I think of those who are bursting with the desire for love and are totally loveable but whose easy loveability makes them perversely unattractive in the long term to so many – Deborah?
Barry White. Teddy Pendergrass. Eugene Record.
Places I want to work in this year – Baku, Almaty, Sarajevo, Paris (UNESCO) – Jenny can you help?
And Haiti – Judith, too late?
Number of books I want to write this year – 3: ‘The Idea’, ‘The intrapraneur’, ‘Playing at work’.
Phrases I dislike – ‘it’s a no-brainer’. It is for you because you are not using your brain.
Pull the strings and I’ll wink at you. I’m your puppet.
Make peace with the taxman.
Work with Mark Brown?
I hate airports late on Friday evenings.
I love airports on Monday mornings.
And I cannot wait for Mediterranean summer.
As I think about this I realise that I am targeting my comments very personally. And I wonder who, among those who read this, imagine that it is targeted at them? That matters less than the person I am thinking of who maybe needs to take a risk because the stability is stifling them. Who are you?
I have had a huge pile of random thoughts over the last few weeks which I always record in a notebook , and I will drop them all here – for future reference:
‘Only engage, and then the mind grows heated. Begin it, and the work will be completed’. John Anster 1835 translation from Goethe’s ‘Faust’
Being more than a ‘never’ person.
Out of the box…but within the box’s container
Loveland (float on).
If I was a jazz musician I would want to be called Ecclestone Wainwright the Third.
‘What we call luck, what we call chance, is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. If you stay ready, you ain't gotta get ready." Will Smith
The thought that everyone is having more sex than we are is what gives many people all the purpose they think they need in life. Life becomes a big catch up job after the age of 40. I am fast believing that this is the most sexually active of all age groups. It’s just that at that age we have learnt not to tell to tell everyone about it. Remember John Betjeman at 90 – ‘Any regrets John?’. ‘Yes, I wish I had had more sex’. 40 is the new 90…
No regrets, no tears goodbye…death terrifies the person who has a guilty conscience about his life - someone who has not lived the fullness of it and its possibilities.
Do you have opinions or are you a prisoner of your opinions?
Would the internet have survived without pornography? And why did the number of women accessing pornography on the internet grow by 40% last year? By 2010 women will have caught up with men.
Number of women I know who admit to watching pornography = 1. Number of men I know = Almost all of them.
Why does MS Word not recognize google in its spellchecker?
Advert in The Times quoted in Frankl’s ‘Doctor and the Soul’ – ‘Unemployed. Brilliant mind offers its services completely free. The survival of the body must be provided for by adequate salary’.
Jealousy is an emotion of possession, not of love. (Frankl as well – both noted on the tarmac while refueling at Ankara airport – a good use of ‘dead’ time).
I want to re-read Douglas Coupland’s ‘Microserfs’ and ‘Generation X’’ but I have lent it to the person who is currently having an affair with... The person doesn’t know I know. And the three dots doesn’t know I know.
‘Learnt a new word today – ‘Interiority’. It means being inside someone’s head’. Coupland.
The whole town is laughing at me.
Sexual love transcends everything. Those who love truly do not feel jealousy. Their concern is for the happiness of the other person.
I think of those who are bursting with the desire for love and are totally loveable but whose easy loveability makes them perversely unattractive in the long term to so many – Deborah?
Barry White. Teddy Pendergrass. Eugene Record.
Places I want to work in this year – Baku, Almaty, Sarajevo, Paris (UNESCO) – Jenny can you help?
And Haiti – Judith, too late?
Number of books I want to write this year – 3: ‘The Idea’, ‘The intrapraneur’, ‘Playing at work’.
Phrases I dislike – ‘it’s a no-brainer’. It is for you because you are not using your brain.
Pull the strings and I’ll wink at you. I’m your puppet.
Make peace with the taxman.
Work with Mark Brown?
I hate airports late on Friday evenings.
I love airports on Monday mornings.
And I cannot wait for Mediterranean summer.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Desert Island Discs
My Desert Island Discs – for the benefit of any American readers this a longstanding radio programme (over 50 years) where the well-known get invited to talk about their life and play the music that they would like to have with them if they were stuck on a desert Island- you are allowed eight. You also get to choose a luxury and a book (The Bible and the Complete Works of WS come gratis).
1. Right Off – Miles Davis
The opening track on his ‘Jack Johnson’ album. At 25 minutes it means I get loads of Miles but it also features John McLaughlin (Britain’s greatest ever guitar player) and Herbie Hancock (the dirtiest keyboard sound you have ever heard on this track) at their best so I get three greats for the price of one. The Penguin Guide to Jazz suggests that in 50 years time this album may be seen as superior to Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way. I agree. Reminds me of 1990-91 and living in Dulwich Village and doing things I shouldn’t have done but glad I did. Mike where are you now?
2. We’ve Come Too Far To End it Now – Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
I listened to this almost continuously when I wrote my first book and managed to name a chapter in its honour. It was the most unhappy time in my life (writing the book blocked out the depression) and I loved the sentiment of the title. Those who know me will know why the time was so unpleasant. Is there a greater piece of sweet soul? I see writing a book on positive thinking at a time when I was so low as a kind of divine providence. I was forced to pull through by having to be in a positive frame of mind to write the book. A ‘why’ to live for.
3. You’ve Got To Have Freedom – Pharoah Sanders
I love this track and I love the album it is on. It would make me momentarily happy when alone. A man who has kept his music interesting and innovative into his 70’s. And a spellbinding live performer. Great trumpet playing from Eddie Henderson too. The ‘Journey To The One’ album it comes from is joyous but it is actually a very important one too. It is probably the album for me that closes a great era (1950-1980) for black American music – my first musical love.
4. Umbarabauma – Jorge Ben
This is a floor stomper from one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century. I bought a 4 CD compilation of his music with about sixty tracks on it and there is not one weak one on it. I chose this one partly as a symbol of hundreds of Brazilian tracks I could have selected. Great music from a nation which must be the most naturally musical on the earth.
5. The Great Curve – Talking Heads
Off the Remain In Light album which is by far their best. They were a great band and stood out in the weakest era for popular western music since the very early 1960’s (I refer to the early 1980’s). This track has absorbed almost every musical influence with great African-style backing vocals and powerful guitar (King Crimson’s Adrian Belew from memory) to the fore. There is nothing like this music anywhere, ever.
David Byrne of TH is also responsible for my love of Brazilian music through his series of Brazil Classics compilations in 1989-90. Buy volumes one and two if you want a great introduction to Brazilian music.
6. Folk Song – Garbarek, Gismonti, Haden
I am a big fan of the ECM sound and this is a classic example of it. Garbarek is, after Rollins, the best unaccompanied saxophonist around and Gismonti one of the great multi-instrumentalists. I saw Garbarek live a few times in the 1990’s and he was terrific every time (I managed tears at one of his performances). I saw Gismonti too, doing a solo show in Southampton and on here it is his guitar playing which is so beautiful. This track is the opening piece off Folk Songs which every person I have played it to has gone out and bought immediately. The standout track from a stand out album. Best described as classical jazz.
7. Oh Girl – Chi-Lites
I had to have something from either the Chi-Lites or the Delfonics and this just edges it over almost any Delfonics track. Beautiful songwriting from Eugene Record who wrote loads of great tracks and doesn’t get the credit he should. Had he been at Motown…This appeals to the highly sentimental side of me which craves real love.
8. Starless and Bible Black – Stan Tracey Quartet
British Jazz’s finest moment and a piece of Jazz I would defy anyone to dislike. Tracey played with all the greats as the resident pianist at Ronnie Scott’s in the 1960’s. But in 1964 he produced a jazz classic ‘Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood’ and this is a magnificent piece from that album. I remember the first time I heard it was on a documentary about him and they set this track with panoramas of the London Skyline by night. I was transfixed by the connection of image and music and remain so to this day. This was a great era for British Jazz but of course no-one realised it at the time. What Joe Harriot was doing was ahead of Coltrane and if you don’t believe me and you are a jazz fan buy his two albums from the very early sixties – ‘abstract’ and particularly ‘freeform’ which features great playing from Shake Keane too. Also Indo-Jazz Fusions.
If I could take only one piece on my Island then ‘starless’ would be it and I know I would listen to it every night, look at the stars, remember the image of the London Skyline and cry my eyes out at the thought that I may never see it again. I would die of melancholia eventually.
Book: The London Encyclopaedia
Luxury: Piano – I could teach myself Stan Tracey’s piano parts!
Of course it pains me at what I have missed and there is little from after 1990 which is a shame because there is so much great stuff from the last decade. But it probably does reflect my love of black music from the Americas and evocative European sounds. The biggest gap is British rock and I am sorry I could not include Colloseum’s ‘Elegy’, Bowie’s ‘Moonage Daydream’ or something from Led Zep. Maybe if I do this tomorrow they would all be in there. No Coltrane, Dolphy, Marvin Gaye or from the modern era Nitin Sawhney, Suba or Anouar Brahem either.
I have gone for highly emotional music first, figuring I would need it on the Island.
1. Right Off – Miles Davis
The opening track on his ‘Jack Johnson’ album. At 25 minutes it means I get loads of Miles but it also features John McLaughlin (Britain’s greatest ever guitar player) and Herbie Hancock (the dirtiest keyboard sound you have ever heard on this track) at their best so I get three greats for the price of one. The Penguin Guide to Jazz suggests that in 50 years time this album may be seen as superior to Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way. I agree. Reminds me of 1990-91 and living in Dulwich Village and doing things I shouldn’t have done but glad I did. Mike where are you now?
2. We’ve Come Too Far To End it Now – Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
I listened to this almost continuously when I wrote my first book and managed to name a chapter in its honour. It was the most unhappy time in my life (writing the book blocked out the depression) and I loved the sentiment of the title. Those who know me will know why the time was so unpleasant. Is there a greater piece of sweet soul? I see writing a book on positive thinking at a time when I was so low as a kind of divine providence. I was forced to pull through by having to be in a positive frame of mind to write the book. A ‘why’ to live for.
3. You’ve Got To Have Freedom – Pharoah Sanders
I love this track and I love the album it is on. It would make me momentarily happy when alone. A man who has kept his music interesting and innovative into his 70’s. And a spellbinding live performer. Great trumpet playing from Eddie Henderson too. The ‘Journey To The One’ album it comes from is joyous but it is actually a very important one too. It is probably the album for me that closes a great era (1950-1980) for black American music – my first musical love.
4. Umbarabauma – Jorge Ben
This is a floor stomper from one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century. I bought a 4 CD compilation of his music with about sixty tracks on it and there is not one weak one on it. I chose this one partly as a symbol of hundreds of Brazilian tracks I could have selected. Great music from a nation which must be the most naturally musical on the earth.
5. The Great Curve – Talking Heads
Off the Remain In Light album which is by far their best. They were a great band and stood out in the weakest era for popular western music since the very early 1960’s (I refer to the early 1980’s). This track has absorbed almost every musical influence with great African-style backing vocals and powerful guitar (King Crimson’s Adrian Belew from memory) to the fore. There is nothing like this music anywhere, ever.
David Byrne of TH is also responsible for my love of Brazilian music through his series of Brazil Classics compilations in 1989-90. Buy volumes one and two if you want a great introduction to Brazilian music.
6. Folk Song – Garbarek, Gismonti, Haden
I am a big fan of the ECM sound and this is a classic example of it. Garbarek is, after Rollins, the best unaccompanied saxophonist around and Gismonti one of the great multi-instrumentalists. I saw Garbarek live a few times in the 1990’s and he was terrific every time (I managed tears at one of his performances). I saw Gismonti too, doing a solo show in Southampton and on here it is his guitar playing which is so beautiful. This track is the opening piece off Folk Songs which every person I have played it to has gone out and bought immediately. The standout track from a stand out album. Best described as classical jazz.
7. Oh Girl – Chi-Lites
I had to have something from either the Chi-Lites or the Delfonics and this just edges it over almost any Delfonics track. Beautiful songwriting from Eugene Record who wrote loads of great tracks and doesn’t get the credit he should. Had he been at Motown…This appeals to the highly sentimental side of me which craves real love.
8. Starless and Bible Black – Stan Tracey Quartet
British Jazz’s finest moment and a piece of Jazz I would defy anyone to dislike. Tracey played with all the greats as the resident pianist at Ronnie Scott’s in the 1960’s. But in 1964 he produced a jazz classic ‘Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood’ and this is a magnificent piece from that album. I remember the first time I heard it was on a documentary about him and they set this track with panoramas of the London Skyline by night. I was transfixed by the connection of image and music and remain so to this day. This was a great era for British Jazz but of course no-one realised it at the time. What Joe Harriot was doing was ahead of Coltrane and if you don’t believe me and you are a jazz fan buy his two albums from the very early sixties – ‘abstract’ and particularly ‘freeform’ which features great playing from Shake Keane too. Also Indo-Jazz Fusions.
If I could take only one piece on my Island then ‘starless’ would be it and I know I would listen to it every night, look at the stars, remember the image of the London Skyline and cry my eyes out at the thought that I may never see it again. I would die of melancholia eventually.
Book: The London Encyclopaedia
Luxury: Piano – I could teach myself Stan Tracey’s piano parts!
Of course it pains me at what I have missed and there is little from after 1990 which is a shame because there is so much great stuff from the last decade. But it probably does reflect my love of black music from the Americas and evocative European sounds. The biggest gap is British rock and I am sorry I could not include Colloseum’s ‘Elegy’, Bowie’s ‘Moonage Daydream’ or something from Led Zep. Maybe if I do this tomorrow they would all be in there. No Coltrane, Dolphy, Marvin Gaye or from the modern era Nitin Sawhney, Suba or Anouar Brahem either.
I have gone for highly emotional music first, figuring I would need it on the Island.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Germany, Andrew Neil...
I have had a good week. I spent it in Bad Neunhar, Germany working with the Kyoto Protocol team. Of course, professional etiquette means I cannot divulge what we did but I was enormously impressed by what they are doing. One thing the trip did do was to cement in my mind that Germany is actually a very attractive country and its people very friendly. Of course to Brits whose minds are still locked in the past this may be antagonistic reading but compared to my two current bases of Penge and Pezenas the lack of dog mess and the pride in civility and civic buildings was refreshing.
I have come back to the UK presented with a business opportunity that may shape the rest of my life. I may have to give a few things up, including some of the foreign travel but this may be exchanged for increasing mental stimulation. And I can continue to write.
I am not a big fan of Andrew Neil although I do think the paper he used to edit is by far the best of the ‘Sundays’. I did however enjoy his selections on Desert Island Discs which included some Miles, some James Taylor and the end to Abbey Road although his classical selections were unimaginative (Tchaikovsky’s ‘Violin Concerto’ apart). I was surprised and pleased by his choice of The Pet Shop Boys, the defining pop group of the 1980’s – those who read this and know me may be surprised by my saying this but they were the zeitgeist group of an age which has defined a more confident 21st century Britain. Music tells me a lot about people, and perhaps as a writer about people I should not be so quick to categorise, but I do read a lot into people according the music they listen to. Some Desert Island Discs can be dreadful due to the lack of stimulation presented by the musical choices. To that end, Digby Jones, the former head of the CBI was the prime offender. And I remember the most disappointing castaway being journalist Robert Fisk. He clearly had fallen victim of ceasing to be part of the world due to his over-concentration on one aspect of it. He came across as a self-justifying bore even if I have some sympathy with his views.
For my and perhaps a few readers’ amusement I shall shortly deliver my own selection. I can guarantee the inclusion of Miles Davis and Pharoah Sanders but the other choices will be tough. What to leave out? At least two American soul tracks, something from Brazil, a classical piece and some rock have to be included.
I seem to be growing ‘Moobs’ – man boobs. Back to the swimming pool.
As I re-read this blog I notice that almost all paragraphs begin with ‘I’. What does that say?
I have come back to the UK presented with a business opportunity that may shape the rest of my life. I may have to give a few things up, including some of the foreign travel but this may be exchanged for increasing mental stimulation. And I can continue to write.
I am not a big fan of Andrew Neil although I do think the paper he used to edit is by far the best of the ‘Sundays’. I did however enjoy his selections on Desert Island Discs which included some Miles, some James Taylor and the end to Abbey Road although his classical selections were unimaginative (Tchaikovsky’s ‘Violin Concerto’ apart). I was surprised and pleased by his choice of The Pet Shop Boys, the defining pop group of the 1980’s – those who read this and know me may be surprised by my saying this but they were the zeitgeist group of an age which has defined a more confident 21st century Britain. Music tells me a lot about people, and perhaps as a writer about people I should not be so quick to categorise, but I do read a lot into people according the music they listen to. Some Desert Island Discs can be dreadful due to the lack of stimulation presented by the musical choices. To that end, Digby Jones, the former head of the CBI was the prime offender. And I remember the most disappointing castaway being journalist Robert Fisk. He clearly had fallen victim of ceasing to be part of the world due to his over-concentration on one aspect of it. He came across as a self-justifying bore even if I have some sympathy with his views.
For my and perhaps a few readers’ amusement I shall shortly deliver my own selection. I can guarantee the inclusion of Miles Davis and Pharoah Sanders but the other choices will be tough. What to leave out? At least two American soul tracks, something from Brazil, a classical piece and some rock have to be included.
I seem to be growing ‘Moobs’ – man boobs. Back to the swimming pool.
As I re-read this blog I notice that almost all paragraphs begin with ‘I’. What does that say?
Friday, February 16, 2007
Barbie
I hadn’t really noticed my daughter’s birthday presents until yesterday. I was cooking lunch when I saw her playing with a doll dressed in tight fighting black gear and carrying what appeared to a whip. And there it was - ‘Dominatrix Barbie’ – converting innocent 7 year old minds to the joys of sado-masochism. I wait for ‘Hooker Barbie’, ‘Massage Parlour Barbie’ and ‘Torture Barbie’. Some sick mind out there is already working out ways to get this done.
Anyway happier thoughts. Today is another beautiful day and confirmed that, in the South of France at least, spring is here. At a guess it is around 20 degrees and the sky is the kind of dark blue that you don’t get in the UK. I went for an early cycle ride and then spent the morning looking at houses and driving around picturesque French villages. I will only buy something that is brand new. Perhaps one of the things about the ageing process is that I like perfection. When I buy a house I like the idea of not having to do a thing to it and that nobody else has touched it. The afternoon, which is when I am writing this, is being consumed by completing a tax return, hence the reason I am writing this rather than doing what I should be doing.
On Sunday I leave France again to go to London en route to Germany. Five days with UN climate change offshoot and then back to London for 2 weeks to chase up my house sale and to get writing the next book. I am afraid my carbon footprint is immense and this year I really must follow my plan to do far more journeys by rail than plane.
Track of the day: Na Balada Do Rio Salgado – Nacao Zumbi. The best live band I have ever seen.
Anyway happier thoughts. Today is another beautiful day and confirmed that, in the South of France at least, spring is here. At a guess it is around 20 degrees and the sky is the kind of dark blue that you don’t get in the UK. I went for an early cycle ride and then spent the morning looking at houses and driving around picturesque French villages. I will only buy something that is brand new. Perhaps one of the things about the ageing process is that I like perfection. When I buy a house I like the idea of not having to do a thing to it and that nobody else has touched it. The afternoon, which is when I am writing this, is being consumed by completing a tax return, hence the reason I am writing this rather than doing what I should be doing.
On Sunday I leave France again to go to London en route to Germany. Five days with UN climate change offshoot and then back to London for 2 weeks to chase up my house sale and to get writing the next book. I am afraid my carbon footprint is immense and this year I really must follow my plan to do far more journeys by rail than plane.
Track of the day: Na Balada Do Rio Salgado – Nacao Zumbi. The best live band I have ever seen.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Van Morrison
I write this to express what I think about Van Morrison – and to provoke some response. At my friend Brian’s on Saturday night we stumbled across TOP2 and watched Van Morrisson perform the most dreadful piece of guff with Cliff Richard. Something about God. It instantly took me back to 1989 (when this song was a hit) when an old girlfriend took me to see him live. It was the worst concert I have ever seen saved only by the excellent Georgia Fame trying to breathe some life into the show. And when Lonnie Donegan came on to perform a couple of dire skiffle numbers I broke. I actually found it offensive because he made no attempt to hide his contempt for the audience. He came across as an extremely arrogant man. I accept however, that some people, including my partner for that evening think he is great live. To me it was like watching someone who got bored 20 years ago and hasn’t had anything else to do since. My snapping point was when I bought his Avalon Sunset album at that time. A shocker because of its banality.
To balance that I have enjoyed some of his albums – Moondance, Astral Weeks, Tupelo Honey and previous readers of this blog will know that I have a very soft spot for his song Natalia but I just find him extremely bland. I suppose I never really felt I was listening to a front rank performer. I think ‘Them’ and particularly his baby blue track are great and they demonstrate what he is capable of. As I get older my listening becomes more varied and inventive and I just find myself unstimulated by his offerings. I think he appeals to the part of Ireland that looks to middle America for its musical inspiration. And I think he appeals to that part of America which sees Ireland as a glossy holiday brochure. I do like Ireland myself but I find the sentimentalist view of it nauseating and I am glad to see it fast disappearing. A standing joke among musicians is Van’s inability to choose top ranking musicians (with a few exceptions such as GF) because of his fiscal tightness and I wonder, if he had done so, if his music would sound more vigorous. It needs it.
I remember going to a Danny Thompson (Pentangle, John Martyn, David Sylvian) gig once and his repartee extended to a few VM digs along the way which got me thinking about the lack of credit say John Martyn gets compared with Van Morrison. To my mind JM is in a different class – nothing Van Morrison has done gets near to Grace and Danger which I am delighted to see has just been re-released and has been given 5 stars in Mojo, Sunday Times and others. I reviewed this album on Amazon a while back.
To balance that I have enjoyed some of his albums – Moondance, Astral Weeks, Tupelo Honey and previous readers of this blog will know that I have a very soft spot for his song Natalia but I just find him extremely bland. I suppose I never really felt I was listening to a front rank performer. I think ‘Them’ and particularly his baby blue track are great and they demonstrate what he is capable of. As I get older my listening becomes more varied and inventive and I just find myself unstimulated by his offerings. I think he appeals to the part of Ireland that looks to middle America for its musical inspiration. And I think he appeals to that part of America which sees Ireland as a glossy holiday brochure. I do like Ireland myself but I find the sentimentalist view of it nauseating and I am glad to see it fast disappearing. A standing joke among musicians is Van’s inability to choose top ranking musicians (with a few exceptions such as GF) because of his fiscal tightness and I wonder, if he had done so, if his music would sound more vigorous. It needs it.
I remember going to a Danny Thompson (Pentangle, John Martyn, David Sylvian) gig once and his repartee extended to a few VM digs along the way which got me thinking about the lack of credit say John Martyn gets compared with Van Morrison. To my mind JM is in a different class – nothing Van Morrison has done gets near to Grace and Danger which I am delighted to see has just been re-released and has been given 5 stars in Mojo, Sunday Times and others. I reviewed this album on Amazon a while back.
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