TO WHERE I AM NOW

The death of Alan Merrill and his wife’s post about the sequence of events is a stark reminder of how this tragedy unveiled itself from what appeared to be nothing and ended with Alan’s fast passing. This is of course happening all over the world to faceless strangers, but one thing that struck me was how quickly it all unfolds. Then there’s the not being able to share the last hours, because of how infectious the virus is. I would really like to see some figures about normal influenzas and their toll, which as I understand it is also very high and much higher than we all imagined. Did their relatives get to see their loved ones? What is it about this one that is so contagious? But then, when the figures have come out over the passing weeks about hunger, suicide, cancer, the figures are frightening – and those figures are supposed to be what we consider normal. How terrible is that?

Then there’s general panic. We had a bad experience today in the street. Olivia and I were walking down to the supermarket via the recycling next to the sea. I was on the phone to Jed in Minneapolis, discussing some details about the Space Summit album we’ve been working on. A woman was coming towards us with two King Charles Spaniels. She started to get agitated and then shouted at us for ‘nonchalantly’ walking along the pavement and not moving over. Admittedly I was preoccupied with the call, but she could have just crossed over the road, like everyone does these days. So she got abusive, effing and blinding. She was so full of fear. Also it was her taking up a lot of space with her two dogs. Some other people were there and saw what happened, another couple and a girl. They couldn’t believe how she reacted, told us to ignore it. I was wondering if our posh sophisticated looking coats also offended her, she probably thought we were those terrible disease carrier types from ‘Up Country’ London way, where all the foreigners are. We’ve had premises here for 15 years, the coats are second hand. I was thinking, one week of lockdown and already people are losing it.

So contemplating the ocean today was more somber than usual as we watched the fishing trawlers sail out from Newlyn harbour. I wondered if they felt they were escaping the danger as they went off for a week away on perilous seas, cold cabins and unpredictable events manipulating dangerous equipment in little slow-moving boats, floating on an angry ocean thousands of fathoms deep, miles from home. But at least they are avoiding the infection. If you ever saw Day Of The Triffids (1962) starring Howard Keel, you’ll remember that his character Bill had been in the hospital recovering from an operation on his eyes and so when the lights came down from the sky his eyes were covered with bandages. Again, if you haven’t seen the film…it’s silly but great. The original book was written in 1951 by John Wyndham. The point is that Bill avoided the affliction like the fishermen might.

On a tangent, John Wyndham’s full name was John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris. He also wrote The Midwich Cuckoos (1957), which was also filmed and released as Village Of The Damned in 1960 and again in 1995. A sequel, Children Of The Damned was released in 1964. You may also remember The Kraken Awakes (1953) and The Chrysalids (1955), that is if you are an avid Science Fiction reader and interested in the genre’s history. The Day Of The Triffids book ends differently to the film.

Music today has been somewhat haphazard starting with a couple of CDs by Glenn Tilbrook, singer, guitarist and co-writer with Chris Difford of all your favourite Squeeze tunes. Great Pop singer and writer and not half bad guitar player, too. I met him briefly once with another friend who I have in fact lost touch with.

I’ve had two CDs come through the post recently that could not be further apart. I’ve talked about them both in past posts and it sounds so weird to place them together. Manu Dibango’s Wakafrika and Gudrun Gut’s Wildlife. Afro Jazz to contemporary German electronic experimentation. Don’t you just love music?

So I finally hit the vinyl and was having hard time figuring out what I wanted to hear, but then realized that it was the Cocteau Twins and so I pulled out Garlands (1982) and Head Over Heels (1983). There was something in that razor silk guitar and doomy beauty, a landscape of hope and the acceptance of one’s lot. An originality in the voice and the approach, a drum machine that you would never replace with a human, a feeling of modernity, a Punk ethic with an arty and experimental manifesto. Whatever happened to Elizabeth Fraser’s musical life in recent years? Where are the eight albums she should have made? Massive Attack collaborations aside there has been little output and talk of a solo record has been going on for years.

Finally, I just needed a serious mood change and went for Pink Floyd – Meddle (1971). Can’t really go wrong here. There’s something warm and snug about Meddle. Those were the days, recorded January to August 1971 (eight months), released October 1971, a few short weeks later. It doesn’t work like that anymore. Staying on Pink Floyd and Obscured By Clouds, released inbetween Meddle and Dark Side Of The Moon in 1972. It was a soundtrack to the French film La Vallée and really, Floyd fans, should not be overlooked.

Song Of The Day today reflects the fear in the streets. The Sniper from Nightjar, a kind of Floydy/Waters dark story of a man losing it with society:

 

The Sniper

The daylight won’t bother me
As I sink to the floor
The silence won’t smother me
As I break my own law
And the hero’s in ecstasy
As he waves to the crowd
But the hero’s the enemy
As the truth is devoured

And underneath
We all know it
And I sit
And watch it happen

All this power and corruption
All these politics, lies and greed
And maybe, just maybe if I kill them
We can all be freed
I walk into the kitchen
I stand there at the sink
I gaze out of the window
And really start to think

And underneath
We all know it
And I sit
And let it happen

I’ve waved goodbye to the rational
With this democratic choice
For tonight I’m going national
With my only real voice
And this one’s for the nurses
And the soldiers and the rest
And corporate pollution
And all that I detest
And this one’s for the pleasure
Of disfiguring your face
And thanking you for making me
This justified disgrace

I used to sit
And watch it happen
But I just can’t
Let it happen

(Willson-Piper)
Nightjar (2008)