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Oct 26 2020

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Monday is my day of rest and catch up the zzz’s day. The weekend is always busy so I try and stay in bed as long as possible. Even if I wake up, I refuse to get up. I try to fall asleep again because the coming week will have studio and early swim starts, late nights and lots of sessions, French lessons and trips to the sea to talk with the mermaids and the mermen. They are fascinating these sea-dwelling half humans, half fish. They say they were once all fish and evolved into hybrid creatures because they didn’t want to leave the sea. Others evolved from the sea and into humans proper shedding their tails over millennia. In the afternoons you can see them in the bay frolicking. Haha, I love that word, but it is exactly what they are doing, dancing in the sea. They ride the waves and dip down under the water like seals or seabirds and appear in another part of the ocean. They can breathe both underwater and on land but need to be kept wet and in olden times the circus in Penzance had an agreement with one old merman who allowed himself to be paraded in front of the humans in exchange for a ban on the hunting of his kind. He lived for 200 years and when he died in 1908, the landlubbers encouraged the seafarers to hunt them all down and now they are almost extinct – or are they?

Only some of us can see them, it’s decided by how you think. I’ve been seeing them for years all over the world. The mythology surrounding them and comparing them to unicorns, fairies and leprechauns is an accepted untruth. The difference being that they are of the sea. This vast unexplored expanse has many secrets and the merfolk are one of them. You may remember the story of the coelacanth, thought to be extinct for 65 million years until a fisherman, Captain Hendrik Goosen, caught one in his net in 1938 at the mouth of the Chalumna River on the East Cape of South Africa. They called in Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer who was the curator at the East London museum in South Africa.

She busily worked on collecting rocks, feathers, shells, and the like for her museum, and made her desire to see unusual specimens known to fishermen. On 22 December 1938, she received a telephone call that such a fish had been brought in. She went to the docks to inspect the catch of Captain Hendrik Goosen. “I picked away at the layers of slime to reveal the most beautiful fish I had ever seen,” she said. “It was five feet (150 cm) long, a pale mauvy blue with faint flecks of whitish spots; it had an iridescent silver-blue-green sheen all over. It was covered in hard scales, and it had four limb-like fins and a strange puppy dog tail.

She hauled the fish to her museum in a taxi and tried to find it in her books without success. Eager to preserve the fish and, having no facilities at the museum, Courtenay-Latimer took it to the morgue, which refused to assist her. She tried to contact J. L. B. Smith, a friend who taught at Rhodes University, to help her identify it, but he was away. Courtenay-Latimer reluctantly sent it to a taxidermist to skin and gut it.

When Smith finally arrived on 16 February 1939, he instantly recognised the fish as a coelacanth. “There was not a shadow of a doubt”, he said. “It could have been one of those creatures of 200 million years ago come alive again”. Smith would give it the scientific name Latimeria chalumnae after his friend and the Chalumna River, where it was found. It would be fourteen more years before another was brought in.

Music today comes from the new album by Catherine Anne Davies and Bernard Butler, In Memory Of My Feelings. Davies is known for her band The Anchoress and Butler for his time in Suede as well as his work with David McAlmont and Duffy and a whole lot more. It sounds something like PJ Harvey meets Tori Amos with Butler playing guitar. Get it quick if you like it, it seems to be selling out and early pressings come with a free 7-inch single.

Songs Of The Daze

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: Blog

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there's any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵 📷 @oliviaelek Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵

📷 @oliviaelektra 

#danelectro #danelectrobass #redeyerecords #pleasantrylane #pleasantrylanestudio
You usually don’t spend the day in the studio an You usually don’t spend the day in the studio and the night at a gig but if you put the studio next to the gig then there’s a greater chance. So @salimnourallah did just that, he put the gig and the studio next to each other and made it possible for me to spend the day recording and the evening playing live 🎵

📷 @drewliophoto 

#galacticheadquarters #happinessarecordlabel #pleasantrylanestudio #salimnourallah #oliviawillsonpiper
TO WHERE I AM NOW A visit in the studio today fro TO WHERE I AM NOW

A visit in the studio today from old mate Mark Burgess from The Chameleons who has been hanging in Texas recently. I was thinking about the two of us growing up in the northwest of England and all these years later finding ourselves in such an unlikely spot together. We fixed a few issues in the universe and I carried on recording some guitars until Mark had to leave. Mark had played at the Galactic Headquarters next to the studio this year as Olivia and I had four years ago and this reminded me to remind myself to remind everyone to remind their friends that we will be playing there with Salim on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, for the ultimate in intimate performance. You can get tickets here (follow link below).

CONTINUE READING: https://martywillson-piper.com/2022/12/to-where-i-am-now-1045

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📷 @argirgirl 📷 @argirgirl
TO WHERE I AM NOW Sadness manifested in a buildin TO WHERE I AM NOW

Sadness manifested in a building, today we went to visit Paisley Park. Prince built Paisley Park in Chanhassen, about twenty minutes southwest of Minneapolis. It opened in 1987 and he recorded his later albums there. Apart from Prince, REM also recorded and mixed Out Of Time there, recording Kate Pearson’s vocal on Shiny Happy People vocal. Madonna had Prince play guitar on three songs from Like A Prayer and the two co-wrote Love Song, finishing it remotely due to Madonna not being able to stand the cold weather and the rather desolate location of the studio. Of course, there are things around but it’s not in the city and it’s not in the countryside, it’s in a suburb, no distractions, just what Prince wanted.

CONTINUE READING: https://martywillson-piper.com/2022/12/to-where-i-am-now-1032

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📷 @argirgirl 

#paisleypark #prince
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At last, a proper door stop. 📷 @judgeschamber At last, a proper door stop.

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🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵 31 December - DALL 🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵

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With @salimnourallah and @joereyesmusic

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Doors & Delays 🎸 @workshop21_guitarclinic #the Doors & Delays 🎸

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"These are awesome sessions that I highly recommend for guitar players of all levels. Very informative, frank discussions on everything related to guitar and music in general. Definitely a must for anyone pursuing songwriting."
(Stephen G., VA, USA)

"Marty knows how to bypass scales and get to the heart of feel and timing. His musical knowledge spans multiple cultures and genres. Perhaps most importantly, Marty is a cool dude. I highly recommend his guitar guidance." (Jed B., MN, USA)

"Ok, so you’re sitting in your home and Marty is across the world but is actually right here teaching you how to play guitar and write songs. He is a delight to talk to and he is your teacher, meaning he wants to see you get something out of his lessons. You know he’s paying attention and wants to steer you in the right direction. I am so grateful and humbled that he offers his time in this manner. This is an amazing opportunity for anyone who admires anything from his enormous body of work. How often do you get to learn from somebody that inspired you in the first place? Amazing." (Ann S., CA, USA)

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there’s any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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