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Nov 27 2020

TO WHERE I AM NOW

So, a nice but fast-talking man from the Indian continent called me yesterday from O2, my phone provider. He asked me if I was the holder of the account and then told me he was from the promo department and that he was going to send me an iPhone 10 for free. I’ve had a contract with them for 25 years so there was no issue of continuing to be on O2. I didn’t have to sign anything. So, the next day he was sending me the phone via dpd courier. I woke up today and soon after, the dpd courier arrived with my new phone. I didn’t open it. An hour later another kind man from the Indian continent rang and said I’m sorry sir but we have sent you the wrong phone. We have sent you the newest iPhone by mistake so if I wouldn’t mind, could I send the package back to the factory and for your trouble, we will send you a free Series 4 Apple Watch and we will refund you the cost of sending the phone back Special Recorded Delivery. As if I didn’t have enough to do but the deal seemed worth the trouble. So…

I went down to the post office, there was a queue of 15 people. So I went to look at the magazines and there was Songlines with Portuguese Fado singer Mariza on the cover. I bought it and left for pasty land. The nice heavy-accented man said he would call me at three o’clock to confirm I had sent the package back and if I could send him the receipt for proof. On the way up to pasty land, I ran into Steve from Junkwax Records and chatted to him about Portugal and the Sex Pistols gig in Penzance in the seventies.

By the time I got back to the post office, it was 3 o’clock and the nice Indian man called me. I told him about the queue and he said he’d call again in half an hour. In the meantime, I posted the phone to the factory (£8.50) and sent him the receipt. He’d told me my new phone and Apple Watch would be coming by dpd after the receipt was received between 6.30PM and 7.30PM. He didn’t call me back, I paid the £8.50 and the phone and watch didn’t arrive and I wasted a good chunk of my day with just six days to go before we leave for Portugal. But I live in hope for tomorrow.

The other day I had to ring the bank and a really fast-talking Scottish person with a thick accent hung up on me because when I told him that I couldn’t understand him he said: “Well, if you are going to call a Scottish bank in Scotland you might expect a Scottish person to answer”. This, of course, wasn’t the point – I didn’t understand him, imagine if I was that nice Indian man calling that rude Scottish man, what would have happened then? Anyway, as I said, he hung up on me as the conversation became heated because I started talking to him in a Liverpool accent (bad choice, he went to uni there). He told me he had no problem with the Liverpool accent and I told him he could do with a sense of humour in the wake of what was happening between us. He didn’t like that and told me so and so I told him to get on with his job and that was when he hung up on me and I had to go through the rigmarole of calling again (lots of hoops to jump through). This time I got a girl who was nice but had the thickest accent that I had ever heard, she spoke slower and I could understand her but like the other fellow, she seemed to be completely unaware of how difficult it was to understand her…and I’m English speaking. He could have said, ‘Oh sorry, I’ll speak slower’ but no, he immediately became defensive. Customer service isn’t what it used to be and he really made me feel like an annoying English person invading Scotland and its culture, not fair really. Imagine if you were struggling with learning English and you had to deal with these people. I will be that person in six days as I move to Portugal and don’t speak the language at all. Note that the two nice men from the Indian continent had no problem with me telling them I didn’t understand their particularly tricky accents, could they please speak more slowly – of course, no problem, thank you.

The day ran away from me and from 5PM I had four sessions, Ava in Minneapolis, Craig in Atlanta and Hans in Olympia – then dinner and Star Trek: Discovery and Noel in Surrey. Then I had to put all the guitars way, hoover, generally clear up, and by the time I sat down to write this, it was 12.30PM. Luckily I’d done some French in the early hours so I didn’t lose my Duolingo streak. I thought after all that hoo-hah, what am I going to write today, that’s why you got this.

Music today started with a crooner playlist from last night that I changed to one of my year by year playlists (1969) because Somethin’ Stupid by Nancy and Frank is ok once every few years but twice in 24 hours is too much. So it’s 13 songs that I picked months ago and one day I will share more playlists when I have three minutes on the same day, in fact, I’ll share this one tonight, so Ace Zarathustra’s Eclectic Train Wrecks presents some songs from 1969:

THE PLAYLIST

Still, I need to hear an album and Let It Bleed (1969) will do just fine.

Song 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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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 🎵

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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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In Deep Music Archive

Songwriting & Guitar Guidance with Marty Willson-Piper
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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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