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Dec 25 2020

TO WHERE I AM NOW

You never imagine that Christmas is going to come and then it does and here we are. You also don’t imagine that on your 63rd Christmas, you will be married to a German girl and living in Porto. You also don’t imagine that you will be standing on a gorgeous Christmas day on a pier stretching out into the Atlantic watching the sun go down over the horizon whilst tracking a dolphin for half an hour that’s breaking the surface and disappearing backwards and forwards underneath the great living entity that is the sea.

Olivia was up before me again today, she had a masterplan that is apart from putting a prezzie in a pillowcase that she had wrenched from under my head whilst I was falling asleep the night before, haha, not really as drastic as I make it out but it was amusing if not so brutal. Her masterplan was that today, Christmas Day, we were going to the beach. We came out of the flat and there across the road was a gorgeous, green, and immaculate Mini Clubman. I took some pics and then we took an Uber to the sea. The driver was a nice Brazilian lady, she preferred I spoke to her in Spanish rather than English, Olivia spoke to her in her ever-improving Portuguese. It was about 15 minutes to the sea and we drove from the city through some posh-looking suburbs before we saw the ocean and we were dropped off across the road from the edge of the beach wall.

It really was 53/12 again today, the sun was a dazzling fireball in the sky as if it was machinery placed there by that forgotten alien civilisation to incubate the creatures on the planet. They died out but the machine endured and it shone down efficiently creating a channel of bright yellow, reflecting on the surface of the water. We walked along the seafront towards the concrete pier, there were lots of people out on this beautiful day enjoying a Christmas walk. As we walked out on the pier’s finger to the sea we saw barriers, stopping access and warning us it was dangerous and yet people were out there at the end. We hopped over a wall and started walking out wondering what dangers there could be.

The pier was long with the mouth of the River Douro on the left and a channel on the right with another shorter pier. There were some seagulls on the rocks and two or three of them had starfish between their beaks that they were smashing against the rocks. On the pier as we walked, a severed seagull’s foot, the revenge of the starfish. Further on we were warned by a family that it was very slippery ahead of us. We came to that spot and it was like an ice rink for about 20 feet, thick gunk which might have been a mixture of crushed seaweed and slime. Olivia nearly went over. At the end of the pier that dazzling stripe of reflected sunlight was blinding, you had to look either side of it and then after admiring the view of that vast powerful Atlantic ocean, Olivia said: “Look!”. A dolphin was jumping and for the next half an hour it darted backwards and forwards on either side of the sunlight. It would jump three or four times, disappear for five minutes, and there it was again. It was thrilling to see. I didn’t have my zoom with me but I did manage to take some pictures of it.

On the way back down the pier, I warned everybody about the slippy patch in French, Spanish, and English, Olivia in Portuguese without knowing the words for slippery, we do now. One couple, Olivia recognised the girl, she was from one of the instructive YouTube videos explaining the difference between Portuguese in Portugal and Portuguese in Brazil. Olivia sent her a message afterwards and she was quite amused that she was recognised from such a thing. On the beach on the river side, there was a dead seagull, lots of pieces of wood collected together in clumps, and an old mooring point that I sat on with the glorious sun behind me. Close by, the sun shone on a pile of rope that made it look like a mysterious creature from the deep.

Back on the pavement by the beach wall we bought some roasted chestnuts and walked in the other direction. There seemed to be even more people and the road was full of cars (including an old VW beetle). On the other side some classic old houses, some in ruin, but the future has been here and lots of apartment buildings look over the sea – I imagine they’re pricey. As the sun began to dip on the horizon we watched the great orange ball slowly sink into the sea leaving a lovely orange glow in the sky. We walked on till the twilight began to turn into encroaching darkness and we returned to the city.

Once we were at home, we sat and watched Jane Fonda in Roger Vadim’s sci-fi comedy Barbarella from 1968, originally a 1962 comic. Brigitte Bardot, his first wife, turned it down (Fonda was his third wife), Sophia Loren was pregnant at the time but Italian actress Virna Lisi was the first choice. This is the film where Duran(d) Duran(d), played by Milo O’Shea, got their name as did experimental electronic music duo Matmos. The film also stars Anita Pallenberg as The Great Tyrant although her voice is overdubbed by Joan Greenwood, “Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark”. Then there’s Marcel Marceau as Professor Ping in his first speaking role and David Hemmings, who we all know from Michelangelo Antonioni‘s 1966 classic Blowup, featuring a score by Herbie Hancock and an appearance by The Yardbirds. Back in Barbarella land, music was by Bob Crewe (Four Seasons co-writer, Silence Is Golden and a million more hits). Last but not least Matmos (“Living energy in liquid form, powered by evil thoughts and used as an energy source”) inspired the name of the famous Mathmos lava lamps in the nineties, see the visuals, see the film.

Happy Christmas, the next one is coming soon.

Music today has been Fred Neil’s second self-titled solo album (1967) that features his song Dolphins. Neil actually left music to go and look after dolphins. He also wrote the classic Everybody’s Talkin’, made famous by Nilsson in the film Midnight Cowboy. I also played the Tim Buckley version from the very unpopular album Sefronia from 1973. He was going off in a direction nobody seemed to want, except possibly him.

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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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

KEEP IN TOUCH: https://linktr.ee/mwillsonpiper

📷 @salimnourallah 

#markburgess #thechameleons #chameleonsvox #pleasantrylanestudio #happinessarecordlabel #martywillsonpiper #oliviawillsonpiper #moatband
📷 @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

KEEP IN TOUCH: https://linktr.ee/mwillsonpiper

📷 @argirgirl 

#paisleypark #prince
Marty & Pablo! 📷 Rod MacQuarrie Marty & Pablo!

📷 Rod MacQuarrie
At last, a proper door stop. 📷 @judgeschamber At last, a proper door stop.

📷 @judgeschamber 

#grammysitting 👵
🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵 31 December - DALL 🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵

31 December - DALLAS
7 January - CELINA
12 January - HOUSTON
14 January - AUSTIN
15 January - SAN ANTONIO

With @salimnourallah and @joereyesmusic

More info here: https://mailchi.mp/e47ede06acd6/texas-acoustic-dates
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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