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Jan 11 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

We stepped out into the street today wondering if this would be the last Monday that we can walk around freely with open cafes and shops. On Thursday there will be a change in the lockdown rules, nobody knows what those changes will be but if it’s anything like the rest of Europe it’s going to be severe, as severe as the cause itself and I just heard that the Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has tested positive. So we walked down into town on a warm day (for me) and into the temporary fruit and vegetable market to buy fresh vegetables from a stall where the last time we visited, an old man serving there on discovering we weren’t from Portugal told us that “We are all brothers and sisters”. He wasn’t there today, just his wife who was desperately trying to explain how to make Caldo Verde (kale soup) to Olivia in Portuguese. This famous Bolhão market with its history and its characters has been moved to these temporary surroundings from its location in Rua Formosa 322 where there’s a renovation, hopefully, it will return to its original location soon. These market stallholders have probably been selling fruit and vegetables at this market their whole lives and they are the kindest most welcoming people you could ever hope to meet. The bad people make me laugh at their absurdity, the good people make me cry at their magnanimity – should it be the other way around?

We went to get a coffee and a cake, they are friendly there too, they know what we like, so despite being slightly awkward we don’t have to keep on explaining the same quirky order. We sat by the window and observed two girls at the table outside, both on their phones only communicating when one had something on her phone to show the other. In truth, they did actually start talking to each other whilst one smoked a tasty cigarette. We weren’t sitting on judgement, it’s just a common sight, people at a table sometimes four or five people all on their phones. It’s not a criticism either, it’s just a different era and one wonders what on earth people did in cafes before the eighties and nineties. Still, next to us two younger girls talked and talked, not a phone in sight, how encouraging. You see so many people on their phones, so many on their computers and so many people talking but not so many sitting reading a book.

Olivia had to be back for her Portuguese lesson with her Barcelona based opera singer at 5 PM, so we headed up to the flat, nice to live close to the city. We arrived back with two minutes to spare, she dropped her jacket, the shopping, the monolith, the bust of Einstein, the carnival suit, the parrot, and the varnished elephant on the floor and got to her lesson. I had a sesh myself at 6.30 PM with Craig in Atlanta. We have been collaborating on a track that Dare has been mixing, more about that in the coming days.

Fireworks outside tonight, not sure what for and how as fireworks are not available to the public in Portugal, but someone was having some fun. I started the first day of French for this week. Olivia and I have a Duolingo theory that if you start the lesson late on a Monday you are not competing with the mega polyglots that have completed thirty lessons by mid-afternoon, meaning by the end of the week you could be booted out of the league by coming last despite having done a lot of work. Some people are just mega-achievers. Anyway, I’m 221 days in, I must have learnt something but it’s French, I really need Portuguese and Spanish.

Music today has been a Spotify playlist, one of those Made For You lists. I liked it, it was 21st century King Crimson, seventies Rory Gallagher, seventies ELP, sixties Kinks, sixties Bee Gees, sixties Pink Floyd and more.

What usually happens when I listen to compilations is that something comes up that I want to hear more than everything else but not today, I was happy just to let it roll. So with that in mind today I’m going to forward the list that my mate Boydy sent me the other day of 43 albums that are 50 years old. So it’s a compilation of albums all from 1971. As I went down the list I realised that I have every album. Boydy’s comment was, has there ever been a better year for music but I suppose there are 43 amazing albums every year, it’s just how old you are that gauges how much you love them. Having said that, I love this list.

Song Of The Daze

Alice channelling Don Mclean and Wonder Woman with Glen Buxton (died 1997) and Michael Bruce on guitars, Dennis Dunaway on bass and Neal Smith on drums.
From the 1971 album Love It To Death.

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 

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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).

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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.

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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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"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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