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Jan 13 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Walking down into town today I saw that the Christmas decorations had been taken down and were tied up waiting forlornly on the pavement, gone for another year. But Christmas always seems to be on top of you before you know and suddenly the lights are up again. I took some photos of the decorations brought down from the sky, colourless drab metal frames lying on the ground, waiting to be thrown onto the back of a truck and driven away to be laid in a cold dark warehouse. But celebrations this year have been difficult as families and friends haven’t been able to get together, grief and despair have been the order of the day. Add to this the fact that we are in a worse situation than when all this started, lockdowns all over the world and cases and deaths soaring, one wonders who would have the energy to call it all a hoax, it’s depressing enough as it is without making it worse by trying to convince everybody that such tragedy, loss of life, loved ones and livelihoods were for nothing.

We had a notification today that from Friday here in Portugal, we are going into a month-long lockdown. We all do our best to make the best of our situation, for me adding to all this is the Brexit situation and the recent reports in the papers that the EU suggested to the UK government that there would be a visa amnesty for musicians performing in EU and UK territories and that it was turned down by the UK, just really makes everything worse. I’m hoping that with a German wife and a Portuguese residency that I will be able to perform in Europe without jumping through so many hoops, but we’ll see next time I go to Sweden to work with Anekdoten, and then there’s America.

The shops will now all be closed, the cafes will be closed and the book shops and the clothing stores, the electronics stores and the tourist shops. We’ll be doing a lot of staying in and I’ll be looking for stories and ideas to write about, songs to write and the finishing off of the mystery boxes to send, the illustrated lyrics, and those last few postcards. We’ll be doing the Q&A and the online concerts. I’ll be wondering if I’m able to walk around and take pictures, are we even allowed out of our area? I’ll be downloading Logic Pro and trying to figure out how it all works. I’ll be continuing to work with the writing projects with more records coming out in the future – Jed and Space Summit, Tony and Arctic Lake, Ahad, and I’ll also be collaborating with Craig in Atlanta. I’ll be writing for Matt in Brooklyn and Noelle in Montreal and for everyone else in sessioneer land, I’ll be working on their material and their playing, their development, and I’ll be guiding as best as I can and helping take it all to another level. I’ll be talking to Jerome in Berlin and Nicklas in Stockholm and of course, Niko and I have the new MOAT album Poison Stream coming out on February 12th. What of solo albums, what of a record with Olivia, what of Noctorum 5? Haha. These days at home, I’ll be learning French and Portuguese, looking at improving my Spanish, getting some serious reading done, and responding to the net where I can, I’m going to be busy.

In the cafe today there were three French girls and apart from the odd word I couldn’t get a clear sentence from them. Young, quick, tricky French, it makes you realise that even after 226 consecutive days I’ve still got a long way to go. Olivia is doing well with her Portuguese lessons and I’m frustrated that on Duolingo they teach Brazilian Portuguese and not Portuguese Portuguese which is mad, I’ve said it before but I can’t really understand why they don’t fix this whilst offering Klingon. Talking of Klingon, Olivia wanted to watch the only Star Trek series she hasn’t seen – Deep Space Nine. We watched Episode 1 yesterday, only 7 seasons to go. Add that to The Original Series, Next Generation, Voyager, Enterprise, Discovery, and Picard. After that, it will be the films but we also heard that there’s another offshoot coming with Captain Pike! Haha.

Music today has been the new EP from Ray LaMontagne. There’s something I like about him when he doesn’t get too slick and too middle of the road, it’s a fine line but when he’s on the right side of it he’s a talented fellow, with a great voice, good ideas, and that most crucial of offerings – mood. His new 6-track EP Make It Last does for some reason include two tracks from the last album Monovision and one of them is the side of him I don’t like. Having said that, it’s just taste and I have records by Ray LaMontagne that I think are really great – it’s about his different styles, his 2016 album Ouroborus is a particular standout.

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

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📷 @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

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📷 @argirgirl 

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

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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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