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Jan 19 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

When you move to a new place it takes time to find your way around, find your favourite shops, cafes, record stores, book stores, venues, and knowing where they have the hummus in the local supermarket. Of course, it helps when the city is open, it helps to be able to get around, drop into Fado bars, sample the restaurants, go to the movies or the art galleries and museums. Yesterday I found the super helpful man (João) in the computer shop and he will be my go-to person if I ever have a problem with such things again. I also asked him if he could help me with my iPods. I have four 160GB iPods. When I plug them into the wall using a lead and my phone charger – they don’t charge. So João didn’t have a lead to sell me so he said (remember he’d known me for 5 minutes): “Take my lead, if it works, bring it back and I’ll order a new one for you” and off I went out of the shop with his lead. But the point is that he just trusted me. Next day (today) I went back and we figured it wasn’t the lead, it was the charger that wasn’t powerful enough to charge the pods. So he solved my problem and consequently I bought the new charger and he will have my custom forevermore. Isn’t it obvious that this is how it should work?

Leaving the magnanimous João we headed down a different street into the city. We took a pic by a red door. A man came up from across the street and was trying to tell us something in Portuguese. After a few minutes he asked a lady across the street if she spoke English, she did and she explained that he was telling us that the red door was a hostel not open till March – he was trying to be helpful. We got talking to the lady, she was Swiss and lived right here in the street. Her name was Nadja and we got on so famously that we exchanged numbers. She and her friend (Diana) were from the French-speaking part of Switzerland so I was able to say a couple of sentences in French – they humoured me. She offered to help out with any questions about living here as new arrivals. I asked her about parking. 60 euros a month in the car park right where we were standing, so helpful information already – now we need a car (we already paid for it), but we can wait. Olivia’s dad (Gerd) will drive a Fiat Doblo Maxi down from Germany as soon as he finds one at the right price and as soon as the pandemic lets him out – Germany just extended their lockdown to February 14th. Plus he wants to come here when the weather gets better and today the weather broke back to stormy, windy, rainy, and January was back.

We said our farewells and walked into town down this parallel street to our street. I wasn’t going to take photos today after taking 400 photos yesterday plus I have some issue with pain above my hip which has been bothering me for a while. So after yesterday’s mega walk and photo-taking sesh, a quick trip into town for a takeaway coffee and a brisk walk back was the plan, except I can’t walk briskly and I’ve noticed people who do and I’m jealous. I need a smart prognosis. It’s not just exercise because the same thing was happening when I swam 3 miles a week and walked everywhere. So exercise doesn’t help, and rest doesn’t help. One of my sessioneers, Matt in Brooklyn, is an acupuncturist, it may be just what I need, to relieve the tension in the muscle, but getting to Brooklyn for an hour a week might be tricky.

Back home, iPods charging and my other computer genius helpful man in London, Mohamad (from Lebanon), is sending me another power lead (I feel I need to have a spare) as well as a USB stick with Catalina OS. Why? Well, my plan is to put Logic Pro on my computer so I can work in a more convenient way with my sessioneers but my old computer has Mojave OS and I need Catalina to download the program. Another cool helpful man, helping me solve problems and yes, I will buy computers from him forever.

We walked past the Santa Catarina shopping precinct where I took photos yesterday of the people walking on the side of the wall. It’s one of those great, odd art projects, right in the middle of a large city that the local people probably don’t notice anymore, and like anything, it might be odd to start with but you get used to it. But that’s everything, isn’t it, everything is new to you – the first time you experience it. You won’t know if you like it till you’ve tried it and so it seems that the world, the humans, don’t want to evolve but we will, eventually, it’s just that there’s a lot of stragglers.

Music today was The Band’s first album, the classic Music From Big Pink (1968). After working with Dylan on tour and recording with him for the songs that appeared later as The Basement Tapes (1975), the band who had retired to a West Saugerties house (Big Pink) rented by Richard Manuel (piano, vocals), Rick Danko (bass, vocals) and Garth Hudson (keys, accordion, sax) with Robbie Robertson, guitars and Levon Helm (drums, vocals) proceeded to write their first album. It includes many famous songs – The Weight, written by Robbie Robertson, the Dylan/Danko song This Wheel’s On Fire, the Dylan/Manuel opener Tears Of Rage, and other classic songs. It’s Folk, it’s Rock, it’s Soul and R&B, it’s Country and it needs you to listen to it from beginning to end without interruption, no screens, no phones, this album is a much better experience than all of that. Note: Front cover painted by Dylan.

The Band Discography

Music of the Daze

The Band sing The Weight with The Staples from the movie The Last Waltz (1976):

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 

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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

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

📷 @argirgirl 

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

📷 @judgeschamber 

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

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12 January - HOUSTON
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15 January - SAN ANTONIO

With @salimnourallah and @joereyesmusic

More info here: https://mailchi.mp/e47ede06acd6/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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