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May 25 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Walking through the streets of Porto and like any other city nature and civilisation clash. The constant flow of cars, braking and accelerating, the revving of motorbikes, rumbling choppers and gnat-like mopeds, the whooshing of the buses rushing by, the wheels clanging on the grids. Then there are the people, the school kids enthusiastic and animated, and the adults in the cafes drinking bottles of beer, glass on the metal tables. The sirens of ambulances, police cars and fire engines, the banging of windows closing, or shutters rising and falling but through all this, there are the fluttering wings of the seagulls and the pigeons and yesterday the pure piercing beauteous sound of a blackbird high in the tree above a busy main road. In the bushes, crickets chirping, competing with the building site across the road. Silent cats sitting on gateposts watching it all happen, bemused, unimpressed, with panting dogs passing by, lunging forward, secured on a leash, and no danger. The different sounds of tyres on the different surfaces, the cobblestones louder than the tarmac. Exotic birds in cages in balconies chittering, people on mobile phones chattering, the sound of digital noises as they press buttons and ringtones galore. A cacophony of nature versus urban development, the city winning hands down with its incessant drive towards progress but through it all, some of the most comforting moments are indoors and coming from Hawaii who quietly purrs and springs around like a howling dervish – today we found out we have him for just one more week, a deep and inevitable sadness, a hole in the stomach for a day we knew would eventually arrive.

In the street today on the way back from the shops, two men fighting in the street and two women shouting in Portuguese. It’s so awful to see people fighting, stuck in a frenzy, too far gone to see reason and stop. Also, earlier, Olivia and I were walking and a woman stopped us, asked if I was a drummer and told us she’d seen us on television and asked if she could have a photo with us – the power of television and even the smallest hint of celebrity. Of course, we obliged, and off she went on her merry way, satisfied that two faces from the screen were immortalised with her in a photograph. She’ll show the picture to all her friends and they will say, “Who did you say it was?”. As it happened we saw Carlos, the man who interviewed me for the TV show, at the gym today. We always seem to be leaving the gym when he is leaving the pool but we are never in the pool on the same day. He told me that when we finally get the In Deep Music Archive established here in Porto he’ll do another story.

Vaccination day tomorrow so I’m trying to finish the blog early enough to get some sleep before waking at the ungodly hour of 8 AM. We have to find our way to a school via the subway and a ten-minute walk and then I wonder do we have to wait for hours? I’m booked in to swim tomorrow too at the normal time and I also wonder will I be incapacitated by the shot or will it just be a small pain in the arm. Filipe, another swimmer, was telling me today that after his shot, he just had a small pain in the arm and that might be the result of the skills of the person administering the vaccine.

Olivia was out today meeting our ex-neighbour Gardenia who is from Bolivia. It’s funny, I speak Spanish to her and Olivia speaks Portuguese to her and she doesn’t speak any English so she has to speak both languages back to us. Olivia understands more of the Spanish than I do the Portuguese but we manage to communicate between the three of us. In the end, they couldn’t meet where they intended and we ended up chatting for five minutes in the fruit aisle of the supermarket. If anybody was listening to us communicate and then heard Olivia and me speaking Swedish and English, it must have sounded incredibly confusing. After that, I came back to the house and did some Duolingo French and Swedish in between two seshes today with Chris in New Jersey and Jeff in Ohio. Another lovely busy day in Portugal.

Music today was a quick classic, Wishbone Ash‘s Argus (1972). I saw them twice in Liverpool in the seventies, once with Ted Turner and once with Laurie Wisefield (ex Home) who replaced him on guitar. A couple of years ago we saw bassist, lead singer, Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash and a few years before that I saw guitarist Andy Powell’s Wishbone Ash, at this point there isn’t a drummer Steve Upton’s Wishbone Ash. Ted Turner and Laurie Wisefield seem to have disappeared into the pages of Wikipedia.

Music 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 🎵

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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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"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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