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Jul 03 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

The other day I was walking in the square towards the pool. As you walk in by the pathway there’s a small kiosk that sells newspapers and magazines and postcards. A man was walking away from the kiosk and was advancing into the square. As I was striding forward at pace (I’m a fast walker), I noticed something vaguely moving out of the corner of my eye. I looked over at the man who was ten paces away from me to my left. He was a little ahead and as I looked over I saw he was holding something in his hand. I then looked to the path behind him and realised what he was holding and what he had dropped – lottery tickets. I shouted across to him, “Hey mate”. He heard me and looked at me, I pointed behind him at the lottery ticket on the path. “Ah thank you,” he said and walked back to pick it up. Can you imagine if that was the winning ticket and someone else had found it? Or perhaps he won millions and came looking for me to give me a million for being honest. Or perhaps the ticket would only win if it was in the hands of the rightful owner, a parallel to the sword in the stone, Arthur and Excalibur, or is that pushing it (or pulling it)?

Whilst we are on wild tangents, does anybody remember the ‘pushmi-pullyu’ from Doctor Dolittle? And why is he called ‘do little’ when he did so much, liberating animals by giving them a voice. I hadn’t realised that Doctor Dolittle was a series of children’s books written by Hugh Lofting, the first of which, The Story Of Doctor Dolittle, appeared in 1920. The first film of the story with Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar and Anthony Newley came in 1967. I haven’t seen the Eddie Murphy or the Robert Downey Jr films, the latter was a massive flop and got terrible reviews but I have fond memories of the first film which I saw as a kid. The story behind the books is that Lofting wrote the stories as fantasies in letters from the trenches during World War I because the scenes there were either too horrible or too dull to tell his children. So why is the Pixies’ album called Doolittle and what’s going on with the spelling?

Olivia disappeared into the city today whilst I dropped by the monthly market and found a child’s blue star night lamp for two euros. I wandered around the stalls looking for dinosaurs but they were either too small or in the case of the T. Rex I found, too happy. I wasn’t there long, the record stall is never very interesting and the bric-a-brac a mess of confusion – Barbie dolls, cardboard boxes and racks of clothing, jewellery, sunglasses and ridiculous jugs, the kind of place you find the best and the worst of things. I went from there to the psychedelic psupermarket, bought some groceries and two lightbulbs, one for our hall lamp and one for the lamp I’d just bought. I had to buy LED bulbs because you just can’t find the bulbs with the warm glow anymore. Fairy lights no longer have an atmosphere, they pierce like the pine needles of the Christmas tree.

I found myself at the cash register with a heavy 4-pack of soya milk and a full basket. I gestured to the woman in front that I needed to put the soya pack down on the edge of the conveyer belt (she only had two items). She spoke to me in English in a broad Yorkshire accent. She told me she came here 17 years ago from the Isle Of Man where she was living at the time and wanted to leave to escape the TT (the famous annual motorcycle race) and stayed for 17 years. She said she loved it here, I asked her if she spoke Portuguese, “Not really,” she said. The English don’t get to hear a foreign language ‘everywhere’ from when they are a baby, like everyone else who doesn’t speak English gets to. I don’t remember a Portuguese Beatles teaching me their language.

Last but not least England beat Ukraine 4-0 in Rome and are through to the semi-finals where they will meet Denmark. In the other semi-final, it’s Italy vs Spain. I am predicting an England vs Italy final where Italy will be tough to beat. We’ll see.

Music today was Gong’s Expresso II (1978), it’s actually Pierre Moerlin’s Gong and is extremely fusiony with Hansford Rowe’s fretless bass and Mick Taylor and Allan Holdsworth playing lots of guitar solos. The kind of music that Pixies fans despise. I like it because it has lots of vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel and marimba played by Moerlin, Mireille Bauer and Benoît Moerlen. Darryl Way from Curved Air plays the violin on two tracks. Great if you like this kind of thing.

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.

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Rockin' the MOAT t-shirt next to the real deal! #m Rockin' the MOAT t-shirt next to the real deal! #moatband #poisonstream 🤘🏰

T-Shirt Design by Reid Wilson
Photo by @oliviaelektra 

#schoolkidsrecords #nikoröhlcke #wellscathedral
Peter Walsh and I getting down at the Heron Tower Peter Walsh and I getting down at the Heron Tower disco 🕺🏻 #heyday
Soundchecking at Birmingham Symphony Hall, 10th Fe Soundchecking at Birmingham Symphony Hall, 10th February, 2001. All About Eve supporting Fairport Convention.

📷 by @derektimbrell
Thanks to The Wernickis for a little glimpse into Thanks to The Wernickis for a little glimpse into their new New Mexico listening space 🌵 #nightjar #schoolkidsrecords
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
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In Deep Music Archive

Songwriting & Guitar Guidance with Marty Willson-Piper
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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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