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Aug 21 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

I got up late today, missed the first half of a Liverpool game that I didn’t expect to see because last week the VPN didn’t work on this channel. It was just high hopes that it would work this week, and it did but the first half was over, they won 2-0 against Burnley who were their nemesis last season ending a run of 68 games without a loss at Anfield and leading to a disastrous spell. Saturdays are usually days to try and relax with the football and the snooker (the British Open was on this week). In between the live broadcasts a trip to the psychedelic psupermarket on a muggy day, that has you leave in one T-shirt and find another on your return. But it’s Porto so there’s often a nice little breeze helping with the heat. It’s really the perfect climate and having been here since December we know what to expect in the winter months – more rain, but Christmas Day was glorious.

It was market day today but we haven’t quite understood when it is and didn’t get there till late only realising on the psychedelic psupermarket trip. I didn’t find anything in particular, but I imagine if I’d had a pocket full of coins I might have bought an old toy car or an Amália Rodrigues album, but I had no cash and was only really walking around for the atmosphere. Olivia was looking for a mermaid for Ariel’s dashboard and believe it or not she found one. I surprised her when I told her that Ariel the mermaid wasn’t my inspiration for naming the car, despite it being light blue. I was thinking more about what’s a name but also part of a car and I thought about the aerial, so there you go.

The market attracts all sorts of people because it’s mainly a flea market and apart from the man with the sunglasses stall, it’s mainly clothes and bric-a-brac, one small food kiosk and a man on the bandstand playing disco records through the speakers that he’s attached to the trees and connected with ridiculously long wires. Michael Jackson’s Rock With You didn’t seem particularly appropriate for a sunny Saturday afternoon in Marquês square but he’s playing for the public, there’s not going to be a Syd Barrett song, or Annette Peacock. I was thinking how a disco singer can say he’s going to rock with you but a rock singer can’t even suggest that he’d be a-discoing-the-day away.

I was wondering today how my Seagull had fared after tumbling into the sand and doing a video by the sea. All that salty air rusting the strings, sand in the pickup and seashells in the soundhole or hermit crabs climbing in the body and using the whole guitar as a house. I imagine the guitar crawling along the beach with multiple legs, random strings plucked by the rocks and dunes, the wind and the waves whooshing in and out of the body before it crawls out to sea.

Music today has been seventies, eighties, nineties and noughties, starting with Television’s Marquee Moon (1977) which I haven’t heard for ages. Singer/guitar player Tom Verlaine toured with the ex-band in America and I ended up playing guitar on one of his solo albums, The Wonder (1990), although I didn’t get a credit. Verlaine taught me how to play Friction from Marquee Moon. After that, I played Treasure by Cocteau Twins, one of my favourite albums by them. I remember once listening to it on my walkman strolling down a country lane in Capel Seion near Aberystwyth in Wales where my parents lived in retirement. It was quite a contrast to the rolling green hills of sheep and tractors. After that, it was Björk and Debut (1993), her first solo album after The Sugarcubes split. That voice, those beats and electronic sounds but an album full of catchy tunes too. Last of the day staying Icelandic and like Cocteau Twins in an imagined language for the lyrics, Sigur Rós and ( ). I saw them live once at The Eden Project in Cornwall and they were really amazing.

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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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

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

📷 @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

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

📷 @argirgirl 

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

📷 Rod MacQuarrie
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
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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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