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Oct 28 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

The pre-chill of the coming weekend storm hit Porto today bringing low clouds and rain and going into a meeting with João from Rangel studios in ominous daylight had us leaving in nasty rain in the dark, underdressed for such a thing. Positive conversations take the edge off the weather and instead of the cold puddles of blackness, you see the diamonds reflected from the light. Olivia, angel, had prepared a dinner for me last night tonight to eat between my meetings as she was out herself. Thinking ahead, planning, making things work, a bit of thought, a bit of effort, a bit of generosity. The second meeting in Sydney – a positive creative opening for making more music and after that a sesh with Elliot in Melbourne, progress, progress, progress.

I went to the gym today, Olivia opted out as she thinks about the possibilities of dance over running machines. A creative way to achieve the same result. I was telling Elliot the same thing today, the frustrating difficult fundamentals of chord shapes and articulating your fingers on a fretboard with speed and with accuracy can be frustrating if that’s your only focus. But, if ideas are springing to life, through your creative spirit, using your ears to hear unnamed simple beautiful chords and patterns, then the rest follows without driving yourself to ruin. Create, recognise the evolution of ideas, hear the magic and use your present skills. Your advanced abilities will have you create something else, something different but not necessarily something better.

The lava lamp takes twelve hours to get going. We only have one working out of two. They are both the larger ones and the halogen bulbs don’t seem to be powerful enough to have the psychedelic wax moving quickly. We just brought these two because they seemed difficult to transport, they are heavy, glass, and fragile, one red one green. The Martian lamp is working but the Venusian lamp needs a new bulb, perhaps we can find a stronger wattage and see if we can have the dancing in the lattice caves sooner, turning the frozen arms into soft teardrop-shaped globules, ascending like hot air balloons and almost immediately collapsing into the craters below.

I love living with shutters, not just because you can close off the cold and the bad weather but because of the joy of opening them in the morning and letting the daylight in as it nudges against the metal, staring in, looking for movement, waiting to flood the front room with light. We don’t have them in England, or at least we never did in all the different houses we lived in growing up. It was all curtains but we have curtains here too, we have both. Also in the hot months, the shutters keep the powerful sun out, keeping a room cool, an escape from intense heat.

Now, it’s later, the stereo is playing some beautiful music, the rain outside has stopped and the silence of the early hours ensues. Another conversation with Elliot tonight was about how much ear damage I had from all those years of playing live. I responded by saying, “How is silence supposed to sound?” The reason I ask is because silence always sounded like something and I’m not sure if it would sound like I hear it now if I hadn’t been on stage every night for years. What does silence sound like to a librarian? Is it quieter than how I hear it?

It’s getting warmer in Australia and colder in Europe. For years, I never saw the winter as I was always in Australia over the summer. Now living in Portugal winter is milder than in Sweden or in England and it’s a good compromise between the blistering heat of the southern hemisphere and the bone-chilling cold of Scandinavia and although it seems to get rainy here over the winter months, perhaps it’s not quite the level of damp that we got in the studio in Cornwall with the creeping toxic mould behind the shelving and a constant breakout through the walls, cracking the paintwork from the outside in.

Music today was the soothing Exit North album Book Of Romance And Dust (2018). A collaboration between ex-Japan drummer and David Sylvian’s brother Steve Jansen with three Swedes from Gothenburg, singer Thomas Feiner, pianist Ulf Jansson and producer Charlie Storm.

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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"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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