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Nov 07 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

I was thinking today about how complex simplicity can be and how certain styles of music don’t translate to the masses and how overall sport does. The thought was inspired by the West Ham – Liverpool game today (which they lost 3-2), witnessed by a large crowd at the London Stadium. I thought about how straightforward football is for the fan. Your team, your town, the skills, the drama, the range of emotions, the glory of winning and the tears of loss but in the end, it’s all pretty straightforward as a spectator. It’s rather more complex for the players, the organisation and everything around it that makes it conveniently get piped into your front room or fill up your local stadium and let you know about it. All those clever people are at work, including those brilliant athletes trying their best to simply get that ball in the other side’s net. But the rules aren’t hard to understand once you get past offside and split opinion on what’s a foul and what’s a handball. Cricket is more complicated and less popular with fewer countries playing the game, it still has a healthy following because it’s a sport. Tennis has an elitist tag although you need to be a top athlete to have a chance and although you might need the money to be able to dedicate yourself to it, train, practice, have a coach, once you are able to understand the eccentric scoring system, it’s pretty simple for everyone – get the ball inside the lines. So although some sports are more complicated than others (baseball and American football you have to learn what the rules are to watch a game) in the end it’s simple, hit the ball a long way or catch it, get the ball in the net or over the net or run faster than Henry in Lane 6.

With sport there’s trophies and somehow that makes more sense than trophies in music (although I have some). Because in my mind essentially, music isn’t a competition. There is no best in music, just different. But for the masses with music, there’s the rhythm, there’s the melody, the words, the musician skills and the pazazz for the public to get excited about. It’s not really surprising that AC/DC sell out massive stadiums because it’s quite easy to understand, in other words, it’s simple – to the listener. Angus is a great guitar player, not as easy as it looks but to the listener, it’s easy. Somehow the screaming lyrical nonsense is irrelevant and anything will do as long as it’s not about Jean-Paul Sartre’s third novel. Trends come into music, whereas the games in sport are basically the same as they always were, it’s just the shorts that change length. Classical music is complex and less popular than Judas Priest. Celine Dion has persuasive pipes but it’s easy on the middle of the road ear, and the masses suck it up. U2, Coldplay, Muse, Fleetwood Mac, you can see how they appeal and despite Eddie Van Halen’s fantastic skills the framework was easy to understand, the frontman, the beat, the lyrics, the melodies. Jazz is not easy, it has a smaller audience. My point, although there are popular complicated things, very popular things are often quite simple however complicated they are behind the scenes, difficult to enact, physically, practically, the skillset, but to experience as a spectator or a listener it’s simple, you just have to stand there and pay attention, although in fact, you don’t even have to do that.

Like the woman the other day on the telephone at the cinema, it’s quite disillusioning when at an intimate show, an audience member or two doesn’t understand that you are not AC/DC and talking all the way through isn’t really on. Surely one wants to be sensitive to the situation they are in? But it’s like people who stand too close to you, awareness of others isn’t the highest on everyone’s agenda. Can you imagine that people were allowed to sit at the next table to you in a nice restaurant and smoke? That shows how trends override good sense. I wonder what people will look at from 2021 and say, “Can you imagine that they did that then?” Perhaps the masses will be listening to jazz and demanding better lyrics from screamers or they’ll be new and more complicated or thoughtful but still physical sports like Sprint Tackling Chess.

As you can tell, I didn’t go out today (Olivia was out with Isa), I was contemplating crackpot theories in between playing some guitar, checking whether my thumbs are recovering, watching parts of the snooker final, the grid of the Mexican Grand Prix and bits of other football games (a bad week for managers). The week proper starts with a long list of responsibilities, following up the move from England, getting more quotes, figuring out the paperwork involved, investigating progress for premises in Portugal. Seshes, listening to sessioneers’ songs, writing; music, lyrics and whatever else the pen has to say, illustrated lyrics, autographing Arktik Lake photos, meetings, Logic Pro, French, Portuguese, swimming/gymming, finishing my damn book, writing a damn book. Rehearsing with Nicklas from Anekdoten for complicated spring gigs. Returning email messages, finding an accountant. This is why I try to do nothing on the weekend.

Music today was The Lilac Time‘s & Love For All (1990):

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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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).

CONTINUE READING: https://martywillson-piper.com/2022/12/to-where-i-am-now-1045

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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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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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