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Jan 28 2022

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Winter, Porto, January 28th, mid-sixties, blue sky, shorts, T-shirt, time to go meet sessioneer Paul and Rachel for their last day in Portugal as they both finally test negative. But more pain looks like it’s on the way as they fly to London tomorrow to find a connecting flight to New York where a massive storm is heading and I’ve already seen reports of cancelled flights. But for today we are in idyllic Porto. We met at São Bento station in the centre of town, masked up and ready to go. A perfect day to meet up, get a coffee and walk down by the river. It was pretty packed down there with all the outdoor cafes full of locals and tourists I presume, enjoying the afternoon sun. Buskers were playing their repertoires, a drummer and a singer with an electric guitar were playing The Beatles‘ From Me To You. A student “Tuna” band, cloaked and uniformed, were looking for a place to set up to play as another band were breaking down their drums and on the quay I saw a stray Boss tuner on its side, same as mine, leads and little amps. It seems like buskers here like to busk as bands, electric, in my day as a busker it was just an acoustic guitar, you would never see anybody busking with drums and amps in the seventies.

If this is what Porto looks like in January, in summer with all the tourists back it’s going to be impossible to move. It’s such a lovely city to visit because of the houses, the hills, the food, the port, the bridges, the sea and beaches close by, Braga close by, Spain an hour away, I can see mountains from our front room window. It’s friendly, it’s not expensive and it’s warm. What are you waiting for? After we walked past all those open-air cafes down by the river we walked across the bridge to the other side of the river to Gaia. It’s rather like Buda and Pest in Hungary, separate places on either side of the river. On the other side, we walked past all the ‘Port buildings’, a mixture of restaurants and warehouses and famous signage, like ‘Sandeman’ which reminded me of those seventies adverts with Orson Welles. I hadn’t actually walked down this side of the river before, past the traditional boats with the port barrels on their decks. At the end of this strip, there’s a chair lift which we took back to the top level of the bridge. There I said goodbye to Paul and Rachel as I had to be back home for seshes with Fred in Minneapolis and Mike in Chicago. Olivia stayed to hang for a while. The tram/train is six stops from this beautiful place Jardim do Morro, São Bento, Aliados, Trindade, Faria Guimarães and Marquês. What a beautiful city we live in.

In recent weeks I haven’t got out enough and today I realised I need to. Got Covid, got busy and haven’t even been able to swim, I’ll start again next week as February arrives (it’ll soon be Christmas). I’ll be 64 years old this year. “When I get older losing my hair, many years from now”. My hair is finally and definitely getting thinner, it also grows so slowly but I’m not sure if “I could be handy mending a fuse”.

Music today has been the little-remembered Stephen Stills‘ Manassas. After Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills & Nash, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and two solo albums he formed this band with Chris Hillman from The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers and made two albums, the great self-titled double album debut (1972) and the lesser well received Down The Road (1973) which I haven’t had a chance to hear if the critics were right or wrong, the band soon broke up after this album’s release.

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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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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