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Mar 15 2022

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Today an African sun warmed the streets behind the clouds. The whole city was drenched in an orange glow as the Sahara sand blew into Porto and left a luminous light above the city. It was something like the last time I was on Mars. The day before had been chilly and rainy but today it was completely different, similar to the meteor storm I experienced when I was on the red planet – the day before the sky had been clear. In the streets of Porto, you don’t need a helmet or a spacesuit or a gun, it’s a peaceful city with warm people, it’s a safe city and it’s such a privilege to live here.

I was walking towards the gym today wondering what am I going to see today. The Covid testing centre in the square was closed, the man with three dogs was sitting on a bench talking to someone. Two of the dogs were standing on the ground, one of the three was coiled on the bench, they were still still. There was no trolley, it was just a man with his pets on a warm day in the park, his status wasn’t a question. Someone must have just left something for the pigeons to eat because they were massed on the ground, a giant sea swarm below my feet. I had to tread carefully not to step on one. How are they so trusting when they are so taunted and ill-treated? There’s always a beautiful courtship display with one pigeon cooing and its tail fanned out, the other playing aloof. They are smarter than you think you know.

When I left home, in the street outside the front door was a constant stream of teenagers coming out of school. It occurred to me that it had been 48 years since I left Woodchurch Sec in Birkenhead just a few miles from the centre of Liverpool. I left at 16 with barely a qualification, desperate to get out into the world and took my first job at the petrol pump at the Amoco garage in Thingwall where I lived. One day my English teacher Miss Lewis pulled up. She was also my form teacher in 4A4 for four years. “I knew you’d end up doing something like this,” she said. She drove a really crappy cheap light blue box Vauxhall Viva and she was fierce. She’d sit on the desk during lessons with a short skirt showing the top of her stockings but it was hardly an erotic experience because she would threaten us often. “Woe betide anyone who, blah blah,” she would say, her face an angry red and we would shrink. She was also a terrible judge of character, impatient, lacking empathy and too much make-up, insecure and unhappy with her lot. I think she genuinely hated us all.

Talking of box Vivas, one day I was sitting at the window where I lived in a claustrophobic modern ground floor flat, a disaster after living in the Derbyshire countryside in an old pub that my parents ran, The Grouse Hotel in Birch Vale. In Thingwall, the block of flats was on a sharp bend which you couldn’t see because of a wall, hedges and trees. I was leaning out of the window when I heard the screeching of brakes, a car had lost control and it piled into the wall at the driveway where you drove into our block. I saw it hit, I still have the image fresh in my mind. I remember seeing a passenger in the front seat shaken forward on the impact. Then whoever was in the car got out and ran away – I guess it was stolen. In the morning I got picked up outside by my boss for my next job working for Henry Hosegood & Sons associated with Spillers Farm foods down by the Birkenhead docks. I stood there by the wall next to this crashed car, the wall destroyed, the car a write-off. Everyone was slowing down to see the wreck (not me in the morning).

These experiences may have added to my not ever getting a driving license. I remember another time on Thingwall corner at the end of the village arriving home from school to see a man obviously badly injured lying in the road with ambulances and paramedics after some kind of accident. Car crashes and motorbike crashes and aeroplane malfunctions have occurred throughout my life but I should perhaps leave all these stories for a time when they can be told properly and in more detail – if I ever get the time.

Music today has been Johnny Winter’s self-titled second album (1969). If you like twee pop, indie, psychedelia, folk, singer-songwriter, any kind of pop music, glam, soul, disco, reggae, jazz, fey lads or poets, this is not for you. But if you like authentic blues-rock with a guitarist who is the real deal then tune in. His voice is everything a messed up road hog should be but his music is lived in, his guitar playing is outstanding in this genre. (He was generally known for playing a Gibson Firebird.) If you’ve ever been to a real American bar somewhere out of the way, where people have weapons, then this is what might have been playing on the jukebox, unless Johnny was actually there, burning down the house.

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 🤘🏰

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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.

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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 🎵

📷 @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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#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 

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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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