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Apr 02 2022

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Wandering around the market today in the Marquês square, the Covid testing cabins have gone leaving more room for stalls. Amongst the flea market treasures, I managed to find a coiled yellow rubber snake and also another mermaid for Ariel’s dashboard. The snake wasn’t appealing because it was a snake, because it was yellow or because it was rubber but because it was coiled, there was just something about that shape. I always liked a spring, no, not the spring – a spring.

I was supposed to meet swim buddy Hugo but he found himself up early and on another path, we don’t usually get to the market till late afternoon and perhaps that means we miss all the good prizes but then how come nobody wanted a coiled yellow snake? There’s no accounting for taste, all the things I didn’t want were sold earlier. As it happened another swim associate, Nuno, was there, both he and Hugo work in creative worlds, Hugo with photography and developing film both black and white and colour and Nuno is a bass player from a well-known Portuguese band called Ornatos Violeta, he also has solo albums. It must mean swimming inspires you to create, although the other day a guy got in my lane where there were already two of us when two other lanes had just one person. It made me wonder. It didn’t mean he wasn’t creative, it just meant that he couldn’t count, creative people often can’t.

Again, it was hot in the sun and chilly in the shade and the market was buzzing, thankfully without the usual disco music. I heard America’s A Horse With No Name, one of the first songs I ever learnt to play, simply because it was so simple – it has that melody that hardly changes in the verse. Interestingly and despite that California vibe, the desert themes, the pure unadulterated Hippie American folk sound of the track, it was written by singer/guitarist Dewey Bunnell in Puddletown, Dorset in Arthur Brown’s home studio. America were air force kids which is another reason that they were called America, a connection to a home country that they often weren’t in, although Bunnell was actually born in Harrogate, Yorkshire because of where his father was stationed.

Regular Emmanuel was selling in the market today and I bought ten more old Wire magazines from him for the ‘eventual’ archive. It seems like having a collection of different kinds of music magazines through the eras tells the story best of music’s history because it was written when it happened. There may not be the benefit of hindsight but there’s the freshness of the moment. What was it like in Ray Davis’ head when The Kinks released Waterloo Sunset in 1967? What was Scott Walker really thinking when he released Tilt in 1995? Contemporary reviews and interviews tell the story and reveal details we simply didn’t know after all these years of admiring our favourite artists and their work from afar.

On the subject of the human body, it seems that I have lost over eight kilos/one and a half stone/seventeen and a half pounds in eight weeks. That’s almost a six-pack of one and a half-litre bottles of water, quite unbelievable but then I went on this journey because I knew I was heading in the wrong direction. On another body note, I was sitting on the couch today with my arm stretched out and my finger began to twitch, a nerve. I let it do it for a while because it was so interesting to witness the incredible human body at work doing something I don’t really understand but is probably extremely important.

Music today has been the Yugoslav folk music of Branko Mataja and his album Over Fields And Mountains (2021). A fascinating meeting between old traditional music of yore and skilful sound experiments in the seventies with overdubbing and echo after he moved to California from Europe. The album is compiled from two albums he made, one in 1973 and the other in the mid-eighties.

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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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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