• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Bands & Projects
    • Marty Willson-Piper
    • Marty & Olivia
    • Noctorum
    • MOAT
    • Atlantæum Flood
    • Anekdoten
      • How I Joined Anekdoten
    • The Church
      • Sleeve Notes
    • All About Eve
  • Discography
  • Gear
  • Talking
  • Lyrics
    • SOLO ALBUMS
      • In Reflection
      • Art Attack
      • Rhyme
      • Spirit Level
      • Hanging Out In Heaven
      • Nightjar
    • NOCTORUM
      • Sparks Lane
      • Offer The Light
      • Honey Mink Forever
      • The Afterlife
    • MOAT
      • Moat
      • Poison Stream
    • Seeing Stars
  • Sleeve Notes
    • Of Skins And Heart
    • The Blurred Crusade
    • Seance
    • Heyday
    • Starfish
    • Gold Afternoon Fix
    • Priest = Aura
  • Bandcamp

Marty Willson-Piper

The official home of Marty Willson-Piper

  • News
  • Blog
  • Shows
  • Songwriting & Guitar Guidance
  • In Deep Music Archive
  • Contact

Dec 25 2022

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Christmas day arrived and outside the snow made it feel real. Finally, it was a sweltering -13°C/8°F, there were 19 turkeys around the feeders, one of which was scaring off the smaller birds as it perched on top. Birds would fly towards the seeds, see this great big feathered lump and turn around and fly back to a spot in a tree or a bush, fidgety flight, fluttering, flustered and unsure if the turkey was a threat, it wasn’t, but it was certainly intimidating. Eventually, the turkeys dispersed and there was a flurry of activity as the smaller birds returned. I stood there staring out of the window wondering about the next time if ever, we would have a Christmas like this.

In two days we will be flying to warmer climes as we head south to Dallas, Texas. But I wouldn’t change the experience of being in the storm-beaten state of Minnesota for the world. Invited by wonderful people Fred and Gerri Ann to celebrate Christmas in their home. My only regret, I didn’t build a snowman. It’s been great to hang with Space Summit Jed and his wife Lisa, see sessioneers Erik and his sessioneer daughter Ava and to meet Fred and Gerri Ann’s friends and family, play a concert in the house and manage to have some local Minneapolitan fans attend. Great to meet future booking agent team of Joady and Andrew, despite the freeze, Minneapolis has been good.

If I was ever going home for Christmas, I would generally know quite a while in advance and I would call my mum and tell her. It didn’t matter if I called in August, she would always say, “What am I going to give you to eat?”. Vegetarianism was considered a disease in those days and it was pre-Quorn, pre-Linda McCartney’s and the idea of Christmas dinner without bloody meat was not only weird but a fad, 38 years later here I am. Mama always ended up with the same solution, nut roast. She would gaze at the cooking instructions as if they were in Finnish and begrudgingly place the abnormality in the oven. When it was served it was placed as far apart from the turkey as possible in case it contaminated the roasted creature, beheaded, plucked and basted, cooked in its own fluids. I was scrutinised as I happily ate like I’d been found abandoned in the wilderness and this was my first encounter with cutlery. The closed-minded self-confidence of the mainstream astonishes me to this day.

We had a lovely prezzie sesh, Fred and I both got Rockmans from Olivia, I won’t go through all the prezzies, I just picked these two out so you can listen for them on future albums. We played pool and afterwards had dinner, I think it was tofurkey, we had two types, the rubbery type, and the less rubbery type. Happy Christmas. The idea that veggies need a meat substitute that is as close as possible to meat, possibly caters more to those who would like to eat less meat but can’t bear the idea of food without blood, and by the way, we don’t crave bacon sandwiches, that’s a fantasy invented to associate burning flesh with normalcy.

Music today has been The Smiths‘ Meat Is Murder (1985), with its headline-grabbing title and the tricky job of following up The Smiths’ debut album (1984) plus competing with the great Hatful of Hollow compilation that had Smiths fans chomping vegetables at the bit after the brilliant How Soon Is Now, the poignant Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want, and Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now. But that’s Hatful Of Hollow, Meat Is Murder went to Number 1 on the UK chart and The Smiths became that rare thing, massively successful with absolute credibility. The songs attacked the establishment, the Thatcher government, the education system. It addresses child abuse in Barbarism Begins at Home, corporal punishment in The Headmaster Ritual, the disenfranchised intellectual bedsitters fell in love with Morrissey. The pro-vegetarianism, and suggestion of brutality towards animals title seemed provocative at the time, these days not so much. I have my own feelings about eating animals, other people have their own thoughts on the subject, live and let live, people have to make up their own minds but I think a nudge towards the idea of not eating meat shouldn’t provoke umbrage, dismiss the idea if you wish, let’s talk about the dodgy things that Morrissey says these days instead.

There’s an interesting paragraph about the cover art on Wikipedia:

The album’s sleeve uses a 1967 photograph of an American marine, Cpl. Michael Wynn, in Vietnam, though with the wording on his helmet changed from “Make War Not Love” to “Meat Is Murder”. The original image was used for Emile de Antonio‘s 1968 Oscar-nominated documentary ‘In the Year of the Pig‘, Wynn stated in 2019 that he was never asked permission for the use of the photo and that he “wasn’t real happy” that the wording on the helmet was changed.

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

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

  • spotify
  • facebook
  • instagram
  • youtube

Liking the blog?

Tour Dates

Instagram

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
Doors & Delays 🎸 @workshop21_guitarclinic #the Doors & Delays 🎸

@workshop21_guitarclinic #thedoors #fenderstratocaster #fenderhotroddeville #nashtelecaster #rickenbacker
Load More… Follow on Instagram

Mailing List

In Deep Music Archive

Songwriting & Guitar Guidance with Marty Willson-Piper
ORDER HERE

"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

MARTY WILLSON-PIPER © 2023 - Front Page Images by Hajo Müller