singer | songwriter | musician | writer
Recently I’ve been going through a lifetime of photos. I came across this one from my first stint as an English teacher in Cairo in the 1970s, and looked up the diary I kept then to find the story. This is pretty much word for word what it says: From ‘Here be Dragons’ a Readers … Read more Fear Is A Man’s Best Friend (horses, not so much)
One of the things about making a lockdown project of clearing and cataloguing a lifetime of photos – four lifetimes if you count my wife and our children – is that memories get triggered. Daily. Nightly even, when you’re trying to sleep. One thing that’s come to mind recently is the fascination with death that … Read more Death Songs of a Four Year Old
One of my first quarantine tasks was to disentangle the muddle of cables which, over the years, had rendered my guitar synth and loopers all but unplayable. This is one of my favourite pieces to play with the guitar synth. Although it first appeared on a Mahavishnu Orchestra album, the most beautiful versions out there … Read more Lotus Feet (John McLaughlin cover)
After I mentioned Momus a few times here, I was contacted by John Robinson, who told me he’d created a site reviewing all Momus’s albums. So far he’s covered more than ten early albums, singles and EPs. If you’re interested in this extraordinary singer-songwriter-novelist-artist, this would be a great place to start. Fifteen People by … Read more More on Momus
Ask me (as in Jim asks me some questions) Last week Jim Welsh, a presenter on Summerhall Radio, invited me to talk about the new album and play some tracks on his show. I couldn’t come the day of his show so he had me in another day for a special – I felt privileged! … Read more Ask me, don’t ask me
Madame and I have just returned from a two-week adventure in South India, mostly in Kerala. When I say ‘adventure’ it’s not like we were backpacking or in any way roughing it. And South India is a lot easier for first timers like us than the north. But still it felt like an adventure to … Read more A newbie in South India