Nina Simone's Gum by Warren Ellis and Don't Suck, Don't Die Giving Up Vic Chesnutt by Kristin Hersh

Here are two unrelated books which I have recently read, but because I am very lazy I am just tossing them together into one blog post.  I am somewhat behind in updating this blog so I am going for quantity over quality now.

For the unlearned, Warren Ellis is a Ballarat born musician who fronts trio The Dirty Three (currently in hiatus) and more famously in recent decades as Nick Cave's main musical collaborator in the Bad Seeds.  The book gets its title from the time Ellis lifted a ball of chewing gum from Nina Simone's Steinway after she performed a concert in 1999.  The book, part bio, part homage to found things, charts the history of the gum which Ellis kept in his possession for 20 years.

We follow the gum's history in Warren's possession and how it comes to become an object of reverence to all who come into its orbit.  It is reproduced as jewellery and sculpture and exhibited in an art gallery in Denmark.  The gum seemingly takes on mystical qualities.  Along the journey the book delves back into Warren's musical beginnings as a child, his love of Greek musician Mia Fora Thymamai and Beethoven, his collection of lead tyre weights from cars and his work with Nick Cave.

The book is full of wonderful photographs by Bleddyn Butcher of Nina Simone from the 1999 concert and the restoration process of the gum.  We even get screenshots of messages exchanged with Nick Cave discussing exhibiting the gum.  It is a thoroughly enjoyable read this book.  Warren is no Camus, but he holds the reader's attention and drew me into this story.

Not such an easy read, but ultimately satisfying is Kristin Hersh's tribute to Vic Chesnutt who died on Christmas day 2009 after a suspected suicide.  He was 45 years old.  

Vic Chesnutt was rendered a quadriplegic after a car accident in his late teens and endured chronic pain for the duration of his life as a result.  Despite this difficult start to adulthood he started composing and singing his own songs in the early eighties before being noticed by Michael Stipe of R.E.M. in Athens Georgia.  Stipe went on to produce Chesnutt's first two albums.  Many critically acclaimed albums followed right up until his death.

Kristine Hersh is an accomplished musician, being one part of the Throwing Muses and a solo artist.  Her and Chesnutt toured together extensively for a good part of the 1990's with their respective partners.  Hersh's book is written directly as one friend to another in an attempt to understand everything that happened.  Hersh's use of language is vivid, creative and sometimes difficult, perhaps reflecting their friendship.  

Kritin Hersh's book is a sad letter to an old friend.  Vic Chesnutt was a brilliant and sometimes troubled soul, but the author's love for her subject shines through in this book.

Until next time, peace and love.

A new Knausgaard book.

Just arrived today. There's a few in the queue before it, but I am eager to start this one.

Until next time, peace and love.

Taylor Swift, Sally Rooney and me

Taylor Swift, Sally Rooney and me.  What do these three people have in common?  Well, pretty much nothing, and particularly in relation to me, absolutely zero.  So where is this shaggy dog story taking us you say? (or maybe not).

Recently I joined a conversation, well advanced, between two lovely millennial women family members who were discussing the merits of Taylor Swift's music.  I think there was general agreement that she was mostly lightweight meh, but that she had released a few catchy singles over the years.  You know the type of song, the DJ drops one into the dancefloor at the local meat market pub/nightclub at around midnight and sets the joint alight.  DJ self affirms "I am a legend, look at my power over the masses!" when we really know the five preceding hours of tequila and vodka shots and Taylor Swift's ear worm were responsible.

I remarked that I don't think I had heard a Taylor Swift song so could not express a view.  I am aware she is a huge pop artist, but not being a consumer of huge pop artists I wouldn't know a song if it belted me over the head.  My millennials expressed incredulity at this statement and replied along the lines of "surely you must know <insert song title here> blah, blah, blah".  "What about in the supermarket, you can't escape her music, it's everywhere!".  I explained my strategy in supermarkets was to move extremely quickly and block out all extraneous stimuli so as to minimise the effect of the mind cancer inducing environment on me.  Perhaps I had a heard a song, but not consciously.  I had heard of the Kanye West controversies though, I couldn't escape those!

Which takes me to Sally Rooney, the world's most famous millennial author.  She has three novels under her belt at the tender age of 30.  Her second novel, Normal People, was a big hit and is apparently a very successful show on one of the streaming services.  Now, not being much of a consumer of the streaming services due to having an aversion to watching 1400 episodes of vikings warring with aliens, I cannot attest to Normal People's popularity.  But I am assured by the millennials that it's popular.

So when a couple of months back stories started popping up in the Guardian and other zeitgeist publications about a new Sally Rooney novel I completely ignored them.  In fact I had assumed Sally Rooney was an English football WAG (wife and girlfriend to you) and I thought to myself why all the fuss over a book by some B grade celebrity who seems to be famous only for conducting a sting on one of her frenemies who was leaking stories about her to the tabloid press?  Okay, so I knew something about this story, but it turns out the WAG in question is one Rebekah Rooney.  My millennial credentials, and let's face it, any credibility as a reader of modern literature, are zero.  I am just too old and out of touch it seems.

So when I received a breathless email from my on-line book club that the new Sally Rooney novel was being shipped out express post to me on it's day of release, I thought I better look into this novelist a little more closely.  By that I mean, a 30 second scan of her Wikipedia page.  Research done, I awaited the arrival of "Beautiful World, Where Are You?"

The title of the book is a direct translation of a phrase from a poem by Friedrich Stiller "The Gods of Greece" (no, I've never heard of it either).  It was later set to music by Franz Schubert in 1819 (no, not heard it).  So we're off to a great start; I don't know a thing about this writer or her influences.  Can we come back from this place of profound ignorance?  Yes, so it seems.

The book involves four characters: Alice a millennial novelist who is famous (hmmm), her best friend from university days, Eileen who works as a literary editor (just someone who puts commas into manuscripts), Felix who meets Alice on a Tinder date (of course) and who hasn't heard of Alice, and Simon who is friend from Eileen's childhood with whom she had a fling with years before, and now again.  These four people are deeply unhappy in different ways about the state of the world and their place in it.

Alice, despite her wealth and fame, is miserable about her life and has run away to a small sea side town in Ireland to recover from what seems to be a breakdown of sorts.  She meets Felix and a tentative relationship starts, but he seems a deeply cynical person and a bit self-destructive.  For much of the book I did not trust Felix's motives toward Alice.  He was broke, she had money and he was often callous toward her.  Eileen is a brilliant writer it seems, but aside from having one essay published, is ambivalent about writing.  She drifts along.  Simon is five years older than Eileen and is a political adviser for a progressive political party.  He is committed to the causes, but thinks there is little hope that much will change.  He is also the one character who has retained a religious faith.  Being set in Ireland this is Catholicism.

Now a comment about style.  Often scenes in the book are told in a very remote and clinical way, almost like they were generated by machine.  For example, the opening chapter starts:

"A woman sat in a hotel bar, watching the door.  Her appearance was neat and tidy, white blouse, fair hair tucked behind her ears.  She glanced at the screen of her phone, on which was displayed a messaging interface, and then looked back at the door again."

I get the sense these scenes are told in such a way as to indicate the cynical alienation of the characters from the world.  Maybe not, but it had that effect on me.

Another device Sally Rooney uses are transcripts of emails between Eileen and Alice.  In these emails they muse on the state of the world as it inexorably hurtles toward climate catastrophe under the weight of unchecked capitalism, relationships, should they bring children into the world, that sort of thing.  These emails are really mini essays if you like which allow Rooney to try and explain and understand the world as she sees it.  I found these quite satisfying to read, although I have read a criticism which thought they were a little undergraduate in their style.  Who cares, I found them thought provoking, and anyway I'm no smarter than the average undergraduate.

I enjoyed this book and it gave me some insight to another generation and from a woman's perspective.  I think it's important to read such books.  I am looking forward to hearing what my millennial women family members make of it.

Until next time, peace and love.

Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead

 

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead is a historically fictional novel that you wish were true.  This is a rolling, rollicking and wonderful story about pioneering aviatrix, feminist and iconoclast Marian Graves.  We follow Marian's life from her tumultuous beginnings culminating (almost) in her ambitious flight around the great circle of the globe (pole to pole) in 1951.

Marian is a character you wish were real in every sense.  Wanting to become financially independent when 14, she cuts her hair, dresses as a boy, buys a car, teaches herself to drive and becomes a moonshine runner in 1920s USA.  One day some some barnstormers visit her town, she scores a flight and from that moment she determines to be a pilot, even though "girls" are not supposed to do that sort of thing.  She flies alcohol from over the Canadian border, landing on glaciers and out-flying every man that dare takes her on.

A disastrous and brief marriage in her later teens ensures Marian will never again answer to anyone, but she still finds passion in her life. During WWII Marian joins a squad of women pilots who transport Spitfires and all manner of planes across airfields in Britain.  Marian tests the full capabilities of every plane she flies fearlessly.

After the war a rich benefactor agrees to fund her great circle flight and Marian tackles her hardest challenge.  Drama ensues.

This book was a complete joy to read, not inconsequential in length at nearly 600 pages, but the hours just rolled by without me noticing.  My favourite reading experience is to be just lost in a book for hours on end Great Circle provided just that.

The book has been shortlisted for the 2021 Man Booker prize.  I have no idea if it's a worthy winner, but for me, this book was a complete delight.  Recommended for humans.

Until next time, peace and love.

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

 

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller is a family drama which mainly focuses on Elle a 50 something mother of three and academic, married to a handsome Englishman, Peter, a financial journalist.  There's too much ground to cover here, but the novel traverses two timelines simultaneously: Elle's life from birth and a 24 hour period where the family and friends gather at the family holiday shacks on Cape Cod - named the paper palace after the cheap wall material from which they are constructed.

Elle and her sister Anna's upbringing and early adulthood are chaotic.  Her parent's are often distracted by their own lives to worry too much about their children.  There is a succession of step parents and divorces and a lifelong childhood friend Jonas.  Elle and Jonas meet at Cape Cod in their tweens and a bond develops between the two which waxes and wanes, but endures over the decades.  A major trauma occurs in their teenage years which means the two share a dark secret for life.

The book begins the morning after a drunken night at the paper palace and an infidelity happens - you can guess who.  From there we explore the previous 50 years leading to that point and the next 24 hours.

Heller's writing rolls along very nicely and I found nearly all the characters well drawn.  There are unexpected turns in the story which kept me on the hook.  I read this book quickly so that's a sign I enjoyed it.

No book is perfect of course and there were some gaps in time and one or two thin characters which could have benefited from more development.  At nearly 400 pages perhaps the editors called time - I imagine there's some commercial pressure in the publishing industry to keep novels to a manageable length.

All in all I found this a entertaining read and highly recommended.

Until next time, peace and love.

New release - Geoffrey O'Connor - For As Long As I Can Remember

 

Busy time at the Lounge with lots going on.  So I've not had much time for updating this blog. But, I have picked up a new album by Melbourne's Geoffrey O'Connor called As Long As I Can Remember.  Here's a vid of the title track:

It's an album of duets with female artists, including one-time Darwin pop songstress Jess Ribero and being rather fond of the 80's, this album takes me back to some of the soft synthy disco pop from that era (but in a nice way).  Here's another track featuring the delightful Laura Jean with lots of Spandau Ballet-esque finger clicking:

I am am enjoying this album a great deal.  It's a polished production with lots of pop hooks and gorgeous vocal duets.  It definitely feels a like a summer record to me which is what we need given most of the country is in lockdown.

You can buy this album through Geoffrey O'Connor's Bandcamp page or via Chapter Music.

Until next time, peace and love.

We Were Not Men - Campbell Mattinson

Here's an Australian novel by Campbell Mattinson, We Were Not Men, that took 30 years to write.  It tells the story of twins Eden and Jon Hardacre who are orphaned at around nine years of age and grow up under the care of their grandmother, Bobbie.

After the death of their parents in a car crash and recovery from their own injuries the boys throw themselves into swimming and become champions for their ages.  The Rio Olympics beckon.  This book seems to be inspired by a true story and maybe it is as Mattinson is a journalist and the story's genesis was an article he wrote in the 1990s.

Campbell Mattinson is a vivid writer and there are some wonderful passages in this story describing the boys relationship.  I particularly found the descriptions of swimming to be most effective.  I enjoyed the arc of the story and overall it was a satisfying read.  

The dialogue did not work for me so much.  The character of Bobbie seems to express not much more than aphorisms throughout the story and this tended to be the case with the other characters.  I can only think this was a deliberate decision on the part of the author and the editors, but I wanted more from the characters in their dialogue.

With the Olympics on currently and the Australian women swimmers going so well the timing of my reading of this book was fortuitous.

Recommended for anyone really.  Until next time, peace and love.

Jupiter's Travels - Ted Simon

Here's an unusual book which was lent to me by a friend, Peter.  I say unusual in that it's not one I would normally think to read.  Always go with a recommendation it seems.

It tells the tale of Ted Simon's travels on a 500cc Triumph motorcycle starting in 1973 through to 1977.  Written on his return to the UK it is very much a time capsule story.  It coincides with the dismantling of the European colonies in Africa, Asia and the Americas, the OPEC oil crisis and the height of the Cold War.  

Ted journeys through African countries in civil war, Rhodesia(!) and apartheid South Africa.  Brazil is still under the control of the generals and Chile is a mass of bloodshed.  Cambodia and Vietnam have to be avoided due to war, but Afghanistan is quiet and peaceful.  It certainly brings home just how much the world and geopolitics have changed.

Ted Simon writes in an an engaging style and like all good travel books it's about the people Ted meets along the journey that makes the story interesting.  He bares all on the page including the odd sexual encounter and bouts of what would probably diagnosed these days as depression .  At all times he is empathetic with those he meets, even when he is held captive as a spy in Brazil for weeks on end.  I found him to be a broad minded and progressive thinker for a man of his times.

I looked Ted Simon up on the web.  He appears to be still alive at the age of 90 and living in the UK somewhere.  He started out as a chemical engineer and then switched to journalism in the early 70's before becoming an organic farmer in California for a long time.  He wrote a few other books and reprised his world journey in the early 2000's at the age of 70.  That might be an interesting book to read for the contrast, although the world is much different from then now.

Highly recommended for those who like books.  Until next time, peace and love.

New music for you

 

Welcome back to the Lounge. I have been enjoying some new releases here and I thought you might like to hear them too.  First up is the tremendously talented Aldous Harding with her new single; Old Peel.  It comes with a typically quirky video in which you don't get to see much of Aldous until the final scene.  This song is a total earworm so be careful.

If you like that then you might enjoy this brief live performance by Aldous and her band for KEXP from a year or so back.  There is a short interview in the middle too - she's a strange cat for sure.

Courtney Barnett continues to evolve as a songwriter and here's her new single; Rae Street.  Clearly she has been listening a lot to her mate Kurt Vile.

The new Goon Sax vinyl landed at the Lounge today so we'll give them a run too.  They've gone big time with producer John Parish (he did Aldous too).  It's a change of direction and here's their new single Desire.

That's it from the Lounge for now.  Until next time, peace and love.

Different Every Time - Robert Wyatt

A bit of a break from the Lounge for various reasons.  This post is well overdue as I finished this book quite a while back now.  It's the official biography of Robert Wyatt, a classic English eccentric character.  A man not of these times.

Robert formed and played drums in Soft Machine, a jazz tinged, proggy art rock group in the mid 60's, most associated with the Canterbury scene.  Soft Machine toured the States twice with Hendrix and gigged at the UFO Club in London with The Pink Floyd as they were known back then.  Greatness seemed inevitable, but it was not to be.  After being kicked out of his own band in the early 70's he briefly formed Matching Mole and then, after a life changing accident which left him a paraplegic, he settled into a brilliant solo career.

Robert's upbringing was anything but conventional, his mother was a journalist who raised him as a single parent for a time before she married Robert's stepfather who had defied the English class system by attending Oxford and Cambridge, despite his working class background.  Robert wasn't terribly interested in school and his summers were often spent in Portugal or on the Greek islands staying with a family friends, one of whom was poet Robert Graves.

Robert struggled with being a band leader and became rather carried away with the rock and roll lifestyle, which included drinking bouts with that icon of moderation, Keith Moon.  In 1973, while very drunk at a party he fell from an apartment balcony.  The accident was a catalyst for Robert to reset his life and music and while in hospital he composed his 'first proper' solo record, Rocky Bottom, produced by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, as they were known by then.  An album which usually features in greatest album of all time lists.  Here's one of my favourite tracks from that record, the simply brilliant 'Little Red Riding Hood Hits the Road'.

For the next 40 years or so he recorded with the likes of Eno, Phil Manzanera, David Gilmour and later Bjork.  Commercial success mostly stayed at a distance until 1980 when the Elvis Costello penned Shipbuilding single became a hit.  After that he faded back out of sight to record the occasional and always acclaimed album.  Always broke and fighting off depression and alcoholism he performed live only once after his accident; being crippled with anxiety when facing an audience.

After finally kicking the grog and getting treatment for depression he released some of his finest work in the early 2000's before retiring from music altogether after his final album Comicopera was released in 2007.

The Robert Wyatt story is actually a story of two people, Robert and his partner of 50 years Alfreda Benge who gave up a promising film career to be with and care for Robert.  Alfie as she is known, managed the business side, painted the album art and eventually took over lyric writing duties.  A true partnership.

Here's another great song.  It's a cover of the Chic (yes them) song 'At Last I am Free'.  Warning, it's not disco.

The book is a thoroughly enjoyable read with Robert and Alfie helpful subjects, as are his numerous collaborators over the years.  As books go it's a conventional sort of read, but it's hard to tell the story of someone's life in anything other than a linear progression from birth.  What shines through in this book is Robert' singular and unconventional artistic spirit.  He is now considered something of a national treasure in England these days and seems to be enjoying his retirement.

Have a listen To Robert Wyatt if you haven't already.  Until next time, peace and love.

Suburban evil

 

Designed by Dante

I have long held the view that suburbia is mostly a hell-scape.  Most of us live there, but I do ask myself often: how could it have been done better?  I read somewhere the big construction and auto companies in the U.S. pressured city halls in the post-war period into approving more and more suburbs with larger blocks with the intention of driving up demand for construction and motor vehicles.  The work of the devil right there I tell you.

Evidence of  Beelzebub's work is also clear in the rise of the leaf blower as an instrument of suburban torture.  It's bad enough living next door to Fred and Rosemary West as I do, but I am also surrounded by 'men' who feel compelled to rev their leaf blowers at all hours of the weekend.  Combined with assorted angle grinders, lawn mowers, lawn edgers and brush cutters, at times it sounds like a small engine testing facility has opened up next door to my house.  

I reserve a higher level of contempt for the leaf blower though, conceived in the 7th circle of Hell by Dante and now in plague numbers in the suburbs.  Their operators, almost exclusively men, are addicted to 'blipping' their wretched throttles.  There is a special place set aside for these people in my version of Hell.  That place will be silent.  Absolutely silent.

Here are my preferred tools for dealing with leaves and other detritus in the garden:

These are simple, pure and noble tools which have been used for centuries by humankind.  They have served us very well.  We do not need Dante's damned leaf blower and the agents of Satan who operate them.  Rise up and reclaim the suburbs from these beastly machines!!

Until next time, peace and love.

In the Peppermint Workshop

Today we're in the Peppermint Workshop and working on bikes. In the foreground to the left is my 1972 Moto Guzzi Eldorado 850 which sports a 955cc big bore kit. To its right is a 1955 Puch 250 SG split single two stroke. 

Back left is a 2011 Moto Guzzi V7 Racer ridden by my lovely wife and back right is my 2012 Moto Guzzi Griso 1200 SE which is a fire breathing monster.

We're servicing the two newer bikes today and procrastinating on fixing the other two.

Until next time, peace and love.

More music books!

 

I know, I know.  The music books are getting out of hand.  I am part way through this bio of eccentric and avant garde(ish) musician Robert Wyatt.  Wyatt started out in English psychedelic experimentalists Soft Machine who toured the USA twice in 1968 with Jimi Hendrix and with whom Wyatt was good friends.  He had a rather interesting bohemian upbringing spending summers in Mallorca with poet Robert Graves who was a family friend.  I am up to about 1970 where Soft Machine has just released their third album and Robert is looking like he's about to exit the band.

Next on the list is a book by indie rock goddess Kristin Hersh about her late friend Vic Chesnutt.  I enjoy both Kristin's and Vic's music and by all accounts this is a loving tribute to this troubled man.

There is a connection between these books in that both Robert Wyatt and Vic Chesnutt pursued their musical careers despite enduring physical disabilities which left them both wheelchair bound.  All the more remarkable considering how difficult the world is to navigate for people with disabilities.

Until next time, peace and love.

The Truth About Her - Jacqueline Maley

Jacqueline Maley is an award winning journalist most recently known for her stories exposing a High Court judge with a decades long history of sexual harassment in the workplace.  The Truth About Her is her first novel and it is one of my favourite books, if not favourite, of recent times.

Suzy Hamilton is 40, a single mother and successful journalist who writes a story exposing a wellness blogger who spins a yarn about having cured herself of cancer using natural foods and remedies (clearly a nod to the Belle Gibson story).  Things get a bit crazy after the story is published and Suzy's personal life starts to go awry and her journalistic career implodes.  All this while raising her three year old daughter Maddy.

Part one of the book is straight out hilarious as Suzy bounces around trying to keep her life straight with some of the funniest parts being her interactions with Maddy.  There's lots of laugh out loud moments between mother and daughter and the dreaded 'mothers in the park' with their pre-cut celery sticks and sugar free drinks for their children.

Jacqueline Maley writes in a spirited style which got me hooked from the first paragraph.  There are big themes explored though, such as who gets to the tell the story of a life and why is it the 'disgraced' woman loses her career and the male boss lands another job elsewhere and keeps his wife.  Questions to ponder.

This book comes highly recommended for anyone who can read.  Until next time, peace and love.

Jeff Tweedy - How to Write One Song

 The book in question

A fair conclusion to draw would be that I only read music books.  I've never thought of myself as an avid reader of the genre and I have been heard to say that I find many of them rather dull.  So it is hard to reconcile that declaration with the evidence of late where I have probably read about a dozen music bios in the past year.  

This one is a little bit different though.  It is a diminutive book which provides step by step instruction on how to write precisely one song - presumably with success you might go on to write another, and another, and so on.

First, a little about the author.  Jeff Tweedy is the founder and leader of American band Wilco - beloved of all ageing Gen Xers with cool pretensions.  Wilco sprung from the ashes of Tweedy's and Jay Farrar's more country punk oriented Uncle Tupelo from the late 80s.  They started out as very much in the country / folk / rock style and then began to veer into more experimental pop and rock.  Although Tweedy maintains at heart all of his songs are folk songs.  

He has a few solo albums under his belt, the latest of which came out a few months ago and is one of my current favourites.  Here's a short clip of Jeff and sons performing a song from the new album live at home.

Back to the book.  Part memoir, part life manual and big part how-to write a song, this little book will gladden your heart and give you a smile.  I have no intention of writing a song, but Jeff Tweedy provides all sorts of tips and exercises to get the creative side of your brain firing.  I especially enjoyed his word exercises to get the beginnings of a verse or poem down on paper.  We also get some insight into his marriage (not too much) and his time in hospital recovering from a drug addiction.  Everything is served in just the right measure and with love.  I enjoyed this little book a great deal and it is one I can see myself returning to from time to time.

Recommended for anyone really.  Until next time, peace and love.

Happy 80th Birthday Bob Dylan - Cold Iron Bounds

His Bobness turns 80 today and the tributes are flowing.  So let me join them.  We have been so lucky to live in his time.  A flawed character like all of us, but his genius prevails.

There's many favourite songs to choose from, but I am going for Cold Iron Bounds from the 1997 album Time Out of Mind which marked his 'comeback' after a fallow period in the 80's and 90's.

This is a fabulous live video of Bob and his band shot for the film Masked and Anonymous.  All done in a single take without missing a beat.  The band is absolutely cooking and Bob turns out some wonderful guitar licks.  

About four minutes in he turns to the lead guitarist to give him 'the look' - 'come back in to the rhythm man it's time for another verse.'  The guitarist gets another look signaling the end of the song.  All great stuff.  Even Bob can't help but flash the faintest of smiles at the end - he knows that was good, real good.

Throw Bob on the turntable and toast to his good health.  Until next time, peace and love.

The Double Life of Bob Dylan - Vol.1

 His Bobness - as I like to remember him

A couple of weeks back I posted about the arrival of a new book The Double Life of Bob Dylan Vol.1 1941-1966 - A Restless, Hungry Feeling by Clinton Heylin, apparently reputed to be the world's leading Dylanologist (yes, that's a word).

The world doesn't need another book about Bob Dylan we all know; however, Heylin was granted first access to Dylan's archives which he sold off a few years back for $22M (that's USD by the way).  Expect a flurry of books this year on Dylan as he turns 80, including Vol.2 to this series.  I expect quite a few of them will be rubbish as it's become an industry to write rock books by simply trawling the internet as research.  Here at least Heylin has the exclusive on a lot of new written and recorded material.

Any book on a figure like Dylan needs an angle otherwise it will be a dull affair.  Heylin's angle is essentially that Dylan has been a supreme bullshit artist from the get go, so much so that he himself doesn't know where the truth and myth begin and end.  Heylin also argues that many of the accounts from people who were there, but recounted decades later are often not to be relied upon - Robbie Robertson for one (I actually read Robertson's book and really enjoyed it, but I have no way of knowing how truthful it is). 

This is a cracking read and I ploughed through it at a rapid pace.  I'm no Dylan obsessive, but the period through to 1966 was his most productive and influential and has always interested me the most.  He undoubtedly changed popular music forever at this time.  Until Dylan came along 'pop' music was not taken seriously and something only for teenagers.  He ensured that would never be the case again.

Not that this book is any hagiography.  Heylin, while recognising the genius, does not hold back in his criticism of Dylan the man and the composer.  He doesn't particularly rate The Times Are a Changing or Another Side of Bob Dylan for example (nobody rates the first album apparently except Rod Stewart it seems).  Freewheelin' and the first three electric albums are another matter though.

Mercifully we don't a spend too much time in Dylan's childhood and the action really takes off with Dylan hearing Elvis and tuning into southern radio stations which played what was then known as 'race music'.  Dylan starts off on the piano and pounds out tunes like a teenage Jerry Lee Lewis before switching to guitar.  His heart always was in rock and roll.

The switch to folk was a gradual thing through exposure to folk blues and of course Woody Guthrie and Robert Johnson.  Robert Zimmerman eventually lands in Greenwich Village in 1960 and sees this as the moment to create Bob Dylan the myth as he starts to play in the pass the hat folk clubs.  There's nothing new in this, but some of the anecdotes from contemporary accounts and stuff captured on tape at the time are always interesting.  So what are the few things I learned:

• Bob Dylan was a determined to make it and used every opportunity to learn (take) from others.
• He was absolutely confident that he was in another league compared with his fellow musicians, including the Beatles.
• Joan Baez, who had a national profile when Dylan was just starting out, plotted and schemed to partner up with Dylan, particularly once his star outshone her own - Dylan was in love with her sister.
• He was not a particularly nice boyfriend to Suze Rotolo and had lots of other liaisons at the time.
• When he went electric he really had no idea to play in a band and refused to rehearse or teach the band the songs - they were expected to jump in and pick the song up immediately.  This drove the musicians crazy.
• On the world tour in 1966 his drug use was so wild that many of the people around him thought he may not not see his 26th birthday.
• People were invited into his inner circle, but often found themselves ejected very quickly.
• He signed some dumb contracts and his manager Albert Grossman completely stuffed up the contract with Columbia.
• And so on.

I would only recommend this book if you have an interest in Dylan and some familiarity with his music from that period.  Heylin's style is lively and some of the tales are quite amusing.  I thought he spent a little too much time on Dylan's aborted book Tarantula which, going by the extracts, was terrible.  Funnily, he classes Dylan's memoir Chronicles as mostly a work of fiction (I actually loved that book, but again I have no idea how true it might be).

Recommended for Dylan fans.

Until next time, peace and love.

Mending not ending - again

Recently the Soldersmoke blog posted a link to this great video by The Spirited Man about fixing and repairing things.  I only wish I was half as good as this bloke at fixing things.  

I am currently doing battle with a salt pool chlorinator that's stopped chlorinating.  A call to the manufacturer for a few tips was turned into a sales pitch to buy a new one at $1380.  It's so easy to flash the plastic and buy another, but I refuse to do so - yet.  I am running out of ideas, but not yet ready to surrender to the evil lords of consumption.

On the plus side this morning I fixed a chair whose canvass seat had rotted away.  A piece of MDF board screwed on to the frame, some foam rubber and liquid nails has restored (maybe that's overstating it slightly - let's try 'returned') this chair into service in my shed.  A small victory over the evil lords!

Until next time, peace and love.

Two recent reads

Just a quick post about two recent books I have read.  Infinite Country by Patricia Engel tells the story of a Colombian family which escapes poverty in their home country to the U.S.A. and in the process become undocumented migrants in the land of the free.  Spanning twenty plus years it describes the precarious existence poor migrants face with the threat of deportation ever present.  A great book which tells a story not often heard.

Megan Nolan's novel Acts of Desperation is the story of a young millenial woman who falls in love with the wrong man and how some people seek validation in the love of others.  This book is gritty and Nolan's writing crackles on the page.  I am clearly not the intended audience for this book, but it gave me an insight into a young woman's life.  Recommended.

In the meantime I am ploughing through the Bob Dylan book I recently posted here.  It's thoroughly enjoyable, but probably for Dylan fans only.

Until next time, peace and love.

HF portable receiving loop project

The finished portable loop - the module is hiding in the grey case

Coming up in June this year I will heading off to the NSW central coast to participate in a DXpedition with three other radio enthusiasts.  Although all involved are amateur radio operators we won't be transmitting on the amateur bands.  Instead this DXpedition is aimed primarily at receiving medium wave broadcast band stations from the Pacific and the Americas.  

In preparation for the trip I decided to build a receiving loop antenna which could be easily packed into a suitcase and assembled quickly at the receiving site.  I have a Wellbrook receiving loop at my home which gives impressive performance on the MW bands; however, it is not suitable for portable operations.  

There are a few options on the market and I decided to go for the Australian made Mini-kits EME 232 which comes just as an amplifier module which needs to be constructed.  The advantage of this approach was that I was free to design the loop component of the antenna so as to maximise its portability.  It also helped having the manufacturer based in Australia in case any problems arose.

The Mini-kits module is based on the proven LZ1AQ design, although it lacks the versatility of the original which can be used to switch in multiple loops.  The trade off is that the Mini-kits version is a fraction of the cost of the LZ1AQ module.

Construction of the circuit board was fairly straightforward.  Component wise the board comprises roughly 50% surface mount components.  I had not attempted a surface mount construction before and was a little apprehensive as to how I would go, but as it turned out there was nothing to worry about.  A fine point soldering iron, thinner spec solder and my magnifying LED lamp made the job easy.

The surface mount side of the board

Next was to flip the board over and install all the through hole components.  This was straightforward enough.  

The through hole component side of the board

Along with the main module I constructed the Mini-kits bias tee board which is used to power the module by sending 13.8 volts through the coaxial feed line.  

Once the bias tee was completed it was time to tackle construction of the loop antenna itself.  I dug about in the shed for some plumber's PVC pipe to construct the frame to give some mechanical strength to the loop.  For the loop I had some LMR400 50 ohm coax in the shed which I cut to about three metres in length to give me a one metre diameter loop.  On each end of the coax I soldered the inner conductor and the coax shield together and in turn soldered each of these ends on to two lengths of 3mm wire which plug into the module.

Next was the moment of truth.  Would it work?  I did a voltage check of the module as recommended by the manufacturer and found the voltage at the board was about 1.5 volts less than that specified.  A quick email to Mini-kits who confirmed the voltage supplied would be sufficient.  

Once satisfied with the voltage supply and the construction I plugged the antenna into a SDR receiver and gave it a test run.  I was immediately impressed with the performance of the antenna.  It has slightly more gain than the Wellbrook loop, but at the expense of a slightly higher signal to noise ratio.  Given my noisy urban location I wasn't too worried about this as the DXpedition will be (hopefully) relatively quiet noise wise.

The physical construction of the loop is not suitable for a more permanent installation, although the antenna has been set up in my backyard for a couple of months now and faced up to all sorts of weather.  I may look at building a LZ1AQ loop next time and experiment with some of the other antenna designs which can be utilised with this version.

A round up of the Dxpedition will follow in due course and I will let you know how the antenna performs in the field.

Until then, peace and love.

Another book!

I have a few music books on order. Here's the latest. I'm no songwriter but it will be interesting to read about Jeff Tweedy's songwriting process.

Until next time, peace and love.

A new book!

Just arrived today.  Heylin has first access to Dylan's complete archives. 

Klara and The Sun

 

As you know I use these pages to keep a record of things I get up to.  A kind of diary I guess.  This includes a record of the books I am reading at the time.  Here's the latest one, Klara and the Sun, by Japanese-English author and Nobel Laurette, Kazuo Ishiguro.  Thrillingly my copy has been signed by the author.

Despite his fame as an author I have not previously read one of Ishiguro's books.  I don't know how people keep up with all the books that come out and there are so many I have not read.  And I consider myself a fairly regular reader.  I usually have one or two books on the go at one time.

This story is set in the future in America, but not so far away that we don't recognise elements of the portrayed world.  Klara is our narrator and an AF, or Artificial Friend.  AF's are used to keep teenage children company in this future world and Klara is purchased by her mother to keep Josie company.  Josie lives with her mother who is divorced.  We view this world through Klara's sharp observations of Josie and her environment.

In this world children attend school via videolink (Zoom anyone?) so they are socially isolated.  Next door lives Rick who is Josie's best friend.  We learn that Josie is a 'lifted' child which means she has been earmarked for a priviliged education and future.  Rick's future is not so assured as he is not one of the chosen children.  Despite this difference Rick and Josie are devoted to one another.

Rosie has a serious disease, the name of which we never learn, but we know her older sister died from this condition.  Josie and Klara become close and Klara's sole purpose as an AF is to provide unconditional friendship for Josie.  Josie's mother has another purpose for Klara in mind and this understory is disturbing.  Josie's father appears and seems to be a troubled individual, apparently holed up with a bunch of preppers somewhere up North.

A few things struck me about this book.  The adults do not come across well and the world they have created for their children appears to be cruel and ultra competitive (maybe it's more real than I first thought).  I grew weary with Klara's narration which is robotic and limited.  I can understand the use of Klara's voice to tell this story, but it's tone got to me after a while.  That all said, the book has some profound messages about the dangers of unchecked technology and the moral slippage which can occur in people's lives.  At the end it is Klara who, with her acute observational powers, understands the nature of love and humanity better than anyone else.

Until next time, peace and love.

Peter Milton-Walsh interview

Here's a recent interview between Dave Graney and Peter Milton - Walsh of The Apartments, a song from whom appears below.  This is a great overview of Peter's musical life.

Peter Milton-Walsh interview

A song for you. The Apartments - 21

 

An extraordinarily beautiful song by Peter Milton Walsh from The Apartments 2015 album No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal.

John Prine - died 7 April 2020

 

The incomparable and beautiful John Prine who died one year ago today from the Trump virus.  RIP.

Learning morse code - CW

 

 

The Hi -Mound HK-707 morse code key

One of my projects over the last 12 months has been to learn and use morse code over amateur radio.  In days of yore there was no voice communication over the wireless so radio folk had to devise a way of communicating with others.  Enter morse code.

The history of morse code is kinda interesting, but maybe not that much that I need to repeat it here.  But, it has a certain romanticism about it and to me feels like it is the essence of radio communication.  I know this is all claptrap, but if you've read this far you're into it as well.

When I was a young teenager I had some early exposure to amateur radio, but the vibe was: "it's great but you'll never learn the code".  I should have ignored this as the best time to learn morse code is when you are young!  Just like a foreign language it only gets harder as you get older.

So here I am, an older middle aged bloke with an atrophying brain and I have set upon to learn the code and better yet, communicate with it.  The computer and internet age is wonderful (and rubbish as well, but that's for another time) in that you can get so many learning resources on-line.  So I have been caning the apps trying to learn the code for nearly 12 months now.

Let me tell you - progress is slow.  It's hard, maybe one of the hardest things I have done (well maybe not: marriage, kids, degree, jobs I've had).  I have learnt all the characters and can copy slabs of text, provided it is slow ie, about 10 words per minute.  I can copy characters at 20 wpm, but slap them together as words at that speed and I am in trouble.

That's okay.  People's morse code journey is much the same everywhere.  It's all about repetition and practice.  A bit like life really.  There's probably a few savants who learnt it really quickly, but mostly not.

The conventional wisdom is you must learn to copy (receive) the code before you try and send it.  The view being that sending is 'easier'.  I have spent many hours copying compared with sending and I would say I am probably better at copying.  That's not saying much as I am pretty much rubbish at sending.

 

The Vibroplex Deluxe iambic paddle - a work of art

I have two morse code keys.  The Hi-Mound HK-707 straight key and the Vibroplex Deluxe iambic paddle.  These are two very different methods of sending CW (let's call morse code CW from hereon as that's what amateurs call it).  The Hi-Mound is from Japan - maybe 1970s and the Vibroplex I have is new (2020) but they have been making them for maybe 50 years.  Ask amateurs to say which is better - straight key or paddle - and you'll be up all night.  A straight key is probably easier for a beginner, but it has its disadvantages.

Nevertheless, I am pretty mediocre at using both of them.  I am not too concerned about this as this is just motor skill stuff, ie learning to manipulate the apparatus.  I'll get there with enough practice.  The bit that troubles my mind is copying - putting those dits and dahs into words, into sentences, into paragraphs.  That's brain work.  It's hard! Or at least I find it hard.

Eventually one must cross the Rubicon and move from the classroom into the real world.  There's no point becoming a master with a computer app and not using CW for its ultimate purpose - communicating with others.  All the experts say the only way to improve is to get on the air and make real contacts.

Getting on air with CW is a hair raising experience.  Those who are not radio operators will be asking 'how this can be?'.  But as an operator sending and copying morse code is nerve racking for the beginner.  'Will I be able to copy their signal?'  'Will they understand my ill timed and error laden transmission?'

Nevertheless I have resolved to try and make one CW contact each day whenever I am able to get to the radio.  It is day two today and I have made two contacts - one to Queensland (VK4) and one to Japan (JA3).  I was able to send and receive the essential elements of a contact (call-sign, signal report, name) but that was about it.  The fellow in Japan was sending way too fast for me, but I got the bits I needed to put him in the log and he was able to copy my scrambled eggs enough to log me.  I didn't get the weather in Osaka, but hey, next time maybe.

If I can get the hang of this I can see me getting hooked.  There is an X factor to CW that is not present in other amateur radio communications.  It used to be compulsory to learn the code in order to be granted an amateur radio licence.  That requirement was dropped about 20 years ago and yet it remains as popular as ever, perhaps more so.  I can understand why.  There is a sense of achievement in mastering the code and communicating with others around the world using this unique mode.

Until next time, peace and love - or - dah dah dit dit dit   dit dit dit dah dah  ('73' 'best wishes' in morse code).

More mending - the FRG-7

 

 

The FRG-7 (photo by Lex PH2LB)

One of my favourite radios is the Yaesu Musen FRG-7 which dates back to around 1977.  I desperately wanted one when I was kid, but I remember they were about $450 AUD and which equaled about 3 years of my pocket money.  

About maybe eight years ago I stumbled across one on that auction site and it rekindled my teenage interest in shortwave radio.  On a whim I bought the radio for $150 (cheap) and it still sits proudly in my radio shack.

Lex PH2LB does real nice mods and repairs on old FRG-7s and posts his adventures on his blog.  His latest project has been a 3D printed tuning knob.  Nice job!

Another mender not ender.

Until next time, peace and love.

Mending not ending!

 

Recently I came across an article by Jeff Sparrow in the Guardian about the gathering movement to force corporations to make their products repairable.  Laws are under consideration in the USA, but I am not aware if they are in Australia. 

One of my favourite podcasts is the Soldersmoke podcast which is dedicated to the art of homebrew radio and hosted by Bill and Pete. I immediately drew a connection between the article and the ethos of Bill and Pete's show and their philosophy on amateur radio.  Build and repair it yourself and learn how it works.

Anyway I shared the article with Bill and Pete and Bill has kindly posted it on the Soldersmoke blog along with the Repair Manifesto which Bill has on his wall in his radio shack. How good is that poster.

As Bill says, End Entropy!

Until next time, peace and love.

Infinite Splendours by Sophie Laguna

 

I've just finished this book.  It's an extraordinarily difficult story, but so beautifully and tenderly told by Sophie Laguna.  

In 1953 Laurence Loman is a bright ten year old boy who lives in country Victoria with his war widowed mother and eight year old brother Paul.  Laurence is a capable young boy and caring toward his mother and brother.  He also has a natural aptitude for painting.  

A man enters the family's life and a great betrayal occurs leaving Laurence broken and sad.  The years follow into Laurence's adulthood and despite his loneliness he creates beautiful art and has a loving heart.  But Laurence emotionally knows little of love and is at great risk of repeating what was done to him as a boy.

I had a knot in my stomach for most of this book.  In the beginning chapters I delighted in the portrayal of young boyhood, although I knew this idyll could not last so I felt a constant sense of dread.  In the chapters that followed I was anxious by what might occur, knowing that Laurence would be unable to cope with adversity of any sort.

It's a difficult and sad book, but filled with great beauty.  Sophie Laguna's writing is supreme. 

Not for everyone and a warning for survivors of abuse.

Until next time peace and love.

The Great Passage

 

 

 

A quick post here.  I recently read this short novel The Great Passage by Shion Miura.  I think I read about it in the NY Times or somewhere and thought it looked interesting.  It's all about the writing of a dictionary and the characters involved, the central one being Majime who is a brilliant, but disorganised and disheveled young man.

 

Majime is  found in the sales department of the publishing company he works for by the soon to be retiring lexicographer, Araki, who needs a replacement.  Majime is not much of a sales person, but turns out to be well suited to lexicography.

 

It's a strange book in the way Japanese books can be to western readers, but this makes it all the more charming.  There's love and loss and you get to learn a little about the Japanese language.  It was the perfect antidote to Karl Ove Knaussgard.

 

While digging about on the internet for an image of this book I discovered it had been made into a film in 2013 as well as an anime TV series.  The trailer for the film is below and it looks like a lot of fun.  Not sure about the anime series and that's not really my thing.  I'm going to see if I can find a copy of the film.

 

Recommended for people who love words.

 

Until next time, peace and love.

 

The End of My Struggle

The End by Karl Ove Knausgaard

You may recall when I wrote about Haruki Murakami's Killing Commendatore a while back I mentioned I was about 500 pages into another novel that I had set aside for a couple of years waiting for the right moment to tackle the beast.  At 1153 pages I finally finished Karl Ove Knausgaard's sixth and final book in his epic series My Struggle.

Anyone who knows me and who has had the misfortune to talk books with me will know about Karl Ove Knausgaard and the My Struggle series of books.  That's because I impress upon every person I know that they must read these books.  I am obviously quite unpersuasive as only a handful of people I know have bothered to read any of them.  And the world is a poorer place for it.  If nothing else, everyone should the first book - A Death in the Family.

Knausgaard is a Norwegian writer who first started the series about 15 years ago and they immediately became a sensation in Scandinavian countries.  At this point something like 30% of Norwegians have read the books.  I can't think of another author who may have captured a country's national attention to that extent.  Particularly as these books are what is called modern literature.  They are not page turning Norwegian-noir crime thrillers.

The books first started to be translated into English about 10 years ago with the final book, The End, translated and released about two years ago.  My strategy has been to read one book a year so as not to overdo it.  That seems about right.

Knausgaard calls these books novels, but in truth they are an autobiography of his life.  The author was about 40 when he started the books and was not particularly well known outside of Norway or Sweden.  He had enjoyed some success with his first novel and then endured a period of writer's block for about 10 years or so.  The My Struggle series was his way of writing his way out of that block.  Hardly the stuff to warrant something like 3,500 pages of autobiography.

However, there are two aspects about the books which mark them as different from nearly every other autobiography you may ever read.  First, there is no 'truth' that Knausgaard is not prepared to tell about himself and others.  Throughout the books we live inside Knausgaard's every thought, no matter how trivial, awful, cruel, self-hating and petty.  In my experience autobiographies are more like exercises in self -promotion, Knausgaard's books are anything but.  They present a side that nearly all of us keep hidden from the conscious world, and it can be ugly.

The second aspect which is different is the excruciatingly close examination of everyday life minutiae throughout the books.  From every cigarette he smokes, every cup of coffee he drinks (he does a lot of both) to the seeming inconsequential conversations he has in the course of his day.  They are all documented and detailed.  On the face of it this sounds too much, but there is something about it that makes it compulsive reading.

The My Struggle books are not linear in their trajectory.  Book one deals with the death of Knausgaard's father when he is aged about 30, while book two describes his first marriage, its dissolution and his second marriage.  Other books deal with his childhood, university days and early days establishing himself as a writer.

In The End we come a full circle to where book one is about to be published.  A legal dispute ensues between Karl Ove and members of his family over the description of his father's death and how certain family members are depicted in the story.  The author is wracked with self-doubt and anxiety over what he has done and cannot believe his naivety and inability to foresee the consequences of the story he is about to publish.

From there Knausgaard explores the notion of identity and how the naming of people: I, we, they, the other,  can shift our notions of humanity.  This was the most difficult part of any of the books I have read, with the author spending about 100 pages examining a post-Holocaust poem by Paul Celan and another 300 pages on the early life of Adolf Hitler and Mein Kampf.  

How did we arrive here?  Well the title My Struggle, which in the Norwegian translates to Mein Kamp, offers a clue.  Knausgaard tries to make sense of Hitler's descent into antisemitism and the German nation's collective insanity in the 1930's and 40's.  Antisemites and neo-Nazis need not bother, Knausgaard is not a sympathiser.

Then we're back into the release of books one through five and the controversy that follows with each release.  In what is probably the saddest parts of the series, the final couple of hundred pages of The End detail his second wife's debilitating mental illness.  This a raw and deeply personal story and very compelling.

So my friends, that is the My Struggle series of books.  I will miss them I must say as they have been captivating reading for some years.  He has other books to read, but somehow I haven't been as enthused about them as much.

Until next time, peace and love.

Tech Alert! - Construction of 6m Yagi antenna

 

The finished product - 4 element Yagi antenna for 50 MHz (6 metres)

This post purely serves as a record keeping exercise for me so that I can check back at some point in the future when I need to view the specs for this antenna I recently built.  The design came from a Serbian amateur YU7EF who is a master antenna designer.  His webpage is at http://www.yu7ef.com/

This was a fun build and I learnt a lot about antenna construction along the way.  Best of all the antenna has proven to be a very good performer.  It works!  Believe me, I don't get to say that very often when I build something.  Mostly it's "oh well, it was worth a try".  I have made contacts all over Australia, NZ and into Indonesia so far with the this antenna over the summer Sporadic E season.

I was extremely careful in measuring the element spacing and lengths and was rewarded with a perfectly matched antenna.  Here are the vital dimensions and gain measurements.

I used the 10mm diameter elements in my construction so the antenna is extremely lightweight.

Using the ARRL antenna handbook recipe I also constructed a common-mode choke tuned for 50 MHz and using LMR-400 coaxial cable.  Here's a photo of the choke.

And here is a pic of the element mounting.  Note the ancient Inca rug.

I used Stauff hydraulic hose clamps from the local EnZed outlet.  These are perfect for this purpose and cost less than $30 for a bag of 25 clamps.

I am very pleased with this build, the only thing I would change next time is use heavier grade aluminium for the boom.  I wasn't able to purchase a heavier grade locally at the time.

Until next time, peace and love.

Two songs for you from Jess Cornelius

 

I am a latecomer to Jess Cornelius, an Australian singer/songwriter now based in the USA.  I first heard her sing in her band Teeth and Tongue maybe a couple of years ago.  Beautiful electro pop gems with an indie edge.  But beyond listening to one record I didn't venture any further until her debut solo record Distance was released a few months ago.  Wow!  What a gem of a record.  It is so full of great songs I have to be careful not to over play it as I want the wonder to last as long as possible.

This was going to be "a song for you" post, but I can't choose between these two songs.  Both videos were shot in LA during COVID lockdown in mid 2020 as you will soon pick up.  

The first song "Kitchen Floor" is the opening track on the record and it's a killer tune and vocal.  I love the video as it makes a strong statement which challenges society's expectations of women by depicting a situation not usually shown and one I've never heard discussed in polite circles.  You don't need me to explain anymore as you'll get it soon enough.

The second song "Body Memory" deals with a tragic event in the song character's life and the fall out for a relationship.  It's a beautifully told story and I find the lyric quiet moving.  The clip though is just plain fun and should be marketed as an exercise video (they probably don't make them anymore, right?).

Please listen to some of the best Australian music there is (or has been).

Jess Cornelius Bandcamp page: https://jesscornelius.bandcamp.com/ 

Until next time, peace and love.

PS, I am still reading that monster novel.

Jess Cornelius - Kitchen Floor

Jess Cornelius - Body Memory