Danish musician René González Schelbeck, trading as Western Skies Motel, makes, predominantly acoustic, instrumental music inspired by the wide open spaces of rural America. The recent LP, 'Settlers', is a extremely fine piece of work, while a companion 6 track EP, 'Generations', contains 'Myriads', a tune which steadily works its way to an electric crescendo and is my favourite piece from the project thus far. Shades of Fripp & Eno in that one, methinks.
Check out more music from Western Skies Motel here.
As I write these words, the old bone-shaker is at the garage being fine tuned in preparation for the journey and by the time you read this we should be speeding our way down the M11 towards London, where Mrs S has an important three day artistic gig in the heart of the sprawling metropolis. And me? I'll be ticking off a few odd jobs for my two elderly East End-based Aunts. Curtain changing, plant watering, a little gentle tidying - you name it, I'll probably be dusting it. It promises to be a flat out, non-stop, nose-to-the-grindstone few days for me, with interruptions only for extended coffee breaks (with hefty slabs of homemade cake, natch) and taking the dear old ladies in question out for a leisurely lunch or two. I'll be glad to get back home on Tuesday for a rest.
I've managed to catch at least one London date (often several) on every UK Bob Dylan tour since 1981. The one exception was in November of 2005 when work pressures prevented me from attending. So imagine my utter dismay when I checked the setlists online following Bob's Brixton Academy shows, to find that he'd commenced his encores with a brief snatch of 'London Calling', a direct nod to the city and of course, the mighty Clash, the only band that mattered.
A short while after penning this post in 2012, I had a little rethink. I tried to work out exactly where I was and who I was with the last time I went to a dentist and, following a quick recalculation based on those facts, realised that my last visit wasn't in in 1987 as I'd initially estimated, but actually in 1983. A couple of weeks ago I finally plucked up the courage, signed up to the same local dental surgery as Mrs S and went along for my first check up in 33 years. My new dentist, who wasn't even born the last time I set foot inside a surgery, expected the worst as I opened my cake-hole for inspection, but, with a couple of exceptions, was pleasantly surprised at the state of my molars. Yesterday I had a filling, taking care of the lesser of the problems he found. I was utterly terrified, but was a brave little soldier throughout the process. The other discovery made by my dentist came as no surprise, indeed I alluded to it in that post 4 years ago. A tooth at the back has crumbled beyond repair or possibility of normal extraction. It's never given me a moment of pain or discomfort, but surely will one day, so it has to be dug out - and it'll be a nasty job. I'm awaiting an appointment later in the year with a specialist, for which I will be given sedation. It'll be messy, but it's my own fault.
Here are Chatham's finest and the only Dentists I've ever really cared for, with their classic début single from 1985, 'Strawberries are Growing in My Garden (and It's Wintertime)'.
I appreciate that some of us have got this record collecting bug worse than others, but who among us would be capable of resisting the chance to own a true rarity by one of our own favourite artists? And by true rarity I mean a very limited, personalised edition - of one copy. Step forward I Will Play This Song Once Again, a record label specialising in excruciatingly limited, personalised releases. Some of the singles in their catalogue have editions of just 5 copies, though my own purchase, 'What Have They Done To You Now?' by Daniel Knox, had a massive run of.....35. This means that Daniel recorded the song 35 times, each a one-off individually cut performance, prefaced by a brief spoken introduction, which in my case was a dedication to me using my full name (pronounced absolutely correctly - believe me this rarely happens) followed by the date and time of recording - four o'clock one morning in December since you ask.
The original recording of 'What Have They Done To You Now?' appeared on Daniel's excellent 'Disaster' album in 2007 and is revisited on my single in a very dramatic, rolling reworking - a unique performance, quite literally. I'd love to play it for you, but it's mine, all mine! Here's the original though. Check out more of Daniel's terrific music here.
Almost exactly a year ago I posted a few shots (here) of a collared dove who'd elected to set up a nest in a very precarious position. Sadly, on that on that particular occasion, the eggs were lost in the storm, though I'm happy to report that the family were more successful in the same spot a little later in the year. I happened to glance over at the same stretch of our neighbour's guttering a couple of weeks ago and noticed a dove sitting on a nest right over the downpipe, exactly as that one did 12 months ago. Yesterday afternoon, as I walked past an upstairs window, I spotted some movement across the way - it was a proud parent gently encouraging a recently hatched youngster to take a stroll along the gutter, while another egg sat temporarily abandoned back in the nest. Never fear though, shortly thereafter, one of the parents was back on the nest, incubating the second egg, so we're keeping our fingers crossed for two out of two. (Click on the photos to enlarge)
As we're rolling out the welcome wagon for the new arrival, it seems an apt moment to share a tune by the Asthmatic Kitty recording artists of the same name. The duo's 2008 début, 'Welcome to The Welcome Wagon', was produced by Sufjan Stevens, who also put in an appearance on the 2012 follow up, 'Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices'. Album number three is due later this year. This is 'Sold! To the Nice Rich Man', originally released in 1999 by Danielson, another artist with a strong Sufjan Stevens connection.
