Author: Steve

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Fresh Look At An Old Book

Like many people – believers or not – who grew up with Bible reading in school or church, I suffer from over-familiarity with The Bible. Lots of the really radical stuff in there gets a bit lost when you’ve read it a thousand times and heard innumerable sermons on it of varying degrees of imcomprehensibility.

So recently, I started reading through The Message, a contemporary translation/paraphrase by a Eugene Peterson – written cos as a Greek Scholar, he saw that the students in his seminary class weren’t getting the same vibe from the text in english that he was in Greek!

Anyway, I’ve just got up to The Sermon On The Mount – one of the most oft-quoted bits of moral teaching in the history of humanity, and part of the direct inspiration behind the life and work of Ghandi, MLK, Mandela and numerous other great people.

I must’ve read it hundreds of times, and always dug it as some great advice, but the way that Peterson renders Jesus’ words in The Message version brings it totally to life, makes it easily applicable, and certainly gets rid of this crass image of Jesus that pervades so much of church culture as some kind of austere, pontificating bore. This is vibrant lively stuff, well worth checking out, regardless of your religious persuasion.

Soundtrack – still listening to Denison Witmer

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Karmic Response

One of the many bass discussion groups I contribute to on the net is www.thedudepit.com – a site set up by Steve ‘dude’ Barr, who runs the Vintage Bass Trading Co. partly as a place for discussing gear, but also as just a hang out on line. As with most forums like this, it’s the ‘off topic’ section that attracts the most posts, and is where people actually get to know eachother (that and the chat room) – the off topic section at The Dude Pit is titled ‘Al’s Nudie Bar’ but fortunately actually rarely features any nudity; it’s more just an indication of where Dude’s head is at… :o)

Anyway, the amazing thing about the dudepit is the sense of community that has built up there – there are guys on there who are going way out of their way to help people out, supporting eachother through bereavement, gear theft, house fires, storm damage, and the in the latest case, through one of the guys being hospitalised seriously with no medical insurance. Now, as we know, in the horrible medical scenario that is the US, people without medical insurance get hit with hefty bills. In the case of Ray Duke – the pitter in question – who’s a pro musician making a living in bar bands, function bands etc. the bill came to $26,000!!!! WTF???? How on earth does that happen????? Anyway, there’s a thread about Ray’s situation in The Pit, where people able to pledge money to help the guy out. I’ve chatted to Ray a few times in the chat room there, and he’s a great guy (not that that should really have much bearing on whether he gets help or not but anyway…) – if you feel like pitching in, however much, I’m sure it’ll be hugely appreciated to help out with his bills. As a fellow pro bassist, and one who were I living in the US would probably also be without medical insurance, I have a great deal of sympathy with Ray, and just hope that somehow we can help him out, and in so doing, help the bass world out. Being a pro musician gets harder and harder the more crass the industry gets, and a knock like this can finish a guy off.

In other news, had a great fun gig last night with Tess Garraway – this time, Seb Rochford joined Joss, Tess and I for the show, which was another creative improv night. We hit some real highs in the set, and gelled with Seb straight away. ‘Twas another tiny crowd, and methinks Tess and the venue are going to have to get the promo sorted out fast if this kind of vibe is going to continue…

And then today, we took the aged feline off the vets for his regular check-up (given that he’s 18 it’s a VERY regular checkup) – we already knew that he has chronic renal insufficiency, but with his diet and some meds we’d had it under control. However, his blood test today showed that the urea levels in his blood are way high, so they kept him in and put him on a saline drip. This was rather harrowing, cos the poor little guy doesn’t like the vets at the best of times, so to be put in a cage there and for us to leave him was seriously freaking him out. We went back and visited him this afternoon, which was nice, but he’s not well at all, and the long term prognosis is not good. Please say a prayer for the little guy, should you feel so inclined.

here he is –

Soundtrack – right now, Denison Witmer, ‘Philadelphia Songs’, before that John Lester, ‘Big Dreams And The Bottom Line’; Kerry Getz, ‘Little Victory’; Nik Kershaw, ’15 Minutes’; The Choir, ‘Wided Eyed Wonder’.

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Musical Friends…

…are keeping me happy…

so sang Bruce Cockburn in 1970, and indeed it’s true in my life too.

The latest installment in musical friendship began on Friday when I went to see Lifehouse play at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. What a fantastic band!! I’ve got both their albums, but the live experience is even better, and the new guitarist is amazing. I met Sergio, Rick and Jason a couple of years ago in LA, and have seen Sergio a few times since (he came to one of my gigs in LA), so had to go see them play when they were here. Great to hear them, great to get to hang out here in London rather than in LA this time!

part 2 of musical friends was Julian’s wedding on Saturday – Julian’s a former student of mine from Drumtech, who’s now doing big business on the session scene, and deservedly so, he’s a truly brilliant drummer (he was when I was teaching him too, so I’m not taking any of the credit for that!) – anyway, his wedding was naturally full of musos, lots of whom I hadn’t seen for ages, so it was great not only to see my friend get married, but to catch up with so many old aquaintances. Add to that the full on gospel choir hymns/worship section of the service, and some fantastic food at the reception, and you’ve got a magical day.

part 3 – meeting up for a beer on Sunday afternoon with Steve McEwan and Nick Paton. I’d not met Nick before, but he was in Friends First’ – one of the bands I’ve listened to most in my whole life (their album ‘We See A New Africa’ soundtracked about three years of my life in my mid teens). It was great to meet him, and be able to give some advice on indie promotion to someone whose music has meant so much in my life.

part 4 – Denison Witmer is a singer/songwriter from Philly who played at Greenbelt this year, and was fantastic. We chatted a bit at the festival and swapped CDs, and he was playing in Brixton on Sunday night, so The Cheat and I went down to hear another stunning gig from the man. Also gave me a chance to buy his other CDs, and go for a curry with Denison and The Cheat.

Then today, met one of my occasional students, Nick, for a coffee, and had a marvellous afternoon chatting about life, music, politics and everything in between.

So, music friends have indeed been making me happy, which got me thinking, and I came up with the notion of the Pillow Mountain Records extended family – a list of artists who are good friends, and whose music I endorse wholeheartedly, and will encourage as many people as possible to check out. So anyway, so you don’t have to go rummaging through the PMR site for the list, here are the links for you to peruse. All these peoples are amazing artists, and lovely people worthy of your patronage.

www.altruistmusic.com – Andre LaFosse
(turntablist guitar)
www.petermurray.ca – Peter Murray
(singer/songwriter)
www.denisonwitmer.com – Denison Witmer
(singer/songwriter)
www.kerry-getz.com – Kerry Getz
(singer/songwriter)
www.manthing.com – Michael Manring
(solo bassist)
www.johnlestermusic.com – John Lester
(solo bass singer/songwriter!)
www.nedevett.com – Ned Evett
(fretless guitarist)
www.tripwamsley.com – Trip Wamsley
(solo bassist)
www.unguitar.com – Luca Formentini
(unguitarist)
www.calamateur.co.uk – Calamateur aka Andrew Howie
(singer/songwriter/foundsoundist)
www.julielee.org – Julie Lee
(singer/songwriter)

there you go – check ’em out!

soundtrack – right now, Julie Lee (see above), ‘Made From Scratch’; before that, Denison Witmer (ditto), ‘Safe Away’ & ‘Philadelphia Songs’; The Choir, ‘Wide Eyed Wonder’; Bruce Cockburn, ‘World Of Wonders’; Nik Kershaw, ’15 Minutes’; John Lester, ‘Big Dreams And The Bottom Line’; Joni Mitchell, ‘Travelogue’.

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We just lost one of the greats…

So Johnny Cash just passed away last night – what a sad loss. Very very few artists will ever have the significance and integrity that Johnny had. Had some tough times, addicted to amphetamines in the 70s, the death of his wife, but made some hugely important records – the prison albums were landmarks in the relationship between music and the ‘real world’ – bringing the woody guthrie grit to mainstream country music.

And he continued to make great music – the video for his cover of the Nine Inch Nails track, ‘Hurt’ is one of the most powerful music vids I’ve ever seen – if you’re on broadband, check out the video at yahoo.

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Politics is the new Rock and Roll

Apparently the mighty and wonderful Tony Benn has released an album! It’s a collection of his speeches, with some ambient music behind it. I’m sure it’ll be as marvellous as everything else that Tony puts his hand to – he was on the radio this morning, on Danny Baker’s Show, and was on top form.

anyway, must dash, things to do, write more later!

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Evolution or Revolution?

The music industry is changing, that’s for sure. To do what I’ve done even 10 years ago would have been a heck of a lot more difficult and expensive to get off the ground. The cost of recording studio set ups has plummeted with the home computer market, the net has thrown the doors wide on forming underground niche networks through which to make a small-scale name for yourself, and online shops are waking up to the growing sales of independent albums (interesting that while the majors are all crying ‘foul play’ over file sharing, the indies are selling more records that ever…)

Maybe people respond well to having the chance to buy CD directly from an artist – I know I do! I love browsing CD Baby looking for interesting music, having a listen to the streaming stuff and then buying a CD or two, knowing that the artists are getting the dough for their hard earned work.

So is this a natural shift, or are we about to see the collapse of the industry as we know it? The mainstream charts are getting less and less relavent to your average joe – how many ‘big’ albums have I bought in recent times? Right now, I think I own two CDs in the top 40 – Athlete’s ‘Vehicles and Animals’ and Coldplay’s ‘A Rush Of Blood To The Head’ – that’s a pretty high proportion for me! A large amount of my time is spent listening to indie stuff, self produced CDs (with nothing to distinguish them as self produced other than the care and attention that’s gone into them, and the rather more matey sounding sleeve notes!)

But, if the truth be told, there are times when I wonder if the record company route might be easier – someone else to do the work. Then I read articles like this one by Steve Albini – he produced In Utero by Nirvana, and here outlines the details of a major ‘rock’ deal (some fruity language again, so avoid if easily offended). Thanks, but no thanks, I’ll stick with ‘jamming econo’ as the mighty Mike Watt calls it – the DIY ethic is a powerful one, and it doesn’t take much searching to find like-minded souls with whom to share a thought and a word of encouragement. I’ve met loads of indie musos through Looper’s Delight, the solo bass network, and just through gigs, web surfing, at NAMM and so on. Tomorrow I’m meeting up with a very fine solo bassist called John Lester, another solo bassist ploughing a furrow in London, and making some amazing music (check out his site, he’s great).

Anyway, I thank God I had the chance to go indie when I did, and that it’s all working out so well… looking forward to putting out the new record with theo, and then starting work on the next solo one! I’ve done loads of practicing over the last few days and am getting a few ideas together for new tunes… what fun…

Soundtrack – Terje Rypdal, ‘Skywards’, Duke Special, ‘Lucky Me’, and an advanced copy of Andre LaFosse’s album ‘Normalise’, which is marvellous. I mean, really really good! not easy listening by any stretch, but some of the most adventurous, funky, glitchy fascinating sounds ever to come from a guitar… Go and have a listen to some of the tracks in Andre’s MP3 archive, and then order the CD…

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Bruce Cockburn Gig Pt 2

Part two of the Cockburn gig experience – this time at The Forum in Kentish Town, London, which is an OK venue, but not ideal. Still, Bruce and Julie were on top form, played enough material that was different from last night to make it all well worthwhile, including a couple of real surprises, including ‘Planet Of The Clowns’ from his early 80s album, Trouble With Normal – a great song.

Julie Wolf was on sterling form once again – more fine piano playing and atmospheric organ stuff.

Interesting to see SOOO many people I knew at the gig (probably 30-40 I knew by sight, and 25-30 by name), and we also had the now obligatory Bruce gig recognition thingie – ‘are you that bass player bloke? I saw you at Greenbelt, and recognised your beard’… :o)

Following the gig was a low key meet ‘n’ greet backstage – very nice to get a chance to compliment Julie Wolf on her marvellous playing, and say hi to Bruce, though whether he remembered me as the guy who interviewed him for guitarist mag 4 years ago is anybody’s guess.

Anyway, one of the other songs that Bruce did tonight that was left out of last night’s set was Call It Democracy – a marvellous insightful raging rant about the onward march of western economic and militaristic hegemonic practice – so good, that I’ve copied the lyrics here (there are a couple of naughty words in them, so if such things upset you for some reason, page down past the song)…

Padded with power here they come
International loan sharks backed by the guns
Of market hungry military profiteers
Whose word is a swamp and whose brow is smeared
With the blood of the poor

Who rob life of its quality
Who render rage a necessity
By turning countries into labour camps
Modern slavers in drag as champions of freedom

Sinister cynical instrument
Who makes the gun into a sacrament —
The only response to the deification
Of tyranny by so-called “developed” nations’
Idolatry of ideology

North South East West
Kill the best and buy the rest
It’s just spend a buck to make a buck
You don’t really give a flying fuck
About the people in misery

IMF dirty MF
Takes away everything it can get
Always making certain that there’s one thing left
Keep them on the hook with insupportable debt

See the paid-off local bottom feeders
Passing themselves off as leaders
Kiss the ladies shake hands with the fellows
Open for business like a cheap bordello

And they call it democracy
And they call it democracy
And they call it democracy
And they call it democracy

See the loaded eyes of the children too
Trying to make the best of it the way kids do
One day you’re going to rise from your habitual feast
To find yourself staring down the throat of the beast
They call the revolution

IMF dirty MF
Takes away everything it can get
Always making certain that there’s one thing left
Keep them on the hook with insupportable debt

There you go – what a great song. It’s from the album ‘World Of Wonders’, which is great, and there’s also a magic version on Bruce Cockburn Live.

Soundtrack John Coltrane, ‘Coltrane’; Paul Motian Trio, ‘Live At The Village Vanguard’; The Amazing Bud Powell Vol 1.

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Bruce Cockburn gig pt 1

As you may or may not already know, I’m a bit of a Bruce Cockburn obsessive. He’s been my favourite singer/songwriter/guitarist/lyricist for over a decade, and I’ve got just about everything he’s ever released.

He’s currently on tour in the UK, and tonight I headed up to The Stables in Milton Keynes to see him play – my favourite musician at my favourite venue – how good does it get?

And it was as good as I could possibly have imagined. Better even. Just Bruce and Julie Wolf on stage – him on guitar, her on keys/accordian and BVs. Mix of stuff from the new CD and classics, including a couple of marvellous reworkings of tracks like World Of Wonders, Mighty Trucks Of Midnight and Nighttrain. All in all a marvellous gig – and what’s even better is I get to do it all again tomorrow in London – oh yes, I’ve got a ticket for the Forum as well (thanks to The Cheat for getting them…)

The other rather fun thing that happened this evening was having a bloke in the row in front say ‘don’t I know you?’ narrowing it down to Greenbelt, before asking my name, to which he responded ‘oh, I’ve been listening to your CDs for the last few days, had you on this morning in fact!’ – so there you go, with my hair tied back, I can almost go incognito. Still, rather nice to meet people who’ve been listening to my stuff at a Cockburn gig – what fine taste he must have – nice to meet you, bloke-in-the-row-in-front!

Soundtrack – right now, it’s Terje Rypdal, ‘Skywards’. This afternoon, Michael Manring, ‘Thonk’, Mark Knopfler, ‘The Ragpicker’s Dream’.

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we interrupt this broadcast…

as a slight aside from me talking about the inanities of my life and a bit about music, here’s an article from yesterday’s guardian by michael meacher.

He’s the former Enviroment Minister here in the UK, and his insights, research and conclusions on the real thinking behing the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the increasingly flimsy war on terror make for sobering reading, though not it has to be said all that surprising, giving the overwhelming evidence to back up his assertions… All very sad stuff, and a good reason to go on pressuring the government to be more accountable, more honest about its motives and more humane in considering the welfare of those people who’s home land is turned into a warzone just so we can pay less for our gas and oil.

For two national leaders who both profess to be christians, Bush and Blair have a funny way of carrying out the notion that we should ‘love one another’. What happened to good news for the poor? Sounds like the worst imaginable news for the poor when the rich start dropping bombs on you to make you fall in line…

On a similar theme, I’m in the middle of reading ‘Asses In Clover’ by Eimar O’Duffy – which is even more scary than the meacher article in that it was written in the 30s and apparently NOTHING HAS CHANGED AT ALL!! – the world o’duffy spells out is one of corrupt rulers, a propaganda ridden press, a enconomic system permanently at odds with itself but hellbent on keeping the rich rich and the poor poor. The soliloquy by one of the goverment officials towards the end of the book about the reasons for poverty and war sound like bang-up-to-date New Labour BS. Alistair Campbell would have been proud of such a speech. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention – the book’s an extremely funny satirical sci fi tale…!

Anyway, it’s a must read.

Soundtrack – Talk Talk, ‘Spirit Of Eden’.

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Another MP3

Added another MP3 to the site, from the new CD… well, I didn’t add it today, it had already been added, but only the Street Team had access… …you should sign up for the street team if you want to swap your help in plugging the music for some exclusives, and hopefully cheap tickets to gigs in the future…

It’s be a webalicious couple of days – today I added a page to the site for the new album, and yesterday, I designed the site for the London Guitar Festival. I played at the festival last year, opening for Antonio Forcione, which was great fun. This year, I’m just on web duty.

oh, maybe you’d like the see the cover of the new CD –

– there you go.

The picture on the cover there is of Union Square in San Francisco – an urban open space! The rest of the sleeve is very nearly finished – I just need to add a picture of me, and we’re done.

Been listening to Sigur Ros a lot lately, and it inspired a couple of new sounds – some really mad distortion/reverb type things. Very nice.

Soundtrack – Right now, I’m listening to WYCE – Sarda’s laydee-friend is presenting the show. other recent stuff – Talk Talk, ‘Spirit Of Eden’; Sigur Ros, ‘Agaetis Byrjum’; Mo Foster, ‘Time To Think’; and the final mix of ‘For The Love OF Open Spaces’, and boy, does it sound fine!

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