I suppose the format of my delivery on this blog is beginning to develop in my head as I get used to it. I think it is moving toward posts containing my general thoughts; such as this one. I will try mix it up with more hard edge informative stuff like pieces on new albums I like etc.
Today is a Wednesday for me although actually it has now slipped into what is technically the early hours of Thursday. I had a few drinks and a long chat with an uncle of mine. He was turning 18 in the late sixties and was playing music semi regularly with Rory Gallagher. This was the era of the showbands in Ireland. It was not necessarily the greatest musical era witness this; The Impact. It is interesting to think that Gallagher went from that to Rory Gallagher - Moonchild.
There were a number of fantastic stories to be heard from my uncle; walking into a smoky bar in London watching Clapton play, he felt a tap on his shoulder and trying to get past him to the stage was none other than Jimi Hendrix! By all accounts this was a great time to be in London as far as music was concerned. He managed to sum it up pretty nicely when he said 'In the space of one week, we saw Page, Hendrix and Clapton play, a teenage Elton John playing blues piano in a tiny bar and the Pink Floyd transit van was parked at the top of our road all week'. For a trip down memory lane there are a few links below.
Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe
Pink Floyd, 1968, with David Gilmour, live, playing Astronomy Domine
The Yardbirds - Train Kept A-Rolling
Eric Clapton discusses his Gibson SG
I have been having a torrid time trying to find a suitable apartment in Chicago for the next 2 months or so. I have been ringing all sorts of people in Chicago. I had one chap today, I couldn't get him off the phone. He said we wouldn't be able to rent as his landlord won't lease to people with no credit history like us. He spent, no joke, ten minutes apologising for the whole thing. So much empathy, I was all empatyhied out by the end I was running on empathy. That was a pun not a misuse of the word.
To get me through this turbulent search I have turned to shoe gaze. I just love the melancholy swaying it has. I have been getting pretty lost in Mazzy Star and The Drop Nineteens. Mazzy Star you will probably know from the single Fade Into You. It has that sort of gentle rhythmic tenderness that makes you want to just stand and gaze at your shoes and just sort of be chilled about it all I suppose. Another song of theirs I would recommend is the lush and beautiful rendition of Five String Serenade.
I think that is just about the sum of my words for the evening.
Peace
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