Hi
I should've written this a year ago but time flies and I never quite made a clean break. So, if you've been wondering where I am......
I'm now over at Patreon! There's a mix of patron-only and open posts, free posts, paid posts, early access... and the mix of fiction and pop culture writing that I've
Come and join me at www.patreon.com/clareworley!
Sunday, 2 December 2018
Tuesday, 27 February 2018
100 Awesome Things - Part 35 - From the Vault 2014
And at last, I'm caught up with all the 'previously on...' 100 Awesome Things posts...
~~~2014~~~
I'm not quite sure how to describe Lonnie Donegan - or his cultural impact upon Britain - to the outside world. A bit like Rod Hull and Emu, if you were to describe him to an outsider they would like blink at you a few times, perhaps scratch their head and say "you what, now?"
~~~2014~~~
I'm not quite sure how to describe Lonnie Donegan - or his cultural impact upon Britain - to the outside world. A bit like Rod Hull and Emu, if you were to describe him to an outsider they would like blink at you a few times, perhaps scratch their head and say "you what, now?"
Saturday, 25 November 2017
100 Awesome Things - Part 34 - From the Vault 2014
More 100Awe and this time it's muppety...
~~~2014~~~
I never quite get over my amazement at how a piece of music can unite seemingly-unconnected, disparate people. I should hardly be surprised: the power of music upon the human soul is, after all, my life's study. Yet sometimes, something truly extraordinary comes along.
Thursday, 23 November 2017
100 Awesome Things - Parts 32 and 33 - From the Vault 2013
For the first time, 100 Awesome Things takes on two pieces of music at a time... and once more, grief and music are entwined.
~~~2013~~~~
One of the things about grief, in whatever form it takes, is how it eventually just is. Perhaps it takes a very long time, but it's something one absorbs into the fabric of one's soul, one's existence, one's life. It simply is.
~~~2013~~~~
One of the things about grief, in whatever form it takes, is how it eventually just is. Perhaps it takes a very long time, but it's something one absorbs into the fabric of one's soul, one's existence, one's life. It simply is.
Tuesday, 21 November 2017
100 Awesome Things - Part 31 - From the Vault 2013
Another 100 Awesome Things piece from 2013...
~~~~2013~~~
Sunday, 19 November 2017
100 Awesome Things - Part 30 - From The Vault 2013
For anyone who saw the Entertainment/Culture section of their news this week, or anyone who has ever spoken to me for any length of time, I don't suppose today's subject will be any surprise.
Because Ray Manzarek died the other day.
Because Ray Manzarek died the other day.
Friday, 17 November 2017
100 Awesome Things - Part 29 - From the Vault 2013
I was in Milan last weekend. It was my first visit to the city, which is far more 'real' and 'working' than the city-sized museums of Florence and Venice. I liked it very much, though I can't say I loved it as I do amata Firenze.
On the Friday we did some art and wandering around; on the Saturday we had tickets for Da Vinci's Last Supper, which in real life is way more powerful than any print or copy will ever be; and on the Sunday morning we visited the museum at Teatro alla Scala. The deal is simple: if they're not in the middle of rehearsals, you can go into a box and experience the auditorium itself. Given how outrageously expensive tickets to actual performances there are, this was my only chance to see inside.
Milan is the kind of place where it feels like everyone is richer and better dressed than you (in my case this is almost certainly true for almost everyone). La Scala is the kind of place which doesn't like the hoi polloi. This can be gathered from the prices in the gift shop, where fridge magnets were 12 euro and a small cloth bag was nearly 20.
I posed for a pic with the bust of Mascagni, who composed my favourite opera ever, which remains the only time I've seen live opera to date (ENO at the London Coliseum with Pagliacci and it was great)... and then went into a box, joking with my dad about the most inappropriate thing one could sing at La Scala.
I decided on A Hole In The Ground by Bernard Cribbins. So while I took some pictures, I sang it very quietly to my dad, who laughed. And yes, I am the kind of person who knows all the lyrics to comedy records from the 1960s. You expected anything else?
Anyway, as almost everyone who reads this blog (hi, both of you!), I am a singer. I'm not the world's greatest, but I have some skill. My dad had joked about me "singing at La Scala". It was quiet - there weren't many tourists visiting and there were only a few lighting tests going on - so I didn't think it would be the end of the world if I suddenly burst into song. Which to be honest, I do at any given time/place and singing at La Scala would be one of the more relevant places. I almost chickened out, embarrassed and scared that what would come out would be awful.
Then again, while visiting the Motown Historical Museum in Detroit, of my dearest friends pushed me forward to sing into their echo chamber and I sang a snip of "Dancing in the Street" at Motown in front of a large group of black American seniors and didn't offend so...
Something occurred to me: Mario Lanza. As far as I'm concerned, there have been no greater singers. Caruso was good, sure. John McCormack was OK. Pavarotti tolerable. I grant that this is very much personal opinion and is not a statement of fact.
On the Friday we did some art and wandering around; on the Saturday we had tickets for Da Vinci's Last Supper, which in real life is way more powerful than any print or copy will ever be; and on the Sunday morning we visited the museum at Teatro alla Scala. The deal is simple: if they're not in the middle of rehearsals, you can go into a box and experience the auditorium itself. Given how outrageously expensive tickets to actual performances there are, this was my only chance to see inside.
Milan is the kind of place where it feels like everyone is richer and better dressed than you (in my case this is almost certainly true for almost everyone). La Scala is the kind of place which doesn't like the hoi polloi. This can be gathered from the prices in the gift shop, where fridge magnets were 12 euro and a small cloth bag was nearly 20.
I posed for a pic with the bust of Mascagni, who composed my favourite opera ever, which remains the only time I've seen live opera to date (ENO at the London Coliseum with Pagliacci and it was great)... and then went into a box, joking with my dad about the most inappropriate thing one could sing at La Scala.
I decided on A Hole In The Ground by Bernard Cribbins. So while I took some pictures, I sang it very quietly to my dad, who laughed. And yes, I am the kind of person who knows all the lyrics to comedy records from the 1960s. You expected anything else?
Anyway, as almost everyone who reads this blog (hi, both of you!), I am a singer. I'm not the world's greatest, but I have some skill. My dad had joked about me "singing at La Scala". It was quiet - there weren't many tourists visiting and there were only a few lighting tests going on - so I didn't think it would be the end of the world if I suddenly burst into song. Which to be honest, I do at any given time/place and singing at La Scala would be one of the more relevant places. I almost chickened out, embarrassed and scared that what would come out would be awful.
Then again, while visiting the Motown Historical Museum in Detroit, of my dearest friends pushed me forward to sing into their echo chamber and I sang a snip of "Dancing in the Street" at Motown in front of a large group of black American seniors and didn't offend so...
Something occurred to me: Mario Lanza. As far as I'm concerned, there have been no greater singers. Caruso was good, sure. John McCormack was OK. Pavarotti tolerable. I grant that this is very much personal opinion and is not a statement of fact.
Simply, for me, Lanza is the tenor I love the best. We were formally introduced to each other via a documentary on TV that I watched with my Granddad not long before he was hospitalised (Granddad, not Lanza). My granddad was a lover of things Italian, like food, music and people to marry, and we enjoyed the documentary so much that I went and bought a 3-disc set of Lanza music that same week.
I quickly discovered that some of the songs are utterly execrable. Some of it's that god-awful 1950s schmaltz with the dolcissimoclose-harmony backing singers which I dislike on Dean Martin songs and detest on Lanza's work. Can you say 'surplus to requirements'? However, no matter how crap the songs or the arrangements, the Lanza Voice remains tremendous at all times, though regularly mismatched to the song.
I watched The Student Prince and laughed as Lanza's voice issued from weedy, charisma-free actor Edmond Purdom, and wished Lanza had played the part himself as originally intended. I watched The Great Caruso and wished that Caruso had lived in a time of better recording technology but was glad Lanza was there to fill in the blanks.
Yes, I loved Lanza's voice and grieved for the lost opportunities and tragedies of his life. Stood in La Scala, I wished to have heard his voice using the theatre's rightly-renowed acoustics. And so I opened my mouth, took a deep breath down to the diaphragm and without fully conscious thought, the first verse of "Because You're Mine" issued forth.
Next I thing know, my dad's tapped me on the shoulder. The security guard has apparently told me off for singing in a theatre. All the previous embarrassment flooded back as we shuffle out the box. He scowled and scolded in Italian so I just said sorry and that I wanted to know what it would sound like. He then proceeded to stare at me as I made my way through the rest of the theatre museum (Franz Liszt's piano! Portraits of the great and good of the opera world! Nureyev's costumes!)...
Perhaps I violated some great, sacroscant rule of the theatre, I don't know. I can't be the first museum visitor to do so.
However, most important to me: I SOUNDED FUCKING AWESOME. The acoustics are truly fantastic and I projected right through that damned gilt and red velvet auditorium. I sounded GOOD, man. The nearby English visitors made some such comment to my parents but I was too busy being overwhelmed by the sound of my own voice rising through the theatre.
Lanza didn't sing at La Scala. He bloody well should have, but life can be cruel and we are sometimes our own worst enemies and sometimes even the hugely talented have bad luck. On the sliding scale of singing talent I'm probably closer to One Direction than Lanza: I'm a girl, not a tenor, and untrained... but for some probably mystical reason, it felt only right and correct that his song should be heard in that moment in that place. Maybe I broke some rule or tradition or something but... I'm sorry for disrupting the lighting crew for twenty odd seconds.
So to the security guard, I apologise by quoting a line from A Hard Day's Night: "Sorry we hurt your field, mister."
You see, those people you hear on those Cowell shows? Some of 'em are OK. Some of 'em have some skillz... but this is what "great" sounds like. I think sometimes we've forgotten what "great" looks and sounds like and so settle for "mediocre" and "tolerable".
I truly don't say this to be snobby or elitist. I mean, I like "A Hole In The Ground"! It's not about 'opera good, pop bad'.
We deserve great in all things. "Mediocre" and "tolerable" have their place and if you love it then it's all good, but... It's voices like Lanza, Caruso and the rest that are why I don't dig the Cowell stuff, just as guitarists like Green, Kossoff, Hendrix, Gallagher ensure I'm unimpressed by so much/most current guitar music and so on.
We all deserve the best of everything, whether it's opera or rock or pop or any of those things. We all deserve "great".
C 2013.
I quickly discovered that some of the songs are utterly execrable. Some of it's that god-awful 1950s schmaltz with the dolcissimoclose-harmony backing singers which I dislike on Dean Martin songs and detest on Lanza's work. Can you say 'surplus to requirements'? However, no matter how crap the songs or the arrangements, the Lanza Voice remains tremendous at all times, though regularly mismatched to the song.
I watched The Student Prince and laughed as Lanza's voice issued from weedy, charisma-free actor Edmond Purdom, and wished Lanza had played the part himself as originally intended. I watched The Great Caruso and wished that Caruso had lived in a time of better recording technology but was glad Lanza was there to fill in the blanks.
Yes, I loved Lanza's voice and grieved for the lost opportunities and tragedies of his life. Stood in La Scala, I wished to have heard his voice using the theatre's rightly-renowed acoustics. And so I opened my mouth, took a deep breath down to the diaphragm and without fully conscious thought, the first verse of "Because You're Mine" issued forth.
Next I thing know, my dad's tapped me on the shoulder. The security guard has apparently told me off for singing in a theatre. All the previous embarrassment flooded back as we shuffle out the box. He scowled and scolded in Italian so I just said sorry and that I wanted to know what it would sound like. He then proceeded to stare at me as I made my way through the rest of the theatre museum (Franz Liszt's piano! Portraits of the great and good of the opera world! Nureyev's costumes!)...
Perhaps I violated some great, sacroscant rule of the theatre, I don't know. I can't be the first museum visitor to do so.
However, most important to me: I SOUNDED FUCKING AWESOME. The acoustics are truly fantastic and I projected right through that damned gilt and red velvet auditorium. I sounded GOOD, man. The nearby English visitors made some such comment to my parents but I was too busy being overwhelmed by the sound of my own voice rising through the theatre.
Lanza didn't sing at La Scala. He bloody well should have, but life can be cruel and we are sometimes our own worst enemies and sometimes even the hugely talented have bad luck. On the sliding scale of singing talent I'm probably closer to One Direction than Lanza: I'm a girl, not a tenor, and untrained... but for some probably mystical reason, it felt only right and correct that his song should be heard in that moment in that place. Maybe I broke some rule or tradition or something but... I'm sorry for disrupting the lighting crew for twenty odd seconds.
So to the security guard, I apologise by quoting a line from A Hard Day's Night: "Sorry we hurt your field, mister."
To the rest of you, this video of awesome is of Lanza's performance at Sunday Night at the London Palladium in 1957, which was neatly featured in an episode of the brilliant and prematurely cancelled The Hour. The first song is "Because You're Mine" and is followed by some operatic pieces. I get it if it's not your bag, if you don't particularly dig opera or 'classical music'... but I hope you'll give him a smidge of a listen anyway, because he's that good. A voice heard only once every century, as the saying goes.
You see, those people you hear on those Cowell shows? Some of 'em are OK. Some of 'em have some skillz... but this is what "great" sounds like. I think sometimes we've forgotten what "great" looks and sounds like and so settle for "mediocre" and "tolerable".
I truly don't say this to be snobby or elitist. I mean, I like "A Hole In The Ground"! It's not about 'opera good, pop bad'.
We deserve great in all things. "Mediocre" and "tolerable" have their place and if you love it then it's all good, but... It's voices like Lanza, Caruso and the rest that are why I don't dig the Cowell stuff, just as guitarists like Green, Kossoff, Hendrix, Gallagher ensure I'm unimpressed by so much/most current guitar music and so on.
We all deserve the best of everything, whether it's opera or rock or pop or any of those things. We all deserve "great".
C 2013.
100 Awesome Musical Things
Part Two - Octopus Jig - The Dubliners
Part Three - Got To Give It Up - Marvin Gaye
Part Three - Got To Give It Up - Marvin Gaye
Part Four - Who Cares What The Question Is? - The Bees
Part Five - Doctor Who Cold Open - Craig Ferguson
Part Six - Monster Mash - The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Part Seven -Don't Believe A Word - Thin Lizzy
Part Eight -These Are The Days of Our Lives - Queen
Part Nine - Who Do You Love? - The Doors
Part Ten - The Mooche - The Duke Ellington Orchestra
Part Eleven - I'm Happy Just To Dance With You - The Beatles
Part Twelve - Rabbit - Chas n Dave
Part Thirteen - The Ballad of the Woggler's Moulie - Rambling Syd Rumpo
Part Fourteen - I Found a Dream - Marilyn Monroe
Part Fifteen - FBI - The Shadows
Part Sixteen - A Million Miles Away - Rory Gallagher
Part Seventeen - Mr Cole Won't Rock and Roll - Nat King Cole
Part Eighteen - The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Part Nineteen - Rock Me Baby - Willie Mae Thornton
Part Twenty - Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones
Part Twenty-One - The Ghost Song - The Doors
Part Five - Doctor Who Cold Open - Craig Ferguson
Part Six - Monster Mash - The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Part Seven -Don't Believe A Word - Thin Lizzy
Part Eight -These Are The Days of Our Lives - Queen
Part Nine - Who Do You Love? - The Doors
Part Ten - The Mooche - The Duke Ellington Orchestra
Part Eleven - I'm Happy Just To Dance With You - The Beatles
Part Twelve - Rabbit - Chas n Dave
Part Thirteen - The Ballad of the Woggler's Moulie - Rambling Syd Rumpo
Part Fourteen - I Found a Dream - Marilyn Monroe
Part Fifteen - FBI - The Shadows
Part Sixteen - A Million Miles Away - Rory Gallagher
Part Seventeen - Mr Cole Won't Rock and Roll - Nat King Cole
Part Eighteen - The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Part Nineteen - Rock Me Baby - Willie Mae Thornton
Part Twenty - Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones
Part Twenty-One - The Ghost Song - The Doors
Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Philip At 25 - From the Vault 2011
I knew I'd written a lot about Philip Lynott but I didn't realise quite how much until I was going through Ye Olde Blog to find anything worth keeping.
I'm not sure that this post will say much I hadn't already said, or have said since, but it felt wrong to ditch it entirely.
So here goes...
~~~2011~~~
It is twenty past eleven on the night of 4th January 2011. I am sitting in my cold living room, curled up in a duvet and I am watching a DVD called Thin Lizzy – Greatest Hits. At the O2 Arena (the Point last time I was there) in Dublin, a band calling themselves Thin Lizzy are on stage. At Vicar Street in Dublin, my favourite live music venue ever, the 25th Vibe for Philo is in full swing. According to the line-up on the website, the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils & Glen Hansard are playing as I type.
Although his name isn't splashed all over the place, Philip Lynott has not been forgotten today.
I'm not sure that this post will say much I hadn't already said, or have said since, but it felt wrong to ditch it entirely.
So here goes...
~~~2011~~~
It is twenty past eleven on the night of 4th January 2011. I am sitting in my cold living room, curled up in a duvet and I am watching a DVD called Thin Lizzy – Greatest Hits. At the O2 Arena (the Point last time I was there) in Dublin, a band calling themselves Thin Lizzy are on stage. At Vicar Street in Dublin, my favourite live music venue ever, the 25th Vibe for Philo is in full swing. According to the line-up on the website, the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils & Glen Hansard are playing as I type.
Although his name isn't splashed all over the place, Philip Lynott has not been forgotten today.
Monday, 13 November 2017
100 Awesome Things - Part 28 - From the Vault 2013
ANother 100 Awesome Things that was entirely topical...
~~~2013~~~
I am not going to make any comment on why I've chosen today's video.
I will however, post some links:
Like this.
And this.
Yet also this.
While I'm at it...
Today's Video:
~~~2013~~~
I am not going to make any comment on why I've chosen today's video.
I will however, post some links:
Like this.
And this.
Yet also this.
While I'm at it...
Today's Video:
The Specials - Ghost Town
C 2013
100 Awesome Musical Things
Part Two - Octopus Jig - The Dubliners
Part Three - Got To Give It Up - Marvin Gaye
Part Three - Got To Give It Up - Marvin Gaye
Part Four - Who Cares What The Question Is? - The Bees
Part Five - Doctor Who Cold Open - Craig Ferguson
Part Six - Monster Mash - The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Part Seven -Don't Believe A Word - Thin Lizzy
Part Eight -These Are The Days of Our Lives - Queen
Part Nine - Who Do You Love? - The Doors
Part Ten - The Mooche - The Duke Ellington Orchestra
Part Eleven - I'm Happy Just To Dance With You - The Beatles
Part Twelve - Rabbit - Chas n Dave
Part Thirteen - The Ballad of the Woggler's Moulie - Rambling Syd Rumpo
Part Fourteen - I Found a Dream - Marilyn Monroe
Part Fifteen - FBI - The Shadows
Part Sixteen - A Million Miles Away - Rory Gallagher
Part Seventeen - Mr Cole Won't Rock and Roll - Nat King Cole
Part Eighteen - The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Part Nineteen - Rock Me Baby - Willie Mae Thornton
Part Twenty - Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones
Part Twenty-One - The Ghost Song - The Doors
Part Five - Doctor Who Cold Open - Craig Ferguson
Part Six - Monster Mash - The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Part Seven -Don't Believe A Word - Thin Lizzy
Part Eight -These Are The Days of Our Lives - Queen
Part Nine - Who Do You Love? - The Doors
Part Ten - The Mooche - The Duke Ellington Orchestra
Part Eleven - I'm Happy Just To Dance With You - The Beatles
Part Twelve - Rabbit - Chas n Dave
Part Thirteen - The Ballad of the Woggler's Moulie - Rambling Syd Rumpo
Part Fourteen - I Found a Dream - Marilyn Monroe
Part Fifteen - FBI - The Shadows
Part Sixteen - A Million Miles Away - Rory Gallagher
Part Seventeen - Mr Cole Won't Rock and Roll - Nat King Cole
Part Eighteen - The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Part Nineteen - Rock Me Baby - Willie Mae Thornton
Part Twenty - Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones
Part Twenty-One - The Ghost Song - The Doors
Saturday, 11 November 2017
100 Awesome Things - Part 27 - From the Vault 2013
The latest 100 Awesome Things is perhaps more 'mortifying' than 'awesome' but it's honest, at least...
~~~2013~~~
He was a musician, of course. He had a leather jacket, of course. He had long hair, of course. He was gorgeous, of course.
Who was this great artiste, the first person that an already-picky creature such as I had dedicated myself to?
Thursday, 9 November 2017
100 Awesome Things - Part 26 - From The Vault 2013
Part 26 of 100 Awesome Musical Things, dedicated with all my heart to the Marquise Rachel, Mr Rachel and Small Rachel.
~~~2013~~~
I'm a quarter of the way through this particular challenge and it's been more than a month since I last posted. There's a whole lot of reasons for the absence, of which some are good and some are not.
One of the reasons was that I spent the last month listening to Bowie a lot. That was a good reason.
Another reason is that I was really sick the last couple of weeks. That was not so good.
The main reason was that I spent most of the energy I reserve for creative endeavours on rehearsing for a particular performance which meant rather a lot.
My dear, dear friend Rachel got married a couple of Saturdays ago. Some months ago I got an email from her asking if I would possibly consider performing at her wedding during the register-signing. I couldn't have said 'YEAH' any quicker, so the only question left was 'what to play?'
The bride and groom's requirements were as follows:
"All we really know at the moment is that we wanted you, we wanted something not traditionally wedding-y, and it mustnt't make me or Mr Rachel want to throw up on each other!".
On the other hand, I'm a Doors fan, so finding straightforward love songs in my iTunes library is not that easy... lots of songs like "I Hope I Don't Fall In Love With You" and "She Caught The Katy and Left Me A Mule To Ride", or "I Smell A Rat" and "I'm Movin' On"; not much in the way of uncomplicated, sweet songs. Even songs like Rory's "Moonchild" have an edge of some sort...
I also needed a song which I could play by myself without too much hassle. I sent a list of songs which included "Because You're Mine" and "Speak Softly Love", "Nature Boy" and "True Love Ways" but it turned out 'not traditionally wedding-y' wasn't the same as 'something essentially obscure in this year of 2013'. Whodathunk?
Then the groom came up with the subject of today's Awesome.
Now, let me first say that I was very glad he picked a song with a simple chord structure: C E Am F G C, basically, with a D7 chucked in occasionally.
Confession: According to the tab I found online, there's a "Dm sus2" in there too, but I didn't like the sound, so I just went for a straightforward Dm. And in my arrangement I only picked out the bass line. But I had to sing at the same time so ner.
Before I lose everyone but the guitarists, that's as 'technical' as I intend to get. Basically, it's pretty easy to get the guitar parts sounding OK. The words? A trickier proposition.
To be honest, they gave me the song in September or October. On 22nd February, the day before the wedding, I still didn't have the lyrics set in my head. I do not know why but they just wouldn't fix themselves where they needed to be.
100 Awesome Musical Things
~~~2013~~~
I'm a quarter of the way through this particular challenge and it's been more than a month since I last posted. There's a whole lot of reasons for the absence, of which some are good and some are not.
One of the reasons was that I spent the last month listening to Bowie a lot. That was a good reason.
Another reason is that I was really sick the last couple of weeks. That was not so good.
The main reason was that I spent most of the energy I reserve for creative endeavours on rehearsing for a particular performance which meant rather a lot.
My dear, dear friend Rachel got married a couple of Saturdays ago. Some months ago I got an email from her asking if I would possibly consider performing at her wedding during the register-signing. I couldn't have said 'YEAH' any quicker, so the only question left was 'what to play?'
The bride and groom's requirements were as follows:
"All we really know at the moment is that we wanted you, we wanted something not traditionally wedding-y, and it mustnt't make me or Mr Rachel want to throw up on each other!".
On the other hand, I'm a Doors fan, so finding straightforward love songs in my iTunes library is not that easy... lots of songs like "I Hope I Don't Fall In Love With You" and "She Caught The Katy and Left Me A Mule To Ride", or "I Smell A Rat" and "I'm Movin' On"; not much in the way of uncomplicated, sweet songs. Even songs like Rory's "Moonchild" have an edge of some sort...
I also needed a song which I could play by myself without too much hassle. I sent a list of songs which included "Because You're Mine" and "Speak Softly Love", "Nature Boy" and "True Love Ways" but it turned out 'not traditionally wedding-y' wasn't the same as 'something essentially obscure in this year of 2013'. Whodathunk?
Then the groom came up with the subject of today's Awesome.
Bright Eyes - "The First Day Of My Life"
Now, let me first say that I was very glad he picked a song with a simple chord structure: C E Am F G C, basically, with a D7 chucked in occasionally.
Confession: According to the tab I found online, there's a "Dm sus2" in there too, but I didn't like the sound, so I just went for a straightforward Dm. And in my arrangement I only picked out the bass line. But I had to sing at the same time so ner.
Before I lose everyone but the guitarists, that's as 'technical' as I intend to get. Basically, it's pretty easy to get the guitar parts sounding OK. The words? A trickier proposition.
To be honest, they gave me the song in September or October. On 22nd February, the day before the wedding, I still didn't have the lyrics set in my head. I do not know why but they just wouldn't fix themselves where they needed to be.
Second Confession: The first perfect run-through I managed, after months of rehearsals (on and off), was the morning of the wedding. To suggest I was a bit nervous is to understate. I was stood in a Cornish holiday cottage with my newly-short hair wet from the shower, and only then did I get it, with fully fifteen minutes to spare before I needed to leave. I say 'to spare', I mean 'to dress and find my shoes and then leave, trying to actually remember to take my guitar'.
Long story short: It went brilliantly. The vocal performance was very different to the one I'd rehearsed, but I somehow found the magic key to the vibe of the event and it was on, despite the cold weather threatening to take my hands out of commission.
If I had fucked up, I don't think I would've forgiven myself, not at her wedding. This is a friend who has saved me from myself many times since we became friends, so this really was about the least I could do.
It's not a song I would have chosen to listen to. Bright Eyes aren't my bag, mostly because I don't dig Conor Oberst's voice. I hear Bright Eyes, I think "ah, hipsters...", rightly or wrongly. I don't say they're bad, just not my thing.
But I like that it's pragmatic and honest about love. It isn't 'I love you loads and loads and loads and I've never loved anyone before or since and it's all gonna be sunshine, roses, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and it ends at Happy Ever After.'
Because that isn't realistic. It's also not love.
Love is way, way more powerful and entirely more complicated than "Happy Ever After". There is magic in the big moments to be sure, but the power is in the little things and the everyday. The power is in the decision one makes each morning to say "Yes, this is what I choose for myself", the power is in the choices made to bear witness to another person's life, to (sometimes) put them before yourself in matters both minor and major. That's what Disney lied to us about.
I couldn't get the lyrics straight in my head for months. I kept switching lines in my head and because of the rhyming structure, the song fell apart each time that happened.
It was not easy and it took more persistence than I would've liked. Just like most worthwhile things.
Long story short: It went brilliantly. The vocal performance was very different to the one I'd rehearsed, but I somehow found the magic key to the vibe of the event and it was on, despite the cold weather threatening to take my hands out of commission.
If I had fucked up, I don't think I would've forgiven myself, not at her wedding. This is a friend who has saved me from myself many times since we became friends, so this really was about the least I could do.
It's not a song I would have chosen to listen to. Bright Eyes aren't my bag, mostly because I don't dig Conor Oberst's voice. I hear Bright Eyes, I think "ah, hipsters...", rightly or wrongly. I don't say they're bad, just not my thing.
But I like that it's pragmatic and honest about love. It isn't 'I love you loads and loads and loads and I've never loved anyone before or since and it's all gonna be sunshine, roses, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and it ends at Happy Ever After.'
Because that isn't realistic. It's also not love.
Love is way, way more powerful and entirely more complicated than "Happy Ever After". There is magic in the big moments to be sure, but the power is in the little things and the everyday. The power is in the decision one makes each morning to say "Yes, this is what I choose for myself", the power is in the choices made to bear witness to another person's life, to (sometimes) put them before yourself in matters both minor and major. That's what Disney lied to us about.
I couldn't get the lyrics straight in my head for months. I kept switching lines in my head and because of the rhyming structure, the song fell apart each time that happened.
It was not easy and it took more persistence than I would've liked. Just like most worthwhile things.
C 2013.
100 Awesome Musical Things
Part Two - Octopus Jig - The Dubliners
Part Three - Got To Give It Up - Marvin Gaye
Part Three - Got To Give It Up - Marvin Gaye
Part Four - Who Cares What The Question Is? - The Bees
Part Five - Doctor Who Cold Open - Craig Ferguson
Part Six - Monster Mash - The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Part Seven -Don't Believe A Word - Thin Lizzy
Part Eight -These Are The Days of Our Lives - Queen
Part Nine - Who Do You Love? - The Doors
Part Ten - The Mooche - The Duke Ellington Orchestra
Part Eleven - I'm Happy Just To Dance With You - The Beatles
Part Twelve - Rabbit - Chas n Dave
Part Thirteen - The Ballad of the Woggler's Moulie - Rambling Syd Rumpo
Part Fourteen - I Found a Dream - Marilyn Monroe
Part Fifteen - FBI - The Shadows
Part Sixteen - A Million Miles Away - Rory Gallagher
Part Seventeen - Mr Cole Won't Rock and Roll - Nat King Cole
Part Eighteen - The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Part Nineteen - Rock Me Baby - Willie Mae Thornton
Part Twenty - Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones
Part Twenty-One - The Ghost Song - The Doors
Part Five - Doctor Who Cold Open - Craig Ferguson
Part Six - Monster Mash - The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Part Seven -Don't Believe A Word - Thin Lizzy
Part Eight -These Are The Days of Our Lives - Queen
Part Nine - Who Do You Love? - The Doors
Part Ten - The Mooche - The Duke Ellington Orchestra
Part Eleven - I'm Happy Just To Dance With You - The Beatles
Part Twelve - Rabbit - Chas n Dave
Part Thirteen - The Ballad of the Woggler's Moulie - Rambling Syd Rumpo
Part Fourteen - I Found a Dream - Marilyn Monroe
Part Fifteen - FBI - The Shadows
Part Sixteen - A Million Miles Away - Rory Gallagher
Part Seventeen - Mr Cole Won't Rock and Roll - Nat King Cole
Part Eighteen - The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Part Nineteen - Rock Me Baby - Willie Mae Thornton
Part Twenty - Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones
Part Twenty-One - The Ghost Song - The Doors
Monday, 6 November 2017
100 Awesome Things - Part 25 - From The Vault 2013
We're finally a quarter of the way through 100 Awesome Musical Things... This post was written not long after David Bowie surprised us all with a new album, back in 2013 when we didn't know we only had three more years left with him...
Did you hear that David Bowie released a new song?
Let's try that again, because I'm not sure you're excited enough: BOWIE IS BACK.
I hadn't realised how much I'd missed his work unti his return. Hearing Where Are We Now? was like sitting down with a dear old friend I'd lost touch with. I'm not going to analyse the minutiae of the Where Are We Now? video and what it may or may not mean.I'm not going to drive myself crazy trying to second-guess Bowie, the World's Greatest Troll.
~~~2013~~~
Did you hear that David Bowie released a new song?
Let's try that again, because I'm not sure you're excited enough: BOWIE IS BACK.
I hadn't realised how much I'd missed his work unti his return. Hearing Where Are We Now? was like sitting down with a dear old friend I'd lost touch with. I'm not going to analyse the minutiae of the Where Are We Now? video and what it may or may not mean.I'm not going to drive myself crazy trying to second-guess Bowie, the World's Greatest Troll.
Saturday, 4 November 2017
100 Awesome Things - Part 24 - From The Vault 2013
More from 100 Awesome Things...
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It's Rita Hayworth dancing to the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive".
You read that right. Lovely Rita dancing to "Stayin' Alive".
Thursday, 2 November 2017
100 Awesome Things - Post 23 - From the Vault 2013
Like the last couple of entries in this series, this post was time-sensitive. It was originally posted on 5 Jan 2013, which was a little later than intended...
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This has been a fascinating experience so far. So often I sit down with a specific video or theme in nind and almost always end up going in a different direction, sometimes even choosing a different video.
This time may be the same. I don't know yet. I've had this particular post in mind for awhile but the chosen video has changed each time I considered it.
Monday, 30 October 2017
100 Awesome Things - Part 22 - From The Vault 2012
This was originally posted on 13 December 2012, a date of great meaning for me. Why? Read on...
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I started writing this yesterday. It was going to be about Led Zeppelin. They're all around at the moment what with the Kennedy Center Honors and the release of Celebration Day. I saw a bit of the O2 gig aired on BBC2 on Saturday, impressed with how not-sucky it was. The three of them and Jason Bonham are all good enough musicians that it doesn't matter how snake-hipped or lion-maned one is these days.
Saturday, 28 October 2017
100 Awesome Things - Part 21 - From the Vault 2012
I posted this on 8 December 2012. This is a date that has a great deal of meaning to me, given that it's Morrison's birthday and Lennon's anniversary.
*
Sixty-nine years ago today, give or take some hours, Jim Morrison entered the world. I assume he did so kicking and screaming.
I started writing this post a few days ago after a comment on one of my favourite feminist blogs related to a Doors song, then I got caught up in a conversation with a work friend slash bandmate I shall call Mark (because it's his name).
Then I ditched it, because it was the same old "boo hoo me I was a freak at school" toss. Let me try again. Once more, with brevity.
*
Sixty-nine years ago today, give or take some hours, Jim Morrison entered the world. I assume he did so kicking and screaming.
I started writing this post a few days ago after a comment on one of my favourite feminist blogs related to a Doors song, then I got caught up in a conversation with a work friend slash bandmate I shall call Mark (because it's his name).
Then I ditched it, because it was the same old "boo hoo me I was a freak at school" toss. Let me try again. Once more, with brevity.
Thursday, 26 October 2017
100 Awesome Musical Things - Part 20 - From the Vault 2012
Reaching towards the end of 2012 as 100 Awesome Things continues...
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Thanks to Crossfire Hurricane and certain small-scale, cheaply priced concerts, the Rolling Stones are all over the news again... my feelings towards Stones are probably best categorised as "ambivalent". I think "Satisfaction" is one of the greatest songs in the rock and roll genre. The lyrics are sublime, the riff unforgettable... and yet their Isle of Wight 2007 set was so... bad that I can't forgive or forget somehow.
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Thanks to Crossfire Hurricane and certain small-scale, cheaply priced concerts, the Rolling Stones are all over the news again... my feelings towards Stones are probably best categorised as "ambivalent". I think "Satisfaction" is one of the greatest songs in the rock and roll genre. The lyrics are sublime, the riff unforgettable... and yet their Isle of Wight 2007 set was so... bad that I can't forgive or forget somehow.
Monday, 23 October 2017
100 Awesome Musical Things - Part 19 - From The Vault 2012
I'd love to give you reasons for my absence which are exciting - "I've been on the Nostromo!" or "I was recruited by James Bond for sekrit spy work!" or even "been on holiday" but no, nothing like that. No good excuse, in fact. I haven't even really been editing the Novel O' Doom...
I did, however, play a gig last week with a fab bunch of musicians. We call ourselves Clarabella and the Crypt Kicker Five and we play 'pre-decimal blues', that is to say, mostly blues songs which are from before 1971, which was when Britain went decimal.
As an aside, I'm incredibly grateful for this because my maths skills are not super and I have enough issues counting decimal currency.
So we played a show in a little basement club on one of the most musical streets in London. The Rolling Stones recorded their first album in the same building, so on that basis you can expect tickets to my shows in 2060 to cost about a million quid. Start saving.
I'm fortunate enough to work with a bunch of people who are super musicians away from the electronic yoke of our office jobs. They don't seem to mind that my aforementioned issues with numbers mean I sometimes get stuff a bit screwy. Funny that music, which is so crucial to me, is fundamentally about The Math. Counting bars and figuring out key changes and stuff are actually tough for me because it's maths. Ugh. They're patient with me, anyway. We don't play together very often but when we do it's fabulous fun.
Last year we did a Christmas thing where we performed a Sleepy John Estes song called "Drop Down Baby" (ripped off by Led Zeppelin for "Custard Pie") in a later, Lonnie Donegan/Rory Gallagher arrangement (no prizes for guessing who suggested it, and unfortunately no YT link) which has fantastic slide guitar going on, "Please Mr Jailer" by Wynona Carr which some of you might recognise from John Waters' movie Cry-Baby and 'Got My Mojo Workin' by Ann Cole..
"Mojo" is probably one of the most famous songs in the blues canon. It's also a good example of the many issues around 'borrowing' and 'copying' and 'homage' and 'plagiarism' and 'copyright infringement' one finds in blues.
Now, as far as I'm concerned, Ann Cole did the original. Muddy Waters heard it and put his own version together. Lawyers then made some money but both versions of the song retain their own copyrights. You can probably make a decent argument that Muddy's version is pretty different. Certainly they feel different.
As far as that goes, fine. I love both versions and I'd no sooner choose my favourite child than say which is 'best'. Mind you, I have no children...
There's something about performing a song which (if you're doing it right) gives a person a deep feeling and understanding of a song. Or for me, anyway. I'd been shrieking along to Rory's version of the song for ages, and felt I knew it. I did... to an extent. But standing on a stage and putting it across as one's own self is, for me anyway, a different matter.
Who was I singing to? Who was I singing for? Why?
Remembering the words comes with repetition. Hitting the right notes comes with practice. Feeling it requires effort. That's why there are people with good pitch, decent tone, never get a word or note wrong and leave me cold (see Buble, Michael) and yet there are singers who are barely able to get in the same room as the right note that move me to tears.
It's why I'll put my heart and fucking soul into every damn thing I sing even if there's only five people in the audience. It's why I needed some idea of the answers to those questions.
When it comes to Mojo, the answers are actually pretty simple: I'm singing to every lost crush, every unrequited lover as every frustrated, heartbroken crusher. Pretty universal... more specifically, it's me to every single person who fails to recognise how totally brilliant/fantastic/wonderful/awesome/co
My ego-monster loves Mojo. My inbuilt self-bullshit meter recognises the tragedy of it. After all, not all the black cat bones and hoodoo ashes in the world change the outcome. To me, it's far more than just 'girl can't catch guy's eye', and that's before even dipping into other interpretations - the stalker language, the different vibes born simply of the performer's gender, different arrangements and interpretations of the music.
Intrepretation is at the heart of anything creative shared amongst humanity. It takes different forms depending on the medium, of course, but it's what makes the work live. It's what transforms passive consumption into passionate engagement. Incidentally, this is what 'non-fans' so often misunderstand about fandom. They don't see - don't feel - the effort, the emotion, the work fans put into their item of interest. Go to FictionAlley and you'll find Harry Potter fans still going at it years after the publication of the last book... or hang with Ulysses fans (both of them) on Bloomsday... it's not so very different to me diving into 'Only the Lonely' or all those Thin Lizzy songs I've sung over the years.
Interpretation is also what makes singing someone else's song an entirely different beastt to performing something of one's own. Not better or worse, but different. I have to try harder with someone else's choons than my own. With my own, I've already done the hard work. I've already stabbed myself in the heart and let the results run across the page, after all. I already have the key to the song because I built the lock myself.
It keeps the songs alive, too. I'm not talking about dull-as-scuff identikit covers, or that terrible habit of getting a girl to sing with nothing but an exaggerated Generic American accent, acoustic guitar accompaniment and calling it 'stripped down' and 'reimagined' because most of those are only fit for TV adverts for middle-class lifestyle products.
Now, to the song I'm actually featuring in this post. As well as as the three songs mentioned, we did a few others last week. One was Big Mama Thornton's "I Smell A Rat" which we kicked off so fast I practically rapped it; I had the audacity to think I could take on "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and did OK precisely because I did my way and not Marvin's. We also did Ike Turner's "She Made My Blood Run Cold" which feels different just by switching genders. And we turned Memphis Minnie's "Me and My Chauffeur Blues" into what I would almost describe as electrified country-blues for want of a better description.
We finished with the many-times-covered "Rock Me Baby". I think most every blues band and every wannablues band has probably done it over the years. You know, people with names like "Hendrix". I like the Doors' version, of course. Otis had a go. I've got more than one of Big Mama Thornton's version on my iPod...
I cannot speak highly enough of the brilliance that was Willie Mae Thornton. Singer, songwriter, just fantastic. As she says in this very video "I can't sing like anyone, but I have to do it my own way." Which is why when we did it last week, we used her tremendous interpretation as a start and moved on from there to something entirely our own.
As Madam Yevonde said: BE ORIGINAL OR DIE!
It's actually really easy to be original: be yourself.
C 2012.
I did, however, play a gig last week with a fab bunch of musicians. We call ourselves Clarabella and the Crypt Kicker Five and we play 'pre-decimal blues', that is to say, mostly blues songs which are from before 1971, which was when Britain went decimal.
As an aside, I'm incredibly grateful for this because my maths skills are not super and I have enough issues counting decimal currency.
So we played a show in a little basement club on one of the most musical streets in London. The Rolling Stones recorded their first album in the same building, so on that basis you can expect tickets to my shows in 2060 to cost about a million quid. Start saving.
I'm fortunate enough to work with a bunch of people who are super musicians away from the electronic yoke of our office jobs. They don't seem to mind that my aforementioned issues with numbers mean I sometimes get stuff a bit screwy. Funny that music, which is so crucial to me, is fundamentally about The Math. Counting bars and figuring out key changes and stuff are actually tough for me because it's maths. Ugh. They're patient with me, anyway. We don't play together very often but when we do it's fabulous fun.
Last year we did a Christmas thing where we performed a Sleepy John Estes song called "Drop Down Baby" (ripped off by Led Zeppelin for "Custard Pie") in a later, Lonnie Donegan/Rory Gallagher arrangement (no prizes for guessing who suggested it, and unfortunately no YT link) which has fantastic slide guitar going on, "Please Mr Jailer" by Wynona Carr which some of you might recognise from John Waters' movie Cry-Baby and 'Got My Mojo Workin' by Ann Cole..
"Mojo" is probably one of the most famous songs in the blues canon. It's also a good example of the many issues around 'borrowing' and 'copying' and 'homage' and 'plagiarism' and 'copyright infringement' one finds in blues.
Now, as far as I'm concerned, Ann Cole did the original. Muddy Waters heard it and put his own version together. Lawyers then made some money but both versions of the song retain their own copyrights. You can probably make a decent argument that Muddy's version is pretty different. Certainly they feel different.
As far as that goes, fine. I love both versions and I'd no sooner choose my favourite child than say which is 'best'. Mind you, I have no children...
There's something about performing a song which (if you're doing it right) gives a person a deep feeling and understanding of a song. Or for me, anyway. I'd been shrieking along to Rory's version of the song for ages, and felt I knew it. I did... to an extent. But standing on a stage and putting it across as one's own self is, for me anyway, a different matter.
Who was I singing to? Who was I singing for? Why?
Remembering the words comes with repetition. Hitting the right notes comes with practice. Feeling it requires effort. That's why there are people with good pitch, decent tone, never get a word or note wrong and leave me cold (see Buble, Michael) and yet there are singers who are barely able to get in the same room as the right note that move me to tears.
It's why I'll put my heart and fucking soul into every damn thing I sing even if there's only five people in the audience. It's why I needed some idea of the answers to those questions.
When it comes to Mojo, the answers are actually pretty simple: I'm singing to every lost crush, every unrequited lover as every frustrated, heartbroken crusher. Pretty universal... more specifically, it's me to every single person who fails to recognise how totally brilliant/fantastic/wonderful/awesome/co
My ego-monster loves Mojo. My inbuilt self-bullshit meter recognises the tragedy of it. After all, not all the black cat bones and hoodoo ashes in the world change the outcome. To me, it's far more than just 'girl can't catch guy's eye', and that's before even dipping into other interpretations - the stalker language, the different vibes born simply of the performer's gender, different arrangements and interpretations of the music.
Intrepretation is at the heart of anything creative shared amongst humanity. It takes different forms depending on the medium, of course, but it's what makes the work live. It's what transforms passive consumption into passionate engagement. Incidentally, this is what 'non-fans' so often misunderstand about fandom. They don't see - don't feel - the effort, the emotion, the work fans put into their item of interest. Go to FictionAlley and you'll find Harry Potter fans still going at it years after the publication of the last book... or hang with Ulysses fans (both of them) on Bloomsday... it's not so very different to me diving into 'Only the Lonely' or all those Thin Lizzy songs I've sung over the years.
Interpretation is also what makes singing someone else's song an entirely different beastt to performing something of one's own. Not better or worse, but different. I have to try harder with someone else's choons than my own. With my own, I've already done the hard work. I've already stabbed myself in the heart and let the results run across the page, after all. I already have the key to the song because I built the lock myself.
It keeps the songs alive, too. I'm not talking about dull-as-scuff identikit covers, or that terrible habit of getting a girl to sing with nothing but an exaggerated Generic American accent, acoustic guitar accompaniment and calling it 'stripped down' and 'reimagined' because most of those are only fit for TV adverts for middle-class lifestyle products.
Now, to the song I'm actually featuring in this post. As well as as the three songs mentioned, we did a few others last week. One was Big Mama Thornton's "I Smell A Rat" which we kicked off so fast I practically rapped it; I had the audacity to think I could take on "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and did OK precisely because I did my way and not Marvin's. We also did Ike Turner's "She Made My Blood Run Cold" which feels different just by switching genders. And we turned Memphis Minnie's "Me and My Chauffeur Blues" into what I would almost describe as electrified country-blues for want of a better description.
We finished with the many-times-covered "Rock Me Baby". I think most every blues band and every wannablues band has probably done it over the years. You know, people with names like "Hendrix". I like the Doors' version, of course. Otis had a go. I've got more than one of Big Mama Thornton's version on my iPod...
I cannot speak highly enough of the brilliance that was Willie Mae Thornton. Singer, songwriter, just fantastic. As she says in this very video "I can't sing like anyone, but I have to do it my own way." Which is why when we did it last week, we used her tremendous interpretation as a start and moved on from there to something entirely our own.
As Madam Yevonde said: BE ORIGINAL OR DIE!
It's actually really easy to be original: be yourself.
C 2012.
100 Awesome Musical Things
Part Two - Octopus Jig - The Dubliners
Part Three - Got To Give It Up - Marvin Gaye
Part Three - Got To Give It Up - Marvin Gaye
Part Four - Who Cares What The Question Is? - The Bees
Part Five - Doctor Who Cold Open - Craig Ferguson
Part Six - Monster Mash - The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Part Seven -Don't Believe A Word - Thin Lizzy
Part Eight -These Are The Days of Our Lives - Queen
Part Nine - Who Do You Love? - The Doors
Part Ten - The Mooche - The Duke Ellington Orchestra
Part Eleven - I'm Happy Just To Dance With You - The Beatles
Part Twelve - Rabbit - Chas n Dave
Part Thirteen - The Ballad of the Woggler's Moulie - Rambling Syd Rumpo
Part Fourteen - I Found a Dream - Marilyn Monroe
Part Fifteen - FBI - The Shadows
Part Sixteen - A Million Miles Away - Rory Gallagher
Part Seventeen - Mr Cole Won't Rock and Roll - Nat King Cole
Part Eighteen - The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Part Five - Doctor Who Cold Open - Craig Ferguson
Part Six - Monster Mash - The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Part Seven -Don't Believe A Word - Thin Lizzy
Part Eight -These Are The Days of Our Lives - Queen
Part Nine - Who Do You Love? - The Doors
Part Ten - The Mooche - The Duke Ellington Orchestra
Part Eleven - I'm Happy Just To Dance With You - The Beatles
Part Twelve - Rabbit - Chas n Dave
Part Thirteen - The Ballad of the Woggler's Moulie - Rambling Syd Rumpo
Part Fourteen - I Found a Dream - Marilyn Monroe
Part Fifteen - FBI - The Shadows
Part Sixteen - A Million Miles Away - Rory Gallagher
Part Seventeen - Mr Cole Won't Rock and Roll - Nat King Cole
Part Eighteen - The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Saturday, 21 October 2017
100 Awesome Musical Things - Part 18 - From The Vault 2012
Part Eighteen already!
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I've always been fond of a stonking bassline. I love how they can move me from stillness in a way that few other things can. A nifty drumline might get my fingers or feet tapping, great guitar riffs stick in mysoul forever, but fab basslines move my entire being like nothing else.
So I suppose it's not much surprise that one of my favourite bands was led by the bass guitarist.
Thursday, 19 October 2017
100 Awesome Musical Things - Part 17 - From the Vault
The beat goes on... this time, it swings...
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