unpopular

I spoke to my brother on the phone today. First time I’ve spoken to him in a year, as near as dammit. We’ve been in touch a couple of times via email in the last week, and it is good to finally be back in touch, to know where he is and what the score is, as it were. He is going back to our parents’ place in Troon tomorrow, and I know they will be relieved to see him. I’m not entirely certain when they last saw him, now I come to think about it. It might have been Christmas 2002.

It’s been a fairly stressful time then. It’s made me realise how fragile things can be in these days, in this society structure, and how easy it seems to be to fall off the conveyor belt it creates for us. Anyway, we talked at length this morning, and that was good. Mostly I think I listened.

So he will be back with our parents for a week at least, and I am flying up Friday after school for the weekend. I first thought about flying up several days ago, and was still weighing up the idea when by chance I spotted an email in my Spamfire window from someone I had been at high school with. I rescued the email, and whaddya know, it was a message telling me about a 20 year reunion, happening in Troon this very Saturday. He had sent an email about it earlier in the month that I hadn’t spotted, and this was a second attempt. So I figured it was some kind of sign that meant I really was meant to go back this coming weekend, and I went and booked my flights there and then. Of course, my high school years largely sucking as they did, maybe it was a sign for me NOT to go back. But heh. Whatcha gonna do? (cue Ken from Freaks and Geeks – ‘I don’t know. What ARE you gonna do?’ I used that line before didn’t I? Well it’s too good to resist - sue me.)

And no, of course my decision was not even remotely affected by the fact that I watched Grosse Point Blank earlier in the month. Oh no. And no, when anyone asks what I do (this assuming anyone will 1. recognise me and 2. will deign to speak to me) I will NOT tell them I am a professional killer. Wonder if anyone will give me a pen?

I understand that the initial plan for the reunion was for it be in the form of a celidh, although thankfully instead the entertainment is to be an ’80s disco. Did I really just write that thankfully the entertainment is to be an ’80s disco? I did, didn’t I? Sheesh. I dare say April Showers, Josek K, McCarthy, The Bodines, Felt etc will not be on the playlist. Maybe I will make my own iTunes playlist and listen to it on my iPod all night. Maybe not.

So tonight we watched That Sinking Feeling again on a ropey old VHS that we taped off the telly when Channel 4 screened it around seven or eight years ago I guess. It is still one of my favourite films ever, even though watching it now it felt like some of the shots were interminable - I guess we’ve just got so used to fast cuts and super tight editing. But the dialogue is superb of course, and the story is so bizarre and wonderfully stupid. Glasgow looks like shit in it of course, which is part of the point / appeal I suppose. The end of the ‘70s and start of the ‘80s really was a desolate time. There’s some graffiti on the wall in the derelict close where the gang meet that says ‘Tongs’, which was funny, as we’d just watched Small Faces a couple of nights previously. That was a great film too, almost the direct opposite to Sinking Feeling in terms of feel of course, but none the worse for that. So between these movies, listening to those Strawberry Switchblade recordings and reading that Social Sculpture book, I’ve been having a strange Glasgow nostalgia trip of late. Just noticed too that Comfort And Joy is due for a DVD release next month too, so I’ve pre-ordered that. Haven’t seen it in years. And maybe I should dig out Gregory’s Girl again (definitely avoiding Gregory’s 2 Girls though). So any more recommendations for other great Glasgow movies? And is the Punk Rock Hotel film myth or reality? Can anyone clear that up once and for all?

Saturday morning, sat listening to a CDR of Strawberry Switchblade rarities that the very wonderful Per Christian sent from Norway this week. It’s good to hear those old Peel and Jenson sessions from 1982, and for a moment I am transported into my sixteen year old head, sitting in Mr Steele’s Art Room, gushing to anyone who would listen about this group I heard on Peel last night called Strawberry Switchblade. Of course no-one was interested and talk probably swiftly turned instead to football or something, but inside I was humming ‘Little River’ and falling in love. So it’s kind of nice having the memories seep back into view, but it’s also great to hear the Robin Millar produced versions of ‘Poor Hearts’ and ‘Secrets’. It’s also a frustrating experience because I can’t help but dream about what a jaw droppingly classic album Strawberry Switchblade could have been had Millar been at the helm throughout, and had the likes of Simon Booth, Phil Moxon and Roy Dodds been the players, as they were on these cuts. Lost opportunities: The highways of Pop are littered with them. Someone should write a book about them.

It’s good too to hear again the tracks that I know of as the Sunflower demos, after my beloved tape self destructed some years ago. ‘Sixty Cowboys’ still sounds like such a gorgeous song. Shame that ‘Crystal Days’ isn’t on there though.

Speaking of the past, it seems there are plans afoot to put together a June Brides tribute album to complement a retrospective set that will hopefully appear thanks to a rather well known reissues imprint. Anyone interested in getting involved can email Emmet O’Briain for full details.

GCSE results day again, and I await a call from JP to tell me how we have done. It’s always a slightly nervous time, wondering how raw marks will translate into grades. It always amazes me how exam boards can make distinctions each year on where grade boundaries should fall – so a student with a score of say 60 can get a C grade one year whilst the next year another student with the same marks will get only a D. The work is of the same standard, yet the two students don’t get the same grade? It’s a nonsense.

However, those are the structures we work within, so whaddya gonna do? I don’t think the dept will do as well as last year when we had something like 95% A* - C grades, but we shall see. This year of course I also have all my tutor group kids to think about… hoping they all do well across all their exams, that they get what they need for college or whatever.

So yeah, stylistic twitches, huh? I think I’m with Tim on that. (See comments on previous post if you’re wondering what I’m on about all of a sudden!). Having said that, I think it’s partly the nature of the medium of the blog – or at least my approach to the blog. It’s a journal, it’s like my thoughts just coming out, so it’s not polished and almost never re-drafted. In that sense it’s inevitably going to have those kind of speech/thought derived turns of phrase. I’m not so sure that those kinds of elements crop up in my more considered writing, although I could be wrong. Certainly there are other types of elements which recur in that writing, but those are largely intentional stylistic decisions, so heh.

Oh, and The Pipettes, incidentally, ruled! Well of COURSE they ruled. How could they not? More photos are here if you fancy a gander. Sadly the video camera glitched out and failed to film a damn thing. Technology sucks sometimes, although I also rather suspect it was my own fault for not double checking it was all working properly. Ah well. London dwellers should be excited about the prospect of their show at the ICA on the 31st. If it wasn’t for the fact that I need to go back to school, I would be so there… But the kids need me. Ha ha. Hopefully they will be using my beach writing photo as a projection at the ICA show, which is super exciting news. Also it shouldn’t be too long before we get to see them again as they are playing Bristol on the 10th. Yay!

Um, results just came through: 91.8% A*-C which is pretty good, especially in light of what a difficult year it was last year. So we are pretty pleased all round.

Right. Time to catch up with some more school preparation. Grrr.

Back in Exeter, having left Troon around 3 yesterday afternoon. It was the first time I think we have driven down (well, technically, C has driven down) and not got embroiled in some tailback, which was good news. So now sitting in the Boston sipping decaf and catching up. Picked up my mail from the Box a moment ago; lots of CDs, some 7” vinyl and a CDR of top quality scans of the Pipettes in Brighton. Yay! And of course tonight they play the Cavern, which is very exciting. I am so looking forward to that. It’s going to rock. Or Pop. Or something. Must pick up a poster for the show to hang in my new classroom.

So yeah, when I was in Scotland I wrote my review of the Rough Trade Shops ‘Indiepop’ collection, and there was a line in there about how I never much cared for that word. ‘Indiepop’… what does it even mean? I usually find it a deprecatory term and I tend to equate it with laboured feyness, forced naiveté and uninspired guitar bands. Not that I’ve never used the word myself in more positive ways, but heh… Anyway, reading that book about Glasgow independent Art and music, it got me remembering back to the days before the word took hold. Had me thinking about how we just used to call it Pop or Punk Rock and be damned…. I liked the way the use of those terms kind of reclaimed and/or made connections with the heritage of what we were listening to. And of course before there were ‘Indie Kids’ there were simply ‘Pop Kids’, and that was so much nicer.

I remember there was that short lived ‘Umbrella’ organisation in the UK. They did a couple of compilation albums: one of ‘dance’ tunes and one of ‘rock/pop’ tunes. I think the idea was that Umbrella would be some kind of, uh, umbrella (duh) that would cover all Independent labels, helping out with distro, advice, whatever. I don’t think it lasted more than a couple of months. But I do recall there was a debate in the sleevenotes of the ‘rock/pop’ compilation about what ‘indie’ meant. Was it a shortening of the word ‘independent’, or was it a description of a style of music? I guess now it’s obvious that the latter won in the end, and I’ve never been happy with that. I mean, how can you sit a Felt song next to a Darling Buds song and use one word to categorise them both? That’s ridiculous. Not that I think we don’t need to invent terminology to categorise the things we hear, see, consume. I think we inevitably do. It’s just we need to be clear about where the edges lie.

Oh, and remember Cherry Red once did those great ‘Seeds’ compilations? And the one that had stuff like the Pastels, TV Personalities, Hurrah!, Fantastic Something, marine Girls and June Brides was called simply ‘Pop’. It seemed to me that hit the essence of the music so much better.

But whatever. Time to head over to Herbies for the obligatory spicy beanburger and mixed salad. Yum.

Another day in Troon, another walk along the beach, taking photos of jetsam and airplanes doing circuits and bumps. Writing in the sand, maybe a single cover in the making? Or perhaps an insert? Who can say.

Yesterday a bicycle ride out over roads I only vaguely ever knew as a younger me, and again that feeling that came over me last year that I never rode anywhere near as much as I should have in the past here. Riding out through Craigie, glancing at the computer on the bars and thinking, this is less than 40 minutes out, how I could I have once thought this was a long ride? I was kind of baffled. But whatever, it was good to get out and ride, see the mostly barren countryside, make me think how lucky I am to live where I now do. I miss Devon, and I miss Exeter.

This despite a fine day in Glasgow on Thursday, when we saw some fine new sights, met some lovely people and generally felt good to be within the city. In fact I guess it was spoilt only by the amount of cigarette smoke being blown in our faces, and remembering how much it rains there… So yeah, we discovered Mono, a great café/bar/record shop down in King’s Court. I wish there had been something like that when I was in Glasgow, but sadly the closest we ever got to it was my final project design for just such a place. So it’s taken 16 years for reality to catch up with my dreams. Sigh. So Monorail, the record store, was really great. I bought a few 7” singles, including an old second hand Purple Hearts single. Looking forward to listening to that when I get home. Also picked up a copy of Sarah Lowndes’ ‘Social Sculpture’, a MPhil thesis on ‘Art, Performance and Music in Glasgow - A Social History of Independent Practice, Exhibitions and Events since 1971’. I started reading it on the train back down to Troon, and whilst of course it does read like a thesis, it’s nevertheless interesting stuff. And did already know that Dave Godin was from Falkirk, and that he and Stuart Cosgrove were key figures in the Glasgow Soul scene? And am I imagining things when I say didn’t Cosgrove lecture at the Art School in the ‘80s? I like to think these connections are there and are important. Oh, and a great picture of Jill Bryson on the cover of the book… And having said it’s a great book, I should add however that already I spotted a few historical inaccuracies. Like, uh, whilst yeah, Josef K and Orange Juice did a lot of supporting each other with shows in their native Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively, they did NOT release a split single on Postcard. And Strawberry Switchblade’s ‘Since Yesterday’ was NOT a hit in the summer of 1984: the single was released in October 1984, but did not enter the upper reaches of the UK charts until the first week of 1985. So you know, those kinds of inaccuracies do make me wonder about other things I have no personal knowledge of, but regardless, I’ve been enjoying the book.

We also got to see the Lighthouse centre, which I wasn’t aware of before now. Met Marceline and talked record label things, which was good, and got a nice Diskant button badge! Yay (again) for badges! We climbed a lot of stairs up the Macintosh tower in the Lighthouse and got magnificent views across the city – a view I had never seen before. C got dreadful vertigo and had to go back down quickly, but I could have stayed up there for ages, thinking about the urban landscape, enjoying the rhythms created by the buildings and soaking up the energy rising from the concrete, stone and glass.

In Troon. Windy. Not actually wet at the moment, but it has been raining heavily, so… yeah. Some things never change.

Had a walk around the town a bit this morning, and thought it was looking a bit tatty and sad. C said don’t all seaside towns look like this at the end of the season, and maybe they do, but I think that’s being too kind in this case. We had coffee and a Tunnocks Teacake in the Venice café, which was something of a disappointment, the Venice now being a refurbished ‘bistro / café’ in place of the old caff it once was. Having said that, I don’t think either of us ever really went there in the past anyway, it being a hang out for Casuals and their ilk back in the day. Ditto the puggies, which we walked into for a moment, to stand and gaze uncomprehendingly at the slot machines and video games, penny falls and pool tables. I don’t recall there ever being pool tables there when I was young, but then again, the puggies was never a place I could really go. Not unless I wanted to be beaten up, or laughed at by my brother’s friends. Strangely, I could almost feel their ghosts there still, although that might just be my heightened state of nervousness after seeing all the trailers on the telly recently for shows about people who go missing every year…

C spotted an advertising ghost that seemed at first glance to say ‘Caboro’. When we got closer it seemed instead to say ‘Ca’Doro’ which makes only slightly more sense. Perhaps an old café or hotel? Who can say.

So yeah, here I am again in the Boston, having a day in town I guess. Met Dave for a chat, which was good, as we hadn’t seen each other for ages. Time flies. Good to hear that he’s making some music again, with a former Pram drummer apparently, which is cool. I’m looking forward to hearing some of the results of their collaboration.

Afterwards I dropped down by the comics store and bought some back issues of Gotham Central. I asked why they had no Batgirl titles and it seems they only get those in to order, so, yeah… I guess I’ll get those online. I always feel so shady when I go in there cos its full of little fantasy and manga figures – like little girl figures and stuff. It’s really sad. And there always seem to be overweight spotty teenage boys making crap jokes to each other. I mean, yes I accept my geekness, but I’m not THAT much of a geek. Am I? Please tell me no…

Anyway, just bumped into Izzy downstairs. She started saying how there is a great band playing at the Cavern on the 23rd, and I was all oooh, look at my badge! and oooh, yes! Except she hasn’t heard the Pipettes yet and ooh isn’t she in for a treat! Yes she is. I hope she can get to DJ that night cos she would be just the ticket. She could play her girl groop vinyl and all would be fine. Yes indeed. In fact I was thinking maybe Izzy might be someone who could do some artwork for the Pipettes single as and when and if (fingers crossed!) it happens.

And later this evening I’m meeting Alex for a drink and chat. I think he wants to pick my brains about bands and clubs and stuff for his new job as Ents Officer at his old college / uni up in Newport. I have already suggested he hook up with whoever is running the Plan B nights there. And in a truly strange instance of synchronicity, it seems he has been trying to book the Pipettes for the freshers ball! It seems his friend knows the drummer and recommended them, so that’s cool.

So, enough. Time to head home.

Yay! More Pipettes to brighten my day… a CDR of three tracks arrived in the po box this morning, so now I’m sitting in the Boston Tea Party and listening to those sweet Shangri La voices singing about ‘four feminist cunts’ and liking boys/girls in school uniform. And I’m thinking, hey, Pop gets no better than this. And I am so excited at the thought that we might have a chance to get them on an Unpopular 7”! Also excited about the chance of getting to see them play again on the 23rd when, joy of joys, they are due to play the Cavern in this very city. Double yay!

Anyway, so what else? We watched the Wedding Singer the other night. I’m not sure why… I had had a day of looking at a computer screen I think and needed a break. It was just on the telly, on BBC 3 I think, so we lounged and watched and hey, I even laughed. How corny is that? Anyway, the music soundtrack in the movie was weird – like with Donnie Darko, all these songs I’d not heard in an age I guess but that seemed to be so familiar immediately. Songs that I once loved, songs that I once hated… whatever. Nostalgia seems to make no difference really. There was a Thompson Twins track on there, and it took me a minute to remember who it was, but heh, the Thompson Twins. Yeah, that made me start thinking about a long time ago, a lifetime ago, and about picture discs and night time cycle rides over Dundonald Hill and oh all that stuff. Stuff that sits in dusty diary pages stowed in filing cabinets and is best kept there of course. And then there was the Psychedelic Furs, and like many who didn’t really have much of a clue, I thought the Psychedelic Furs made great Pop records once upon a time and wasn’t ‘Love My Way’ just a fine, fine tune? Yes it was. And I wont even mention Pretty In Pink, except, erm, I just did, and oh well, you know I was always partial to ‘Dumb Waiters’ too you know, although I tend to keep these kinds of things quiet. And I didn’t just buy the All This And Nothing collection in Virgin. Honest I didn’t.

And we watched Rebecca again yesterday. What a great movie. Someone should sample all those great snippets of dialogue where Larry says things like ‘promise me you’ll never be 37 years old’ and such like. It would be good in a kind of ironic post-feminist way. Maybe we should stick them at the start and end of the Pipettes single… Or maybe not.

Then the other week we watched the Over The Edge movie that William recommended in his great article. I tracked a copy down on eBay, and it was well worth it. Everything that William wrote was right on the money. It was kind of weird watching it, wondering how they got away with it really… sadly these kinds of movies don’t get made too often. It kind of make me think of Kids and also of Elephant.

Also watched Inside Daisy Clover, an Amazon marketplace find. I’d really loved reading the Serpents Tail reissue of Gavin Lambert's novel some years ago, and I was just kind of browsing Amazon for more of his stuff, and there was the video listed, and it was kinda expensive, but heh, I figured what the heck, and took the plunge, and it was a really cool movie. Of course if you watch it you have to suspend belief in accepting that Natalie Wood is really 14 years old when she looks at least, uh, mid to late twenties I’d say (and I’m being a trifle kind there even) but hey ho. And the song she sings on there crops up way too often, but whatever, it’s a great cynical look at the whole Hollywood scene and is almost as good as the book.

Phillipe re-writes 'Born In The USA'! Go Phillipe!