tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post4971042631828908626..comments2024-03-27T09:27:33.931+00:00Comments on Idiotic Hat: Half FullMike C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-33222049014445888152015-03-28T19:40:57.433+00:002015-03-28T19:40:57.433+00:00Somehow I missed Daevid Allen's death – he app...Somehow I missed Daevid Allen's death – he appears in my personal starcharts as a founder of Soft Machine, of which I was once particularly fond.Martyn Cornellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16843357962176591317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-73161198338896635692015-03-17T11:49:47.339+00:002015-03-17T11:49:47.339+00:00Zouk,
When it comes to reading, I'm not a &qu...Zouk,<br /><br />When it comes to reading, I'm not a "highbrow" kinda guy -- I mainly read thrillers, which is where the best contemporary writing is to be found, imho. Don't read much "literary" fiction at all. Pratchett's books are well-written, funny, wise, and full of great recurring characters (I'm a Granny Weatherwax fan).<br /><br />"Never took nothin'" is from "The Pusher" by Steppenwolf (figures on the East Rider soundtrack, I think). "Well, I smoked a lot of grass, I popped a lot of pills..."<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-68070503113667045722015-03-17T11:39:34.440+00:002015-03-17T11:39:34.440+00:00I did read one of the Discworld novels a few years...I did read one of the Discworld novels a few years ago. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I still had to read to the end because I wanted to know what happened. No urge to read any more though.<br /><br />I'm surprised to find you praising such low-brow literature. Is it the prominence of certain librarians (as I read) which particularly tickled you?<br /><br />I've yet to see any report stating the cause of death, but I've heard that an "unnamed source" states it was not an assisted suicide (for which he was, of course, a well-known advocate). However, the DEATH tweets perhaps suggest it was at least expected, if not planned. I've also been told, though, that Alzheimer's sufferers can "forget how to breathe".<br /><br />I saw Allen in one of Gong's incarnations in Montpellier, France in 1977 and again under his own name in Hitchin in 2010(?). I think he was very influential on the acid house scene as well as with us pothead pixies, wasn't he?.. which might explain his prominence in the obits.<br /><br />As for Elevator, I'd have to put them(?) in the same class as Althusser & co.<br /><br />Still trying to remember where "never took nothing my spirit couldn't kill" is from, btw.Zouk Delorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07983226210415857258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-32056431186157989162015-03-16T18:27:10.781+00:002015-03-16T18:27:10.781+00:00Kent,
I know, it's my own fault, I should rut...Kent,<br /><br />I know, it's my own fault, I should ruthlessly exclude any off-topic comments -- the problem, is usually me that starts it!<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-55644547064280591522015-03-16T17:53:21.070+00:002015-03-16T17:53:21.070+00:00Apparently not. No matter what the topic - whether...Apparently not. No matter what the topic - whether Adorno, Nihilism, "class warefare", or Zizek - we always come back to the music of our "yoot". I'm certain it's not lost on you that the largest number of comments here at the Hat deal with music and pop culture.Kent Wileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12440197819258194471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-70644222990873325082015-03-16T16:50:15.540+00:002015-03-16T16:50:15.540+00:00Kent,
How, indeed? But you may yet count yoursel...Kent,<br /><br />How, indeed? But you may yet count yourself among the fortunate...<br /><br />This is obviously going to be a post in its own right, in due course. Will we <i>never</i> escape the gravitational pull of Planet 68-77?<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-55634981062260675192015-03-16T15:36:10.411+00:002015-03-16T15:36:10.411+00:00Do report back about the Elevator experience, Mike...Do report back about the <i>Elevator</i> experience, Mike. Running that one down was an enjoyable dive into the Wikipedia hole of "locked grooves", "parallel grooves", "inside-to-outside recordings" etc. It sounds like a trip, listening to the Amazon samples, with some bad vocals, and cool Carla Bley sounds. How could I be a fan but be ignorant of this <i>magnus opus</i>? Oh well, blind spots abound.Kent Wileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12440197819258194471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-78038478969872965482015-03-16T10:27:35.894+00:002015-03-16T10:27:35.894+00:00It is getting easier all the time. I now understan...It is getting easier all the time. I now understand why the first Stravinsky audiences were outraged yet now he is used as backing music for adverts. Just waiting for "Little Pony Soldier" on a breakfast cereal.Gerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13043797696594803832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-28432533969322978172015-03-16T10:11:01.438+00:002015-03-16T10:11:01.438+00:00Gerry,
Done the deed, ordered "Escalator&quo...Gerry,<br /><br />Done the deed, ordered "Escalator" on Amazon. How could anyone resist this blurb:<br /><br />Even if you decide you hate this recording and everything it stands for, this is an essential classic if you have any interest at all in large-scale jazz-derived composition. Long sought-after as a rare LP, this work dates from 1971 when anything seemed possible, to the extent that a massive avant-garde quasi-opera by composer/pianist Carla Bley and writer Paul Haines, boasting a "plot" which is enigmatic to the point of incomprehensibility and which draws on musical sources which range from the classic blaring of the American big bands to the European Serialist school of post-classical composition almost seemed par for the course. Throughout her career Bley has always seemed more interested in manipulating the structural devices of jazz than in allowing full rein to its tradition of improvisation. While this can occasionally make her smaller-scale work sound somewhat constipated, here it succeeds in holding together this vast, sprawling, nothing-like-it-before-or-since musical and literary edifice which is as essential, in its own way, as the suites of Ellington. --Roger Thomas<br /><br />What's not to like?<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-83703851310868061642015-03-16T09:33:12.733+00:002015-03-16T09:33:12.733+00:00Why, thank you! I must admit "Escalator Over...Why, thank you! I must admit "Escalator Over the Hill" has been useful, over the years, as a reference point -- a pin in the map saying "Here be dragons". I never took nothin' my soul couldn't kill... Maybe it's time to revisit.<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-6792825066141455542015-03-16T09:21:59.671+00:002015-03-16T09:21:59.671+00:00Just for you!Just for you!Gerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13043797696594803832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-61329549471374513762015-03-16T09:19:07.239+00:002015-03-16T09:19:07.239+00:00Gerry,
It is -- maybe it's finally time to br...Gerry,<br /><br />It is -- maybe it's finally time to break out the Idiotic Hats again!<br /><br />Though I spotted you slipping "Escalator" in there... Maybe I'll give it another listen (40 years may be sufficient fo my ears to recover).<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-82741966724458352992015-03-16T09:11:53.596+00:002015-03-16T09:11:53.596+00:00I only heard the trailer for George Clinton - Just...I only heard the trailer for George Clinton - Justin Webb was ecstatic about the prospect. The whole Funkadelic/Gong/Escalator axis is sufficient for laughter and celebrationGerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13043797696594803832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-79571353416502998592015-03-16T08:31:12.712+00:002015-03-16T08:31:12.712+00:00Groove update:
At 07:40 this morning GEORGE freak...Groove update:<br /><br />At 07:40 this morning GEORGE freakin' CLINTON (Parliament/Funkadelic, "Free your mind and your ass will follow", etc.) was on the TODAY programme being interviewed by John Humphries...<br /><br />Someone is putting something into the BBC coffee, and it sure ain't sugar... Maybe the "Parliament" bit confused somebody.<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-40601970287991343002015-03-15T22:44:18.698+00:002015-03-15T22:44:18.698+00:00Maybe their Kitchen/Cookery programmes could be mo...Maybe their Kitchen/Cookery programmes could be more enlightened. A member of Jay Rayner's audience could ask, "What's that in the sky there?"<br /><br />And an enlightened pannelist could shout out, "teapots that can fly". Ah well, all in a day's dream . . .Dave Leekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17971308602082668644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-61006081379065425922015-03-15T21:44:09.642+00:002015-03-15T21:44:09.642+00:00Dave,
I guess so, but it seems so improbable (I&#...Dave,<br /><br />I guess so, but it seems so improbable (I'm trying hard to imagine the scheduling conference for PM -- maybe Eddie Mair is the one familiar with the Oily Way?)<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-12369087349987016082015-03-15T21:40:18.618+00:002015-03-15T21:40:18.618+00:00I guess there are a lot more pothead pixies workin...I guess there are a lot more pothead pixies working for the Beeb than we thought. I reckon there'll be a documentary soon on Radio 4 all about him - they put Robert Wyatt's biography on Book of the Week over the summer!Dave Leekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17971308602082668644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-6142111263236936202015-03-15T18:15:29.505+00:002015-03-15T18:15:29.505+00:00Richard,
Not sure now why I added that caption!
...Richard,<br /><br />Not sure now why I added that caption!<br /><br />Zouk,<br /><br />No, indeed -- now is the time to be reading Terry Pratchett (if you never have, I recommend him). I see Daevid Allen (Gong) died this week, too -- couldn't believe he got a namecheck on Radio 4 news and an obit in the broadsheets! I mean, how many people ever listened to Gong?? ("I am, you are, we are craaazy...")<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-2218051974310196852015-03-15T17:27:00.784+00:002015-03-15T17:27:00.784+00:00Who now admits to reading even Althusser, Adorno, ...Who now admits to reading even Althusser, Adorno, Goldmann, or Lukács?<br /><br />Frankly, I don't even admit to having heard of them. I'd look them up, but what's the point?Zouk Delorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07983226210415857258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-48962755681183040692015-03-15T17:22:03.849+00:002015-03-15T17:22:03.849+00:00Until I took a closer look I couldn't see the ...Until I took a closer look I couldn't see the copse for the trees. But maybe that's the trouble with some people.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12384801959931798890noreply@blogger.com