Up a notch

Funny how starting a log again gets the musical interests moving again. It has been a great day for listening to music. I have been at home all day working hard, and accompanied by a soundtrack of:

- King Crimson: Lizard
- King Crimson: Lark’s Tongues in Aspic
- King Crimson: Starless and Bible Black
- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook: Night Song

I really like working through a particular artist’s music listening for development. The CDs I listened to by King Crimson are only a small part of the collection by them and their solo counterparts – but very enjoyable all the same!

Last night I was listening to Jan Garbarek’s album ‘Dis’ (ECM Records) which has the sounds of giant wind chimes on it – these were built and installed on a cliff top, then recorded. The sound is fantastic, and idea of an instrument that is played by the elements is wonderful. The rest of the music, played by Jan Garbarek and Ralph Towner is excellent too. Time for a bit of Garbarek indulgence too I think.

I had an interesting idea for taking forward ‘the alice conversations’ poetry sequence yesterday. I am going to search on google with the words of the title and then use the pages that I come up with as word sources for the poetry that I create. Interesting idea…

BACK SOON!

After a couple of months of frozen creativity, I am back. I have been struggling with writing three journals - this online one, a learning journal I keep for work, and a personal journal which fits in my pocket. I'm trying to think through ways of integrating these - so that the learning and imaginative thoughts can go hand in hand with the material I generate for this journal. Just needs a little more thought. In the meantime, I'm back to writing in here at least a couple of times a week.

What music have I been listening to whilst I've been away? Even that was a bit out on the edge - I've been listening to lots of obscure ambient and noise music, with a share of found sounds too. Then I have also been listening to plenty of Radiohead and the last few albums by jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd.

My interest in Buddhism continues...and I am thinking of doing First Degree Reiki.

Oh, and my PhD thesis was submitted a couple of weeks ago - time to wait for the viva now...

Books - finished reading John O'Farrell's "The Best a Man can get" which was both hysterically funny, and painfully uncomfortable. A great read.

Well, it just took a few minutes and I'm back on line. I wish the redesign of the website was as straightforward. Can someone explain to me where I will find a free idiot's guide to Frontpage so that I don't keep pressing the wrong buttons and ending up with completely dysfunctional web pages? Please email me if you can help.

Focus

It is incredible just how much of our lives is spent in a vague state of day-dream. Wouldn’t it be good to be really focused, even just for a few hours each day?

Do I know what my overarching goals are for this year? Some of them, yes! But without a direction, we just wander around aimlessly.

My musical interests are broad, and widening – that is a good thing. But I do need a road map to follow sometimes.

My interests in reading and writing are also very broad – yes, that’s a good thing too. But the map needs to be set out so that I don’t disappear under a mound of books and CDs.

So, what am I reading and listening to at the moment:

Books:

1. Paul du Noyer – Liverpool: Wondrous Place

This is a marvellous book which looks at the music scene in Liverpool since the 50s. It covers all the major bands and artists that came out of Liverpool. It’s brilliant to read about the scene when I was there, and a part of it. Some of the writing also encouraged me to dip back into music that I had forgotten about. If you haven’t read this book yet, you should – it is a great read.

2. Peter Senge – The Dance of Change

This is a book about organisational change – I’ve read about 100 pages of it so far and it is packed full of interesting ideas.

Music:

1. Misha Alperin - At Home

Beautiful solo piano album by a jazz pianist. Sounds more like Debussy than jazz.

2. Bob Dylan – John Wesley Harding

Yes, I know I must be virtually the last person to ‘get’ Bob Dylan. But I am now digging back into his really early stuff which is fantastic. This one has ‘All Along the Watchtower’ on it.

3. Antiopic – Allegorical Power Series Vol. 6

A series of albums for free download (www.antiopic.com) which comprise a lot of strange and wonderful noises from the world of music concrete / avant garde and just plain bizarre.

4. Julian Cope – Autogeddon

Yes, I do realise that he’s completely bonkers. But he does write great melodies, and I love all this barking mad stuff. It’s great to hear someone pursuing things to the extreme.

5. Eberhard Weber – Pendulum

An album of solo double bass sounds a bit worrying, but Eberhard Weber is in a league of his own. This album comprises a set of loops and echoes that build up into some beautiful songs.

From the Monkees to Robert Wyatt thanks to Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond wrote ‘I’m a Believer’ – which was a huge hit for The Monkees in the 60s. This song then became a hit all over again for Robert Wyatt in what must be one of the weirdest examples of Top of the Pops missing the point. I saw a clip of Robert Wyatt, in wheelchair, on ToTP – he looks ill at ease with the whole ‘pop star’ thing. But what a marvellous cover version. He did it again some years later with a cover of the Elvis Costello song ‘Shipbuilding’.

So why am I focusing on The Monkees and Robert Wyatt. Well, over the last few weeks I bought the CD collection ‘The Definitive Monkees’ which is a wonderful reminder of how good they were. The sleeve notes also tell the story of them – how they were thrown together for a TV programme that was aimed at capitalising on the Beatles phenomenon that had come over to the US from the UK. What I didn’t realise was just how quickly the four members of the group re-wrote the rules and took over the music making and song writing.

Of course the link to Robert Wyatt is set out above. But the other reason why I mention him is because I recently bought ‘Cuckooland’ and ‘Solar flares burn for you’ – both of which are excellent albums. They demonstrate the singular talent and vision of Robert Wyatt. Over the years he has quietly projected a marvellously self-effacing personality. It’s easy to get carried away with the modesty he displays and not realise just how ground-breaking his work really is.

Disappeared without trace then returns again

Regular readers of weblogs will find, like I do, that even the most dedicated bloggers have to take time out every now and then. I’m sure I’m not the only one who reads the best blogs regularly and then finds that one has stopped writing. Return visits happen every few days, accompanied with the anxiety that they might have stopped writing – moved on to something else. Then there is the relief of finding an entry again.

Well, apologies for disappearing around Christmas and New Year – but I’m back again. I took a much-needed break, and then spend 10 days travelling a lot for work which exhausted me and kept me away from the screen and keyboard.

Now for some serious blogging….

London Eye defeats vertigo

Yesterday we were in London, so we went on the London Eye. The queue was crazy – especially when you consider that this attraction has been around since the Millennium. Now, I am not particularly keen on heights. In fact I get spooked really easily. But there was something about the design of the pods and slow speed with which you work your way up into the clouds, that made the whole thing a pleasant experience.

The views over London were spectacular. There are some stunning buildings in the city. I suppose the one negative side to the experience was the confirmation that London lacks the planning on a grand scale of Paris. If you look at Paris from the Eiffel Tower you can see the thought that has gone into the big picture of the city as a whole. That is not apparent in London, which just looks like an untidy and chaotic series of developments. At least, to these eyes it does!

Today I’m listening to Salif Keita’s album “Soro” which is a wonderful album of music from Mali. I can see where Youssou N’Dour’s sound originates from. This is clearly one that will improve with repeated listening.

A pile of CDs are all benefiting from repeat listening at the moment:

Lloyd Cole – Music in a Foreign Language
Robert Plant – Dreamland
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – The Last DJ
Kraftwerk – Tour de France: Soundtracks
Robert Wyatt – cuckooland

Keeping very busy…

Waiting to fly

Not sure why I’m finding it difficult to focus – I have managed to find ways of being productive. But as ever, there are more things to do with average day than an average fortnight would require.

A two week break for Christmas is a short breath away – so it will just be a matter of rushing for the finishing line!

New listening - Country Joe and the Fish – never heard anything by them before. Pleasantly surprised – like a cross between Captain Beefheart and Spirit without the completely daft bits, just a bit weird. Very 1967!

The other album I’m listening to a lot this week is a short CD available for download free from Stasisfield (www.stasisfield.com) . It’s a live album of improvisation with guitar and laptop from Neil Jendon called ‘Live at Buddy in Chicago’. It starts very very quiet and builds up to an increasing level of intensity across three tracks – through gently humming, intrusive ambient and on to noise. It’s a great listen. Try it.

Where has he gone?

Things are picking up in work now. And the poetry reading last week is causing a flurry of brain activity in that arena too.

Keeping a log is challenging at times like these.

I’m also being software challenged with the job of updating and redesigning the website (www.geocities.com/stuarteglin) which really needs an overhaul. I’m planning to do it with Frontpage, but have never used that programme so am starting from scratch. Hopefully it will be beautifully intuitive and I’ll be able to reproduce the pages from the old site together with a new front-end and new sections to build up the site. We shall see – ongoing reports to be seen here first.

Music at the moment – everything Robert Wyatt. I saw the documentary on BBC4 here in the UK which was wonderful. I am now listening to all the Wyatt albums I own. Favourites are ‘Solar flares burn for you’ and ‘Cuckooland’ – the two new ones.

I’m also listening to the latest album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ‘The Last DJ’ which is a great mainstream album.

Enough for now – I’ll keep you posted…

Poetry reading next week – it’s official!

I heard yesterday that I have been asked to do a poetry reading at my local poetry group next week. ‘First Thursday’ meet on the first Thursday of each month (there’s a surprise!) in my home town of Heswall in the North West of England.

I will read a few poems from the ‘Zen Words’ collection and perhaps a poem or two from the forthcoming collections that I am currently working on. I’m really excited about this – and a bit scared too! But then the adrenalin is always useful.

Things like this, coming out of the blue, are always good for motivation. I sent off some more booklets today, and have started to think about the third booklet from ‘blue water books’. I am still aiming to get this booklet out before Christmas.

As I write this I am listening to ‘Tour de France: Soundtracks’ by Kraftwerk. Wonderful stuff – even after all this time, they still stand years ahead of anyone else. Others rush to catch up. If you haven’t heard it and like early Kraftwerk, you ought to try to hear it as soon as you can. You can hear bits of it and see video clips at www.kraftwerk.com.

Creativity as the enemy of productivity

Does Creativity get in the way of productivity? It can do. How do you ensure that spinning around various creative spirals doesn’t detract from the job that needs doing?

At the moment I am producing lots of creative ideas, and my thoughts are developing fast. But my actual productivity levels are quite low. I suppose that this must be part of a cycle of energy where the productivity comes in good time. For now, I just need to ensure that I make best use of the creative flows whilst they are there.

Current musical listening:

1. King Crimson – Starless and Bible Black
2. Robert Fripp – November Suite
3. Can – Landed
4. Jan Garbarek – Rites
5. Burning Shed Sampler No. 2

A good broad range of music which oils the wheels of the thinking mind.

Next week is a really busy one – but I’ll try to drop in a couple of updates.

Whack it unpack it

I have had a pack of playing cards for a few years now that was created by Roger von Oech (www.creativethink.com). It is called a ‘Creative Whack Pack’ and I use it when I am a bit stuck in moving things forwards. For the last two days I have started the day by choosing a card to get the thinking going.

Yesterday’s card was “Set a Deadline” – something which I am experimenting with where I have things that need doing that lack external pressure to get them completed. Seems to be working!

Today’s card was “Change its Name”, which left me a bit confused at first. Not sure what use to make of this concept.

The text on the card reads:

“If an architect looks at an opening between two rooms and thinks “door”, that’s what she’ll design. But if she thinks “passageway”, she may design something much different like a “hallway”, “air curtain”, “tunnel” or perhaps a “courtyard”. Different words bring in different assumptions and lead your thinking in different directions.” What else can you call your idea?

Now, after a bit of thinking two things occurred to me:

1. A task which I am really struggling to get in touch with at the moment is redrafting my PhD thesis. It’s a painful task which I have told myself I don’t enjoy doing. By renaming it, I’m trying to change the allure of this task. It is now ‘Redesign’ the thesis. So, I am currently working on redesigning chapter nine – seems more enjoyable already, and it introduces concepts of redesign that didn’t occur to me in the job of drafting.
2. Change my name – not literally of course. But when you change jobs you have an opportunity to redefine yourself, and particularly to draw out parts of yourself that were submerged in the previous role. This means that I can draw out my creative side much more than previous. Be much more extravert about my creativity.

I’m going to continue with the Whack Pack approach through the working days of next week too, and see what it generates.

Whilst writing this, I am listening to ‘Space Groove’ by Projekct Two (an offshoot, R&D unit of King Crimson). I love this double album for its twiddling innovation. It takes a prolonged groove off into stellar depths. Great stuff!

Creativity and Robert Fritz

Some time ago I read a book by Robert Fritz called ‘The path of least resistance’. It was a marvellous exposition of uses of creativity. I thoroughly enjoyed working through it.

Well, you often find yourself going around loops and back to where you started. At the moment I am reading Peter Senge’s ‘Fifth Discipline’ and in searching through associated websites on the net (www.fieldbook.com) I noticed that Robert Fritz has worked with Senge. I then found a Fritz website (www.robertfritz.com) and reference to a couple of new books by him. One is called ‘Creating’ and sounds fascinating. There is also a recently published book called ‘Your life as art’ which I’m keen to read too.

I’ll come back to these books once I have tracked them down and read them.

Meanwhile, in a couple of weeks I am going to a Workshop which will be run by an actor, looking at applications of creative techniques in work situations. I’m looking forward to this.

Today’s music:

Miles Davis – Double Image
Jack de Johnette – Dancing with Nature Spirits

And a fair amount of quiet too – ah, the sound of silence.

Transmission resumes – Miles Davis circa 1969

A gap for a little while, but it’s not because I’ve been doing nothing. The last few days for example, I have been listening to a stack of CDs from 1968 to 1970 which document the work of Miles Davis during that period. The music comes from:

1. The Complete ‘In a Silent Way’ Sessions (3 x CDs)
2. Double Image (Live in Paris, 1969)
3. The Complete ‘Bitches Brew’ Sessions (4 x CDs)

A vague calculation tells me that there is about 10 hours of music on these CDs. It’s an incredible documentation of an artist’s prolific creativity. The material on these CDs is startling, innovative, and takes jazz music in mind-blowing new directions. The ideas on these CDs are still subject to catch-up by a lot of music that has come since.

Of course, the musicians who are working with Miles Davis on these CDs are legendary – people like Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Dave Holland, Jack de Johnette. There are loads more too – a collective of musicians each contributing their own take on improvisation and composition.

It’s great music for working to, because the diversity of ideas stimulates productivity as I listen.

I’m impressed!

I suppose the thing that is so remarkable is the quality of the music that was left off the original albums.

In the world of literature, I am reading through ‘The Fifth Discipline’ by Peter Senge, which is mind-blowing in its approach to looking at systems in action. I’m experimenting with some of the ideas set out in the book. Fascinating!

The new job is providing endless creative opportunities. In a couple of weeks I’m going to a creativity workshop which will use improvisation as a teaching tool. Should be interesting and challenging too!

I feel like my brain is opening up at the moment, to a whole series of new possibilities. May the words, and the reports of the process flow out.

Good for a laugh

Always good for a laugh – a Murder Mystery Party. I’m going to one this coming weekend. My part is supposed to be a 1960s style Austin Powers character. Instead of being a spy I’m supposed to be a photographer. I have a wig to wear, but it makes look more like Shaggy from ‘Scooby Doo’ rather than Austin Powers.

The last couple of weeks have been one of adjustment to the new role in work. It has been such a long time since I changed job role, people who I work with and organisational context. It’s taking a bit of getting used to.

I’ve met a few people already, so I have some reference points. Being home based means that I get to listen to a whole lot more music whilst working. As I type this I am listening to ‘Alchemy: an index of possibilities’ by David Sylvian. I had already heard some of this album before. The new material (new to me that is) is wonderful. The track ‘Steel Cathedrals’ is a marvellous instrumental piece with contributions from Ryuichi Sakomoto, Steve Jansen. Kenny Wheeler, Robert Fripp, Holger Czukay and Masami Tsuchiya. Nineteen minutes of meandering around a basic theme – each player distinctive and yet moulded into a whole and coherent entity.

Last night I listened to Bartok’s Violin Concerto No.2 and two Rhapsodies whilst sitting in front of an open fire. It is truly stunning music, from the breadth of emotion to the intensity of the incorporation of folk themes into the classical cannon.

Disappeared - but back soon

Changing jobs is more disruptive than I can remember from the last time I did it! I changed jobs on 1st October and since then have had little time to breathe...

I'll be writing things in here again - in the next few days. I promise.