acoustic guitars in made up tunings. the quiet between quiets. overthinking/underthinking. tape hiss/memory's static.
The night I found out, I went and sat on the bed and fumbled through some songs to myself – stuff off of ‘Ziggy’ and ‘Hunky Dory’. I’m acutely aware of the influence he had, not just directly upon me but on so much of the music that I listened to growing up. And how I would dress up. As for this song – I have always loved it but this version is so alive. He looks so happy and he is throwing so much of himself into it. It’s a treasure to behold.
The Manatee radiates positive New Year vibrations to you and yours for 2016.
Some nice words about the festival and the folk that played over at Slap Me On The Patio – they’re also on the F***book. Here’s a picture of me losing it whilst standing on the pews. Sorry about that. Went a bit Iggy for a moment.
At the British Museum.
Just razzing around the Isle of Wight on bikes in beautiful autumnal sunshine.
This room and a shedload of delayed guitars.
Holding a mobile phone up to an amp.
First thing you notice as you leave the road and cross the bridge onto the path is the sound of the beck, the river. The rush, whoosh and roar is everywhere beneath the tree lined track as we begin our walk, slowly fading too a high background ‘ssshhhhhh’ as our route moves away from it.
When we reach more open ground, the fell sounds change. Trickles and bubbles of ghylls meeting culverts and gulleys; streams of water winding their way down the hillside; shimmering clear sheets over stones. Sparrows, blue tits and robins chirp and chirrup from the trees; A pied wagtail on a corrugated roof from the farm below, a wind chime drifts up from the kitchen garden.
Then as we go to round a corner, the sun breaks behind us over Lingmoor fell and a rainbow appears over Pavey Ark and the southern crags and pikes of Blea Rigg. We stand amazed. It’s colours visible from start to end.
The photo is not what we saw, it is never what we saw. What I recall was our wonderment as it appeared, became more vivid, fade slightly, return again. I couldn’t tell what colour the fells really were, what was rainbow and what was not and how fantastic it felt to be here. In all of this.
peter wyeth 