I was in good ol' London town this week for stuff. If I have free time I like to pop in to the National Gallery.
Three cheers for Canaletto.
I know - my phone-photo is somehow *better* than the original painting...
I saw Paddington in Paddington and took the opportunity to tell him how much I loved his work (Paddington 2 is a better sequel than The Godfather II).
Bear barely bare.
And I stopped the TARDIS from falling over in BBC Television Centre.
If you want to catch up with "The Force: The Story Of Scotland's Police" you can do so here. Worth it for archive footage of football hooliganism hyperbolically narrated by Archie "Apocalypse Now" Macpherson. And the best graffiti ever; directed at Frankie Vaughn and daubed by the hand of a defiant, chib-inclined native of Easterhouse I enjoyed providing the music for this series.
Tomorrow is the last episode of Best Laid Plans on Channel 4; another series I've enjoyed creating music for. Stop me if I'm boring you.
I am giving this a go:
It's a demure hoot.
...She looked around as much to say, 'Are you all like this?'...
...The clergyman, inwardly cursing the female sex, bowed and departed with her message...
...'My dear,' said the old man gently, 'I think that you are repeating what you have heard older people say. You are pretending to be touchy...Now, this was abominably impertinent, and she ought to have been furious. But it is sometimes as difficult to lose one's temper as it is difficult at other times to keep it...
Oh, if you want to purchase some Camera Obscura-related art for a good cause - click here.
Yesterday I bought some paper-cut images by Chop Pop who spent two years recreating scenes from Camera Obscura's video for "Let's Get Out Of This Country" in order to create an alternative, paper-cut version:
Some images will be for sale on-line soon. All proceeds go to fund research into Sarcoma.
As I type the second instalment of this will soon be broadcast:
And there are only two episodes left of Best Laid Plans on Channel 4. Yikes.
"The 10th Duke" is another preview track from "Hamilton Mausoleum Suite".
It features a string quartet drawn from the Scottish Festival Orchestra and an opening chord borrowed from Stravinsky:
"Early in the compositional process, Stravinsky devised a chord which stretches from D4 to E5 to A6. One day while he and Dushkin were having lunch in a Paris restaurant, he sketched the chord on a napkin for the violinist, who thought the chord unplayable, to Stravinsky's disappointment. On returning home, however, Dushkin tried it out on his violin and was surprised to discover it was actually quite easy to play."
This is from Wikipedia but I first read about it in Alex Ross's book "The Rest Is Noise". (Sometimes I like tackling books that are beyond me.)
You can pre-order "Hamilton Mausoleum Suite" here. And here's a wee stocking-filler idea: Go see this...
Talking of films; idea for entirely fictional domestic film scene: INTERIOR. DAY. A KITCHEN SOMEWHERE IN GLASGOW, SCOTLAND
INTERIOR. NIGHT-TIME. 47-YEAR OLD MAN IN WHEELCHAIR, SPECTACLES ASKEW, WEARING AN OXYGEN MASK AND AN ILL-FITTING MUSCLE SHIRT, IS BEING WHISKED DOWN A HOSPITAL CORRIDOR TOWARDS AN EMERGENCY ROOM....
...to BBC One Scotland on Monday (or i-player afterwards) for the start of a three-part history of the Scottish police. And not just because I did the music.
I highly recommend this:
I caught up with James MacMillan and Micky Flanagan (no not in the pub - keep reading) on their respective Desert Island Discs podcasts. Best radio programme ever.
Did I ever mention that time I watched James MacMillan conduct my orchestral arrangement of a tune apparently hailing from St Kilda while Craig Armstrong... - oh I did. (Well. It's not like it happens every day.)
"Cantata For No Voices" is a track from my "Hamilton Mausoleum Suite" which will be released on 26th Jan on CD/LP/Digital. The players are John Davidson (cello), Emma Connell-Smith (viola) and Sharron Griffiths (harp) from the Scottish Festival Orchestra:
On Feb 19th, 2018 there will be a live premiere of the suite - in the Mausoleum itself (yikes!)
Tickets disappeared immediately but if you lost out and you are near Glasgow; on Jan 11th a short film about the project will be shown as part of the Blueprint night of short films at GFT.
In other news, "Murder On The Orient Express" was diverting fun. And I dug "Battle Of The Sexes". But way out in front with 2 thumbs, 5 stars and a big wet kiss was:
Even better than the first one. Full of love and fun. We should all be like Paddington. Thank you, Michael Bond.
Armistead Maupin's "Logical Family" doesn't disappoint. Here he is on a brief meeting with Tennessee Williams:
"...so we shared the joint for several minutes, talking about nothing more than the moon in the sky. I did not try to introduce myself or be one of those fans he had fled. I knew he would prefer the kindness of a stranger."
The Vaselines were great at the CCA on Saturday, of course. Rock n roll n innuendo.
On Friday I travelled through to Edinburgh for a Q&A event with the great Armistead Maupin. He was brilliant, of course. Us punters could have listened to his chat all night. When they opened it up to questions I asked, now that he had completed the Tales Of The City novels and written his memoirs, if there were going to be any more stories. He said - yes a contemporary Tales Of The City series had been commission by Netflix and Laura Linney (brilliant in Ozark) would be involved (cheers and claps ensued). I'm in.
I thought it was great - beautifully shot and Emily Beecham was amazing.
I watched the George Michael doc on Chanel 4. He sure entertained a lot of people. His story about the circumstances of his performance at the Freddie Mercury tribute show was pretty incredible.
I've finally cracked this open after putting it off. I'm going to miss these characters...
"Tranquil with blissfully arranged strings and an emotive cinematic lift" (Vents Magazine)
"Sarcophagus" is taken from my new album "Hamilton Mausoleum Suite".
Featuring soloists from the Scottish Festival Orchestra, it will be released on 26th Jan 2018 on LP, CD & Digital.
The musicians are:
Violin – Justine Watts
Violin – Stewart Webster
Viola – Emma Peebles
Cello – John Davidson
Harp – Sharron Griffiths
The music was inspired by - and recorded in - the wonderful mausoleum in Hamilton, Lanarkshire in Scotland.
Alexander the 10th Duke ordered its construction as a family burial vault. He was eventually interred in an Egyptian sarcophagus on plinth in the mausoleum which was finally completed in 1858, several years after Alexander's death.
"Hamilton Mausoleum Suite" can be pre-ordered here.
Last night I saw Beethoven's 9th Symphony performed by the BBC SSO at the City Halls in Glasgow. It was amazing.
In another rare live cultural outing I saw the powerful plays "Eve" by Jo Clifford and "Adam" by Frances Poet at the Citizen's Theatre. Yay for the rights of transgenders, asylum-seeking refugees and transgender asylum-seeking refugees - and for skilled playwrights to tell their stories.
Last week I caught "God's Own Country". If James Herriot wrote Brokeback Mountain. Not really. But it was beautiful; skilled, nuanced filmmaking.
This looks interesting from Bob. Speaking of which I caught Paul Greengrass introducing "Forever Young" on Desert Island Discs as a song for parents and their children and...well...let's just say I'm glad I wasn't wearing any mascara.
Talking of songs I am running an evening class in Songwriting at Glasgow University from Sept 28th. For those whop have never written a song, want to write better songs, or want to get different perspectives on songwriting. Info and registration here.
Robert Forster was brilliant at Monorail last week promoting the wonderful "Grant And I".
As a birthday treat, for one night only, I visited Blackpool (blame Alan Bennet and The League Of Gentlemen).
They don't write them like that anymore.
The illuminations were on as were the World Fireworks Competition (I caught Poland's entry). I went up the Tower and ate fish and chips. There were ads for Duncan "chase me" Norvelle, Paper Lace and Cannon & Ball.
And that were that.
I recently provided the 'music' for an Old Spice ad. Never got to meet Von Miller though...
I saw Detroit and God's Own Country (subtle, effective use of music in the soundtrack) and would recommend both.
Francis Macdonald is not only the drummer of the legendary Teenage FanClub, besides his appearances with Bmx Bandits, he also composes film and documentary music for television and even split from a classical music album.
Hello, his latest project is an album composed and performed with Harry Pye, artist with everything, columnist, exhibition organizer and painter himself.
The album is composed of 10 songs mostly sung by Francis (Harry intervenes on 3 musical pieces about which he talks about ... painting obviously). An album that chronicles life, art, loss, humor where one meets Mondrian, Freud, Mike Love and Jean-Luc Godard! cheerful!
Elsewhere - I enjoyed "England Is Mine". Not everyone loves it and it could easily have gone wrong in different ways, but I settled into it and it pulled me along.
I'm stalling reading "The Days of Anna Madrigal" - I don't want to bid farewell to the Barbary Lane crew just yet. After rewatching this I'm dipping in to Untold Stories...
The very first opera I attended was La Bohème staged by Opera Bohemia in St John's Renfield Church in Glasgow. I was back last night for their production ofThe Pearl Fishers which was grrreat.
Now, I'm not really one to self-promote (*reader splutters mouthful of tea down their front and into their lap*), but I was sent a translation of some praise for "Bonjour" from an on-line radio DJ in Serbia that I thought I might share...
Frances plays drums on TFC, Harry is visual artist. One wrote the music, the other lyrics. Together, they recorded an album “Bonjour” which was released in March. It opens with hit “I Feel Like a Record That’s Scratched”, and it describes the very same feeling I felt in life so many times. And the song doesn’t sound any less spectacular than title. There’s also songs about Frank Sinatra on Capri, about Beach Boys’ Mike Love and couple of spoken word tunes. But now I wanna talk about some other song.
Their tribute to great director Jean Luc Godard titled “Sympathy For Jean-Luc Godard” date back from the 2014, but I’ve discovered it recently. Since then, I am playing it for more that 10 times a day. And I can’t get enough. What a fucking hit!
While I listen to it, I see Anna Karina in white shirt, on the coast of some small town on the south of France, as she’s dangling her legs across the sky while she’s sitting on some isolated bench, feeling sad that summer is passing by. I can se Jean Paul Belmondo as he calmly smokes cigarette next to a broken car, while he’s waiting for a friend to come and pick him up, so the can go back in Paris. I see Jean Seburg in blue-white striped t-shirt, as she’s drinking coffee on some porch, while laughing like crazy about something. I see Brigitte Bardot, as she’s sleeping naked, while open book lays across her breasts. And I also can see all those summers that brought me and took from me all those things that made me the man I am today, with everything I love and hate about myself.
This song is reward for thousands of average albums that went through my ears. It’s the needle in the hay. Because of songs like this one I am listening to music.
I know that people usually don’t click on links with songs they are not familiar with, but please, make an exception this time.
Je n'aime pas monsieur Guy Ritchie
His work means nothing to me
Je n'aime pas David Cronenberg
“Videodrome” just got a minus
Oh and I'll be running a block of Songwriting Classes at Glasgow University from the end of Sept - 2 hours per week for 10 weeks. Tell your aspiring songwriter pals.
And finally, Esther...
I am not going to post the link but if you are on twitter and you like creepy ghost stories you might look for the story concerning "Dear David". But if you don't like creepy ghost stories, I wouldn't recommend it.
If you missed "Orkney - When The Boat Comes In" (a gem of a doc to have worked on), some of you can catch up here.
Also, Cash Trapped is back (Hans Zimmer worked on Blockbusters you know) and, because I provided the music, a small person in my family got into the spirit to support a couple of the players:
Talking of Hans Zimmer (I should've been a DJ) I've heard some criticism of Dunkirk but I thought it was amazing. I loved the structure and the show-don't-tell approach and the way the soundtrack worked, and lots more.
Dear Billy Sloan & Roddy Hart - thanks to both of you for playing this song on your respective BBC Radio Scotland shows:
Ian Rankin tweeted that he bought the album, which was nice.
"A thoughtful collaboration with Macdonald providing the elegant soundtrack to Pye's lyrics on art appreciation, nostalgic reminisces and the simple pleasures." (The Scotsman)
"Punky vignettes, fusing spoken word with classic pop, easy listening and more” (CLASH magazine)
“A work of art.” (Is This Music)
“Wonderfully quirky” (Flux magazine)
Makes you want to buy it, right? Links to order it here.
Watched good ol' "Way Out West" for the first time in yonks.
And now a few words from Tom Baker:
"I was led to Maud's table, she had a permanent place there, and the waiter laid me out for her, covering me with a napkin as big as a sheet. For a moment I thought he was going to shave me. He merely offered my a menu as big as a Monopoly board. And the wine! The smoked salmon! The quality of the glassware! I glanced around me and saw all those famous faces. I was the only one there I'd never heard of. Such posing, such loud talk, such vulgarity. I was completely at home."
Teenage Fanclub played the Deer Shed festival in Thirsk in Yorkshire last week.
soundcheck
It was a nice way to round out the long bout of touring since the release "Here".
gig
I exchanged nods with John Shuttleworth and contemplated buying a cigar box guitar. Twas a very family-friendly affair. Someone told me the punters were 45% children. Gotta get the next generation of music fans on message...
Meanwhile in Bonjour Land avec Harry Pye; Mojo gave us 4 stars and called our album "odd but good"...
If you are in Glasgow and find yourself at Chelsea Market (someone was treating me) I recommend the halibut. (All together now - "That piece of halibut was good enough for...")
A propos of nothing a wee Alex Chilton memory came into my head today. I was once talking to him about all the different strings he had to his bow - solo stuff, Big Star reunion, Boxtops, producing, etc. and he said, "Yeah - a friend of mine once told me, 'You're the only person I know with fame and fortune to fall back on'".
Tune in to BBC One next Monday 31st July for "Orkney - When The Boat Comes In" - a wee gem of a doc for which I was chuffed to provide the music.
Oh! and "Cash Trapped" is back next Monday too. It was fun working on the music for that. But no - I'm afraid I still never got to meet Bradley...
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