Happy Gotcha Day

So the Doune The Rabbit Hole is up the swanny. More info here.

Green Man still beckons for Teenage Fanclub...

Talking of ('live') shows, I loved Bob's contrived, moderately perverse we're-not-miming-honest Shadow Kingdom show...

What Is Bob Dylan's Best Song is a pointless game. But I sure do love "When I Paint My Masterpiece". This solo piano demo version is a gem.

I enjoyed this...

It stretched me a wee bit but that was kind of the point.

Nice riposte, Ludwig.

Now I'm giving this a go...

I like the film Death Watch by Bertrand Tavernier. I like its soundtrack by the late Antoine Duhamel. (I once titled a short piece of music after him: I also got his address and sent him a wee letter and a miniature of Jura whisky.) A while ago I was looking at the LP cover...

...and on the back there is a picture of Duhamel and someone called Harry Rabinowitz working together in a recording studio....

This led me to an episode of Desert Island Discs featuring Rabinowitz (at the grand old age of 99). Among plenty of other stuff (working on Chariots Of Fire, Barbara Streisand stopping a recording session in order to sit down to a Chinese meal, etc.) Sid James pops up in a nice wee aside. If you're that way inclined you can listen here.

Karine Polwart is great in this radio doc about "The Parting Glass".

On the subject of The Crystal Bucket, I've been Catching up with Don't Forget The Driver; Revisiting Stranger Things; nearly finished Monty Python series on Netflix. 

We've had Sita The Rescue Dog for a year...

...so we sang her Happy Birthday....

...and ate homemade cupcakes. Sita had a pupcake. 

I am writing music for something that I can't tell you about.

Tinkety-tonky. x

Indiana Jones And The St Vincent Street Ticker Tape Parade

Last weekend = Paesano pizza, Austin Powers and Dumb & Dumber.

This week I took a rare trip into Glasgow city (where filming of the next Indiana Jones film is underway) and wandered about Downtown Manhattan circa 1969.

I enjoyed working on the titles music for this. 

The music brief indicated that Amol likes Jamaican Dub. So I dug out my melodica and turned up the Reverb and Delay.

I was glad my pal Harry Pye roped me into providing the music for this...

I finished the BBC adaptation of 'Tinker Tailor Soldier, Spy'. Loved it. They don't make them like that anymore. The late Geoffrey Burgon wrote the music including this over the end credits...

Here is his obituary from 2010, written by Terry Jones.

And here is a more recent obituary, for Colin Tully who wrote the soundtrack for the beloved 'Gregory's Girl'...

I suppose it is tricky to imagine any film with a different soundtrack. But I'm very glad that Bill Forsyth went with Colin Tully. 

My mind keep wondering back to this and I realised - I'm like Henry Fonda's character in 12 Angry Men, but without the skills of persuasion.

Now reading this...

Tinkety-tonk, old fruit.

Cardiff

Well. 

Teenage Fanclub have a (socially distanced) gig...

Yikes.

I was on this...

I chose Limmy's autobiography 'Surprisingly Down To Earth And Very Funny' because -  as I say in the programme - Limmy's comedy makes me laugh in a way that so much comedy doesn't and I went through his book like a hot knife through butter. Themes include: mental health; serendipity; how fleeting moments of childhood can leave a lifetime's mark; how young people talk about sex (and subsequently how some men and boys treat women and girls); daring yourself to operate outwith your comfort zone; there is no wrong path; etc., etc. Lots of stuff resonated for me. And it is brutally honest; a literary warts-and-all self-portrait if ever there was one.  My fellow discussers were less taken. It would be a dull world where we all liked the same things. Here's a link to me yakkin' with Lloyd & Harriet.

Harriet's recommendation led me to this...

...which I loved.

Then I read this bonkers affair...

...or maybe I'm still reading it. Or I'm still living it. Maybe Italo Calvino authored me saying that. Or something. Anyway it was (is) weirdly wonderful. I loved the very end.

Now reading this:

I am chewing over the BBC adaptation of Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy. I love Michael Jayston. He could have played Richard Burton. Or Richard Burton could have played him. Not that Richard Burton is a character in Tinker, Taylor, Solider, Spy. Och you know what I mean.

Anyway.

Last episode of Inside Culture (*COUGH* FEATURING MY TITLES MUSIC *COUGH*)...

...is on i-player here.

As I type I'm up for a New Music Scotland Award. Golly.

I watched Yesterday. Family viewing. I liked it. I was sure it was going to end differently (*spoiler alert* it was all a dream and when he awakes from a coma of course The Beatles exist but he realises that his true love has always been there right under his nose (and maybe she sends his Summer Song to Ed Sheehan who likes it and covers it?) *spoiler ends*). They really should have got me involved as a script editor. Poor them.

A world without The Beatles. Can you imagine? I can't ...

Outwith My Comfort Zone

I thought Jimmy McGovern's "Time" was amazing. Tense isn't quite the word.

Sean Bean was great and Stephen Graham just burns up the screen.

I recently discovered that "outwith" is a Scottish word. Do people outwith Scotland not say it?

I am reading the charmingly splendid Comrade Don Camillo. 

I do wish I could rewatch the BBC series "The Little World Of Don Camillo" with Brian Blessed chewing the scenery as the local communist mayor Peppone.

On the subject of 'the good ol' days', I wonder if anyone knows whatever became of erstwhile resident Glasgow Pavilion hypnotist - and Tav Falco lookalike - Robert Halpern? No reason. He just popped into my head the other day *beat* as I was eating into a raw onion... (thank you, thank you). 

I've been listening to Alex Chilton - Live on Beale Street. "Maybelline" brought back memories of perhaps my least finest moment onstage (and that includes screwing up the drum intro to "Dumb Dumb Dumb" at my first gig with Teenage Fanclub at a festival in Santiago de Compostela, Summer 2000).

We dissolve to.... Sometime in Glasgow at the old 13th Note Club, Clyde Street. Some pals in the audience. Davie Scott on bass. Me thumping the tubs. We got to 'the end' of "Maybelline" (maybe our first song of the set?) and I so came to a halt, whacking the crash cymbal, snare and bass drum, letting it all ring out. Job done. Or so I thought.

Alex (into the mic, still strumming): "I'll tell you when I want you to stop playing - OK, Francis?"

It's jolly nice to be shortlisted in the New Music Scotland Awards 2021 for some TV composing work.

Still glad to have worked on the titles music for Inside Culture - latest episode is on i-player now.

I pre-recorded an interview for BBC Radio 4's "A Good Read". I reckon I successfully managed to lower the tone. Judge for yourself on 6th July.

Here are some frescoes in an abandoned church.

I've had reason to revisit We're On The March With Ally's Army (shut it):

"...We had to get a man who could make all Scotland proud,
He's our Muhammad Ali; he's Alistair MacLeod..."

They don't write them like that anymore.

Cheese of the week is Comté.

Au revoir.

Love Him Till Your Arms Break

I read one page of this (page 33 if you must know) and had to get it. 

And I was glad I did. Should I try Cider With Rosie?

Now reading Marcovaldo by Italo Calvino cos I dug the 5 x stories dramatised by Toby Jones for BBC Radio 4:

Every time I read any dialogue from Marcovaldo I hear the voice of Mackenzie Crook...

I've been watching good ol' Ripping Yarns.

Wonder if I could rock an Inverness cape the way Iain Cuthbertson does in Murder At Moorstones Manor? Probably not.

I'm enjoying the latest series of Inside Number 9 (d'uh). Adrian Dunbar's turn was especially spiffing.

Pat Nevin on Camera Obscura is a nice read.

Hooray for Alexei Sayle on Desert Island Discs.

This doc is a hoot:

And as for this...

...I'm not usually one for swearing but - blinkin' heck!

This is on i-player...

...in case you missed my titles music. I mean, why else would you watch it, right? Kidding!! Jackie Kay's poem about friendship is grand.

Laura Cantrell covering Bonnie Tyler? Don't mind if I do....

Glad of all the positive feedback for Teenage Fanclub "Endless Arcade" Be nice to play live again...

I've been writing some dub reggae-ish music for a thing. No really. I'll tell you later.

Fare thee well, my jo.

By The Time I Make A Million They'll Have A Coin For It

As I type it's Bob Dylan's 80th birthday. Happy Birthday, Bob. [I presume he reads my blog] I hope that tartan scarf I threw at you at the SEC in Glasgow all those years ago is still keeping you warm. 

I enjoyed The Big Sleep. 

I think I might start saying stuff like “Shake your business up and pour it, I haven’t got all day” to folk - just to see how that goes.

I read this in a day...

Powerful and poetically grim.

I am pretty sure I saw Hamish Imlach in a free concert with Ossian in Glasgow - maybe in The People's Palace? - when I was at secondary school, sometime in the eighties. I can't really remember anything about it. I've only ever really known of him. But I took the notion to read this book of his memoirs...

It doesn't disappoint...

And this is quite something...

I think it's the Fire Saga effect but for the first time in forever I made a point of watching and enjoying The Eurovision Song Contest.

A wee tip: if you are ever in the Tunnock's shop in Uddingston Main Street, be sure and pick up a banana loaf.

And now a visit to Poetry Corner (the second verse is my favourite):

I was glad to work on the titles music for this show.

(Still waiting on the call from Gary Numan to produce his next album...)

I'm pitching for something. Wish me luck.

...One Of Those Smiles The Lips Have Forgotten Before They Reach The Eyes...

Thanks to everyone who's bought/streamed "Endless Arcade" thus far, propelling us to Number 11 (count ' em) in the Official UK album Charts on the week of release.

And thanks for all the kind words; most especially this from Brendan O' Hare...

If you missed (or you'd like to relive, you crazy person) the Tim's Twitter Listening Party happening - here's the link.

I should have posted this pic during it - my POV in the Hamburg studio...

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Ah, l' esprit de l'escalier.

There have been a load of articles here and there. The Line Of Best Fit interviewed Norman and Raymond about The Pivotal Moments Of Teenage Fanclub.

If you haven't bought "Endless Arcade" yet (huh?) - you can do so here.

What else?

Wee interview with the great Julian Barratt - here.

Wee interview with the great Toby Jones - here.

And speaking of Toby Jones (Silky! -Ed.) I enjoyed TJ's adaption of 5 x Marcovaldo stories by Italo Calvino on Radio 4 (thanks for the tip, Eugene). Jones narrates and McKenzie Crook is understatedly brilliant as the put upon hero. They made me re-read this:

Now I'm reading some Raymond Chandler for a thing.

I've been getting into cheese - the dairy foodstuff. 

Some Alp Blossom last week

I've got an idea for a joke:

How do a porcupine and a slice of Welsh cheese make love?

Very Caerphilly. 

Admittedly it's not quite there yet. Needs development. Might start a crowdfunder.

TV? I'm still watching The Hairy Bikers, Monty Python, Futurama, Giants Of Snooker...

And finally, Esther....

I was glad to write the titles music for Series 3 of Inside Culture With Mary Beard.

And so to bed.