Tuesday, 28 July 2026

The Harmonicas Play The Skeleton Keys And The Rain

So. A wee while ago I headed off to The Planetarium in Glasgow's Science Centre to sit in the dark, blindfolded, along with maybe 200 other fellow  nerds enthusiasts, while Blonde On Blonde - sixty years since release - was piped through the sound system. An experience somehow both communal and personal.

Bob's vocals sounded *grrreat*. Wonderfully expressive. I could visualise him at the microphone. Lyrics that had been hiding in plain sight tugged at my sleeve:

"With your silhouette when the sunlight dims / Into your eyes where the moonlight swims"

... tasteful wee understated organ & guitar licks...occasional, sonically isolated ahead-of-the-beat tambourine taps...beautifully musical drum inflections which I supposed I had previously felt, sitting somewhere back there in the mix, but not really heard... 

In the midst of all these revelations - specifically during I Want You and Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again - I think I zoned out, entering into a higher consciousness where time, memory and perception were suspended. Either that or I fell asleep. Assuming the latter, Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat came traipsing along to wake me up. If I was snoring my neighbours were polite enough not to tell me.

Before long Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands was waltzing off to sink beyond the horizon. Masterpiece over. Blindfolds off. A ripple of applause. The spell gently broken when an elderly woman turned to me and said, "It's John from pilates". I held arm and returned her smile, "I'm afraid I'm not - your eyes are still adjusting." (I couldn't even point to Pilates on a map.)

Ah, Bob. How shall I compare thee? I simply can't. The things you make me do. See you in Blackpool in November.

In other news - look what we did on our holidays...

New album & tour info here.


A propos of nothing I liked Toy Story 5.


Meanwhile my art continues - one step forward, two steps back. But there's not success like failure - right, Bob?









































Tuesday, 14 July 2026

Forever's Gonna Start Tonight

Farewell, Bonnie Tyler. For some reason I never used to think all that much of Total Eclipse Of The Heart. It was always just there somehow. In the background. Overlooked. Then Andrew Davies introduced it as one of his Desert island Discs. And I listened. And I've *loved* it ever since.

In other news I have no other news. I am working on music for a secret project and that's about it.

Here comes some more recent art including sketches from a life drawing class to which, like a chocolate moth to a flame, I keep returning...

























Framed for a pal.







Fare thee well.