(Soundtrack: Ornette Coleman “Change Of The Century”, Bon Iver “For Emma, Forever Ago”)
Now well and truly into January and I have done virtually nothing about finding a new job. I did go and see about a short-term position for a DVD wholesaler, but do not think it is for me as it would involve spending at least two nights a week up in Burton in the North Midlands, and the idea of being away from Bridie and up there two nights per week does not appeal. I have decided to approach some music publishers, in case there is somebody out there just sitting waiting for the opportunity to support me while I write the next album. Our friend Pete, who does our mastering, is going to help me put a CD compilation together, and I will then get in touch with ten or so. A bit of a long shot, but you never know…
Sad news last week that Patrick McGoohan has passed away. He embodied individuality and artistic integrity. We have been working our way back through watching “The Prisoner” and it really stands the test of time, setting a standard for intelligent, surreal, cult TV, that not even Twin Peaks matched. In fact Twin Peaks caved in halfway through season 2 whereas the Prisoner never did. He was so headstrong and defiant in that show; a real inspiration.
I used to watch it with my father and we would both try and make out that we knew what was going on. We did the same with “2001” when we went to see that at the pictures. My parents and I would go to the cinema quite often when I was young. They had an odd habit of not checking the time of the films, just turning up. So we would have our tea, then go to the cinema, and go in at whatever point the movie was up to. I remember us doing this for “Ice Station Zebra” which starred Patrick McGoohan. We arrived half an hour before the end of the film causing a disturbance for the people already engrossed. If you know that movie you know there is a twist near the end, so that was the first thing that we saw. We then watched it to the end, and sat through the intermission. The ad’s would then come on: mainly painfully scratchy efforts for local businesses (“Cor, lovely and fresh!” was the catch-phrase for Warburtons bread, as exclaimed by a cartoon robber breaking into a safe and finding a loaf inside), This was followed by a short film on canoeing or bell-ringing, then another quick intermission, and then the trailers, and then “Ice Station Zebra” started and we learned how we got to where we were when we came in. When it got to that point we would usually stand up and leave, causing another commotion, but on this occasion, we stayed and watched the ending again. Mum had a crush on Rock Hudson, I was in awe of McGoohan and Dad loved all the snow and the submarine.
It is interesting how some old TV shows stand the test of time and others do not. We tried to watch “The Persuaders” and “The Odd Couple” recently, both shows I had fond childhood memories of, but they are now absolutely awful, unwatchable. “Columbo”, on the other hand, actually seems even better now. All those wonderful guest directors and stars, such inventiveness and quality in the writing, and a tour de force performance from Peter Falk. Bridie has completely fallen for the guy, and we are gradually watching all his movies too. Patrick McGoohan holds the distinction of having appeared the most times as the guest murderer in “Columbo” – 4 times, and his acting, writing and direction on the show really lift it to being some of the best ever TV.
Also check McGoohan out playing the drums in “All Night Long”, a 60s British Beat movie based on Othello (Charles Mingus is in it too) – that would make a great wall projection for a club or a gig.
One advantage of not working over Christmas was that we were able to have a proper break, and got into a nice routine of lying in then going out for walks in London. I am beginning to tire of life in London, not so much the city itself, but the people, and the time spent on public transport. One thing that always amazes me however, is how wonderful the parks are and how green London is. We were surrounded by deer in Richmond Park, surely one of the greatest parks in the world. We walked round the four ponds on Clapham Common, and watched confused geese skidding across the ice. We explored Tooting and Wandsworth Commons and learned about the history of the capital’s hospitals on the South Bank. We followed a trail along Beverley Brook from Richmond to Barnes and found a new favourite pub. We warmed up with veggie chilli in Borough Market and walked various loops along the Thames, which has a real romantic, spiritual quality, hence its appearance on the artwork for the new album. We are gradually walking the whole of the Thames from the Barrier to the Source – 180 miles altogether. So far we have walked 100 of it. With some thoughts of leaving London, we are hoping to finish this this year. You can also get around a lot of town by following the canal routes, which is much mellower and more romantic than busy streets or public transport. Plus all the amazing cemeteries…
Now halfway through the month of being Vegan. It seems that this is easy when you are cooking at home, as you are in control. Also not too bad eating out in the evening, as Indian and Chinese both offer plenty of choice. I have found the hardest thing to be cafe lunches, as cheese, eggs and milk are out. Pret etc do coffee with soya milk, and this is fine, as long as the soya goes in the cup first, and the coffee has cooled slightly, and not too much soya is used. In fact, I have come to prefer cappuccino with soya as it can sometimes be sickly with milk. Getting decent food at lunch can be frustrating though, and makes me appreciate that there is not much choice for Vegans! Difficult to get sweet snacks too, unless you go to a health food store.
We had our first rehearsal of the year the other night, trying to turn the new album into something we can play live. That’s Andy pumelling his bass in the photo. I find that a good rehearsal is down to punctuality and mood. It’s not about musicianship or technical stuff, it’s down to people being up for it. Usually if one person is on a downer, the others can lift them out of it, or compensate. If two people are not in the mood then it is a struggle. Amazingly all five of us were on good form this time so it made it easy. That won’t last, but I enjoyed it. Some of the songs were working, some were not, but we have a couple more sessions in before we try it live on Valentine’s Day (understandably not a popular choice of date with our wives and girlfriends!).
Went to see the latest Clint Eastwood film “The Changeling”: big, clumsy, entertaining, American story-telling – it is very enjoyable. Unfortunately we both got the giggles at John Malkovich halfway through. He is all hairpiece and lisp and pout, and we cracked up every time he came on screen. Apologies to the couple in front. Still, at least he was introducing some humour, which Clint clearly had no intentions of providing. Good film though. Not as cool as “Play Misty” or the ones with the monkey obviously, but pretty good.

(Soundtrack: Nina Nastasia “The Blackened Air”, Daniel Johnstone “Lost And Found”)
Just before Christmas we visited San Francisco for a few days. We have been there before, but this time really fell in love with it. One reason I think, is that previously we had stayed centrally, on the basis that it is then easy to travel to the groovier areas of town. This time we stayed between the Castro and Haight, where there is a lot of nightlife so we could easily walk home in the evenings. Haight Street still has an air of the 60s and The Grateful Dead about it, and is home to Amoeba, one of the best record shops in the world.
One of the main things we wanted to do this trip was to go and see a film at The Castro, which is a huge cinema from the 20s, completely intact, including a chap rising out of the stage playing a pipe organ before the show. We would have happily seen anything there – we were thinking of an old classic, as they regularly show treats like “All About Eve” or “Blue Velvet”. It is a different experience going to the cinema in the USA, or maybe it is just the West Coast with its movie history – it always seems much more of an event, with the audience getting there early, and likely to respond and applaud during the film. The combination of this and the lovely cinema made it very appealing. We were lucky enough to arrive in town the day before the new Gus Van Sant film “Milk” opened at The Castro, so by getting up early on the Friday morning we were able to bag tickets for it.
Gus Van Sant is one of my favourite directors. I liked “My Own Private Idaho”, “To Die For”, “Good Will Hunting” and “Finding Forrester”, but it is his run of recent films which is so astonishing: “Gerry”, “Elephant”, “Last Days” and “Paranoid Park” are all stunning. So we were already excited about seeing “Milk”. The film tells the story of Harvey Milk, the openly gay member of the Board Of Supervisors in San Francisco in the 70s, who tirelessly campaigned for gay rights and managed to stop Proposition 6 from going through, which would have prevented gay men or women from teaching in American schools. He was also known as the Mayor of Castro Street – he was based there and the area was, and remains, a centre for the town’s gay community. Most of the film is set in the Castro, so we were going to watch it where the story happened.
As we were getting ready to go out, we noticed a procession going past our hotel. Hundreds of people marching in the dark, each carrying a single candle. We later found out that this was a recreation of the march that occurred after Harvey Milk’s death, and was in honour of his memory and the opening of the movie. When we got to the Castro we had to queue right down and round the block (I took the photo while we queued, though I managed to obscure Sean Penn), and when we got inside it took us a while to get two seats together, ending up really near the front. The place was rammed and the atmosphere electric.
The film is wonderful, and to hear the audience reacting to it was very moving. Several of the characters featured are still active in San Francisco politics today, and to hear them get such heartfelt cheers at the end of the movie brought us to tears. It was an unforgettable experience.
Afterwards we ended up in a bar called Martuni’s, which Bridie has completely fallen in love with. They specialise in Martinis (it was invented in San Francisco), and have a bar at the back where karaoke is sung around a piano – lots of show tunes and flamboyant performances; a brilliant atmosphere. I was gradually getting up the nerve to try a Bacharach song, but never quite made it. Bridie nearly got to do “Under Pressure”, an unusual choice, but the pianist couldn’t remember it.
The next night we went to a Comedy Club called The Punchline, and saw Emo Phillips, who was great: “I had a good German friend of mine to stay recently… I gave him bagels for breakfast… He said “We just can’t get bagels as good as these back in Germany”… I said “Well, who’s fault is that?””
We also walked across the Golden Gate Bridge while we were there. We had done that before, but in the meantime had seen the documentary film “The Bridge”. It is a powerful experience walking to the bridge and over it, and the film, which focuses on it as the suicide capital of the world, added to the sense of… I don’t know what the word is… “power” is probably closest. There is a feeling you get at any major landmark in the world, perhaps something about being in the presense of something which has been there through many generations and is bigger than us, almost a religious quality. The Golden Gate Bridge gives this feeling in an extreme degree: inspiring and unsettling. I would like to write about it at some point.
I singularly failed to meet up with Eric Stephenson while we were there. Eric has put together a book of graphic stories by different artists inspired by 24 Spearmint and Shirley Lee songs. We have been liaising on the project for a couple of years and were hoping to meet for the first time. I wanted to thank Eric in person for everything he has done to make this happen. Every so often somebody has faith in what we do and, believe me, it makes a big difference to us. We had made an arrangment, but thanks to my incompetence with my mobile and the hotel phone, we didn’t get together. I suspect we will return to San Francisco this year though, so hopefully we can meet then.
I went to get a haircut on Tuesday. I thought I had better, with the hideous possibility of job interviews looming. I had intended to go to Colin, who has been the local barber for years. The notice in his window says “I was asked if I was spending Christmas with loved ones. I said “No, just the family.”” He had a sign up last year saying “I will be closed this weekend as I am celebrating 5 years of happily married life. It is our 20th wedding anniversary.” A funny guy. A bit of a local legend. When I went there he asked me if I followed football. I said No. There was a long pause, then he proceeded to talk football at me for the whole haircut, presumably having decided that my input was unnecessary. It was, however, Colin’s first day back after Christmas so I figured he would be busy, hence I went to the newer one round the corner. He can moan for England. Give him a topic and he will moan about it until you stop him. I told him what I wanted with my hair, and he then gave me his usual cut. Do these people ever really listen? I think whatever you say to them they just give you their usual cut. Bridie went for a haircut last year, and took in a photo showing exactly what she wanted. She came home distraught, claiming to have been made to look like one of the Ramones. I must say she looked pretty good to me! (but then I have a thing for Joey Ramone).
Later that day, I met Andy Lewis to go over to Brian’s studio in Blackhorse Road, where we recorded the album. We wanted to get some sounds onto a CD to use live on a song called “The Lights Change”. Andy was in fine fettle, clutching a new digital Mellotron which he had just acquired. He was full of stories about having spent New Year’s Eve at a party at Paul Weller’s studio, and the next day walking with Paul in the Surrey countryside. I told him that Bono once stood on my foot, but he didn’t seem too impressed. Andy and I have written a song together called “36 Reasons Why”, which is for Andy’s next solo album, but I think we will try it live when we do the Shirley Lee gigs. Brian was well, and we chatted about doing some Spearmint recording in late February for a potential EP for later in the year. He is currently recording with The Clientele – I seem to remember I like them, but have not heard the recent stuff – must check it out.

It is nearly 6 pm and I still have a headache from too much Peroni last night. It is very nice, that draft Peroni. Bridie and I (that’s us in the photo) saw in the New Year at our local pub, dancing to the traditional hootenany sounds of Midnight Oil, Ray Parker Jnr and Desmond Dekker. The DJ’s technique was to have Stevie Wonder’s Greatest Hits permanently in one deck and then to change selections in the other. Hence every other song was from little Stevie. Is it normal to announce at 5 to 12 that the bar will close at quarter to 12 so that the staff can have a drink and see in the New Year? Aside from announcing it after it had happened, surely the one time you definitely want a bar to be open is round midnight on 31 December? Still, we had a brilliant time, and were last ones out, by which time we had both developed seemingly unstoppable hiccoughs.
Today, New Year’s Day has been very very cold and very very grey. We went for a walk round Whitehall and Westminster to shake hangovers. All was quiet, as Bono predicted. He stood on my foot once, in the bar in that hotel which they own in Dublin. He was heading through to the bar with that chap from The Waterboys, when he trod on me. He did stop and apologise though. He has probably been dining out on the story of how he stood on Shirley Lee ever since.
Could be a quiet night in with a movie or two tonight, I am feeling decidedly queasy…
We have decided to go Vegan for the month of January. I do not anticipate this being too hard as I have been Vegetarian since the age of 20, but we shall see. I think having to have Soya Milk in coffee will be the main thing, although I have just realised that honey is out too. We are doing it out of interest really, giving things up for a while makes you think about what you are consuming. We cut out wheat in October – it didn’t make much difference to us except that it was bloody inconvenient. It was very interesting though to figure out which things did or did not contain wheat. The hard one for me will be giving up alcohol for a while; we are thinking of doing this for Lent. We briefly considered axing alcohol for January, but the prospect of a long cold month including my birthday, with no booze seemed unappealing. Especially as I am now unemployed.
Last year I worked for a company called EUK. They were a wholesaler of CDs, DVDs and Games, buying them at advantageous prices from suppliers then preparing them for the shopfloor and selling them onto retailers including Woolworth, Zavvi, WH Smith and Sainsbury. They crashed and went into administration about a month ago. The administrators moved in and tried to sell the business, but failed. Nobody at work knew what was happening, communication was poor and rumours were rife. On Wednesday 10 December signs appeared in the canteen saying that Christmas lunch would now be served the next day. Canteen staff were openly discussing the fact that they had been asked not to provide food for the following week. On the Friday we were all called into one of the warehouses and told that the company was insolvent and that we no longer had jobs, no notice, no redundancy. There was a lot of tears and a lot of anger, directed both at the administrators for not managing to sell what was a profitable business, and also at the board for allowing it all to happen.
EUK had supplied about a quarter of the market in Britain, but it was part of the Woolworth group. Woolworth had been struggling for a while and had drawn up various plans to re-invent themselves, but as the recession took hold during the year, suppliers found they could no longer get insurance for doing business with them, or EUK. This meant that purchasing had to be managed on a weekly or even daily basis, which proved very difficult going into the busiest and most expensive time of the year. It got to the point where the cash needed to move forward was too great, and there was no choice except for both companies to go into administration. Neither company was sold and Woolies are about to shut their doors for ever on Sunday. A small team are dealing with the stock left at EUK. Zavvi have gone into administration too, as a knock-on effect of EUK going under. They follow all the other chains of record shops who have gone over recent years: MVC, Our Price, Virgin, Fopp, along with a host of Indie stores. This leaves HMV with a high street monopoly. They should be safe, for a few years at least.
In addition to this, Pinnacle went bust last month. They were the main distributor of Indie music in the UK, including our hitBACK label. This signals the end of an era. The music will still be made, but there is now a very narrow route into high street shops. We will be buying the weird and wonderful online – there will now be no alternative. I will miss being able to browse Indie CDs and LPs, but there is no point moaning about progress, it was inevitable that this would happen sooner or later, it is just that the recession has made it happen now.
So, I am out of work, and considering what to do next. Of course, my ideal would be to focus on writing full-time, and not get a day job, but this does not stack up financially. We live in a small flat in Shepherds Bush and we really like it, but the rent is high. I fear I have no choice but to look for another job. We are also considering moving out of London – it would make sense to be nearer to my mother in Yorkshire, as she is 80 and lives alone. I do not think that would damage the band, after all Ronan has lived in Hastings for a couple of years, he just comes up to London for rehearsals etc. It all needs some thought, and I need to sort it out by February, or money will run out. I should get some time during January to do some writing though, which will be a treat.
I plan to write this diary this year only and then stop. I will aim to write at least one entry each week, and to be honest about what is happening, hopefully capturing what it is like to be me in London in 2009. I find when I read other people’s diaries, that it is the day to day things that are of interest, so I make no apology for talking about the mundane. There will also be a lot of jibba-jabba about movies, which is a particular passion of Bridie’s and mine.
I remember reading in Brian Eno’s diary that one day he got up and decided to try drinking a glass of his own urine to see if it had efficacious effects. Perhaps I will try that…
But then, where would I get a glass of Brian Eno’s urine?