This site is getting a bit weak on “photography” which of course was the prime reason for its conception—initially. I have thought about returning to the more “hands on” world of chemical (alchemy) based imaging, my rather pompous way of defining traditional methods—sorry. My cheap digital camera keeps letting me down! Is anybody making an affordable one with proper exposure metering and a display screen with a realistic gamma characteristic I ask myself? Any way, the image above is a golden oldie from my Derek Jarman inspired film days, it was shot through an “augmenting lens” (an old magnifing glass) as part of an experiment to manipulate focal length in an irregular manner. Admittedly the image is a bit out of season and contravenes a concept of topical illustrations but I thought I would use it just to brighten things up a bit. I do feel somewhat aglow at the moment anyway.
Gill and I had a good time together last weekend and a bit of passion and “romance” is just what the doctor ordered so there, things were getting a bit barren down here. I am trying to keep it “family orientated” (what ever the hell that means) so I must digress immediately. We did get to climb up the church tower courtesy of Mr Nuttal. It’s a very interesting vantage point that allows one to survey the whole of the village and I sometimes wonder if the church website would ever consider having a live webcam up there. Rob said that the church clock no longer chimes because the system has “gone out of sequence” but I still miss that chiming of a night th’ knows, in sequence or not, eight rings for six, reversed quarter peels, and silent hours included. Mechanically speaking the system can’t be all that complex, I seem to remember Rob telling me that it operated on a similar principle to a pianola with a cam system that could be changed to create different peeling tunes.
The new job is not yet off the ground, but I’m getting there and looking forward to the prospect of working mostly from home for a decent wage. I have to go and see some folks in Manchester on Friday then it’s off to Gill’s for tea in Heaton Chapel. It’s good to have excuses for going into the near Manchester suburbs for a change. It’s an interesting and useful contrast to life in Macclesfield and one that points up the relative advantages and qualities of both locations, which are remarkably different considering a separation of only 15 to 17 miles. It’s a big life init.
Anti-matter
I am the space
around the letters
forming the words
of others.
Take me away and
still the words
will hang in the air
before deciding
to fly where
I would not let them go.
Or fall and risk the tread of feet.
Gill Heritage
I’m broke but otherwise not worrying much—yet! In fact, I feel quite up beat, as things are definitely a changing (or words to that effect). I have a new job which involves working from home in a sort of business research capacity, the earnings potential is quite good too, however a start date all depends on IT resources being up to scratch and able to cope with specialized software demands. Suffice it to say that I am not feeling too optimistic about that as this rather ancient 486 machine can’t do jack all,. I load Adobe Reader it it’s just about run out of gas.
My new friend Gill is coming over tomoz, hopefully she will be able to stay until Saturday. I plan to show her all of the ancient Prestbury sites and she may even be treated to a climb up the church tower (if we can find Rob and get permission that is) I hope these tower climbing escapades are OK and that I am not incriminating anyone there!
That reminds me, St Peter’s clock used to chime the hours and divisions, but alas no longer, I wonder what has gone wrong? In fact, the clock has not chimed for more than two years. Once Rob and I were in the bell room when the mechanism swung into operation, it was impressive to see all of the pulleys and intricate mechanisms that connected the clock to the Church tower bells suddenly go into a state of frenetic animation. I do like the sound of church clocks chiming in the night. In fact, I think it is an essential sound for any English village.
I’m still pursuing classical music interests following something of a rediscovery of a hitherto dormant collection of recordings by some of the key pioneers of “New Music” and particularly that which has originated from the USA within the last twenty years. As mentioned earlier I am so keen to hear some more of John Adams stuff. Reich is also continuing to produce some interesting and apparently more “linear” conceptions with a piece specially commissioned for the London Symphony Orchestra later this year. I suppose Adams is a kind of minimalist too though I think the concept is applied in a much more subtle and sophisticated way having something to do with massive textures that shift about or undergo surface modulations. Apparently, this is an idea that underpins Shaker Loops and Harmonium (to an extent). It has only just occurred to me that “Loops” has virtually no significant key changers but instead creates a sense of momentum in the form of shifting patterns and hugely slowed down harmonic rhythm. I wonder what ‘Common Tones in Simple Time’ is like.
Things seem to be improving on all fronts—at long last! The meeting with ‘red headed hot spot’ was a wonderfully warm, easygoing, and tactile affair, the promise of a much needed salvation from the gray wilderness is in the air—so there. Let’s hope its goodbye to mentalistics from here on in. Gill is an impressive gal, a wonderfully talented writer of poetry and prose living a genuinely bohemian life in a south Manchester suburb. She is helping to bring me back into line with my own creativity and expressive insight—well lets hope so! More anon, indubitably.
Music for the evening: John Adams ‘Harmonium’ (San Francisco Symphony Orch and Chorus, version) I love this powerful yet ‘transparent’ composition and as with the Reich piece mentioned previously it seems to transport the mind back to a time of expansive thought and heightened cultural sensitivity. Though I have to say that the Emily Dickinson setting based on the poem (elegy) ‘i could not stop for death’ is almost too emotional for me at times. The piece has an incredible speaker busting dynamic range and encompasses all of John Adams signature modes from shimmering minimalism to airy Copland-esc sparkyiness and crescendos with a head launching emotive effect. I must discover more of Adams work; he was always one of my favourite composers when I graduated from minimalism to the so-called “New Simplicity” in the 80s. My other favourite Adams piece is the inimitable ‘Shaker Loops’ (San fran symph orch version) another interesting exposition of mimetic rhythm forms and cross stitch counterpoint effects. That’s right I’m in a classical mood at the moment. Life can be complicated with a taste broaching everything from Stereolab, to Coltrain and Adams, that’s for sure!
As ever I will be glad to see the back end of March, I find this late winter period to be very draining and it’s a time when the SAD symptoms can start to set in if one is not careful. I am managing to maintain a high uptake of endorphins thanks to plenty of the usual super human exploits on bike plus commando assault riding escapades in the hills, always good for training the thighs and stretching the chain. I did once snap a chain on a 1:5 assent near Teggs Nose, now that is what I call power!!
Gill shares my liking for the spring and summer time. She’s an avid gardener and all round green fingered imp of the forest, and as for all (this way inclined) the green growing seasons are just so much more fun.
Fallback
Winter falls
With deadly hush
Clocks freeze
Light is slowed by slush.
Fogged brain
Cannot remember sun
Smile does not
Breast the horizon.
Mind depressed
Beneath extended night
Pushed past equilibrium
Of equinox
Palling and splintering until
Only a subterranean
Bulb of self
Lies waiting for
The kiss of spring.
poem by Gill Heritage
My younger brother hits the big 40 today . Happy birthday Toby!!
Now I do feel old—not!!
I’m recollecting happier times. It’s a bleak January day and I’m not adapting quite as well as I once could to prevailing circumstances and that worries me more than the circumstances—if you see what I mean. I’m loosing an innate ability to adopt a guerilla attitude to life—damn! Have I become bourgeois—well I hope not! What has happened to my situationist life skills I ask myself and I wonder if this is yet another age thing? I’m too tied down for a non-committed man, its mentalism of the highest order. There is a whole world out there, different countries and cultures and I should be indulging in adventure and throwing all caution and possessions to the winds.
Any way, on a brighter note I will be meeting up with a new potential friend in Manchester tomoz, she seems to be quite nice and rather interesting but I’m just looking forward to a day out of sorts—oh you reckless old crazy guy. I do worry that I may find myself ensconced in something a little too domestic for my liking though. But also I wonder why that should be an issue for me anyway. We shall have to see if attitudes will change this year?
I generally prefer to live in a rural environment but The meeting with aforementioned red headed hot spot tomoz will enable me to asses the lie of the land. To Consider if I may be content with a temporary move back to Didsbury or Chorlton (let the cottage) mainly in an effort to counter the stasis of nine (of my best) years spent in a gorgeous but sleepy dormitory for third time homebuyers and the super rich. Ultimately of course, Kerridge, Rainow, or Shrops and the Welsh borders beckon.
Music for the morning: Steve Reich ‘Variations for Winds Strings and Keyboards’. It is a long time since I listened to this piece of music though it is one of my favourite Reich recordings. ‘Variations’ has a warm intuitive feel (relatively speaking), and it is not quite so intensively processional as Reich’s other more overtly ‘minimal’ and experimental compositions. Some have defined it as one of his most “classical” sounding arrangements and for me The part for keyboard (organ) that forms the foundation of ‘Variations’ is a bit like a decanted and looped Bach toccata. The thing that is so unusual about this piece (for Reich) is the more fluid approach to performance. ‘Variations’ departs from the usual methodology of transcribing percussion like patterns to any conceivable instrument and delineating a musical “process” in the form of rhythmical augmentation and diminution. It’s hard to believe this is by SR at all.
It all takes me back to a vivid late October morning in London, watching the skyline from my Langham Place hotel window, the view across London was like an effecting homage to human endeavor; a bit like a frame from one of those Godfrey Riggio films. Steam rose into the crystal clear morning air from air conditioning stacks and the hands of the Broadcasting House clock ticked away the minutes. It was one of those epiphany moments when everything seems to correlate in a fortuitous and effecting way. This was the day after an important BBC job interview and I remember the intense sense of optimism and awe at the prospect of a career within such an historically significant organization. Of course, it was also the pre Burt era, (Alistair Milne was the DG) and a career in broadcasting still had some vestige of august cultural significance. The industry hadn’t quite dissolved into the bottom line extension of the marketing and PR “trade” as much of it has now.
‘Variations’ was playing on R3 and its expansive and broad ranging 20th century feel was a perfect accompaniment to the mood. I looked across to BCH and thought of all of the historically significant figures from cultural icons, to world leaders, that had passed through that immaculate greco/roman art-deco entrance hall. As well as a 1001 other voices that had steered and comforted the national consciousness through the darker moments in history and I felt so excited about the prospect of being in some small way a part of it. The moral of this story is that I need to retrace options for engagement in a cultural life of sorts. I may not really have any profound talents but I do have the knowledge and skills that are essential to the facilitation of film and media production in a technical sense. But above all, I guess I wish I could just recover the optimism, enthusiasm, and clear sightedness, of my early 20s
OH! Of course—happy New Year. Nothing happened—naturally. This is going to be a year of autonomous ambitions or revolutionary life changes. I am doing what is right for me, not diligently slaving away my precious time and efforts for the non benevolent and under rewarded benefit of others! No doubt when the spring comes I will return to a simple desire to work out doors in forestry or something of that kind—I always do—hehe. My brother and SIL are coming down later today, we plan to have a jolly good nosh up in one of the village’s eateries—so looking forward to that.
2005 was not such a good year for cycling. Current mileage is 5,371.2 that equates to 1,753.5 miles for the year. Normally I would expect to be in the 2,500 range, which of course confirms super human status—naturally. More interesting bike stats: I have done 4,291.2 of these miles on my Muddy Fox mountain bike both up hill and down dale :-)