Icarus @ 59 # 207

Its easy being a blogger, you just write what you are thinking and then put it down. I have a ten minute slot to do this so what I write depends on what is going on my life, dreams, thoughts because I try to stay honest to the thoughts that happen as I write in that ten minute slot... hmm. But does it really, I mean of course I am cautious, you can't, as Martin Amis asked us to believe, write about the fact that 'men think about sex every seven seconds...' or twenty times a day (what only twenty, goodness) and then the question arises, with whom... these are the secrets of being a man, I guess but I wonder if it is really true or not? This picture of me was taken in Barcelona by my son Dan, who flies home from Australia today and it will be great to see him. By all accounts he has had the time of his life and long may it continue. For me, the most important part of my life is seeing him happy. And when we pick him up at the airport we will listen to this driving home - while car dancing - for now it reminds me of the time we drove down the Pacific Coast from Los Angeles to San Diego, goodness, that was only a couple of months ago, how time flies, how far we travel, we really are Icarus boys:

Icarus @ 59 # 206

Sienna is one of the most remarkable cities I have ever visited. It carries itself off very well. Later in the year this place, the Piazza  del Campo becomes the site of the Palio, but actually it is a fantastic place to sit and eat. Its a city that combines its history and present with aplomb and while the Piazza del Duomo is not the prettiest of Piazzas, the Cathedral is just amazing - especially the library, the ceiling is pictured here. I have been doing a lot of thinking around this idea, the long past and the present because I am working on a piece that carries a myth through it. And its difficult to avoid the inspiration the juxtaposed old and new brings, myth and modernism, its almost a Benjaminian idea though I am sure Adorno would have approved too - did you know that Theodor Adorno did little in the way of philosophy without consulting Felizizitas (his wife Gretel). This doesn't say a huge amount, I expect it was a common idea except that we have come  along way from putting those prominent names at the head of thinking on aesthetics and dialectics. but for now, something simpler. Me and Abbi love this tune - she dances to this in Okie and its the other Bob Dylan song I mentioned to yesterday, rock me like a wagon wheel - and if you watch the film you will see Gillian Welch and David Rawlings lurking (not that everyone will know who they are):

Icarus @ 59 # 205

Summer has gone, or so it seems. After yesterday's enthusiasm and examining a PhD in the garden I am back at the kitchen table with early grey tea and a gloomy outlook. So we must take what we can, this morning I will hit the gym and then take football training this afternoon (for my sins I have agreed to work with the team again this year). There go my Saturdays again, its a commitment to the lives of others and not one I expected to make in my sixtieth year, especially since Dan won't be there, but so be it. I am now beginning to realise the significance of this flying man - especially the expression on his face. And so wooosh, of we go... watch this space for match reports. After his composition “Wagon Wheel” hit No. 1 on the country charts recently, Bob Dylan was obviously pleased with the way things turned out. So he provided The Old Medicine Show — the group that first cut it — with another “scrap” of a song that they could try recording - and here it is. This is Dylanesque country music for Gordon!

Icarus @ 59 # 204

The world is a topsy-turvy place, upside down and inside out. It would be great to wake in the morning and just be able to say, right, what shall I do today. Unfortunately my desk is cluttered with answers that need attention. Never mind, never mind, this morning I can brew some fresh coffee and examine a PhD in the garden. Not perfect but hey, I'm not working in a coal mine, going deep down down... and the most dangerous thing that can really happen is an imminent attack on my sandwich by a passing seagull. My trusty cats are standing guard just in case. But I love the sunshine, I make no concessions on that score and I would rather work at the bottom of the garden than almost anywhere else in the world. If anyone is waiting on an email, well wait away. I might even be climbing a tree, just like in this picture, as way of readdressing the crick in my neck - it works every time. This was one of the first songs I ever learned to play that had more than three chords, I was eleven or twelve at the time:

Icarus @ 59 # 203

Graffiti has a lore beyond the words inscribed, this picture couldn't get the whole quotation in because if I had stepped back further it would have been too small to read. But it said, 'I would end my days in a hail of bullets with you.' Its all very well as a sentiment but I hope it wasn't written literally. Of course, many pieces like this rarely are. Like for example the poem, Desiderata, thought to have been inscribed in a church in 1692 and turned out to be a poem by Erhmann at the start of the twentieth century.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

And it goes on and like any good idea it takes on a life of its own - and I love the line that even the dull and ignorant have their story. Problem is, who judges they are dull and ignorant? Not me, I try to stay away from those kinds of judgements. I will get this blog back on track but these past weeks have been so hectic that time just runs away - although I am up at 5.30 writing this simply because I can't sleep... too much to think about, too much to do and I need to tidy up so many loose ends. At the very end of the series MASH (a huge fave of mine in the days) Charles finally gets the orchestra to play Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A major - and its a truly stunning piece of music. I think its time to hear it again, it provides a great start to the day:

Icarus @ 59 # 202

Now if anyone is planning to do some work in Madrid, Winchester or London, as I did these past couple of weeks, take these people with you. Professors all, and mad as brushes too. They are dispersed for now and going back to where they belong - but I have a feeling we will meet again. We are already planning two books and an article - and that is just a start - I hope they fly safely - they got rhythm: