Operakallaran, Stockholm

Herman and I met at the Radisson in the evening and decided to visit the town. Herman kept his taxi whilst he checked in and then we headed for the Operakallaran, which was lively but waiting for the main evening to get under way. It was around 11pm by this time and we dined at a table in the roped off outdoor area. At around midnight we headed for the main bar, and a circular table which we shared with some dancers from Goteberg. Eventually the crowd from MTV arrived and we had to give up our reserved area.

Amplified Heat

The Pressed Rat and Warthog closed up their shop;
They didn't want to, twas all they had got.
Selling atonal apples and amplified heat
and the Pressed Rat's collection
of dog legs and feet.

This little Fender practice amp plays rhythms and effects and makes learning guitar into a proper rock 'n blues experience. My fingers are raw.

My G-DEC Midi Page

Tag: Music, Guitar

Beautiful boys with bright red guitars

"Beautiful boys with bright red guitars
In the spaces between the stars"


Early start to take Julie and Andrea to St. Pancras, for their expedition to Sheffield, where they are partying tonight. I drove back to New Cavendish Street, parked on a meter, and taxied to Charing Cross Road to check out a guitar. Melanie is taking her Yamaha to Lancaster and John has been telling me I should play more. OK. I didn't need much persuading and got this really cool Line6 Variax 500. Astounding. I sat in the shop trialling a couple, "Thats OK Mr Shop Assistant; leave me to try the guitars" (a.k.a "Please don't listen to me playing just two chords"). The guitar is great and I know will give a whole lotta fun.

Tag: Music, Guitar

Intense Day

All day session locked in a room, followed by a nice private dinner which finished very late.

Tag: Wales

Welsh post

Now I am in Wales after the drive from the M25. Most of the way to the hotel I was in phone calls, so the journey passed quickly. In the hotel I followed the sound to a busy table where around a dozen of us were sitting and did a fly-by as a quick form of greeting before being proffered some highly drinkable rioja.

We all broke up at around 11:30, so I thought I would experiment with this moblog sent from my treo phone.

Tag: Wales, Blog, Moblog

West to Wales

Maura called from her car to tell me the road system has many problems this evening. I am travelling to Wales and so have just checked out the traffic-cams on the route from the M25 to the M4.

Click the map to take a look at the area around M4 Reading to M4/M25.

Tag: Travel, Wales

UK Pattern Recognition

Five hours of New York jet lag should have disappeared by Tuesday. The ever-circling wolves of disrupted circadian rhythm have tricked me longer than usual.

Damien's theory of jet lag is correct: the mortal soul stays leagues behind, being reeled in on some ghostly cord along the vanished wake of the plane that brought me here. Souls can't move that quickly, and are left behind, and must be awaited, upon arrival, like lost luggage.

Return from Mirror-world. The plugs on appliances are again reassuringly large, steadfast and triple-pronged, instead of for a species of current than can barely make it through the wiring without a brown out.

Cars are no longer reversed, left to right, inside; telephone handsets again have a sensible weight and balance and don't look as it they were designed in 1963.

Click Powerbook. Delete spam. Sip the tea made from filtered water. Watch the madly early gray light become more like day.

sigur ros

I have been listening to the spacey music from Sigur Ros's album with no title and on which the tracks are also untitled.


It is usually referred to as the ( ) album, because of the shape cut into the sleeve. Over a period of time, the listeners have progressively named the tracks;

1 vaka (the name of orri's daughter)
2 fyrsta (the first song)
3 samskeyti (attachment)
4 njosnavelin (the spy machine)
5 alafoss (the location of the band's studio)
6 e-bow [georg uses an e-bow on his bass in this song]
7 dauoalagio (the death song)
8 popplagio (the pop song)

No surprise really; Sigur Ros come from Iceland, also home of Bjork and her evocative music. Today is the day that sigur-ros launch their new icelandic website and also their new single glosol (afficianados excuse the anglicised spellings of the icelandic)

Sooty Sparrow

We heard a rustling in the chimney and speculated whether we could hear a bird in the roof. Ten minutes later, from the fireplace came a blur of feathers. A somewhat startled baby sparrow emerged and started to make its way across the room making an occasional chirp.

Julie ran out calling for us to remove the bird. Undaunted, the sparrow hopped around, eventually flying to a window, and trying to get out, in much the same way as a trapped wasp or bumble bee will be confounded.

We gently opened the window and after a short pause the baby aviator flew in an ungainly way through the window and onwards to freedom and no doubt to rediscover its noisy brothers and sisters.

Drive By Shooting

Wandering about in the side streets of Manhattan, taking a few photographs, I decided to hail a cab. "Nice camera", said the driver, "is it a Leica? - I'm a photographer too". It was David Bradford - the New York cab driver famous for his photographic book of New York scenes, "Drive by Shootings", taken from his cab as he traverses Manhattan.

We chatted and I took his photo, and the result is above. Note his book in the cab! I asked where I could buy a copy - he suggested Strand, but I was unable to get there during my time in New York. The book is now on my shopping list for UK. David also gave me a card from his collection, a New York bridge shrouded in mist.

I like the photo I took; the rear view mirror shows David's iconic glasses and strong gaze to good effect; I also like this to be the 'interior' shot of the cab- instead of his shots to the outside of passing New York.


David had a photo of a view through his glasses taped to the perspex partition; I consider mine to make a reference to his photograph.

My single drive-in shot.

Tag: New York, Photography

Broadway - The Great White Way

I love walking in New York, every turn and street has vibrancy and interest. Today I chose a simple route to get a quick flavour of several areas, using one of the main arteries as my slightly diagonal guide.

Although Broadway is the street in New York that has come to symbolize live theater entertainment throughout the world, there is much more to look at.

Today the theatre area, known to tourists, stretches from W.41st Street, where the Nederlander Theater is located, up to W. 53rd Street's Broadway Theater.
Tag: New York

SoHo and West Broadway

I'm staying in the SoHo Grand, which is on West Broadway and Grand Street, and has easy access to downtown and uptown.

This morning I left SoHo to meet Terry and Art for breakfast. We stopped at a coffee shop before meeting the others. The temperatures were soaring into the upper 30s (or 90s in American-speak).

Around the corner from the hotel is Canal Street, with its continuous Chinese bustle and an amazing array of trinkets for sale. I cut through to Broadway and started my project to walk back to Times Square.

There's plenty to look at along the way and the YRBs are looking for models.
Tag: New York