Discovery

Jules found this old fella was found in a gap in the wall while we've been working at the Tolbooth in Stirling. We've been in there all week (hence the lack of updates) preparing the new Changing Room gallery. He fell out with a bunch of crumbly rocks from between some old wooden panels. He seemed pretty fragile, so I reckon he's been in there a good few years. Hasn't lost much of his colour though.

Right, off to work I go. Painting and sanding today. I'll post more when I get the chance, probably when the job's done.

SOTW2: This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)

For the past couple of weeks, Stop Making Sense has been my go-to DVD for when I'm sitting around doing nothing in particular. When I was wee, I'd always read about how great it was but I didn't get around to watching it until I was studying. Now that I own it, every so often I'll take the notion to stick it on and that'll be me off on a Talking Heads trip for a few weeks.

Picking a song of the week from the film is pretty tricky, since they're all fantastic. I've picked This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), firstly because it's amazing and I really like to play it at the start of a Sunday night in Nicky Tams, but also because the performance from the film is lovely. If you've never seen it, you're in for a treat. David Byrne dancing with the lamp is a bit of magic.

I couldn't really leave it at that, so as a bonus Stop Making Sense slice, here's Life During Wartime too. In the film, this is the first taste of Byrne's amazing dancing, and where the gears start shifting towards running-on-the-spot, sweaty, big-suit madness:


I guess what I'm saying is that you should go get hold of Stop Making Sense if you haven't seen it, and go watch it again if you have. My other top tips for those who don't know it are Psycho Killer, Slippery People and Burning Down The House. As good YouTube is, you really do lose the cumulative power of seeing the whole concert.

Amble Gallery & Books Closing

A little bit of sad news for you today. Amble Gallery & Books in Philadelphia is closing it's doors later on this month. I know the place, it's captain (haha) and it's friends very well. It's a real shame to see it go. Amble put on some really amazing stuff in it's time. I was lucky enough to exhibit there myself with my Jaggy Nettles show earlier this year.

I travelled over with my friend Fergi (seen cleaning my work in the photo there) and had a complete blast running around Philly for a few weeks. We saw a lots of sights, met a lot of people, ate a lot of food and drank a lot of drink. I started itching to go back as soon as I got home. Cheers again to Concetta for all she did and to Fergi for doing most of the hard work hanging the show. Hello to all our friends over there too, hope you're well.

So, if you're in Philadelphia you'd better head over quick and have a look while you can. There's a big sale on too, so you might just come away with a bargain. If you can't make it, keep your eye on what Concetta does next because I've no doubt it will be totally rockin'.

> PHOTO CREDIT: Fergi at Amble by Concetta Barbera

A New Facebook Page

Facebook has finally taken over from MySpace for me in terms of my procrastination time. I guess I'm a little late to the party since it's been the big gun for ages now, but in a hundred years who'll know the difference?

Despite it being great for taking to people and sharing stuff, Facebook has always been a bit behind MySpace in the way people use it for art/music etc. Of course, it's not really made for that sort of stuff but it seems silly not to have a go when there's so much activity on there these days.

So with that, I've set up a page for my artwork. If you use Facebook and you'd like to become a 'fan' of mine (that word makes me feel a bit silly), have a gander and say hello. You can find my page - HERE.

SOTW1: Diddy Wah Diddy

Ok, my first Song of The Week choice is "Diddy Wah Diddy" by Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band.

I stumbled upon this rewatching a BBC documentary that John Peel had made about the Captain. It's up on Google Video, and is well worth a look. Compared to his more famous, Trout Mask Replica style stuff, Diddy Wah Diddy is a pretty normal affair. There's nothing wrong with that though. This is still a noisy old 60s garage-rock stomp, and I think it's good stuff. Beefheart growls and yowls away quite the thing.

The YouTube video I've posted is very rough. It's got weird numbers and stuff all over it and is quite out of sync. I've chosen it because it's the only full version of the original 'video' I can find. For a higher quality example of the tune, go HERE.

Ok, that'll do for that. Have a look and see what you think. For more info about my Song of The Week playlist, go HERE.

Song of The Week

For well over a year now I've been keeping a playlist in iTunes called "Song of The Week". Every week, I pick a track that I have particularly enjoyed listening to over the last 7 days and drop it in there. As time has gone on, the playlist has grown into a big weird collection of tunes that wouldn't exist together anywhere else.

So, it's with an uncharacteristic sense of community that I ask anyone reading this to give it a try and start their own list. It's almost the easiest thing in the world to do - I bet you've even got your iTunes open right now. If you're really into it, you can post your selection each week onto your blog / Facebook / MySpace / Last.fm or whatever for the world to see.

There are no rules but here are some things I think make it a little better:

1. The song - The song can be new or old, one you've just discovered or an old favourite. It's genre, mood and credibility also don't matter. The fun is that you end up with a mix things personal to you. Sad songs from sad times and happy songs from happy times etc.

2. No Song? Leave it blank - The only real stipulation is you include songs that have genuinely stood out during the week and don't just throw in a track to make up the numbers. Giving it this little bit of thought makes the list all wonderful and full of stuff that might escape other 'favourites' collections. So if nothing is doing it for you, leave it until next week.

3. But don't give it too much thought - Woah, don't overdo it kiddo. Sometimes just thinking "this is the best dang thing I've heard all week" is all it takes.

4. Posting - If you do post your selection online, link to it if you can so people can have a listen. YouTube is good unless you're into crazy obscure stuff. Last.fm has lots of tracks online too. Post a little review or reasons for your choice if you like.

Okey dokey, this also serves and a little explanation I can link to with my choices. If anyone starts posting their own stuff, send me a link. I'm going to start posting things from my list here every week (hopefully).

Click HERE to see the list of my choices.