BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS OF THE TWENTIES

We surely give licence don´t we to our young generation to challenge the attitudes of their elders, so long as we are there to pick them up when they learn the hard way why those attitudes prevail. Those of us so old that we still don´t get it might tut at all this talk of trans-gender and those of our age, even well intended, might get some of our responses wrong, but as Crosby Stills And Nash implored of the young, to ´teach your parents well.

A WORD TO THE WISE

The more stories we slide through language barriers, the more truths we tell, the more we talk and listen to one another and read the great writers of all nations and look at cultures and listen to tongues´, the more likely it is that these stories will indeed travel for light years and become a source of wisdom.
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AUTOGRAPH HUNTING

I’ve been made aware that there’s some controversy about signatures on some of my recent artwork prints and on a limited edition of Philosophy Of Modern Song. I’ve hand-signed each and every art print over the yearsand there’s never been a problem.
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… SINGING TWO SONGS FOR US,  WE HAVE…

In his 1934 publication, JB Priestly described his journey between Bolton and Manchester as; “the ugliness is so complete that it is almost exhilarating. It challenges you to live there." These days people from Bolton don’t have rickets but they do have funny bones. Check out Peter Kay (Phoenix Nights  and Car Share): Diane Morgan (Cunk) Paddy Mc Guinness (Top Gear), Sophie Willan (Alma’s Not Normal), Sarah Cox (Radio Two DJ), Vernon Kay (TV host). Perhaps its in the waters?I’m married (45 years and counting), with two sons and two beautiful grand-daughters.
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AN ESSAY AIN´T EASY

Endlessly inventive, intimate, and provocative, this memoir-in-essays is a celebration of the strange and exquisite state of falling in love, whether with a painting or a person, that interweaves incisive commentary on modern life, feminism, art and sex with the author's own experiences of obsession, heartbreak, and past trauma......A Pop  Song, indeed
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HARMONY ON A HICKORY WIND

Houston is described as a frontier-rough town with icehouses selling beer by the gallon on payday, pest infestations right out of a horror film, and the kind of freedom mischievous kids dream of, in Chinaberry Sidewalks, Rodney's tribute to his parents and his remarkable youth. Full of the most satisfying kind of nostalgia, it is hardly recognizable as a celebrity memoir. Rather, it's a story of coming-of-age at a particular time, place, and station, crafted as well as the perfect song.

BARTHES, RUSHDIE, & FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Words are murdered to dissect by every individual reader, Wordsworth suggest, and the evidence gathered may be used against the author.

AUTHOR  sends SNOWMAN on light years of travel

Francesca Dow, managing director of Penguin Random House children’s books, said: “Raymond Briggs was unique. He has inspired generations of creators of picture books, graphic novels, and animations. He leaves an extraordinary legacy, and a big hole.”
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of stories and songs: MCMURTRY MADE + bits and pieces

“I’ve got a skinny little desk in my office,” he reveals, “where I can tape lyrics on the wall: verses on the left, choruses in the middle, bridges on the right. I don’t write down the melody because that stays in my head. The chords are intuitive once I have the melody.”
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THE AYE RIGHT FESTIVAL, GLASGOW, 2022

I found Difficult Women  very easy to read, which is not something I can always claim when reading about Feminism. The book has been described in other place as witty, hilarious, rigorous, unforgettable and devastating.