Of Playfulness and Curiosity is my lived reflection on curiosity and playfulness and rediscovering wonder in everyday life. Swinging on playground swings, hugging trees, winding paths, and rediscovering wonder through small acts of attention that awaken perception. It can be read on The Polymath site.
Returning to the Practice of Listening, the new post on The Listening Room HQ speaks of listening, of strength for men coming through disciplined listening, noticing what is said and unsaid, before acting or reacting can be reax on The Listening Room HQ site.
My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights #94 – Of Art & Image edition is broadcasted Monday, 2nd and 9th, 3-4pm (London time) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
Of Art & Image edition has 15 songs that refer to art, artists, mostly painters, and image, both still and motion. The Manic Street Preachers have two songs, from Everything Must Go, their fourth album. One for painting, Interiors (Song for Willem de Kooning), and one for photography, Kevin Carter.
Don McLean’s Vincent is based on Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, while Dire Straits’ In the Gallery is a tribute to sculptor Harry Braun.
Bauhaus and their Bela Lugosi’s Dead are a double reference. The band’s name to the German arts, design, architecture, crafts school, and to Hungarian-American actor Bela Lugosi.
Tracklist 01: Don McLean – Vincent 02: Manic Street Preachers – Interiors (Song for Willem de Kooning) 03: Death Cab for Cutie – Photobooth 04: The Passions – I’m in Love With a German Film Star 05: John Cale – Magritte 06: Modern Lovers – Pablo Picasso 07: David Bowie – Andy Warhol 08: Bauhaus – Bela Lugosi’s Dead 09: Duran Duran – Girls On Film 10: The Kinks – Picture Book 11: Spoon – I Turn My Camera On 12: Paul Simon – Kodachrome 13: Dire Straits – In the Gallery 14: John Mayer – 3×5 15: Manic Street Preachers – Kevin Carter
Looking at Storms, Icebergs, and The Night Sky sees me go through Camille Seaman’s photography, the Milky Way, and six planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Neptune and Uranus – alined on the night sky. You can read it on The Polymath site.
My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 93 – And The Circus Came & Left Town edition is now available on mixcloud.
Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 93 – And The Circus Came & Left Town edition combines carnival, fair, fetes, rodeo songs, or songs that mention those things with the circus, the carny, arriving and leaving. You can read more about the programme here.
Tracklist: 01: Bert Jansch – When the Circus Comes to Town 02: Jackson C. Frank – (My Name is) Carnival (2021 remaster) 03: David Bowie – Ashes To Ashes 04: Chic – Le Freak 05: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Carny 06: Chico Buarque – Quando o Carnaval Chegar 07: Feira Popular – Carrossel feat. Femme Falafel 08: Elvis Presley – It’s Carnival Time 09: Rufus Wainwright – Going To A Town 10: Gary Lucas – Live Score Tod Browning’s Freaks 1932 The Chase Scene 11: Elvis Presley – Take Me to the Fair 12: The Magnetic Fields – Papa Was a Rodeo 13: The Smiths – Rusholme Ruffians (2011 Remaster) 14: Bert Jansch – (My Name is) Carnival 15: Chico Buarque – Sonho de um Carnaval 16: Kyuss – El Rodeo 17: Elvis Presley – The Fair’s Moving On
Amazing Songs & Other Delights has new editions every first and third Monday of the month, respective repeats second and third Monday of the Month on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
Power & Conscience: Men, Secrecy, and the Nervous System the new post at https://www.thelisteningroomhq.com/ speaks of power, secrecy, and social reinforcement are structural forces in the male nervous system.
By understanding their mechanisms, men can notice early signs of ethical drift and respond with clarity, integrity, and restraint. The work is practical, neurobiologically informed, and deeply grounded.
Power & Conscience: Men, Secrecy, and the Nervous System can be read here.
My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 93 – And The Circus Came & Left Town edition is broadcasted Monday February 16 & 23, 3-4pm (London time) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
Monday February 14 is Carnival Day. Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 93 – And The Circus Came & Left Town edition combines carnival, fair, fetes, rodeo songs, or songs that mention those things with the circus, the carny, arriving and leaving.
The programme titles comes from Bert Jansch’s When the Circus Comes to Town and Kyuss’ … And The Circus Leaves Town. Interestingly, both albums were released in 1995.
There’s a fair deal of my beloved Elvis, three songs, enough Chico Buarque and Bert Jansch, two songs each.
Bert is essentially the starting point of this show. I’ve only recently found Jackson C. Frank, through the book Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival, and marvelled.
I came up with another of mine apparently implausible to make sense of such diverse type of songs and genres. Feira Popular, Chic, The Magnetic Fields, Kyuss, The Smiths and others keep company to Elvis, Bert, Chico, Jackson C. in a lively, but with sorrow here and there under an upbeat tune, programme.
Also featured is Gary Lucas’ – Live Score for The Chase Scene of Tod Browning’s 1932 film Freaks. And David Bowie’s Ashes To Ashes, for Ash Wednesday.
Tracklist: 01: Bert Jansch – When the Circus Comes to Town 02: Jackson C. Frank – (My Name is) Carnival (2021 remaster) 03: David Bowie – Ashes To Ashes 04: Chic – Le Freak 05: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Carny 06: Chico Buarque – Quando o Carnaval Chega 07: Feira Popular – Carrossel feat. Femme Falafel 08: Elvis Presley – It’s Carnival Time 09: Rufus Wainwright – Going To A Town 10: Gary Lucas – Live Score Tod Browning’s Freaks 1932 The Chase Scene 11: Elvis Presley – Take Me to the Fair 12: The Magnetic Fields – Papa Was a Rodeo 13: The Smiths – Rusholme Ruffians (2011 Remaster) 14: Bert Jansch – (My Name is) Carnival 15: Chico Buarque – Sonho de um Carnaval 16: Kyuss – El Rodeo 17: Elvis Presley – The Fair’s Moving On
My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights # 92 – The Planets, The Stars and The Universe edition is now available on mixcloud.
Tracklist: 01: Teenage Fanclub – Planets 02: Sturgill Simpson – Mercury in Retrograde 03: Kate Fenner – Transit of Venus 04: The Parlor – Underneath the Universe 05: The Vampires – Sun Gazers (ft. Chris Abrahams) 06: Frank Sinatra – Fly Me To The Moon (ft. Count Basie And His Orchestra) 07: Damien Jurado – Metallic Cloud 08: Dehd – Stars 09: David Bowie – Starman 10: Coldplay – Jupiter 11: Roisin Murphy & DJ Koze – The Universe 12: Raveloe – Clouds Are Release 13: R.E.M. – Saturn Return 14: Hands On Approach – My Wonder Moon
Amazing Songs & Other Delights is broadcasted the first and third Monday of the month 3-4pm (London time) , respective repeats second and fourth Monday of the month on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
Claude Monet, Les Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, 1891
The Sieve Year: What Remained is the closing reflection on my Sieve Year, speaks of what remains after the filtering, and how the next cycle begins in quiet clarity. It can be read both at The Polymath and The Listening Room HQ.