Last year I took a domestic flight, my first in five years, to help record an album for Craig Sinclair and Rod Vervest. “Peddling Rag” […]
Guilt and Gratitude in Granada
in Just – spring when the world is… messier than a Cummings poem, but I’m grateful for my new bicycle (after twenty years with my […]
Climbers have Everest, Surfers have Nazaré, Cath has Sardines
I’ve always lived by the sea, adoring the calculus curves and humbling power of waves. I had seen footage of the largest surfed waves in […]
Fado and Flowers
Thanks to Mike Burns for reminding me that today is the anniversary of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. Mike, a Freo muso and ethnomusicologist, is […]
A beanie saved my life (or at least my noggin)
Porto is a gorgeous old city on the Douro River but, as in any city, there are a few dangers that may befall one:• falling […]
High Heads and Helmets
The other night I watched That Sugar Film, which I give four sticky thumbs up, and was reminded of my worst sugar high/crash. It was […]
The Melancholic Mumblings of Mark
I was lying in bed feeling poorly for one reason or another; perhaps a cold, a hangover or a tender heart, I can’t remember; when […]
Halloween in New York on the way home from London
… is the opening line of an epic Crazy Horse-esque dirge by the Red House Painters. It seemed appropriate I was going to see their […]
Sandy, Juan and I
On a Monday, her basement filled with water from one of the most polluted canals in New York City. Four days earlier
Screws and Cheap Tricks in Rockford Illinois
Rockford, Illinois, was once the world’s largest manufacturer of screws, but following the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of 1994, most of its manufacturing […]
Colorado Contrails and Cowboys
Steady progress with gentle rocking around gradual bends along scenic river valleys. Room to stretch legs, move about and socialise with fellow passengers. There is […]
Ok Cello – The Portland Cello Project Does Ok Computer
It was the reason I bought my first reggae album, and for those who know me that is no mean feat. I had always thought […]
Deviant Yoga and a Sex Positive Culture
Laughter, ruff, verbal, shadow, juicy… Many words have been used to prefix yoga. When I saw Deviant Yoga advertised in Seattle I decided to give […]
CDless in Seattle and why MP3 sucks
I like Seattle. It has the friendly, progressive port thing going on that reminds me of Freo. In the leafy suburb known locally as “The […]