Not the historical Arthur, you understand. No, a modern day Arthur: a biker, a druid and an eco-warrior, living here in the UK, who was making a name for himself at the time by going around calling himself King Arthur.
I wanted to write a book about him.
I spent the better part of the year on my quest to find him. I was driving from my home town in Kent, the county of the Saxons, westwards into the Celtic lands, to the two great Stone circles at Avebury and Stonehenge, and to Glastonbury in Somerset, following the A303, always with some specific instruction to meet him at such and such a place, at such and such a time, usually passed on to me by Steve Andrews, the friend who had originally told me about Arthur, and every time I got to wherever it was, he wouldn’t be there. Something would have happened to hold him up. Or he just went somewhere else instead. We were like two satellites whirling about in the night sky on two separate orbits, skimming quite close to each other at times, but never quite meeting.
I got to go to a lot of druid ceremonies in this time. I stood around in circles in fields in the early morning while the mists were rising, listening to incantations and chants and mysterious-sounding prayers. I watched as people did things with flowers and goblets of mead and bits of bread and knives and swords. I said, “hail!” to this and “hail!” to that. I watched as people divided the circle into quarters and summoned up the spirits of the four directions. I said “Hail,” to the East, and “Whatcha” to the South, and “Hiya,” to the West and “Howdy” to the North. I listened as people likened the four quarters to the four elements. The East was Air, the South was Fire, the West was Water, the North was Earth. I joined in as we did the “I-A-O” as a long-drawn-out chant, the vowel sounds blending into each other, and travelling around the circle with a life of their own. The chant would rise and fall around the circle, lift into the air a little, like a spacecraft about to take off, before falling into silence again. I didn’t know what any of it was for really. It felt like I was in Church, only someone had forgot to put the heating on. Or the roof, come to that. It was often very cold.
You may wonder why I was doing this? Why was I going to all this trouble? Whenever I described my quest to anybody, the response was almost immediate. “He thinks he’s King Arthur you say? So where are you meeting him then? In a lunatic asylum?”
I was doing it all on the say-so of my friend Steve, who was – is -- by his own admission, something of an eccentric.
Steve believes in all sorts of things that other people don’t believe in. He believes in the presence of ETs amongst us. He believes that a vast, all encompassing alien conspiracy is overwhelming our world. He believes in gods and demons and angels and aliens, and crop circles and hidden technologies and great forces at work on our planet. He used to be a scientologist. He’s tried every kind of belief system you can imagine. He’s been on a quest all his life, to find out the truth behind the appearance of things. He has a taste for the unusual and the arcane and lists amongst his friends people who think they are aliens, people who think they are gods, and people who think they are gurus.
So why not a person who thinks he’s King Arthur too? Maybe King Arthur is just another one of these weird people that Steve has a taste for. But, then, maybe that doesn’t matter either.
Belief
There are two countries here. I am exploring both of them at the same time. There is the country of Britain, with all it’s hills and valleys and mountains and forests; its cities and its towns; its cathedrals and its temples; its rivers, its lakes, its seas, its coasts; its housing estates, its motorways, its factories, its shopping centres. And then there is another country which is imposed on that: the country of the mind. And in this country, well everything is true. If a belief exists, it’s true. It’s true because people believe it. In the country of the mind beliefs are the structures. They are like the houses and the buildings, the roads and the railway lines of the mind. They are manmade, but they occupy the mind, in the same way that roads and houses are manmade but occupy the world.
Beliefs are real because people make them real. Those housing estates and motorways and factories and shopping centres existed in the country of the mind before they existed in reality. They exist in the form they exist because the mind has conceived of them as such. The cathedrals and temples and mosques and churches exist because a belief has made them exist. The belief comes before the building. The building is made as an expression of the belief.
The word “belief” is from the Old English “be-lefan” to allow. That’s a very permissive thought. We allow thoughts their own kind of reality. However, there are different grades of belief. If a person holds a belief we know is false, we call that a delusion. If a person holds a belief with great certainty, we call that a conviction. Having a conviction about something does not make it true. Sometimes a conviction can be a delusion, but if the person holding the belief attempts to impose it on the rest of us, then this is a very dangerous kind of belief. Wars have been fought over this kind of belief and millions of people have died. Thus do beliefs have a direct effect upon our world.
There are larger and smaller beliefs, important ones and unimportant ones. There are profound beliefs and strategic beliefs, and absurd beliefs and ugly ones. There are beliefs that stir us to action, and beliefs that hold us in check. There are beliefs that confuse us and beliefs that clarify. Enlightened beliefs and archaic beliefs. Measurable beliefs and immeasurable ones. A belief in science. A belief in technology. A belief in the government. A belief in God. A belief in reincarnation. A belief in fairies. Which one of these beliefs is “true”? Perhaps they are all true and not true at the same time?
Read on... |
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HAWKWIND NEWS
(The Masters of the Universe do seem to have a steady stream of interesting stories featuring them, their various friends and relations, and alumni). Each week Graham Inglis keeps us up to date with the latest news from the Hawkverse.. |
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| EXCLUSIVE: Hawkwind review - O2 Academy Bournemouth, Boscombe |
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By my reckoning, last night was the 10th time Hawkwind have played at this particular venue.
It's had a few name-changes, though - from the regal Victoriana of "Boscombe Grand Theatre," through the Silly Sixties phase of "Starkers Royal Arcade Ballrooms" and now the corporate sponsor statement that the building now is "O2 Academy Bournemouth," which reflects the new ownership chain's deal with the O2 phone network.
And, incidently, the renamings show how Boscombe has been gobbled up by its big neighbour and is now a suburb of Bournemouth. Anyhow, my hotel was in Bournemouth and I didn't notice any Boscombe independence posters as I crossed the line (wherever it was).
The interior of the hall is a nice mixture of old and new, but I didn't have much time to check it out before support act Hipiersonik kicked off.
Read on... |
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| THE YES CIRCULAR - TIME AND A WORD |
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| The Court Circular tells interested readers about the comings and goings of members of The Royal Family. However, readers of this periodical seem interested in the comings and goings of Yes and of various alumni of this magnificent and long-standing band. Give the people what they want, I say |
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| But there's more. There is an interview with legendary bassist Tony Levin, who - amongst many other things - played with ABWH, and a story about Rick Wakeman and the Muppets (sort of). Whilst on the subject of Rick Wakeman, we posted interviews he conducted with Brian May and with Tony Iommi. Not bad for one week eh? |
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| I am probably getting a bit OCD about all of this, but I find the Yes soap opera of sound to be absolutely enthralling, and I for one can't wait to see what happens next! |
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it kissed thee (violently!
left plague upon thy powered wig
Your pig skin bleeds with insects who hide
and breed a fear of scratching.We have lived
all our little lives with cockroach and rat
we do not question why our habitat
Makes fox and goat redundant,when we
are ruled by tiny dictator fleas
Scratch that!
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In Victorian times every well-bred Gentleman had a 'Cabinet of Curiosities'; a collection of peculiar odds and sods, usually housed in a finely made cabinet with a glass door. These could include anything from Natural History specimens to historical artefacts. There has always been something of the Victorian amateur naturalist about me, and I have a houseful of arcane objects; some completely worthless, others decidedly not, but all precious to me for the memories they hold..
I used to be a collector of rock and roll memorabilia, but most of my collection went into my solicitor's pocket during my divorce from my first wife, and I never had the stomach to build the collection up again. However, people send me pictures of interesting things such as this rather nifty thing.
This is a very rare poster featuring Captain Beefheart and The Doors...
Read on... |
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| INTRODUCING THE NINE HENRYS |
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| I think Peter McAdam is one of the funniest people around, and I cannot recommend his book The Nine Henrys highly enough. Check it out at Amazon. Each issue we shall be running a series of Henrybits that are not found in his book about the nine cloned cartoon characters who inhabit a surreal world nearly as insane as mine... |
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THE WORLD OF KEV
Kev Rowland |
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| IL CERCIO D’ORO Dedalo e Icaro (BLACK WIDOW) |
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| It is always interesting to find a band that makes others such as Credo to appear incredibly active when it comes to releasing albums. These guys started their career in the Seventies, releasing some singles etc., but not actually releasing a proper album until after they reformed in 2008. Now here we are only five years after that and they are back with their second. So, when the comment is made that these guys sound as if they should be back in the Seventies then there is a lot of truth contained within, as they were! Truly, this album firmly belongs squarely within the Italian progressive rock movement as we have plenty of Hammond organ and mellotrons to go with the rest of the keyboards, and an approach that certainly does sound as if it belongs from forty years ago. |
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But, there are a few things that make it stand out as being part of the current scene and much of that can be laid at the feet of bassist Giuseppe Terribile who provides an incredibly fluid and warm sound to the bottom end. It is his bass that really pins all of the others together, whether it is a dramatic piano/keyboard solo or some plaintive guitar, it is the bass the makes it whole. Marin Grice may only be a guest on this album, but his use of flute and sax on different numbers need to be commented on as each time it is dramatic and totally changes the punch of the song.
There are times when it is reflective, but for the most part this is progressive rock that while hearkening back in many ways to a time gone by, is also driving forward with a passion. Harmony vocals and strong melodies just strengthen the proposition, that this is an Italian prog album that needs investigation. www.blackwidow.it |
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| INGRANAGGI DELLA VALLE In Hoc Signo (BLACK WIDOW) |
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I can just imagine the conversation, can’t you? It probably went something like “I know it’s a debut, so let’s base it on the First Crusade, okay? Let’s approach the Italian progressive form from the fusion end, ensure we include plenty of KBB-style violin work, and we’ll get in loads of guests to add dramatic bits and pieces including VDGG’s David Jackson.
They won’t know what’s hit them!” Albums and groups tend not to come out of left field like this very often these days, so it is always a very pleasant surprise when they do, as there is no way that a band recording their debut after only being together for a few years should sound as polished and convincing as this. |
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Mattia Liberati (keyboards) and Flavio Gonnellini (guitar), were already members of the funk/jazz-rock trio The Big Chill when they decided to do something different, but they have brought their jazz influences with them (Mattia also brought loads of keyboards and I think he used all of them somewhere, listing Hammond B3, Mellotron M400, Fender Rhodes Mk II, MiniMoog, MiniMoog Voyager, Korg MS20, Elka Synthex, Jen SX1000, Clavia Nord Stage Revision B).
I have always been a fan of Italian Progressive Rock, and these guys have certainly brought together influences such as PFM, with the incredible violin jazz prog of KBB to create something that has multiple layers and incredible depth. Igor Leone has a wonderful voice, and breaks through when he needs to, lifting above everything with clear diction and great control. But what really makes this album work so well is the blending together of some many different ideas and instruments into something that is incredibly complex, yet is always extremely easy to listen to. This is not being clever just for its’ own sake, but is all about making music that is easy to understand and leaves the listener with a smile on their face. Prog doesn’t get much better than this. www.blackwidow.it |
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| MAELSTROM Maelstrom (BLACK WIDOW) |
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This American band were formed in the early Seventies, and were led by guitarist/keyboardist/sax player Robert Williams, while the rest of the line-up was multi-instrumentalist James Larner, keyboardist Mark Knox, drummer Jim Miller, bassist Paul Klotzbier and Jeff McMullen on lead vocals/guitars. This album is a reissue of their debut, which came out in 1973 with the title ‘On The Gulf’, along with two additional songs recorded in concert in 1980 (although the line-up had changed dramatically by then).
If this album had come out just a few years earlier I am sure that these guys would be household names by now, but the tide was already shifting by 1973 and this album would have be seen to be a little dated even then. |
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This is something that really belongs at the end of the Sixties, with psychedelia having a huge impact on the overall sound. The use of saxophone combined with the guitar does give the music a somewhat fusion sound but for the most part doesn’t really belong in that genre (the problem with trying to pigeonhole music is that music isn’t a pigeon, so often doesn’t fit where people think it might – cue long discussion on what is progressive music anyway). But, whatever genre it may or may not belong to, the important question is it any good? Well, it is definitely dated not only musically but also in the arrangements and production, but is something that I really enjoyed playing. The guys obviously spent a lot of time together and this comes off with the interaction, and the use of different ideas such as vibraphone on “Law and Crime” which gives the song a very different feel with the (dated) drums driving it along while Jeff provides good strong vocals.
It is an effective album, definitely belonging to a bygone era, but is still something that while not essential is certainly worth hearing. www.blackwidow.it |
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| SLOE GIN A Matter of Time (BLACK WIDOW) |
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| There is nothing dramatically unusual about a band being a trio, but I have to confess that I haven’t come across a line-up quite like this before, with Enio Nicolini (from The Black) on bass, Giuseppe Miccoli on drums and Eugenio Mucci (Requiem) providing vocals. Yep, you read that correctly, the only instrument providing melody is the bass. Now, Enio is a great bassist, and he does the best he can to take the lead, but to these ears it doesn’t really work. There are times when he tries to take the guys into a doom/stoner area but there isn’t enough force and power even when he plays chords instead of single notes. There isn’t enough going on musically to really keep the listener interested and singer Eugenio has to rely on treating virtually all of his vocals to have any sort of impact. |
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It didn’t take me long to wonder how many songs was it until the end of the album, as it felt that I was undertaking some sort of penance by having to play it.
There is a reason why you don’t come across bands with just a rhythm section, and if you are brave/ daft enough to play this you will understand exactly what that is. |
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| LOOK THROUGH ANY WINDO YEAH |
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| A few issues ago I posted an article about the late Gary Windo. Apparently it had several errors in it, so here is a revised version that has been edited by his widow Pam. |
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Gary Windo was one of those people who never achieved the full recognition due to him. At least, not while he was alive. A highly original musician with an instantly recognizable style, Windo was involved in the Seventies with various musicians of the Canterbury scene. Most notable was his work with Robert Wyatt on the albums Rock Bottom (1974) and Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard (1975), and with Hugh Hopper on 1984 (1973) and Hoppertunity Box (1976).
Windo was born in 1941 into a musical family in Brighton, and began playing music at an early age. He learned to play drums at six, guitar at 12, and saxophone at 17. After sailing the world in the Merchant Navy, he settled in New York in 1962, studying tenor sax and music theory with Wayne Marsh and Lennie Tristano. A long period of apprenticeship, both on- and off-stage, followed during the Sixties, until he moved back to England in 1969.
In March 1970, he took part in the all-star jam session at Graham Bond’s Sun Festival at The Roundhouse, with Jack Bruce, Mitch Mitchell, and Brian Auger. Later that year he was invited to join Keith Tippett's 50-piece orchestra, Centipede, and then Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath. In 1971, he and Robert Wyatt formed Symbiosis, a prog-rock jamming band featuring Mongezi Feza, Nick Evans and Roy Babbington.
After playing pub gigs with guitarist Ray Russell's heavy-rock trio The Running Man, Windo recruited Russell for his own Gary Windo Quartet, which also featured Mongezi Feza on trumpet and Alan Rushton on drums. In 1973, he and Robert Wyatt formed the jazz quartet WMWM with pianist Dave MacRae and bassist Ron Matthewson. Windo was about to become a member of Wyatt's new Matching Mole group when Wyatt had his accident and the project was shelved. However, Windo appeared on Wyatt’s subsequent albums, Rock Bottom and Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard.
Meanwhile, Windo continued to tour with the Brotherhood of Breath and the occasional Centipede performance. He also formed Gary Windo & Friends, with his wife Pam Windo on piano, guitarist Richard Brunton, and the rhythm section of Bill MacCormick, Nick Mason, and Laurie Allan. This line-up was for a one-off gig at Maidstone College of Art in November 1975, but was the precursor to Windo's Steam Radio Tapes project, recorded between 1976 and 1978 in Pink Floyd’s studio Britannia Row, but never released. Among the participants, along with the aforementioned, were Julie Tippetts, Robert Wyatt, Mike Hugg, Steve Hillage and Hugh Hopper.
In May 1976, Windo played on Hopper's album Hoppertunity Box, and joined him in Carla Bley's band, in time for the European Tour 1977, and the album that followed. In 1979, the Windos emigrated to America, where he continued playing with Carla Bley, notably on Musique Mécanique, as well as various related projects - Michael Mantler's More Movies, Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports. He also recorded the album Loaded Vinyl in Carla Bley’s studio, with Pam Windo and CBB members Steve Swallow and D. Sharpe, but again it remained unreleased. He also appeared on Daevid Allen's New York Gong album, About Time.
Windo spent the subsequent years in America doing copious session work, touring as special guest with rock’n’roll band NRBQ, and with the Psychedelic Furs. He played with Pam Windo & The Shades, and went on to record what would be his first released solo album, Dogface (1982). Between 1984 and 1988, he led his own rock quartet, the Gary Windo Band, with Knox Chandler on guitar, Jack Robinson on bass, and Steve Moses or Jamie Russell on drums. This album, Deep Water, originally released on Island records in 1987, was the result. An unsung classic, I am very proud to be part of the team that has finally made this peerless record available again. |
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THE BEST LAID PLANS...
My assistant editor Captain Frunobulax the Magnificent and I have had a nice quiet week, basically recovering from all the events of the Weird Weekend. My plans for retirement have been thwarted, but I am damn well going to do as little as possible for a few days! |
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Thursday was my 54th birthday, and I spent a nice quiet day at home with Corinna and the animals. Many people would probably have been surprised if they had been a fly on the wall. (Well, I'm SURE that they would have been surprised if they had suddenly been transformed - like a New Age Gregor Samsa - into a fly on the wall, but you know what I mean). When there are people around I am sociable; I drink, I smoke, I party. But now that the biggest weekend of the year has gone for another 11 months and three weeks, I spent my birthday dozing in the chair, reading P.G.Wodehouse, eating low sugar curry and playing with the kittens. I also chatted to Judge Smith about various projects and continued listening to 'The disappearance of the girl` by Phildel, which really is an extraordinary album. If you don't know about this young lady and her singular story, then look her up. You won't be disappointed.
Amongst other things for my birthday I have received many books, a bottle of brandy, and a Victorian smoking cap. And (within reason) I can choose what I have for tea. Life doesn't get much better than this. Amongst the aforementioned books are the final items I need to complete my collection of all of P.G.Wodehouse's Blandings Castle stories, so this winter I will have an orgy of Pelican-related reading to which I can look forward to.
The best and most brilliant present I have ever received came from my darling stepdaughter Shosh who gave me a plastic bust of Fidel Castro wearing a party beer can hat. Nothing can compete with that! Also Dave B-P and Jess the Elder turned up and gave me a magnificent model chicken! I am one lucky chap |
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Things are actually going rather well at the moment, and the next wave of Gonzo grooviness is imminent. As you know, I already do various podcasts for Gonzo Web Radio and I am toying with the idea of expanding this to something special, and doing a series of podcasts featuring music unavailable elsewhere, especially for subscribers to this magazine.
Remember that it doesn't cost anything to subscribe, and that in doing so you are joining an elite, and rapidly expanding group of music fans who believe that we are not being given the music or the cultural coverage that we deserve. We are living in disturbing and strange times, but ultimately they are very interesting ones, and continuing to chronicle the Gonzoverse is an immensely rewarding thing to do. Thank you for reading.
Until next week,
Slainte
Jon Downes
(Editor) |
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