"That makes me sound unfeasibly old but the world changed all of a sudden with the coming of the Great Recession and the ubiquity of the devils distraction devices that now perpetually rest in our back pockets."
I'm afraid I must agree with how unfeasibly old that makes you sound. Definitely reinforces your previous essays about the more tangible connections that fans used to have with music however.
The whole experience of discovery was a trillion times more exciting than finding some new music you like in your Youtube recommended section while listening to "lo-fi beats to relax to."
As a funny aside - I looked up the wiki for 'High Fidelity' (never seen it), and found this in the opening section:
"After seeing the film, Hornby expressed his happiness with Cusack's performance, saying that "at times, it appears to be a film in which John Cusack reads my book."[2] Though, this may have been sarcasm or what’s known as a “backhanded compliment”—banter."
Banter you say? Interesting, I must look into it.
"You need people like that in your life, now more than ever. People who share their idiosyncratic taste as a means of helping you develop your own idiosyncratic taste, or at least give you permission to do so by shamelessly sharing their high brow meets low brow aesthetic."
You fit the bill in my own case, along with a number of others. Twitter has been fantastic for finding people who give book recommendations actually. Paul Skallas newsletter has led to me ordering two Tom Wolfe paperbacks (Painted word and Bauhaus to Our House), and a Leon Krier's Drawinf For Architecture.
Up until relatively recently architecture wasn't something I cared much about, but because of a handful of insanely devoted traditionalists (WrathOfGnon for example) I will now speak, at length, about the virtues of high ceilings and the key factors in a city's walkability to anyone who will listen.
I've only just read to the bottom under the article and seen that it's your birthday, so happy birthday mate. The lack of listicle is thoroughly appreciated, although I'm sure you'd do a good job of it.
This whole article is tremendously interesting - as you mention, it reflects more on you than on the artist himself. It's hard not to appreciate the truly authentic nature of Smith's artistic expression, and how well he presents a period of time and place.
It makes a lot of sense that it's your birthday as well, given the nostalgic nature of the writing.
But where is the nostalgia rooted? In growing up in a town with "more bookies than bookshops", did you want to get away from that, or do you feel a desire to get back to it? (Possibly because of all the fake BS in our semi-virtual world).
Personally, the video for Wings made me feel somewhat down. Just being honest about that one, it's more a reflection on me than anything else. I think it reminded me a bit of the old drinking culture that was in Ireland, coupled with poverty and lack of opportunity.
The pub is packed, despite it being 8 o'clock on a weekday, because there wasn't anything else to do if you had no work. I'm glad that period of time is dead and buried.
I don't mean to put such a downer on things, it was still a fantastic, and unique love-letter of an article, but it came into my head so I said I would share it.
my birthday was last thursday, and i got a cake. I hope your day has gone a bit better than that... i've come to really enjoy you're writing and share it often. hope that helps...
First of all, I think a proper Happy birthday is mandatory here. Tremendous progress you've made these past 2-3 years! I remember reading my first thread from you when I was in London for a few months in 2018, it was writing advices from Elmore Leonard and you had a handful of followers. By the quality and humour of the thread I knew this anon brit was up to something... and now here we are.
"That world of swirling paisley-wallpapered pre-refurbishment pubs, of the aforementioned cheapo second hand record shops and book shops, of ashtrays and pints and carrier bags, a world that was pre-internet, pre-gentrification, pre-health consciousness, a world that was grimy and awful but at least you could actually touch it."
I never heard of Mark E. Smith and it's not exactly my kind of music but I felt deeply this paragraph by watching a few video clips from him. I feel exactly the same towards movies, especially that 70-80s era of grimy film, somewhat gaudy colors, crooked teeth and imperfect haircuts. This era when an unsanitary house REALLY looked like that, when you could almost smell the filth from behind the screen; when the creatures were made of plasticine and unearthly fabrics, when the directors sometimes used real giblets and offals; foley artists experimenting with synthesizer, kitchenwares and god knows what to create haunting sounds.
Sure, the result was less polished; some scenes supposedly horryfying were funny and even big budget movies had often that amateurish vibe; but it was clear that the people who made them and starred in them were HAVING FUN; they loved it and wanted to share that love with the viewer, like a good buddy eager to make you listen to the new record he just bought; not like a cold pencil neck crossing boxes on a market research form. I feel it's the same "vibe" with Mark E. Smith; Innocence, ingenuity and passion above all else. Something we lost over the last two decades. The sadness seems theatrical. The filth looks staged to the last germ. Nothing looks real anymore. Hopefully, the exasperation with the refinement culture will eventually open up the valves of creativity and audacity again. Time will tell
Gonna have to listen to Live At The Witch Trials again today. Always laugh at the story of Mark E Smith not allowing the members of Nirvana on to his tour bus because they were "scruffy cunts" hahaha
Happy birthday Tom! You’ll be glad to hear I’ve been giving you birthday gifts for weeks now. Nary is the Sunday that I don’t end up forwarding your newsletter to a half-dozen assorted friends. It’s just that good.
“You need people like that in your life, now more than ever. People who share their idiosyncratic taste as a means of helping you develop your own idiosyncratic taste, or at least give you permission to do so by shamelessly sharing their high brow meets low brow aesthetic.”
Hoping for the day where people online can revel unashamedly in their geeky, “uncultured” tastes. Without feeling the need to be “culturally correct”.
P.S. I’ve always wondered what you made of the idea of birthdays. Perhaps a subject for a future newsletter?
"That makes me sound unfeasibly old but the world changed all of a sudden with the coming of the Great Recession and the ubiquity of the devils distraction devices that now perpetually rest in our back pockets."
I'm afraid I must agree with how unfeasibly old that makes you sound. Definitely reinforces your previous essays about the more tangible connections that fans used to have with music however.
The whole experience of discovery was a trillion times more exciting than finding some new music you like in your Youtube recommended section while listening to "lo-fi beats to relax to."
As a funny aside - I looked up the wiki for 'High Fidelity' (never seen it), and found this in the opening section:
"After seeing the film, Hornby expressed his happiness with Cusack's performance, saying that "at times, it appears to be a film in which John Cusack reads my book."[2] Though, this may have been sarcasm or what’s known as a “backhanded compliment”—banter."
Banter you say? Interesting, I must look into it.
"You need people like that in your life, now more than ever. People who share their idiosyncratic taste as a means of helping you develop your own idiosyncratic taste, or at least give you permission to do so by shamelessly sharing their high brow meets low brow aesthetic."
You fit the bill in my own case, along with a number of others. Twitter has been fantastic for finding people who give book recommendations actually. Paul Skallas newsletter has led to me ordering two Tom Wolfe paperbacks (Painted word and Bauhaus to Our House), and a Leon Krier's Drawinf For Architecture.
Up until relatively recently architecture wasn't something I cared much about, but because of a handful of insanely devoted traditionalists (WrathOfGnon for example) I will now speak, at length, about the virtues of high ceilings and the key factors in a city's walkability to anyone who will listen.
I've only just read to the bottom under the article and seen that it's your birthday, so happy birthday mate. The lack of listicle is thoroughly appreciated, although I'm sure you'd do a good job of it.
This whole article is tremendously interesting - as you mention, it reflects more on you than on the artist himself. It's hard not to appreciate the truly authentic nature of Smith's artistic expression, and how well he presents a period of time and place.
It makes a lot of sense that it's your birthday as well, given the nostalgic nature of the writing.
But where is the nostalgia rooted? In growing up in a town with "more bookies than bookshops", did you want to get away from that, or do you feel a desire to get back to it? (Possibly because of all the fake BS in our semi-virtual world).
Personally, the video for Wings made me feel somewhat down. Just being honest about that one, it's more a reflection on me than anything else. I think it reminded me a bit of the old drinking culture that was in Ireland, coupled with poverty and lack of opportunity.
This video ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpyE23OKnWc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpyE23OKnWc)), of the early pubs in Cork, where I grew up, has one character who comes in looking for work, but there's no jobs, so he goes to the pub, to spend whatever small bit of money he has on a pint.
The pub is packed, despite it being 8 o'clock on a weekday, because there wasn't anything else to do if you had no work. I'm glad that period of time is dead and buried.
I don't mean to put such a downer on things, it was still a fantastic, and unique love-letter of an article, but it came into my head so I said I would share it.
my birthday was last thursday, and i got a cake. I hope your day has gone a bit better than that... i've come to really enjoy you're writing and share it often. hope that helps...
all the best
First of all, I think a proper Happy birthday is mandatory here. Tremendous progress you've made these past 2-3 years! I remember reading my first thread from you when I was in London for a few months in 2018, it was writing advices from Elmore Leonard and you had a handful of followers. By the quality and humour of the thread I knew this anon brit was up to something... and now here we are.
"That world of swirling paisley-wallpapered pre-refurbishment pubs, of the aforementioned cheapo second hand record shops and book shops, of ashtrays and pints and carrier bags, a world that was pre-internet, pre-gentrification, pre-health consciousness, a world that was grimy and awful but at least you could actually touch it."
I never heard of Mark E. Smith and it's not exactly my kind of music but I felt deeply this paragraph by watching a few video clips from him. I feel exactly the same towards movies, especially that 70-80s era of grimy film, somewhat gaudy colors, crooked teeth and imperfect haircuts. This era when an unsanitary house REALLY looked like that, when you could almost smell the filth from behind the screen; when the creatures were made of plasticine and unearthly fabrics, when the directors sometimes used real giblets and offals; foley artists experimenting with synthesizer, kitchenwares and god knows what to create haunting sounds.
Sure, the result was less polished; some scenes supposedly horryfying were funny and even big budget movies had often that amateurish vibe; but it was clear that the people who made them and starred in them were HAVING FUN; they loved it and wanted to share that love with the viewer, like a good buddy eager to make you listen to the new record he just bought; not like a cold pencil neck crossing boxes on a market research form. I feel it's the same "vibe" with Mark E. Smith; Innocence, ingenuity and passion above all else. Something we lost over the last two decades. The sadness seems theatrical. The filth looks staged to the last germ. Nothing looks real anymore. Hopefully, the exasperation with the refinement culture will eventually open up the valves of creativity and audacity again. Time will tell
I’m now listening to The Fall, and enjoying it.
Always enjoy the emails, great work. Keep it up!
Happy birthday, you autodidactic Aquarian.
Favorite line: "a drunken Karaoke uncle mumble with the obligatory added ah at the end of every line-ah."
How true. I did like the line, too, about a world you could touch -- though it gave me more pause.
As Smith himself might say, may this year feel the wrath of your bombast!
Gonna have to listen to Live At The Witch Trials again today. Always laugh at the story of Mark E Smith not allowing the members of Nirvana on to his tour bus because they were "scruffy cunts" hahaha
Happy birthday Tom! You’ll be glad to hear I’ve been giving you birthday gifts for weeks now. Nary is the Sunday that I don’t end up forwarding your newsletter to a half-dozen assorted friends. It’s just that good.
“You need people like that in your life, now more than ever. People who share their idiosyncratic taste as a means of helping you develop your own idiosyncratic taste, or at least give you permission to do so by shamelessly sharing their high brow meets low brow aesthetic.”
Hoping for the day where people online can revel unashamedly in their geeky, “uncultured” tastes. Without feeling the need to be “culturally correct”.
P.S. I’ve always wondered what you made of the idea of birthdays. Perhaps a subject for a future newsletter?