Lockdown Diary - Saturday 27th June 2020

My first Saturday of total lockdown. No shopping trip today, which I was pretty glad of this morning, given the torrential rain that started the day. That also put paid to another tedious Saturday chore: I've not bothered to do washing given how wet it's been. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, though whatever happens I'll be washing.

What have I done with all this extra time? For starters I watched an excellent National Theatre production of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Nights' Dream', which was two and a half hours long.  Some great acting, notably from the guy playing Puck/Robin Goodfellow, who played the character as a kind of punk, mischievous spirit. It has been interesting reading Emma Smith (author of the insightful book, 'This is Shakespeare: How to Read the World's Greatest Playwright') on the play.  In particular she says of Puck, 'In fact, Elizabethan ideas of Puck were far from this cheery, domesticated fairy trickster. Shakespeare actually calls his character Robin Goodfellow, a name that suggested to contemporary culture a frightening hobgoblin with a potentially diabolic lineage. ... This Puck is indeed a 'merry wanderer of the night' (2.1.43), associated with rough sexual energy and fertility, not with the balletic magic tricks of a children's party.'

I have to confess it's been a very lazy day. I feel guilty, as there are chores to be done (there always are more than there's time to do in a day, especially when I'm working), but I've done none of them.

Consequently I've also read most of what I intend to read from 'The Guardian', finished reading the last issue of 'The Idler' magazine (just as well, the new issue's just been published) and also read my quota of 'Ulysses' for the day.

There was even space for music: I listened to the opening track from Ernest Hood's album 'Neighbourhoods', the first CD in Jack Hues double CD set 'Primitif' and, in complete contrast, the opening two numbers from Finnish black metal band Oranssi Pazuzu's latest album titled 'Mestarin Kynsi', which has a sound that defies categorisation (I don't think the album fits into the black metal category that snugly, so maybe it's wrong to call them a black metal band?) 

Ernest Hood doesn't sound a particularly rock 'n' roll sort of name, and indeed he doesn't fit into the genre.  The album is a combination of field recordings made around Portland, Oregon and music he composed to complement the themes and sounds, using multiple zithers, keyboards and other sounds. He'd been a touring jazz musician, playing guitar, but had been struck down with Polio in his late 20s and became so disabled he could no longer play guitar.  There's a whole history that led to this album (he'd been experimenting with combining jazz and field recordings for some time) and the field recordings were captured over decades. He self-released the album in 1975, pressing only a few hundred copies, until it was re-released last year. It has an eerie but relaxing ambient quality as you hear different themes interspersed with bird song, mothers calling their children in for dinner, dogs, lawnmowers, crickets, someone kicking a can late at night. It's a window into the past, like time travel.

Jack Hues 'Primitif' is equally surprising. I'd never heard of him until this year, but he was in the band Wang Chung (formerly Huang Chung) who had a hit with 'Dance Hall Days' in the early 1980s. Can't say I liked the song and never found cause to listen to the band.  'Primitif' is clearly a labour of love (in more than one sense, I suspect) and has a warmth and intimacy which band studio recordings often don't. At times it feels like you are in the room with him playing, especially on the shorter numbers like 'Cut' and 'Spring' (the latter includes the sounds of birds in the background, not unlike 'Neighbourhoods') which are scattered amongst the more lengthy explorations. Album opener is a cover of Bacharach & David's 'The Look of Love'. I guess most people know the smoky, sultry version by Dusty Springfield and this colours your opinion of any other version.  Initially I felt this cover was missing something, but actually on repeated listens I have found it's quite the reverse. Jack has turned it into an examination of the words and what they mean, in fact so far (I have only really listened to the first CD in the double-CD), I feel the album is almost a sound painting of aspects of life, especially love, across the seasons. I think this album has a lot more secrets and pleasures to give up as I listen to more.

In the new world Saturday night is film night and tonight it's my choice. I have decided to delay watching 'The Lighthouse' as I wanted to watch an old favourite that I'd not seen in years.  My choice was going to be from amongst these: 'Lost in Translation', 'Diva', 'Angel Heart' and 'Betty Blue'.  'Betty Blue' was quickly dismissed because, despite having the beautiful Beatrice Dalle in the lead role, it's probably a bit too full-on adult theme-wise for us all to watch together. Instead I went for 'Angel Heart', which I've always had a soft spot for, especially as, if you don't spot the early clues, it retains its mystery to the end.  Son #3 was finding it a bit disturbing, especially as there is this undercurrent of the occult that threatens to break loose, and thwarts the lead character at every turn. I was pleased to find that it was worth another viewing as there is much to enjoy in the film and, if anything, watching it again I thought it was better than when I first saw it way back in the late 1980s (it is possible I saw it in the cinema first then watched it with my wife later - we hadn't met when it was first released, and I know I've watched it with her.)

Delayed medication meant I stayed awake for the entire film, so when it was time to bed, I was just starting to feel tired.

After writing so much about Ernest Hood and Jack Hues I should probably choose a track from one of them, but I'll save that for another day. In the morning I heard 'Quark Strangeness and Charm' on BBC 6 Music which reminded me how much I like the Hawkwind album of the same name.  Rather than choose that track, I've chosen 'Hassan I Sabbah', by far and away my favourite song from the album. (I couldn't find an officially sanctioned recording of it from the original album, so went for this one from a compilation)

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