And now…SXSW 2013 Playlist for your listening pleasure…
(Source: Spotify)
New video and single from a great Glasgow band, Washington Irving. If I had the time and talent to write an Easy Rider-esque road movie around the Scottish Highlands and Islands, then this would feature in the opening sequence.
2Dino Juice
On Christmas morning, a family member of mine commented on a red robin that fluttered up to our patio window pane in the conservatory. ‘Oh, there’s granny paying us a visit to say merry Christmas’ she said, with a fond, remembering smile. It’s not that uncommon for people to ‘sense’ lost loved ones in some form of physical being or occurrence. Robins, bright stars, and bird feathers have all been associated with lost ‘grans’, ‘sisters’ and ‘mothers’ who have reappeared on special occasions in some of my friends or family members’ lives. Given the sensitive subject, I think the majority of us – me included at times – entertain these feelings, but ultimately dismiss them as sentimental dross; an imaginative way of inventing things to make us feel better and remember someone we loved. But the truth is, things – and I use the term broadly – do live on in the world, and here’s why. Millions of years ago, giant flesh-eating creatures called dinosaurs roamed the Earth without any conception of what a human was. They all eventually died. Yet, today, we dig up some of their fossilised remains which, over time, has been compressed with many other types of dead plants and prehistoric creatures. After some minor tweaking, we put this mixture of dead goo in our cars every morning. Our cars then produce Dino-gases which alter the atmosphere, and in turn affects our existence on this planet every second of the day. Is this literally the doing of a fearsome T-Rex or cunning Pterodactyl? No. Do dinosaurs live on and remain in the constant flux of our universe? Yes. Thus, I conclude: If someone you know has an apparition where a loved one ‘lives on’ through something else – don’t write them off. Or if you do, spare a thought every time you fill up your tank with Dino-juice.
Scots are quite often settled in a land of promise but always with a tear for the homeland…the hardship of the life remembered is occluded in nostalgia, but tacitly acknowledged in refusal to wish oneself back in it.
Susan Manning, on why 18th century emigrant Scots remained nostalgic,but ultimately chose to live outside of Scotland.
What am I toasting this Burns Night? Well, in a nutshell, The Scots Musical Museum. Burns was much more than a poet, and wrote and collected thousands of traditional Scots songs that might have otherwise been lost. He feared that the songs he heard folk singers (and probably ale drinkers too) play might be lost one day as they came from a strictly oral tradition. Thus, The Scots Musical Museum was his project to preserve and transcribe these songs into sheet music along with James Johnson. In essence, it was his bid to preserve Scotland’s musical culture. What’s even more admirable, is that Burns refused payment for this. He saw it as his duty.
When Literary culture gets too much for you, go see some animals. I was having an off day so wandered over to the zoology building to say hello to some strange and wonderful beings. Quite often I’m holed up in the same office at my University, and it’s easy to forget the sheer variety of learning that’s going on all around me. Fear not though, The animals set me right.
My advice on how to survive the darker, colder months of the year.
A snippet of wisdom from the West end of Glasgow’s very own bard, Alisdair Gray.
Smartly dressed rakes, artistically ambiguous, always contradicting themselves, politically subversive, timeless and constantly subject to mythic representations (for better or worse)…I think these two Bobs might have more in common than we might think. Interesting, then, that Dylan has cited a Robert Burns lyric as his biggest inspiration of all time. Which one? Read more here. I was actually surprised by the slightly saccharine choice.
After his escape from slavery and persecution in 19th century America, Frederick Douglass went onto become a powerful orator, writer and social reformer. Douglass was also an admirer of Robert Burns, to the extent that he visited Ayrshire (the poet’s birthplace) in 1846. It must have been a long and painful journey from being chained and persecuted in the American South to roaming around the Ayrshire countryside as an established writer and orator. Many see Douglass’s praise of Burns as a telling sign that the Scottish poet was recognised among 19th century African-Americans as a voice of liberty, equality, and brotherhood. While true to some extent, it’s an area that needs a little more attention in my opinion. You can read Frederick Douglass’s full letter about his remarkable trip to Scotland here.
