Crotchety Man watched Later ... with Jools Holland on the TV the other night. There was the usual mix of styles, centred around pop singer/songwriter and pop/rock bands. But one artist stood out. A very black countenance in a sea of Anglo-Saxon faces. A classical cellist among massed electronic instruments. Traditional African dress among conventional…Read more Where Is Home (Hae Ke Kae)
2020s
Longing for the Dawn
As autumn rolls in slowly in these parts of the Northern Hemisphere, our thoughts begin to turn to the coming winter. It could be a hard one. The news outlets are warning us of possible surges in the Covid and flu infection rates, and a shortage of natural gas may lead to power cuts in…Read more Longing for the Dawn
Fractal Sextet
A fractal is a complex geometric shape, but it's difficult to find a precise definition. One well-known example is the 'snowflake' curve, invented by Niels Fabian Helge von Koch in 1904. Start with an equilateral triangle, then add an equilateral triangle one third the size to each of its edges to generate a new, more…Read more Fractal Sextet
Prayer for Amerikkka
It's been a hectic time in Crotchety Land for the last few weeks. Old Man Crotchety has done little other than move his 92-year-old father into a retirement apartment, and it's proved to be much more burdensome than anyone could have imagined. Quite apart from the unbelievable mass of belongings in his old house (see…Read more Prayer for Amerikkka
Tünel
Tünel is the Turkish word for "tunnel". The one pictured here carries water 120 kilometres across Finland from Lake Päijänne to a reservoir at Vantaa on the outskirts of Helsinki. (The photo was taken when it was undergoing refurbishment.) It seems unlikely, though, that Naci Oğuz had this particular rock channel in mind when he…Read more Tünel
Fleeting Future
A single mother and a married man enter into an affair with the understanding that their relationship is purely sexual. Though they agree the relationship has no future, they find themselves increasingly drawn into each other's company.Imdb The present is always fleeting. As soon as it has come, it has gone again. And yet it…Read more Fleeting Future
To Have You Near
You might think that an album titled To Have You Near would be full of love songs, but this one takes the broader theme of kinship and community. It starts, appropriately enough, with the place we share with our nearest and dearest: home. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kIudNn4LTAS0SHR_j9xDmzp5700YfME6Q When it's time to step outside the door, we meet with…Read more To Have You Near
Hear You Can See
Today's track-of-the-week has a puzzling title. It might be the end of one sentence and the beginning of the next: "... hear. You can see ...". It could be a spelling mistake: "Here, you can see ...". Or it might be another example of the curse of autocorrect. And that gives me a problem. What…Read more Hear You Can See
Try!
When I see the word "try" my first thought is always the famous saying, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again". Then there's W. C. Fields' rather more realistic and much more entertaining slant, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about…Read more Try!
In Disequilibrium
"Well, it's all topsy-turvy", sings Peter Hammill as his second collaboration with Isildurs Bane starts to swing. "Everything's turned upside-down", he continues as In Disequilibrium, part 1 kicks off their latest album. It's the first section of a three-part title track, and it sets us up nicely for 45 minutes of good, old-fashioned symphonic prog…Read more In Disequilibrium
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