Author Archives: Neil Clasper

Friday finds

22 Friday Mar 2013

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Worth a read/watch/listen:

  1. Terminus (above) – a gorgeous ‘fly on the wall’ (BAFTA-nominated) documentary about Waterloo station, from 1962. Very nicely cut, and full of examples of how much London life has changed all set in an environment that’s still familiar to any London commuter. Some very good examples of what full employment muct have looked like, too….
  2. Some thoughts on the Shard’s projected lifespan, and South London’s notable – or otherwise – architecture.
  3. Lovely sounds on Office Naps – an intriguing site, new to me (found on Twitter and instantly forgot who tweeted it, sadly)
  4. Another week, another thoughtful post from Municipal Dream, this time on the Byker Estate (extra marks for the use of some of Sirkka-Liisa Kontinnen’s excellent photography from the area).

A Recording A Week For A Year – week 11 (Derivative Pub Rock Experiment)

16 Saturday Mar 2013

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Trying out my Gretsch 5120’s new pickups (GFS Surf 90s, if you’re interested). ‘Influenced’ by last night’s BBC4 ‘British rock’n’roll’ night which featured (amongst some gems) some of the dregs of the 70’s pub rock scene, testing even my tolerance for  slightly punked up 12 bar blues.

Recorded with the iPad plonked unscientifically in front of my Vox AC4 while I had the house to myself. Pretty much the perfect use of a Saturday afternoon.

Friday lunchtime reading

15 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in Photography, Reading

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And a photo from (more or less) 4 years ago today.
Thames, looking east from Greenwich Peninsula
A brief, ill-advised 2009 flirtation with sepia. I’m not sure I’d plonk the horizon bang on the half way line any more, either, but it has a certain dramatic quality.

Some things I thought worth reading this week:

  • A nice, detailed review of the Tate Britain’s new landscape show
  • Two related posts on ‘netiquettte’ (grim word), and the idiocy of deciding that a deluge of communication justifies a fundamental change in how we talk to one and other: Oliver Burkeman, Ian Leslie
  • A look at the history and uses of Limehouse Town Hall at the excellent Municipal Dreams: “not the most imposing building but impressive nonetheless; playing no decisive part in history but a witness to local dramas speaking of striking political and social change; and – through many vicissitudes – a part of its community for one hundred and thirty years and for some years to come”.

Friday lunchtime reading recommendations

08 Friday Mar 2013

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And an archive photo from (almost) 3 years ago today:

Some things worth reading that I found this week:

  1. Mapping the Blitz, over the Isle of Dogs.
  2. The music of Ed Harcourt has largely passed me by, but his words on Sparklehorse’s Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot echoed my own thoughts hard, in the week that marked 3 years since Mark Linkous took his own life. Much missed.
  3. Will Self on UKIP, and the history of Britain’s Far Right.

A half-finished recording, and a half-decent excuse

03 Sunday Mar 2013

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Started this on Wednesday, with a view to adding bass and lead guitar on Sunday; then got an invite to sit in with The Los Dawsons at the Pelton Arms in East Greenwich. And this happened:

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Me and Jerry from Ronnie Ripple & The Ripchords, with Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze on lead guitar (and Gus Glenn and Dana Myzer from the Dawsons out of shot). So that’s a good enough excuse for me.

Photo copyright Rob Aldridge

Some guitar nerdery

02 Saturday Mar 2013

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Been meaning to take the scratchplate off my Gretsch 5120 for a while; partly in the hope it would reduce the general buzzing you get with this style of guitar, and partly in anticipation of taking it to see a man about fitting new pickups on Monday. If my plan works, the bridge pickup will be replaced with a dogear P90 and the bridge with a standard humbucker-sized P90, something a bit like Eddie Cochrane’s Gretsch. The TV Jones pickups currently fitted are a bit too middley and muddy for my tastes.

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Friday lunchtime reading

01 Friday Mar 2013

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And a photo from 5 years ago today.
New York oyster bar andtaxi
An image that that feels like it’s from a lifetime ago; when it seemed that work trips to New York might turn out to be a regular occurrence, and the pound was strong enough to buy new lenses cheaply while I was over there.

Some things I enjoyed reading this week:

  1. Lovely typography on Spitalfields Life
  2. A subtle point on the public school takeover of pop music
  3. A thoughtful post on the dubious gentrification of Elephant & Castle (and beyond)

And (probably) the best thing I heard this week:

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