It was great that in Japan you could get cigarettes called Hope and Peace. Ah, them were the days!! I wonder if they still make them? Hope, as I recall, was a very strong but good tasting ciggie.

I'm not one to post the family photos but this one does make me laugh. The white beast is ours. Dillon is his name. I think he knows he looks good in the snow.

Following on....some good ones....

Fortunate Son - Creedence
Soul Of America - Ian Hunter
Vigilante Man - Woody Guthrie/Ry Cooder
Ohio - CSNY
Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt
East Hastings - Godspeed You Black Emperor
Give Peace A Chance - John Lennon
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next - Manic Street Preachers
Cortez The Killer - Neil Young
What's Going On? - Marvin Gaye
Fight The Power/Fear Of A Black Planet - Public Enemy
Amerika v6.0 (The Best We Can Do) - Steve Earle
Hurricane - Bob Dylan
This Is England - The Clash
The Vancouver National Anthem - Matthew Good

'Can a song change the world? A Generation ago we believed it might, but music's revolutionary spirit went quiet way before time was called on the 20th century. Another decade on, Paul Morley still laments the passing of the protest song.'......

A brilliant and provocative article that reminds me why Paul Morley was essential reading for us new-wavers in the UK (and elsewhere) who waited expectantly for the NME every week. He says it better than me but I've touched on this topic recently. Time for us all to wake up from our sleep walking.

The article is here. It's in the PRS members magazine. This link is to the digital edition. Just type in page 26 at the bottom.

I just finished Bill Bryson's 'Neither Here Nor There'. A hilarious travelog account of Bryson's retracing of an earlier journey he and a friend made across Europe in 1972. This second journey he took alone in 1991. Towards the end he's trying to get from Split to Sofia in 4 days (preferably by train) in order to make use of his Bulgarian visa which is about to expire. This part of the journey involves going through Sarajevo and for one page he describes how lovely the city of Sarajevo is. I had to double check the date at this point because I was immediately reminded of another wonderful book I read recently called, 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' by Steven Galloway. This story is set in Sarajevo during the seige which began a few months after Bryson's passing through. It's an ingenious and harrowing story told from a number of perspectives that illustrates what happened when the defeat of all reason produced a monstrously real version of hell for half a million people who only 8 years previously had hosted the winter Olympics.

Topically the New York Times online today has a good article on the reopening of the Sarajevo - Belgrade rail link now running the first trains between the cities in 18 years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/world/europe/11train.html?ref=world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sarajevo

Here is the book in Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Cellist-Sarajevo-Steven-Galloway/dp/0307397033

View from a floor mattress at dawn on the second of January.

Michele gave me the Phillip Norman biography of John Lennon for xmas. It's a big book - 800 pages plus. I finished it this morning and I will admit that I cried a bit. I didn't think I wanted to read right to the end but having gone that far it seemed wrong not to. It does finish abruptly just as it did for John. This is a good book, well researched and well written. Apparently Yoko didn't like it when she read the manuscript, telling Norman that he'd been 'mean' to John. I can't see that myself. JL was no angel - I think we knew that - but everything here is balanced and is more likely to enhance a readers opinion of the man.

I found the earlier sections relating to his upbringing in Liverpool (and post-war Britain) in the '50's particularly interesting - Liverpool and Glasgow being such culturally similar cities. I was given my first 45, She Loves You when I was 5, and was taken to see Hard Days Night when I was 7. Northern life was better after the Beatles. The soundtrack of a nation in renewal. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Monty Python, 1968, Tariq Ali, Revolution#9, Working Class Heros, fuck yeh!

One day in 1988 during a break between songs when the Commotions were rehearsing in Nomis in West London this guy put his head round the door and said, 'alright lads' in a familiar sort of way - it was Macca. He said a couple of nice things and then he was gone. I think Linda had put him up to it. They were in Nomis with Robert Plant for some reason. Quite made the day that, Paul sticking his head round the door and saying hi, then meeting the lovely Linda and Mr Plant. Thanks Mac...and John, George and Ringo. In the end the love you get IS equal to the love you make. - ps I know it's actually 'take'

Santa brought me a new stratocaster to add to my collection for my xmas. I was looking for a decent banjo but couldn't find one that I felt was playable for 300 bucks so I had a look at the newish Squire Classic Vibe series. I was really blown away by these guitars. The Pine Tele in Mary Kay finish is astonishing but I ended up being practical and opting for the sunburst 60's stratocaster as a backup for my main strat. I hate to say this but it probably outperforms the American Fender Deluxe I used on the reunion tour a few years back at a quarter of the price. I will no doubt make some upgrades but as guitar deals go this one is killer - best bang for buck I've ever come across (in N.America at least). The necks are all good and the pickups are very good - ALNiCo 3's on the Tele and 50's Strat and ALNiCo 5's on the 60's Strat - not cheap ceramic coils like the Mexican Standards come with.

Spoke a little soon there....woke up this morning to a little falling snow..still bloody cold as well. White Christmas now possible.

Looking forward, my next album is finally showing some shape. Hopefully should be easier going from now on in. I can fairly confidently predict it being finished by the end of January. Yay!!!
Updates over the next few weeks as progress is made.

We're well into the holidays here in Toronto and I haven't had to get the shovel out yet. This is quite unusual for this time of year. We seem to have, so far, dodged the big dumps that have affected the rest of Eastern N. America. I feel a bit gypped - but it's only a matter of time. Right now, out the back studio window, it looks like summer - brilliant sunshine, albeit no leaves - venture out however and it's a crisp -15. Bone dry as well, which plays havoc with the guitars. I have to run a humidifier all the time to try to keep up. It's never enough though, so whatever guitar was most in favour during that winter always needs a good filing down the fretwork edges come spring.

I want to wish a best of the season to all, a big thank you to everyone who bought Sundogs and to the intrepid individuals who give their time running and updating the Neil Clark is My Guru facebook site. All the best of the season and a happy and prosperous New Year!

I've added a downloads page to the site. Giveaway mp3s.

I just returned from Glasgow and a short Lloyd Cole and the Commotions reunion - for two days only this time. We were being given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Nordoff Robbins sponsored Tartan Clef awards. Not sure about the lifetime achievement part of it but we were very flattered by the recognition. As they asked us to play a couple of songs our good friend Dave Cummings played bass in place of Lawrence who couldn't make it and did a great job. It was fantastic to see everyone again socially for a few days and nights. You spend so much time in a such a concentrated way with people in a working, touring band that a common link will always exist between you and it made me realize how much I miss these guys in my day to day life.

The three days were very festive, great meals - Mother India Cafe (still the best Indian food that I've eaten anywhere) and Asian Style with our mentor from the Commotions days, the ever generous, Billy Sloan. We also had a few minor booze ups but everyone kept it under control. Saw my old mate Dougie Kelso as well. A bit of heart-warmer all round really. Great performances from Capercaillie and the immensely talented King Creosote. We weren't told that we'd be following Mott The Hoople doing All The Young Dudes full anthem style though. That was amazing to witness and terrifying to follow but I think we did OK. Ian Hunter is a top bloke and still a terrific working writer.

A couple of photos from the rehearsals...