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This really should be an anthem for our times…

‘Take vacations into outer space
Or pay all school teachers a living wage’

Amen, brother Theo. As a teacher I can only dream along with you.

Wow! What a talented guy Theo Katzman is. Not only is he an ace drummer, singer and guitarist, but he’s also an excellent songwriter and producer.

The music here is kind of pop/rock. But those two words fail utterly to encapsulate the richness of Theo’s music. It’s very indebted to the best sounds of the late ‘60s and the early to mid ‘70s, something also attested to by the album cover design. But it’s also very contemporary, partly thanks to his amazing voice, partly the postmodern magpie gleanings in the music, and also the very high production values.

If there was any justice in this world Katzman would be massive. A global superstar. He’s very much an heir to folk like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell; raw talent with oceans of genuine heartfelt soul. Ok, so I guess, given how much I’m diggin’ this, on my 50th birthday – a present to myself! (BTW Thanks Patrick for the Amazon voucher with which I bought this.) – and my first full listen through, I ought to do a track by track appreciation.

The album – digital only (at this juncture) – starts with the fabulously positive yet raunchy rock of ‘You Could Be President’. Am I right in thinking this first appeared online under a different name? Whatever, it’s just terrific. The first thing to note is how beautifully produced it is. As Theo’s an excellent drummer, it shouldn’t perhaps surprise that the drum sound is literally perfect. Crisp and dry, yet dig the rich timbres of the toms in the fills!

This first track also combines an extremely funky folk-rock guitar riff, with a simple yet clever verse structure – two measures of 4/4 finished with one of 3/4, juxtaposed with a kind of ‘primary colours’ style chorus, and ending on an epiphany of vocal prowess, including a phrase for our times ‘yeah, no…’

‘The Death Of Us’ struts with an elastic funk. Lovely little touches, like congas and guiro, enrich the delightful groove. Whilst ‘You Could Be President’ has a sublimely musical/soulful and tasteful slide guitar solo, ‘Death Of Us’ features talk-box. Like the font on the cover, it’s super-‘70s, in the best way possible.

‘What Did You Mean (When You Said Love)’ is chosen as the favourite track in a lot of the online reviews of this album I’ve seen. And I can see why. I love it. But it’s not my favourite track. Perhaps because it’s the most ‘contemporary pop’ sounding on this near flawless album. That said. It’s bloody brilliant. And grows on me with every listen.

Katzman’s vocals (that phrase was just rendered as ‘Katzman avocado’ by my iPhone’s predictive text function!) are incredible. And on this track he uses his skills in a performance that puts me in mind – ever so slightly – of the kind of vocal performances favoured by TV talent show judges. But whereas those performances are too often like very well performed karaoke, here it’s the artist themself bringing these skills to bear on their own material. A quite different proposition.

Track four, ‘Hardly Ever Rains’, hits closest to my own emotional tenor, with it’s clever yet soulful and very 60s-70s folk rock vibe. Poss’ my favourite track (thus far!) Katzman’s more baroque pop tastes come to the foreground on ‘Lily, of Casablanca’, with it’s more complex arrangements and jazzier chord voicings. Once again this talks directly to my own tastes and preferences. But as superb as it is, I admire this one more than I’m moved by it. If that makes sense?

One thing I miss about not having this on CD (or even vinyl*) is not being able to read stuff as I listen, as I write this. Darting between the Amazon Music app and Notes is annoying! Anyway, back to the music: ‘Best’ is slightly funkier, rhythmically, and one of the tracks that helps earn the album an *explicit* warning. It’s another of the harmonically richer numbers, as opposed to the folksier ones.

Talking of which, ‘100 Years From Now’ sounds, esp’ as it starts, like one of the latter, although actually it’s quite subtly harmonically rich, belying the quite stripped down mellow vibe. Many of the songs here are surprisingly mature lyrically, mixing a homespun philosophical vibe with a modern burned-out take on the ‘age of ego’. In a way this track captures the essence of Theo; witness the near solo passage, just guitar and voice, which starts the verse about the pal meditating in a Thai monastery. And even the way it ends says something astonishingly simple yet profound. In the midst of an intense chorus, perhaps like our lives, it just suddenly stops. Theo, you, sir, are a genius! Brilliant!

‘Darlin’ Don’t Be Late’ continues the shockingly strong succession of musical excellence. There’s so much in the mix. From the whole torch song and jazz tradition, of harmonic movement/resolution, to shades of everything from Steely Dan to ‘80s Bob Dylan, with The Eagles and all sorts in a soulful bouillabaisse of utter gorgeousness. It sounds very different from Jeff Buckley’s amazing Grace album, but it has an equivalent, if somewhat warmer more organic richness.

‘(I Don’t Want To Be A) Billionaire’ is terrific. More funky, with a kind of N’Awleans bounce, it addresses the current climate of Mammon worship blighting the world, and perhaps the US in particular. ‘I don’t want to sing along, if a computer wrote the f*ckin’ song’ he sings, in an impassioned way. Amen, brother Theo, I’m feelin’ you deeply.

‘Like A Woman Scorned’ is terrific musically – as is absolutely everything here (the cover says ‘12 good songs’, and for once they ain’t joking!) – and very interesting lyrically, as it addresses the contemporary state of the ‘battle of the sexes’. Theo is great at articulating some difficult things, and making art out of his musings on a subject that concerns us all, whether we like it or not. I’m not being ironic when I say… good man!

‘Fog In The Mirror’ mines the starker seam of Theo’s muse – and, quite unbelievably, as I type this he sings ‘a sad romantic looking for a muse’ – damn, but I do love a spot of synchronous serendipity! I think this one is competing with ‘Hardly Ever Rains’ for my favourite. I’m essentially a melancholy soul! And that aspect of many artists often touches me deepest.

And so we arrive the final track, ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’. It’s worth pausing here to note the role piano plays on this album. With a CD or vinyl I’d hope for instrumental credits. So far I’ve not found any. Is Theo playing piano, as well as all the other things we know he does? And which tracks is he drumming on? As a fellow muso I love knowing such things.

Musically the final track is another that could stand for the whole album. It moves effortlessly between ultra minimalism, such as the final verse, which strips right down to piano and vocals, before building to a rich chorus with the whole band, only to end on the minimalist vibe, so quiet and delicate you can hear the dynamics pedal of the piano being released.

So there you have it, the whole album, track by track, as I see and hear it. Now that I’ve listened to the whole thing Amazon Music has served up ‘Browns At Home’ by The Greyboy All Stars, which – as much I might want to object to such algorithmic stuff – is perfect! But, discipline,

I’ve been aware of Theo Katzman for several years now, courtesy of Vulfpeck, for whom he sings, plays guitar, and drums. His multitalented musical abilities are, even in that context, where he’s not the central ‘star’ performer, mightily impressive.

I first checked out his solo stuff maybe about a year ago. And immediate loved it. But I didn’t dive in to it fully. Today, on the eve of my 50th birthday, I took a deeper dive. Typing this at 11.45 pm, Jan 4th, it’ll probably be my birthday by the time I finish and post it!

I had been watching yet more snooker. Teresa objected! So I binged on some Vulf videos for a bit. The great thing was that, I guess using some evil algorithms, YouTube curated a string of Vulfpeck videos for me. I did intervene a little, trying to favour stuff I’d heard/seen less (or at least less recently).

After about ten Vulf vids, a Katzman one snuck into the playlist; I’m Too Busy Trying To Write A Pop Song. It’s hand scrawled text only black and white title screen just caught the eye. I listened. And lo, it was good. Damn fine, in fact.

I’m a big fan, old fashioned as I am, of owning hard copies of the music I love. I’ve only really broken that rule for music that can’t be had on CD, some of that’s old vinyl, some modern streaming only, etc. But it looks like Theo’s stuff is digital only. Pity!

But just look at the cover of Modern Johnny Sings! Couldn’t be more up my street with its retro vibes, from the colours to the font, to the slightest suggestion of a hippy/classic rock vibe in the shoeless/guitar as violin pose. And the image perfectly fits with the music.

I’m not sure anyone other than me ever looks at this blog. I need to address that somehow! But if anyone does, then please support a real artist. Visit his website, buy his albums, watch his videos, go see him live. I’m pestering him to come and perform for us in the UK!

It looks like I missed out on a recent re-issue of his previous album, Romance Without Finance. Re-released as a limited edition crowd-funded vinyl package. Damn!

I fully intend to get hold of all his stuff – since starting this post I’ve learned Modern Johnny is album three, and number two is Heart Break Hits (2017) – as everything I’ve heard by him, and his many super-talented associates, is just fantastic.

Just caught the last five or ten minutes of this. Fascinating! Neil deGrasse Tyson might be described as an heir to Carl Sagan, inasmuch as he’s a populariser of science, and a New Yoiker.

I’ll definitely be checking out the full interview at some point.

Several things stuck me, about Tyson (or should that be deGrasse Tyson?)*. First off I’m on his ‘team’, so to speak. His bit about open-mindedness reminded me of Dawkins’ thing about being so open-minded your brain falls out!

Returning momentarily to the Sagan allusion I made above, another thing about the astrophysicist that was less appealing than his very reasonable eloquence and knowledge was his rather booming slightly overbearing style.

Folk like Sagan, and in other areas of science, Attenborough, even Richard Dawkins, are (if you actually watch them in public discussion, as opposed to basing your views on the hearsay of their ‘adversaries’) pretty scrupulous in their attempts to be calmly and politely evenhanded, or reasonable. Neil deG&T, on the other hand, exhibited moments of what looked to me worryingly like controlling bluster in his responses to some of Stephen Sackur’s questions.

* Americans are big on middle names. Very notably so in public and intellectual life (one of the themes of this interview concerns the state of the latter in the modern US). But, although I’ve not seen it hyphenated, deGrasse Tyson sounds like a double-barrelled surname.

Painting is proceeding apace. I’m kind of hoping I’ll get the bulk of it done today. This is proving to be a fun little project.

Today I got the wheels on, and did the rest of what I wanted to do to the body, inc the steering wheel. I could keep going. But the point of this little project is simple child like fun/creativity. Not perfectionism!

I’m happy with this little project. It was actually instigated by Teresa. Lor’ bless ‘er! She suggested a ‘copper wire sculpture’. But instead I did this.

Next step is to undercoat the model. And after that, paint her. British racing green, methinks. Again, I’ve considered snazzy paint ideas. But I’m going to stick with keeping things simple.

I took it to the shed and then actually sprayed the undercoat outdoors. Under supervision from Teresa! To make sure I wear a mask, and look after myself. And the spray does give a lot of airborne materials.

The next step, painting… I’ll get around to that when I feel ready!

Confined to my sofa-bed, in our lounge, and suffering from unspeakable insomnia, I decided to make a cardboard sports car!

Rather than making a real/specific car, I’m just making a generic hybrid. Tonight, in part one, I’ve made wheels and the basic body. Tomorrow (actually later today; It’s 1 am!) I’ll continue with the body work, and fabricate some sort of axles/chassis, lights, etc.

It’s like being a child again! (Building the cardboard car, that is, as opposed to the grindingly oppressive sleeplessness.) I remember watching my dad make a cardboard cut out roadster, as a nipper. Or did we work on it together? I no longer recall, alas.

Earlier we watched another Rathbone Holmes movie, and enjoyed a tasty porky stroganoff that Teresa cooked. staying home and taking it super easy. Hoping to shake this awful persistent chesty cough and whatnot.

I got this boxed set for Teresa, for Yuletide.

We once had all the movies from the set as digital files, thanks to a chum. But we never really watched them. Having the physical DVDs – I guess we’re old school that way? – means we’re much more likely to actually watch them (they’re not included on Amazon Prime).

It’s Xmas day, and, having watched a Basil Rathbone Sherlock movie earlier (The Pooch o’ the Baskervilles), part of another DVD set I got for Teresa, we’re now watching She,

Shot in Israel and starring Arsula Undress, this is, it seems, where Rumpole got his ‘she who must be obeyed’ line from. Well I never! And you get of only Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and the many faceted charms of Ursula, but also Wombles narrator Bernard Cribbin.

Too much! An embarrassment of riches. Some of the sets or are they ‘mattes’?) are great, as well.

Can’t be arsed to synopsise the ludicrous story. It’s just an excuse for exotic locations, good old fashioned Boys’ Own style adventure, with nutty costumes and plenty of feminine allure, all in a distinctly old school non-PC way. We love it!

As Miranda – or is it her mum? – is fond of saying, Such fun!