Am about to do my roots for Sweden. Letting my hair grow to Byronic tousles is fine, but the roots must be always be attended to. Particularly when one begins to resemble a badger who’s inexplicably been cast in a 1970s rock opera.
I’m not due to perform in Stockholm until Friday evening (Royal Dramatic Theatre, Elverket stage, Performance 2), but am been flown over tomorrow in order to attend rehearsals. Gatwick this time. Sterling Airlines. Just me and my guitar.
Three short sets to do:
1: Me and the novelist Martina Lowden. She reads her words, I back her on unobtrusive (I hope) ambient guitar. Ms L has quoted from my lyrics and blog in her novel, hence the collaboration.
2: Me solo. It’s a poetry festival, so I’m doing a couple of the wordier, poem-like Fosca songs.
3: Me and Friday Bridge. I’m guest vocalist for them once more, but this time I may also play a bit of guitar, seeing as I have mine with me, all amped to go. Niklas has emailed me the chords to an FB song. I balked at one of them, thinking it was some devilish new tonal invention. Or that I was so out of touch with the pop world, I’d even missed out on the discovery of a new chord.
Me: Um, it says ‘H’ here. What notes are in the chord of ‘H’?
Niklas: Oh, it’s the same as ‘B’. I think they changed it to B in Sweden in the mid-80s… I might be excused since I studied music theory for an old Polish teacher and he refused to call it B.
A bit of Googling reveals there used to be an ‘H’ chord in Germany (meaning ‘B’ in the UK), while ‘Bb’ was named ‘B’. Various European countries used this alternative notation for centuries, but it’s finally starting to die out. Bach used the old system to spell his name in a fugue. I do like how a simple email query can expand one’s education so. Particularly after a lifetime of thinking there was no such thing as the ‘H’ chord.
***
More education, this time re the motto on the first £1 coin.
‘An ornament and a safeguard’ would be a better translation! It refers to the milling on the edge of the coin, which was designed to stop people clipping bits off coins when they were actually made of gold and silver
– Laurence Hughes
Aha. Makes slightly more sense than ‘a treasure and a safeguard’.
***
Tomorrow, after I’ve settled in at the Stockholm hotel, I’m going to be interviewed by Swedish Public Service TV. They want my thoughts on Decadence & Dandyism in relation to fashion. Hmmm, I said. Okay. It turns out they also want me to film myself. Never done that before. Deep breath.
Meanwhile a Dutch national broadsheet has sent me a fairly serious email interview for an article on modern dandies. I’ve taken far too long doing the answers, treating it like a school exam paper, as if they’ve asked ‘examine and discuss’ or ‘show your work.’ And then I delete it all and start again. This is what often happens when I’m left to my own devices. I can get a bit lost in my own head, and am not sure where to stop.
With the interviewer present (or on the phone), I can be kept on track, or made to explain further when an answer hasn’t quite satisfied. Or convinced. Either way, I just sit there and talk and enjoy it. (and we’re back with Tom Sawyer once more. One secret of happiness: make your job feel like it’s not work).
When I’m asked by an interviewer to come up with something by myself, as in these latest two requests, I have to stop and think more consciously about what’s expected. Have I properly understood the brief, or barked up the wrong dandy tree entirely? No, mustn’t think like that. Just do my best and hope for the best. Try not to overdo it or show off. And enjoy it.
Because I’m not complaining. These are requests from professional journalists for national media. And this is what I’m meant to be doing. So I must… show my work.
