My new photo book on Venice now available

My Venice

By Marcus Brierley

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Time and Motion

Are 'time' and 'motion' the same? If not how to they differ? Does time always produce motion or is 'ever in motion' the natural progression of time. Is time a fictional construct made by man to secure an infinite quantity of stationary incidents in frozen stasis? "This happened on January 20, 2001" for instance. Or "Today everything will be different from this moment forward."

Can you have 'time' and 'still'? I think so. In fact I know so. I've been experiencing 'time' and 'still' for twenty minutes twice a day for the last 37 years. Maybe not for every instant of the 20 minutes – but certainly now and then.

I think time is real enough. Very real in fact – the most real construct in the history of consciousness becoming conscious. Time makes it all happen in a precise and clock ticking kind of way. Which it's why it will be interesting from today - to see if the moment being set in motion – will be a significant change from the past which is ending. I certainly hope so!

Good luck Barack! And forget all this "hit the ground running" malarkey – just be STILL for a few minutes first if you possibly can.

Musings about music

Last night I received one of those emails out of the blue which link my present to my past. The 1960s - before I started doing what I do now. Long time ago when we woz fab. Well certainly thin. Thinner. Certainly hungry and living a lot cheaper. But not poor either. No I did what everyone my age then did, and seems to want to do now. Not much changes does it?

So what was that then? Bank clerk? No. Male model? No. Hair extension specialist? Almost - it was all my own then. No - I was a singer songwriter for a while. About 1965 to 1973 to be exact. Long enough to write two albums, an EP, two singles, be on the John Peel Show, play at Bunjis, The Troubadour, Les Cousins, be on a Polish TV Spectacular, tour with Fairport Convention, and play at folk clubs and universities throughout the land.

So why would anyone email me in 2009? Well it turns out, the minute number of sales those 2 1960s CBS LPs "Welcome to the Citadel" and "Hello" generated was sufficiently small to make them a rarity and therefore collectors' items. I think the highest I've seen a "Citadel" on eBay was 1000 USD. Almost as good as Salman Rushdie's  "Midnight's Children".

In 2005, Sanctuary Records - the white knight of all forgotten fabs - came to the rescue of this one and reissued everything I'd ever done on wax. So a few more musings made their way into the febrile firmament.

There's only so much heat a firmament can take guys - alas Sanctuary ceased last year some time after a long struggle with the material world.

So once more - my music has gone into the grey underworld where it no doubt really belongs.

My emailer - remember him - kindly asked if or where he might hear me play live. I think that's definitely a grey underworld. I suggested he buy a copy of Autograph of Time - the 2 CD Sanctuary set. But - guess what? It's already become a collectors' item. Amazon UK offers 2 used copies at nearly £20, and Amazon US has two new ones at nearly 70 USD. I seem to remember they were about £8 when I was getting a royalty on the reissue.

Market forces on music. When it's available, nobody wants it. When its vanished, it's an asset. 

My best advice to anyone who is interested, is - grab a copy before they turn into the only usable world currency, learn them all by heart and go out and sing them. Who knows, you might end up a better photographer.

Thankyou for listening.

The training day

A mixed batch of bodies greeted me on arrival at my destination. Introduction was not an ordeal but much more interesting than just saying "hello". I've already learnt a great deal more than I knew before I arrived. What have I been doing, by the way?

Oh yes, blogging. A bit.

Getting to Manchester by the eco option

I had to get from my home in a corner of the countryside into the metropolis of Manchester by an awful hour this morning. I had decided to go by train. I thought it would be environmentally undemanding. However, this was not to be.

The train station was negotiated in good time for catching the train. But where to park my car? I drove up and down the designated area, but alas - no spaces leapt out at me. The train came and went.

What now? The only choice was to drive. It took longer than the train. The traffic was probably typical. The car parking has yet to be paid for.

I rest my case.