Today In Music, October 8th
From the Rockmine Almanac for today (Wednesday 8th October):
Birth
1948. Johnny Ramone born John Cummings in Long Island.
On Tour
1993. David Griffith a 27 year old Levellers fan dies after falling from the balcony at the band’s sell-out show at Newcastle’s Mayfair. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Royal Victoria Infirmary where a post mortem later shows that he died from head injuries.
In Court
1999. Debbie Rowe Jackson files divorce papers in Los Angeles County Superior Court citing irreconcilable differences with husband Michael Jackson. The petition states that the couple have been separated since July 15th this year. A confidential settlement has been agreed regarding property and money. No indication is given as to custody arrangements for the couple’s two children – Michael Joseph Jackson Jnr. (2) and Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson (1).
Jackson met Rowe when she was working as a nurse in the office of his plastic surgeon. They married on November 15th 1996.
In Business
1976. The Sex Pistols sign to EMI Records at a four hour long evening meeting. The signing was rather unexpected and rushed. Polydor Records seemed to be the only label ready to sign them – so much so, they’d actually booked a recording session for tonight. The signing fee is £ 40,000, a considerable amount for an as yet unheard band.
On Television
1995. Taratata (France 4, France) Solos: Tears For Fears, Pascal Obispo. Duos: Tears For Fears and Oletta Adams, Tears For Fears and Julian Lennon – “Stand By Me”
Death
1995. Music journalist Johnny Waller dies in a road accident aged 40.
Babble
My real problem today is understanding what’s going on in Elgin. I have considered it to be a real Narnia transposed to the North Easst of Scotland and I have thought it akin to falling down the rabbit hole after its white owner. Today, I may just have got a handle on it: the reality diffusion effect.
In anthropology, diffusion accepts that races and cultures will spread and intermingle. Racial purity and ethnic traits are lost but to a large degree appearances remain the same. So, let’s consider it here. Reality starts with a premise that everyone can believe in and then through intermingling with other ideas becomes something totally different. For example, a date is agreed and then allowed to diffuse. The most recent occurence of this was on September 26. Two people take away the same date and yet even in the space of a week it duffuses into two dates separated by a month.
What the Hell are you talking about? I hear you say. Well, it’s the imaginary memorabilia exhibition on the walls of the wardrobe in Narnia. You really would be surprised at just how capacious it is. However, it doesn’t help that I’m the one holding on to reality.
Today, while I should have been organising something (although I’m not sure what), I’ve ended up dealing with mails from two different owners of the wardrobe both of whom seem to have the outstanding ability to totally contradict themselves. They’ll quite happily say “I didn’t say that” only to be confronted with a previous mail from them which clearly says exactly that. The amazing bit is they can then turn round and say, “No, I may have said that but that wasn’t what I meant.”
Reality diffusion at its finest!
I’ve asked the wardrobe owners to put together a press release with me explaining that after six months we’ve given up on the idea of staging a memorabilia exhibition. It may seem an odd thing to publicize but I feel it’s essential to stop me looking like a total moron. That said, maybe the fact that I’ve spent six months trying to do this just proves that I am one!
One good thing about this is having got my head round the fact that very little of what I see here is real, it’s easy to get totally into the idea of virtual reality. So, although I’m going to tie this up tomorrow, I’m going to forget a real exhibition for now and stage a virtual one. In other words, I’ll just put all the exhibition pieces online and share them with the whole world.
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