Music is love

So we (Jacky me and Samantha) were sitting in our favourite lunch place - Lush in New Plymouth's centre city - and Samantha was asking about my blogging for family/friends and why I didn't put more music posts on it and I said because a lot of wozza's place people don't read that stuff so I was limiting that from now on and Jacky (God bless her) said, "Why don't you just do a music blog and..." (I had drifted off into a distant realm). I think I said in a dreamy far away voice, "Of course - a blog just for my rants on music. But where do I start". Samantha helpfully suggested I start from the beginning!

The beginning - The beginning for me is watching the Ed Sullivan Show on New Zealand TV in maybe 1965 or 1966 (whenever NZBC got around to showing it. I was about 8 or 9) and wozza's place readers will know what effect that had on me. No surprise then that this blog is named after Lennon's walrus sound. The hooks were sharp and deep!

Since then it's been a life of collecting, reading about music, watching music, visiting music stores. I'll tackle each of those four areas in this blog in a very selfish indulgent way. Sounds like you? Welcome aboard!

I don't think the good people at Mojo magazine will ever contact me for my - All back to mine - questions so here they are by way of introduction to my musical adventures:

WARREN PURDY (Love Warren Peace)

What music are you currently grooving to?
I'm constantly buying and listening to music - right now as I type I'm listening to Interpol's 'Our Love to Admire'. I like it and Bon Iver's 'For Emily' albums a lot. I read a recent Mojo feature on Ry Cooder so I dug out my vinyl collection (which stops at 'Get Rhythm' and 'The Border' soundtrack).

Also liking the Greg Johnson collection 'The Best Yet' and I'm in a Dream Theater/Porcupine Tree frame of mind of late. I also have a pile of new purchases to work through - Feeder, The Supremes, Travis, Van Morrison, and Gnarls Barkley among them (the pile at present is pictured).


What, if push came to shove, is your all-time favourite album?
In all my various best of lists two albums have always vied for best ever - The Beatles white album (really called 'the Beatles'), and John Lennon's 1970 solo album - 'John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band'. The shock of the invention and honesty in each makes them my favs by some distance.

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
I've an unreliable memory on this. I've always thought it was The Hollies single 'Hey Willie' that I bought from the record bar in 246 (a large mall in Queen St, Auckland). However this was in 1971 and I'd already got some albums before that for Christmas 1970 The Beatles 'Hey Jude' - from a record shop in Otahuhu and I also had a clutch of albums including a best of The Cowsills, a Monkees album and a Hollies album around this same time.

Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be?
The Mojo questions are often given to musicians of course and I'm not one. However for a while there after seeing Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee in concert (I was about 10 feet away at Nambassa) I bought a blues harp and wailled along with Sonny - desperate to be as cool as he was.

What do you sing in the shower?
Tonight was a bath and it was Oye Como Va (Tito Puente was playing in the next room).

What is your favourite Saturday night song?
I twitch around and air guitar immediately to Deep Purple's 'Made in Japan' album and 'Highway Star' in particular.

And your Sunday morning record?
I keep going back to the well with Van Morrison - anything really by Van gets me in that mood. And The Durutti Column - his guitar sound always reminds me Sunday morning sleep ins at Lorna Street, New Plymouth.