I'm currently reading George Mackay Brown's Northern Lights. It is a collection of writing that was put together many years after his passing in 1996.
Mackay Brown was a storyteller, journalist, dramatist and perhaps most of all a poet. His visually rich language so readily found in his poems, is also a hallmark of his prose. There is a depth of description and thought, a capturing of place, atmosphere and feeling that is so dense and powerful - like an exceedingly rich cake - that it must only be consumed in small doses if it is to be properly savoured and enjoyed.
His prose burns brightly and hails from a different era; an era before today's increasingly simplistic forms of expression and communication that are ever more watered down, unfulfilling and bereft of characteristics. It seems the overwhelming need now is to cater for shortening attention spans and social media "shortcuts" that render words into woefully butchered versions of their original, even into single characters, pictograms or emojis.
When I read a piece of descriptive work by Mackay Brown, I feel uplifted. My mind is emboldened and inspired to search for its own greater artistic expression.
I am left to wonder if the style and depth of writing that Mackay Brown so magnificently mastered, and that is fading to a twilight ember in the face of today's throwaway blandness, might be revived. Could we see a reversal of the trend and with it a lifting of our spirit - a sensory renewal, through the written word, of the world around us?
I hope so.
Admirable characteristics: Zienia Merton, who played
Sandra Benes in Space:1999, has died at 72
Zienia Merton, who played a celebrated supporting role in both seasons of the TV series Space:1999, died on Friday at 72. Ziena's character Sandra encapsulated much of what was right and good about Space:1999 - and by extension humanity. She was confident, controlled, and efficient; an easily relatable and intelligent character. When Sandra was around there was a sense that sensible choices would be made, or at least be aired. The show endeavored to have diversity among its characters, demonstrating a theme of "one people" together. Like Star Trek before it, it portrayed people from a mixture of backgrounds living and working together with shared values and goals. Zienia was British, although also very much a world citizen. She was born in Burma. Her mother was Burmese and her father half-English, half-French. She lived in a number of countries before settling in England.
Early days: Zienia Merton, left, in The Beatles' Help!
As an actress, Zienia did most of her work on television, including a stint in one of the first Dr Who stories. Earlier in her career she was an extra in The Beatles' Help! playing (uncredited) a high priestess. Space:1999 was my favourite TV show as a youngster. I watched every episode during its original TV run from 1975 to 1977. Some 20-odd years later I attended an event on the outskirts of London after hearing that one of the '1999' cast would be there - Zienia. It felt surreal coming face to face with someone who I had such familiarity with, even though we'd never met before. Zienia was polite and easy to talk to, and despite the passage of years still looked almost exactly as she did in the show - right down to her hairstyle. For a few short hours while she was around it felt like being part of an extended Moonbase Alpha crew that had somehow been transported to a conference suite in a suburban hotel. A few years later, on the 13th of September 1999, Zienia reprised her role as Sandra Benes to record a six-minute video for a Space:1999 convention in the US, which was held to coincide with the day the moon blasted out of Earth's orbit - as imagined in the show. Her short "Final Message from Moonbase Alpha" is now regarded as the 49th and final installment of the series. As the last person on the evacuated moonbase she recorded a message for those who might find it in the future, ending with: "To you, the people of planet Earth, we say goodbye and ask but one thing - remember us." It was a fitting epilogue. Farewell Zienia
Lake Street Dive: An unusual musical combination that delights
When I stumbled across Lake Street Dive, I did not expect them to become my favourite music discovery of the year. Indeed, I'd only clicked onto their video because I was intrigued at the prospect of such a hodge-podge of musicians attempting A-ha's Take On Me. Before I go on, rewind to last summer when I heard the strains of Lana Del Rey floating from a beach bar music system. I'd never heard of her and had to ask someone at the bar who the mystery singer was (as I detailed in this post). That was my introduction to Del Rey's fresh "real" music. Of course, I was many years late to the party, but Del Ray was my big personal music discovery of 2017. So back to Lake Street Dive. I came across them not by listening to music at a beach bar, but through a more traditional route - on YouTube, the world's omnipresent portal for discovering music. The website uses data algorithms to suggest videos based on your history of viewing choices. For some reason, it decided that I'd enjoy Lake Street Dive's cover version of A-ha's Take On Me. I was going to ignore the offer, but the thumbnail picture on the video showed an unlikely combo on a tiny stage that I guessed was in a small town bar hosting an open-mic night. My curiosity was piqued; what would Take On Me sound like when tackled by a nutty combination of a trumpeter, double bassist, female vocalist, and a drummer wearing a rock band-style bandana? The video started and in the opening moments a tempo change on the drums did nothing to alter my belief this was a plucky amateur night at some bar. But then the song took shape and my early suspicion that they were making it up as they went along, vanished. It was much more than a passable rendition. The soaring lead vocals of Rachael Price delivering more depth than the original. And while the band had a quirky choice of musical instruments, they all played with consummate ease and professional finesse. In this instance, they were also augmented by a guest keyboardist. The vocal harmonies were the icing on the cake. I was impressed but still thought it was simply an unusual bar band.
Music moment: Lake Street Dive perform Annie Lennox's
Walking on Broken Glass - a rendition that confirmed to me their talent
I decided to check for any other cover versions they had done and found their rendition of Annie Lennox's Walking On Broken Glass. Bridget Kearney's double bass playing was sublime, reaching notes I've never seen attempted by others on the instrument. Price added a new dimension to the song with her vocals, while the rest of the band was immaculate with harmonies and a group a cappella finale. After hearing their version of The Kinks' Lola, I started searching the internet to see if they had an album of covers for sale. They didn't. But they had albums of original songs. The Brooklyn-based band has been enjoying growing national success in the US, particularly during the past six years, including Billboard chart action. YouTube threw up a near two-hour songwriting masterclass the band gave to cohorts at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music, where they had met back in 2004. I hadn't intended to sit through the full two hours, but I did - drawn in by the subject matter, the clarity and articulation of their thoughts, and the truly democratic make-up of the band (they gave each other an equal share of the discussion). They explained some of the methods they use to compose and arrange songs.
In that video and in other online interviews, Lake Street Dive came alive as personalities - bold, inventive, and with a clear sense of fun. They are talented instrument players with a genuine love and deep knowledge of music styles. I took the plunge and listened to more of their originals, quickly favouring almost everything I heard. Use Me Up, Call Off Your Dogs, and this year's Good Kisser and I Can Changeare now on my repeat playlist. If you're looking for a fresh sound check out Lake Street Dive.
Mark Hamill and Martin Landau spoke out when their iconic characters were
made to act incongruously to the manner they had previously established
Two leading actors in science-fiction franchises, separately and decades apart, expressed instinctive and eerily similar warnings about how their iconic characters were being altered in ways incongruent to their established identities, and that were likely to upset multitudes of loyal fans.
Their misgivings and concerns were flagged up before and during filming to those with influential production roles, but were mostly dismissed. However, they turned out to be prophetically accurate.
In interviews that took place 18 years apart, Martin Landau and Mark Hamill voiced almost identical thoughts on the process they saw unfolding for the well-loved characters they helped create.
Oscar winner Landau spoke about this when interviewed for a French documentary in 1999, as he reflected on his time as Commander John Koenig, the male lead of Space:1999 - a TV series filmed and broadcast during the mid-1970s. Meanwhile Hamill, in a number of interviews last year during the build up to the release of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, aired concerns about the direction of his character Luke Skywalker.
Landau had deep misgivings about changes in the the second series of Space:1999 that were mostly introduced and forced through by new producer and script editor Fred Frieberger. He spoke of “battles” with Freiberger about the changes, which included characters behaving incongruously to the manner they had established in the first series. There was also unexplained changes of personnel, outfits, and main sets.
Speaking of the second series, Landau said: “I’m not a big fan. I thought he (Frieberger) hurt the show. I thought he hurt Star Trek; the year he did it it went downhill. He certainly didn’t help us. I fought with him all the time. You see, I think an episode should enhance the character and serve the character. Many times in the second year my character had to serve the script and do things that he shouldn’t do. I knew Commander Koenig. I understood him. And in the second year he did things he should never have done to accommodate a story point in the script - I used to fight over that, I would say ‘this is wrong.’”
It was not only his character who was made to act inconsistently to their established identity. Landau said Freiberger “would bring up a script and I would say ‘this is terrible. Helena wouldn’t do this, Koenig wouldn’t do this, Alan wouldn’t do this. These characters would not do this. The only reason they are doing this is to serve this script, and it’s wrong.’ Sometimes I would win these battles, and sometimes I’d lose them. Sometimes there was a re-write, sometimes there wasn’t. I wasn’t happy the second year; I thought we were turning the show into a cartoon - into a Mister Magoo.”
Landau had misgivings about changes to characters and story lines in the
second series of Space:1999. He had "battles" with producer Frieberger
When broadcast, series two was widely-regarded by critics and many fans as a dumbed-down “monster of the week” follow-up to the often thought-provoking episodes of the first year. Many people continue to view the second year as a pale shadow of the first. There was no third series. Years later, when Freiberger made a rare appearance at a Space:1999 fan convention to explain why he made so many changes, he faced robust criticism from the most dedicated supporters of the show.
Landau’s words about “knowing and understanding” Commander Koenig and taking issue with the character being made to do things he would not have done based on his established identity, were mirrored by Hamill when he spoke about his misgivings regarding the character direction for Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi.
In an interview on Nightline ABC in April 2017, Hamill said when he read the script he told writer and director Rian Johnson: “I fundamentally disagree with everything you’ve decided about my character.” He continued: “It was as shocking to me to read what Rian had written as I’m sure it will be for the audience.”
Later in the year he returned to the topic. “I said to Rian, ‘Jedi don’t give up. Even if he (Luke) had a problem he’d maybe take a year to re-group, but if he made a mistake he’d try to right that wrong.’ So right there we had a fundamental difference. But, it’s not my story anymore, it’s someone else’s story and Rian needed me to be a certain way to make the ending effective,” said Hamill.
Expanding on his concerns during the same interview, he said: “That’s the crux of my problem - Luke would never say that. I almost had to think of Luke as another character, maybe he’s Jake Skywalker, he’s not my Luke Skywalker. But I had to do what Rian wanted me to do because it serves the story well. But listen, I still haven’t accepted it completely. But it’s only a movie, I hope people like it, I hope people don’t get upset.”
As the marketing machine went into overdrive for the film’s release, Hamill said he regretted voicing some of his doubts in public. “Creative differences are a common element of any project but usually remain private,” he said, adding that he ultimately appreciated the decisions that had been made.
However, The Last Jedi caused damaging polarization among fans - more so than has been experienced by any blockbuster movie franchise - to the extent that many who had followed the Star Wars saga for 40 years turned away from the series and vowed to avoid future installments. A variety of reasons were given, but head-and-shoulders above all was dismay at how Luke Skywalker, one of the greatest movie heroes of all time, had been portrayed in a way far removed from what had been established in previous films.
On social media and film review sites across the internet the backlash was substantial. I have read and listened to hundreds of options lambasting in particular the framing of Luke. We are now nine months on from the film’s release and the reaction shows no signs of abating. To pick one mild example, posted as a comment on a YouTube video in the past 48 hours, a fan wrote: “I still cannot believe Rian Johnson's script made it to the screen. Surely someone at Disney or Lucasfilm (other than Mark Hamill) pointed out how upset Star Wars fans were going to get."
While innovation in storytelling is always to be welcomed, there are certain boundaries where red warnings flash - as Landau and Hamill flagged up during the production of their respective franchises. For the directors and producers who ignored or overrode the warnings and concerns of their foremost stars, the subsequent fan fallout has been haunting.
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Video: Martin Landau talks about concerns for his Space:1999 character.
Video: Mark Hamill speaks about changes to the character of Luke Skywalker.
Energy and fun: Dennis Moniz at the 2012 recording and filming
of The Love Singers' version of All You Need Is Love.
Dennis Moniz, a featured singer on the Lennon Bermuda CD version of All You Need Is Love, has died at 66. He was one of the 11 named singers who shared lead vocal duties on the track; the ensemble was known as The Love Singers.
Mr Moniz was a well-known singer across Bermuda and performed with a number of groups, and at many venues during his long career. Tony Brannon, the organiser of the Lennon Bermuda project, referred to him as the Sammy Davis Jr of Bermuda.
Although I only had the briefest of encounters with Mr Moniz, I would say the 'Sammy Davis Jr' description was very apt. I met him when we were both doing chorus backing on The Love Singers' version of All You Need is Love, which was recorded in May 2012 ahead of the release of the Lennon Bermuda CD and the subsequent concert in September that year. The recording was done in a gallery room at Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art, in the Botanical Gardens.
Infectious fun: Will Black, myself, Ronnie Lopes and Dennis Moniz
during the filming of the All You Need is Love video
A video of the recording session was made under the supervision of director Lucinda Spurling, and it captures the effervescent energy and spirit of Mr Moniz. His smiling, jovial nature shone as brightly as his silky blue shirt. His presence, energy, and unusual headwear are my most abiding memory from that day. In the video, he is captured later singing a lead line as one of three singers sitting back to back - although he had switched to a white shirt that featured his name embroidered on the front. He had an infectious attitude of fun that lit up the room, and once experienced was hard to forget.
This year has seen the loss of two other Lennon Bermuda performers; Steve Easton, who sang Bless You, and international recording artist Roy Young, who appeared on stage with The Beatles during their Hamburg days, and sang Nowhere Man on Lennon Bermuda.
The joy all three gave to others through music lives on.
Here is The Love Singers video of All You Need is Love:
Alan Bean, the fourth man to walk on the moon and the last surviving member of the Apollo XII mission, has died at 86.
In the kicker to his book Painting Apollo, Bean referred to himself as the first artist on another world, and when he attended an Astronauts Weekend in London four years ago he used the phrase "the first artist on the moon". In his hour-long talk at the event he explained why.
During his hours on the moon in late 1969 he had not set up an easel to paint the lunar landscape or his fellow moonwalker, the late Pete Conrad. But after retiring from Nasa in 1981 he spent much of his time creating paintings that depicted his own experience on the moon, and recreating other scenes - including an image of Neil Armstrong on the surface of the moon.
As Heather and I made our way to the top level atrium of the Radisson Blu Edwardian Heathrow Hotel for a cocktail reception at Autographica's Astronauts Weekend, Bean was standing beside the elevators in the lobby. A short while later he was at the reception chatting to fellow Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin. The following day we learnt more about Bean's contribution to the space programme when he gave a sellout lecture.
He described how in later life he had become an artist, painting space mission scenes and striving for accuracy, which brought him to a story about his painting of Armstrong on the moon. The painting was among those exhibited at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC, in 2009 to mark the 40th anniversary of the moon landings. In attendance were many Apollo mission veterans, including Armstrong. One of the guests studied Bean's painting and spotted Armstrong was portrayed wearing a wristwatch. The guest wasn't convinced that Armstrong had worn his watch on the moon's surface and said so to Bean, who was caught off guard by the observation and wondered if he had got the detail wrong. Bean suggested the guest go and find Armstrong, who was elsewhere in the museum, and ask him if he had been wearing a watch.
It should be pointed out here that there are very few photographs of Armstrong on the moon because he was the one issued with the camera during the mission. As a result most of the iconic moon landing photos show colleague Aldrin on the surface. There is one full-body picture of Armstrong on the moon, however, he has his back to the camera and it is not clear if he is wearing his watch or not.
Ready to go: Bean at the time of the Apollo XII mission
The inquiring guest tracked down Armstrong and asked him about Bean's painting and whether or not he had worn a wristwatch on the moon's surface. Armstrong said, "Has Alan painted me wearing one?" The reply was "Yes," to which Armstrong responded, "Well, that's how it was." It was a good answer, but it wasn't how it had been on the moon. In reality Armstrong had taken off his watch and left it inside the lunar module as a back-up because the onboard mission timer was not working. Many months later, having researched the facts himself, Bean painted out the watch from the portrait.
The weekend event was attended by a number of astronauts including Commander Robert "Hoot" Gibson and a number of his fellow veterans from the Space Shuttle missions. One of them was the late Bruce McCandless, who made history with the first untethered space walk in 1984. He is the man in the famous picture (taken by Gibson) floating in the void of space wearing a jet backpack.
McCandless was working at mission control in 1969 during the Apollo programme and was one of the key contacts for Apollo XI astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin during their landmark first landing on the moon. He also had a story about the follow-up Apollo XII mission, which took Bean and Conrad to the lunar surface, with Richard Gordon piloting the orbiting command module.
He recounted that as the Saturn V rocket soared upwards through the Earth's atmosphere it was hit by either lightning or a self-induced electrical discharge. "They lost all power to the command module," said McCandless. "The computer in the Saturn V redundant for the very first time, so they switched over to the back-up computer and they kept on flying. It was Alan Bean who painstakingly restored power to the command module, brought the fuel cells back online and shortly thereafter they made it successfully into orbit, aligned the platform, got a go to proceed to the moon and had a very successful mission.
"And I think that in today's environment we have probably become so risk adverse that had we had a similar incident with the shuttle we would have insisted on immediately terminating the mission and coming home. It's a real tribute to Alan and Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon that they were able to salvage the mission even after a near catastrophe like this."
Bean died today in Houston after a short illness. Farewell Captain Bean - the first artist on another world.
The ragged flag in the centre of a small town that provided
inspiration for a key location in Alice Out Of Time.
A writer can create a wonderful story that is filled with dynamic characters, but if a setting doesn't ring true or is badly described it seriously distracts from all else.
The information needed to construct a believable setting can be researched through books and other literature, and from online searches.
However, there is nothing quite as rewarding as visiting a location that closely matches an imagined setting; that way the writer gets to walk the sidewalks, see the buildings, the people, the traffic - soaking up the experience and "mood" of the place.
I did this during a brief visit to a town in the US. It wasn't a big place; the hub of the town was where the main street intersected with three other streets. There was a parade of stores, all past their glory days, on either side of the quiet street. What particularly caught my eye was a large Stars and Stripes fluttering in the heart of the town. The over-sized Amercian flag, something almost ubiquitous in towns and cities across the US, had also seen better days. It flew proudly, but its ripped and ragged trailing edge prompted a feeling that this community was not overly prosperous and had yet to find the funds to replace its worn flag.
The essence of the town matched that of a place that features in Alice Out Of Time. The novel is now in the third draft stage, undergoing plot tightening and fine-tuning of descriptive passages. Therefore, it was a welcome opportunity to stroll the streets of a small town that closely resembles a key setting in novel, and imagine the characters from Alice doing the same.
