Free books on Odysseus and his palace

To help celebrate Orthodox Christmas, two of Jane Cochrane's books about Ithaca will be free from Amazon as e-books from 7 to 11 January inclusive. If you don't already have some kind of e-reader, you should be able to download one for free from the internet.

The Excavation at Agios Athanasios / School of Homer is a record made by the archaeologist Professor Thanasis J Papadopoulos of his work done jointly with his wife, Litsa, at the site in north Ithaca. This publication gives the well-hidden archaeological evidence for the Palace of Odysseus being there. To help the lay reader, Jane has written a short introduction. 

Walking in the Footsteps of Odysseus (in which I also played a part) is a practical guide to the Homeric footpaths of Ithaca.

You can download e-books of The Excavation at Agios Athanasios / School of Homer and Walking in the Footsteps of Odysseus HERE.

Ms Perfect

 

I never saw Christine McVie with Fleetwood Mac. I only saw Fleetwood Mac when Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan were fronting the band.

But I did see Christine Perfect (as she was before marrying John McVie) several times with Chicken Shack on the same 1960s club circuit.

My unforgettable memory is the way she used to walk unassumingly on stage with her handbag, put it down by the side of the piano and then start playing the blues.

Shack's lead guitarist Stan Webb was mostly the one in the limelight, but the showstopping moment tended to be when Perfect took over and sang – beautifully – I'd Rather Go Blind, an old slow blues standard that she made her own.

Everyone seems to be remembering Christine McVie from the huge musical soap opera that Fleetwood Mac became after the Peter Green era... I'm happy to remember Christine Perfect. She really was something...

Oh, Suzahn...

 

A visit to the Night Owl bar in Finsbury Park, north London, is always interesting – but it was particularly so at a recent jazz jam session where I was introduced to Nashville singer/songwriter Suzahn Fiering, dropping in on her way from the US to Portugal.

Charming and talented in equal measures, Suzahn also whipped out a guitar that was quite amazing. She'd just picked it up from Snap Dragon, a company that specialises in fold-up guitars and which she endorses.

The picture above shows what her latest acquisition is like when it's unfolded (compact and cool) and below you can see what it's like when it's folded up – even more compact and ready to be put in a smart little carrying case and taken wherever a guitarist needs to go.

You can find out more about Suzahn Fiering at www.suzahn.com and about Snap Dragon at snap-dragon-guitars.com.

Circles of Life

 

By chance, I wandered into London's Serpentine South gallery and was instantly taken with Kamala Ibrahim Ishag's State of Oneness exhibition there.

Her art is weird but wonderful... and her recent work has explored what she sees as "interchangeability and metamorphosis" between plants and humans (and women in particular).

She says: "I believe vegetation and humans are one and the same. We eat plants for sustenance, we die and are buried. We become sustenance for the plants."

It all sounds a bit Lion King but actually, to me, it makes perfect sense. Life is eternal – not our own lives, but life – in all its inextricable manifestations.

And Kamala Ibrahim Ishag's paintings do a rather good job of putting us in our place.

State of Oneness continues at Serpentine South, Hyde Park, until 23 January 2023.

Abba Fabba Do!

I've been away... I'm back.

As the world falls apart, at least we have music. There seems to be great live music everywhere now in this post-ish-pandemic period.

But of all the gigs I've been to recently – and that includes seeing Bob Dylan's resumed and wonderful Never Ending Tour at Le Grand Rex theatre in Paris – the most mindblowing, back in London, featured ABBA. Or at least the Other Fab Four's 3D avatars.

Performing alongside a live 10-piece band and with a light show and visuals worthy of a Pink Floyd wet dream, they left me and my companions speechless – which is quite an achievement.

There had been endless hype about how groundbreaking this show was going to be. But it didn't live up to that hype – it went far, far beyond it.

The music – 90 non-stop minutes of it – is just about all of ABBA's finest moments, with the dial turned up way past 11. The only pauses are for some genuinely funny and poignant comments from Benny, Bjorn, Agnetha and Anni-Frid – via their avatars but, like the whole extravaganza, full of warmth and humanity.

It's expensive but worth every pound. Just go!

Boundless Unenthusiasm

I mentioned The Boundless Sea on this blog back in 2021 – and wasn't too complimentary about it, since I felt it didn't quite live up to the over-the-top plaudits published on its cover.

At that point I was only 200 pages in... but now I've finished the other 700...

It was a close run thing, since David Abulafia's water-based great tale is distinctly, er, dry.

It's a remarkable – if ultimately rather dull – book. But it does do a good job of chronicling humanity's greed, violence and selfishness – all, sadly, the drivers of so much of the nautical exploration and adventures catalogued here.

Abulafia often speeds through complex and momentous events, but for some reason he always finds a little time to rubbish Thor Heyerdahl. He discounts the Norwegian adventurer's theories about westward migration across the Pacific from the Americas – and then dismisses him as a "self-publicist".

I know only a few things about Heyerdahl. But they include the fact that he put his life on the line more than once to test his theories... and he was a bloody good writer...

And Heyerdahl's books have all the passion that The Boundless Sea lacks.

The Goat Man's Tale

 

I've been away... I'm back... A lot of work and a lot of music has kept me from blogging for a while... But the surprise appearance of a wonderful new book has kicked me into writing something about it.

In all my travels over the decades and among all the amazing people I've encountered, one has to stand out... Tommy DiMaggio (aka the Goat Man).

Having hiked across the Arizona desert with him and his pack goats, I knew he was a master of many things. But I didn't realise he was such a damn fine writer.

Maybe that's because he has such great stories to tell... but it's also because he has a no-nonsense, cut-to-the-chase way of telling them. In fact, he writes like he speaks...

All My Employees Are Animals is part-autobiography, part-cookery book and all heart. There is laughter – and food – on just about every page as Tommy takes us from a warm but gritty childhood along the somewhat crazy road to his development as a cook and an extraordinary character.

I had just been re-reading The Real Frank Zappa Book when All My Employees Are Animals arrived unexpectedly. And I have to say there are some similarities on the page between Frank and Tommy... They are both honest American voices telling it like it is... 

Sadly, Tommy's book doesn't get as far as his Arizona goatpacking days... so surely there has to be another volume... or two?

All My Employees Are Animals is available here.