The New 'Old Portsmouth'

The Spinnaker, Portsmouth.

We spent the week-end in Portsmouth and Southsea to look over old haunts, catch up with some friends and relations, and generally hang out. The weather was fine.

Old Portsmouth - the civilian maritime quarter - has been largely redeveloped since my student days in the 1970's; there's not so very much that's old about it any longer. The centrepiece is the 'Spinnaker' - shown above, which is a millennium landmark with lift and observation decks, affording spectacular views of the city and it's surroundings.

The highlight of the visit is the 'walk of faith' or the walk across the glass floor to look down giddily to the ground below. It's enough to put the wind up pretty vertically!

Nick Drake

I read a biography of Nick Drake a while ago. These are some of the notes I made.

1. A briefly flickering talent. He was like one of those cardiographic blips that threatens to straighten out into a single tone, and eventually did.

2. He didn't leave anything behind - no diary; no letters; no written music; just a few scribbled song lyrics..'A soul with no footprint'

3. Lyrics - somewhat sparce or sparely written and yet he wrote in a direct and personal style, and they can speak to you at a profound level.

4. Not embarrassing compared with a lot of other hogwash of the day. I'vetaken some drugs and now I'm going to sing you a fairy tale.

5. There's been something morbid about all the disciples and cranks who dwell on him,obsessively; like he's dead and gone now - let it be!

6. He would probably not enjoy such success and acclaim now if he was stillalive - dying was something of a good career move for Nick Drake. They who died young didnt always make it happen in life, and yet they persist and are influential aferwards.

7. These are delicate, understated and unassuming songs from a shy retiring young man, who was undoubtedly something of a genius. But the music of the day needed grander gestures, or more promotion than a Drake cd give it.

8 There are comparisons with Emily Dickinson & Van Gogh - an unrecognised genius with mental problems leading sad lives that end in tragedy.

9. It's often curious music - he's playing the blues but in a folksy sort of way.

10 A point was reached where his melancholy became a crippling disease, and he couldn't carry on in any meaningful creative way.

Juno

We watched this film Tuesday evening. It didn't take long - an hour and a half or so. But short is ok; as long as it's long on quality. And Juno is a decent watch.

It features the eponymous heroine - a quick talking, take-all-in-her-stride sixteen year old, whose jogging, not-so-dumb-as-he-looks boyfriend, Bleeker, leaves her in the family way. She can't face a termination, so she decides to give the baby up for adoption to desparately childless Vanessa, and her fly-in-the-ointment partner Mark.

In a series of encounters with the two prosepective adoptees of her baby-to-be, Juno begins to realise that their on-the-face-of-it dream existence is riddled with large, papered over cracks. It's a teen comedy with some great dialogue and some excellent performances - particularly from the Juno character, her father, and the awful Vanessa.

I gather it was written by an ex-stripper turned blogger (blog entitled: ''The Pussy Ranch''!) called Diablo Cody; real name Brook Busey. Happily her scriptwriting is way more tasteful than her blogging, or her pen-name for that matter. Anyway the Juno script won her the Oscar for best screenplay this year.

Behind all the sharp talking this film deals with the moral issues of abortion vs adoption in an understated, but mature fashion.

Vanessa Mae

I just finished watching a programme following Vanessa Mae as she went through as series of tests devised by doctors, psychologists, musicologists etc. Their purpose was to determine whether the virtuoso violinist was born with her prodigious talent, or whether she subsequently acquired it - the old nature vs nurture debate.

Because of the bad feeling that now exists between herself and her mother/former mentor - they no longer communicate - la Mae said at the outset she thought the balance was 25% nature - i.e. her own innate ability, and 25% nurture - i.e. her mother making her practice. However by the end of the investigation she agreed that the balance had shifted. It would appear that her success is 50% nature and 50% nurture approximately. If that is correct then the same probably applies to other great child prodigies such as Mozart.

What was perhaps more interesting was that Vanessa Mae scored very highly in being 1) extravert (whereas successful classical musicians are normally introverted); in being 2) open to experience, and in being 3) conscientious. These then are the combination of attributes needed by free-spirited high fliers, although whether this applies in all cases is less certain.

In the programme Vanessa Mae came across as articulate, intelligent, and of course enormously talented. Personally, I would probably admire her more if she had stuck to the more serious side of classical music, instead of going the dumbed-down route. If she had, she would probably now enjoy more critical acclaim. But her talent was never in doubt; she's had a great time, and no doubt she has money in the bank. So who can blame her? I think Wolfgang Amadeus - who lived and loved life to the full himself - would have entirely approved of her.

Vanessa Mae - 50% born brilliant, and 50% being made to practice by her mother.

Richard Wright

The Pink Floyd keyboard player Richard Wright sadly died last month of cancer. He was sixty five. Whilst he was perhaps a lesser Floyd colossus than Waters, Gilmour and Barrett, he nevertheless wrote some beautiful songs.

As Gilmour has said in tribute, what would have The Dark Side Of The Moon been without the two tracks 'The Great Gig In The Sky' and 'Us and Them'? These were both written by Wright. There is a calm and a serenity to these pieces, which contribute enormously to the album's appeal.

The album itself, one of the best selling of all time is about aging, madness and death. It's powerful, almost out of control, and yet it is also calm and serene.

To play it again now in honour of this great man is fitting tribute indeed.