Day 16

I arrive in Glasgow mid-day and drop my luggage off at David Shrigley's beautiful house. He suggests a number of things to do, sets me up with a map and umbrella and I'm on my way.

I tour the Glasgow School of the Art for their year-end degree show. There was some okay work on display, but nothing that sent me scrambling for a pen and paper to scrawl down names. Maybe I was tired. Or possibly just more interested in the school itself. The exhibition took place across the campus, so it was a rare opportunity to poke around the classrooms and facilities.

Next I went to see a group exhibition at the CCA. It billed itself as a series of 'remixes', which I am particularly interested in, and it was based on Harry Smith’s Anthology of Folk, which I love (HS is pictured above). It also included a number of artists whose work I enjoy, including: Animal Collective, Ross Sinclair, Royal Art Lodge, Jad Fair, Mathew Sawyer, Michael Nyman and Bill Drummond (of KLF fame). I left a little underwhelmed, but perhaps my expectations were too high. Maybe the source material is just too good. King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O was playing when I entered the gallery, and I had previously heard The Cuckoo at a used record store twenty minutes earlier - two of my faves from the Anthology.

I found no shortage of used book and record stores, but the best by far was Volcanic Tongue. It's tucked away in a little back alley and is barely large enough to fit three or four customers at a time, but it's heavily curated. The carry "free folk, psych, Japanese underground, noise, avant garde, free jazz, blues, experimental, garage punk/DIY, drone, industrial, sound poetry. prog, American primitive, private press, acid folk, classic 60's/70's rock, basement scum and assorted outsider modes". I pick up a coupla disks (including a rare Mahar Shalal Hash Baz record that I was looking for) and a business card, bookmarking the site when I get home.

Later I meet David for a drink and we get some Indian take-out so as not to miss the Soccer game. I think it was Russia vs Holland, but I'm not sure. It's the first match I've ever watched on television. I try to refrain from asking a series of stupid questions like “What is the difference between and yellow and red card infraction?” and “if the game is ninety minutes long why aren’t we at halftime yet?”

Afterwards Soylent Green comes on and we try to stay awake for it, but it stars Charlton Heston and is just fucking awful. Plus is there anyone who doesn't know that the secret ingredient is people?