During my teens I read a poem in Rolling Stone magazine called Bargain.. It so perfectly encapsulated by love of the experience of listening to the radio that I cut it out and blu-tacked it to my bedroom wall where it stayed until I moved out of home. Here it is in its entirety:
I’m eighty-three and homeless. It was the same when World War II ended. The Army kept me on because I could type, so I was typing other people’s discharges and stuff. And my feeling was “Please, I’ve done everything I was supposed to do. Can I go home now?” That what I feel right now. I’ve written books. Lots of them. Please, I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do. Can I go home now? I’ve wondered where home is. It’s when I was in Indianapolis when I was nine years old. Had a dog, a cat, a brother, a sister.
As a result of comments in this thread at Lavartus Prodeo, I have been Googling Solar Inertial Motion. Discussion on it is not easy to find outside anti-AGW websites.
The application of Solar Interial Motion (SIM) to Climate Change is a work of the Australian scientist, recently deceased, Rhodes Fairbridge
After some poking around, I found that SIM is a particular case of the Sunspot explanation for climate change, i.e. that changes in Solar Output explain Global Warming and Cooling.
“… a planet revolving about the Sun in its “Keplerian” elliptical orbit delivered no energetic jolt to the Sun’s photosphere, such as might explain the episodic growth of sunspots.
But when two planets are involved, as the faster one passes the slower one, there is briefly a combined gravitational effect that is felt by each of the planets, and more importantly, by the Sun itself. This is not a tide (which is minuscule), but a torque.
The outer, gaseous layers of that star have a low viscosity that is susceptible to any change in the angular momentum…”
… Fairbridge’s work but the general gist is that the alignment of the planets affects the sun’s angular velocity which affects solar output…the question of whether solar output is driving global warming has been thoroughly analysed.
and links to a page with this summary, well-known to anyone with an interest in the AGW debate:
Solar activity has shown little to no long term trend since the 1950’s. Consequently, any correlation between sun and climate ended in the 1970’s when the modern global warming trend began.
From the above it appears that the reason SIM is not in lively discussion is that it is already discredited. Solar forcings do not correlate to recent temperature data. CO2 does.
As Btian Eno might say: Here Come The Warm Jets
Father, we make claims on our knees
Dawn enter here for we’ve nowhere to be
Nowhere to be
Nowhere to be
Father, stains they’re all on our knees
Down on our words and we’ve nothing to be
Nothing to be
Nothing to be
The title Warm Jets came from the guitar sound on the track of that name, which I described on the track sheet as ‘warm jet guitar’, because it sounded like a tuned jet. Then I had the pack of playing cards with the picture of the woman in there, and they sort of connected. That was one of the things that was going on at the time: this idea that music was still tied to some idea of revolution, and that one of the revolutions was a sexual revolution. I wasn’t making a big political point, I just liked having fun with those things. Most people didn’t realise for a long time — it was rather deeply concealed!”
Brian Eno, interviewed by Andy Gill in Mojo, June 1998
There’s a great article on Paul Kelly, the wonderful Australian singer-songwriter in the Free section of “The Monthly” website, Thoughts in the Middle of a Career.
The author is none other than Robert Forster, co-founder of the Go-Betweens.
Reviewing Paul Kelly’s “Songs from the South”, here’s what Forster says about Kelly’s voice:
None of these songs would be as good or as pleasurable if Kelly wasn’t the singer he is. It is – and you sense his often unenthusiastic self-appraisals are to blame – his most overlooked talent. His singing can be so in sync with a song’s action and character that you forget to notice its quality… His voice – sly and warm, laconic and sometimes frail – may be the closest thing we have to a national one.
You know, when I first saw the article I misread that last sentence as “His voice – sly and warm, laconic and sometimes frail – may be the closest thing we have to a national tone.
I agree with Forster, but like my misreading better. 🙂
I’ve only seen Kelly twice in concert: once at the big theatre on Market St., in Sydney and once at a free concert at The Rocks. Both times I have enjoyed Kelly’s unpretentiousness and his respect for his band, making sure they get their fair recognition.
At the Market St gig someone called out “What’s the score in the cricket?” (There was an Ashes tour in progress in England at the time). Kelly welcomed the chance for some audience interaction, and got the house lights turned up so he could have a look at us!
I love his music. Just one example will do for now. On “Leaps And Bounds” there is a refrain “I remember”. During the song he lapses into spoken word and says simply “I remember. I remember everything.” In my opinion remembering is a sign of integrity. It’s the cheats and deceivers who always “can’t remember”.
A songwriter with the integrity to remember and to admit when he stuffs up. Just one of the reasons why Paul Kelly’s music will endure. Hey, is Kelly an official ‘Living National Treasure’? He should be.
