Thanksgiving

SNOW

Little Things

School is getting quite intense.  I find this to be a good thing, it keeps me busy and helps me understand what I am getting myself into.  I am still attending seminars in Edinburgh and have entered the hard part of the Sound Thought festival planning.  We are looking through submissions as the moment and trying to decided who we should accept and who we should turn down.  I will probably post some links to the better ones on here latter.  As of this point in time my Masters Thesis is going to be understanding how and why pitchfork has gained and holds its authority within the music community.  I think this is an important topic partially because I used to be one of those people who actually used as their source for music.  I am moving my self out of their demographic now (which according to their ad packet is white, semi educated males between the ages of 18 and 25, they probably have beards and are skinny as well).   I want to know if pitchfork is the new rolling stone (It used to be a worth while read).
Well there you go.
Have a nice day,
Ryan

Picasa Page

Look more pictures

Click Here


  



  

Edinburgh and Other

So it has been a long time since I posted, some would say that I am even sloooow at posting.  

Since we last spoke I have been to Edinburgh twice; once for business, once for pleasure.  I have seen some music around town, attempted my first pub quiz, and had a nice night out with peers from class that did not end in complete drunken buffoonery.  

Edinburgh is quite the town. Ashley and I found time on a day off to try and see some more of the countryside and get out of Glasgow for a bit.  The train ride is only about 45min and very cheap, so this adventure was worth every penny.  Once outside of Glasgow on the train the view of the country side is very nice with large rolling hills, very green, and covered in sheep; lots of sheep.  

Waverley Station is in the heart of Edinburgh and the first thing one must do when leaving the train station is to walk up Princes St.  towards Edinburgh castle. After that, try and get as far into the castle as you can before someone wants money from you. 

The Castle is great for many reasons, other than being a castle.  Once up on top of the hill you can get to see some of the city from above which is pretty much awesome.  

The rest of our time spent in Edinburgh consisted of taking a tour of the Lost Underground City of Edinburgh.  From what I can tell there are lots of Underground Cities in Edinburgh and many people know where they are.  This is not to persuade someone not to go on a tour, the history lesson alone was fascinating to me but once in the underground it is pretty interesting to observe. 

After our terror inducing tour through the underground, a cup of coffee and tea sounded great and what better place to go than the location where JK Rowling penned some early Harry Potter?  The coffee wasn't bad.  I am still not a billionaire.  

My second trip to Edinburgh last week was for a seminar on Originality, led by Dr. Simon Frith.  Interesting talk from an important man in sociology and cultural studies.  He is also the chair for the Mercury Prize (google it, it's real) so I was intrigued to hear what he had to say.  I haven't decided if I will go this week for his talk on Dance Music.   

Class is going very well for me and as things go along I am becoming more and more busy with the events taking place.  Putting together the research festival is a ridiculous amount of work and it has only just begun.  

Through all of our learning here, Ashley and I are still horrid when it comes to British Pop Culture and in our first test of our non-existant knowledge we crashed and burned at what could be our first and last pub quiz.  But I did manage to have myself a couple of pints and together we got the tricky word question correct.  

I shall make an attempt to post again, sooner this time.  

Have a nice day,

Cheerio 

Ryan

Susan Matthews

http://sirenwire.webs.com/ 

This is Susan Matthews website a lot of her work is available for download for free.  

Out and About in Glasgow

Today was a day for getting things done, errands and other tasks that had either been put off due to other pressing matters or simply because I didn't have any money for awhile because of a mix up between my bank in Oklahoma and my bank here.

The tasks that were going to be accomplished today were:
-Buy a Bike
-Walk through Princess Square Mall
-Visit Borders
-Go to Avalanche Records (now LoveMusic) in downtown Glasgow
-Buy a large soup pot

Before starting off Ashley and I stopped by our cheesemonger friend to by some bread and cheese for sandwiches and such.  When asking what our plans for the day were I excitedly remarked that I was going to buy a bike.  He laughed and told me that I had not experienced the winter here and would be in for a cold experience.  I will not falter.

We started on our walk to Commonwheel, which is an organization that refurbishes bikes and sells them second hand. They do very nice work and the organization was started as a location where mentally handicapped people could work, because the owner found working on his bike was therapeutic to him and thought it might be therapeutic to others.  As far as used bikes are, these tend to be a little more expensive, but they do sell very good quality machines that work and last. I find that the price is worth it for their cause, and I won't feel shammed because I am not purchasing a fixie which seems to be what most shops are selling these days.

We arrived and the short story is I go back on friday when the boss is in.  They will sell me a bike though- probably a light weight hub gear.

After our bike misadventure, both the lady and I traveled by clockwork orange to downtown.* Our first task was to visit the Princess Square Mall, which is a very upscale mall which stands on top of an old courtyard from 1841. They have put a glass dome ceiling on it now and the architecture is rather fun.  Honestly though, a tad bit disappointing.

Our next stop was the Borders in Glasgow.  It is located right around the corner from the mall and is located in the old Royal Bank building from 1827. This is what made me interested.  There are lots of great little book shops around, maybe the best being Voltaire and Rousseau bookshop with its piles of books and complete lack of order.   Anyway, as most have heard about the economic trouble facing Borders, this one was no exception and has closed.

After this disappointment we traveled on to find some tea and maybe some food.  As we walked past the Willow Tea Rooms wishing that we had thought ahead and made a reservation, we came across the Buchanan Tea Rooms strangely written in the same font.  Once on the inside, we found ourselves on the receiving end of an elderly women's stare that would not waver. She was also the only person in the room.  Once the waitress came out and seated us, we found that we had come across the Glasgow version of Golden Corral, no buffets but vinyl table cloths and some seventies stained glass.  Our decision to order the Traditional Afternoon Tea was an enlightening one. I had ordered a Roastbeef and Mustard sandwich, one of two options that didn't have cheddar or mayonnaise, Ashley got the other, the Ham and Tomato.  We soon found that the sandwiches were just that: Ham and Tomato, or in my case, Roastbeef and mustard and mayonnaise.  This was not our culinary highlight, in fact this maybe the only low point of the adventure.  Our tea was consumed and shortbread biscuits pocketed and we struggled on to our next task.

At this point we parted ways, Ashley went to find a comforter and I gladly went in search of Avalanche Records.  After a brief detour where I walked completely around the Royal Concert Hall and a connecting Mall, I subsequently found myself where I was to begin with.  I turned and found my shop around a corner and very short distance away.  There was only a rather small selection of vinyl, but this store had a great collection of CDs including a huge selection of punk.  Sifting through the racks with the intent to not purchase anything that I already had at home, I found myself with two CDs: Bombay Bicycle Club's "Flaws", a very nice country folk influenced record with some help from Joanna Newsom, and a Local Artist's album that I found in the "Local: Noise/Avante Garde/Ambient section".  I picked up Susan Matthews' album "In Search of the Shadow Walker".  It turned out to be a selection of minimal orchestral compostions which lean towards the avante but are definitely tonal and very beautiful.  Success.

Oh and I did buy a pot which I made Chicken Ratatouille stew in and then subsequently ate.  Ashley also found a comforter.

To the outside reader, today might have appeared to be a modest disappointment, but truly its hard for it to be bad when you get to wander all over an interesting city with the girl you love.

Well cheers to you all.

Ryan


*This is glaswegian for their subway, I have only heard one person call it this, our cab driver, but I like it. The subway trains are orange and they go in a circle.


Also I am going to add some links to some of these places over to the side.

You have to start somewhere

After a long wait and a struggle with figuring out how to turn on our phone line, we now have internet at home.  With this newly acquired privilege, I will be taking on the responsibility of this blog.  If I fall behind at anytime I would like to apologize upfront.  I expect some weeks to have more posts than others, mainly due to the amount of reading that I must undertake.

Well a short recap of the past three weeks is due.  Both Ashley and I left on the first of September to attend the University of Glasgow.  Both of us are enrolled in postgraduate masters courses.  At the end of this year I will have attained a Masters of Letters in Popular Music Studies which is a program focusing mainly on musicology and sociology.  Ashley will have received a Master of Letters in Modernities through the literature and english department.  We both hope that our schools consider us to be ample candidates for a PHD study to follow.

Our flight to Glasgow was uneventful other than the girl who passed out on our overseas flight and was given oxygen by the flight attendants.  It didn't seem to be a large problem and the girl is alive and well as far as I know.  In Glasgow we live in the bustling West End which contains many restaurants, bars, pubs, cafes, records stores, book stores, small veg shops, venues and many other delightful locations.

We live here


View Larger Map
go ahead street view that baby. The odd building across the street is a High School

As you will notice directly south of our home is where the university is located and it is a very gorgeous campus full of large old buildings that look amazingly like aspects of Harry Potter --I know I have said that before, but really it does-- lots of secret passageways exist to help one get lost.  There are also cloisters. 

To the west of our home is Byres Road which is "the main drag" as described by our cab driver.  This is where most of the shops and spots exist that I mentioned earlier.  Despite ample warning from every person I mentioned Scotland to, the weather has been excellent with so far only two days this month where the sun has not come out, and only one day where it rained all day.  I am expecting the sun to disappear more during the winter, but I am glad we arrived when we did and were able to enjoy the city with beautiful weather before school started.  

I know I am forgetting many events that may have taken place, but that is what later posts are for.  

I hope everyone is doing well and you should comment here to tell us how you are and to ask any questions.  Also remember you should try to visit. We have a floor, but you may need to bring a sleeping bag. 

Pictures:

A  university courtyard

Cloisters

more cloisters

iphone picture

new coat/boring apartment. (we now have color)

Good luck all and talk to you soon.

Ryan/Ashley