Newsletter 25-01

Because it's 2025 and this is number 1. Snazzy.

Dear friends, I'm trying something different, with a little more structure to make it easier to get these things out more regularly. There'll be a paid version too eventually, but for now, strap yourself in, here we go!

Quote of the week

"If you mind your own business, you'll stay busy all the time!"
Hank Williams, "Mind Your Own Business"

This was the least triggering of the birthday cards I got last month…

What's on my mind

Coffee Mornings

One of the things that stayed with me after I finished working at Guildford URC was the seemingly paradoxical situation that many church congregations are shrinking, while many people are also seeking some sort of regular spiritual experience. Looking for a home for their soul but feeling like wherever it might be, it's not church.

And in the last 18 months or so, hanging out with the mix of artists, activists and faith folk attracted to Hard Art and to Dougald's book "At Work In The Ruins", I've been in a few situations where it feels like there's a need for something less formal and productivity-oriented than even the least formal and productivity-oriented spaces we've managed to make so far. Which reminds me of how I felt in early 2007 about the blogger meetups that were appearing in London.

One of my original (unspoken at the time!) intentions for Tuttle was to have the same function as my AA meetings but for my professional network - a place for personal transformation through shared experience, fellowship and mutual support. Another important aspect was that there wouldn't be anyone "in charge" telling you what to do, who to talk to, when to talk and when to shut up and listen. But if people thought it was "networking" that was OK too.

This time, instead of social media luvvies, we're aiming at those people who are interested in "regrowing a living culture that brings a spiritual awareness to conversations about current social, political and wider cultural changes."

I've been rolling the idea around with Liz Slade and she has kindly arranged for us to use the empty shop at the Unitarian HQ in Essex Hall (just off the Aldwych end of Fleet Street). It'll be a first Friday deal at least for the first couple, so February 7th and March 7th. Tuttle hours: 10am till midday. And then we'll see how it goes.

I'll do a proper invitation and sign-up page when I've finished writing this darned newsletter.

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Integration

Part of turning sixty for me has been to return to the mixed feelings I have about my work. I've found it hard to accept that I'm good at a number of things, even if I'm not a global superstar at anything. That it's OK to be a musician and able to model things mathematically and hold space for community to thrive and write/think deeply, clearly and honestly about stuff. It's the "ands" that matter here - my struggle (not to make it sound too dramatic!) has been to accept all these parts of me (and more), giving them all air and space to breathe while letting go of other people's puzzlement and my perception that they think I should focus on one thing only.

I've been toying with making a something that acknowledges this. I'd call it "Scattergun" or something close. I got as far as making a teaser/ident but is it a video series or a blog or a zine or something else? Hang on Lloyd… did you say "or"?

What I've watched

I saw the new Bob Dylan movie "A Complete Unknown". It's a biopic, not a documentary, so expect poetic licence to tell the story of Dylan up until "going Electric". The Shampoo Guy is an annoyingly dickish (but right) early twenty-something Bobby. Edward Norton is perfect as a heart-renderingly patient Pete Seeger. The Suze Rotolo character and Joan Baez are portrayed as "the women in his life", which is really disappointing for midway through the twenty-twenties. And I'm still trying to get my head round Alan Lomax as the bad guy? On a personal note, I'm glad that my father didn't live to see Ramblin' Jack Elliott completely erased from the scene.

First two episodes of "Prime Target" on AppleTV - it feels like it could have been a kind of "Good Will Hunting" meets Jason Bourne but veers distressingly towards Da Vinci Code territory.

I watched S2E6 of "Twin Peaks" just to hear the "small Mexican chihuahua" line.

I'm trying to catch up on season 1 of Severance and the last season of Happy Valley but they're both too dark for where my heart is right now.

We're three eps into the new "Queer Eye" - we think we like Jeremiah. Vegas just looks too hot (which of course, it always is)

"Back in Action" on Netflix had me cackling with joy at the ridiculousness of the choreography.

What I'm reading

Not enough - It was a week dominated by the loss of David Lynch, the US Presidential Inauguration and doing my Tax Return.

However, I welcomed a return to clicking around Andy Matuschak's Notes
And Dougald put up collapsonomics.info which took me down some rabbitholes (or black elephant holes perhaps…)

What I'm listening to

The White Album - I had to stop when it got to "Julia" realising that I hadn't really listened to it for about 40 years and now, with a better understanding of Lennon's relationship with his mother, it's just really sad. Also there's something really weird about having had half-as-much a lifetime already as he had.

Hank Williams & Patsy Cline are part of my reference listening for a new music release I'm planning of kind of countrified spirituals.

Chopin Nocturnes continue to be my goto way of bringing some regulation to my brain after a long day of being in this world.

Josh Geffen just dropped a lovely EP on his Bandcamp.

Where I've been

I'm playing the winter hibernation game and not going out very much. I did go over to Guildford on Tuesday for some fellowship and spiritual nurturing as well as the trip to the cinema.

What I'm tracking

A trip to the GP revealed that my blood pressure has been up, not because of the general circumstances of now, but because I'd allowed myself one cup of coffee a day with my ADHD meds. My specialist had said "be careful" and not "don't do that" and I should have been more careful. I've found a decaf that doesn't make me feel like I'm drinking brewed leaf mould first thing in the morning. And wouldn't you know it, my BP is down.

I've also gone past a number of pounds/kg that feels like too much for me. So I'm eating less, if not yet exercising much more.

What I'm playing

Godzilla came to the Fortnite Island. It was fun (read 'easy for an old codger') for a while, but like most things it rapidly got more difficult because there are a large number of people old enough to be my great-grandchildren who basically live in the game.

Marvel Rivals also got a new season, but it's been too mad. There are times when that level of frenetic running around is relaxing, but this is not that time for me.

What is this?

This is my revamped newsletter, no promises, but I have an intention… and the structure I've adopted should help with regularity. I'll also be hosting it on perfectpath.co.uk - If you're reading this on Substack, I'm probably going to move away from that soon, but I'll give you notice and get your consent before changing things up.

What's in the works?

"Spirituals" is not even a working title, just a description of some songs that I'm recording. At the moment this is kind of George Lewis meets Patsy Cline by way of "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?"

"Why can't we just have old twitter?" is an essay that I've been writing for far too long and it shows. Mainly because new stuff keeps happening in that area.

Tuttle Club metalabel - I'm working on an annotated version of the first (and to date, only) Annual Report I wrote for Tuttle in 2009.

How to talk to me (or perhaps comment on my stuff)

If I do the thing formerly known as "tweeting" it goes on my micro.blog and syndicated from there to Bluesky Mastodon and Threads but I don't feel great about it.
If I take pictures that I want in public they go on Flickr but I still put stuff on Instagram too.
My blog is here, where it's always been with a kind of backup of all the things on tumblr
That should be enough.