Author: Jonnyfun.E

Now retired, and enjoying making music and writing. Living in Gloucester, historically an important port on the river Severn, and situated with The Forest of Dean and the Brecon Beacons to the west, and the beautiful Cotswolds to the east.
Activism · Political · World Affairs

This Is Something I Regret

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So I have been thinking deeply about the forthcoming General Election. I live in a constituency (Gloucester) that has had a Conservative MP for some years- you have to go back to the early 2000’s to see a different colour.

But it is one of the seats that Labour might hope to win this time round (2024).

My question is … if I want to see a more progressive government, who will put the needs of the poorest first, and prioritise our The Climate Catastrophe, The NHS, Schools, Social Care and the Justice System (among others!) … how shall I vote ?

Possible answers … v

1. Vote with my heart and vote Green. Normally that might be seen as a wasted vote in our ‘First Past The Post’ system. But this time the Labour Party are likely to make the new government, so it might not matter what happens to Gloucester … so why not vote Green as the Tories are almost certainly out.

2. Vote Labour on the basis that you never know what will happen in an election, so play it safe.

3. Spoil the ballot paper – the whole system is rigged. So this is one way I can register a protest.

4..Don’t vote – for similar reasons, my Green vote won’t count anyway so why bother

We have a postal vote, and the papers arrived last week. At that point in time, I had decided on option 2, so I filled in the ballot paper and popped it in the post on Friday.

I was too hasty, on reflection. I think I should have gone with my heart. Much as I want to see the Conservative Party out of power, I actually don’t think it will be that different with Labour.

I’ve been reading a book by Ian Dunt – ‘How Westminster Works, And Why It Doesn’t.’ If even a fraction of it is a true reflection of our system of government, then we’re stuffed unless something radical happens.

By that I mean the first step being a reform of the electoral system to some version of PR.

Interestingly, this subject took up a fair bit of time on Radio 4 ‘Any Questions’ and ‘Any Answers’ programme. (But bearing in mind that only about 1 in 7 of people over 15 years of age listen to at least 15 minutes of Radio 4 in a week – (quite a low bar).

Added to that, as a supporter of Palestinian statehood, and incensed by the media coverage of the conflict in Gaza, I am discovering how deep a connection there is between the Labour Party and Israeli interests. That’s seriously worrying. See here

I wish I could take my vote back. No political party is perfect of course, but I believe that the Greens have it more right than the others.

Let me know what you think …

Activism · Persecution · Political · suffering · World Affairs

Every Day Is Nakba Day

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Today is May 15th, the day when Palestinians mark the forced removal of Palestinians from their homes in 1948 to make room for the Jews coming from Europe to settle in Palestine. The name Nakba means catastrophe or disaster. Nakba Day is generally commemorated on 15 May, the day after the date in the Gregorian calendar of Israel’s Independence in 1948.

This poem is part of a collection of poems ‘Things you may find hidden in my ear,’ by Mosab Abu Toha, a poet from Gaza.

The poem looks back at the Nakba, which is a daily reality for the Palestinian people. It is being reenacted now in the West Bank as Israeli settlers take over Palestinian land, and in the horrendous war in Gaza, as many people are fleeing to a place of safety, probably never to return to Gaza. Once more a catastrophe is occurring, as history is repeated. May God have mercy on us.

My Grandfather Was A Terrorist

My grandfather was a terrorist—
He tended to his field,
watered the roses in the courtyard,
smoked cigarettes with grandmother
on the yellow beach, lying there
like a prayer rug.

My grandfather was a terrorist—
He picked oranges and lemons,
went fishing with brothers until noon,
sang a comforting song en route
to the farrier’s with his piebald horse.

My grandfather was a terrorist—
He made a cup of tea with milk,
sat on his verdant land,
as soft as silk.

My grandfather was a terrorist—
He departed his house,
leaving it for the coming guests,
left some water on the table, his best,
lest the guests die of thirst after their conquest.

My grandfather was a terrorist—
He walked to the closest safe town,
empty as the sullen sky.
vacant as a deserted tent,
dark as a starless night.

My grandfather was a terrorist—
My grandfather was a man,
a breadwinner for ten,
whose luxury was to have a tent,
with a blue UN flag set on the rusting pole,
on the beach next to a cemetery.

By Mosab Abu Toha

Creativity, · Songwriting

Trying To Write A Song

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So … I’m trying to write something – a song.

I had a few instrumental ideas on the guitar that I took to the monthly song writing circle I attend. It was three tunes really, that could have worked together, with a slow section, followed by a fast section, then back to a different slow bit.

They liked it, and suggested a pastoral feel for the lyrics – think summer, sitting by a river, meadows and wild flowers.

It’s still around, unfinished. I tried some lyrics on it earlier this week.

I’d had an idea that was sparked off by listening to Ched Myers talk about the way that where he live – in Northern California, the river is dry because of water being taken off further upstream for communities or industry.

The same happens in the Palestinian Territories in the Jordan Valley, with the culprit being Israel’s industry.

It’s an idea with a more general meaning … that where there is disadvantage, or poverty, it’s probably because someone else has got to all the resources, leaving little for others.

Disadvantage = downstream.

So, the idea was to pick up on the suggestions made by my friends at the songwriting circle, but give it a twist. So use the image of the river, but think about stuff that’s done upstream that makes life hard for the people who live ‘downstream’

Moonlight on the water
Blue lights in the town (On the road / street ?)
Sun’s coming up in an hour or so (or two ?)
…???

It’s about something dark that’s happened that has called about the blue lights of the emergency services.

Anyway … today, I’ve moved on. Forget about trying fit lyrics to the tune that I have for now. Just keep thinking about the upstream / downstream idea, and get some lyrics.

The other thing to add into the mix is something I heard on an interview with the Musician/Producer T Bone Burnett. He made the observation that the word that occurs most in popular music is ‘you.’
’She loves you,’ ‘I wanna hold your hand,’ etc.

The singer is addressing the listener, drawing them in to the song.
Peter Case does this with his song ‘Have you ever been in trouble,’ and adds to it by making it a question.

So, that’s another thing I’d like to get into this song – address the listener, and maybe with a question.

Hopefully I’ll be back later … bye for now.




Activism · faith · Greenbelt Festival,

What I Love About Greenbelt

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So this was on fb yesterday …on the ‘Unofficial Greenbelt Festival’ group …

Had a lunch at church today, ended up sharing a table with folks discussing the greenbelt line up plus folks who never heard of the festival. “It’s a Christian festival but the sort that would book bob vylan as headliner ” seemed not bad intro , vylan, corrine Bailey rae and flamy grant felt like a fair introduction. Go one you’ve got 2 sentences max and can drop up to 5 names ; how do you describe the festival?

In amongst the other responses I thought this summed up a fair bit of how I feel …

No names to drop –
No shame in that;
And up itself,
Well, just a bit,
And white and middle class
Well yes, but less
I hope, and
Right on left
Well I don’t mind that either.

We’ll go again,
And hope to feel
At home a bit,
and not a bit
Enough to keep us moving
Forward in the
Right direction
With music, faith
And all that social action
Please.

Creativity, · Film · music · Political · Songwriting

Peter Case And A Piano

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I was listening to a recent album – Doctor Moan – by one of my musical heroes, Peter Case. It’s great, as always, but unusual in that a lot of the songs are piano based, rather than guitar.

It led me to sit down at the piano, and just mess around with some chord changes, and pretty soon I had a song.

I wrote the song back in January and started this blog post then, but didn’t get it finished. So I’m using some time I have now to finish off some of the things I was working on.

The first line – ‘There are so many stories that should never be told’ – came from something I heard, or read somewhere. I must get into the habit of making a note of where these initial ideas come from …

But that first line got me thinking about the horror of the situation in Gaza, and most of the rest of the words just came in a stream as I was out walking one day in January.

I also had remembered (and noted!) some words from the film ‘The Magnificent Seven.’ The quote that I took from the film comes right at the end of the film, after the seven have helped to rid the village of Calvera and his men.

‘Only the farmers have won. They remain forever. They are like the land itself. You helped rid them of Calvera the way a strong wind helps rid them of locusts. You are like the wind, blowing across the land and… passing on. Vaya con Dios.”

The Reaper (Working title)

There are so many stories that should never be told
Of lives that were broken, that never got old.
Their choices were cut down
They’re buried or they’re burned

Swarming all over the land
Stripping the fields of grain
And everything you see that grows,
All that grows

For now the Reaper has won
The earth receives her own
Watered by the tears that flow,
The tears that flow

And only the strongest wind
Helps them be rid of the curse
They are like the wind that blows,
The wind that blows

And the graveyards are filled with the people so bold
The women and men and the children now cold (repeat x4)

And I do believe in the milk of human kindness,
But sometimes it seems to run dry
I do believe that there must be hope somewhere
And I will keep looking for the signs

Is it true that one small light
Is all the light we need
To banish all the dark away, the dark away ?

© Jonathan Evans. January 2024

Activism · community · World Affairs

I’m Reading The Argos Catalogue

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When our children were little, one of the things they loved to do was to browse through the Argos catalogue. (Argos is a UK store that sells a whole variety of stuff from toys to electronics to household goods.)

Back in the dim and distant past, (The late 60’s), there was another catalogue, called the. Whole Earth Catalog – an actual physical catalogue produced by the counter culture in the USA. It was a mix of essays and product reviews, designed to connect those who wanted to bring about change and work for a more fair and equal society, and give them the tools for that work.

It was referred to by Steve Jobs as a kind of ‘Google in paper form’ that existed before the internet.

In fact it was the direct precursor to the World Wide Web.
The purpose of the internet in the mind of those who built on the aims of The Whole Earth Catalog was that it gave access to information to all, and a forum for the exchange of ideas, for the betterment of humanity.

You can hear more about it in the recent BBC series ‘Gatekeepers’

We now know what those originators of the www. did not know. That the internet would give rise to stalking, fake news, exploitation, misinformation, cyber crime, and a host of other unintended consequences, as well as many positive dimensions.

Like every new development, it has the potential for good, and for ill. We’re now facing the same situation with AI, but we are already so far into the age of AI that we probably won’t be able to guard against the negative effects of that technology.

So what ?

I’m not telling you much that you didn’t already know, so what’s my point ?

It’s the age old question of how to respond to culture – withdraw, assimilate, confront or engage ?

I guess the answer is for me to engage, always. I’ve been tempted recently to withdraw – to disengage with social media etc – but I’m still here.

Admittedly some things have gone. The twitter and instagram accounts that I almost never used are no longer. (I hope they do get deleted)
Facebook remains for me a helpful way of accessing information, but not especially as a forum for debate.

This platform is mainly for me to get my thoughts in order, and try to make sense of what’s going on, and I welcome comments.

But the direction I’d like to travel is to do with getting smaller – trying to find ways to engage with people face to face, where there is the possibility of fostering relationship and dialogue.

That’s all for now. Blessings on you.

faith · Songwriting · The Holy Spirit

The Song Of The Spirit

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I don’t often write songs with an overt religious theme, or message, but was keen to write something for the Christian festival of Pentecost, coming up on May 19th.

The images come from the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and one from Celtic Christianity – the Wild Goose.

I love that you can’t nail God down, but must allow God to be seen from different directions and in a variety of ways.

Rowan Williams talks about one of the ways of seeing God that he finds most helpful – that is, that God is free; more proactive than reactive.

If you like – we might be blown by the wind, but God is the wind doing the blowing. (As I read that back to myself, it doesn’t feel quite right, but I’ll leave it for now !)

I am the strong wind blowing among you
I’m the bright flame alight on your head
I am the water flowing all through you
Remember the words that he said:

I give you my word,
my presence will fill you.
Wait for the promise.
My spirit will come.

I am the Wild Goose, come to disturb you
I’m the white Dove, the bringer of peace
I am the cloud going before you
Wait for the Spirit’s release

I am the breath, breathed into you
I’m the soft whisper you long to hear
I am the oil of anointing upon you
Wait ‘til the Spirit is near.

Activism · Climate Change · music · Poetry · Songwriting

Why Do I Always Weep ?

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And other related musical questions.

I’m quite an emotional person. I will have tears come to my eyes at the oddest things. A tree in leaf, a scene from a film … but mostly music.

I can hardly listen to some music without weeping. I chose that word carefully – I could have said cry, rather than weep, but I think weep is closer.

The artist who does this so consistently that I have to be careful who is around when I listen to him is Jackson Browne. I was out on week 5 of Couch to 5 K (again, and for for the fourth time) this morning, and listening to the title track of his 1974 album ‘Late For The Sky.’

Mmhh. Here come those tears again.

So anyway, I cry a lot.

And, related to that, another musical thought.

For some reason, the words of a Moody Blues album came to mind early this morning, so I put it on to listen. From ‘On the Threshold of a Dream’. It reminded me of a time before music streaming, before the internet, before CDs and even before cassettes, when all we had was the radio and vinyl.

So let me take you back to the late 60’s. The news comes out that your favourite band are about to release a new album. You can’t just google it and listen, but you might just be lucky enough to hear a track played on Kenny Everett, or John Peel. Or a friend might have, quite by chance, heard the track and told you about it, knowing how mad you are for their music.

So what do you do ? You head off to the local record shop. In the late 60’s it would be an independent, but by the early 70s, Virgin Records were opening stores all over the place and we had one in Brighton, just a short train ride from where I lived.

Depending on how much you loved this band’s music, you might just buy it without hearing it, or you could ask them in the shop to put the record on, and you would listen to it in a small booth, equipped with speakers in the walls. That’s where I first heard Deja Vu, the magisterial album by CSNY.

But let’s say you just went out and bought it. I remember around that time a typical price for an album was £2.29.

You would get it home, and put it on the turntable. Remember, you’ve only heard one track, or maybe not even that. You’re in your room, and listening to the album, track at a time. And, as you listen, you’re looking at the lyric sheet, if there is one. (Jackson Browne’s early albums had no lyric sheet, so you need to listen really carefully)

The lyric sheet will tell you who is playing on the album – so for example, if Jackson Browne’s second album had a lyric sheet, you would have seen that someone called ‘Rockaday Johnnie’ was playing piano on the track ‘Redneck Friend.’ It was in fact Elton John, but not having a permit to work in the US, he went by a pseudonym.

The point is, you would invest time to listen carefully, and having heard side one, you would carefully turn the vinyl over and play side two, all the way through.

My son and his wife are in the new vinyl generation. The price has gone up – typically £30 for a vinyl record, but I’m guessing the experience is similar. The band that does it for him is ‘Everything Everything’ and I’ve heard him talk about getting and playing the vinyl in the same way that I did back in the 60’s and 70’s.

So, where does that leave me … ? I think I need to be more intentional about my listening to really get the most out of the music that I love.

For example, I had never properly heard this line from Jackson Browne’s song ‘Doctor My Eyes’ before the other day:

Doctor, my eyes 
Tell me what is wrong 
Was I unwise 
To leave them open for so long?

What a great lyric. And as time went on, we heard Jackson Browne write and sing about the big issues of our time – especially the nuclear threat, war, and the environment. Despite the challenge and tendency to become disillusioned, he has kept his eyes open and brought to our attention the things that matter.

Good listening.