C'est L'Halloween -- Hey!

I bailed on going to the Sound Archives in London last week because I was too busy. As it turns out, the department might set up funding for me to go there and do research for my smaller, pre-dissertation project anyways.
Saturday: Witnessed a face-pounding, glass-breaking, table-overturning, eye-gouging, high-heel-stomping fight between two groups of people in a lounge-ish pub (for those of you who know, think Cafe 22 with hint more pub). Even the DJ got in on it.
Other than that, my brain has been wrapped around the philosophy of listening, the politics of memory, and why records were black. Oh, I was also around for some pumpkin carving. This one I (cleverly) refer to as a 'punk-in' on account of its spikey doo. We made three types of punk-in seeds: salt 'n' peppa, spicy curry, and cinnamon/sugar.

Saturday AM

Friday: Had a post-SPAN-meeting pint with the singer from the Bluebells (a band from the early '80s with one wonderous hit).
Saturday: This little boy went to a nice market; this little boy bought the best -- THE BEST -- peanut butter ever. Seriously.

Famous Alumnus: University of Edinburgh's David Hume

VWs

An Anti-Musicology of the Pop Song

Hallo (Norsk for 'Hello' -- Norsk is Norsk for Norwegian). In case you're wondering, I'm heading to Norway over Christmas, so I'm brushing up on my language skills. My most useful phrase will be "Snakker du engelsk?"
I'll be posting some more pictures sometime next week, after I attend my first SPAN (Scottish Pop Academics Network) meeting at Glasgow Caledonian on Friday, and after I visit the Sound Archives at the British Library in London on Monday. For now, these'll have to do.

A beautiful Scottish woman singing beautiful Scottish music in a beautiful Scottish cabaret: Camera Obscura

Meet The Tiny, from Sverige. They're extremely good. Note that Mr Swedish man is playing a saw

Portobello: A beach near/in Edinburgh

From left to right: Sanna (Finland), Nick (Little Rock), Alison (with one L from Seattle with two Ts)

Me and my new guitar

Keeping it Riel

Some things I've done in the past week or so. I also did a lot of research, but those pictures didnae turn out.

1. The Falkirk Wheel: For just £84.5 million, you too can lift a 300 tonne combination of water and boat 115 feet in the air with the amount of energy it takes to boil your electric kettle 8 times -- or 8 kettles once.

2. Patrick and Anna Devine, along with a not-so-flatteringly posed Kyle Devine, in Kilsyth.

3. With Alison from -- memorise this funny place name -- Seattle. We're on top of Arthur's Seat.

4. A view of our way up Arthur's seat. There was no path. It was dangerous.