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Posts Tagged The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories

Archive

May 21, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 206 Split Enz

I saw them at some key gigs in their strange career. At the Great Ngarauawahia Music Festival when they were Split Ends. I was fourteen and like most people there to see Black Sabbath but I do remember they were interesting. Dressed pretty much like everybody else there – a much different spectacle than what […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged #206, Art, Enz, ep.206, Guest, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Jon Mcleary, Kiwi, Mike Chunn, Music, Nambassa, Neil Finn, Ngarauwahia, NZ, Painting, Phil Judd, Spellbound, Spines, Split Ends, Split Enz, The Enz, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 206, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 206 Split Enz, The Spines, Tim Finn, War Stories # 206, War Stories by Jon McLeary, War Stories by Jon McLeary # 206, Wellington, Writing, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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May 1, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 205 Stop the World

I think it took me over ten years to write this song. I know I started on the verses in 1980 after the demise of Negative Theatre. I’d read an interview with Steely Dan where they talked about mu major chords and I played the A, E, A, D, C#m, D, A, E, A pattern […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged #205, A Snakelike Life, Art, Castaneda, Ghost, Ghost Stories, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Holloway Rd, Holloway Road, Jon Mcleary, Music, Negative Theatre, Painting, Song, Songwriting, Spines, Steely Dan, Stop The World, The Ghost, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 205 Stop the World, The Spines, War Stories, War Stories # 205, War Stories by Jon McLeary, Wellington, Writing, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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April 23, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 204 The Set List

It was where we got our name from in the first place The Spines very first gig We’d been unable to decide from a long list of terrible attempts It was a packed University hall at lunchtime orientation Malcom McSporran was going to introduce us and he asked me what we were called I looked […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Art, Ghost, Ghost Stories # 204, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Jon Mcleary, Music, Negative Theatre, Set List, Setlist, Songs, Spines, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 204, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 204 The Set List, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary4, The Set List, The Spines, War Stories, War Stories by Jon McLeary, War Stories by Jon McLeary # 204 The Set List, Wellington, Wgtn, Writing, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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April 16, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 203 Visions of JoHannah

“But Mona Lisa must have had the highway blues You can tell by the way she smiles” Bob Dylan I’ve said it before – It’s hard to talk about the act of painting without appearing pretentious
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 203, Art, Bob Dylan, Face, Facebook, Ghost, Ghost Stories, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Hannah, Hannah Fraser, JoHannah, Jon Mcleary, Music, Oil, Painting, Paintings, Spines, The Ghost, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 203 Visions of JoHannah, The Spines, Visions of JoHannah, War Stories, War Stories # 203, War Stories by Jon McLeary, War Stories by Jon McLeary # 203, Wgtn, Writing, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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April 11, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 202 The Spicks and the Specks

They weren’t actually steel caps but they looked like they were Originally they were tramping boots I got at an op shop I wore them for the two years I was working with urethanes and fiberglass on the Hobbit So they were covered with different coloured substances, dripped over a long period At the end […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Art, Feet, Ghost, Ghost Stories, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Jon Mcleary, Music, Painting, Shoes, Socks, Spines, The Ghost, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 202 The Spicks and the Specks, The Hobbit, The Spicks and the Specks, The Spines, War Stories, War Stories # 202, War Stories by Jon McLeary, War Stories by Jon McLeary # 202, Wellington, Wgtn, Writing, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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March 27, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 200 The Last Cigarette In The World

I watch another boat in the harbour sail out Sitting on my own in the bay By the time you get to China on that slow ship I’ll have bitten all my nails and crumbled into the carpet   You had no clear idea of what you’re looking for You only knew you couldn’t stay […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 200, Cigarettes, Death, Ghost, Ghost Stories, Ghost Story, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Hawker St, Jon Mcleary, Lyric, Music, Oriental Bay, Rock'n'Roll Suicide, Smoke, Smoking, Song, Songwriting, Spines, Suicide, The Ghost, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLearThe Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLearyThe Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 200, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 200 The Last Cigarette In The World, The Last Cigarette In The World, Two Hundred, War Stories, War Stories # 200, War Stories by Jon McLeary, Weekly Column, Wellington, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Ziggy Stardust ·

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January 29, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 196 Ska

I think it was the killer basslines that hooked me in and the attitude as much as anything. When I first moved to Wellington in 1980 I guess I was still writing folk songs. Louise and I had found work at the Art Centre and I felt under pressure to write. That first Specials album […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged #196, Dexys, Dub, England, Fishing, Ghost, Ghost Stories, Guest Blog, Guest Post, https://offthetracks.co.nz/gig-review-the-selecter-wgtn/, Idiot Sun, Jon Mcleary, post-punk, Reggae, Ska, Specials, Spines, The Beat, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 196 Ska, The Selecter, The Specials, The Spines, UK, War Stories # 196, War Stories by Jon McLeary ·

Archive

January 22, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 195 Wigan Street

Over the Christmas period there was a fire on Wigan Street in a factory that had asbestos in its roof. I got quite a shock when I saw it on the news – we had lived in the building through the wall right next door for several years. All through Ang’s time at Wellington high […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Ang, Angus, Art, Ghost, Ghost Stories, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Holloway Road, Jane, Michelle, Music, Painting, Songwriting, Spines, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 195, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 195 Wigan Street, The Spines, War Stories, War Stories # 195, War Stories by Jon McLeary # 195, Wellington, Wellington City Gallery, Wgtn, Wigan St., Wigan Street, Writing ·

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January 15, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 194 Lucy in the Sky

“It’s very strong and there are two of them on there. I’d only take it in quarters if I were you but you will have a good Easter” He looked down to the tiny rectangle of paper in his hand then put it away carefully. Ron was going to a three-day festival and he hadn’t […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Art, Drugs, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Jon Mcleary, Lucy In The Sky, Music, Painting, Poem, Prose Poem, Ron, Short Story, Spines, The Ghost, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity # 194, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 194, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 194 Lucy in the Sky, The Spines, War Stories, War Stories # 194, War Stories by Jon McLeary, Wellington, Wgtn, Writing ·

Archive

January 1, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 193 Sixty/Thirty

I was thinking back to myself and what I was like at a certain stage in my life – as you do. Wondering – would I even like that person I was then or would he be able to see himself in me. Take when I was thirty… 1988 A young dad – his kids […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged (1934-2015), 1988, 30, 60, Art, Arts, Family, Ghost Stories, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Jon Mcleary, Magazine, Music, Painting, Sixty, Sixty/Thirty, Spines, The Brain, The Ghost, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 193, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 193 Sixty/Thirty, The Spines, Thirty, War Stories, War Stories # 193, Wellington, Wgtn, Writing ·

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December 11, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 190 David Brent

I watched the David Brent: Life on the Road movie the other day. It was alright – I like Ricky Gervais a lot though the film broke no new ground and just delivered up more of The Office but in a different context. In the picture David Brent (now a travelling salesman) puts together a […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged #190, Art, Bands, Comedy, David Brent, David Brent of Wellington, David Brent: Life on the Road, English, Film, Ghost, Ghost Stories, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Jon Mcleary, Music, Painting, Ricky Gervais, Songs, Songwriting, Spinal Tap, Spines, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 190, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 190 David Brent, The Office, The Spines, This Is Spinal Tap, TV, UK, War Stories, Wellingtpn, Wgtn, Writing ·

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December 4, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 189 Holloway Road

We rented it for a start – a small house on Holloway Road and a piece of history. Old George, who lived a few houses down and whose father had famously lived well past a hundred, told me that Winston McCarthy had grown up in our house and it had also been a shop at […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged #189, Angus, Aro Valley, Art, Cricket, Ghost, Ghost Stories, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Holloway Rd, Holloway Road, Home, House, Jon, Jon Mcleary, McLeary, Michelle, Music, Painting, Spines, Te Aro, The Brain, The Ghost, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 189, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 189 Holloway Road, The Spines, War Stories, War Stories # 189, War Stories by Jon McLeary, Wellington, Wigan Street, Writing ·
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