Posts Tagged The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories
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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 pretentiousArchive
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 […]Archive
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 […]Archive
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 […]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 […]Archive
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 […]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 […]Archive
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 […]Archive
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 […]Archive
November 27, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 188 Go To New York
Whatever I write Won’t necessarily make any sense I wouldn’t lie to you And I didn’t make it last week For whatever reason No one really noticed and I couldn’t explain There wasn’t anyone else there to blame Since then we travelled south and back And had our little adventures I found myself playing the […]Archive
November 5, 2017 by Simon Sweetman