(no subject)

[johnny9fingers]

Got tagged to do this by my chum e_compass_rosa

A. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.

B. Tag seven people to do the same.

C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it."

So here goes:

1. As a very young man I read about Leonardo da Vinci and thereafter, for about 6 months, I tried to make myself ambidextrous. I played table tennis and cricket, I'd devote half my practise time playing with the wrong hand, or trying to perfect bowling as a lefty.
I also tried to write left handed, at least in my jotter.
I got quite good a playing table tennis left-handed, but the other parts of the experiment were less than successful, though I can still write just about intelligibly with my left hand.
2. I'm not a natural at anything I do. But I can be obsessive and get very good simply by dint of obsession. I became a good guitarist just through playing it obsessively for years.
3. I secretly adore mid-period Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, circa Made in Japan). The band can't really write a song but boy, could they play. The rock band as jazz instrumentalists - who needs a song when you can improvise like that. (Embarrassment.)
4. I used to have all of 'Prufrock' by heart. Alas, no longer.
5. I was circumcised at the age of four. I was too young to convert, ergo the reasons were medical, but my father was against the idea in case, when I went to school, folk thought I was Jewish. The mother and the Doctor over-rode his wishes, thank god: I wouldn't have wanted it to go blue and drop off. The world is very different now, but I still don't want it turning blue and dropping off.
6. I'm not gay yet, but I'm working on it. If I can learn to scribble my name with my left hand I don't think it should be beyond me....eventually. The reprogramming is proving troublesome however.
7. Mother wanted to call me Seamus. Thank god for the old man putting his foot down.

I'll have to think of the folk I'm going to pass this meme to.
Those who reply can state whether they would wish to be included or not.

Comments

[ericcoleman]

(Deep Purple, circa Made in Japan)

Damn, I don't have that on my work computer anymore ... now I need to hear Highway Star ...

Ian Paice starts that little shuffle, then starts slamming it just as Ritchie starts blazing ... one of the most exciting moments in rock history.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

And the guitar solo is a turbo-charged lift from Bach's preludes.
'Lazy' is the killer on that album, unles you're a fan of Miles' 'two guitar' band of the mid-seventies (Pangaea and Agharta): in which case the long coda to 'Space truckin' is probably the musical highlight.
Shame about the songs really.
As far as guilty pleasures go, it's certainly my most embarrassing.

[ericcoleman]

I don't mind that the songs are stoopid hard rock. They're good framework for the musicians to take off on, although Gillian can get on my nerves sometimes.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about Gillan. Ritchie went mad years ago, poor bunny: but there was a short time when he was pretty much tallest poppy. On the Child in Time solo, you can hear him retuning because his top E is flat. He doesn't nail it exactly and compensates by pulling at the note and overbending.
I spoke to one of his roadies years back and he said Ritchie spent most of those years on Benzedrine or Amphetamine. Hearsay, I know. Speeding out of his head most nights: it could account for both the playing and the legendary strange tempers and volatility.

[thaliastrel.livejournal.com]

You think you got it tough. Mom wanted to call me Ellyria.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

Now, in America, you can be called almost anything and get away with it. England in the 60's and 70's however....

[e4q.livejournal.com]

'I can still write just about intelligibly with my left hand.'
me too, but then, i am left handed.

i am naturally blonde.

jazz ::shudders::

i don't think i have ever known anything by heart. how sad is that?

ouch!

i got lezzer 101.

shockin!

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but lezzer 101 is my default program. (I'm that sort of guy.)
That's what I'm thinking of amending.

[e4q.livejournal.com]

it's good to have skills. you never know when they might come in handy.

[e-compass-rosa.livejournal.com]

My parents were going to call me James if I had been a boy. Ha.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

Ah well, you had a lucky escape.