Swandro Dig Starts Tomorrow!…....The Cairns - Week One - Round-up……..‘Surf’s Up’………From Kilmorack Gallery…..
by Bernie Bell - 08:24 on 15 June 2025
Swandro Dig Starts Tomorrow!…..
“The 2025 Swandro excavation season gets under way on Monday, and runs through until the 8th August. If you're planning on visiting you'll need to give us a few days to get set up and remove all the over winter protection, we'll be open from Sundays to Thursdays from the 19th June until the 5th August. Full details are at....
https://www.swandro.co.uk/visit
If you can't make it out to site, then you can follow our progress via our dig diary at......
https://www.swandro.co.uk/blog
Here's hoping for a good season with lots of dry weather and star finds!
We need your help to fund our work! You may make a donation using your credit card, debit card, PayPal account or set up a direct debit from your UK bank account.
https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/donate/swandro-orkney-coastal-archaeology-trust
US taxpayers who wish to make a US tax-deductible donation of $500 or more to us via CAF America, a US 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit please click here for more information
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A couple of reminders about the Swandro dig from m’blog last October and December….
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=17059
“Rousay, Orkney, is home to some incredible archaeological wonders — and the Knowe of Swandro is no exception.
For over a decade, archaeologists have been racing against time to excavate this multi-period site before it is lost to the sea.
Join Dr John Gater as he visits Swandro to uncover the latest discoveries and witness the battle against the elements.
Full Episode lands on YouTube this Saturday 14th December at &pm (GMT)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84klyJGHKi4
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The Cairns – Week One - Round-up….
https://archaeologyorkney.com/2025/06/14/cairns-d5-2025/
Re. the stash of Periwinkles…… that's what gets me, every time. The big, impressive finds - of course, they're gasp-making - but even the modest things, placed, so long ago, by a person. That's connection.
A previous tuppenceworth re. winkles at The Cairns…
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16370
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“Surf's Up
Brian and Wondermints
Jun 12
Sometime in 1999, Brian Wilson was taken to see Wondermints at a theatre in LA. He is supposed to have remarked that if he had had such a band in 1967, he could have completed ‘Smile’, and, what’s more, toured the thing. So, that’s what happened; from 1999, Wondermints became the core members of The Brian Wilson Band, and Wondermints Darian Sahanaja one of his most trusted colloborators.
I am a long time Wondermints fan, so I thought I’d share a couple of tracks from their four studio albums. I think you’ll see why Brian thought they might fit together.
This is ‘Telemetry’ from the ‘Bali’ album.
This is ‘Tracy Hide’ from their album of covers, ‘The Wonderful World of the Wondermints.’ It’s a track that first appeared on the Wondermintos debut album, and is the only original on ‘WWofW’ - that’s why it’s listed as ‘cover version.’
One of the things that gave Wondermints such versatility was the fact that they were multi-instrumentalists. It was like a super-power. Because of Wondermints, Brian Wilson went back on the road. Turns out, all he ever needed was a very very very good backing band.
So Brian is dead, and the musical culture that The Breaking Wave were part of slips further into a dim and distant past. I read an interview a few weeks back with St.Etienne, in which Bob Stanley pointed out that music is no longer that important in contemporary culture, and it’s easy to see what he means. Games, films, TV boxsets loom much larger in the contemporary imagination than music. Pop music, as I call it.
Anyway, look at this. This is the Brian Wilson Band playing ‘Surf’s Up,’ live. The keyboard player next to Brian is Darian Sahanaja, and the other members are all onstage, notably multi-instrumentalist Probyn Gregory, who starts out on the glock. The love and care that has gone into this! The hours of rehearsal! BRIAN’S VOICE!
As music slips behind us as a central concern of our culture, we need to remember what a live band can do. Bob Stanley, btw, points out that music wasn’t that important in the 1920’s - and that one day, music will be back, and it will make sense to ask someone what their favourite band is. I always say The Beach Boys.
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And my response was….
“What’s to say?
‘Big names’ of our youth going, and what is there to replace them?
One of my nephews introduced me to an FB group called ‘Classic Rock Lovers Limerick‘ which has some crackin’ music on it. I copied this video over to my FB page…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_ksSEONVyc
....thinking – ‘They don’t make ‘em like that anymore’. Not that Patti is dead! But……they don’t make ‘em like that anymore!
My tuppenceworth re. music today….as posted in m’blog as part of an anti-A.I. rant…
‘Then we were considering music – wondering do young people still get instruments and get together in garages to make a devil of a racket? Or does one person sit in a room, telling A.I. to write a song about…. in the style of…..? – and then post the result on …is it Tik-Tok? I is well old and out of touch.”
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From Kilmorack Gallery…..
“Last Chance to See .....ending 21st June
Midsummer brings change. Our current suit of exhibitions - showing the faux-naive work of James Newton Adams, the alluring northern stories of Becs Boyd, Pamela Tait's forest friends, the Northern Romanticism of Norman Shaw and Colin Brown collaged paintings (below) all end on the 21st June, so next week is your last chance to see this collection together.
Our July rehang brings the work of Kirstie Cohen, Jane MacNeill and Ann Oram to the gallery. More will be posted here shortly when work goes live.
Following in the footsteps of Alfred Wallis, Lowry and others - what at first seems simple is really rather complex. James Newton Adams reveals his latest paintings capturing memories of life on Skye.
This is our first time showing the work of Norman Shaw, and his landscapes which are psychological, corporeal and Northern Romantic.
https://www.kilmorackgallery.co.uk/exhibitions/
https://www.kilmorackgallery.co.uk/Arrivals/
https://www.kilmorackgallery.co.uk/selected-work/
Kilmorack Gallery
Inverness-shire
IV4 7AL
01463 783 230
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