I’m continuing to post more serious / consistent “essay” posts over at my Psybertron SubStack. It has an informal notes capability too, but continuing with diary updates, notes-to-self and the like here, means I can keep the old and the new, live and linked.
Just the two posts since my September update here:
A Stroke of Luck
Four days in the hands of James Cook (South Tees Teaching Hospital)
Which explains the hiatus in my thinking, reading and writing.
An Incomplete Education
The incomplete review of my incomplete and interrupted reading of Paul Mason and Nikolai Chernyshevsky.
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Beyond that this my usual dear-diary – gigs and bookmarks.
Firstly, I have reams of notes beyond the mere impressions of reading Nikolai Chernyshevsy (1863) “What Is to be Done?“ in that incomplete education above. I’ll make those a “note” on the SubStack and link it both here and there. Not only is the structure complicated, the thought content and narrative timeline are complex too. I got to about page 300 (of 445) before I had to do a search for reader’s guides and plot synopses, to check my reading was still making sense. An important work, worth the effort to understand, but non-trivial.
Secondly, I have a number of bookmarks to capture, so I can link them to other writings in due course:
MetaModernism by Hanzi Freinacht – it was an image from his site I used to illustrate a “Utopia” as part of “There has to be a better way” in my previous post here. The Chernyshevsky / Incomplete Education post above is the start of my Utopian Fiction theme. Hanzi’s post was “What’s The Difference between Utopia, Eutopia and Protopia?” I have other correspondents who use Metamodern and Protopian language. I’d already long-adopted PostPostModern rather than MetaModern, but we mean the same thing – learning from critiques of Modernism, without necessarily coming to their PostModern conclusions. (Same as learning from Marx’s critique of capitalism, without being a Marxist communist.) Protopia is an associated term that avoids the extreme impossibilities and idealisms of the other terms, and alludes to the dynamic capacities and tendencies of a “system” rather than some fixed target state, though for me with a systems architect view, that’s a given anyway. Good stuff.
Indigenous Wisdom by Martin Oliver October 12, 2026 – (hat tip to Denis Finlayson) – Various forms of indigenous and east/west thinking crop up continuously when talking about the limitations of purely scientific models of the workings of life, the universe and everything when decision-making in plans and policies for our everyday life and its futures. The counter argument is often that there are many different specifics of particular eastern or indigenous ways, that cannot be known to individuals prescribing better possibilities based on learned understanding of any one or two of them. Of course those who don’t get the original critique will simply dismiss any such thought as not-science. My position is that there is wisdom that is #MoreThanScience, (*) and that generic features of such indigenous thinking can describe that kind of wisdom. The Indigenous Wisdom article agrees:
Despite the potential trap of generalising about indigenous tribes, the commonalities between these diverse peoples highlight intriguing shared ideas and concepts that keep cropping up in tribal settings, regardless of where in the world these cultures are found.
Despite. Potential. Regardless. Notice the language.
(* I discovered last week – and attended an online meeting – that there is a movement to classify what I call #MoreThanScience as #FourthOrderScience. More when there is something tangible to link to.)
Pirsigian Thought – I have several individual bookmarks from members of the Robert Pirsig Association (RPA) community, ranging from the “Zelletkasten” process of engagement in the world (beyond the mere organisation of conceptual thought) to better definitional concerns about ineffable Pirsigian Quality itself as opposed to the dangers of definitions as cages / constraints / coffins (Pirsig, Dennett, Levenchuk) – and a lot more besides. Join the discussion here at the RPA Discord Forum.
And, not actually an RPA member, but a Pirsig influenced thinker and writer, who wrote the preface for the 50th anniversary edition of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” – Matthew Crawford with a piece on the allocation of attention in the marketplace of ideas. Very germane to that “Incomplete Education” piece and my #Dysmemics agenda more generally.
And finally – Gigs?
I really should consistently tag all my live music reviews, I tend to slip them into other diary posts, though occasionally they are the primary topic. Live – visceral – music is one of my real-life grounding activities. I don’t use Spotify and I rarely buy new music except when associated with a live band, though I do find myself revisiting old favourites of the poetic singer-songwriter genres. It’s the creative originality I tend to go for but a great deal of what’s on offer is the covers show-band genre or the “open-mike” verging on Karaoke. Good luck to them I say, but I have to ration my my attention (a la Rakhmetov).
I do regularly watch a couple of covers acts, if they have a creative twist – like I used to do with the now defunct Hamsters (Hendrix and ZZ Top), currently Fat Medicine (a wide range of rock but arranged in the Celtic Folk style – aka Rock’n’Reel – with a huge repertoire of The Pogues to suit my taste) and ToldyaOnce (heavy rock covers but a wide eclectic mix from The Kinks / The Who / The Osmonds(!) to Muse / QOTSA / Foo Fighters via lots of heavy metal standards as well as Free’s Wishing Well & All Right Now, Erasure’s A Little Respect(!) and The Cult’s Sanctuary.)
But mostly originals, as I say, most recently:
Mr Bigfoot and Ducter at The Hideout, Redcar
Overall preferred the Ducter set, but Bigfoot’s guitarist on a Fender Jaguar / Jazzmaster a la Johhny Marr had a great sound.
Huey Morgan (The fun lovin’ criminal / Come find yourself) at La Belle (Angele) Edinburgh.
Club environment meant most of the punters ignored / talked-over / drowned-out the unfortunate Our Man in the Field as support, but Huey was in fine form. All the favourites from the first two (30yr old) albums. Hadn’t realised how much of the sound was Huey on the guitars, great dynamic range between the funky/jazzy intros & Noo Yawk rappy verses and the heavy bridges & choruses. Could easily have improvised into blues-rock. We knew the anthemic choruses, but half the crowd knew every word. Huey – real nice guy -was visibly moved. Several of the gigs on this tour sold-out.
Primitivvv and Perfect Chicken at The Hideout, Redcar
Both great (short) sets. Perfect Chicken fast/staccato and short, cross between Devo and The Ramones. Primitivvv the latest project from (ex Avalanche Party) Joe and Jordan Bell, with Jonas on the drums. Very promising (again).
Previously, ironically, mentioning a gig I’d “turned down” in June this year – chosen not to review or even mention specifically – several northern bands at The Chapel, Middlesbrough – one of those one-day mini-festival gigs I’ve fallen out with, where the bands get short ~20min sets and my hips agonise at standing around all day. Further to that irony, I missed attending another – same venue, same promoter, mid September. The real irony being that link mentioning turning down the review, also mentions my serious writing being more productive as a consequence. Oh, well, rationing it is.
And for completeness, before the above:
https://www.psybertron.org/?s=Music%20Gig&sort=newest
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An upcoming gig – maybe – The Moxie Dolls – seen and loved previously here, are actually playing Reading when we’re next planning to visit grandson’s family there.
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