| GILLI SMYTH |
ARCHIVE - NEWS | |
October 30, 2007 New MOTHER GONG CD is released:
Extracts: http://www.myspace.com/mothergong AVAILABLE FROM G.A.S. :
October 5, 2007
June 1st, 2007 Quebec...centre of revolutionary/evolutionary ideas..the Festival at Victoriaville just outside Quebec full of energy and life..ah..les Quebecois.. crazy Acid Mothers gig where everything is unexpected..a challenge but creative fun.Festival was on l9th May..just went there and back as Mother Gong is not touring in U.K./Europe this year but definitely full-steam in 2008There is also an interview I did for a magazine called Terrascope which has
just come out. NOTES by GILLI SMYTH
May 7, 2007 The Cd of the Mother Gong set from the Amsterdam "Unconventional Gong Gathering"..called appropriately "O AMSTERDAM", as the atmosphere of that magical city seemed to curl through everything like the morning mist,... is mixed and mastered and at the pressing plant. Release date scheduled by Voiceprint as July. Orlando Allen and Tim Hall infused the set with a driving drum bass energy tempered by the synth. patterns of Gwyo de Pix. Graham Clark on violin and Didier Malherbe on flute/sax. played heart stopping duets and solos,plangent sounds that wove through Gilli's pointed words, never woolly or vague,always spot on. Sometimes breaking into the well-known space-whisper, free singing of a different king. Mother Gong was described at Uncon as "the thinking person's Gong," and the lyrics delve deep into themes of "terrorism", consumerism, the nature of the God myth etc.with plenty of wit. These themes appear again in the book of the Uncon that Gilli is writing... nominally Historico Politico Spirito Part 2...but more politically and philosophically wide-ranging. Your input is greatly valued...any "funny things that happened on the way to the Uncon"...personal or philosophical revelations, anything weird, extraordinary, fascinating, that make a good story, to get as wide a spectrum as possible. Mother Gong however, will not be touring this summer in U.K.due to practical difficulties of bringing members from all over the world, but are already organising to spend some weeks gigging in the summer of 2008. Regrets this year to Vinny and others for not being able to be at the Eastern Haze Festival but are preparng a massive set for next year!. AcidMothersGong with Daevid and Gilli will be playing at the Victoriaville Festival (Quebec, near Montreal) on the 19th May. NOTES by GILLI SMYTH
February 14, 2007 The Mother Gong album created from the Uncon recordings..."O
Amsterdam"....inspired playing because of the wonderfully
energetic audience..line up gilli smyth...Didier Malherbe...Graham
Clark...Orlando Allen...Tim Hall...Gwyo de Pix...Mark Robson
guest on Didgeridoo..mixed and mastered and shortly to be
released by Voiceprint"... NOTES by GILLI SMYTH
November 16, 2006
NOTES by GILLI SMYTH: "Uncon. 2006........what a breath-taking weekend....a thousand people, living in each other and the music, such a feeling of love (and fun). it started for us with getting on the bus, 60 or so musicians of all different kinds, and rocketing along to the Ferry....ah...the Ferry. Later we were told that it was on the verge of being cancelled like the day before,(which would have seriously affected the Uncon) because of Gales in the North Sea, and the effect was like being in a washing machine. But luck intervened...and we got to admire Amsterdam in the night in all its canal-laced beauty. I will just mention my sets here,because obviously the most intense for me..though miraculously all the acts seemed to take off, but there were so many it needs a full page report. On Friday night we played the Mother Gong 2OO6 set with a feeling of tremendous energy,.Tim and Orlando making the grooves, Didier and Graham flying through solos, Gwyo with synth and guitar, myself with words.. Later the Acid Mothers Gong set, more sparse and intricate than before -"avant-garde" someone said..., going into the night..... On Saturday afternoon, the wedding in the Old Hall of Rich Chafen (long time supporter) and Kathy Mathis, simple and colourful with the "genius of the soap bubbles" making drops of light, and then the drum tribute to Pip Pyle and Pierre Moerlen. At midnight in the Old Hall, Stroking the Tail of the Bird,Daevid, Harry, Gilli with the addition of Didier and Jean Philippe Rykiel, then on Sunday the "classic band" with a really lively set, enlivened by the audience, there with every note. The audience was so remarkable...so full of life and humour. Just before the Uncon I wrote the opening Mother Gong piece, "Gong Friends" which turned out to be just as it was, so here it is... My friends live in decorated caravans, hung with red
and gold, with lots of dogs... Gilli Smyth - Nov. 2006
October 8, 2006 Two new CDs are now released: MOTHER GONG: "2006" and Orlando ALLEN: "Living Midnight" by the label Voiceprint. Click on the covers to see the related pages. (MP3 Flash files are there avalaible)
MOTHER GONG: "2006" was recorded live at GONG UNCON 2005 in Glastonbury and also includes two new studio tracks. Orlando ALLEN: "Living Midnight" is a totally mature album with depth and sophistication, all sorts of grooves in space in fact. Both are avalaible from G.A.S. : ON LINE SHOP: KAZBAH at WWW.PLANETGONG.CO.UK
September 24, 2006 "Regretfully the Mother Gong 2OO6 tour of Norway has been postponed until next year, due to delays caused by the illness and hospitalisation of the promoter. Mother Gong 2OO6 will be playing at the Fawcett in Southsea, Nr. Portsmouth on the l2th October; on the l4th at Colliford Lake Park; on the l5th at the Keay Theatre, St. Austell. Other gigs in the West country around these dates to be confirmed."
September 10, 2006 SHORT NOTES by GILLI SMYTH: The album "Mother Gong 2006" is being released by Voiceprint shortly...hopefully in time for the Norway tour (1st October). It is the recording from last year's Uncon, plus two studio tracks, one by me, one by Gwyo.
August 2006
Line-up will be: Gilli Smyth (voice), Graham Clarke (violin), Gwyo de Pix ( synth.), Orlando Allen (Drums) and Tim Hall (bass). Further info. to come.. MOTHER GONG 2006 -Press photos 300dpi : 8 Photos
UNCONVENTION GONG Flyer : Downloadable PDF version (3,29Mb) Mother Gong 2OO6 is playing on Friday, and I will be playing with classic Gong and Acid Mothers Gong on Sunday. Didier is playing with Hadouk...classic gong...etc. Mother Gong band the same as 2OO5
April 29, 2006 NOTES by GILLI SMYTH: "the Mother gong 2006" band is the same line-up as at the Unconventional Gong gathering 2005, and will be playing in Amsterdam Milkweg on Friday night (the 3rd.)..at this year's Uncon. The musicians will be playing with various other combinations during the weekend, such as Hadouk Trio, Gong "classic", AcidMothersGong, etc. Mother Gong 2006 will be touring in Norway from the 1st October to the 7th..the 1st, 2nd in Oslo, 6th and 7th Haugesund, with gigs in Bergen in between. There will also be some gigs in the U.K., as yet unconfirmed. Line-up...Gilli Smyth, Didier Malherbe, Gwyo de pix, Orlando Allen, Tim Hall...see further page
January 22, 2006 NOTES by GILLI SMYTH: I have started on "The Whisperer" album, becoming obsessed as I was with "I am your Egg"... have recorded quite a few different people whispering, my feeling is that everything in the universe whispers, animals, fish, plants, trees, people, and this contains the meaning of the universe, only we have to tune our hearing to understand it. It's like an invisible backdrop. "Short Tales and Tall" has returned from the pressing plant with no more frequency noise....anyone who bought or got one from me at the Uncon or in Deia, please let me know and I will replace with a correct one. The new pressing of "Short Tales & Tall" has arrived at Voiceprint, anyone with one of the first damaged copies can replace it through Jonny or Voiceprint too.
December 24, 2005 NOTES by GILLI SMYTH: I really appreciate all the support I have received through the website, from emails....I try to reply to as many as I can but surprisingly many bounce back. Though I really like reading them, even if I don't always seem to reply."Parade", "I am your Egg", "Mother
Gong Glastonbury l979-81" and "Short Tales & Tall" are now all out,
thanks to Voiceprint. Working on next album, the ideas for which just appeared, probably to be called "The Whisperer", though its much more then "sighs and whispers", and has a touch of the dark side too. But it is a bright shiny Solstice time, so lets celebrate!.
November 14, 2005 NOTES by GILLI SMYTH: Tertulia Poetry Festival in Deia, Mallorca....A personal journey. The bus rounds the last corner before Deia, and suddenly the whole panorama spreads out before the eyes, the craggy and impossibly high mountains, the hill in the middle of the valley with the church on top of it, and all the little yellowstone houses, running down to the bright blue sea. Friday, and its very hot and sunny, with a little wind, and it is as if all the words, hundreds of words, are blowing about the village. Words pour out of the venues, and buffet the people walking along the road, poetry in all languages, recent poetry with the great new Poet Laureate of Wales, Gwyneth Lewis, and Roger McGough, Hugh Cornwell (Stranglers), Julian Clary, and many more, Catalan, French, Russian, it is a madness of language, and a super abundance for those who love performance. Meantime we are engaged in organising a rehearsal with Tomas Graves, he is going to play bass with us and Didier has to show him the keys, and Orlando the structures, as he has done with two other bass players on this tour, Pierce McDowell from San francisco "Parade" in Norway, and Tim Hall for the Uncon., which spiralled up so high it almost carried us away. The Assembly Rooms, Glastonbury is apparently built over an ancient temple of Minerva, and somehow that spirit carried on to Deia... Deia, village of memories and intense experience, of people known since thirty years, ancient tracks and crossings. Never easy, and on Sunday the Sirocco came, pushing people over with its force, roaring and whistling around the roofs like a high speed train...can we still play? Monday.. the Sirocco whistles, it is Halloween, we play tonight. Suddenly, as it does, the Sirocco stops and everything is still. Afternoon sound check, some high energy confusion, Pau Riba is also playing with his band of clowns, real clowns, riding bikes, playing instruments, running around. We manage translation interaction with the engineer. The tent fills up with all the people in the village it seems, 10.30pm and we embark on a musical journey, voices weaving with Didier's doudouk, driving rhythm section, the final groove joined by bassist Pedro Colom, with Tomas on guitar, the music swirled up and up, and people who were in the mountains that night said they heard clearly all those different voices. The mountains too have their ancient voices, and it was like homage to them, in the land of the White Goddess.
"Short Tales & Tall" arrived just at the Uncon...unfortunately
something happened in the Pressing and there are distorted frequency
noises from Tr. 8 to l3, and a few on 6...This will be corrected
and anyone who bought a copy with these noises please let Jonny know. GAS is
no longer selling it.
October 2005
Gilli at the Gong Unconvention in Glastonbury
More photos:
September 30, 2005 - "Info about the Deia Poetry Festival....27/28/29/3Oth October.
Majorca, Spain.
According to Voiceprint "I am your Egg" and "Short Tales & Tall" are arriving back from the Pressing Plant on Friday...just in time for the Norway gigs.! So shortly they will be available from GAS and Voiceprint." September 25, 2005 - Gilli will be coming to Europe at the beginning of October, for the two
gigs
in Norway; a visit to France; to play at the Gong Unconvention
in Glastonbury; and at the Poetry Festival in Deia, Spain. The Roland Space Echo sold on ebay for $IOOO to a buyer in the U.S.A.
August 3rd, 2005 - Gilli Smyth (of Gong and Mother Gong), is selling her Roland Space Echo, faithful companion through the recordings and gigs of the 7O's and 8O's. This is to pay the fare to Europe in September/October, to do some gigs with various friends, including the Unconvention in Glastonbury, and Poetry Festival in Deia, and to find a place to live in Europe, which is really home. The Roland has been overhauled and thoroughly polished, and is in mint condition, except for a historic hole in the plastic view meter above the red, made by Gilli ages ago in order to see, as the window sometimes fogged up in gigs. It will be replaced by a new window if required. It is signed by Gilli, and Daevid Allen also.
July 2nd, 2005 - Gilli and Daevid were taken in a storm but they are O.K. now. After those bad hours, Gilli was able to reassure us by an e-mail: You can read an extract below: Gilli's weather report - South Golden Beach (Australia) This area was declared a "Natural Disaster Area"
as it was the biggest freak storm in decades...the water
around my house was waist high or more...my car filled with
water until over the glove box and the engine.... June 21, 2005 Where does creative energy go when it is not going into doing tours and playing to people? it becomes a volcano within that pours out into recording and working out new compositions, like the album in the pipeline, a collaboration between Gilli Smyth, Orlando Allen, and Daevid Allen, who all contributed new songs and "visual" pieces of music. Just about finished, it contains melodious songs, fast drums and garage bass, opera singers, animal voices, unexpected scenarios like "Palestine", orchestral moments, and the dynamic contrast between the three artists. The Gong Matrices CD "Parade" , just out, which Gilli made with that band in San Francisco, produced by Pierce McDowell and Mark Pistel there, has now been received by Jonny at GAS, and reviewed on the site.
The story album "Short Tales and Tall" (Gilli and Daevid, produced by Orlando) has been delayed past the release date, but its coming! Images, words and music float before the eyes, from such an intensive autumn, (or northern spring)!.
May 18, 2005 Tea to you? Yes, there is always some tea here for visitors and travellers... but "t2u" is gone...(and annoying pop-ups and adverts too!)... now this website has his first level domain name : www.gillismyth.com .Go head! - Webmaster Look Pimplemaya Also a new page about our Adopted Witch Alizon
Device ADOPT A WITCH : http://www.geocities.com/witchofsolstice/Adopt.html
March 29, 2005 Wild Child (Voiceprint VP293CD).....is now available at http://www.planetgong.co.uk Originally recorded in an ancient Celtic valley under a
wild, cloud driven Track List: February 1st, 2005 Soon to be released by Voiceprint Records...(info. GAS): "Mother Gong Glastonbury Festival 1979/81 Live". Beautiful playing byDidier, Guy Evans,Yan Emeric, Harry Williamson, and all the others in those two bands. That Festival was still in the mindset of being open and free, and the live atmosphere comes through. "Parade" by Gong Matrices.....a continuation, but
different, of the Mother Gong band. Matrices has played many gigs in San
Francisco since the first at Prog. fest. l999, and recorded along the way most
of the pieces on this album. Others were later composed by Pierce McDowell. Pierce is also the bassist, with Aryeh on
electric violin and harp, Steph percussion, James guitar and synth.The
atmosphere of the music flows around the themes
and feeling in the words, from Demon Barbie, to the Virtual Lover, Supercomputer
etc. The effect is semi acoustic, as in Mother
Gong, (as also with the AcidMothers band in Tokyo, who on the April tour did a
separate semi acoustic set with Gilli, recorded
live, to come out later.)
"Short Tales and Tall", the album of stories by Daevid Allen, Gilli, Ynys allen, Jazmin Allen, Willi the Irishman, produced by Orlando Allen, is also just finished and mastered. Daevid has designed the cover, and Toby Allen the layout. Ranging from satirical to spooky, profound to absurd to lyrical, these are not your normal "fairy" stories, with the inevitable happy ending., (usually marriage). But what are stories for? to make sense of our daily life, through examples of people dealing with disasters, apparent magic, over-whelming loves, risks and gains. Those stories change their form, but never disappear. You only have to open a newspaper.......... Gilli
May 9, 2005 "Last week was saddened by news of the death of Pierre Moerlen at his home in Strasbourg. So many memories of Pierre arriving at the gong house in the forest at Sens, and all the months of living and playing there, une grande famille. His passionate nature expressed itself in his brilliant drumming,and at the same time he was a very warm and generous person, everyone feels the loss." Gilli Smyth
Available now at KAZBAH See also related page
Vagaries of Godly Thought now available
Beyond the Ninth Wave by Jen Delyth of Keltic Designs is released on DVD (with Gilli)
September 27, 2004 Mostly I've been working on the Mother gong at Glastonbury festival l979/8I CD which has now gone to Voiceprint and will be released in next couple of months, also the Gong Matrices CD "Parade" for Voiceprint release. Daevid and I have been recording an album of stories for Voiceprint, which will be mainly voices, with a few surprises. Gilli
Webvideo of "SIMPLE I" , with animations by Luc Pilmeyer, is now edited at WEBVIDEOS page. It's an extract of the CD "TREE IN FISH" July 26, 2004 - AMG tour 2004 Europe After number crunching all the projected figures for the tour, the Agent and the band realise that the huge expenses, like international air fares, big tour bus, sustaining 10 people, etc. come to much more than the income from gigs. After looking at all the possible solutions, it becomes obvious that it is simply not viable to do the Acid MotherhoodGong tour. Nobody can afford to get into that kind of debt. It is much more sustainable to set up weekends in one place where the band plays several times. Gong realises they will have to change their manner of touring and concentrate on such events, which apart from the band will have visiting musicians, workshops, fire eaters, camping, staying in cabins, dancing, celebrating. This is anticipated to take place in March/April next year.The Gong story has always included such gatherings, and circumstances seem to have presented them again, as the viable way to communicate with all the Gong friends, play the music we love, share energies, and make it possible to come from the other side of the world. Hopefully we will be playing at a two day Festival in Japan, around 10th October, (2004). We feel very sad to disappoint all our gong friends in Europe who have participated in the long gong story with us, and helped in so many ways. We feel sad for ourselves too, not to be playing that new music we were looking forward to, and connecting again with those friends, fans, clowns, buskers, performers, and multi-coloured people, who make all the gigs so heartfelt. Gilli
July 18, 2004 - In Oz, there is warm winter sun, hundreds of humpback whales passing by on their annual migration, and a rude kind of election fever. A time of re-releases by Voiceprint of albums of the late 80's, by Daevid Allen and early Gong Maison, and the Mother Gong band of l987 to l994. Mother Gong was Robert Calvert, Rob George, Conrad Henderson, Harry Williamson,Gilli Smyth,and released about l2 albums, and toured Oz, U.S.A. and the U.K. These albums have all been remastered, edited, or added to, lyrics revised etc.
"Histories and Mysteries of the Planet Gong. Vol
I and 2." VP279CD "The Owl and the Tree" VP278CD
Order
: http://www.planetgong.co.uk/octave/cd/owltree_vp.shtml "Tree in Fish" VP28ICD Order
: http://www.planetgong.co.uk/octave/cd/treeinfish.shtml "Wild Child"....still pressing, coming soon. In the pipeline....."Mother Gong at Glastonbury 1979/81"... Live recordings edited and remastered. New Material: Very sad news just came in, of the death of Gary Fick, a long time friend, supporter, and organiser of many gigs in Baltimore, Philadelphia etc. He helped to get the solo circuit together in the 90's, for Daevid, Tim Blake, Kevin Ayers, Gilli Smyth, Caravan of Dreams etc., and put up so many musicians in his house, did impromptu recordings for us, drove us, fed us, entertained us. All our sympathies to Vicky and the kids..luckily there are many good friends around to support them.
June 1st, 2004 - Have been in Melbourne, working on the production of a CD from the recordings of the Mother Gong sets on the Main Stage at Glastonbury Festival in l979 and l98I. This is with Harry Williamson, at Spring Studio, and the recordings are surprisingly good, despite shedding and having to be baked. Musicians include Eduardo the Spanish guitarist, Jan Emeric,the Hungarian guitarist, Guy Evans (from Van der Graaf Generator) on drums, Didier Malherbe, Dane Kronen-burgh Bass, theatre from Nick Turner, Harry Williamson, Gilli Smyth etc. etc. This will eventually go out through Voiceprint. Also have just started working on some of the recordings from the Japan tour, particularly the semi acoustic sets..also doing gigs, such as local Poetry features, a World Music and Dance Festival, and a Whale Conference, singing whale song for 45 minutes. The Gong Matrice album is at mastering stage in San Francisco..so we hope to have it fairly soon. Gilli Smyth
April 20, 2004 - In Japan...
Exhilarated with sake and cherry blossom, mountain top temples to the great goddess Amaterasu (creator of living things especially whales and dolphins), hot dark brown volcanic springs and japanese bath houses, noodle bars, sushi, trains and endless alleys full of colourful paper things, amazing decor......each place an unexpected adventure. United Airlines messed up Daevid's ticket so he
missed first three gigs but arrived at full strength for the
Pepperland gig on Tuesday. Meantime for first gigs a semi acoustic set came
together,
followed by Makoto's solo set, then the final set, band altogether. The acoustic set had Josh on Ukelele, Atsushi on l2 string guitar,Hiroshi on synth, Makoto with glisses and his cello like instrument played with a bow, Gilli with vocals and lyrics. Lyrics were simple, had some words in Japanese, and lots of singing. It was intricate musically and really fun, innovative from the unexpected instrumentation. This set continued to open after Daevid arrived and thes band did full set. The audience reacted fervently to gilli's whale song, and it is evident that many people in Japan are opposed to whaling.......and to war, the "no war means no war of any kind" chant correlated with public unrest about having troops in Iraq, in the midst of the hostage drama. Tokyo club "Doors" packed, plus some people from Norway, from the U.K., far-flung Japanese islands, France.....much energy. Gigs organised by the Acid Mothers Temple
themselves, who also took good care of the band, and everywhere
warm and friendly promoters and club
owners. Travelled everywhere (with pass) on trains, from
endless spotless subways to the 300mph Nozomi Express. Concluded that the
Japanese have the highest life expectancy in the world because they walk so
much. Friday night in hometown Nagoya...club booked out,
two or three English! football fan type people in front
annoying
Hiroshi by pulling at his synth, falling over etc., he towering over them like a "berserk" Viking on the edge of the stage, long hair streaming out wildly, and the whole evening was wild. Last night, Saturday, at Osaka "Bears" club, very energised by week of gigs, always different.... experimental. Next morning after little sleep, return to
Australia, laden with gifts of sake and rice cakes."
January 17, 2004
Available now at KAZBAH See also related page
December 6, 2003 - After the travel and extreme experiences of the tour, such as tours generally create, the last month has been a time of honing recordings, writing sleeve notes, preparing for publication the "God Syndrome" book. The studio Gong Matrices album "It just is" is in the capable hands of Pierce the Bass, and Mark Pistel Producer, and up to final mixes. Gilli has been editing the live DVD from the recordings made live. These are very different from the studio album (which has all five members of Gong Matrices), Whereas the Live DVD is Pierce and Gilli from the band, playing with Rich Goodhart and John Agusa, VERY accomplished musicians in more of a "Hadouk" style, and of course it is a lot more improvised., (or "spontaneous composed" as Mother Gong used to call it). These albums are both destined to come out early next year. Beginning April Gilli will do a tour in Japan with members of AcidMothersGong April:
November 1st, 2003 - Back in Australia...what an intense trip this has been. First to finish the "Gong Matrices" album..this was recorded some time ago but we decided to redo the vocals, overdub more of the musicians, etc..and due to producer Mark Pistel (currently working with Spearhead) stepping in, its in final mixing stage. Called "It Just Is", it will be coming out early next year. The musicians are Pierce McDowell (bass), Aryeh Frankfurter (electric violin, Irish harp,flute), Stephan Junca (percussion), James Rotundi (synthesiser, guitar), Gilli Smyth (lyrics and vocals). Did a gig in September with the new material, vibrant audience, old and new friends, very buzzy. Also a gig with John Agusa (many kinds of flute), and Rich Goodhart, also multi instrumentalist, and with two of the Matrices, Pierce and Gilli. Also very buzzy evening. Caught up with Elson and Ziska (from the first Gong- It was Ziska and Gilli together in 68 who developed the whole concept and manner of "space whisper", but have never had the opportunity to sing together since) in their retreat in the woods, deer walking past the windows. Elson has designed a trippy cover for the album, and also for a live DVD from the gigs. Then a much more hushed gig in a Catholic chapel. We feasted with the priest, a gourmet cook, who explained that the chapel was built in the twenties by an humanistic group with the idea of marrying the sacred and the profane. That made me feel better about doing lyrics there like "I am a witch, bold and brazen".(and the priest's T- shirt which read "Too many right-wing Christians, not enough lions.") Nevertheless the church atmosphere suited the subtle music of John and Rich, and it was really rewarding to play with them. To Glastonbury to see Jonny Greene at GAS; radio interviews; to Paris to see with Didier about interludes and chill spaces, for the AcidMothers/Gong gig at Festival Hall. Finally the gig, seemed like part of the unreal, thetravelling dream space I was in, the stage was a vortex of sound and energy, hard to distinguish individual sounds from there so I really don't know how it was. However Gong has always seemed like a mushroom to me (with the caterpillar?) spawning many mushrooms, all with different colours and sounds yet in some way linked. Acid Mothers brings yet another different perspective, full of energy. Next morning, airplane, then Sydney, then Byron. Sleep for three days.
ACID MOTHERS GONG Tuesday October 21st - London Royal Festival Hall Acid Mothers Temple's Gong's University of Errors'
July 26, 2003 - Gilli's comments on her New Book,"The God Syndrome": ....looking at why, how, what people mean when they talk about God, and all the amazing different variations in mythologies throughout the ages.(small eg.... a Christian sect called "Yesidis" are absolutely forbidden to eat lettuce, because Satan lives in lettuce, there are also the Papuans who worship the sky where U.S. planes dropped parcels in WW II., quite apart from the enormous differences (and similarities) in the major religions. In this book I do not express my personal views, but simply try to get at the basis of the phenomenon, and why there are the interdictions on acquiring knowledge ("in case they become as Gods")...were these the words of extra terrestrials who genetically engineered humanity possibly 5OOO bc, written about at length by Sumerians of that date, who drew flying saucers on their rock carvings.?
March 31st, 2003 - 1st Gig of you'N'gong has happened at Kohinur Hall, just outside Mullumbimby, NSW, Australia. February 15th, 2003 REVIEW by MAX WILCOX REVIEW by JON WARD PHOTOS
January 17, 2003
Gilli Smyth
Gilli will go soon to Melbourne to work on "Battle of the Birds" with Harry
Williamson and this album will be out in a couple of months.
This
project started just before leaving
England in l982, with Didier Malherbe on flute, Antony Philips (from Genesis) on guitars with Harry
Williamson and Gilli telling
the story, but didn't finalise it ....until now and Voiceprint wants to put it out.
Plan exists also to do a children's story album
for them sometime this year with Daevid and Gilli narrating, (Orlando
producing)....though at this stage that is down the track.
"Vagaries of Godly Thought" out with GAS and in Jonny's hands. Plants grow, however, and "More Vagaries" are shooting from the stem.
"Beyond the Ninth Wave" by Jen Delyth of Keltic Designs is now released, on DVD, which really gives full value to the beautiful designs of ancient and modern Celtic life. Jen's designs are sold all over the world....on this project gilli recorded voices of all kinds, some for ancient Celtic poems, some for her own poems on the same subject. Unbeknownst to each other, Gilli and Jen have been working in the same area of ancient myth for years, though they only met a couple of years ago when this project came up
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November 18, 2002 The Gong Matrices band working on the music for
the "It Just Is" CD in San Francisco with friendly producer...I am working here on the lyrics and voices and
in a while we will put it all together over there. Bit delayed by
lizards running amok in the political
cupboard.
Re-mastering of "It's all a Dream" for a wonderously expanding new edition... Jonny says "O.K. Friends" is doing really well. Phew! what a shaping of disparate material that was, and how after weeks of trudge, it all gloriously rushed together. That's the work (play?) agenda, meantime I am happy to be alive, and focus on world peace in various different ways.(and not to be hooked by.propaganda drumming up war.)Who wants it? People greedy for oil, perhaps, or elections. " peace starts in the kitchen", as Daevid said. And in the heart. Love never seemed more important.
June 12, 2002 At last the compilation
made from the 2OO1 tour is out, on June 5th. There
are the juiciest bits of the 2001 autumn tour as selected
by Gilli who was the only band member with the stamina to
trawl through every recorded gig immediately after the
tour, and listen with the ears of everybody...She has
edited together and produced a collection of the most
scintillating solos, the most atmospheric passages, and
all those unexpected jams from the recordings she brought
back....the parts of concerts that remain with you long
after it's all over...not serving up yet more versions of
much too well known songs.
Gong Matrices....
New webvideo cartoon : Mother Gong:
Time is a hurrying dog
April 9, 2002 The facts: Gilli's thoughts: Jonny Greene (G.A.S.) 's
thoughts:
February 1st, 2002 Back home... and 1) Putting together a musical documentary from Dats, Minidiscs and CDs recorded at the gigs on the 2001 Gong tour, very much depending on their quality. 2) Working with Taliesin who is redesigning cover of IT'S ALL A DREAM for next pressing soon. 3) Finishing the "It Just is" Gong Matrices album with that band ( in San Francisco). 4) Rewriting previous sleeve notes etc, for reissues, working on additional tracks.. 5) "Taliesin and the Ninth wave" CDR and DVD designed by Jen Delyth of Keltic Designs, San Francisco, (using Gilli's voice and some of her words) - See POETRY - VARIOUS 6) Sequel to GODLY TALK.... book of satirical lyrics and reflections on the vagaries of the religious mind. - see related page
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