Another month has passed and it is time for another retrospective. In August I wrote twenty seven entries for MWMM.  In September I wrote thirteen.  My output reduced by over fifty percent.  How could this be?  At a glance, this looks like a shocking reduction, but these numbers only tell a portion of the story.  In August my episodes were averaging around seven hundred words.  In September they are averaging about twelve hundred, with a couple going up to sixteen thousand.  So, in words, my output has been near the same, give or take.  What happened? When I started writing MWMM the episod ..read more

I first met Amon Tobin while writing my name in the moon dust in the crater that makes up the Sea of Cleverness.  I was in a solitary mood.  I always find the far side of the Moon to be a good place for me to clear my head.  You stare out to space, looking at a million light years of nothing, while behind you, just over the horizon, there’s so much life it can be exhausting.  The universe feels unbalanced in that way.  Not that we humans are alone. We live a dreams distance from all that can exist. I was writing my name in letters ten miles in width.  It was taking a while.  I was using a moo ..read more

I first met Soom T while I was harvesting early potatoes in my allotment.  The sun was beating down and the soil was rich and dark.  It had rained a good deal over the last few weeks making the crop a good size after only eleven weeks.  I had some salmon in the fridge at home and I was looking forward to boiling these sweet little tubers and smothering them in butter.  I was working slowly, enjoying the sun on my neck, feeling the slight ache in my arms from turning the soil with my fork.  A pleasant way to spend a Tuesday afternoon. How do, neighbour, came a woman’s voice from over my shou ..read more

I first met Shirley Bassey while sat on a green bench in Newgate park, feeding the pigeons rye bread and thinking unhelpful thoughts.  It was one of those weeks.  Nothing had been going right and I felt like I was in a room filling up with water, my nose pressed to the ceiling, waiting for the last of the air to go.  I was so close to drowning on my own life.  So close.  Treading water.  Surviving.  The tragedy of always having enough air.  Just.  Staying afloat.  Any moment, I could give up.  Any moment, I could let myself sink. Cheer up, said a woman's voice. They say it might never happe ..read more

I first met Gomez While drinking a banana daquiri out of a coconut.  I was on an ivory white beach deep in the Dream Archipelago.  Ocote Soul Sounds were drifting off in a schooner headed for their next gig.  Neal Cassady and myself waved them off.  Another schooner carrying five men was arriving. Hey, said Neal, you guys ready for this? Always, said the man with the longest hair. Meet Gomez, Neal said to me. Hi Gomez, I said, what are your friend’s names? We’re all Gomez, said Gomez. Doesn’t that get confusing?  I asked We’re the band Gomez, said the man carrying a small ..read more

I first met RJD2 while at the Sunshine Laundromat on Manhattan Avenue.  I was waiting for my clothes to spin dry and trying to beat the highest score on the Disney Tron Legacy pinball machine.    You're close, he said, pointing at the machine. Getting there, I said.  I felt him hovering at my shoulder while I flapped the paddles.  I needed all my concentration on the game.  The two percent of my concentration that was now distracted by being watched by RJD2 was enough to throw me off.  The balls kept falling down the holes.  The bells not ringing with the right rhythm.  My angles off.  T ..read more

I first met Disrupt while escaping from Phil Spector’s tower of ultimate death and destruction that hung over the abyss at the end of the universe.  I was in a cell with Neil Cassady, unsure about where I was and who Neil was.  I had met Neil minutes before, a grinning face in the darkness.  For some reason, I felt I could trust him.  Something around his eyes, the set of his shoulders. Now you’ve turned up, he said, we should get the hell out of here. Where are we? I asked.  And, what do you mean ‘now you’ve turned up’? I’ve been waiting here for about forty years.  I’ve been han ..read more

 I first met Barenaked Ladies while pushing a double-decker bus that was following a diversion around the Yorkshire countryside.  The bus was the 72 going from Leeds to Bradford.  It was a straightforward trip that usually took about forty minutes.  I had fallen asleep and woken up with the bus on an unmarked road near Askwith, the wrong side of the River Wharfe.  I had no idea what the bus was doing so far out.  These roads weren’t made for a double-decker.  When I woke, I was unsure of my surroundings, taking a moment to get my bearings.  The bus had stopped, wedged in a tight corner. Some ..read more

I first met Julie Driscoll while working in a vegetarian café-bar in St Leonards-on-Sea run by an old jazz player who wanted to spend his twilight years close to the English Channel.  He wasn’t around.  He didn’t get up before dark and I was covering the midday shift as a favour for his daughter, Neneh.  Not that I owed her any favours, but I wanted her to owe me a couple. The only customer was a woman with a dog on piece of string lying on one of the tables shouting into a mobile phone.  I don’t care if that’s where you were yesterday, she shouted.  Today, you should be here.  No.  I do not ..read more

I first met Saul Williams while cruising down Santa Monica Boulevard in a fireapple red 1968 Cadillac Eldorado with the top down drinking a Singapore Sling and trying to figure out why it was 1974.  Neal Cassady was in the passenger seat smoking a H. Upmann Dunhill Selección Supreme No.87, which was making my eyes water.  Disrupt was laying across the back seats playing on a Gameboy.  I was paying attention to a world I had never seen before. You’ll get used to it, said Neal.  Now, you live by different rules.  You’re a fan, like me. I don’t feel like I care, I said.  I mean feel, like actua ..read more