LONG LIVE THE KING
1977 and the death of Elvis; why I didn’t care (he was 42); what the Johns (Lydon, Lennon, Peel) said; Elvis versus John Lennon.
Songs from my early life, with a couple by Elvis (featuring T Rex).
Elvis shopping opportunities; the imagined Book Of Elvis; Elvis versus Robert Johnson.
Elvis hair, historical hair, rebellious hair (featuring Jerry Lee Lewis, Status Quo, Keith Emerson), school hair, haircuts.
JG Frazer’s The Golden Bough; Elvis, myths, heroes and kings; two different kinds of (Elvis) magic; virtual Elvis on tour.
My 2002 Dead Elvis Silver Jubilee Moment (when I was 42); his comeback TV special; his comeback single.
Page 147
…I spent time working for free in a pottery, learning how to mix clay and throw pots, glaze them and fire them…
The brown stuff on one arm is an iron glaze, which turns black when fired. The white stuff on the other arm is a titanium glaze, which stays white. You probably shouldn’t stir dustbins full of glaze with your arms, but it’s a lot easier than using a stick.
As well as being used separately, the iron and titanium glazes can be layered to create a mottled effect. The blue pots are glazed using cobalt and titanium. These pots were photographed at the pottery shortly after firing.
These crackled pots are examples of raku, an intuitive Japanese ceramic style that exploits qualities of irregularity and unpredictability. The phrase often used to express this general approach, wabi sabi, has no English equivalent.
The picture is of a display in Inverness Library.
