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opens tomorrow - The biggest drawing you might not even notice Lai Chih-Sheng, a wonderful artist from Taipei, arrived in the gallery today to begin creating the largest drawing I’ve ever seen for Invisible: Art about the Unseen 1957 – 2012. The drawing fills up our entire Gallery 3 (which is something like 18 metres by 22 metres by 4.5 metres high). Yet he assured us that it will be almost completely invisible. Along with three assistants helping him, Lai Chih-Sheng is meticulously drawing over every existing edge in the gallery – in other words, any place where two walls meet, or the wall and the floor, or the lines in a concrete column, etc. It is painstaking work that requires great patience, and the gallery has a atmosphere of intense concentration right now as they begin this epic invisible project... Then there's this man who makes invisible pictures by allowing his canvas to capture the 'energy' from the gazes of living creatures:

The Vibrators Dido Dodo Marmarosa

Donald Trump Kurtis Blow Rip Torn

I have to say, I love rain - though I'd prefer it warm. I just read the biog of Kenneth Williams and he felt the same - it's the way it deters other people and keeps the pavements clear. Also I don't have much hair to get messed up.

I love Little Brother - he has that melancholy touch. When he does New Orleansy stuff, on his own - like Buddy Bolden's Blues or Salty Dog - it has that same kind of feel to it that Jelly Roll Morton had in the Library of Congress recordings, not that they sounded alike - but just that mood of recollection

Another drummer - one of the few things I remember about the Sandra Tooze book on Muddy Waters (it's ages since I read it) is the various gripes and grumbles of Francis Clay, Muddy's drummer with a jazz background - he had played with Jay McShann among others. But the interesting thing was that he obviously felt an outsider in blues, believed that Muddy hated him and that Howlin Wolf was persuading Muddy to drop him for not digging blues. He found it difficult to adjust to the 'simplicity' of the music and, so he claimed, to the brutality of the musicians (he said that Muddy Waters would menace him with a blackjack) - (in terms of the recordings, just looking at the discography at the back of the book & it differs so much from the recent Hip O set that I can't even be bothered to figure it out!) Just thinking on the social thing, Albert Ayler also found it difficult playing (and drinking) with Little Walter - who criticized his playing at first - but he obviously took the positive from working with such "deep-rooted" people..

Jack Lemmon Professor Plum Gilbert Grape

How about his drummer in the Four Aces - Fred Below - who started with jazz in high school, and played with Lester Young in an army band. Later he became the session drummer for Chess Records and is all over the Chicago blues, where he sat alongside Little Brother Montgomery who had a swing band in the thirties and recorded with Lee Collins as well as doing the solo piano blues stuff. He worked with people such as Buddy Petit before appearing on records with people as modern as Buddy Guy, and then took part in the revival scene (didn't Chris Albertson record him?)

Wilfred Bramble Willie Thorn Prickly Pair

Now, that's funny. you got that? It took me a while to work it out, and I'm from Essex!

Crumb means nothing to me, though it's quite a nice drawing.

Jemima Puddle-duck Pudd'n Head Wilson Huckleberry Finn

Looking forward to that too They do - Susan Archie designed the one pictured - so it'll look great even if we can't get the CDs out

The label's two collections of post-war gospel were great - I really hope they do this well - "COMING IN AUGUST : 'He Is My Story : The Sanctified Soul of Arizona Dranes' (Book w/ CD)" also: My WebpageAimer et Perdre : To Love & To Lose Songs, 1917-1934 ""This is a treasure. With cover art by R. Crumb, I have been thoroughly enjoying it. A wonderful romp through Ukrainian, Cajun, Black Creole and a healthy sprinkling of American country artists." - Dom Flemons, Carolina Chocolate Drops" They have a sale on

Willo the Wisp Kenneth Williams Julius Caesar ("Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me!") Kenny G RR Kirk George Coleman darn - too slow Coleman Hawkins Colonel Mustard General Tom Thumb

Love that foot stomping on the last one - I can't tell if she has something under her foot (those heels probably are enough?) & the left hand halfway through Cow Cow Davenport - it's not hard to believe he was thrown out of the seminary for the way he played marches.

El Loco Crazy Frog Toad of Toad Hall

like it - I need to get more of this stuff

Uranus and Bowie and Boudica

Wilf Rhodes W G Grace Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji, Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawānagar (or 'Ranji' for short..)

Steve Austin David Banner Clark Kent

i spose

People round here use the word 'while' in place of 'until' - as in "it lasts from 8 while 9" or "I'll be here while 10.30" which I thought was really odd when I first heard it (and still don't get it!)

I say the 't' in often, I think! Aside from regional variations in pronunciation there's a class thing of course - in the UK the most noticeable variant that confuses the two factors is the 'ar' or 'a' sound in bath, path, graph. In the south it's barth, in the north bath. But the 'ar' is also associated with a 'posh' accent. So if a southerner doesn't want to be accused of being posh when visiting the north, he has to make the 'th' a 'f' so you end up with barf At college I had a film and theory lecturer who instead of saying 'film' said 'fillum' - don't know if it was regional but it was very pronounced and used to puzzle me, having the job he did he must have constantly heard people saying 'film' but continued saying fillum.