Bloodwork! Today I went to Unilabs here in Porto for a blood test. It was about a vitamin D deficiency that I had (haha, no kidding). The doctor gave me these giant vitamin D pills of which I was to take one on the first day of each month, it’s been three months, and it worked, I now have sunshine in my veins. I also have deep respect for an efficient health service. In at 10.30 AM, at reception at 10.33 AM, blood drawn at 10.40 AM and out, no appointment and no charge, results received the same day. Thank you, Portugal. I’m 66 the month after next, there will be a lot of posts about the inexorable trip on the spaceship to the stars. I hope The Archive gets here and is alphabetized before the journey…fingers crossed, it arrives in two weeks, customs permitting.
Early trips to the lab meant breakfast out, so we ate at the café in the Padrão square just around the corner from The Archive. I had a lovely brown red roll and a coffee, the roll was so nice I almost asked if it had a name (Rui, João, Maria). Whilst on the subject of being around the corner, around the other corner on Thursday night, Jethro Tull are playing. The last time I saw them was the only time I ever saw them and it was at the Liverpool Empire on the War Child Tour on the 21st of November 1974, the support band was Fanny. If you go here you can see all the dates from the tour including setlists. Tull came on stage in a flash of lights, and excitement, dressed in multi-coloured gowns, it was quite the entry. They proceeded to play some classics and tracks from the latest album, War Child (1974).
I’m scared of going on Thursday, none of the band members that I saw will be there, just him – I will certainly miss Martin Barre on guitar at least, but also Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (bass), Barriemore Barlow (drums) and John Evan (keys). Having said that, arguably my fave album by them is Benefit (1971) and the bassist was Glenn Cornick (who died in 2014), and the drummer was Clive Bunker. On the first album (This Was, 1968), the guitarist was Mick Abrahams, so fans of the earlier albums might have felt the same way as I do about the present lineup…and having said that, comparing seventies Jethro Tull to 21st century Jethro Tull might not be prudent.
After this show, I became a fan of Fanny and have had all of their albums since the seventies. David Bowie said this about them:
They were extraordinary: they wrote everything, they played like motherfuckers, they were just colossal and wonderful, and nobody’s ever mentioned them. They’re as important as anybody else who’s ever been, ever; it just wasn’t their time.
Music today has been Jethro Tull – War Child (1974). I recently bought War Child 2 (I suppose it’s outtakes), which I’ve enjoyed more than the last three decades or any of their newer albums. On reading about it, it seems there was a plan for a film that never got made, so these extra tracks were probably part of the original soundtrack.