Book Launch Event - an odd boy - Doc Togden

Aro Books worldwide are very happy to announce the launch of an odd boy on 24th July at pm BST (which is midday in East Coast USA and 9am West Coast).

Please join the author for the Facebook event at http://on.fb.me/docaobv01evt


Volume one of an odd boy is a memoire of an eccentric aficionado of Bach and Blues, poetry and painting. A portrait of the artist as a lad, set in the experimental cultural ferment of the late 1960s. It is a coming-of-age adventure, both surreal and innocent, humorous and poignant, depicting an era when the Arts set a generation’s imagination on fire. The author’s life is a rare roulette wheel of childhood wonder and tragic debacles; a debilitating stammer and a powerful singing voice; bad luck and fierce good fortune. At 16 he’s travelled far in human experience from the midnight expedition he made to the crossroads at the age of 12. 

Read more about the book here http://bit.ly/docaobv01

Read excerpts at anoddboy.com

Via: http://aro-books-worldwide.blogspot.com/2011/07/book-launch-event-odd-boy-doc-togden.html 

C. J. Tozer on 'an odd boy'

"On his search for the essence and understanding of a musical form that his birth roots and tribal memories had no perception of he leads you by the curiosity of those first eerie haunting sounds that arrived via the gramophone of an elderly neighbour to the unsuspecting and absorbing ear drums of a young disciple , sounds that would drive him ever onward into adulthood on a quest for that elusive mystery that is 'Blues' "


http://www.aro-books-worldwide.org/shared/text/b/book_pb_05_an_odd_boy_v01_12_review_tozer_eng.php

you can't accidentally drink reindeer urine

The odd boy lay down by the football field – took out a slim volume of Mallarmé, / The centre-forward called him an imbecile – it’s an odd boy who doesn’t like sport. / Sport, Sport, masculine sport – equips a young man for society, Yes, sport turns out a jolly good sort – it’s an odd boy who doesn’t like sport.
Vivian Stanshall—Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band—Sport (the odd boy)—Keynsham—1969

http://aro-books-worldwide.blogspot.com/2011/07/odd-boy-you-cant-accidentally-drink.html

Doc Togden : Disassembled diaries : the 6th of December 2006

"There’s also no reason I should remember Andrew Sculley—Scottish ex-RAF dog handler turned art student—who’d found a tin of emerald green paint and painted three interwoven lines from the door step of ‘Nowhere’ across the road, up an alley and into the entrance to the graveyard. He later said “I wanted to show—man—that ‘Nowhere’ læds tæ fouking nowhere.” He was quite a literal man. One had to admire him for that. His other major project was a huge wooden carving that he made from the bole of a tree. The carving became increasingly smaller until the eventual knob of wood was thrown into the river and floated away on the current. He took photographs of the carving at frequent intervals with an empty camera – and the final product was nothing. I never did enjoy conceptual work of that nature. He certainly worked hard and worked long hours – but I really failed to see the value of the exercise. I was glad however that the tutors gave him good credit for the work. No matter how much I find such things pointless it pleases me that the Art School world allowed it. It pleased me because it all added to the ambience of Hatch Mill. Anything was possible – and Andrew Sculley had been a symbol of that."

http://www.facebook.com/notes/doc-togden/disassembled-diaries-the-6th-of-december-2006/10150689952555355

an odd boy : mister love

mister love

I wonder why that south-bound train don’t run, now you don’t need no telling, little girl, you know what you done. 
Southbound Train—Big Bill Broonzy—1937

What a voice that man had! “Who—is—that man? ” I asked – and Mr Love told me all about Big Bill Broonzy. Who’d ever heard of a person having such a name? The three Bs together were magic. Mr Love told a long story and illustrated it by playing different gramophone records. It was like being in school – but as school ought to be, not school as it was.

“I want to sing like Big Bill Broonzy! ” I proclaimed with joy.

http://aro-books-worldwide.blogspot.com/2011/06/odd-boy-mister-love.html

Falmouth 1 by Doc Togden

A view of Falmouth from the quay south of the Art School.

"Painting or drawing—or otherwise making marks with anything, even with a computer—is a way of knowing something about a person, thing, or place. To depict a place is to translate the colours and shapes provided by reflected light. No one ever paints or draws exactly what is there. What is painted or drawn is a recognition of the momentary patterns that makes sense to the artist. "

--Doc Togden

An article about the painting and links to where copies may be bought,  is on the Aro Books worldwide website