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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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Shawn Phillips: A Night In Positano

John Elkington · 15 October 2016 · Leave a Comment

On the road: our Landrover, JBW 797, in 1970
On the road: our Landrover, JBW 797, in 1970

Had an email today from someone making a documentary on the life and music of Shawn Phillips. Brought back memories of an extraordinary night back in 1970.

Six of us were driving through Italy en route to Greece and Skiathos, when we arrived in Positano. Hippy days and we must have looked like ruffians. Up came a quintessential hipster, blond hair down to his waist. Shawn Phillips. We hit it off immediately and he invited us to his home later that night.

Three of us went, Ian (Lovell), Rex (Gowar) and I. Up endless steps to what seemed like the very top of Positano. There, in a huge largely unfurnished room equipped with large speakers, and with gothic windows looking down across to the town to the Mediterranean, Shawn played us the tapes of what would become his albums Contribution and Second Contribution. And maybe also of Collaboration.

His recording band including people like Stevie Winwood, Crhis Wood and Jim Capaldi of Traffic. (One link I discovered while researching this blog was to The Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want. Paul Buckmaster played a key role in producing some of Shawn’s music – and also that Stones song. Fiona, our next door neighbour in Barnes until she died, was part of the choir that backed the Stones on You Can’t Always, I assume recorded round the corner at Olympic Studios.)

In any event, a key memory of that long-ago Positano evening is of Shawn’s black cat, or at least a black cat, suddenly jumping up in the middle of a track with a very pronounced bass line and, quite literally, starting to dance. Unforgettable.

Shawn Phillips (source: Wikipedia)
Shawn Phillips (source: Wikipedia)

 

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Introduction

I began this blog with an entry reporting on a visit to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, on 30 September 2003. The blog element of the website has gone through several iterations since, with much of the older material still available.

Like so many things in my life, blog entries blur the boundaries between the personal and the professional. As explained on this site’s Home Page, the website and the blog are part platform for ongoing projects, part autobiography, and part accountability mechanism.

In addition, my blogs have appeared on many sites such as: Chinadialogue, CSRWire, Fast Company, GreenBiz, Guardian Sustainable Business, and the Harvard Business Review.

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About

John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. He is currently Founding Partner and Executive Chairman of Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation movements.

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john@johnelkington.com  |  +44 203 701 7550 | Twitter: @volansjohn

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