Books by Doc Togden

Volume four of an odd boy begins in Bristol, England, and ends in Heights Café in Brooklyn, New York. The author conjoins the cerebrally rarified Claudette Gascoign and joins a household with her three friends-music and drama students-and explores Jazz-Classical fusion - for three years, returning to the lost time of the late '60s. He finds a superlative mentor in Derek Crowe and is facilitated to create his own BA degree curriculum. At the end of his sojourn at Bristol Art School, he finds himself at the crossroads again. He takes to the road - this time bound for the Himalayas. After a hiatus of thirty years the road brings him back - almost to where he began. He encounters Maxwell Jefferson, a Blues bass player and member of the Federation of Black Cowboys. Their meeting marks the end of a journey, a coming-home, the culmination of a vision, and the start of an adventure that has no end. Welcome home.

Volume Three of an odd boy tells of the foundation course at Farnham Art School from '70 to '72. At Hatch Mill-the warren of wonders-the author steps out of time into a world of creative camaraderie where every meeting is a scene from a surrealist play. '72 marked the end of the '60s gestalt. Before the final curtain call however, a tumult of bizarre scenes tumble across the panchromatic stage: strange liaisons with transient heroes and heroines of the lost time; the Farnham Blues Festival; and, 'the religion of Art' entwined with burlesque love stories. He meets with Liverpool Poets - Adrian Henry and Roger McGough. Poetry and oil painting co-mingle with loves won and lost. He finds himself-for a bare month-as a rising star on the British Blues scene - but with the death of Jimi Hendrix, it's the end of an era. He steps off the stage, takes to the road - and arrives, ironically, at the ever-familiar crossroads.