This week's sepia saturdaytheme is around the sky & clouds.This is a photo-of-a-photo i took in a Military Museum in Carlise Castle last year.My Dad was in the Free Polish Air Force.He fought in The Battle Of Arnhem.I look at this image & wonder if he was one of those wee dots....?
Arnhem 1944
"You gotta quit kicking my dog around"
Two different accounts of the origins of this song have been published. Alan Lomax published it as "The Hound Dawg Song" in his book, The Folk Songs of North America (1960), and suggests that the song's origins date back to the 1880s. Others have suggested the song was written by James A. Bland. Sources agree earliest recorded version was released by Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers in 1928.
"I Forgot to Remember to Forget" "was made famous by Elvis Presley in 1955.This version bears little resemblance to Elvis's rendition"{from:wikipedia}The Act Of Killing is one the most important film I have ever seen.
I watched it on DVD a few days ago.
You really need to view it when you can. The gentle author was blown away.
Its the best surreally political film imaginable. Think : 'Yellow Submarine' combined with 'Apocalypse Now' ( some of the photography is pure Haight-Ashbury)
The 'plot' is far too complicated to repeat here.
Just one little image.The main man in the movie is called Anwar.He is /was a gangster who personally killed approximately 1,000 people, usually by strangling with wire.
He plays himself in this film!
Because he was murdering 'Communists' for the Indonesian government & that government is still in power, he & they think him a hero still.
..imagine the Nazi's had won the war...& they had let Josef Mengele direct a musical about his life....
Anwar is given licence to produce & direct reconstructions of the murders he committed!
He loves Elvis Presley Films.A movie theatre in 1965 Indonesia was just across the road from where he executed political prisoners.So In between killing ,he would watch films to relax.
Often he would saunter into the murder scenes still in 'Elvis Character'
You can read[ here ]what OXFAM thought of the film.And here is the trailer for the movie......
On another level ,all old men do this. Reminiscing is done to convince yourself not others. When I go out drinking with my old schoolmates in Halifax (eg Phil the x-fireman & Ken) We are constantly rehearsing the past! Come to think of it, Anwar looks amazingly like another classmate we meet sometimes.take a bow,Stanley Brown !
The longest recording of the Basement Tapes, and often regarded as one of the highlights from the sessions.
Several things I found out today.For example (Don,did you know?)Nobby Stiles learnt his skills as a kid,playing over the 40,000 graves of Angel Meadow! (growing up as a child the Council had put goalposts on St Michaels Flags!)
And Lowry , although everybody thinks him a Salford painter.......many of his images were taken from Angel Meadow ,where he worked as a rent collector.....he would sketch inbetween collecting Debt...........(i bet Mr Wonga dont do that today!)
Me & Cath are in Manchester this weekend.We went to a Talk about
Angel Meadow & St Michael's Flags
It was part of Manchester Histories Festivalwhich runs for the next 8 days.
Today was also the Reopening of
Manchester Central Library
It would have been rude not to go.Its a bit like the Deck of The Starship Enterprise.
A 'Must Visit' the next time your in the city.
I did these images mostly on my new Panasonic compact.I really think my late-great Fuji (RIP) was better...but these are ok...I may get used to this new regime
one 'plus' is that .I do like the "panorama" mode! The display on here doesnt do them justice....if you wish to see much better vision look at 'em on This slideshow.....
You may remember this recent post about my x-ray worries?
Today I ,finally,got a letter from the Consultant saying "I have reviewed your chest x-ray from February 2014. Reassuringly the appearances are within normal limits.
To ensure there are no further changes,I would like to repeat your x-ray in may 2014..."
Which is fine and pretty much what was said by my Asthma Nurse
.I am not worried any more...& i see my GP next week to discuss [in the nefarious zone..] .
But i still think the consultant could have explained better&quicker.Still ,its reasurring that the NHS [in general] is being so
thorough.....
I will also be speaking to my GP about my hernia & diets..Hey ! I am still not smoking..but ,increasingly, I am vaping which i dont take as being very positive (?).....
I worked in Bradford for 9 years as a teacher in the middle 80's onwards.
I used to drive each day from Hebden Bridge to Bradford to school.Cant say i have many very good memories of the place (which is sad).
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I went to Bradford with Chris this week.It's the first time I have set foot in the place for,what, maybe 2 years?
If it was to remind me of anything good,it would be my playing Rugby League once at the massive (100,000 capacity) Odsal Stadium ) .I played 'hooker',and we (Halifax) got thrashed by Bradford Northern!
And seeing Ian Dury there once with Cath & Phil the X-Fireman.....
I got a new compact camera.
Its much cheaper than the my old faithful (R.I.P. Fujifilm exrfinepix f70)
but my new panasonic dmc xs1 does have a few interesting whistles & bells.
I'm still getting used to it but i took it with me on my travels this week to Hebden Bridge,Sowerby Bridge,Burnley[ Sauna],Halifax,Bradford (with Chris) & Halifax (with Ken).These are the results....
all fairly random....
Your Gentle (albeit ,Modest) Author was interviewed on English Telly on Saturday afternoon.......
trivia-junkies may wish to know that the opening sequence of this clip shows us walking past Halifax Swimming Pool,where I had just come out from a two hour sauna session..........
This is a Sepia Saturday post
"......They looked at a selection of material including letters and books belonging to John Dee, as well as the famous oval burn mark on the Audit Room table which is said to be the hoof print of the devil, conjured up one dark Manchester night by Dee's magic arts. ......."Chethams Library News
Outside The New Halifax Central Library,1983
It's a sign of the times? They are knocking down Halifax's main Library to build a
Primark
Now given that over 200 UK libraries were closed down by The Tory government in 2012 alone I suppose Halifax should be grateful for any replacement (albeit one the size of a broom cupboard).
I remember the current library being built.I took this infra-red photo of the fountains outside it sortly before its opening.
Why are all new buildings so antiseptic? {Like hospitals.....}.but at least this 1983 Halifax Library
was much bigger the original one, which had been at Belle Vue (between Hanson Lane & Gibbet Street).itself a rambling old building with grounds the size of several Rugby League pitches.
'like an old winter palace...
Such irony , that such opulence should be found only a spit & a fart from The Gibbet Street Workhouse ...
.But that's another story......
After the original building burnt & was rebuilt in 1885 it was sold to the Halifax Corporation in 1892 and part of it was turned into the Library.
In 1892 a meteorological station was also incorperated .
In 1897 a Museum was created in another part of the building.
In the Gardens, a tower and crenellated curtain wall was built.In 1953 (a year after I was born) an aviary was built in the gardens,
Personally,I remember the Belle Vue Library very well.IAs a child & young adult i visited often.It was there that both Enid Blyton & Jack Keroac talked to me.It was there I listened.
It had a certain smell.That musty/creaky smell that seems to be trapped in Posh old houses.I remember as a little child arriving at the front entrance and being greeted inside by Giant Stuffed Bears & other animals stood in glass cases.It was like they were stood guard at the bottom of an impressive Staircase (think : Scarlet O'Hara in a ballgown in 'Gone With The Wind'
The (Halifax)staircase would take you up to the library on the first floor.
I always got confused in my mind with this house & the one I saw on the Telly in "THE ADDAMS FAMILY".......anyway.........
After Halifax's Library moved away in 1983,the bulding & grounds were sold and used as a business HQ for local fat cat bissynessman.Currently,i understand there are plans to turn the former Ballroom into a venue for Muslim Weddings ( Gibbet Street is the center of our Muslim Community now).
Perhaps this is the reason I love all Libraries.Next to a good graveyard, there is no place better for conjuredup Other Lives & different spirits....
Yes, Belle Vue had a rare Atmosphere.But a even rarer one (And happily still with us) can be found at ChethamsLibraryin Manchester A most magical place.It must be the oldest building in manchester?Right near Victoria Railway Station.Well worth a visit.No doubt the ghosts of Karl Marx andJohn Dee will entertain you!Just tell'em "Tony sent me"........
Good News ! Manchester Reference Library reopens on the 22nd of this month.Thanks to Andrew Simpson and his Splendid Blog for the knowledge.
A photo I took of some books=in-chains in Chethams Library.Here are some more I took in 2011
British Sea Power:Live at Westminster Reference Library
)
[n.b.big march against the destruction of the NHS in Halifax on Saturday :I hope to add some image here on Saturday night:Stay Tuned!}Ironic.When I wrote the above post,I didnt know that today's March would end up outside the Library!The buildings you see here will all be knocked down in the next couple of years...
Me & Phil the Ex-Fireman & Ken went to Sowerby Bridge tonight ...
.We went to The Puzzle Hall pub & a good band was playing....... [Issimo: Marc+Abi]
On our way to The Puzzle , we walked past a church.Phil showed us where his son Bryn was the model for Sowerby Bridge's Stainglass~ Jesus in St Paul's Methodist Church[ see in video ]
Bryn lives in Sowerby Bridge.About ten years ago a stranger approached him while he was out walking.The bloke was an Artist .Would Bryn like to pose for him? As Jesus! The result you can see 15ft tall in the church window.
Must be rather strange seeing yourself as the Messiah everyday you walk through town........
Rest in Peace old faithful servant.Fuji F70-EXR You have died .Shall we ever see you like again?[especially in relation to the Gigs ].No doubt you shall be replaced.....but by anything better...I doubt!!!!
In the meantime I am just using my Panasonic HD camera .More versatile (eg audio files;HD video) but the quality is more 'cold' [.see today's photos here as an example.........]
I also have my NIKON D200 for special/pre-planned occasions.but wildly too big to hide in my pocket!
