a bit of eastern spice.

let me know if you want a copy of the album.

Halifax Pubs 10th April 2014

I am being very lazy recently.
Ken Kersley.Mixenden.Halifax.Woodbrook Mixenden Clarences Halifax Percival Whitely College Exley

2-0

I spent the day in Halifax.
 I went to Halifax Sauna at 830am.
Then onto North Bridge Leisure Centre for another big meeting against the Tory Closure of Halifax A&E. here are some photos I took.
Lots of things planned.We are getting input from people who prevented the closure of Lewisham A&E
After the meeting, i walked thru town (passed a Spring Fair enroute) & walked to The Shay Stadium for a spot of football (it was sunny.Had it been raining ,I would have gone straight home!)
I haven't seen Halifax Town play in years.
I was always a Rugby League fan when younger......but i did go watch Town now+again .
Most memorably in 1980 when they beat Manchester City in the FA Cup (United fans take heart! Click the link & see 10 minutes of blue-gloom!)
David Moyes, this how it is done ..so easy.....
I went down The Shay today to watch them play Luton Town. Luton are miles ahead in The Conference.They need just one more win to get back into the Football League.
Halifax can still make the playoffs (Wembley!).Before today, 4 wins on the trot........
Infact ,Halifax have done really well over the last 7 years.They were kicked out of the league for financial reasons, and dropped 6 levels (any lower and they would have been playing in Scotland).They have been promoted 6 times in the past 7 seasons.The words "rise" "phoenix ""from" "ashes" spring to mind.......
It was a good game today.Halifax won 2-0. I was sat behind the dugout. One of the Halifax coaching staff fascinated me.He looks like he should be in a Duran Duran Tribute Band (maybe he is?). When Halifax scored their second goal I'm sure I photographed him doing a Quenelle gesture.towards the home supporters.........
It  strikes me.All the places this gentle author  went today.i.e.Halifax Swimming pool (sauna & free parking for the day!):North Bridge  Centre (A&E Meeting);Halifax Library to borrow a book:Borough Market(egg butty!): Car Park at Eureka (Spring Fair);The Shay Stadium (to watch Halifax Town) they are all funded by Calderdale Council.
I also work for Calderdale Council.
Yet, The Liberal Democrates +Tories are  wishing to destroying it all.......Why?

I Forgot to Remember to Forget:{4 tracks from the basement tapes}

This week's sepia saturday theme 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.

Stan gets a medal!