Some recent Photos I have taken.See My full image Album by clicking [here]
A bit of a 'political' few days for the gentle author! Tonight I attend a meeting (the first) of a new Calderdale anti-fracking group in Hebden Bridge.
You may remember ?my recent post which mentioned The Peterloo Massacre in Manchester .
Well ,tomorrow , Me,Cathy ,Chris (& meeting Capo Martin there?) go to Manchester for a ceremony to mark the 192nd anniversary of that event. (hopefully , my photos & videos of it shall be be planted into this post afterwards)
Here is some background about the campaign to get a suitable monument built in the city to remember the dead (& the birth of the right to vote).
As to the Anniversary itself,other events are being held over the weekend (eg in Oldham & Rochdale).
The Manchester event tomorrow will include wreath laying & the public naming of the dead ( read out by the Mayor of Manchester & the actressMaxine Peake
Kick Off is 1pm (near the Radisson Hotel).There is also a walking tour of battle sites ,leaving The Midland Hotel at 11am..but I doubt our train will arrive in time for us to go to that?.
This is a Sepia Saturday post.
This first photo is taken from a private collection of early 70's in Halifax I entitledInvasion Of The Baby-Boomers And why the devil not?
"....all manner of strange or unidentified contraptions. And if you are fresh out of contraptions there is always cars or people sat in ridiculous positions....."
A Family photo taken in upstate New York in the very early 1900's.Taken by my great grandfather.A whole series of these photos can be found here
I have a new flash looking photo album here
.It looks better than before...but I havnt got the hang of the settings yet ..So no photo badge at the moment(does it still have that option?who knows.....I dont!)
Anyway.......
......here are today's new photos..mostly taken by Cath at Hardcastle Crags where the BBC are filming a new costum drama /follow up to Pride and Prejudice with a host of B-List British tv eg Trevor Eve (who someone once said I looked like.....) & the purty young Dr Who sidekick (joy!)......
PJ Harvey has released a song to highlight the ongoing detention of the last British resident held inside the US prison at Guantánamo Bay.
The track, called Shaker Aamer was recorded by the Mercury prizewinning songwriter to help maintain pressure to have the 46-year-old, whose family live in south London, released back to Britain. Aamer has been detained in Guantánamo for more than 11 years, despite being cleared for release in 2007, and remains imprisoned without charge or trial. He has a British wife and his four children -- the youngest of whom he has never met -- were all born in Britain. They live in Tooting, south London.
The British government has stated repeatedly that it wants him back in the UK and last week, under escalating international pressure, the US announced it is to restart transfers from the prison. Concerns remain, however, that Aamer might be forcibly sent to Saudi Arabia and imprisoned there instead of being reunited with his family in the UK. Aug 2013
"In Africa, almost every cultural group has its own version of the crossroads god. Legba, Ellegua, Elegbara, Eshu, Exu, Nbumba Nzila, and Pomba Gira are African and African-diaspora names (in several languages) for the spirit who opens the way, guards the crossroads, and teaches wisdom. ........"[read more about Crossroad Lore Worldwide]
This is a Sepia Saturday post.OK this week's post is about blokes in hats (& indirectly boats).
My photos& Videos from John Billingsley walk in Heptonstall here
"As trickster, Eshu is associated with disorder and destiny in the Yoruba pantheon. As "orisa orita" or "esu orita", orisha of the crossroad or the corners, Elegba represents the transitional or center point of the crossroad where one must make a decision. In this position, Elegba represents all the bewilderment and confusion one faces when attempting to make the proper choice. Once the choice is made, he is involved in the consequences and through his own devices guides us towards and along our proper path....." Who Is Elegba?
a photo i took in 2009 on The Albert Dock in Liverpool.
If you want to help me celebrate you might want to know I am PAYPAL;WONGA & CHURCH of ENGLAND ®. compliant.
To celebrate my birthday, British Sea Power rode into Hebden Bridge on Friday.(they brought a couple of their Bi_Polar Bears with them!) See my photos HERE
A series of 16 short films each detailing a crime of the British monarchy, based on Heathcote Williams' poem "Royal Babylon: The Criminal Record of the British Monarchy": RB opening - The Sex Pistols argument, Killing an Ibis, Mad Monarchs, Michael X, Harry Trouble, I Danced With A Man, Foot in Mouth, Folk on the Hill, Knighthoods, Milton Gas, Glitter Freeze, Swift Justice, Raj Doubt, Gaunt etc, Koh I Noor, Paine & Thoth/Blake Acres Zappa.
Royal Babylon: The Criminal Record of the British Monarchy
“Heathcote Williams has devised a form of polemical poetry that is unique”
Peter Whitfield, author of ‘The History of English Poetry’
“I admire a poetry that is no-holds-barred personal and political. Heathcote Williams’ serial poem ‘Royal Babylon in the relaunched International Times is proper political poetry”
NIall McDevitt in the Morning Star
“It’s a phenomenal piece of work”
Jeremy Hardy
“Where are the Poetry Police when we need them ?”
JC/Times Literary Supplement
www.royalbabylon.com
Above are some of my weekend's photos.
No "big sticks" but I did find this photo of a bar (Gateshead,19th Century)
It's been warm here in Blighty.Hot nights:vivid dreams.
Have you ever dreamed people? People who,in the dream,you think know intimately .You seem to comprehend their back-story & they yours.
Not just one person ,maybe dozens, a searing mass of characters before your eyes .You are best buddies with them all!
And have you ever woken & realized this knowing was an illusion.Rather sad when a friend becomes a stranger in an instant.When a meeting becomes only a theatricality.........
I was always surprised I had sufficient imagination to create a whole cast of characters out of thin air......Then recently on the radio I heard another explanation .It was suggested we never forget a face.
The person I dreamed last night might be somebody i saw on a London street in 1979.Maybe we smiled at each other for a few seconds as we brushed past one another on The Romford Road.The moment was quickly forgotten.But maybe that memory;that image remained....and I used as my template for last night night dream?
It doesn't really matter in itself.But the mind as camera is a nice concept. A belief that nothing is ever lost or deleted..........Nature Wastes Nothing!............
As I say, it's warm:I ramble............
And So (the gentle author wipes sweat off his brow and sips his beer).Sepia Saturday's prompt is "You can choose; or go with armour, helmets, shields, fancy dress, pantomime, theatricals, warlike women or big sticks". .....ok (another sip)
But Sepians,I have a problem here.I need to talk about Margaret Downes .But nobody today knows her.There are no photos or paintings of her (sepia or otherwise).We know nothing about her life.I know more about the Blonde Chick in last night's erotic dream!
All I know about Margaret is that she lived in Manchester until 1819,she died on August 16th that year.She was murdered with a sabre by a (possibly) drunken British soldier.
She was one of 15 murdered that day.(between 400-700 others were injured)
Which doesn't help me find out about Margaret's Life.
She died in what was to become known as "The Peterloo Massacre".60000 working people held a rally in Manchester that day.They wanted to complain about their lives (Poverty:no Vote:etc)This was the biggest even crowd seen in Britain at the time.To placate the authorities ,the organizers asked the crowd beforehand to be peaceful and "Wear Your Sunday Best".
As the speakers on the stage began the speeches..the crowd applauded them and shouted agreement.The soldiers on duty around the crowd (many drunk) mistook the noise for hostility and charged them.
Then Margaret died.You can read the detail
here
I must take some photos of the St Peter's area (if you know Manchester,it's near the Midland Hotel)
The Irony is that many of those killed & injured were themselves former troops who had fought in The Battle Of Waterloo.War Vets..they had been demobbed:were out of work;in poverty......Hence it became know as "Peterloo".
Shelley wrote the famous Poem The Masque of Anarchy about Peterloo.It contains the words "Ye are many — they are few" which was used by the Recent Occupy Movement.
Which still doesn't get us any closer to Margaret does it........
SATURDAY UPDATE: Today I went to Rawtenstall for a cheeky little Sarspararilla atMr Fitzpatrick's Temperance Bar.It's Britain's last such pub/bar.
I remember, as a kid, they had a Temperance Pub up Haley Hill in Halifax.
Temperance Bars were particularly common in 19th century Northern England.
I must say the brew were very tasty on a warm Lancashire afternoon.I raised a glass to John Wesley
.
Sunderland Madge (Phil the X-Fireman's Mum )who i mentioned last week ,is out of Intensive Care and in an Ordinary Ward.I visit her tomorrow. 'Got her a bottle of 'Mr Fitzpatrick Blood Tonic Cordial'.Lord knows what she will make of that............
wikipedia:history of Temperance Bars
The album was gloomy and perverse.the producers had visited diverse groups of indigenes around the world, remarkable only for their persistence in chanting to no avail. Here were the Ketchem of Belize with their muttering eructation 'Fall Out of the Water-Fish'.The I-Arana of Guinea ,disillusioned cargo cultists who moan gently,'Get Me Room Service', and many others too tedious and depressing to mention.
......
My son James didn't help.He'd picked up a couple of the failed chants and as I put him to bed that night he said,in passable Uraic 'Lo!The crops are withering'.Somehow, even among the cartoon stickers and the bright bendy limbs of bendy toys,this didn't sound as incongruous as it perhaps should have.
..........
Rain isnt "sexy" is it? Sun IS:Floods ARE...but nobody ever wanted to get their camera wet did they?Above is a photo taken on Sunday morning 1970 as Me & the Krumlin survivors left defeated........
Photos From My Hebden Bridge Fashion-Shoot on Thursday, [here]
{above.Sunday 14th July 2013:White Eagle Lodge:Rawden,Leeds}
Don't Worry! I haven't "Found Religion"...I went to the White Eagle Lodge in Leeds today supporting someone's healing. I went there 9 years ago.....(that time i just had a cup of Tea then buggered off to Bramley Russian Baths while Cathy went to a Service.This time I stayed.It was good.A long meditation in the middle of the service.A Nice Touch)
I also went to a White Eagle service once in Kensington ,London a few moons ago.
It's Christian...with Spiritualism/Buddism /Chakras thrown into the mix:"1930's New Age".Pre-Hippy/Beatnick/World War 2.............
I gather times are hard & they are having to sell the Kensington Lodge.A lovely Building with a cracking & very eclectic library.A Shame,
They are actually nice people .Middle Class & elderley ..The physical Leeds Lodge is in a beautiful setting,~albeit a former Council Mortuary building in a (pun) previous life~ A Cheeky Thought did occur to me while I was there.....the building & setting would make a perfect location for a Turkish Bath......Maybe,if I win the Lottery,i could make those Eagles an offer they couldnt refuse?
The Church's Manners are very low key,yet warm & friendly.......Imagine Jesus had been born in a stable in Surrey instead of Palestine..this is the sort of religion we have here.The whole religion reminds me of something created by William Morris and/or Eric Gill............
White Eagle:wiki Eric Gill:wiki Finally.Seriously. I was due to visit The Beautiful Madge from Sunderland in her home yesterday.But just before I arrived ,she had been rushed into Halifax Hospital (again).She is hanging on today,but it is serious.I said several prayers for her today.I hope & your Gods might do the same too?
I dont know how my image for this week's Sepia Saturday. fits the Theme.......It's a group of people.They share a common purpose (unknown).It's not not prescriptive,you can imagine your own narrative around it.I find it hopeful in a strange sense.I also cant help thinking it compliments Mike Garry's words ......................
I dont know anything about the image itself, other than it was taken in 1967.In South Parade Halifax.
When his Mum died two months ago, Michael Garry's family asked him to write this poem for her funeral .He also read it on stage at The Hebden Bridge Picture House on Sunday 30th June.(which i recorded for you here). Michael is from Fallowfield in Manchester.
{In The Interest of Balance, here is some beautiful writing to celebrate a Father.}
For some reason (?) on some browsers,this don't play to above audio automatically...if you don't hear it ;here is a direct link for it.
you may find Michael's facebook here
I have started loading images of the night here although one long video is a pig to download/takes ages...& is not on yet.I also have quite a bit of audio (example above) tho I havnt got around to doing anything with it yet.
thanks again to Bob Piper for your help.I will wrap up an audio cd for you at the end of this week. .John Cooper Clarke was as funny as fuck! A grand night.
She was explaining it to me this week.I asked for a translation.........she said....
"yetonynho,
BULLETinPortuguesecan meanbulletorcandy, hall is abreath mint, eucalyptus, so they preferhallsmentolyptosxxxxxxxx"
(When I say Friend.I mean friend).As with several other
people on the internet .........i have been talking to her for nearly ten
years, on various platforms.The irony of the internet is that although its quick
to find people:but equally quick to "lose" them.In some respects,it's harder to
keep in touch this way.But we have!
Thanks for the tickets
Bob Piper .Me & Billie owe you one!
[More photos [here] from our night out in hebden bridge.]
'End of the month,me & Chris go see British Sea Power at The Hebden Bridge Trades Club.We Look Forward! I understand the band is thinking of re-releasing the song "Waving Flags" as far more people are waving flags now than in 2008 when it was first released! Maybe it could become the UKIP general election campaign song in 2015?
Les Gentle Authors are returned! Our Photos are here
Photo taken 1:30 pm this afternoon.....Chris in Carlisle Turkish Baths.A good trip! The architecture is rather cool.Early William Morris meets Late Genghis Khan............
I went to Sowerby Bridge Library on Saturday night.Thanks to James for organising another good gig there.
