miscellaneous manchester

Well .We had planned to go by train to see the new Whitworth Art Gallery.
 But, on getting off the train, we needed to go for a piss,so nipped into The Royal Exchange Theatre to use their loos.
While in there, we heard they had cheap seats going for the Saturday Matinee
.So we had a spot of Tolstoy instead of going to The Whitworth (another day now i guess).
 We saw Anna Karenina.I dont know why..It;s not like she ever came to see us..........
 It is,of course,theatre-in-the-round & our cheap seats were right at the front on low benches, so we got to see it all up close.
Ive never seen the Boy Tolstoy before ,but i thought it rather good.
Fine acting & it was quite funky having a Afro-Caribbean Karenia.
I recommend it.Its on until 2nd May.
Above are some random photos I tookbefore & after.

live at Zeppelinfeld, Nuremberg

My take on the theme this week is old posters.

This is a British Labour Party poster from 1948.

 If the Tory Party wins the UK General Election in May,it will sell off our free National Health Service.And turn it into a USA-style paying system.

Its as brutal as that.

It's important the Tories lose. 

For a fact ,if Labour don't get in power I will lose my public sector  job.Really.It's as personal to me,as that...........

This is a sepia saturday post.

Went Indian Mealing in Hebden Bridge's Eastern Spice tonight. 

With Bob:Noj,John .Jim & Ken.Hurray!
Bob Dylan:Live at the Zeppelinfeld, Nuremberg, Germany; July 1, 1978. The show is imbued with additional meaning since the Zeppelinfeld was constructed in the ’30s and was the site for the Nazi Party rallies between 1933 and 1938 and can be seen in the film Triumph Of The Will. That a Jewish artist such as Bob Dylan preformed there 40 years later provides a special irony for the setting.

Saint John The Baptist In The Wilderness: Cragg Vale,West Yorkshire.

JER
Me & Cath took these photos today.
Child labour became the norm. Now began the mill owners infamous abuses. At one time or another from 1740 to the early 20th Century there have existed around 11 mills in Cragg. Turvin, Victoria, and Pepper Bank mills on Turvin Brook; Marshaw (opposite the Hinchliffe Arms) with New and Vale mills in Withens Clough. Next down Elphin Brook were Castle, Paper (opposite the Robin Hood Inn), Cragg, Hoo Hole, and Scar Bottom mill (Mytholmroyd).
By the 1820s these were no place for any decent human, let alone the children of the poor. "If there is one place in England that needed legislative interference it is this place; for they work 15 and 16 hours a day frequently, and sometimes all night. Oh! it is a murderous system and the mill owners are the pest and disgrace of society..!"
 It is on record that children died at their work in the mills of Cragg. Died from long hours and harsh treatments handed out. While the mill owners William Greenwood ('Old Billy Hard Times') and the Hinchliffe family amassed their fortunes. It took the 1833 factory act just to begin to address the appalling abuse of child labour and workers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragg_Vale

Rochdale Library : Young Fathers : 14th March 2015

"inside i feel dirty;it's only cos i'm hurting........" i took this video & these other  images , in Rochdale Library watching Young Fathers.
 [4;05 into this video ],watch extraordinary moves. Physical poetry & voodoo combined. As i say, extra-ordinary!

. Melange:

Who knows what's happening? Some kind of Beauty Parade? Some dancing competition? Whatever..... Looks like the ship's captain is showing the lass in the blue frock the door /the plank?

This is a sepia saturday post.

All I know.This image is from the late 50's.
A cruise somewhere.I found it on the site www.viewfromthisside.com .
It shares Kodachrome slides and suchlike.Many found unloved in carboots.
 I love the clarity & vivid colours these contain.
Somewhere  below is a slideshow  of  photos from today,s night in Halifax with Phil The X Fireman & Ken .
Ken [beard]is a friend of George ,a member of The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

i was thinking about the world's biggest necklace

Me & Cath & Martin went to see this fine play in Manchester yesterday.... Read About The Scuttlers here. Me & Cath see Young Fathers In Rochdale Library next month.

Young Fathers - "LOW" from Ninja Tune on Vimeo.

Old Friends ßookends

ßlimey,another Valentines Day...!

You know,my Dad was born on this day (& died on a Boxing Day) 

Strange to think he would be 98 now, had he lived.

 I know no more than you do about love.Other than it is universal as much as it is personal?

And that the long applause at the end of this (or any) song is as important as the music before it. 

Imagine,  I only turned my head away in order he had  a greater area to kiss........

My Son Chris & Me :Zante 1991

Cathy my Missus & Me in a mirror on the Greek Island of Paros in 1987.

Cathy in Paros:the same year.

This is a Sepia Saturday post. 

Bob Dylan - Pretty Saro from Columbia Records on Vimeo.

whoa, the blue light was my baby, and the red light was my mind.....

The Rolling Stones singing "Street Fighting Man" is total nonsense.A millionaire singing working class songs is a total lie.(hello,Russell Brand!)
 Saying that ,I loved this song  in the 1970s.I believed every word....Sometimes artifice is a very comforting distraction.innit?
We are critical of politicians & the lies they tell us.Are we any better with the lies we tell ourselves?

Athens:August 1987.

Cath took this photo of me in Athens in 1987.She was still recovering from her first miscarriage.

the earth sings when he touches it [Shakespeare]

Horses are one of the theme options for this week's Sepia Saturday.

I may have shown these photos before?Im not sure but its always worth repeating.Innit.

Above&below r some of  my Aunt Brenda's photos from The Saranac Winter Carnival. 

Brenda was born in Canada.& ,at some point,her & the family moved to Upstate New York where these was taken

. here are a few more of her wonderful photos. 

here a couple of previous posts about it all....... 

This is a Sepia Saturday post.Hurray!

hard times come again no more

 above, some of my photos from this year.If you dont know their context,you just havnt been paying attention x

the floor is made of turf and the walls full of butterflies.....

[view images:] Company: Noise Killer Acoustics Ltd. Address: Unit 7 Parkside Industrial Estate Edge Lane Street Royton, Oldham Manchester OL2 6DS. Contact: Steve Bithell. ".........During the industrial revolution Ancoats had a large Irish emigrant community in which, due to the harsh working conditions and rampant gang violence, life expectancy was just 17 years.
Nowadays the area is being gentrified and an effusive estate agent promises an audience gathered in Cutting Room Square a tour of bespoke apartments.
 But Angel Meadow does not surrender its ghosts lightly and the presentation is interrupted by a blood-splattered character (a ferociously unhinged Caitriona Ennis) who announces that gang violence has broken out again and Eddie is dead.
An attempt to lead the audience to safety results in us being divided into groups and individuals and taken on a nightmarish journey. The physical location of the play is largely irrelevant as it is more a trip through the state of mind of people who have little to lose and are on the verge of losing it anyway.
 Owen Boss superbly captures this lack of hope in his designs and installation. The rooms in a derelict public house are set out so that you might find yourself back in a 19th Century flophouse or illegitimate boxing ring. There is a disturbing surreal atmosphere that eerily demonstrates the futile lives of the inhabitants. The drinks cabinet in the pub is full of litres of bleach, which the characters swig with a life-hating disregard, the head of a butchered pig hangs over the pool table.
Fascinatingly at one point you pass a room n which the floor is made of turf and the walls full of butterflies – perhaps a promise of a better life. Rather than take the lazy way of many promenade productions, and just allow the audience to wander through the set, Louise Lowe's ingenious direction channels them towards particular events and scenes.
The manner in which the audience is divided ensures no two experiences will be the same. It is an intense and intimate event during which you may find yourself eyeball to eyeball with the burning physical presence of Thomas Reilly's deranged tough guy or holding the punching bag for bare knuckles boxer Eric O'Brien. There is also a deeply discomforting chance to share a whiskey with a grieving mother who begs you to take on the role of Sin Eater and allow her late child to ascend to heaven (the soul of the child is superbly represented). A bestial and squalid orgy and a bleak Christmas dinner also feature before the audience re-groups in the aftermath of Eddie's wake....."
What's On Stage:June 13th 2014: Angel Meadow (Ancoats, Manchester)]

hell on earth

"According to Oxford University Press, Manchester derived its name from Mamucium, the Roman name for the 1st century-settlement and fort. Mamucium itself is a Latinised form of the Celtic meaning "breast-shaped hill".........."[WIKIPEDIA:] Not a lot of people know that.............

A photo here of Danny from Rochdale at the Manchester German Christmas Markets.

The bloke on the  right  of him.?  He looks a bit like George Osborne to me.

Angus Reach, a London-based journalist, visited Manchester in 1849 Observed "the lowest, most filthy, most unhealthy and most wicked locality in Manchester is called, singularly enough, 'Angel-meadow.' 
It is full of cellars and inhabited by prostitutes, their bullies, thieves, cadgers, vagrants, tramps and, in the very worst sties of filth and darkness, by those unhappy wretches the 'low Irish.'"
[REFERENCE:]
Karl Marx described it "Hell On Earth" and it inspired him to write The Communist Manifesto while he lived in the City.
Marx always imagined it would be here,not Russia, that Communism would rise up to heal the world. [Wikipedia:St Michaels and Angel Meadow Park]
 Today mostly all that is left  is a pleasant Park.(think of it as the opposite of that Joni Mitchell song .."they unpaved the parking lot & put up a park......") Its ironic.The Park is Beautiful.It's just the rest of Tory Britain that's turning feral.Hey-hoy.......
But ,underneath the grass are still some cellars inhabited by prostitutes, their bullies, thieves, cadgers, vagrants, tramps & 'low Irish.? I tread gently & listen closely whenever i  travel there.

[above :random images 2008-2013]

 Every year since 2008 myself & assorted Lancashire & Yorkshire friends (many from the Rochdale Turkish Baths,itself now closed & disolved)visit Manchester to see the Christmas German Markets.
Usually we include a visit to The Marble Arch Pub which is on the border of Angel Meadows.
It's one of the few buildings still standing around there.
We go for our 7th year next Wednesday.We start drinking at 2 pm & carry on until around 11pm.
Its strange looking at last year's photos.I look  really healthy (yet a few weeks later I was in hospital with Pneumonia ).
Phil the x-fireman has been to all six,but will miss this year as he's still on the 'Injury List' (incidently , he's doing well & Will be back next year.He comes with me to see the movie "TURNER" before Christmas.We are keeping him in the picture!)
You never know what around the corner or hidden under your feet and noses........obviously .

Ringo was a fascist too.

the artist enters The Trades by the fire escape........[photo via /https://www.flickr.com/photos/rogerodoherty/]

I was part of about 21people+ drums +VAT who picketed this gig .

Including

about 6 people who  had brought big noisy drums to the protest and were hammering away as Martha's fans  walked in.

At  one point ,one young drummer near me got most irate."that bloke just said 'you drummers are all fascists!'How can drumming be fascist??.That's not TRUE.Drumming isnt fascist is it...." (being most putout about how the two could possibly be equated) .

I said to him,wanting to console ,"Never mind,Ringo was probably a facist too"

.He gave me a strange look.turned away,and resumed  his drumming ........

No doubt the subtilty was lost in the excitement .

What on Earth am I banging on about this week.............

Now,to be fair, I am told many artists leave & enter via The Fire Escape (its where the stage is).But its an arresting image,non?
For whatever reason Canadian singer Martha Wainwright did not want to engage the pickets on Wednesday night in Hebden Bridge
.Neither has she (as far as I know) talked about her position during her current troubled tour of the Britiah Isles . She can talk to Jerusalem Post but not The Hebden Bridge Times. Those drums kind of fill the silence she left behind her.................
.

Well [here] is some background.
The Canadian singer Martha Wainwright was playing Hebden Bridge's Trades Club.Us locals were restless because of her very recent support for Israel.
Bad Vibes @ Hippy Central because of this gig.
The Hebden Bridge Trades Club has always been a strong supporter & fund raiser on behalf of Palestine. It was embarrassing for both the club & the community as a whole.
It has caused a lot of debate among folk.Some wanted her banned & a raising of funds to buy out her contract.Others won the day with the compromise i outline below.
Personally I think it was about right.
Martha was allowed to sing.I was allowed to protest her visit to Israel.The Trades raised some more money for a good cause.

She was booked in good faith by the club before all the anger started about her Israeli visit. Had they cancelled, issues about "Breach of Contract" would have arisen,
As a compromise, The printed these leaflets,hung a giant Palistinan flag above the front door and they promised to  donate all  profits to   Medical Aid for Palestine.
In the end the figures broke down as followed: 20 protesters & Me & Drums +VAT outside
20 tickets returned prior to the gig.
The original standing capacity of 190 was changed to a seating plan of 150 + 20 standing.
5 nutcase Zionists who travelled over especially from Manchester to just shout at me for wear a Pro-Palestine Badge
 & a special mention to my West Indian friend Richard from Halifax.He's a boxer & a fighter who wandered along with his new partner .......he was oblivious to what was going on ,but he unknowingly  saved me from any further earbashing from the Zionists.They kinda took one look at him and found some others to abuse..........

 A strange personal twist for me was the fact that in 1978 i took this photo in Liverpool of her late Mum Kate McGarrigle. So I have always previously been aware of-and liked-her dynasty...

n.

there is no flamenco tonight

Me & Cath went to hear the Great American novelist James Ellroy give a talk in Manchester's Dancehouse Theatre'
Earlier the same day (5th Nov) we visited The Sensory War  at Manchester Art Gallery......
 This post's title refers to a notice that was  blue-tac'd onto the front door of the Dance Theater, telling the evenings students that (because James was in town)'flamenco' was off the menu for the night.......!
I was surprised how many people turned up.500+ souls on a wet  cold neon -lit evening....And the art nouveau-noirish decor of the Dancehouse  compounded  the effect  of it all........

(one of several audio clips i recorded in manchester)

 

Me & Martin & Ken & Bob & Noj & Jim #1 & Jim #2 & John & Tony T. went to Eastern Spice in Hebden Bridge for a meal 6th Nov .(see photos) 

James Ellroy interview: LA Confidential author on promoting books and settling scores {INDEPENDENT}