Saturday, April 11, 2015

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.

Thursday, April 09, 2015

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.

Sunday, April 05, 2015

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

Sunday, March 15, 2015

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!

Friday, March 06, 2015

. 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.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

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.

Friday, February 13, 2015

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.

Friday, January 30, 2015

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.
I asked her to take it.
I was reading plenty of Paul Bowles & Bruce Chatwin at the time.
I suppose ,in this photo , I wanted to give an impression of a 'Gentleman Abroad'.Living with 'real' people.[Not on some dodgy package holiday!]
 I remember I began reading Raymond Carver on my return.("Working Class Noir"!).
Chris was born safely the following year.I guess it worked....

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

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!

Friday, December 19, 2014

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

Crash On The Levee

Storm Bert in Todmorden