Ron Sexsmith :Hebden Bridge Trades Club.

Me and Sue Trigg went to Skool in the Olden Days!

https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/G-i-g-s/Ron-Sexsmith-Hebden-Bridge/

don't touch the third rail

  

Me and Cathy went for the day to Liverpool.

photos here..................

https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/Dropbox/LIVERPOOL-15th-October-2015/

Me in  the Walker  Gallery ,Liverpool ,Yesterday.
I studied and lived in Liverpool between 1976-1980.
(Teacher Training Certificate  & B.Ed(hons) from Lancaster Uniy& C.F. Mott,Huyton.)
My life in Liverpool was an in-between time for me. 
Many memories.Mostly good, tho i never loved the place the way i loved East London where I moved onto afterwards.......
Saying that ,Liverpool was,and is ,a Spirited Republic.
I wish it well in these dismal times in Dear Old Blighty.
God.England is shit at the moment.
A type of  purgatory.Non?

"The Dinner Party" [1980] by Sam Walsh. 

He was a Liverpool lecturer who painted this in the last years of his life.
 The sitters , who would never meet all at the same time, are people who from periods in his life. They include neighbours, solicitor, ex-wife, partner, bank manager & friends.

Simone Felice:8th October 2015:St.Michael's Church, Ancoats,Manchester.

Me & Cathy went with Capo Martin to St.Michael's de-consecrated church in Ancoats.
It was the first ever gig in a place that the Roman Jesus had  just vacated.........
(On the night, I think we all struggled with what  the correct ceremony for such an  occasion might be......?)
All i can say is that the acoustics in the place  are superb.Its clean,it's light & it has a good vibe.
A lovely sweet venue (tho the Bar charges Old Trafford prices!)
Simone was his usual Spiritual Self........a most underrated soul.
He had flown in from  New York that morning.He had been detained in a small room alone for 4 hours at Gatwick because of passport irregularities
 He seemed unimpressed with UK Border Control.......

[click to see all my photos]

a video i took:

The People's Assemby: Manchester March.

click  for all my Photos=  https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/Dropbox/The-Peoples-AssemblyMarch-4th/

flags & bunting from some grimy republic

I am nearly 65. Yorkshire Born & Bred! I was brought up in Halifax in the 50/60/70's . I always throught it "a grimy republic" . I love the place, but i still think it dark.......

UPDATE 28 feb 2018:   http://everton.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/looks-like-some-cunt-from-cheshire.html

(n.b. all photos below are NOT B.H.'s )

Halifax.(origin unknown)

Although ,a case in point, clickthis Martin Parr photograph of Old Halifaxto see a photo  very similar to some of B.H.'s photos. Now Martin Parr    is probably my favourite English photographer. Remember ,me & Cath went to his curated exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery recently.I beg to suggest that several of B.H. 's unseen photos stand comparison with Parr's?
n.b. I wrote  this very brief overview
of Martin's work.  
This is a Sepia Saturday post.

My previous post here reports of my visit last Sunday night to Hope Baptist Church in Hebden Bridge .
I heard the political commentator & journalist Owen Jones speak.
 He talked about how we English are becoming disenfranchised from the  politics in our life.We  start  to believe poverty ,hunger& unemployment etc are all'Acts of God' .Inevitable ...just like the rain outside......
 As it happens, the BBC are filming a new series of Happy Valley at the moment ,in Hebden Bridge.
Two nights ago, on the street that I work, they were filming this scene.
Given the nature of Yorkshire weather,dig the irony.It wasn't raining,so they had to use artificial rain!

As a Halifax child of the 50's, I remember during our Wakes Week some people , not themselves away on holiday, would climb to the top of Beacon Hill to admire the view.
 We live in a beautiful place.During Wakes Wake all the factories shutdown spewing smoke,so it was the only time you could  see the beauty!
The photos I share here show plenty of washing-lines.All those white clothes! How did they keep'em clean within the smoke & rain?
To me,the clean washing look not like white flags of surrender ,but  defiance .
 I believe we see the same defiance in the works today of Jeremy Corbyn & that fine American Bernie Sanders.( a tad strained link....but there you go!)
Incidentally,Mr Sanders name was respectfully mentioned several times at the  church on Sunday

Halifax

I must admit,i cringed a little when i saw this on the telly live.('seemed a little bit too "Bono" for my taste ) But I agree with the sentiment , and it does make for a cracking end to this post.....
. Although!This is a Beautiful Englishman singing the song to its best
.Everytime i hear Robert Wyatt's voice ,i sort of roll myself  into a ball & weep gently...it's so beautiful in my humble opinion.

The Annual Peterloo Massacre Remembrance in Manchester

Look Close! You Can See Me In The Crowd.

Me ,Cath & Martin Thorpe went to the annual Peterloo Massacre Memorial in Manchester today.

Approx 600 souls attended. A Choir;a folk band and actors Maxine Peake:Christopher Ecclestone (eg Dr Who):John Thompson (eg Fast Show);John Henshaw (eg Early Doors) gave readings.
A minutes silence was observed to respect those who were murdered.

For my American friends, Peterloo (1819) was England's Tiananmen Square(1989): England's Sharpville (1960): England's Kent State (1970 ) Peterloo was the subject of Shelly's poem The Masque of Anarchy

Maxine Peake: Fundraiser for The Morning Star newspaper: Hebden Bridge Trades Club:Saturday 8th August 2015

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxine_Peake

Maxine read Shelley's Masque of Anarchy.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masque_of_Anarchy    i took a wee video clip of her reading some of it  tonight......(Shelly on a Saturday night!)  which i will add here soon.A splendid night.A full house.

[A Light Above Descending}: British Sea Power:Hebden Bridge Trades Club:31st July

same song i recorded live in Heben Bridge Trades Club on Friday night.

It was my Birthday yesterday.
Me , Cathy & Chris went for a meal at The White Lion in Hebden Bridge.
Afterwards, we caught the train into Manchester's Royal Exchange to see Maxine Peake in The Skriker. Here are some photos i took of the day.

drinks in Sowerby Bridge

I can't compete with the riders in the other heats

David Byrne :Psycho Killer
 (Also featuring) Joe Henry, Greg Cohen and Duisburg Chamber Orchestra 
Live at the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum, Germany, August 19, 2006.

Cath took this photo of me in Hebden Bridge last Sunday. I really dont smile a lot, do I ?
What is that all about ? Bad Teeth ?Slavic personality ? a chronic  lack of humour  & empathy ...?
Its a mystery......

But!this week's sepia saturday   is about "unsmiling faces"  So it kinda fits the bill.Non?

the last time my smile was ever captured on camera was here, 15 years ago, entering a club toilet in Blackpool.So perhaps its better i dont make a habit of it......?

Click [HERE] to see other sepia saturday posts this weekend ..... 

The Rolling Stones;Start Me Up:

 Live at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, Indiana; July 4, 2015.

ظافر يوسف‎. may your hands be full of nothing.

Fuga Hirundinum (Birds Requiem Suite):DHAFER YOUSSEF ظافر يوسف‎. Jazz à Vienne, Théâtre Antique, Vienne, France; June 29, 2015
 Tunisian Dhafer Youssef is a composer, singer and oud player. He developed an interest in jazz at an early age and clandestinely listened to it during his education at a Qur’anic school. He later left Tunisia to start a jazz career and has lived in Europe since 1990, usually in Paris or Vienna
.[ - wikipedia]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhafer_Youssef

 Some random photos I took in Hebden Bridge today.

Patti Smith:Live at Glastonbury, Pyramid Stage, Worthy Farm, Pilton, UK; June 28, 2015.
 Smith explained that it was the spiritual leader’s 80th birthday on July 6.
 “We are grateful to him for all his love of humanity and making people aware of the importance of saving the planet,” she said, before reading a poem she had written for him.
 Glastonbury’s Emily Eavis then brought The Dalai Lama onto the stage to huge cheers from the crowd. “I think it would be nice if Glastonbury wished The Dalai Lama a happy birthday,” said Smith, before leading the audience in a rousing rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’.
 The Dalai Lama then blew out a single candle on a cake made of fruit, before cutting it.
 “Thank you, thank you,” he said. “Dear brothers and sisters, I really appreciate so many people’s expression of warm feeling.”
He then went on to joke about the age of Smith and her band. “These singers and musicians have white hair, but they look very youthful! That gives me encouragement, I should be more like you - more active!”
[click below  to listen}

Zy plays a trick with his teeth

I admire this series of photographs from the Hotel Austerity.

Brian the Poet .

This week's sepia saturday is around "hotels".

Me &Cathy went to Bury Met with Don & Margaret to see Robin & Bina  Williamson play
.[Robin is ex-Incredible String Band.]
 I love the music.
 Robin has a refreshing lack of Ego & a grand sense of humour.
He comes from Portobello  , just outside Edinburgh..where my Mam came from.
In one or two of these photos i fancy he looks a  little  like me.........Something genetic :)?
Here are some of my photos from day (unfortunately,my audio recorded didnt work..I would have like to have  shared their music here   tonight ...but some fine pix none the less)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na_Yoon-sun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Williamson

"its not always like what we see on the surface......" (quote from the dvd)

Wisconsin Death Trip

By sheer chance on Saturday night (2oth June) i sat down to watch the dvd Wisconsin Death Trip .
The visual motif that  punctuates the film  throughout  is that of the local newspaper Editor  typing out his news reports. .....
[I got this film out from Hebden Bridge Library.Part  of their current "American Gothic" promotion]
At the same time,i borrowed the book of the same name..
it's stuffed full of glorious sepia photos.Something of a Sepians Bible .

Tricky one this. Sepia Saturday this week has the topic of "typewriters"
. I have no photos of them.....
 .I suppose in the those olden ,sepia, days folk were more economical with their film.? Typewriters were ubiquitous & we thought they would live  forever.We thought them immortal as we were .....ha! fools, little did we know........
 The nearest I have is this photo taken in my late-20th century office in Halifax with my work colleague  Calla.
I like Calla, she is my type of woman.......

See other sepia saturday  posts {here}

Finally.check out the ever excellent lost gallery blogspot for gallons of sepia typewriters......

And the sheer bonkersness of Wisconsin Death Trip makes me think of similarity with this photo of my grandparents life in Saranac ,New York State. see more here

ßeñeath the southern cross

 More developments since last week's post concerning my stable~ come~ £6000 Italian Ruin......

I found out this week that the 'mystery offer'comes from an Italian government/EU initiative to regenerate the region.(details below) .

It's a bit like a 'compulsory-purchase'.

Nominally , the price is negotiable .

However (because my & some other buildings  are rundown /that's why I got  it cheap in the first place) if i don't negotiate a selling price ,I will be ordered by the commune to bring it up to a certain (new) standard. This will be expensive.

Basically it's double or quits.

Which,realistically means that the cost would have to make it become my first & only home.
Now, even before any haggling, they seem to be offering me a fair price (just above what i paid  initially plus any legal costs involved in the

selling....).
Take the money & run?

I,ve no idea yet what time deadlines are involved.....

 ....... it does feel a bit like selling a dream.

I always suspected the area had potential.I guess it will have to develop without me.

A shame.

*

in other news....I booked tickets to see Simone Felice at St.Michael's Church in Ancoats on 8th October ( Manchester's "Little Italy") {buy TICKETS}

Today Me Chris & Cath buried Chaz's Ashes in the Yorkshire sun above Hebden Bridge.

It felt like Italy a little..........