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}

The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar. It was tense.

Somewhere further on down the line,Me & Cath see Simone Felice at The Hebden Bridge Trades Club on the 19th November.[as i write this 2nd Nov you may still be able to pick up a few tickets for the gig here ?]
this is justabout near perfect... I went into Manchester today with Martin,Jim & Tony T.

 Here are some photos
In the photos below,you may glimpse on several occassions, a couple dancing .
They are not quite as old as the elderly singers.but are they .rehearsing or anticipating?
they danced so beautifully i was spell bound.....
Most of these photos were shot in The Hare& Hounds pub on Shude Hill in Manchester.
(Me & Cath had met Don & Margaret there a few months ago briefly before going onto a gig.It intrigued me then).
I remembered the elderly singers & suggested to the lads we might visit tonight. We had intended only a swift drink then onto the trendy Northern Quarter.....But ,instead we stayed all night.Something quite magical about sitting with these 80 year olds having a ball! We stayed the rest of the night.....

brian wilson singing buddy holly's 'listen to me'.

The next few weeks are quite busy in ebenchshire........
I went up to see Phil the X-Fireman at his house in Siddal.(i see him most weeks)
 He is ok.He has  of course lost a lot of weight (maybe cos he hasnt been drinking for 8 weeks?!)
His 7 week Chemo & Radiotheraphy course in Leeds is now over (no 'results' for a while yet,he reckons) He Sends Everybody His Love.
He drives down to Hebden Bridge on Wednesday 12 Nov to meet me to see  the film 1971
.Its about a British Squaddie in Northern Ireland in 1971, the same year Phil himself was fighting there.It will be interesting to gather  what he thinks about it.
This coming  Wednesday,Me & Cathy go to Manchester's Dancehouse Theatre to watch/listen to a talk from James Ellory (LA CONFIDENTIAL etc).Expect some images & audio?
The day after that , me ,Comrade Ken,Bob,Nodje,Jim#2 ,John.Jim#1 ,Martin & Phil #2 meet for a curry at Eastern Spice in Hebden Bridge.

On The Roman Road

This is a Sepia Saturday post.

Carlisle is a fine fine border city.

Did you know?The Romans never got to Scotland,only as far as Carlisle.Beyond there lies monsters (even makes UKIP scared!)

 Cath & me today moved like Romans.

We took a train journey on the beautiful Settle~Carlisle Line & spent 5 hours in this border city .
We had a Turkish Bath:a Meal:A Museum & A Castle ! Much Joy. Dig my photographs here.....

Because I lived & worked in the East End of London,I have always had a soft spot for the place.
I look at sepia photographs of the Old East End &  feel exiled twofold. Once by 'place':(i now live in The North of England) And once by 'time' .
The 50s& 60s are gone forever i guess?
This week, I first saw these 17 sepia photos ,any one would have fitted the bill.Here is just one example at random. click here to view the rest of David Hoffman's extraordinary exhibition of the Sepia Roman Road 
Enjoy!
( This week's prompt asks for " Street traders, roadside artisans, menders, cobblers, tools-of-the-trade...")

Hey Kids!Click ,put on your headphones & listen to some classic Sepia Audio!

Go On ! You know you want to!

Here is Phil Ochs Live in New York; December 15, 1965.Singing "Joe Hill"
its funny,the copyright police have finally found me! They would not let me put a direct link here.!You will have to leave this page to listen to this illegal Phil Ochs recording.It may be "sepia", but its still dangerous!Hurray!

living legends..forever!

Jeff Buckley:Live ; October 11, 1992: Corpus Christi Carol (acapella) (Benjamin Britten) The carol was written in 1504
"One recent interpretation is that it was composed about the execution of Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII, whose badge was a falcon...."{wikipedia}
[n.b. the footbally-challenged might need to know that  West Ham's ground in London's East End is known as "The Boleyn Ground" because ,in those wacky olden-days,she used to go a-hunting there......]


This image was taken in Manchester this week at The National Football Museum   
A Get-Well Present from me to Phil the x-fireman.
Phil is in his 6th week of Chemo & radiotheraphy for throat cancer.
Like me,Phil is a massive West Ham United fan.
On the mug are illustrated Martin Peters,Geof Hurst & Bobby Moore.It reads "Living Legends:Forever"
Phil's mouth is always very dry.He is always wanting fluids.This is practical.
 Phil finishes his treatment in a week's time.I'm hoping eventually he might want/be able to visit the Museum with me once he has more spare time (his NHS treatment takes up 5 full days a week at the moment)The mueum is right next door to Victoria Railway station.Not a long walk for him.
 Phil said last week that all he seems to do at the moment is "sleep & take drugs".I cheered him up (i think) by telling him he was turning into Ken  Before my very eyes........
Dexy's Midnight Runners:Live at Haarlem, The Netherlands; October 27, 1982.

June 18th in Hebden Bridge.Phil,Me,Ken .taken just prior to Phil's news..........

did i see you planting seeds in the forest?

The 4th October is the date in 1941 that Norman Rockwell launched a series of Saturday Evening Post covers depicting Willie Gillis. Rockwell described Gillis as “an inoffensive ordinary little guy thrown into the chaos of war”. Willie made his debut carrying a food parcel and suddenly everyone wanted to be his friend.

This is a sepia saturday post.

I remember hearing on the radio recently about the birth of the movies.When the first "film story" was made. It was about how they never imagined that "Stars" could never possibly be  created.
Quite the reverse infact.It was thought that the audience would never accept the same actor in a different role/movie ever again...Once seen in one context,an actor would never be able to appear again the another film.
 Part of me (the part that thinks about Jennifer Aniston ) regrets this didn't happen.....
 I was thinking about the prompt image to this week's topic. I am going for "facial expression". I wonder when the first photographic smile was.?Not an in situ smile :but a "say cheese "smile. The first time someone realized that this smile would stay fixed forever.The first time someone realized they could be surrounded by shit,but lie about it!
 All very existential really.The first time we smiled at an unknown stranger...
 A possible  problem of course is how to  stop it once you've started.
Look at those tragic celebrities and politicians we see around us today.[The false existential smile that stays fixed forever...I am thinking here about Batman's Joker.....]
So here then dear sepians  is a nice (and relatively rare?) example of a group of people fair oblivious to the camera.
Yes.They know the reason they are there is to be photographed.But they dismiss the camera and  smile at each other instead.We are dismissed!

SILVER RAVEN:Gene Clark - guitar, vocals Michael Clarke - drums Richard Manuel - piano, vocals Rick Danko - bass, vocals Blondie Chaplin - guitar, vocals Evansville, IN; May 15, 1985
(.try to listen towards the end of the audio .Nice to hear both Gene's speaking voice & his mention of Rick Danko......).
Meanwhile...today.....In the Scottish Free State ,lives a rather fine band called Young Fathers.I am really pleased they have been nominated for this year's MERCURY.
 No doubt the winners will turn out to be a group of public schoolboys from Surrey.But never mind ,its brought Young Fathers some richly deserved attention.Remember,I've been blathering on about them for over a year here .They are rather special. (although the american interviewer in this video is a bit of a tit...)

we followed Rosencrantz to the chippy on Exchange Street.

See all my photos today [here] .

By the way Capo Martin,we went to The Scuttlers Bar off Shude Hill ....../opposite the station & tram stop.Worth a visit sometime?

a fine photo Cath took of the gentle author in The Scuttlers Bar.

  Me and Cathy went to see Maxine Peake's new production of Hamlet at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre.
It opened late last week.
We went to today's matinee performance[.3 hefty bum-numbing hours.]
Straight after the performance ,as we left the theatre, Rosencrantz (a chick) still dressed in her stage costume of punk leathers,short skirt & tattoos, ran passed us along Exchange Street to the nearby chippy
.The cast would only have a couple of hours before the evening show would start.
Her hunger & urgency was fair enough.
 So far ,the play has only had moderate reviews (3 out of 5 in both The Telegraph & The Guardian although a 5/5 from The Times)
I found it fine myself .
Maybe its the gender thing they had difficulty with?Not only are Hamlet & Rosencrantz chicks..but Polonius and the gravediggers too! I loved those fucking gravedigging babes! Broad Scouse accents & (at the end of the play) one of them breaks into Frank Sinatra's MY WAY!
Generally,to be fair, Maxine is pretty loyal to the story + the Set Design was pretty groovy ! Dr Who sprang to mind!
All in all , a great bouncy play.
 A young lad in the audience sported a Bob Dylan teeshirt..& i must admit ,His Bobness does have something of The Prince of Denmark about him.
 Have I ever told you, in 1972 i went on a Youth Hostel holiday to Denmark & visited Helsinor Castle! Which is more than Shakespeare ever did.........

he's the hairy handed gent who ran amuck in Kent

It was Ken Kersley's 62 birthday today.We went into Halifax tonight for a few drinks  to examine the Olden Days.......
Here are some pictures of that.......

Happy Birthday Comrade Ken!

 By the way.... Jack The Ripper was NOT Polish !The media,she tells lies..... (read the truth  here)

An Architect's Dream.

The audio is of Kate Bush in London on August 26, 2014.
She is singing
"An Architect’s Dream".
The image is a still from a video I took today on my Hebden Bridge Patio. (for some reason I cant upload it here.You will have to be my friend on facebook to see it,I'm afraid)  The video is of an Ice-Bucket Challenge i did.The money is for Cancer Care.
Phil the x-Fireman's daughter Rowena asked me to do it.
Phil himself has cancer.He started a 5-week radiotherapy & chemotherapy course of treatment this week at NHS Cookridge:Leeds .

Please pray for him.

[ps Thanks Clive :the Polish CD arrived today,Much Thanks Sir.] 
If anybody wants the entire 3cd set of Kate Bush's opening night,just let me know & i will run you off copies.(This includes 2 video clips!)

.Never Forget ,All Property is Theft!

 I was a bit bemused by all the media hype about her  last week.

You would have thought that Nick Drake or Jeff Buckley had been brought back to life! 

I like the lass well enough.(but  ,why no Northern Dates?)
To me,she is Peter Gabriel in Frock  (this is not a bad thing........)

+I suspect she is one of Cameron's Babe's .Non? 

Saying That,if someone had have given me a free ticket,I would have gone see her! In any event...here she is Climbing That Hill

Post by Tony Zimnoch.

now all the bonny birds have wheeled away

Danko, Fjeld & Andersen: Live at Skitz & Roll, Bagno di Gavorrano, Italy, December 4, 1994. {source:}

our feet get bigger as we get older(who knew?)

r

A photo of Len presenting me with one of his old string vests.It was to be part of my 'costume' as The Polish Builder in The Village People on a Stag Do in Benidorm

A personal best today!
 I swam two miles in Sowerby Bridge Pool before 930am!
The reason for my being there was that ,next door to the pool, was my NHS Podiatry.I was later visiting for an ingrowing toe nail.
My Foot Nurse  told me that ,as you get older,your feet tend to get bigger.Imagine!
 I told her that it was nice to know that something got bigger when you got older (she looked at me as if I was a bit  soft.......)

These photos I took in Rochdale tonight.Some of the lads from The Rochdale Hamam met for a drink
.A nice night.Thanks for the organisation,Martin (& your photos of Carter Lane Youth Hostel ( where I lost my virginity)

I was sorry to hear about the death of Len from Marsden.

Len fought the 2nd World War in North Africa ,The Middle East  then up the spine of Italy. I knew him in his later years  at The Rochdale Hamam. Rest  Yourself Now, In Peace , Len X

behind garden walls

Evinize gelen yeni bireyden ötürü sizi kutlarız!

I hear from Ayse that she gave birth in Montreal this week! Welcome Baby Zehra ! Much Love From Tony   X

A wee timeline to inform this post:
*February 16th 1968 saw The Beatles,Mike Love,Mia Farrow,Donovan travel to India to visit Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at Rishikesh.

*July 12th 1968 saw The Belfast Orange March .(which was to be the last trouble-free  march for 30 years)

*5th 1968  saw the start of Northern Ireland's "Troubles": {"The Troubles:1968-1998"}

My brother Ziggy gave me & Phil (the X-Fireman) a lift in his car to catch the Heysham -Belfast ferry. It was 1968.
This was my second holiday without my Mam & Dad.The previous year, 5 of us from School had hired a caravan in Great Yarmouth.
This time only me & Phil.  As i write this I realize that , for the first time , Belfast was the  only occasion we have ever been abroad together.He nearly came to my house in Italy a couple of years ago..but because of his mother's illhealth ,had to cry off at the very last minute .)
Anyway......I knew nothing about Northern Ireland politics..I didn't know it was going to blow up only months after we had been there.
In fact Belfast harbor itself 'blew my mind'.A big beefy Policeman glared at us as well walked off the ferry.A big fat gun on his hip....It looked more like a Chicago mobster movie to me...I felt like Elliot Ness on a Mission....
Phil's dad Bob was a Protestant Ulsterman.  His family lived on the Shankhill Road. Phil had never been before,so we had to walk with our rucksacks through the terraced streets .They all still had the archways & bunting & dates& King Billy scrawled on walls from the previous month's Orange March......Seriously fucking weird.
Phil had primed me beforehand."Dont talk about religion" "tell 'em your CofE";We were hitching from Belfast to Dublin afterwards.The agreement was we swapped religion at the border.
(Strangely.Phil would join The British Army a couple of years later & patrol those same borders again.)
His family made me very welcome .Being both Cof E & an English accent gave me browny -points i guess..........
After as couple of days we set of out of Belfast.Camping &hitching our way to The Free State.
Eventually we got to Dublin.Staying in a Youth Hostel opposite Mountjoy Prison
After that we walked inland........eventually  staying  in a pretty rural Youth Hostel on the other side on Bray.It  had a   Graveyard  with  bodies of Germany Navy sailors from World War 2.
we stayed for several  days R&R....& meeting new arrivals.  It was like a scene from Easy Rider! This American dude & beard rode his motorbike into town with a very young girlfriend in tow (she must have been 10 years his minor).
The Irish wife of the hostel warden was scandalized ( she looked like the housekeeper from Father Ted).But she let them stay a night (saying something to the effect of 'Good Riddance' as they rode off into the horizon the following morning)
He was a really friendly bloke.Said they were from California .They were just touring Europe for a few weeks on their own.
Thing was.He looked like Mike Love from The Beach Boys.We were too shy to ask him more......Now this may have been an opportunity missed?But ,on the other hand, our silence then allowed us to dine out on the possibility ever since!
A few weeks after returning to England, i happened to be reading in the NME that Mike Love had spent August 'holidaying in Europe'.......who knows? Perhaps....? From this distance , its nice to imagine that Me & Phil might have had a couple of walk-on parts in the The Californian  Dream.

Phil The Pre-Fireman  in 1966

Say a prayer to any gods you know.My best friend Phil is going through hard times at the moment.I have known him since we went to school together in 1963. He is like a second brother to me.I have many tales to tell.Watch this space! The Summer of 65 ,on hearing I was going with my family to relatives in Poland,he asked me to "Bring Back A Piece Of The Iron Curtain".I have been trying to do that for him ever since.......we shall call it unfinished business..
{. Sandy Denny & Fairport Convention: Like An Old Fashioned Waltz :Live at Clark University, Worcester, MA; April 27, 1974. }

Ken,Tony ,Phil & Iris: This Afternoon in Halifax.

Some photos [here] from this special meeting today in Halifax.Much Love is Here. No doubt,I will talk later about this all .....

David Bromburg & Larry Campbell:Band on The Wall in Manchester:4th August 2014

urban psychosis in manchester 3&4th August 2014

Urban Psychosis:Holden Gallery:Manchester

14th July-22nd August 2014

retail therapy [shop till you drop]

Visit www.bdsmovement.net to get more info on how you can to support Palestinian commercial rights.

I attended this day of action in Manchester today  to protest about the murder of ,now, 1000 Palestinians by Israel.
Last week had seen an even  larger march in Manchester.
today's march was smaller ,maybe because of the "Direct Action" element?
Today was a walk  through the city centre.Stopping off at Banks & businesses that support Israel.
It ended at the Kedem shop on King Street.
Kedem has now been targetted for 7  days.Today we were met by a couple of hundred people who supported the shop.They waved Israel flags & union jacks and were not happy (they lost another whole day's trade today..Ironically their 'friends' helped to prevent any shoppers going  anywhere near the place)
Kedem is an upmarket beauty product shop that sells stuff made in Israel & sourced from the Dead Sea.
One of the Kedemians  was rather rude to a young Muslim woman who had brought her young children on the protest.
"You should be ashamed of yourself bring children to such a dangerous place" she spat in the Muslims face.Which is rather ironic.Non?

So mournful that the dove just laughs the steadfast gasps

Oh, to be not anyone
Gone this maze of being skin
Oh, to cry not any cry
So mournful that the dove just laughs the steadfast gasps

Oh, to owe not anyone
Nothing to be
Not here but here
Forsaking equatorial bliss

Who walked through the callow mist
Dressed in scraps
Who walked the curve of the world
Whose bone scraped, whose flesh unfurled

Who grieves not, anyone gone to greet lame
The inspired sky amazed to stumble
Where God's get lost
Beneath the southern cross

rocking in the free world

Photo taken in Burnley by Michael H Gregg In the meantime please consider this......
.Neil Young's Israel Concert Cancelled To Not 'Put People In Gaza Rocket Range At Unnecessary Risk'

.Indeed .Poor Zion..

I took these photos in Burnley Municipal Cemetery this morning.
I had given Chris a lift for an Interview he was having with Burnley Council's  Parks & Garden Dept.(he finds the result of this within the next couple of weeks)
Quite a surreal place to have a job interview ! But a pleasant wait for me.

































Burnley has it's own muslim area of burial.
This morning I  said  prayers for the murdered innocent men,women & children of  the current  Gaza Ghetto Uprising
 May they rest in peace
 & may their Israeli murders find some apropriate  punishment. somewhere down the line.....
Plus,Burnley has  a fine War Memorial for the British dead in two World Wars
.Also,a surprise, a memorial for The Hapton Valley Colliery Disaster 1962
To my shame,I had never known about.......

The new Hapton Valley Colliery soon acquired the name Spa Pit on account of the discovery of a mineral spring around 1818 by Ambrose Eastwood a local farmer. The spring was close by the new pit, and the name adopted. The method of coal extraction at this time at Hapton Valley would have been by pick and shovel working the pillar and stall method of extraction........

....The most fateful day in the collieries history of course was the disaster of March 22 nd. 1962, when a total of nineteen men perished...........

"The Ship Song" Nick Cave: Live at the Admiralspalast, Berlin, Germany; February 13, 2013.

may you never.....

Ciao Pennadomo! Possiedo Via Caldora n.43.
I currently work three days a week. (Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday).So when I approached my line manager  recently to ask if "I may work Thursday 10th July in order to go on Strike" She thought it a pretty fucking stupid idea.
Which i guess it was!
 Anyway,today i wasn't technically  withdrawing my labour...But I was there anyway.

The Gentle Author & Pauline ,from Work,picket the Halifax Council Buildings during today's National Strike.

Post by Tony Zimnoch.

JOHN MARTYN "May You Never" Live at the Teatro Antoniano, Bologna, Italy; May 18, 1977. John Martyn ,you will recall, pissed on my shoes in a gents toilet in Liverpool in 1979.Read all about it[ here ]

The Rolling Stones:Live at the Ernst-Merck-Halle, Hamburg, Germany; September 13, 1965
.SATISFACTION.
 Sir Mick sounds drunk/stoned/Outatune!

le tour de Hebden Bridge

up the junction

Squeeze:Live at the O2 Academy, Glasgow, Scotland; November 23, 2010. [soundboard]

Me & Cath spent a couple of days in Harrogate.We returned home tonight.
Harrogatians  are gearing up for the Tour De France, which starts tomorrow
Here are a few of my photos.
The Tour comes near  my house in Hebden Bridge on Sunday.Hopefully some more photos from that next week?

.Two  intial thought.....

The hotel me & Cath stayed in last night cost us £89.

We stopped in the St George's Hotel

[On the other side of the road, was where we saw T-Bone Burnett & Elvis Costello play live at in The Royal Hall on the 9th November 1984 .]
Tonight the same room will cost some poor soul  £325 per night!(Le Tour goes through Harrogate both days.It's something of a "hub")
Plus,my house is 50 yards from the Hebden Bridge route on Sunday,what a shame I didnt get me a UKIP flag during the recent elections.Had I one,I would wave it with vigour this weekend....
This weekend in Yorkshire Bike Riding appears to be "the new Rock & Roll" (as opposed to football or tennis...*sniggers*) Only fair then,I should share the best ever Rock N Roll video about Cycling.I give you Wild Billy Childish and The Buff Medways...............

..............Eat Your Heart Out Bradley Wiggins..

We have talk of 30,000 folk turning up in Hebden Bridge on Sunday to watch the tour de france.Hebden Bridge is known as "the lesbian capital of Britain".It is illegal for women to take part in the Tour.[DISCUSS] [above-press to play]Elvis Presley/Heartbreak Hotel:Live at the Freedom Hall, Johnson City, Tennessee; March 17, 1976.
n.b. you can hear the entire (good quality) Johnson City 1976 concert here

Sometimes Hebden Bridge tries too hard:Sometimes it becomes a parody of itself..........

here are some random photos taken in Hebden Bridge today.

+Me and Cath went to the Birchcliffe Centre.Can I say some nice things about PoesCeramics.Very Good & Very Well Priced.Buy ALL Your Christmas Presents from them this year!

Birchcliffe Ceramic Centre

cant find my way home.

Really Nice To See Bob from Bacup  & Noj & John & Jim in Hebden Bridge at The Eastern Spice with Ken & Phil the X-Fireman.Thank You All.Again soon I think. I am blessed with friendship.

The main audio is Steve Winwood recorded Live at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Telluride, CO; June 20, 2014.Just 7 days ago!{An old Blind Faith song ,as I recall....] The second audio here (press to play) is Fleetwood Mac/ Peter Green live in New Orleans,; January 30, 1970.Who knows where the time goes...?
Finally. I've been really interested in Edinburgh's Young Fathers.They first appeared to me in January.They are so good.I love everything about them.
They are trying to break America.Good Luck Guys!The Music they make is rather special........If you like what you hear,give me a shout & I will run you off a copy of the latest album.The ghost of Jackie Leven lives on!

I'm Ready To Go Anywhere........

Image by Arthur Tress.

Audio by  The Byrds

Me & Phil the X-Fireman and Ken went supping in hebden Bridge on 18th june 2014. Here are some photos.....