𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑

 

Last night I finished reading this cracking book . I can highly recommend. R.J. Ellory's " The Bell Tower" (2024 )

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204024382-the-bell-tower

 A very well written and easy to read style ( think Stephen King without any of his Acid Flashbacks! ) 

It's set on Death Row in Florida Maybe not the best book in the world , but still the best American Crime Novel i have read since James Ellroy.'s " The Black Dahila" 

 Talking of James Ellroy, i include a photo i took of him ten years ago at a Talk in Manchester. More photos here of that night are 

HERE

Bluesky

 Yesterday i joined Bluesky ( a newish rival to Musk's twitter )

Visit me here https://bsky.app/profile/zimmy88.bsky.social

i now have more Platforms than Kings X Station.

A Kupeyyah

In the Post this morning.From my Niece Katy

 She  sent me this   Kupeyyah from her latest journey to Qatar

 

Balloon

If you love the Blue Nile, Prefab Sprout, Go-Betweens, Michael Head and all that good stuff, then you should give this a listen..........

 

Read about Balloon here

Bob Dylan in Prague singing :"Desolation Row" : 4th October 2024

 

this week

This week i mainly just got a new Bus Pass & then went for a drink in Hebden Bridge 

Or, perhaps, it was the other way round...?

 

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝟕𝟐 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞

 

After going to the GP's this morning I then went to Hebden Bridge Library & also got my haircut at Nathan's Barbers Shop.

I must be the coolest seventy-two year old in Yorkshire! I mean , being able to drive while reading Japanese Literature is something they just don't teach modern kids to do at Driving School.

Me by The Serpentine in London 2010?

 

𝐦y O𝐥d P𝐡o𝐭o P𝐫o𝐣e𝐜t c𝐨n𝐭i𝐧u𝐞s a𝐭 ... https://www.instagram.com/tonyzimnoch/

18 years ago

 

18 years ago in Manchester. 

All i remember about this day is having toothache and a hangover. 

This was in the days when Blogging was as Cutting-Edge as Podcasting is now.

The Small Faces

 I just came across this video on twitter just now. Probably of no great interest to anybody else , but anyway, I post it to preserve it . It's The Ruskin Arms in East Ham London . Now sadly ( like so many other pubs) boarded up .

When I lived in East London back in the 70's it was my Local ( i lived the next street down). n.b. i bought my Operation Julie supplies there.......

The Landlord then was the father of one of The Small Faces and, in the 60's , the band played their first gigs there .

Instagram

Visit my Instagram page of old photos here  

This was taken in The Highlands of Scotland near John O'Groats. Aged 17 and with a head full of Van Morrison & The Incredible String Band!

 

facebook

visit my facebook page

 

My facebook page tonight. For more raw images of the day click here

Thanks for your email today Don  ( 6 weeks in the USA!) .I will reply during the week ( too pissed atm!)

Champion Jack Dupree

I shared my 72nd Birthday today at Dean Clough Art Gallery with the ghost of Halifax's Blues legend Champion Jack Dupree. 

Jack's Bio

Jack's Biography = born in New Orleons ( to a part African American and Cherokee mother & father from the Congo .) died in Germany:parent's murdered by KKK when he was 2.: he then lived in the same orphanage as Louis Armstrong : WW2 a Japanese POW for 2 years : smoking dope with Eric Clapton on Ovenden Way Halifax :earlier was a US boxing champion (hence his nickname)etc etc An amazing life. Reading Jack's Biography above, what it doesn't tell you is that while Jack lived in Halifax his Postman was my late friend Phil Davidson who died a few months ago !

Sauna in Mytholmroyd

Final Farewell Tour

We met up in Rochdale this afternoon for what I had billed as " Hydn's Last Drink" .

But it went so well that we will probably be having another ( in Manchester) in the coming weeks! 

A bit like one of those aging Rock Bands who do a " Final Farewell Tour" only to reappear soon afterwards to do another one!

 Anyway ,Hydn was on fine form : a pleasure to be with. He even joked that he was a bit upset about just having to buy a new freezer, knowing that he won’t get full use of it.

with Jimmy Stridgen

Hydn

I meet up with Hydn tomorrow in Rochdale with Huffy, Tony T & Jimmy.

Our last ever drink together?

 

I started taking these little puppies this week : high blood pressure

 

Nigel Farage

On The Subject Of Jacques Brel

Ces gens-là (song)  

Read an explanation of this performance  *  Here  *

facebook

Me { as I like to see myself) on facebook     https://www.facebook.com/tony.zimnoch/

 

Jacques Brel

Me & Cath went to see Liverpool band " Dead Belgian" play the Puzzle in Sowerby Bridge on Thursday night. Singing the songs of Jacques Brel Visit my album Here for Videos & Images

Cath's Birthday

 

Smile and the World smiles with you

Asthma & Sinus have been very ropy for me this week (.+bad headaches & poor sleep )

 I went to the Hebden Bridge Medical Practice  this morning to get an emergency script for my Asthma .

 But a funny thing happened to me on the way  to Boots Chemist to collect my   meds . 

Stood in front of me while I queued ,was a bonny well dressed young lass ( probably only about 16/17) who  was stood in front of a large advertising display at the counter .

She was preening and admiring herself ,adjusting her hair/makeup etc etc  for 2 or 3 minutes in front of what was a screen & camera  that I thought  attached to the Display .

  it seemed  unusually novel  to have a camera attached to an advertisement. 'Never seen that before.I was intrigued to find out the purpose of it all.

Anyway, her preening complete, she walked away from the counter and  went  looking  around the rest of the Chemist .

So  went to look at the screen myself . i got up close,  Gurning , smiling ,pulling faces .

Eventually , she silently she come up behind me , and snatched what was infact her mobile phone , and stormed out of the Chemist.

 I apologised ( she probably thought I was going to steal it!).But she  didn't say a single word to me .

Afterwords , i wondered if she might have been  "live streaming" some fashion piece ? Maybe me Gurning is now all over Instagram or You Tube?

I walked in an  Asthmatic but walked out a Fashion Icon !

 

 .

Me in Hebden Bridge

yesterday

Dead Belgium in Sowerby Bridge

seeing them at The Puzzle in Sowerby Bridge on Thursday 23 May

Halifax This Week

P K D.

Me and a box of 40+ novels by Philip K Dick given to me by Phil Davidson's wife Iris

 

Bio

Phil the Ex-Fireman in THe Marble Arch in Manchester .....

All The Young Dudes

 

Me ,in white,  throwing some glorious "Sid Viscous Shapes" :)

Phil Davidson 's Wake In Halifax

 

After Phil's Wake in Halifax yesterday . 

Prior to the Wake, there was a private family Celebration of his life at The Chapel of Rest .

 I led the Speeches at this event and spoke on behalf of the Family...

"......Hi , I'm Tony .

 On behalf of Iris, Rowena ,Bryn and all the family, I would like to thank you all for coming here today . ( Read Out Printed Running Order ) 

After me , both Sam & Jasmin wll also speak about Phil. Plus Brian has kindly put together a Slide Show of Phil's Life . 

Also the Family have selected some of Phil's Music Tracks for you to hear...Also to remind you that you are invited to a Wake For Phil at the Old Post Office Pub ay 1pm ( just a short walk down the road from here ) 

Now Me & Phil were friends for over 60 years.Aged 11 ,we first met in 1963 at Clare Hall School ( just 100 yards from here: just up the road). We all have our different personal memories of being with Phil. I've been asked to tell you some of mine.But how can you cover 60 years in 5 minutes!?

 Enough to say that I thought he was the best friend I ever had.

 I was telling Bryn last week that I never met anybody who ever had a bad word to say about him ( a very rare thing! )' I knew Phil through School, and when he joined the Army ( eg serving in Belfast ) .When he was in the Fire Service : and when he worked for The Royal Mail .

 I knew his Mum & Dad .(Bob & Madge) I also know his two children ( Bryn & Rowena) . And of course his Wife Iris who I have seen ( especially recently ) give him total Love & Support during his Illness . I dont really have the words to describe my admiration for that support she gave to him . A very brief history of some of my times. with Phil. 

Aged 16 I went with him to Ireland .First staying with his family there on The Falls Road , then ,afterwards hitch hiking & camping all the way to Dublin . I dont remember much about the trip other than Wild Swimming in Loch Neigh : Us both meeting Mike Love from the Beach Boys in a Youth Hostel somewhere onroute and Staying in a Youth Hostel in Dublin opposite the city's Womens Prison ( we were two 16 year old lads and that seemed very important to us at the time!).....other than that, I dont remember much as we were a mostly pissed! 

A year earlier 6 of us lads from Clare Hall stayed in a Caravan in Great Yarmouth ( the first time either Phil or me have ever been on a holiday without our parents ) Id love to tell you more but " What Happens in Great Yarmouth , Stays in Great Yarmouth" ;) 

Over the years, we took other trips together including The EastEnd of London ( which I think started his love of West Ham United?), Youth Hostelling in The Lakes:;Walking The Pennine Way together:

 Phil also taught me to drive although ,afterwards he was a passenger when my wheel dropped off on Odsal Roundabout ( opposite the old Police Station there) And on the M60 my car stalled in the 4th lane & the bonnet flew up blinding us.Phil had to get out & help push the car across traffic onto the Hard Shoulder . I think Phil probably wished he hadnt taught me to drive at all after that! So Many Other Memories! Buy me a drink at The Wake and I might tell you more! 

Other than that just one more story . When me Ken & Phil went out drinking in our later years in Halifax or Manchester ( Think "Last Of The Summer Wine") We would tell each other stories about "Famous People We Have Met ". Phil would always win that competition by dining out on the time that,in the Fire Service, he was doing ( some sort of) Safety Inspection at the Shay/ Halifax Town ( again just up the road from here).He went up to Brian Clough and asked him to move from the pitch. Clough told him "Young Man Please F-Off". Instead of being upset , Phil was so Proud and went around proudly telling his collegues. 

Anyway Phil .I will miss you but feel honored to have been your friend. 

Finally .The Family have asked me to read this out to you. "IF LOVE COULD HAVE SAVED YOU, YOU WOULD HAVE LIVED FOREVER " ? 

Plus Diary ? then Sam & Jasmin......"and Toast at the end with Bryn

Phil's Birthday

 

My friend of 60 years Phil got married just a week ago to Iris . (He died last Sunday ) . 

Today was Phil's Birthday . We went out to mark this tonight. around Halifax with Phil's son Bryn ( my Godson) & 2 cousins & Marc & Ken . 

I love taking photos , but thought it would be "disrespectful" tonight to take any snaps . Then up pops the Landlord of The Royal Oak in Halifax , just before I left , asking to take a photo for the pub's facebook page....... Which is all a bit ironic as Phil thought facebook was bollocks!