Tuesday, December 29, 2015

from the halifax mosques.......

Volunteers from Halifax mosques join big clean-up in Hebden Bridge .(no sign yet of EDL turning up to lend a hand to help us ...)

Posted by Tony Zimnoch on Monday, December 28, 2015

Tuesday, December 08, 2015

one last singer in the land.....

December 19th marks the 75th  Birthday of Phil Och.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Ochs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Hill

PHIL OCHS: Live at Salle Claude Champagne, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada; October 22, 1966. This song is from a show long been rumored to have been recorded by the FBI!
 Phil Ochs was one the greatest political (or, as he preferred, a topical singer) and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and distinctive voice.
He wrote hundreds of songs in the 1960s and ’70s and released eight albums.
 The FBI kept Phil Ochs under active surveillance for 13 years.
 The introduction of The Freedom of Information Act revealed pages and pages of information on Phil with the FBI labelling him a “communist” with “un-American thoughts”.
Despite the hundreds of pages in his FBI file, the FBI never found that Ochs ever committed any federal crimes. He continued to be under investigation until his death by suicide in 1976.
 Ochs performed at many political events during the 1960s counterculture era, including anti-Vietnam War and civil rights rallies, student events, and organized labor events over the course of his career, in addition to many concert appearances at such venues as New York City’s Town Hall and Carnegie Hall.
Politically, Ochs described himself as a “left social democrat” who became an “early revolutionary” after the protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago led to a police riot, which had a profound effect on his state of mind.
 After years of prolific writing in the 1960s, Ochs’s mental stability declined in the 1970s. He eventually succumbed to a number of problems including bipolar disorder and alcoholism, and took his own life in 1976.

Friday, November 20, 2015

Jeux sans frontières

"One in ten deaths during the Blitz was a child. Because of a fear that the Germans would use poisoned gas in their bombs people were given gas masks. Children were given brightly coloured gas masks to make them more appealing and fun......."http://www.thekidswindow.co.uk/news/ww2
Hey!  http://www.viewfromthisside.com/about/  is an important site for us sepians.Well  worth checking out. All my photos this week  are from this charmant website.
This is a   Sepia Saturday  post.  "think of caps, or children, or playground games or any of the hundreds of things Sepians like to think of....."

Practically .Visit this site to help children play in Gaza.     http://www.hopeandplay.org/
Try and get there before the Israeli's do..........


LOU REED, JOHN CALE & NICO
Live at Le Bataclan, Paris, France; January 29, 1972. Very good soundboard.

Friday, November 06, 2015

A one-legged -beggar in Liverpool.Today shook my hand......



Me & Cath went back to Liverpool today.
(We were there a couple of weeks ago.)  Got me a mess of  discount tickets from Northern Rail which 'need using. ......
Although we both had the start of Colds (& I had toothache) If not used today....,they would be  lost .
So,....... we  went to the Bluecoat Museum.
[Not been there since 1976 when i saw a film there with His Drayness .]
 It pissed down. Beggars sat in puddles. England's shame.
 Outside Job Centre Plus+ a man with one-leg was begging.I gave him(after much searching) a 50p coin. I told him it was all the change I had on me .
 He shook my hand. I could have cried as i left him.....a proud man ,who stands taller than i ever will........
This country is a mess......

Friday, October 16, 2015

don't touch the third rail


  
Me and Cathy went for the day to Liverpool.
photos here..................

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.

Friday, October 09, 2015

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.......
a video i took:

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 o...