Sunday, January 31, 2010

National Trust

Here's a poem from the 1970s collection, The School of Eloquence, by Tony Harrison. The collection is prefaced with a quotation from E.P. Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class:
"In 1779 special legislation was introduced "utterly suppressing and prohibiting" by name the London Corresponding Society and the United Englishmen. Even the indefatigible conspirator, John Binns, felt that further national organization was hopeless...When arrested he was found in possession of a ticket which was perhaps one of the last "covers" for the old L.C.S: Admit for the Season to the School of Eloquence."

National Trust

Bottomless pits. There’s one in Castleton,
and stout upholders of our law and order
one day thought its depth worth wagering on
and borrowed a convict hush-hush from his warder
and winched him down; and back, flayed, grey, mad, dumb.

Not even a good flogging made him holler!

O gentlemen, a better way to plumb
the depths of Britain’s dangling a scholar,
say, here at the booming shaft at Towanroath,
now National Trust, a place where they got tin,
those gentlemen who silenced the men’s oath
and killed the language that they swore it in.

The dumb go down in history and disappear
and not one gentleman ’s been brought to book:

Mes den hep tavas a-gollas y dyr

(Cornish)—
‘the tongueless man gets his land took

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

New Brooklyn Bus Routes

Brownstoner links to the MTA watchdog blog 2nd Ave.Sagas, where you can find details of changes to several local bus routes. Alas, the B77 is to be no more - it will be incorporated into the B61 & extend into Windsor Terrace. The B75 will also disappear, but some of that route will also be taken over by the 61. From a selfish point of view, I'll still be able to hop on the 61 bus close by, & I won't mind the bus going further along Columbia Street & into downtown Brooklyn. I'll miss having the route start on my doorstep though. I could always get a perfect seat & this felt pretty luxurious. Casting aside selfish motives, it's pretty crappy that these changes are going into effect. Anyone taking the old B75 route now has to take two buses to get to Cobble Hill, & if you're elderly, it's harsh stuff. Ditto the reduction from two Red Hook bus routes to one, which will make Red Hook transportation more meagre & crowded than ever. Shabby treatment.

This Is Not A Wal

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Hitchens/Hannity

On a day when I was repulsed by Pat Robertson's latest remarks concerning Haiti, it was immensely cheering to be sent a link to a 2007 clip of Christopher H. taking on Ralph Reed & Hannity on the subject of Jerry Falwell's demise. Talk about vorpal blade ...

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Top 50 Television Dramas

The Guardian critics have chosen their top 50 television dramas of all time. Quite an interesting mix of English and US work, with The Sopranos taking pride of place at No.1. Check out the list here.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Family Britain/Of Time and The City



























Having just romped through David Kynaston's 700 page Family Britain, and being somewhat preoccupied with postwar social conditioning (mine own included), it was just the right time to rewatch Terence Davies' Of Time and the City, which I saw last year at Film Forum. It's an autobiographical collage of Davies' early life in Liverpool: using documentary footage & a mixed musical soundtrack, Davies explores the working class culture of the city, & the evolution & dissolution of his faith. Some of the scenes are astoundingly beautiful - check in at around minute nineteen when the scene draws away from a steep terraced street and then shows a medley of shots of children playing in the schoolyard, women toiling at the washhouses, and a solitary child lost in his own thoughts on a front doorstep. As in Kynaston's book, Davies pays attention to the destruction of postwar housing stock and the rise of bleak, community eroding, tower blocks. The film is well worth seeing, but at times Davies' narrative is overly mannered. It would have been better if at times he'd allowed his choices of image and melody to speak for him.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Gowanus Lounge again

On Sunday, when I mentioned the change of ownership of the Gowanus Lounge site (reported by Gothamist),I neglected to add that Guskind's posts are still available on BobGuskind.com. Hope they stay there.

Clover Barber

Lost City notes the especially good Clover Barber sign at the corner of 12th & 7th. Alas, Clover has been closed since 2008(the elderly Italian owner, Ercole Riccardelli, became too frail to continue working) & every time I go by I wonder what will become of the place. The interior is all-original, right down to hair product ads., red leather chairs & the children's fire-truck ride. I took my son there regularly when he was young, until the haircuts became a bit too wobbly & lopsided to justify the experience. I'm pretty sure Riccardelli owns/owned the building, but I don't know what's going on there. It would be a fine shop to preserve. In the same area of 7th, I gather that there's finally a permanent sign up honoring Whitey(John Glendinning), a much loved neighborhood fixture who died in 2008. I have to get by there this weekend to get a photograph. The Daily News had a great profile of Whitey back in '07.

The Newseum

A friend just sent a link to Newseum, a site that displays the front pages of newspapers from all over the world. U.S. newspapers predominate, but you can check out headlines from Oradea (Romania) to Calcutta, & apparently you can access whole newspapers on some of the sites. Interesting to see what's front page news around the country or globe.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Old Grey Whistle Test, 1973

Alex Harvey Band doing Brel, circa 1973. I distinctly remember watching this performance. The clothing is quite a troubling reminder of 70's style (especially that mime-faced, stripey pants-clad guy), but the music holds up nicely. Their version of Tom Jones "Delilah" was not so bad either...

Gowanus Lounge?

Gothamist reports on the acquisition of Bob Guskind's Gowanus Lounge website. Don't know why the site couldn't just stay as a piece of local history & a shining tribute to Bob.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Peter Pan Bakery

With the G train running all the way to Church Avenue, it's very easy to get directly to Greenpoint, & close to the Nassau stop is the excellent Peter Pan Bakery (Manhattan Avenue between Meserole & Norman). This place has been open since 1951 & it's now my favourite donut store. Everything about it is just right: a perfectly preserved interior, a gaggle of elderly local ladies at a back counter, bustling, no-nonsense waitresses & a heavenly array of doughnuts (sour cream, jelly, apple crumb...). I'm not much of a donut eater, but this place could change things.