.
: photo by Andrew Murr, 15 April 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 21 February 2018
: photo by Andrew Murr, 15 April 2018
The code of the west
You take pride in your work
You finish what you start
I forget #3
It's ok to forget certain things
In fact almost everything
Is now officially the new and improved #3
You take pride in your work
You finish what you start
I forget #3
It's ok to forget certain things
In fact almost everything
Is now officially the new and improved #3
: image by Datbot, 15 July 2017
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 21 February 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 21 February 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 21 February 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 7 February 2018
: photo by Jeff Larson (Raw Power), 30 May 2017
: photo by Andrew Murr, 15 April 2018\
Joseph Ceravolo (1934-1988): The Car, from INRI (1979), in Collected Poems (2013)
: photo by Jeff Larson (Raw Power), 30 May 2017
: photo by Andrew Murr, 15 April 2018\
Joseph Ceravolo: The Car
All I got left is the car
and a broken heart.
But what more
do I deserve now?
All I got left is the car
and a broken heart.
But what more
do I deserve now?
Joseph Ceravolo (1934-1988): The Car, from INRI (1979), in Collected Poems (2013)
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 4 April 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 29 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 29 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 29 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 29 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 29 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 29 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 25 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 25 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 25 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 25 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 25 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 25 March 2018
My favorite from Monday: Adult film actress Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) and her lawyer Michael Avenatti arrive at court In New York. @yanapaskova @GettyImagesNews: image via Chip Somodevilla @somogettynews, 17 April 2018
The adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, arrives at federal court in Manhattan. Photo @Lucas_Jackson: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 17 April 2018
Protesters clash with French gendarmes as an operation to clear squatters from an abandoned airport site evolves into a violent standoff: photo @stephanemahe: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 17 April 2018
A woman stands behind a curtain inside a temporary shelter after a fire broke out in a Rohingya camp in New Delhi, India Photo @adnanabidi: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 17 April 2018
Protesters demonstrate inside a Center City Starbucks in Philadelphia, where two black men were arrested Photo @mark_makela: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 17 April 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 29 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 29 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 29 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 29 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 25 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 25 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 25 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 25 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 25 March 2018
: photo by Ali Boombayé, 25 March 2018
My favorite from Monday: Adult film actress Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) and her lawyer Michael Avenatti arrive at court In New York. @yanapaskova @GettyImagesNews: image via Chip Somodevilla @somogettynews, 17 April 2018
The adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, arrives at federal court in Manhattan. Photo @Lucas_Jackson: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 17 April 2018
Protesters clash with French gendarmes as an operation to clear squatters from an abandoned airport site evolves into a violent standoff: photo @stephanemahe: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 17 April 2018
A woman stands behind a curtain inside a temporary shelter after a fire broke out in a Rohingya camp in New Delhi, India Photo @adnanabidi: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 17 April 2018
Protesters demonstrate inside a Center City Starbucks in Philadelphia, where two black men were arrested Photo @mark_makela: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 17 April 2018
(Keep Blessing) [Vasto, Naples]: photo by Robbie McIntosh, 8 April 2018
(Keep Blessing) [Vasto, Naples]: photo by Robbie McIntosh, 8 April 2018
#Israeli #Zionazi #Barbarians shot off an 11 year old boy's leg today with an #illegal exploding bullet #BDS #ApartheidIsrael: image via #ICC4Israel #BDS #ApartheidIsrael, 17 April 2018
A boy walks along a damaged street in the city of Douma in Damascus. Photo Omar Sanadiki: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 17 April 2018
Children walk on April 17, 2018 in a devastated area of #Douma in eastern #Ghouta, #Syria, where chemical weapons were used against citizens.: image via Eliane Alhussein @Eliane Alhussein, 17 April 2018
We wondered why the Russian soldier was looking up and to the side of the camera. Turns out his script is being held up to read. Always good to get the right message out ;): image via Richard Gaisford @richardgaisford, 17 April 2018
As @OPCW start inspections, Russian narrative on chemical attack in #Douma is changing. Military took journalists to a ‘laboratory’ in a once rebel held area - Russia suggests they had skills/resources to manufacture weapons.: image via Richard Gaisford @richardgaisford, 17 April 2018
As @OPCW start inspections, Russian narrative on chemical attack in #Douma is changing. Military took journalists to a ‘laboratory’ in a once rebel held area - Russia suggests they had skills/resources to manufacture weapons.: image via Richard Gaisford @richardgaisford, 17 April 2018
As @OPCW start inspections, Russian narrative on chemical attack in #Douma is changing. Military took journalists to a ‘laboratory’ in a once rebel held area - Russia suggests they had skills/resources to manufacture weapons.: image via Richard Gaisford @richardgaisford, 17 April 2018
Residents desperate to get food in the town of #Douma in #Syria yesterday, two days after government forces entered the town. photo by @AP @HassanAmmar5: image via zena karam @zkaram, 17 April 2018
Residents desperate to get food in the town of #Douma in #Syria yesterday, two days after government forces entered the town. photo by @AP @HassanAmmar5: image via zena karam @zkaram, 17 April 2018
Medics take a wounded man into hospital in Damascus after rockets were fired in Douma on 7 April.: photo by AFP, 7 April 2018
#Israeli #Zionazi #Barbarians shot off an 11 year old boy's leg today with an #illegal exploding bullet #BDS #ApartheidIsrael: image via #ICC4Israel #BDS #ApartheidIsrael, 17 April 2018
A boy walks along a damaged street in the city of Douma in Damascus. Photo Omar Sanadiki: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 17 April 2018
Children walk on April 17, 2018 in a devastated area of #Douma in eastern #Ghouta, #Syria, where chemical weapons were used against citizens.: image via Eliane Alhussein @Eliane Alhussein, 17 April 2018
We wondered why the Russian soldier was looking up and to the side of the camera. Turns out his script is being held up to read. Always good to get the right message out ;): image via Richard Gaisford @richardgaisford, 17 April 2018
As @OPCW start inspections, Russian narrative on chemical attack in #Douma is changing. Military took journalists to a ‘laboratory’ in a once rebel held area - Russia suggests they had skills/resources to manufacture weapons.: image via Richard Gaisford @richardgaisford, 17 April 2018
As @OPCW start inspections, Russian narrative on chemical attack in #Douma is changing. Military took journalists to a ‘laboratory’ in a once rebel held area - Russia suggests they had skills/resources to manufacture weapons.: image via Richard Gaisford @richardgaisford, 17 April 2018
As @OPCW start inspections, Russian narrative on chemical attack in #Douma is changing. Military took journalists to a ‘laboratory’ in a once rebel held area - Russia suggests they had skills/resources to manufacture weapons.: image via Richard Gaisford @richardgaisford, 17 April 2018
Residents desperate to get food in the town of #Douma in #Syria yesterday, two days after government forces entered the town. photo by @AP @HassanAmmar5: image via zena karam @zkaram, 17 April 2018
Residents desperate to get food in the town of #Douma in #Syria yesterday, two days after government forces entered the town. photo by @AP @HassanAmmar5: image via zena karam @zkaram, 17 April 2018
Medics take a wounded man into hospital in Damascus after rockets were fired in Douma on 7 April.: photo by AFP, 7 April 2018
Syrian medics 'subjected to extreme intimidation' after Douma attack: Doctors say those who treated patients after attack have been told they and their families will be targeted if they speak out: Martin Chulov in Beirut and Kareem Shaheen in Istanbul, The Guardian
The head of the largest medical relief agency in Syria claims that medics who responded to the suspected gas attack in Douma have been subjected to “extreme intimidation” by Syrian officials who
seized biological samples, forced them to abandon patients and demanded
their silence.
Dr Ghanem Tayara, the director of the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM) said doctors responsible for treating patients in the hours after the 7 April attack have been told that their families will be at risk if they offer public testimonies about what took place.
A number of doctors who spoke to the Guardian this week say the intimidation from the regime has increased in the past five days, a timeframe that coincides with the arrival in Damascus of a team from the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which aims to determine whether chemical weapons were used. All the medics insisted on anonymity, citing the fear for their lives and those of their families.
"There has been a very heavy security presence on the ground ever since the attack and they have been targeting doctors and medics in a very straightforward way,” said Tayara, a Birmingham-based physician, now in Turkey where he is supervising the departure from Syria of some of the Douma medics. “Any medic who tried to leave Douma was searched so vigorously, especially for samples. At one medical point, seven casualties were taken away. The Russian military police were heavily involved. They were directing things.
“They were looking through their WhatsApp messages and phones. The doctors were treated abusively and have been threatened ever since. Their families have been threatened that they will pay a price and they themselves have told they will be arrested, and much more if they give any evidence, or interviews about what happened in Douma.”
Testimonies of first responders and witnesses are crucial to building a picture of what took place in Douma around 7.39pm on 7 April when, in the middle of a prolonged series of airstrikes, medics in the area say they were overrun by patients, many of whom displayed symptoms of exposure to a nerve agent.
“We hadn’t seen anything like that in Douma,” Tayara said. “We knew what chlorine did, but these were convulsions, foaming and something that had affected the central nervous system.” He said he thought the death toll was higher than previous estimates of between 40 and 70.
A former senior officer in the Syrian military chemical weapons programme, Brig Zaher al-Saket, who deserted in 2013, said Douma residents he worked with had buried close to 50 bodies in an undisclosed site in the area, hoping that they could be eventually recovered and used to confirm suspicions that some form of nerve agent was used in the attack.
The OPCW has been racing against the clock to collect samples from the site of the attack, a three-storey house in Douma, in which scores of people died in a basement. Jerry Smith, who helped supervise the OPCW-led withdrawal of Syria's
sarin stockpile in 2013, said samples of nerve agent rapidly degrade in normal environmental conditions.
A cylinder of the type used by the Syrian military to drop chlorine remains on the roof of the building, multiple witnesses have said. The Russian military and Syrian officers have had access to the house since last Thursday, raising fears that the site may have been tampered with. However, Smith said it was likely that residual samples of nerve agent would remain for at least another week, even after an attempted clean-up.
Medics and survivors who have remained in Douma, and others who have fled for northern Syria, ridiculed competing claims that the attack either did not take place, or did not use gas. In the hours after the attack, the main opposition militia surrendered. Since then, tens of thousands of locals have been exiled to northern Syria, and the Syrian military has taken full control of the area.
Abu Walid, a survivor of the attack, whose pregnant wife and only son died, said: “I saw my son coughing. I told him pull it together and run up the stairs. I grabbed my wife and ran after him. Next thing I recall was someone opening and closing my eyelids and dousing me with water. For five hours I lost consciousness, and had no idea where I was. They told me a chemical attack took place, they told me I lost my wife and son and everybody else was martyred. I told them I wish you didn’t rescue me.”
Some doctors have appeared on Syrian television to deny that anything took place in Douma. A doctor who spoke to the Guardian said: “Our colleagues who appeared on television were coerced, because some hadn’t served in the military or completed their degree, and for other reasons, some had family in Damascus. They decided to stay in exchange for being reconciled with the regime. But the regime used them.”
Another medic who treated victims said: “Anyone who has knowledge of what happened cannot testify. What was being said is that the medical centres would be destroyed on top of those working in it.
“The testimony of people under pressure cannot be relied on. Imagine if you spoke out while under the control of those that you were speaking out against, what will your fate be?”
Another doctor said: “We were receiving threats since the siege began, prior to the chemical weapons attack. When the attack took place, things became much more dangerous. They’re wiping out evidence that would prove the crime, and they are forcing doctors and residents who are witnesses to say that nothing took place.”
Dr Ghanem Tayara, the director of the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM) said doctors responsible for treating patients in the hours after the 7 April attack have been told that their families will be at risk if they offer public testimonies about what took place.
A number of doctors who spoke to the Guardian this week say the intimidation from the regime has increased in the past five days, a timeframe that coincides with the arrival in Damascus of a team from the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which aims to determine whether chemical weapons were used. All the medics insisted on anonymity, citing the fear for their lives and those of their families.
"There has been a very heavy security presence on the ground ever since the attack and they have been targeting doctors and medics in a very straightforward way,” said Tayara, a Birmingham-based physician, now in Turkey where he is supervising the departure from Syria of some of the Douma medics. “Any medic who tried to leave Douma was searched so vigorously, especially for samples. At one medical point, seven casualties were taken away. The Russian military police were heavily involved. They were directing things.
“They were looking through their WhatsApp messages and phones. The doctors were treated abusively and have been threatened ever since. Their families have been threatened that they will pay a price and they themselves have told they will be arrested, and much more if they give any evidence, or interviews about what happened in Douma.”
Testimonies of first responders and witnesses are crucial to building a picture of what took place in Douma around 7.39pm on 7 April when, in the middle of a prolonged series of airstrikes, medics in the area say they were overrun by patients, many of whom displayed symptoms of exposure to a nerve agent.
“We hadn’t seen anything like that in Douma,” Tayara said. “We knew what chlorine did, but these were convulsions, foaming and something that had affected the central nervous system.” He said he thought the death toll was higher than previous estimates of between 40 and 70.
A former senior officer in the Syrian military chemical weapons programme, Brig Zaher al-Saket, who deserted in 2013, said Douma residents he worked with had buried close to 50 bodies in an undisclosed site in the area, hoping that they could be eventually recovered and used to confirm suspicions that some form of nerve agent was used in the attack.
The OPCW has been racing against the clock to collect samples from the site of the attack, a three-storey house in Douma, in which scores of people died in a basement. Jerry Smith, who helped supervise the OPCW-led withdrawal of Syria's
sarin stockpile in 2013, said samples of nerve agent rapidly degrade in normal environmental conditions.
A cylinder of the type used by the Syrian military to drop chlorine remains on the roof of the building, multiple witnesses have said. The Russian military and Syrian officers have had access to the house since last Thursday, raising fears that the site may have been tampered with. However, Smith said it was likely that residual samples of nerve agent would remain for at least another week, even after an attempted clean-up.
Medics and survivors who have remained in Douma, and others who have fled for northern Syria, ridiculed competing claims that the attack either did not take place, or did not use gas. In the hours after the attack, the main opposition militia surrendered. Since then, tens of thousands of locals have been exiled to northern Syria, and the Syrian military has taken full control of the area.
Abu Walid, a survivor of the attack, whose pregnant wife and only son died, said: “I saw my son coughing. I told him pull it together and run up the stairs. I grabbed my wife and ran after him. Next thing I recall was someone opening and closing my eyelids and dousing me with water. For five hours I lost consciousness, and had no idea where I was. They told me a chemical attack took place, they told me I lost my wife and son and everybody else was martyred. I told them I wish you didn’t rescue me.”
Some doctors have appeared on Syrian television to deny that anything took place in Douma. A doctor who spoke to the Guardian said: “Our colleagues who appeared on television were coerced, because some hadn’t served in the military or completed their degree, and for other reasons, some had family in Damascus. They decided to stay in exchange for being reconciled with the regime. But the regime used them.”
Another medic who treated victims said: “Anyone who has knowledge of what happened cannot testify. What was being said is that the medical centres would be destroyed on top of those working in it.
“The testimony of people under pressure cannot be relied on. Imagine if you spoke out while under the control of those that you were speaking out against, what will your fate be?”
Another doctor said: “We were receiving threats since the siege began, prior to the chemical weapons attack. When the attack took place, things became much more dangerous. They’re wiping out evidence that would prove the crime, and they are forcing doctors and residents who are witnesses to say that nothing took place.”
#breakingnews #damascus #syria #us #trump #strike #photography #anticraft #peace #war #instagood #intagram #apphoto #associatedpress #apnews #britain #france @hassanammar ##light #flame #color #instalike: image via Hassan Ammar @hassanammar5, 17 April 2018
Camp for the people of #Douma after construction of new tents and expansion to accommodate families who were in the mosques of the city of Al-Bab North of #Aleppo, #Syria April 17, 2018. Photo Omar Alwan: image via Eliane Alhussein @ElianeAlhussein, 17 April 2018
"Elbel" camp in the northern #Aleppo countryside, which includes 5000 displaced people, including the displaced who came from the city of #Douma in the #EasternGhouta in the countryside of #Damascus: image via Mohamad Abazeed @AbazidMohamad, 17 April 2018
The camp for the displaced of #Douma, now night in Al-bab, north of #Aleppo Syria, April 16, 2018.. Photo Omar Alwan: image via Eliane Alhussein @ElianeAlhussein, 15 April 2018
An aerial photo of the remains of the Institute of Applied Research in the Barza area of the capital, #Damascus, after it was targeted by American missiles at dawn yesterday.: image via Mohamad Abazeed @AbazidMohamad, 15 April 2018
This picture taken on April 14, 2018 shows the wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) compound in the #Barzeh district, north of #Damascus, #Syria: image via Eliane Alhussein @ElianeAlhussein, 15 April 2018
This picture taken on April 14, 2018 shows the wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) compound in the #Barzeh district, north of #Damascus, #Syria: image via Eliane Alhussein @ElianeAlhussein, 15 April 2018
This picture taken on April 14, 2018 shows the wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) compound in the #Barzeh district, north of #Damascus, #Syria: image via Eliane Alhussein @ElianeAlhussein, 15 April 2018
This picture taken on April 14, 2018 shows the wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) compound in the #Barzeh district, north of #Damascus, #Syria: image via Eliane Alhussein @ElianeAlhussein, 15 April 2018
Smoke rises from buildings following a reported regime surface-to-surface missile strike on a revolutionaries-held area on the southern Syrian city of #Daraa on April 15, 2018.: image via Mohamad Abazeed @AbazidMohamad, 15 April 2018
Smoke rises from buildings following a reported regime surface-to-surface missile strike on a revolutionaries-held area on the southern Syrian city of #Daraa on April 15, 2018.: image via Mohamad Abazeed @AbazidMohamad, 15 April 2018
Camp for the people of #Douma after construction of new tents and expansion to accommodate families who were in the mosques of the city of Al-Bab North of #Aleppo, #Syria April 17, 2018. Photo Omar Alwan: image via Eliane Alhussein @ElianeAlhussein, 17 April 2018
"Elbel" camp in the northern #Aleppo countryside, which includes 5000 displaced people, including the displaced who came from the city of #Douma in the #EasternGhouta in the countryside of #Damascus: image via Mohamad Abazeed @AbazidMohamad, 17 April 2018
The camp for the displaced of #Douma, now night in Al-bab, north of #Aleppo Syria, April 16, 2018.. Photo Omar Alwan: image via Eliane Alhussein @ElianeAlhussein, 15 April 2018
An aerial photo of the remains of the Institute of Applied Research in the Barza area of the capital, #Damascus, after it was targeted by American missiles at dawn yesterday.: image via Mohamad Abazeed @AbazidMohamad, 15 April 2018
This picture taken on April 14, 2018 shows the wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) compound in the #Barzeh district, north of #Damascus, #Syria: image via Eliane Alhussein @ElianeAlhussein, 15 April 2018
This picture taken on April 14, 2018 shows the wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) compound in the #Barzeh district, north of #Damascus, #Syria: image via Eliane Alhussein @ElianeAlhussein, 15 April 2018
This picture taken on April 14, 2018 shows the wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) compound in the #Barzeh district, north of #Damascus, #Syria: image via Eliane Alhussein @ElianeAlhussein, 15 April 2018
This picture taken on April 14, 2018 shows the wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) compound in the #Barzeh district, north of #Damascus, #Syria: image via Eliane Alhussein @ElianeAlhussein, 15 April 2018
Smoke rises from buildings following a reported regime surface-to-surface missile strike on a revolutionaries-held area on the southern Syrian city of #Daraa on April 15, 2018.: image via Mohamad Abazeed @AbazidMohamad, 15 April 2018
Smoke rises from buildings following a reported regime surface-to-surface missile strike on a revolutionaries-held area on the southern Syrian city of #Daraa on April 15, 2018.: image via Mohamad Abazeed @AbazidMohamad, 15 April 2018
comin' up a ghost town
In the late 1960s, American filmmaker and photographer Janet Mendelsohn spent several months documenting the everyday life of Balsall Heath, as part of her studies at the University of Birmingham.: photo © Janet Mendelsohn via The Guardian, 17 April 2018
These images are a vivid record of the community in flux.: photo © Janet Mendelsohn via The Guardian, 17 April 2018
[Birmingham 1968]: photo © Janet Mendelsohn via The Guardian, 17 April 2018
Many of the streets depicted were demolished soon afterwards.: photo © Janet Mendelsohn via The Guardian, 17 April 2018
The pictures explore a social housing crisis, poverty, migration and the experience of childhood in the area: photo © Janet Mendelsohn via The Guardian, 17 April 2018
Ghost Streets of Balsall Heath is at the Ort gallery, Birmingham, until 28 April as part of the Flatpack Film Festival: photo © Janet Mendelsohn via The Guardian, 17 April 2018
While Janet Mendelsohn was discovering Balsall Heath, her then partner Richard P Rogers was following young Birmingham artist Frank Cook and photographing the city: photo Richard P Rogers via The Guardian, 17 April 2018
Rogers’ images, showing in Birmingham for the first time since they were taken fifty years ago, offer a panorama of the city at a time of disorienting change.: photo Richard P Rogers via The Guardian, 17 April 2018
The photographs cover everything from slum clearances and traveller camps to the Midlands Arts Centre in its early years.: photo Richard P Rogers via The Guardian, 17 April 2018
Accompanying the photographs are Cook’s reflections from the time on his journey from the Ladywood back-to-backs to a studio at MAC and on to art-school in London.: photo Richard P Rogers via The Guardian, 17 April 2018
Cook’s recollections of these very different worlds, documented by Rogers, are part of a conversation about social mobility and the arts which continues today: photo Richard P Rogers via The Guardian, 17 April 2018
The exhibition of Rogers’ photographs, Frank Cook and the Birmingham Scene, is at MAC Birmingham until the 22nd April, 2018 as part of the Flatpack Film Festival: photo Richard P Rogers via The Guardian, 17 April 2018
And the crowd went wild
And the crowd went wild. "Michael Collins arrival
being made the scene of a great ovation when the crowd become aware of
his presence": photo by W.D. Hogan, circa 1922 (Hogan Wilson Collection, National Library of Ireland)
And the crowd went wild. "Michael Collins arrival being made the scene of a great ovation when the crowd become aware of his presence": photo by W.D. Hogan, circa 1922 (Hogan Wilson Collection, National Library of Ireland)
And the crowd went wild. "Michael Collins arrival being made the scene of a great ovation when the crowd become aware of his presence": photo by W.D. Hogan, circa 1922 (Hogan Wilson Collection, National Library of Ireland)
The Specials: Ghost Town | Original Promo 1981
ReplyDeleteThe Specials: Ghost Town
MJ: first time moonwalk (dionysus)
MJ: Billie Jean | Live Munich 1997
I know Balsall Heath of old. Used to hang around there when we were on the wag. For a while my mum was a health visitor there.
ReplyDeleteIt's OK to forget certain things
The Heath's still alive in my head. No forgetting those streets and the eedjit kids we were.
This is to be made happy. The Heath's alive always and everywhere as long as it's alive for one rememberer.
ReplyDeleteBrumiverse, for me a capacious place of history and imagination, perhaps bearing absolutely no resemblance to the actual place, through which I passed often once, always on train or autostop, not appreciating anything, in the manner of a traveler.
Right at the moment I am staring at the only two worldly possessions to which I would currently attach the word precious, meaning it.
One the scale model shikara boat from the Dal Lake carried all this way by aero portage from srinagar, a gift from th'illustrious Zaineb.
Th'other the beauteous scale model west midlands bus sent all this way from Birmingham by our gifted and generous friend WB.
I cannot look at these things w/o a pang for bygone boating and bussing days, not that I appreciated them properly while they were here, and now they are alas gone forever. Indeed the boating days... where are the bateaux of yesteryear...
And I do miss those rainswept nights of waiting for the 18 that might or might not ever come.
Sooo... talking of things perhaps best forgot... for those who care or are too far gone to do anything but endure and be slightly curious for a minute, as the shadows gather and evening closes in...
ReplyDeleteThe code of the west was actually a thing, honoured by bards and ... uh, what, boobs?
I'd tell you about it... but my mouth is so full of marbles at the moment, and the book of code is so thick and heavy, may as well be war and peace, can't even turn the pages any more... putting me in the same deadend corral occupied by every other legit crippled real-deal useless old cowboy... so you can definitely believe every word you can make out when I tell you about it.
These damn marbles are some ornery varmints boy howdy!
The Code of the West