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+--- Thread: July. Just July. (/showthread.php?tid=768)
July. Just July. - El Gordo - 11-07-2006
I just caught up with this again....
MLCM: maybe you're being provocative, but the Dylan Thomas you quoted was just fab. DT was a poet who first loved the sound of the words' collidingness, and second, what the chuff they meant. If an' all.....
John Coooper Clarke I used to see so often in the pubs when I lived in Manchester in the late 70s/early 80s.
Here's an extract from a pome called Chicken Town.
He wrote it about Hulme, where I used to live.
I've changed every "uc" to "oo" to reproduce the accent.
the fookin' pubs are fookin' dull
the fookin' clubs are fookin' full
of fookin' girls and fookin' guys
with fookin' murder in their eyes
a fookin' bloke is fookin' stabbed
waiting for a fookin' cab
you fookin' stay at fookin' home
the fookin' neighbors fookin' moan
keep the fookin' racket down
this is fookin' chicken town
the fookin' train is fookin' late
you fookin' wait you fookin' wait
you're fookin' lost and fookin' found
stuck in fookin' chicken town
the fookin' pies are fookin' old
the fookin' chips are fookin' cold
the fookin' beer is fookin' flat
the fookin' flats are full of fookin' rats
the fookin' clocks are fookin' wrong
the fookin' days are fookin' long
it fookin' gets you fookin' down
fookin' chicken town
This couplet I have quoted a thousand times to people who've asked me what Manchester is like:
the fookin' beer is fookin' flat
the fookin' flats are full of fookin' rats
July. Just July. - Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man - 12-07-2006
Dylan Thomas may have done nothing for me, but it's fair to say that Syd changed my life ... and now he's gone
July. Just July. - El Gordo - 12-07-2006
So that's what he looked like.... I suppose that's what made him a Syd rather than a Sid.
Sid's tend to look like this:
July. Just July. - Sweder - 12-07-2006
Aha! So that's where you get that laugh from Andy!
Mwa-Ha-yuk-yuk-yuk . . .
Syd got the ball rolling then took the A-train to the Big Adios.
30 years trippin out; so long, and thanks for all the riffs.
[Shameless JDRF Plug]Incidentally, he died of complications caused by diabetes.
Another good reason for finding a cure[/Shameles JDRF Plug]
July. Just July. - Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man - 12-07-2006
Andy and Sweder! You show about as much respect as a broccoli fart in a cake shop :mad:
If it wasn't for Syd, we never would have had "Dark Side Of The Spoon" or "Wish You Were Here", without which there would have been a whole extra generation of serious young students who would all now be accountants and lawyers...
Errm. What was my argument
July. Just July. - El Gordo - 12-07-2006
Let me assure you that Sweder and I raised our glasses to SB's demise last night in a pub in the Square Mile.
Indeed, we were so overcome with emotion that we forgot to steal them.
July. Just July. - Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man - 12-07-2006
andy Wrote:Let me assure you that Sweder and I raised our glasses to SB's demise last night in a pub in the Square Mile.
Indeed, we were so overcome with emotion that we forgot to steal them.
Never mind, you can always go back...
July. Just July. - Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man - 13-07-2006
Bierzo Baggie Wrote:That's a healthy atitude MLC Man. Congratuations on your 1000-up optimismI'm crocked at the moment and the goal is just to get back running again.
Well BB, I have to be optimistic, because I have precious little running in the bank, so there's not much more to go on than optimism
However, on the positive side, I did run a full, non-stop 60 minutes today which was the first full hour I've managed for some time, so it's not all gloom. It was slow, by any stretch of the imagination, but the "speed" will eventually return. I did this run today at about 2/3rds race pace, just to ease my way back into the slightly longer distances, and it wasn't too bad really, so I'm happy
BB, I would have thought if you want motivation to get running again, you only need to look at those photos you posted of your runs a couple of months ago. Sensational stuff! You have some magic places to run over there, go get it!
July. Just July. - Nigel - 13-07-2006
I hate to take Andy up on a point of pedantry ... er, sorry, I mean London geography. But the thing is, you see, MLCMan, that the Marquis of Granby is not in the Square Mile.
It's not even a near miss like your mispositioning of a pub onto the wrong side of Oxford Street. It's the wrong side of the River Fleet and then the entire length of the Strand further away from the City of London.
By the way, I've spent a fair few happy times in the Granby myself, as have quite a few others I know. There is even an AIM-listed oil company called Granby, as ample proof. As I recall, the pub is often filled with beautiful orchestral types fresh from playing at Covent Garden.
Speaking of Covent Garden, rock stars and pubs, and apropos to nothing else very much, has anyone else read 'Stories We Could Tell', just out by Tony Parsons ? Having accused Mick of mimicing (should that be Mickiming?) Parsons' Greenwich youth recently, I reasoned I had to make the effort with this one when I saw it in Waterstone's recently. The novel is a thought-provoking account of writing for the NME (and of large amounts of substance abuse) in the late 70s. Marginally outside my own time and experience, but obligatory reading for Andy's generation, I would think.
On a much more desperate musical note, and courtesy of a devoted 80s chick in our family, I am greatly looking forward to seeing A-ha at Guilfest this Saturday. Bit of a sad comedown from my last rock concert - U2 at Basel in 1987 on The Joshua Tree tour (sigh - surely she could at least have arranged for us to see Billy Idol on the Sunday instead ... ?).
July. Just July. - Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man - 13-07-2006
Nigel Wrote:I hate to take Andy up on a point of pedantry ... er, sorry, I mean London geography. But the thing is, you see, MLCMan, that the Marquis of Granby is not in the Square Mile.
It's not even a near miss like your mispositioning of a pub onto the wrong side of Oxford Street. It's the wrong side of the River Fleet and then the entire length of the Strand further away from the City of London.
By the way, I've spent a fair few happy times in the Granby myself, as have quite a few others I know. There is even an AIM-listed oil company called Granby, as ample proof. As I recall, the pub is often filled with beautiful orchestral types fresh from playing at Covent Garden.
Different Marquis of Granby I think Nigel. I gather there are at least four Marquis of Granbys in London - one in Shaftesbury Avenue, one in Chandos Place, another in Romney Street, and the one in which the deed was done in Rathbone Street, which according to my London beer map, is clearly within the area marked as "Soho".
July. Just July. - Nigel - 13-07-2006
A-ha.
Meanwhile I see that the Grauniad is in cracking form as ever, so here is that Tony Parsons book, duly digested:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/digestedread/story/0,,1567990,00.html#article_continue
And the 'digested read, digested' version is probably the best of all.
July. Just July. - Sweder - 13-07-2006
Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote:Andy and Sweder! You show about as much respect as a broccoli fart in a cake shop :mad:I thought my concise eulogy summed the man up fairly.
A diamond indeed, but like many a modern genius, flawed.
As Andy said, glasses were raised, respects paid.
And not just to Syd
ps: I don't think Andy named the pub, Niguel - but it was certainly in the Square Mile.
July. Just July. - El Gordo - 13-07-2006
It was:
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/11/1180/St_Pauls_Tavern/Moorgate
July. Just July. - Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man - 13-07-2006
Nigel Wrote:A-ha.
Meanwhile I see that the Grauniad is in cracking form as ever, so here is that Tony Parsons book, duly digested:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/digestedread/story/0,,1567990,00.html#article_continue
And the 'digested read, digested' version is probably the best of all.
Excuse my ignorance, but is this the Tony Parsons, of Iron Maiden fame?
July. Just July. - Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man - 13-07-2006
andy Wrote:It was:
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/11/1180/St_Pauls_Tavern/Moorgate
What are you guys actually talking about?
Why do I feel I've lost control of my own thread??
Why do I feel I need a beer at 9:10 in the morning???
Haven't I got anything better to do????
July. Just July. - El Gordo - 13-07-2006
It's chirpy cockney Tony Parsons of "New Musical Express" fame (if you read it in the 80s), then husband of Julie Burchill fame, then commentator on popular culture fame, then finally novelist fame.
I didn't know that IM had a famous TP, but I don't think it's this chap.
July. Just July. - El Gordo - 13-07-2006
Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote:What are you guys actually talking about?
Why do I feel I've lost control of my own thread??
Why do I feel I need a beer at 9:10 in the morning???
Haven't I got anything better to do????
I was explaining to Nigel that Sweder and I had a couple of swifties in this boozer on Tuesday evening.
No, you have nothing better to do.
And anyway, it's just after midnight, not 9 in the morning.
July. Just July. - Sweder - 13-07-2006
Tony Parsons was in Iron Maiden????
Wow, I didn't know that . . . what'd he play MLCMan?
I saw Maiden at the Marquee (old one in Wardour Street) in 1979.
They were excellent (and for Niguel's benefit, all rabid Hammers fans).
The TP Andy's referring to has one of those faces (referred to in the World Cup thread some days ago) that I could never tire of hitting. Funny bloke though.
July. Just July. - Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man - 13-07-2006
Sweder Wrote:Tony Parsons was in Iron Maiden????
Wow, I didn't know that . . . what'd he play MLCMan?
This was waaay back... he played guitar for them, but only briefly - around 1980. He did for IM what Tommy Bolin did for Deep Purple, i.e. made them very interesting for a while then buggered off for unknown reasons.
July. Just July. - Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man - 13-07-2006
andy Wrote:I was explaining to Nigel that Sweder and I had a couple of swifties in this boozer on Tuesday evening.
That's nice Andy.
andy Wrote:No, you have nothing better to do. And anyway, it's just after midnight, not 9 in the morning.
Of course, I was forgetting, now that you're self employed, you'll still be up burning the midnight oil. But here, it's mid-morning, I'm a humble employee with a day off with nothing scheduled except a boozy lunch with my brother.
Ah, bliss.