Spiegeltent

This is the centrepiece of this year's Christmas festivities in Gloucester, the Belgian Spiegeltent. After the rather pathetic ice-rink we had last year, this is a definite improvement. It's part of a "Winter Wonderland" set up in the city's King's Square, featuring Santa's Grotto and a fake snow landscape.

The city council's website describes the Spiegeltent as "an ornate, early 20th Century travelling ballroom, complete with velvet-lined seating booths , mirrors and stained glass panels." The tent is set to host "Dickensian" feasts and cabaret dinners in the evenings. Bands are also lined up to play there, including up-and-coming indie rockers Stornoway, the bloody Wurzels ( God help us! ) and, tomorrow night, living-dead goth-punks The Damned - I'll be there!

We went in yesterday afternoon for coffee and Belgian waffles: very nice!


Soundtrack:
Soul Shakedown Party by Bob Marley & The Wailers
I'll Sing A Love Song To You by Candi Staton

William Blake's Great Red Dragon

Yesterday, November the 28th, was the birthday of the visionary artist and poet, William Blake.

Here are two of a series of watercolours Blake produced to illustrate the Bible, in this case specifically the Book Of Revelations. Just to confuse matters the painting above is titled The Great Red Dragon And The Woman Clothed In Sun, while the one below is called The Great Red Dragon And The Woman Clothed With The Sun ( italics mine ).

The paintings are referenced in Thomas Harris' novel Red Dragon and its two film adaptations, the wonderful Manhunter and the totally superfluous remake Red Dragon.

Steranko Saturdays: More 4

Two Steranko covers from Fantastic Four no.s 130 and 131, Jan. / Feb. 1973, inked by one of the mainstays of the early FF style, Joltin' Joe Sinnott.

Last week the mighty Mark from Bad Librarianship Now commented that the Steranko-ness of these covers gets sublimated by the Sinnott-ness of the inks. He's got a point: Sinnott's Marvel "House-style" does overpower Steranko's idiosyncracies somewhat. But even a conformist Steranko is streets ahead of most anybody else, in my opinion.

NB: Note the tag-line for issue 130 is "The World's Greatest Comix Magazine!" I don't know if this misspelling was an attempt to appear hip and groovy to the Underground Comix readership, but it only lasted for 5 issues before reverting back to "Comics". How sad am I to notice that kind of thing?

Soundtrack: Where Is My Mind? by Pixies

Favourite Gig Fridays: Primal Scream

January 2000, first gig of the new millennium, the Scream!

Amazingly, Primal Scream have been around since 1982. In that time they have changed and mutated from "C86" fey jangle-pop, to psychedelic revivalists, to indie-dance icons, to today's eclectic rock royalty. When I saw them in 2000 at the good ol' Gloucester Guildhall ( with my mate Glenn ) they were warming up for their Xtrmntr tour, the single Swastika Eyes having just hit the UK Top 40 and the album reaching number 3 in the charts.

As the band came on stage Bobby Gillespie warned us "We're Primal Scream and we're here to f**** your heads up....."

And that's what they proceeded to do. Most of the set was the new Xtrmntr material which, although strangely lacking in vowels, was bloody good stuff. Songs like Accelerator, Shoot Speed / Kill Light and Kill All Hippies were explosive and expansive epics, with extra guitar pyrotechnics courtesy of My Bloody Valentine man Kevin Shields, and held together by Mani's dirty, funky bass-lines. Bobby threw some classic rock 'n' roll shapes while revisiting Screamadelica-era standards like Movin' On Up and Come Together, and faux-Stones rockers like, er, Rocks. As usual, he looked to be at death's door but managed to survive until the end of the set.

A great night of rock, psychedelia, old skool rave-rock and even a shot of ( shh! ) jazz into the bargain. Strangest sight of the gig: "Mad" Richard Ashcroft of The Verve striding through the venue wearing a huge Afghan coat and aviator shades, followed by two minders. We're not worthy!

Soundtrack:

MBV Arkestra ( If They Move Kill 'Em ) by the Scream.

Blog Bicentennial

200th Blog Post! I had planned to post something a bit more special but real life got in the way as per usual. So we'll have to make do with a nice Jack Kirby FF cover, which was - I think - the last one published while Kirby was still alive.

Double the size! Double the action! Double the thrills!

Soundtrack:

Whiskey In The Jar by Thin Lizzy

Fisherman's Blues by The Waterboys

Shining II ?

It's been reported by Contactmusic, via Digital Spy, that Stephen King is writing a sequel to The Shining.
Er, why? Surely you don't need the money, Steve?

Happy Birthday, Doctor!

46 years ago today this mysterious, cantankerous old man first appeared on British TV screens in flickering black and white. At first an untrustworthy and selfish character ( he more-or-less kidnapped his granddaughter's school teachers and plunged them all back into the Stone Age ), the Doctor soon mellowed into a charming and mischievous old rogue, who could still hold his own against Daleks and Cybermen, kings and emperors.

The Doctor has come a long way since those humble beginnings in 1963 and we will soon see him change again when David Tennant makes way for another tenant ( sorry! ) in the Tardis. But it's worth remembering that it all started with this strange old man and his Police Box, hiding in a junkyard in London, waiting to take us on adventures in time and space.....

So, here's to all the hundreds of people who have worked on the show over the decades, and especially the late, great William Hartnell who first brought the character so vividly to life.

"Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles? Susan and I are cut off from our own planet, without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back. Yes, one day, one day....."

The Doctor - An Unearthly Child, November 23rd 1963.

Scarlett

It's Scarlett Johansson's birthday today ( born 1984 )

Like I need a reason to post that picture.....

Soundtrack: Just Like Honey by The Jesus & Mary Chain

Steranko Saturdays: Marvel Comics Index to the FF

Today's illustration is the cover to issue 4 of George Olshevsky's Marvel Comics Index. This was an ambitious series that aimed to catalogue all the Marvel superhero stories from FF no. 1 up to the time of publication ( 1976 / 7 ) - a major reference tool in those pre-internet days. So, effectively a lower-budget precursor to the Gerber Photo-Journals of the early '90s. ( Steranko also did the cover of the Captain America issue, to be posted at a later date. )

Steranko here tackles Marvel's First Family, in his best Pop Art style ( if somewhat dated in the '70s ) with some lovely colour work and eye-catching design. I'd personally like to see The Thing in a bit more detail, something Mr. S managed on the cover of FF no. 130 - yep, another future post.....

Hola!

Welcome to new Follower Carmen Burguess, who I think is in a band called Mueran Humanos.

( Sorry if I've got that wrong, but my Spanish is non-existent. )

Thought you might appreciate a little Cthulhu, in cute and non-cute modes :-)

Warhol lotta shaking going on

Yeah, I know: posting a YouTube video is the height of laziness. But it's the first time I've done it in a year of blogging. Throw me a frikkin' bone here.....

Edward Woodward

Sad to hear of the passing of the great Edward Woodward, an actor with a long and distinguished career in TV and films and on the stage. He was probably best known for playing tough guys in Callan and The Equalizer, but his greatest role was as Sergeant Howie in the classic Wicker Man.

RIP Edward Woodward: 1930 - 2009

Soundtrack: Winter Winds by Mumford & Sons.

Life and death on Mars

"We're not just fighting the Flood - we're fighting Time itself! And I'm gonna win!!"

The Doctor: getting too big for his spaceboots?

They're coming...

Doctor Who: The Waters Of Mars, BBC One, tomorrow night. Be afraid, be very afraid.....

( That's the worst case of chapped lips I've ever seen. No amount of Lipsil could cure that. )

Steranko Saturdays: X-Men 49

This week, Steranko's take on the ( original ) X-Men from October 1968. A great example of his superhero work, even though some of the anatomy is suspect: Marvel Girl seems to be running in 3 different directions at once!

I first came across this image in an old British Marvel comic, in black and white of course. I tore it out, coloured it and stuck it on my bedroom wall, next to the Star Wars posters, the Rodney Matthews posters, and my own ( cough! ) masterpieces. I got through some Blu-Tack in those days, I can tell you!