Northern Lights and Other Strangers

I walked down to the studio in almost sun, as the sun was just burning of the morning mist.  I de-toured to admire the snowdrops in the graveyard.  Very lovely with the mist and all.

When I asked the young people, of course the Northern Lights had been on twitter and facebook.  And Mo had posted some pictures he took in the Goyt Valley, so it was very close.  Apparently that wasn't very late, so I was probably still reading my book when I missed it.  I am currently reading:

An Interesting Book

Jacobites, Airships and The Earl of Derwentwater's Lights

Breakfast TV was rather rock and roll this morning.  They had Bruce Dickinson on with his new airship - the largest ever built, which he reckons is the new eco way to travel; and Tim O'Brien from Jodrell Bank talking about the Northern Lights.

Last time I went out last night (about 8.30pm) there was a lovely clear sky and bright stars.  Apparently the Northern Lights were then seen hereabouts - Tim O'Brien said he photographed them in the hills near Sheffield, which is close.  When I go into the studio I'll ask those who indulge more in social media if the Northern Lights appeared here. I don't know why, because if they were, I'll just be sick.

When they were talking about the Northern Lights, I was thinking about the Jacobite connection.  "The Jacobite connection?" you say.  Yes, the interviewers asked Tim O'Brien to imagine how people felt about the Aurora before they knew the science of them, perhaps they were seen as a portent.  Then I thought, no, not a portent, but a marker, of something catastrophic.  When the Earl of Derwentwater joined the '15 rebellion (the one before Bonnie Prince Charlie), he was caught and imprisoned in London.  The fabulous Dorothy Forster rode to London in one night and saved her brother, Tom, but the Earl was hanged.  His remains were spirited away, and to quote this book:

A Good Book

"they were secretly conveyed to the family vault in Northumberland, by a little procession which travelled by night and rested by day.  On the night of Tuesday, 6 March 1716 the hearse carrying Lord Derwentwater's body approached Dilston.  That night, all over Engalnd, the sky was lit by a fiery brilliance - the aurora borealis was brighter than had been known before and darkness never came.  It was fearfully whispered to be an omen of heaven's wrath and from that time the Northern Lights became known throughout Northumberland as "Lord Derwentwater's Lights".

I love Northumbrian history, and I love the way we have some many castles we don't really bother with them.  In my childhood Dilston Castle was empty and unused.  It has been used for various purposes since, the last I knew being a residential school for people with special needs.  I think it was a police training college once, but I'm not sure.  So many castles, what can you do with them all?

p.s. do you think Bruce Dickinson and Frankie Dickinson are related?  If Bruce Dickinson was originally Northumbrian that would be so cool.  He does live in a castle, I think.

Jacobites, Big Balls and Canny Tales

Last night I watched Dr Bendor Grosvenor searching for the lost portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie.  Bendor came over quite well in this programme.  He rode his motorbike to the various locations he was searching, which always helps to make a chap likeable.

Watching the programme I was struck by a couple of things.  I have always lived in old Jacobite areas; Northumberland, Manchester and Derbyshire.  Perhaps it is simply that, like a Jacobite, I couldn't contemplate going south of Derby.  In Northumberland there is the tragic adventure of Charles Radcliffe, the Earl of Derwentwater; here there are tales of Scotsmen furtively travelling through the hills after the retreat was sounded.

Secondly, Bendor managed to say that while Bonnie Prince Charlie was in Edinburgh, "balls were held in his honour".  Maybe it was just the bike, but I thought that Bendor was referring to the AC/DC classic "I've Got Big Balls".  (it's my belief that my big balls should be held every night).  Miss and Master Aimson couldn't believe that track when they first heard it.  When it was released the track was a double entente, punning on balls (as fancy dances) and balls (as in anatomy).  By the time Miss and Master Aimson heard it, it was a single entente, as balls is no longer used in the fancy dance context.  English children nowadays have heard of proms, not balls. 

At the time they heard it the Labour party were holding their leadership election, and Master Aimson wanted Ed Balls to win, so that Labour's campaign music could be "We've got Ed Balls, we've got Ed Balls, we've got the Eddest balls of them all".  Labour really missed a trick there.

Yesterday I bought this at the Saturday Bazaar, or is that the Saturday Bizarre:

A Canny Book

Leeks, Whistles, and True Raven Black

Yesterday we had a trip to Leek in the on again, off again sun.  We popped in to the Foxlowe first.  There was a ceramics exhibition on upstairs.  Sylvia Glover has her beautiful bowls, including her stacks of tiny bowls, in the exhibition.

Then we went down Stockwell Street to look in the Nicholson Institute, which I have never got round to looking at before.  It is, indeed, a rum do.  There is a very fleamsy collection of odds and ends:  some Wardle textiles, a stuffed wallaby, some vaudeville posters; and a Whistler.  I read the label about 10 times before I believed that there was an actual real-life Whistler on the wall in this fleamsy selection of bizarre and overlooked.  But there it was.  If you don't believe me, go and have a look.  Here is the Tourist Information map:

A Map

By the way, there were some old maps in the Nicholson Museum as well, and some old documents like a Jacobite letter and the confession of the last man hanged, in 1741, I think.  There was also a replica of a dress made in True Raven Black Dyed fabric, a speciality of the Leek dyeworks.

You will also be pleased to know that Leek Oatcakes appears to have been bought by a sympathetic buyer, and looks like it is operating in a traditional manner.  I couldn't verify this as it was afternoon, and the shop was closed, as it should be, in the traditional manner.  So that's good news.

Clouds, Carlos and the Truth

Last night I watched:

A Worthwhile film.

I seem to remember the reviews weren't too good when it came out.  I enjoyed it, but then I like a reincarnation theme.  It is in the tradition of Red Shift, and Ferney, which as you know is my favourite book ever.  I think I still prefer Ferney for several reasons. 

For one thing, I like the fact that the reincarnation in Ferney just is.  There are no pronouncements about life or love or anything.  They just are a couple who always reincarnate together, they just do.  The only "meaning" is that; it is the story.  That's the other thing: Cloud Atlas is a beautiful patchwork, montage, collage, or mosaic; but is a bit short on a storyline, or one overall narrative to grip you. 

But it was an enjoyable film to watch, with lots of good bits.  There was just a lingering sense of dissatisfaction that it was, in the end, a bit bitty. 

Something that stood out in the 1973 story was a mention of Carlos Castaneda.  I remember that from my 1970s childhood.  My dad had the books, and I tried to read them a couple of times.  Some seven years ago or so, my Dad gave me the books and I read them then:

Hey

Hey

Hippy

Shit.

I then read the book that changed it all for my Dad:

Oh Shit!

To him, it proved that it had all been a con, and not real at all.  He was very disappointed.  The book didn't totally convince me to abandon Carlos Castaneda.  I still think he has something worth saying, and maybe it is true ... in a way...

p.s. this was the bookmark in the first book, a bus ticket from the time:

20p!

Rocking and Reeling in Tornado Town

I went for a walk in the rain yesterday, down town, just to amuse myself.  Walking in the rain turned my mind to thoughts of festivals and Bearded Theory and Tornado Town.

So I bought a copy of:

A Good Magazine

Good news to report:

Item one:
Hayseed Dixie are playing Bearded Theory

Item Two:
Becky Unthank's collaboration with composer Martin Green on the Opera North-commissioned Crows' Bones will be available on album early in 2014. 
The project is an exploration of the ghostly and unnerving tales of the folk tradition, past and present.  Playing on it is Swedish nickleharpa player Niklas Roswall.

How can you go wrong with that?  Sounds completely fleamsy to me.  The last time I heard a nickleharpa was at The Ceilidh Place (where we saw Alasdair Roberts play last summer - see post Art, Assemblages and Alasdair).  It was in this group:

A Good CD

I like the name Salamander, but why did they come up with Bellevue Rendezvous?  Does that suggest a Scottish folk group to you?  It's a bit of a puzzle.

I would suggest in rainy weather you think happy thoughts of festivals, holidays, gigs and crows' bones.  It works for me.

Boys and a Boat

Here is a picture of two little boys on holiday  in Skegness, forced to pose by a boat for an embarrassing photo.

The older boy doesn't seem to mind, but the younger does, I think:

How Embarrassing