Good news, bad news.
First the good news: Went to a great gig in town last night. Some may remember the N'yah Fearties, a group of raucous rebellious Ayrshire types around in the mid to late '80s, some say them in the same mould as (very) early Pogues. They did, I think, tour with Shane and the lads at some point.
Anyway, some of them are back as the Junkman's Choir and they played at the St Moritz, a great little club in Wardour Street (as in "There's an A-bomb in"). The place was heavin' - which had its down side as getting to the bar proved very very difficult indeed (in fact, Reidski only drank two pints in the two and half hours or so he was there, believe it or not).
On the up side, however, the band were outstanding and a lot more is yet to be heard about them, no doubt. Got home at three this morning - NOT DRUNK!! Not even merry, for fuck sake! But a great night out, nevertheless.
I may even go and see them again tonight as they are playing in my local in New Cross - and it's guaranteed that, if I do go out, I will get blootered out of my skull - but I'm not sure.
Now for the bad news: I have just seen on the news that Marlon Brando has died. He was, without doubt, one of the greatest actors of all time and starred in a few crackers. Streetcard Named Desire and On the Waterfront being only a couple of milestones in an impressive career.
Just a note on On the Waterfront, by the way. There are those, and I've heard them, say that this is cinematic union-bashing. I beg to differ, rather seeing it as a bit of corruption-bashing.
But, on Brando himself, he was a strong supporter of, among other fine causes, the civil rights movement and for the rights of the Indigenous American peoples.
I'll raise a glass to the great man tonight, but first I'm off to the gym to pump some iron and to run on the treadmill for half an hour or so, followed by a nice 15 minutes or so in the steam room. Sounds good, eh? Come and join me some time. You're all invited.
posted by Reidski @ 1:59 am
4 Comments:
Ah but on the good side TV will rerun all his great movies.
Yes, Steve, that is a great big huge positive. And the big man also enjoyed a good enough innings.
Radical - I can't deny it, you and wee Lambie taught me everything I know.
And the steam room was ace - lots of sweaty male flesh!
Thing about going to the gym is that you don't feel guilty later when you're six pints and bottle of wine to the better (or worse).
Can we get off the euphemisms like "red sympathiser" please - if you mean communist, then say it, it's not a nasty word.
As I say in the post, I don't see the film as anti-union, although I do consider Kazan a shit who sold out his former comrades when he named names to the Senate Un-American House Committee.
And Brando's performance in it was nothing less than revolutionary in terms of acting - no-one had ever carried out a role such as he did in that way before.
In saying that, I do recall seeing something about Brando regretting working with Kazan, and regretting that the film was seen by some - obviously you radical postman - as anti-union, even though it wasn't.
I also recall, but again I may be wrong, Brando joining many others - such as Sarandon, Robbins, Richard Dreyfus, et al - in denouncing the fact that Kazan was given an honorary Oscar a couple of years ago, on the grounds that he was an anti-communist shitbag.
He was a good guy.
Manuel Mc Snoater's one time band the topplers toured Ayrshire with Nyah Fearties. thewife is particularly keen on Red Kola.
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