problems -- so much to consider

Just had this dub plate made of Steve Cope's great song. Hear here: soundcloud.com/the-1926-committee/attitude-problem

 

The only access (with an HGV) to the yard where the matador chassis lay was a slippery muddy track and an axle deep lake. No chance was the EC12 going to have in driving down here so it was a job for my ex Bradford/WYPTE Matador. Here it looks down the track it was going to have drive thru, it did it no problems!! Proper off roading!!

...because when people have guns, one day or another, they're going to use them.

 

R.I.P. to all those poor children in Connecticut.

 

[Fr]... parce que si les gens ont des armes à feu, un jour ou l'autre, ils les utiliseront.

Social Design for Wicked Problems Kick-off

GRD2 lens problem

Guys, I need your help. There's something bothering me about this drawing, but I don't know exactly what... I just can't seem to get the right feeling and so..

You may not all know how to draw, but as photographers you know how to look at things. So, tell me.

#frustration

Photo is by Sophia Alexis.

www.flickr.com/photos/sophiaalexis/7342786206/in/photostream

...

OK, here's the real deal ---

I'm going to walk you all through this.

 

If ya want to take notes, now's the time to gather

up some old scrap paper and find a no# 2 pencil.

 

This of course takes place in the mud cobra field.

Currently, the mud is concrete hard, maybe even

way harder than that. Notice the trench made by

the tractor, there's a lot of them here and have

to be delt with using extreme caution, or you

will end-up just like we have right here ...;-0

 

So, what happened you might be asking ?

 

Now, I want you to take 2, maybe 3 long steps

straight back, now turn 90 degrees to your rt

& there before your eyes will be a real large

palm oil tree, like quite large. This means

there will be large bows hanging down.

Most which have a large stalk as big

around as a grown mans wrist and

do great damage to any forward

motion, impeding your plans.

 

At this point I want you to envision 15/20 seconds

before we arrived in this spot. I'm doing my best

2 stay as close to the tree, avoid the large bows

while at the same time, balancing on the edge

of the concrete trench.... Still with me here ?

 

And for a door prize there's a number of

smaller bows aimed straight at my face.

 

Well, it all happened like an explosion

as the small bows racked my face, an

the big bows hooked the upper right

corner of the canopy whipping our

backend around into the trench

followed by a now unstable

front tire also sliding into

the deep trench. This

my friends, sucks ;-(

 

Try as I might, there was no rocking this

400++ pounds of hot metal out of here.

And, it is now getting really hot out too.

 

There's now only one option left and

that is to retrieve the come-a-long.

 

Took some doing cuz once we were

out of this trench we shot straight

over into the other trench. What

now you are asking ? Well, we

just kept doing what we do

until the rig is free and we

are on our way, out of

this precarious spot.

  

There's probably more I could add, but

at this point I think you have caught on.

 

Another day at the office ;-)

  

Jon&Crew.

  

Please help with your donations here.

www.gofundme.com/saving-thai-temple-dogs.

  

Please No Awards, Gyrating Graphics,

Invites or Large Group Logos, Thank You.

  

.

Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).

 

Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions

 

"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".

 

The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.

 

The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.

 

Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.

 

Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:

 

Wet with cool dew drops

fragrant with perfume from the flowers

came the gentle breeze

jasmine and water lily

dance in the spring sunshine

side-long glances

of the golden-hued ladies

stab into my thoughts

heaven itself cannot take my mind

as it has been captivated by one lass

among the five hundred I have seen here.

 

Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.

 

Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.

 

There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.

 

Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.

 

The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.

 

In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:

 

During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".

 

Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.

 

While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’

 

Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.

 

An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.

 

Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983

 

Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture

Main article: Commercial graffiti

With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.

 

In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".

 

Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.

 

Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.

 

Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.

 

Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.

 

There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.

 

The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.

 

Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.

 

Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis

 

Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.

 

Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.

 

Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"

 

Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal

 

In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.

 

Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.

 

Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.

 

Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.

 

With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.

 

Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.

 

Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.

 

Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.

 

Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.

 

Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.

 

Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.

 

Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.

 

The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.

 

I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.

 

The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.

 

Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.

 

Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.

 

In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".

 

There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.

 

Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.

 

A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.

By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.

 

Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.

 

In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.

 

A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.

 

From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

 

In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.

 

Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.

 

Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.

 

Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.

  

In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.

 

Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.

 

In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.

 

In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."

 

In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.

 

In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.

 

In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.

 

In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.

 

In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.

 

The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.

 

To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."

 

In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.

 

In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.

 

Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".

 

Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)

In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.

 

Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.

 

Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.

 

In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.

 

Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.

 

Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.

 

To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.

 

When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.

if only she had a Vampoodle!

 

i'll shoot this again, in better light, if one ever shows up,

Success at last! I've tried a couple of times to get this shot right, and this one turned out as I wanted it too!

    

I do not have any problems with sleeping but when I fall asleep, I have this new problem of squeezing my teeth so badly that my jaw aches when I wake up. I guess It is time to dig into the deeps of some Freudian ideas

Bologna, via Rizzoli

Downtown drug problems

really? no problem? not even mild concern? at a sailing regatta, Kiel Germany.

PLEASE LOOK IN FULL VIEW AND PLEASE READ THE DESCRIPTION TO ANSWER ANY OF YOUR POSSIBLE FAQ'S. Thank you

 

FINALLY the moment we've all been waiting for!!!

 

Remember this: [link] [link] [link] ? Well I finished her at 11:43 Am this morning.

  

This is a finally finished 9 month long project, I missed so many deadlines with through all of the problem that I have had with it. This is a super expensive custom built movie truck, the goblin truck form Steven King's 1986 "Maximum Overdrive" movie. In total this custom kit utilizes parts from 6 different truck and trailer kits. Our base kit is actually a Kenworth W900, that I heavily modified. Now I know a few of you truck gurus out there are going to give me hell about the goblin truck in the not being a Kenworth, well guess what, it is a Kenworth, so stick that in in your juice box and suck it. Anyway, I missed numerous deadlines by piddling around, but I guess that's what I get. This kit was originally suppose to be finished and uploaded by July 10th 2011, for the movie's 25th anniversary release date in theaters, but missed that, then I was suppose to have it done by August 7th, 2011 for the county fair, but then I missed that one, I was suppose to have it up by Sunday then Monday and I missed those deadlines as well; so here I present to you a month and a half overdue project. I hope you enjoy I went through hell and back to bring it to you.

 

Features of this model are:

*rolling wheels

*opening/closing doors

*detailed components

*opening hood

*detailed goblin mask

*working fifth wheel plate

*semi trailer

*privacy curtains for the sleeper cab

*dash fan

 

Here is all of what I did to this kit in a condensed version, I took Kenworth w900 kit and took the original sleeper cab of and replaced it with a smaller sleeper leftover from my previous Peterbilt project: [link] [link] and patched the triangular shaped hole in the roof with plastic card and body filler. Then shortened the frame about an inch and a half by sectioning out the frame into 3 different pieces then reassembling them back together again; (in reality if this truck were full size, that 1.5 of an inch in scale would take off about a 6-8 feet off of the overall length off of the full sized vehicle). I relocated the gas tanks so that they were under the cab and mounted the smoke stacks on the sleeper, I had to custom fabricate exhaust tips and the pipes from the stacks going to the engine out of scrap plastic tree. For some odd reason the fifth wheel plate that originally came with the truck wasn't good enough, so I ended up cutting the entire base to the plate off of the frame rails and then sanded the frame down, next I then took that spare that was leftover from the Peterbilt project and modified it and put it in place where the other one was at; it all worked out in the end. I ended up discarding many of the other non-necessary parts and used some interior components like the seats and other parts from a Dodge L700 Kit and left over parts form the Peterbilt project. T he bed is leftover from the Peterbilt, the privacy curtains for the sleeper cab are made from pieces of plastic bag and plastic tree, the fan on the dash is made from a piece of painted scrap plastic tree and the fan cage is made from clear scrap plastic tree panted to have fan blades with a cage around it. I cut the doors out, sanded down the edges, attached fine cabinet hinges to the doors and attached then tho the inside of the cab, I then fabricated door jams from plastic card for the doors so that they didn't swing in too far and so that there wasn't any unsightly gab between the roof pillars and the door. The dry van box trailer is from another Dodge L700 kit modified from a few parts off of another flat bed trailer kit and custom fabricated parts. The goblin mask is made from about 3 layers of 3/4 inch scrap styrene foam sheeting glued together with Elmer's carpenter glue, acrylic paint, body filler, primer and modeler's acrylic paint. The color of green to the goblin mask is made up of 4 custom mixed colors to give it it's look (unfortunately, I couldn't quite find the right shade of green). Put a lot of the stock components together and painted them all 1 color and then detail any specific components. The trailer was a bit of a trick, I had to sand off the ribs off of the sides of the trailer and temporarily hold the walls, roof together to the deck of the trailer with rubber bands until the plastic cement cured. I then painted the whole trailer, I paint the individual wood planking to the decks as well. I attached it to the hood and then paint on the red, the turn signals and many of the running lights to the trailer and hood came off of a Ford Louisville L7000 Snow Plow kit. I had to custom fabricate a new bumper from plastic card because the other one was too small and left a giant gap between the the mask and the front fenders. I had to custom make decals for the trailer and then glued them to the sides and back and I then clear coated them. After all of the major crap like body modifications, part fabrication, major parts assembly/ painting was over with I then painted painted anything else leftover and attached any other detailed parts, and well the rest is history.

 

In total the estimated cost of building this kit was about $268, if I were to build this kit again, it would cost me about $300 to $400.

 

There you go to my dearest fans who were waiting ever so patiently.

 

I will be later posting a Youtube link slide show video on who this was made for those who are interested, so stay tuned.

 

© 2011 By: Deorse (Steven Waller) For entertainment and educational use only.

 

Parecía que ninguno de mis problemas podría llegar tan alto para volver a atraparme en esa incertidumbre, nublarme la vista, y volver a caer otra vez, envuelta en lagrimas y sollozos. Yo seguía mirando al cielo, y parecía que el horizonte no se movía, que las nubes se quedaban perplejas ante el paso del avión, y me quise decir a mi misma que no estabamos acortando la distancia que me separaba de todos aquellos recuerdos y pensamientos.Que yo estaba parada en medio de las nubes a treinta mil pies, sobre la tierra . Pero cuando el avión empezó a descender, pude distinguir entre las nubes la ciudad, y sabía que alguna parte estaba él. Sabía que estaría vigilando desde algún sitio. Entonces, involuntaria a mis pensamientos, sonreí.

-C.

Texto que escribí en el avión de vuelta a España, lo he subido un poco tarde pero aquí lo teneis :]

Airlie Conference Center.

Original Caption: Navaho Boy Leans Against Tower of Discarded Tires. Lack of Disposal Facilities Is A Common Problem in Remote Areas of the Navaho Reservation

 

U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-1864

 

Photographer: Eiler, Terry, 1944-

 

Subjects:

Red Rock (Apache county, Arizona, United States) inhabited place

Environmental Protection Agency

Project DOCUMERICA

 

Persistent URL: arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=544357

 

Repository: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001.

 

For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html

 

Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html

   

Access Restrictions: Unrestricted

Use Restrictions: Unrestricted

 

5½ inch 80# cardstock circles, a good, stiff medium for this model.

 

Perfect model for CraftROBOing or die-stamping.

 

Crease pattern (postscript)

I discuss them on my new blog, secondlizzie.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/what-is-wrong-with-... .

A Saturday morning, and on a second wild goose chase looking for the Wall Pennywort in Folkestone.

 

Problem was, I didn't have the photo with me so I could triangulate the plant with the church in the background. Instead, I (wrongly) assumed that it would be growing on a wall, so spent the morning looking on every wall in the churchyard, and nothing found.

 

But St Mary was open.

 

And I just had the 50mm with me, but I was delighted inside to find the harsh orange lights under the tower have been replaced with something kinder.

 

I did meet a warden who was very interested in the plant tale, and other stories, so I didn't get round to photograph everything, but did see the old clock mechanism for the first time, not sure where that had been kept up to now.

 

And the remains of St Eanswythe, or almost certainly her remains, now dated to the mid 7th century are in a niche in the Chancel ready for placing somewhere befitting a Kentish Queen.

 

A superb location in a leafy churchyard away from the busy shopping centre, and yet much more of a town church than that of a seaside resort. It was originally a thirteenth-century building, but so much has happened to it that today we are left with the impression of a Victorian interior. Excellent stained glass by Kempe, mosaics by Carpenter and paintings by Hemming show the enthusiasm of Canon Woodward, vicar from 1851 to 1898. His efforts encouraged others to donate money to beautify the building in an almost continuous restoration that lasted right into the twentieth century They were spurred on by the discovery, in 1885, of the bones of St Eanswythe, in a lead casket which had been set into the sanctuary wall. She had founded a convent in the town in the seventh century and died at the age of twenty-six.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Folkestone+1

 

-------------------------------------------

 

FOLKESTONE.

THE parish of Folkestone, which gives name to this hundred, was antiently bounded towards the south by the sea, but now by the town and liberty of Folkestone, which has long since been made a corporation, and exempt from the jurisdiction of the hundred. The district of which liberty is a long narrow slip of land, having the town within it, and extending the whole length of the parish, between the sea shore and that part of the parish still within the jurisdiction of the hundred, and county magistrates, which is by far the greatest part of it.

 

THE PARISH, which is about three miles across each way, is situated exceedingly pleasant and healthy. The high chalk, or down hills uniclosed, and well covered with pasture, cross the northern part of it, and from a sine romantic scene. Northward of these, this part of the parish is from its high situation, called the uphill of Folkestone; in this part is Tirlingham, the antient mansion of which has been some years since pulled down, and a modern farm-house erected in its stead; near it is Hearn forstal, on which is a good house, late belonging to Mr. Nicholas Rolse, but now of Mr. Richard Marsh; over this forstal the high road leads from Folkestone to Canterbury. The centre of the parish is in the beautiful and fertile vale called Folkestone vale, which has downs, meadows, brooks, marshes, arable land, and every thing in small parcels, which is sound in much larger regions; being interspersed with houses and cottages, and well watered by several fresh streams; besides which, at Ford forstall, about a mile northward from the town, there rises a strong chalybeat spring. This part of the parish, by far the greatest part of it, as far as the high road from Dover, through it, towards Hythe, is within the jurisdiction of the hundred of Folkestone, and the justices of the county. The small part on the opposite, or southern side of that road is within the liberty of the town or corporation of Folkestone, where the quarry or sand hills, on the broken side of one of which, the town is situated, are its southern maritime boundaries. These hills begin close under the chalk or down hills, in the eastern part of this parish, close to the sea at Eastware bay, and extend westward along the sea shore almost as far as Sandgate castle, where they stretch inland towards the north, leaving a small space between them and the shore. So that this parish there crossing one of them, extends below it, a small space in the bottom as far as that castle, these quarry, or sand hills, keeping on their course north-west, from the northern boundary of Romney Marsh, and then the southern boundary of the Weald, both which they overlook, extending pretty nearly in a parallel line with the chalk or down hills.

 

The prospect over this delightful vale of Folkestone from the hill, on the road from Dover as you descend to the town, is very beautiful indeed for the pastures and various fertility of the vale in the centre, beyond it the church and town of Hythe, Romney Marsh, and the high promontory of Beachy head, boldly stretching into the sea. On the right the chain of losty down hills, covered with verdure, and cattle seeding on them; on the lest the town of Folkestone, on the knole of a hill, close to the sea, with its scattered environs, at this distance a pleasing object, and beyond it the azure sea unbounded to the sight, except by the above-mentioned promontory, altogether from as pleasing a prospect as any in this county.

 

FOLKESTONE was a place of note in the time of the Romans, and afterwards in that of the Saxons, as will be more particularly noticed hereafter, under the description of the town itself. By what name it was called by the Romans, is uncertain; by the Saxons it was written Folcestane, and in the record of Domesday, Fulchestan. In the year 927 king Athelstane, son of king Edward the elder, and grandson of king Alfred, gave Folkstane, situated, as is mentioned in the grant of it, on the sea shore, where there had been a monastery, or abbey of holy virgins, in which St. Eanswith was buried, which had been destroyed by the Danes, to the church of Canterbury, with the privilege of holding it L. S. A. (fn. 1) But it Seems afterwards to have been taken from it, for king Knute, in 1038, is recorded to have restored to that church, the parish of Folkstane, which had been given to it as above-mentioned; but upon condition, that it should never be alienated by the archbishop, without the licence both of the king and the monks. Whether they joined in the alienation of it, or it was taken from them by force, is uncertain; but the church of Canterbury was not in possession of this place at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in 1080, being the 14th year of the Conqueror's reign, at which time it was part of the possessions of the bishop of Baieux, the conqueror's half-brother, under the general description of whose lands it is thus entered in it:

 

In Limowart lest, in Fulcbestan hundred, William de Acris holds Fulchestan. In the time of king Edward the Consessor, it was taxed at forty sulings, and now at thirty-nine. The arable land is one hundred and twenty carucates. In demesne there are two hundred and nine villeins, and four times twenty, and three borderes. Among all they have forty-five carcates. There are five churches, from which the archbishop has fifty-five shillings. There are three servants, and seven mills of nine pounds and twelve shillings. There are one hundred acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of forty bogs. Earl Godwin held this manor.

 

Of this manor, Hugo, son of William, holds nine sulings of the land of the villeins, and there he has in demesne four carucates and an half, and thirty-eight villeins, with seventeen borderes, who have sixteen carucates. There are three churches, and one mill and an half, of sixteen shillings and five-pence, and one saltpit of thirty pence. Wood for the pannage of six bogs. It is worth twenty pounds.

 

Walter de Appeuile holds of this manor three yokes and twelve acres of land, and there he has one carucate in demesne, and three villeins, with one borderer. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Alured holds one suling and forty acres of land, and there he has in demesne two carucates, with six borderers, and twelve acres of meadow. It is worth four pounds.

 

Walter, son of Engelbert, holds half a suling and forty acres, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with seven borderers, and five acres of meadow. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Wesman holds one suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, and two villeins, with seven borderers having one carucate and an half. It is worth four pounds.

 

Alured Dapiser holds one suling and one yoke and six acres of land, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with eleven borderers. It is worth fifty shillings.

 

Eudo holds half a suling, and there he has in demesne one carucate, with four borderers, and three acres of meadow. It is worth twenty shillings.

 

Bernard de St. Owen, four sulings, and there he has in demesne three carucates, and six villeins, with eleven borderes, having two carucates. There are four servants, and two mills of twenty-four shillings, and twenty acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of two bogs.

 

Of one denne, and of the land which is given from these suling to ferm, there goes out three pounds. In the whole it is worth nine pounds.

 

Baldric holds half a suling, and there he has one carucate, and two villeins, with six borderers having one carucate, and one mill of thirty pence. It is worth thirty shillings.

 

Richard holds fifty-eight acres of land, and there he has one carucate, with five borderers. It is worth ten shillings.

 

All Fulchestan, in the time of king Edward the Consessor, was worth one hundred and ten pounds, when he received it forty pounds, now what he has in demesne is worth one hundred pounds; what the knights hold abovementioned together, is worth forty-five pounds and ten shillings.

 

¶It plainly appears that this entry in Domesday does not only relate to the lands within this parish, but to those in the adjoining parishes within the hundred, the whole of which, most probably, were held of the bishop of Baieux, but to which of them each part refers in particular, is at this time impossible to point out. About four years after the taking of the above survey, the bishop was disgraced, and all his possessions consiscated to the crown. After which, Nigell de Muneville, a descendant of William de Arcis, mentioned before in Domesday, appears to have become possessed of the lordship of Folkestone, and as such in 1095, being the 9th year of king William Rusus, removed the priory of Folkestone from the bail of the castle to the place where it afterwards continued. His son William dying in his life-time s. p, Matilda his sole daughter and heir was given in marriage with the whole of her inheritance, by king Henry I. to Ruallanus de Albrincis, or Averenches, whose descendant Sir William de Albrincis, was become possessed of this lordship at the latter end of that reign; and in the 3d year of the next reign of king Stephen, he confirmed the gifts of his ancestors above-mentioned to the priory here. He appears to have been one of those knights, who had each a portion of lands, which they held for the de sence of Dover castle, being bound by the tenure of those lands to provide a certain number of soldiers, who should continually perform watch and ward within it, according to their particular allotment of time; but such portions of these lands as were not actually in their own possession were granted out by them to others, to hold by knight's service, and they were to be ready for the like service at command, upon any necessity whatever, and they were bound likewife, each knight to desend a certain tower in the castle; that desended by Sir William de Albrincis being called from him, Averenches tower, and afterwards Clinton tower, from the future owners of those lands. (fn. 2) Among those lands held by Sir William de Albrincis for this purpose was Folkestone, and he held them of the king in capitle by barony. These lands together made up the barony of Averenches, or Folkestone, as it was afterwards called, from this place being made the chief of the barony, caput baroniæ, as it was stiled in Latin; thus The Manor of Folkestone, frequently called in after times An Honor, (fn. 3) and the mansion of it the castle, from its becoming the chief seat or residence of the lords paramount of this barony, continued to be so held by his descendants, whose names were in Latin records frequently speit Albrincis, but in French Avereng and Averenches, and in after times in English ones, Evering; in them it continued till Matilda, daughter and heir of William de Albrincis, carried it in marriage to Hamo de Crevequer, who, in the 20th year of that reign, had possession given him of her inheritance. He died in the 47th year of that reign, possessed of the manor of Folkestone, held in capite, and by rent for the liberty of the hundred, and ward of Dover castle. Robert his grandson, dying s. p. his four sisters became his heirs, and upon the division of their inheritance, and partition of this barony, John de Sandwich, in right of his wife Agnes, the eldest sister, became entitled to this manor and lordship of Folkestone, being the chief seat of the barony, a preference given to her by law, by reason of her eldership; and from this he has been by some called Baron of Folkestone, as has his son Sir John de Sandwich, who left an only daughter and heir Julian, who carried this manor in marriage to Sir John de Segrave, who bore for his arms, Sable, three garbs, argent. He died in the 17th year of Edward III. who, as well as his son, of the same name, received summons to parliament, though whether as barons of Folkestone, as they are both by some called, I know not. Sir John de Segrave, the son, died possessed of this manor anno 23 Edward III. soon after which it appears to have passed into the family of Clinton, for William de Clinton, earl of Huntingdon, who bore for his arms, Argent, crusulee, situchee, sable, upon a chief, azure, two mullets, or, pierced gules; which coat differed from that of his elder brother's only in the croslets, which were not borne by any other of this family till long afterwards, (fn. 4) died possessed of it in the 28th year of that reign, at which time the mansion of this manor bore the name of the castle. He died s. p. leaving his nephew Sir John de Clinton, son of John de Clinton, of Maxtoke, in Warwickshire, his heir, who was afterwards summoned to parliament anno 42 Edward III. and was a man of great bravery and wisdom, and much employed in state affairs. He died possessed of this manor, with the view of frank-pledge, a moiety of the hundred of Folkestone, and THE MANOR OF WALTON, which, though now first mentioned, appears to have had the same owners as the manor of Folkestone, from the earliest account of it. He married Idonea, eldest daughter of Jeffry, lord Say, and at length the eldest coheir of that family, and was succeeded in these manors by his grandson William, lord Clinton, who, anno 6 Henry IV. had possession granted of his share of the lands of William de Say, as coheir to him in right of his grandmother Idonea, upon which he bore the title of lord Clinton and Saye, which latter however he afterwards relinquished, though he still bore for his arms, Qnarterly, Clinton and Saye, with two greybounds for his supporters. After which the manor of Folkestone, otherwise called Folkestone Clinton, and Walton, continued to be held in capite by knight's service, by his descendants lords Clinton, till Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, which title he then bore, together with Elizabeth his wife, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. conveyed these manors, with other premises in this parish, to Thomas Cromwell lord Cromwell, afterwards created earl of Essex, on whose attainder two years afterwards they reverted again to the crown, at which time the lordship of Folkestone was stiled an honor; whence they were granted in the fourth year of Edward VI. to the former possessor of them, Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite, for the meritorious services he had performed. In which year, then bearing the title of lord Clinton and Saye, he was declared lord high admiral, and of the privy council, besides other favours conferred on him; and among other lands, he had a grant of these manors, as abovementioned, which he next year, anno 5 Edward VI. reconveyed back to the crown, in exchange for other premises. (fn. 5) He was afterwards installed knight of the garter, by the title of Earl of Lincoln and Baron of Clinton and Saye; and in the last year of that reign, constable of the tower of London. Though in the 1st year of queen Mary he lost all his great offices for a small time, yet he had in recompence of his integrity and former services, a grant from her that year, of several manors and estates in this parish, as well as elsewhere, and among others, of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, together with the castle and park of Folkestone, to hold in capite; all which he, the next year, passed away by sale to Mr. Henry Herdson, citizen and alderman of London, who lest several sons, of whom Thomas succeeded him in this estate, in whose time the antient park of Folkestone seems to have been disparked. His son Mr. Francis Herdson alienated his interst in these manors and premises to his uncle Mr. John Herdson, who resided at the manor of Tyrlingham, in this parish, and dying in 1622, was buried in the chancel of Hawking church, where his monument remains; and there is another sumptuous one besides erected for him in the south isle of Folkestone church. They bore for their arms, Argent, a cross sable, between four fleurs de lis, gules. He died s. p. and by will devised these manors, with his other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to his nephew Basill, second son of his sister Abigail, by Charles Dixwell, esq. Basill Dixwell, esq. afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, a part of the estate devised to him by his uncle, where, in the 3d year of king Charles I. he kept his shrievalty, with great honor and hospitality; after which he was knighted, and in 1627, anno 3 Charles I. created a baronet; but having rebuilt the mansion of Brome, in Barham, he removed thither before his death. On his decease unmarried, the title of baronet became extinct; but he devised these manors, with the rest of his estates, to his nephew Mark Dixwell, son of his elder brother William Dixwell, of Coton, in Warwickshire, who afterwards resided at Brome. He married Elizabeth, sister and heir of William Read, esq. of Folkestone, by whom he had Basill Dixwell, esq. of Brome, who in 1660, anno 12 Charles II. was created a baronet. His son Sir Basill Dixwell, bart. of Brome, about the year 1697, alientated these manors, with the park-house and grounds, and other estates in this parish and neighbourhood, to Jacob Desbouverie, esq. of LondonHe was descended from Laurence de Bouverie, de la Bouverie, or Des Bouveries, of an antient and honorable extraction in Flanders, (fn. 6) who renouncing the tenets of the Romish religion came into England in the year 1567, anno 10 Elizabeth, and seems to have settled first at Canterbury. He was a younger son of Le Sieur des Bouveries, of the chateau de Bouverie, near Lisle, in Flanders, where the eldest branch of this family did not long since possess a considerable estate, bearing for their arms, Gules, a bend, vaire. Edward, his eldest son, was an eminet Turkey merchant, was knighted by king James II. and died at his seat at Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, in 1694. He had seven sons and four daughters; of the former, William, the eldest, was likewife an eminent Turkey merchant, and was, anno 12 queen Anne, created a baronet, and died in 1717. Jacob, the third son, was purchaser of these manors; and Christopher, the seventh son, was knighted, and seated at Chart Sutton, in this county, under which a further account of him may be seen; (fn. 7) and Anne, the second daughter, married Sir Philip Boteler, bart. Jacob Desbouverie afterwards resided at Tyrlingham, and dying unmarried in 1722, by his will devised these manors, with his other estates here, to his nephew Sir Edward Desbouverie, bart. the eldest brother son of Sir William Desbouverie, bart. his elder brother, who died possessed of them in 1736, s. p. on which his title, with these and all his other estates, came to his next surviving brother and heir Sir Jacob Desbouverie, bart. who anno 10 George II. procured an act to enable himself and his descendants to use the name of Bouverie only, and was by patent, on June 29, 1747, created baron of Longford, in Wiltshire, and viscount Folkestone, of Folkestone. He was twice married; first to Mary, daughter and sole heir of Bartholomew Clarke, esq. of Hardingstone, in Northamptonshire, by whom he had several sons and daughters, of whom William, the eldest son, succeeded him in titles and estates; Edward is now of Delapre abbey, near Northamptonshire; Anne married George, a younger son of the lord chancellor Talbot; Charlotte; Mary married Anthony, earl of Shastesbury; and Harriot married Sir James Tilney Long, bart. of Wiltshire. By Elizabeth his second wife, daughter of Robert, lord Romney, he had Philip, who has taken the name of Pusey, and possesses, as heir to his mother Elizabeth, dowager viscountess Folkestone, who died in 1782, several manors and estates in the western part of this county. He died in 1761, and was buried in the family vault at Britford, near Salisbury, being succeeded in title and estates by his eldest son by his first wife, William, viscount Folkestone, who was on Sept. 28, anno 5 king George III. created Earl of Radnor, and Baron Pleydell Bouverie, of Coleshill, in Berkshire. He died in 1776, having been three times married; first, to Harriot, only daughter and heir of Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell, bart. of Colefhill, in Berkshire. By her, who died in 1750, and was buried at Britford, though there is an elegant monument erected for her at Coleshill, he had Hacob, his successor in titles and estates, born in 1750. He married secondly, Rebecca, daughter of John Alleyne, esq. of Barbadoes, by whom he had four sons; William-Henry, who married Bridget, daughter of James, earl of Morton; Bartholomew, who married MaryWyndham, daughter of James Everard Arundell, third son of Henry, lord Arundell, of Wardour; and Edward, who married first Catherine Murray, eldest daughter of John, earl of Dunmore; and secondly, Arabella, daughter of admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle. His third wife was Anne, relict of Anthony Duncombe, lord Faversham, and daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, bart. of Bekesborne, by whom he had two daughters, who both died young. He was succeeded in titles and estates by his eldest son, the right hon. Jacob Pleydell Bouverie, earl of Radnor, who is the present possessor of these manors of Folkestone and Walton, with the park-house and disparked grounds adjacent to it, formerly the antient park of Folkestone, the warren, and other manors and estates in this parish and neighbourhood.

 

FOLKESTONE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary and St. Eanswith, consists of three isles and three chancels, having a square tower, with a beacon turret in the middle of it, in which there is a clock, and a peal of eight bells, put up in it in 1779. This church is built of sand-stone; the high chancel, which has been lately ceiled, seems by far the most antient part of it. Under an arch in the north wall is a tomb, with the effigies of a man, having a dog at his feet, very an tient, probably for one of the family of Fienes, constables of Dover castle and wardens of the five ports; and among many other monuments and inscriptions, within the altar-rails, are monuments for the Reades, of Folkestone, arms, Azure, a griffin, or, quartering gules, a pheon between three leopards faces, or; for William Langhorne, A.M. minister, obt. 1772. In the south chancel is a most elegant monument, having the effigies of two men kneeling at two desks, and an inscription for J. Herdson, esq. who lies buried in Hawkinge church, obt. 1622. In the south isle a tomb for J. Pragels, esq. obt. 1676, arms, A castle triple towered, between two portcullises; on a chief, a sinister hand gauntled, between two stirrups. In the middle isle a brass plate for Joane, wife of Thomas Harvey, mother of seven sons (one of which was the physician) and two daughters. In the north wall of the south isle were deposited the remains of St. Eanswith, in a stone coffin; and under that isle is a large charnelhouse, in which are deposited the great quantity of bones already taken notice of before. Philipott, p. 96, says, the Bakers, of Caldham, had a peculiar chancel belonging to them in this church, near the vestrydoor, over the charnel-house, which seems to have been that building mentioned by John Baker, of Folkestone, who by his will in 1464, ordered, that his executors should make a new work, called an isle, with a window in it, with the parishioners advice; which work should be built between the vestry there and the great window. John Tong, of Folkestone, who was buried in this church, by will in 1534, ordered that certain men of the parish should be enfeoffed in six acres of land, called Mervyle, to the use of the mass of Jhesu, in this church.

 

On Dec. 19, 1705, the west end of this church, for the length of two arches out of the five, was blown down by the violence of the wind; upon which the curate and parishioners petitioned archbishop Tillot son, for leave to shorten the church, by rebuilding only one of the fallen arches, which was granted. But by this, the church, which was before insufficient to contain the parishioners, is rendered much more inconvenient to them for that purpose. By the act passed anno 6 George III. for the preservation of the town and church from the ravages of the sea as already noticed before. After such works are finished, &c. the rates are to be applied towards their repair, and to the keeping in repair, and the support and preservation of this church.

 

¶This church was first built by Nigell de Muneville, lord of Folkestone at the latter end of king Henry I. or the beginning of king Stephen's reign, when he removed the priory from the precinct of the castle to it in 1137, and he gave this new church and the patronage of it to the monks of Lolley, in Normandy, for their establishing a cell, or alien priory here, as has been already mentioned, to which this new church afterwards served as the conventual church of it. The profits of it were very early appropriated to the use of this priory, that is, before the 8th of king Richard II. anno 1384, the duty of it being served by a vicar, whose portion was settled in 1448, at the yearly pension of 10l. 0s. 2½d. to be paid by the prior, in lieu of all other profits whatsoever. In which state this appropriation and vicarage remained till the surrendry of the priory, in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when they came, with the rest of the possessions of it, into the king's hands, who in his 31st year demised the vicarage and parish church of Folkestone, with all its rights, profits, and emoluments, for a term of years, to Thomas, lord Cromwell, who assigned his interest in it to Anthony Allcher, esq. but the fee of both remained in the crown till the 4th year of king Edward VI. when they were granted, with the manor, priory, and other premises here, to Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, to hold in capite; who the next year conveyed them back again to the crown, in exchange for other premises, (fn. 23) where the patronage of the vicarage did not remain long; for in 1558, anno 6 queen Mary, the queen granted it, among several others, to the archbishop. But the church or parsonage appropriate of Folkestone remained longer in the crown, and till queen Elizabeth, in her 3d year, granted it in exchange, among other premises, to archbishop Parker, being then in lease to lord Clinton, at the rent of 57l. 2s. 11d. at which rate it was valued to the archbishop, in which manner it has continued to be leased out ever since, and it now, with the patronage of the vicarage, remains parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury; the family of Breams were formerly lessees of it, from whom the interest of the lease came to the Taylors, of Bifrons, and was sold by the late Rev. Edward Taylor, of Bisrons, to the right hon. Jacob, earl of Radnor, the present lessee of it.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol8/pp152-188

 

-------------------------------------------

 

Saint Eanswith (Old English: Ēanswīþ; born c. 630, Kent, England. Died c. 650, Folkestone, England), also spelled Eanswythe or Eanswide, was an Anglo Saxon princess, who is said to have founded Folkestone Priory, one of the first Christian monastic communities for women in Britain. In 2020, osteoarchaeologists were given the opportunity to examine the remains of a skeleton long thought to be the remains of St. Eanswythe. They concluded that the bones belonged to a young female. Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the remains were from the mid-7th century, adding to the evidence that this may well be St. Eanswythe. The results of DNA and isotope analysis are pending. It can never be proven that the remains are St. Eanswythe but the evidence certainly indicates that this could be the case. If so, these are the earliest remains yet discovered of an English saint, and of a relative of the British monarch.

 

Tradition has it that Eanswith founded the Benedictine Folkestone Priory, the first nunnery in England. She was supported in this by her father, Eadbald, who ruled as king of Kent from 616 to 640 CE.[4]

 

While the monastery was under construction, a pagan prince came to Kent seeking to marry Eanswythe. King Eadbald, whose sister St. Ethelburga had married the pagan King Edwin two or three years before, recalled that this wedding resulted in Edwin's conversion. Eanswythe, however, refused.[5]

 

This was the first women's monastery to be founded in England. St. Eanswythe lived there with her companions in the monastic life, and they may have been guided by some of the Roman monks who had come to England with St. Augustine in 597.

 

She remained at the abbey until her death.[5]

 

The first monastic site became abandoned by the 10th century, and began to be eroded by the sea, a problem which also afflicted a new foundation of 1095. A site further inland was provided for a new foundation of Folkestone Priory by William de Abrincis in 1137, with a church dedicated to St Mary and St Eanswythe. Saint Eanswith's day falls on September 12.[6] Traditionally, this is the date on which her remains were translated to the new church in 1138. The priory was closed at the Reformation, and the Church became Folkestone Parish Church. During restoration work at the church in 1885 human remains were discovered in a lead reliquary, embedded within the church wall, which were identified as a 12th-century vessel, and the bones of a young woman.[7] This led to the conclusion that they could be the translated relics of Saint Eanswith, hidden away at the Reformation.[8] A new expert analysis by historians and archaeologists concluded in March 2020 that the remains are almost certainly that of Eanswith.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eanswith

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Sex Problem @ The Nicollet, Minneapolis, MN - January 27th, 2016

Finger Lakes Food/Flower Gardens

 

Last year I had thought about putting another gate at the end of the run to make it easier to access the front yard. I called in a fencing company who wanted to charge me $500.00. Whoa!!! Can you say RIP-OFF! Needless to say we didn't hire that company!!! So the gates went into the garden, a good use for them! They will be used for the Cucs and Squash to climb on!

problem catur 3 langkah mati

Same difficult problem, two slightly different ways of tackling it..

I have been going here since it opened!!

Luther, Katie and I had a good session down there this evening..

Luther and Katie were doing great!

 

History -

"The Foundry Climbing Centre in Sheffield was the UK's first dedicated indoor climbing centre. Opened in 1991 it was designed, by climbers, to suit everyone from beginner to expert. It offers walls up to 13m high and lead/top rope climbs with 150 routes and bouldering"

 

"We at The Foundry provide climbing facilities for people of all ages and abilities. We have over 75 lead routes, 75+ top rope routes, 7 Autobelays, 100+ boulder problems and training and gym facilities"

www.foundryclimbing.com/

How would you describe the problems and solutions in this scenario?

Young labrador.

the problem women face...how to be both sides of domesticity (is that a word?) and to succeed at both.

‘Cause there's no salvation for a bad girl

We’re rock bottom

But there ain’t no stopping

‘Cause they don’t know nothing about love

We’re hell raising

And we don’t need saving

‘Cause there's no salvation for a bad boy

We’re rock bottom

But there ain’t no stopping

‘Cause its you and me against the world

 

I’m your dream girl

This is real love

But you know what they say about me…

That girl is a problem

Girl is a problem

Girl is a problem, problem

Oh Baby

You so bad boy

Drive me mad boy

But you don’t care when they say about me…

That girl is a problem

Girl is a problem

Girl is a problem, problem

Adler's planetarium

Just got this NN Yasmin in the other day and im obsessed with her!!!

song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1LNQBX8JwE

Problem?

Bazıları problem sever

porta potties smell bad

Cambridge England

dear kelly smith sometimes I wish I was as amy winehouse oriented as you are and now my dreams are coming true

Brilliant line, great work by Will. I did the RH finish after this as wasnt sure what was what, get pocket with the LH and head right. "The Lash Out?" the right finish was a bit harder. My grade calibrater is malfunctioning at the moment.

Left-hand one is misbehaving. Right-hand one is better.

 

So that's annoying. New machine, set up with Marlin on RAMPS, the z-axis was always on (so the motors weren't released between layers). I thought that wasn't a bad idea, but it turns out that driving two motors (the z motors) continuously makes the stepper drivers go up to 110C, and they do a thermal cutout. Or at least, that's what it seems like. It manifests as the motors just not moving. When doing a "move 10mm" on the z-axis, it'll move, then just pause for a couple of seconds, before coming back on.

 

I have changed the row #define DISABLE_Z false in Marlin (Configuration) to true, and so it goes off between layers. I don't really trust microsteps to pickup where they left off, but at least it can print now. Also am going to add a fan to the electronics.

A brave motorist risks the life of his vehicle to cross the Stake Lake.

 

LAKE OF RHYMES...

 

LOGIC

 

If you’re sorry but don’t say it

You my as well not be sorry,

And if you’re not sorry, then

You must think everything’s

Fine and dandy, and if you

Think everything is fine and

Dandy with the way you

Treated me, then I don’t see

How you can have a problem

With me treating you the

Same. It’s just simple logic,

Or are you too good for that

Too? If you’re sorry but you

Don’t say it, then I have no

Business presuming it, do I?

 

DEAR BILL

 

Shall we rush to forgive dear Bill,

Or would that send the message

That rape is ok? He’s really a good

Guy who’s just done some bad

Things. Or a bad guy who’s just

Done some good things. Take

Your pick. If he’s an abuser, at

Least he’s polite about it – if the

Victim is drugged, that saves her

The humiliation. See? Isn’t that

Considerate? Plus he gives his

Victims money, and donates to

Charity. Buying silence? Certainly

Not, he’s just showing he cares.

He’s sensitive – he hasn’t got the

Confidence to get it by consent.

He’s shy. Blame it on shyness.

Inside, he still feels like Fat Albert,

Self-rejected before anyone else

Can cause that pain. True, he’s

Caused inconvenience, but what

About his inner demons? True,

He’s sick, but once he’s healed,

Survived this undignified ordeal,

He’ll be the same dear Bill again.

 

ZEN

 

Long ago, I lost control of the

Situation, thinking, if I have to

Control it, how natural is that?

I had no control and I knew it,

But I was looking for something

Beyond just controlling or being

Controlled. Control will make

Things happen, true, but it’s

Always tainted by subjugation,

The taming of the shrew or the

Saddling of the stallion, and so

Control always sews the seeds

Of rebellion. I was hoping for

Something more Zen, that you

Don’t even have to think about,

An openness, not confinement,

As natural as smiling first thing

On a beautiful morning. And so,

Long ago I lost control of the

Situation, happy to just control

My own selfishness, because

The Zen lesson is, we only get

To keep what we give away.

 

BATHE ME IN GRAVY

 

We gather to remember how

The Pilgrims made it through

Their first winter with the help

Of the Indians. This great land

Was founded on unexpected

Kindness – God really did shed

His grace on us when Indians

Gave us salvation rather than

Annihilation. Nowadays, the

Indians joke how maybe that

Tribe made a big mistake, or

The British wish they’d tried

Harder to keep us a colony.

Ironies of history abound in

Our case. Who’d imagine a

Tiny settlement growing into

A great nation due to Indians

Having pity on pale faced

Strangers who, all lofty ideals

Aside, were fatally challenged

At telling their Old World asses

From their New World elbows?

 

(Ok, aftter casting aspersions on otherwise joyous Thanksgiving, I'd better make it clear my attitude towards our great nation isn't purely one of cynicism.)

 

AMERICA

 

America, I'd like nothing better

Than to open my heart to you

Again, but America, you've

Knocked me down so low,

Made me feel like nothing,

Showed me your flaky side,

Made me feel like some

Middle Eastern sub-country

Only any good to you if I

Feed your lust for oil. In my

Time, you've made me feel

All these things, but I still

Must admit you've got a

Certain style no one else

Even comes close to, and

When you're good, you

Shine bright enough to make

All that hype seem like way

More than just a joke, and

Maybe, just maybe, a truth

Nobody can deny. So, my

Dear America, now I know

You're not perfect but look

How much closer you are to

That ideal than your detractors.

So I'll stick with you America,

Just try to being nicer, ok?

 

NARRATIVES

 

People don’t buy products, they

Buy narratives, or rather, they

Buy into them. The stories we

Act out, based on stories handed

Down. If we trust the source, we

Presume the narrative to be true.

If it makes the pieces somehow

Fit, we accept the narrative as

Reality.Some narratives are not

Very nice. The most frightening

Feeling in my life (thus far) was

The certainty my narrative was

Going all wrong, off the rails, off

The radar, off the grid, into the

Proverbial rabbit hole. I’m not

Sure how I survived, but here

I am, pen in hand, to tell you

There’s life after the narrative

Neither beginning nor ending

The way everyone said it was

Supposed to.

 

GHETTO CONNECTIONS

 

Don’t you criticize my ghetto

Connections – you’re just

Jealous. This might look like

A ghetto to you, but it’s really

An extended family living in

Close proximity. Who needs

Privacy when we’ve known

Each other since childhood?

It takes an insider to thrive

In this environment, so

Maybe you’re better suited

To the suburbs, but for a

Homie such as myself, I find

My ghetto connections saving

My inner-city ass every time.

 

CARRYING EXCESS

 

Carrying excess? Nah, just

Lonely. Carrying what I need

To keep myself company,

Remind myself of my

Substance. Substantial

Mass, substantial mess.

Yes, I know it’s dangerous,

But so is crossing the

Street. Carrying excess –

Crying, laughing, reacting,

Reflecting, occasionally

Instigating when I’m not

Feeling lazy. Carrying

Excess – excess baggage?

Nope, there’s gifts in

All this luggage.

 

SECURITY

 

A realistic role model for today’s

Corporate culture is Mickey Mouse,

Not Superman. If the boss tells you

Do something, scurry off and do it.

Be bland, be boring, blend in, but

Also be vaguely amusing, in a very

Non-threatening fashion that’s

Not terribly original either. Cute

Mediocrity never rocks the boat.

Never rocks period, that’s security.

Don’t try to leap tall buildings or

Ricochet bullets, metaphorically or

Physically, as this makes the boss

Feel like Mickey Mouse himself, if

Not Donald Duck. This wouldn’t

Bode well for your advancement

Beyond janitor in this firm who’ll

Cushion your future as a reward

For being appropriately mediocre.

Mickey, behind a desk, daydreams

Of dressing Minnie in heavy metal

Leather. Superman, meanwhile,

Rocks on regardless, but who’s

Paying into his 401K?

 

REMOTE

 

Abrupt switch in content, like

Someone flipped the channel

From the Angel’s Network to

Satan’s Calamity Central. All

In how you focus, I suppose.

It’s a nice feeling to forecast

All is good and will work out

Fine. But also a strange kind

Of validation insisting you

Knew all along it would turn

Out all wrong. Resolutely

Pessimist or a fool for risky

Optimism – pressing the

Remote to reflect your

Mood of the moment.

 

SURFING

 

Say you’re a surfer – you show

Up at the shore knowing you

Might get the ride of your life

Or nature might get all wonky

Quite spontaneously make you

A wave that sends you over the

Falls. If a great wave isn’t an

Accident of nature, it’s at least

A moment of grace.You say

You don’t want to be good by

Accident, but doesn’t being

Good simply mean knowing

How to respond to accidents

(Or moments of grace)? When

You say you don’t want to be

Good by accident, you sound

Like someone who can conjure

Great waves at will.

 

THE PROCESSED FOOD OF LOVE

 

If music be the food of love, play on.

--------------Shakespeare, “Twelfth Night”

 

The greatest thing you’ll ever learn

Is simply to love and be loved in return.

---------------Nat King Cole, “Nature Boy”

 

Does your music simply want to love

And be loved in return? Does your

Music want whoever hears it to rise

Above all the racial, cultural and

Economic noise and realize their full

Human potential? Or is it designed

Just to make listeners feel they’ve

Made the right social choice? Will

They discard your songs without a

Second thought once they reach a

Certain stage in their lives? Music

Can be magic, or just canon fodder.

Music can be dangerous in the

Possibilities it awakens, or just ear

Candy, fattening the ego and

Deadening the intellect. Has your

Music got soul? Or just the right

Tone to ring cash registers in the

Malls of America? It’s only a thin

Dividing line, this question of

Whether you’re in it to get rich or

Because your music simply wants

To love and be loved in return.

 

(Here, let Keith Richards help put the above stroke of genius in perspective. Quoted from an interview in Playboy... "There is a terrible tendency nowadays--I'm sounding like an old man now--to pose. All of us. It only reaffirms my belief that the music business, in any given era, is ninety-eight percent crap. If you know that and can avoid the posing bit, it's not going to hurt you. You might not get anything much out of it, you might totally fail making it, as they call it. But it's not going to hurt you to go for that two percent. But go for the other ninety-eight and you're lost. Bye-bye, brother."}

 

MY GIG

 

My gig is cultural sabotage

At he most subtle of levels.

I wouldn’t want to get in

Trouble, so it’s probably

Appropriate you dismiss

My blathering as ridiculous.

Effective sabotage always

Seems harmless initially.

By nothing more than just

Being who I am, I undo

The cultural mechanics,

Apparently, dissembling

Nuts and bolts that hold

The pretensions in place.

Culture - a wolf controlling

Sheep through fear, an

Emperor with no clothes,

A diving board into an

Empty pool. Put aside the

Illusions and ask yourself

Honestly - what has culture

Done for me lately? It won’t

Secure a place for me, so

My gig is cultural sabotage.

 

DEEP HEART TRUE

 

A story came to me in a dream

About what makes a charming

Deceiver, appearing ready to give

But really prepared only to take.

Knowing people will believe what

They want to believe. Having no

Choice but to believe what’s true

Even when no one else will. All

That was in the dream – stranger

Still, a subplot about an innocent

Pursuit of perfect images landing

Me in deep trouble. As so often

Happens, some of the dream’s

Essence is lost in just thinking

About it. One last thing I recall

Is feeling everyone was right

Insofar as me keeping a secret.

it’s just that the secret wasn’t

What they thought. It was just

Three words: deep heart true.

 

GO FOR IT

 

The bonnie boat of Irish-Scottish

Ancestry sails again into the mystic

Timeline we’re just a part of. We

Have a home but can always use

A new one too. Come from warrior

Stock, from explorers of new lands,

Maritime adventurers. We’ll go for

It, even if the weather is against us –

What have we to fear from rain and

High waves? All just water seeing

How long it outruns the sun’s call

Back home to supper in the sky.

You didn’t return, enemy’s head

In hand, yelling choo-hoo for all to

Hear, only a story of venturing into

Unknown waters where anything

Can happen, and finding your way

Home. It’s the voyage, extension

Of our presence, that matters, not

The spoils bought back as tributes

Or gifts. It’s showing that to win or

Lose doesn’t matter as much as

Just to go for it.

 

A LONG POEM FOR JOE COCKER

 

“Look at the old rocker!” they

Taunted Joe Cocker from the

Audience at the air force base

Where he had to play because

Promoters calculated he couldn’t

Fill the local arena. Not so many

Years before, Joe had a number

One album all over the world.

Soul man of the Woodstock

Nation, Cocker-mania, R&B

Abandon married to cosmic

Hippie love – Ray Charles on

Mars, stoned. He just had a

Magic to transform songs

Into testimonials from some

Other dimension. But he let

Himself be consumed by the

Touring machine promoters

Created around him, and to

Cope with the road he had to

Fuel his passions with something

Other than soul and this soon

Caught up with him. I’d seen

Joe a year or two before in the

Local arena. We had seats that

Faced the back of the stage –

We went to his show on a last

Minute whim and those were

The only seats left. We got a

View the front row didn’t when

Half way through his set Joe

Slipped behind the amps to

Vomit. So much for Feeling

Alright. Now here he was on

An air force base, a decidedly

Downscale venue for a singer

Of his stature. I got close to the

Font this time, watched Joe,

Only 30 at the time but looking

Like 60, twitching and shaking,

Disheveled, there but not there,

Heard the abuse from the many

Assembled jarheads, who love

A hero but will put a loser right

Back in his place. Joe ignored

Them, preoccupied with his

Struggle to remember lyrics,

Not fall over, not lose his jeans

Because the button kept

Popping. The crowd came to

Be entertained, and if they

Didn’t find a fallen rock god

Negotiating his inner demons

Right in front of them worth

The price of admission, maybe

They missed the point. Joe’s

Otherworldly immersion in the

Spirit of the songs was still there,

Once you got past the living

Spectacle – what his detractors

Might call a human circus, but

What had once seemed cosmic

Now just seemed out of it. This

Kind of show made it something

Of a surprise when, in the long

Run, Joe survived himself, and

The business, and the road, and

The jarheads, and Leon Russell.

He learned the hard way how

Even in R&B, with its ecstasies

And depths of despair, you carry

Yourself with some dignity. If the

Self-destruction junkies wanted

A symbol or a sacrifice, it wasn’t

Going to be him, however close

To the edge of that precipice he

He may have come. He lived to

70, which, though still too young

To go, is longer than we expected.

 

BATTERED HALLOWEEN

 

Kids killing each other for candy,

in the city it’s a battered Halloween.

Mayhem for a greater market share

of rotten teeth, more cavities than

their adversaries. What have they

put in the sweets to make the kids

so greedy and aggressive? Donald

Trump is running for President, so

kids are attempting to terminate

each other before they get fired.

Fewer competitors for limited

wealth, that candy we all battle

over. I wish this monster would

change back into a kid once he’s

filled his bag, or else a pumpkin

after midnight.

 

RAINBOW

 

Sun and rain, calling a truce,

fly the colors or reconciliation.

Harmony, like conflict, might

only be temporary, but when

we accept the possibility we

needn’t fight anymore, this

brings out the colors of joy,

the tones of forgiveness, the

best aspects of ourselves.

 

If you want to love me like I

want to be loved, give me

a rainbow and ask nothing

in return. I’d find that pretty

impressive, and even if I

couldn’t match the gesture,

I’d never forget it, and I’d

hope your kindness comes

back to you a thousand fold

in ways neither you or I can

even imagine.

 

PROVEN

 

Eternity might issue its

higher calling, and some

say we human beings have

stardust in our DNA. Is there

something on the other side?

We’re not meant to know in

this life, only to live as if this

is not the end. History goes

forever backwards, so who’s

to say the future isn’t infinite

too? You want proof, I have

none to offer. Excuse me if

I don’t confine conversation

to that which can be proven.

What a lifeless frame of

reference that would make.

 

SUPPORT THE ARTS

 

What can we do for music

in our town? How do we

let the melody out of jail?

Music’s in the air, we catch

it like a fever or a cold, we

don’t generate it so much

as receive it. When it flows

through us, others react

like dogs to a siren. No

wonder it gets so political,

so controversial, but it’s

really just elemental. What

can we do for music in our

town? Just get more

receptive, I say. Fever is

not a question of culture,

and neither is music.

 

TWO INTERESTING QUOTES

 

“My definition of a great artist is anyone who’s ahead of his time but behind in his rent.”

 

"True love always ends in a hostage situation."

KINKY FRIEDMAN

 

SACRED COW

 

I’m a sacred cow,

grazing on your faith,

never be a steak

cause I’m a sacred cow.

 

I’m a divine bovine,

never have to work,

never be a burger,

I’m bovine and divine

 

Tell me quando,

quando, quando.

 

JOB

 

Down in the dumps like Job

on his dung heap. While I

never knew Job personally,

I wouldn’t assume he went

willingly. If misfortune and

sorrow are a test of faith,

shouldn’t all the homeless

be angels in the making?

Just not there yet. Still

sorely tested, failing,

cursing fate, adopting

depression, resentment,

unfulfilled needs as their

permanent state of being.

 

Job’s victory over his own

weakness, his own wrong-

headedness, his own self-

centeredness is the stuff

of legend. It can be done.

No longer a question of

whether you deserved

it – you’re just there - so

either rise up or take up

residence on the dung

heap. It’s quite possible

we wouldn’t even bother

finding out how high we

can fly until we’ve become

very well aware of how

low we can sink.

 

DIAMOND

 

Everything must have its grace,

even this pain, or else why was

it even created? In the mist of

all the chaos and shit, there's

this diamond. It's in among all

the bad things, but not of them,

dirty on the surface, pure at its

core. What's it doing down

there? There to be recognized,

maybe, or to provide some

hope when things look really

hopeless. Everything must

have its grace, and in a million

years all the shit will turn to

diamonds. All part of a process,

where it all leads, and the

diamond reminds you of

what to look forward to.

 

IDEAS

 

What to believe – what not to

trust. To take it seriously just

gets the defenses up, while to

take it casually leaves an

impression of contempt. The

heart is a wild card, changing

at whim to suit the purposes

of the player. Some fool in a

Shakespeare drama talking to

a skull, saying, alas dear heart,

I knew thee well... I think.

 

My ideas, your ideas, good ideas,

bad ideas, right ideas, wrong

ideas. We’re the sum total of our

ideas, but something else as well,

the part of us that shapes ideas,

turns impression into thought,

processes the senses. Senses –

beyond just ideas – what we

perceive when we stop the

internal talk and just listen,

just feel. I wonder if the only

real problem between us is

just wrong ideas.

 

I sense many things, not sure

what to take seriously. I sense

your apprehension, but not the

reason for it. I sense that a

gentleman would never force

the issue, so it is what it is,

and remains so. Always more

to forget and more still to yet

know.

 

FALSE WORSHIPPER

 

The rest of the Islamic world

is strangely silent on the

violence committed in their

name by the Islamic State.

Why does the USA have to

solve everyone’s problems?

Do all followers of Islam

want a world under the

thumb of the Islamic State?

If bloodthirsty monkeys

called themselves the

Christian State and spread

their gospel through murder

and rape, shouldn’t the true

Christians be ones to stop

that abomination? Why does

the rest of the Islamic world

stand by and let it happen?

Listen fence-sitters, if

the definition of false

worshipper is one who

won’t join in, then you’ll

soon be on that evil army’s

list of infidels too.

 

(Note on the next one. Someday all album reviews will be

poems. Might make the reviews more entertaining.)

 

TAIMANE

 

We really must come from galaxy

dust - we’re part of nature but far

too unusual to be just some special

monkey. All our primate ancestors

gave us is a natural talent for over-

simplification. In our mad dash for

industrialization, we’ve forgotten

we come from the constellasions.

Can this industry still accommodate

artistry? Are you going to let some

zombie marketing committee tell

you your sounds can’t be sold in

the musical supermarket they call

radio? Don’t do it, Taimane, follow

your instincts. Is this Hawaiian?

New Age? New Age Flamenco

Hawaiian played on ukuleles?

You’ve blown all the lids off the

boxes – no turning back now.

They may try and persuade you

the masses won’t understand it,

but we create to light a fire, not

just to be understood. First time

I listened, it sounded unusual –

second time I heard what was

beautiful – every time after will

be like greeting an old friend.

 

DAVID BOWIE (1947-2016)

 

What a messed up birthday

present. David turned 69 on

January 8th, then passed away

On January 10th. Capricorn

can exact a high price for the

brilliance it often confers.

There’s some irony to him

passing away at 69, but I can

only allude to it from a great

distance without turning this

poem into a soup mixing

society, sexuality and music,

you know, all the good stuff,

but it would be too long.

 

Over the course of his career he

played many roles, but the role

he’s most famous for is Ziggy

Stardust, the gender-bending

rocker from another planet. He

helped change attitudes towards

sexuality, not that he meant to,

it’s just what he helped set in

motion. Once he’d made his

breakthrough, he symbolically

killed Ziggy off and assumed a

persona that was quite normal.

All artists are cons, clawing for

that idea they know is going to

fascinate the masses. He was

able to package forbidden fruit

and it sold like hotcakes, but he

jettisoned the identity as soon

as it no longer seemed needed.

If I’m making him sound like a

scam, I’m happy to say it’s not

his career strategy that outlives

him, but rather his songs.

 

At various times, he said:: "We

could be heroes, just for one

day." "Don'tbelieve in modern

love." "If you think we're going

to make it, better hand on to

yourself." Does that sound like

a con or a scam?

The perfect spare tire cover for a Jeep Wrangler. The license plate ain't bad either.