Warsaw: New Year's Eve Concert

A few shots from the start of the Warsaw New Year's Eve concert from Plac Bankowy:

Not really my cup of tea, but made sure I caught the first 20-30 minutes of this year's event.

It was definitely very colourful:

With the stage looking very psychaedelic at times:

Warsaw: Marymont Market

Away from the hustle and bustle of Warsaw city centre, I love Marymont market as there's a real sense of local community there.

Marymont market also has a very good Vietnamese place, love the tofu, vegetables and gravy there:

Warsaw: Snow for Christmas?

Some snow has arrived in Warsaw this week with people obviously hoping that it remains for Christmas next week, as it simply adds some atmosphere.

Warsaw: A Street Mural

Had been meaning to get some shots of this street mural (on the way up towards the Wolska district of Warsaw) for quite some time, and finally got round to doing it on Sunday:
 

Just think that this mainly light blue mural gently illuminates and blends in with the surrounding grey environment:

Hats off to whoever produced such a great piece of work, of course.

A Snowman Selling Christmas Trees

A nice couple of shots of a snowman inviting people to buy Christmas Trees in Warsaw, Poland.

My Mental Jukebox 17

Did a Youtube surf on The Supremes last night, and was amazed at how many tunes I recognised and liked.  In other words, I was amazed at just how many songs by The Supremes were in my mental jukebox.

Alongside The Beatles and Abba, I guess that The Supremes are one of the most pleasantly melodic bands to have ever existed, as 'Stop! In the Name of Love' above demonstrates.

Was born in 1966 so the classic Supremes era between 1960 and 1967 was just before my time, but can still recall first hearing their music on an old gramophone/radio unit which my parents had when we lived in the East Ward district of Bury, Lancashire in the (especially early to mid-) 1970s.

Have also recently read about the tragic story of Florence Ballard who left The Supremes in 1967 and passed away in 1976 at the tender age of 32.

Real Christmas Cards from Warsaw

Christmas cards from Warsaw, Poland showing what Christmas is really about, the Nativity Scene.

Fresh Tomato Soup

A couple of shots of some wonderful, fresh, tomato soup that my wife made. 

The soup mainly contained fresh tomatoes and long, sometimes thick strips of carrot and leek.

This was the tomato soup that I ate, but my wife added cream and rice, a move which would've destroyed the soup for me.

Starting James Joyce's 'Dubliners'

Have finally done it, I've finally started reading some James Joyce. Think I read (possibly parts of) 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' many years ago at university, but I'm not 100% sure.

Anyway, I've read the first two short stories from 'Dubliners' and the wonderful introduction to the Wordsworth Classic edition pictured above written by Laurence Davies from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. Davies' introduction gives a good overview of Joyce's life and his outlook on life, focusing on such things as the Catholic schools which Joyce attended; his later antipathy towards the Catholic Church; his Balzac-type eye for minute detail; his great achievement of putting Dublin properly on the Irish literary map; and the sense of a need for escape from something/somewhere that pervades his work. Regarding the latter point, I couldn't help thinking that while D.H. Lawrence points towards the need to escape or transcend human self-consciousness; Joyce seems to focus on the need to escape a drab, boring, dirty, external environment.

In 'The Sisters', alongside a general atmosphere of dark, repressive, religious ritual, Joyce seems to paint a sympathetic picture of the snuff-taking priest who dies, of whom it is revealed that he went off the rails after accidentally damaging a chalice. In contrast, 'An Encounter' deals with the bleak adventure to be attained from playing truant from school, which may involve meeting a peculiar character away from the routine world of work/study.

Yeah, it's early days, but I'm now looking forward to reading all the other short stories in Joyce's 'Dubliners' collection.

Possibly One of Kotek's Relatives

A picture taken by my wife about five years ago, showing what is possibly one of Kotek's relatives, a young, ginger-coloured cat in eastern Poland.

More Experimental Vegetarian Food

More experimental vegetarian food here, this time, it's pierogi ruskie (cheese and potato dumplings) bought from the supermarket covered in my wife's homemade, black lentil and vegetable soup.

Not Great at Learning Languages

Have never been great at learning languages (did get a Spanish O Level many years ago, although this is nothing to shout home about, of course).

However, after years of (on-and-off) self-study, I can now feel myself reaching some kind of Intermediate level Polish, which I view as a bit of an achievement, as Slavic languages aren't easy for native English speakers to pick up. Still can't get my head round the case system in Polish, of course.

Have also recently started learning Irish, I'm just starting to get past beginner to elementary level here. Find it interesting that Irish has two forms of (emphatic and non-emphatic) subject pronouns.

Surprisingly, it feels quite good trying to have a semi-serious stab at learning two (not particularly easy) European languages in my middle-aged years.

Irfan Live at Warsaw Hydrozagadka 2nd December 2018

Two days before this gig, I checked out Bulgarian band, Irfan, and, immediately decided to go and see them.

I just quickly took to the band's wonderful style of music (what I would kind of describe as Bulgarian Folk music with a deep, moving sense of Byzantine-type melancholia/tragedy).

In the couple of days before the concert, I became familiar with quite a few Irfan tunes (Hagia Sophia; The Cave of Swimmers; Buruna etc.),

and it was an honour to hear such (and many other) beautiful songs live.

Think that the tunes the band did from their new album, 'Roots', went down really well with an appreciative and, at times, entranced audience.

Kotek's Handiwork

The picture above shows how Kotek turned part of the kitchen upside down in pursuit of his packets of meat and gravy.

Below, you can see that Kotek wasn't in the best of moods:

More Improvised Vegetarian Food

More improvised vegetarian food here, this time it's salad; pickled gherkins and cabbage/mushroom pierogi (dumplings) topped with aubergine/courgette lasagna.

Improvised Vegetarian Food

Have been eating too much meat recently, so I've decided to go vegetarian for awhile. Was quite pleased with my improvised meal below: cheese and spinach pancakes covered in pumpkin soup:

My Mental Jukebox Part 16

Been to seven gigs in Warsaw this month, it's always the same in November, as bands like to play Poland before the proper, cold winter sets in.

Saw The Breeders at the Klub Niebo on 13th November which prompted their tune, 'Divine Hammer', to resurface in my mental jukebox (had somehow almost forgotten about this wonderful number until I went to the concert).

Gary Numan Live at Warsaw Progresja 25th November 2018

This was always going to be one of the concerts of the year, and so it proved to be: a nice mixture of songs from Gary Numan's recent 'Savage (Songs from a Broken World)' album and older tunes.

'Everything Comes Down to This' and 'Metal' are two brilliant opening tunes, and not that long after, we were receiving the canonical 'Down in the Park'.

Like with several concerts I've been to recently (Within Temptation; The Breeders; Public Service Broadcasting etc.), this gig was an audio-visual treat:

The highlight from 'Savage' would have to be 'My Name Is Ruin' with, as anticipated, Gary Numan's daughter, Persia, joining him on stage:

Also really liked 'Bed of Thorns' and 'Pray for the Pain You Serve' from the 'Savage' album.

But have to confess that it was tunes like 'A Prayer for the Unborn' and 'Are 'Friends' Electric' (this song always takes me way back to my old schooldays at St. Gabriel's secondary school in Bury, Lancashire) that I was waiting for most.

Yes, as expected, a most enjoyable evening, and, at the end of the show, as I was finishing off a decent pint and looking around, everybody's eyes seemed to be still transfixed and enchanted, and the place was truly buzzing.

Nightmare Air Live at Warsaw Progresja 25th November 2018

Really glad I managed to get up to the Progresja in time to catch Nightmare Air opening for Gary Numan last night. The band whipped up a good atmosphere with '18 Days' and 'Icy Daggers' being the two standout tracks for me.

Getting to see quite a few, really good opening acts these days.

A Weird Picture

A weird picture taken of my old friend, Phil, on the left, and me on the right.

Kotek's Love of Boxes

A further two shots showing Kotek's love of boxes:

Warsaw Riverside: Passing Syrenka, the City's Mermaid

Another highlight from my long walk alongside the river Vistula in Warsaw: passing a statue of Syrenka, the city's mermaid symbol.

Legend has it that at some point in the distant past, the mermaid decided to stay in Warsaw after stopping on a riverbank near the Old Town.

It is also said that a rich merchant trapped and imprisoned the mermaid, but upon hearing her cries, some local fishermen, who had already fallen in love with her, rescued her, and in return, armed with a shield and sword, the mermaid has promised to help and protect Warsaw and its residents forevermore.

Árstíðir Live at Warsaw Progresja 21st November 2018

It was an honour and massive pleasure to see Árstíðir again last night (last saw them at the previous Klub Progresja up in Stary Bemova with Pain of Salvation about eight years ago).
 

Thought that the tunes from the new album 'Nivalis' worked really well last night, while an older song like 'Ljóð í sand' was always going to be my favourite tune of the night.

Anthropologically, I found the end of the Árstíðir set interesting (perhaps a bit strange), as the band left the stage, with an appreciative crowd still in place expecting an encore. However, when the band returned shortly afterwards, they started gathering their equipment with the crowd still not retreating to the bar (I'm pretty sure the band would've done an encore if allowed to do so, of course).

At times, it looked as if the band were being (possibly uncomfortably) rushed off stage, although this may've just been my imagination.

After Árstíðír, it was the turn of Sólstafir:

This was the third and probably best time I've seen Sólstafir (saw them at the Proxima in Warsaw a few years ago and at the Prog in the Park event in Warsaw last year).

Was also glad I managed to get up to the Progresja in time to catch Louise Lemon open up the evening's entertainment: