Was walking home the other evening and couldn't help but notice the beauty of this streetlight in Warsaw. Fortunately, I had my camera on me and could capture the thing properly with the zoom. It's just good to be always on the lookout for a picture, as you never know what you might come across while just wandering about.
Love this picture that I took in Istanbul when I was there last year. If I remember rightly, this place was either an old Roman baths or water supply (probably the latter, but I can't be sure). However, the place was just full of antiquity and enchantment: in a nutshell, it was the place where I seemed to get a strong taste of ancient Constantinople in modern-day Istanbul. The only problem was that it was pretty dark down there.
For me, the Fall of Constantinople was one of the biggest disasters in human history, so down there, in the darkness and the stillness, I felt some kind of pathos and deep respect for the vanquished of 1453:
Found the video above with accompanying music showing the Fall of Constantinople interesting, as it gave me some kind of (accurate or inaccurate) visual sense of how the great city must've fallen. Still, the Great Siege of Vienna had a much happier ending, let's be grateful for that.
My uncle Gordon is my late mother's oldest brother, and this is his wife Mary's handiwork in their conservatory. For me, the recently retired Mary is very adept at interior design, but the problem is that no sooner has she created something like this in the picture above than she is ready to redesign it again. Still, for me, some of her colour schemes and interior design work are very homely-looking and well worthy of praise:
Just a few days ago, I heard about the sad passing away last month of (retired) Blue Oyster Cult keyboard player and guitarist, Allen Lanier (RIP).
Over the years, I've been blessed enough to catch Blue Oyster Cult live six times, four of which were with Lanier (1981 at Castle Donington; 1983 and 1988 at Manchester Apollo and about 2002 at London Astoria). Really liked how Lanier balanced handling the keyboards in the background (or at the side) with playing guitar alongside Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom at the centre of the stage.
As soon as I heard of Lanier's passing away, I started playing all my old BOC albums, and started looking at who'd written the various tracks over the years. It was interesting to see which tracks had been written (or co-written with others) by Lanier.
For example, on the self-titled 'Blue Oyster Cult' album, Allen Lanier co-authored four of the tracks, my favourite of which is 'Workshop of the Telescopes':
For me, this track exemplifies the quirky, (almost) psychaedelic quality that BOC have pumped into some of their tracks over the years.
Next up, on BOC's most successful album, 'Agents of Fortune' in 1976, Lanier penned both 'True Confessions' and 'Tenderloin'. These are not my favourite tracks on the album, but, somehow, 'True Confessions' has remained at the forefront of my mental jukebox over the years, so something subconscious must've been going on, I guess:
Yeah, for me, this is just a really cool track with some great piano work.
After this, Lanier wrote 'Searchin' for Celine' on the 1977 'Spectres' album, which, once again, wasn't my favourite track on the album.
But which is my favourite Allen Lanier penned BOC track? Well, that would have to be 'Lonely Teardrops' from the 1979 'Mirrors' album. Now, this time, this is my favourite track on the album, as, for me, it just has a wonderful melodic quality magnified by the background female vocals. Moreover, the track seems to stand the test of time, as, for me, it doesn't sound in any way dated.
First heard 'Lonely Teardrops' as the B-side to the 'Mirrors' single on coloured vinyl, as I only got round to getting the 'Mirrors' album a few years later. Of course, Allen Lanier also wrote 'In Thee' off 'Mirrors' which many people consider to be the seminal track off the album:
For many years, I just falsely assumed that because Buck Dharma sings the track, he must have written it, and it was only recently that I discovered that Allen Lanier, in fact, penned 'In Thee'. Must mention here that despite 'Mirrors' not being my favourite BOC album, I don't think it deserves the slating it has sometimes received over the years, and may be justly considered a touch underrated.
Finally, Lanier co-authored both 'The Marshall Plan' on the 1980 'Cultusaurus Erectus' album and 'Don't Turn Your Back' from the 1981 'Fire of Unknown Origin' album:
Love 'Don't Turn Your Back' as, for me, it's another example of BOC turning on the quirky, (almost) psychaedelic style that I mentioned earlier on (of course, I could be just imagining this, but it takes a great song to get the imagination going). Must also say that 'Fire of Unknown Origin' is my favourite album cover by any band (you just have to look at it to see what I mean, it's simply mesmeric). Think I also recall Buck Dharma once saying that 'Don't Turn Your Back' was (one of) his favourite guitar solo(s).
Got to take my hat off to this Folk band that I saw playing on the main Old Town street that leads down to the Rynek from the train station. On a Sunday afternoon, me and my friends, who were visiting from Ireland, passed the band playing at about two o'clock and the temperature seemed to be about 35 degrees Celsius. Moreover, on our way back to the train station about four hours later, the band were still plugging away to an everchanging but still captivated audience. Of course, the lads had quite wisely chosen a good place in the shade to play their set.
Had always wondered what tiger lilies look like, but for some reason, had never got round to finding out until a recent trip to Wilanow Palace Gardens in Warsaw where some visiting friends from Ireland pointed out the beautiful flowers above to me.
But why the curiosity with tiger lilies? Where does this curiosity come from? Well, I guess it goes back to Natalie Merchant's sumptuous album: 'Tigerlily'. If I remember correctly, this was Natalie Merchant's first solo album after leaving 10,000 Maniacs and I got it on cassette shortly after I'd gone doing my first EFL teaching stint in Nowy Sącz in the foothills of the Tatra Mountains in Poland in 1997.
Absolutely love this album and fondly recall playing the cassette, which I still have, non-stop during my two-year stint in Nowy Sącz. Which are my favourite tracks? Well, I love the opening track: 'San Andreas Fault':
Just love the drifty meandering rhythm to this track, it just reminds me that life is a profound drift without a rhyme or reason, but still deeply meaningful and mysterious all the same.
Also really like 'Carnival', again, it just has that kind of profound drifty meandering rhythm:
Yeah, also love the video to this, it just seems to go with the music perfectly.
Finally, which is my favourite track on 'Tigerlily'? Well, that would have to be 'My Beloved Wife':
For me, the theme of an old bereaved husband grieving for his recently deceased wife is deeply moving. No more than that, it's just a really touching song.
One common Polish meal (or snack) that I really like is spicy beetroot soup with spicy cabbage (plus sometimes mushroom) pasties, as in the picture above. If anybody thinks that cabbage pasties sound a bit bland or unappetising, well think again, as the picture below gives a better sense of how delicious they actually are:
The cabbage pasties are also commonly sold in the small bakery shops that are still popular in Poland, so they are often very handy for if you feel a bit peckish between meals.
