Been trying for a while and at last I've got a decenr shot of a modern yellow tram driving through the snow up at Stare Bemowo, a district on the outskirts of Warsaw where I teach twice a week:
Stare Bemowo is an area that contains a big army camp and soldiers can be seen walking around all day long, but this area also has some really pleasant and easily accessible woodland like above.
In the picture below, I'm trying to do what my Cornish artist friend Ross calls 'developing the abstract eye', as these footprints just seemed well worthy of an attempt 'to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary':
Quite bizarrely, mainly through having always lived 'on the wrong side of the Atlantic', it's only over the last few years that I've finally got round to having a proper look at some of the Don Kirshner Rock concerts, such as UFO above, through Youtube.
Think that the Don Kirshner concerts cover the years 1973-1981, for me, some of the greatest years in contemporary music, as this was when the different Rock bands around were both incredibly creative and unique (noticeably and positively different from each other), including the 1975 Black Sabbath below:
Love the way that Ozzy and Sabbath send an American audience almost completely delirious above.
Like with UFO and Black Sabbath above, while watching Bad Company below, it's fascinating to see how some of the great 1970s British rock bands were wooing American audiences in this truly golden age of music:
Having said this, my favourite clip from the Don Kirshner concert archives has got to be that of one of my favourite American bands Kansas doing 'The Pinnacle' (one of their most underrated tunes):
A massive thanks to the good people who have put such sublime archival material on Youtube, including the footage of Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush below:
Just wish that this era of music was still fully alive: I only caught it from about 1977 onwards as a young teenage schoolboy back then, but it was magical, full of meaningful enchantment.
Was up near Blue City again last week in freezing temperatures of about -10 or -15, but I could clearly see that the new metallic mosque up there was nearing completion, although it's still hemmed in with a fence full of modern-day advertisements (above).
However, this time, I really braved the weather conditions and took some shots of the metallic mosque close up:
What is noticeable is that the Islamic crescent has now been put in pole position at the top of the building:
Having finished taking close-up shots of the building and having moved a bit further up the road, I turned back to have a look at the mosque from the distance, and could see that the building looks quite fetching from here:
Just wonder how many Polish curiosity/religious seekers the new Warsaw mosque will attract.
After the Clannad concert on Friday night, I decided to get some shots of the incredible tables upstairs, near the balcony, inside the Stodoła.
My favourite is the fish design below, simple and yet really eye-catching:
Having said this, I also really like the martian-type thing below, whoever did this had a fantastic imagination:
Again, another fish below:
Some of the tables are quite long with artwork covering the whole length of them:
Finally, here's a shot showing just how effective the tables look together as a group, full credit to whoever had the idea of putting such a collection of colourful tables together:
Of course, no prizes for guessing that the Stodoła is a students' club.
The Klub Progresja has now moved from Stare Bemowo to a much bigger place on several floors at Fort Wola called the Progresja Music Zone, and I was at the new place for the first time last night to see Fields of the Nephilim (above).
Before last night, I'd only seen Fields of the Nephilim once, many moons ago, during a sunlit Friday afternoon at Reading Festival in 1987. The line-up that day had included All About Eve; The Godfathers; The Fall; and headliners The Mission.
Back in 1987, I hadn't really known Fields of Nephilim at all, and roll on 27 years to the present, and I still only really know them in passing, 'Psychonaut' and 'From the Fire' being my two favourite tunes, much preferring these to 'Moonchild', to be honest.
However, when the band did 'Moonchild' as the encore last night, they just seemed to nail it:
Thus, it's really good to see that a fantastic person has put part of 'Moonchild' from last night on Youtube already:
Must also say that Carl McCoy is a great performer, effortlessly oozing an almost mystical, enigmatic presence on stage. At some point in the past, I read about him being interested in shamanism, the Crowley-type occult etc. which, at times, must shine through the lyrics, so I guess that Fields of the Nephilm can be appreciated at a much deeper level than the purely aesthetic level that I'm taking them in at.
Also must mention that I enjoyed the Polish support band Cloisterkeller (below) last night. I was already familiar with Cloisterkeller, who have been around since 1988, through seeing them on Youtube, and that's why I got to the Progresja early to make sure that I caught them last night.
So what about the main stage room at the newly located Progresja? Well, it's much bigger than the old place at Stare Bemowo, and the sound seems okay. Just one thing I didn't like, the frisking by the security going into the place did seem to be over-the-top (never had this at the old Progresja).
Got to see Clannad again at Warsaw Stodoła last night (above), roughly a year after seeing them at the same place. This time round, the band came on with about 5 new tracks from last year's 'Nadur' album. Before last night, I hadn't heard any of the latter, but the opening 5 tracks were really fresh and vibrant with 'Transatlantic', in particular, immediately sticking in my mind.
Of course, later on, the band went through more familiar territory doing 'Newgrange'; 'Theme from Harry's Game'; 'I Will Find You'; the 'Robin Hood' medley etc. and 'Dulaman' (I recognise most of their Gaelic tunes, but, for obvious reasons - not knowing Gaelic, this is the only one I can name).
Finally, the band inevitably finished off with the foot-stomping 'Teir Abhaile Riu' (just had to look this title up, of course, but, somehow, without understanding a word of Gaelic, this song has been firmly planted in my jukebox over the years and love singing along with it:
Above, the band are taking a well-deserved round of applause, while below, Pol is the last member of the band to leave the stage:
Today, with the concert from last night still resonating in my mind, I've looked up a few of the new tracks off the 'Nadur' album and can't stop playing 'Brave Enough' (below from 'The Late Show' in Ireland):
Must also say that I admire Clannad for coming over to Poland in late January when the temperature is often -10 and colder.
Was passing the Stodoła yesterday afternoon, as I was working near there, and it was bitterly cold. Guess that the coach below may well have been the Clannad tour bus:
