Diefenbunker

"Visit one of the most unique sites in Canada. A huge four-storey bunker, buried deep under a hillside and meant to house crucial elements of Canadian government in a nuclear war, is now open to you. Exhibits and recreated areas provide a startling glimpse into Cold War history.

This National Historic Site of Canada, located outside the capital city of Ottawa, is an underground nuclear bunker built in secrecy during the height of the Cold War between 1959 and 1961, and was meant to house the top officials of the government and military during the risk of nuclear attack.

Tours of this incredibly unique facility take visitors through a time warp to 1960s era government rooms, living quarters, cryptographic areas. Visitors enjoy a guided tour of the entire facility, over 100,000 square feet in size, four stories underground. Some of the focal points will include the Prime Minister�s suite (above), the War Cabinet Room, the CBC radio studio, the Bank of Canada vault, and the Emergency Government Situation Centre."


 

live from the Diefenbunker...

Nanaimo has a Diefenbunker, next to the College, all closed up.

(above: Motorola Diefenbunker Phone) 

laurels to CPAC, the Canadian Public Affairs channel, who had the best election coverage, with real-time door-to-doors, etc, & their polling was not only the most accurate, but they would break it down carefully--last night's results were little surprise to those who caught this feature. Their website has a live feed, podcasts & a very slick Flash/Tetris election results display.

 

best election round-up is at the Tyee--congratulations to our member Jean Crowder (above right), re-elected with a huge majority, whose superb performance as NDP health critic helped to bring more Island ridings into the NDP fold, including Victoria which elected Denise Savoie (above left) in an upset.




 

the old Kelvinbridge Station from Hidden Glasgow -- Subway pre- and during modernisation - in colour!

I distinctly remember riding the old Glasgow Subway c. '71; I'd already ridden the tube in London so it seemed toytownish and no big deal to me as a 12 year old but can it really have been so tiny and Edwardian and Brothers Quayesque as this? Through such a Lucozade lens? Flocking on the chairs, pink of the four page evening paper with the soccer and horse results? Old guys carrying tobacco in those rubber wallets? I think it was. Before the patina of industrialisation was powerwashed off the innocent granite, the skylights bricked off, the terraces re-inforced...

Sir, You Bastard in the OED...


from def. for "square one"


"G. F. NEWMAN Sir, You Bastard 279 A couple of wrong answers and Sneed knew he'd be right back on square one"
 

Victoria earlier in the month like Nanaimo today! shocker from Weldon Hunter's blog--

"Little Half Way

for Alex Gigeroff

Fresh trees should have
ridgetops like smoke,
iron branches in winter.
I built a tall fire and fed it
with these boughs (wind
has torn like that for me).
The spiraea moonlight dove
into the scene and illuminated
a birdshit fleck on my hat.
The old people moved near
to another. The woods
were oven-warm."





All the storm fallen branches left--even when cleaned up--big stacks of needles & caught on the road behind & up from our house perhaps a dozen quail feasting on the bugly richness--so oven-warm certainly.

kudos to Lori Emerson for assembling this very extensive page of bp Nichol sound files. We miss you Barrie!
 

"It is a duty and pleasure to vote." 

hope to see you at Evan Lee's opening at Presentation House Gallery (333 Chesterfield Ave. North Vancouver) this afternoon--

"Evan Lee's photographs are explorations of the extraordinary within the ordinary. He has continued the research strain of Vancouver practice that seeks meaning in detail, an idea that goes back to the 1950s work of Fred Herzog and has been continued by Roy Arden, Karin Bubas, Scott McFarland and Jeff Wall, among others. Lee�s work specifically addresses the presence of "the phenomenal" in the detritus of our secular world. The exhibition is an overview of all of Lee's projects since 1998, and will debut a new body of work focussed on the forms of the ginseng root. 64-page catalogue with texts by Christopher Brayshaw, Peter Culley, Jeff Wall and William Wood will be available at the opening. Curated by Bill Jeffries.


Artist Talk: Saturday January 21, 3:00pm followed by a reception from 4 - 6pm at PHG."

 

(interior of the Ovaltine Cafe on Hastings St, best known in recent years as a frequent location for "Da Vinci's Inquest", where Gerry and I have often dined, me on Pork Cutlets w/applesauce, him generally oolichans on toast, liver and onions, something in that line...)


three daily sonnets from last November by Canada's Top Poet Gerry Gilbert; the remaining 362 of 2005 available as BC Monthly 55, PO box 48884/Stn Bentall/Vancouver BC Canada V7X 1A8, 20 dollars should cover it--


cornwall provence amsterdam landed us
radiold music hourly stops w'news
eager new buildings hide meagre old ones
beach pee in sea splash still flashes music
yesterday & tomorrow frame bedtime
sameness-seized season's spit sky's seasonings
viruses & bacteria need us
years come to some ventures in centuries
winter wanders with worrisome weather
we look before during after ourselves
staple gets paper's talkatures together
traffic splashing past amusing futures
hands give thighs that relax all over
pools & creeks filling with waternity

BEAUTIES LET NEED'S BOUNCING GREED COUNT ON FREE
STANDING GIVES BALANCE A LIVING LANDING
NOT ANSWERING AVOIDS AN ARGUMENT
DIGGING GLIB DITTIES DIGNIFIES GIDDY
JAZZ HAPPY NOT THAT MUSICIANS ARE
DAYS IN BED SLEEP ME AWAY FROM TOWN'S CROWDS
HIDING A TIDY IN NORMALADY
NOWHERE TO GO GROWS BECOMING HERE WON
WATER'S WET WEALTH WITH WARMTH WELCOMES WASHING
REST BUILDS STRENGTH FROM DIGESTION OF STILLNESS
EACH OF US ROUND-WORLDLINGS WINNING A RACE
FISH DON'T NEED SHOES RAINCOATS WHEELS OR MOUNTAINS
SOME THINGS APPEAR BIG JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE NEAR
SMELLING WELCOMES ELOQUENT ELEGANCE

when music has been played say thanks to it
a stretch portrays a direction of daze
autobios graphic presentiments
lined up big birds' flight wrote writing on sky
recording ends then might still hear singing
pub crowd enjoyment a pleasing quick glimpse
certain daylight leaks through bedroom curtain
heedin' readin' flies people high as flies
rafters rhyme before & after laughter
roots trunks branches barks & leaves form forests
clock's alarm returns nearly to early
each time's arrival a hopening cope
not spottin' a clock keeps the timin' thine
eyes mouth ears & mind find wording fitting





 

farewell to the wicked Wilson Pickett, here with Percy Sledge, Don Covay, King Curtis, Esther Phillips and some Atlantic execs. My favorite hit: Engine Engine #9, where the cowbell sounds like its floating a foot away from the bridge of your nose, and the guitar causes the dust mites to pulse themselves through the screen door.
 

via Bookslut some very big Moomin news: the years of comic strips Tove Jansson did are finally going to be collected and translated! This is something I've hoped for for many years.



 

lots more about Jimmie Rodgers here...
 

greatly enjoying the immortal 1969 Same Train, A Different Time: Songs Of Jimmie Rodgers by Merle Haggard & the Strangers

WAITING FOR A TRAIN
words and music by Jimmie Rodgers
1929


All around the water tank
Waiting For a train,
A thousand miles away from home
Sleeping in the rain,

I walked up to a brakeman
To give him a line of talk,
He says "If you've got money
I'll see that you don't walk."

I haven't got a nickel
Not a penny can I show
He said "Get off you railroad bum",
And he slammed the box car door.

He put me off in Texas
A place I surely love,
Wide open spaces 'round me
The moon and stars above.

Nobody seems to want me
Or lend me a helping hand
I'm on my way from Frisco,
Goin back to Dixieland.

My pocket book is empty,
And my heart is filled with pain,
I'm a thousand miles away from home
Just waiting for a train.

 

excellent Jeff Wall site from the Tate Modern
 

a nice Birgit Nilsson remembrance from Seattle Opera star Jane Eaglen

farewell Birgit Nilsson


"In 1959 at the Met, she famously "outsung" three different Tristans, who all pleaded illness but were prevailed upon to take her on for one act apiece so that the performance would not have to be cancelled. Once asked what was the chief requirement for singing the role of Isolde, she replied: "Comfortable shoes.""

 

Banana Nutrament has mp3's of Chicago House giant Mr. Fingers beautiful "Can You Feel It (Martin Luther King Mix)" and Coltrane's "Alabama".

 

Sir, You Bastard

Sir, You Bastard, originally uploaded by Trevira.

cover of the year so far at the flickr old-timey paperback cover pool...

good article on Henry Green


"Elope," she cried delighted all of a sudden.
"Elope," he agreed grave.
She gave him a big kiss. "Why Charley", she said, seemingly more and more delighted, "that's romantic."
"It's what we're going to do whatever the name you give it," he replied.
"But don't you see that's a wonderful thing to do," she went on.
"Maybe so," he said soft into her ear, "but it's what we're doing."

This looks proper.


NYT's "Crusty Macaroni and Cheese" - omits the roux!!


""Crusty" is no exaggeration; the two cups of cheese used to top the casserole shrink-wrapped itself around the uppermost elbows. Eaten piping hot it was a little chewy and a little crispy; after the dish had cooled just a hair, the top layer had firmed to a leathery shield. The noodles below sweated fat, which collected unappealingly at the bottom of my earthenware dish. On my first attempt, I took the high road and used the all-cheddar option presented in the recipe. Bits of cheese clung clumpily to the elbows. Cheese that's not processed-and especially cheddar-needs help to achieve an ideal state of ooziness. And without the moderation of something creamy-ricotta, cr�me fraiche, or I think, ideally, white sauce-that much cooked cheddar loses some nuance and tastes a bit caustic. "


 

valedictory deep house mix from Fleep. Thanks and here is my ancient ode to house in PDF format--

http://www.sfu.ca/west-coast-line/covers/culley.pdf

It all feels like history now, grind, grind, sift.

Vancouver artist Antonia Hirsch's cleanly designed website is up--a text seen in the very early days of this blog is reprinted, amongst much else...

 

M. Tissot, who apparently had a sideline in Bible illustration (including a nice set of Minor Prophets, suitable for trading), here introduces a note of realism by having Daniel confront a bedraggled den of half-starved and toothless zoo lions...

 

fruit of "mudlark" research this interesting picture by James Tissot, 1878, the scavenging kids just inches away from the crisp linen--


"The artist has his back to the river and an undisturbed table setting of cutlery, three glasses and cruet before him on the white cloth, with part of another setting visible on the other side of the table. Through the framing open window, he looks towards a group of four top-hatted gentlemen sitting outside in the small balcony of the western bay, and children on the foreshore..."

"The view is through the table in the eastern ground-floor bay window, with a place setting in the foreground. Men sit on the balcony in positions of power in this place of leisure. However Tissot makes social distinctions by contrasting them with the young boys, showing the children, known as mudlarks, on the shore below below. They are scavenging for coal and iron and reflect Henry Mayhew's investigative report in which he starkly illustrated the pestilence and depravity of Thames culture through such mudlarks, sewer-hunters and rat-catchers."

Another one from Ben--would make a good smokehouse.

, originally uploaded by Mongibeddu.

We have a "Veasey Banks" locally...

Wintry house in Bangor, ME

, originally uploaded by Mongibeddu.

thanks Ben!