THE LAST LETTER:: Patti Smith to Robert Mapplethorpe

 

“Dear Robert,

“Often as I lie awake I wonder if you are also lying awake. Are you in pain, or feeling alone? You drew me from the darkest period of my young life, sharing with me the sacred mystery of what it is to be an artist. I learned to see through you and never compose a line or draw a curve that does not come from the knowledge I derived in our precious time together. Your work, coming from a fluid source, can be traced to the naked song of your youth. You spoke then of holding hands with God. Remember, through everything, you have always held that hand. Grip it hard, Robert, and don’t let it go.

“The other afternoon, when you fell asleep on my shoulder, I drifted off, too. But before I did, it occurred to me looking around at all of your things and your work and going through years of your work in my mind, that of all your work, you are still your most beautiful. The most beautiful work of all.

Patti.”

Patti did not receive a reply from this her last letter to the artist photographer who passed away without reading it in 1989 aged just 42 from AIDS. She has since performed readings of it live as a way of slaving her loss and a form of personal prayer 

 Just Kids 

This evening's song of the day . . . to bid you Good-night!

Dusty Springfield - Just One Smile (1969)

Can’t I cry a little bit? 

GOP NEWS:: anti-American traitors luv Putin

I'm sorry! What the sweet heckin' freckin' hell is happening in the USA!? 

Have the Right gone stark staring mad? 

Not that long ago anyone siding with dirty commie pinko Communists would have been grilled as Un American now it seems to be compulsory. Has it taken them that long to recognise a fellow fascist whet they see one?

with thanks to the brilliant mudwerks:

(via The Right’s Top Minds Have Some ‘Theories’ About What Is ‘Really’ Going On With Putin And Russia - Wonkette)

JESSIE BUCKLEY!

THE LOST DAUGHTER- 

up for an Oskar, the ever watchable multi-talented and for me she can do no wrong, the adorable Jessie Buckley

I REALLY want to see this film . . .directed by the magical Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Jessie with Olivia Colman (who also can do no wrong and we adore) and the lovely Dakota Johnson

Jessie Buckley as 'Leda' in The Lost Daughter
Oscar nominee for best supporting actress

More from Lost Daughter

Dakota

Dakota

Jessie

the beautiful and brilliant actor Olivia

Jessie again

Olivia . . . . . . 

AMY MACDONALD Covers Four Non-Blondes' "What's Up?"

 SONG OF THE DAY!

Recorded at her home in Glasgow, Amy seamlessly delivers a pitch perfect rendition of the 4 Non Blondes 90s hit "What’s Up", exclusively for Amazon Music.   

A Russian Military Ship telling 13 Ukrainian troops on Snake Island to surrender . . . .

 Battle of Snake Island, Ukraine (2022)

When the commander of the Russian cruiser, Moskva, instructed the Ukrainian soldiers stationed on the island to surrender, or else be fired upon, the response was ’Go fuck yourself’.

Thirteen border guards, representing the entirety of the Ukrainian military presence on the island, were killed during the battle after refusing to surrender.

Alongside Moskva, a patrol ship, Vasily Bykov, were involved in the attack, using their deck guns.

🗞 Read more

SOLIDARITY LOOKS LIKE THIS . . . .

FROM AROUND THE WORLD

with grateful acknowledgements to the fellow blogger Nebulously burnished . . . . .

TIBILISI, GEORGIA

ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

LONDON, ENGLAND

PARIS, FRANCE

THESSALONIKI, GREECE

ROME, ITALY

BERLIN, GERMANY

TOKYO, JAPAN

MONTENEGRO

MUMBAI, INDIA

WARSAW, POLAND

LEBANON

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

NEW YORK CITY, USA

TORONTO, CANADA

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

BINNISH, SYRIA

DUBLIN, IRELAND

BARCELONA, SPAIN

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

RIGA, LATVIA

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

BERN, SWITZERLAND

SARAJEVO, BOSNIA 

LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA

TALLINN, ESTONIA

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

HELSINKI, FINLAND

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND

 . . . . . . unless of course you are Right Wing Fascists in the USA

INVASION OF UKRAINE

 NEWS :: UPDATE

In case you thought I had been rather quiet here on the current state of the invasion of Ukraine

this . . . . . .overnight I had expected Kiev might fall but reports suggest the Ukrainians are still holding on

I have noticed the casualties on both sides were odd and heard no explanantion but as of the first 24/48 hours reports said about 137-150 Ukrainian casualties and many injured but . . . . . . . over 450 Russian casualties!? Nearly four times as many!

No-one explained why and there seems to be little evidence other than Reuters and the BBC but as of this morning reports are that the death toll of Ukranains is in excess of 200 . . . . . there has been the suggestion this a conservative estimate. No figures were given of Russian casualties.

Here, there is this from the Ukranian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy

worth sharing as he has asked . . . . . . 

“Who can prevent all this from happening? The people. Public figures, journalists, musicians, actors, athletes, scientists, doctors, bloggers, stand-ups, Tiktokers, and more. Ordinary people. Ordinary, simple people… I know that my speech will not be aired on Russian television. But the citizens of Russia have to see it. They need to know the truth.”

Stop The War In Ukraine!

THE DOORS:: The Coliseum SEATTLE 1970 - (broadcast) - Big O

 

THE DOORS

Well I never thought I would write this again for a while but here's a DOORS concert that I don't have in such broadcast quality and is really worth having. In fact essential for Doors fans . . . . . a real treat and Big O says:

THE DOORS
In The Coliseum Seattle Broadcast 1970 [Parachute Recording Company PARA130LP, 1CD]
Live at the Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, WA; June 5, 1970. Very good radio broadcast (vinyl rip).

The Doors fifth album, Morrison Hotel, released in February 1970, was seen as a return to form after the critically mauled (but commercially successful) Soft Parade from the previous year. A few weeks before the record’s release, the band set off on their Roadhouse Blues Tour, playing across the US, and certain shows in Canada - planned Japanese dates were cancelled during this period - before, on June 5, performing at the Seattle Coliseum in Washington State’s largest city.

Putting on a dynamic but amicable show with Jim Morrison in good spirits, conversing rather than taunting the crowd (albeit somewhat cryptically at times), this rarely heard concert, recorded for FM radio broadcast at the time, proves that The Doors remained a force to be reckoned with, a year from their demise following the death of The Lizard King in July 71.

“Light My Fire” is cut (duration 2:27) because recorder Vince Treanor’s tape ended before the song was performed entirely.

“The End” was played at the end of the concert but not captured on tape, the power was cut and the house lights were turned on.

+ + + + +

Jim by Linda McCartney 1967

MUSES, WIVES AND GIRLFRIENDS No.239 :: JANE ASHER’S FAVOURITE PHOTOGRAPH

 My favorite photograph

by actress Jane Asher

Article about Jane’s favourite photograph taken in 1982 and published with her article in the UK’s S Magazine, November 8, 2009 issue.

Jane, 63, is as well known for her cake-making as her acting. Here, she tells Hilary Whitney about a treasured snapshot of her son taken by a press photographer

“This picture was taken of me and my son Alexander, just round the corner from our home in London. My husband and I were very protective of the children’s privacy and never took them anywhere if we thought they might end up in a newspaper, so it’s ironic that I got caught on my way back from Waitrose. I hadn’t expected to see any photographers but they were hovering because Ingrid Bergman was staying at a house nearby. Just as I walked past, one of them spotted me and took this picture.

It did end up in a newspaper but I didn’t mind at all. In fact, I thought it was very
funny. What I love is the way that, after all my careful shielding, dear little Alexander is peering boldly and full-faced into the camera. I still see the photographer from time to time and he remembers this picture well. I think he’s very fond of it, too.

Alex is 28 now, and I have two other children - Katie, 35, and Rory, 25. Juggling motherhood and a career is always tricky but it’s probably easier for an actress compared to some professions. Once you’re established you can choose jobs that fit around your family. West End plays were perfect when the children were very small because I could spend all day with them, put them to bed and then go and do the show, and they wouldn’t even realise I’d been out. I can also remember sneaking Katie into my dressing room to breastfeed her at various television studios.

Having young children meant I couldn’t go away on tour or make films on location, but that wasn’t such a sacrifice because I’d decided that I wanted to be at home.

I must admit there were a few times when I felt a little wistful at some of the parts I turned down, but staying at home led to another opportunity that would never have arisen if I’d been single-mindedly pursuing my career.

I’d been decorating cakes since I was a teenager; at first they were fairly conventional but gradually I started to make them funnier and more personal - I think that was my showbiz side coming out. It was the actress Phyllis Calvert who suggested I write a book about it, after I’d shown her some pictures of a cake I’d decorated with forty naked ladies for a friend’s 40th birthday.

I contacted several publishers and, like all first-time authors, received plenty of
rejection slips. But I had a feeling I was on to something and persisited until finally I got a publishing deal. Much to everyone’s surprise the book was a bestseller and eventually I opened a small shop in Chelsea.

I was also approached by a fiction editor who’d read an interview with me that convinced her I had a novel in me. I didn’t believe her but she gave me the courage to try and, after a terrible struggle, I’ve managed to write three novels.

Now the children are grown-up I’m free to work abroad and do all the things I couldn’t do before, which is some compensation for the fact they are no longer babies. They are still very much around but I do miss them as they used to be.”

source: Truth About The Beatles Girls Jane Asher's Favourite photo