Out for the Count

Perhaps I should save this post for Hallowe'en but I'm in the middle of Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' - a classic which somehow I'd never read before but should have - and it's so beautifully written that I look forward every night to immersing myself in its gothic pages.  I'll be finished long before 31st October!

Once again I've rather fallen for an evil Count (last time it was Count Fosco from The Woman In White) but of course, as it is for most people I'm sure, Dracula had already been lurking temptingly in my psyche for many decades through the medium of film.  In my mind he's a mixture of Christopher Lee and Louis Jourdan (sorry, but Bela Lugosi doesn't get a look-in) - both wonderful in the role; the former of course for his many Hammer Horror performances but the latter perhaps less widely known as his portrayal was in a BBC 2 adaptation of the book.  It was repeated a little while back and even watching it for the first time in nearly fifty years still validated my fond recollection of it as a stylish, evocative production for its era - it originally aired in 1977.

That year I had turned 14, the perfect age to feel strangely stirred at thoughts of dark and forbidden seduction by a mysterious, mesmerising protagonist. Here was an immaculate mix of romance, eroticism and horror, where the anti-hero is charismatic and complex, eliciting an odd ambivalence which only serves to keep one wanting more.

Indeed, my adolescent self found Louis Jourdan's portrayal compelling and it stayed vividly in my memory.  In an interview at the time he stated that he really tried to make his character's villainy "attractive, very attractive" so that the audience might find ourselves questioning our values.  "I think Dracula should be played as an extremely kind person, who truly believes he is doing good.  He gives eternal life," Jourdan said.  "He takes blood and he gives blood.  Therefore, he gives an exchange which is symbolic of love and the sexual act..."  Hot stuff!  Those teenage love bites were never going to match up.

Louis Jourdan is after your blood...

Much as I adore a vintage book (and we really need to save them from abominable AI shredders - don't get me started), prices for early editions of Dracula were somewhat steep so I opted instead for this new paperback from Wordsworth Editions, home of classic literature made affordable, with its neat cover graphics and an interesting, up-to-date introduction.  

And I'm so enjoying feasting slowly on this famous novel no matter what the packaging.  It's a great pleasure to take the long road through its pages, to savour its meticulous descriptions and language, and allow myself a little frisson at the shadows cast by the nightlight and the curtains wavering softly in the breeze from the open window as I take it to bed.  Hmm, I'm sure I didn't have these two little marks on my neck when I fell asleep...

If you want to catch the aforementioned  BBC film of 'Count Dracula' it's being shown again in two parts on Talking Pictures TV, starting 18th September.  

A less familiar version of 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' - Nouvelle Vague

Goodbye and good riddance

No, not you, lovely people!  Please do stay.  But goodbye and good riddance to the bookshop which chose to come to the area to peddle its far right, white supremacist wares in the village where I live, as posted about a few weeks ago here.  The bookshop presented itself as merely promoting 'common sense' but a few glances at their Twitter posts in particular revealed levels of hatred, contempt and arrogance which were far more blatant and concerning.

The reason for leaving given by the proprietor is that they'd experienced too much hostility locally and didn't find the place welcoming, so they're looking for somewhere more friendly.  I'd suggest that openly displaying large Union Jack flags with the words 'Remigration Now' on your frontage is neither welcoming nor friendly, nor is publicly mocking online the neighbours and visitors who disagreed with them, but what do I know.  They also wrote in a social media post that the village should now 'brace itself' because a couple of 'foreigners' had enquired about renting the premises here.  Really? What year are we in?

Anyway, the news of its sudden departure absolutely made my day and the more I thought about it, the more I realised that, in a way, it was even better to have had undeniable proof of local objection to its rhetoric by way of it ever having set itself up in the first place.  We wouldn't have known the strength of opinion against it had it not tried to function here, so it was almost like a test - and we passed.  I know that's not the end of the business overall, it will undoubtedly pop up somewhere else and not everyone will be opposed to it either - but I'm so relieved it's gone from here at least, thanks to its unpopularity in this particular community.  Looks like they are just going to have to experience 'remigration now' for themselves.  

Eddie Holland: Leaving Here

Sex change chickens

Hello! For no reason other than that I have only a few days left to meet my goal of 'at least one post per month' this year, may I introduce you to the seldom talked about subject of sex change chickens?!

If this is news to you, it really is a thing - more accurately known as 'sex reversal'.  Hens typically only have one functional ovary (the left one) and if it becomes damaged through disease, their right ovary starts to develop in place of it. But it's possible for this to have some tissue characteristics of the testes as well as, or instead of, the ovary....   This becomes an 'ovotestis' which releases androgen, the hormone group which contains testosterone, as well as estrogen - and the hen can start to develop male secondary sex characteristics.  It only works that way around - female to male - still genotypically female, as in her genes, but phenotypically male, i.e. with regard to features and behaviours on the outside. Her wattle and comb may grow to resemble a rooster's, her feather pattern can change and she may even crow.

You're welcome!

Ok, really this is just an excuse to post a song which I listened to today for the first time since...well, I think it must have been around 1984, the year of its release.  A time, I think, when eccentricity in music had a kind of naiveté about it, something quite unselfconscious; I rather miss the innocent silliness of some of that late '70s/early '80s scene, the John Peel genre!  Hull band, Indians In Moscow, had had a successful indie hit with their first single 'Naughty Miranda', and this one came along the following year.  It reached the dizzy heights of number 101 in the UK Indie Charts... I guess you could say it was a little niche?  

"I've been on Calendar, I've been on Nationwide."  Ah, heady days!

Indians In Moscow: Jack Pelter and His Sex Change Chicken

An enemy within

My dear friend T came over last week for coffee, conversation (and cake) at one of my local cafés.  Our relationship is a rare and special thing; apart from a few shared interests we come from very different backgrounds, have had vastly dissimilar life experiences and he is just about old enough to be my father (in fact I think of him as my 'Surrogate Dad)' but we meet on perhaps the most important, fundamental level - our core values.  And doesn't it feel more meaningful than ever to know that about someone right now too?

Anyway we were strolling back afterwards and got onto the subject of bookshops.  Where I live used to have a good one - although small, it was a lovely place to browse but it closed some years ago.  Then I remembered noticing a few weeks back that there is another bookshop here now, quite recent and not one I pass on my usual route, so I've yet to visit it.  It'd be a perfect opportunity to check it out with T. 

We took the little detour up to the shop.  It had one large window through which we could see a sofa - although unfortunately we couldn't see any books from there - and a sign on the door announced that it also served coffee (and cake). How charming, we said - we could come here for both and enjoy the ambience of being surrounded by literature and other bibliophiles.  We would've had a look inside right then - but there was also a Closed sign in the door next to its promises of refreshment so we turned back.  

"Never mind, I'll check out its opening times and we'll make it a date next time!" I told T as we bade eachother goodbye.

I did so that night -  I found its social media pages.  

And I will not be going there for books, coffee, cake or anything else.

The first thing I noticed was it advertising itself online as being a place dedicated to "free speech and common sense".  And I do understand how, if you're someone who believes we have an overzealous cancellation culture, you may hope to encourage debate above censorship and be open to stocking a broad range of literature, including more traditionalist output: I know that shutting voices down completely rarely solves anything. This establishment has pitched itself as such.  But then a certain, horrible realisation dawned on me after scrolling through its posts and pictures.   An advert for a book by an acknowledged white supremacist, a post promoting a publishing outfit who specifically distribute far right, anti-liberal works...  And it was a photo of the window - the one with the sofa in - bedecked in a huge Union Jack with the unambiguous words 'REMIGRATION NOW' across it which absolutely confirmed my fears.  I started looking through the comments: anyone objecting to some of the right wing stance peddled there is not met with dignified grace for expressing their different opinion but with derision, whilst all those supporting get gushing gratitude, naturally.  Free speech, you say? 

Arghh.   I loathe the fact that the only book store we have in this community should be that one.  I could try and ignore its existence but I'm thoroughly ashamed of and depressed by it and I've let it get to me, hence this post.  At least I can be relieved it was closed that day T came over; I wonder how long it would have taken for us to get the measure of the place had we actually ventured in?

There is a slightly more positive flipside.  Just down the road here there's another café, and it's one which is now displaying a cheerful multicoloured sticker in its window with the words "EVERYONE WELCOME".   I'm still saddened, however, that we should find ourselves in an era where we need to actively make the point that they are.

Covered up (part three), uncovered

(No prizes for this one)*

Many thanks and congratulations to all who came up with the answers to last week's album cover puzzle.  This time, though, there were a few which remained unidentified (4, 7, 10, 12 and 13, if I've checked that correctly), so here's the full set...

I know - easy when you see them!

1. Faithless - Sunday 8pm

2. New York Dolls - New York Dolls

3. Kraftwerk - Computer World

4. Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow

5. Roxy Music - Siren

6. Alan Hull - Pipedream

7. The Temptations - Psychedelic Shack

8. XTC - Drums and Wires

9. Genesis - Selling England By The Pound

10. Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets

11. Madonna - True Blue

12. Everything But The Girl - Idlewild

13. Bauhaus - In The Flat Field

14. Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story

15. Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash

16. Adam & the Ants - Kings Of The Wild Frontier

17. Suede - Coming Up

18. Manic Street Preachers - Generation Terrorists

(but were you thinking what I was thinking about that image..?)

19. Thin Lizzy - Johnny the Fox

20. Cat Stevens - Mona Bone Jakon

* The Beatles White Album

Covered up (part three)

A lovely trip to Leeds, a job to finish - it's all been a bit of a whirlwind here lately but, following on from my last post about how so much album cover artwork sticks in our long term memory, I thought it  time once again to test that out.  The catch of course is that there is the extra hardship of only seeing a small section...

So here you go - twenty more snippets from sleeves waiting to be identified - who are the artists and what are the album titles? You know you've seen those shoes in #2 before, don't you?  And those colours in #8, or that, erm, whatever it is in #18! But where?

Please feel free to leave your answers in the comments - the proof to be uncovered next Monday. 

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.