ULYSSES at the TRON

"What the fuck have i just read" is the usual honest reaction of those that glance , yet alone read , James Joyce Ulysses.So it is no surprise the response "What the fuck have i just watched" is the stock reaction from those who have just seen the stage adaptation of the Novel.

Reading Ulysses  is a tough shift.

More famous for its experimental groundbreaking tryouts than actual substance.Joyce dictated a lot of his work to a third party later in his life , so if you get bogged down a bit then try reading it out loud until you find the rhythm again.

 If its any consolation the last hundred , well 50 pages, are very free flowing.
I may be wrong but i wouldnt be surprised if the later pages contain the longest unbroken sentence in literature , there is no punctuation at all your eyes read the words faster than you can catch them in the brain which makes for quite an effect.

In saying that the novel is a bit experimental topheavy and is generally only appreciated by career writers for its innovations rather than being a rewarding read in its own right.You would be hard pressed to find anyone who actually enjoys it , rather than most who "appreciate" it.

You could say it is the Citizen Kane of novels with the same type of cult likers and loathers.

One admirer of the work states  "Once you get used to the rhythms of the prose and the weird technique Joyce uses it's laugh-out-loud funny in parts, and just jaw-droppingly good for the rest of the time.

The first 50 pages are tough going right enough. In fact, the first 4 chapters (which are all Stephen Dedalus's interior monologue) are dull and difficult, but then they're supposed to be because Stephen's supposed to be a bit of a prig.

Stick with it, though, and in ch. 5 the action switches to Bloom who is much better company."

Optimists call it , euphemistically , "experimental" with such devices as Wagnerian musical notation formatted to the written word canvass and things like stream of consciousness , but even regarding that this novel was the first sustained attempt at it , it is not by any means a particularly good example and has been surpassed by many better attempts since.

Its what you might call a pioneering work and has its place in literature as the inspiration of many Authors afterwards.

It is always a sign of bad art when one has to read several articles to get a grip on what the artist is trying to say not because the subject metaphor is deep and complicated but rather the method of technical delivery is such , it takes some other party to explain what the artist is trying to say.

All in all one could say the Book dogmatises itself into self-worshipping needless complicated complexity.What we might call Elitist Art for Arts sake.

Anyway , the play itself takes advantage of copyright expiry which will allow Ulysses to be brought out into other artistic formats.The Play version was actually written way back in 1994 but can only now be given a theatrical staging.You can find out the whole story background from a brilliantly detailed dedicated bl;og for this production. 

As one can imagine a staging of such a complex book is no easy task , this article tells of the adapters challenges and dilemmas in this staging whose every word is taking from the Book itself.

This review by the writer for the Scotsman Newspaper  and  this one from the Stage are fairly accurate  and give the playwright a backhanded compliment of sticking to Joyces own words in handling of the script.

To help with the narrative the blog also gives a short synopsis of the scenes of the play and their relation to the Book.It is best followed by reading it from the bottom up.

And the second portion , again read from the bottom up corresponds to the second part of the play after the interval.  

As a guide here is a ten point plan to get your head round the Book 

1.         Think of it as an A-Z.
Think of it as something more like a map than a novel, like a Dublin A-Z. Some streets, districts, pubs will be more familiar than others at first, but your awareness will increase in ever widening circles. You can follow the wanderings of the characters on Google Maps. (Google ‘The Boston College Guide to Ulysses’). If you’re lucky enough to find yourself in Dublin the people at the James Joyce Centre in North Great George’s St are very helpful.
2.         Think of it as a vocal performance
Read it aloud, alone or with friends, or listen to it. The musicality, humour and pathos come out better that way. There’s a very good recording by Jim Norton (Bishop Brennan in Father Ted) available on iTunes and Audible, and podcasts available of the recent Bloomsday broadcast on BBC.
3.         Think of it as a book of short stories.
Feel free to skip. The second and third chapters in particular can be hard going, and many a would-be reader takes leave of the book when Stephen Dedalus, an intense, difficult young man,  is going on about the Nacheinander and the Nebeneinander and the Ineluctable Modality of the Visible. Go on to chapter 4 where you get to know Leopold Bloom, his curiosity and kindness, and his relish for the extraordinary ordinariness of everyday life. Each of the 18 episodes can be read independently. The ones called Hades and Nausicaa are good places to start. (Annoyingly these titles, though used by everyone, are absent from the text, but they can be found easily enough either in the notes or online.)
4.         Think of it as poetry.
Read it one sentence at a time. Open it at any page and you will find something wonderful going on. Joyce notices everything, and never wrote a bad sentence.
Actually that’s not true: there is one episode, Eumaeus, which is deliberately and some would say perversely composed of nothing but bad sentences. It’s very skippable.
5.         Think of it as a play.
You will be able to see the play at the Tron, but one episode, Circe, is the most brilliantly surrealist cartoon psychodrama ever written, featuring the hilarious trial of Bloom for mostly imagined sexual misdemeanours. Its cast of thousands includes a singing bar of soap, some warbling kisses, and The End of the World, who is (of course) a twoheaded octopus in gillie’s kilts, busby and tartan filibegs.
6          Don’t think of it as a marathon.
Take your time. No one is going to sponsor you. It’s more a morning stroll, and an afternoon stroll, and an evening stroll, and a nighttime stagger, and so to bed.
7.         Don’t think that it’s full of classical allusions.
You are mistaking it for The Waste Land. (Don’t be ashamed of that – T.S.Eliot also mistook it for The Waste Land.) Yes, it’s built round the scaffolding of Homer’s Odyssey, but that needn’t present any difficulty. Many of the allusions in the book are to popular song, or adverts, bits of news or gossip, the ephemera of city life. They are not there to make you feel stupid.
8.         Take a guide.
Harry Blamire’s The New Bloomsday Book is handy for keeping in touch with what is happening in the story beneath all the verbal pyrotechnics, and there are many other resources online, to help you with the bits you’ve skipped for the time being.
9.         Don’t boast about having read Ulysses.
People will know exactly what you’re up to and you’ll end up looking and sounding like a self-satisfied eedjit.
10.       Don’t boast about not having read Ulysses.
People will know exactly what you’re up to and you’ll end up looking and sounding like a self-satisfied eedjit.

ANDY ZALTZMAN at THE STAND GLASGOW

Andy Zaltzman latest round is called the "Armchair Revolutionary Tour"

Nothing was left out in the marathon 2 set performance by Andy zaltzman  tonight , even the kitchen sink was thrown it for good measure.The show had brilliant moments , profoundly funny moments , supreme satire moments , baffling moments and , more than occasionally , cringeworthy embarrassing  moments.But they were always topical and current.

If the material could be cut-down and honed into a 45 minute set then we could have a taut , very funny and superb memorable satire showcase masterclass on our hands.

The video below gives a good synopsis of same of the material in todays show:



Andy Zaltzman has a show called the Bugle The  latest satarical series of shows can be found in this podcast link.

And here is an Andy Zaltzman article for Huffington Post  , featuring a audio link of his Jubilee Special Show.

AFRICAN AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

This years schedule of Glasgow Black History month threw up an intriguing discussion of the little known role of Black Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War.The talk was given by Glasgow University lecturer Dave Featherstone.

The figures of just how many volunteers there were are disputed , ranging from about 90 to 250.Given the nature that many American Blacks were not allowed in the US Military allied with the hazardous logistical barriers for the always harassed and harried  US Communist Party of which many, though not all, were members made the journey nearly impossible.

The US contingent formed up as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

Compare and Contrast the attitudes and actions of Albert Einstein and Gene Kelly with General Motors ; Texaco and other Corporations in what Historian Paul Preston has rightly described as the actual beginning of WW2 in which Fascism tested the Worlds resolve and found ample grounds to be encouraged and emboldened.

The reaction of Western governments to the war was ambivalent and duplicitous. They agreed to a nonintervention pact and the United States embargoed aid to the Spanish belligerents, policies intended to de-escalate the war but whose selective enforcement undermined the Republic. While Germany and Italy supplied Franco with troops, tanks, submarines, and a modernized air force (the first to bomb open cities, most notably Guernica), the nonintervention policy only prevented arms from reaching the Republic. General Motors, Texaco, and other American corporations further assisted Franco with trucks and fuel. The Soviet Union and Mexico were the only governments to sell armaments to the Republic, although much of them were impounded at the French border. Throughout the war, a vociferous political and cultural movement in America rallied to the Republic by raising money for medical aid and demanding an end to the embargo. Such participants as Albert Einstein, Dorothy Parker, Gene Kelly, Paul Robeson, Helen Keller, A. Philip Randolph, and Gypsy Rose Lee reflected the wide base of support for the Republican cause.

You can find a synopsis of the trials and tribulations of the formation and continuation of the Abe Lincoln Brigade before they even got anywhere near Spanish Soil in this very informative concise piece.

The Lincolns came from all walks of life, all regions of the country, and included seamen, students, the unemployed, miners, fur workers, lumberjacks, teachers, salesmen, athletes, dancers, and artists. They established the first racially integrated military unit in U.S. history and were the first to be led by a black commander. At least 60 percent were members of the Young Communist League or CP. "Wobblies" (members of the Industrial Workers of the World or "IWW"), socialists, and the unaffiliated also joined. The Socialists formed their own [Eugene] Debs Column for Spain, but open recruitment brought on government suppression.

Because the State Department banned all travel to Spain for any potential recruits a lot of volunteers ended up in Britain before taking underground roundabout trails into Spain to join up with the Brigades.

This is a picture of an unidentified Black soldier who the Spanish Authorities were trying to trace prior to a visit by Barack Obama to Spain. "All we know is that he arrived with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade of American volunteers and that he died in the battle at Brunete [in July 1937]," said Sergi Centelles, whose father, Agustí, took the picture.".As far as i know the soldier has not been identified yet, though some authorities have narrowed it down to two possible candidates."The photograph remained hidden for four decades after Agustí Centelles, known as the "Spanish Robert Capa", fled Spain as Franco's forces looked set to win the civil war in 1939."

You can get the full story in this excellent Guardian Article.

And here is a very disturbing tale about the highly disputed accounts of Oliver Law ( pictured at the top of the post) , who became for a short while the only Black Commander of a Company of mixed Black and White US personnel at a time when the Official US Army had segregated units , some of whom were not even recognised or decorated for service in WW2 until the 1990s and in some cases only in the 21st Century.

The brilliant hard hitting in-depth documentary traces the History of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in its brave fight to aid the democratically elected Spanish Government and against the Mussolini and Hitler supported Franco Military Uprising.(It comes in 12 parts and features the legendary Salaria Kea ).

ZOMBIES ON A HOT TIN ROOF

Zombies have been in the news of late , The only guarantee in life is Death and Taxes , unless you are the Former People.

Fans show solidarity with the undead

Zombies gather at their favourite festering hole

They show their loyalty and Patriotism , just dont ask them to pay the Queen her Tax

They are back from the dead and promise to haunt us

Will the dead invest in the Sevco issue?

BILLY BRAGG & KT TUNSTALL perform WOODY GUTHRIE 100TH CELEBRATION

Woody Guthrie was born 100 years ago.His Family has Scottish roots so it was fitting Glasgow would be amongst a few set venues for this celebratory tour.

Billy Braggs first connection with the work of Guthrie was when he was invited by Woody Guthries Daughter Nora.Out of an archive of over 3,000 songs Woody barely recorded a single digit percentage of them , none of them to a musical score.This presents problems and opportunities to would be ressurecters , Bragg resolved this very early on by intimating , with Noras blessing, his own style based mostly of Brit punk and independent acoustic traditions.

The event started with some wonderful songs from an upcoming KT Tunstall Album of which the best was an evocative piece called Invisible Empire:( give it about 30 seconds to kick-in).



The night was designed to showcase the totality of Woodys themes as well as his influences of which Leadbelly was a major inspiration.Paul Robeson also gave Woody many gigs leading to public exposure in the days when there was no such thing like  touring as we know today.Almost all of Woodys gigs were free performances at pickets and Strikes in an age when even being suspected Socialist was a blacklisted across the states offence in legal and cultural circuits.

Woody hated Fascists , here is a typical Bragg version of battle cry against the Nazis and their supporters at home and abroad:




In the video below Bragg gives an American audience a British style speech on the NHS and Twitter:



Woody spent some time in Glasgow when having been shipwrecked during the D-Day Landing he awaited transportation back to the US.Bragg performed a World premiere of the song Woody Guthrie wrote about the city and the clyde.You can see it performed in this link

Billy Bragg finished proceedings with an updated version of the perennial Great Leap Forward:




You can get a lot more details of the life times and legacy of Woody Guthrie from his dedicated website.

SCOTLAND v MACEDONIA

The Tartan Army , of which i was a lowly foot soldier tonight, pride themselves on supporting you ever more.But , in the case of Craig Levein they are more than willing to make an exception.The Tartan Army have split into two camps concerning the current Manager , the "Flower of Scotland" brigade ( known to us Glaswegians as Tcheuchters) hate him , the Urban(e) populace despise him , whenever his face appeared on the Big Screens there was a searing cacophony of booos reverberating on two sides of the stadium ( the other sides were empty with a crowd of only 32,000) , the admixture of gruff gravely Glasgow accent booing in unison with the Gaelic adolescent high pitched lilting made for a very unholy parody of impotent petty venom.

"What the fuck are they saying" was what we Unbanities said to each other with quizzical bemused looks as the Tcheuchters started a massive chant , after a lot of hit and miss translations , de-coding and other linguistic real-time deciphering we made out they were chanted "Bring on the Subs" , there were only 8 minutes gone!.Though , to be fair , the quality of defending as the Macedonians ripped the defence apart at will on several occasions did seem to suggest immediate emergency surgery was required to avoid what people in the Balkans call a "Catastropht".Two minutes later the Catastropht happened.More slicing apart, a beautiful run , two step-overs while on full speed run from the brilliant Pandev , a quick corner, a deft pass , a stroke , bulging net , and that most famous of anti-Hampden roars....two seconds of silence.Realisation.32,000 Scots sober.




After that distraction the Crowd got back to the game of loathing Levein with fresh added ire.Leveins problems began when he came up with a masterstroke after the Spain game in Autumn 2010 ( which we won 2-3).In the midweek after we were playing the Czech Republic , who had lost at home to Lithuania earlier in the tournament , at a low ebb of form and morale.With the high of a good performance against the deserved World Champions the Tartan Army was on for catching the Czechs at just the right time to consolidate a position in the group that could have made Scotland unassailable as co-qualifiers along with Spain.But , Leveins masterstroke was not to press home the advantage and strike when the iron was hot.He went for a 6-2-2-0-0 formation , learned from the likes of Dundee Utd and Hearts , and go for a 0-0 draw.The hopelessly out of touch and disjointed Czechs ambled , shuffled and struggled to find any sort of form for a whole 70 minutes whilst the Scots sat back with no concern to score at the other end.Ironically , the Czechs scored from a British type set-piece goal late in the game.The points went to the home side.The advantage was lost.And the Czechs finished the job from which a more positive Scottish performance that night would never have allowed them.

Thereafter the Tartan Army has  gone seriously out of love with the 6-2-2-0-0 , as Levein has stubbornly stuck to it , citing , among other things , that Del-Bosque has also come round the Leveins way of thinking.The fact that del-Bosque has said this formation without a striker allows him to get 5 men into the last third when attacking , and Leveins allows the grand total of none , with the "striker" pressing in midfield, does seem to suggest divergence on the practical ethos of utilisation of the system.Considering last saturdays opponents Serbia beat Wales 6-1 suggests Levein was not wrong to start off in a cautious manner.Leaving tactical substitutions until very late into the day seems to be the issue of most concern.Though one must bear in mind Miller and Naismith could have done everyone a favour by being more professional with the golden chances that fell their way.Had scotland won the pressure on tuesday would have allowed the team to patiently probe the opposition with the crowd being a genuine 12th man.

Sitting near the dug-out i got to see quite a lot of Levein, he has the gait of a man who has a contract in which he would be better-off getting a severance payment by getting sacked than resigning and giving up on a bumper golden handshake.He will tough it out until told not to do so.In fact he has entered the Taking-The-Piss-Zone , stating we can win all our games just before getting two tame home draws , mainly due to a defend when in doubt postures.

One has to be fair and point out the current Scottish , despite what the MSM say,squad is not up to standard for an expansive system.Technically Macedonia were far superior to the Scottish players.It was no surprise goalkeeper McGregor was man of the match.

PATTI SMITH at the GLASGOW CARLING ABC

Patti Smith last night was superb! Stunning voice , a lot of New York Punk scene vibes about , a dynamic performance full of raw emotion and sincerity you just cant find in the corporate rock age.

This was the song that captured everything about a special night those who were lucky enough to be there will live again and again.



The Independent has a considered review of this sold out concert that very few would have expected to be the closest artist to the age of punk when her accomplished band got going.

There is a lot of confusion that the song "Because The Night" is a Springsteen song covered by Patti.The song was actually a joint collaboration with pieces written by both Patti and Bruce.The version of the concert had a typically rocky raw edge not seen for many years.



The night was rounded of by a version of Gloria with tributes to all those still fighting the good fights of social justice the world over.