Two very different recommendations:
First, there is an excellent new book and CD/DVD package from Bloodaxe of the poem Briggflatts by Basil Bunting (ISBN 978-1-85224-826-0). As well as the text, there are biographical and critical notes, plus a DVD of a 1982 Channel 4 documentary on Bunting and, best of all, a CD of Bunting reading his poem in 1967 in his gloriously archaic but precise Northumbrian accent, which raises the rolling of Rs to an artform : to hear him enunciate the lines "rut thud the rim,/crushed grit" is a rare pleasure. Basil Bunting and this poem in particular occupy a special place in the history of British poetry, straddling friendships in the 1920s and 30s with Ezra Pound and Louis Zukovsky and the birth of the British "alternative" scene in mid-60s Newcastle at Tom Pickard's Morden Tower.
Second, I was amazed and excited to learn that John Byrne's Tutti Frutti -- screened on BBC TV in 1987 and never seen since, neither as a repeat nor as a video/DVD release -- is finally to be released on DVD on 3rd August, and Amazon is taking pre-orders (Region 2 only, I suspect). This incomparable series was one of the peaks of British TV drama, by turns comic and tragic, and its virtual disappearance and unobtainability for 22 years (allegedly because of rights disputes over some of the rock'n'roll classics used) has been a scandal. If you've never seen it, I think you will find you have a rare treat in store. In my memory, it's a rare instance of the Real Thing -- it will be interesting to see what effect those 22 years have had.
Very different recommendations, but both 100%.
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8 comments:
Mike,
Tutti Frutti, I had fogotten about that, I remember it was required watching in our home, probably the last series we all sat down to watch together before I left for university in 1987. I also first met Briggflats in 1987. I studied shipbuilding at Newcastle and I think Bloodaxe had extracts from it on the buses and this inspired me to buy his collected poems. I often travelled to the dales whilst I lived in Newcastle and the words always remind of the hills
I'm so looking forward to seeing Tutti Frutti again, and I'm hoping it hasn't aged as badly as other 80s items... Someone also recently reminded me of "A Very Peculiar Practice", another bit of required viewing from that era.
A shipbuilder and a reader of Basil Bunting? That puts you in a very small but very interesting subset of the population. Must be those Borderer's genes...
Tutti Frutti now on pre-order on Amazon.
My Grandmother worked at James Thin, though not the South Bridge shop but at the university branch on Buccleuh street. My mother worked on Saturdays and to avoid his childcare duties my father would leave me with his mother and I spent many happy hours sat on the floor in Jimmy Thins reading as long haired students and lecturers (this was the seventies) stepped over me. Whilst it didn't convince me to pursue the study of english beyond O level it did leave me with a love of reading.
Well, there's a thing -- I had no idea James Thin was such a longstanding institution! I've only been to Edinburgh a couple of times, so have no real knowledge of the place at all (although my son did fall instantly in love with it).
Thins is still going, though how strong I don't know. It was still owned by the the Thin family when I last heard. It had quite a family feel, the Thins even came to my Grandmothers funeral a couple of years ago. My grandmothers immediate boss was Miss Brownlee a tweed wearing Edinburgh spinster who never owned a fridge (which amazed me as a child) but kept he milk on a marble table. She spent all her money on Scottish Colourist Paintings of which she had a fine collection.
Edinburgh was an amazing city to grow up in and it is one of my greatest disappointments that my parents moved to Reading when I was ten.
Disappointing is hardly the word for a move from Edinburgh to Reading. It must have seemed like The Expulsion... Speaking as a Stevenage boy, though, virtually anywhere looks sophisticated to me.
My partner used to do some Open University teaching in Reading when our son was a baby, so we all used to drive over to Whiteknights and I'd push him round in a pram for a truly boring hour or two.
Well Tutti Frutti arrived yesterday and the living room echoed to the calls for "Miss Toneer". The dialogue is just a good as I remember, though the filming seems a bit dated. The shots of the small rundown pit villages really capture the feel of the places. I've worked in Methil, the location of the first gig of the tour - horrible but wonderful
Gavin
Mine, too, but I haven't even broken the shrinkwrap yet. I'm just going to let it sit there for a while, until the moment is right. No hurry, after 22 years...
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