[nyrbclassics]

Leonora Carrington’s Microscopic /Telescopic Gaze

I am afraid I am going to drift into fiction, truthful but incomplete, for lack of some details which I cannot conjure up today and which might have enlightened us. This morning, the idea of the egg came again to my mind and I thought that I could use it as a crystal to look at Madrid in those days of July and August 1940—for why should it not enclose my own experiences as well as the past and future history of the Universe? The egg is the macrocosm and the microcosm, the dividing line between the Big and the Small which makes it impossible to see the whole. To possess a telescope without its other essential half—the microscope—seems to me a symbol of the darkest incomprehension. The task of the right eye is to peer into the telescope, while the left eye peers into the microscope.

Today is the publication day of Leonora Carrington’s Down Below, with an introduction by Marina Warner.

Above: Leonora Carrington’s map of the asylum at Santander. #7 represents “Down Below.”

[stillunusual]

Fanzines from the 1970s I started buying music fanzines in the late 1970s (when there was no such thing as desktop publishing, the internet, file sharing, blogging, streaming or social media) and although many of them subsequently got lost or thrown away over the years, I still have some good ones from the punk and immediate post-punk era and I’m having fun looking through them again after leaving them to gather dust for a long time. Before punk came along I was already buying and reading the mainstream music papers that were popular in the UK (NME, Melody Maker, Sounds, Record Mirror and Disc) as well as one or two smaller scale and niche publications like ZigZag and Blues & Soul. There were even a few pre-punk music fanzines, self-published by enthusiasts like Brian Hogg. But the new wave of zines that emerged alongside the punk rock explosion (and in parallel with independent record labels, shops and distribution channels) were something fresh and exciting, and became a vibrant DIY subculture channelling punk’s “anybody can do this” attitude into print. These fanzines captured the iconoclastic energy of punk rock as it was actually happening - challenging the blandness and vacuity of mainstream pop and the staleness and self-indulgence of mainstream rock. The first book about the new musical and social landscape created by the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned and the deluge of bands that followed in their wake - “PUNK” by Julie Davis - was published in 1977 and mainly consisted of articles culled from some of the best fanzines of the era like: Ripped & Torn, Septic Ears, 48 Thrills, Live Wire, Jolt, Situation 3, Gun Rubber, Shews, Chainsaw and others. Initially most fanzines concentrated on interviews with bands (sometimes done by mailing the artist a list of questions), reviews of records and gigs, gig photos, coverage of local music scenes, letters from readers and so on. But they also increasingly became vehicles for non-musical content - personal and anti-establishment rants, collages, art, cartoons, poetry and “ranting verse”, short stories, socio-cultural, political and historical issues, the promotion of causes (like vegetarianism, environmentalism, alternative lifestyles, anarchism, anti-racism, feminism and anti-sexism) or specific organisations (like Amnesty International, Traidcraft, Greenpeace, Mencap, CND, Hunt Saboteurs and the Animal Liberation Front)…. Punk’s raw power created a spirit of adventure that carried the music forward in many different directions - and as time passed the musical content of fanzines also diversified. Fanzine writers were free to say whatever they wanted without having to worry about journalistic standards and conventions or the demands of owners, publishers, designers and production editors. Spelling mistakes, bad grammar and egomania were commonplace but nobody really cared. Individual pages were written either on a typewriter or by hand (or a combination of both) - sometimes with the aid of Letraset sheets - and often illustrated with original drawings and artwork, as well as images and text cut out of newspapers or magazines, which were generally used with a sense of irony and literally stuck onto the rest of the content. Tippex, scissors and glue were essential tools…. In the beginning fanzines were usually photocopied and stapled together by the fanzine’s creator. Even basic technology like photocopying was expensive at the time (if you didn’t have access to a copier at school or work). A better option, which soon became a viable alternative for many fanzine writers, was to get your fanzine printed by companies like Better Badges, and this in turn led to advances in graphic design and even the appearance of colour…. Fanzine writers often encouraged their readers to create zines of their own, even to the extent of writing “how to” guides which would generally include a breakdown of how much everything cost. It also became customary for fanzines to include (usually favourable) reviews and/or the mail order details of other fanzines. So buying one zine often led you to send off for several more. Naturally, there were also some feuds and squabbles between rival fanzines…. The emergence of independent distributors helped to spread fanzines around the country. Although some punk zines ended up selling hundreds or even thousands of copies, sales were generally very modest and rarely led to the writers making a profit. The vast majority had small print-runs and many were entirely self-produced and distributed (mainly by selling them at gigs and persuading local record shops to stock them), with maybe as few as 50 copies in total. It was also rare for a fanzine to last for more than a few issues and many were deliberately created as one-offs. But despite all the problems that fanzine writers had to overcome, the zine culture that began in the late 1970s continued to grow and develop throughout the 1980s and beyond. Several punk fanzine editors and contributors - like Jon Savage, Paul Morley and Danny Baker - went on to become well known writers and journalists. Others - like Mike Scott, Shane MacGowan and Morrissey - subsequently became famous singers and musicians. I had a great time growing up in the 1970s and fanzines were an important part of it…. I decided to start scanning and posting the covers of the fanzines I’ve got and also to scan some of the most interesting articles, interviews, photos, reviews, artwork and cartoons that they contain. UPDATE (10th June 2021) Over the last few years I’ve received a lot of requests to scan and upload the fanzines that I’m documenting in full, instead of just posting selected highlights. I eventually started doing this and also decided to use the extra time I had during the Covid-19 lockdown to revisit the zines I already posted, scan all the missing pages and upload them to Flickr, then update the related Tumblr posts. Scans of all the fanzine covers are collected (in approximate chronological order) HERE. From the fanzine cover you can click on a link to a Flickr album that contains scans of all the zine’s pages and a link to a Tumblr post with more info about the zine. Tumblr links to all the fanzines I’ve posted are also listed below (in alphabetical order). The story so far…. 48 Thrills (issue #3 - 1977) Allied Propaganda (issue #2 - 1979) Alternative Ulster (issue #72 - 1978) Anarchy In The UK (issue #1 - 1976) Anti-Climax (issue #3 - 1979) Away From The Numbers (issue #1 - 1977) Bam Balam (issue #4 - 1976) The Beat Goes On (issue #1 - 1979) The Best Of Rebel Music (issue #1 - 1978) Blackpool Rox (issue #3 - 1979) Bondage (issue #1 - 1976) Bored Stiff (issue #2 - 1977) Bowie Bureau (issue #22 - 1978) Brass Lip (issue #1 - 1979) Burnt Offering (issue #3 - 1979) Chainsaw (issue #3 - 1977) City Fun (issue #8 - 1979) Crash Bang (issue #2 - 1977) Damaged Goods (issue #4 - 1979) Dangerous Logic (issue #1 - 1978) Deviation Street (issue #3 - 1977) Escape As Jet (issue #3 - 1979) Final Notice (issue #1 - 1978) Flicks (issue #1 - 1977) Garage Land (issue #5 - 1977) Ghast Up (issue #1 - 1977) Gun Rubber (issue #4 - 1977) Guttersnipe (issue #2 - 1978) Hanging Around (issue #7 - 1977) Headbanger (issue #2 - 1979) Impulse (issue #7 - 1979) Industrial News (issue #3 - 1979) Jamming (issue #9 - 1979) Jolt (issue #3 - 1977) Juice (issue #1 - 1977) Kid’s Stuff (issue #8 - 1977) Kill It (issue #1 - 1977) Kingdom Come (issue #11 - 1978) Live Wire (issue #7 - 1977) London’s Burning (issue #1 - 1976) London’s Outrage (issue #1 - 1976) Look At The Time (issue #1 - 1977) Look Out (issue #2 - 1978) Modern Drugs (issue #1 - 1979) More On (issue #3 - 1977) New Pose (issue #4 - 1977) New Wave (issue #3 - 1977) The Next Big Thing (issue #1 - 1977) Next Monday’s Exciting (issue #2 - 1979) NMX (issue #9 - 1979) Oh Cardiff….Up Yours! (issue #1 - 1978) Printed Noises (issue #2 - 1979) The Rings (issue #1 - 1977) Ripped & Torn (issue #10 - 1978) The Secret Public (issue #1 - 1978) Septic Ears (issue #1 - 1977) Shy Talk (issue #3 - 1977) Sick! (issue #2 - 1978) Sideburns (issue #1 - 1977) Situation 3 (issue #3 - 1977) Small Axe (issue #1 - 1978) Sniffin’ Glue (issue #8 - 1977) St Albans Antibof (issue #2 - 1977) Street Talk (issue #1 - 1977) Surrey Vomet (issue #3 - 1979) Suspect Device (issue #6 - 1979) Temporary Hoarding (issue #9 - 1979) Trash-77 (issue #3 - 1977) TRB Bulletin (issue #8 - 1978) Underground Beer (issue #1 - 1979) Unlimited Edition (issue #1 - 1979) Up + Coming (issue #1 - 1977) Voice Of Buddha (issue #1 - 1979) White Stuff (issue #2 - 1977) ZigZag (issue #75 - 1977) ZigZag (issue #85 - 1978)

[bauhaus-movement]

Oskar Schlemmer's triadic #ballet of #geometry. The ballet became the most widely performed avant-garde artistic dance and while Schlemmer was at the #Bauhaus from 1921 to 1929, the ballet toured, helping to spread the ethos of the Bauhaus.

[brianmchenry]

 The Intended Voyage of The Girona

Some random but well meaning notes:

A work in progress based partly on the sinking of the Spanish Galleass ‘La Girona’ off the County Antrim coast in 1588. The Girona was part of the ill-fated Spanish Armada and foundered on the rocks off Lacada Pointwas heading eastward in the hope of finding refuge in Scotland. There was an estimated 1,300 people on board The Girona which had been designed for a crew of 300, amongst those were slaves from Central and South America and the sailors from two other Armada wrecks, ‘La Rata Santa Maria Encoronda‘ and ‘Dunquesa Santa Anna’. There were nine survivors.*

* La Rata Santa Maria Encoronda had run aground in County Mayo and the survivors marched the 25 miles to where they knew the Santa Anna to be anchored. The crew boarded and the Santa Anna set sail only to be wrecked off the coast of Donegal on the 28th September.

Don Alonso Martinez de Leyva (very much) after El Greco. One of the 1,300 onboard the Girona.

The title comes from a ring found on the wreck site made from conquistador gold which says ‘No tengo mas que dar te’ - ‘I have nothing more to give thee’

Further background reading on The Girona can be found here:

https://www.belfastentries.com/stories/true-stories/girona/

Although The Girona actually sank off Lacada Point (Port-na-Spaniagh) the foreground represents Torr Head which is to the east. Torr Head was the sight of a sixth century cashel and in the 1800′s was important for recording the passage of transatlantic shipping for Lloyds of London.

There is a small salmon fishery at Torr which in the 1970’s consisted of a box net owned by some boys called my dad was at school with some boys called ‘The Rocks’. I have vivid memories of being taken out in an old US army amphibious truck to see the net and of a basking shark that had recently got caught up in it. They had a shed at the back of the slipway that was full of US Army equipment reputedly left behind when they pulled out from Derry after the Second World War.

[mioritic]

Ben Shahn’s Haggadah, 1965 (via Letterform Archive)

[kanegon-rock]

Kurojujigun from Goranger on parade!!

[artist-klee]

Der Held mit dem Flügel (The Hero with the Wing) from the series Inventions (Inventionen), Paul Klee, 1905, MoMA: Drawings and Prints

Purchase Size: plate: 10 x 6 ¼" (25.4 x 15.9 cm); sheet: 16 x 12 1/16" (40.7 x 30.7 cm) Medium: Etching and drypoint

http://www.moma.org/collection/works/63858

[piinboots]

“One of the most solid pieces of writing advice I know is in fact intended for dancers – you can find it in the choreographer Martha Graham’s biography. But it relaxes me in front of my laptop the same way I imagine it might induce a young dancer to breathe deeply and wiggle their fingers and toes. Graham writes: ‘There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.’”

— Zadie Smith (via campaignagainstcliche)

[artist-klee]

Persian Nightingales, 1917, Paul Klee

[weantuniverse]

[subtleceiling]

[thunderstruck9]

Madeleine Pyk (Swedish, b. 1934), Granada. Oil on canvas, 105.5 x 125 cm.

[gatheredinamber]

Down by the Greenwoodside by The Furrow Collective. Animation by Maud Hewlings.

[furtho]

Sheila Robinson's Through Eyelashes

[outsideofenough]

“Does that mean I don’t have to begin with the role models and attain their level of expertise before striking my own path?” the pupil asked.

“When you talk like that you are forgetting that besides the old role models you also have your own: yourself. You cannot hang on to the beards of the ancients. You must try to be your own life and not the death of another. For this reason the best painting method is the method of no method. Even if the brush, the ink, the drawing are all wrong, what constitutes your “I” still survives. You must not let the brush control you; you must control the brush yourself.”

Sea of Ink, Richard Weihe (Chapter 33)

[artist-klee]

Bandit's head, 1921, Paul Klee

[topcat77]

Miró 

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