That Summer - Ray Winstone 1979

‘John’

Twiggy’s Bar

Torquay

April 2019

John is the barman at Twiggy’s Bar in Torquay. Twiggy’s Bar was formerly The Pickwick which was the pub that featured in the 1979 movie That Summer which stars a very young Ray Winstone. Ray plays a young man just released from borstal who goes to Torquay to find a job and enter the long distance round the bay swimming race. He finds a job as bar and pot man in The Pickwick.

It’s a good film in its own way and has a really good soundtrack that is of it’s moment.

John wasn’t aware that he was now the equivalent of the young Ray Winstone as he didn’t realise that the pub had featured in the film. Many of the punters in the pub did know and some even remembered the film being made.

I’ve got into the habit of searching out films made in and around place that I’m visiting. I watch them before the trip. It’s good tracking down the places films were shot once we arrive.

You can watch the film here - not a great copy but watchable.

Here’s The Pickwick as it was:

And below as it is now, Twiggy’s Bar:

Served In A Mug - Gavin Wade and Paul Conneally 2019

SERVED IN A MUG

you know my life
machines the arcades
oxeye daisies

tripping himself he falls
onto his broken hand

time passes
I carry on looking up
into the sky

Murdoch Priestly and Watt
coated in gilded bronze

I’ve got a feeling
we aren’t going to get
a fee for this job

she turns back smiling
and gives me a wave

it’s a funny thing
the half moon

scrolling Baburnama
she tells me with confidence
that tulips are from Turkey

a pint of bitter
in a straight glass

embedded assumptions
encoded in expecting
this seamless conformity

sunshine and showers
we’re going to take this
to the next level

Freya makes atmospheric
changes to the lighting

you’re a big man
in bad shape
behave yourself

quadrophonic sound
and feet on pink underlay

chilled to the bone
we make love
in our ankle socks

I take the call during
my keynote lecture

I miss you
I fancy you
I wish I was touching you

Tracey has a gin
served in a mug

I’d almost forgotten
what your eyes looked like
piss holes in the snow

plaster flowers captured
in bright sunlight

Gavin Wade and Paul Conneally
March 2019

----

Notes 

‘Served In A Mug’ is a collaborative poem written originally as a series of tantwenga poems (tanrenga written via Twitter) presented here in a renga like format to be read aloud by two voices or in your head in two voices.

It ‘links and shifts’ to and from and includes direct quotes from the script of the British movie ‘Get Carter’ by Mike Hodges.

It is an intertextual intercranial collaborative poem rooted in the practice of renga poetry. The poem comes out of the ongoing Bred Pudding Collective’s work ‘Man From The North’ an original film script intended to move to film that in some ways mirrors ‘Get Carter’ in reverse written by the BPC’s Russ Ralph.

———h

.

Daniel Craig offered $150 million to reprise James Bond Role

   Daniel Craig as James Bond

With many Bond fans resigned to the fact that actor Daniel Craig has effectively walked away from the James Bond role rumour has it that Sony who bankroll the Bond films are bombarding him with ever increasing monetary offers to stay in the role for two more films.

The celebrity and entertainment news site Radar quote a source as saying “The studio is desperate to secure the actor’s services while they phase in a younger long-term successor,"

In May it was widely reported that Craig had turned down $65 million to make two new Bond films and speculation started as to who might replace the rugged English actor. Idris Elba is high on the list and if chosen would become the first black actor to play Bond. Others in the frame are Jamie Bell and sometime Taylor Swift beau Tom Hiddlestone.

It seems that Sony are not yet ready to give up on Craig with reports that $150 million is on the table to secure Craig's services. Sony have declined to confirm or otherwise the story at this point.

a fish rises 

towards the bait then dives

you only live twice

Little Onion

5 Sept 2016

Surveillance - Paul Conneally 2008

still from 'Surveillance' Paul Conneally 2008

Surveillance comes out of INVIGILATOR : DIGBETH the 5th in the INVIGILATOR series conceived by artists Paul Conneally, Nikki Pugh and Kev Ryan.

The piece features the text of a poem which is a direct transcript taken by Paul Conneally as he heard it of INVIGILATOR : DIGBETH participant artist Harry Palmer in the discussion workshop which formed part of INVIGILATOR : DIGBETH and took place after the Invigilators had returned to VIVID art gallery in the heart of Birmingham's Digbeth area. The sound track is made from a snippet of Harry saying the word ' surveillance ' combined with the ambient sounds of the VIVID space that the artist led discussion was taking place in.

The soundtrack contains backmasked material that may reveal hidden messages to some listeners.

Producer Paul Conneally
Audio/Visual sound, color
Language English

Credits

Camera: Paul Conneally
Sound: Paul Conneally
Starring: Harry Palmer

'ALEX' - Modern Edinburgh Film School

'ALEX'
Modern Edinburgh Film School
Paul Conneally
May 2013

Alex Hetherington is a visual artist with a practice in film, text and sculpture who works under the title Modern Edinburgh Film School. He produces complex projects on the ideas of film, poetic form and sculptural process. 

"Portrait of artist Alex Hetherington - the image of Alex is the franked stamp on the envelope in which he sent an edition from Modern Edinburgh Film School to me in. A one off print on another envelope was made and sent to Alex from myself with pencilled message and signature on it. The 'clean' portrait of Alex as a franked stamp features the legendary Scottish football player Dave Mackay and may become available as a limited edition print or other artefact in the future." 

Paul Conneally October 2013