"i remember the stale beer, cigs and dart-board smell of the social club that she'd sneak me into - and everyone dancing with difficulty in the kind of 70s shoes sent to cripple the ankles of a generation... and my first 45rpm Single, held hot in my childish and chubby fingers John I'm Only Dancng by David Bowie singing space space space and in the clammy break between the DJ's records i was sat in the corner with my cherry aid and a clutch of comics, yeah sci-fi weeklies with the kind of flying saucer dino-alien illustrations made to reel my mind, yeah, space space space..."
interesting question. will try to have it for you by tomorrow. ;)
btw, thanks so much for the raymond chandler recommendation (the long goodbye)! i savored every word, and see why you called it your favorite prose poem. superb. which next? the big sleep? :)
well, chandler's other books although very fine are not really in the same inspired league as 'Long Goodbye'... but as they ARE enjoyable i would say try 'Farewell My Lovely' next.
I do also very much like Hammett's underrated The Dain Curse and the novels of Jim Thompson. (e.g. The Killer Inside Me).
But - and i think it might just be me - the nearest to the 'poetry' of Long Goodbye that i've found in other writers of (roughly) that period is probably Nathaniel West's Day of the Locust and Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night.
Gosh i sold like a teacher! oops! i get carried away.
Can I join in? I don't know if it counts as social, but I do remember the church hall, that we used to adjourn to after Mass, vividly: the loos weren't functional any more, and they were full of the most massive spiders. There was a glass-fronted case with those little statues of the Virgin and the saints. And there was a tea urn, of course. And orange and brown curtains - of course. Nylon too. And if it was a genuinely social occasion, my mum would probably be wearing a floor-length halter neck dress and strappy high heels. Fox! This was very firmly the era of the 'dinner-dance'. One of my colleagues at work likes to reminisce about how she went to those; once won a waltzing competition dancing with her dentist; yes, his wife was there, and she was 'very jealous'. I'm rambling now. An abrupt stop is the only solution.
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http://wanderer-records.com/images/w08298.jpg
or..
http://wanderer-records.com/images/w08295.jpg
http://englishrussia.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/jet_train.jpg
http://www.mayoph.com/images3/05a061.jpg
http://www.theblogofrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dior-models-in-moscow-1970s.jpg
:))
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"i remember the stale beer, cigs and dart-board smell of the social club that she'd sneak me into - and everyone dancing with difficulty in the kind of 70s shoes sent to cripple the ankles of a generation... and my first 45rpm Single, held hot in my childish and chubby fingers John I'm Only Dancng by David Bowie singing space space space and in the clammy break between the DJ's records i was sat in the corner with my cherry aid and a clutch of comics, yeah sci-fi weeklies with the kind of flying saucer dino-alien illustrations made to reel my mind, yeah, space space space..."
and bowie's definately THE Man. :)))
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i wasn't really expecting any comments on this entry but it's great coz now i get to ask...
What would be a quick list of those things that recall the social side of your own childhood???
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btw, thanks so much for the raymond chandler recommendation (the long goodbye)! i savored every word, and see why you called it your favorite prose poem. superb. which next? the big sleep? :)
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well, chandler's other books although very fine are not really in the same inspired league as 'Long Goodbye'... but as they ARE enjoyable i would say try 'Farewell My Lovely' next.
I do also very much like Hammett's underrated The Dain Curse and the novels of Jim Thompson. (e.g. The Killer Inside Me).
But - and i think it might just be me - the nearest to the 'poetry' of Long Goodbye that i've found in other writers of (roughly) that period is probably Nathaniel West's Day of the Locust and Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night.
Gosh i sold like a teacher! oops! i get carried away.
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interesting what you say about the dinner dance and the waltz, these sorts of events have died out in the UK for sure - but not elsewhere...
and thanks for dropping by!!:)))
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