Empty Club
A creation of artist Gabriel Orozco in 1996, at 50 St James’s Street, London SW1.
The hand that guides the brush has already caught and executed what floated before the mind at the same moment the mind began to form it, and in the end the pupil no longer knows which of the two---mind or hand---was responsible for the work.
---Eugen Herrigel
Treading the gingko leaves
a young boy quietly
comes down from the temple.
---Buson
Pray to God, but hammer away.
---Spanish proverb
Big Brother (webmaster?) is away. Bartender is away. Maybe they want to shampoo the rugs. This management is discreet. I shall go away too for the nonce. If others look in, I hope they will comment at the many tables now moved into adjoining archives.
What I said before I deleted what I said was that I have been away also, but no one noticed. Ahh. Just the way I like it.
ReplyDeleteHow does one delete a post entirely with no traces that one has been there? I do so not like to litter.
Last I heard, jazzolog was spotted at The Stork Club.
ReplyDeleteYou've got to give him that, the man does get around. And he neither drinks nor smokes. Despite those two obvious character flaws (hey, nobody is perfect), I've still got a tremendous amount of respect for the guy.
ReplyDeleteHow does one find one's way to The Stork Club, those days, Nausicaa? Is it like The Wulfshead?
Hard to tell. There are some things that are not so good about the good old days, like blatant racism for one - but those were different times and The Stork Club probably has changed a lot since those days ~~~
ReplyDeleteOne oft-repeated story involved Billingsley's alleged prejudice against non-white patrons:
Arriving at the club with singer Lena Horne on his arm, actor George Jessel was stopped by Billingsley who was said to have inquired, "And just who made your reservation?" Never at a loss for words, Jessel replied, "Abraham Lincoln did".
So you know about my Lady Haig connections? Among my dearest online friends...and get ready to see some amazing photos~~~
ReplyDeletehttp://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=184144745&albumId=1904597
Aren't these Bombadil/Nausicaa comments different than what they were last evening? or am I hallucinating again? Are the fey creatures at work again?
No disrespect intended to Nausicaa, but I don't see any great prodigy in that, it's not exactly like jazzolog has ever made any big secret of this:
ReplyDeletehttp://jazzolog.blogspot.com/2007/05/death-of-bebop-wife.html---Not that anyone should.
Hey, if if I counted Lady Haig amongst my friends, I would be bragging too ;-)
Thank you Tom, I hadn't reread that review in a long time. Grange had sent me the first chapter of her book a year or 2 before it finally came out. I was weeping by the end of the first page.
ReplyDeleteWe met in a totally Internet way, and it deserves celebrating. I was having a political exchange with some guy at another site---but an URL that Google picked up regularly. We were talking about the attorney general, etc. named Al Haig...and I made a remark about the coincidental same name as the jazz pianist---whom few ever have heard of. Grange was researching her book at the time---ongoing for 13 years or so---, saw the post, visited the site and left a comment. She's so cool, I just had to reply...and off we've gone. But she won't get me in the Stork Club! Or to Las Vegas, another of her favorite haunts. Nope, dis here's my kinda joint.
I'll let her know we're talking about her at The Wulfshead, and see what she does. Maybe she'll get invited into the membership.
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp !
ReplyDeleteAnd surely I’ll be mine !
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne. ;-)
I have a reply from Lady Haig~~~
ReplyDelete"Just so you know, the rules have changed thanks to Billingsley letting me write my own script. Your table will be waiting 24/7, just like at Jack and Charlie's 21 Club so just know I am opening the doors, forgetting the Mafia, Royalty, Hollywood and VIPS, it is all about YOU and your Friends."
She wrote that to me over at MySpace, and the "your Friends" of course are you guys. If we've been abandoned here by the management---and that one record playing on the jukebox is giving me the heebie jeebies (can't we get a repairperson somehow or a live group again?---maybe we should visit her over at the Stork Club.
She said in a personal message that she had tried to comment here "to give you a run for your wit," but of course the doorman wouldn't let her in. She did say it looked marvelous in here from what she could see. I'll ask if she wants to explore membership, but the current lack of service may be daunting.
I have no problem with the service---just so long as they keep the bar well supplied. But, hey, maybe jazzolog's got a point, and perhaps "the strange and unusual" crowd of the Wulfshead, for all its alleged "strangeness" and "unusualness" (some 30 "strange" and "unusual" members in this current manifestation,) is not all that "strange" or "unusual," after all. And for all the alleged "strangeness" and "unusualness," things have been awfully quiet. I wonder if this is why the bartender took a leave of absence---I mean, it's not like there is a lot for him to do around here. A live band would be nice. Some new blood, too. Lady Haig: now, here is someone who is genuinely and authentically "strange" and "unusual!" I wonder if perhaps The Wulfshead has grown soft and lowered its standards. Maybe what's needed here are more real "strange" and "unusual" people. If Lady Haig wants to join in, I am all for it.
ReplyDeleteI've just read the postcard the bartender sent us, from wherever (or whenever) he is. From the looks of it, I first thought that maybe he traveled into the future to celebrate Dr. Zaius's birthday in real time, but the date on the stamp says 3979, which by my reckoning would make Dr. Zaius 184 years old---I don't think Orangutan live that long, even in the future. But then again, who knows, with all that messing around with the space-time continuum, stranger things have been known to happen.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether the Bartender made it in time. You know how it is: you go to all the trouble of traveling 1,970 years into the future and you arrive too late by a mere one day or two (an infinitesimal fraction of a century), and people get all bent out of shape.
I think The Wulfshead's crowd is "strange and unusual" enough, Nausicaa. Though I wonder whether "crowd" is really the word for it. The current members would not have been invited or found their way in here otherwise. You'll find that most of the "strange and unusual" activity is taking place over there. Some of those people post practically every day on their own blogs. It's an extensive and extended nebula that can at times be hard to keep up with. And, to their credit, many of the members try to be supportive of one another's frenetic online activity (activism?). And so, when all is said and done, it leaves bloggers very little time for socializing, or having a drink with their friends---even at The Wulfshead.
Or, quite possibly, some members may find that The Wulfshead is not "strange and unusual" enough to their taste---though there have been those who complained that The Wulfshead was too strange and unusual for them. It's hard to keep everyone happy.
Note that "strange and unusual" people typically also show strong individualistic tendencies (it's no accident, I believe, if one member's blog is called "the urban recluse"). Blogging is a solitary activity.
When you come down to it, The Wulfshead is yet just another bar or club. Or maybe it is the archetypal bar, of which all others are but mere shadows. Yet, it still makes it a social environment. Some people are sociable, and some people prefer to drink alone. That's the way it has always been.
Greetings, and yes I am away...but not at Guantanamo---yet. This really is Jazzolog talking, but I've forgotten my password...and so...alas... I'm retired and looking within. Also no drinking. May I have a ginger ale, please?
ReplyDeleteOn the house, sir.
DeleteWe wouldn't have it any other way.
Oh, and do remember to get your complimentary copy of WHERE'S JAZZO? DELUXE ANNIVERSARY EDITION, while supplies last.
The commemorative stamp is also available on ebay, but patrons and visitors of the Wulfshead get it for free.
You’re welcome, sir.
Membership has its privileges.
A toast, then.
DeleteThere is no telling.
(＾-＾)＿日