I must say, it does look like Gall's blog will be one of the better ones. He's opinionated alright, but his position is learned and so he commands respect. For now at least, one can never tell until 18 months down the line and all the character flaws, egoism and tragedy boils to the surface.

I have high hopes that John will introduce aspects of dance: maybe Fred and Ginger, the Gold Diggers, Gene Kelly, African kids, Perkins and Mangano.  The older I get, the more I love to watch dance sequences.  I remember being knocked out by my first viewing of 'A Day At The Races'.

Blucher wrote:

He is also right, really, about 'Humph'.  Tedious, bourgeois, chummy, Anglo jazz.

A really fine quiz master though, along with his lovely assistant Samantha.

As for Anglo-jazz, you can't deny the modern splendour of Dick Morrissey.

Blucher wrote:

He is also right, really, about 'Humph'.  Tedious, bourgeois, chummy, Anglo jazz.  Like Melly and Mulligan.

Un-bourgeois enough to turn down a bauble from your 'queen'. I can never entirely dislike a man who says 'no' to a knighthood or a CBE.

sonofstan wrote:

Blucher wrote:

He is also right, really, about 'Humph'.  Tedious, bourgeois, chummy, Anglo jazz.  Like Melly and Mulligan.

Un-bourgeois enough to turn down a bauble from your 'queen'. I can never entirely dislike a man who says 'no' to a knighthood or a CBE.

Our 'queen'?  Be so good as to explain yourself.

I think it fair to say that Jason has been an inspiration for John and his friends: going back into the 80s, I think.  But, yes, Jason follows his impulses, wherever they lead him.  I see Jason and John as having something very much in common, though, and that is, like John Simons, they are 'something more than Ivy'.  I've learned how to appreciate fine clothes, whatever their origins, by sniffing around and handling, examining labels etc.  I've also learned to appreciate other things, via JG, that are just as valuable as the little store of knowledge I've acquired about cut, colour, fabric, texture etc.

It's about strolling up a different boulevard in the dappled sunlight, because your instincts tell you there's something valuable at the other end.  Fascinating to see a progression from Style Council and Little Anthony to Freddie Hubbard to Hoagy Carmichael.  Receptive, you see.

Just re-reading, I'm not sure I agree that Andy Warhol completely lacked cynicism.  John, I know, despises it.  I would see it in this sense, though:  When at university, pressure of time forced me to write an essay on Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man', without reading the novel through.  But I got exactly the same grade as for work I'd sweated over.  You see?

I'd say that Warhol was wonderfully cynical. Very knowing. He fully understood what he was doing and what the framework was that he was doing it in. I doubt he ever put more effort in that he judged a thing deserved. In my book - to his credit.

Jimmy wrote:

I'd say that Warhol was wonderfully cynical. Very knowing. He fully understood what he was doing and what the framework was that he was doing it in. I doubt he ever put more effort in that he judged a thing deserved. In my book - to his credit.

Flashback to my old headmaster, or 'Bodger' in the slang of the gulag I attended:

"I didn't ask if you thought your work was 'good enough', I asked if you thought your work was good."

On Jimmy's secondary-school memories?

Sal wrote:

Jimmy wrote:

I'd say that Warhol was wonderfully cynical. Very knowing. He fully understood what he was doing and what the framework was that he was doing it in. I doubt he ever put more effort in that he judged a thing deserved. In my book - to his credit.

Fascinating character Warhol.  I'm reading his diaries at the moment.  He sweated and worried a lot over the quality of the work he produced and routinely re-did or changed, e.g. portraits, if the client wasn't satisfied.  Also concerned about his ranking among other C20 US artists, though most of all he seems to have been concerned about the prices his work fetched.

Always happy to stand corrected...  Even though knowing this spoils him a little in my eyes now !