Kipper

Without Kipper none of these mad escalations of industrial architecture would be possible. You need a partner in crime. Kipper doesnt understand why I put myself through hell, I have a terror of height, he hasnt and just loves the buzz. For me it is Art, overcoming my greatest fears and pointing out unseen beauty. He dances 300 feet babove the ground whilst I photograph things, heart racing

Skree on top

we made it up there, a four hour drive, several pipes, special brew, over 7 foot fences topped with razor wire, another of those three prong fences and more razor wire, hands shredded, we scaled the 8 foot base. 118 steps to the top, 1oo feet tall. 75000 gallons of water, oldest water tower in the city of Leeds. The view is amazing and worth the risk of geath and arrest.

John Holmes RIP

heard the tragic news that the greatest player of my childhood era in the greatest game of all has lost his battle with cancer. I remember to this day watching his skill and unrivalled intelligence, the passes you couldnt believe possible. I hope that Leeds Rugby League go on to win the grand final in his name. Different eras have thier hero's but John Holmes is up there with Ellery Hanley, in fact any you can think of. The subtlety of his play from stand off changed my view of the game, made me see the beauty that football could never show, rugby union isnt even on my radar. The worst, most bigotted sport of all, for a century akin to the south african aparthied system. We will never forget. Rugby union is poor sport. I remember when Bath at thier peak took on Wigan , who were in decline and lost 84 6. When Bradford Bulls played St Helens, the other strongest team at the time, got on a bus after midnight, drove to London, had 2 hours sleep and still won rugby unions sevens competition. Anyone who cant see that league is 10 years ahead just isnt watching. Also it's as boring as dressage.
John Holmes died age 57. The Leeds born stand off made his debut for the club at 16 and went on to make 625 appearances from 1968-89 in which he gained 16 winners medals with 1554 points, he is the fourth in Leeds all time scoring records and was a member of the winning teams of 1977 and 1978 challenge cup competition. Holmes won 20 caps for great britain and played in the 1972 and 1977 world cups. He also played 7 times for England and made 8 appearances for yorkshire. A player way ahead of his time whos' creativity would stand out even today. A true legend and our thoughts and feelings are with his family at this tragic time.

cooling tower, work in progress

Paul Fryer

Pauls Telstar, in various timbers
Ranking alongside 'Slade in Flame' in the pantheon of great pop movies that could only have been made in Britain, Telstar chronicles the rise and fall of producer Joe Meek in spiky style. Adapted from James Hicks and Nick Morans acclaimed play, and wisely retaining its original stagestar ,Con O'Neill, this biopic leads us in to the mind of a man who 'heard a new world' which drove him to the edge of madness and beyond.
Eschewing the ersatz glam of his transatlantic counterparts [ Phil Specter et al.], Meek worked worked his strange magic in a north London flat above a leathergoods store, where he tormented the young pop proteges whom he loved and loathed in equal measure. Plaudits are due to actor tuned director Moran who evokes the weird atmosphere of Meeks poky fiefdom with almost Pinteresque aplomb. Not surprisingly , the film has proved a hard sell in the US , where audiences seem to like their bubblegum softer and sweeter. In the UK we should embrace Telstar as a true homegrown hit.

Feeling Bitter

do you wanna touch
we've been here too long trying to get along
pretending that you're oh so shy
I'm a natural man doing what I can
my temperature is running high
friday night, no one in sight and we got so much to share
talkings fine if you've got the time, I aint got the time to spare
do you wannba touch do ypou wanna touch yeah
do you wanna touch me there yeah
do you wanna touch etc
every growing boy needs a little joy all you do is sit and stare
beggin on my knees baby wont you please
run your fingers through my hair
my my my wisky and dry dont it make you feel so nice
right or wrong dont it turn you on
cant you see we're wastin time
do you wanna touch yeah
do you wanna touch yeah
do you wanna touch me therte were thewre oh yeah oh yeah


HOW COULD WE NOT SEE


Surely the record to put it all right was Billy Braggs 'Sexuality'
'I've had relations, with people from all nations' and the brilliant line , 'Even if you're gay.I won't turn you away', so understanding of him. I'm sure that on the extended 12inch version the lines , 'my daughter had it up the shitter, from this old bloke dressed in glitter'.Along with Ben Elton he certainly opened my eyes to the fact that some gays and blacks can be as good as propper people. Thinking about it, having relationships with people of all nations takes some doing. No wonder he's callede Billy Bragg

Tex

Tex

Smoking

Have you seen the pictures they are putting on tobacco now! Not satisfied with running the pub industry in to the ground, a pub floor space the size of the rainforest is closed down each day as drinkewrs choose to drink at home where they can smoke. this obviously leads to the division of comnmunities, the self policing of neighbourhoods where mature men werent scared to give scazllywgs a clip round the ear. These fatherless or weak fathered boys roam in gangs killing all and sundry and now the tobacco you buy haS pictures of a mexicanb whose tumour has been cut out and superglued to his neck! how is anyone going to want to smoke after that! and then a syringe of smack! if you like cigarettes you will love this. And for us who have been to hell and back to escape the evil brown shite, we are daiuly reminded of a nice soothing hit that could take all your troubles away. This country is going to the dogs

Tinsley Towers

Tinsley Towers was the gateway to the north. The M1 curved down as you returned home, 3 lanes intensified in to 2, concentrating both the mind and those from further north, your focus became consolidated through necessity as the traffic intensified like the where the river Wharf goes in to the Strid, 70 miles an hour, all heads forward as any rearview mirror bollocks could meen your end. Then, like two great concrete gods Tinsley Towers towered in to view. There are many more cooling towers but none fed to you in anything like this fashion. Travelling at speed into a vista so massive the untrained mind either blanked it out or simply failed. The decision to knock down Tinsley Towers was E-ons' . The last 2 remaining towers of 5 that had stood non functioning since the 70s yet one of Englands greatest icons.

Tinsley Towers

Tinsley Towers

Tinsley Towers

Tinsley Towers

Tinsley Towers

Tinsley Towers

Tinsley Towers

Mark Fast

a thought on Mark Fasts' recent fashion show. The collection was displayed on size 14 models, normal shaped girls, some journalists walked out seeing the project as a gimmick. We have reached a stage where, to paraphrase Mark E Smith, 'the conventional is experimental, the experimental is conventional and in no way noble'. The ordinary is now the exceptional. For those of us who have long observed the fantastic within the mundane, our day is coming. I have always seen the wierd in the ordinary world and the overblown as mundane.

Madonna

I just recalled a snippet of Leeds history. They started putting big gigs on Roundhay Park. Rolling stones, fuck me, I think even paedophile Michael Jackson played up there. Anyway, I hadnt planned on going to see Madonna but I was living in Capeltown and its only half a mile up the road. My brother Animal, now dead from a motorcycle accident came to drag me up there. Paul Fryer was there, he told me he got close enough to see the celu;lite on her thighs. This was the True Blue tour so sher hsdnt become the gym steroid pterodactyl she later transmogriphied in to. I think he told me he went up to Roundhay on some art /vandalism project to do with doors.
My memories are different. Animal took me up there, he'd latched on to me as an uncooperative apprentice in his Hells Angels ideas and longed for a younger brother. They dragged me up there from my home in Shepherds lane to hang out with the Royal Park motorcycle amphetamine community where we sat drinking with thirty odd none ticket holders, this was Leeds, we had every right to see her if she wanted to come to Leeds. The strangest alliance erupted, something unimaginable, impossible, a vast gang of blacks from Chapeltown met the Leeds United service crew [at this time probably the meanest firm in the country]. The three disparate communities united for the only time in Leeds history. Maybe it took Madonna to unite us. The fence was vast aluminium panels and after repeated batterinbs from all the gangs a panel fell.. A few slipped through before a semi circle of game coppers formed a barrier. they were veterans of the medieval Orgreave miners strike battle and the Nostel Priory detruction of the convoy where pregnant women, children were all targets. Pure evil. Dont let anyone tell you that they didnt love fighting anyone different from the white upper and middle class. They stripped off thier numbers, drew truncheons and relkished the battle. They were to lose until they got the horse men in. The football fans experience was the key, they made a series of charges to batter the coppers thgrough sheer force of numbers. Each surge they would take a few knocks but grab a boy and beat him to a pulp. I recall one female police leading a lad to the black moria in tears, 'I lost my jumper', 'never mind, love, it'll be reet' she reassured him. Most of us joined in the thrill of the violence. We were in. I lost track of all my friends, enjoyed the evening, and walked home alone.
It is a great thing that the black community, the Leeds United Service Crew and the motorcycle druggies could put aside tier common disagreements to work toward a common goal. It says a lot about the good in humanity.

Time We Left This World Today-Paul Fryer

Time we left this world today- Paul Fryer

Paul Fryer - Time we left this world today

after the symposium we went to see Pauls studio. This picture has Magnus walking by the piece to give an idea of scale

Richard

Last known picture of Richard Hodgson

ignit ploaeg

Ignit Ploaeg is hard to explain. Next to my first workshop that Andy Lee allowed me to share, was a screen printing carousel. We began a series of T shirts and the, now, legendary fanzine that featured the characters 'Happy Bastard', 'Jesus the Wierd' and the unforgetable 'Brian Cancer'. Check out the Ploaeg blog. I'll dig out the pages and put them on the blog. It was deep down handbag anarchy for battered housewives everywhere. Nothing before or since has come close to the potential of Ignit Ploaeg. In the current digital age it would have been a househould name. Who knows. They may come back to collect their rightfull place in cultural history. Who could forget 'Happy Bastard and the Dead Fish Fogie', probably the best critique on disenfranchised miners, reduced to fruit picking, in Thatchers Britain. The name came from the dialect of Evening Post salesmen in Leeds city centre.

cool

Glas go johnny go

Glasgow