Sirlaugh's Blog

Bands That Never Should Have Shared the Same Stage

sirlaugh — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:48:39 +0000

It’s the economy, stupid, and summer tours are no exception. But a season packed with perfectly logical, bang-for-the-buck double bills — Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction, Aerosmith and ZZ Top, Billy Joel and Elton John, for example — got us thinking: What are the most bizarre double bills of all time? Our answers will have you scratching your head until tour season 2010.

The Monkees and Jimi Hendrix
Though the guitarist’s breakthrough came at Monterey Pop in June 1967, Jimi Hendrix was still a relative unknown in the U.S. in the Summer of Love. The Monkees had been hearing about him for months; Mike Nesmith had been introduced to ‘Hey Joe’ by John Lennon. After seven disastrous shows produced by Dick Clark — Nesmith recalled hordes of girls drowning out the feedback with shrieks for Davy Jones (“Foxy” … “Davy!”) — Hendrix skedaddled. Months later he told Melody Maker the Monkees were “dishwater.”

U2 and Kanye West
“One of the few artists who can match U2 in the self-importance category,” as one critic wrote of Kanye West when he opened a string of shows on the world’s biggest band’s ‘Vertigo’ tour in 2005. For both Kanye and Bono, the future is always so bright, they’ve just gotta wear crazy-ass shades.

Toto and the Ramones
When the Ramones broke out of New York, promoters had no idea what to make of them. Punks weren’t playing arenas, so they were paired with hard rock bands of their era — Blue Oyster Cult, Foreigner. According to former tour manager Monte Melnick, Queens’ finest once opened for the slick supersession band Toto in Lake Charles, La. “Luckily the Toto crowd was half asleep anyway, and before they knew it we were off,” he recalled. “They didn’t have the time or energy to boo.”

Vampire Weekend and Clipse
In the summer of 2007, Columbia University played host to one of the strangest double bills in recent memory. The calypso-loving über-preppies (and Columbia graduates) in Vampire Weekend, who sing about boating and Cape Cod, shared the college’s plaza steps with Clipse, the decidedly not preppy rap duo of Malice and Pusha T, who rhyme about selling crack on the streets of Virginia. Still, it was a free show, and nothing glosses over differences like a good bargain.

Kiss and Vince Gill
Back home in Oklahoma City in the mid-’70s, Vince Gill had a high school bluegrass band with his brother called Mountain Smoke. When the scheduled opening act for a visiting arena headliner had to cancel, Mountain Smoke was hired as an emergency backup. “It was just hysterical, seeing a bluegrass band come out and open for Kiss,” the future country star has said. That’s what you might call ‘Oklahoma Borderline.’

Ghostface Killah and Animal Collective
Ghostface Killah may be the most iconoclastic member of the Wu Tang Clan (and that’s only because ODB isn’t around anymore), but that doesn’t begin to explain why he shared a night with noise-rockers Animal Collective for a 2006 “Mystery Concert” at New York University. Most of the rap fans in attendance were simply mystified by three dudes twiddling knobs and yelling into the mic, but then isn’t that what they do at a hip-hop show anyway?

Muddy Waters and Barry Manilow
Paul’s Mall was a venerable Boston jazz club that expanded into rock music in the 1970s. The nightspot played host to such talented upstarts as some guy from Jersey named Bruce, a bearded fellow from San Francisco named Jerry and a mop-maned gent from Jamaica named Bob. But the club’s crowning moment may have been the night in the early ’70s that the blues titan named Muddy shared the stage with a former jingle writer named Barry. Manilow, of course, became the guy who wrote the songs that made the whole world sing — including, presumably, the Father of Chicago Blues.

AC/DC and Justin Timberlake
It took an infectious disease to bring them together, but flying bottles of water nearly drove them apart. AC/DC and Justin Timberlake had nothing in common when they joined the Rolling Stones in a blockbuster 2003 benefit for the city of Toronto, which was struggling with a SARS quarantine. While the ex-’N Sync-er got bottle throttled when he took the stage in front of 500,000 hard rock fans, that didn’t stop him from cutting a ‘Back in Black’ remix with Nelly.

Herman’s Hermits and the Who
Herman’s Hermits, the purveyors of moldy hat-and-cane ditties such as ‘I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am’ and ‘Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter’ actually started their career playing R&B covers. By 1967, that’s about all they had in common with the Who, the incorrigible band that were already exploding eardrums with their amp-frying “maximum R&B.” Still, the Who recognized a direct route to barely legal American girls when they saw one, and they jumped at the chance to serve as ol’ Herm’s support act.

Maroon 5 and the Hives
Maroon 5/Hives is sorta like the current generation’s Herman’s Hermits/Who matchup, yeah? Adam Levine has been known to sneak a little Phil Collins into live versions of his own material; Pelle Almqvist would probably declare ‘Guerre Nucleaire’ on the elfin pop elder. Yet there he and his two-toned gang were in 2007, schlepping across the U.S. with the slick Angelenos. In fact, the Hives are adventurous sorts who’ve cultivated more than one strange bedfellow: Witness their recent collaboration with Timbaland.

Steve Miller and Miles Davis
Legendary San Francisco promoter Bill Graham routinely matched psychedelic rock bands with soul groups and blues giants. Few mixed bills were as intriguing as those featuring jazz icon Miles Davis, then entering his experimental “electric” period. But when he hired the trumpeter to open some dates for a guitar-wrangling newcomer named Steve Miller in 1970, Miles balked. He began arriving so late Miller was forced to go on first. In his autobiography, the brutally outspoken Davis remembered the ‘Abracadabra’ man as a “sorry-ass cat.”

Anthrax and Public Enemy
“They said this tour would never happen,” hollered Flavor Flav during one of a series of shows Public Enemy and Anthrax embarked upon in 1991. Despite the novelty of the collaboration between the thrash-metal band and the hardcore Black Power rap group on their ‘Bring the Noise’ remake, Anthrax had already established themselves as rap/rock pioneers with ‘I’m the Man,’ originally planned as a joint effort with the Beastie Boys. ‘Noise’ was so successful, the two bands felt obliged to hit the road together. “It was shrapnel,” Chuck D has said. In a good way.

Def Leppard and Bryan Adams
In 2005, Def Leppard and Bryan Adams acts joined forces for the imaginatively titled ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Doubleheader Tour,’ which promised to pour some nostalgia on thirtysomething fans at state fairs and minor-league baseball fields across the land. Although these days the hard-rockin’ Brits may seem like an unlikely match for the decidedly soft-rockin’ Canuck, back in 1984 they both seemed pretty badass … to 11-year-olds.

Snoop Dogg and Linkin Park
In 2004, in an apparent attempt to put the “rap” back in “nü-metal rap-rock,” Linkin Park embarked on their third Projekt Revolution Tour with Korn … and Snoop Dogg. The D-O-Double-G’s laid-back attitude (not to mention his stash of “special medicine”) was probably just the thing to ease the usual soul-crushing angst backstage, saving the guys in Korn thousands of dollars in antidepressants.

Lenny Kravitz and Spiritualized
Spiritualized frontman Jason Pierce famously said he was interested in “taking drugs to make music to take drugs to,” making his drone-heavy space-rock band an odd choice to open some summer 2008 shows for Lenny Kravitz, who’s more about “making love to make music to make love (or sell cars) to.” Still, whether via LSD or sweet, sweet lovemaking, both acts provided audiences with a heavy dose of good vibes.

Bloc Party and Panic! at the Disco
Bloc Party‘s Kele Okereke, the poster boy for self-important indie rockers, seems the last guy who would ever stoop to open for emo punctuation abusers Panic! At the Disco, but in 2006 that’s just what happened. The bands’ reasons were pragmatic: Each hoped to increase its exposure among the other’s fan base. The jury’s still out, but so far indie hipsters haven’t been spotted rocking guyliner, and emo kids haven’t quite embraced day-glo leg warmers.

Grandmaster Flash and the Clash
In the days before the great Aerosmith/Run DMC summit, rock fans weren’t necessarily quick to embrace hip-hop. In 1981, the Clash began a legendary two-week, 17-show residency in Manhattan, and hip-hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five had the “honor” of opening on the first night. Unfortunately, despite the punk legends’ progressive taste in supporting acts, the Clash’s fans weren’t feeling terribly open-minded: Flash and crew were bombarded with trash and booed off the stage.

Ky-Mani Marley and Van Halen
For 2007′s long-awaited (and much-delayed) reunion tour, Van Halen unexpectedly tapped reggae-rap up-and-comer Ky-Mani Marley (one of the few Marley children who hasn’t won a Grammy yet) for the opening spot. Whether it was a ploy by the AARP-ready rockers to seem “with it” or a utopian attempt to expose their denim-clad fans to something new, it seems likely that everyone found some common ground in the sweet-smelling smoke hanging over the crowd.

Kool Keith and the Foo Fighters
In a clear case of the headliners just picking an opener they happen to like, former Ultramagnetic Force MC Kool Keith (aka Dr. Octagon and Dr. Dooom) was asked in 2000 to warm up the crowd for the Foo Fighters, also sharing the bill with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Keith’s hilarious, oddball rhymes aren’t too far in spirit from the Peppers’ goofier funk moments, but some of the rockers in attendance for the Foos might have been a little confused by all the rapping about space travel and robots.

“Weird Al” Yankovic and Missing Persons
In 1982, “Weird Al” Yankovic and his just-formed backing band found themselves opening for ultra-glam New Wavers Missing Persons. Not surprisingly, the hairspray-and-eyeshadow crowd didn’t exactly fall in love with Weird Al’s goofy accordion schtick. As if getting heckled and pelted with debris for 45 minutes wasn’t bad enough, Yankovic was verbally abused in the parking lot after the show … by a 12-year-old.

How to unsubscribe from a mailing list that doesn’t have option for cancelling subscription

sirlaugh — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:00:40 +0000

I am a Gmail user and back tracking over these few days, I found that some company sent me over 40 emails all of which were spam. I thought to unsubscribe from that mailing list but I found no option for canceling my subscription. I tried to mark it as spam but this too did not help. So I solved my problem by setting these messages to disappear as soon as they appear.

I created a filter and set up automatic deletion for emails coming from that email address. Here is what I did to setup this automatic deletion for such emails:

1. Login to Gmail account
2. Open one of those spam/unwanted emails
3. Click on the drop down arrow next to reply
4. Click on “Filter messages like this”

5. Enter search criteria if you want to enter subject and certain words that can identify these unwanted messages.
6. Click Next.
7. Check the “Delete it” box and click on “Create Filter”

You are all done. Now all the emails from the address you specified that meets your filter criteria will be automatically deleted as soon as they come to your email inbox.

In case you would restore the changes, you could do it by going to “Settings” -> “Filters”.

Modern Israel’s story in maps.

sirlaugh — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:21:22 +0000

The Rise and Fall of Empires

In the first century, the Roman Empire defeated the over-1,000-year-old nation of Judea, destroyed its Holy Temple in Jerusalem and exiled hundreds of thousands of Jews. To erase all memory of Judea, Rome renamed it “Palestine” after the Jews’ biblical enemy, the Philistines, an Aegean people who had once settled along the coast.¹ Afterwards, Westerners referred to the Jewish-Christian Holy Land as Palestine. Arab peoples did not widely adopt the name “Palestine” until the 20th century. Though the name had always been associated with Jews, in the 1960s it became associated with the Arab Palestinian nationalist movement.

For the two millenia after the Roman conquest, no other state or unique national group developed in Palestine, and no ruler chose Jerusalem as its capital. Instead, different empires and peoples came, colonized, ruled and disappeared. Jews remained throughout these changes. Their numbers grew as exiled Jews returned in periodic waves of immigration; their numbers fell when the area’s rulers persecuted them.

Between 1517 and 1917, Palestine was an unimportant backwater of the sprawling Ottoman Empire, which, at its height in 1683, covered vast parts of the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. It was separated into small subdistricts within the large province of Syria (and later Beirut). The Palestine region initially prospered under the Ottomans, but during the Empire’s decline, it was reduced to a sparsely populated, impoverished, barren area.²

When the Ottoman Empire was defeated in World War I (1914-1918), its lands were ceded to the victorious Allies. Just as the Allies carved new nations out of Europe’s defeated empires, so too they carved nations out of the former Ottoman Empire and created most of the Middle Eastern states we know today, including Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. They also redrew Palestine’s boundaries and officially recognized is as the Jewish national home

The Middle East: A neighborhood of young countries

Israel Reborn

The League of Nations recognized the Jews’ deep ties to their historic homeland, admired the thriving community they had been revitalizing since the 1880s and established the Palestine Mandate for a Jewish homeland.

This is modern Israel’s story in maps.

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

Reprinted with permission from Stand With Us. Click here to download the entire booklet for free. – English USA

Footnotes:
1 Michael Grand, The Jews in the Roman World, 1973, p. 255; Elliott A. Green, “What Did Rome Call the land of Israel . . .,” in Midstream, October 1995.
2 League of Nations, “An Interim Report on the Civil Administration of Palestine, during the period 1st July, 1920-30th June, 1921,” July 1921. 3 Balfour Declaration, November 17, 1917.
4 Treaty of Sevres, Section VII, Article 94, August 10, 1920.
5 Council of the League of Nations, The Palestine Mandate, Article 6, July 24, 1922.

This article can also be read at: “http://www.aish.com/jw/me/51386142.html”

LIFE – Israel 1960 by Paul Schutzer

sirlaugh — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:51:04 +0000

LIFE – Israel 1960 by Paul Schutzer

by Ben Atlas on July 25, 2009

Yemenite Israelis in home for aged dancing to celebrate Lag B’Omer

I continue to research the vast collection of photos from the LIFE Magazine. I like to collate photos thematically or select photos from a series by one photographer. I noticed very interesting photos by Paul Schutzer, most of them as a Life correspondent in the early 1960s. Here are some photos I really like from the 1960 series in Israel.

Lag B’Omer in Meron

Moshe Dayan with his daughter Yael

Milk Man – Der Milchiker

Martin Buber (now we know who took the famous photo)

Berlin-born Ruth Leiber

Not only the Samovar but there is a sickle on the wall

Lag B’Omer in Meron

Paul Schutzer on the left

Photos licensed for personal non-commercial use only by LIFE

LIFE in Israel in 1948 – Part 3

sirlaugh — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:48:47 +0000

LIFE in Israel in 1948 – Part 3

by Ben Atlas on August 10, 2009

There have been so much interest in the 1948 archive, so I decided to publish another installment. Pictures do speak better than words. The following are the photos taken by John Phillips, all in June of 1948.

The Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem after Jews left

Jewish woman and child receiving Arab-supplied bread at hospital

Priest walking past the Convent of Notre Dae du France which was damaged during fighting in the city

Jewish prisoner being escorted by Arab soldiers

Orthodox Jewish man preparing to evacuate Jerusalem

Stanton St. in Haifa completely deserted after the Jews drove out all the civilians

Women and children refugees evacuating the village of Zenin

A barge bringing Arab refugees to the dock in Haifa

A 13-yr-old Arab boy lying dead on street of Haifa

Dead Jewish Englishwoman lying on hospital floor after surrender of Jerusalem

Injured Arab soldiers lying on cots wayting to be evacuated in Haifa

Nurse treating wounded Jewish soldier in Jerusalem

An Arab child refugee waiting on the dock to leave Hafia

Dr. Moussa Husseini (4R), and a leader of Haganah forces, walking with Arab soldiers after signing the surrender of Jerusalem

Arab refugees in Haifa waiting to be ferried to an Arab city

An Arab guard checking a car at the road block

King Abdullah (C) and his party climbing the steps of the Dome of the Rock

King Abdullah (C) and his party standing in front of the Dome of the Rock

King Abdullah of Jordan (CL) and his party leaving Haram esh Sarif

King Abdullah (C) and his party attending a banquet during truce

King Abdullah Ibn Hussein (L) talking with Sir Harry Luke

Israel’s Foreign Minister Moseh Sharett (R) seated with members provisional govt, Golda Meir Israel while Israel Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion reads Proclamation of Nationhood. Jerusalem, Israel May 1948. Frank Scherschel

A Royal Marine searching an Arab

King Abdullah of Jordan (C) touring Jerusalem during truce

The following are all 1948 photos by Frank Scherschel. All these Frank Scherschel were taken in May.

Hurrying toward air raid shelter in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Passenger Inspection Hal

Press conference given by Moshe Shertok (center).

Magen David Adom driving Jerusalem – Tel Aviv highway to go into action near Bab el Wad

Final patrol by British tanks pushes three rubble strewn streets of Jaffa intent on preventing any further fighting between Jews and Arabs before experation of mandate

Arabs drinking coffee and smoking Hubble-Bubbles

People running away from the watersfront during air raid in Tel Aviv

Christian family going to Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

Municipal authorities of Jerusalem

Old City of Jerusalem

Photos licensed for personal non-commercial use only by LIFE.

LIFE in Israel in 1948 – Part 2

sirlaugh — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:45:20 +0000

LIFE in Israel in 1948 – Part 2

by Ben Atlas on July 2, 2009

Israeli soldier aiming his weapon. May 1948. Frank Scherschel

King Abdullah (fore CL) and his party standing in front of the Dome of the Rock. Jerusalem, Israel. John Phillips

David Ben Gurion. 1948. Dmitri Kessel

Golda Meir. 1948. Dmitri Kessel

Kibbutz break. Tel Aviv, Israel. 1948. Dmitri Kessel

Men of Emir Mohamed Saleh in their camp listening to latest news. April 1948. John Phillips

Emir Mohamed Saleh leading his follwers, John Phillips. April 1948

Haganah Soldiers. June 1948. Frank Scherschel

Frank Adam comments: In the seventh picture – of the Israeli troops in a back area – note the two styles of British helmet. Two on the viewer’s left are in the “battle bowler” from the trench war of 1914-18, and most of the others are in the style that appeared from ‘43-’44 till the end of the steel helmet era. The Mark II (dor bet) with its bell curve silhouette and more sweep to the rear was designed to protect the nape and neck when crawling or lying on the ground because it could not be worn forward with the strap behind the head. There was also a brimless type for airborne trops only visible in the quayside picture in the first set of pictures.

Bugler playing the Last Post at funeral of a British soldier. June 1948. Frank Scherschel

Boy and girl Haganah members. Tel Aviv, Israel. 1948. Dmitri Kessel

Jewish soldiers lying injured in hospital after surrender of city. Jerusalem, Israel. June 1948. John Phillips

Wounded Arab Legionnaire is carried by civilian volunteers. Jerusalem. May 1948

Arab Legion in Jerusalem. May 1948. John Phillips

Bodies of dead Jews lie in the rubble along Tel Aviv waterfront after Arab raid. May 1948. Frank Scherschel

Jewish troops blindfolding Polish adventurers doing sabotage for Arabs. May 1948. John Phillips

Frank Adam comments: The Polish trouble makers were probably deserters or demob from when the Anders Army which Stalin released to Churchill via Teheran. Anders’ Army passed through the British 8th Army back area that was Palestine and Egypt to train and then went on to win Cassino.

Haganah guard sitting in the Arab sector of Hafia. April 1948. John Phillips

Mayor of Jewish quarter “Muhktar” Weingarten being escorted to Arab Legion headquarters by Arab soldiers. Jerusalem. June 1948. John Phillips

People attending banquet during truce. Jerusalem, Israel. June 1948. John Phillips

An explosion blasting a path in Jewish-held old city after Arabs carefully crept through gunfire to plant dynamite under walls during attack by Arab Legion. Jerusalem. June 1948. John Phillips

Hagannah soldier. June 1948. Frank Scherschel

Frank Adam comments: There are at least three Haganah Sten guns in this series of pictures – all probably home made – a cheap and nasty blow back weapon of barrel, breech block and spring that could go off if you dropped it butt end first, that the British first designed in 1940 when they lost all their equipment at Dunkirk. They quickly smoothed the design and eventually made 2.5 million of the Mark II, nicknamed “the Woolworths gun” at allegedly 5 shillings – one dollar then. One story being to use up 9mm pistol ammo captured in the fall of Tunis, but in the second half of the war it equipped all who might need close quarter defence of the “burp gun” as Cold War Americans called the genre, but did not need to fire accurately to a distance: drivers, gunners, NCO’s, signallers, tankees logistics troops – about a 1/3 to half the divisional personnnel.

About 1942 Haganah obtained a specimen and realised the jackpot as they had a lot of disparate rifles in their caches with little ammunition, some being 19th century single shots. These were now dismantled for the barrels to saw up to make four Stems with garage mmachinery to make the butts and bodies. Ammunition was stolen or made from bulk imports of lipstick cases for cartridge cases. You can see the original underground factory near the new Rehovot Station and in Haganah Museum in Rothschild Avenue TA are several paired specimens used in settlement defence.

Barricade in front of entrance to building. May 1948. Frank Scherschel

Frank Adam comments: The wall in front of a shop front is a blast shelter wall typical of air raid shelters 40’s technology. Evidently by the painted lettering which spells “shelter” this wall enables people to be safer in the concrete building’s front lobby should bombs or shells start falling in the street. This technique is complementary to the picture of the people sheltering in a school corridor.

Arab soldiers with rifles being transported in military vehicles. March 1948. John Phillips

Frank Adam comments: There are two interesting technical details here. First the Arab Legion photos show them with the British World War I rifles with the snubbed muzzle cap.

The photo of the arab troops packed into requisitioned civilian lorries with extempore wooden safety grills – in that they are not a standard British or US issue (and do not have French Citroen or Renault trademarks either?) – are carying rifles with muzzles projecting well over the forestock furniture. These are probably French Lebels and so a Syrian unit in spite of the British pattern ‘37 braces they are wearing. From 1940 to ‘46 French units in Syria and elsewhere would have used replacement clothing from British or US stocks. By 1948 Syria & Lebanon were independent at British (1945?) insistence which was the French gripe that led to French support of Haganah Aliyah Bet and the independence of Israel in 1948.

John Glubb (C) and his wife feeding pigeons. Israel. April 1948. John Phillips

King Abdullah Ibn Hussein (L) talking to an officer. April 1948. John Phillips

Pablo de Azcarate (R) of the United Nations Truce Commission talking to doctors and a nurse. Jerusalem, Israel. June 1948. John Phillip

View of Jewish outpost near Egyptian border, showing trenches, gun emplacements and barded wire. 1948. Dmitri Kessel

Haganah topography class. Tel Aviv, Israel. 1948. Dmitri Kessel

Haganah men crawling along wall. 1948. Tel Aviv, Israel

An injured Jew in Jerusalem. June 1948. John Phillips

Shelter in corridor of a school building. 1948. Dmitri Kessel

A man looking at blood in an Arab classroom, May 1948. John Phillips

Refugees gathering their belongings to take aboard the British ship, May 1948. John Phillips

Registering for duty in Tel Aviv. 1948. Dmitri Kessel

Haganah member. Tel Aviv, Israel. 1948

An Arab Legionnarie pointing his gun at John Phillips, April 1948

A sign indicating Army traffic in Hafia. May 1948. John Phillips

Photos licensed for personal non-commercial use only by LIFE.

LIFE in Israel in 1948 – Part 1

sirlaugh — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:41:37 +0000

LIFE in Israel in 1948 – Part 1

by Ben Atlas on July 2, 2009

I continue to research the vast collection of photos from the LIFE Magazine. I sort the photos by a photographer or event, etc. In this post I want to curate the 1948 photos from Israel.

Jewish girl, Rachel Levy, 7, fleeing from street w. burning bldgs. as the Arabs sack Jerusalem after its surrender. May 28, 1948. John Phillips

Jewish families leaving the old city through Zion’s Gate. June 1948. John Phillips

Jewish families being evacuated from city. June 1948. John Phillips

Egyptian plane shot down on Tel Aviv beach. May 1948. Frank Scherschel

Sandbagging in Tel Aviv. June 1948. Frank Scherschel

Arab refugees on a dock. Hafia, Israel, May 1948, John Phillips

Two Rabbis conference with Arab Legion soldiers. June 1948. John Phillips

There is a wide patch on the right cheek of the Sephardi Rabbi, he must have been hit in the face. Please identify these Rabbis?

Sephardic Rabbi discussing terms of surrender of the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem with Arab Legion Soldiers. June 1948. John Phillips

Jewish boy eating matzos, Jerusalem, June 1948, John Phillips

Jewish soldiers being guarded by Arab Legion soldiers after their surrender in Jerusalem. June 1948. John Phillips

Captured Jewish soldier sitting between two members of the Arab Legion. Jerusalem, Israel. June 1948. John Phillips

Frank Adam comments: Another useful detail in the seated three men photo:Jewish prisoner in pukka Brit shorts and two Arab Legion guards. The corporal on the viewer’s right is a negro. So? The nearest negroes to the Holy Land are in Sudan (deeply south from Egypt) or escaped slaves from Saudi Arabia. Either way he is an immigrant to the region which is one in the eye for the Arab complaint about Zionist Jews being immigrants.

This also illustrates the crafty recruitment of the Arab Legion any number were recruited from outside Jordan in southern Syria, Lebanon, (Saudi, Iraq) and Palestine as commonly taken to be the entire country West of the River J. This profile of personnel being foreign mercenaries were utterly dependent on their engagement & utterly loyal, but Glubb Pasha also realised that he would have less trouble to police by securing the consent of the desert tribes to his operations and recruited from them in balance pro rata to the size of each tribe which in the situation of nomadic pastoralists not averse to smuggling and theft in a subsistence society of who owes and owns whom amounted to representation and committment to the regime of the incipient Jordanian state. It was not so obvious nor institutionalised as the Indian Army system of ethnic regiments and companies with a company or two of different ethnicit(ies) in each regiment, but it was nevetheless political balancing of the grass roots.

Major James M. Hankin Turvin speaking with Lt. Abdallah Mogely. Israel 1948, John Phillips

Arab Legion soldier standing guard in the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem. June 1948. John Phillips.

Frank Adam comments: the status & responsibility of client state troops is politcally nice. The Arab Legion was British equipped, trained and had a lot of British field officers (majors & colonels) and its commander all, “on contract,” or, “secondment.” In 1920 – 46 it was the originally gendarmerie desert patrol force of the Emirate of Transjordan which the British had created within the Eastern part of the Palestine Mandate. In English English, “gendarmerie” is a nationally organised, armed but police force at the direction of civil power, local and central (state troopers in US?). Britain audited TJ’s books ie approved the budget, and supplied quite a few senior civil officers all supervised by a Resident who reported to the High Commissioner in Jerusalem his immediate local senior, and directly to the Colonial Office, London. So in the 1941 Iraqi campaign and for internal security ie guard duties in Palestine 1945-47 inclusive, the Arab Legion was available (from ‘46, turning itself into an “army”) to the British commander in Palestine or Iraq as another British unit – having formally asked for their service through usual channels from the Transjordanian government which was internally fairly independent – or had to be treated as such to keep up appearances and so political effectiveness. In 1946 the British signed a treaty with Transjordan to become the Kingdom of Jordan and so strictly an ally, rather than a dependent territory – but it depended on a pa sub of £4 ($11) million from London till the 50’s when Hussein fired Glubb and the US after ‘56 gradually substituted for UK as it frequently has across the World since 1945, but in its own variations of retired officers on contract in Kossovo Iraq and other locations.

Nevertheless there are press photos of Legionaries on duty in Jerusalem’s “Bevingrad” in ‘46-’47 as it was Bevin’s initial policy that the Arab parts of Palestine would go in with Jordan – by one of his remarks. Eventually the Jordanian Government withdrew the Legion by early ‘48 from West of the Jordan entirely, till Abdullah invaded Palestine in May ‘48. By the memoirs and statements of the time any British seconded officers had returned to their own British units or were kept East of the Jordan, but there were still some contract officers in the force across the River.

Just in case this all sounds ad hoc if not outright louche, it is the stuff of British avoidance of systematic big thinking and as a defence measure in the 1941 “flap” when it looked as if Rommel might break through Egypt, the British incorporated the Palestine Police – a civilian formation albeit armed – into the British Army. As such it sent a detachment to march in the victory parade in London.

Arab Legionnaires fight from walls of Jerusalem, May 1948. John Phillips

Two Israely soldiers. May 1948. Frank Scherschel

Illegal Jewish immigrants aboard captured refugee ship surrounded by British troops who halted the craft shortly before the official creation of the state of Israel. Haifa 1948. Dmitri Kessel

Fran Adam Commenst: The half platoon of helmeted British troops on the quay waiting for the illegal immigrants to (be?) disembarked are Parachute Regiment. The giveaway is – unlike the usual British “battle bowler” souplate design from the 14-18 trench war – the brimless helmet developed for airborne units (2 divisions in ‘44 – ‘45) not to catch the door in the jump, or slipstream. Later a lot of them went to the navy for similar reasons of warship constricted passages and hatches. There is a third design in which the brim angle is not pressed so it has a parabolic outline which served from 43-44 (till GRP – glass reinforced plastic ie kevlar brimless took over in the 70’s because APC’s -armoured personnel carriers are also cramped). The purpose of the broad but parabolic third design which can be seen in the second lot of photos was it protected the neck when on lying the ground as it was impossible to wear jauntily with the chinstrap behind the head.

Refugees on captured ship. Dmitri Kessel

Jewish Refugees from illegal ship. 1948. Dmitri Kessel

Elderly Jews going to Zion’s Gate evacuating the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem. June 1948. John Phillips

The Legion having a Banquet dinner. April 1948. John Phillips

Arab refugees crowding a British ship carrying them to Acre. May 1948. John Phillips

Haganah Soldiers. May 1948. Frank Schersche

View of Haifa from Mt. Carmel in June 1948. Frank Scherschel

The next two photographs are remarkable. I found them in the different parts of the archive. It occurred to me to compare the architectural elements, the stair, the window openings, etc. This is before and after of the same place!

Jewish families waiting outside their homes to be evacuated by Arab troops. Jerusalem, Israel. June 1948. John Phillips

Rubble lying in the streets after Arab looting of Jewish homes. Jerusalem. June 1948. John Phillips

Looting in burning Jerusalem, John Phillips. June 1948

Jewish people attempting to leave portion of city surrendered to Arab forces. Jerusalem, Israel. June 1948. John Phillips

International Red Cross employees helping Jewish refugees. Jerusalem, Israel. June 1948. John Phillips

People along the waterfront watching an air raid. May 1948. Frank Scherschel

Elderly Jewish man sitting in street after surrender of city. Jerusalem, Israel. June 1948. John Phillips

Arabs evacuating the village of Zenin. May 1948. John Phillips

Women and children refugees evacuating the village of Zenin. May 1948. John Phillips

British Marines guarding a deserted Arab street of Haifa. May 1948. John Phillips

Israeli Soldier. May 1948. Frank Scherschel

Jews take over as British Mandate ends. May 1948. Frank Scherschel

Israeli men celebrate the end of the British Mandate. May 1948. Frank Scherschel

Tel Aviv. May 1948. Frank Scherschel

Tel Aviv, Israel. 1948. Dmitri Kessel

Girls being trained in signal work at British detention camp. Cyprus. June 1948. Frank Scherschel

A British soldier sitting guard on a rooftop. 1948. Dmitri Kessel

Frank Adam comments: The British – Scots by his Tam O’Shanter hat style – soldier with Bren light machine gun on a roof is in front of the dome of the Tiferet Israel Synagogue, also known as the Nissan Bek after its original warden/sponsor. The dome of the Hurva reaches the walls/edges of its main structure and is not on a “drum.” Both synagogue outlines are easy to distinguish on learning this structural difference which is obvious when you look at the Old City from the walls or external viewing points. The Nissan Bek was on the Eastern edge of the Western hill of the old City now crowned with modern yeshiva buildings, while the Hurva is further West.

Arab soldier with rifle riding on a motorcycle. March 1948. John Phillips

A trampled tarbouche lying in the street which will be picked up as a trophy by the Jews. Zenin, Israel. May 1948. John Phillips

Street Artist…new stuff

sirlaugh — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:31:55 +0000

Street Artist…new stuff

Edgar Mueller Super Artist
Great Crevase Edgar Mueller. Hard work: Together with up to five assistants,
Mueller painted all day long from sunrise to sunset. The picture appeared on the
East Pier in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, as part of the town’s Festival of World Cultures

He spent five days, working 12 hours a day, to create the 250 square metre image of the crevasse,
which, viewed from the correct angle, appears to be 3D. He then persuaded passers-by to complete
the illusion by pretending the gaping hole was real.

‘I wanted to play with positives and negatives to encourage people to think twice about everything
they see,’ he said. ‘It was a very scary scene, but when people saw it they had great fun playing on
it and pretending to fall into the earth. ‘I like to think that later, when they returned home, they might
reflect more on what a frightening scenario it was and say, “Wow, that was actually pretty scary”.’

Mueller, who has previously painted a giant waterfall in Canada, said he was inspired by the British ‘Pavement
Picasso’ Julian Beever, whose dramatic but more gentle 3D street images have featured in the Daily Mail.

This guy is amazing no matter how you look at it!

I Need a Favor from you!

sirlaugh — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:15:23 +0000

Hi ….

I need a small favor … If it’s not too much trouble.

I am going away on vacation, and I need a friend to come
over to water my plants while I am gone.
The plants are mostly geraniums and begonias.
In the hot weather they’ll probably only need water
twice a day. I’ll be gone only 21 days.
I’ve attached a photo for your reference.

I’ll send you a post card.

Thanks.

THE LADDER IS IN THE GARAGE

PORK CHOPS?

sirlaugh — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:20:32 +0000

PORK CHOPS?

In a zoo in California , a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger, after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother’s cubs, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother. The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different species. The only ‘orphans’ that could be found quickly were a litter of weanling pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the m other tiger. Would they become cubs or pork chops?

Take a look…

Now, please tell me one more time……
Why can’t the rest of the world get along?