[Monolith]

Checked out Liverpool cathedral bouldering today. Fairly interesting and worthy of a session for a couple of interesting problems. Crowd of decent smack fiends who seemed to be very receptive to our company adding " are you's mountain climbers's's's'?" which I found particularly endearing. They also seemed to know a reasonable amount about climbing on the Ormes which took me by total surprise. That reminds me...what did ever happen to Ron Fawcett??

Also provided an amusing highball fall from the top of one route by the Fonz when a crimp broke off in his hand, he tried to run down the wall, only to collapse in a heap on the mat and farting loudly on impact. First time I've known of that to be honest.

[SA Chris]

Ron is occasinally spotted at assorted crags around the Peak. Still waddy after all these years.

[jfw]

yeah he gave my mate a lift to stanage!

also does quite a lot of fell running.

[Monolith]

I was surprised that it was as good as it was actually. The rock was super compact (unlike much north west sandstone) and the problems interesting enough to provide a bit of respite from the hustle and bustle of the city centre.

Glad to hear big Ron is fell running, sure he's in great shape as ever. But I couldn't help but wonder if the veiled mystic in the corner of the cemetery spouting stuff about Llandudno and the 'good ol' days' might well have been him....

[Houdini]

Not climbed on the LP Cathedral - turned down an offer to in favour of stuffing my greedy fat face and a good letch in The Egg!

By the by - have you seen the film of Redhead climbing Norwich Cathedral?

AGGGHHH, I fuckin' do without that!! (As the bells, the bells let rip in his face.)

[Monolith]

That's a fair excuse. Stuffing one's face in the Egg is always good. Incidentally, I ventured into the Pilgrim pub for the first time the other day. It was great, cheap and I'd highly recommend it to any city visitors wanting to sample a typical Liverpool backstreet city pub.

I haven't seen Redhead's video but I'd love to. Presumably it's not available on the internet and is out of print if it was released? Houdini, have you read his book? What's the score with that, should I try and get hold of a copy?

[Houdini]

One For The Crow - Yes, cover to cover umpteen times.  Get a copy.  IMO the best climbing book out there.  Only 1000 printed though.

Soft Explosive/Hard Embrace - Yes, cover to cover twice.  Don't need to ever again.  (All JRs' books are pricey. So, don't buy SE/HE as it is pooh pooh: JR is a shite poet.  OFTC is stunning.  JR very good ear for the vernacular/argy bargy stuff.)

There is a third which is written awaiting publication which will be titled either Bottles in - Bottles Out or Interview with the Streets.  This will be supremely interesting as the subject matter is fascinating:  street people/workers (most likely to be Liverpudlians) on the edge of nervous breakdowns/self-destruction.

JR is currently writing a fourth:  Colonists OUT!

The vid you will have a hard time finding as it's not on the net or for sale. 

[Monolith]

Jesus, I hadn't realised Monsieur Redhead was such a prolific author. I went to school with Graham Alderson's nephew who told me many stories about when his uncle lived with Redhead in Bangor (I think it was). I remember thinking at the time, who is this elusive Captain Beefheartesque figure of the rock climbing fraternity, and why does he have the imagined persona of a beast?

I'll definitely try and get hold of OFTC, but the last time I found a source selling it, it was around 50 quid. I'd very much love to get hold of that video of him climbing Norwich Cathedral. Where to start though!?

[Falling Down]

One For The Crow - Yes, cover to cover umpteen times.  Get a copy.  IMO the best climbing book out there.  Only 1000 printed though. 

Yes - well worth getting (although Drummonds 'A Dream of White Horses' is, for me, the best climbing book by a long chalk) even though it's rambling and many of the (albeit excellent) photo's are staged.

When our very own Mr Popp was literary editor for High he wrote a very good review that's worth seeking out for its own sake.

And One for the Crow is more akin to Austin Osman Spares various works in that it's almost an esoteric manifesto and there's a dark vein of self-righteous anger and misogyny/homo-eroticism - but then again, that could just be me.. 

[Houdini]

John Redheads' website - check it.

[andy popp]

I have to correct falling down as I didn't review either OFTC or ADOWH for High, in fact I haven't read the latter. I have read OFTC. High did give me a copy to review but I promptly moved house (coincidental) and never got round to reviewing it. I still have it but have to confess to not liking it. There's some nice pictures though

[soapy]

you couldn't *ahem* serialise oftc, perchance..?

[Houdini]

 Wit jew meen, Weenstahn? 



You mean scan & post? That's probably rum/illegal.  Couldn't do that.  In fact looking @ my copy now
it says no.

The routes are:  sorry peeps - a list - but not r-man!  The routes have a short essay about them or a circumstance surrounding their climbing or naming.  And each is photographed by Ray Wood.

Insidious Slit
Organ Flagellator
Plas Berw
Bittersweet Connection
Atomic Fingerflake
Sexual Salami
Bananas
The Wrinkled Retainer
Sultans of Swing
The Bells, The Bells
Cockblock
Hitlers' Buttock
Dissillusioned Screwmachine
The Bloods
Belldance
The Clown
Fishbox
Birth Trauma
Demons of Bosch
Cystitis by Proxy
Raped by Affection
Poetry Pink
Womb Bits
Margins of the Mind
Menstrual Gossip
Dried Voices
Ryley Bosvil
Stiff Syds' Cap
Manic Strain
Released from Treatment
Young & Easy Under the Apple Boughs
Dwarf in the Toilet
Stroke of the Fiend
Flower of Evil
Menopausal Discharge
Authentic Desire
The Agony & the Ecstacy
Rite of Spring
Angle Man
Shaft of the Dead Man

(My fingers ache.  I think I feel the same about lists as Webbo now.)

Essays:

Music of Decline.
Ice climbing with Martin Crook.
A flake, a a tiny painting, and a letter.
Hunter Gatherer.
The People Bath.
Hymn to Kali.
The Tyranny of Thinness
2000 Slates.
Worms & Whores & Chamonix.
Serious Clowning.
(plus Training Tips)

There are also some sketches included. 

[Bromonge]

whilst your waxing lyrical about JR...

Didnt you cop your ankles on the gravestones? Always thought it was well necky with them in the way, as well as finding them a tad intrusive. You think the dead would of had more respect for the living.

[Houdini]

Who?  Me?  Eh?   ???

[Falling Down]

I have to correct falling down as I didn't review either OFTC ....

Sorry Andy... I'm mistaken.  I remember talking to you about it at Rivelin just before you moved and then subsequently read a review that was good and must have got the two mixed up.

[andy popp]

You've got a better memory than me!

[Houdini]

In OFTC there is a cool photo of JR having climbed Liverpool Cathedral.  Hair in the wind wearing colourful traveller/crusty-JR style threads.  And a particularly mad beard.

Can Mr. Popp be tempted to offer a little more on his reasons for not liking it so much?  I think some of the photo's are beautiful, and it's an ace showcase for Ray and other great but little seen snappers like the Crook and Diver Dave.

One of Rays':



A great picture of a great route with great routes all around you: that position he is in there is just lovely and an awesome rest from the minging nastiness of the crux (for me) below.  Check-out Gin Palace.  Anyone who can climb this is awesome.

Shaft of the Dead Man by Martin Crook.  And for me a contender for best photo.



Also titled Shaft of the Dead Man.


Sexual Salami 1st Ascent back in the day.


The sketches don't do it for me, and I would have prefered to have seen more of his oils reproduced such as his Magpie pictures which I think rock:

[Sam]

I realise that this continuing the thread hi-jack but OFTC is really quite brilliant in its ambitions. Sometimes JR gets a bit to caught up in talking about his cock and he seems to think that women are either goddeses or whores without much middle ground but the overriding theme - one of dispair at the violence and repression in society and the desecration of the environment - is well articulated. The climbing photos are awesome with none of the clutter prevalent in most climbing shots.  A depiction of one man out there doing stuff way ahead of his time and one which got overtaken by the "headpoint" game. Awesome. £50 is a bargain.

[soapy]

mmm, chthonic beauty, bacon-esque

[soapy]

..so inspired was i by the contributions to this thread that i've managed to procure a copy of oftc, huzzah!

[Houdini]

You'll have noticed the piccies are reproduced better in the book, eh?  The ones you can find online ain't so hot.  Got mine for 20 sheets (signed, most are).

[Monolith]

Many of his paintings remind me of those of Mr.Beefheart and I can't help but draw certain parallels between the two men. I'll have to track down a copy of OFTC asap. Had a quick browse through The Games Climbers Play again the other day for the first time in years. Is anyone aware of Paul Pritchards condition now? I remember seeing a documentary about him a few years back when he was undergoing rehabilitation at Clatterbridge Hospital, but have heard nothing since.

[soapy]

twenty sheets houdi!, lucky b'stard, i had to double that and i haven't even got my hands on it yet..


hmm, beefheart's work has parallels to the abstract expressionism of franz kline, amongst others, yet redhead's is slightly more figurative, in my opinion, good observation though monolith 



*rubs pseudo-goatee*




p.s. - i think the pritchard topic deserves its own thread, non?

[grimer]

I thought there was some great bits in One For The Crow, but these were the simpler pieces, mostly the Tremadoc section, mostly talking about Paul Williams. They were fun, fond pieces. There's a brilliant quote from PW about soloing Silly Arete, something like "At my age youth, Pure mad. Massive cock." That's wrong, but it's pure quality. It's really worth checking out for these, as they are really spot on. When he gets into his more complicated pieces, for me it seemerd like the writings of someone who can't really write. I didn't think they communicated anything at all. He did an Ape Index show too, which was similar. The Norwich Cathedral bit was cool, but the main bit left me cold. It was hard to follow, and I couldn't help thinking that there wasn't much under all the noise.

As for the pictures in the book, they are brilliantly taken and superbly reproduced, but I think they're boring from a climbing point of view. For someone who seems to be very concerned with validity, they gave the sense of JR being hoisted into the crux of a route, putting his limbs in an attractive position, getting the shot and lowering off. Again, compare the picture above of Sexual Salami, which, teechnically isn't very good, but as a climbing pic is head and shoulders above the rest. For me. Surely now we're all bored with money shots, even well taken ones?

Oh, and another brilliant essay is the stroke of a fiend one.

Honestly, when you get the book and see how good the simple writing is, it's a bit frustrating that he spends two thirds of it writing unpenetrable shock orientated nonsense.

[Houdini]

I can agree with much of what Grimer thinks about OFTC. 

I prefer JR for the funny, and the absurdity.  He's recorded an interesting period in Welsh climbing well.  The book has its faults and he can wind himself in knots but it's still a fine achievement: privately published (always hard), the shots: while some of them are overly posed they are at least quality shots in print - none of them are duff.  Books like this are rare - people don't do this kind of thing very often.  Look how it differs from the other climbing books published over the last decade, it's bizarre and unique.  I doubt anyone will write a climbing orientated book in such a weird way ever again.

[Monolith]

What a review!?

'...he presents us with a bible of death from which he continually survives, without any apparent meaning except disbelief in the value of life.'

That's dark man. That's dark. Continuing on the Beefheart comparison front, Beefhearts poetry is also pretty junk.

[Pantontino]

I agree with Grimer, I really disliked the images in that book. I would have preferred it if he had used genuine historical shots, however blurry and fucked up they might've been. I'm guessing that he felt there wasn't enough of these though?

[Sam]

I really disliked the images in that book. I would have preferred it if he had used genuine historical shots, however blurry and fucked up they might've been. I'm guessing that he felt there wasn't enough of these though?

I imagine that it's a result of them not existing from the FA's? I thought they were good climbing shots even if staged, for example, the Raped by Affection shot adequately demonstrates the terrifying nature of the route do you not think? You know how it was climbed from the ground and the first bolt at 20m and so on, but the photo sears it into your mind. Compare this to glossy logo'd magazine fodder shots which are pretty souless and objectively less about climbing than selling gear. Its unfortunate that the essay accompanying the chapter is possibly the worst in the book, a virtual soft pr0n reference to JR's obsession with his cock.

[Houdini]

I'm not so sure about Don Van Vliet.  His art looks like it was made by spastics.  Not in a good way (say Willem de Kooning/Pollock). 







I prefer abstract to figurative - and I don't see much going on here.  Meh.  However, Trout Mask Replica (including the artwork, which DVV made I think) is a masterpiece in all repects.


Burroughs said (when he made the change from literature to painting):  You gotta play the cards you've been dealt.  Meaning: so what if I used to write and now paint (and am using my name to promote my new direction).

Well, DVV played the cards he was dealt.  They were Bottom Trumps.  JR certainly has the edge on the canvas, if not in weirdness. Methinks.

On the whole it's a shame about the cocks/vaginas/whatever.  All very Common Denominator.  He can do better.


*rubs fully corn-rowed, hot-gelled and highlighted Laughing Cavalier mustache/goatee combo*

[Monolith]

Nice observations there Houdini. I have to agree with your analogy of musicians or artists hitting their bottom trump cards. The last I heard of DVV was that he is living in a desert on his own. It's said he has some sort of degenerative mental condition. Whether there is an ounce of truth in this I don't know. It sounds like a myth any tormented genius would like to have perpetuated about them.
I have to drag up a funny picture I came across recently of Paris Hilton brandishing a copy of Trout Mask Replica on the red carpet. My internet connection is pathetic at the minute, but I'll get it up.

Not sure how this thread got from Liverpool Cathedral to Captain Beefheart, but it's a good transition anyhow!

[Houdini]

It's simple:  I pointed out that he'd climbed the Cathedral & it went on from there....

  The bassist never fails to make me smile.  Non sequiturs rock!

[Monolith]

That's le bassist from the Mothers of Invention, but I can never remember his name? He's on Zappa's Baby Snakes DVD, and usually seen playing with some sort of weird mixed-item toy.

[Pantontino]

Beefheart is a god. And call me a tune hungry lightweight, but I think Clearspot is the best album - twisted soulful genius from start to finish.

[Houdini]

I seem to remember the BF/MOV bassist as having a hugely unsettling contralto (castrati) voice.  He also looks like Magical Trevor.

Beefheart used to do be a ruthless bastard to his band, like spending all day with his drummer wanting/teaching/trying to make him play some horrific über skiffle beat from Hell - and when he finally cracks it, saying:   Good.  Now play it backwards!

Learned so much about Beefheart from John Peel.  He always spun some mean Beefheart.  I love Lick My Decals Off, Baby.  for it's oddness. Never mind the yellow snow - Zappa kisses Beafhearts' butt!

Remember Pretentious Music Journalist on Steve Wright in the Afternoon years ago?  He'd describe Beefheart as a sonic cathedral of sound I'm sure.

[soapy]

sonic cathedral of sound

i see what ya did there, i did 


..but i still haven't received oftc yet, blasted privatised post office

..and at this rate by the time i do receive it all the choice topics will have been put to bed


still, at least i get to fetishise over JR's genitalia o.c.d.


kleenex!

[Houdini]

(Excuse me for pummelling this thread, but).

Mulled the photo issue over and conclude:

1 - Scarcity of pics, period.  No camera present.
2 - Is he likely to give you what you want anyway? (After one of JRs' performances @ Bangor Uni a mate said: I wanted him to tell us about the route, RP winks below and all that.  Told JR this, he replied:  find out for yourself and do the route.  Contrary, but obvious.  Instead he got to see a grown man with spindly limbs in black tights prowl around the stage wearing a huge purple papier mache veiny phallus (with balls) and a chronic mask as some plump lady with p-mash tits/mask moaned and groaned to images from his climbing and painting flash in and out before your eyes - for a fiver!  Great value!  Honestly, he's been around for donkey's years - what on Earth did you expect?!)
3 - Art.  Doesn't paint but image makes, sculpts sound...  Ra ra JR you say tomayto.  It's high brow even in it's bawdry depths and is ambitious/snobbish ie. aims to raise climbing above the physical.  There are occasional retro shots, but given the chance to Redhead-it thru the Woodulator and attempt to offer a lit bit more - I'd say he'd take it.  I love that Shaft of the Dean Man pic - you barely see him, logo?  You find it.  The soup in the valley, the size of that crag.  Romantic?  Gotcha! 
4 - It's unreasonable to ask the guy to climb so many chop E6/7/8's again just for real climbing shots.  At his age?
5 - The Raped shot is odd: there's too much to see in his face, but the cover of Welsh Rock is utterly phenomenal by the bolt or no.
6 - I want to see more people do this.  Private publishing.  Only yourself to please.  No rules.  No ads other than the ad of kit being used.  No Editorial control - you make your bed, you lie in it.  Live by the sword Rah! etc..  It must be hard work.

[Monolith]

Clear Spot is a genuine beauty. I bought it during the early days of ebay's existence off their on original vinyl for very little. I've since come to find it is worth quite a princely sum now, not that I would ever part with it.
Muffin Man is an outstanding song. It's one of my favourite songs and the fact I have a shitty old amp which can emulate the live song pretty closely is good. Such a simple riff, and so good.

[Duma]

monolith piqued my curiosity - this really is a wierd juxtaposition:

[Monolith]

Duma that's it! My bloody connection has finally sorted itself out. I cried with laughter for days when I saw that! Somebody should really be using that as an avatar here.

[soapy]

*thread resurrected*

well, finally i picked it up from the sorting office

mmm, the smell of fresh print as i open each leaf for the first time

yes houdi the rendering of the plates is brilliant, high quality printing here

i pick and choose parts to read, the prose being dense and often stilted

laughed many times at the tomfoolery and clowning

the ascribed female dichotomy; i fail to see it -  a raw pagan subjectiveness yes

as evinced by his inclusion of the palladas epigram (wr paton trans.):

Every woman is a source of annoyance, but she has two good seasons, the one in her bridal chamber [en thalámō] and the other when she is dead [en thanátō].

so far, glad i read this thread and searched out OFTC, a thing of rare beauty

[Johnny Brown]

Damn, why do the best threads always come along when you're away? And One for the Crow, where do you start? One thing I can say is its one of only two or three books that I've read cover to cover on seperate occasions and got totally different 'experiences'.

Yeah the photography is staged, and it got a slagging in one of the mags for 'excessive dodging and burning' but is there any book that can stand next to it with that number of images, and on such a narrow topic? The pictures are great, the cloggy ones particularly, they are a celebration of the places and the experiences. Posed they may be, but its a long way from logos, tight t-shirts, biceps etc. The 'extreme' is forced upon you subtly but far more powerfully.

As for the writing, he doesn't claim to be a writer but its a damn sight more engaging than 90% of most climbing writers. Yeah, on the first read all the cocks and ego and 'JD masturbating like a poodle' seemed a bit shocking for shock's sake. Read it, give yourself a couple of years to get over it, and read it again - suddenly you are in on the joke and the book is hilarious from start to finish. Almost exactly like the Brasseye Paedogeddon in fact, and nearly as funny.

And when he stops trying to shock and really engages with the climbing its superb. The Margins of the mind essay is one of my favourite pieces of climbing writing ever, I re-read it regularly. I can understand its not for everyone, but its a nice ideal of what hard climbing should be about.

Plus its probably worth buying for the tormented ejaculation/ indian face section. Letters from JD to JR? Who doesn't want to read that?