Art and Film : Midnight In Paris
Andy Royston reviews a movie that fulfills the ultimate artists’ fantasy – going back in time to hang out with the greats. “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” Ernest Hemingway. “I have a tendency to romanticize Paris. When the lights come up and it’s almost midnight, everything...
Songs about New York : The Streets
Andy Royston continues his New York music odyssey – and takes it to the streets. Read Part One here. I regret profoundly that I was not an American and not born in Greenwich Village. It might be dying, and there might be a lot of dirt in the air you breathe, but this is where it’s happening. John Lennon People are working every minute. The machinery is always going. Even when you sleep. Andy Warhol Songs For New York –...
Under the Covers – Woodstock
Andy Royston gets muddy listening to cover versions of Joni Mitchell’s iconic anthem from of the Summer of Love. “500,000 halos out shined the mud and history. We washed and drank in God’s tears of joy. And for once, and for everyone, the truth was not still a mystery.” Jimi Hendrix “There were a LOT of people there. It was more than a city of people – it was tribal. Fires were burning, smoke was rising,...
Tribute to Mum and Dad – Joan and Colin
Andy Royston celebrates his parents, Joan and Colin, Yorkshire born and bred. Inspired by Sam Monaco’s moving tribute to his own parents. The older I get, and the more people that I meet, I’m beginning to realize that I must be the luckiest man in the world. I didn’t think so when I was a kid, growing up in a small farming village at the heart of the South Yorkshire coalfields. I didn’t think that I was...
Best of British – Night Mail
Andy Royston celebrates Night Mail, one of the most influential documentary films of all time. “If you wanted to see what camera and sound could really do, you had to see some little film sponsored by the Post Office or the Gas, Light & Coke company.” J.B. Priestley For much of the time between the wars the General Post Office (GPO) was the largest employer in Britain. It was at the leading edge of business practice...
Songs about New York : From Broadway to Harlem
Andy Royston writes about the songs that made New York. Part One : From Broadway to Harlem To say that New York came up to its advance billing would be the baldest of understatements. Being there was like being in heaven without going to all the bother and expense of dying. – P.G. Wodehouse New York is an ugly city, a dirty city. Its climate is a scandal, its politics are used to frighten the children, its traffic is madness,...
Higher Than The Sun – The Art of Paul Cannell
Andy Royston remembers one of London’s wildest artists, Paul Cannell, London’s Basquiat. “Like all great dyslexic artists Paul Cannell pants” JEFF BARRETT Jeff Coons? Do me a favour! Gilbert and George! Fuck off and die! The Grey Organisation?? In three years time if Paul Cannell is not a superstar artist with constant exhibitions in every main city throughout the world come and find me… EDWARD BALL...
Indie Classics : McCarthy – I Am A Wallet
Andy Royston revisits McCarthy’s ‘I Am A Wallet’, one of the great subversive indie records, as the band’s material gets a timely re-issue on bright red vinyl. Main headline photograph by Steve DT. “The most perfect record, a Communist manifesto with tunes” Nicky Wire – The Manic Street Preachers In modern rock and pop music the band that showed the most striking influence of the German...
Hollywood Redheads – Wilma Flintstone
Andy Royston pays tribute to one of the original Hollywood Wives. Wilma Flintstone. Television’s image of the American woman, 1964, is a stupid, unattractive, insecure little household drudge who spends her martyred, mindless, boring days dreaming of love – and plotting nasty revenge against her husband. Betty Freidan – Television and the Feminine Mystique. I love thee Wilma, with hair like silk, Lips like cherries,...
The Magnificent Meschiya Lake
Andy Royston sings the praises of Meschiya Lake, New Orleans nightingale made good. “I was driving in to meet the circus. I’d been driving alone for about eight hours, and I stopped in the French Quarter to use a phone to find out where I was supposed to go to meet everyone. I looked around and noticed the gas lamps and the classic, Old World feel, just this feeling of timelessness. And I eventually learned that it’s a very...
Musical Journeys – The Mayan and the Whale
Andy Royston tells the story of David Crosby’s ’47 schooner, Mayan, and a legendary sail from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego. David was wonderful company and a great appreciator. When it comes to expressing infectious enthusiasm he is probably the most capable person I know. His eyes were like star sapphires to me. When he laughed they seemed to twinkle like no one else and so I fell into his merry company and we rode bikes...
Art Matters – Nocturne in Black and Gold
Andy Royston takes a closer look at the painting that sparked a notorious libel case, Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket by James Abbott McNeill Whistler Nature contains the elements, in colour and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music. But the artist is born to pick and choose… that the result may be beautiful – as the musician gathers his notes, and forms his chords, until he brings...
More of Hollywood’s Finest Redheads
Andy Royston continues his appreciation of Hollywood’s redheads. “It is observed that the red-haired of both sexes are more libidinous and mischievous than the rest, whom yet they much exceed in strength and activity” – Jonathan Swift, Gullivers Travels “You’d find it easier to be bad than good if you had red hair, people who haven’t red hair don’t know what trouble is” – Anne of Green Gables In Part One...
Under The Covers : Heartbeats
The greatest cover versions and the stories behind them – by Andy Royston It would seem at first that this song owes its popularity to a TV ad. The presence of the song as soundtrack to an eye-catching commercial for a Sony television set has played a part in the careers of two entirely different Gothenburg musical acts. But the song has reaching into the furthest corners of the music world, with artists as diverse as The Gossip...
Pic of the Week – The Golden Hind
Photograph of the Week: The Golden Hind. Regular beachgoers along the coast of south Florida may have met one of these first hand. Our beaches lie just west of the Atlantic Gulf stream and after sustained easterly winds, the fleet sometimes comes ashore. I’m talking about an ancient creature from the deep – scourge of swimmers and beachgoers, with a fearsome reputation. I’m talking about the Portuguese Man...
Under The Covers – Take Me To The River
Sometimes songs from one generation can be covered in quite a different way by musicians and singers from the next. One such song is Take Me To The River first released in 1974, written by Al Green. Here was a singer who moved freely between soul and gospel styles, and at his best was writing songs full of nuance – perfectly capturing both body and soul. Take me to the river, drop me in the water Push me in the river, dip me in...
Songs from the Heart : Landslide
A highlight of Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks shows has always been Landslide, which is a song that seems to get stronger with age. In later live performances its clear that the song is almost a cathartic singalong, with Stevie; once the great Californian sex symbol, now fairy godmother to the classic rock generation, rising to the occasion. Her audience comes dressed in homage – top hats, shawls, feathers, long long hair and...
The Battle for the Everglades
It doesn’t look like a battle, does it? The Everglades seems to be much the same as always, with the slow, shallow stream of water – what Majorie Stoneman Douglas famously called the River of Grass – flowing slowly south. I recently visited the Miccosukee Tamiami Trail Reservation Area – a beautiful lily-pad dotted expanse of water alongside U.S. 41, known as the Shark River Slough. Experts consider this one of...
Songs about Cities – Manchester
I must confess I knew little of Manchester before I arrived there to study in the late 1970s. Thanks to my cricket fanatic father I was a little wary of the place. The red rose of Lancashire were the enemy of any self respecting Yorkshireman and not to be trusted. Yorkshire Vs Lancashire? Think ‘Game of Thrones’ with cricket bats. For them as don’t know, cotton was the making of Manchester. It was imported through...
Of Palm Trees and Buried Treasure
Since men first set out to sea there have been tales of imaginary islands. A disc of sand and a coconut palm tree anchored in an azure ocean; a pirate’s treasure buried beneath and some unexpected stories to tell. As a child I was hooked on all those stories. Swashbuckling buccaneers and buried gold from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, castaway tales from Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Captain Nemo’s...
Songs about Cities : Chicago (Encore)
When it comes to Chicago music it all boils down to one thing. A cultural moment that overshadows all else. A watershed experience, not just for the city, but everyone else on the planet that witnessed the car crashes, the celebrity cameos, the flamethrower attacks, the shopping mall destructions, and the relentless car chase carnage that was The Blues Brothers. This is the second of two articles about music inspired by the great city...
Songs about Cities : Chicago
Chicago is where I first set foot in America. I arrived at O’Hare International Airport and entered the city via an airport shuttle. The sun was just breaking through the morning rain and I was dropped right in the center of town, close to the Wrigley Building. I walked around like a chump for days just gawping at the place. It was so fitting that Chicago was my first experience of an American city. I’d been a follower of...
Re-inventing Key Largo
By the time that Maxwell Anderson wrote his prose play Key Largo, the drama’s island setting on the southern tip of Florida had almost erased the name. Anderson’s self-important drama was actually focused on the Spanish Civil war and was written in the form of a Shakesperean tragedy. The trip to Florida by the plays protagonist King McCloud (Key West is his destination) was one of atonement as he seeks out a fallen...
Songs about cities : Miami
Some cities have elegantly created meditative pieces written about them, that are played in ornate halls by string quartets. Some cities are honored in symphonic jazz arrangements that are premiered by orchestras and conducted by legends. Miami on the other hand has good time party songs performed by dudes with moustaches, wearing wife-beaters, gold chains and sunshades. I looked long and hard for songs that might inspire the mind,...
My Parisian Soundtracks
If Paris was turning out hit songs, well I certainly didn’t notice. I had my ears glued to the radio for around half a century but very few French-flavored records made it across the English Channel much less the Atlantic Ocean. Trust me I would have heard them. In France a generation grew up on chanson – where surrealism, jazz and Gershwin met French music hall in the form of Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf and a host of...
A Sea Turtle’s Soliloquy
I arrived at the shore at the usual time, around a half hour before sunrise, crossed over towards the dunes and headed for the shore. It it wasn’t for the presence of that morning’s Sea Turtle patrol, who had spotted her tracks I might have missed her completely. Moma green was selecting a spot for her nest and the light was growing. I watched and wondered what she was going through. Seaturtles of all kinds like to lay...
Ukepocalypse Now!
The Great Ukulele Invasion by Andy Royston Way back in the summer 2009 the UK’s venerable old Albert Hall proms played host to the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain – a sold out night where a good proportion of the audience had brought along their own instrument to join in. Now it’s all well out of hand with the now annual Ukulele Hooley – a festival that’s taking over Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin this...
Song for Sunrise – New York Morning by Elbow
There’s this wonderful description of a New York morning hidden in an F Scott Fitzgerald short story, May Day, which he published in a long lost magazine. Smart Set. “Dawn had come up in Columbus Circle, magical, breathless dawn, silhouetting the great statue of the immortal Christopher, and mingling in a curious and uncanny manner with the fading yellow electric light inside.” F. SCOTT FITZGERALD The...
Ukulele’s Coolest Moments
The uke is much maligned. This humble little instrument has had more than a few uncool moments, and it’s hard to recover from the triple whammy of George Formby, Tiny Tim and Israel Kamakawiwoʻole. Generations of Americans returned from their Hawaiian vacation with a plastic one. Cutesy kitsch from the Pacific islands. For Americans a visit to Hawaii was the dream trip during the 30s and 40s, and the appeal of the islands as a...
The Art of the Location
Since summer 2009 I have developed an extraordinary photographic habit. I’ve been capturing images at what I sometimes call “the same old beach” each and every morning, arriving unfailingly at the same parking spot on Sunrise Lane and walking out onto the sands to watch – and photograph- the sunrise. Today marks a run of over 400 consecutive days pounding the sands here in Fort Lauderdale, which amounts to many...
Book Review – ‘Nobody Lives Forever’ by Edna Buchanan
You’ve booked a week long vacation on Miami Beach. You packed the sunscreen, swimwear, that outfit that you’d never wear at home (that Tommy Bahama Hawaiian shirt is a must). All you need is a good beachy paperback. Some Miami Noir potboiler that talks about the old Scarface days, maybe? If you’re looking for snarky and funny, check Carl Hiassen. If you want salty beach bums, John D. McDonald or James Hall. You want...
Ten hits that were live recordings
It’s one of those perennial pub quiz questions isn’t it. How many songs were hits as a live recording, in front of an audience. I don’t mean those ‘as live’ jams, like the sort that the Beatles used to specialize in. I mean a full on live show, with an audience yelling, screaming, or heckling. Live recording was – and still is – quite difficult to get right, so it’s something that...
The iPhone Art of Andy Royston
If you happen to be in the Ft Lauderdale walking on the beach in the early morning, you have probably seen photographer Andy Royston. He’s been walking along that stretch for six years now. Using only his cell phone he has taken well over 25,000 photos to share on Twitter, Flicker and various other sites. We caught up with him this week—though not on the beach. This is the first in a series of interviews with the award winning...
The First Car I Ever Drove
“I’m going to check on a car I have in a showroom, and I need your help,” said Rich. “You coming?” It was a fine Florida morning and the nice cherry red XJ6 Vanden Plas that Rich drove was a classy motor with good air conditioning. What London lads would call a proper eyeballer. I had nothing else to do so I said “OK, let’s go”. Ten miles later we pulled off US-1 and into the lot of a...
Photography : The Art of Location
One very important aspect of building a photography portfolio is to make the best of your surroundings, and this means getting to know your locality, its beauty spots and vantage points. I live mid way between downtown Fort Lauderdale and the beach, so I know all the picturesque spots, from little-known waterside parks to tall parking garages. I’ve photographed them many times from many different vantage points, and its been fun...
iPhone Photography 101 : Low Angles
Every day I take a walk along Fort Lauderdale’s North Beach. I’ll be there rain or shine as I have been for many years. The reason I like this stretch of shore is that in the early hours it is quite deserted. The width of the sands there is quite narrow, so it is quite easy to step away from the shoreline should the skies become photogenic. I like to frame the sunrise with silhouettes of palm trees if I can, and the palms...
Five Faves : On a Florida Beach
The Atlantic coast of Florida boast so many wonderful beaches it is hard put a finger on why I love Fort Lauderdale’s so much. Official images of South Florida fights shy of the deep gold sands – always cleaner and whiter in the brochures – and of the moody Atlantic ocean -always bluer and greener on the posters. Yet visitors here know that the shores here are a little more likely to be directly effected by the...
A quart of Ale is a dish for a King
Growing up in rural England knowing a good beer should be second nature. But I grew up in a period in England when there was a big push for this new lighter coloured stuff called lager. Most kids of my age had dads who had a love of those big Party Seven keg cans that were impossible to open. The stuff inside wasn’t easy on a pre-teen palette, but to dad a good home party needed Worthington E, Double Diamond, Youngs Tartan, and...
Instagram 247 / 365
Instagram is the go-to app for millions of mobile users globally. A social network built entirely around the sharing of photographs Instagram has captured the imagination of so many. Yet the quality and variety of images shared on the network varies so widely it’s hard to find a reason why so many find the app compelling. How did this happen? I thought that I’d share my own journey to Instagram to see if I can throw a...
Masterpieces – Five Songs about Art
There was a bit of a fad for singing songs about film stars and artists back in the early seventies, and once or twice such songs burst onto the radio. As a kid I found this fascinating, even when the songs were a little bit saccharine. There was Elton’s Candle in the Wind, an ode to Marilyn Monroe long before the late Lady Di got her posthumous hands on it. There was You’re So Vain, Carly Simon’s beautifully...
Selling out – rock music in car advertising
Ever since I was a kid, and had an earful of Coca-cola’s hillside singers teaching the world to sing, I’ve been more than a little cynical about the use of music in advertising. A good song had great meaning and resonance and to use it in a commercial can seriously undermine the love and loyalty that the music has built up over the years. Take Renault’s use of Cream’s ‘I Feel Free’ to sell a...
Rogues Gallery – Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys
I’ve always been one for the eclectic, off-beat and downright wild compilation albums. It’s all because I grew up with a transistor radio glued to my ear late at night; listening to the shows of British radio legend John Peel, making and sharing mixtapes and slowly becoming a curator of all kinds of musical styles. As a consequence I like a wide variety in my music. Sitting down to listen to an entire album by one artist...
If you like Fleetwood Mac you’ll like… Haim
If you like Fleetwood Mac you’ll like… Haim In these days of TV talent show contestants hogging the airwaves one can be forgiven for getting the impression that teens are growing up ignorant of real music. But it’s also clear that playing a musical instrument hasn’t gone out of fashion. I think that we can thank our schools for this happy turn of events, and the growing amount of twenty-something musicians with...