Now it's not too hard to work out exactly what Ms Harry had going for her. If fronting one of the best of the new wave bands was not enough to get you noticed, that pout and those cheekbones sure as hell would. The penchant for little or no underwear might have helped too :) I well remember the first gig, must have been sometime after Parallel Lines, staring gobsmacked at this 'wild child' cavorting about in the shortest of skirts, blisfully unaware that she too was long out of her teens.Oh to have been in New York, at cbgb's, before the transition to skinny ties and too large sunglasses. Last saw Blondie on the No Exit tour about 10 years ago (I think), still cooking! And, now, at 64, she still has it! Not in looks so much (the face lift kinda spoils it now, at least for me) but for that smile and the look in her eyes when she smiles; the US should appoint her as their Ambassador to Russia, even Putin would cave into that!
In order to divert myself from thoughts it is unwise to have when you're running low on tissues, I watched Memphis Belle again (that's the 90's movie not the Wyler documentary from 1944, although I ended up watching that as well afterwards). Now I must confess to finding it a 'worthy' film but one which invariably I watch for one scene only. When Eric Stoltz's character reads (as if it were his own) W B Yeats' poem "An Irish Airman Forsees His Death". Within the context of both the film plot thread and the dialogue, it is so apposite and never fails to move. But then actors schooled in Shakespeare, Racine have always been masters at poetry readings. The very nature of their craft allows them an insight into cadence, rythmn, intonation denied to us ordinary mortals. Witness Richard Burton and 'Under Milk Wood'. Only the poet is generally better (who else) as anyone who's attended a reading by Roger McGough will testify.
Thank you to (the late) Robert Palmer for the blog title. And Chris Stein (guitarist and co-founder of Blondie and long time partner of said Ms Harry), you b**tard! :)
What is 'perne in a gyre' of Yeat's "Sailing to Byzantium?"
ReplyDeleteWho knows? 'Gyre' is a circular movement, from whence comes Gyrfalcon, the large arctic raptor. 'Perne' is probably invented but likely to be derived from pern/pirn, a Gaelic word for the bobbin on a spinning wheel. Liked his 'gyres' did Yeats! :)
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