The Modernist Walk, Film: The Salt of the Earth, & Concert: An American Melt

Rumours of my death are much exaggerated.. no, I'm still here, I just literally have been too busy! Apologies for the delay, please do read on..

Last Wednesday night, back with the much-neglected London Literary Walks - this one was The Modernist Walk, and we were meeting in The Garden Gate, Hampstead. You can eat there, but I couldn't book for just one person, so had to take pot luck. Mercifully, it rained that morning - stopped later, but it really cooled the city down.. he picked a good day for a walk! Unfortunately, that far out, bus would take too long - so I got the Northern Line all the way to Belsize Park and walked from there.

I was a bit late leaving, so would have liked a bus to the station - but the traffic problems persisted, so I assumed my buses would never reach me, and I ended up walking. Sure enough, not a bus passed me on the way. And so I was a little later than intended, arriving at Belsize Park, where I set out on the last leg.. with the sun in my face the whole way. And it would be uphill from the station - although to be fair, that was just the first bit; it was downhill thereafter.

The interior of the pub was practically empty, everyone favouring the beer garden in the sunshine. I got a table big enough for us all, and ordered a chicken schnitzel, which was soon delivered. Not actually the greatest - the chicken was a bit tough - and I don't think I'd go out of my way to eat there again. The wine was very reasonably priced, mind.. and when the others arrived, we had a great old chat. Seeing my dinner - which I hadn't quite finished when they started to arrive - one of the others also ordered something - which took an absolute age to come! She seemed to enjoy it when it did, though. And hey, we always end up starting a little late - we have such a convivial time in the pub..

This, to be fair, wasn't a terribly photogenic walk, so I didn't get my camera out all that much. We started with the Isokon Building:

This was to be the most visual representation of the people we were hearing about.. but we did come across evidence of other famous residents of the area:

..and an old tree stump that we could see being used for other purposes!

My though, our elevated position gave us a great view!

And after what was an interesting, if not much-photographed, walk, we ended with some very non-modernist.. post cosies?

Anyway, delighted to be with this group again. However, with an early start to get to the office next day, I didn't manage a blog that night - particularly as the film list for the new week, which usually starts to be released on Tuesdays, this week was delayed until Wednesday.. and I wanted to do it, and figure out what I was doing this weekend, before I blogged again..

On Thursday, film again - documentary again - Curzon Bloomsbury again! This time for The Salt of the Earth, about the photographer Sebastiao Salgado, who died in May. Co-written and co-directed by Wim Wenders, and by the photographer's son, Juliano Salgado, it's part of the country-wide Kino Dreams retrospective of Wim Wenders' work.

Of course, that day, as mentioned, I was in the office - so hallelujah, I could walk there, and avoid the disaster that was Tuesday's travel to the same place! Again, not too hot, even lugging a laptop.. I could have left even later than I did, except that I had no work left to do, so figured I might as well just go! I ended up booking before I got there - it was beginning to fill up.

Oh wow, this was fantastic. Beautifully shot, as you'd expect - and he did visit some spectacular places - but along with some of the most expressive photos I've seen, the film covers the fascinating life of the man. Born in Brazil, he studied economics - moved to Paris with his wife, then London, to take up a lucrative job in banking. But then his wife got a camera - something to do with her studies, as I recall - and he ended up being the one using it. He'd found his vocation! He quit his job, they moved back to Paris - but from then on, he travelled the world, creating volumes of photographs.

He started as a social photographer - but his work took a serious turn with his coverage of the Ethiopian famine, of which - of course - we see harrowing photos. Thence to various warzones - we see photos of the Balkan Wars - but what really turned him away from this kind of photography entirely was the conflict in Rwanda, and the atrocities there. As he says in the film, violence is contagious - and honestly, while I heard a lot about the massacre of the Tutsis, I don't think I ever heard that there was a subsequent massacre of the Hutus..

And so he turned to nature - and we get similarly spectacular footage of wildlife. Great shots of them rolling along the ground, trying to sneak off shots of polar bears.. and then his father died, and he had to return to do something with the family farm. Seeing the effects of deforestation, he and his wife decided to replant.. and then turned it over to the nation, as a national park! A truly inspirational story.

Afterwards, to GBK at last - where they have a revamped menu (with, it seems, the same offerings), and a new server was at pains to explain to me the new, special offer they have - and then that I couldn't avail of it because it finishes at 5pm! However, they do have another one I could, and did, avail of, for half-price burgers. And ooh, it's been too long - it was delicious. When I went home, however, it ran too late even to do the film list.

Yesterday - which was, of course, US Independence Day - I headed with TunedIn London for the first time in ages, courtesy of The World Music Meetup (whom I signed up with) and the London European Club, not to mention Curiosity - London Arts, Culture & Walks, for a concert called An American Melt, happening in St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe.

I intended to eat beforehand - and could walk to the venue! Now, The Mayflower is the closest pub to the church - but when I checked, they'd been booked out. So I decided to stop wherever I came to, along the route. First, I tried The Angel - saw the queue stretching outside, and gave up on that idea. Figuring all pubs in the area - on what was a lovely, sunny evening - were likely to be the same, I spied a Chinese restaurant on Google Maps, and thought I'd head there - Rotherhithe turns out to be a bit of a wasteland in terms of eateries. So I schlepped over there next - only to discover that it was, apparently, closed - apart, perhaps, from deliveries:

I ended up at The Ship - which, at least, was quiet inside, everyone headed for the beer garden again:

Friendly staff, not great wine. They do, it seems, do food - but weren't at this time. So I had to settle for a packet of crisps - so good, I had another. And a couple of glasses of wine - there was to be a bar at the church, but cash only, which I'd forgotten until this point, so I hadn't brought any - and I figured I might as well drink where I was.

Then I headed over to the church:

As I approached, I heard lively music - wouldn't you know it, I'd somehow mistaken the time of the concert, and was now late! Anyway, I was chatting to the organiser, and it seems I hadn't missed much - the Irish one, ironically. The whole concert had a jazz vibe, but with strong European influences..

(There was a third person, who, in the photo, is obscured by the lectern.)

Well, I was delighted I'd come - the music was catchy, lively.. very suitable for the day that was in it. And it was hard to believe, for all the concerts TunedIn London has had in this venue, that I'd never before been in here! This was the last of the season - I was glad to make it. At the interval, I got some fascinating shots of the interior:

(The Mayflower sailed from here, you know.. which made it a highly appropriate venue for the day that was in it.)

Dinner ended up being a sandwich, bought on the way home. I'll make alternative arrangements, if I head to Rotherhithe again - meantime, by now I had the film list done, but spent a huge amount of time deciding what to do for the week! So, no blog again. But check back - my next post (tomorrow at the earliest) will cover a bit more..