this is just one of the 366 tracks I played at random from 366 different artists over 366 different days in one (leap) year....
Madonna-Like a Virgin-The Immaculate
Collection
Back in 1985 I
went to see Oliver Stone’s “Salvador” in Manchester. It was a longish way to go
to see a film, just to see a film. I didn’t have a car then and I went on the
train. Getting there, door to door, nearly took as long as the film itself
lasted. This was in the day before multiplexes however, and the choice of film
was limited to the usual blockbuster fare that all the same chains were
showing. The only cinema in Liverpool that showed films that were not 100%
mainstream was Merseyside Film Institute. This MFI was not as high profile as
it sounded. It was a great little cinema, but only really one step up from a
film club. They were at the mercy of the British Film Institute and very rarely
did they get that chance to screen anything that was on general release. This
all is a little over twenty five years ago and, in the age of multi channels, TiVO,
and file sharing on the internet, it all seems like something from a bygone age.
But that’s how it was back then, and if I wished to see a film like Salvador, I
had to get a bus into town (30 minutes), a train to Manchester (an hour or so),
and finally a 15 minute walk to the Cornerhouse. (The Cornerhouse was one of
the first cinemas/arts centres outside of London that are now not such a
rarity. Back then, for anyone with a passing interest in contemporary cinema or
art, it was like an oasis in a very big and dry desert of mediocrity. It’s good
to note that Liverpool now has FACT; a similar set up to the Cornerhouse. Ironically
since FACT opened about 15 years ago, I’ve only actually been there a couple of
times. I guess that it’s because of multichannel TV, TIVO and…well, file
sharing).
Anyway, back in
1985, and armed with a whole day spare, off I trooped to Manchester. I should
add that not only that this was the days before the internet and the rest, but
before I was married and had children and therefore the concept of having a
whole day to squander wasn’t something that was totally unbelievable. (Such
decisions to go to Manchester to see a film could be made largely upon a whim).
I had the whole day free and an open-ended train ticket. By the time Salvador
had finished-and it had been a journey well worth making, as the film was that
good-I was at a bit of a loose end. It was mid-afternoon and I could have just
jumped the train back home. But it seemed a bit of a waste of an opportunity to
do something else whist I was there. I mooched around the gallery and looked at
the books in the bookshop and thought that it would make sense to see another
film. Being a bit shell-shocked after Stone’s film, I had the choice of either
something distinctly art house (some Czech animation) or Susan Sarandon’s “Desperately
Seeking Susan” starring Madonna. As much as I loved Eastern European animation,
I didn’t have any paracetemol to hand and Madonna won the day.
Get/see /read "Totally Shuffled" here
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