Tuesday 7th July 2020

Rene & Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after The War

Paul Simon

Rene and Georgette Magritte
With their dog after the war
Returned to their hotel suite
And they unlocked the door
Easily losing their evening clothes
They danced by the light of the moon
To the penguins, the moonglows
The orioles, and the five satins
The deep forbidden music
They’d been longing for
Rene and georgette magritte
With their dog after the war

Rene and georgette magritte
With their dog after the war
Were strolling down christopher street
When they stopped in a men’s store
With all of the mannequins dressed in the style
That brought tears to their immigrant eyes
Just like the penguins, the moonglows
The orioles, and the five satins

The easy stream of laughter
Flowing through the air
Rene and Georgette Magritte
Side by side
They fell asleep
Decades gliding by like indians
Time is cheap
When they wake up they will find
All their personal belongings
Have intertwined
Oh Rene and Georgette Magritte
With their dog after the war
Were dining with the power elite
And they looked in their bedroom drawer
And what do you think
They have hidden away
In the cabinet cold of their hearts?
The penguins, the moonglows
The orioles, and the five satins
For now and ever after
As it was before
Rene and Georgette Magritte
With their dog after the war

The song is about the surrealist artist René Magritte and his wife Georgette.
The title derives from a photograph of the Magrittes and their dog in Belgium by photographer Lothar Wolleh.
He took two photographs of them: one, “René and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog During the War”, was a black and white photo, purportedly from the World War II era, but likely taken during the 1960s.

The second, “René and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog”, was taken in their home in Belgium in 1967.

“Simultaneously an evocative mood piece and a joyous tribute to the doo wop groups of the ’50s”,[6] the song depicts the Magrittes as secret admirers of The Penguins, The Moonglows, The Orioles, and The Five Satins. The lyrics refer to this as “the deep forbidden music they’ve been longing for” and says that others also “have it hidden away in the cabinet cold of their hearts.”

The song also portrays the Magrittes “strolling down Christopher Street”, stopping in a men’s store, and seeing “all of the mannequins dressed in the style that brought tears to their immigrant eyes just like” the aforementioned doo wop groups.

Monday 6th July 2020

Spurs 1 Everton 0

A late-season battle between Spurs and Everton in 10th and 11th respectively and with little on the line except a hopeful late push for Uefa’s secondary club competition felt like it belonged in a past decade, and the entertainment served up was every bit as drab as anything from these clubs in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The big differences were the presence of two of the game’s most decorated managers in the dugouts, which felt incongruous given the quality of the football, and the absence of atmosphere, which further detracted from the occasion.

Spurs won 1-0, fittingly winning through an own goal, to respond to last week’s dismal 3-1 defeat at Sheffield United and kept a rare clean sheet, offering manager Jose Mourinho reasons for encouragement.

The Portuguese had questioned his side’s mental fortitude on the eve of the game and they showed improved resolve here, while Everton slumped to a 40th consecutive failure to win away at the traditional ‘Big Six’, suggesting Carlo Ancelotti has a serious mentality problem of his own to remedy if he is to revive the club.

what mattered was three points and a change of mood ahead of Thursday’s visit to Bournemouth.

A bit of madness is key
To give us new colors to see
Who knows where it will lead us?
And that’s why they need us”

So bring on the rebels
The ripples from pebbles
The painters, and poets, and plays

And here’s to the fools who dream
Crazy as they may seem
Here’s to the hearts that break
Here’s to the mess we make

Sunday 5th July 2020

The Secret Of Life

Gretchen Peters

Couple of guys sittin’ around drinkin’
Down at the Starlight Bar
One of ’em says, “You know I’ve been thinking”
Other one says, “That won’t get you too far”
He says, “This is your life, and welcome to it
It’s just workin’ and drinkin’ and dreams
Ad on TV says ‘Just Do It’
Hell if I know what that means”

The secret of life is a good cup of coffee
The secret of life is keep your eye on the ball
The secret of life is a beautiful woman
And Marilyn stares down from the barroom wall

“You and me, we’re just a couple of zeros
Just a couple of down-and-outs
But movie stars and football heroes
What have they got to be unhappy about?”
So they turn to the bartender, “Sam, what do you think?
What’s the key that unlocks that door?”
Sam don’t say nothin’, just wipes off the bar
And he pours them a couple more

‘Cause the secret of life is in Sam’s martinis
The secret of life is in Marilyn’s eyes
The secret of life is in Monday Night Football
Rolling Stones records and Mom’s apple pie

Sam looks up from his Sunday paper
Says, “Boys, you’re on the wrong track
The secret of life is there ain’t no secret
And you don’t get your money back”
Hey

The secret of life is gettin’ up early
The secret of life is stayin’ up late
The secret of life is try not to hurry
But don’t wait
Don’t wait

The secret of life is a good cup of coffee
The secret of life is keep your eye on the ball
The secret of life is to find the right woman
The secret of life is nothin’ at all
Oh, it’s nothin’ at all
The secret of life

Couple of guys sittin’ around drinkin’
Down at the Starlight Bar
One of ’em says, “You know I’ve been thinking”
Other one says, “That won’t get you too far”
“That won’t get you too far”

Soldier’s Things

Tom Waits

Davenports and kettle drums
and swallow tail coats
table cloths and patent leather shoes
bathing suits and bowling balls
and clarinets and rings
and all this radio really
needs is a fuse
a tinker, a tailor
a soldier’s things
his rifle, his boots full of rocks
and this one is for bravery
and this one is for me
and everything’s a dollar
in this box

Cuff links and hub caps
trophies and paperbacks
it’s good transportation
but the brakes aren’t so hot
neck tie and boxing gloves
this jackknife is rusted
you can pound that dent out
on the hood
a tinker, a tailor
a soldier’s things
his rifle, his boots full of rocks
oh and this one is for bravery
and this one is for me
and everything’s a dollar
in this box

Saturday 4th July 2020

Thursday 2nd July 2020

Sheffield Utd 3 Spurs 1

Spurs, were left to bemoan a controversially disallowed first-half goal.

Harry Kane had what would have been an equalising effort chalked off for the harshest of handball calls after Sander Berge had opened the scoring for the hosts and Spurs never recovered, Lys Mousset and Oli McBurnie finding the net in the second half to earn Chris Wilder’s side a much-needed first three points since the restart

Steven Bergwin, who started at No.10 ahead of Dele Alli, denied the incident had affected the players but said he could not understand the VAR call.

“In my opinion it’s a goal, he can’t put his hands anywhere else,” Bergwijn said. “They also pushed him in the back, so there are two things wrong.

“I don’t understand why it wasn’t at least a free-kick, maybe it is because we played through but I think he has to give the goal. Where is he supposed to put his hands?”

The laws of the game state that a goal must be disallowed if the ball touches any part of the hand or arm of an attacker in the immediate build-up, although Kavanagh should have restarted with a Spurs free-kick because no advantage was gained from the foul on Lucas.

Mourinho declined to comment directly on the decision, claiming he did not want to be punished, but said his players must learn to respond to setbacks.

“We have to do better, we have to be mentally stronger to cope with what happened during the game,” he said. “We cannot mentally die after Michael Oliver’s decision. You have to be ready to cope with negative moments and go until the last minute. In spite of my efforts in the dressing room, now I feel I know more about the profile of my players. I felt that in the second half we wouldn’t be strong enough to cope with a team that when they’re winning just defends and counter attacks. So congratulations to them.”

Sisyphus

July brought an unexpected chill
And my spirit dropped along with the temperature
But the loss of light is too much to bear
An amusement park has been set up opposite me
Every day the din of it makes lockdown a maelstrom of despair
Like Sisyphus I try to accept to embrace the rock
But sometimes I’m just not strong enough
My mom was right all along my life is a constant struggle

John Bish 2nd July 2020

Wednesday 1st July 2020

The Day of the Dead

I want to return to Mexico and live the day of the dead
Light candles and wear skull makeup
Sit all that night by the grave of myself
Place a burning torch see its light die in the morning smell the embers of my life and scratch amongst them with a stick
Poke at my life until I find a reason for it
See the glow from the hotspots if any remain
Then I can leave
Then I can release this vanity that keeps me here

Bish  July 1st 2020

Saturday 27th June 2020

Friday 26th June 2020

Thursday 25th June 2020

Tuesday 23rd June 2020

Spurs 2 West Ham 0

Spurs earned a vital 2-0 win in their pursuit of European football, which was doubly satisfying as they plunged West Ham into further relegation trouble.

After letting a 1–0 lead slip to draw with Manchester United on Friday, Spurs needed to improve against the Hammers to justify suggestions that they are among the biggest beneficiaries of the lockdown. A fortuitous own goal by Tomas Soucek and Harry Kane’s late strike ensured Spurs kept the pressure on United in the race for fifth. For Mourinho, the victory and a solid performance was justification of his persistent claims that his side would only improve once he had a full roster of attackers at his disposal.

Having been without Kane, Heung-min Son, Steven Bergwijn and Moussa Sissoko before lockdown, Mourinho surprisingly blamed the draw with United on the absence of Dele Alli and Lucas Moura. Both returned to the XI against the Hammers, leaving the manager without any excuses if his team failed to deliver in the final third.

To the Portuguese’s credit, Spurs plugged away and eventually exploited the gaps in West Ham’s defence, with Son unlucky to see a 43rd-minute goal ruled out by the VAR for a fractional offside before Soucek’s turned into his own net from Giovani Lo Celso’s corner to break the deadlock. West Ham, meanwhile, now have one win in nine and are increasing threatened by a financially devastating drop after consecutive defeats in Project Restart.

Kane was anonymous in the first 25 minutes but gradually grew in threat and influence until he was troubling the West Ham defence with almost every attack. After missing a string of chances which showed his rust, Kane raced onto Son’s pass in the 82nd-minute and finished cooly, to send Mourinho wild.

Kane himself celebrated by sprawling on his front, expressive of pure relief after a frustrating 112 minutes of the Premier League restart.

While his performance was not vintage, it was a significant improvement on United and will silence his latest doubters. As Mourinho said, Kane only needed time and minutes to find his feet after such a long layoff