Amsterdam Russ

Will there be subtitles for our American cousins?

As the old saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It just goes to show how influential the film is out there.

Turn it into an allnighter and you can stay for the... Bit of a bargain compared to the Northern Soul classes as well!

Haha - nicely done.

If I recall correctly, wasn't Top Shop "doing" Northern Soul about 10 years ago in what was possibly the first wave of renewed media attention. The actual timeframe eludes me, but this would have been around when rare records were first featuring in a story lines on Coronation Street. Ooh, hold on. I'm getting a strong sense of dejavu!

Nicely captured, and nicely blending in with the autumnal browns of the leaf.

I've seen specially constructed platforms on top of chimney stacks here , specifically placed to encourage storks to build a nest. Apparently stork numbers started to decline very rapidly in the Netherlands during the 20th century because of changing agricultural methods, and it's said that by 1969 only 19 nests were still in use across the whole of the country. Conservation and breeding efforts have been quite successful since then although something like only 10-20% of the young make it to their first breeding season meaning that much more work needs to be done.

Thanks, Steve. And thank goodness for digital. Would have wasted an awful lot of rolls of film just to capture just the few I posted here!

I'm sitting on the back balcony now at a time when the swifts would be at their most active and vocal. There's not a one to be seen or heard. They're gone from here for sure.

Thanks, Dave. The plan was to get some shots from above of a coot while it was diving underwater. A waterway runs along side our building and it was very clear today. I could see the coot thrashing about under the water with its legs going all over the place. Thought it could make for an interesting shot or two. Darn thing got camera shy though and so the bees - which absolutely love the lavender we've grown on the balcony this year - got my attention instead!

A bit on sunshine today and things are buzzing on the balcony... Never tried to capture busy buzzy bumble bees on camera before. I reckon dragonflies are easier as they at least have a tendency to stand still once in a while, and conveniently for the photographer, hover in flight!

A flying ant eater sounds like fun, although you'd probably have to watch out when it came in to land! Looking skywards this morning the only thing in number among the clouds are the planes coming out of Schiphol. The swifts do seem to have packed their bags - already. Have to say that 33-38C is too hot for me - unless sea/pool/bar/airco with endless iced drinks figure in the equation big time. We're 25-27C here this week and that'll do nicely although it would be even better if we could see a tad more blue sky.

Agreed, but I'm clinging to summer through the belief that there's quite a distance between the first and last weeks of August, even for swifts. Are the factors that trigger their - and other summer birds' - migrations southwards known? A depletion of food supply would be an obvious factor at face value, but aren't there lots of flying bugs still to be had at this time of the year? Certainly we've got the usual mass appearance of spiders now, and that's surely because of an abundance of food suppiles. Possibly the maturity of the swifts that have left the nest must be a big factor, although I'm not sure without checking one of the bird books on the shelf whether swifts have multiple broods in a season or not. Any other factors? Anyone still seeing swifts locally?

Very true, although there are many instances where the relationship between creature and human is quite harmonious, of course. With the storks you almost get the feeling they're on top of the chimney stack just looking down their beaks at the noisy bipeddlars with a sense of winged superiority. Funny you should say that. I was on the back balcony earlier this evening and noted an absence of swifts. We've had a few of days of really mixed weather - windy, rainy, sunny, hot, not so warm, humid, etc, so I half wondered if that was a factor. At the same time, the other evening we had swarms (can we still use that word post-Cameron?) of seagulls all around the local area. I'm guessing they were feeding on flying ants or some such that had just taken to the skies. I also half wondered whether the weather conditions necessary to bring them out sent a signal of sorts to the swifts. Will keep an eye to the sky tomorrow because I agree - knowing they might be leaving already is a very sad thought. Surely they've only just arrived?

A couple of very poor quality pics of storks nesting in Amsterdam's Park Frankendael taken recently on a trip to the open air Sunday food market with the 2mb camera on my ancient (in technological terms) non-smart phone. Storks have been nesting here for years and are completely unfazed by all the human activity directly below. The second pic gives you an idea of just how surrounded they are by people and all the associated noise, smells, etc. There were four birds on the nest at one point, so two young 'uns nearly full grown presuming both parents were in attendance at the time.

Flippin' heck! RIP Joe, and condolences to his family and friends.

Brill - just nabbed one. Still had to pay £12 to ship to the Netherlands, but a bargain is a bargain.

One in sales... <edit> I see you're way ahead of me!

Caught a warming ray of evening sunlight shining through the blinds and partially illuminating one of the sunflowers we've got in a vase on the table... In other news, I've now twice spied a peregrine while on the back balcony. They usually nest on the nearby art deco water tower that's about half a mile from us. Typically it's front page news on the local paper, but don't think I've seen or read anything about them breeding this year. My two sightings in recent days suggests that they did.

Not got many gospel 45s, but thought I'd have a go at putting some of them together in a mix. Sounds range from the proto-R&B gospel revival sound to funkier grooves. Naturally I'm biased, but I have to say I think it makes for great listening. Might not be of much interest to folks on here, but hey, I thought it worth a plug... Track listing: 1. The Story Of Job - The Gospel Pearls 2. Shadrack - Sister Rosetta Tharpe & Marie Knight 3. Where Jesus Is - The Jubilee Hummingbirds 4. Don't You Want To Go - The Meditation Singers 5. Wade In The Water - The Ramada Singers 6. Elijah Rock - Mahalia Jackson 7. You Can Depend On Me - The Salem Travelers 8. Nobody Can Turn Me Around - The Mighty Clouds of Joy 9. Two Little Fishes - The Gospel Pearls 10. It Ain't Necessarily So - Milton Grayson 11. Didn't It Rain - Evelyn Freeman 12. Holy Holy - Daughters of Zion 13. Jericho - Sister Rosetta Tharpe 14. On The Right Road Now - Wanda Talford 15. Same Thing It Took - The Jubilee Hummingbirds 16. Lord, Help Me To Hold Out - Swan Mellarks www.mixcloud.com/LomaRuss/gospel-pearls-to-lift-your-soul/

Yup. Looked very quiet in the clip. I understand that the first nighter there was packed.

Saw a news item & short vid pop up on the BBC News website a little while ago about a Northern Soul club that's just opened in Birmingham. I'm guessing that this is the club mentioned in the "Call out for dancers/original Northern soul fans" thread that attracted so much vitriol recently. Anyway, here's the link to the BBC News story, such as it is. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-33676835

Personally speaking, I think it's a fantastic tune and it's one I've played out in Amsterdam, although not for a good while.

Wonderful Greek blue landscape as seen on hols recently.

That's how events unfolded. Arthur said that Kell was planning to visit the UK at some point in the future to perform. Some time later he told me that this had been cancelled as Kell was unwell. Relative to that CD, which was produced and arranged by Arthur, there's one standout track on it - for me at any rate - called Mr Songwriter. Always had it in mind to get a carver done and play it out somewhere. Might still do that.