Amsterdam Russ

I mentioned this in another thread and was asked for a scan. Might as well add it here as well. Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Gospel Train EP - Spain. Tracks are: - Jerico - When they ring the golden bell - Can't no grave hold my body down - Beams of heaven

Here you go...

No, Zanetti, but I could make one. I'll try to remember to do it tomorrow.

Also available on a Spanish EP!

I bought this British Library CD a few years back. The description says... One of my better CD purchases of recent years.

I think it's great that we can still experience that great sense of excitement when seeing a new species for the first time! Still not seen a bittern, but really would like to. Perhaps more than that, I'd really like to hear one. At some point in the late 70s (I think) a new bird watching magazine was launched in the UK. The first edition, if I remember correctly, carried a free flexidisc of bird sounds on the front cover and featured Bill Oddie as narrator. Among the sounds presented was the booming call of the bittern. That and the mechanical call of the nightjar sounded other worldy to me as a kid and their sounds have been deeply imprinted on my brain ever since. Last year I heard the distant sound of a nightjar at about four in the morning when cycling through the Amsterdam woods after a night at the Amsterdam Soul Club. That was great. Now if only I could hear that bittern.

There's a mention of it by Keith Rylatt at the end of this recent Motown Junkies thread. Presumably he doesn't think it a boot. https://motownjunkies.co.uk/2009/10/11/47/

Sent…

Happy to. Let me have an email address and I'll send scans to you...

A car came off the road last night and somehow ended up in the canal that runs alongside the building in which we live. Happily, both people in the car - a man and a woman - escaped unhurt. We didn't see how the woman got out. The man, being rather rotund by Dutch standards, struggled to get free but was eventually pulled through the open window by a fire crew. A Police diver later aided in putting straps under the car so that it could be lifted out by a crane. Some pics of the drama... Must have been a day for high drama here as about lunchtime half a dozen fire engines went speeding up the same street to tackle a blaze in business unit.

I hope someone's keeping a note of these for the benefit of future generations. They're to good to lose. I though 'Scribbling Lark' was obscure enough, but what's the logic behind 'Spuggies'? Sounds like a melding of 'Sparrows' and 'Budgies', but that's a wild guess on my part.

Absolutely fascinating! How did you guys learn these names? I mean, are/were they in regular use locally, are they part of the local/regional dialect, are they taught in schools locally? One of the reasons for asking is that I knew that a Mistle Thrush was also known as a Storm Cock. I think I learnt that from the Observer Book of Birds c.early 70s. Does that mean it was a common name that's just fallen out use or did it somehow gain greater prominence through something like a poem or a story?

I'm neither for nor against "Northern Soul dance classes", but what gets me is that every time I watch one of these videos I just don't recognise the dance style. What they're doing is nothing more than the "disco here, disco there" style of dancing you see at family weddings and stuff. Northern Soul used to have a unique dance style that went with the unique music. What happened to it?

I grew up in Kent during the 2nd half of my childhood. A friend's grandfather had a broad rural Kentish accent - something that I think had almost completely disappeared by that time. It was difficult to understand what he was saying. Mind you, he lost all his teeth when he was kicked in the face by a horse in WWI, so that might have had something to do with it! False teeth aside, I remember asking for directions when we were out in the Kentish countryside one time and really didn't understand a word the guy was saying so thick was his local accent.

Excellent, and how eccentrically British!

Ah, I thought there might be other, local, names! Thanks for that. Any idea how that description came to be??

Just trying to remember from my days as an enthusiastic young ornithologist... Lapwing = green plover = peewit... Is that right? Any other names to add?

Front and rear view from our apartment today. As you can see, it snowed.

I see 'em!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tcw7

Worth a look, I guess...

Starling singing it's little heart out. Love it when they do this - they sing in a most marvelous way at the top of their voice and flap their wings about like a crazy thing. A number of starlings had nests under the same section of the shed roofing you can see in the pic, so I'm not entirely sure whether the display is made to attract a mate or to define territory. Either way, the performance is a great thing to behold.

I've had this problem before and it is annoying. Last time it was with seven purchases from the same seller and it all got very complicated. Someone did tell me that you can add items to a shopping cart and pay for multiple purchases (and get combined shipping) in just one hit. Thing is though, the cart isn't always available - and therein lies the problem.

Definitely a modern day recording in a "Northern" style.

Wish I could say the same. Played Tony Milton's 'Comin' home baby' at a night last week and now the thing's got a jump in it that I can't get rid of!