I spotted this object in the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. |
| Another world of hedonism in Munich. Bavarians celebrating in their own unique style.. |
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| It takes some getting use to the general conformity to the lederhosen and dirndl but young, old, rich and poor all follow the fashion of the traditional dress. |
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I found this couple whilst killing a few hours looking around the Sunday markets of the Bastille. Strangely enough the sound of their instruments did not resonate but their image will live on forever.
I took this image whist waitinbg for my wife to buy a pair of sunglasses. in the Marais district of Paris. Notice that this father and son are passing the only Kosher Pizza joint I found in Paris.
This is my wife; Gloria. We are in Paris to present her company at the British Embassy for French retailers. The trip was arranged to ensure that UK manufacturers were given the opportunity to create a confident platform to display their products to new international market. 
Observation 2. Navigate with soul. Suffice it to say when husband and wife get together to navigate a new territory; maps, advice and knowledge take a back seat to trust, patience and conviction. These qualities were both our anchor and true guide throughout the various adventures through the Paris streets over our stay in the city.
Colette Paris - Rue St. Honere. As part of the research project on our trip to Paris we went to the taste makers shop of choice Colette (213 RUE SAINT-HONORÉ 75001 PARIS). Whist outside surveying the commings and goings of this uber fashion street I noticed that there seemed to be some excitement over a promotion for a new skating publication being launched in the store. The gathering was was hip, it was current and it was a natural crowd pleaser. But was it educative to the new Paris consumer of the theme (skating) at its hard core best? The answer, to my mind, was no. My experience was that I had travelled the streets for three days looking out for the familiar sounds and sights of skating culture, I searched in the Bastille, Marais, Place de la Concorde and many other others areas and all were devoid of skating culture. Skating had not appeared to revolutionise Paris and yet Colette was showcasing Skating culture as the fulcrum at which Paris youth culture is balanced. I know that real skate culture is discovered underground and I may not have dug deep enough. I am cool with this, but I realise that the adoption of this punk sport is easy for the trendy to usurp. 
I just spent a 7 day revival with Rochester Washington, my father. I say revival because we have been separated most of our lives and over a long period I have been trying to find a way of reviving the lost history between father and son.
My father has been living in Germany for most of my formative and adult years and we have not had the convenience of communicating on an emotional and more importantly, an impulsive basis. What I mean is that I have never had the inclination to pick up the phone to say "hey dad I have a free weekend and I wanted to pop over to see how you are doing". But as the quote goes 'anywhere is walking distance if you have the time', and for my father and I, the desire was never clear and we seem to be constantly out of time. So the distance remained. Now, I am trying to walk a path of union form father to son.
I invited my father to visit me on March 15th until 22nd March 2011. I wanted to explore and share some of my father’s memories of his early formative years in the UK (the haunts, the people and experiences that engaged him in his time in 60's London). During the years of my father’s exile, I had not had the opportunity to share his history with the place that I now live and work. In some way this trip gave me a real insight into a Caribbean man; his dreams, aspirations and failures.
I am revisiting this family theme as previously I walked this path with my father in less familiar surroundings. In 1998 I had spent two weeks in my fathers homeland of Guyana but due to youth and insecurity, I had not gained enough experience and knowledge of his life in his home country to reconcile my own life with his. So the chance to meet again and continue the journey was an opportunity never to be ignored.
The trip had begun with the ceremonious collection from the airport and as we met after his 45 minute delayed arrival at London Heathrow, we hugged and took a brief respite at the smoking area outside the arrivals area of Terminal 5. We started talking, small talk, and whilst we both took in the nicotine infused air I stole a few secret glances at my father; hands – lighting cigarette, feet – two feet from my own, lips – hesitant but pronounced with every translated word. I, in turn was trying to translate the physical form of dad with my emotional sense of belonging to him. In this short re-introduction we started to explore the common themes of discourse that was to guide our relationship building for the next 7 days, Food, Music and Family.
Verse 1 - Food
My father is a foodie and consistent with this love, his welcome gift for my wife and I was a sting of Wiesswurst. He immediately place some reverence for this offering by stating that our casual catch up must be cut short to enable him to get this gift refrigerate as soon as possible as to be fully appreciated we must eat this fresh. I have since discovered that Wiesswurst, a German sausages made from veal and pork and is a local Bavarian delicacy. This anaemic looking dish is blanched in hot water and once cooked, is served with a German sweet mustard Wiesswurstsenf. Once consumed it becomes apparent that this is indeed a delicacy to be appreciated. We ate in a silence that gave this dish a reverence that seemed a little too formal for what was a noticeably humble fare. It was obvious that we were digesting more than the food; we had to digest the unspoken, the unexplored, the unexplainable a gift, a gesture from a stranger – my father.
Verse 1 – Is That Jazz?
On the second day of fathers stay we made our first trip was to Ronnie Scotts to hear Dee Dee Bridgewater in a tribute to Billie Holiday. Dee was not blowin’ on this night and neither were father and son. Perhaps a portent of future sessions? I felt that Dee’s lack of performance somehow mirrored the discordant nature of our clumsy communications. Hey, this performance stuff is difficulty for Dee Dee to get the audience on side and for me to get it together with my father; a great ensemble takes amazing finesse. More rehearsal I think on both sides.
Chorus
On the following day we visited a family relative who set my father on another foodie mission. He wanted to buy some Roti for his trip back to germany and we explored the backstreets of Hackney until we discovered a rare gem of culinary delight that was Horizon Foods on Broadway Market (http://www.caribbeanfoodemporium.co.uk/manus2.htm). With mission accomplished we set off with our silent guest of over 20 Guyanese Roti that will accompany us on our four-day excursion.
Off we went to the meeting place in the Suffolk countryside; one father, one son, one map.
I decided to book a country retreat with the Landmark Trust in the New Inn in Peasenhall Suffolk a medieval coaching inn built in 1478 where the weary traveller could eat and gather. I thought this would be a fitting venue for two travelers finding a common theme to their two stories.
Verse 2 – Is That Jazz (Part 2)
It has been said that every person has a story to tell and each story has a song that make that story easier on the ear.
I wanted to explore the common music reference points that supported our mutual cultural pleasures. A chance to exchange what I think is a fortunate shared appreciation of a music form that is losing its provenance in cultural arts. To do this I had hired a car with an iPod music link that enabled me to plug in my latest sync from my carefully curated iPod play list selections. I had a considered but random choice of tracks that I wanted to share with my father and by pushing play on my selection I wanted to stimulate some reaction from him on what I presumed was commonly held cultural connections between us.
I regard my father as a Jazz man and as this is my first love of music I looked forward to sharing the cool and the hot of the sounds of jazz. My father is essentially a Jazz man and this understood cultural position lead me to theme our re-unification by presenting a playlist of perceived commonly held milestones of classic soul-jazz music.
I prepared a playlist on the iPod that would take us on our five day journey of discovery with selections from the following albums:
Freddie Hubbard - Keep your Soul Together
Horace Silver - Songs For My Father
Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
Duke Ellington and John Coltrane
Bill Withers - Live at Carnegie Hall
Curtis Mayfield – Curtis
Donny Hathaway – Everything is Everything
Oliver Nelson – Trane Whistle
From the above play list I discovered that my father had a love of Shirley Scott which was a little strange as I had not included any of my fairly extensive Jazz Organist recordings (Jimmy Smith, Charles Earland, Big John Hammond, etc). Another missed opportunity for the re-union?
Solo
Verse 3
Today we took to trip to visit my sister in Boston. The day passed without much incident apart form a short interaction between my mother and father. I agreed for mum to take dad to my sisters so he could visit his grandchildren. With initial greetings between this two significant people in my life they then conducted a short conversation as the strangers that they had become in each other’s life.
This led me to thinking that the art of life is a basic set of instructions that teaches in ever more practical terms how we should care about our life and the lives of others. And it is on this note that i want to recommend an insight into the current state of race and class that underpins the this dis-united states of living on our UK doorsteps. Please take a look at: The institute for Race Relations and subscribe to their weekly newsletter and then judge where you're at and what is happening to those losing the fight for survival.
Today at 18.00 I responded to a request from my client for ideas to present to business leaders at an investment bank. These leaders are being addressed to encourage them into getting involved with the conservative political agenda 'The Big Society'. 
