Category Archives: 80s

Spaceley John Spaceley

Passing Through Cologne

Published Dec 25, 2011 Back in December 1982 a Paris-bound train approached the Rhine Bridge into Koln. A dark dawn sky shod the winter morning sky. Building lights rimmed the overflowing river. I sat on the left side of the DeutscheBahn passenger car. The six-seat compartment was all mine. Few people took the midnight milk […]

HERMAPHRODITE by Peter Nolan Smith

Back in the early 1980s the construction of IM Pei’s pyramid blocked access to the Louvre Museum, leaving the ancient palace of the Bourbon kings mostly to art historians and a few wandering tourists, however I regularly wandered the museum’s desolate corridors to admire its vast collection. At that time I was employed as the Bains-Douches’ […]

THE BOUQUET OF RUINS by Peter Nolan Smith

Dec 1982 Some cities are best defined by songs such as APRIL IN PARIS or AUTUMN IN NEW YORK, but Hamburg defied music, especially as winter weather skimmed off the North Sea to besiege the harbor city with endless rain, cold, and darkness. Every day the night conquered a few more minutes of light and […]

Tennyson Walk the Isle of Wight 1985

December 1985 Vonelli invited Lizzie and me to the Isle of Wight. We were sitting in a Bastille cafe. Lizzie had a show on TV that night. Her song was playing on the radio. I had to work at the Balajo later. There wasn’t much holiday spirit on the Rue De La Roquette. “We’ll do […]