Thursday 3 June 2010

Glamrock meets Robinson Crusoe: no contest.


This run down, somewhat seedy establishment is a memorial to Mick Ronson. Who? He was the guy who played guitar with David Bowie in the glittery glamrock end of '70s. There used to be a kind of awning over a small stage but that appears to gone the way of all council cutbacks. Now it's just a cafe in Queen's Gardens with a tacky sign. 

In contrast to the ephemeral, pop music world, you may just make out a plaque on the wall. This is a celebration of Robinson Crusoe's departure from Hull in 1651. Not from that spot, you understand, since that wasn't a dock then, and nor yet for real since he was only  a figure in a book. The plaque states "he spent 28 years, 2 months and 19 days on a desert island an example of resolution, fortitude and self-reliance"
It goes onto to quote "Had I the sense to return to Hull, I had been happy"; well quite, but there'd been no story then, would there?

2 comments:

  1. I don't think the intention was ever to create a competition between Jonathan Swift and Mick Ronson!

    I don't know about Pop Music being ephemeral either. To me it was the greatest art-form of the twentieth century. Ronson and the other Spiders from Mars played their part in it, Hullensians are very proud of him and his legacy, but the council obviously don't think he deserves any better than this.

    Great pic anyway, and well spotted. Keep up the good work!

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  2. Thanks Anonymous; it was Daniel Defoe not Swift but why quibble over a mere detail ...

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