Some Liverpool miscellany

Canada geese and the CBC?

Liverpool (sabbatical 2, week 3)

Here are some observations and pictures that didn't really fit elsewhere.

I mentioned some similarities between Halifax and Liverpool.  Here are some additional reminders of home.  Craig asked his collaborator here about the CBC pattern on the Backstage window - he's seen it but it's a new building, it is not some remnant CBC studio.  We guess the interior designer just liked the way it looked?

A few previously unmentioned sites bear mentioning.  The first is the Tate Museum (Liverpool branch).  It is a thoroughly modern collection, the oldest pieces that Craig could find were by old-time PACA resident Matisse.  There are some interesting pieces, although not a large collection; to see them all completely would take quite some time, however, as several pieces are performance-art films/recordings/etc. that take their time.

left: Lambanana! right: Craig with another set of Roger's drums

Second is yet more music: along the waterfront you'll find these Superlambananas (named after an original sculpture and sort of a symbol of Liverpool) with local musical acts drawn on them.  This particular one has Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, Echo and the Bunnymen, and, of course (at the front of the picture) A Flock of Seagulls.  Following these sculptures down the docks will bring you to the British Music Experience, a "pop" music museum tracing what would have been popular music in each era, starting with big-band/jazz.  It is not large - one big room - so there's not a lot of detail and several missing bands.  Craig was disappointed (if unsurprised) that Dire Straits did not make the cut, but even Led Zeppelin was reduced to one artifact (one of Jimmy Page's shirts), and Sting/Police are nowhere to be found.  The highlight is the end, where they have several instruments (electric drum sets and real guitars) with recorded lessons from modern pop acts that teach you how to play along with their songs.

Finally (at least for this visit): the World Museum of Liverpool, located in a grand old building.  It is the most vertical museum  in town, spanning 5 floors including a planetarium and an aquarium (but perhaps it's not big enough to rate a separate entry in the "Aquarium List").  And of course, being a British museum, it houses large numbers of Egyptian artifacts including some very well-preserved mummies.  Of course, there is no mention of culture theft, even beside the displayed letter from an English Egyptologist unironically telling the story of  how he and his crew "rescued a site from plunderers."