Guest writer Frankie McKillen provides TPQ with some French Connection.


Growing up in Ardoyne during the conflict and going to Divis Flats to see my friends, seemed like an adventure. Do I be brave and take the first bus at Ardoyne shops, even if it meant going down the Shankill Road or play safe and wait for a bus to go down the Crumlin Road? I just wanted to see a couple of friend and listen to Jerry Reed singing about Rockin' in Baghdad. Then I go home and hear Ray Stevens singing about Ahab the Arab on the radio. And I'd wonder, where is Baghdad and what's an Arab when he's at home? I had heard about south Armagh, Republicans and Loyalists. One day I figured out Baghdad was in Iraq and Arabs are more or less Muslims.

A place called Grigny

Today, Grigny is one of three towns in the leafy suburbs south of Paris that make up the 'le neuf-un'. The other two cités are Corbeil. and Evry.  In 2005 serious rioting broke out in France after two youths where electrocuted as they fled the police in the northern leafy suburbs of Paris in a place called Clichy-sous-Bois also known as 'le neuf-trois . The level of anger towards the police in Grigny. came close to eclipsing the level of anger felt by nationalists & republicans towards Britain over The Deaths on the Rock. To Algerians living in Grigny it stirred up memories of Paris 1961 . It took 37 yrs of denial by the French Gov to admit killing at least 40 innocent anti war protesters.

Silence about the events within the police headquarters was further enforced by threats of reprisals from participating officers . All sounds familiar doesn't it.

One of the side effects about 'Les émeutes de 2005' and the police lock down was after about 10 days everyone's personal supply started to dry up. Especially as Nicolas Sarkozy was declaring his personal war on drugs when he said "war without mercy" on drug dealers warning that unless such neighbourhoods were revived, the "very idea of the nation is at stake".

While shortly after French Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced the closure of an anti-crime squad in Marseille after theft, racketeering and drug trafficking were exposed in the police unit. Prosecutor Jacques Dallest said “gangrene” had struck the service.

Early one evening during the riots I was tokin' on a number when a friend phoned and asked "Do I know where to get a smoke?" I said, "what's wrong with Grigny." He thought I was mad for even suggesting it. He had never seen riots before. I could remember  the aftermath of Bobby Sands. It's hard to forget 14 days in May.  I said to him 'I'll be over in 10 mins.' I was planning on going to Grigny myself anyhow. I put the phone down and said to the enemy lend me your comb and dusted off my blue suede's.

We both lived in a town called Viry Chatillon not far from Grigny, so I took a detour and decided to cast an eye at the police line. Then I went in search for a 7/11 to buy beer thinking to myself  'There is about a two hour window before that place kicks off again.'  I got my friend to put the beer in the fridge and said to  him I'd be back in 20/30mins and headed off in the direction of Grigny listening to Hank Williams Jr on an MP3 sing I'll take a little smoke and a lot of wine, I get high and I call old friends of mine. My guess was the riot police weren't interested in a white, late 30's male. Their attention was directed at 18-25 year old non while males. It was also a chance to see how another police force dealt with civil unrest up close. As I walked past what looked like a mini police state and entered Gringy to buy some pollen I was thinking to myself  'the RUC would have quietened things a lot quicker than its taking their French colleagues.'  As I made my way back to my friends with some mellow yellow. I got to thinking how much in common places like Grigny and Divis Flats are.

Some of Viry 's claims to fame include Theiry Henry playing for the semi-pro club Viry-Chatillon's under-15 team . Renault make their engines for F1 cars there and it was arguably the place for the worlds first airport. Tucked away in Viry, hidden from view, there was a place locally known as ''Le foyer . If I had to pick a piece of music that summed up Le Foyer, it would have to be the Twilight zone theme.

From the shithole of Belfast to the arsehole of Europe: Tales of a Belfast rockabilly..

Guest writer Frankie McKillen provides TPQ with some French Connection.


Growing up in Ardoyne during the conflict and going to Divis Flats to see my friends, seemed like an adventure. Do I be brave and take the first bus at Ardoyne shops, even if it meant going down the Shankill Road or play safe and wait for a bus to go down the Crumlin Road? I just wanted to see a couple of friend and listen to Jerry Reed singing about Rockin' in Baghdad. Then I go home and hear Ray Stevens singing about Ahab the Arab on the radio. And I'd wonder, where is Baghdad and what's an Arab when he's at home? I had heard about south Armagh, Republicans and Loyalists. One day I figured out Baghdad was in Iraq and Arabs are more or less Muslims.

A place called Grigny

Today, Grigny is one of three towns in the leafy suburbs south of Paris that make up the 'le neuf-un'. The other two cités are Corbeil. and Evry.  In 2005 serious rioting broke out in France after two youths where electrocuted as they fled the police in the northern leafy suburbs of Paris in a place called Clichy-sous-Bois also known as 'le neuf-trois . The level of anger towards the police in Grigny. came close to eclipsing the level of anger felt by nationalists & republicans towards Britain over The Deaths on the Rock. To Algerians living in Grigny it stirred up memories of Paris 1961 . It took 37 yrs of denial by the French Gov to admit killing at least 40 innocent anti war protesters.

Silence about the events within the police headquarters was further enforced by threats of reprisals from participating officers . All sounds familiar doesn't it.

One of the side effects about 'Les émeutes de 2005' and the police lock down was after about 10 days everyone's personal supply started to dry up. Especially as Nicolas Sarkozy was declaring his personal war on drugs when he said "war without mercy" on drug dealers warning that unless such neighbourhoods were revived, the "very idea of the nation is at stake".

While shortly after French Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced the closure of an anti-crime squad in Marseille after theft, racketeering and drug trafficking were exposed in the police unit. Prosecutor Jacques Dallest said “gangrene” had struck the service.

Early one evening during the riots I was tokin' on a number when a friend phoned and asked "Do I know where to get a smoke?" I said, "what's wrong with Grigny." He thought I was mad for even suggesting it. He had never seen riots before. I could remember  the aftermath of Bobby Sands. It's hard to forget 14 days in May.  I said to him 'I'll be over in 10 mins.' I was planning on going to Grigny myself anyhow. I put the phone down and said to the enemy lend me your comb and dusted off my blue suede's.

We both lived in a town called Viry Chatillon not far from Grigny, so I took a detour and decided to cast an eye at the police line. Then I went in search for a 7/11 to buy beer thinking to myself  'There is about a two hour window before that place kicks off again.'  I got my friend to put the beer in the fridge and said to  him I'd be back in 20/30mins and headed off in the direction of Grigny listening to Hank Williams Jr on an MP3 sing I'll take a little smoke and a lot of wine, I get high and I call old friends of mine. My guess was the riot police weren't interested in a white, late 30's male. Their attention was directed at 18-25 year old non while males. It was also a chance to see how another police force dealt with civil unrest up close. As I walked past what looked like a mini police state and entered Gringy to buy some pollen I was thinking to myself  'the RUC would have quietened things a lot quicker than its taking their French colleagues.'  As I made my way back to my friends with some mellow yellow. I got to thinking how much in common places like Grigny and Divis Flats are.

Some of Viry 's claims to fame include Theiry Henry playing for the semi-pro club Viry-Chatillon's under-15 team . Renault make their engines for F1 cars there and it was arguably the place for the worlds first airport. Tucked away in Viry, hidden from view, there was a place locally known as ''Le foyer . If I had to pick a piece of music that summed up Le Foyer, it would have to be the Twilight zone theme.

20 comments:

  1. Frankie, you look very handsome! I would of loved to have a hair I could quiff (my father was 'black' irish, so ive got this untameable hair)

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  2. ps i saw the title and thought for a minute Adams was running for an MEP post...

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  3. yeah, great hair frankie, a balaclava would have ruined that quifftastic head. i was in paris a few years ago, awesome spot, wud live there in a heartbeat. are u still there?

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  4. DaithD & Grouch,

    I was going to ask Anthony to 'pull' this and replace it with another piece that covered the same points but with no links. But he persuaded me it was fine how it looks. I had planned to tell the same events of 'the tales' by using the same MO as Dead David Beresford use in 10men dead. And for those of you who haven't read it. At the end of each chapter he gave a few pages insight into what life was like for prisoners by combing some prisoner experiences with out the comms. But as I'm a Belfast rockabilly..I'd have blended it with a dose of how Jerry Reed tells a story..

    But considering you both asked about my Brylcreem bounce and not about how David Beckham bent it.. I'm going to keep it up as it is.


    DaithuD,

    All hair can be tamed with brylcreem. Even Little Richards. Don't blame you father. What was the real reason you never had a quiff?


    Grouch,

    Paris has to be one of the most over rated cities in the world. Anyone could do the sights in a day, two tops. And if anyone is planning a trip to the place AVOID anglophone pubs. Especially Irish one. They are more expensive than Dublin. There are a lot of good French bars and how they mange to sell the same beer cheaper is beyond me.

    I'm still there. Lets just say my mutt is still a pup and dynamite hasn't blown her fuse yet. Sometimes in between going to the south of France for forays and other places. If this sounds gay grouch you know we both aren't but when I first went to France you could say I got the end of François Mitterrand before Jacques Chirac took over the reins. And lets say just say Sarko was a law unto himself. And my name sake Frankie H is a walking disaster.

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  5. Frankie,

    glad you opted to keep it up. It is a good piece and TPQ is glad to have it. It adds a dimension to the site away from the standard fare. Thanks for submitting ... and there is more to come.

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  6. Anthony if TPQ is happy to carry them. I've no qualms in penning a few pieces. I'l tell you something for nothing writing is hard but once you start it's kinda similar to starting off with a I IV V in blues.

    And any one who doesn't know what a one, four, five is click this blue line. And when you get good at it, you can play with the GODS like Clapton did many moons ago..

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  7. Frankie, I loved ( and love) The Smiths, and that whole James Dean aesthetic. My hairs lack of quiffability was a great source of angst (perhaps a natural state for a Smiths fan). I doubt it's just brylcream on little Richards hair, it's looks like a wig to me.

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  8. DaithiD ,

    I couldn't get into The Smiths If I wanted to bring myself down I'd listen to country music and guys like Dave Allen Coe singing the most perfect contry song ever. You'd have to listen to the song to understand why or cheat an FF to 3mins 6seconds.. Dave also sang about Broken hearts. So you were Smiths fan without a quiff. At least thats not as bad what grouch admitted on TPQ a while back by saying he was once a Mod.

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  9. Frankie,

    I agree with Anthony and I am glad you kept the links keeping in mind it is a signature part of most of your posts.

    I remember the bus debate well, take this one, or wait for that one but I think that was most people.
    One time I was with my nephew who was going on two, heading down to the dole with me after visiting his granny. The bus was practically empty but filled up at Tigers Bay with a clatter of Glen’s supporters on their way to a game.
    Got to the Shore road and my nephew stood up on the seat and out of the blue say’s, Rangers are shite, up the Celtics. I thought I would be on my way to hospital but instead the bus filled with roars of laughter and slagging match ensued some of them were egging my nephew on, one of them say’s, Celtic are fucking shite and nephew replied Rangers are fucking shite even I was laughing as this wee head just about reached over the top of the seat a few stops later and I was happy as they cheered him of the bus, needless to say I didn’t tell his ma.

    Anyways if you had excluded the links I would not have had a good laugh remembering Ahab the Arab and Rockin in Baghdad those I forgot about years ago.

    Having knocked about Divis when I was younger doing the usual drinking a few cans heading off for a game of snooker and then tossing what enclave to go for a few cheap pints.
    Looking back it was just normal like any other hangout but probably less of a hassle as the Brits and cops usually kept their distance.

    I suppose places like Divis and Grigny are common place the world over but hardly the image people get when they think of France or more so Paris with the city of love or light the tourist attraction.

    Enjoyed the read just curious why the Twilight Zone Theme? That sounds worse than if Divis Flats and Grigny had a baby.

    Few more years Frankie and you will have a mop of gray hair like me but keep firing up the articles if I was to go to France I would stay in the south and avoid the major cities.

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  10. Tain,
    Why the Twilight zone. The short answer is thats the name a few friends gave it. More than that I can't say at the minute otherwise it would be pointless penning a few pieces.
    Without sounding as if I'm talking in riddles after I seen my very first article in print anywhere on this rock I thought 'Frankie there is room for improvement." Kinda like the difference between getting a C+ and not a B- in a school exam I suppose. So I contacted TPQ and asked for it to be pulled and whatever else I had submitted to be binned. Long story short Anthony said it's not TPQ policy to pull pieces and a few people had made comments, I went back and had a second look at it and sided with Anthony's point of view.

    I agree with Anthony and I am glad you kept the links keeping in mind it is a signature part of most of your posts.

    What I decided after submitting the first installment of 'The Tales....' was to tell the same story but change the names to protect the innocent etc.. and I started penning a 'short story' type of thing. TPQ has an 'idea' of where it's going and I have a rough idea of how i'm going to tell it in the space between my ears.. Here is a short preview and thats all that I'll give (kinda work in progress). You could say the TPQ will get 'The directors cut'...

    I remember the bus debate well, take this one, or wait for that one but I think that was most people.

    This is how a Belfast rockabilly debated 'the bus debate' with himself...........

    'The first hurdle he had to over come was, would he be brave and take the first bus that arrived at the Ardoyne shops even if it meant going down the loyalist Shankill Road, where the infamous Shankill Butchers roamed and Romper Rooms weren't the like the children's TV program of the same name. Or wait for a bus to go down the mainly nationalist Crumlin Road. He could always play safe and jump in a London styled black taxi that took it's own ''tour of the north' as it weaved through the murky streets of Belfast until it arrived in the city center.. Sometimes to pass the time in the taxi, Phoenix would try to re-word the song ' Route 66' that he'd heard Chuck Berry sing on 12” piece of wax earlier that day by trying to substitute the place names he was more familiar with. into the lyrics of the song. But somehow places such as Ardoyne, Old Park, Cliftonville, New Lodge & Millfield didn't have the same ring to them as, Oklahoma City looking pretty and then there was Amarilo, Gallup, New Mexico and Flagstaff Arizona that Chuck sang about.. He just wanted to hang out with his friends in another part of town in a place called Divis Flats at the bottom of the Falls Road. Divis Flats was a place of almost daily gun battles and bomb scares. Where the British Army lurked in door ways or were found patrolling balcony’s trying to blend into the bleakness of the place. Just normal everyday Belfast hazards getting in the way of Phoenix's recreational activities. Sometimes he would look at the soldiers and laugh to himself thinking...

    "Fella's its just not working on any level for you. First, don't you lot know this is Divis Flats not a jungle in Borneo..the green camouflage isn't doing a good job of hiding you. Is it? Second, it's pissing down with rain and you've just started an eight hour foot patrol. And thirdly, I am going home tonight. You're not.

    I need coffee....................

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  11. Frankie, Mods seem a contridiction to me, in that they dress quite retro, im too old for that way of thinking now anyway. Anyhow, I would disagree with your Paris assessment. I took the missus last year. That little square around the Sacre-Coeur (and the cathedral itself!!) is magical, we both wanted to live there. The views of the rest of the city from there were breathtaking, something id never tire of seeing.

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  12. I couldn't (still can't) understand why anyone would want to be a Mod. Everything about being a Mod just seemed wrong to me. Maybe it was their green army parkers and a target on the back. I know it wasn't the music which was basically 'northern soul'. Personally I prefered Altlantic soul or the sounds coming from Stax in Memphis.

    The big white chapel on the hill. You liked that. Isn't that the same place where you get ripped off with the local rastas when you want some herbs? Which views do you mean? The view at the back of the Gare de Lyon where every night around 6pm there are lines of French & non French linng up to eat what is probably thier first hot meal that day? Or the view once you exit Gare de Nord and there are hundreds of illegal immigrants making less than a dollar a day begging for money to buy food? Or the views on the Paris metro where teams of Romanian women sit all day holding on to baby playing the 'poor me' card. When the truth is they work a shift (they sit there for 4-6 hrs then their shift ends and someone takes their place and the only person who doesn't get a break is the baby who trades places from one mother to another). Or Pigalle where god fearing Muslims try to entice you into some bar and watch some girl who was probably trafficked in, stand on a table and wiggle her butt and flash her tits while you pay 50-60euro for a bottle of whisky or 10euro for a bottle of Bud? Or the bars beside the Moulin Rouge where unless you give someone a brown envelope you can't open a bar? I could throw into the mix the police who would have a sly pint or double whiskey at 3am while you are cleaning up and they turn a blind eye while I'm having a joint?

    What views are you talking about?

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  13. Frankie, yes it was Monmarte.Dont forget them Romanian girls that run around with petitions asking people sign, they were everywhere when i was there . I read subsequently that its a distraction ruse, to pickpocket people, that's alot of pockets to pick. But anyway, all the ills you mentioned are present in the other Whitechapel (the east london district I lived for years) , perpetrated by the same groups of people, so perhaps im desensitised.I was just left with the beauty.

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  14. .DaithiD

    Dont forget them Romanian girls that run around with petitions asking people sign, they were everywhere when I was there . I read subsequently that its a distraction ruse, to pickpocket people

    So you did see the sights of Paris....Lets just say every morning when I wake up I still have the smell of Parisian perfume in my nostrils..........(not a bad movie and sorry if you have a 'Pop up or two', although there shouldn't be.)


    @grouch,

    Why a Mod?

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  15. Ps.. I should have said I read The book first (one of the very few non fiction books I've read) before I seen the movie.

    Here is a review by someone who read the book...



    Nov 14, 2011 Rick F. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

    I approached this book with some trepidation. A German novel, in which the tale takes place in 18th Century France, translated into English, and with very little dialogue...not nearly similar to books I usually read. Thank goodness I gave Perfume a chance. This is a story that is so original in its plot and presentation, its tone and pace so deceivingly relaxed, the reader is literally left breathless at the end, as if the parts built quietly to a whole and without warning - walloped the reader

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  16. Frankie,
    Sound enough I had a few guesses on the Twilight Zone I have been dopier lately literally so I didn’t twig on there would be a follow up.

    I know the feeling when I seen my first article( and I say that very loosely) I thought there was more than room it for improvement and in future will leave the articles to those that pen them well.

    I would say Anthony made the right call as it is an interesting perspective from a Belfast Rockabilly.
    I can see your dilemma with trying to find things that would fit no easy task as you are right the names of places we are familiar with don’t exactly have in our minds the same flare as get your kicks on route 66.

    That was handy about the dummy tits you could spot them coming and get offside before the usual up against the wall lark. Anyways, I see the dreaded Mod culture has appeared here and had a laugh at that as I never understood it… hard to believe our Grouch was once a mod, only slagging Grouch but somehow I can’t see you puttering along on a Vespa singing “this is the British way of life now” I might be wrong but I think another namesake scooter band the Lambretta’s, sang that one?

    Anyway good luck with the rest of the tale of two cities Frankie you are over the first hurdle so the rest should be wee buns.

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  17. i was a mod because my older sisters made me. only for a short while 1983 ish. i was a ska before that. then a rocker for years. now im a marxist-lennonist.

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  18. i was only 13. no vespa for me tain, raleigh 20. lads, we were lucky - mods rockers, skas, hippies, rockabillys punkss goths, miami vice heads (me in 86), pookies, greasers, heavy metalers, in my area growing up there was a scatter of all of the above. whats out there now, wankers in hoodies and one direction boy bandits. poor bastards bein born too late. we were v fuckin lucky.

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  19. Grouch,

    an aul Raleigh not too bad at all for me and most I knew it was hit the bricks and dander most of the time, unless we bunked the bus.

    I haven’t a baldy what passes for popular culture nowadays I think I said it before I still listen to a transistor radio but I blame Van Morrison for that.
    I think I will stick with the old ones I am actually cursing Frankie as for no reason Bob Segar’s “old time rock n roll” popped into my head.

    They can keep their hoodies and wee novelty bands it all sounds like nothing a trip to the rubbish dump couldn’t cure.

    Keep er lit grouch

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  20. Grouch here's one for the The Mods.. I was a wanderer myself.........

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