From my Wikepedia a citation on the siren:

In Greek mythology, the Sirens (Greek singular: Σειρήν Seirēn; Greek plural: Σειρῆνες Seirēnes) were beautiful yet dangerous creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on some small islands called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions, the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa, is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the islands known as the Sirenuse, near Paestum, or in Capreae. All such locations were surrounded by cliffs and rocks.

When Sirens are named, they are usually as daughters of the river god Achelous, fathered by Terpsichore, Melpomene, Sterope, or Chthon (the Earth). In Euripides' play, Helen (167), Helen in her anguish calls upon "Winged maidens, daughters of the Earth"). Although they lured mariners, the Greeks portrayed the Sirens in their "meadow starred with flowers" and not as sea deities. Roman writers linked the Sirens more closely to the sea, as daughters of Phorcys. Sirens are found in many Greek stories, notably in Homer's Odyssey.

Spanish often transports me into other places because of the fact that Spanish, being a romance language has a more evident influence of Latin. And because of Latin it also has shades of ancient Greek, too.

Consider that word alarm that to many represents a metropolitan angst of the noise of ambulances in the middle of the night.

In Spanish it’s quite a different thing. An alarma translates that noisy word into Spanish. But consider sirena (also an alarm). To name that romantic noise that ships at port might project at midnight on New Year’s in Spanish we would call that a sirena de barco or ship’s siren.

But best of all a sirena is also a mermaid. My Real Academia Dictionary of the Spanish Language (the on line version) has this citation:

 sirena

Del lat. tardío Sirēna, este del lat. Siren, -ēnis, y este del gr. Σειρήν Seirḗn.

1. f. Ninfa marina con busto de mujer y cuerpo de ave según la tradición grecolatina, y con cuerpo de pez en otras tradiciones, que extraviaba a los navegantes atrayéndolos con la dulzura de su canto. U. t. en sent. fig.

To illustrate this blog I have here a photograph of a Circe that one day came into my studio.

Un cliché es siempre efectivo poque lo és.

Con la venida del invierno Sánchez esta con mucha fiaca y tuve que decirle, “Tenés que dibujar a la Yuki.” Esto lo hizo. Firmó el dibujo, lo fechó y se lo regaló a la muy contenta Yuki.

Que yo sepa hay pocas fotos de Sánchez en su estudio. Tomé varias en Vancouver y fue un gran placer hacerlo en Bueno Aires también.

En camino al estudio compré un girasol en una esquina por 20 pesos para las fotos. 

Desafortunadamente en estos tiempos poner una foto de una mujer desnuda en un blog no se hace. Celebramos la ocasión  en la Pizzería El Cuartito donde disfrutamos una pizza y unas copas de Moscato Crotta..

In 1986 there was Expo 86 in Vancouver and business (particularly mine as a magazine photographer) was good. My wife Rosemary (consistently makes the right decisions) told me that we should move from our small strata title home in Burnaby to a real one with a garden in Vancouver. So we moved. I remember that the first few years we were paying $3500 per month towards our mortgage. But business was good.

For 1986 Vancouver Magazine had hired me to direct a National Geographic style of shoot called Hot Shots to celebrate the coming of age of our city (they changed the embarrassing 19^th century style liquor laws!). I assigned several very good local photographers for the job but I shot three of them. One of them involved an incredibly beautiful woman called Cathy. I was so taken by her that I decided I would use her as my model for the Eye of Eros exhibit. Unfortunately (and Blake tried to reject my entry) I decided to photograph Cathy (now Katheryn) in a white teddy or slip in what was my version of the sexy woman you sometimes might meet at a library desk. We used my word processor which was a Smith Corona PWP-40.

And here you have it. I later saw the light and Katheryn posed for me without that teddy quite often.

My writer friend Les Wiseman and I conned Vancouver Magazine Editor Malcolm (known as Mac in those days) into doing a story on strippers. Mac thought it was a lousy idea until Wiseman gave him the money numbers and how much cash changed hands. 

That Vancouver Magazine article and one for Equity Magazine (Sex Sells) got me exclusive entry into the dressing rooms of most of the strip clubs (called Show Lounges) in town.

In the late 70s I was able to get a loan (to buy a studio lighting system) at my Burnaby Branch of the Bank of Montreal from a serious looking older Scottish bank officer. She asked me what I could offer as collateral. I placed in front of her a large stack of Bi-Lines which was a gay and lesbian weekly. I was the staff photographer. I was the only straight employee. The woman gave me the loan ($2500) on the spot. I photographed for Bi-Line a few serious businessmen and broadcasters who later became Senators and local politicians

In the early 80s I conned both the Vancouver Province and Maclean’s to send me to LasVegas to cover a first ever stripper convention. Both publications got a scoop as a Vancouver woman became the Golden G-String Award winner.

There were many bizarre assignments but one of the most hilarious was this one where I photographed not a Tupperware Party, or a variation that might have been called Tupperwear. We called it a ……wear party. The women were all happy to see me even though I was not wearing tight jeans.

Now Rosemary and I in our Kitsilano home almost feel like we might try having a few siestas again.

Because I was born in 1942 I have been able to straddle the 20^th and 21^st centuries. I would not be able to write this if I had been born in 1842.

Since my two week trip to Buenos Aires in April I have been thinking about the subject of this blog. It has something to do with the curious fact that the City States of Ancient Greece, at least the idea of the city state, exists as Buenos Aires.

My place of birth, Buenos Aires has a population around 3 million and the Gran Buenos Aires is 12, 800. 000. Argentina’s population is 41 million.

Because Buenos Aires is a port city and the English in the latter part of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th built the railway system, all the train tracks (and roads) lead to Buenos Aires. Many in Argentina sometimes call our city a pulpo or octopus.

I have thought of this long and hard and I cannot come up with another city in our world that has at least three writers (Jorge Luís Borges, Ernesto Sabato and Julio Cortázar who have written novels, [Borges, poems, essays, and short stories]) that represent something that Argentines call costumbrismo. This is to write about the place where you live. Borges has numerous poems and stories which mention exact intersections of corners of Buenos Aires, of train stations and barrios (neighbourhoods). When Cortázar wrote from Paris and about Paris, his Paris was Buenos Aires.

Argentina also has novels and poetry about its interior. The most famous is José Hernandez’ Martín Fierro not to mention the work of creative non-fiction by Domingo Sarmiento (a president of Argentina in the 19^th century) Facundo: Civilización y Barbarie. There are countless Argentine poets who wrote about the Pampa in the 19^th and the 20^th century.

But I believe that the idea that a city has three writers (all deceased) who almost exclusively wrote about their city is unique.

While even Borges acknowledges that the tango came from Uruguay’s milonga he adds to this the idea that it is in bad taste to call the country Uruguay. Argentines, many of them call it la Banda Oriental (the eastern side of the River Plate) and Uruguayans are orientales.

But wherever the tango came from it became the song and dance, not of Argentina but of the city of Buenos Aires. Argentina has a wealth of música folclórica or folclore, but it is the music of the provinces. The tango is porteño. It is of the city.

Of late I late I have been listening to an Astor Piazzolla CD called Hommage a Liège. It features Piazzola on the bandoneon, and Cacho Tirao on guitar. They are accompanied by the string orchestra of Liège. The recording is live from Belgium in 1992. I have been struck by the idea that even from Belgium the music, the music of Piazzolla is not really Argentine (it is more universal since he studied under the very French Nadia Boulanger (who also taught composition to Dave Brubeck) but pure Buenos Aires.

American jazz is not of one city and the closest I can think of might be the Viennese waltz. In literature Raymond Chandler wrote about Los Angeles and its neighbouring areas. There may be other writers and composers but I cannot think of any.

And then there is this other startling fact sent to me by request by my Argentine friend Roberto Baschetti who is an hincha (fan) of Club Atlético Boca Juniors. Madrid has two First Division football clubs. Buenos Aires has 17 within the city and many more in the outskirts.

So I rest my case that Buenos Aires is a modern example of the Greek City State.

1º DIVISIÓN

ARGENTINOS JUNIORS (Barrio de La Paternal. CABA)

ARSENAL. (Sarandí. localidad pegada a Avellaneda. Pcia. de BsAs.)

BANFIELD (Banfield. Prov. de BsAs.)

BOCA JUNIORS (Barrio de La Boca. CABA)

DEFENSA Y JUSTICIA (Florencio Varela. Pcia. de BsAs.)

ESTUDIANTES (La Plata. Prov. de BsAs.)

GIMNASIA ESGRIMA (La Plata. Prov. de BsAs.)

HURACAN (Barrio de Parque de los Patricios. CABA).

INDEPENDIENTE (Avellaneda. Pcia de BsAs,)

LANUS (Lanús. Pcia. de BsAs.)

QUILMES (Quilmes. Pcia. de BsAs.)

RACING (Avellaneda. Pcia. de BsAs.)

RIVER PLATE (Barrio de Nuñez. CABA)

SAN LORENZO (Barrio de Boedo. CABA)

TEMPERLEY (Temperley. Pcia. de BsAs.)

TIGRE (Tigre. Pcia. de BsAs.)

VELEZ SARSFIELD (Barrio de Liniers. CABA)

B NACIONAL

ALL BOYS (Barrio de Floresta. CABA)

ALMAGRO (Sede en el barrio homónimo de CABA. Estadio en José Ingenieros, prov. de BsAs. pegado a la General Paz)

BROWN (Adrogué. Pcia. de BsAs)

CHACARITA JUNIORS (San Martín. Pcia de BsAs.)

FERROCARRIL OESTE (Barrio de Caballito. CABA)

LOS ANDES (Lomas de Zamora. Pcia de BsAs.)

NUEVA CHICAGO (Barrio de Mataderos. CABA)

VILLA DALMINE (Campana. Pcia. de BsAs.)

PRIMERA B

ACASSUSO (Acassuso. Pcia. de BsAs.)

ALMIRANTE BROWN (San Justo. Pcia. de BsAs.)

ATLANTA (Barrio de Villa Crespo. CABA)

BARRACAS CENTRAL (Barrio de Barracas. CABA)

COLEGIALES (Munro. Partido de Vte. López. Pcia. de BsAs.)

COMUNICACIONES (Barrio de Agronomía. CABA)

DEFENSORES DE BELGRANO (Barrio de Belgrano. CABA)

DEPORTIVO ARMENIO (Ingeniero Maschwitz. Escobar. Pcia.de BsAs.)

DEPORTIVO ESPAÑOL (Barrio de Bajo Flores. CABA)

DEPORTIVO MORON (Morón. Pcia. de BsAs.)

DEPORTIVO RIESTRA (Barrio de Nueva Pompeya. CABA)

ESTUDIANTES (Caseros. Pcia. de BsAs.)

PLATENSE (Barrio de Nuñez. CABA)

SAN TELMO (Dock Sud. Pcia. de BsAs.)

TALLERES (Remedios de Escalada. Pcia de BsAs.)

URQUIZA (Barrio de Urquiza. CABA)

PRIMERA C

ARGENTINO DE MERLO (Merlo. Pcia. de BsAs.)

ARGENTINO DE QUILMES (Quilmes. Pcia. de BsAs.)

BERAZATEGUI (Berazategui. Pcia de BsAs.)

DEPORTIVO LAFERRERE (Gregorio de Laferrère. Pcia. de BsAs.)

DEPORTIVO MERLO (Merlo. Pcia. de BsAs.)

DOCK SUD (Dock Sud. Pcia. de BsAs.)

EXCURSIONISTAS (Barrio de Bajo Belgrano. CABA)

FERROCARRIL MIDLAND (Libertad, partido de Merlo. Pcia. de BsAs.)

J.J. DE URQUIZA (Caseros. Pcia. de BsAs.).

LINIERS (La Matanza. Pcia. de BsAs.)

SACACHISPAS (Barrio de Villa Soldati. CABA)

SAN MARTIN DE BURZACO. (Burzaco. Pcia de BsAs.)

SAN MIGUEL (San Miguel. Pcia de BsAs.)

SPORTIVO ITALIANO (Ciudad Evita. Pcia. de BsAs.)

PRIMERA D

ATLAS (General Rodríguez. Pcia. de BsAs.)

ATLETICO LUGANO (Barrio de Villa Lugano. CABA)

CENTRAL BALLESTER (Villa Ballester. Pcia. de BsAs.)

CLAYPOLE (Claypole. Pcia. de BsAs.)

DEPORTIVO MUÑIZ (Muñiz. Pcia. de BsAs.)

DEPORTIVO PARAGUAYO (Barrio de Constitución. CABA)

EL PORVENIR (Gerli, Partido de Avellaneda. Pcia. de BsAs.)

ITUZAINGO (Ituzaingo. Pcia de BsAs.)

JUVENTUD UNIDA (San Miguel. Pcia. de BsAs.)

LEANDRO N. ALEM (General Rodríguez. Pcia. de BsAs.)

PUERTO NUEVO (Campana. Pcia.de BsAs.)

VICTORIANO ARENAS (Barrio de Barracas. CABA)

YUPANQUI (Barrio de Villa Lugano. CABA)