Monday, 14 May 2012
Home of the HIts - 10,000+
And to think that when I started this blog back in 1886 the internet was barely a flicker in the imagination of two deranged Finnish Merchant Sailors.
Thank you very much!
PS. Plenty more where this came from. I just need to stop circumnavigating the world!
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
England Manager - Here we go, Here we go, Here we go... again!
Ladies & Gentlemen of the press, please rise for England's new coach - Roy Manager
Poll Results - Best view in London
1 - Primrose Hill
2- Alexandra Palace
3 - Crystal Palace
4 - London Eye
Friday, 20 April 2012
“and the view's so nice’ - Primrose Hill
When watching TV from the other side of the world I am constantly on the lookout for English landmarks as and when they crop up. The one place that appears more than most is my beloved Primrose Hill (Spooks couldn’t exist without it), which stands a barely breathless 256 feet walk on the north side of Regent's Park in London. The hill has a clear view of central London to the south-east, as well as Belsize Park and Hampstead to the north. It is an ideal vantage point from which to watch capital days blossom, chug along and fade.
Like Regent's Park, Primrose Hill was once part of a great chase appropriated by Henry VIII (which he had called Marylebone Park), having previously been a part of Middlesex Forest. Later, in 1841, it became Crown property, and, in 1842, an Act of Parliament secured the land as public open space.
It has always been a beacon for poets, writers & musicians not least the following:
Poems and Prophecies by William Blake
'The fields from Islington to Marybone,
To Primrose Hill and Saint John's Wood,
Were builded over with pillars of gold,
And there Jerusalem's pillars stood.
Her Little-ones ran on the fields,
The Lamb of God among them seen...
The Jew's-harp-house & the Green Man,
The Ponds where Boys to bathe delight,
The fields of Cows by Willan's farm,
Shine in Jerusalem's pleasant sight.'
Apparently The Jew's Harp inn was a popular rendezvous in Marylebone Park. It stood next to Willan's Farm, where Leigh Hunt remembered having eaten 'creams and other country messes' in the days before 'the dear old fields' were redeveloped as Regent's Park.
Blake's most famous verse, 'And did those feet in ancient time', will not be found in this poem, whose subject is the fallen condition of Man and the forces that will redeem him. London is imagined as the historical Jerusalem.
According to John Black ,Henry Crabb Robinson, in his Diaries, Reminiscences and Correspondence recalls Blake telling him, 'I have conversed with the spiritual Sun. I saw him on Primrose Hill. He said, "Do you take me for the Greek Apollo? – "No", I said, "that (pointing to the sky) is the Greek Apollo. He is Satan"'
However, it waasn’t just English visionaries that recognized the beauty of Primrose Hill.
Guru from Selected Poems 1947-1995 by Allen Ginsberg
'It is the moon who disappears
It is the stars that hide not I
It's the City that vanishes, I stay
with my forgotten shoes,
my invisible stocking
It is the call of a bell
Primrose Hill, May 1965'
In the summer of 1965 the author had made a trip to England with several other Beat writers, and had given a reading at the Albert Hall. In a note to the poem he says that it was 'occasioned by a nap at dusk on the site of Druid mysteries, the grassy crest of London's Primrose Hill, overlooking London's towery skyline'
For Tomorrow - BLUR
'...Then Susan comes into the room,
She's a naughty girl with a lovely smile,
Says let's take a drive to Primrose Hill,
It's windy there and the view's so nice,
London ice can freeze your toes
Like anyone I suppose
I'm
Holding on for tomorrow.
On this point, check out the lovely film on the Blur website about the graffiti on Primrose Hill “and the view's so nice’.
Upfield - BRAGG, BILLY
'I'm going upfield, way up on the hillside
I'm going higher than I've ever been before
That's where you'll find me, over the horizon
Wading in the river, reaching for that other shore
I dreamed I saw a tree full of angels, up on Primrose Hill
And I flew with them over the Great Wen till I had seen my fill
Of such poverty and misery sure to tear my soul apart
I've got a socialism of the heart, I've got a socialism of the heart...'
In an article in The Observer, 22nd October 2000, the singer/songwriter said, 'My song Upfield was inspired partly by [William] Blake; I borrowed events from his life for the song's narrator, such as putting him on Primrose Hill seeing angels. It's about moving from an ideological argument for a better society to a more humanitarian vision; a socialism of the heart, the kind of compassion I find in Blake'. The story of Blake as a child seeing 'a tree full of angels' on Peckham Rye common is well known, however apparently his only mystical experience on Primrose Hill was a vision of the 'spiritual Sun'.
Primrose Hill - MADNESS
'A man opened his window and stared up Primrose Hill
Out there enjoying themselves I've seen them from this sill
Green splashed with white and red going brown
Children baiting animals running up and down
I stare out of this window
See the world go past...
Deliveries every day newspapers and food
Never had to venture out the phone has been removed
Open up the window and stare up Primrose Hill
Sitting here it's dark outside and everything is still...'
Recorded in the 1980's when North London's finest were at its first creative peak, the album had a photo of Primrose Hill on the cover. In an interview in Q Magazine, April 2001, singer and frontman and all round geezer Suggs said, 'Primrose Hill was somewhere that had featured in most of the band's lives. We all came from the surrounding area so we'd always had good memories of the place. Primrose Hill was somewhere you could play football or, in the winter, go tobogganing, so it'd always been a place of fun and frolics.'
Camden Town from the album The Lone Ranger - SUGGS
'...Tramps stare in the window
Of the local butcher's shop
Like a pack of wild dogs
They'd run off with the lot
In Primrose Hill an angry man
His hair standing on end
Shouts and rants in the ear
Of his imaginary friend...'
Primrose Hill - John and Beverley Martyn
'We went to see the sun go down on Primrose Hill
The Sunday evening sun go down on Primrose Hill
Never could be anything else
Never should be anything else
'Cos I like that kind of life
I like that kind of life
Never thinking too far ahead
Hanging high I fall to bed
That's the only kind of life I've led...'
And on that note, I think it is high time to head back to London and head up the footsteps to heaven to the bench on top of Primrose Hill! Bring a bottle and bring a friend.
With thanks and acknowledgment to the late John Black whose excellent website that delves deeper into Primrose Hill & Regents Park can be found here: http://www.regentsparklit.org.uk/index.htm
Like Regent's Park, Primrose Hill was once part of a great chase appropriated by Henry VIII (which he had called Marylebone Park), having previously been a part of Middlesex Forest. Later, in 1841, it became Crown property, and, in 1842, an Act of Parliament secured the land as public open space.
It has always been a beacon for poets, writers & musicians not least the following:
Poems and Prophecies by William Blake
'The fields from Islington to Marybone,
To Primrose Hill and Saint John's Wood,
Were builded over with pillars of gold,
And there Jerusalem's pillars stood.
Her Little-ones ran on the fields,
The Lamb of God among them seen...
The Jew's-harp-house & the Green Man,
The Ponds where Boys to bathe delight,
The fields of Cows by Willan's farm,
Shine in Jerusalem's pleasant sight.'
Apparently The Jew's Harp inn was a popular rendezvous in Marylebone Park. It stood next to Willan's Farm, where Leigh Hunt remembered having eaten 'creams and other country messes' in the days before 'the dear old fields' were redeveloped as Regent's Park.
Blake's most famous verse, 'And did those feet in ancient time', will not be found in this poem, whose subject is the fallen condition of Man and the forces that will redeem him. London is imagined as the historical Jerusalem.
According to John Black ,Henry Crabb Robinson, in his Diaries, Reminiscences and Correspondence recalls Blake telling him, 'I have conversed with the spiritual Sun. I saw him on Primrose Hill. He said, "Do you take me for the Greek Apollo? – "No", I said, "that (pointing to the sky) is the Greek Apollo. He is Satan"'
However, it waasn’t just English visionaries that recognized the beauty of Primrose Hill.
Guru from Selected Poems 1947-1995 by Allen Ginsberg
'It is the moon who disappears
It is the stars that hide not I
It's the City that vanishes, I stay
with my forgotten shoes,
my invisible stocking
It is the call of a bell
Primrose Hill, May 1965'
In the summer of 1965 the author had made a trip to England with several other Beat writers, and had given a reading at the Albert Hall. In a note to the poem he says that it was 'occasioned by a nap at dusk on the site of Druid mysteries, the grassy crest of London's Primrose Hill, overlooking London's towery skyline'
For Tomorrow - BLUR
'...Then Susan comes into the room,
She's a naughty girl with a lovely smile,
Says let's take a drive to Primrose Hill,
It's windy there and the view's so nice,
London ice can freeze your toes
Like anyone I suppose
I'm
Holding on for tomorrow.
On this point, check out the lovely film on the Blur website about the graffiti on Primrose Hill “and the view's so nice’.
Upfield - BRAGG, BILLY
'I'm going upfield, way up on the hillside
I'm going higher than I've ever been before
That's where you'll find me, over the horizon
Wading in the river, reaching for that other shore
I dreamed I saw a tree full of angels, up on Primrose Hill
And I flew with them over the Great Wen till I had seen my fill
Of such poverty and misery sure to tear my soul apart
I've got a socialism of the heart, I've got a socialism of the heart...'
In an article in The Observer, 22nd October 2000, the singer/songwriter said, 'My song Upfield was inspired partly by [William] Blake; I borrowed events from his life for the song's narrator, such as putting him on Primrose Hill seeing angels. It's about moving from an ideological argument for a better society to a more humanitarian vision; a socialism of the heart, the kind of compassion I find in Blake'. The story of Blake as a child seeing 'a tree full of angels' on Peckham Rye common is well known, however apparently his only mystical experience on Primrose Hill was a vision of the 'spiritual Sun'.
Primrose Hill - MADNESS
'A man opened his window and stared up Primrose Hill
Out there enjoying themselves I've seen them from this sill
Green splashed with white and red going brown
Children baiting animals running up and down
I stare out of this window
See the world go past...
Deliveries every day newspapers and food
Never had to venture out the phone has been removed
Open up the window and stare up Primrose Hill
Sitting here it's dark outside and everything is still...'
Recorded in the 1980's when North London's finest were at its first creative peak, the album had a photo of Primrose Hill on the cover. In an interview in Q Magazine, April 2001, singer and frontman and all round geezer Suggs said, 'Primrose Hill was somewhere that had featured in most of the band's lives. We all came from the surrounding area so we'd always had good memories of the place. Primrose Hill was somewhere you could play football or, in the winter, go tobogganing, so it'd always been a place of fun and frolics.'
Camden Town from the album The Lone Ranger - SUGGS
'...Tramps stare in the window
Of the local butcher's shop
Like a pack of wild dogs
They'd run off with the lot
In Primrose Hill an angry man
His hair standing on end
Shouts and rants in the ear
Of his imaginary friend...'
Primrose Hill - John and Beverley Martyn
'We went to see the sun go down on Primrose Hill
The Sunday evening sun go down on Primrose Hill
Never could be anything else
Never should be anything else
'Cos I like that kind of life
I like that kind of life
Never thinking too far ahead
Hanging high I fall to bed
That's the only kind of life I've led...'
And on that note, I think it is high time to head back to London and head up the footsteps to heaven to the bench on top of Primrose Hill! Bring a bottle and bring a friend.
With thanks and acknowledgment to the late John Black whose excellent website that delves deeper into Primrose Hill & Regents Park can be found here: http://www.regentsparklit.org.uk/index.htm
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Poll Results - The worst band/act in the world!
1 - U2 (runaway winners in the end)
2 - Keane
3 - Coldplay
2 - Keane
3 - Coldplay
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Monday, 2 April 2012
Home of the Hits - 9000...
What happened? I turned my back for two seconds and we blast through the 9000 hits mark! Thank you!!
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Poll Results - What the world needs now is...
1 - Love sweet love 2 - A damn good tidy up
3 - A good talking to
4 - Time to reflect on what it thinks it is doing with its life.
*Please note that this poll was carried out with UN observers in place and no signs of inappropriate voting were recorded. (Although it should be noted that a man with a very big bag of sweets was whistling Burt Bacharach tunes all day long outside the polling booth).
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Wise words...
"It is political commitment and political belief that can make a man think that his opponent's views are so obnoxious that he will abstain from playing any game with him as a protest against what the other man believes," he said. "Any man's political commitment, if it is deep enough, is his very personal philosophy and it governs his whole way of life, it governs his belief, and it certainly governs the people with whom he is prepared to mix."
John Arlott - Cricket commentator, poet, wine connoisseur and anti-apartheid activist.
25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991
John Arlott - Cricket commentator, poet, wine connoisseur and anti-apartheid activist.
25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
To Whom It May Concern Remix
by Adrian Mitchell
Come all ye -
wartbrain psychics
with astroid sidekicks
prostate agents
and plastic Cajuns
royal doggerellas
cluster bombsellers
alternative surgeons
torturesport virgins
heavy vivisectionists
columnists, Golumnists,
priests of the beast
who are secretly policed
by highranker bankers
playing pranks with tankers
ghost advisers
death advertisers
vampire preachers
sucked-dry teachers
beheaded dead bodies
of blank-hearted squaddies
billionaire beauticians
fishing for positions
from poison politicians
with obliteration missions –
I'm alone, I'm afraid
And I need your aid
can't you see – can't you see – can't you see?
I was run over by the truth one day
Ever since the accident I've walked this way
So stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam
Heard the alarm clock screaming with pain
Couldn't find myself, so I went back to sleep again
So fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam
Every time I shut my eyes, all I see is flames
I made a marble phone-book, and I carved all the names
So coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam
I smell something burning, hope it's just my brains
They're only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
So stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam
Where were you at the time of the crime?
Down by the Cenotaph, drinking slime
So chain my tongue with whisky
Stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam
You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out
You take the human being, and you twist it all about
So scrub my skin with women
So chain my tongue with whisky
Stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about –
Iraq
Burma
Afghanistan
BAE Systems
Israel
Iran
Tell me lies Mr Bush
Tell me lies Mr Blairbrowncameron
Tell me lies about Vietnam
Come all ye -
wartbrain psychics
with astroid sidekicks
prostate agents
and plastic Cajuns
royal doggerellas
cluster bombsellers
alternative surgeons
torturesport virgins
heavy vivisectionists
columnists, Golumnists,
priests of the beast
who are secretly policed
by highranker bankers
playing pranks with tankers
ghost advisers
death advertisers
vampire preachers
sucked-dry teachers
beheaded dead bodies
of blank-hearted squaddies
billionaire beauticians
fishing for positions
from poison politicians
with obliteration missions –
I'm alone, I'm afraid
And I need your aid
can't you see – can't you see – can't you see?
I was run over by the truth one day
Ever since the accident I've walked this way
So stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam
Heard the alarm clock screaming with pain
Couldn't find myself, so I went back to sleep again
So fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam
Every time I shut my eyes, all I see is flames
I made a marble phone-book, and I carved all the names
So coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam
I smell something burning, hope it's just my brains
They're only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
So stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam
Where were you at the time of the crime?
Down by the Cenotaph, drinking slime
So chain my tongue with whisky
Stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam
You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out
You take the human being, and you twist it all about
So scrub my skin with women
So chain my tongue with whisky
Stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about –
Iraq
Burma
Afghanistan
BAE Systems
Israel
Iran
Tell me lies Mr Bush
Tell me lies Mr Blairbrowncameron
Tell me lies about Vietnam
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Poll results - Countries ripe for regime change
1 - United Kingdom
2 - Syria
3 - Israel
4 - South Korea
5 - USA
6 - Iran
6 - Russia
8 - Australia
9 - North Korea
10 - Zanzibar
2 - Syria
3 - Israel
4 - South Korea
5 - USA
6 - Iran
6 - Russia
8 - Australia
9 - North Korea
10 - Zanzibar
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Revolution #1 - The Show Trial
Back in the day, when regime change was far more of a gentlemanly pursuit, the show trial held sway as the most appropriate way of denouncing the previously untouchable leader. Nowadays regime's blunder on (in some cases for over 60 years) clinging to the last vestiges of power or are found hiding in a hole in the ground and summarily executed by a rampaging mob.
Take for example the demise of the Ceaușescu's. How much more elaborate and petty it seems compared to simply stringing them up from the nearest lamp post!
Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were condemned to death in a Stalinist-style show trial, wherein even their forcefully assigned lawyers began accusing them of having committed capital crimes, instead of defending them.There were absolutely no proofs offered for their alleged crimes, just mentions of the name of the crimes they would have had committed in the opinion of the prosecutors and of press reports about their alleged crimes. E.g., the accusation of genocide remains unproven to this day. They were also accused of saving USD 1 billion in foreign accounts, and even today there is no proof of such secret accounts. The judges' verdict offered the possibility of making appeal to a higher court, but the condemned were killed five minutes after the court reached the verdict.One of their lawyers has motivated before the execution that since the condemned do not recognize the court, there is no way left for making appeal to the verdict, and therefore the verdict should become final. Romanian law prohibited carrying out death penalties in less than ten days since the verdict remained final and irrevocable.After their execution, death penalty was abolished in Romania.
Nicolae Ceaușescu said that he did not recognize the court, and lawfully seen he seems to have been correct about that. The person signing the decree for organizing the court (Ion Iliescu) lacked any credentials for doing it, except that of being one of the leaders of the coup. The decree was apparently handwritten in a toilet of the Romanian Department of Defense. Later, the leaders of the coup said the decision to kill the Ceaușescus was necessary in order to stop the terrorists from attacking the new authorities, but it seems that there were no terrorists active. Initially, Iliescu did not agree with having the couple executed, but general Victor Stănculescu offered the support of the army only in exchange for having the couple executed.After few hours of debating this option, Iliescu agreed with Stănculescu.
Before the execution Nicolae said: "We could have been shot without having this masquerade!" However, the Masquerade is what it is all about. Just ask Richard Jobson of The Skids "Arrange new attacks, Demand a new decree, Listen to the ploys, Destroy them as they flee. Holy to the high masquerade masquerade. Fanfares in the sky masquerade masquerade"
Take for example the demise of the Ceaușescu's. How much more elaborate and petty it seems compared to simply stringing them up from the nearest lamp post!
Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were condemned to death in a Stalinist-style show trial, wherein even their forcefully assigned lawyers began accusing them of having committed capital crimes, instead of defending them.There were absolutely no proofs offered for their alleged crimes, just mentions of the name of the crimes they would have had committed in the opinion of the prosecutors and of press reports about their alleged crimes. E.g., the accusation of genocide remains unproven to this day. They were also accused of saving USD 1 billion in foreign accounts, and even today there is no proof of such secret accounts. The judges' verdict offered the possibility of making appeal to a higher court, but the condemned were killed five minutes after the court reached the verdict.One of their lawyers has motivated before the execution that since the condemned do not recognize the court, there is no way left for making appeal to the verdict, and therefore the verdict should become final. Romanian law prohibited carrying out death penalties in less than ten days since the verdict remained final and irrevocable.After their execution, death penalty was abolished in Romania.
Nicolae Ceaușescu said that he did not recognize the court, and lawfully seen he seems to have been correct about that. The person signing the decree for organizing the court (Ion Iliescu) lacked any credentials for doing it, except that of being one of the leaders of the coup. The decree was apparently handwritten in a toilet of the Romanian Department of Defense. Later, the leaders of the coup said the decision to kill the Ceaușescus was necessary in order to stop the terrorists from attacking the new authorities, but it seems that there were no terrorists active. Initially, Iliescu did not agree with having the couple executed, but general Victor Stănculescu offered the support of the army only in exchange for having the couple executed.After few hours of debating this option, Iliescu agreed with Stănculescu.
Before the execution Nicolae said: "We could have been shot without having this masquerade!" However, the Masquerade is what it is all about. Just ask Richard Jobson of The Skids "Arrange new attacks, Demand a new decree, Listen to the ploys, Destroy them as they flee. Holy to the high masquerade masquerade. Fanfares in the sky masquerade masquerade"
Poll Results - Band you wish you had been in
1 - Modern Jazz Quartet
2 - The Smiths
3 - The Temptations
4 - The Clash
5 - The Wailers
6 - The Special AKA
7 - Alternative TV
2 - The Smiths
3 - The Temptations
4 - The Clash
5 - The Wailers
6 - The Special AKA
7 - Alternative TV
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Poetry (in Ocean)
And now the Shipping Forecast, issued by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at 06.00 hrs GMT today.Viking
North Utsire
South Utsire
Forties
Cromarty
Forth
Tyne
Dogger
Fisher
German Bight
Humber
Thames
Dover
Wight
Portland
Plymouth
Biscay
Trafalgar
FitzRoy (formerly Finisterre)
Sole
Lundy
Fastnet
Irish Sea
Shannon
Rockall
Malin
Hebrides
Bailey
Fair Isle
Faeroes
Southeast Iceland
Monday, 12 March 2012
Names for golf clubs
"I think I'll take my Cleek here Parkinson"
I'll be honest I'm a bit of a patchy golfer (dazzling and abysmal within the space of two strokes). However, a brief conversation last night reminded me of one of the things I love about golf. The old-fashioned musty fuddy-duddyness of it all, especially epitomised by the old names for clubs...
Woods:
Play Club: Driver
Brassie: 2-Wood
Spoon: Higher-Lofted Wood
Baffing Spoon: Approach Wood
Irons:
Cleek: 2 Iron
Mid Mashie: 3 Iron
Mashie Iron: 4 Iron
Mashie: 5 Iron
Spade Mashie: 6 Iron
Mashie Niblick: 7 Iron
Pitching Niblick: 8 Iron
Niblick: 9 Iron
Jigger: Very low lofted iron, shortened shaft
The Mashie Niblick was not a wedge.
The traditional set of irons was invented by Archibald Barrie and were used from 1903 up until about the 1940s. The introduction of the standardized numbered iron set produced by the Spalding Sporting Goods Company in the early 1930s caused the traditional set of irons to gradually give way to numbered convention more's the pity.
The traditional irons varied greatly in loft (+/- 5 degrees). The shape of the head determined some of the playing characteristics of the club; most traditional heads were roughly egg-shaped.
Heathen Golf on a Sunday
Sunday or Sabbath sticks were the golf enthusiasts' answer to the Church of Scotland's discouraging golfing on Sundays. Clubs were disguised as walking sticks, the club head comfortably fitting in the palm of the golfer's hand, until feeling unobserved, the stick was reversed and a few strokes were played.
Woods:
Play Club: Driver
Brassie: 2-Wood
Spoon: Higher-Lofted Wood
Baffing Spoon: Approach Wood
Irons:
Cleek: 2 Iron
Mid Mashie: 3 Iron
Mashie Iron: 4 Iron
Mashie: 5 Iron
Spade Mashie: 6 Iron
Mashie Niblick: 7 Iron
Pitching Niblick: 8 Iron
Niblick: 9 Iron
Jigger: Very low lofted iron, shortened shaft
The Mashie Niblick was not a wedge.
The traditional set of irons was invented by Archibald Barrie and were used from 1903 up until about the 1940s. The introduction of the standardized numbered iron set produced by the Spalding Sporting Goods Company in the early 1930s caused the traditional set of irons to gradually give way to numbered convention more's the pity.
The traditional irons varied greatly in loft (+/- 5 degrees). The shape of the head determined some of the playing characteristics of the club; most traditional heads were roughly egg-shaped.
Heathen Golf on a Sunday
Sunday or Sabbath sticks were the golf enthusiasts' answer to the Church of Scotland's discouraging golfing on Sundays. Clubs were disguised as walking sticks, the club head comfortably fitting in the palm of the golfer's hand, until feeling unobserved, the stick was reversed and a few strokes were played.
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Bands I wish I'd been in #4 - The Hip Troop
Hey, hang on a minute...I think the time is getting closer. One night only?
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Bands I wish I'd been in #3 - The Temptations (Circa Psychedelic Shack)
"Psychedelic Shack, that's where it's at!"
How good would it have been to be in The Temptations during their psychedelic period of the late 1960s/early 1970s. The addition of Dennis Edwards to the Temptations coincided with the adoption of a new sound for the group by producer Norman Whitfield, and in the autumn of 1968, Whitfield began producing psychedelic-based material for the Temptations, derived primarily from the sound of funk band Sly & the Family Stone. This new style, which debuted with the Top 10 hit single "Cloud Nine"[14] in October 1968, was a marked departure from the David Ruffin-era ballads, leading the group to a new and higher plateau. The instrumentation was funkier, the beat was hard-driving, and all five Temptations traded lead vocals, similar to Sly & the Family Stone. "Cloud Nine", the centerpiece of the group's landmark Cloud Nine LP, was a Top 10 hit and won Motown its first Grammy Award, for Best R&B Vocal Group Performance of 1969.
The blending of the Motown sound and psychedelic rock sound resulted in a new subgenre of music called "psychedelic soul", also evident in the work of Diana Ross and the Supremes ("Reflections", "Love Child"), Marvin Gaye's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", and the music of The 5th Dimension, The Undisputed Truth and The Friends of Distinction. More Temptations psychedelic soul singles would follow in 1969 and 1970, among them "Runaway Child, Running Wild" (a number-one R&B hit), "I Can't Get Next to You" (a number-one pop hit), "Psychedelic Shack" and "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)". The group's other important albums from this period include Puzzle People (1969) and Psychedelic Shack (1970), which includes the original version of "War". Oh to have been let loose on the wah pedal then...
Current Members
Otis Williams
Ron Tyson
Terry Weeks
Joe Herndon
Bruce Williamson
Past members
Elbridge "Al" Bryant
Melvin Franklin
Eddie Kendricks
Paul Williams
David Ruffin
Dennis Edwards
Ricky Owens
Richard Street
Damon Harris
Glenn Leonard
Louis Price
Ali-Ollie Woodson
Theo Peoples
Ray Davis
Harry McGilberry
Barrington "Bo" Henderson
G. C. Cameron
How good would it have been to be in The Temptations during their psychedelic period of the late 1960s/early 1970s. The addition of Dennis Edwards to the Temptations coincided with the adoption of a new sound for the group by producer Norman Whitfield, and in the autumn of 1968, Whitfield began producing psychedelic-based material for the Temptations, derived primarily from the sound of funk band Sly & the Family Stone. This new style, which debuted with the Top 10 hit single "Cloud Nine"[14] in October 1968, was a marked departure from the David Ruffin-era ballads, leading the group to a new and higher plateau. The instrumentation was funkier, the beat was hard-driving, and all five Temptations traded lead vocals, similar to Sly & the Family Stone. "Cloud Nine", the centerpiece of the group's landmark Cloud Nine LP, was a Top 10 hit and won Motown its first Grammy Award, for Best R&B Vocal Group Performance of 1969.
The blending of the Motown sound and psychedelic rock sound resulted in a new subgenre of music called "psychedelic soul", also evident in the work of Diana Ross and the Supremes ("Reflections", "Love Child"), Marvin Gaye's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", and the music of The 5th Dimension, The Undisputed Truth and The Friends of Distinction. More Temptations psychedelic soul singles would follow in 1969 and 1970, among them "Runaway Child, Running Wild" (a number-one R&B hit), "I Can't Get Next to You" (a number-one pop hit), "Psychedelic Shack" and "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)". The group's other important albums from this period include Puzzle People (1969) and Psychedelic Shack (1970), which includes the original version of "War". Oh to have been let loose on the wah pedal then...
Current Members
Otis Williams
Ron Tyson
Terry Weeks
Joe Herndon
Bruce Williamson
Past members
Elbridge "Al" Bryant
Melvin Franklin
Eddie Kendricks
Paul Williams
David Ruffin
Dennis Edwards
Ricky Owens
Richard Street
Damon Harris
Glenn Leonard
Louis Price
Ali-Ollie Woodson
Theo Peoples
Ray Davis
Harry McGilberry
Barrington "Bo" Henderson
G. C. Cameron
Monday, 5 March 2012
Bands I wish I'd been in #2 - The Special AKA (1978-1981)
"Bernie Rhodes knows don't argue!"
Formed in 1977 by Jerry Dammers, Lynval Golding, Silverton Hutchinson and Horace Panter (also known as Sir Horace Gentleman), the band was first called The Automatics, then The Coventry Automatics. Terry Hall and Roddy Byers (also known as Roddy Radiation) joined the band the following year (along with me!), and the band changed its name to The Special AKA The Coventry Automatics, and then to The Special AKA. Comrade Joe Strummer of The Clash had attended one of their concerts, and invited The Special AKA to open for his band in their On Parole UK Tour. This performance gave The Special AKA a new level of national exposure, and they briefly shared The Clash's management. A dalliance which culminated in their joint manager Bernie Rhodes getting a fairly robust character assassination in their first single 'Gangsters'.
The Specials began at the same time as Rock Against Racism which first gathered in 1978. According to Dammers, anti-racism was intrinsic to the formation of The Specials, in that the band was formed with the goal of integrating black and white people. Many years later Dammers stated, "Music gets political when there are new ideas in music, ...punk was innovative, so was ska, and that was why bands such as The Specials and The Clash could be political."
In 1979 shortly after drummer Hutchinson left the band to be replaced by John Bradbury, Dammers formed the 2 Tone Records label and released the band's aformenetioned debut single "Gangsters", a reworking of Prince Buster's "Al Capone". The record became a Top 10 hit that summer. The band had begun wearing mod/rude boy/skinhead-style two-tone tonic suits, along with other elements of late 1960s teen fashions. Changing their name to The Specials, they recorded their debut LP Specials in 1979, produced by Elvis Costello. The album lead off with Dandy Livingstone's "Rudy, A Message to You" (slightly altering the title to "A Message To You, Rudy") and also had covers of Prince Buster and Toots & the Maytals songs from the late 1960s. In 1980, the EP Too Much Too Young (credited to The Special AKA) was a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart, despite controversy over the song's lyrics, which reference teen pregnancy and promote contraception.
Reverting once again to the moniker The Specials, the band's second album, More Specials was not as commercially successful and was recorded at a time when, according to Terry Hall, conflicts had developed in the band (Although being a teenager in Eastbourne I was blissfully unaware of such tensions - despite my being in the band?!).Female backing vocalists on The Specials first two studio albums included: Chrissie Hynde, Rhoda Dakar (then of The Bodysnatchers and later of The Special AKA), Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey (of The Go-Go's). In the first few months of 1981 the band took a break from recording and touring, and then released "Ghost Town", a non-LP Specials single, which hit number one in 1981. However, shortly afterwards, Staple, Golding and Hall left the band to form Fun Boy Three.I also left at the same time to do my summer job in the Swan Laundry.
Dammers then drastically revised the line-up of the band, adding vocalists Stan Campbell and Rhoda Dakar, and began working again under the group name The Special AKA. The resulting album from the new line-up, In the Studio, was less successful, although the song "Free Nelson Mandela" was a #9 UK hit.The latter contributed to making Mandela a cause célèbre in the United Kingdom, and became popular with anti-Apartheid activists in South Africa. Dammers then dissolved the band and pursued political activism.
The rest of the band with the exception of Jerry & I reformed a couple of years ago. Jerry has been doing his Sun Ra inspired project The Spatial AKA and I, well I've been doing this blog amongst other things...
Formed in 1977 by Jerry Dammers, Lynval Golding, Silverton Hutchinson and Horace Panter (also known as Sir Horace Gentleman), the band was first called The Automatics, then The Coventry Automatics. Terry Hall and Roddy Byers (also known as Roddy Radiation) joined the band the following year (along with me!), and the band changed its name to The Special AKA The Coventry Automatics, and then to The Special AKA. Comrade Joe Strummer of The Clash had attended one of their concerts, and invited The Special AKA to open for his band in their On Parole UK Tour. This performance gave The Special AKA a new level of national exposure, and they briefly shared The Clash's management. A dalliance which culminated in their joint manager Bernie Rhodes getting a fairly robust character assassination in their first single 'Gangsters'.
The Specials began at the same time as Rock Against Racism which first gathered in 1978. According to Dammers, anti-racism was intrinsic to the formation of The Specials, in that the band was formed with the goal of integrating black and white people. Many years later Dammers stated, "Music gets political when there are new ideas in music, ...punk was innovative, so was ska, and that was why bands such as The Specials and The Clash could be political."
In 1979 shortly after drummer Hutchinson left the band to be replaced by John Bradbury, Dammers formed the 2 Tone Records label and released the band's aformenetioned debut single "Gangsters", a reworking of Prince Buster's "Al Capone". The record became a Top 10 hit that summer. The band had begun wearing mod/rude boy/skinhead-style two-tone tonic suits, along with other elements of late 1960s teen fashions. Changing their name to The Specials, they recorded their debut LP Specials in 1979, produced by Elvis Costello. The album lead off with Dandy Livingstone's "Rudy, A Message to You" (slightly altering the title to "A Message To You, Rudy") and also had covers of Prince Buster and Toots & the Maytals songs from the late 1960s. In 1980, the EP Too Much Too Young (credited to The Special AKA) was a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart, despite controversy over the song's lyrics, which reference teen pregnancy and promote contraception.
Reverting once again to the moniker The Specials, the band's second album, More Specials was not as commercially successful and was recorded at a time when, according to Terry Hall, conflicts had developed in the band (Although being a teenager in Eastbourne I was blissfully unaware of such tensions - despite my being in the band?!).Female backing vocalists on The Specials first two studio albums included: Chrissie Hynde, Rhoda Dakar (then of The Bodysnatchers and later of The Special AKA), Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey (of The Go-Go's). In the first few months of 1981 the band took a break from recording and touring, and then released "Ghost Town", a non-LP Specials single, which hit number one in 1981. However, shortly afterwards, Staple, Golding and Hall left the band to form Fun Boy Three.I also left at the same time to do my summer job in the Swan Laundry.
Dammers then drastically revised the line-up of the band, adding vocalists Stan Campbell and Rhoda Dakar, and began working again under the group name The Special AKA. The resulting album from the new line-up, In the Studio, was less successful, although the song "Free Nelson Mandela" was a #9 UK hit.The latter contributed to making Mandela a cause célèbre in the United Kingdom, and became popular with anti-Apartheid activists in South Africa. Dammers then dissolved the band and pursued political activism.
The rest of the band with the exception of Jerry & I reformed a couple of years ago. Jerry has been doing his Sun Ra inspired project The Spatial AKA and I, well I've been doing this blog amongst other things...
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