Yesterday was a great day. Apart from some heavy rain 5 minutes either side of (and throughout) The Vapours 'Turning Japanese' it was a beautifully sunny day. The only slight downers were Jilted John - to quote Morrissey....'That Joke isn't Funny Anymore'; the shocking state of my feet and the ****ing weird kebab we ate at about midnight and is still giving me cause for concern and indigestion this morning. Imagine donner kebab meat and tandoori chicken covered in slightly spicy bolognaise sauce. Best band of the day (and the festival thus far)....goes to Mrs B's favourites, The Undertones. They were absolutely bloody brilliant. To be fair, they always are. Skids came a very creditable second. They gave it bloody everything and Jobson was on top, top form. The Stranglers were very good but somehow, they're not the right band to close after people have had 10 hours on their feet. There's just not enough charisma/humour in the frontman to lift tired limbs and people to 'Go For It' one last time Today's offerings are a little more patchy but picking the wheat from the chaff will allow us to sit down occasionally. Yesterday morning we went to a chemist and bought gel insoles for our boots, Voltarol for our aching backs and foot repair cream. I must be getting old as a personal highlight of last night was applying a generous mixture of foot cream and Voltarol to my barking dogs. Mmmmmmm! Anyways....COYS!
Only last month I brought the Half Man Half Biscuit album " the voltarol years " for the title alone , luckily it was a decent album
Sounds great, not seen the Skids for years, Undertones are always great. I love The Stranglers but good as Baz is, and the drummer and Keyboard player are fine musicians but they are just not Hugh, Dave and Jet and whilst they could survive and make good music without Hugh I found that when I saw them last the chemistry has sort of gone, still musically very good but with something missing.
Yesterday, there was a scarcity of top acts. I like The Rezillos, but when they're in serious contention for the day's highlight with Peter Hook & The Light and 1 Kg of Piri Piri chicken wings, it's not the finest of days. Peter Hook probably won out, although the chicken wings were good. The lack of top talent meant considerably more drinking, which resulted in 4 of us ending the evening in a gay bar (gay bar, gay bar, gay bar) named 'The Man & Growler'. There we spoke to a very nice Norwegian bloke, over for Rebellion, with a VERY angry wife and danced to a load of Donna Summer and Northern Soul. Today has a little more to offer, with UK Subs, SLF closing proceedings in The Winter Garden and TRB, Billy Bragg and Gary Newman doing likewise down by the beach on the open air stage. We're going to lunch with a former colleague of Mrs B's (tapas). I'm hopeful that it might have some beans or something, as the 6 slices of mushroom at breakfast and the salad from the kebab are all the veggies that I've eaten in 3 days... Blinding result yesterday. COYS!
My mum had a Seekers greatest hits lp but our Radiogram did not play 33rpm so it was common to find it on my stereo in my room , have to say that Judith had a very good voice and I heard it so many times when I hear any Seekers now it takes me back to that place , RIP Judith Durham and thanks for the memories
Supposedly Van Hates Brown eyed girl due to a difference of opinion with the record company which I find hard to believe coming from the worlds most placid man I've seen him many times , some good ,bad and very ugly but rarely has he played it and only in a medley which I loath when musicians do that
the worlds most placid man It's always a downer when you find out that a musician you like is an arsehole. I never read anything about my Jazz heroes until I was about 50, since then I have read many books about them all. Most are ok, Basie was truly one of the nicest people on the planet as was Brubeck. Stan Getz was a nasty piece of work. Dave Brubeck was the first jazz musician to be featured on the cover of Time magazine. He went to Duke Ellington's flat by Central Park in New York to personally apologise. "It should have been you Duke" As with Elvis Presley it was clearly racism that had prevented Duke being the featured. With Presley who grew up with Black Americans he learned his music from that culture but the record companies wouldn't promote black artists and searched until they could find a white face to present the music American kids were listening to. Of course you will know that The Beatles and the Stones made the white Americans aware of their black blues heritage. John Lee Hooker 'I started at last to make a decent living thanks to these British guys.'
My rule with Van Morrison is be wary of his output post Veedon Fleece , he has released some decent tracks and the odd decent album post 1974 but few and far between Avalon sunset being the exception , as for his Covid bollocks he can get in the bin as far as I'm concerned along with his mate Clapton
We create our own realities around our heroes - or at least want to believe the best of them. The let down when we own up to the reality can be shattering. Clapton being a racist twat didn't unduly bother me.as I'd always thought him to be a self-important arseole. Strangely more shocking for me was Mike Oldfield, the ultimate laid back hippy, being a far right Brexit supporting knob. Totally missed that one ....
