Music of my Life 35

My sister came to visit me recently. She's 12 years older than me and remembers where my love of music started.

She was telling me that as soon as I was able, I would get as close to my Dad's reel to reel tape recorder as I could, and as soon as I could, I'd start to play it (I'm surprised my Dad let me - I'd never have let my kids do it),

She said there was one song on a tape I would play over and over again. She said I must have managed to work out where it was on the tape because I could always seem to run the tape back or forth and find it.

I was 2 or 3 at the time.

The song?

Charlie Drake's cover of Bobby Darin's 'Splish Splash'

If you can't see the video, click here

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What I'm watching - Pie In The Sky

 I've recently come to a realisation that TV is becoming more bleak and dark.

The lockdowns of the last year have led to me spending more time in front of the telly purely to fill some of the hours, and although I've mostly watched box sets of old shows, so much of the programming seems to be either following varying political and race agendas, and much of the scheduled drama series are very dark. And to be honest, it's put me off watching many of them.

As I've got older, I've taken to watching more factual programmes than anything else. I've taken to travel and food programmes in particular.

Much of the drama seems too depressing to me and so I go back to those old shows of bygone times.

'Pie In The Sky' is what I think of as 'Sunday Night Telly,' light-hearted drama that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Richard Griffiths is great as the police detective  (Henry Crabbe) who'd rather be in the kitchen of his restaurant whilst solving various crimes. Ably assisted in the restaurant by his wife Margaret, played by Maggie Steed, it's a programme that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Luckily, the complete series is available on UKTV and it's an hour of enjoyable fluff that doesn't tax me and make me miserable.

This last year has been hard enough without watching TV that's going to drag you down and leave you feeling depressed.

Long ago, I decided that if I was going to watch television it was going to be on my terms. If I'm not watching something that entertains me, then I'm not going to watch it.

I can't think of anything I'd rather do than spend an evening watching programmes that made me feel worse than when I started.

'Pie In The Sky' cheers me up. It may not be everybody's cup of tea, but I'm enjoying every minute of watching it.

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All our yesterdays 6

This time, we're looking back to the week of 30th May - 5th June.

On May 30th, 1913, the Treaty of London signed by the Great Powers, the Ottoman Empire and the victorious Balkan League (Serbia, Greece, Kingdom of Bulgaria, and Montenegro) bringing an end to the First Balkan War.

On May 31st, 1962,  the State of Israel hanged German official Adolf Eichmann, who had escaped from a prison camp in 1946 and spent some 14 years in hiding, for his part in the Nazi extermination of Jews during World War II.

On June 1st, 1967, The Beatles released their new album, 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. Spurred on by the Beach Boy's album, 'Pet Sounds,' this album blended pop, symphonic and Indian musical forms to become a classic.

On June 2nd, 1953, On a cold and wet day in London, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place in Westminster Abbey.

On June 3rd, 2017:  A terrorist attack as three men wearing fake suicide vests drive a van into pedestrians on London Bridge then run to Borough Market where they stab and kill seven and wound 48 before being shot by armed police. 

On June 4th, 1940, Following a massive rescue effort that included civilian boats, the withdrawal of Allied troops trapped at Dunkirk, France, was completed on this day during World War II; more than 300,000 soldiers were saved.

On June 5th, 1981, AIDS was reported for the first time, following the detection of a rare form of pneumonia in five homosexual men in Los Angeles.

And in this week in 1975, Tammy Wynette spent her third and final week as the UK's Number One with her hit, 'Stand By Your Man'.

If you can't see the video, click here

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Music of my Life 34

Back in 1980, my Mum and Dad had a bingo on the South Pier at Lowestoft. It was where the pub is now.

At the time we were living near Great Yarmouth and a group of us used to go to an eatery called 'Zaks'. These days it's called 'The Yankee Traveller.'

The food in 'Zaks' was great and so we went there quite often. And that particular year, it seemed like this album was on constant play. Every time I went in there I'd hear it and I grew to love the album just because I'd heard it there so much. I bought the album and love it to this day. And every time I hear it, I think back to those days.

It also included Rickie Lee Jones' biggest hit, 'Chuck E's In Love'

If the video doesn't play, click here

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I'm on linktree!

 

Today I decided to join linktree. 

It's a central hub where you can find all the links to my social media, my Way Back Shack store, this blog and even my newsletter archive.

You can also find a link to sign up for my weekly newsletter.

Basically, it's the best place to be able to check all my weekly comings and goings.

I thought it would be a good idea to get everything in one place and I hope you'll use it.

If you want to bookmark my linktree page, you'll be able to get to all my stuff from there!

Keep checking back to it as I'll be adding various links each week too.

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The Beatles...and a trip back in time.

This week, I’ve found myself struggling with Gout, which, when I get it, leaves me in a great deal of pain. I get it in my foot, which means I struggle to move about. On Wednesday, it was so bad that I couldn’t even get a shoe on my foot.

Not being able to do what I wanted to and being in pain meant that I couldn’t really concentrate on much.

The upshot of that meant that I decided to have an afternoon in front of the telly.

Not knowing what to watch, I went back to an old favourite, The Beatles’ film, ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’

Being a huge Beatles fan, it was an easy choice. I love all the songs, know all the words and can sing along. It’s amazing how that little act can take your mind off the pain you’re suffering.

But here’s the thing, the minute one of the songs came on, I was transported back to my childhood.

In 1965, my parents moved us to a little Somerset town called Burnham-on-Sea, where we took over an amusement arcade on the seafront.

And my Dad piped music through the arcade to keep the punters entertained while they played on the machines.

We had a room at the end of the arcade, that we basically used to take breaks and Mum would cook dinner in there. It had a kitchen, table and chairs, a settee and some seats.

And on top of a unit, was my Dad’s reel to reel tape recorder and a record player from which he played the music in the arcade.

The Beatles were often played in the arcade and the ‘Hard Day’s Night,’ ‘Beatles For Sale’ and ‘Help’ albums were constantly played.

And hearing those songs again took me back to being a 5 year old and being in that arcade.

It was where my Mum taught me how to deal with money. She’d play games to teach me about giving change, how to give people the appropriate money for the machines. There were 12 pennies to a shilling, 24 for two shillings and so on. We’d sit at the table and she’d say “Here’s 10 bob. I want a shilling’s worth of pennies and a shilling of sixpences. What other money should I have in change?”

And that’s how we’d play. Then when she thought I knew what I was doing, she’d take me into the change desk and let me do it for real with her at my side until she was sure I’d be able to cope on my own.

And those are the kinds of memories I had yesterday as I heard the words of ‘I should have known better’ and ‘I’m happy just to dance with you’ were being sung in the film.

The Beatles were part of the soundtrack of my childhood. We had all the LPs.

In fact, the first LP I remember buying with my own money was ‘Revolver’ in the summer of 1966 with my birthday money.

A few years ago, I re-bought all The Beatles LPs again.

I’d had them all on vinyl when I was growing up, but when CDs came in, I bought them all again as CDs. But it was never the same. A CD didn’t feel the same.

During a period when I needed the money back in the 1990s, I sold all my Beatles LPs, after all I now had them on CD, but it was never the same, and so a few years ago, I started buying them again, one by one until I had them all again.

And so this morning, I’ve got the LP out of the rack, put it on my record deck and given it another spin as I’ve written this.

The Beatles remind me of how lucky I was as a kid. Their albums remind me of a golden time, of spending time on the beach helping John Tandy on the donkeys (I probably hindered more than helped), of playing on the beach with my friends, of being in the arcade, with my Mum and Dad, my brother and sisters and so much more.

Just hearing those songs reminds me that music has an ability to bring back those little important moments of my life, moments that, without the music, would have gone and never been forgotten.

But because of these wonderful songs, I get to go on a flashback trip to the past, a past in which I still have my Mum and Dad, a past in which, I have such precious memories.

And hearing those songs will probably always have that same effect.

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All our yesterdays 5

This time, we're looking back to the week of 23rd - 29th. May.

On May 23rd 1934, Bank robbers and murderers Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow died in a hail of bullets when they drove their car into an ambush in Louisiana. More than 50 bullets hit the pair.

On May 24th 1989, A British jury awarded libel damages of £600,000 to Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of sex killer Peter Sutcliffe, the 'Yorkshire Ripper' against the satirical magazine, 'Private Eye'. 'Private Eye' had said that Mrs Sitcliffe had sold a newspaper the story of her marriage for £250,000.

On May 25th 1935, Jesse Owens, a 21-year-old athlete from Alabama, set five new world records and equalled a sixth - a world record in itself for a single day's achievement. In fact, he did it all in a single hour. He equalled the 100 yards record, then set new records for the long jump, 220 yards and 2220-yard hurdles, relentlessly breaking the 200m records on the way.

On May 26th 1940, A strange armada of more than 700 boats set sail from Britain across the English Channel as virtually anything that would float made for the beaches of Dunkirk to rescue 380,000 trapped Allied troops.

On May 27th 1958, Jerry Lee Lewis was forced to abandon his British tour when it was revealed this his wife Myra, was only 13 years old. Not only that, he was still married to his first wife Jane when he married Myra. Although now divorced, and  it wasn't illegal to marry a 13-year-old in the Southern states of America, it outraged the British public and the tour ended after only two performances.

On May 28th 1990, IRA gunmen shot dead two Australian tourists in Holland - mistaking them for British tourists. Stephen Melrose and Nick Spanos, both lawyers, had stopped their British-registered car in Roermond, near the German border, when a car pulled up and two men opened fire with machine guns.

On May 29th 1953, Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tanzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were the first to reach the peak of the world's highest mountain.

And finally, this week in 1985, Paul Hardcastle was spending his third of four weeks at the top of the UK charts with his Vietnam-inspired hit, '19'.

If you can't see the video, click here

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The Music Of My Life 33

Most people will have first heard of Anita Baker through the TV show 'Moonlighting' when her song 'Sweet Love' was used in one of the programmes.

Over the years, she's become my favourite female singer. And this album was a constant play in my car during the the end of the 80s, alongside the 'Rapture' and 'Compositions' albums, which I feel are her three best albums.

Her voice is just gorgeous and I can't be the only one who thinks it with 5 platinum albums and a gold album to her name.

Just stunning.

If you can't see the video, click here

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I'm back on a nostalgia trip

 This week, I’ve had good cause to go a nostalgia trip.

In the week, I was given a 1960s Fergusson, reel to reel tape recorder. My old one died last year and after taking it to have it repaired, it came back worse than it started. It seems to me that these days, not too many know how to repair old technology. But that’s a different story.

A friend of mine in Scotland was after an old tape recorder recently and went on one of the numerous free-ads sites and asked if anyone had an old tape recorder in their attic that they no longer wanted, and he was offered two which he then collected. He advised me to do the same.

I put a post on our local village reuse and recycle group and asked the same thing, and a day later, a lady got in touch and said that she had her father’s old one in the attic and that if I wanted it, I could come and collect it. However, she wasn’t sure it still worked, but I was welcome to take a chance on it.

I went and collected it the next day, brought it home, plugged it in and hoped for the best. I’m pleased to say, it came on and when I tried it, it played, although somewhat slow. It could fast forward the tapes and rewind. So there was hope.

The reason I wanted another tape recorder was not to record music on to, but to play the tapes I already have to see what’s on them, to compile tracklists of what’s on them, and then make new compilations on mp3 using the many tracks I already have to put on a hard drive or my mp3 player to enable me to hear them again whenever I want to.

The little matter that it played slowly didn’t bother me because all I need to hear is enough of a song to recognize it and enable me to write the song on a piece of paper, then run forward to the next and repeat.

But what actually happened, was that in doing so, as it’s an old valve tape recorder, the longer it was running, the warmer the tape recorder became, which resulted in the old oil on the motor components warming up and going from being congealed to liquid again, which freed the components up and allowed them to run more freely.

Now the tape recorder is running at the correct speed again.

Playing the old tapes again and reminded me of when I recorded them all those years ago. 

There are tapes I recorded when I was aged between 10 and 16 and then from when I was in my 20s (all of which were disco and club classics that I played on my ride when I was travelling) and finally tapes comprising of all the singles that were in the local hospital radio station at Weymouth, that for two years I was Chairman of.

And so hearing those songs have given me some great memories of the past.

It’s going to take a while, but I’m really looking forward to having those songs available at the click of a button on my computer or in my car on the mp3 player in the future.

As for the tape recorder and tapes. I’ll either keep them or gift the tape recorder to someone else and hopefully sell the tapes with the exception of the four tapes that were my Dad’s and were my initial introduction to music as a baby all those years ago.

Those four tapes are my dearest possessions and I don’t think I’d ever be able to part with them.

One other joy of this old tape recorder is that as it has a valve amplifier in it and the whole unit gets warm, it emits an old, much loved smell from the tapes as they play, one which I haven’t smelt in years. They used to be the same when they played on my Dad’s old Grundig player, all those years ago.

Happy memories keep on coming back to me.

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The Music Of My Life 32

 

I always liked this album, but when I hear it I always associate it with a cruise around Great Yarmouth in my mate Harry Parkin's Panther Lima on a beautiful sunny day back in 1980.

The roof was off, the sun was shining, and this album was playing in the car, the perfect album for a leisurely ride out.

The Eagles are the perfect 'ride out in the sun' group to sing along to!

If you can't see the video, click here

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All Our Yesterdays 4

 This time, we're looking back to the week of 16th - 22nd May

On the 16th May, 1986, The action blockbuster Top Gun was released in American theatres, and it made Tom Cruise an international star.

On the 17th May, 1973, America watched in fascination as the televised Senate hearings on the Watergate affair opened. The first witness testified that Nixon's re-election campaign leader, Jeb Magruder, had hidden vital papers within hours of the burglary. The White House denied that President Richard M. Nixon's administration knew about the break-in at the Democratic Party Headquarters the previous June.

On the 18th May, 1874, India exploded a nuclear device in the Rajasthan desert It created nervousness in neighbouring Pakistan, which was severely beaten four years earlier in the third war between the two nations.

On the 19th May, 1935, Retired hero T.E. Lawrence died, five days after sustaining a fractured skull in a road accident. He was racing his motorcycle down a Dorset lane when he swerved to avoid two boys on bicycles and crashed. He never regained consciousness. Lawrence was better known as Lawrence o Arabia following his exploits as a dashing, young intelligence officer who let the Arabs in a guerilla war against the Turks and finally captured Damascus.

On the 20th May, 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis were granted a patent for using copper rivets to strengthen certain areas of trousers, notably pocket corners; the patent was credited with giving rise to blue jeans.

On 21st May, 1966, Cassius Clay is still The Greatest - British contender, Henry Cooper failed to deprive him of the world heavyweight boxing title. Clay knocked down Cooper in the sixth round in a bout in London. It was their second fight.

On May 22nd, 1098, Wilbur and Orville Wright patented their flying machine, four years after their historic first powered flight at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. That day, the 'Flyer I' made four flights, the longest-lasting a minute and covering 852 feet. They are still using the same machine, very much improved to make flights of 40 minutes, travelling up to 25 miles at altitudes up to 150 feet.

And this week in 1983, Spandau Ballet were spending their second of three weeks at number one in the UK chart with their song, 'True'

If the video doesn't play, click here

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Why be miserable when you can be happy?

 

During the lockdown, I decided that I was sick to the back teeth of all the negativity. From the news coverage to social media it was wall to wall doom.

As you know I like a good rant and often do, but decided that I had had enough of it. I was going to make a stand and look at things differently.

I decided that instead of being miserable because of the lockdown, I was going to be happy. And why shouldn't I be? All of my family by taking precautions seemed to have been unaffected by the virus.

Whilst everyone was moaning, I felt fortunate that at a time when the world seemed to be in turmoil, Debz didn't have to be at work. In her job in the retail and charity sector, she was facing people on a regular day to day basis, and having been put on furlough, meant that not only didn't she have to be in that precarious position on a day to day basis, but because of the system that the Government had put in place, she was still going to receive 80% of her wages. It seemed to me that it was a good thing. I, unfortunately, wasn't part of the furlough scheme, but I won't dwell on that.

I began to look at the situation we found ourselves in, with a different perspective.

Debz and I get on really well and were quite happy to be at home. We quite like being with each other and so it worked out well for us. We found time to go out regularly for our walks which gave us the required fresh air. We did our food shopping online which meant we didn't have to be in amongst the crowds even though we did pop to the shop at times to pick up odds and ends.

We both have hobbies we like to indulge ourselves in. We are both readers and I like to write as well. This time allowed us to do that.

We made the decision to no longer read the news or watch it on the TV. We stayed away from anything that was going to be contentious and basically got on with our lives.

Admittedly, we both missed our respective families but were happy that like us they were safe at home which gave us some peace of mind. 

We have plenty of box sets of TV series that we like and so we watched those instead of what was on the mainstream telly. 

I personally, stopped looking at social media off from 10am to 3pm each day and found that after the initial few days, I didn't miss it much and have, since then just popped on and off in short bursts. I deleted 'friends' that were on a mission to push their political agendas forward, which also helped.

I made a choice to look at things in a more positive light. Getting entrenched in the uproar on social media was making me miserable.

I thought to myself, why be miserable when I can be happy? And so I decided to change things.

Some people told me that I was burying my head in the sand. My thinking was that if anything was serious enough, someone would make sure to tell me.

Avoiding all the fear-inducing comments flying about meant that my mind wasn't being attacked and prodded every day. The world went on and I just got on with what I wanted to do.

I've managed to learn some new skills in the time I've taken away from social media. I've upgraded my skills on the computer by doing a designer course, I've started an online photography course and I've been tracking my habits, taking note of when I've been getting angry or miserable. When I've noticed, I've made the decision to stop doing whatever has caused the moods and find something else to do.

Most importantly, I've tried to change the way I talk. I've tried to cut down on the negative thinking and talking that I am apt to fall into doing.

I've been blogging and trying to write at least one uplifting post each week. And I've stopped getting involved in negative talk.

I know this post sound like 'me, me, me,' but what I'm trying to say is that just because the world seems to be negative and getting worse, you don't have to take part.

You can create your own reality. It's not easy, but it's doable.

I don't feel anywhere near as miserable as I did when this Covid thing started. You don't have to either.

All the worrying and negativity makes us fearful and daunted. But I've not felt that way. I feel optimistic. Others have said to me that they started to feel better once they stopped watching the news.

Don't get me wrong, I've not been free of miserable moments. We all have those. However, I've noticed that they haven't lasted as long as they used to.

We owe it to ourselves to stop feeding ourselves negative thoughts in whatever ways we can find to stop.

I stopped being a blob of negativity. Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert on how to do that. I don't have all the answers.

I've found some techniques that have worked for me. I'm not so presumptuous as to tell you I know it all.

All I'm saying is that if you're sick and tired of feeling miserable, you can change things around. If any of the things that I've tried, seem reasonable to you, feel free to try them. 

Our lives are different. We are all different people. What works for me, may not work for you.

What's important is that you take a look at your own situation, and if you can find out what's making you miserable, do something about it.

Just try to keep your actions legal!

All the best on your journey.

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All our Yesterdays 3

 This time around, we're looking at the week from May 9th - 15th

On May 9th, 1968, 21 people, including The Krays are charged with offences including conspiracy to murder and Fraud.

On May 10th, 1940, Following a furious argument in Parliament over military bungling in Norway, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as the British prime minister and formed an all-party war government.

On May 11th, 1981, Bob Marley died of cancer. He was 36. Born in the slums of Jamaica, Marley went on to bring Reggae and his religion to world attention.

On May 12th, 1971, Rolling Stones singer, Mick Jagger married Nicaraguan Bian Perez Morena de  Macias, in a Roman Catholic ceremony in the South of France. Guests included Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton. Bianca had met Mick six months earlier at a Rolling Stones concert.

On May 13th, 1981, A crowd of 20,000 people in St. Peter's Square in Rome saw Pope John Paul II shot four times by a Turkish gunman. The gunman, Mehmet Ali Agea, aged 23, had escaped from Turkey where he was apparently being held for Murder. He shot the Pop in protest at 'American and Russian imperialism.'

On May 14th 1973, space exploration entered a new era as the US space station 'Skylab 1' basted into orbit. Successive there man crews will live on the space station for weeks on end. 

On May 15th, 1998, it was 'Goodbye to 'ol blue eyes' as veteran singer, Frank Sinatra, died after a sparkling career of 60 years in show business.

And in this week in 1968, Louis Armstrong was spending his second of three weeks at the top of the British charts with his song, 'What A Wonderful World.'

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The Music Of My Life #31

This is an album I go back to on a regular basis. From the first time I heard New Frontier' I was hooked.

I'd always liked Steely Dan, but this album took it to another level for me. From 'I.G.Y. to 'Walk Between The Raindrops' it's jam-packed with great songs. There's even room for a cover of The Drifters' song 'Ruby Baby'

To me, it's just a 'must have' album.

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If you can't see the video, click here