Another train journey, another encounter with a fellow Londoner. This time I was walking through the station when a middle aged man came up to me. He was wearing a suit and looked relatively normal. Not that this means anything.
‘Excuse me’ he says ‘but do you know how to get to Holloway from here?’
‘Not exactly, but I think there is a bus. The guys who work here at the station will probably know the number.’
‘Thanks.’
I assume the encounter is over and think nothing of it. He however, has had a bright idea:
‘Do you want to come for a drink?’
‘No, sorry.’ I say. ‘What, don’t you like Holloway?’
‘No. I just don’t want to go for a drink. I’m going home.’
‘Are you gay?’
Obviously I must be. Not wanting to go for a drink in Holloway with some random bloke I’ve exchanged two sentences with at the station clearly indicates that I am gay. If only all things in life were so easily determined.
‘I’m going now.’ I say as I turn to leave. ‘Please tell me you’re gay.’ he sighs as I walk away.
Fans of 70s MOR might like this little played, but still fab tune by Queensland band Railroad Gin.
I never knew much about this group other than that ‘A Matter of Time’ was a minor hit in Australia in 1974. However, thanks to a site called Revolution Rock: Oral History of Brisbane Music, 1942 - Present I now also know that the success of the song led to the band being asked to ‘write and perform a Rock Mass – a concept favoured by the then Anglican Dean of Brisbane, Ian George.’ So the band enlisted the aid of the Queensland Youth Orchestra and wrote some new material ‘especially for the Rock Mass format.’ The main influences for the Mass were Jethro Tull, Santana and Chicago.
A Rock Mass in the style of Jethro Tull, Santana and Chicago? I kind of wish that I didn’t know that now.
Like any good self-obsessed blogger, I find my site statistics fascinating. Apart from telling me useless facts like that the only people who read this blog live in South East England, the West of Scotland and the extreme East and West coasts of the States, I’d like to think that they offer an insight into what’s happening in the zietgeist, man.
And what’s happening in the zeitgeist is Paul Weller’s hair. Since I wrote this post about my unfortunate comments to a female colleague about her Paul Weller-esque hair, I have received at least 3 google search hits a day from people wanting to know more about the great man’s hair.
Search subjects have included:
Paul Weller hair
How to get a Paul Weller cut
Where does Paul Weller get his hair cut?
Who cuts Paul Weller’s hair?
Does Paul Weller straighten his hair?
Does Paul Weller talk about his hair?
Paul Weller hairstyles for women (my favourite)
Sadly, this website isn’t going to answer any of those questions but it does suggest that not everyone regards his hair with amusement/disdain/sympathy.
Let’s take a trip back to 1953 this week with this summery calypso number celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation. In the song, Young Tiger (aka the somewhat less excitingly named George Browne) describes watching the Coronation from Marble Arch - seeing the golden coach with Her Majesty looking ‘really divine’ and the Duke of Edinburgh, all ‘dignified and neat’. The song perfectly captures the excitment of those more patriotic times.
However, Young Tiger must have been psychic as the song was apparently recorded on 22 April 1953 and the Coronation didn’t take place till two months later on 2 June…
‘I was there (at the Coronation)’, Young Tiger, 1953 from London is the Place for Me: Trinidadian Calypso in London, 1950-1956, Honest Jons, 2002
We went for one last fling at Walthamstow greyhound races on Saturday night. The track is closing this August because of the alleged impact of tax free betting off-course and rising running costs.
What’s not to like about a night at the Dogs (alright, apart from ‘animal rights’ issues)?
Stepping through the gates into the grounds always takes me to another, almost timeless world (like the New Picadilly used to): Scampi and chips at red formica booths; Pretending to pour over the form of the dogs, but really going for the one with the best name; Queuing up to place your bet with the white haired 70-somethings manning the tote (foul tempered but never disdainful of your 50p punt); Old style bookies, the only men in suits, swiftly revising their odds up to the last minute before the race; The lights darkening and the crowd quietening before the start of the race; The dogs streaking by in the blink of an eye, passing the finishing line before you’ve had a chance to put down your betting slip and pick up your pint; Race-sponsors proudly being photographed alongside the winning dog; The sounds of cheering (and swearing) ringing in your ears.
But it’ll all be over by the end of August. A top night out at a beautiful 1930s East London institution is being swapped for some horrible new flats instead. Bet they won’t be around in 75 years either.
I dragged myself out of bed this morning to the sound of Andy Burnham, Culture Secretary, telling me that illegal filesharing is wrong and that 6 of the biggest UK ISPs will now be spying on us on behalf of the government to help put an end to it.
Well, I for one am not reassured by a Culture Secretary who thinks that criminalising music fans is a positive move towards encouraging culture to flourish. Of course, I believe that musicians should be paid for ‘services rendered’, but why are fans always seen as the problem when it’s record companies who are responsible for the situation?
Research has long shown that people are prepared to pay for digital music if it’s an easy service to use. How else would iTunes and Emusic flourish? However, these services are by no means perfect - a result of record companies floundering for almost a decade about how to deal with changes in technology. They can’t sort licensing agreements, they can’t cope with ‘non-music’ companies like Apple, they stuff around with DRM/copy protection all the time. Hell, they don’t even seem to understand how people buy or listen to music these days. Music fans should not be penalised because major labels are still living in the dark ages and cannot figure out how to sell digital music.
Andy Burnham has suggested that in the long term there should be a yearly levy of £20 - £30 pounds to cover music downloading. Great, but based on the track record of record companies in this area, I’m not holding my breath.
Having said all that, I tend to view music file sharing on blogs as a form of home taping. It’s about both sharing a passion for music and discovering things you might not have heard otherwise. And believe me, since my father’s first illegal home taping of the family’s Beatles and Elton John records for me at age 5, the music industry has made a killing out of me. If Andy Burnham wants proof that, despite what he thinks, filesharing does actually ‘support the creative industries’ then he should look at my bank balance.
I didn’t sleep very well last night so was quite tired when I boarded my train this morning. Clearly one of my fellow passengers was suffering from a similar affliction - I found him curled up asleep in the opposite doorway. I let him be, went on into the carriage and sat down with my book.
The sleeper slept on, but didn’t stir when we got to the end of the line at Liverpool Street station. In response, the other people in the carriage, rather than wake or confront the sleeper, attempted to gingerly step over him, eventually waking him in the process.
Oblivious to stares from the gathering queue of people waiting to leave the train, the sleeper picked himself up, smoothed down his clothes, picked up his bag and hopped off the train as though it was a perfectly normal morning.
You have to admire people who can truly sleep anywhere.
Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators Holdin’ On
Classic sounding nothern soul? Recorded in the last few years? Accompanied by storming live gigs? By a bunch of Finns (ok, and an exiled American singer)?
No?
Then check this out.
‘Holdin’ On’ [3.28MB], Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators from Keep Reachin’ Up, Timmion, 2005
