Every once in a while I will get recommended a cd to listen to that will really knock me off my feet. A few years ago I was pointed in the direction of 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia by the Dandy Warhols, and from the first time I heard it I knew it was going to be a cd that I would would love forever (forever being a relative term - I mean until I die, sadly not forever).
Recently I had the same experience but bizarrely with a cd that was over 35 years old, although then it would have been a good old 12inch lp. I can't say that I've ever been a fan of Joni Mitchell - during the early 70s my musical tastes were were straddling between the Beatles and Glam Rock trying very carefully not to tread on any progressive rock or the very 'in' singer-songwriters. But for the first time some months ago I heard Blue by Joni Mitchell for the first time and it was excellent. I have read many pop and rock stars saying that she was a big influence but I didn't realise it until I heard this cd. So on the 70s musical theme here are my top ten 70s albums.

1) Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
2) Led Zeppelin 4
3) Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
4) Slade Alive - Slade
5) John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
6) What's Going On? - Marvin Gaye
7) Never Mind The Bollocks - The Sex Pistols
8) Blue - Joni Mitchell
9) Quadrophenia - The Who
10) Songs In The Key Of Life - Stevie Wonder

I know I'm going to get some comments on this, but I've only picked each artist once, some of these has more than one great album ion the 70s - them's the rules!
11)

The economy in the 1970s - whose fault?

This posting cannot go by without some mention of the pathetic shower that is the England football team, and their futile attempts to overcome some neo-third world countries in an effort to reach Euro 2008. There, I think I've made myself clear on that. However, what I did find interesting is that they reckon the economy will lose £2 billion pounds this year because England failed to qualify. This is the cost of all those pints of beer, replica shirts, new widescreen LCD and plasma tvs etc etc. Quite staggering isn't it? Which got me thinking (always a dangerous think to be happening) - when I was in my teens/early 20s we actually failed to qualify for any European Championships of World cups tournaments between 1970 and 1980. Yes, 10 years without the 3 lions in a major football tournament, staggering, but it actually happened (and there we about 3 foreign players in the football league at the time, so let's put that one to bed). Now, add the cost of not qualifying for 4 tournaments at £2 billion every other year for a decade and that's a staggering £8 billion lost to the economy in less than 10 years. So don't ever believe the history books when they tell you that the economic problems of the 70s were caused by oil prices after the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, or the greedy miners, or the powerful unions, or punk, or the long hot summer of 1976, or glam rock, or Maggie Thatcher, or flares, it was caused by England's failure to be at the big football parties! Which is why we need Jose Mourinho as the next England football manager otherwise we could be doomed once again to galloping inflation, soaring oil prices, mass unemployment, and yes, possibly even flares and teardrop collar shirts. Pray for Mourinho, I can't wear platform shoes again, not with these feet.

It's a Tie

So, whoever decided that a piece of coloured cloth knotted around your neck was smart? I guess this dated back to the 18th century (fashion historians help me out here!) when cravats probably first came into existence, that's what I remember from pictures in history books, anyway! It seems that this fashion has been around a long time as we are still wearing them so they are pretty well ingrained in the culture now. But I think it's still unfair that men are expected to 'be smart' wearing a suit and tie and yet women can still express themselves pretty much any way they please and it's still regarded as smart. Still, I think this is getting better as most companies sensibly allow casual dress when they are doing nothing more than sitting in an office all day and rightly so. But correct is that if they are going out to meet people they should be smart as anything less may give the wrong impression of the company they represent. I've just re-read what I've written so far and my rant about expectations of men's clothing have turned into a rather conciliatory piece about the correctness of wearing a tie - that's the trouble as you get old, your mind wanders quickly and you lose the point. Still, could be worse, could be raining.

How to pass the time when you are off sick

Had the unfortunate experience of being off sick from work last week. Nothing serious, and I was a bitdiappointed as it's the first time that I've missed work through sickness for 3 years - not bad for a 50 year old! No doubt it'll get worse as I get 0lder and start getting things like gout and 'a bit of a chest'. Anyway, while sitting round at home not really feeling like doing much I watched some films that I have had sitting on my DVD recorder for some months and have never got round to watching.
The first one was Amelie, a French film from 2001 with subtitles. I don't particularly like subtitled films (I suppose it's hard to concentrate on words and pictures at my age) but this was really quite good, very quirky with some great performances.
Second one was Once Upon A Time In America a film from 1984. This is a a sprawling epic directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro, and it covers about 60 years in the lived of some Jewish kids from New York who become gangsters. Very long, but well worth staying with to the end.
Last up wasn't one from the DVD recorder but a purchase from Tesco's. This was Sleepers from 1996 and has a stellar cast of Robert De Niro (again), Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt, Dustin Hoffman and Minne Driver. Once again it's about some poor Italian kids from New York (bit of a thread here?) who get mixed up with gangsters and end up in reform school but I won't say any more as it will ruin the story for anyone who wants to see it.
And why not? as Barry Norman used to say when his film review show was worth staying up for.
And finally, farewell to Myles Rudge. Who, I can hear say? The man who wrote that Junior Choice staple Right Said Fred as well as Hole In The Ground, both for Bernard Cribbins died last month aged 81. 'So Fred said let's have another cup of tea and then we went home'. Magic!

Wet Winter Sundays

Anyone remember the famous Hancock sketch about Sundays and how boring they are? If you think back 30+ years they were pretty dull, nothing open, everyone having roast dinner 'because we always have done and that's the way it's going to be'. It's so much better now - shops are open if that's your thing, pubs, bars and restaurants are open much longer instead of the archaic licensing laws that held sway in this country for 90 odd years, live football on the tv if you want it. So if they are that much better I hear you say then why are you in writing your blog? Well, the truth is that when it's wet, windy and raining out then indoors is the best place to be anyway. Maybe that's why the typical British Sunday was always dull, because apart from about 5 times a year the weather is so crap there is nothing better to do than sit around indoors! So there, I'm off to drink a few glasses of wine and watch some tv in front of a blazing fire, pipe and slippers on etc etc. Yes, sometimes being 50 does have a lot going for it....

Do you like good music? (yeah, yeah)

Apologies to my faithful readers out there, been away for a weeks break so haven't got around to blogging. Just been reminded that a group of us are going to a soul night next week, should be good fun. This made me think that looking through my cd collection I have a vast number of soul cds, mostly compilations, but stuff that I wouldn't have dreamt of buying when it was out first time around. I was very happy to go clubs and listen to the music, but I would never dream of buying it and listening to it at home, I was strictly a guitar band man. I think the only soul music I bought was Stevie Wonder who was hip enough then for me to get away with. Now I can sit and listen to it for hours, maybe it's just a nostalgia thing and it brings back memories of some great times, or maybe it was great to begin with but I just didn't appreciate that it was good music to listen to as well as dance with.
RIP then, Ronnie Hazlehurst. He was a bandleader who wrote many tv series theme tunes e.g. the Two Ronnies. However, the most interesting fact that has come out after his death is that he wrote the theme to Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, and the main melody (sounds like it's played on a recorder) is actually morse code for Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em! Honestly, it's true! How clever is that?
I've had a very good suggestion to do a list of the best music-related films. This can cover a wide spectrum, so let's leave musicals out, shall we?

1) This is Spinal Tap
2) Hard Day's Night
3) That'll Be The Day
4) Flame
5) Quadrophenia
6) High Fidelity
7) Moulin Rouge
8) The Blues Brothers
9) Gimme Shelter
10) Standing In The Shadows Of Motown

There. That should provoke some discussion.

Lee

Happy Birthday Radio One!

Radio One was born when I was 10 years old so it kind of grew up with me. It's hard to believe now that it was really the only radio station that you could listen to that played pop music, excepting Radio Luxemburg (Fab 208!) which was good but it really use to piss me off they way it used to fade in and out. It was like being a French Resistance fighter trying to pick up the BBC during the war!
My best memories of Radio One were the roadshows; I managed to get to two. The first one was in Great Yarmouth on the famous Norfolk Broads holiday of 1974, the second was in Cornwall (my memory fails me for once - was it Newquay or Falmouth?) in the long hot summer of 1976. By this time Noel Edmonds held no fascination for me as I had been working in the same building as him for a year so saw him quite regularly. Anyway, the only real reason for going to the roadshows was to pick up girls, which myself and my holiday chums failed spectacularly at both times! I'm sure those holidays will come up again in the future so watch this space.
My other great memory of Radio One was listening to it on the way up to Sheffield for a weekend of heavy drinking and more attempts to snare the opposite sex in April 1980. Two songs released that week that got heavy airplay that day were 'Rough Boys' by Pete Townshend and 'Turn It On Again' by Genesis, and still every time I hear one of these songs it takes me back to that time when my hair was longer, I could run upstairs without getting out of breath and my liver was (almost) intact. Happy days!

Hughesy

They said you was hung!

As anyone who knows me well will tell you, my favourite all-time film is Blazing Saddles. Now I tried showing my kids this classic pice of cinematic genius, but they were not impressed. I guess that the use of the 'N' word renders this film now as a museum piece, like the D W Griffith film 'Birth Of A Nation' (look it up, I'm not doing it all for you). I guess one of the good things about modern life is that people are more tolerant of minorities. Certainly, at the local comprehensive my two both had friends of all colours, ethnic backgrounds and different sexual persuasions. When I was a lad the only black kid I knew was Phil who lived one road up from me, and he was a foster kid to a white family. I didn't get to know any gay people until I started my part time job at the Bedford Hotel, and although they say 1 in 4 men are gay I certainly to this day don't know of any kids at our all boys school that are (or were) gay. But I'm prepared to listen to any gossip that says otherwise. As I've got a glass of wine on the go and I'm feeling particularly lazy tonight after a long day, here's a way to fill up space. Going back to my first sentence, here it is - another list - my 10 all-time favourite films!

1) Blazing Saddles
2) The Deerhunter
3) Casablanca
4) Pulp Fiction
5) The Conversation
6) Angels With Dirty Faces
7) Life of Brian
8) Monty Python And The Holy Grail
9) One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
10) Duck Soup

Any you're not familiar with please check out on www.imdb.com

Until next time pop pickers, when I will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the birth of Radio 1!!

Hughesy

Pass me my flat cap and driving gloves

As I get the bus and/or train to work I don't do a lot of driving, but this weekend I seemed to be on the road more than I am normally. One thing that I noticed were the number of drivers that steadfastly refuse to use indicators. That is something that really bugs me as it's a fundamental part of driving and can be very dangerous if you don't do it. Have all new drivers been told not to use them so much? Does it save wearing the bulbs out? I know learners are taught to go into neutral gear when slowing down at traffic lights etc but using indicators is a safety factor.
No list today, but some observations on being 50 as found by a regular poser Frank

SOME OF THE PERKS OF BEING 50
1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
2. In a hostage situation, you are likely to be released first.
3. No one expects you to run -- anywhere.
4. People call at 9 p.m. and ask, "Did I wake you?"
5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
7. Things you buy now won't wear out.
8. You can eat dinner at 4 p.m.
9. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
10. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.

It's really not fair is it? My teenage son goes out, drinks 10 pints of lager, comes home at 5 in the morning and then spends the most part of the day in bed sleeping it off. And he's only 13 (joke). I spend a long afternoon and evening with my friends having a few drinks, quite a bit but nowhere near 10 pints and I can't sleep it off because either a) I have to get up to do something the next day or b) I have to get in 3 times in the night to relieve my ageing 50 year old bladder. Life's not fair, youth is wasted on the young! Although, it seems to be much more difficult for youngsters to get drunk in pubs these days. When I was a 15 year old all you had to do to get served in a pub was grow a beard (obviously this was quite difficult for the girls). nowadays you can be a David Bellamy lookalike (compost corner!) but if they suspect you are not 18 then you are not getting a drink.
This afternoon myself and DC (one of my ever growing band of posters) are off to Teddington to watch a live tv show called 'Not Going Out' being recorded. I've never been to one of these so I'm looking forward to it, and it's another thing to tick off the list of 'things to do before I die' list. I guess it might be time to revise the list as it seems England have solved their left-sided midfield problem.
Anyway, just to stir up a bit of controversy as people will have their own choices, and just to show that all of my cultural references don't end in 1979, heres a short list of some of my favourite films since 2000.

1) Bubba Ho-Tep - Elvis and JFK battle the mummy. No really, check it out it's great.
2) King Kong - Big monkey climbs Empire State Building, fantastic.
3)Hi-Fidelity - for music lovers everywhere.
4) Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? - Homer's Odyssey set in the Deep South in the 1930's
5) Downfall - Adolf gets his comeuppance.
6) Kill Bill vols 1 and 2 - live and manga action.
7) Vera Drake - great recreation of the 1950s.
8) United 93 - but you know the ending.
9) Lord Of The Rings trilogy - I love hobbits
10) Little Miss Sunshine - a road movie with a difference

My first poster!

Thanks to DC Smart for being the first person to post a comment on my blog. I would like to thank the other person that posted a comment, but sadly that's me as I was answering DC's first comment. Come on you miserable bastards, its easier to register and it's better than emails flying back and forward.
Following my recent entry regarding the film Zulu, I had an email from Ozzy Meeres (Ozzy, you should have posted this as a comment!). Apparently the actor Nigel Green (who played Colour Sergeant Bourne in the film - you must remember, keep up!) may have owned the Meeres' house, although he's also been told it was two doors up from him so I don't know what to believe. Apparently Steve Harley's nan used to live in my road but I don't know if she is still around. Although having said that, the old lady down the shops the other day was humming Judy Teen.....

War Babies

For my 50th birthday earlier this year my kids got me the box set of World At War dvds. Is this the best documentary ever made, it's got to be! Informative,exciting, intelligent and moving, pretty much everything that tv isn't today. I recently read a comment by journalist Danny Kelly that men of a certain age (i.e. born in the mid to late 50s) have an unusual interest in war. I believe that's true as many of my contemporaries are interested in World War 2 and World War 1. I also am quite interested in the Vietnam War, probably as I can remember watching it unfold on our old black and white tv in the 60s, and another friend of mine is into the American Civil War (yes, you Mr Ragbourne!) Why is that? I would theorise it's because we were the first of many generations that were not actually involved first hand in any conflicts, lucky bastards that we are. Either that or we're just sad anoraks who like to talk about areoplanes, battles and visiting ancient battlefields (note to self: go and see the Somme battlefield one day).

And now for another in the occasional lists series:



10 things I liked about the 80s:

1) Having my kids (yes, obvious one)
2) Getting married (in case she reads this!)
3) Seeing the Grand Canyon
4) Being fit
5) Ghost Town
6) Wembley 1983
7) Bentleys and Mr Ks night clubs
8) Royal Wedding 1981 (but only for the day off work)
9) CDs - how can vinyl be better, bit old lumps of plastic that scratched?
10) Ra-ra skirts (who doesn't?)

10 things I didn't like about the 80s:

1) John Lennon being shot
2) Thatcher
3) Jive Bunny
4) My mullet that I briefly had (picture available on request)
5) Red braces (worse than flares, in my opinion)
6) Wembley 1983 (replay)
7) Severe food poisioning on my honeymoon
8) Video recorders that chewed up tapes
9) The moustache that I had
10) Aceeeeeeeeddddddd!!!


That's all folks!

Hughesy

Relaxing Bank Holiday weekend? Oh no!

I thought bank holidays were meant to be relaxing? Went out on Saturday to get a gas cylinder for the patio heater at a local Tesco garage but they didn't have any and suggested we go to a local trader. When we got there did they have gas cylinders? Oh yes, hundreds of them but also a number of barbeque sets and Mrs H. was out of the car like a shot giving them the once over. Anyway, upshot is we ended up buying this massive thing and then the conversation turned to where are we going to keep it as I'm fed up with wheeling ours from the garage to the garden on those infrequent occasions we have a bbq (don't get me started on British weather). Solution? Build a patio! So, the next 2 days are taken up with removing bits of trees, digging up turf, going to the tip, more turf, more trees, more trips to the tip and finally by Bank Holiday Monday afternoon the patio is finished - but I'm knackered! How do builders, especially the 50 year old ones, cope? Just get used to it I suppose.
Bit of a rant now, about that poor 11 year old that got shot. Part of the solution I reckon is to get more police on the streets, get a bit of visibility. It worked in New York City which was a very dangerous place to be, but by introducing a zero tolerance policy and getting police on the street it now has the lowest crime rate of the ten largest cities in the US.
I can't let this post go without a tribute to Ivor Emmanuel, a Welsh musical theatre star of the 50s and 60s, but perhaps best known for his role as Private Owen in the film Zulu. He's the one that started the chorus of 'Men Of Harlech' in retort to the Zulu war chanting in the final battle scene. (none of this actually happened but it was a good part of the film.) He was also one of the scouts who comes back with the news that the Zulus were approaching, which is then passed on to Lieutenant Chard (Stanley Baker) by Colour Sergeant Bourne (Nigel Green) in the immortal phrase ' Zulus to the South East Sir...thousands of 'em.'
Anyway, RIP Ivor who died last month and thanks to Wikipedia for the Zulu info!

Football isn't it?

Tuesday 21/08/07.
What a good weekend! Saw lots of old friends, I mean that literally as I was at a 50th birthday party where 95% of the people had already reached that milestone.
Spent Saturday in the pub followed by the game (Albion vs Northampton) with a 2-1 victory to the Seagulls. Took me back to November 1976 when a minibus load of us went to see Northampton vs Brighton. A 2-0 victory and a stop off at Soho for some 70's style porn afterwards....ah, those were the days! Which reminds me -
In the first of an occasional series :

Why football was better in the 70s than it is now

1) Proper nicknames. Wassa and Becks? Pathetic! A real nickname is 'Chopper' or 'Bites your legs'.
2) A yellow card for tackling from behind when you get the ball? Nobby Stiles wouldn't have lasted 30 seconds!
3) A bit of rain or snow nowadays and the game's off, whatever happened to a good old mudbath with Francis Lee sliding towards you at 50mph?
4) A red card for nodding your head at an opponent? For a proper red card offence see Bremner vs Keegan in the 1974 Charity (?) Shield. I rest my case.
5) 3.00 Saturday and 7.30 Wednesday kickoffs - you knew where you were.
6) I know the late great Alan Ball wore white boots occasionally but some of these guys nowadays wear all colours - and they are definitely not fit to lace Bally's boots.
7) Scottish goalkeepers. Is it me or are they finally improving?
8) Sitting at a game's nice but a good surge on the terrace was something special.
9) Rattles vs airhorns? Rattles win every time.
10) Foreigners have brought a lot to our game but do we need so many? It was once considered exotic to have a Welshman in your team.

And just to show that I'm a balanced individual:

Why football is better now than in the 70s

1) Your chances of salmonella from football ground food has decreased by about 98%.
2) You can go to a match without fear of getting pummelled by a bunch of neanderthals.
3) The neantherthals have been priced out of going!
4) Most grounds have comfortable seating and are under cover (Withdean Stadium excepted).
5) you don't get people pissing down the terraces when they can't be bothered to go to the shed that passed as a toilet - and that was just the women!

And that's all of can think of...which proves my point.

Lee

Friday 17/08/07 As I hit 50 some months ago and was fed up with watching those 'grumpy old men and women' on TV, I thought I would start this blog to represent all of use who are 50+ and who aren't moany old gits (although I don't particularly like rap music - except old school rap like the Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash). Let's be fair, there are a lot of things around now that are great - I think mobile phones are very useful and it's much easier to access porn now we have the internet! (not that I do.... well, occasionally).
Talking of the internet, everyone says 'how great it is, you get people putting music on Myspace and then next week they've sold 25,000 downloads and are number one'. Let me say I think that's crap becausea) When I was a teenager if you sold 25,000 singles you were playing some local working mens club up north, or Jenkinsons bar in Brighton (fellow Brightonians will recognise this reference). You needed 100,000 sales to get in the top 30!b) By advertising the music on the internet these singers/bands have not spent a number of years slogging round perfecting the art of performing, so while they may make great music they have no stagecraft and therefore are poor to watch.
Sorry about that, starting to sound like a 50 year old...but it's true!
When i was a kid, certainly up until the early 70s at least, all adults would always be smartly dressed, did you notice your dad putting on 'just a casual suit to go and repair something in the shed?' OK, I may be exaggerating a bit there but being 50 is definitely the new 20. I rarely wear a tie now which I think is great - whoever thought it was smart to wear a piece of coloured cloth around your neck?Anyway, will sign off for now, need to do some guitar practice. Yes, I know I don;t really need to but Clapton didn't get as good as his is without putting in the hours.