On hot Saturday nights I would lie, wide-awake, in my bedroom. Through the open window I would hear indifferent cabaret singers warbling the latest hits from the stage of the Working Men’s Club, located at the end of our garden. With mock microphone in hand I would silently sing along with them, word-perfect in such [...]
When the trials and tribulations of advancing years begin to plague me, when one by one my senses start to fail, it may be the only sounds I will hear will be the ones inside my head. What then for the music that has been such a constant companion in my life? Will I only [...]
I only saw Dusty Springfield live as it were the once. It was in the summer of 1964 when as a callow fifteen year old I went with a friend and his parents for a weeks holiday in Scarborough, home of Jimmy Corrigan amusements, sandy beaches and a bracing wind from the sea. Two memories [...]
In the late 60s, when pop had lost much of its verve and vibrancy, I flirted for a time with the burgeoning folk music scene. A number of pubs in my hometown of Lincoln regularly turned over their bars or function rooms for a steady stream of bearded worthies to regale their devotees with tales [...]
“There’s a concert I would like to go to.’ I casually dropped the subject into the conversation when I thought the moment right. “No way,” she said when I told her the details and I wasn’t too surprised. The timing of the event was hopeless, slap bang in one of our busiest periods. The venue [...]
These days the name ‘Delia’ is more synonymous with exotic dinner recipes but back in the late 60s when I was in my second year of working the Delia I knew was a far more exciting proposition. She was Australian, about five or six years older than me, with long black hair and whilst not [...]
We have strong connections with the island of Jersey where my wife’s uncle was born and lived after retirement. For many years we were frequent visitors and made a number of friends many of whom, like her uncle, have sadly passed on. But we have kept in touch with one or two people and a combination of [...]
Whoever chose the topic ‘Fantasy’ for this month’s Writers Circle certainly provided plenty of scope for our imagination. It’s easy to picture Mike conjuring up another story involving whiplash and bondage, Eric slipping from sci-fi to science fantasy or Jack being entranced by a comely maiden. But the ‘fantasy’ I want to speak about tonight [...]
I fell in love with Marianne Faithfull some time in the latter part of 1964. The girl ‘with the face of an angel’, was making her Top Of The Pops debut singing As Tears Go By, a song written especially for her by Mick Jagger and Keith Richard of The Rolling Stones. But the song [...]
Donovan’s Beat Café Tour – Hove Centre 13th May 2005 Dylan Thomas poetry with a jazz accompaniment was just part of the Celtic magic 60s icon Donovan brought to a highly enthusiastic audience in the intimate surroundings of The Hove Centre. Through his extensive collection of hit singles and songs from the new album, Beat [...]