I have just completed my fourth week in self-isolation. Other than a visit to a local supermarket three weeks ago the only outside space I have seen is my garden. I am not alone, far from it. Millions of people around the world are getting by on little more than an hour a day spent outside of the home
This blog is dedicated to those people who keep on working through this crisis. Doctors, Nurses, Carers, shop workers, delivery drivers, postmen, refuse collectors…………………all heroes. All of these people are making a real difference, providing lifelines to millions of others. Yet many of the people I am celebrating are amongst the lowest paid in society. Think of all the Chief Executives sitting at home helplessly watching profits skydiving, share prices sliding and the only thing they have done to make a difference is cut costs through making people unemployed.
When this shit storm is over I hope that people realise we need to re-balance the world economy and start to reward people in proportion to their contribution to making society work. Never take anyone for granted and never look down your nose at another person because you think you are more important………….think about it…………you’re not!!!
During a visit to the NASA space centre in 1962, President John F. Kennedy noticed a janitor carrying a broom. He interrupted his tour, walked over to the man and said, “Hi, I’m Jack Kennedy. What are you doing?”
“Well, Mr. President,” the janitor responded, “I’m helping put a man on the moon.”
Perhaps you have heard the story of Christopher Wren, a seventeenth-century English architect who walked one day unrecognized among the men who were at work upon the building of St. Paul’s cathedral in London, which he had designed.
“What are you doing?” he inquired of one of the workmen. The man replied, “I am cutting a piece of stone.” As Wren went on he put the same question to another man, and the man replied, “I am helping Sir Christopher Wren build a beautiful cathedral.”
Imagine how much better our world would be if those at the top of the pyramid realised that without those at bottom nothing happens!
Thus endeth my Easter sermon.
Jade told me a great story this week;
‘I met an old guy when I was on a bike ride and we had a good long chat. Turns out he was a teacher in Sheffield and he’d taught Jarvis Cocker and his sister. The guy proudly told me that he played a part in the name of Jarvis’ band Pulp.
My new friend was Jarvis’ economics teacher and one day he gave the class a copy of the Financial Times from many years ago and asked them all to write down what they’d invest in from commodity lists. They would then read the present days financial times to see who made the best choice. Apparently Jarvis was like ey sir what’s this Arabicus coffee pulp thing. The teacher explained it and Jarvis was like okay I’m gonna put my money on that… Turned out that was the best from the list and he was like, Sir I’m gonna name my band after that. Arabicus pulp was too much of a mouthful so he shortened it to Pulp.’
I love the story and it got me thinking about the genesis of other band names. As many people seem to be taking part in online quizzes as a way of coping with social isolation I thought I’d set some questions. Good luck, answers are at the bottom of this blog.
- An acronym formed from the first letters of each group member’s first name.
- Named after Milo O’Shea’s character in Sci Fi classic Barbarella
- Irish band whose name came from a robot character in The Dandy comic.
- American band named after a steam-powered dildo in William Burrough’s novel The Naked Lunch.
- English Heavy Metal band named after a 1933 Boris Karloff film.
- American band who took their name from the sidekick of Bart Simpson’s favourite superhero, Radioactive Man.
- This band was inspired by early-rocker Buddy Holly, whose backing group was called the Crickets.
- Band named after the South African football club that was the first team that ex-Leeds United captain Lucas Radebe played for.
- Band named after the founder members family home where they gathered to rehearse.
- Liverpool band named after a character in Harper Lee’s classic ‘To kill a Mockingbird’
I hope that some of you are using your unexpected spare time to catch up on some reading. I said in my last blog that I was reading Sandi Toskvig’s autobiography – Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus. I really enjoyed this book so have compiled a list of some of my favourite Biographies auto or otherwise.
Stairway to Heaven – Richard Cole
Steven Davis’ Hammer of the gods is the best known biography of Led Zeppelin This warts and all exposé of life on the road with Led Zeppelin became the benchmark rock biography. Davis’ tales of excess most notably the infamous Mudshark incident helped to build the Zeppelin legend.
I would recommend Stairway to Heaven above Davis’ tome. Richard Cole was Led Zeppelin’s tour manager and also the personal assistant of the bands mentor and manager Peter Grant. Cole was there for every year, every album and every tour and was therefore a first-hand witness to some of the legends that surround Led Zeppelin. Not for the faint hearted, it is however a definitive witness statement of someone who experienced the life with most the significant rock band on god’s great earth.
Anyone fancy a night at the Edgewater Inn Seattle??
A Magick life – Martyn Booth
Described by the popular press as “the wickedest man in the world” Aleister Crowley was an English writer, mystic, and ceremonial magician. Playing up to his reputation Crowley described himself as the Great beast 666 which fuelled the fires of scandal in the press which labelled him a Satanist.
Crowley gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, being a recreational drug experimenter, bisexual and an individualist social critic. He was also though a poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He dedicated his life to seeking arcane knowledge. Crowley became a Yoga adept may years before it became fashionable in western society.
Crowley has remained a highly influential figure over Western esotericism. Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page is one of his most famous devotees. Page bought Boleskine house by Loch Ness which was formally owned by Crowley and reputedly where he tried to perform a series of rituals known as the Sacred Magic of Abra-melin the Mage, the purpose which was to summon a guardian angel.
If you want to go beyond the more sensationalist crap pedalled by the popular press and understand a little more about who Crowley really was then this book is a good place to start.
I’m with the band – Pamela Des Barres
Pamela Des Barres was arguably the first groupie. This book is a wonderfully evocative memoir of Los Angeles in the sixties and seventies and describes the social changes brought upon the western world through the influence of rock music.
Beginning with Pamela Des Barres’ early obsession with Elvis, her own Beatlemania madness, and her fierce determination to meet the musicians who rocked her world, I’m With The Band describes how she infiltrated the nascent LA music scene in the late sixties. From being a nanny to Frank Zappa’s kids to relationships with Jim Morrison, Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger and even Pink Fairies’ bassist Duncan Sanderson to name but a few.
This book is a fantastic eyewitness account of the rise of rock music through to its dominance of popular culture. Des Barres has written other books but they descended in to little more than kiss and tell pap.
The Moon is a balloon – David Niven
David Niven lived through the golden age of Hollywood and was a favourite of Samuel Goldwyn. Niven was born into the English upper class. He attended Heatherdown Preparatory School and Stowe School before gaining a place at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After Sandhurst, he joined the British Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry.
Having developed an interest in acting, he left the army and travelled to Hollywood to pursue a career in the film industry.
The day after Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, Niven returned home and rejoined the British Army. He was alone among British stars in Hollywood in doing so; the British Embassy advised most actors to stay put in LA.
Niven was recommissioned as a lieutenant into the Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort’s Own) on 25 February 1940 and was assigned to a motor training battalion. He wanted something more exciting, however, and transferred into the Commandos.
After the war Niven returned to Los Angeles and enjoyed a very successful acting career. This wonderful book will make you laugh out loud as he describes his life in Hollywood. His description of he and Errol Flynn sharing a house which they called ‘cirrhosis by the sea’ is a scream. This book is a must read for film devotees but will be enjoyed by anyone who likes to laugh.
You’ll never make love in this town again
In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal it was worth revisiting this book.
Heidi Lynne Fleiss was an American madam who ran an upscale prostitution ring based in Los Angeles, California. She was convicted in 1996 and following her court case four of her girls wrote this expose of the seediness of the so called high class vice trade.
You will recognise most, if not all of the ‘clients’. I can’t watch Paul McCartney’s moving rendition of Something at the George Harrison memorial concert without thinking about this book. I lost respect for Jack Nicholson and will never watch another Sylvester Stallone film. Remember that this book is nearly twenty five years old but makes the Weinstein trial chilling when you realise just how misogynistic and cruel Los Angeles has always been.
Stoned – Andrew Loog Oldham
‘People say I made the Stones. I didn’t. They were there already’. They only wanted exploiting. They were all bad boys when I found them. I just brought out the worst in them.’
Andrew Loog Oldham was nineteen years old when he discovered and became the manager and producer of an unknown band called The Rolling Stones. This autobiography is a fascinating picture of London in the swinging sixties. Oldham is a fascinating mix of chancer and genius. He became the template for many subsequent pop music Svengali’s and deserves greater recognition than he receives. It was Oldham who locked Jagger and Richards in a room and told them not to come out before they had written a song. The rest as they say is history, but what a history!
Mr Nice – Howard Marks
What an extraordinary fellow Howard Marks was. His autobiography takes him from his South Wales childhood and Oxford University education through his life dealing marijuana and the enormous mythology that accrued around what the tabloids called “the English Toff Drugs King of the World”. This book is called Mr Nice after one of the many aliases Marks’s life as a merchant of pot obliged him to assume.
This book is a hilarious but cautionary tale of a life well lived. You can’t help but warm to Howard Marks. As you read the book you will wish you had got the chance to drink a pint or share a spliff with Mr. Nice. On a serious note, Marks argues the case for the legalisation of Marijuana and it is difficult to argue with him.
My Niece Steph met Howard and confirmed what my instincts told me…….he was truly Mr. Nice.
Rhinos, Winos & Lunatics – Deke Leonard
From the Publisher:
Man are a band from Wales with more history behind them than the Greeks. Rhinos, Winos & Lunatics is an hilarious account of life in the weirdest rock’n’roll band in the universe. Ablaze with razor-sharp wit, it is a stirring saga of courage, endurance and almost breathtaking stupidity.
I like the idea of Man more than I like the Manband’s music. The Ride and the view from the Welsh connection is one of my favourite songs of all time but few other Man tunes (with the notable exception of Bananas) scratch my itch.
Deke Leonard, however, is a fantastic raconteur. How he manages to remember the many stories he tells is truly amazing given his prodigious consumption of narcotics!
Deke wrote four more books, all superb. He passed away in in 2017. The world lost a true original, someone who deserved a bigger audience. Whether you like music or not you will love this book. Do yourself a favour and buy or blag a copy. You won’t be disappointed.
p.s. If you play guitar, you must buy the Twang Dynasty. This book is Deke celebrating his own guitar heroes. The chapter on my hero Larry Wallis is jaw droppingly hilarious
Notes from a small island – Bill Bryson
From the publisher:
Bill Bryson is an unabashed Anglophile who, through a mistake of history, happened to be born and bred in Iowa. Righting that error, he spent 20 years in England before deciding to repatriate: “I had recently read that 3.7 million Americans according to a Gallup poll, believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, so it was clear that my people needed me.” That comic tone enlivens this account of Bryson’s farewell walking tour of the countryside of “the green and kindly island that had for two decades been my home.”
My friend Phil doesn’t like Bill Bryson. He thinks he should spend more time in pubs connecting with people in the universal environment. I know where Phil is coming from but I find Bill Bryson hilarious. I love all of his travel books but this one resonates because it is about my home country. I love America so it is particularly good to read a book about an Americans love for my home.
If you read this book I can guarantee that (unless your name is Phil and you are a West Ham fan) you will seek out more of Bill Bryson’s work.
The Smell of Football – Mick Rathbone
I have to finish with a sports book. After all, we all miss sport. Whatever is your sporting gig it fills a huge part of our lives. This book is not about a sporting god but is the story of a physio with Everton football club.
From the publisher:
When Mick Rathbone signed for Birmingham City as a 16 year-old apprentice he was living every schoolboy’s dream. But when he discovered he was so nervous he was unable to speak, let alone pass the ball, in the presence of his boyhood hero and City star Trevor Francis, he realised that a career in football might not be everything he had imagined.
The Smell of Football is the brutally honest and utterly compelling story of how ‘Baz’ conquered his personal demons to build a life in the game – from the terrified teenager who purposely tried to get injured in training rather than get picked for the first team, to the experienced pro who became Head of Medicine at Premier League Everton FC in charge of the treatment of the likes of Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha and Tim Cahill.
Brilliantly written and packed with hilarious tales featuring a football ‘who’s who’ cast of characters – from Sir Alf Ramsey and ‘Big Sam’ Allardyce to David Moyes, Duncan Ferguson and Rooney himself – The Smell of Football is an engrossing and moving memoir that covers every aspect of the professional game and gives an unprecedented insight into what life is really like at football’s coalface.
This is an inspirational book that shows how any of us can make a difference once we have found our niche.
Thank you for reading this blog. I genuinely hope that you will read at least one of these books. If you do, let me know what you think.
Finally, please recognise the contribution made by those comrades who are selflessly working through these horrific times. Hopefully this will lead to a new world order of collaboration and tolerance…………………………………….I think I’ve been reading too much Mr. Nice!!!!!!!!!!!
Quiz answers
1) Abba
2) Duran Duran
3) Thin Lizzy
4) Steely Dan
5) Black Sabbath
6) Fall out boy
7) The Beatles
8) Kaiser Chiefs
9) Fairport Convention
10) Boo Radleys