How was 2022 for you?

It’s difficult to know where to start when looking back over 2022. There were many positives; Caitlin moved into a new flat in Crosby, North Liverpool for her final year at University. It’s much, much better than the student accomodation she had in her first two years and is a much shorter drive to her placement hospital. I love walking along Crosby beach when we visit, Anthony Gormley’s Another Place never ceases to amaze me.

We managed to finally take our much postponed trip to the USA. It was great to get back to the States, great to see friends there and great to visit New Mexico for the first time.

We also saw a good few gigs including Bob Dylan.

On the downside, we had three Prime Ministers. I was delighted to see the back of the lying charlatan Boris Johnson. Liz Truss replaced him and in the seven weeks she was PM she managed to trash the economy and condem British people to many more years of punishing austerity. She has shown no contrition, in fact she appears to be proud of what she achieved!!!. Rishi Sunak is the latest encumbent. He inherits a poisoned chalice but, he wanted the job and has got his wish. He seems to want to portray himself as the tough guy who stood up to, and beat the unions. This is particularly distasteful when considering the plight of Nurses and other NHS workers. During the Covid pandemic, Sunak was happy to be photographed standing on the doorstep of 11 Downing street applauding their dedication. That counts for nothing now as he seeks to first defeat the Nurses and then privatise the NHS. Be afraid brothers and sisters. Be VERY afraid.

Johnson and his supporters claim that Sunak stabbed him in the back when, in fact, almost the whole cabinet resigned and told BJ his position was untenable. Sunak wasn’t even the first to resign.

Johnson is now lobbying behind Sunak’s back, looking to regain leadership of the Conservative party. What is most disturbing is the fact that most Conservative members would welcome him back with open arms! They are willing to forgive his blatant lying. He reminds me of Donald Trump and his supporters are like America’s Trumpers!

On the subject of the orange one, his tax returns were published today. Basically the most successful businessman in the world (according to himself) has hardly paid a dime in tax. His supporters still love him. I give up.

2022 in music

My life is all about the music. Anyone who knows me will not be surprised by that statement. I’ll start with my favourite albums released in 2022.

Songs of the recollection – Cowboy Junkies

Consists of cover versions of songs by artists such as David Bowie, Neil Young and the Rolling Stones.

(406) Cowboy Junkies “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” Official Video – YouTube

A very unusual head – The Slambovian Circus of Dreams

Difficult to categorise, kind of Psychedelic Folk Rock. A damn fine album

(409) Beez – I Know Where The Beez Have Gone – YouTube

A Southern gothic – Adia Victoria (technically released in 2021 but the vinyl version came out in 2022)

A big shout out to Marko for introducing me to Adia Victoria. Nashville Blues.

(406) Adia Victoria – Magnolia Blues [Official Music Video] – YouTube

The Sea Drift – The Delines

Willy Vlautin is too damn talented. Not content with being a great songwriter he is also a fantastic author. Amy Boone is an exellent singer.

(406) The Delines – Little Earl – YouTube

Crooked Tree – Molly Tuttle

I can see this album propelling Molly Tuttle to mainstream success. She is a virtuoso Bluegrass guitar player and a great songwriter. I’m hoping that she tours the UK in 2023

(406) Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway – Crooked Tree (Live) – YouTube

Dark enough to see the stars – Mary Gauthier

Mary Gauthier writing happy songs doesn’t feel right! The songs are of her usual high standard and I’m delighted she has found happiness with Jaimee Harris.

(406) Mary Gauthier – Dark Enough to See the Stars (Official Music Video) – YouTube

The Mary Wallopers – The Mary Wallopers

The Mary Wallopers are the best band to come out of Ireland since the Pogues. I look forward to seeing them live.

(406) The Mary Wallopers – ‘Frost Is All Over’ – YouTube

Nothing special – Will Sheff, Okkervil River

A first solo album from Will Sheff. I’m sad to see the end of Okkervil River but wish Will all the best as he is a quality artist.(408) Will Sheff – The Spiral Season (Official Video) – YouTube

Dear Scott – Michael Head and the red elastic band

Fantastic Singer/Songwriter from Liverpool. Formely of The Pale Fountains

(408) Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band – Broken Beauty (Official Video) – YouTube

Wet Leg – Wet Leg

Wet Leg are a new English band who are really good fun. I hope their flame doesn’t burn out too quickly like the band they remind me of, Lush.

(408) Wet Leg – Chaise Longue (Glastonbury 2022) – YouTube

I don’t think 2022 was a great year for new music but maybe that’s down to me getting older! January 2023 sees the realease of the new album from Margo Price which I have pre-ordered. February sees a new album from Jaimee Harris. I fear that Jaimee is not a distinctive enough singer nor a standout songwriter. I heard a couple of the new songs when we saw her in November and I’ll certainly buy her album and give it a go.

Since Covid, I keep a record of every I album I play which Is useful when looking back over the year. The album I played most in 2022 was

 The Wicker Man original soundtrack – Paul Giovanni.

 The artists I listened to most were ;

Bob Dylan

Grateful Dead

Mary Gauthier

Rolling Stones

Tom Waits

Neil Young

The Delines

Paul Giovanni

The Slambovian Circus of Dreams

The Stooges

In total, I listened to 587 albums

Live music

We had a few shows booked in early 2022. Our fist show was Lindisfarne at Bury Met. I always liked this band of Geordies and, in Alan Hull, they possessed one of England’s greatest songwriters. Alan Hull passed away in 1995 and only Rod Clements remains of the original band. Alan Hull’s son in law Dave Hull-Denhow plays in the band now keeping the flame alive. I was surprised how good they were, they played for two hours and the set spanned their full career.

The next two shows we were supposed to see were cancelled; The Animals featuring Maggie Bell and Chuck Prophet. I was particularly gutted about the Animals show as I love Maggie Bell.

Our next gig was back at Bury Met when we saw The Delines. It was really good to see Amy Boone walking freely. The last time we saw them, she needed a stick and was clearly struggling following a bad accident in Austin, Texas. This was another first class show from one of my favourite bands.

The Slambovian Circus of Dreams were next up at Manchester Rugby Club. If this sounds an unlikely venue, the reality is worse. It felt like Saturday night in a Working Mens club. I felt sorry for the band. Fortunately, the band didn’t seem to care and played two superb sets to a sell-out crowd. They had just played the Cropedy festival where they received rave reviews. I can’t understand why this great band are not far bigger. They have great songs and are excellent musicians.  Joziah Longo is the Main Songwriter, Lead vocalist and guitarist. He is one of the best frontmen around and was happy to talk to people in the audience between sets and at the end of the show. If you get the chance to see them, get tickets. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

(409) The Slambovian Circus of Dreams – A Very Unusual Head – YouTube

We finally made it to the USA in September. We had the trip cancelled twice due to COVID so it was great to finally get there. We visited San Antonio, Texas and Johnny Marr was playing the night we were there. I never liked The Smiths when they were big in the eighties and couldn’t understand why Johnny Marr was raved about as the next guitar hero. This gig showed me the error of my ways. He was absolutely superb. His guitar playing was awesome and he has tremendous stage presence. An absolute bargain at $35/ticket. He was over in the USA supporting The Killers. This was a night off hence the solo show.

(409) Johnny Marr – This Charming Man – 2022/04/01 – Gloucester Guildhall – YouTube

The following night we saw Enter Shikari in Austin, Texas. I don’t mind them but They’re not one of my favourite bands. Still, at $20/ticket it was a no brainer. Support band Trash Boat had their set interrupted by the mother of all thunderstorms but were decent enough. Enter Shikari were good but not great. Their stageshow seems contrived with singer Rou Reynolds stage diving and climbing the scaffolding. It was good fun but it was better appreciated by the young audience who didn’t seem fazed by an old fart like me in the crowd.

(430) Enter Shikari – Gandhi Mate, Gandhi (Live – Sydney, Roundhouse, 12 November 2022) – YouTube

Whilst waiting for our flight to take off on the way to the States I managed to get Bob Dylan tickets seconds before the “please set your phone to flight mode” announcement was made.

Despite being a huge fan, I’ve never seen Dylan before. I have always been put off by distinctly average live albums and less than complimentary reviews. I’m glad I got tickets because Bob was awesome. It was a ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ moment. Seldom are you ever fortunate enough to be in the presence of true genius.

Our final two gigs of the year were both in London. I wrote about both shows in my last blog. Mary Gauthier is one of my favourite songwriters. I love her lyrics and her music and enjoy the sound that is made by acoustic guitar and violin, sparse but perfectly complementing Mary’s voice. The show was at the Union Chapel in Islington which is a venue we want to visit again. Perfect acoustics and friendly staff.

Cowboy Junkies are one of the best bands to come out of Canada. The antithesis of flashy, they play with an immersive intensity. The show was at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank which is an excellent theatre with excellent acoustics.

Reading

I have loved reading since I was a small child. My Grandad taught me to read by showing me the Football results in the Saturday ‘Pink’ Evening Mail. He read Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales to me and I was hooked for life. 2022 saw me finally succumb to social media as I becamet addicted to Twitter. This somewhat curbed my reading but I still managed to get through 39 books. This broke down into fifteen biographies, eighteen novels and six non-fiction titles. Six of the biographies I read were music related with the pick being:

No Simple highway by Peter Richardson.

Debbie at work kindly loaned me this excellent book about The Grateful Dead.

Much as I loved this book, it left me regretting the fact that I left it too late to get into The Dead so I never got to see them live.

The pick of the other music biographies were

I love Richard Thompson. One of my favourite guitarists and a brilliant songwriter to boot. The reviews of this book put me off it. We saw him live just as the country re-opened post Covid. He read excerpts from Beeswing so I bought it and eventually got around to reading it. A great book about one of Englands finest musicians.

Another book that I took too long to get around to reading. Chrissie Hynde is a true Rock chick and you can’t help but like and admire her. I have started to listen to the Pretenders again and appreciate them more now I know the journey Chrissie took to get there.

Moving away from music. I really enjoyed Miriam Margolyes autobiography. No finer compliment can be made of an autobiography than knowing you would like the subject if you met them.

As you may imagine, this book is all about the life of a Caddie at St Andrews. What you may not expect is that this book is can be enjoyed by non Golf fans as well. A funny, truly moving story.

I like Stuart Maconie. I enjoy his Radio programmes and his books. This is is his finest work. I’m probably biased as I recognise the England he writes about. This should be a must read on school curriculums to show the young that a functioning, caring society that looks after everyone is not a utopian dream but a recent reality. If you are to read one of the books I have recommended, please make it this one.

Of the novels I read, there are four that I found excellent.

If you have never read any of Elizabeth Strout’s novels you would probably enjoy this book. If you have, it is another masterpiece.

Richard Osman’s debut novel, The Thursday Murder Club, was a huge success. Much as I enjoyed that book I found the ending deeply frustrating. I’m pleased to say that his sophomore effort is much better. The characters from his first book develop further and the story itself is very good. I can’t wait to read the new one.

Tremendous. It will be a lucky actress who gets to play Lynette

The fifth novel in the Cormoran Strike novels by Robert Galbaraith aka J K Rowling. I don’t agree with Ms Rowling’s views on Transgender people, however, I abhor the vitriol and ostracisation that has been directed at her . I really enjoy the Strike novels which started well and have got better and better. I can’t wait to read the 6^th.

Travel

We finally made it back to America for a holiday after two Covid related cancellations. I wrote about our trip in a recent blog so I will not labour on it. I have loved America since the first time I visited way back in 1984. I love Americans, the most welcoming, friendly people on God’s great earth. It was good to visit a couple of new States, I’ve visited sixteen now. We went Hot air ballooning, which was a first, and visited an Earthship community which offered a glimpse of sustainable living with all mod cons. We visited many bars in our unselfish mission to research the burgeoning Craft beer scene.

I also fulfilled a long held ambition to drink a Mad Dog Margarita in the Chili Parlour bar.

It was fantastic to see our Neice Stephanie, our friends Phil and Jenna and a real treat to spend time with Marko, Jeanne and their wonderful kids on their home turf.

I’m starting to think about our next trip to the States.

One downside to our trip was to see the affect of the Trump presidency at first hand. Regular people are a little more guarded now and those with more extreme views are louder and more strident in their belief that the world begins and ends in the USA.

It was fantastic to get back to London. We had two trips to the capital, our first visit in maybe seven years. It was fantastic to stay in Camden and drink in iconic music pubs like The Dublin Castle and the Good Mixer. We, had some great meals visited some new places and avoided most tourist hotspots.

Caitlin moved to Crosby in Liverpool in July. Her flat is a short walk to Anthony Gormley’s Another Place installation. I love to walk along Crosby beach and take in one of the world’s best pieces of art which enhances the already beautiful views.

We also managed a few trips to Bury, one our favourite places in England. It’s always a pleasure to have few beers in the Two Tubs and some of Bury’s other great pubs. The Met is my favourite place to see a bands. Small, great acoustics and good quality drinks at pub prices. We have a couple of trips booked in 2023 already

So, in summary, there were many highlights in 2022. Writing this blog has helped me to reflect on lots of happy times.

I have avoided mentioning sport, specifically the plight of Everton Football Club. I have been a fan all my life but have never experienced such lows. Sadly, I’m convinced we will be relegated in 2023 thus ending the longest stay in the top division.

In American Football, The Dolphins flattered to deceive for a while but decided that sucking was their go to place.

In Baseball, The Texas Rangers affiliated themselves with one of England’s finest bands, The Who???

My country has become an unpleasant place, divided by the farce of Brexit. The Tory party have failed and have descended so far that they have forced Nurses to take strike action. These are the same nurses that Tory politicians were happy to be photographed applauding for their unselfish efforts during the Covid crisis. Brexit has been such a horrendous failure that the Tory party are desperate for a trade deal with the USA. Privatisation of our NHS is the condition the American government puts on a deal. I hope British people firmly reject this but I fear that Tory gammons will convince their supporters that it is the right thing to do.

I could rail against many things but I prefer to focus on the positive.  Pat and I will try to see a gig every month in 2023. We are currently booked up through June. We also want to do a lot more travelling.

Caitlin will hopefully become a qualified Midwife and join Britain’s greatest institution, The NHS.

I hope y’all had a good 2022 and I wish you all the best for 2023.