Owed to G

Well its time to get historical (and maybe in some places hysterical) and do something just a tad sassy, just like the person that this blog is all about, now its not going to be long (the innocent need to be protected) but it certainly brings a warmth to me when I think about this individual.

Now I'm just going to call this individual G if you know me or even if you are out on the periphery of my circle of friends you will know G, but as always I'm getting ahead of myself, we didn't go to  the same school, G went to school with my brother (pfft) and was the year below him, but I heard about G and a small group of people at said school as I did knock around with most of them G though lived in the badlands! actually he didn't he just lived further away than the rest of these people, so I never got to meet him until a couple of years later, I can remember the first time I met him it was sports meeting for our respective schools I was there for short distance running and G was there for the shot put, he was also having a massive swig of strongbow cider (isn't it amazing how you can remember some of the smallest details in your life but none of the more recent stuff tee hee), we sort of introduced each other almost grudgingly he knew who I was and I knew who he was and that's were the seed of friendship was planted, I'm not going to say we hit it off from the off, but we were cordial and we had similar interests.

I'm not sure if G trusted my musical instincts either as I tended to take the piss out of certain artists that he liked, he probably thought I was a slave to my brothers musical indoctrination (oh how many people thought that and were wrong so wrong) I just didn't want to follow the herd on some bands, Rush I love them but I got so  much fun winding people up, look at my collection I have all of their albums although as usual I tend to like the albums die hard fans don't, Michael Schenker who I love with UFO I only liked two solo albums First and Third ones I didn't want to be like a sheep and again I derived some humour from poking people with sticks, there was however so many more bands that we bonded over and of all of my friends the person I love conversing about music is G, so insightful and still championing new music where as I most certainly am still in a bit of a rut both stylistically and of a certain age. I do miss the weekly turning up at G's house and being given a mix tape of the latest music that he had devoured that week (most of which I still have and yes I still play) good times , actually they were bad times as we reconnected after I left the army and I tried to keep up with G and his drinking buddy Piggy, I was never in the running these boys were champions league and I was strictly non league hey ho but I tried, and many times G warned me off the deadly sin of drinking but in his heart of hearts he knew it was something I had to do for myself, and boy do I remember the states I was in, sooooooooooooo drunk but it was necessary at the time for what I was going through! And lets just mention the trick he pulled on me when he introduced me to Joe Satriani flying in a blue dream (the new Buck Dharma CD .........you Bastard!) I can still remember when he played me a flexi disc of a guy called Steve Vai..........yes a flexi disc something called Blue Powder damn it music so does move me, and he knew how to press my musical buttons!

Again life took over and we drifted G went to Durham and I gravitated to other places with other people but we were always friends going to great gigs and doing outrageous things (G was the one who could snort shots of whisky out of a clowns nose, me I just used to get pissed) G taking me to see Gary Moore at the Mayfair as I was skint and never once was the mention of monetary recompense, Hellanbach in Gimpsville, Saigon Kick at the Riverside and so on and on!G actually introducing me to most of the people I know now, although I bet if you were to ask most of them they would claim I was introduced to them by my wife (Wrong) drinking escapades in Newcastle me trying to be Indiana Jones (all of the tales are so much better in person over a pint) stealing flowers from a local pizza hut and then passing them out to all of the ladies on the last stage coach back to Gimpsville, and this was the golden age the time  that I look back on with the most happiness, the best of times with the best of music and most of all the best of friends.

But as always the world as always continued spinning and we gravitated to (slightly) different universes I met the wife and my life went that away even though he was involved in that moment of my life as well ,soon the world changed again or rather I did as I became once again more insular, the worst point in my life was that at this point I lived closer to G than ever before and although we reconnected again my life was in shreds and although I needed all of my friends I was selfish and hid away in my shell, I didn't travel the short distance between our universes, we still saw each other but I was not the same person, and I hope he understands that, it was never him it was always me. I still listen to a lot of the music G introduced me to and I always listen to what he posts on his farcebook page, I sometimes wonder how many people has infected over the years with his love of music!

I did say I wasn't going to blog long about G but it has made me happy reminiscing all the good times and believe me when I say I can't think of any bad times with G, one of my many happy memories was finding him at the bottom of Front Street after chucking out time pissed as a fart bellowing "Frank" over and aver again because he was convinced that Frank Marino had wandered off over the derelict site of the steelworks me and another really good friend stood for nearly for an hour  in winter trying to convince him to head home with us but he wouldn't, we at that point left as we were sobering up and frightened of freezing to death! the next day in the local there was G having a pint and looking at us as though we had two head "as if Frank Marino would come to Gimpsville"! all the DJing that he did, the times he would play Yes just for me (yes that's right Yes!) even if it meant clearing the dance floor, or the time that a very popular artist (ACDC) would clear the dance floor because nobody wanted to head bang to them, I still remember the vinyl album being thrown across the dance floor at the individuals who requested it but wouldn't get up to it, the girl who requested some Deep Purple and when she came back to complain after he had literally played a full side of Come Taste The Band! yes she was a real fan, all the clubs he has played the Mayfair, Walkers and so many others, that one we did in Chester le Street and he wanted me to be the door man .........erm go on then! so many good times!

He recently turned  up in Gimpsville (his first time in over ten years) to see Warrior Soul at a local club and it was a really good moment for me, familiar faces in almost familiar places, I know G has had his moments in his life (I mean he has to look after Jack) but he seems to be in a great place with a great lady in his life, I wish him all the best, what am I going to do for the rest of day I'm going to find my G's to blame tapes Volume 1 all the way through until the wife beats me about the head and shoulders! G has posted about a record fayre in the town I couldn't go without the wife as a chaperone as like old times I would buy a million things that G would recommend until the next time .......Toodles!