Return to Childhood.

I have been threatening this blog since I started writing all those years ago, this is a personal one for me, its about people who were a close knit family for more than ten years and then it all  imploded, there are no salacious stories just my interpretation of people who I shared great times with and then I missed (and still miss them) most of them for the last thirty years. This will not be a short blog damn it might even be split into two, I haven’t decided yet! There is an awful lot of sadness and death in this blog and a whole heap of regret!

I am not having a dig at anybody during the course of this blog, it’s the people (not their partners) that I do intend to remember, there were more people out on the perimeter, but this was the basic gang, The Dawn Patrol of which I have blogged before, I will not be talking about my two best friends as I will reserve that for another blog, and yes I know I have spoken about them in the past, this has been the hardest blog of my so called “career” to write so bear with me. I am aware that a number of people who I intend to write about in this blog read it, I have been told that, it won’t alter what I write, if you know me you know I would only ever write the truth, however it will be my version of the truth if there is something written about you as an individual please feel free to contact me and we can review what has been printed!

I have stated how I bumped into the crowd in previous blogs(at a UFO gig on the No Place to run tour in 1980), most of the gang came from Witton Gilbert and Pity Me area even venturing as far as Bowburn, they kind of congregated in Durham, they only went to the town (Newcastle) for gigs and occasionally to go to the Mayfair, I was the youngest by about 3 – 4 years and I was definitely the smallest of the group, with the biggest mouth allegedly, sometimes we would drink in The Angel or The Salutation or maybe just stay in Witton Gilbert in the pubs and club close to hand, we were a great bunch, we rarely had any issues , rarely fell out, rarely had cross words, well apart from me, it would appear that I was an opiniated little oik, not frightened to fight my corner, my cause or who I thought was best musically, I had an opinion on everything!

Now this was never malicious, I wouldn’t have stayed friends with everybody as long as I did, when I was younger I was simply full of beans, I had two sets of friends, my friends in my hometown of Gimpsville and the Mob from Durham, both sets of people were decidedly different and  I needed them for totally different purposes, both sets helped me after I left her Majesty’s Armed Forces but in different ways. In truth I needed to ask for help myself but we all know how long that took to ask (please see previous blogs written about my CBT course) times have changed and there’s not much time goes by where I don’t think of these people, even after all the stupid crap that went down.

What has caused me to finally write this, well I met a friend (yes I still think of him as a friend and not as my nemesis even though he was both from time to time) at work about twelve years ago he was apprehensive to say hello (more of this in a little while) but he did and we had a little chat, he was living in Japan, so it was a fleeting visit to see family, but we stood and chatted for ten or so minutes and thankfully we parted on better terms. Mike Cooke was the Ritchie Blackmore of the group he could outplay anybody who we knew (I will compare most of these people to musical heroes because they are and were still  my local heroes to me) he was doing Yngwie style shredding in 1980 and he is the person that set me down the road  to song writing, we started with a massive row over a set of lyrics, “if you can do better I will see you next week” 7 days later and 17 different sets of lyrics to the same tune, I wasn’t concerned about melody or anything like that, simply because I didn’t know anything about this thing called melody (that would come much later) and he hated every lyric I wrote, but he did take a bit from one and then another from a different set and in the end a song that was called The Knight of La Marr became known as Crusader(my first published works but not my first written song), the original would have seen him sued by Michael Moorcock’s estate the latter certainly wouldn’t! he was mightily impressed with my ability to turn out a large quantity of quality work in a short amount of time, this really was the basis of  our friendship, we both believed in hard work for just rewards. He auditioned for just about every band I can think of Ozzy (after Jake E Lee) Whitesnake before Sykes, Thin Lizzy at the same time as Snowy White, Gillan before Janick he did play in White Spirit for a month after Janick got the Gillan job but quit after punching Brian Howe (yes that Brian Howe) in the face! Iron Maiden when Adrian Smith left and he lost out to Janick again, that was the end of the auditioning days I think he realised he was better off as a gun for hire.

We wrote on a regular basis over the next ten years and he was the first person I knew to sign a record deal (with EMI in 1981) he never released one bloody record, instead he became a session player for just about everybody, before heading out to Japan to work with Yamaha as part of their development team, he loved playing, he simply hated all the rigmarole that went with doing gigs, he also struggled to maintain his groups because he had an ego, sad but true, he’s made a great living out of it over the years to the point that he is now retired and back  in this country, how do I know this because I bumped into him just before the lock down and what a difference 12 years makes, he was diagnosed as having MS just before Christmas of last year and already he is a totally different person to the man I knew, did we have had our ups and downs, hell yeah we did, but at the end of the night it was always forgotten  or talked through, there wasn’t any animosity there from my side, the problem arose later when two friends died and we didn’t have open lines of communication, it was before email it was before mobile phones and texting, I know if it had happened now we could have resolved our issues before they festered into the ugly mess that they became.

Again I wont go into the issue in this blog Mike thought that he was simply doing the best for a friend and I was asked by that friends wife to ask him to wait, he didn’t it all kicked off and here we are 30 years later wondering why we simply just didn’t talk, ego’s of the pair of us more than likely, that’s happened I  know we aren’t going to be the friends that we were, I’m not after that I simply wish in what little time I have left on this planet that I know I can part ways with everybody on good terms, that remains to be seen, it would appear that its not true about a grudge being for life, we simply carry our grief in different ways.

Then there was Gary Webb who so wanted to be Paul Raymond he even had the same hairstyle and that’s the reason he didn’t get the gig with UFO on the High stakes tour, at the audition both Pete Way and Phil Mogg couldn’t help staring at this Doppelganger, so Gary said at least. a lovely lad who drifted off into ill health and I’m told he passed away in 2001 with Leukaemia, we wrote a few songs and it was Gary who suggested me for the Satellite gig (before I sounded like a wart hogg) A big miss and a lovely person.

Phil Webb was Gary’s older brother and a great bass player again he passed in the early 90’s I’m not sure of what, although I can always remember struggling to get him to go out to a pub, but once he was out you couldn’t get him to leave it was his flat in Croydon that I bought back in 1983.

Simon Fox was our resident Rick Wakeman he even had a cape, he’s now a maths teacher I just wonder if he wears the cape in the classroom. Again over the years he did lots of sessions for the likes of Ozzy and Uriah Heep but was never asked to join the groups, He became a teacher and I don’t think (from what I have been told) that he has regretted the decision.

Bob Edwards was our resident Cozy Powell, and was the pinnacle of the cluster fuck of our relationship within the group, we had a slight altercation in my local Asda where I bounced a tin of soup of his head at the till and then had to be dragged off a very surprised drummer, I was foaming at the mouth, me and Bob up until that point had been very close, I haven’t seen him since, would I apologise for my behaviour, no not for that, I feel I was justified however the world has moved on and I feel that we have all had time to reflect I certainly don’t hold a grudge.

Tom Willis the Bob Daisley of the group He and Bob Edwards were a fearsome rhythm section, they usually played with various artists over the years including Bonnie Tyler, Sheena Easton and I’m led to believe Tom Jones.  it was Tom (Willis not Jones)who I sunk my teeth into as he tried to drag me off Bob back in Asda, what can I say I was committed there was two of them and only one of me and I had every intention of winning, again the world kept turning!

Gary Shaw was our Gary Moore and he played with tons of 70’s stars on the holiday circuit Gary was a troubled shy soul, I shared lots of rooms over the years, he always drank to oblivion, sadly he drank himself to death about 10 years ago in Sweden on tour with someone who I don’t remember , I like to think that he died peacefully in his sleep, I have lost a few friends over the years because of the drink, Gary had the potential to be great however he was crippled with shyness outside of our circle, I think that’s why he drank, I still see his dad from time to time and we always chat his dad is 94 and the spitting double of his  only son, his dad has been tea total since he was 23. Maybe he knew that the demon alcohol wasn’t for everybody, as he said though you have to follow your own path,

Peter Craig a great guy who never said die, Satellite was actually his baby and he kept it going from 1978 right up until 2004 in various different line ups, he ended up playing mainly American air bases and the such like, in the early 90’s he even had a bunch of 18 years old go out and play they nearly got signed as well, he played off stage keyboards and was there manager, but then grunge happened and it was back to stage plying the army bases, I had the privilege of singing for his baby and I wrote about 90% of their material with Peter, maybe that’s why they never got signed, I think I still have the demo tapes kicking around somewhere, we both shared a taste for obscure Canadian bands (Trooper) Peter met a  lady retired and had a massive heart attack two days after moving to Spain to live his life on the beach, he got his wish, bless him.

Jon Darren was our John Deacon as in quiet and a great bass player he left our merry little tribe before I did, he got married to Mary (who was just so nice to everybody we all called her Mother Mary after the UFO song) he retired from music and went into retail, had three kids and allegedly lots of grand kids, he is now living in St Austell, which funny enough was the last place I saw him on his stag do, I didn’t think anybody could throw up that much, until I discovered that can you not so long back.

Andy Ross, our Norse god and the tallest of the group at 6” 9” he worked as a sound engineer, he disappeared off to Norway in 1993, and has fallen off the edge of the world quite literally, when we went to gigs Andy normally got me in next to the sound desk or I stood in front of him if he wasn’t working, I was thought he would have looked good in Manowar, I never said that within striking distance. Even with his look and size he was the softest spoken person I have ever met, until you pissed him off LOL!

Craig Stevens was a great guy but nobody could tell you what he did for a living he was rarely short of cash (no I don’t think he did anything illegal, he just had lots of fingers in lots of pies)he could get you onto any guest list and I mean any guestlist, the only problem was if you asked (and I never did) it was like you had sold your soul and Craig was our particular Lucifer!

Chris Hughes the most grown up of the group he became a radiologist and his story is itself so sad, the first of the group to die Chris was definitely like a big brother to me, he lost his wife to cancer after she gave birth to his only daughter, she died in a car crash with his in laws about 18 months later Chris hung himself me and his brother helped the police break into the house, he had passed us  in his car as we were going to the Salutation, he just was blank we knew something was wrong, again a long blog all by itself, it was the first time I had ever seen a dead body, and the first time (but not the last) time I saw someone who had hung themselves, I think in reality this was actually the start of our tribe unravelling.

Jeff Hughes the Ian Paice of the group he was without a doubt the best drummer I ever knew what he could do on a little kit was awesome, and he always played with a little kit, he was the nearest age wise as he was the younger brother of Chris, and we usually shared rooms when we had flats together it was Jeff who bought my flat from me in Croydon in 1985, he retired 4 years ago and sold  it to buy a four bedroom detached in Bowburn(for cash…..i wish I had just rented him my flat, oh the benefit of hindsight), we still chat when we see each other (not often) I wont mention that he worked for Stock Aitken and Waterman, no honestly I won’t, the cheque  is still waiting to clear!

Paul Dean another wizard of the keyboards, name a pop act of the 80’s & 90’s he was your go to guy, I have seen him on top of the pops more times than Status Quo he was on one night with three different acts, he was always a busy boy, worked damned hard but was fun when he let some steam off again he ended up working with S.A.W (his cheque cleared) he did that until about 2002 and then buggered off to Crete, I’m told he’s still out there and he does read the blog as he has told me off in the past, he always was our man of mystery!

 Dave Brooks was our resident Simon Phillips and played with just as many bands, I was told that he had drowned off the coast of Florida in 1995, but I am reliably informed that he didn’t and he rose from the grave and works at a collage somewhere in the great state of Florida.

I am going to end it there as it seems  that there are too many ghosts sitting with me (real and imagined) and it has been a lot of information about people you won’t know, I’m not expecting this one to do  the numbers of previous ones, but I don’t really care, the name game is in play but it’s a live album not an actual song, it’s not that hard! Some of the information in this (and the next) blog is over twelve years old so if there is anything I have gotten wrong (me with my reputation) please let me know and I will correct any facts that I got wrong.

It’s not written as a sad blog if it comes across that way then, there’s not a lot I can do about that, its written with warmth in my heart for people who I still class as family, no matter what has transpired over the years, these were good people some have had harder times than me some have lived their lives with no regrets, isn’t that the best way?

I will conclude this blog (but not this story) next time, I don’t wish to dwell on the bad times in reality a small period of time compared to all of the good times and yes there were some good times most of the historical/hysterical, musical blogs has this cast of reprobates tagging along as a happy clan, so enjoy and watch because I have a feeling that the next one will be here sooner than this one was, so far this has been the longest blog in a couple of years, I hope I haven’t put anybody to sleep! So until the next one stay safe, stay alive and keep watching the skies for incoming……Toodles!  

Internal Exile.

We got new double glazing fitted before the lockdown, unfortunately we weren’t quick enough to get the new blinds fitted. The only thing I like seeing out of these new windows is a small pair of birds using my hedge, the rest is just muppets walking about as if nothing has mattered, I have been stuck in the house now for almost four weeks and I mean in the house, the only time I go out is to sort the bins for their collection, it is true the bins go out more than me these days!, me I’m being a good boy as I’m in a target group so I’m susceptible, and all I see is muppets!

Bob has been circling the house I haven’t let him in, yet! It’s the one battle I am determined to win during these crazy times! (please see the previous blog simply called “Bob”) but it’s getting close, I am trying to be good but its only a matter of time, before I go bat shit crazy! So, I like most of the country has been furloughed and at first you think I can do this, but now I simply feel like a bloody criminal locked up for a crime I didn’t commit.

There is just me the wife and the youngest, and the hound within our prison compound,  the eldest has her own issues (her two kids of differing ages god help her) and so far we  have been good, me and the wife have only had one altercation, we normally do that every fours hours so we must be doing something right, we had ordered a new mattress for our bed as the wife is suffering with her back at the moment, we thought we might just sneak it under the wire, but we were not successful, the wife unfortunately will just have to suffer on (in silence). She is always checking emails to await the new delivery date.

They have been out of the house  on shopping expeditions and I just gaze out of the window again looking at muppets not social distancing, wondering what fresh air seems like, I could go in the yard but that simply would reinforce the fact that I am indeed in a prison of my own making!  I do enjoy seeing the postman on his rounds not that we are getting much post, but its human contact, I feel happy as I wave at him and he looks at me like I am a bloody nutter, go figure!

The person (I say person ha) enjoying the new windows more than anybody else is the hound, who is up at the window every thirty seconds …….oooooh what’s this, oooooh can I chase that, oooooh a flying thing etc we spend most of our time telling him to get down (yeah right this my house human) he’s like a horny teenager he simply wants to be at it every thirty seconds! me because of social anxiety I came out like a spotty teenager, my face was killing me so I have shaved the beard off to give my face time to breath (I know all of the jokes so save your breath) the one thing I crave is fresh air, but if you know me at all you know I will only obsess about it and I’m not doing anything at all about it.

I have tried to do a digital detox (it hasn’t worked) and I have simply spent time sorting out my hard drives, I’m usually quite anal about being digitally tidy, however it would appear that I have been a tad tardy, three weeks into the first hard drive (and yes you read that right the first one) I am nearly there, nearly! I will need a break before I go near the other one I have, damn me and my musical OCD filing! The only good thing is that we can Face Time the Grand Kids as they tear around their own house sword fighting with large plastic bottles (damn it they should be doing that with me).

Over eating has reared its ugly head as I will eat anything because I am bored, not that I really need any excuse to eat, my diabetes is kicking my arse simply because I am overeating and its all a vicious circle I have barely had a drink, not for any other reason than I don’t fancy one, see I can be a good boy, mind you I would simply just eat more, my diabetes nurse is going to try me on a new wonder drug, lets see what that does, I just hope I haven’t put all my weight back on after my time here in the big brother house! I’m not even dressing like an adult, just T Shirt and joggers how do the unemployed (those of them that wish to be, we all know some people who do not want to work) do this, admittedly they are usually Junkies who sit in the pub all day and know how to screw the system, again not all unemployed just some of the muppets I see on a daily basis when I’m off  to work, I don’t envy them the lifestyle this is doing my head in, I do have the pleasure of nice long leisurely baths, which seems to have become my only guilty pleasure , well that and eating mainly eating hey ho!

At times I feel like the character who went bat shit crazy and simply couldn’t stop himself from escaping in the film The Great Escape, I might just climb the back wall to get the hell out of dodge (or simply to get myself shot) and never come back (who am I kidding and leave my record/CD collection, yeah right! I’m hating the TV simply because I am sick of chinless wonders skyping their opinion in like some kind of ministry of propaganda, I did do a nice thing and get the wife to get Disney + as she is a fan of the old Goggle Box that sits in the corner of the living room!

I’m just hoping that everybody that I know is staying safe and is in a better place than this loon, mind you I don’t think I have been this consistent in writing since my Myspace days of blogging! I will definitely need a new lap top after all of this, the blogs have been doing well, some spikes of the old ones, it’s like someone is discovering the blog for the first time, which is nice! but then there are days when it is simply the latest one and although traffic has been good, conversations have dropped to a minimum, you can’t get Co-vid from posting comments guys, I am ahead of the blogging curve as I was going to blog every 7 days the last few have been every 5 or 6 days so I am about a week ahead of myself, please don’t get your knickers in a twist if the next one is not along as quickly, as it’s a historical one and well for me its quite a heavy one , it will probably be the least read one of the year but I have to do it, I need to flush my system in a blogging sense of direction, and its one I have been threatening for about the last three years.

So there you go something to fill your time in to while away the hours as you sip wine reading a book on the window sill of life, or whatever other bullshit gets you through this crap we are calling life at the moment! So please be safe and stay alive don’t be a muppet there is enough of them out there we don’t need anymore, I hope that you are enjoying these blogs as they come along, watch the skies for incoming there will be another one along presently until then though…………Toodles!

Favourite Stranger.

I don’t chase stars, I’m not interested in meeting the stars, I have met a few most have been nice one or two have been down right weird, there’s only been one knob, lets see where this goes!

Ian Gillan has been a dick every time  I have been in the same vicinity of his orbit, I have never liked him as a person, he has always been a complete dick, I could probably do an entire blog on him, I won’t but I will recount the time Leonard Haze was drumming for him on the Tool box tour and he apologised to a couple of girls who Mr Gillan had thrown a drink over for no reason and walked away laughing, Mr Haze was the perfect gentleman, he was when he was in Y&T and he was when he was a hired gun.

Some people can be a little stand offish, some people can be a little rude, but you don’t know how many idiots they have had to deal over the course of the day (one of the main reason I don’t like to bother them) I have met many of the same people over the years and if they were off one tour they would be lovely the next time so I suppose its swings and roundabouts.

Jon Anderson has been weird every time, not horrible just kind of an old hippy, Brian Robertson has always been out there in the outer regions of the galaxy, it seems like he hates the world, not the fans but he does come across as a bit of a git, Stuart Adamson when he was with the Skids was pissed all the time but with Big Country was the perfect gent, Annie Lennox was pretentious Dave Stewart was as mad as a box of frogs but lovely even though he is a mackum.

Ritchie Blackmore always lovely no matter what his reputation precedes him, all of the Stranglers were lovely even Hugh Cornwell, who came across as a grumpy head teacher, but he was actually lovely. Fish has been the Haddington Bear a couple of times but with good cause, we have met him a couple of times and he has always been wonderful including a convention we attended 4 days after the wife had had major back surgery and when he found out, he had a seat put at the side of the stage for her so that she could see the show in comfort and Yatta his stage manager kept popping back to see that she was ok. That was the night I met Steven Wilson, yes that Steven Wilson he was more nervous about meeting people who knew his music even though Porcupine Tree only had a few albums out at the time. Fish’s guitar player John Wesley was lovely as well and again he performed a short acoustic set on the afternoon in the sunshine I bought all of his albums at the merch stall, and had a bloody good drink after the gig.

Brian Tichy was so cool he put us on the guest list for his show at Vamp’d in Vegas (what a holiday with a great people) we were met at the door by the bar owner who was lovely and it turns out it was Danny Cokers wife the owner of Counts Customs, we even got introduced as good friends to Sass Jordan and some tramp who turned out to be Jake E Lee (who was lovely as it happens) who wanted to buy my Buckets T shirt off me  but when we got to explaining who the buckets were he knew who the hell the boys from shields were!

FM are all lovely but Steve Overland is outstanding as being such a gentleman, who was genuinely surprised when I quizzed him about certain albums he had played on that he didn’t think anybody had heard never mind actually have copies of, and he was shocked that I actually had his Broadway debut, but still level headed and a lovely chap.

Yes I have met tons more, way too many to list, but the moral of the story I don’t go out of my way to do so, I can be a tad shy even  back in the day, I will list a couple that I haven’t mentioned, but the only one who was a dick was Ian Gillan I may have made that claim before.

The Rods, Various members  of UFO, Thunder, Eric Martin, Rick Wakeman, Simon Kirke, Dweezil Zappa, Extreme, Saigon Kick, Graham Bonnet, Adam Ant (before he went bat shit crazy) all of the members of Queen, Ronnie James Dio, Y&T, Triumph, most of the Japan guys, actually the were more shy than the fans , all of the Maiden were fab and the list could go on forever, I know some of my friends have met tons more than me, some have worked in the trade, some actively chase the “stars” of the day, if you meet them and they are dicks its probably because someone was a dick to them first they are only people after all.

I have a couple of blogs brewing and I’m enjoying the pacing off them, the numbers are good, the name game is as always in play, stay indoors, stay safe and watch the skies for incoming, until the next time.............Toodles!

I Am A Camera

Have I ever explained that I hate technology, that I am a luddite, I’m ok if I’m shown how to do something but don’t give me a set of technology instructions, I will simply have a major strop and destroy said piece of equipment, as was nearly evidenced when work recently sent me a new Apple iPhone (I’m an android baby) thankfully the wife was on hand to sooth my fevered brow, to point me in the right direction and wave something shiny my way to keep me distracted while she sorted the issue(as she always does).

I’m not a huge fan of my photograph being taken either its like some kind of voodoo, me silly hell yeah! In reality I doubt that my picture count gets up into triple digits (apart from the set I did with the wife with the wonderful Chris Harrison)my wife complained that she had hardly any photos of me (why is that a problem) other than that, family, piss up’s etc I generally feel that I have the face for radio, even official work ones don’t get into double digits and when you consider the fact that I am part of the senior management team, that’s no mean feat!

It’s the wife that keeps trying to drag me into the modern age (not the middle ages) with streaming and the such like, I only skype for work, but not with the camera turned on, who knew I was camera shy, many people over the years have tried to drag me into the camera’s eye, although I do try to play nice I simply don’t get it, even when I’m stood there with two fingers saluting the camera they still insist on taking the bloody thing, what is with the need to be perpetually in the view of the world. I have two pictures that I like of me and they are both natural, one with the wife and one with me in the arms of another woman (thankfully one of the wife’s friends) I’m simply not that photogenic.

I struggle with new things some people claim I was born too late, and I will admit that if it wasn’t for the wife I would probably live in a cave, with music I love the physical copies I hate downloads, if truth be known I prefer vinyl, but hey ho that ship has sailed, I can kind of live with CD’s but downloads pfft, I get that its easier to transport but I like what I like, go sue me!

I do like digital photography, simply because again I’m crap with technology, at least you don’t have to wait 5 days and spend a fortune to see that all of your pictures were shit, I know my pictures are crap I have no intention of printing them I like the idea of pointing and pressing, I have no idea about apertures and stuff, I know some very talented people who publish some awesome pictures I would be jealous if I thought I could something half as good, I can’t and yes I can live with it.

So there you go a small blog just to keep the river flowing as I veer towards number 500, the last blog did really good numbers although some of you thought I was a bit of a lout, no I was a drunken lout, well I was actually quite well mannered but a total piss head something I never denied, I did not do it on purpose I have only ever puked with drink about six times in my life (the last time about twelve years ago and a blog all in itself) and two of them were at a john Waite Gig, damn I know some people who do that in a night!

My intention is to keep the next couple short and sweet, as I am working on a historical one that means an awful lot to me and it could end up being quite large, it will be here sooner rather than later, the name game last week was won by Suki from Goteborg in Sweden who actually sent me the complete lyric as its her  fave song (we all have a cross to bear I suppose my dear) yes as always the name game is still in play, so keep on doing whatever you have been doing as the numbers have been all good in a positive kind of groove, so watch the skies for more incoming, I mean what the hell else have I got to do with myself, well apart from playing a lot more music than usual (I know I laughed at that one as well)I will only publish once the previous one stops getting read, I know I have set myself up for a right kicking haven’t I LOL. As it happens I have got a great idea for another blog while I was typing this one up, it’s cool my brain is ticking over(for once) So stay safe and lets get through this madness, until the next one………Toodles!