Escape from Childhood.

I had  to split the last blog into two parts as it was going on and on (and on and on) not that I minded that, it was good to reminisce, to be able to finally put those friends that were out of mind to the front, if only for a little while, the blog has done really well and is still going (the lockdown is throwing me some weird metrics for the blog) this is the second part and concluding part and my intention is to close this out, 99% of you have no idea who these people are/were, I probably could do a full blog for every single one of them (cheques can be sent to the usual location).

The people in this blog floated in and out of the circle but they do mean quite a bit to me, as at some point we definitely had a connection: -

Aldo Fazio was our resident mad Italian (actually a Yank) who hated all music except Italian opera (why the hell did he knock around with us….I have no idea) if he worked in a bar we usually frequented it, for no other reason than the bars he worked in were usually fun, and boy did he like to have fun, he moved back to Akron Ohio around of the time I last Steve (see The Dawn Patrol Blog) a lovely guy and a solid friend.

Danny Corke a great bass player who succumbed to mental health issues, he tried to strangle his father in law (nobody knows why) it was his father in law who picked him up after he finished serving his six-year sentence and has stood by him every step of the way! I haven’t seen Danny for more than 20 years, I’m told that he is better now, but is a bit of a recluse, still married but a tad fragile these days.

Ronnie O’Malley The most crooked person that I have ever met, every time he shook my hand I checked to see if I still had my watch, he couldn’t lie straight in bed, having said that he was a nice guy (you simply couldn’t trust him) he was an accountant (not mine) and I’m told he did a runner around 1998 with a boat load of money, allegedly not his, who would have thought?

Andy Hamilton was Ronnie’s partner in crime again a lovely guy he simply hated working for a legit living, a total scam artist it seems he became a Muslim and moved to Dubai, I wonder what the scam was?

Susan & Bennett Taylor My publishers who signed me all those years ago to Streetbeat, Susan said she saw the raw talent, Bennett realised that I would work hard and make him money, the partnership was great until the stupid bastard had a heart attack (a fatal one) Susan had to sell  the company due to some VAT being owed and people were not being forthcoming in paying her the money the company was owed, that was the start of my troubles, if only I had heeded her advice I might have gone on for a few more years within the music Biz, to be honest I was losing interest , it had become a chore, Sue eventually bought Streetbeat back from the Russian/Polish Mob who bought the company off her, she took great pride in telling me the court case they chased me for seventeen years (yes you read that right 17) cost them a little over £400000 (yes you read that right four hundred thousand, talk about being stupid, I can be a tad stubborn), and to this day she credits me for being the reason why they sold the company back to her, allegedly she sold up to Universal music group and now breeds Bees somewhere outside of Bristol, still one of the best bosses I ever worked for (and yes I know she reads the blog LOL).

Mad Mark (we all used to call him mad and he answered to it) he popped up into our lives around 83 and disappeared around 86, I’m told that he became a vicar for the Church of England, which is quite funny when you consider that he was totally and utterly nuts for Black Sabbath, to this day he is the only person I ever knew who did play his records backwards, I’m also told he was Tasered by the police about four years ago in Manchester (it seems it was big local news) he has since disappeared of the face of the earth!

Dave Palmer was our resident Chef, when we had to stay in because of lack of funds, boy could he work his magic in the kitchen, he joined the merchant Navy in 88, and yes I have spoken to him as he was the first of my group of friends to discover the blog.

Steve Newton the original and longest vocalist in Satellite, it was illness that pushed me to the front in 84 when they were about to have a showcase, thankfully he recovered and I didn’t  have to go and totally destroy the band completely, Steve has been a vocal coach for many years has toured with lots of artists including Cliff Richard, Van Morrison and Bryan Ferry, Steve was the quiet one in the group and it turns out the reason for this was because he was gay and he thought we would shun him (WTF) never would have happened, he married his roommate and lifelong partner Ian McFarlane they have both been an item since 1981, good luck to them.

Pat Cox was a window cleaner whose accent changed as well as his life story hourly, he wanted to buy my flat from me but didn’t want to meet the asking price, so I sold it to Jeff Hughes who would, it would appear that he is now driving a taxi in Dublin although when Mike collared him he denied it all and said he had the wrong man before morphing into a welsh person in front of him, I often wonder how many people actually inhabited his brain as he really was a fruit loop, but nice with it, at his best think of the mad Irishman in Braveheart…..it really was his island!

Graham Turner our resident tech guy could fix anything it seems he found god got married and had a huuuuuuge family! He still works for Radio 4, it happens people do work there it would appear!

Peter Trew (or as we called him little Pete) is again a really sad story, he was diagnosed with Cancer and gassed himself in his car out on Saddle Worth Moors in Manchester, he would do anything to help anybody, one of life’s good guys, and the reason why I have a habit of saying good guys always finish last.

Mark Stephenson another one who found God, Honestly it has had nothing to do with me, I bumped into him at my place of work, he was a wild man in his younger days a total berserker , he is very centred and calm these days, still a great guy with a similar sense of humour, SICK!

Mick Ross (no relation to Andy Ross) was obsessed with bus’s he could wax lyrical on them like I could about records it would appear he is now a bus driver living out his dream in Norwich.

Tony Robb the only member of the team who could out sleep me in any position, he was last seen pissed as a rat asleep in an upright position, going in the totally wrong direction on the tube from where we thought he lived I don’t think I ever spent anytime with him and he was sober.

That’s the lot, there were others out there on the periphery who floated in and out, would my life had changed if I had moved at the beginning of 1986 to the United States with Stella and Steve, most definitely but in my heart of hearts it simply wasn’t for me, we dragged the group on for another five years here and there, but it splintered with the tragic loss of my two all time best friends, and I still miss them and think of them every single day, again this was all before mobiles and the internet, we splintered into a number of factions, some with scores to settle or axes to grind (myself included) me I was simply full of rage, thankfully I met the wife and she has moulded me over the last thirty years into the man that stands before you now, a better man, I miss these friends but all things happen for a reason, I wish we could all talk and reminisce in a good way, I know for some the nerves are still raw, but if me and Mike can make peace I’m sure we all can, if not stay safe and stay alive.

We were really like a family that exploded all those years ago (30 bloody years were does the time go?)  some of this information is over 12 years old if anybody would like to update me, I’m really not that hard to find, if you found the blog you know where I work, I’m very easy to contact and I’m no longer that angry little shit! Ask the wife she can verify it for you!

There you go normal service shall resume with the next blog thank you for all your kind comments and to those that have reached out, I really  have turned the other cheek, its thirty years boys and girls the world kept spinning, so stay in stay safe and stay alive, I need all the readers I can get, so until the next time enjoy and click like or share, until then……Toodles!