Brother 52

So, as the year draws to a close and as always at this time of year my issues have played havoc with me and my brain (only due to tiredness and nothing to worry yourselves about) , thankfully the family have been great and have given my head a bloody good shake.

The year has generally been one of my most positive years, I have had my ups and downs but as a rule I would say 90% of the time I have been up! hopefully going forward things can stay positive in the new year ( I bet it all goes horribly wrong once I have completed writing this) and blog wise there should be more historical items coming down the track.

Negativity disappeared after my small little rant (see previous blog) and the numbers were quite stable given the nature  of my rant, numbers are in the ascendancy with over 38000 for the year, you think that I would be happy, and I suppose that I am, but you always want it to do better,  some have done well some have done even better and some have traipsed behind like the lost children that they are, but with an average 730 hits per blog this year I seem to be doing something right, the problem is I have no idea how that happens and I have no idea at how to improve what I’m doing (no I’m not looking for any tips it is what it is and I’m more than happy with what’s happening, as I have said in the past I’m a technophobe living in a modern age).

The name game still has its fans and if I’m honest it’s an easy way to get a head start and I like doing it, although I think these days when Nils gives me a wrong answer I’m sure he’s doing it to cheer me up. The landscape has changed over the last couple of years with the countries who are reading the blog and are not natural English speaking (however their written English is excellent……...much better than mine) some of the responses are lovely!

I have been receiving questions for the next “Now Hear This” blog, I have no problems with this however it is around a year and a bit away so try and keep your powder dry, I will stock pile the best questions so fear not fire them in when you can. Potentially blog number 500 is still online to be the last one, unless something else crops up, huge explosion of inspiration or some such thing, I honestly can’t see it progressing from there, I would like it to end on a high, and by then I have a sneaking feeling I will have said just about everything in my addled brain! If I thought I had anything interesting to say I would continue but even I know when the well is going to dry up!

I have plenty of ideas I’m just not sure that the way that I am saying it is not going stale, I’m sure that some of you will tell me one way or another and it is quite a way off (we are potentially looking at 2021) I intend to keep to 52 a year if I can and you know I have a tendency to move the goalposts when I want, why? Simply because I can!

Before anybody gets on my case “The Whalers Dues” is a true blog I just want to make sure that it is the best piece that I can write no matter when I finally do release it , a lot of people will be disappointed, some might find it humorous and some might simply enjoy the bile, it’s been so long gestating that I feel it might also be a damp squid, I had so many great thoughts whilst it formulated I simply did not want to lose it to the ether, its simply too good an idea to waste!

So that’s the end of year blog, I will see you all in the New Year with new ideas and some great blogs enjoy the holiday season enjoy the company of your loved ones, pets and anybody that I have missed, as always keep spreading the disease and watch the skies for incoming until then ……..

Toodles!

Still got the blues

So, the year is drawing to a close and the blog is slowing down for the end of year, my intention was to ensure that we averaged 52 blogs over the course of the year this is number 51 the end of year blog will be 52.

All was well in blog land until the last blog, I was relatively content with what I had produced , as well as I can be that is, and the blog did reasonable numbers actually it’s in the top three for the year (numbers wise) however I received a few negative comments, from people who were unhappy with the historical content, it would appear that one or two people (ok it’s 4) are only happy when I’m miserable, me with my reputation! No names but they were unhappy that (gasp shock horror) that I had consistently been writing happy blogs.

Now that is not my intention…………………..hang on a second , I don’t write the blogs for you lot, I write them for me and I write what’s in my head at the time (hence this rant….incoming)  I admit at times I can write some dark stuff, but that’s not the intention now or at any given time, having said that, if the only reason that  you read the blog is to laugh at the clinically depressed person writing them, then you really are a sad individual.

Now this is not going to be a personal rant at these individuals (I’ve learnt my lesson with that particular issue) if you do not like what I’m writing then all I can say is please don’t read them (see I’m being polite) there is enough crap in the world without feeding off someone’s misery, am I really that miserable (answers on a post card to FOAD .com) my intention is to write something I’m happy with.

The fact that four individuals are only happy when I’m unhappy says an awful lot about the state of some people’s minds, the fact that you write such negative bile to inform me that you are unhappy with what I am writing really is mind boggling, just for the record I intend to write nothing but sunshine and rainbows from now on positivity is the keyword, watch this space boys and girls.

Other than that, there’s not a lot going on, I have mainly been concentrating on work, and the health of the wife which has been flagging just a little. The fat man’s (that’s Santa and not me) visit is just around the corner so I need to gather my thoughts for the coming end of year blog and I need to list all things positive (hahaha it might be a short blog) and what to expect in the coming year “The Whalers Dues” is definitely going to have to wait, simply because even with all the polishing that has gone with that particular blog, there is simply too much bile and unhappiness to post for all of the doom mongers, I am trying to actually make it as positive as possible however just when I think I have turned the corner to positivity, it slides back towards darkness, and that is exactly not what I want to post.

I hope all of the readers (five of you lol) have a great Christmas and I can only say thank you to all of you who read this on a regular basis so many times so……. THANK YOU! Keep spreading the disease and watching the skies for incoming, the blog survives because of you lot (good or bad)  so until the end of the year……………………………..Toodles!

All Systems Go

I was a normal teenager I liked music, drink and then girls in that order, music and drink at the same time were pretty much high on the list, not many bands came to Gimpsville so we normally had to travel to see even local bands!

I had seen a few, many lost back in the mists of time, Wet Dream (I wasn’t old enough to get in so I stood outside The Mount to listen), Fallen Angel and New Disease to name but a few, I liked local bands, I supported them as often as possible, I loved pubs as well, I supported them every single day, I had to it was my god given duty!

To be honest with little else to do pubs were a great source of comfort either with company or not, although I tended to get insular (hammered) if I went drinking on my own, as I tended not to gravitate towards company, just the bar! One day in 1982 I was invited to go and join a cunning plan to see the mighty Hellanbach, playing in Gimpsville, was I up for it hell yeah I was.

It was a mid-week gig (a Thursday if my memory serves  me right) and it was at the Masons a great pub that has gone to waste, one of best music venues in the area and the owner does nothing to it, how the band managed to get the gig in there I have no idea, but it was my focal point to get me through the coming weeks, I had to go there as I had  not a lot going on, Big G told me where to be and when, it was a plan, I then had a really bad episode so disappeared off the face of the world for a few days, when I resurfaced, I had cut off all of my hair and was not in a good place.

Thankfully Big G was just the right medicine for this world-weary gutter snap, I was given instructions to grow up and buckle up, I was told to stop drinking as it would kill me, “erm is that a clown’s nose you are snorting shorts from”? “This isn’t about me come on man up”! and with that we disappeared into the night arriving at the venue just in time for the crowds to appear ok maybe about 30 people but not a bad crowd for Gimpsville somebody who I didn’t know asked if I was a member of the road crew, allegedly a crew cut and a combat jacket is what it takes!

Much merriment ensued with Big G snorting so many shorts out of that clown’s nose I got drunk just watching him, I had one or two pints (cough splutter) and then enjoyed a great gig from one of the better local bands, do I remember the intimate details of the gig hell no I was shitfaced and I know I slept behind Helen’s Cash Stores ( a local landmark from back in the day) a mere 400 yards from my mother’s house as I was so emotionally tired (ok I was as pissed as a rat) I know my intention to sit and look cool as the band played lasted all of about two songs, what the band thought of the lunatic with a crew cut and a combat jacket on headbanging along to all of their hits was doing I have no idea whatsoever!

Although I saw many more bands in Gimpsville nothing ever matched that gig just for the sheer power and spectacle, me and Big G might have been slightly intoxicated but we knew how to enjoy bands local  or national, the fact that the gig is still in my top ten gigs speaks volumes, I suppose the moral of this blog is get out and enjoy music be it local or national level groups, it sooths the savage beast, I still enjoy the power that music brings, I still like a drink (I’m old I probably drink in a year what I used to drink in a night go figure) and I’m still married so I must still enjoy the company of girls, well the wife I don’t want her to get any ideas that I’m a bad person I am most definitely a one girl guy (one crazy Pyscho bitch from hell is enough………..but she is my crazy Pyscho bitch from hell) .

So there you go I hope you enjoyed keep spreading the disease until the next time keep watching the skies for incoming until then ………..Toodles!

Crank it up

A long, long time ago I remember The Rods being played on the Friday rock show (Yes I know a radio show, how old am I?) and simply being blown away by them, then I found out that they were a three piece and I simply couldn’t believe the power that they put out, it was like an atom bomb going off instead of a hand grenade.

I managed to talk my brother into buying it, a bit of reverse psychology saying that he wouldn’t like it, he bought it as an import and I waited until he went out and I taped it(oops) I liked it so much I taped on both sides of the cassette so I could play it back to back on whatever journey I was on, boy did I love that album, I then discovered that they were supporting Iron Maiden and myself and Big G decided that we should make a trip to see them, tickets purchased for the Number of the Beast tour, we knew this was going to be fun with a capital F! although I was working a menial job, I knew I wasn’t going to be allowed a holiday as the guy hated me and all long haired youths with a passion so on the day I was (cough cough) not well enough to go juggling chainsaws (I was working for the NCB at the time) so I had to blow the shift.

So off we went to the big city (OK so it’s a small pit village in the north east compared to some cities but at the time to us Yokels from Gimpsville we thought it was big……...what did we know)  as The Rods were doing a couple of meet and greets (Virgin and Volume or listen ear or whatever it was called at the time…..it was a long time ago…I’m old!) in Newcastle and Durham, they hadn’t been very well organised and there was only a slack handful of us, they were great and a number of photos are out there with me and a few other’s (I’m sure that’s where I met Nev and Marty for the first time) a good time was had by all and then me and Big G discovered they were doing another meet and greet at another location (mentioned earlier, come on keep up) and there was less people there but they were happy to see us and again it was more joyful times.

They disappeared off too Durham for a third meet and greet but we sloped off to the pub, these meet and greets take it out of you, we mooched about until the time of the gig not wanting to miss the band only to find that the doors were chained shut as Iron Maiden were shooting the video for The Number of The Beast so it kind of over ran , we finally got in with G carrying a huge bag that had a rather large tape deck well they were large back in the day, The Rods hit the stage and literally ripped the city hall a brand new arse. Iron Maiden came on after and were bloody good, but they simply weren’t a match for the Rods.

Later that year they released the Wild dog’s album and when it came out and they did announce a couple of gigs but as much as I tried to get to a gig life seemed to bite me in the arse on a regular basis, it was simply work, work, and then some more work on top of it. More albums of declining quality and less UK tour dates the world kept moving and life simply got on with it. Although I did play the debut album on a regular basis and Wild dogs from time to time it was generally with a slight whiff of nostalgia, they were indeed great times.

Leap forward quite a few years and it would appear that The Rods are going to be playing Newcastle supporting Dio’s Disciples (I think it was I didn’t stay to watch the whole show as we all recreated the photograph of some thirty years earlier (with only Nev Looking as young as he was back in the day and yes he was wearing the same bloody Rods T shirt that he had worn back in the day!). The band again were as tight as they had been 30 odd years earlier, now I understand why they didn’t become as big as what they should have been, but I don’t know anybody who saw the band who didn’t fall in love with them live they were smoking hot, as it happens me and mrs were making a weekend of it as we were booked into the Vermont Hotel in Newcastle we had been tipped off that whitesnake were staying there and we enjoyed the company of the band and road crew, ( thanks SMOR) we even swapped rooms with Mr Aldrich because our room had WI fi and his didn’t.

Good times and friendships were struck with Brian Tichy putting us on the guest list to seem him playing Vamped in Las Vegas with Sass Jordan a couple of years later, on the night of the Rods we ran out of the stage door with the whitesnake members into a taxi back to the hotel, we lived the rock star life style for all of 30 seconds, it was fun while it lasted.

The moral of the tale would I go and see the Rods again, hell yeah although I would go on an empty stomach, the last time we saw them it was the beginning of my ails of woe with my health and literally anything I ate no matter how light developed into toxic gas of atomic levels , I’m hoping that’s the reason  that they haven’t been back, And not because I gassed the rhythm section after the gig, Gary Bordanaro’s face was a picture ha-ha that’s the breaks allegedly!

So, another hysterical I mean historical blog the last one did good numbers out the doors, and now I have done another rambling epic quite soon after, they are a little like buses they do come in quick succession, a lot of good comments after the last one hopefully with me getting back on the saddle for writing, keep them coming, so keep spreading the disease, watch the skies for incoming, until the next time…….Toodles!

What You Don't Know!

So, at long last a historical blog, that covers an era not in huge detail, just enough to wet your appetite for the few more that will be coming down the track.

I seem to remember reading Sounds on a weekly basis and I remember an article that grabbed my attention, Gary Bushell had set off to the USA and was doing a series of articles on bands over there, one that took my interest was a band out in New York called Twisted Sister, not long after that an EP appeared, now that did float my boat (although my girlfriend at the time “M” borrowed it and never returned it ), then there was a night in Newcastle and a trip to see the Tube being filmed, I was a tad drunk (me with my reputation) so I decided to avoid the melee down the front, then it felt that I had been slapped in the face and I sobered up as Twisted Sister took to the stage in all their glory!

I was hooked from the word get go ( go on YouTube and hunt it out it is simply stunning)the next day I went hunting the album, which I loved also, then I got on with my life with all the ups and downs that went with it, I came home for a visit and a friend said that he had bought me a ticket to see them at the Mayfair, oh yes please I will have some of that, then as if by magic they appeared on the TV doing their new single “I am I’m me”, and it was like Christmas all over again, I couldn’t wait , April 15^th came around soon enough me and my mad bunch of sober (not) friends went and had a fantastic time, lots of jumping around and having fun, they threw in a couple of covers, Rolling Stones and Slade a jolly time was had by all, you really couldn’t stop rock n roll.

I attempted to and failed miserably to see them on a couple of other dates, so I once again got on with my life, as did they, I suspect they missed me as much as I missed them, I was over the moon when I discovered the fine folks of Gimpsville had organised a trip to see the return visit on the Stay Hungry tour (all of which I have described in graphic detail in a previous  earlier blog)  again lots of jolly japes and a fantastic night was had by all, I was the troupes acrobat and escapologist  for the evening, they were a tad more professional with barbed wire and no covers this time! then they kind of got huge and disappeared from my radar for a while, imagine my surprise as I walked into Newcastle’s HMV to see a huge display with Dee Snider coming out of a man hole (OOH Matron) and although I bought the album there were the early signs of weariness settling in.

It wasn’t until March 1986 that another tour was announced, well I say a tour I believe it was a single paltry date at the then Hammersmith Odeon, I was working in London at the time so I was able to blag a ticket, what I saw was a travesty, Dee Snider still working his arse off however the band it looked like that they were wheeled into place there was no spirit and so little movement a sniper could have picked them off in a heartbeat, the stage set was theatrical (don’t ask me I lost interest after about four songs The leader of the pack and the soppy ballad The price within those first four songs bar tender keep them coming and don’t spare the horses!) as hard as Dee worked the others simply didn’t want to be there, a friend who met them, asked  the question why no Newcastle date and JJ French replied “we don’t have the time” Dee was seen to be shaking his head in disappointment. I’m glad I went off and got drunk, as it was the day after was the day I woke up and realised I had to give my head a shake and get a grip, the following week I was sacked and then sued by my then publishing company (I have blogged in depth in past blogs or at least I think I have LOL my memories not what it used to be)

That was me really, I bought “Love is for suckers” which really was a Dee Solo album, in all but name, they didn’t tour with that album as far as I’m aware and life moved on at a pace, I got married had kids had no disposable income and the world kept turning they (the band ) had many ups and downs and  they did return to Newcastle,  although I never did go and see them, Dee Snider is a great showman however he cannot carry the rest of the band, who appear limp and disinterested alongside him, every video since 1986 just seems as though Dee is still on rocket fuel and the rest are on water, go figure! maybe it was my first flush of youth that excited me, those two Mayfair gigs are still in my top ten of gigs, they really were on fire in the early days.

Now to push this blog off into the ether lets see what happens with this one, it has been a long time gestating, I’m still not 100% happy with it, but I could only keep rewriting it so many times (154783 times so far…kidding) so watch the skies and keep spreading the disease another one will be along shortly but until then……………Toodles!

The Needle and the Damage Done.

Before I get any more complaints, I know its been a while, I have been busy……...ish, well in a kind of way life got the better of me and I kind of cooled my jets……just a little! As always thanks for the kind platitudes, but I’m not dead yet I just kind of came to a stop, you could say I kind of ran out of gas………...the wife wishes I did LOL!

Education has taken way too much out of me, love me I’m thick, but the recovery time has been longer than anticipated, the main reason why I hated the course was simply because the time I’m doing it nobody does my job, so there’s a lot to catch up with I know I have said this before, but hey I’m getting older I’m not as fit(fat) as I used to be!

Health has also been a factor and my ill health has been kicking my arse big style, no I’m not giving up but I have to concentrate and deal with my issues, I have to stop kidding myself that I can do this every other day, this is life threatening and I have to put my big boy pants on, suck it up buttercup and again this is not a “oh I’m not well” I’m not, however it’s my health, so it’s me that has to fix it.

I have also had to deal with the return of the vermin in my attic, more poison, more traps, they seem to raise their heads every 9 months or so,  I  have an older  neighbor who hasn’t done any maintenance to her house in a few years and she is not as blessed in the sight and sound department, I think I need to catch up with her sons when they turn up and tip them the wink, I also seem to have a small cousin of the attic vermin in my shed I shall be spending the rest of the day trying to deal with that, I will give it one chance to leave after that I am going to go all out killer on it.

I have still been writing working on bits and pieces, but pessimism has been the order of the day, but you never know when inspiration strikes and hopefully in the run in to the new year there should be some historic blogs on the way (incoming) I do feel as though that I’m back in the saddle in a writing kind  of way, I haven’t fallen out of love with writing, just crap keeps getting in the way, usually it’s me!

I had a strange day yesterday as G & E where having a weekend away, pubs and lifeboats being mentioned and G kept mentioning me (I’m hoping that he’s missing me……..sob, not as much as I miss them…….even bigger sob) stuff like that makes me miss the tee hee club, work conspires against us as the wife keeps been given shifts that mean we can’t visit like we used to (the wife is a bigger cripple than me and she cant do work and then party all night long like she used to, ok I mean have a couple of soft drinks) however we did get a lovely visit from part of the South Shields massive, boy did that help.

Tomorrow its yet again back to work back to the quacks, more needles and I now will have to take insulin in my fight for fitness, I know  in the end it’s a battle that we all lose, I however have no intention on being beaten on this, I’m no quitter and this is something I intend to fight long and hard to do my bit, I have seen too many friends suffer at the hands of ill health I do not intend to be one of them ( I know I’m a dumb ass as I’m already suffering however I do not wish to suffer any more than I am).

Life is still crap but it’s my life so why can’t I have some luck, not much, just a small amount, I still have to deal with an angry wife, I still suffer the consequences of stupidity every day when I go on Farcebook and when I deal with the people I have to deal with at work, I know its all about the grand tapestry of life, but I am just a tad worn down with some of the crap, hey ho I know I will just have to dust myself down and crack on.

Life does indeed go on and although I’m starting to feel like a human pin cushion, that’s diabetes for you, however there has been some extreme cunning plans being made in a major life changing way, nothing in a friend way but more in a family way (it’s all good…honest) something long term that will take huge amounts of planning and some money , there is a plan lets just see if it comes to fruition, so here’s the deal more blogs are coming, more historic ones are coming, I know, I know you have heard it all before but watch this space you may be pleasantly surprised.

What I have been doing over the weeks is reducing my social media foot print, not leaving what space I have, simply posting less and less, this is simply because of the amount of negativity that’s out there in the big bad world, this is further compounded by the negative effect on someone who I class as a friend and if we had made our acquaintance earlier in life I would like to think that  he would have been a much larger part in my life as he is such a huge source of inspiration, but some of the shit he has had to put up with from so called friends well, if that’s what you call friendship I want as little of it as possible, I do not understand the ethic that “if I’m unhappy I will make all around me unhappy” life’s too short and in the end we all have to return our library books intact, if you can make sure that you could improve someone’s life why don’t you try it, you never know you might like it!

So enough of me and my twittering sorry for the delay but normal service has been resumed watch the skies for incoming keep spreading the disease, be happy and try do good things for everyone, listen to me prattling like a 1960’s hippy until the next time …………………. Toodles

Oh and yes I have seen the queen movie, did I enjoy it I did, but for me there were too many simple mistakes that should have been avoided, no I’m not going to review, go see it, go enjoy it suspend your drab life for two and a half hours and enjoy some of the majesty that was Freddie Mercury!

Yesterday

Finally, a day off, some wonderful live Yes music to sooth the savage beast and an opportunity to actually complete a blog, not that I haven’t blogged in the interim I simply haven’t completed any to satisfaction!

I’m trying to complete a course that I have avoided for the last 7 years, now that I am over halfway through it, it doesn’t appear to be as bad as I thought it would be, it is still hard and I’m not saying that I am enjoying it, I can see the finish line, I simply hope that I actually pass the bloody thing, here’s hoping.

I had a couple of seriously black days during the last few weeks, I’m hoping that they were purely because of the increased workload, my overloaded little grey brain cells were not firing on all 6 cylinders, thankfully I am a lot better than I was, it would appear that I have shrugged off the blanket of darkness I had surrounded myself with, my fault nobody else’s I get these turns from time to time, I simply hadn’t foreseen this one or the level of unhappiness that came with it.

I blogged or at least attempted to, but again they were filled with dark thoughts and general unpleasantness and that’s not what the blog is meant to be, there are some small kernels of truth that I will expose and amplify in future blogs, not the bad stuff but hopefully some good things!

Some historical ones are definitely in the pipeline as well as “The Whalers Dues” which although I feel as though I have broken the back of I certainly haven’t finished………...yet! I intend to try and keep on a straight line until the end of the year and then some big decisions as to where I go from there, I understand that not everybody likes to read the mutterings of an unhappy 53-year-old! For once I will gratefully listen to suggestions as I repeat myself, I do not want this to grow stale.

This blog isn’t just for my consumption, but for it to grow and I do wish for it to be just a little successful, it has to improve, it has its moments, I wish for them to be more than just now and then. So that’s my agenda for the coming blogs, what have I been up to in the last few weeks well, simply in one-word work! I really do need to get a social life, I have missed some great nights out of late again me being a misery and financially holed below the water line hasn’t helped, but onwards I intend to try just a little bit more………honest!

The numbers have been really good when you consider how much previous work I have been publishing, some good comments as well, to the few who have whined, you didn’t buy the books when they were available so wind your necks in, the world keeps turning let’s hope the numbers keep on in the upward spiral that they have been, another reason to give my head a shake and improve the quality of the shite that I spew , I mean the quality blog that I produce….LOL!

So that’s this small missive complete, I do believe that the next blog could have something to do with Twisted Sister……maybes here’s hoping, I have started but I simply have to finish lets see what happens next, so watch the skies and prepare for incoming I feel the need to kick this up a notch, keep spreading the disease and until then………………..Toodles!