Showing posts with label Eastenders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eastenders. Show all posts

Saturday 16 May 2020

Share The Good Things


While life may not be perfect at the moment , we are getting a lot of chances to do things that we didn't think we could do before. It does help when the weather is good and I have not actually used a bus for about three weeks, that's not because I dislike buses , it's just because I don't need to use them.

Today I am going to visit Westerhope for supplies shopping , rather than going into town, It means actually crossing the A1 but there is a foot bridge so I don't have to dodge motorway traffic.

I am listening to a lot of vinyl and digital at the moment, plus 6Music and a hell of a lot of TV , there is so much to watch and so much choice and it does amaze me that people record , watch and rewatch soaps . Having said that is me watching "Vikings" and "Lucifer" and different that someone watching "Eastenders" and "Coronation STreet" in the grand scheme of things.

I always try and dig out some piece of music that is either new and you should hear, or appropriate to the post, or some great song that you have never heard. This one fulfills the latter two criteria , being "Television" by Dave Edmunds.

Sunday 23 September 2018

Chas and Dave


I've been woken up again by a coughing fit. I don't feel bad other than the coughing but it does give me the opportunity to pen my own  short remembrance of Chas Hodges who we sadly lost to Cancer yesterday. The older we get, the more this happens, it's the nature of life and time but it still affects us all.but I think thanks top the digital age we still have their filmed memories immortalising them for us.

I never saw Chas and Dave live but saw lots of them on TV and probably have several of their singles in my collection managing to span rock and roll, cockney knees up, music hall, pub sing-a-long music and Londay Folk in to their own unique brand of music call "Rockney".

Their Wiki page is here and there are more in depth tributes such as this one here.

They had worked in many sixties bands and formed in 1975 , opening for Led Zeppelin at Knebworth in 1979. They were loved by everybody regardless of your own musical tastes, if Chas and Dave came on the radio or on Top of The Pops, you never complained because it was a breath of fresh are and a fun interlude and they could also talk.

The had a TV series in 1983 set in an East End pub, but I don't think they ever appeared on EastEnders but it is sad that the duo is now split, but we do have a lot of lovely memories.

Hopefully now I have calmed down enough to try to get  back to sleep, but I'll leave you with their breakthru single "Gertcha" from 1979.

Sleep well.

Saturday 19 November 2016

TV Dinner - #ALifeInNumbers #57



I often hear (and see thanks to social media), people complaining that there is nothing on television. That is in these days of so many channels that you can get lost. The thing is you can only watch one thing at once, but some people seem to think that means they can only watch one thing, their TV diet is often X-Factor, EastEnders and if they are feeling adventurous maybe Coronation Street and Britain's Got Talent. Needless to say I don't watch these , but I do remember the days before BBC2 existed and you couldn't record anything.

It is true that since the digital explosion there are an awful lot of channels filled with unwatchable dross, but this very fact means that there is always something that you can watch. Groucho Marx once said that he found TV very educational, if he walked into a room where the TV was on he'd walk out and find a book to read. TVs have always had an off switch.

Today the options to watch high quality content has never been better. There are films and TV series that I will never see despite them being must watch programmes. Dexter, Braquo, and 24 are three that immediately spring to mind.

Also I remember everyone complaining about repeats on television, now you have whole channels screening repeats DAVE and GOLD are two that spring to mind though there may have been name changes and one may be the other.

Anyway we are up to number 57 in #ALifeInNumbers and it has to be Bruce Springsteen's "57 Channels (And Nuthin' On) which does hit the nail about the choices we are presented with which are maybe no real choice at all.

Me, I find that 6Music , Radio 2,3 and 4 then BBC2,4 , Film4, Sky Living, Atlantic and Arts provide me with far more than I need. If I then add Youtube and TED then that gives you a small indication of my tastes.

Enjoy Saturday Night my friends.

Sunday 9 October 2016

A Brush With Eastenders #ALifeInNumbers #13


I know I'm rattling of a few of these at the moment, 13 had a few more possibilities than 12 including "13" by Big Star and Johnny Cash , "Broken Heart (Thirteen Valleys)" by Big Country but I have gone for "V13" by Big Audio Dynamite (Mick Jones' post Clash combo) from the album "10 Upping Street" (not the greatest title Mick), but an album full of great songs including the excellent "V13". I love the use of soundbites in the Big Audio Dynamite songs, some of my other favourites being "Medicine Show" and "Bottom Line" from the first album, "This Is", and "Dial A Hitman" from "10 Upping Street" which is very funny but I don't know if they took that from a film or just recorded it themselves. It also contains the great couplet:

"We're The Band That Couldn't Shoot Straight
But We Aim To Please"

The other thing about "V13" is that wen it hits the coda it let's in the "Eastenders" Theme which is a fun touch.

I'm currently going down with a cold, nose dripping and throat feels like I've swallowed a pack of rusty razor blades making it difficult to talk or swallow, so Doctor Mikey's treatment id chocolate, ice cream and paracetamol, and we shall see how that goes.

I hope your Sunday is going wonderfully.


Monday 4 April 2016

Record Store Day, World Book Night and Shakespeare's Birthday (Totally Boatless)



This is  just a short post although we have got into April and there is so much happening this month.
I have picked up my bass guitar for the first time in earnest for several years , as if I can cut it , I will be joining a fifties style rock and roll / soul band.

Then on the 16th it's World  Record Store Day , which means lots of stuff going on around RPM , Reflex , Beatdown and JG Windows in Newcastle. We are lucky that in Newcastle we have four , yes count them FOUR real record shops. The first year it wasn't that well attended but this has really gained momentum and you have queues outside the record shops in the hope of getting that special vinyl version of a particular record. It has got fans listing to music again rather than skipping through their iPod collection.

A Good Book
On the 17th it's my friend Paul's fiftieth birthday , he's a writer and if you are a fan of Casualty , Doctors or Eastenders you have probably seen some of his work. Check him out here , a very cool , witty and nice guy and a great friend.

Then on the 23rd it's William Shakespeare's Birthday , which is the marker for World Book Night. I've been giving books since it's inception and this year I will be giving away copies of Matt Haig's Reasons To Stay Alive in Newcastle on the night of the 23rd. A couple of Years ago I gave a way Matt's The Humans , an excellent book which I would recommend to anyone. This year's book list is here.

So basically it's Monday morning , there is lots to do , and lots to enjoy. April is looking very good for me , I hope it;s the same for you.

And I always think a bit of the Reduced Shakespeare Company always goes down  well , so I've included The Othello Rap - Totally Boatless , that always makes me laugh.

Have a brilliant day everybody.



Saturday 29 August 2015

Summers End .. A Corrosion of Conformity

We're at the Bank Holiday Weekend at the end of August and the doom and gloom merchants will signal it as the  end of all things. It isn't , no way. Everyday I find new things I want to do or try and am never satisfied with     doing what is expected and conforming to expected boxes.

It's quite amazing how through my life I am continually deemed weird and strange because I don't watch X-Factor , Eastenders and Coronation Street , and I don't  have an Apple iPhone.

Rhino Rhino
The thing is I conform where I have to , I use money rather than barter, I have and Android Samsung Phone and a Windows Computer. But I prefer to be defined by what I do do , rather than what I don't do.

So I wont be watching any of those programs, but I know I'm in the minority. It's like Terry Pratchett , I enjoyed Mort and that was it but it doesn't matter because I have so much that I do like and I do not need any of those things.

Tonight I recut some CDs for a great friend to fit in his/her hatbox



I have lots to stimulate me, am in a constant state of feeling good , and every time I speak to someone I feel even better. like the ending of "True Romance" where Alabama eulogises for Clarence with the "You're So Cool" motif backed by the Orff "Gassenhauer" borrowing of Hans Zimmer.

I am feeling very positive so am going to bed now , but leaving with the wonderful Peter Gabriel song "Come Talk To Me", I really wish you would. Good Night my Great Friends

Thursday 29 August 2013

Can Negativity Be A Positive Experience?


I feel that I'm getting like a stuck record , but woke up early and this phrase  / posit came to mind. The sayings "Some people are only happy when they're miserable" and "A pessimist is never disappointed" come to mind ,  and given the success of Eastenders ,Coronation Street and Emmerdale you can see why . People enjoy at least seeing and sometimes causing other peoples misery .

Comedy is very close to tragedy , the old banana skin joke requires (literally) a fall guy. It's difficult to come up with comedy that doesn't involve someone elses misfortune or putting them down.

Anyway it's back to my previous post , where a negative statement would be "don't cross the road without looking , you might get knocked down by a car" , whereas a positive statement would be "Look before you cross the road" . Possible pitfalls are implied , but don't need explicitly stating, if they do , your subject is in need of help.

The word STOP is actually a positive statement , it is telling you to take an action, which is probably for your own good and will at least allow you to take stock of the situation.

However really I cannot see negativity as being a positive experience , in any circumstances. Yes be prepared , yes be sensible , but always stay positive, and that will keep you spirits up and keep you happy as a bonus side effect. Anyway I promise my next post will be technology or music related and not full of my cod philosophising and analysis.