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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 16:30 24 Nov 2024
Sparkfilms HQ on a Sunday afternoon.
I am upstairs watching the snooker on TV.
My dog is asleep on me.
He was my daughter's dog until he was very naughty.
Another daughter and a couple of grandkids have just visited.
The view around the room.
A Cream poster to the eastern elevation.
Television showing Mark Allen concentrating.
A group of sculptured heads.
A cupboard with LP records inside.
Some street art to the North.
A signed photo from members of Lush.
Pictures including friends l have worked with down the years.
Several hundred LP records in a storage area.
To the West, a collage l made about ten years ago.
An acrylic screen with an image shot from a book release in 2006.
A hoover in the corner.
A radio plugged into the wall.
A few dog toys scattered around.
To the South.
A window overlooking Durham Square.
There is a large green area outside and l have been clearing up the leaves again that are shed from several trees.
It's getting dark.
Dog has woken and is wagging his tale.
I bought him a coat on Wednesday and it hasn't been off him since. [Post edited 24 Nov 16:36]
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 15:33 24 Nov 2024
I was driving to Frinton around 1984. Had the car radio on.
A song comes on. Hadn't heard it before.
I'm thinking ....xxxxxxx hell! This is fantastic!
It was by an artist that almost everyone would be aware of at the time. This release was heavenly.
'Orchard Road' - Words by Leo Sayer. Music by Alan Carney who also produced and arranged the song.
I grabbed a bundle of 45's mid morning and put this on the turntable.
I think all of us have had our own Orchard Road experience in our lifetime.
Here are a few lines from Leo Sayer's masterpiece....
It's twelve o'clock and the curtains are drawn
They're counting sheep down in Orchard Road
And you're hanging on the telephone line tonight
And l wish l could be - in Orchard Road
It's twelve ten when l put down the phone
The moon's shining down on Orchard Road
And I'm feeling like a schoolboy again
And tonight I'll see you in my dreams
Of Orchard Road
It's eight o'clock and the dawn's arrived
In Orchard Road it's breakfast time
I climb in the car and l turn the key
And I'm gone -
I am coming home - to Orchard Road
( Wish l had written that - glorious work! ). |
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 12:36 24 Nov 2024
Was in my loft this morning and bought down the original single by Vince Taylor and His Playboy's - 'Brand New Cadillac'. This was released in '59 or '60 and l acquired it a few years ago.
Joe Moretti is on lead guitar and also played lead on 'Shaking All Over' by Johnny Kidd and The Pirates.
David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust character was based on Vince Taylor.
I wasn't aware of that. Had a quick look at Vince Taylor on Wiki and that popped up.
I also played Telstar by The Tornados this morning!
My god!
It still has the Joe Meek production magic! [Post edited 24 Nov 15:12]
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 12:24 24 Nov 2024
Yes, l saw Lindisfarne in the dance hall!
I think 'Fog on the Tyne' may still have been in the charts at the time they played Essex Uni.
While in Newcastle in '05 l walked across the Tyne bridge.
Was also let loose on a set of kettle drums in The City Hall in mid afternoon and gave them a whack for around twenty minutes.
Fab city! [Post edited 24 Nov 12:46]
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 18:56 23 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Part Fifty
Berlin.
The the wall has just come down.
Clubs. Bars.
Mezzanines.
Girls dancing on metallic stairwells.
56 hours with no sleep.
Hallucinating.
Images of marching soldiers.
Armies parading across skyscapes.
Double decker buses 50 foot off the ground.
Japanese tourists looking out of the windows.
Waving.
Taking pictures with little disposable cameras.
Veering off in different directions.
Checkpoint Charlie in enhanced colours.
Walking through the American quarter.
The stars and stripes fluttering in a strong breeze.
Then beyond.
Images from war films projected onto advertising hoardings.
Lost.
Several hours wandering alone and determined to find my way back to the hotel.
Get back somehow.
Reach reception and collapse into large leather chair by the main desk.
Crash out.
Dreams.
Images.
Sounds.
Some real.
Some imagined?
Something that has always fascinated me is that our brains store information that can be from real life experiences, dreams or from imagery enhanced by substances. |
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 12:14 23 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Part Forty Nine
Northwich, England, April 5th, 1991
The Colchester United owner Johnathan Crisp has promoted me to Chairman for an away match at The Drill Field, Northwich Victoria.
It was a journey for an evening match that he was none too keen on.
I had a rare car in those days and the stewards at Northwich made quite a fuss of it as l drove into the Drill Field car park.
I was treated really well in the board room with a banquet of fine foods.
It was a 2 - 2 draw with the Colchester goals scored by Walsh and McDonough. Northwich equalised in the last minute.
Attendance 1,094 [Post edited 23 Nov 12:16]
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 12:33 22 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Part Forty Eight
Following are three music linked memories featuring each of my daughter's before any of them were five years old.
1. We are at Dublin Airport following a long weekend taking in U2 at Phoenix Park around '84.
The flights are delayed. Rachel is two years old and in her buggy when she says 'U2'....she had noticed Bono in the WH Smith bookshop area.
She used to sit in front of the TV for her evening meals and was a keen follower of The Tube which had often featured U2.
Bono heard her little voice, came over, knelt down and shook hands with her. Lovely moment.
We spent quite a bit of time speaking to them.
2. I am driving to Cambridge on a Sunday afternoon for a client meeting in 1985.
My daughter Laura who was 11 months old is making the trip and is in her car seat. I have The Cutting Crew cassette featuring 'Died in your arms last night' playing.
I look in the rear view mirror to see if she is asleep and she is wide awake and nodding along in time with the song.
3. I put a Rory Gallagher album on the turntable at home. Suddenly my four year old daughter Hannah begins dancing in time with the Irish Wizard. She had never done that before.
Hannah was born on St Patrick's Day. |
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Reply | If you have 25 minutes spare
at 12:12 22 Nov 2024
Well made video and raised some interesting points.
It has taken me the twenty five minutes duration to thaw out after a cold dog walk. |
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 12:53 21 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Part Forty Seven - Continued
More memorable acts from Colchester music venues over the years.
Stone the Crows - Essex Uni
Cado Belle - Essex Uni
Red Dirt - Essex Uni
Pentangle - Essex Uni
Seahorses - Essex Uni
F.O.X. ( aka Angry v the Bear ) - Castle Park
The Lamp - St Paul's Hall
Graham Parker and the Rumour - Essex Uni
Saxon - Colchester Hippodrome
Free - Corn Exchange
Electric Soft Parade - Arts Centre
Bluetones - Arts Centre
Headswim - Arts Centre
Hefner - Arts Centre
Modern English - Castle Park
Victor Brox Band - Essex Uni
John Dummer Blues Band - Essex Uni
Seth Lakeman - Arts Centre
Cara Dillon - Arts Centre
Kinks - Essex Uni
Pretty Things - Essex Uni
Young Knives - Essex Uni
Mr Fox - Essex Uni
Drugstore - Arts Centre
Babe Ruth - Essex Uni
Doctor Feelgood - Essex Uni
Caravan - Essex Uni
Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Essex Uni
NB. The band's listed at Essex Uni played in the dance hall or the lecture theatre and a few played in the Hexagon Restaurant. Around 1970 Colchester had three regular major music venues ( Uni, College and Corn Exchange ) and several minor venues ( Metro - Sunday was billed as a Blues Night ). |
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 22:41 20 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Part Forty Seven
This is effectively a list of artists who came to my home town of Colchester who linger in the memory.
Spooky Tooth - Essex Uni
Fairport Convention - Essex Uni
Curved Air - Essex Uni
East of Eden - Essex Uni
ACDC - ABC Cinema
Jon Hiseman's Colosseum - Essex Uni
Atomic Rooster - Colchester Technical College
Van Der graaf Generator - Colchester Technical College
Genesis - The Metro
Freedom - The Metro
Ainsley Dunbar - The Metro
Ronnie Lanes Slim Chance - Essex Uni
Juicy Lucy - Essex Uni
Yes - Colchester Corn Exchange
Ginger Baker's Airforce - Colchester Corn Exchange
Uriah Heep - Colchester Corn Exchange
Stevie Marriott - The Works
Duster Bennett - Essex Uni
John Martyn - Essex Uni
The Stranglers - Essex Uni
Audience - Colchester Technical College
Aardvark - Colchester Technical College
Steeleye Span - Essex Uni
Fire - Essex Uni
The Groundhogs - Essex Uni
Warm Dust - Essex Uni
Hard Meat - Essex Uni
The Kursaal Flyers - Essex Uni
The Dammed - Essex Uni
Renaissance - Colchester Technical College
Greenslade - Colchester Technical College
Rare Bird - Colchester Technical College
Brotherhood of Breath - Essex Uni
Coldplay - Colchester Arts Centre
Elastica - Colchester Arts Centre
The Music - Colchester Arts Centre
Athlete - Colchester Arts Centre
Liverpool Scene - Essex Uni
Lodger - Colchester Arts Centre
Dire Straits - Colchester Technical College
The Subways - Colchester Arts Centre
Arthur Crudup - Essex Uni
Jan Dukes De Grey - Essex Uni
Client - Colchester Arts Centre
Arab Strap - Colchester Arts Centre
Dot Allison - Colchester Arts Centre
Echo and the Bunnymen - Colchester Arts Centre
Jess Roden - Essex Uni
Frankie Miller - Essex Uni
Kokomo - Essex Uni
Got to feed the animals now.
Maybe more tomorrow
😊😊😊 |
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 21:58 20 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Further follow up to Part Forty Six.
Del Shannon recorded an album titled 'Rock On!' that he recorded between '89 and '90.
It was released in the UK on the Silvertone label in 1990.
Del Shannon commited suicide a few months before the album was released.
It was produced by Mike Campbell and Jeff Lynne and features an array of supporting musicians that include Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and George Harrison.
I suppose it was a comeback album after his string of hits in the early sixties following a series of releases with modest sales.
To think that he produced this work almost thirty years after his early success represents ( to me ) one of the greatest comebacks by a recording artist.
It is as good as anything he ever did. Possibly even better!
I played the vinyl today very loud through a guitar amp and if anyone out there was a fan of Del Shannon all those years ago you should hunt this album down.
Born Charles Westover in 1934 he impacted my life and interest in music. [Post edited 24 Nov 15:56]
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 17:06 20 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Additional information relating to Part Forty Six
The following words were written by David McWilliams in the opening verse to 'Days of Pearly Spencer'.
A tenement a dirty street
Walked and worn by shoeless feet
Inside it's long and so complete
Watched by the shivering sun
Old eyes in a small child's face
Watching as the shadows race
Through walls and cracks
And leaves no trace
And daylight's brightness shuns
The day's of Pearly Spencer
The race is almost won
I was up at 3am and played this track about five times. |
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Reply | Matt Jay
at 16:10 20 Nov 2024
Kind of the club to allow Matt Jay to play in a football match.
According to sources in East London Dagenham and Redbridge could have won the Essex Senior Cup match by 10 goals to nil.
They had to settle for 1 nil as Colchester put in a lifeless performance for the most part. |
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 20:39 19 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Part Forty Six
From the time l was about eight years old l used to borrow one of my Dad's collection of transistor radios and hide it under the bed covers at night.
I lived in a secret musical wonderland for several hours most nights and I'm not sure if my parents ever realised l was burning the candle at both ends.
One of the first singers l looked forward to listening to was Del Shannon.
'Two Kinds of Teardrops'.
'Little Town Flirt'.
There were hints here of a future world if l played my cards right.
I always looked forward to any Billy Fury release, Adam Faith too. And Bobby Vee.
Music was making an impression on me that would last a lifetime.
Fast forward to today.
I was thinking of a single that was released ( without checking ) in 1967.
I played it an hour ago. But not the single as it is in the loft.
It is the opening track on a David McWilliams LP.
The song is 'The Days of Pearly Spencer'.
It is still haunting and has a mystical theme that always weaves it's magic on me.
To think the record label Major Minor originally released it as a B side seems inconceivable. [Post edited 19 Nov 20:44]
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 12:11 19 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Part Forty Five
Jaipur, Rajasthan, North West India, November 1979
There is no one more sceptical than myself when it comes to fortune telling.
Somehow l am drawn towards a fortune teller who is set up in something resembling a telephone box in the hotel carpark.
It would be a once off, no possibility of a repeat especially after a fifteen minute 'consultation' that was mind blowing and led to a sleepless night.
We are standing about two metres apart.
We exchange a brief general conversation.
There are no questions from the fortune teller about anything in my life.
We are speaking about the scent in the air and the vibe of the temples nearby.
After a few minutes of that he is scribbling away with a pencil into a note pad.
I just stand there mute.
He stops scribbling and folds the paper multiple times.
I pay him for the piece of paper and it equates to about eight pounds in rupee notes.
I take the piece of paper back to my hotel room and carefully open it up.
It looks like a mathematical formula and gradually l begin to decipher the little diagram and numbers.
It includes Mother born 3rd day of the 3rd Month.
Correct, my mother was born on 3rd March.
It includes Father born on 3rd day of 1st Month.
Correct, my father born on January 3rd.
It includes my then girlfriend and he writes it down as Jayne.
It was Jane.
It includes odd words that effectively equated to my philosophy about the basic strands of life.
The next day l meet up with an English couple who had settled in Jaipur and told them about the fortune teller.
He was the son of one of India's most famous fortune tellers and they said he was capable of extracting information from the subconscious. |
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 22:07 18 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Part Forty Four, continued
So l walk up to my door and look down at the individual sitting on the doorstep. I have also noted the labels on her suitcases. She has flown in from Buenos Aires.
She introduces herself by her online username and l have to admit that the term used ( Argentineteen Babe ) and her look are a fit.
She was beginning a creative writing course at Essex University and she wanted to know if she could stay with me for a week or so as the flat that her father had rented in Wivenhoe was not quite ready.
She already 'knew' - in chat room / forum terms someone on the writing course at Essex..
I allocated her a spare room, cooked for her every day and enjoyed her company. Helped her move in. We hung out together on occasions once she settled in Wivenhoe.
Wonder where she is now?
Back in Argentina?
Or Paris?
Maybe she is still around these parts.
I moved house a year later so if she returned there she would have found the new occupants doing some major building work in my former home. [Post edited 18 Nov 22:13]
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 21:21 18 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Part Forty Four
Summer, 2005
I start putting some written works on a poetry forum. A musician introduced me to it. She told me who some of the people were who contributed to it.
We all had user names that kept our id private - to a point.
A few of us gave contact details on occasion.
The forum was growing rapidly as it became apparent that there were some interesting contributors and the traffic coming in was vast.
By some good fortune l started to get quite a following and could clock up 4,000 views within a few minutes of a posting.
The views were coming in from all over the world - particularly the UK, Europe and South America.
I wrote a piece called 'Colchester 2am'. It is not included on The Usual because it has some colourful wording and imagery and may not be suitable.
'Colchester 2am' had been online for a couple of weeks.
I came back to my house after a quick trek up to Sainsbury's on a Sunday morning. It was around 11.30.
As l turned the corner to Carlisle Close on Riverside Estate l saw a girl with two suitcases sitting on my doorstep.
To be continued. |
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 20:49 18 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Part Forty Three, continued
Apologies for the commercial break, l am on another screen to Dayton, Ohio.
Anyway, Richard begins to tell me about money that was being taken from the till at Sloppy Joe's over a period of time. I think Richard Travis may have been the Financial Director.
There were quite a few staff at Sloopy Joe's at the time Jeremy Bamber was working there and Richard and his partner had no idea who was taking the money from the till.
They formulate ways to monitor the staff with a secret camera or some similar mode of surveillance.
They catch Bamber taking the money.
Sack him on the spot.
Don't ask Bamber to pay back what he has taken over the weeks and months and they didn't report it to the police.
I think it was just a matter of months after that when Bamber killed his adoptive parents, sister ( not his blood line but also adopted ) and her two young twin boys.
I don't think this story ever came out at the time and there is a trait in Bamber's behaviour that has the hallmark of his masterplan at White House Farm.
If Bamber had been reported to the police for theft he may have had second thoughts about murdering five members of his family. |
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 20:24 18 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Part Forty Three
There used to be a Mexican restaurant in Covent Garden - possibly Neale Street or Long Acre way.
We went there one night in the mid eighties for a birthday bash. ( We used to call it a Birthday Bash in those days ).
The restaurant was called Pacifico's. I am sitting there and recognise someone from Colchester walking over.
It was Richard Travis and l knew him through cricket circles.
He was actually a partner in the restaurant.
He was also a partner at Sloppy Joe's in Colchester High Street and my family were quite regular visitors there.
Fast forward about ten years.
Richard drops by to visit me on a Sunday evening.
We are talking about Sloppy Joe's and he tells me that Jeremy Bamber who went on to murder five members of his family at White House Farm used to work for him as a cocktail waiter or bar assistant.
To be continued. |
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Reply | Tigers at Layer Road
at 20:01 18 Nov 2024
Random thoughts and memories
Part Forty Two
March 22nd, 1971
I have been in bed for a couple of days with a heavy bout of flu. My mother has covered me in extra blankets and l have a fever and hallucinate.
The wardrobe is a giant contorted face and is staring at me.
There are reptiles crawling up the walls.
Mad shadows ( to quote Mott the Hoople ).
I am laying there. It is around seven o'clock in the evening.
Suddenly l realise that the U's are at home to Scunthorpe United.
Am l the only person to run two miles to Layer Road in my pyjamas? I had a heavy coat on too. And a West Ham scarf.
My parent were watching TV downstairs. I sneaked down, quietly opened the door and began running down Margaret Road.
This activity bought a shock to my system that seemed to ease the effects of the flu.
I was on the Bar Side, half way line, a few rows down from the top.
Ray Crawford scored both goals in a two nil win.
I ran home.
Rushed up the stairs and got into bed.
My parents were annoyed but they didn't give me too hard a time over it.
Next morning l got up.
The flu had gone. . [Post edited 18 Nov 20:05]
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