Christmas

mostly, my family and friends know me as a Scrooge-like person when it comes to Christmas celebrations.
The truth, however, is less obvious. The scrooge character has become associated with people who are tight fisted or unhappy or trying to squeeze the last drop of work out of the staff without acknowledging their family's needs.
Scrooge has also become associated with what we now call the "ghosts of Christmases past" and "Christmas Future" -- a future that will happen if we do not change the present. (Present as in Time not gifts.)

Well, if Christmas was a one week affair, full of carols and hymns with it culminating  in a family gathering. I would love it.

I am not the first, nor the only one, that laments all the commercialization of Christmas, but to me it is not about gift giving or the Santa fable, with too many voices saying how parents can harm their children with the continued spreading of that tale.
It is a) the length of the shopping spree that depresses me, and b) the types of gifts. Really, A car with a bow on it for Christmas?!  How big is this demographic? Of course some of the One-percenters can do that.
Just to set the record straight, I love Christmas. I still remember "Christmases past" with a smile and a tear. I was raised in vicarage for my first 9 years. I still remember sitting in the church watching my Grandfather conducting the Christmas service; every time I hear Hark the Herald Angels sing, I can see him standing there announcing the "final Hymn". I cry, even it is Mariah Carey's version!
And Elvis singing Blue Christmas recalls a very special memory and link with my sister. (I miss you, honey. If only the young Michael had a clue as to how jets, the Internet or Skype are useless tools for replacing the touch of a hand.)
It is the Christmas-Futures I can no longer cope with.
The ache of missing loved ones increases every month and Christmas just seems to amplify the pain.

On a brighter note, Bring on the eggnog ! Put on Phil Spector's Christmas LP ! I also enjoy the sharing of time with family and friends, but I do not need another gift to open for the rest of my life... however, if you need a hint, I always appreciate another book. (p.s. not a hardback!)

Discrimination

I have to say that for the major part of my life I have been treated the same as everyone else in the community around me. My friends and neighbours were blind to my skin colour, accent and accurate knowledge of my origins.

That is not to say that people have not insulted me along the way nor made absurd assumptions about my links. On reflection, some of them were hilarious.
In the fifties, the local busy-body of the neighbourhood introduced my family to the "other new immigrants" in the vicinity... small issue, he was a Jamaican, not from India... or even Asia! There was little that we had in common, other than ANY newcomer to an area.

Luckily, he and his English wife were a charming couple and did not take offence. We did not actually become fast-friends, but we were always friendly to each other.

I write about this now because I was listening to a radio interview which focused a lot on discrimination that Blacks were suffering in Canada, specifically Ontario and Nova Scotia in that radio show.
Yet, I had many West Indian friends in Toronto and, it amused me no-end that they would make fun of other Blacks that had come from Africa. Admittedly, it was many years ago, and the substitute terminology "African-Canadian" to include all Blacks was not in common usage. However, back then, they saw their two worlds as being very different.

In Toronto, I was trying to rent a 1-bedroom apartment in the Italian quarter of Toronto, (it was a great flat!) but the woman showing it to me, the "head" of the family no doubt, asked if it was for my wife and me. When I said "No" because I was a bachelor. She told me I should find a good woman and settle down. I, a single man, ought not to be looking for a 1-bedroom flat in town.
Her logic was comical... I guess she thought that I would regularly be bringing women back to her family's "home" and it was not appropriate. I am not sure how I was supposed to find a good woman to settle down with, if I did not actually have a base from which to start looking.
So, even bachelors meet weird discrimination.

It may be that I was fortunate to grow up in a quieter more gentle time. The world seems a lot more angry nowadays.

The most obvious discrimination my family met most people do not even know about. We are Anglo-Indians. In Calcutta, now Kolkata, in the immediate post-colonial time, we did not fit in anywhere; As Christians, our religion was away from the mainstream, and at that time, the two main religions on the sub-continent were not even getting along with each other. That was why we immigrated to Britain.
If you wish to see what Anglo-Indian discrimination was about, watch PBS' Indian Summers; It does a decent job of bringing out the problems.

correspondence

From my teenage years, I have written letters regularly to family and friends. It did not matter if they lived just down the road from me, or around the world. There is magic in receiving a letter in the mail, opening it and then sitting down to enjoy reading it in peace; Then re-reading it immediately.

I have a "pen-pal" from 60 years ago with whom I am still friends. She also became a huge family friend and we shared many fun filled travel outings together in different countries.

When I arrived in Canada, a century ago... at least. I wrote a round-robin letter. It was addressed to the whole family: Parents, Nana, Aunts (in 2 separate locations) and my sister. Back then, the copies were carbon copies. Sometime after a year or so of employment, I was brave enough to sneak into the corridor where the photocopier was, and make copies in the lunch time to send to the different locations. I kept track of which family member received the "top copy" and who got the Xeroxes! I rotated the receiving of the much prized hand written version!!

I also did something similar with the gang of friends I left behind, and in the first two years, I would often receive back a multi-party tome. Sometimes created under a haze of booze and late night party going. (I often wondered what kind of socializing they were doing without me, if someone was to suggest around midnight, "Let's write to Mik" and there were others who  agreed that this might be a fun thing to do !!)

I am not as hopelessly misguided as to thing that I was a siren-calling  attraction, it was a lot more a case of boredom and a desire to emulate a Monty Pythonesque situation. (We were big fans.)

After a couple of years, the family correspondence continued in the previous manner, but old friendships broke up, drifted away or just plain preferred a one-on-one natter. Luckily, there were 3 or 4 of those friends that trailed into the next century. Only a handful, but I still enjoy putting pen to paper for them.

I truly feel the present generation, and society in general, severely under-estimates the joy of writing letters.

Now that my parents have passed on, as have Nana, Aunts & Uncles, and way too many friends, I often dig out the old correspondence, -- did I forget to say, it is important to retain the material? -- and read those stories and tales and jokes of a long time ago.

I do have  a digital social media presence (Hello! what am I doing RIGHT now!) However, I cherish those old letters.

Thank you Sir Rowland Hill, you started a wonderful thing.

End of September 1966

It was the last week of September, 1966. I was in New York City staying at the YMCA at 34th & 8th Avenue. It was a beautiful autumn week and I was overwhelmed by all that I had experienced that summer. I forget precisely whether the return flight was on the 28th or the 29th !! However, I do remember one thing very clearly  -- I bought Sam & Dave's new LP,  Hold On I'm Coming for Dee. I was so anxious to get home and play it for her; while we drank tea and lounged on our blue living room carpet and fretted over our seemingly chaotic lives!

Of course, from a 50 year perspective, I know how simple our lives really were. We were still unnecessarily dragging our emotional baggage from school days & college.
"Life" had not truly begun yet..

More Beatles

I feel more than fine that I was at the vanguard of the post-war generation and to have spent my youth in England along with The  Beatles.  To press home the point here are  the Lads with I Feel Fine.

SONGS
I Feel Fine - The Beatles

I Feel Fine  was recorded in Oct. 64 released in November 64. While for us in the UK,  Beatlemania began in 1962 & gained steam throughout 1963 it was a part of a whole youthful music explosion. 

 Suddenly, record companies were signing up every group appearing on a stage in the UK. However, the music papers still liked to create dynamism by setting one group off against another. Are they the new Beatles, etc. One of the first so called rivals was the Rolling Stones. They went  on to world wide success,  right up to the present day. The tune that cemented their reputation in the USA was Satisfaction.

Oddly enough, the British group with the next No.1 in the US after the Beatles in the summer of 1964 was not the Stones but The Animals with House of the Rising Sun.

SONGS

Satisfaction  - The Rolling Stones

House of the Rising Sun - The Animals

 

There was a resurgence in musical friendship at this time. A lot of mutual  admiration and support. Not surprisingly, the public followed the musicians' lead. The British bands loved Aretha Franklin Here is her classic cover of Otis Redding's Respect.

SONG

Respect - Aretha Franklin

Following on the British invasion was American youth's discovery of its own great artists. Especially Tamla Motown material. Here is I Can't Help Myself from the Four Tops. A No.1 in 1965 that was replaced at the top by the Stones with Satisfaction.

SONGS

I Can't Help Myself - The Four Tops

 

Before the Beatles landed on Ed Sullivan & took over the Billboard music charts, US young people were obsessed with Surf style rock and the whole California life-style. Sun, sand & songs; Unlike the east coast music which focussed on Broadway, Brill Building and Do-wop.. One of the most popular groups of the era that are also big and still touring in the C21st are the Beach Boys. Their central creative genius was Brian Wilson. The Beatles felt that in the mid-sixties it was the Beach Boys who were their arch rivals because they too explored uncharted musical territory. Next up are 2 California themed hits.  California Dreaming from the  Mamas & the Papas and  Help Me Rhonda by the Beach Boys.

 

SONGS
California Dreaming - Mamas & the Papas

Help Me Rhonda - Beach Boys

A Liverpudlian group that began by covering  US R'n'B songs but also found a distinctive style of their own were Freddie & The Dreamers. They ended up being bigger stars in America than in the UK because the American public fell in love with Freddie's zany antics on stage. Here is I'm Telling you Now from  Freddie & The Dreamers. Then another early Beatles hit, the John led vocals of Do You Want To Know a Secret.

 SONGS

I'm Telling You Now - Freddie & The Dreamers

Do You Want To Know a Secret - The Beatles

An American group that I was in love with in the sixties were the delicious girl group The Ronettes. Their hit, Baby, I Love You is an icon of Big Haired girl groups from the 60s. Also, a song that came to define everything that was associated with the Post WWII society, My Generation from The Who.

SONGS
Baby I Love You - The Ronettes

My Generation - The Who

 

The Ronettes were masterminded by their manager/producer Phil Spector. Another Spector produced hit was You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling a No.1 hit for The Righteous Bros. Spector was called in to finalize the production of the Beatles last LP, Let it Be.  The first Beatle with a solo vocal LP was Ringo singing You Always Hurt The One You Love on his 1969 released Sentimental Journey album. Full of his mum's favourite songs. He also had a huge 1973 success with Photograph.

 SONGS

You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - The Righteous Bros

You Always Hurt The One You Love - Ringo

Photograph - Ringo

 

The late sixties were a time of turmoil in cities with young people protesting the Vietnam War and the Old Ways in general in Europe. True to its happiness ethos Motown had Martha & the Vandellas singing Dancing in the Streets. A great dance tune re-done by loads of others over the decades. But the sixties bad boys of rock -- the Rolling Stones sang an anthem for the times in Street Fighting Man.

 

SONGS

Dancing in the Streets - Martha & the Vandellas.

Street Fighting Man   - The Rolling Stones

  

 

Leaving tonight with  a classic Beatles song We Can Work it Out. A hit from 1965, however, one of the daddies of R'n'R was Chuck Berry a big influence on the Stones and the Beatles. Here is his 1964 hit You Never Can Tell. The story of a teenage wedding,  listen to the story telling that Berry winds into a great rock rhythm. Just as the Beatles learned to do with such success themselves.

 

SONGS

You Never Can Tell - Chuck Berry

We Can Work it Out - The Beatles

 

 

Reflections on the Beatles and the American Sixties music scene (+ playlist)

These are my thoughts on The Beatles and Beyond. They stem from the preparations my alter-ego Daddy Cool goes through while getting ready for his radio show. Of course,  I am really Michael Lavalette. While looking over old photos & articles of the era, really emphasizes the old saying -- success is basically a matter of being at the right place at the right time. This was especially true for the Beatles, as their appearance on the world's multiple media stages occurred when so much else was changing in society.

 

I feel privileged to  have been at the vanguard of the post-war generation and to have spent my youth in England. All my life, I have been music mad, right from my childhood in Calcutta.

When the Beatles came along they were my rock and roll buddies. I do admit that their first Parlophone release, Love Me Do did not exactly knock my socks off, but after Please, Please Me and From Me to You, the first of their singles that truly bowled me over was She Loves You. Although, I did like much of the first album.

SONGS

She Loves you - The Beatles

 It was recorded in July 1963. Released in august in \Britain and soon after in the US & Canada but to no success. It topped the UK charts in Sept. and became the biggest selling UK  record of the 1960s and the Beatles biggest seller of all in the UK.

Also in august 1963. America, Russia  and Britain signed the first ever Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

It is difficult for people now to imagine how seriously we took the threat of imminent annihilation we all lived under back then. As a school boy in the 50s, My friends and I truly expected an Atomic war would break out during our adult life.

70 years of atomic free hostilities has dampened that fear now. But 1 year after the Cuban Missile crisis we still expected mushroom clouds on the horizon. These sentiments came to influence a lot of music by the late 60s, & again, the Beatles were a part of it.

 

While for us in the UK,  Beatlemania began in 1962 & gained steam throughout 1963 it exploded off the British shores in Feb 1964 with the Beatles'  Ed Sullivan appearance.

Then the log books of record achievements were scrapped & began anew.

 SONGS
Bad to Me - Billy J. Kramer

Billy J. Kramer had a UK No. 1 hit in August 1963 with this song. It was written by John Lennon while on holiday in Spain with Brian Epstein. It made the Billboard Top 10 in 1964. It was a part of the so-called British Invasion.

The American music press was pretty myopic back then and it was all about categories & "The Liverpool Sound", here are The Hollies with Bus Stop a part of Billboard's Liverpool Sound, unfortunately, the Hollies were from Manchester! Great song however.

SONG

Bus Stop - The Hollies.

 

Another feature I hope to shine a light on in later shows, is how these groups were fertile ground for the successful groups & solo artists that came up in the 1970s and even up to this century. Graham Nash later of Crosby, Stills and Nash was with the Hollies first. He was on that song.

In 1964,  Paul McCartney was living at the family home of his girl friend Jane Asher. Jane had a brother Peter.  In 1964, Peter was one half of the duet Peter & Gordon. Paul wrote a tune for them that topped the charts in the UK & USA.  A World Without Love.

The main British competition for the Beatles in the music press were The Rolling Stones. Here is one of their first self penned hits. The Last Time. Followed by the Beatles 1966 summer hit - Paperback Writer.

SONGS

World without Love -  Peter & Gordon
The Last Time - The Rolling Stones
Paperback writer - The Beatles

Before the Beatles, music was very reflective of individual country's folk traditions or music traditions. In the sixties, this changed. Artists may have gravitated to London, NYC or Los Angeles to record, but they came from everywhere and melded many styles. Manfred Mann's lead Singer & frontman was Briton, Paul Jones; but Manfred himself was south African and started the group in London to international success & in the 70s was one of the first singers to have a no.1 Billboard hit written by Bruce Springsteen. Blinded by the Light.

Similarly, what was once considered "race music" or RnB material for specific Urban Markets became widely appreciated by all suburban kids. The leading exponent of this was Berry Gordon's Motown label. Here they are with Baby Love. No1 in the UK & US.

SONGS

Pretty Flamingo - Manfred Mann

Baby Love - The Supremes

  

Here are 3 more British groups charging into the Billboard charts. They all were successful for decades, and in various incarnations, remain active in the 21st century. Gimme Some Lovin' credited to The Spenser Davis Group, but the star was young  prodigy, Steve Winwood.  I Can See For Miles by the Who and the Kinks You Really Got Me. Its iconic guitar riff is every bedroom guitar players practice chords.

 

SONGS
Gimme Some Lovin' - The Spenser Davis Group
I Can see for Miles - the Who
You Really Got Me - the Kinks

Another beneficiary of white suburban interest in RnB music and as it was also called Soul Music, were the Atlantic Group labels. Here is prominent Stax recording artist Eddie Floyd with Knock on Wood. The Beatles and the Stones were big soul fans and helped fan the flames of popularity for these artists. Followed by the Beatles summer 1965 hit Day Tripper.

SONGS

Knock on Wood - Eddie Floyd
Day Tripper  - The Beatles

While it seemed as if the charts in the Beatles early era were dominated by groups, a lot of solo artists, and singer/songwriters came to prominence.

An Indian born but British raised singer was Englebert Humperdinck who topped the charts with Please Release Me. He prevented the Beatles masterpiece Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields from reaching the No.1 in the UK. Sacrilege!! Bobby Darin was one of many singers who recorded If I was a Carpenter and had a hit with it. It was also recorded with less success by its songwriter the Late Tim Hardin. This is followed by British singer Dusty Springfield with her Windmills of your Mind. It was the film theme from The Thomas Crown Affair.

SONGS

Please Release Me - Englebert Humperdinck

If I were a Carpenter - Bobby Darin

Windmills of your Mind - Dusty Springfield

 

Just as in the 50s, groups trolled through old time hits to re-do as rock songs. Similarly, 60s groups did them as harmony songs. Here are Harper's Bizarre and Chattanooga Choo Choo.(Their name is a pun on the fashion magazine, Harper's Bazar, which is further indication of the merging of the music and fashion scene of those times.) Then one of the most enduring hits from 1964. It was a hit again in the 1990s after its use in the movie of the same name. Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison.

SONGS

Chattanooga Choo Choo - Harper's Bizarre

Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison

 

This has been a reflection on the first episode of my 97.5 Community radio show  the Beatles and Beyond .

 

Last song is a classic Beatles melody Lady Madonna. A hit from early 1968, recorded just before their trip to India;  and  when they came back, everything had changed. They were very different  Lads.

 

Goodnight from Daddy Cool and the Beatles and Beyond.

 

SONGS

Lady Madonna

Departures

After college, I had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. All I knew was that I did not wish to end up old and hanging out at the same pub every Sunday drinking and adding flat notes to everyone else's merry sing-a-longs.

However, it was a series of unplanned steps that resulted with me living a life pretty distanced from my family and youthful friends. I worked hard not to lose touch though. Being a bachelor for so long, allowed me to regularly visit my family in Florida and England, mainly. Although, they were in Indiana and Arizona for brief periods and I saw them there as well.
I traveled to see the friends, too, and had exciting times.

For all the coming and going, people often asked me how I could do it; wasn't it difficult to keep leaving family and dear friends. The way I managed it was simply to not view it as a departure: I was always looking ahead to the next visit, even though it was usually an unknown date in the future.

Now that I am older, and with less family and fewer friends to visit, I really will not give in to the idea of departing those people linked to my heart. I still plan to see everyone very soon.

My Clubbing Days

Thanks, Old Friend,(name changed as I did not warn him that our correspondence would be posted on the WWW.)

interesting as always.

I do believe we also saw Sonny Boy Williamson with the Yardbirds at the Marquee because I remember being very close to him, and the old Marquee on Wardour Street had a very low stage where you could stand right up beside the performers. My recall is that Eric was still with them. He hadn't left for Mayall's band, and the Yardbirds had 3 lead guitarists for a time. Jeff Beck was also with them then. When Eric left, Beck became the No.1 guitarist. Is that what you remember too?

No doubt, if I fret, I can find a page with all the info on Wikipedia.

 

Wiki & Google blow me away some days. I have found incredibly detailed data on EVERY Dylan set list for 50+ years.

It boggles the mind on how much useless pieces of info are traceable.

Imagine knowing every song Miles Davis ever performed live around the world.. Oh, shit, I bet that's there...

 (More on the Yardbirds :  Of course Jimmy Page was with them for awhile too, and poor ole Chris Dreja, consigned to the footnote of musical history & Trivia night questions. I cannot remember their guitarists that joined in the revival of old bands movement in this century. Jimmy Page's business astuteness is how he ended up with the old Yardbirds' touring commitments that led to him morphing that line-up into Led Zeppelin.)

 

Those  were wonderful times when the music rose up through your feet into your heart and brain. No crowd of a quarter million bodies between you and the entertainers.

 

Michael

July 14, 1967

It is nothing to brag about, it is simply an ability I have; I made no effort to cultivate it, nor was I aware of it for decades: I can close my eyes and picture a specific day, or event, and can "see in my inner eye" what was going on in the past.. It is not a true eidetic memory, but a partial one.  Growing up, my friends used to tease me when I referred to an event or music show, whatever, and would throw in a comment -- don't you remember, you had one your new blue shirt, Carnaby Street trousers, whatever, and they would be exasperated saying, 'I barely remember the show...'

A recent blog posting by me  was a Bio piece concerning my arrival in New York on
July 14, 1966. The next year was a crazy one of my final undergraduate year. There were lots of moments that were not shared with my neighbourhood/school friends. They were spent with a couple of college friends I have since lost touch with; A crazy acid taking artist living with two Scandinavian beauties. A rich nutter with great sense of humour who just latched onto to me and we hung around pubs near Oxford Street or went to wild parties. A Jazz musician, who went onto a music career that lasted at least into the seventies when I lost track of him. However, my school friends remained in my life for -- well, centuries !! Many are still in my wide FB circle, email connections and Ma Bell network.

Back in the mid-sixties, my friends and I were fans of the Lovin' Spoonful. A great group who remain on the radio/TV/Movie/Internet world.

On July 14, 1967, I went to a movie called "You're a Big Boy Now" written & directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He was the wunderkind of the year. What attracted Mart & I to go to the movie particularly, was the soundtrack by John Sebastian and his group the Lovin' Spoonful .
Suddenly, in the middle of the movie, I remember turning to Mart and saying :"Holy Cow, I know exactly where I was a year ago today. I was where this film is set". Poor Martin, exasperatedly said "I don't know where I was a  week ago, let alone a year ago!"

However, You're a Big Boy now is set in NYC and has scenes in Greenwich Village, The New York Public Library and other iconic NY locations.  It was one of the first times I became physically aware that I could close my eyes and put myself in those scenes: because I had been in those same places, and the memory flooded back.

One of the best songs from the film is Sebastian's Darling, Be Home Soon. A love song that has been covered by hundreds of singers. It is magnificent. Listen to it on YouTube.

The Lovin' Spoonful were the soundtrack of my Summer of 1966, 67 and all the following years.

July 14, 1966

Fifty years ago today I landed in America. It was a heatwave in Manhattan. I thought that I had stepped into an oven, although it was about 6pm. The temp. Was 85+ with 100% humidity.
It was an amazing summer. I spent 2 weeks in New York before taking a Greyhound bus up & down the east coast.
I hung out at Times Square and got approached by lots of guys... I was clueless to the fact that it was a "pickup" spot.
Loved Battery Park & riding the Statten Island ferry. I also met Andy Warhol and spent an afternoon with him as he excitedly edited one of his latest epic movies.
What a summer for a 21 yr old Brit.
A wonderful chapter in Daddy Cool's book of memories.

 Sunset looking along one of the streets.

Battery Park and Statten Island Ferry Terminal from the air in 1966

More When The Lights Come On Again

Welcome to  When  the lights come on again.

 

A bouncy oldie from Kay Starr, Side by side; written in 1927 and made popular by many singers, however, it this 1953 version that is the most memorable. A chart topper for her dual-tracked vocal. I listened to it often on the BBC's morning radio show, Housewives' Choice when I was home on school  holidays. It was a regular request on that show. 

 

SONGS

Side by side - Kay Starr

 

I love the next song because it is an English version of the famous Italian song 'Mattinata' written by Ruggero Leoncavallo in the beginning of 20th century. It is an absolutely wonderful melody that I have loved for nearly 7 decades.   It is You're Breaking My heart from Vic Damone, a big hit for him in 1949.

 

SONGS 

You're Breaking My heart - Vic Damone

 

One of the most popular singers of the postwar era  was Perry Como. His mellifluous tones of his voice graced many chart hits. Here is his Catch a Falling Star. Then Fever originally an RnB hit for its composer Little Willie John but done here by Peggy Lee who had a big world wide hit with this moody tune.

 

SONGS 

Catch a Falling Star  - Perry Como

Fever  - Peggy Lee

 

Now  the crooning voice of  Bing Crosby and the lovely wistful but aching You are my Sunshine.

 

SONGS 

You are my Sunshine - Bing Crosby

 

Songs about love are a sure-fire way to get your song noticed by the music buying public. Here is Young Love from Sonny James, a 1958 hit for him. Sonny just passed away a few months ago. He had a long successful  music career but it mostly remembered for this song. Then Treasure of Love from Clyde McPhatter. a solo hit for him after he quit as lead singer of the Drifters.

 

SONGS 

Young Love - Sonny James

Treasure of Love - Clyde McPhatter

  

Here are is an  Italian song written by Domenico Modugno  Ciao Ciao Bambino. This is Connie Francis' version. My family and I were on holiday in the summer of 59 on the what is known as the Italian Riviera, in English, to compare it to the more famous French Riviera but is actually known as the Riviera dei Fiore locally, as the coast of flowers. Everywhere we went they were singing this song. It is Followed by Sway from teen idol Bobby Rydell.

 

SONGS

Ciao Ciao Bambino - Connie Francis

Sway - Bobby Rydell

 

Here are a couple more examples of eccentric rock n roll hits. One From 1959 the other 1961.  Battle of New Orleans - Johnny Horton 's 1959 hit 

And a huge 1961 hit , But I Do by  Clarence 'Frogman' Henry. One of my sister's favourites and regularly played in the Lavalette household. In the 80s on a visit to London, I even managed to get a cassette of The Frogman's greatest hits. His was indeed a distinctive voice.

 

SONGS

Battle of New Orleans - Johnny Horton

 But I Do - Clarence 'Frogman' Henry

  

Here are The Del-Vikings with their Doo-wop hit Come Go with Me then an oldie re-done in the rock style Heart & Soul this is  The Cleftones

version. There was a bigger hit version by Jan & Dean out at the same time.

 

SONGS

Come Go with Me - The Del-Vikings

Heart & Soul - The Cleftones

 

Coming up are 2 classic rock era tunes. Mr. Rock n Roll himself, Chuck Berry with School Days. Ring Ring Goes the Bell ! Then an early Latin-rock tune, La Bamba from the late Ritchie Valens. He only had a brief life but his  impact on popular music of the rock era has been immense. His songs remain staples of Rock Bands everywhere.

 

 SONGS

School Days - Chuck Berry

La Bamba - Ritchie Valens

 

Here is something a little different. Once more it is a song that filled the summer night air in 1966.  Everywhere I traveled in the US that Summer I heard this song, Winchester Cathedral by The New Vaudeville Band. Although it was apart of the so-called British invasion of the 60s, I have put it into "When the Lights Come On Again"  because its style harkens back to the pre-war era. Not a rock styled song at all. It remains popular even today and was also recorded by Frank Sinatra!

 

SONGS

Winchester Cathedral - The New Vaudeville Band

 

British Grand Prix

My love affair with Formula1 racing definitely started with the home race of my youth. On Saturdays, the BBC would have a lot of sports events on, and in-between the Horse racing, they would broadcast club racing from Goodwood, Brands Hatch etc. Those races with souped up minis Ford Anglias and, of course, Jags, made me drool. Then F1 caught my attention. Back then, the cars were so slight, small & devoid of driver protection. It seemed as if one could see them sweat as they turned around corners so close to the cameras.

Monaco GP became the bench mark for glamour, The British GP was the bench mark for "true enthusiasts". I suppose because so much of the racing innovation for decades came from the British workshops.

I have just watched Louis Hamilton win the 2016 race, and it was good, but I yearn for those old cars that I dreamed about as a young boy/teenager/ man.

Masculine Food

I was listening to Q recently and they had a journalist on, a Canadian one, who wrote (either for The New York Times or Wall Street Journal) about the "Gender" of food. For example an item called Vanilla Cup Cake would be associated with "girlie" food. Men do not cook & eat Quiche; or what is more Macho than a pulled pork sandwich slathered with Hickory-flavoured BBQ sauce.

There was a long discussion on the nature of the present foodie culture exhibiting these gender stereo-types.

To be truthful, some of it has been so obvious for years: the adverts for salads on television predominately feature women or girl friends talking about a particular salads' merits. Men are always doing the barbequing.

Who can forget the Mr. Big candy bar adverts. Clearly targeted at young men. 18 inches of pleasure.
Therein lies the flaw in the argument - not the gender but age of the target audience.

I am convinced the adverts attribute age-maturity related factors to the food more than our gender. They play to the "Kid in us". That brings out the gender stereo-types I admit. Men 'play' at cooking, women have a more adult 'love-provider, carer' aspect to putting food on the table.
At the centre however, is how food relates to our own perception of being mature rather than a man or woman that is significant in my estimation.

Ashmolean Museum

Been watching Endeavour on Masterpiece Mystery again. The most recent episode was set in March 1967. It was strange seeing Morse & C.I. Thursday wandering around Oxford and sitting on a bench near the Radcliffe Camera. I was working in Oxford in the Summer and Winter of 1967. In September 67 I was sitting on that exact spot in which they were! It looked exactly like that back then. It all appears as if someone borrowed my body and did those things. It could not be the quiet Michael living in Halifax that experienced those surroundings. The Summer of Love;  The Summer of Sgt. Pepper.

Just down from my office, 2  blocks or so, was the Ashmolean Museum. Before arriving in Oxford I was unaware of its status as the first public Museum in western culture. It was neglected and almost ignored back then. I would sit on its steps and watch the world go by.

It is a very changed institution now.

The bottom picture is from the Sixties.

Mince Curry

I often dream about food: not that I am eating it, but that I am cooking something, or inventing a new dish. Occassionally, it is a dream where I am showing a family member how to make a special dish. Perhaps a story of my mother's cooking proess or unique technique!

Last night, I dreamed I was making mince curry. Or, what we Lavalettes called "Mince" curry. In north america, it is simply ground beef.
I got up, pottered around... then had to have some.
So I did it -- made a pot of it. It was great... just as I dreamed it...

Vera Brittain & Testament of Youth

"Violets from Plug Street wood,
Sweet, I send you from oversea.
(It is strange they should be blue,
Blue, when his soaked blood was red,
For they grew around his head:
It is strange they should be blue.)
Violets from Plug Street Wood,
Think what they have meant to me—
Life and hope and love and you.
(And you did not see them grow,
where his mangled body lay,
Hiding horror from the day;
Sweetest it was better so)
Violets from oversea,
To your dear, far, forgetting land,
These I send in memory,
Knowing you will understand".^[6]

above is a poem written by Roland Leighton for Vera.
He was her fiance who was killed during the war.

The poem is showcased in the film of her book Testament of Youth. There has been so much written and produced about "The Great War" since the 100th anniversary of its beginning, in August 1914.

I am forever stunned by how each item recounting the horrors, and the ordinariness of much of those times moves me and shakes me to my boots. I sobbed and sobbed while watching the film.

I recommend watching it on a bright sunny day with a close friend. It is sure to, move you and you will need help in setting your mind at ease.
Vera lost her fiance, her brother and their good friend Victor. She became a well known pacifist and campaigner for no more war.

The film is wonderfully acted and worthy of the praise it has received.

Daddy Cool and the Drifters

A classic song from 1961 is  Save the Last Dance For Me by The Drifters.  A No 1 hit in  the US & a No. 2 hit in Britain.  The lead vocal on this record is by Ben E King. He left The Drifters right after this hit tune for a lengthy solo career. The Drifters continued for decades with various lead singers. One of the longest lead singers was Johnny Moore. He had the legal right to The Drifters name and used  it a lot  on tours during the 1970s & early 80s.

I was sitting in a bar at the Holiday Inn in Scarborough Ontario in 1980 nursing a scotch quietly alone. A man came and joined me. Unusual for me, but I started talking to him. I asked if he was at the same event that brought me there. He said no, he is with a band but their first set was cancelled because of the event going on, that I attended. Oh, what is the name of the group, I asked, he said The Drifters. No kidding. It was Johnny Moore. I bought him a scotch and he shared a love of good music & good scotch.

Art Galleries

Art Galleries

Halifax is lucky to have a good art gallery downtown.  I have enjoyed art galleries everywhere I have lived or travelled and tried to inspire my children's art appreciation by taking them to visit many.

One of my favourites is the spectacular Tate Modern on the banks of the Thames in London.  It is housed in a seriously weird renovated power station.  It is one of four Tate galleries.  The first, now called Tate Britain, is also on the banks of the River Thames, in Millbank.  It stood right opposite the office I worked in for a year on the Albert Embankment on the south bank of the Thames.  I visited it often and loved its collection of J. M. Turner's beautiful watercolours.  If you are in London soon, do visit both; you will not be disappointed.

The Jefferson Airplane and I

Paul Katner's recent passing made me think of my experiences with the Jefferson Airplane.

The very first time I heard Somebody to love I was sitting in a friend's convertible in North West London, tuned to the BBC, probably, when the song came on. We both looked at each other and wondered what the fuss was all about. Compared to Cream, Pink Floyd or even the Beatles it was not what we expected of psychedelic rock from America. However, another friend soon received a copy of Surrealistic Pillow from his sister in Boston. That changed everything. We played it constantly. It has remained one of my all-time favourite albums. I still play it often.

Then, one day in 1969, (I must admit I had forgotten the precise date, I only remembered that it was -- very unusually -- on a Wednesday,) I saw them perform at a free concert on London's Parliament Hill Fields in Hampstead. I found a write up about it on the Internet that is shown below as a link. It was a cloudy afternoon but The Airplane were terrific and really brightened my day. It was so poorly attended you could see them easily and just move around and get close to the group.
Great times.

Also in 1969 was the Stones famous concert in the Park. (London's Hyde Park.) I attended that naturally, and afterwards went to  a friend's flat on Tottenham Court Road where I met his flat-mate a young man studying for his Master's in Architecture. He had friends with him and we got to  talking and discovered that they had just attended the same concert, and one of the friends was introduced to me; It was Skip Spence. The original drummer for the Airplane and later co-founder of Moby Grape. The flat-mate had met him while doing research in America and Skip had flown over for The Stones concert and hooked up with his old friend. He was impressed that I knew him and of the first Airplane album that he played on. (The Jefferson Airplane Take Off, because it still had not been released in Britain.)
Such were those great times growing up in London in the Sixties.



http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/camden-Festival.html

Authentic Cuisine

I recently read an article that discussed the "authenticity" of American-Chinese cooking. It truly annoyed me. If, I a Canadian, goes to Beijing and with a Chinese friend's help cook a dish for us, is in somehow not authentic because I am not Chinese? I use this weird example because the central point was that orange-chicken and chop suey are not authentic as they are not prepared in Chinese homes usually. Both those dishes were made in America and Canada by Chinese workers who  came here in the C19th to work on the railroads. These were "adapted" dishes due to the lack of available ingredients.

When those Chinese workers were laid off after the railroads were completed. Many remained and some started restaurants which featured these dishes; and have done so for over a century. They  can also be found in the Chinese restaurants in London where I grew up. (As well as in other countries I have visited; All prepared by Chinese cooks.)

The argument for authenticity is ridiculously warped when we examine "Indian" cooking. The majority of Indian restaurants in Britain, and lots in Canada, are run by Bangladeshis, not Indians at all. The food is just what we ate in Indian. The most popular curry in Britain is Chicken Tikka Masala. This curry was "invented" in London by an Indian immigrant and copied by just about everyone else. It is featured in every cookbook on Indian cooking, printed in English, these days.

By the definitions of the article on authenticity it isn't an Indian dish, though.

Do not get me started on Italian pasta...