August 31

I finally got a new printer that works!!
After years of dodgy functioning of my devices, we (Margo,) got a new one on sale, absurdly cheap... so, of course, I worried that it would not only fail  to print but more importantly, print from my iPad.
Whoopee! It does both: prints from the PC and the iPad. (A public thank you to my wife.)

Today is one of those life-stones (my word for events that mark a milestone in one's life, either in a physical sense or emotional one.) August is in fact one of those life-stones that is shared collectively by a whole community - or in this case, the whole World : the day that Lady Diana, Princess of Wales died. Millennials all remember where they were when they heard the news of her death. It is burned into the collective consciousness.  For us baby boomers, it was the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated that marks a similar Life-stone.

On August 31, 1997, The children, my mother and I had returned from a touring holiday in Cape Breton; My mother was sleeping in my son Andy's bedroom; I had a bed in the living room. I could not sleep so was watching CNN. Around 4.a.m. AST it came on as Breaking News. I flicked between CNN & CBC to get as much detail as I could. It was stunning, an emotional  shock, This woman whom I had never met, died and I  was profoundly sad. I cried. My mum came down around 5:30, she was an early riser in the days before Alzheimer's cruelly took her simple functions away from her. We sat and watched the TV for the next 24 hours - straight.

Lady Diana was arguably the most recognizable woman on the planet, and possibly, save for the Royal Family, the most loved celebrity. The Princess is dead! Long Live the Princess, at least in our memories.

After school snacks

My sister and I had some weird after school snack experiences. In Calcutta, after the school bus brought us home, the Ayah would have our cuppa Chaa waiting, (not Chai, regular, most probably Darjeeling tea.) However, she would also bring us each a plate of toast with a thick spreading of Nestle's Condensed milk. We loved it ! All dripping and gooey and sweet.

When we moved to London, and then when  Sis & I got home from school, (I was 10 and took 2 London Transport Double-deckers to get home. One penny for each leg, no such thing as "transfers" back then,) we still had tea and toast. Mum worked, so dinner was later after she and Dad returned. On our toast in this period we favored Kraft's DairyLea cheese spread. Mild and yet tasty.

Beatles and Beyond - playlist for August 16th

Hello, this is the playlist from The Beatles and Beyond on   97.5 CIOE-FM for August 16th 

The perfect Beatles song for a summer gathering, from their final studio LP, Abbey Road, Come Together.

SONGS

Come Together - The Beatles

 Ob-La Di, Ob-la Da - Marmalade

After "Come Together" we heard  Ob-La Di, Ob-la Da done here by Marmalade. Their version was the hit single as the Beatles track from the White album was never released as a single in the UK. Marmalade's tune topped the UK charts.

One of the big groups of the British invasion but not from Liverpool, were the Zombies. Here is their Time of the Season. It is followed by a Motown stalwart covering the Beatles' We can work it out from, no longer Little,  Stevie wonder.

SONGS 

Time of the season - the Zombies

We can work it out - Stevie wonder

The first Beatles' film was A Hard Day's Night and it was a really good depiction of the crazy times they were going through. Here is the movie's title song plus others from the soundtrack,  I should have known better and If I Fell. 

SONGS

Hard Day's Night - The Beatles

 I should have known better - The Beatles

If I Fell - The Beatles

 A British singer who had many US hits, remained a TV and Broadway celebrity for decades, right up to this century, is Petula Clark. This is Pet's I Know a Place.  An American Duo who truly embodied the spirit of the 1960's and continued into the late part of the C20th as this duo, then as solo artists were  - Sonny & Cher. After Pet Clark is the iconic 1960's  hit, I Got You, Babe.

SONGS

I Know a Place - Pet Clark

I Got You, Babe - Sonny & Cher

Can't Buy Me Love -  - Beatles

Right after the Break we heard the Beatles  with Can't Buy Me Love - which is also from the Hard Days Night movie. Coming up are 2 more tunes from the soundtrack album,  I'll Cry Instead and Things We Said Today. I really like this soundtrack LP it has so many lovely simple pop song melodies. The Boys at their early days' best.  The Hard Day's Night tunes are followed by Am I that Easy to Forget from my fellow Anglo-Indian,  Englebert Humperdinck. Real name Arnold Gerry Dorsey who born in Madras.

SONGS

I'll Cry Instead - - Beatles

Things we said today - - Beatles

Am I that Easy to Forget - Englebert Humperdinck

Now,  2 groups that had major hits with the British invasion were  Edison Lighthouse mostly a studio-group, with Love Grows and Build Me Up (Buttercup) from  The Foundations.

SONGS

Love Grows - Edison Lighthouse

Build Me Up (Buttercup) - The Foundations

 

The second Beatles film was called Help! Here is the title song plus You Like Me Too Much, also from the soundtrack.

 SONGS

Help! -  - The Beatles

You Like Me Too Much -  - The Beatles

 

The next song is the most covered tune in recording history, but was also included in the Help soundtrack. McCartney's beautiful Yesterday.

SONGS

Yesterday -  - The Beatles

For the Millennials listening to this show, it may come as a surprise that American Idol, or America's Got Talent are nothing new in concept. From the days of radio, programmers have had talent shows from the earliest days of mass communications. For us in London in the 60's it was a show called Opportunity knocks. The world famous petite  model Twiggy, saw welsh singer Mary Hopkins winning the British ITV 's talent show, Opportunity Knocks and she telephoned Paul McCartney and recommended her. She became one of the first artists to record on The Beatles' Apple record label.This is her first big hit -- Those were the Days. It produced by Paul McCartney.

Listen in again next week to the Beatles and Beyond with Michael Lavalette on 97.5 CIOE.

 

SONGS

Those were the Days - Mary Hopkins

PLAYLIST SONGS

Come Together - The Beatles

Ob-La Di, Ob-la Da - Marmalade

Time of the season - the Zombies

We can work it out - Stevie wonder

Hard Day's Night - The Beatles

 I should have known better - The Beatles

If I Fell - The Beatles

I Know a Place - Petula Clark

I Got You, Babe - Sonny & Cher

Can't Buy Me Love -   Beatles

Help! -   The Beatles

You Like Me Too Much   - The Beatles

Yesterday -  - The Beatles

Those were the Days - Mary Hopkins

Life in the 1950's London

Not surprisingly as a child of 8, going on 9, I had no pre-conceived notion of what to expect when we arrived in London. All I knew is that Queen Elizabeth II 's coronation had occurred 4 days before we arrived. The city was still decked out in bunting and Union Jacks and all manner of fancy decorations. It looked lovely to a young child's eye.
However, six months after arriving we moved into our first (and only,) home in London.
It was about 900 square feet; no basement, no attic as  livable floor space. It was exciting nonetheless.
Outside, on the pavement, (sidewalk,) beside a street lamp stood the garbage can for "pigs swill" as the neighbours told us. In 1953, a war measures attempt for the UK to be more self-reliant, lots of communities still had this productivity item. A truck came along and emptied it regularly for distribution to Farmers to supplement live stock feed.

Summer of 1967

There has been a lot written about the summer of love in 1967. It seemed as if young people were trying to create a peaceful and more loving life style. It is particularly associated with Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco and very significantly, The Beatles Sgt.  Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, followed by Scott Mackenzie's If you're going to San Francisco, (wear some flowers in your hair.)
It was about trying a new social-ethos of sharing.
However, it is not surprising, but the summer of love in Haight-Ashbury turned into a dismal autumn.
By 1969, the same mass of youth were the Woodstock generation.
We tried to keep the spirit going up until late 69, but many factors formed road blocks for the crowds to move forward.
The peace & love & music culture was happening before the Human Be-In that occurred in San Francisco in January 1967.
I was in New York in the summer of 1966. I hung around Greenwich Village, Washington Square, all the places I heard mentioned in songs. The place was full of young people (yes, just like I was,) who were sleeping rough and simply bonding.
The big societal changes were already underway; The "anniversary" shows gloss over how many young people were hitch-hiking away from their safe suburban communities to the big cities on the coast; New York and California primarily.
There was a lot of segregation still that summer. I witnessed it on my Greyhound Bus ride from New York to Florida.
The summer of 1967 is also remembered as the time America's big cities were a cauldron of unrest. Riots, primarily in Detroit and New Jersey, set the black community on fire. The Detroit riot is the basis on a forthcoming movie, called, simply Detroit.
I recall the events vividly. I arrived in Windsor, Ontario in 1976 and people were still talking about that year when they stood on Riverside Drive and could see the flames and hear the police sirens and gunshots.
LBJ's "Great Society" took a little longer to foster real change.