You're only as sick as the secrets you keep

Remembrance Day - song for the fallen

2011-11-11T09:18:00.000Z

Remembrance Day

Rust marks, scorched in the earth

Journey’s end boys are calling

Takes me back to nowhere fast

Where young England lies fallen

Seldom reached their destinations

Summers doors are left ajar

Now rainy days and sunshine bakes

Down on Minnie’s boy

It’s Remembrance Day and we won’t forget you

All of our young who have fallen

We’ll think of you, maybe hold back a tear

The sacrifice you paid for what we hold dear

Daddy’s waiting for his son

Meanwhile Mother watches clocks

Seventeen for King and Queen

Wasted youth and senseless slaughter

Whistle stops time from standing still

It’s time to go your friends are calling

Misty morning a new day dawning

Sunshine breaks over the hill

It’s Remembrance Day and we won’t forget you

All of our young who have fallen

We’ll think of you, maybe hold back a tear

The sacrifice you paid for what we hold dear

Now Journey’s end’s here in November rain

Flanders fields forever still

And I always wanted to give my thanks

I came to say I’m sorry still

They’ve finally found you, gave you back your name

I’m glad to see you rest on easy

Sixty thousand children came and went

Young John England was among them

Dingbat

2011-10-23T22:02:00.001+01:00

Twat of the year 2011

2011-10-22T12:50:00.001+01:00

Here I am at the BAPC 2011 Conference doing my the last man standing in the bar routine for the second year running having seen off all comers. This, I think you will agree, qualifies me for Twat of the year. A title I am not planning to defend next year.

The funniest book I have ever read

2011-10-13T22:35:00.001+01:00

I was lucky to have caught Lee Evans in his heyday on the club circuit at the Railway pub in Hampton Wick just after he started out. I was dumbfounded and thought him an idiot at first. And that's exactly what he is. A lovely great clod. Two minutes into his act and I was hooked and have been ever since. He is the only comic of his time that can make me choke with laughter. This book does that as much as it makes one choke with tears, of both joy and with sadness. Nobody can be that stupid in real life, except for Lee Evans. This book will put fans like me through the emotional wringer. Thank god for him. Cheers for that Mouse Boy!

Halo to you two

2011-09-24T14:29:00.001+01:00

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Treedom

2011-09-21T21:35:00.001+01:00

Packed for the off

2011-09-05T10:05:00.001+01:00

A night at the cinema

2011-08-26T00:24:00.001+01:00

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Pop and I have a rare night out away from mum and Buster at the local 'plex to see Captain America. She loved it more than The Green Hornet she said. I like a tacky action movie me. Just as we pulled onto the drive at home she managed to tip a bucket of cola over the floor of the car. Happy days. We had a great time.

When all else fails

2011-08-07T21:31:00.001+01:00

There is always Stan & Ollie.

The girls and the gang

2011-07-26T23:21:00.001+01:00

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Lovely couple of days spent with our wonderful friends who visit from Norfolk. We chilled in the garden in the summer sun and went to Marble Hill Park for the playgrounds. Six great kids all knackerd out. Sweet.

Bagpuss

2011-07-24T12:09:00.001+01:00

Good use of qr code

2011-07-18T12:36:00.001+01:00

Birthday boy

2011-07-18T00:29:00.001+01:00

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I turned 51 today. Not bad considering I think I have been on borrowed time since I was 25. Was spoiled by my family and mum came to visit. Still in good 'umor at 78. Had a roast lunch followed by a proper home made trifle made just how I like it. Evening went as planned, just as Ister predicted... Was chuffed my magnolia tree opened yet again on my birthday. I love that tree.

Sports Day

2011-07-12T18:35:00.001+01:00

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Pop's last sports day at junior scool. She steps up to Year 7 and a new school come September.

Goth KId's vs Vampire Kids

2011-07-11T19:07:00.002+01:00

Totally cool art project music video

2011-07-06T10:15:00.000+01:00

Lightning Bob returns

2011-06-27T22:34:00.001+01:00

Fresh and skinny after a long kip, Bob scoffs the choff. All is well in our corner of England.

Pop does Lego store

2011-06-27T22:21:00.001+01:00

Goes mad at Westfield. Spent two hours trying to make up her mind which set to buy. I was so worn down I bought the other rejected one just to put an end to this living hell.

Jai Gillman

2011-06-26T16:00:00.001+01:00

Backstage ligging with my son Jai at Strawberry Hill.

It's festival season all around the uk

2011-06-26T15:56:00.001+01:00

And we're sweating it out in Twickenham.

Love London; Love Life

2011-06-25T11:19:00.001+01:00

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Bimbling drunkenly home across the river.

Hung over? Blame it on Chas Maloney

2011-06-24T13:14:00.001+01:00

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Good fun in the pub after the Whitmar boat for the Print & Design Awards.

Blame it on Chas Maloney

2011-06-23T13:49:00.001+01:00

Larging it at the Whitmar People in Print (PIPPA) Awards.

Remembering the old man

2011-06-19T14:54:00.001+01:00

This must have been from around Christmas 1985 by the look of my mullet and the seafaring jumpers.

The Sociables

2011-06-19T12:02:00.001+01:00

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Together again.

Floorshow

2011-06-18T15:45:00.001+01:00

Something to look at...

lynyrd skynyrd free bird live 1974

2011-06-16T22:39:00.000+01:00

Black Crowes ~ Thorn in my Pride ~ Live at the Roxy

2011-06-16T22:28:00.000+01:00

Players Navy Cut

2011-06-16T21:29:00.001+01:00

My dad's tab of choice.

Thought for the day

2011-06-14T09:25:00.002+01:00

Sign outside the local cemetery.

tim buckley - happy time

2011-05-31T23:17:00.000+01:00

John came to visit

2011-05-31T18:58:00.001+01:00

So I took the opportunity to take his portrait. Moody.

On the beach

2011-05-31T18:56:00.001+01:00

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East Wittering on a Bank Holiday Monday. Dull, drab, and deserted. Just the way I like it.

Happy campers

2011-05-29T20:40:00.001+01:00

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Typical bank holiday camping weekend.

A bowl of summer

2011-05-25T13:02:00.001+01:00

About four Weightwatchers points!

Indeed I am

2011-05-24T09:39:00.001+01:00

Guitar

2011-05-23T09:52:00.001+01:00

Vignette. Graduated tobacco filter portrait.

Capo di tuti frutti

2011-05-22T15:51:00.001+01:00

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Fruit taken with Vignette using pretty much all of the core effects, but not drilling down into multiple effects. There's a wealth of tweaks with this camera app. Probably too many. These would look cool if all stitched together to make a large poster. Just need to find an android app that will let me do that in my phone!

Start me up

2011-05-22T12:26:00.001+01:00

A great way to kick start a Sunday.

Grandad came to visit

2011-05-21T23:54:00.001+01:00

Here's Dude. My father-law. Still going strong at 81. God bless him. He's been like a father to me for a very long time. A fine gentleman.

Fruity

2011-05-21T19:07:00.001+01:00

Taken using Vignette set to Velvia to obtain rich saturated colours.

LoveTel Motel

2011-05-21T17:30:00.001+01:00

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Here are a couple of guitars used during the recording of my album LoveTel Motel recorded with my old band Magic Ship. I have used the Orange Box camera for the guitar pics as this picks out the colours very well.

This album is still available on iTunes and Amazon, although I never see a penny in royalties and I wrote 75% of it! But that was a long time ago. It's actually a very good album and if you want something rocking for a bit of top down summer driving action you won't go far wrong with this.

It was very well received at the time and the title track was festured on a cover mount complilation issued with Classic Rock magazine.

The band acrimoniously fell apart during the recording of the difficult follow up album just as a recording contract beckoned.

100% Guaranteed

2011-05-21T11:00:00.001+01:00

This has to be the best bit of print ever posted through my letterbox.

Grumpy cat

2011-05-20T10:11:00.001+01:00

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Here are a couple of shots of the dawg. He's five years old today and is just as daft as a kitten. He has an annoying habbit of licking people just like a dog might do. I quite like it but then again I always wanted a puppy when I was a kid. What does that tell you about me, or him for that matter?

Analogue never felt so digital

2011-05-20T00:35:00.001+01:00

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How my HTC Desire HD android phone changed my life.

I've been taking pictures for years, but for the past 20 years I have been taking PR photos which, to be honest, are not about 'fun' or 'creativity', they are simply functional. A means to an end. Therefore I find it hard to carry an slr camera around with me just in case I find something I want to photograph. Besides, I never found the camera function in my mobile phone to be of much use, not until I acquired my first android phone and its excellent built in camera. But who cares about the vanilla camera function? I'd had my HTC Desire HD android for about two hours before downloading the first of several photography 'apps' and have since found my enthusiasm for photography to be well and truly rekindled. And now I find I can also blog from my phone whilst sharing pictures of nothing in particular. Happy days!

Here are a few test shots of Poppy using the Retro Cameta app from Android Market.

And so begins a new chapter...

2011-02-19T13:51:00.001Z

One of the things I have been doing outside of work within my community is developing contacts with a view to hosting my own rock night somewhere. It's all about cost vs venue. The secret is to fnd venue that won't charge you a dime to host but will allow you to hold a regular night while they take the proceeds of the bar. Better still if they throw in the cost of a PA etc. Therefore I am, in addition to promoting professional gigs, working on seting up a weekly club scene to attract local unsigned bands with a veiw to maybe finding a good little band to promote a little further, and maybe utilise my contacts to put them on the odd provinsial tour etc. I'm reckoning on charging a nominal £5.00 on the door which will go some way to paying the lead band while leaving me with some funds with which to promote the scene, build a decent website, print posters and flyers etc. and that shit ain't free. All of the above will happen, that I can guarantee. I just don't know when... but there's absolutly no reason to charge at it like a bull in a china shop. I'm taking my time.

The LoveTel Motel party reprise

2011-02-18T23:41:00.000Z

Grteat to see this pic on the old Comment Whore's blog tonight. God bless Heff (pictured right). Will (left) looks happy which is nice to see, and Gina (at the back) seems happy too. Life must be rockin' at the old LoveTel these days. That just leaves Double Dee Donna...

Fairport Convention at Twickenham Live Room 19-03-2011

2011-02-01T14:23:00.002Z

This is the first 'professional' charity music gig that I have been promoting as part of something I am involved with in my local community called the Openside Music Project. I came up with the idea to raise funding to purchase musical instruments from local music retailers to give to local school children where I live. I particularly like the vibe of raising funds for music through music. Here's a link to the local press coverage gained for the event thus far. We've sold about 110 tickets and hope to sell as many as we can to help fill the 500 seater venue. It's a bit nerve wracking really. I've only ever been worried about selling 150 tickets in support of my old band when we played the Half Moon in Putney, but I suppose that this is pretty much the same thing, just a lot bigger! I'll be sure to update you as we move forwards with this event. In the meantime have a listen to some Fairport in the music player below and maybe it will put you in the mood to buy a ticket or two. We need all the support we can get!

Fairport Convention will play at the Live Room, Twickenham Stadium, on Saturday, March 19, from 8pm (doors open 7pm). Tickets, costing £20, are available from www.brandywinemusic.co.uk or by calling 0779 8767 770.

Drive-By Truckers - Girls Who Smoke

2011-01-31T23:42:00.002Z

I totally love this band. They are my favorite songwriters.This is a song that was used as a 'bonus' track from the vinyl copy of their last LP 'The Big To Do'. It's great.

Meet the family

2011-01-31T17:58:00.001Z

From left is Jai (12) Mum, Dad (50) and Poppy (10). We're about as dysfunctional a family unit as you can get and, while I make no bones about it, we generally get by. The children (seemingly deliberately) drive me around the bend at every opportunity. Living next door to us must be a nightmare for our poor neighbours as I am constantly yelling up at the kids for one thing or another at all times of the day or night. My current beef with them, and with the boy in particular, is about them thinking that when they go up to bed at around 9.30pm they aren't to be scurrying around the upstairs like a couple of over sized super rats! They were 'at it' last night up until 12.15 am until I delivered an almighty rollocking along with giving it some serious thunder. I reckon I must have been up and down the stairs every fifteen minutes between 9.00pm and 12.15am and I can tell you that their constant messing about is wearing me down.

I had to laugh at my son's latest thing. It seems that the boy was on the verge of shopping his mum to the drugs squad the other week because he suspected her of trafficking weed. Turns out he'd been rummaging through her spice rack and had uncovered hard evidence in the form of some dried rosemary! To make matters worse he pointed the finger at her friend who only ever pops in for a couple of minutes every week (to collect the Lottery money) as being mum's 'distriibutor'. Seems to me he'd put two and two together and came up with 49! What are they teaching these kids at school these days? This sort of odd behaviour is quite the norm around here I'll have you know.