What a beautiful couple of grandchildren I am blessed with.

It's always terrible when a friend dies and of course everyone has friends. You do wonder where that soul, that essence goes or if it hangs around a while to watch the reaction. I guess my friend is doing just that because he fought so long and so hard and beat all opinion.
I only hope I might have that strength and grit if the same dreadful thing befalls me.

Love you Dave.

5 gigs that changed my life

1964
Listening to the radio today I heard an item on the 5 best gigs you'd ever missed. That got me thinking about the 5 most important gigs I'd not missed!


They were :

1962

ATV Studios Birmingham / Live Recording of 'Thank Your Lucky Stars' Liverpool Night

The Beatles / Gerry and The Pacemakers / Cilla / The Searchers / Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas / The Big Three / The Fourmost are the ones I remember.

My friend Chris Plant's dad worked on the Birmingham Post and he got us tickets as he was covering the show. Beatlemania was peaking and it was very big news. I was already then, at 12 a huge Beatles fan.

We had great seats but you couldn't hear a thing over the screams apart from Cilla. I was kind of scared and thrilled by it all at the same time.

After the show we were smuggled into the press conference and we ended up sitting With The Beatles and getting them orange juice while they spoke to the press, they all signed my autograph book(which I am still trying to locate) except that is for John who was already getting a bit cruel I guess.

We followed them out to two black limos, the first I'd ever seen, and as the rear roll up doors of the studios opened, a thousand young girls flooded in and over the cars as they glided slowly out and away leaving only broken hearts and unfulfilled dreams. I knew at that moment what I wanted to do with my life.

Or at least I thought I did!!

I was to bump into the Fab Four frequently later when EBB started recording at Abbey Road in 1969.

1964 or 1965

Blues Festival /Leicester De Montford Hall

Sonny Terry and Brownie McHee / Son House and a load of proper Chicago blues guys whose names I can’t remember except for one. Five Fingers Lee I think.

He had been born with an extra digit on his left hand and he used that to keep his bottleneck on, thereby enabling him to switch between the two styles seamlessly!

Got some autographs that night too! Godammit, where’s that autograph book?



(Hang on a minute.

Just remembered The Temperance Seven at Jeffson Pavilion Leamington Spa when I was about 3!!! ‘You, you’re driving me crazy’ anyone remember that?

On the bus later and yes, got autographs. Drove my brother mad!)



1965

Chesford Grange Ballroom / Kenilworth / Warwickshire

Buddy Rich Big Band.



This was a show organised by the local Musician’s Union of which we were all members. All you had to do in those days to join up was to pay your subs and tell them which instrument you played!



We arrived after the band had started and not being aware of the required protocol we shuffled into our seats whilst the great man was leading his band through the first number.

After the applause had died down Buddy came to the mike and addressed us! ‘What happened to you guys, did you miss your bus?’

I wanted to disappear behind my seat. But he was fantastic. I’d discovered him years before listening to Humphrey Lyttleton’s Jazz Night on my crystal set! Yeah really!!! But what a drummer!

Definitely no autographs that night!



1966



Midnight City / Birmingham / All niter(60’s spelling)

John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers / Wynder.K.Frogg

This was the natural progression from the Blues Festival show at Leicester. It was tougher, with Pete Green, John McVie and Aynsley Dunbar. They were shit hot. These guys were my heroes but I soon found out they were all broke and that Mayall was already by then a tyrant. I’ve since encountered him quite recently on a festival we were doing in Germany and I am now convinced he’s not a nice man.



After their show we went backstage to meet them and they asked us if there was anywhere locally they could sleep for the night as they were continuing up North the next day. They all ended up at our council house in Warwick sleeping on the floors except for their leader who had a bunk in their (his) Bedford Dormobile where he was comfortably shacked up with his girlfriend. The next day when they drove off I was surprised to see them all stooping under the bed!!!

Not the greatest way to do the M1 end to end.

Pete Green had slept on the floor in my room and signed my pelmet!

No, pelmet !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Mum shared her fags with them all and they went on their way.



1967



Coventry Theatre

Jimi Hendix Experience / Pink Floyd / The Nice / Eire Apparent / The Move ? / and someone else who I can’t remember!



This was a groundmoving show. Certainly Hendrix would always have been that but the rest of the bill was also astonishing. Found out later that the tour also contained Lemmy roadying for Hendrix, Pete Jenner managing the Floyd, and Pete Drummond ,compere, all of whom would become friends later.



But Jimi, live, then?????

What can you say that hasn’t already been said.



Have to also include the Who at Coventry Locarno 1967. This was bizarre, as we were turned away for not wearing ties. Mum came to the rescue with ties and we got in just in time to see the Who smash up the whole stage, instruments and PA, and finally fused all the electrics to a huge roar of appreciation whilst we stood there in our ties. Real My Generation.

JIM DIDN'T FIX IT FOR ME

I remember years ago Dad wrote to Jimmy asking for help.
I really can't be sure but I think it was to do with my expulsion  from Warwick School(see Wikipedia)
Whatever it was that Dad asked him he was unable to help and somewhere I have his handwritten reply.
I'm really glad now with hindsight that I wasn't invited into the Jim'll Fix It world or God knows what might have happened?!!!!!!!!!!!

Watching the endless clips of Sir Jim tonight on telly he looks repulsive,I guess he always did really,but he was larger than life wasn't he,and he obviously got away with it. He for sure is not the only one. Let's focus on that now, Jim's gone and will never be made to pay. Yes his estate will almostly certainly bear some of the expense of the impending court cases but we should concentrate on the current situation and how rife this sort of activity may still be because let's face it, nothing has changed. Celebrities are everywhere and our young seem to know no better.

As for Lance Armstrong, the other fallen angel this week, well, if you win 7 tours, it can't be all about drugs can it?Can it? If so I want some!

I find his silence interesting.

Cheat that he most certainly seems to be according to his other 11 teammates who all admitted to taking the same drugs????????????? I think there's a story there that has yet to come out.

Pondering whether or not it's safe to start my blog again!

NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!

I wonder if that's how we'll all be in the end!
It's like the joke about the two old guys strapped up in their chairs,hardly able to breathe.
One looks at the other and says;
' Just think Albert, if we hadn't have stopped drinking and smoking , we could have missed all this'

Edward Lear.

I didn't have too many books read to me when I was a little kid but I do remember Dad on occasion gleefully reading to me from one of two books usually. Kipling's Just So Stories and the very mad and wonderful Complete Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear.
So to try to cheer you up this time I have endeavoured to write a limerick in the style of the great man himself thus:

THERE ONCE LIVED A LAD NAMED AKTIVO
IN A SEMI DETACHED RED GAZEBO
AND TO CURE ALL HIS ILLS
HE TOOK THOUSANDS OF PILLS
BUT ALAS, THEY WERE ONLY PLACEBOS!

I have recently been interestingly criticised by a mysterious person who goes by this name and have virtually been awarded a white feather by himself!
My memory of white feathers comes from Mum's stories about her days in the factories of Birmingham during WW2 when at one point she was in trouble for being a communist sympathiser and unionist. There were few men working on the shop floor in those days as most were away at war either killing or being killed. Amongst the ones who were left were the conscientious objectors or pacifists. Whether they deserved it or not is up to one's personal opinion but they were labelled as cowards and the women frequently left white feathers for them and generally ostracised them.
These days you'd be sure things had changed wouldn't you.

OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY
Passive-from the past tense passivus of the Latin verb pati meaning 'suffered'
Pacifist- 'a person who believes that war and violence are never justified'



I THOUGHT THE BEST WAY TO REPLY TO THIS MAN activo WAS LIKE THIS. SBX

Most of the people of Egypt want what we all want, a free and equal democracy and justice for their people".

Would they have got it with out engaging in civil disobedience?

STEVE : Who knows? What about the 350 or so families grieving for their sons and daughters, wives and husbands ,fathers and mothers, would they do it all over again? And they still haven't got 'it' yet.

Would it have been ok to let Adolf have his way rather than fight him in a war? Would you not have supported the Suffragettes or the Tolpuddle Martyrs? Were the miners wrong to resist Thatchers attempts to smash the unions?

STEVE : 3 different questions there. I live with a German woman and have no doubt that all of Europe was tainted by Adolf’s evil. But millions dead? Could there have been a less painful way?
Of course I would have supported the Suffrage and Martyrs but non - violently. I’d have chained up to Buck House railings like a shot!
Not wrong to protect themselves and their families from poverty but unable to see what was the beginning of the end of the industry perhaps.

The only reason Mandella was detained for so long was because he refused the demand to give up arms. I think he still managed to bring change and a better life for his people. Isn't he an icon of great and meaningful change?

STEVE : One of the greatest.

I still wear my old EBB shirt with the historic protest date lines on the back with great pride. I remember you wore one onstage. What has happened to all that Steve? Was that Edgar's stuff? I wonder where Arthur stands on this?

STEVE : Still wear mine too, got lots of them. Yes Edgar designed that T shirt
but not the CND sign which I also support. Why do you wonder where Arthur stands?

I've admired you all for many years but am so sad to see your writing decrying peaceful protest in the UK like some Tory Red Top rag. If you had been in Parliament Sq with us you would have seen just like in Egypt, it was the Government's thugs who provoked the violence. Yes there will always be an element of trouble makers but that cannot justify the inaction you promote and given your past it seems sad you have opted out or retired from the fray.

STEVE : I did not write decrying peaceful protest but specifically the violence attached and contained within. When the Chinese recently completed the railway into Tibet to encourage trade with Tibetans the DL was interviewed and when asked what he thought of the inevitable Westernisation of Tibetans he said that if that was the will of the people, if that was what they wanted then it was right for them to have it. He absolutely denounced any violent protests. As for the troublemakers, weed ‘em out. If you regularly attend these rallies you know who they are.

The Egyptians, who were mostly peaceful until Mubaraks thugs arrived, have WON the right to have free and fair, democratic elections. Should they not have bothered in case it is a difficult road? Would you not have marched with/ for them?

STEVE : What do you mean by difficult road? I guess you mean dodging a few stones and nasty policemen, as long as its all for the cause eh Aktivo.

Can you quote some of the "many a political activist down the years including Martin Luther King" who paraphrased your words ‘learn nothing,see nothing,change nothing.’? Get real?

STEVE : Why don’t you look them up yourself?

Regarding demos and protest you are certainly not too old. You could still support the fight against cuts in many ways or even march with us.

STEVE : Who said anything about being too old? I love your interpretation although it’s very patronising

Like you, David Bowie told a journalist he had done his political bit, years before. Perhaps you don't think you will be affected by this Condem vandalism. Perhaps you voted for them and are happy with the outcome. How would we know Steve?

STEVE : I've never said that I’d done my political bit and I’ve been suffering political vandalism all my live from all colours of the house. As far as who I voted for well, you should know better. My,my what an angry man you seem Stephen!


Are you totally non violent? Have you never lashed out verbally or physically to get your own way or because you are in pain? Do you not accept that much of what the world has that is good, was fought for?

STEVE : Lashed out? Verbally yes, physically not that I can remember, no. You obviously have thoogh from the wording of the question.


Of course if you are a total pacifist then respect and credit to you. Some thing tells me you would fight when you decided you would though. Am I wrong?

STEVE : Yes! Or at least the point that I would resort to violence resides in me at a much higher threshold than you. You know, family in danger, daughter being raped, that sort of thing.

Contextually your use of words Blind and Deaf would be seen by many today as offensive. Not all linguistic progress is pointless. In the end it is how Deaf and Blind people would feel about it, isn't it?
This was respectfully pointed out to you but you sneered it away with a "Duh". How about too white to care or too male to adapt?

STEVE : Too white to care, too male to adapt? I like that but it doesn’t scan that well. My deaf friends are not as sensitive as all that, especially Deaf Dave, his name for himself. And again, you know the context in which it was used.

Your struggles, as part of the EBB, were magnificent but why stop. Have your ideals changed? We march for those who cannot as well as for ourselves. No one I know who is involved in the protests is advocating violence come and see for yourself.

I don't want to be told, especially by, Steve Broughton of the EBB, that there is no point to political struggle. Who'd have thought it possible?

STEVE : Again, please stop reinterpreting what I actually said.

Still one Broughton with us is a lot better than none.

STEVE : Absolutely, worth tens of you! !

Aktivo not Activo lol( my given name is Stephen)
3:36 PM

WE HAD KENNEDY AND KRUSCHEV,
GHANDI AND GORBACHEV,
MOTHER THERESA AND POOR JOHN LENNON
SINGING ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE.
HARD RAIN’S GONNA FALL WARNED BOB,
AND ALL THOSE WORDS FROM THE LORDS ABOVE
HAD MAO TSE TUNG AND DOCTOR JUNG
AND TIMOTHY LEARY HAVING LOTSA FUN.
BUT NOBODY NOTICES YOU AND ME,
TOO DEAF TO HEAR TOO BLIND TO SEE

BUT WE STILL
LEARN NOTHING, KNOW NOTHING, CHANGE NOTHING.

WE HAD KRISHNA HARE AND THE MAHARAJI
STEPHEN HAWKIN , THE MATA HARI
DOCTOR MARTIN , AND JESSE JACKSON
BADER MEINHOF, RED ARMY FACTION,
HAD MR MANDELA GETTING OUT OF HIS CELLAR,
THE DALAI LHAMA WITH ALL THAT KARMA,
WE HAD CND AND HIV.
WE HAD VIETNAM AND LOVE AND PEACE
BUT NOBODY NOTICES YOU AND ME,
TOO DEAF TO HEAR TOO BLIND TO SEE

BUT WE STILL
LEARN NOTHING, KNOW NOTHING, CHANGE NOTHING.

WE HAD BLAIR PEACH AND THE QUEEN’S SPEECH
AND SO MANY YEARS OF WAR AND GRIEF.
WE HAD THE BERLIN WALL AND THE FIVE DAY WAR
NOBODY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE FIGHTING FOR.
WE HAD CHARLIE MANSON AND HOSTAGE RANSOM,
THE MARTYRS, THE MINERS, ALL TRIED TO DEFINE US,
WE SPLIT THE ATOM AND WE WENT TO THE MOON,
HAD RECESSIONS, DEPRESSIONS AND CRASHES AND BOOMS
BUT NOBODY NOTICES YOU AND ME,
TOO DEAF TO HEAR TOO BLIND TO SEE

BUT WE STILL
LEARN NOTHING, KNOW NOTHING, CHANGE NOTHING.