I am currently rehearsing with a great bunch of people for a production of Calendar Girls. (Network Theatre Waterloo, June 11th to 15th some tickets still available). As part of the process the director has asked us for our music choices to be played during the interval, but as if chosen by our character in the play.
I had no problem with the choice, immediately thinking of "My Girl" the Otis Redding version, as I play John the Husband whose death prompts the ladies of the WI to make the calendar in the first place.
Having come up with the song I have now reconnected with one of my all time favourite albums of the 1960's Otis Redding's "Otis Blue" In my opinion Otis Redding more than deserved the title King of Soul and this album shows while. From the pure raw energy on "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" to the emotional outpouring on "I've Been Loving You Too Long" and the aforementioned "My Girl".
In this digital age I have now been able to download the MP3 version which gives me the original recording (Remastered) in Mono, various remastered versions of live performances and additional singles. All of this sounds really good, BUT.... you still can't beat the original vinyl versions of these songs belting out the real feeling of the original recording studio sounds of the 60's.
Thinking back to those time I am reminded that we did NOT have the internet or mobile phones. We got our news from "Newspapers" and information was sent through something called "The Post". The music information came from 2 publications "The New Musical Express" Which I believe is still around, and "Melody Maker". Can you imagine having to wait a whole week to get information about your favourite band's next album or gig.
Linking back to Soul, I also signed up to the "Atlantic and Stax Appreciation Society" these being the 2 main labels who released soul music both here and the states. Artist like Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Aretha Franklin, and Wilson Picket. Here I had to wait a whole month for updates, but they did come with signed photographs.
Do I have any of these now.... of course not.
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
Detour
Having arrived at a plan for a series of blogs I find that already I am being diverted from that route. The idea was to look at music and the effect it has had on my life in general, but now by way of a detour I must introduce you to GRIM8
By way of introduction let me take you back 5 years when I first got involved in a charity known as The Muscle Help Foundation, and it's founder one Michael Mcgrath. Those of you who have met Michael will fully understand the effect that he had on me. The charities aim is to deliver "Muscle Dreams" to children with muscular dystrophy. These dreams can take the form of meeting your favourite footballer or driving around Silverstone in a Porsche.
My first encounter was by way of a charity auction and I expected that to be it. Oh how wrong can one person be. I have since attended several auctions and on one occasion was lucky enough to procure a working copy of the script for the film "Chariots of Fire" signed by one of the writers.
Last year I was privileged enough to accompany some of the children and their families to the Paralympics. I have to say not only were the exploits of the athletes (especially the wheelchair rugby) but also the effect it had on the children themselves very humbling.
This brings me to GRIM8. This is an event that involves running around a course. The 8 refers to the 8.5 miles distance of the course, the GRIM refers to the fact that it takes place in December each year, and it is around the army vehicle testing ground in Aldershot. I have now done this 3 years running.
Year one Michael convinced me that it would be a good idea so I got 9 colleges to join me and round about October thought it would be a good idea to do some training (Sort of). We had an absolute blast, it was tremendous fun but boy did I feel it afterwards.
Year 2 the nine college fell by the wayside and December was cancelled due to snow and it took place in January. You can imagine training after the effects of christmas. Also my time was 2 hours 2 minutes which frustrated me no end.
Last year I was determined to break the 2 hour mark so did train from the summer onwards, and the result was a time of 1 hour 47 minutes.
I have now signed up already for this year and this brings me to the point of this blog if you are still with me, Anyone who has ever done road running training will know how boring it can be. I have therefore loaded my phone with a selection of music to run with. However not all tunes are suitable due to the rhythm etc. Have you tried running to "Bohemian Rhapsody" not easy. The only one I have found that gives a good running pace for me is Alan Jackson "Chasing that neon rainbow" However it can get very boring on replay.
So a plea.... do you know of any good running tunes that I can use as it's a long time till December and I'm not sure I can remain sane listening to the same thing over and over again.
Please go to: http://www.musclehelp.com/ to learn more about the Muscle help Foundation
and: http://www.grimchallenge.co.uk/grim-8/ to learn more about GRIM8
By way of introduction let me take you back 5 years when I first got involved in a charity known as The Muscle Help Foundation, and it's founder one Michael Mcgrath. Those of you who have met Michael will fully understand the effect that he had on me. The charities aim is to deliver "Muscle Dreams" to children with muscular dystrophy. These dreams can take the form of meeting your favourite footballer or driving around Silverstone in a Porsche.
My first encounter was by way of a charity auction and I expected that to be it. Oh how wrong can one person be. I have since attended several auctions and on one occasion was lucky enough to procure a working copy of the script for the film "Chariots of Fire" signed by one of the writers.
Last year I was privileged enough to accompany some of the children and their families to the Paralympics. I have to say not only were the exploits of the athletes (especially the wheelchair rugby) but also the effect it had on the children themselves very humbling.
This brings me to GRIM8. This is an event that involves running around a course. The 8 refers to the 8.5 miles distance of the course, the GRIM refers to the fact that it takes place in December each year, and it is around the army vehicle testing ground in Aldershot. I have now done this 3 years running.
Year one Michael convinced me that it would be a good idea so I got 9 colleges to join me and round about October thought it would be a good idea to do some training (Sort of). We had an absolute blast, it was tremendous fun but boy did I feel it afterwards.
Year 2 the nine college fell by the wayside and December was cancelled due to snow and it took place in January. You can imagine training after the effects of christmas. Also my time was 2 hours 2 minutes which frustrated me no end.
Last year I was determined to break the 2 hour mark so did train from the summer onwards, and the result was a time of 1 hour 47 minutes.
I have now signed up already for this year and this brings me to the point of this blog if you are still with me, Anyone who has ever done road running training will know how boring it can be. I have therefore loaded my phone with a selection of music to run with. However not all tunes are suitable due to the rhythm etc. Have you tried running to "Bohemian Rhapsody" not easy. The only one I have found that gives a good running pace for me is Alan Jackson "Chasing that neon rainbow" However it can get very boring on replay.
So a plea.... do you know of any good running tunes that I can use as it's a long time till December and I'm not sure I can remain sane listening to the same thing over and over again.
Please go to: http://www.musclehelp.com/ to learn more about the Muscle help Foundation
and: http://www.grimchallenge.co.uk/grim-8/ to learn more about GRIM8
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
The begining
The title Reflections of my life, refers to the song by Marmalade that was a minor hit in the 60's (1960's) that is. For those not familiar with it go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79NiN7ISW7E.
I have often thought how important music has been in my life. If you speak with my children it never moved past Bob Dylan, however I thought it would be fun to write a few ramblings about "tunes" that have influenced, meant something or that I have just enjoyed.
Where to begin?... It has to be with the first record I ever bought with my own money. But before I divulge what that was I must explain that there was always music in our house. As well as this my dad, also called Fred was a good singer. On a Saturday night we would go along to the Stoughton and Westborough British Legion, that centre of entertainment, and dad would be invited up on stage to sing a couple of songs, usually including "Heart of my Heart" by Bud Flanagan (He of the Dad's Army theme).
We lived on a 1950's estate and living across the road was an older lad called James Taylor (Not that one) who introduced us younger kids to "pop" music. Many happy hours of listening were spent at his house. This led to my first foray into music buying. The record I bought and still enjoy was..... Runaway by Del Shannon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S13mP_pfEc
From this one record grew an interest in all sorts of music.......but thats for another day.
I have often thought how important music has been in my life. If you speak with my children it never moved past Bob Dylan, however I thought it would be fun to write a few ramblings about "tunes" that have influenced, meant something or that I have just enjoyed.
Where to begin?... It has to be with the first record I ever bought with my own money. But before I divulge what that was I must explain that there was always music in our house. As well as this my dad, also called Fred was a good singer. On a Saturday night we would go along to the Stoughton and Westborough British Legion, that centre of entertainment, and dad would be invited up on stage to sing a couple of songs, usually including "Heart of my Heart" by Bud Flanagan (He of the Dad's Army theme).
We lived on a 1950's estate and living across the road was an older lad called James Taylor (Not that one) who introduced us younger kids to "pop" music. Many happy hours of listening were spent at his house. This led to my first foray into music buying. The record I bought and still enjoy was..... Runaway by Del Shannon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S13mP_pfEc
From this one record grew an interest in all sorts of music.......but thats for another day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)