I bought Lodger in Sep/ October this year. After buying it in my lunch hour, I met old friend Raymond Gray in Central Park; he had a certain reputation which I won't repeat here, mainly because it wan't true; but he asked what record I'd been buying. Turned out he was into Bowie too. Then we parted, and never met again.
I was completely at a loss now - our games were in a leisure centre which I guess would have pleased most kids - we had a choice of activities. I could do none of them. I certainly couldn't hit a shuttlecock with a racquet - I know becasue I tried.
This for the first time was when I considered bunking off. I only remember going once or twice and not playing any games at all. I have this memory of leaving the leisure hall flustered and embarrassed having failed to become involved in anything, having proved my complete inability to perform in every sport. There was a time I got lost around the central park area and was just ambling about - probably my second time there. Funny how I always seem to get lost when I'm stressed about a situation - lost or sick that is.
 |
| generic snooker hall |
Used to see local celeb Chris Denham in the club, sittiing at the bar by himself. funny sort of behaviour really. I suppose fame was getting to him, and this was one place he was left alone.
Eventually Andy and Bill got with the program and joined us and we'd play mini tournaments against each other. I started out getting better, but quickly hit a brick wall, lost interest and got worse again. Andy was the worst at first but eventually was able to beat me. Bill was variable and Colin was consistently the best of all of us.
One of the most influential telly programmes of my lifetime began in November. One that changed comedy forever. It also made comedy a close contender with music for my attentions for years, and reached prime postion about 10 years ago.
The Young Ones.
At school it was O Level year. We were all committed to our subjects, and mocks were imminent. I already had one O level under my belt - took maths early.
I think it was Xmas 1982 when I took a paper round. already a bit old for it, but the opportunity was just too good. The previous guy had dropped out right before xmas and the newsagent - Harry Toll - was stuck for a replacement at quite a difficult time of year. So, somehow i got the job, can't remember how. Maybe my Dad found out about it - or its just possible I was actively looking for a job and got myself onto a waiting list. the round was St Judes and Mount Gould several hundred houses, delivering the evening paper. My earliest involvement in the media! I had to do the whol round from a card to begin with, an increasingly tatty and print stained card. But suddenly, and without effort, I found myself remembering the round, and in just a week or two I was doing it unaided. Then I started getting the tips. They were sometimes very generous, a fiver, or a tenner. I seem to remember I made over a hundred quid, which doesn't dound like a lot, but compared to the effort I put in, and compared to any money I'd ever had before, was fortune. On the back of this i started a bank account. And I bought myself a few luxuries, such as headphones and some more records, tapes, etc. There wasn't much I needed for myself. I didn't drink yet and my parents bought all my essentials at that point.
I'd spent 1982 gradually acquiring key Bowie albums. In 1983 the music press was abuzz with rumours of a new Bowie album, the first for three years. There was a change in label. First though there came a compilation named Rare - though few of the tracks were all rare, I lacked most of them in my collection so rushed out and bought it for £2.99 I believe. Great tracks on there like Velvet Goldmine, and some foreign language versions of better known songs.
Let's Dance, the song, came out as a single in March, the album came out the following month. and yes, it was a long, long month for a dedicated Bowie fan like me. There followed excitement, euphoria, gradually dawning disappointment then a frantic attempt to justify the album. That said, Let's Dance and a couple of the other tracks, Ricochet, for example, stand up today as great Bowie tracks. Bu it was a lazy album. After three years, there was the single we already knew, a cover version, a new version of a song he'd done with Iggy and a less good re-recording of one his own singles. so only 3 new songs then, and a couple of them were crap!
While disappointing, it wasn't enough to stop me being a fan. That took another 4 years, two more shit albums and an awful gig.
But with that out of the way I was able to think about other music. Something new. There was an increasing sense of music becoming incredibly flat. with lots of bands from the last 3/4 years becoming average rather quickly, and a spate of decent bands splitting up. 1983 was the year I really started to look backwards for my inspiration, and I don't just mean Bowie. I moved out from Bowie and started looking at his influences. Rolling Stones, Marc Bolan, Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan, The Who, Pink Floyd, Hendrix,
There was also a house move. Not sure why, it sort of came out of the blue for me. One day I was bundled into a car with my sister and we were taken to look at some other houses where we might end up living. It was quite exciting to suddenly have this wildcard thrown at me, and the possibilities, the infinte different trouser legs of time (TM Terry Pratchett) we might go down. But we we only went down one, and it was a less interesting one. We ended up moving to a house about two streets from where we were living anyway. It took us to the other side of the park and as close to Prince Rock that you could go and still be on the right side of the tracks! Yes - that old saw really did apply and was used! We backed onto the railway line and had trains running up and down on the embankment overlooking the yard. It came just in time for my sister who was blooming into woman hood, so she could show herself off in the yard to appreciative railway workers. One of those railway workers was the brother in law of one of my mates. Awkward? i should say so!
One of the most influential telly programmes of my lifetime began in November. One that changed comedy forever. It also made comedy a close contender with music for my attentions for years, and reached prime postion about 10 years ago.
The Young Ones.
At school it was O Level year. We were all committed to our subjects, and mocks were imminent. I already had one O level under my belt - took maths early.
I think it was Xmas 1982 when I took a paper round. already a bit old for it, but the opportunity was just too good. The previous guy had dropped out right before xmas and the newsagent - Harry Toll - was stuck for a replacement at quite a difficult time of year. So, somehow i got the job, can't remember how. Maybe my Dad found out about it - or its just possible I was actively looking for a job and got myself onto a waiting list. the round was St Judes and Mount Gould several hundred houses, delivering the evening paper. My earliest involvement in the media! I had to do the whol round from a card to begin with, an increasingly tatty and print stained card. But suddenly, and without effort, I found myself remembering the round, and in just a week or two I was doing it unaided. Then I started getting the tips. They were sometimes very generous, a fiver, or a tenner. I seem to remember I made over a hundred quid, which doesn't dound like a lot, but compared to the effort I put in, and compared to any money I'd ever had before, was fortune. On the back of this i started a bank account. And I bought myself a few luxuries, such as headphones and some more records, tapes, etc. There wasn't much I needed for myself. I didn't drink yet and my parents bought all my essentials at that point.
I'd spent 1982 gradually acquiring key Bowie albums. In 1983 the music press was abuzz with rumours of a new Bowie album, the first for three years. There was a change in label. First though there came a compilation named Rare - though few of the tracks were all rare, I lacked most of them in my collection so rushed out and bought it for £2.99 I believe. Great tracks on there like Velvet Goldmine, and some foreign language versions of better known songs.Let's Dance, the song, came out as a single in March, the album came out the following month. and yes, it was a long, long month for a dedicated Bowie fan like me. There followed excitement, euphoria, gradually dawning disappointment then a frantic attempt to justify the album. That said, Let's Dance and a couple of the other tracks, Ricochet, for example, stand up today as great Bowie tracks. Bu it was a lazy album. After three years, there was the single we already knew, a cover version, a new version of a song he'd done with Iggy and a less good re-recording of one his own singles. so only 3 new songs then, and a couple of them were crap!
While disappointing, it wasn't enough to stop me being a fan. That took another 4 years, two more shit albums and an awful gig.
But with that out of the way I was able to think about other music. Something new. There was an increasing sense of music becoming incredibly flat. with lots of bands from the last 3/4 years becoming average rather quickly, and a spate of decent bands splitting up. 1983 was the year I really started to look backwards for my inspiration, and I don't just mean Bowie. I moved out from Bowie and started looking at his influences. Rolling Stones, Marc Bolan, Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan, The Who, Pink Floyd, Hendrix,
 |
| our house, in the middle of the street |
 |
| New home: on the left |
 |
| the railway arch to wrong side of tracks |
Also this summer - a low-key sitcom called The Blackadder began. I really enjoyed it, already being quite enamoured with Python mediaeval comedies, this fitted into the same slot, making it a genre, the mediaeval comedy!
No comments:
Post a Comment