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'Some Communication'
June 2009
Welcome one and all. I start this latest update on 14/03/2009 when I (along with some friends) went to see Chumbawamba play an excellent set at Worksop The Acorn Theatre. Chumbawamba were on great form (as ever) including a new song, So Long, So Long taken from their Margaret Thatcher – In Memoriam EP, recorded and pressed but unreleased until Lady Thatcher dies. Another reason (not that we need one) for us to count the days until she shuffles off the earth and straight down into hell. Other highlights of the night were Waiting For The Bus and an excellent rendition of Fitzwilliam. Although watching Chumbawamba live since the mid-1980’s, I’d never seen them perform Fitzwilliam live before. Taken from a 1985 demo, the song was given a new lease of life with their improved harmony singing and playing abilities after all these years. The venue was nice too and the type of community venue which every town should have. I’d only been to Worksop on a couple of occasions previously, to the Regal Arts Centre on 09/06/1994 to see Dick Gaughan and Pete Morton and again to see Dick Gaughan on 08/03/1997. I remember visiting a few pubs before one of the gigs and recall a pub called The Frog and Nightgown purely because of its name… I am a mine of useless information…
I saw a ‘celebrity chef’ recently whilst working in London with my day-job which got me thinking about the whole celebrity chef thing. It was John Burton Race I bumped into whilst in the capital whom I know very little about really but as I’ve said before; I do find it extraordinary that some chefs become celebrities… I once sat on a train leaving Birmingham New Street (to go to Birmingham International in order to see Bob Dylan at the NEC on 20/09/2000) with Sophie Grigson (that’s not to say I was going to the concert with her or that she was going to the concert at all if you get what I mean) but I can assure anyone reading that I am not obsessed with TV cooks… I do have a healthy dislike for any that slag off vegetarianism with Gordon Ramsey and James Martin being two that I have heard derogatory comments from… Likewise, the comedian Dylan Moran. I don’t care how funny some people tell me his observations and stories are, I just can’t bring myself to see or hear the gobshite after hearing some crap jokes he made about vegetarians… Anyway, a few days later, I was back in London on 28/03/2009 to see a play at The Wyndham Theatre in London’s Leicester Square. The performance of Madame De Sade by Yukio Mishima was excellent despite the critics not being very favourable and the great Judi Dench having to use a walking stick during her performance after a recent ankle injury had kept her from a couple of performances earlier that week. The play was written by Mishima in 1965, five years before he ritually committed suicide and my wife and I found it to be funny, thought provoking and brilliantly entertaining with the six woman cast (Judi Dench, Rosamund Pike, Frances Barber, Deborah Findlay, Jenny Galloway and Fiona Button) all providing superb performances.
I’ve now been a driver for 7 years and I’m on to my 3rd ‘cheap’ car. It was another year of record breaking driving miles for me (despite the amount being nothing compared to some of my friends) with 8,659 miles clocked up during this last year. While we’re talking stats, my website saw a new record too with another 3,137 of you viewing the site during this last year. My Myspace site also continues to get plenty of ‘hits’ which is great news also. Thanks everyone who takes an interest.
April saw the G20 summit (or ‘world leader road show’) roll into town in London. There was a lot of talk, a lot of photographs taken, some action plans drawn up and people who wanted to see more than empty rhetoric took to the streets to voice their anger and frustration. A man died at the demonstrations after suffering an abdominal haemorrhage. The media reported that the man wasn’t taking part in any demonstrations but on his way home from working at a near-by newsagents when he’d collapsed. Later, film footage of the protests clearly showed an unprovoked attack by a police officer on the same man minutes before he collapsed. At the time of writing this, the attack is still being investigated and since that story came to light, more footage has appeared of another officer hitting a woman with the back of his hand and striking out with a baton. In this footage, the officer’s number had been covered suggesting that he didn’t want to be identified for any actions carried out against the people. People who were just reminding the world leaders that they have failed us with their inability to look after the world with their wars, rising poverty, injustice and neglect of the earth. Closer to home, our politicians in the UK have had to endure stories of their corruption and greed with expenses claims published which are an insult to those struggling in these difficult times. These included the home secretary Jacqui Smith claiming expenses for ‘adult films’ (apparently ordered by her husband) and a 40 pound barbeque paid for by the taxpayer for her second home. Another one head-first in the trough was former defence secretary Geoff Hoon who claimed an allowance for his Derby home while living in a taxpayer funded apartment in London. He lived in the flat while renting out his London home also giving him two homes paid for by the taxpayer! You couldn’t make it up! In his defence (if you’ll pardon the pun), Hoon said he wasn’t doing anything which broke any rules. This greedy bastard doesn’t even think there’s anything wrong with his behaviour!...And they wonder why we don’t trust them… Those were just the tip of the iceberg though with more claims and receipts being published by the Daily Telegraph everyday and as I type this, claims are still being published and some MP’s have stepped down after their slimy cheating and greedy taking has been exposed and their constituents have reacted angrily and turned against them… Outside of politics, some sections of the media went over the top with their coverage of the terminally ill Big Brother TV show contestant Jade Goody. Sky News even covered the funeral procession turning the absurdity of her ‘fame’ into something more bizarre. I had nothing against Jade Goody. I didn’t know the woman and had absolutely no interest in her. She seemed (to me) to flirt with a TV career (of sorts) after appearing on a reality TV show and was accused of being particularly stupid by the British media. The media got more vicious after her ignorant rants resulting in a ‘racist’ tag by the tabloid newspapers and it took a very high-profile battle with a terminal illness for the media to forgive her. Cancer is a terrible disease and for a twenty-something year old mother, it is very sad. But let’s get some perspective: I’ll save my grieving for those I love and care about and for those whose lives touched, inspired or enriched mine in someway…
I do mention my interests in such things as wildlife, countryside walking and birdwatching from time to time. It’s part of me, relates to me being an activist and I make no apologies for it and to explain why, here’s an excerpt from How To Be A Bad Birdwatcher where Simon Barnes explains it better than I ever could:…’there is a worse crime than crass destruction, and it is crass despair. It is giving up. For there is an answer to despair, and it is out there hanging upside down on your bird-feeder. Where there is life there is hope, and vice versa. Liking birds is not just a nice thing to do. To look at a bird and feel good about it is a violent revolutionary act. To put out peanuts is an act of insurrection. It is an act that demands revolution in political thought, for it is obvious that conservation is far, far too low on the political agenda. It took Margaret Thatcher herself to point this out. She said gloatingly at the time of the Falklands War: “It’s exciting to have a real crisis on your hands, when you have spent half your political life dealing with humdrum things like the environment.”… I do recommend Simon Barnes’ books if you get a chance to read them, and strike a blow for wildlife, the planet and everything on it whenever you are able… Springwatch and Autumnwatch are BBC TV programmes I also recommend. This year, one of the Springwatch presenters was Chris Packham who not only did I once meet on Derby railway station many years ago but along with Gordon Buchanan, Simon King and the aforementioned Simon Barnes are really inspiring to me with their knowledge and enthusiasm for wildlife.
On 13/04/2009 I went to the Derby County V Wolverhampton Wanderers match at Pride Park through my day-job. It was a great game for the neutral with Mick McCarthy’s Wolves side beating Derby 3-2. I’d seen this fixture once previously on 02/03/2005 when we were entertained that night with a 3-3 draw. Wolves won the Championship a couple of weeks after this recent game and will be back in the Premier league next season… A few days later on 18/04/2009 having some time away from the day-job, I went to the play-off/promotion chasing match between Chesterfield and Gillingham. It’s always nice to stand in the Kop behind the goal at Chesterfield’s Saltergate ground and this was my first visit there since the 2003-2004 season. Unfortunately, Chesterfield lost the League 2 game 1-0 and a couple of games later dropped out of the play-off places leaving them in League 2 again next season. Gillingham on the other hand did reach the play-offs and eventually won promotion into League 1 next season by beating Shrewsbury Town 1-0 in the final played at Wembley… I was back at Derby’s Pride Park on 25/04/2009 for Derby’s last home game of the season. Again, as part of my day-job, this time it was the match between Derby and Charlton Athletic and though the quality of football wasn’t as good as the previous week’s League 2 game at times, Derby secured another season in the Championship by beating an already relegated Charlton 1-0. Also as part of my day-job, I was working and sleeping-in at a house in Derby after the game. This resulted in a private house performance again (at the same house I’d played a few songs at on Xmas eve in December 2008 also) and I suppose was my 41st performance overall in Derby! I played such songs as my instrumental tracks from years ago (The Samaritans Were Engaged and Freedom Of Speech), the unaccompanied Breaking News (from the latest CD, Irritant) and for the first time ever, Dreaming. This was the first song I ever remember writing in 1988 and appeared on my 2nd demo cassette and later on the Who Cares Wins CD in 2002. It seemed a good idea to play this song in the informal setting but I don’t think it will be making any returns to the live set in the near future. After the December 2008 performance was listed amongst the previous gigs list on the website, someone asked me why it was a ‘private’ house performance. Basically, I work with some very vulnerable people and being in their own home, we’re not about to throw the doors open to just anyone to come along. Also, the performances have usually been unplanned and just part of an evening’s work with the small audience number free to clear off out the room when they’ve had enough (which they frequently do!) or (more likely) ask me for my guitar so that they can make their own sounds. So why put them on the previous gigs list? Because they are performances, just very different ones… The last football game of the season I attended was on 02/05/2009 between Belper Town and Stocksbridge Park Steels in the Unibond Division One (South) play-off final. The team I was cheering on lost out with Stocksbridge winning the game 1-0 and being promoted into the Premier division of that particular league. Though now an ‘armchair supporter’ these days, my team of choice Everton had a fantastic season with an eventual 5th place in the Premier league (for the second season running) and a place in the Europa competition next season as well as being runners-up to Chelsea in the FA Cup final.
My Protest Folk Singer CD whilst being quite old now has gained some new publicity this year after being reviewed in the Lights Go Out punk fanzine in January. It was a great review so thanks to Lights Go Out for the kind words and there are still some copies available should anyone be interested in hearing that CD.
The new CD, Irritant, recorded and released in 2009 has been getting some radio airplay courtesy of David and Spike at Under The Pavement radio show on Manchester’s AllFM station. They were good enough to play Chip Pan Alley and ‘Phone In Well on their 12/03/2009 show, Celebrity Bus Crash on 26/03/2009, 30/04/2009, 14/05/2009, 21/05/2009 and 28/05/2009! No Work Today on 16/04/2009, The World According To Bono on 23/04/2009 and I also made an appearance on the show on 07/05/2009 when I spent the whole 2 hours of the show with them, playing a few songs live in the studio and chatting about music, politics and all sorts of things! My tendency to talk without thinking doesn’t make for great live radio and my mind goes blank for the most basic factual information but having said that, it was a complete pleasure to be part of their show again. It was the 2nd time I’d appeared on the show and it didn’t feel like nearly two years since I’d visited them in the ALLFM studio though that’s how long it had been. It took me just over 1½ hours to drive up to the Levenshulme area of Manchester and 106 miles later and at 3am in the morning, I was back home and in my bed. More songs were played from my CD’s during the show (Don’t Vote BNP from Protest Folk Singer and Football 1, Fascism 0 from Irritant) and I performed The World According To Bono (for the first time to any kind of audience), Celebrity Bus Crash and a brand new song called Lucky Escapes live in the studio. Lucky Escapes really was brand new with me writing it over the previous 48 hours and I had to have the lyrics written down on paper in front of me for what was probably the first time I’d sang the song out loud straight through from start to finish. Not the best idea for live radio maybe! But great fun all the same. Many thanks to David and Spike for having me along on their show again and to all those who got in touch by text, email or myspace to say they’d enjoyed listening to the show.
The following night (08/05/2009) was spent taking part in a charity night (wonderfully organised by my friend Tracey) for the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research organisation. It was my 39th performance in Belper and my 26th at The Queen’s Head pub. Along with a raffle and other entertainment provided by Captain Plastic, Rough Truffles Community Choir, The Re-entrants and Leo Swarvett, I performed a short 20 minute set to open the evening. It was a nice line-up featuring some varied acts including performance poet Leo Swarvett whom I had performed with before for a Breast Cancer Awareness gig at the same pub on 25/03/2006 but I’d not realised it was the same guy as he was just advertised as Leo at the previous gig. Also on that 2006 night was The Small Choir which turned out to be a smaller version of The Rough Truffles Community Choir (which organiser Tracey was a member of too). It’s a small world. Of course, The Re-entrants are no strangers to me either with this being my 7th gig with them (and 20 gigs previously with Phil Doleman playing solo who has also appeared on my last two CD’s). All the acts were great in my opinion, I enjoyed playing my short set and it was the largest crowd I’d ever seen at the venue with people having to stand on the stairs (the music is played in the pub’s upstairs room) in order to listen to the music but without being able to see anything happening on stage. Thanks to all who came along, took an interest or worked hard organising and promoting the event. Special thanks to Tracey and to Gaz, Mat and Bruce too. My set consisted of An Evening With Michael Portillo, Celebrity Bus Crash, Lucky Escapes (performed for the first time in front of a large audience and whilst probably a little better than the night before’s radio performance, it’s still very much a work in progress!) and Don’t Vote BNP. Lastly, 434 pounds was raised on the night for the benefit which was great to hear.
A couple of days later on 11/05/2009 my wife and I went to Wales for a few days enjoying some time away and doing plenty of walking around Barmouth, the Mawddach Valley, Tywyn and Pwellheli. It was a lovely drive taking around 3 hours to cover the 150 miles from home and while we were there we did some bird watching also. We still don’t know one gull from another though were able to identify a Lesser Black-Backed Gull (which I thought would impress you) and my favourite of all we spotted, a Red Breasted Merganser. On arrival home, on 15/05/2009 I enjoyed the ‘Rail Ale’ beer festival held at the Barrow Hill roundhouse railway centre near Chesterfield, Derbyshire. This, the second time we’ve been was a great day again with plenty of beers sampled before trying some more in pubs in Derby and Belper afterwards! Cheers to Mat and Keith for a great day. For those who like trains, the Barrow Hill festival is one not to miss with lots of preserved diesel, electric and steam locomotives on show and a short ride on Class 20 D8132 as part of the festival! For those who are interested, here are the trains we saw: 08695, 20096, 33035, 37515, 37683, 40145, 45105, 45112, 47488, 55016, 56101, 82008, 84001, 85101 and 89001. OK, wake up those with no interest in trains. I recently tried a chili beer which was basically a bottle of lager with an extra strong chili pepper floating in it to add a fiery taste which neither quenched my first nor tasted nice! If that’s your thing, then be my guest, but for me, I found it a struggle to drink.
Anyway, after all that beer, my next couple of performances were on the same day and the day after the beer festival when I performed twice in Birmingham on 16/05/2009! The first performance at 4.20pm in the afternoon was part of the first ever Veggie Pride to be held in the UK, a celebration of vegetarian and vegan lifestyles with music, stalls, speakers, vegan food and a carnival celebration through Birmingham. I performed for around 20 minutes on the main stage in Victoria Square along with other acts such as Macka B, 10 O’clock Horses, Martin The Livewire and Circadia, a host of speakers from various campaigning groups and an excellent compere in Rakhee Thakrar to keep the entertainment moving along. The weather had been a bit hit and miss with both sunshine and showers at times but luckily the sun was shining when I started my set. I announced only too soon that the sun must be shining on the righteous as by the end of my set, we did see a little more rain. Thanks to all those who stood in the wind and rain (as well as the sun) to watch my set. People were able to stand under the Council House building for some shelter if they chose to and could still see and hear my performance which made me feel happier to see people keeping dry during my set. Thanks to Liam for organising the entertainment part of the event, to the guys working the sound/PA system, to compere Rakhee and to all those who came up to chat about my songs. My set was Celebrity Bus Crash, An Evening With Michael Portillo, ‘Phone In Well, Don’t Come Back, Lucky Escapes and Sharks Against Surfers. There was something quite strange about playing songs such as Celebrity Bus Crash to a crowd of people in the middle of Birmingham city centre on a Saturday afternoon but it was really enjoyable too. Don’t Come Back had crept back into the set with my distrust of politicians gaining current relevance with the MP’s extravagant (and downright greedy) expenses claims gaining constant media coverage. Sharks Against Surfers was performed as a chance to publicise my evening performance which was with Eastfield whose song I covered. It was then over to the Wagon and Horses for my 4th gig in Birmingham and my 2nd of the day! The evening gig, advertised as a ‘Veggie Pride UK After Party’ was a benefit for the event and featured myself, The Balsall Heathens and Eastfield as well as punk and ska DJ’s until 2am in the morning. I had to perform early in the evening due to having a train to catch at 8.30pm and so even before Eastfield had sound checked, I took to the stage and performed a 30 minute set: An Evening With Michael Portillo, Lucky Escapes, Don’t Come Back, Celebrity Bus Crash, The World According To Bono, Unfamous and ‘Phone In Well. It was nice to play The World According To Bono for the first time at a gig and Unfamous for only the second time ever. Many thanks to DJ Fanny Roots (not his real name surely?) for showing me directions to both the venue and the railway station to aid my rush back to the station later, to Greg for the gig and to Eastfield for letting me hijack their sound check in order to play first and catch my train. It was great to see the Eastfield guys and gal for a while (and was my 18th gig with them as well as 13 with Jessi Adams playing solo) but unfortunately on this occasion, I wasn’t able to see them play live. Neither did I get to see The Balsall Heathens which was a shame as the acoustic duo featuring a member of punk rock band GBH sounded interesting! As an aside, earlier in the day I walked passed The Royal George where I played on 29/05/2004 and saw the building closed and boarded up. I do hope it wasn’t down to my performance!
On 28/05/2009 as part of my day-job, I supported a man to visit some picturesque villages and towns in rural Essex. We wondered around tea rooms, pubs, shops and very English village ponds and greens and looked at windmills, churches and thatched roof cottages etc in places like Saffron Walden, Thaxted and Finchingfield. Whilst not being religious, I couldn’t help be impressed with the church in Thaxted that was a remarkable piece of architecture. Despite being built literally centuries ago, the craftsmanship and labour that had gone into constructing that building was incredible. I describe these surroundings to mention one of the pubs we called in during our travels. I was amazed to find pub tables littered with leaflets asking people to vote for The English Democrats. You don’t usually see a pub display allegiance to any particular party and I wouldn’t have thought any party so intolerant and unwelcoming. Surely anyone would be welcome in your pub? Not on this evidence. I’d not heard of the party before though they sound like a BNP for the middle classes (which so many of these small ultra right wing parties do these days) though from their pamphlet they stress that they will put the English first rather than other sections of the UK! I looked around the pub and saw only white English people (probably Essex and surrounding areas born) and my heart sank at the message given out from this part of England. I didn’t buy a drink, I didn’t wish to give them any of my money and although they were so friendly and hospitable to my travelling companion who has a disability, I do wonder if we’d have been so welcomed had we not been white and English speaking?
Last day of May was a chance to grab a lift with the ukulele duo The Re-entrants who were performing at Sawyers in Kettering. Having nothing planned for myself that evening, I enjoyed a lovely warm evening in the Sawyers beer garden watching the duo entertain the audience with their excellent renditions of hits and classic songs on just two ukuleles. Do go and see the guys live if you get a chance. They are great fun, simple as that.
There are now some limited edition Irritant CD cover badges available so look out for them at the gigs if you can.
Also look out for the latest issue (Spring/Summer 2009 - Volume 6 number 4) of anarchist journal Total Liberty which features an article by myself (on songwriting would you believe) called Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Song Writing But Were Afraid To Ask. You can pick up a copy at my gigs or by post from TL, 47 High Street, Belper, Derbyshire. DE56 1GF. Priced at 1 pound including postage and cheques need to be made out to J Simcock.
The June updates are here and on the Fave Things, Reviews, Pictures and Gigs pages of the website and keep an eye on the Myspace site for any news and gigs also. Until next time,
Enjoy your summer,
Chris
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