'A Chatty One!'

I am in total disarray this year with Christmas! The time seems to have flown away and I have failed miserably to buy all the presents I need to get and write all the cards I need to write! For a 'Christmas person', like me this is really bad!

Thing is, not only have I been running short of cash I have been drained of energy this year by trying to keep up with an ever lengthening list of tasks I need to do. My room is a BOMBSITE with boxes all on the floor and CD's all over the place, I have been under pressure to write as many articles as I can for, 'Hastings Town' magazine (which I enjoy doing but it all takes time and energy) because the amount of people contributing has gone down at the moment, then there is my voluntary work as, 'The Clean Up Man' to do as well as housework and of course I had a few days away in Yorkshire! To add to the 'workload' this year I also had the mail out of my Christmas CD, 'A Nod To Mr. Dickens' to get sorted as well - though I managed to do a great job on that, I'm glad to say...

Reactions to, 'A Nod To Mr. Dickens' have been great in general and a friend of mine in Canada put up her Christmas tree soon after receiving the album in the post in November and posted a photo of it on Facebook so it certainly helped her get into the festive spirit! Normally, I get myself organised and ready for Crimbo in good time and aim to have all my gifts bought & wrapped and cards written ready to give out/deliver/send by Dec 1st but it just hasn't happened this time. That's a shame as I LOVE being free to enjoy all of the Christmas lights and atmosphere that there is everywhere at this time of year. Battle (a few miles from my home) is MAGICAL at Christmas and I usually make a bee line to go there, browse the shops, have a cup of tea and a slice of cake (in honour of Worzel, of course!) and wait for it to get dark so I can marvel at the twinkling lights on Battle abbey and enjoy the HUGE Christmas tree in the Market Square.

During my time in Skipton I came across a lot of BRILLIANT musical street performers and managed to get a few photos of them to share here. Sadly, I did not get names for some of them - even though I did speak to most! That's typical me, that is! One lot that I did get a name for though was, 'The Sundancers' who told me that they had a few tracks available to listen to on Soundcloud. Unfortunately, though I have found a few artists with that name I haven't been able to find them but you can hear a snippet of one of their songs in my 'Grassington Dickensian Festival Fun - Part 3' video on Youtube.

The Sundancers

The guys voice was amazing and sounded much better than it comes across on the video when you were listening live. I was gobsmacked and asked if they had any CD's for sale after just one song so I hope things work out for the band and that they get noticed soon. It never ceases to amaze me how many wonderfully talented people there are in the world - its just so sad that there isn't room for all of them to make a living out of using that talent...

Four festive lovelies are all smiles!

I also met some festively attired and smiley girls that had been playing some nice Christmas music and congratulated a BRILLIANT group of Carol Singers on their amazing harmonies.

Smiley and youthful carol singers!

I was well chuffed to note how young they all of them were! Maybe the traditional Christmas I love so much isn't on its way out just yet, eh!

'The BIG Mail Out!'

Well, it has taken a LONG time to reach this point! My Christmas album, 'A Nod To Mr. Dickens' has been almost a DECADE in the making and there were plenty of times during that period that I thought it would never be completed. The fact that I have been busy therefore looking up addresses, packaging CD's and making trips to the Post Office to send copies of the finished article to friends and family all over the world is understandably then for me a triumph!

The Front Cover Of My New Album!

It's amazing how many of the people you know that you have either out-dated contact details for or no details at all bar a connection on social media or their phone number! The amount of time I have spent trying to locate this person or contact that one has been considerable but I am glad to say that it has all been worth it!

One of the lovely things to come out of making such an effort is that you re-kindle old friendships and I have heard back from a friend of mine I haven't seen since the early 1980's recently! I met Eric Pitteloud when he came to England from Switzerland to study (I think?) and though we only knew each other for about two weeks or so we managed to almost squeeze a lifetime of memories into that time! Eric was a D.J. back then at home and I think I was either on a Manpower Services Commission Scheme at Debenhams or unemployed - I'm not sure now? Anyway, we met at  the 'Speakeasy' night club in Kings Road when my old mate, Terry Har (Johns) was behind the decks.
I recall one of the big dance tunes at the time being 'The Voice Of Q' by 'Q' https://youtu.be/PAP6OAmbWO0 and Eric and I both wanting to buy the last 12" copy of The Buggles, 'I Am A Camera'. I was a selfish git in those days and bought it for myself rather than letting Eric have it to take back with him - I've always regretted that - but I don't think I had met my old mate, Alan Gaywood then so had not been around people that were likely to be generous.

I e mailed Eric to let him know that a copy of 'A Nod To Mr. Dickens' was on its way and got a lovely e mail back from his daughter, Valerie with some family photos as well! Great to see how he and his family look now and I am so glad that he has done so well in life! I have sent a few pics of me and mine back this morning and we all plan to try and keep in touch more often from now on. I have even been offered the chance to go and stay with them in Switzerland for a while, which would be great! I haven't got a passport these days though and finances are not great but things might change!

So, you see, the 'old fashioned' way of getting involved with Christmas still has its advantages and brings some joy! Ironically, I wrote a new Christmas song called 'Heart Full Of Joy' only the other week so I must have known!

More soon...

'Back For Another Year!'

Well folks, it's beginning to get near that time of the season again! Creeps up on you, doesn't it? I hope you are all well and have not had too bad a year since my last post. That sounds like a pretty big ask though the way the world is at the moment but I'm wishing you all well anyway!

2017 has been a year of extremes for me. I've either 'worked wonders' or things have gone incredibly badly - there hasn't been a lot in between. I won't bore you with the bad stuff  but focus instead on the GOOD! My big news for this year is that my LONG delayed (I never thought it would ever happen in the end) Christmas album, 'A Nod To Mr. Dickens' is now a reality!

As you know if you read this blog regularly, I sadly lost my old mate, Alan Gaywood last year in July and was left his entire CD collection. Well, with 1,500 CD's of my own already I had no room for another 2,500 and so had no option but to do a good few orders to some of the online 'de-cluttering' websites. While this was sad (I would have loved to keep more of them than I have) it did allow me to find the extra cash required to fund completion of 'A Nod To Mr. Dickens'. I could only afford to have 100 pressed up (so in time the CD is going to be WELL collectible!) and plan to distribute most of them myself to friends and family this year. As ever, my producer, Harvey Summers has done a FABULOUS job on the mixing and mastering of the record and I am very proud of what we as a team have achieved. Obviously, I would have preferred to accomplish the task without losing Alan but at least the album will stand as a testament to our friendship into the future...

I shall 'unveil' the album cover art work here nearer to Christmas!

On the subject of new Christmas music, my favourite rock band, Cheap Trick have just released their first Christmas album! I've not got it yet but I'm sure it will be a blast and I am looking forward to hearing their version of 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday' by Wizzard. CT have been quite prolific of late (following a long hiatus caused by legal action between the band and their old drummer, Bun E. Carlos) and so they have continued to be like a 'crutch' for me in the modern age as I've been listening to them for well over 30 years now!

Tom Chaplin of Keane also has a new Christmas album out on Nov 17th called, 'Twelve Tales Of Christmas'. There are no Mp3 previews up on Amazon for the record yet but it looks like another mix of originals and traditional festive classics so far. There is a 'Strictly cash-in' double CD compilation album 'by' Rev Richard Coles  out on Dec 1 as well featuring a mix of classical pieces, tenor singers, choirs and the like and Gwen Stefani releases the album, 'You Make It Feel Like Christmas' on the same day. Sadly, I find her voice a bit nasally and irritating so I doubt I will 'play' as far as that one is concerned but you should check it out if you like bubbly pop.

With plenty more festive releases to come no doubt (love the pun?) I look forward to waxing lyrical with you all again in the run up to the big day!

'The Spirit Of Christmas Past'

I came across this strange Christmas compilation during my recent shopping trip to Seaford. I found it in  the Scope charity shop there and decided to take a chance on it for the princely sum of £1. I can't tell you how glad I am that I did! Though it starts with the usual 'White Christmas' by Bing Crosby, what follows is a collection of long forgotten Christmas timepieces  that are sure to put even the harshest 'Bah Humbug' merchant back in touch with the spirit of the season.

The retro scene is massive these days as I found out when I attended all four days of this years 'War & Peace Revival' at the old Folkestone Racecourse. Its anyones guess how many copies of this could be sold if even half of those who attended could get a listen to this...

There is truly something for everyone to enjoy here. Theres nostalgic Jazz/ragtime by Fats Waller and Jack Teagarden, emotive tenor singing by Georges Thrill and Paul Robeson, romantic crooners from FJudy Garland and Dinah Shore (the latter being especially emotive as it dates from the Second World War years) and wonderful, childlike pieces like a musical version of the classic Christmas tale 'Twas The Night Before Christmas'...

Best of all for a big kid like me though is 'The Santa Claus Express' by the BBC Dance Orchestra, Dan Donovan and chorus. Its 'Toy Story' put to music with poop poop steam train noises in all the right places and a heartwarming mixture of festive fun and childlike innocence. I had never heard the song before buying this and cannot believe how it appears to have been totally forgotten today unlike other songs from the period like 'Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town' or 'Winter Wonderland' (both also featured here).

Forget, crystal clear quality sound, forget remastering and take yourself on a journey back to the romantic 30's and 40's - complete with historic hisses, crackles and pops. 'The Spirit Of Christmas' is available (just) on Amazoon.co.uk but they haven't many copies left so do yourself a big favour and get this before they run out!