Freddie Marsden, Brit drummer with Gerry & the Pacemakers

Gerry Marsden, English singer (Gerry and the Pacemakers)

El domingo es día de asueto y nada mejor que un poco de música para amenizarlo. Por ejemplo, esta emblemática canción de Gerry and the Pacemakers titulada “You’ll never walk alone“. Se trata de una canción que en realidad pertenece a un musical de 1945 titulado “Carrusel“, y que ha sido versionada por muchos intérpretes (incluyendo a Elvis, Sinatra y Tom Jones entre otros). Esta versión de Gerry and the Pacemakers es de todas formas la más conocida, y realmente merece la distinción, no sólo porque bordaron la interpretación, sino por las connotaciones que su versión ha llegado a adquirir como himno deportivo de muchos clubes de fútbol. La historia de cómo ocurrió esto es realmente maravillosa por lo espontáneo. Durante los años 60 había en Anfield, el estadio del Liverpool FC, un pinchadiscos que los días de partido ponía las diez canciones más populares de la semana en orden inverso, acabando con la número 1 en el momento en que comenzaba el partido. La canción de Gerry and the Pacemakers estuvo mucho tiempo en el top-ten, y fue número 1 durante cuatro semanas consecutivas en 1963. Cuando finalmente salió de la lista, había calado en la afición, y los seguidores más entusiastas situados en la Spion Kop la siguieron cantando al comienzo de los partidos y en los minutos finales. El momento inicial, cuando comienza la interpretación por megafonía de la canción, que es cantada al unísono por el público pone los pelos de punta, no sólo en Anfield, sino también en otros estadios como Celtic Park. ¡Que la disfruten!

Han synger så skønt… Smelter på tungen gør hans ord, lyden af hans klokkeklare stemme, og minderne … fra dengang, jeg hørte den første gang, på min fars gamle rejsegrammofon….

Hans enestående udgave af ”You’ll Never Walk Alone” er kendt af alle fodboldfans med hang til lørdagsfodbold engang fra 1980′erne… Tipsfodbold, for dem, som har passeret de 40 …..

gerry and the pacemakers | kommentarer (0)

01 – I Like It
02 – How Do You Do It
03 – Ferry Cross The Mersey
04 – Walk Hand In Hand
05 – I’m The One
06 – Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying
07 – It’s Gonna Be All Right
08 – I’ll Be There
09 – Give All Your Love To Me
10 – La La La
11 – Girl On A Swing
12 – You’re The Reason
13 – Away From You
14 – A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues
15 – Jambalaya
16 – Why Oh Why
17 – It’s Happened To Me
18 – You’ll Never Walk Alone

LINK

When you walk through the storm
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
There’s a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of the lark

Walk on, through the wind
Walk on, through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone

Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone

You’ll Never Walk Alone

Rodgers & Hammerstein wrote it for Carousel.

Elvis Presley covered it.

Gerry and the Pacemakers covered it.

The Kop picked that one up.

It went North to the Celtics.

It’s now a part of Liverpool – the club and the city.

It’s atop the Shankly Gates.

It binds us with Celtic.

It is why Liverpool has the best fans.

I may never get to see Anfield before they tear it down. But…

Well there’s no positive to that.

It’s totally bleak that the world’s most fearsome stadium, the first football fortress, the place of legend, “probably the best stadium in the world”, the place where fans connect into a single body, where The Kop can suck the ball into the net… I’ll never get to see it up close.

If you know football and don’t understand what I mean, head to Liverpool and ask the people what they feel about it, if you can actually find someone who’s not been to Anfield and can talk.

Connect. Pink Floyd, The Heart of Gold, Elvis Presley.

The Kop was sampled in Fearless. Eddie during missile attack. The cover version.

Trade Martin and Al Gorgoni listen to a playback.

After the impromptu interview I had with Songwriter/ Producer/ Artist Trade Martin who was a guitarist on many of Phil Spector’s legendary sessions, I realized there was much more to the story…

Although I’ve known Trade since he was one of most in demand session guitarists in New York, I didn’t work with him very often because he was always booked up! In addition to being an excellent musician, part of why he became so popular among producers in the 60’s and 70’s was the fact that he was constantly singing and playing in Rock and Roll Bands in the tri-state area and he not only knew how the ever changing hits on top 40 radio sounded…he knew how they were constructed.

The first time I worked with Trade, was in 1964, just before I took my first trip to London. I had become bored with the American Music scene and became enamored of what I heard coming out of the UK. I had written a song with Ben Raleigh (”Tell Laura I Love Her”, “Wonderful, Wonderful”) and Danny Jordan (The Detergents) called, “When She Was What She Was”, which was more of a Gerry and the Pacemakers song than a song for Dion.

When I heard Chip Taylor and Al Gorgoni’s production of a song Trade wrote for Evie Sands, “Take Me For A Little While”, I was overwhelmed by his songwriting abilities which equaled his musical skills!. When we sat down to plan out my session and I played him my song and he added chords and changes I was only hearing on English hits. The tracks turned out great but I was disappointed in my own vocal. When I came back from England I put my vocal on again, this time with a pronounced English accent and sold the master to Coed records where it was released under the pseudonym Terry Boyd. This was the same label where Trade was signed, that released his classic “That Stranger Used To Be My Girl”.

Although he’s written and scored films, has been nominated for “Clios” for his work in commercials, and received praise for his productions of B.B.King, including the Grammy winning, “Live at San Quentin Album”, his passion for self-expression remains at an all time high as he continues to perform regularly and write and record on a daily basis.

When we reconnected a couple of weeks ago, I became more accutely aware of the part he and his guitar played in the hit making process of some of greatest record producers of our time including Phil Spector, Leiber and Stoller, Bert Berns, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Jerry Ross, Jerry Wexler and Burt Bacharach. I didn’t know Trade played on, “Cherry, Cherry”, By Neil Diamond, “Chapel Of Love” by the Dixie Cups, “Twist and Shout” by the Isley Brothers, as well dozens of others he casually rattled off.

As I scrambled to turn my tape recorder on, I started to ask him questions about what I thought every member of Spectropop might want to know.

AW- The stories about Phil Spector working at Gold Star on Hollywood are legendary, but very little is known about his sessions in New York. How did you first get together with Phil?

TM- I was working at the time with Jeff and Ellie, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and Phil Spector’s contractor heard about me and called me up. He said Phil wanted to meet me, so I made an appointment to see him up at Liberty records. You recorded for Liberty didn’t you?

AW- (Laughs) Yeah, briefly. That’s where I met Phil too…he was on the A+R staff.

TM- The contractor told me to bring my guitar to the meeting, so I brought my white fender guitar.

AW- Did you bring an amplifier…or did he have one?

TM- No…no ( laughs) You could hardly hear the sound, but if you listened close enough you could hear it. I didn’t know it at the time, but Phil was a guitar player himself and he studied with Barney Kessel.

AW- Phil played the guitar solo on the Drifters record, “On Broadway”

TM- Right! I caught him playin’ in the studio one day…you know a lot of jazzy stuff. I was a Jazz oriented guitar player myself.

AW- Tell me more about your meeting.

TM- I remember him sitting behind a big desk, and I was on a couch across from him. Our whole meeting wasn’t longer than 6 or 7 minutes. As I pulled out my guitar, he asked what kind of stuff I liked to play? I told him that I played in a night club, and I knew all the solos by Scotty Moore, Carl Perkins…guys like that. At that point he asked, If I knew the intro to “Maybelline” by Chuck Berry? I smiled, and started playing it. He said I’d be hearing from his contractor.

AW- Which you obviously did.

TM- I played on almost every session he did in New York. He found out that I had this D28 Martin Herringbone Dreadnaught acoustic guitar and after he heard it, he always wanted me to play it on his sessions. I specifically remember one session I played it on it, it was at Mirasound with Brooks Arthur engineering. Phil usually used 2 or 3 pianos on his dates. on this one, Carole King was on an upright piano, as I remember, Paul Griffin was on a grand piano and Jerry, Phil’s contractor, was on another.

AW- And what song was this?

TM- “He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss” by the Crystals

AW-Wow!

TM- Phil wanted me to play 16th notes all the way through the track, fortunately I play the drums, so I was able keep that rhythm up! I used to sit right in front of Gary Chester who played drums on most of Phil’s dates.

AW- Gary’s one of the most innovative drummers I ever worked with…you could recognize him on every record he played on!

TM- He’s the best…and what a nice guy!

AW- I’ve been to a couple of overdubbing sessions of Phils but never a tracking session. Tell me more…who were the other musicians?

TM- There was Carl Lynch on Electric Guitar, Billy Butler on another electric and percussionist, George Devins.

AW- And on bass?

TM- Bob Bushnell was on electric and Russ Savakus or Dick Romoff was on stand up. Phil always liked to use two basses on his tracks.

AW- I worked with all those guys, but I never knew that they were the foundation of the “Wall of Sound”…Great musicians and incredible positive vibes! I heard that once a track was done, Phil would have the musicians double it…to give it his signature sound.

TM- I’ve heard he did things like that…but never on any session I’ve been on.

AW – Did you notice any unusual recording techniques?

TM- One day I walked into the studio and Phil, who could be a little off the wall, as you know (laughs), was listening to a playback the control room at full volume. Outside of the glass, Brooks had placed two Neuman mikes which he was recording on two of the master tracks, as it was playing back. They were trying to get as much sound through the glass as they could…which would later be mixed in with the basic tracks! It sounded like a “Live” digital delay. He was a very innovative guy! Sometimes he’d try something that didn’t work…but that would never stop him from always trying something new!

AW- And Brooks was there to capture it…encouraging Phil to go farther.

TM- Exactly!

AW- After the basic tracks were done were you called back to do any overdubbing?

TM- No, Phil got everything he wanted from the musicians on the basics and probably only overdubbed strings and horns…maybe some little percussion things like maracas or castanets, at a later time.

AW- Yeah…They all sound so isolated…adding another dimension to his records! Another brick in the “Wall Of Sound” Did you ever do any work with him at Olmstead studios?

TM- The only place I ever worked in with Phil was Mirasound.

AW- And the engineer was always Brooks?

TM- Yes.

AW- What other of Phil’s hits did you play on?

TM- I remember playing on a lot of Crystals records…but I didn’t play on “Uptown”. Whenever he’d do a session in New York, I was on the date. Most of his biggest hits, like “Be My Baby” with the Ronnettes, were cut in California.

AW- Yes, at Gold Star. Since he was recording on both coasts at the same time, my guess is he chose the place that could best capture the mood of the songs. “He Hit Me And It Felt Like a Kiss” sounds like it needed the edginess of New York musicians.

TM- Not to mention that he could get one of the composers (Carole King) to play piano on the date! I remember there was a lot of controversy when that song came out. Most of the time I didn’t even know what song we were doing…we were handed chord sheets and just concentrated on making the tracks.

AW- That’s wild!

TM – I never even heard the finished record until it had become a hit!

AW- Trade…Thanks for this impromptu interview. I know you’ve got to run off to a session.

TM- My pleasure…anytime!

Copyright 2007 by Artie Wayne http://artiewayne.com

Although I had some more questions I gathered from Spectropop to ask him on various aspects of his career I decided to wait for another time. I just wanted Trade to finish up the story he started telling me about Phil Spector.

Trade is currently putting the finishing touches on a four disc CD that features new material, as well as compilation of his early American Hits and Northern Soul Favorites! As soon as it becomes available, I’ll announce it on Spectropop.

To reach Trade Martin http://trademartinmusic.co

Thanks to Dave Monroe for Evie Sands performing ,”Take Me For A Little While” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZTG-5brNII

For More On Phil Spector http://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2006/08/16/the-scoop-on-richard-baskin-and-phil-spector-with-a-cherry-on-top/

Spectropop http://spectropop.com

Special thanks to Jeff Rubin for reconnecting me with Trade.

Although I’ve known Trade Martin since he was one of most in demand session guitarists in New York, I didn’t work with him very often because he was always booked up! In addition to being an excellent musician, part of why he became so popular among producers in the 60’s and 70’s was the fact that he was constantly singing and playing in Rock and Roll Bands in the tri-state area and he not only knew how the everchanging hits on top 40 radio sounded…he knew how they were constructed.

The first time I worked with Trade, was in 1964, just before I took my first trip to London. I had become bored with the American Music scene and became enamoured of what I heard coming out of the UK. I had written a song with Ben Raleigh (“Tell Laura I Love Her”, “Wonderful, Wonderful”) and Danny Jordan (The Detergents) called, “When She Was What She Was”, which was more of a Gerry and the Pacemakers song than a song for Dion.

When I heard Chip Taylor and Al Gorgoni’s production of a song Trade wrote for Evie Sands, “Take Me For A Little While”, I was overwhelmed by his songwriting abilities which equaled his musical skills!. When we sat down to plan out my session and I played him my song and he added chords and changes I was only hearing on English hits. The tracks turned out great but I was disappointed in my own vocal. When I came back from England I put my vocal on again, this time with a pronounced English accent and sold the master to Coed records where it was released under the pseudonym Terry Boyd. This was the same label where Trade was signed, that released his classic “That Stranger Used To Be My Girl”.

Although he’s written and scored films, has been nominated for “Clios” for his work in commercials, and received praise for his productions of B.B.King, including the Grammy winning, “Live at San Quentin Album”, his passion for self-expression remains at an all time high as he continues to perform regularly and write and record on a daily basis.

When we reconnected a couple of weeks ago, I became more accutely aware of the part he and his guitar played in the hit making process of some of greatest record producers of our time including Phil Spector, Leiber and Stoller, Bert Berns, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Jerry Ross, Jerry Wexler and Burt Bacharach. I didn’t know Trade played on, “Cherry, Cherry”, By Neil Diamond, “Chapel Of Love” by the Dixie Cups, “Twist and Shout” by the Isley Brothers, as well dozens of others he casually rattled off.

As I scrambled to turn my tape recorder on, I started to ask him questions about what I thought every member of Spectropop might want to know.

AW- How did you first get together with Phil Spector?

TM- I was working at the time with Jeff and Ellie, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and Phil Spector’s contractor heard about me and called me up. He said Phil wanted to meet me, so I made an appointment to see him up at Liberty records. You recorded for Liberty didn’t you?

AW- (Laughs) Yeah, briefly. That’s where I met Phil too…he was on the A+R staff.

TM- The contractor told me to bring my guitar to the meeting, so I brought my white fender guitar.

AW- Did you bring an amplifier…or did he have one?

TM- No…no ( laughs) You could hardly hear the sound, but if you listened close enough you could hear it. I didn’t know it at the time, but Phil was a guitar player himself and he studied with Barney Kessel.

AW- Phil played the guitar solo on the Drifters record, “On Broadway”

TM- Right! I caught him playin’ in the studio one day…you know a lot of jazzy stuff. I was a Jazz oriented guitar player myself.

AW- Tell me more about your meeting.

TM- I remember him sitting behind a big desk, and I was on a couch across from him. Our whole meeting wasn’t longer than 6 or 7 minutes. As I pulled out my guitar, he asked what kind of stuff I liked to play? I told him that I played in a night club, and I knew all the solos by Scotty Moore, Carl Perkins…guys like that. At that point he asked, If I knew the intro to “Maybelline” by Chuck Berry? I smiled, and started playing it. He said I’d be hearing from his contractor.

AW- Which you obviously did.

TM- I played on almost every session he did in New York. He found out that I had this D28 Martin Herringbone Dreadnaught acoustic guitar and after he heard it, he always wanted me to play it on his sessions. I specifically remember one session I played it on it, it was at Mirasound with Brooks Arthur engineering. Phil usually used 2 or 3 pianos on his dates. on this one, Carole King was on an upright piano, as I remember, Paul Griffin was on a grand piano and Jerry, Phil’s contractor, was on another.

AW- And what song was this?

TM- “He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss” by the Crystals

AW-Wow!

TM- Phil wanted me to play 16th notes all the way through the track, fortunately I play the drums, so I was able keep that rythym up! I used to sit right in front of Gary Chester who played drums on most of Phil’s dates.

AW- Gary’s one of the most innovative drummers I ever worked with…you could recognize him on every record he played on!

TM- He’s the best…and what a nice guy!

AW- I’ve been to a couple of overdubbing sessions of Phils but never a tracking session. Tell me more…who were the other musicians?

TM- There was Carl Lynch on Electric Guitar, Billy Butler on another electric and percussionist, George Devins.

AW- And on bass?

TM- Bob Bushnell on electric and Russ Savakus or Dick Romoff on stand up. Phil always liked to use two basses on his tracks.

AW- I worked with all those guys, but I never knew that they were the foundation of the “Wall of Sound”…Great musicians and incredible positive vibes! I heard that once a track was done, Phil would have the musicians double it…to give it his signature sound.

TM- No…not on any sessions I’ve been on. I’ll tell you what he did though…

(To Be Continued)

Copyright 2007 by Artie Wayne

The complete interview with Trade Martin will appear exclusively on Artie Wayne On The Web and Spectropop in about a month. I honestly didn’t plan to do any more interviews for a while, but after reconnecting with Trade, I realized how much of Pop history he’s been part of…and it would be a shame not to document it.

I’m going to be talking with him again on Tuesday at noon, If you have any questions you want me to ask him, about Phil Spector or any of the legends he’s worked with, you can e-mail me at artie_wayne@yahoo.com

To reach Trade Martin http://trademartinmusic.co

Thanks to Dave Monroe for sending Evie Sands performing ,”Take Me For A Little While” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZTG-5brNII

For More On Phil Spector http://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2006/08/16/the-scoop-on-richard-baskin-and-phil-spector-with-a-cherry-on-top/

For Spectropop http://spectropop.com

To get back to Artie Wayne On The Web http://artiewayne.wordpress.com

Special thanks to Jeff Rubin for reconnecting me with Trade.

Last year I learned how to “Lean Back” from Fat Joe in his Hip-Hop Video. I tried to learn “The Krunk” from Lil John…but I guess I didn’t have enough “Junk in my Trunk” to execute it properly. Then I thought about another time and a simpler dance that everybody could do…The TWIST!! Capitalized not because it was such a great dance…but because it was such a great social equalizer! “The Twist” was written by Hank Ballard and Henry Glover, popularized by Chubby Checker, and made into an international phenomenon by “Jet-Setter”, Zsa Zsa Gabor! It was more than just a cultural phenomenon to me…it was a turning (or should I say, “twisting”) point in my life. Armed with my fake ID (which I made in High School print shop), I’d hit all the clubs in New York and do “The Twist” all night long in the early 60s’.

I was a singer/songwriter, starting to make a name for myself. I was dating Dee Dee Sharp, (“Mashed Potatoes”), which thrust me into the center of the dance universe. I remember going out to dinner with many of her well known friends, including Jerry Butler, Joey Dee, Ronnie and Nedra of the Ronettes, La La from the Crystals and various members of the Crests. Although I was the unknown and poorest of the group, in my shiny dark blue irridescent suit, I did look pretty affluent…and would be the one the waiter would always hand the check to. Fortunately, one of my well heeled dinner companions would grab the sweaty check away from me!

These associations lead me to be put on lists of the Peppermint Lounge, the Apollo theater, the Gold Bug and smaller venues all over the city, where I would bring artists and producers from all over the world. I remember taking Chas Chandler from the Animals, Billy J. Kramer and Gerry Marsden, from Gerry and the Pacemakers his brother Fred, to the Peppermint Lounge, where we saw the Ronettes perform one night. I felt like I was in a scene from the movie, “Don’t Knock The Twist’…The “High School Musical” of it’s day! At one point in the evening, the entire overcrowded room was on their feet. Even the fire marshall was “Twistin’ The Night Away”!

These days I keep looking in vain for a “Twist” night at the Disco. I guess I’ll just rewind my Betamax while I’m looking for my Hula Hoop!

I haven’t listened to the Welcome To The Pleasuredome LP in 20 years. I’m suddenly thinking that it might be quite good. Can anyone endorse this?

We were rushed this morning, as it was Junior’s first full day at nursery. I did notice she was sitting there shaking her head, so I wonder whether she suspected this was all hype over substance. But what hype. We’ve noted how big Wham! were in 1984; Frankie were bigger. Not since Gerry & the Pacemakers blah blah blah. Jive Bunny rather cheapened the feat by matching it a few years later.

The Hamnett/Morley t-shirts, the bribing of Mike Read, the naughty sleeves, the big sledgehammer-subtle messages, not to mention the massive Trevor Horn production – you couldn’t miss them. This record still sounds huge, empty though it is. Even “The air attack warning sounds like…” made Junior jump.

Must say, though: I couldn’t see what was special about modelling shirts by van Heusen. I used to wear my dad’s ones for painting.

Saturday 19th September

The day of the big journey north to Quebec. Probably off the beaten track for most North American travellers but if you’re offered the opportunity, why not? Tom’s got a place there, Alan had flown over from the UK to be with him there and they had a spare seat in the car and a spare bedroom. It might not be the rock’n'roll of New York, but these are good people whose company I enjoy, and to be honest I need a holiday from all this holidaying.

As open roads go, not a bad one

Going up north at this time of year the trees are turning and the ‘fall’ is in full swing (Autumn begins here on Tuesday) and the views during the 10-hour drive north were often stunning.

But here I must interject with something the radio geeks amongst you will enjoy. I know you’re out there. Sirius satellite radio…what a bloody invention that is. Over 200 themed channels direct to your car stereo all paid for by subscription and so easy to use. It’s just brilliant, and it’ll never catch on in the UK because the country’s too small, it’d cost too much and to be honest there’s no-one brave enough to take it on while DAB stutters onwards to its inevitable collapse in about 5 years time. Controversial.

Who’d have thought you’d get two versions on commentary on Arsenal v Wigan while driving through New York State?

But when we were listening to the music and not the sound of Nicolas Bendtner lashing one 50 yards over the bar at the Emirates, it of course complemented the views, sometimes coming together so perfectly that I couldn’t help but think someone’s looking over me.

As I got behind the wheel a string of lost classics poured forth. The Count Five’s Psychotic Reaction; Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t Nothin’ Like The Real Thing (bringing back memories of Aretha the night before putting in a stunning performance of the song); while the Beatles constantly popped up as they have all journey.

Then as I drove over the crest of a hill, revealing a mountain-filled vista of breathtaking beauty, on came The Who with “I Can See For Miles” – cheesy? Possibly. Cheery? Definitely. It cut short the conversation as we took in the moment. It was followed by Gerry & The Pacemakers making me all homesick with “Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” but then Al Wilson turned up to make me smile again with “The Snake” (see the title of this blog for more details).

Gerry & The Pacemakers – Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying

Al Wilson – The Snake

On into Canada we rolled. Good, because I do need that holiday.

Happy 09/09/09 from TGA!  Taking this special day to celebrate the work of the Fab Four!

Pues aquí tienes un amplio, variado y selecto (nada de Ricky Martin y su Copa de la Vida) grupo de canciones para escuchar música y que son muy propias para el día que es hoy:

Los Planetas – La Copa de Europa
Y es que no podíamos comenzar de otra forma. La canción no habla en ningún momento de fútbol y todo el mundo se preguntará ¿De dónde vendrá el título? Pues resulta que J, reconocido culé decía que se sentía tremendamente bien con esta canción, y que no hubo momento de su vida en el que se sintiese mejor que cuando el Barça ganó la final de La Copa de Europa de 1992. Así que la asociación fue directa.

También Los Planetas compusieron El artista madridista, destinado al eterno rival del equipo de J y a sus centrales del infierno, pero hoy preferimos centrarnos en su tema del álbum Una semana en el motor de un autobús, así que os ponemos el vídeo de la canción en directo:

¿Se volverá a sentir igual de bien J esta noche? ¿Se alisará el pelo si el Barça gana? ¿Se duchará al menos?

Glasvegas - Flowers & Footballs tops
También Glasvegas, que provienen de Escocia, tierra de gran rivalidad futbolística, tienen su canción en la que hacen referencia al fúbol, aunque en realidad poco hablen del deporte rey en su letra, ya que para ellos es mucho más importante su baby. Eso si, quitando La copa de Europa, es mi favorita de todas las que aquí os muestro.

Gerry and The Pacemakers – You’ll never walk alone
En contra de lo que se pueda pensar, el famoso himno del Liverpool y del Celtic de Glasgow no fue inventado por sus aficionados en una tarde de borrachera mientras bebían cerveza en las horas previas al partido sino que fue compuesto por Gerry and The Pacemakers. Eso si, si las aficiones fuesen tan melosas para cantar como Gerry no motivarían ni al árbitro.

Haendel - Zadok, The Priest
Aunque a muchos les suenes a chino, sobre todo el título de la canción, es la magnífica y preciosa obra, cuya adaptación es el himno oficial de la Liga de Campeones. La obra está en los tres idiomas oficiales de la UEFA: inglés, francés y alemán. El himno se reproduce antes de cada partido de Liga de Campeones.

Baddiel, Skinner & Lightning Seeds – Three Lions
Esta es otra de esas archiconocidas canciones en el mundillo del fútbol ya que originariamente fue utilizada para animar a la Selección Inglesa en la Eurocopa del 96, pero posteriormente también la utilizarían en el Mundial del 98, e incluso el famoso programa radiofónico Carrusel Deportivo la utilizó como sintonía. Hay que destacar el buen humor de su vídeo, lleno de pifias garrafales y esos guiris sentados en el sofa cutre delante de la tele…

Queen – We’re the champions
Y por supuesto no se puede acabar un partido, ni una Champions, sin recurrir al manido y glorioso tema de Queen. Esa canción que hace regodearse en su victoria y poner el vello de punta a los campeones y sumir en la amargura a los derrotados finalistas ¿Se imaginaría Freddy Mercury la de veces que se cantaría este tema mientras lo componía?

Que gane el mejor!

Ok, time for some talking.  So what is this Gerry and Olga stuff, I have been posting.  Well, it’s a new self contained story I have been working on since July ‘08.  It will be about 90 pages in length and I have decided to just post pages as I do them up here.  I”ll be posting 3 times a week.  Monday. Wednesday. Friday.  I’ll start this monday.  I am pretty much done with chapter one so I am working ahead on this.  Gerry and Olga is meant to be read in a printed form and I’m not sure how it will read on a blog but I think giving myself a deadline such as posting 3 times a week will keep me doing pages and hopefully I’ll get some feedback from anyone who may be reading.  Still working on printing ideas but I’ll worry about that when I have the whole thing done.  I hope you enjoy it.  I have been with this story almost a year now and I am still interested in it.  It’s the only thing I want to draw.

Ok, so there are some conventions coming up VERY soon which is kind of crazy.  This time next week I will be in toronto at TCAF.  I will be tabling with my mates Joe Lambert and Dustin Harbin.  I have never been to this show and am very excited cause Dustin is going to buy me all kinds of drinks.  That guy is fucking swell!  I will have all three Snake Oils, a new little mini, and I hope a new screen-print for sale.  Stop by and say hi.  We will love you.

Then a week after that(May 17th) I will be at MeCAF with Joe and Melissa Mendes and there will be a whole slurry of CCSers there too.  A con on the water.  How amazing.  This is the day after CCS third commencement ceremony where this year’s commencement speaker is Jeff Smith.  Crazy!

And finally, go here to see the sundays anthology page.  I am co-editing another volume set to come out at MoCCA.  We are doing something pretty different this time around, but more on that another time.  Please check the site often as we will be posting comics from various folks 3 times a week up until the debut at MoCCA.

Welcome to the weekend good people, bad people and those who aren’t sure. It’s time to let your hair down for a couple of days, well metaphorically in my case! It’s 14th March and just one day away from those dastardly Ides, so remember to stay bewared so to speak.

Did you make a donation to Comic Relief yesterday? If not it’s not too late and if you did feel free to donate more. Just click here and remember just £5 will buy a mosquito net for an African child. This could help to eradicate Malaria which is one of the biggest killers of children in Africa. Just think that if everyone who read this blog yesterday donated just £1 that would total £450! For the latest update on Comic Relief click here, the ‘on the day total’ topped £57m!

I have a confession to make about last night’s show though and I can’t believe that I’m about to say this. But Robbie Williams was bloody good last night in the Little Britain sketch. To be fair he wasn’t singing, thankfully but nonetheless he was good. Click here to see the sketch. What do you think of it?

That little devil Robbie Williams raids the tranny dressing up box with David Walliams and Matt Lucas

We continue todays post with a few contributions from some regular readers. Firstly thank you to Tom who passed on a great video and indeed a potentially great band today. We were talking at the Hospital Radio Station on Wednesday night about Ringo Starr’s solo efforts, which in my opinion have been somewhat patchy. Anyway Tom mentioned that there was an excellent video on YouTube promoting the current single from a band called Blame Ringo, click on the song title to see it, it is all filmed at the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing that was featured on the cover of the Beatles Abbey Road album. The song is called “Garble Arch (A Day In The Life Of Abbey Road)” So tell me, how many of you have had your picture taken on that crossing? Feel free to mail a copy to me and I’ll happily publish it in the blog for you. Blame Ringo’s website is pretty good too, click here to check it out.

This Beatles fan makes his feelings clear about Ringo having a bum deal even if he wasn't the best drummer in the band. To be fair Meg White wasn't the best drummer in the White Stripes either!

I found this while I was searching for a Blame Ringo picture. So I had to include it. Why? Because I can of course! Indeed it even features Catwoman as well

Secondly here’s a great tip off from Nick H who lives in what used to be the hometown of Mary Shelley who wrote the rather spiffing Frankenstein. Nick has given us an excellent link to a brilliant cover of Gary Numan’s “Are Friends Electric?” by Jack White’s new band ‘Dead Weather’. It consists of Jack himself, obviously, Allison Mosshart from the Kills on vocals, Jack Lawrence from the Raconteurs and Dean Fertita from Queens of the Stone Age. Click the song title for the video and click here for the band’s web site.

Jack tried to warn Allison that she was about to feel a little prick....... from the thorn bush of course, you readers are just sooooooo rude!

And finally for those readers contributions here is a brief one from Marcy. She wanted me to let you know that she lives a mere stones throw (well if you can throw a stone 7.1 miles) from Mr Davy Jones off of the Monkees. Davy also plays a few shows in Marcy’s home town too. Do any other readers live near a celebrity? Let me know and maybe I can include it in a future post

A horse walks into Davy's Bar and orders a beer, Davy serves him and says "why the long face?"

Anyway let’s move on with the trivia and useful/ useless (delete as appropriate) information for today.

Firstly the birthdays and today is the 63rd birthday of Jim Pons who was the bass player for classic 60s band the Turtles who had a massive hit with the classic (ok so I’ve overdone the classic superlative, so what?) “Happy Together”. Jim didn’t join the band until after that though. He was also a member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention. The Turtles first hit was a cover of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe”. Before this they were called Crossfires From The Planet Mars. Another classic Turtles hit was “She’d Rather Be with Me” which does indeed feature Jim on bass.

Everyone else had walked across the Abbey Road crossing, but the Turtles had to show off by crawling across

The second and last of our birthdays today is the 26th birthday of Jordan Taylor Hanson. He was, somewhat obviously, a member of Hanson who had a massive hit with “MMMBop“. I must confess that I love that song, a true guilty pleasure is that one I suppose. Does anyone else admit to liking it? Jordan preferred to be known by his middle name Taylor and he was just 14 at the height of “MMMBop’s” success. The band have the honour of appearing twice in TV’s Celebrity Death Match. The first time they fought the Spice Girls and both they and the Spice Girls were killed by a chainsaw toting Marilyn Manson. Bizarrely they came back for a rematch with Manson (hey I wonder if it was billed as Manson vs Hanson?), they lost again after Zac Hanson lost control of the chainsaw. Please note that Celebrity Death Match was not real and no stars were harmed during the making of it. Although there are some I would like to see on a real version! any guesses or suggestions? Incidentally fact fans, “MMMBop” has been featured as House’s mobile phone ring tone in House MD.

On further investigation it became clear that Hanson were in fact Triamese twins who shared four legs and three heads

On this day in 1985 the mighty Frankie Goes To Hollywood played a show at the Sheffield City Hall in the UK. The band were absolutely mega in 84/ 85 with their first three singles all reaching number one in the UK. At that point they were only the second group ever to achieve that feat after Gerry and the Pacemakers in the 60s. There are various stories as to how the band got their name all relate to a newspaper or magazine headline of a star going to Hollywood. To be perfectly Frank it was one of the following Franks; Frank Sinatra, Frankie Vaughan (one of my Mum’s favourite singers!) or English comedian Frankie Howard (titter ye not!). “Relax” had reached number 6 in the UK charts after an appearance on Top Of The Pops and then the infamous Mike Read banning incident occurred. Allegedly Mike objected to the sexual content of the lyric, this of course gave the band and the song such publicity it shot to (read no innuendo into that smutty people) number one, where it stayed for 5 weeks. The follow up “Two Tribes” went to number one and stayed there for a phenomenal 9 weeks at the same time “Relax” climbed back to number 2. The third single “The Power Of Love” was number one for a short period in December 1984. It’s nativity themed video means that is still seen as a Christmas song by many, but I’m not convinced! The rise of Frankie also led to a proliferation of ‘FRANKIE SAY……’ Tee shirts. Here are the Frankie’s with “Relax” on Channel 4’s the Tube in late 1983.

They had reached page 42 in the Kama Sutra but now neither of them had a hand free to turn to the next page

And finally on this day in 1991 REM played the first of two nights at London’s Borderline billed as Bingo Hand Job. Not only did they come up with a different name for the band they also gave each other new names for the shows; Michael Stipe was the Reverend Bingo, Peter Buck became Raoul, Bill Berry was the Doc and Mike Mills had the honour (?) of being Stinky. Out of those I would rather have been called the Reverend Bingo but a number of people have told me that Stinky would be more appropriate. Hmmmmmm I’m not sure why that is Anyway to finish here are REM with the Muppets on a cracking version of “Furry Happy Monsters“

Michael had heard that many dog owners resembled their dogs, but.......

..... he hadn't realised that he was starting to look like his gargoyle!

Dia 184, quinta-feira:

Músicas:

• Don’t Keep Me Waiting, Sharleen Spiteri
• I’m the One, Gerry and the Pacemakers
• You’ll See, Madonna
• How?, John Lennon
• Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos
• Apologize, Timbaland feat. One Republic

Comentários:

1. You’ll see…