BULLS HEAD BOB DEC 2016. CHRISTMAS PARADE. EIGHT DAYS A WEEK. GIBSON WORK OF ART. INSIDE THE BULLS HEAD, IN COLOUR!! SALVATION ARMY AT CHRISTMAS

Ho Ho Ho! you Brummies, Brumettes, brumeteenies, Musos and a special "Merii Kurisumasu" to Plooki my Japanese loft boy follower and another for those Brummies Abroad.  I love Christmas which means I love you all and now I'm officially EXCITED!! So let the snow fall and the merriment commence.

Seasonal greetings to all from the bloggery and its "all go" at the Bob household. This Christmas me and Mrs Bob are going solo, that is to say, we are having Christmas without any of the Bobettes and their offspring.   We have a list of traditional things that are obligatory to do over the festive season and we have already been able to cross off "Have family argument" as being surplus to requirement!  

Mrs Bob has been my right hand man this year, even through the Villa's bad times.   Unlike me she didn't sit around moping like a kid, she went ahead and finished the garage extension despite the shocking weather.   A bout of pneumonia slowed her up a bit until I came up with the idea of her putting on an extra cagoule which would make her sweat a bit more she obviously had to increase her work pace to get the full effect.   She loves it though you know? the challenge of hard construction, which for a 65 year old with a bad back and a knee that keeps dislocating itself, certainly keeps her on her toes and no need for costly Gym Membership there, I'm proud of myself for making that saving, whilst improving her health.   I chuckle away to myself sometimes watching her through the window, manhandling those sacks of cement, if only she concentrated on improving her stance a bit more, she wouldn't fall over quite so much.   Women eh?  

Happy Christmas to my Feminists pals The Tattooed Sisters of Revenge Feminist League Biker Gang.  I love you cuties to pieces.

Happy Christmas to the Skiffle King and his cohorts, hearty eating, warm log fires and affection.
CHRISTMAS PARADE

The City council cancelled the Christmas parade again through lack of funds but when I was a little sproglet I would be taken, at night, to the city centre where I would stand on the pavement in New Street or Corporation Street to watch Father Christmas come by on his sleigh, heading for the John Lewis department store where he would be in residence.   It was nothing spectacular and was over in flash but it was one of the most exciting times, it was put on for next to nothing and I seem to remember that it was funded by the British Lions Club so wouldn't have cost much but it meant a lot to all us tiny tykes in post war GB because Father Christmas was here, in person!  Of course you get what you pay for and times were tight back then so sometimes Father Christmas would be more like Nosferatu.....No wonder I couldn't sleep on Christmas Eve

Look at those creepy fingers

SUGGESTED GIFTS
Now if you have youngsters or music fans in the family, a

nice little stocking-filler gift idea might be to give them the Beatles DVD Eight Days a Week, The Touring Years. 
  
I  had heard that there was much fresh footage of them being Beatles and was really looking forward to seeing it and after having watched it, I have to say, I felt a little disappointed but that is probably because I have watched everything there is available to watch on the band more than once or twice as well as having lived through the whole age of The Beatles.   However for the uninitiated the phenomenon of The Beatles impact on the world is always worth a visit and for those who are fresh to The Beatles this would be a nice taster DVD if you haven't watched the Anthology before.  

Kind of like reading the Hobbit in preparation for Lord of the Rings.

A BIT MORE PRICEY

This is a fact, there are 619,000 multi millionaires living in GB today, probably a few more have been added to the list since this figure published in Aug 2016. So for those here's something that might be on their Christmas list.

GIBSON L5 
HISTORIC ART DECO GUITAR
PRICE  52,500.00 Dollars
This guitar has to be one of the most beautiful things I've seen.  It is One of a kind and will not be produced again thereby protecting it's value as a collectible.   

This paint job is reminiscent of the 20's Art Deco movement with its angular sun ray lines
emerging from the back of the tail piece and each one of those orange segments is painstakingly painted giving it the look of a quilted headboard, you could just sink into it.

The beauty doesn't stop there though.  When you turn the guitar over you find it has been meticulously inlaid with many different woods to continue the art theme and has lines that remind me of a Kandinski painting.



Do you want to buy it?   Too late, it has been sold and I guess is now locked away in some bank vault.   A treat for the eyes though.  A cat can look at a King.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS BRUMMIES THE BULLS HEAD INTERIOR
IN COLOUR!!

Over the years I have searched hither and thither for anything remotely concerned with this temple of Brumbeat music that was The Bulls Head on the Coventry Road and I can tell you there is not much around because, at the end of the day, it was just a pub to those who went there for a drink, for muso's in the 60's however it was the place you wanted to play at.   Along with Mothers and the Plaza, it was a John Singer promotion and loads of famous bands played there.

I played there a lot as did other well known Brummie acts.  It's only after some years that you crave for the resurrection of those times but alas it ain't gonna happen, the times have gone and the pub too which makes finding anything to do with it a little more special.   The great Lee Tonks has, over the past few years, found little snippets about the Bulls Head, including the blog side-bar picture, of this great beat venue for which I thank him from the bottom of my heart. Lee does have a personal interest though, he lives practically next door to where the pub stood.

This year, and as a Christmas gift to all you Musos and dancers who frequented the place Lee has excelled himself and found, from a photographer friend some new shots of the pubs interior, in colour.   The shots were taken in 1983, just before the pub was demolished.   If you were in a band who gigged there these views will be a heart warming memory

Copyright B Mathews

The stairs to the dance floor, humping kit up those was no joke.  The door to the right of the stairs was the snug to have a half time beer or three

copyright B mathews

In the snug all red velvet and murals.  

THE DANCE FLOOR

copyright B Mathews

This was your perspective if you were in a band playing at the Bulls Head, mine was normally a little more to the right.  The dance floor was always crowded from the stage, right back to the bar from the Rock and Roll days of the 1950's through the 'summer of love' girls in their swirls of colour and beyond and I just know that some old Brumbeat survivors will be looking at this with fond memories like I am so, on behalf of all those who loved this place , thank you LEE TONKS. I know we are all grateful for your help in restoring this memory. Happy Christmas to you and to all those who wielded some kind of musical instrument on the stage of this great place.  This place used to throb at times, I can almost hear the music and feel the heat.  If only I could get into those ball hugging velvet flares I could step back it time like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Very nostalgic Christmas gift for us Brummies.

THE SALVATION ARMY

If you pass a Salvation Army brass band playing carols or if you see someone collecting for the Salvation Army, please donate something if you have a few coppers.  This fantastic organisation has no barriers in their continuing support of less fortunate folk, of which there are too many.  
It doesn't matter if it's only a few pence...Every penny counts and this organisation can do a lot with a little but can do more with more.   Happy Christmas to them and their great work.  Thank you for what you do.

OGGIES CARD
OK It's Christmas and Oggie will be preparing to be a miserable git as usual by boycotting Christmas Day and spending it at the pub.   Nonetheless, we grew up together and I have always given him a card so nothing changes. 

Last year I gave him a hand warmer and it seems that it has started a viral thingy with everyone wanting one, even Prince Charles, of course he gets his supplied by the Government!.. Happy Christmas Oggie.

FINALLY
Happy Christmas to John Woodhouse for doing such a great job with Brumbeat.Net.  

Happy Christmas to Steve Bruce who has taken a bunch of shambling wankers and returned them to a great team again. UTV

Happy Christmas to you all, thanks for reading or visiting the blog.  I shall now be hibernating until the New Year.....ZZzzzzzzzzz

Bob
Copyright Bullsheadbob
Contact    Bobsbullocks@gmail.com