Howdoo you Brummies!!
It's summer time here at Brumbeat Villas and I'm busy as a host of bees, immersing myself in the garden and it's definitely the place where I feel removed from the world in turmoil with this lust for power, hatred and greed so prevalent. OK, enough of that, let's go back to better times when gender issues didn't exist because we had more pressing things to do with our time.
ALL THINGS HAVE A BEGINNING
"How true Bob" you're probably thinking because it all starts somewhere. My own musical journey started at the birth ofRock and Roll, albeit being only 8 years old at the time when first subjected to the hissing and popping sound of a scratchy 78 rpm record as the needle hit the lead-in grooves, and I experienced that moment of anticipation before my first listen to rock and roll. Clunk! ssssssssssst "Well since my new baby left me".... Elvis had arrived, my eyes popped wide open as my elder teenage sisters screamed at the sound and my Father shouted at them to shut up. It's perhaps, pertinent to note that the output from our wind-up wonder was slightly louder than hitting the top of a boiled egg with a teaspoon, no volume controls, no controls at all!"Ah" I thought, my own beginning has arrived and with every new 78 that I heard I knew I wanted to play a guitar and sing and get told to shut up by my bully of a father, it was the only way I could fight back.. The instrument arrived quite quickly thanks to my mother followed by the anticipated recriminations from Mr Cruel of Wankerland.
I didn't listen to Elvis much from then on because, in 1957, a bigger rebel in the form of Jerry Lee Lewis and his "Whole Lotta Shakin" was on the scene and I have been a fan of this devil since then.'Great Balls of Fire', 'Breathless' and the fabulous 'High School Confidential' followed in quick succession. I was a bit too young to care or understand about him marrying his 13 year old cousin, which effectively finished his rock and roll career at the time, it did however give birth to my rebellious nature which is still a part of me. Everything Mr Cruel hated, I loved, so 1957 was a great year for rebels. It seemed strange that when in 1959, just 2 years later, Elvis moved 14 year old Priscilla into Graceland and the world just said how pretty she was?
COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME
So here we are in 2022, 65 years have passed, two of those four songs I still play on stage and 86 year old Jerry Lee is still performing, he is now the sole survivor of that early USA rock and roll music AND what is more, is about to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. If ever there was something that would stick in the craw of those "all sweetness and light", Bible bashing Country fans it would be this. I am a happy man because he is a great artist with a love of Country music and was instrumental in creating that same melting pot of country rockin' styles that influenced The Band years later but Jerry did it first.
How people go on about Hendrix setting fire to his guitar!..well Jerry did it first in 1956 and on a much bigger scale, emptying a petrol filled Coke bottle into his piano and setting it on fire whilst playing Great Balls of Fire on stage to outdo Chuck Berry. The British population was outraged when the Sex Pistols swore on TV, pretty tame by todays standards but in 56 Jerry Lee shocked, outraged and offended the whole world. This guy has been a real Rebel for a lifetime but a hero to me. Go Jerry Lee!
The Film of Great Balls of Fire starring Dennis Quaid is a must for fans of Rock and Roll music. Early Rock and Roll made a brief comeback in 1968 and I got to play Jerry Lees songs which I adored. That comeback had been championed by Birminghams, The Move copying the Duane Eddy sound for the intro to "Fire Brigade" which leads me to deliver a bit of sad news.....ALL THINGS MUST PASS.
RICK PRICE - RIP
Another tick of the Brumbeat musicians clock has seen the passing of Rick Price, ex Sight and Sound, The Move and Wizzard. Rick had certainly paid his dues on the Brumbeat music scene serving with a few Birmingham bands before being somewhat surprised to be offered the job of bassist for The Move by Roy Wood. However, at this time The Move were just doing cabaret dates and Rick was wholly suited to those kind of disciplines so he would have been the ideal replacement.Although I was on the scene at the same time and we were both on the same Bill of shows that my band and his played, I never actually met him, just a nod of the head as we passed each other. Sight and Sound were basically a cabaret style group and not to my personal liking. For an in depth background article about Rick, make a visit to www.brumbeat.Net where John Woodhouse details his beginnings on the Sight and Sound band page. Got to be worth a read for lovers of Birminghams music history at the best time for bands, the 60's.
When The Move broke up, Rick continued playing with Roy when he formed Wizzard, after his departure from ELO, so enjoyed a few well deserved years in the charts. My condolences go to his family and friends.
THE QUEENS PLATINUM JUBILEE CONCERT.
I am pleased to see that those responsible for choosing artists for the 4 June concert at the Palace have heeded my advice and not employed anyone to do with X Factor. The bill is headed by Diana Ross and they have bought back the immaculate Stevie Wonder, Cliff Richards, Ed Sheeran AND Birmingham's Duran Duran who had been ignored at the last Jubilee as reported by this very blog.
Guitarist Brian May will be making two appearances, a solo performance, no doubt perched on top of a tall building playing God Save the Queen, personally I would love to see him doing it suspended on a zip line going from Admiralty Arch to the Palace, with rockets strapped to his trainers and his curly white locks of hair flowing behind him, a bit like the dog thing in Neverending Story. He will later be playing as part of Queen with Adam Lambert. There are also a panoply of additional great artists too, not like the 2012 shambles.
The British public are lucky to have had this Queen of Queens as the head of our country. She set the standard of public dignity very high and she is respected throughout the world except by the fat orange racist buffoon who wouldn't know good manners if they were inserted analy with a red hot spoon where, I imagine, he keeps his head most of the time. .
US GOLDEN FEW
Us 60's Golden Few Brumbeat musicians are now in our twilight years and time marches on with the inevitable consequence that means we are getting fewer. We were blessed to have lived through those times of post WW2 peace, where not only did we have the rebirth of a nation, us "Babyboomers", but we had the birth of the electric guitar and organ and homegrown rock and roll. Charlie Watkins produced a great guitar in the Rapier and launched the best amplifiers available, Beat music thudded away in every sweaty and smokey pub in Birmingham and its environs, it was BRUMBEAT the vibrant 60's and the dance halls were packed. There was a warm sense of optimism in the air and music was the key to it all. People liked and respected each other in those days. DEAR OLD MUM. Being a member of a very well known Brummie group was nice and on one summer day I was in the city with my Mother going to Rackhams for Lunch. We walked along New Street then turned right up Corporation Street which I guess is about half a mile or so. About every 3 or 4 steps I took, somebody would say "Hello Bob, how yer gooin? Etc...", I was always polite and said "Hi". My Mum kept looking at me quizzically as we walked along and as we got to the entrance of the department store she stopped and asked "Bob, does everybody in Birmingham know you"?!! I just laughed but I could tell she was really proud and I knew she felt that reward was her's too for all the support she gave me and the sacrifices she had made, she was damn right, she was a marvellous person and I would give everything I own to see her again for a day.
We were Brummies and we made everything for everyone, complete with all the motorbikes and the majority of British cars we were a boom town and we had the time of our lives!! We gave the world some memorable musicians and bands.
That time has passed into history that only we can appreciate, us Golden Few. Oh! all of a sudden I feel happy again so on that note, I'm off to tend to my Hibiscus. Dib dib dib...and take care you survivors......here's a cyber hug!
Slava Ukraine!!
Bob
Copyright: Bullsheadbob
Contact: Bobsbullocks@Gmail.com
