BULLS HEAD BOB - SEP. EARLY GUITARS ANTORIA, EKO FLORENTINE, EGMOND, GOYA. THE CHEETAHS. WALSALL 3 MEN IN A BOAT UPDATE

Hi Brummies, Brumettes, Brummies Abroad,

Well after the blast of the sensational Olympic games it's back to business as usual in the Bob household.   Mrs Bob has now stopped her "jogging for life"
activity after straining her mouth talking to her running mate, big Glenda,   she now has her head in a sling.  

THE RITZ KINGS HEATH, THE CHEETAHS
I was thinking about some of the more regular bands who played at The Ritz alongside the Modernaires when the following YouTube clip was brought to my attention in the boozer.  It's a feature on The Cheetahs by the Cheetahs who I saw many times there and is nicely put together too, worth a little watch.
Click Here:  THE CHEETAHS

WALSALL 3 MEN IN A BOAT UPDATE

The BOAT today. (copyright Chris Selby)

Following the blog about the Walsall pub the "Three Men in a Boat", the Mouse e-mailed me a couple of recent photos of the 3 Men in a Boat at Walsall to "ooh" and "aah" about.  This was the home of some great R&B bands and today is the Beechdale Housing Association offices.   Recently the original pub sign was located and mounted on the wall of the rest area.  There was a rumour that this was done as a memorial to the great midlands bands who played there, unlike the commercial Walk of Fame crap that the Birmingham City Council have fobbed off on us, absolute disgrace if you ask me.  That aside, I have to say that unfortunately a rumour was all it turned out to be.   

(copyright Chris Selby)

There now seems to be a feeling that perhaps that would'nt be a bad idea!  Walsall was a great R&B town, as anyone who played there will tell you and I speak as someone who wasn't raised there but looked forward to playing there everytime.   Let's hope the Mayor of Walsall and of course, the Housing Association, are the sort who would like to 'keep it real', a bit more canny and proud of the great musicians of the town than the Mayor of Birmingham.

 
EARLY GUITARS

Hank.and Biff Pilchards "Movin it'

Back in 1961/2, my mate Higgi and I were 'wagging it' from school and as usual we bussed into the City of Birmingham and began our rounds of 'nose sliding' the windows of the music shops. The shops weren't packed with guitars and the choice of makes was about 2 or 3 and they all looked crap.  Some were absolutely bizarre with big holes in the body, one of those makes was Guyatone.   It looked like a bed pan and was just part of the range of ugly guitars produced in the early sixties, so, if you wanted to own a solid body guitar you took what was available.  It is no surprise then that this guitar was used by one Hank B Marvin and also the choice of Alan Caddy, guitarist for The Pirates until he had a copy of a Stratocaster made for him.   Did this mean it was a good guitar?   For me it was nothing more than an ugly piece of wood.  The headstock looked heavier than the body and the body looked as though it had been designed by a blacksmith.   I can't even say how good the electrics were.  Nonetheless it was used a lot and would have been part of that electric sound of those early days.

Guyatone was one of many factories in Japan who made 'badged' guitars for the european and US markets.  There were some very curious looking things being made out of what was left from previous models etc...   For those of you who would like to know about your old Japanese 'thingy' try visiting here http://torchharrison.hubpages.com/hub/Japanese-Manufacturers-of-Made-In-Japan-Badged-Guitars-from-1950-to-1980 very useful resource.

These days the preoccupation with believing that all guitars from the 60's are worth buying and sound great is quite staggering and equally wrong.  I watched recently on Youtube a clip of a guy who had submitted his 61 guyatone model.  "Well", I thought "Here's a chance to hear just how good or otherwise, it sounds."
As it came on the screen, so did this information, "Stripped out the Resistors, changed the wiring, changed the pick ups, sounds great now"...........question is? "why bother buying it in the first place?" it could have been any guitar which only goes to reinforce my belief that there are some crazy people out there. 

ANTORIA

So as well as the grotty Guyatones there was the equally horrible Antoria,
yet another guitar manufactured at a factory in Japan.   This was a monstrosity but there were a lot worse to come from the land of the rising sun.   Not too many years later, junk shops used to be full of these things and it was for a legitimate reason, they sounded awful.  I can see people buying one if it happened to have been their first guitar and wanted to re-visit their youth but apart from that, not for me.   I do have to say here that I have played a couple of Antoria acoustic archtop guitars of the same period and they have sounded really warm. 

EKO FLORENTINE

I have been quite a fan of EKO guitars based on them being of italian design and the fact that I have owned an EKO acoustic for over 40 years and it sounds fab and always has, it's extremely light and has the greatest recorded sound of all my acoustics. 
I also loved the EKOMaster 400 range of guitars which were a real design classic.  However, the EKO Florentine was abysmal..........goodness me what a bloody awful looking thing this is, butterscotch in colour with swirls of chocolate daubed on the scratchplate.  The tremelo arm was so long that you could use it as a tyre lever in extenuating cirumstances and you would have to be more than a little suspect about that bridge. I do like the knobs though and the headstock is just like a Hofner Violin bass.  Looking at both the Antoria and this EKO they must have been designed by the same bloke who presumably had once been a cake decorator.  I do believe that one of the Mothers of Invention used either one of these guitars (maybe the bass variant) on an "Old Grey Whistle Test" show.

EGMOND  

Quite a rarity in early guitar brand names, Egmond were a Dutch company from Eindhoven who made some horrible early guitars like the Elektra 2 model shown here.
They, like the Japanese and Italian guitar makers also had sub-badges of their mark, one of which was Rosetti, strangely the Rosetti brand is probably better known than Egmond.  Paul McCartney owned a Rosetti Lucky 7 for a while which he disliked.

KEN REEVES EXPOSED......
"YES I DID OWN A
SPARKLY HAGSTROM"
Do I need to say more??

The sparkly Hagstrom, or Goya as it was badged, was the guitar equivalent of the 60's "Metropolitan" car, a little 'Noddy" type vehicle that I once had the pleasure of being driven into the city in by Bob Styler of The Yamps many years back.  It will therefore come as no surprise to learn that brumbeat guitarist Ken Reeves had spent a short while as The Yamps bassist so must have been inspired by Mr Styler in his guitar choice.  


I really have very little to say about this guitar, in fact I have nothing to say about it at all. Ken Reeves blurted it out to me in an e mail that he'd owned one and I've been saving the story for a day like today, when it's raining outside, "you should know better Ken, fancy telling me that?" Although it's plastic crap, it was superior to the Hagstrom Futurama, Hagstrom's biggest disaster.  So looking on the positive side of things you could count yourself lucky Ken, wait a mo', you didn't trade in your sparkly plastic thing for a Hagstrom Futurama 2 did you mate?

Hagstrom looked to have borrowed the controls from old juke boxes for this 'thing'.  I will say that it is nostalgically 'cute' and probably the kind of thing that would be collected by a Japanese loft-boy.  

Once tuned, the Metropolitan car actually sounded better than the Goya and the Futurama 2, it used less plastic and it had one really big volume control mounted on the boot which, itself, surrounded the key hole for the car's clockwork motor.


Problem is you can't hang it on the wall unlike the Goya, which is probably where it should be consigned to for life.   In a small girl's bedroom.   I really can't imagine what it must feel like to meet some great guitarist one day and when he say's "And what guitar do you play".
Do you stay true to your conviction and say "Goya" whilst looking him in the eye and wait for the Guffaw of laughter closely followed by the line "Ah Piss Off, really, what guitar do you play?", or, do you sheepishly lie that you have a Les Paul or ancient Stratocaster?  I'm guessing the latter. 

UK  NATIONAL DRUM FAIR
It's September again so that means it's time for the National Drum Fair in Birmingham.  The fair will be held from 29 to 30 September 2012 at Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre, Alcester Road South, Kings Heath, Birmingham, B14 6ER .   So come on all you skin bashers get yourself down there and STOP ANNOYING THE NEIGHBOURS!!


Finally.......Bobs Facts: As a bonus this month I'm gonna include four facts that should help you at pub quizzes

Fact......All Chinese men named Dong have the same size penis.
Fact......The term 'Road Manager' comes from the Polish word Tekzzumzhit.
Fact......Garden Centres don't actually sell whole gardens to take away!! 
Fact......Jeff Lynne once bit the head off an ice cream, that's Rock and Roll
            ELO Style.

It's a crazy mixed up world.

Tara' a bit
Bob

Copyright: Bulls Head Bob
Contact:  Bobsbullocks@GMail.com

BULLS HEAD BOB AUG - TO THE MAYOR OF BIRMINGHAM, THANKS FOR SOD ALL!!. THE BRUMBEATS. BULLS HEAD BOB REVIEWS: DI MARZIO TELECASTER PICK-UPS. YAK IMPERSONATOR TO TOUR.

Hi Brummies, Brummie Musicians and Brummies Abroad,


Dear Mr Mayor and Co,
THE RITZ, KINGS HEATH

On 27 June 11.30 a.m. a plaque commemorating one of the greatest Brumbeat gigs/dance halls, The Ritz, Kings Heath in Birmingham was unveiled.   I applaud anything that is done to preserve the history of those great places in Birmingham that we all loved to play at as musicians and, of course, it's significance to the millions who attended as members of the audience too. Throughout the 60's The Ritz along with other Birmingham and midlands dance halls were temples of live music, packed to the gills with swarms of girls dancing around piles of handbags. Maybe three of four bands on a Friday,Saturday or Sunday night played there and if you had any musical ambition at all, your objective was to appear on that stage.  Aspiring young musicians would huddle at the edge of the stage watching more experienced guitarists, making mental notes of chord changes or jotting them down in a note book like a train spotter.

I was quite excited when I first heard the news about the Ritz Plaque, thinking that the City Council would be honouring this hallowed Brumbeat venue.  It wasn't long though before I started to have my doubts after hearing about the "Walk of Fame" being associated with it.   

It was a fairly nice day weather-wise and a couple of hundred familiar, but older, Brummie musicians faces gathered around the former entrance to the Ritz and a quick look around showed that all but one or two were from members of the Brumbeat groups of the 60's plus a couple of UB40 members.   There they were addressed by a chain of shopkeepers and a man with a chain but not one of those speakers had a clue about how important this venue was to the assembled muso's.  Someone mentioned to me that it should have been those in the audience making the speeches.  It is a shame to think that the very same crowd of people who made that history at this venue and who took the time to come and remember have been all but forgotten and ignored by the City Council and organisers of this Plaque business.

Here was a unique opportunity for Birmingham City Council and the Kings Heath Planners to acknowledge the great Birmingham bands that played there and were heroes in the City.  Some of these bands packed out The Ritz and the other large venues in the Birmingham area week after week . The Councils answer though to their walk of fame is to put down pavement stars of the more famous acts that played there such as The Beatles and Stones.  That's all very well but where is their display of pride for the Birmingham music and musicians that appeared there?   They are either completely devoid of interest, have been badly advised or have a blinkered commercial view of what is important.   They only had to look at that assembled crowd to see who it was that important to but come to think of it, they wouldn't have a clue who the crowd were. It's tragic really that at other venues in the City these identical paving stones will be appearing like some kind of franchised fast-food chain anywhere there was a venue.  

Uninspired, uninformed and combined with a lack of respect or pride in the City's own musicians, this venture has left a gaping hole in the musical history of Birmingham with the Mayor leading the shabby parade of commercialism.  That local history is as important to Brummies of that era as that of the touring acts like The Beatles. I think that they have missed a great opportunity to highlight some of the greatest Brummie bands of the 60's, the music generation. They announced the first star on the Walk of Fame will be Toyah Wilcox - a huge talking point in the boozer after the event.  There's no reason why she shouldn't have a Star there but her start was at The Hare and Hounds not The Ritz.  The obvious choice for the First star on the walk of fame should have gone to The Modernaires rather than just a mention on the wall plaque as being the resident band. They weren't the greatest band in the world, they didn't have any chart success but they were the kings of The Ritz and played every style of music every week.  It is fitting to remember, from a social history aspect, that these places were dance halls, not places like today where you go just to watch a band perform.   The Modernaires, along with other great Brummie bands, supplied the music for the girls to dance to and at the end of the night provided the background music to a million Brummie romances formed at The Ritz.  

The Council couldn't have sought any specialist advice about this significant part of Birminghams' own music history because even a dope would have known how important it was to include those local acts, some of whom became members of much more internationally famous bands and whose early roots are sought out, by many, to visit. 

A whole string of homogeneous Walks of Fame is projected for the City,
It's already been used to entice even more people to the bars of Broad Street and now a cheaper version is heading for somewhere near you.  

Anyway Mr Mayor and Kings Heath, thanks for absolutely nothing.   What a wasted opportunity, I shall probably never Pawn my watch at Cash Converters again.

Yours,

Bob.
(If you missed the article about The Modernaires in The Sunday Mercury in April click here:  http://www.sundaymercury.net/news/midlands-news/2012/04/08/video-the-modernaires-unearth-live-recording-50-years-after-being-snapped-up-by-elvis-presley-s-record-label-66331-30719649/)

PAUL CARTER, THE BRUMBEATS.
MY DEATH HAS BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED!

BRUMBEATS on Thank Your Lucky Stars 1964

Graham Ashford, Brummie abroad and ex-vocalist of The Brumbeats had informed me two or three months ago that he was now the sole survivor of that group.   You can imagine his surprise then to find that saxophonist Paul Carter is still alive and kicking!!   Not only that but Paul is still blowing his sax and is yet another Brummie abroad as he is based on the Cape in South Africa but also works in the UK for spells.   He probably didn't know that Johnny Neal also has a place on the Cape too!   Anyway Paul, welcome back to the land of the almost living!! 

BULLS HEAD BOB REVIEWS:
DI MARZIO TELECASTER PICK UPS
Some of you who follow this blog will know that I bought for myself a Squier Telecaster Classic Vibe two years ago as a spare guitar.   The guitar itself is well constructed and is a joy to play because of it's nice neck and also it's pine body is really light. 

There is always a bit of a given thing with this type of budget guitar though and that is the electrics are generally inferior and mine was no exception to that rule.   On my recommendation, a friend, Mick the Plumber, bought the same model of Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster that I did and, unsurprisingly, suffered exactly the same sort of electrics problems as I experienced.   The pick up selector switch on mine stopped functioning correctly after a week or so and I was left with only the neck pick-up working, his lasted another couple of months before doing the same thing.  I am realistic though and really didn't expect too much from a cheap guitar so had the switch re-soldered which fixed the glitch.  It came as a disappointment to Mick though, who was on a tighter budget, to find that his guitar had stopped working after such a short time.  

He said to me that he was going to upgrade his guitar and buy a Gibson 335, he had seen advertised locally, as his first serious guitar, but at 1300 pounds he soon started to have second thoughts.  He liked the feel of his current guitar and was keen to retain the Tele sound but also liked the dirtier sound of a Gibson too.   After a couple of weeks of checking out other guitar models and getting nowhere fast, I suggested that he could simply update the electrics.  His face came over all scary looking, "You're joking" he said "I can't do soldering and stuff and it would cost a lot to have someone fit them for me".   I said why not get a set of DiMarzio Area Telecaster pick ups and control panel because it comes as a 'solderless' set at around 200 pounds.   A pretty pricey update? well for a guitar that cost about the same as the DiMarzios themselves to buy, not really, when you consider that to buy a standard USA Telecaster would still cost you more than the total cost of Squier Classic Vibe guitar plus DiMarzio update.   I said that I'd fit them for him and he duly ordered them from a guitar shop on-line.  

The fitting was pretty simple and the pick ups were installed in a trice.
However, the outside diameter size of the supplied guitar input is larger than the standard Fender input and unfortunately there was no 'input jack securing nut' included in this particular kit which meant we had to abandon listening to the guitar till the next day after cobbling something together.   I have to say how disappointing that was.   An e mail to the DiMarzio customer support got a reply the day after though and the missing part was in the mail straight away. So full marks to them for their excellent customer relations,
quite a rarity these days, ever tried to contact Fender??!!!

With the input jack nut mounted we plugged in and I have to say that immediately, the sound that came out of the amp was, quite frankly, mind blowing compared to how it sounded before.  The warmth of the neck pick-up, individually, made me smile. Not only was it immediately 300 per cent better than before, but I swear that the sound of the DiMarzios are far better than Fender Custom Shop pick ups.  Also a great plus was that there was no discernible pick up noise. 

The bridge pick up is amazingly good and ripped through the clean air creating a bluesy, dirty noise more associated with a Gibson.  This pick up is highly sensitive though and will require some fiddling about with height adjustment to get the perfect sound you want, dropping the height to mid-way up the bridge plate will give you a punchy and authentic Telecaster treble sound but the more you raise it the dirtier the sound becomes.   It was also delightful to now have a tone control that actually made some difference when rotated!!  Mick was sat beside me as I readjusted the bridge and intonation, beaming from ear to ear, and after having blasted away for a few minutes I felt a little reticent about handing over the guitar to him because for the first time it was delivering some real heat and I wanted to continue playing it myself.

Mick is now a very happy man but the problem is that I now want to do the same upgrade myself, I best start saving up my pennies. 

Small glitch apart, I strongly recommend the Di Marzio AREA Telecaster solderless pick-up set to anyone wanting to upgrade a cheaper model Telecaster.  They make the world of difference!!
    




AND FINALLY......MORE PLAQUES?

Burton by Bob

Maybe they're going to start putting pavement stars outside Brummie peoples houses next? Blimey, that could cause problems, one that springs to mind is The Move's Trevor "Embarrassed to be a Brummie" Burton.  He used to live in a back to back house so perhaps they would have to insert a star up his passage?  That'd take the sneer off his face.


They could suspend Roy Wood's paving stone in mid-air at a level with his parents fourth storey flat and re-name the flats 'Plaqueberry Way'.


Enough of all this,
Cheers


Bob.
Copyright: Bulls Head Bob
Contact:  Bobsbullocks@GMail.com

BULLS HEAD BOB - JULY - JUBILEE CONCERT (THE WORST OF), DURAN DURAN ARE LIVID! BLACK SABBATH. TANYA DAY. PHIL SAVAGE.

Hello You Guys,

Well, down at the boozer the air has been hot with indignation and bitter vitriol about the state of British music after what can only be described as a show where modern British music was disgraced in front of the whole world.

I don't think I really need to go on about the bollocks commonly known as the Eurovision Thong Contest.....a hall full of gay men in cowboy hats and luminous lycra. The usual "Boom Bang a Puppet on a String Box" gathering and E Humperdink was just the man for the job.  Normal embarrassing useless crap.

THE JUBILEE CONCERT
It became pretty evident that some of the Jubilee Concert was really the corporate arm of the 'X Factor' franchise, on a day out, which meant we had to suffer some poo, and didn't we just?  But wait a minute.....there were some great people on too weren't there?  Well everybody who was a star in the 60's was still a star of that concert and performed like the REAL performers they are.  But as for today's pop heroes?
CHERYL COLE (NEE) TWEEDY, IN A CLASS OF HER OWN!!!
It has to be said that Cheryl Cole (nee Tweedy) was in a class of her own for this concert and in some ways it was her re-launch onto the world scene, having been dumped by the Americans a year ago, so she had something to prove.  Her publicity machine had conveniently brushed aside the recent controversy about her miming when appearing on the hit TV Show, 'The Voice", which is a show for singers apparently?

Some people said "She can't sing" and you know what, they're absolutely spot on!! but surely, she must be more than just a pretty little geordie ...... hang on, she was definitely taller than the Queen!!....that's something?


It's a good job the Queen didn't ask her about her dress either, a calculated publicity grabbing headline would surely have filled the Daily Rags to say she was wearing a dress designed by EWA MINGE...
I thought that was a Saturday night game for consenting adults and as for little Gary Barlow, now this might be a tad critical but "Gary I'd get another tailor" - I mean he must have been pissed out of his head when he went for a fitting cos his jacket had to be held together with a chain!! It didn't even cover his stomach, he was probably thinking "Well I'll slim down into it" and didn't quite make it.

Anyway, when Cheryl Cole (nee Tweedy's) duet with Gary started, she opened her mouth, and out came the sort of discordant noise that I have only heard once before from a sick Himalayan Yak, I was moved to comment to Mrs Bob that it could be another one of those Bananarama 'harmonies' but was proved wrong as she continued her 'avoidance of melody' technique.  She wasn't a million miles away from the Bananas but was definitely worse than the sick Yak.  

My mate Crazy Malc said he'd tried to emulate her sound but had run out of cats to strangle.

Gary Barlow's face was magic, there was this fleeting moment of horror as he heard those first notes. He looked in her direction, (probably expecting to see a Yak?) and I bet he was thinking "What the ****?, I was hoping for a Knighthood for this?".  Sir Gazza of Boybandland.

I could clearly hear the sound techie, who by the way was shit all through the concert, piling on the effects board to try and salvage what could only be described as a vocal Kamikaze dive into a sea of useless crap.  As I watched this dire performance I was reminded of the mantra given to me by my old Indian cave-dwelling guru - "You can't polish a turd".

This is the face of music in our times my friends, concocted, orchestrated, publicity machine and AUTOTUNE.  It was the only time I can think of being envious of the deaf, she probably sounded OK on sub titles.  Her manager, Will-i-am came to her rescue though with a host of flatties himself during his performance and then pathetically struggling to sing with the incredible Stevie Wonder.

I take no pleasure in saying that the country's identity for musical greatness was saved by the artists from the 60's - Shirley Bassey (85), Tom Jones (73)...yes siree!, Elton John (a girl doesn't give her age away) and Macca (70) as the high quality talent, Macca's and Elton's croaky voice apart, they were all really amazing.....go Shirl' what a gob.  I would bet money that the bewildering choice of "Ob-La-Di" as Macca's set closer was because it was the only song the Queen knew as she thought it was about posh people swearing- unsurprisingly, the VIP box was rockin along to that piece of throw away pap, except for the Queen herself who wore ear plugs throughout the concert - "Is it over yet?, right then, Mmmm, particularly loved the Yak impersonation, how novel, time for tea and Knighthoods" - "Not you Barlow!". 

On Monday, following this embarrassing show the headlines in the papers were "Cheryl Shoots to her Third No 1" - well there you go.  What was that song again "There's a sucker, born every minute......"  Gary got an OBE.

BRUMMIES, DURAN DURAN ARE WILD BOYS ALRIGHT - PROBABLY LIVID!!
It didn't go un-noticed by us that there were no Brummies on the bill and only the other day I heard Duran Duran on the radio saying "We've been let down" "We had been waiting for the call to pack the things into the van".   It's even been said that the Black Country's own, The Strollers, were actually thinking of reforming specially for the Queen.  "The Strollers?" you ask in open mouthed amazement? yes, even them.  
Click here - The STROLLERS.  

BLACK SABBATH
At her last Jubilee gig The Queen had Black Sabbath (well not literally!!!) but it's rumoured that she's a bit pissed off with Prince Philip who keeps going on about the, "Is Bill Ward going to drum for Sabbath again?" controversy, so she didn't have them back.  He walked past me one day and I swear he was humming War Pig. 

"BILL WARD WILL BE PLAYING THIS LONG, LITERALLY!" 

We at the pub have written into our code of conduct that there will never be a mention of Cheryl Cole (nee Tweedy), Simon Cowell, X Factor, Dancing shows, in any form whatsoever, and none of those girl groups who know Simon Cowell or, their parents. 

Those points of order having been agreed, we adjourned to the Snug to bemoan the fate of our football clubs, the state of the economy, the state of the world, brutal war and religion.   The Skiffle King told me that he had been chatting to his offspring, Rossington Hoyer, (named after his first guitar) about the dreadful state of this planet and said "Well cheer up, Rossington I've heard a rumour that Jesus is returning anytime soon".  

Rossington replied "What, to pick up his things?"   Kinda sums things up I think??  

TANYA DAY
Right then, back in the days of the 60's there were only a couple of girl singers worth a mention in Birmingham and one of then was the great Tanya Day.  

TANYA DAY WITH JOHNNY NEAL AND THE STARLINERS (copyright J Neal)

Tanya was the only girl in the Reg Calvert stable of would be popsters and had a very sexy act for the times, she was very 'ballsy' and was a raucous and energetic live performer.  She would appear on stage wrapped in a towel and a pair of high heels gyrating her way through her set. "Hello Boys".
Being one of Reg's stable she toured extensively in the UK and also appeared at The Star Club along with The Beatles.   Whilst there she was approached to make a single, a cover of The Shirelles bizarrely titled "His Lips Get in the Way" where she was backed by the Nu Notes which included one Richie Blackmore during his session guitarist days.  I've read somewhere that the Nu Notes played on both sides but...........  

A couple of years back I had an hour's telephone conversation with Tanya and she said that when she had been offered the recording deal for "His Lips.." she told her backing group 'The Somebodys' that she would be recording a single but with  session men as her backing group.  She said their response was "Oh you can't do that Tanya you'll get ripped off, it won't be good for your image etc etc...", she then said to them "And they want you to back me for the B side ,"I Get So Lonely", at which point they all thought it was a great idea!!.

Well 'His Lips Get in the Way' did nothing for her chart-wise but at least "Recording Star" would adorn the Dance Hall posters and she would get a bit more dough.  Tanya and The Somebodys gained some rather unwelcome notoriety for that 'B' side, "I Get so Lonely".  It was positioned at No 10 in the list of the Top 30 worlds worst records by Kenny Everett.   I haven't heard it myself but have to say that I've never heard a good 'A' side recording made in Germany from back then let alone a 'B' side that they would have been given 10 minutes to knock off. 
  
I would have liked to have done more of an in-depth article about her and indeed Tanya had agreed to do an interview but unfortunately I never heard from her again.  She and her husband Paul run a Hotel in Brum these days. 

THE LATE PHIL SAVAGE

Phil Savage in Action with Frosty Moses (copyright Frosty Moses)

A sad farewell to the great Phil Savage, former vocalist of the very promising Frosty Moses who were tipped for bigger things only to have the rug firmly pulled from beneath their feet by an unscrupulous financier.   Phil sadly passed away recently following a year long fight against cancer.   My sincere condolences go to Phil's family and friends.  This brilliant photograph shows
Phil in his finest hour, pure energy.   I know he will be missed by everyone.
.......................

AND FINALLY.....
OLYMPICS UPDATE!!! Lord Snooty and his pals have shown support for the 80 British unsigned bands and various other musical invitees who are playing at the games by NOT Paying them anything.   I bet they discover that they will have to pay their own electricity and admin bill at the end of it.   Why are musicians are treated so badly by this and every other Goverment? 

Buy a gun and run for the hills!!  The Stratocaster Kid, Tony Blair says he wants to be Prime Minister again.....

Until next time our cyber paths cross,
Bob.

copyright: Bulls Head Bob
contact:  Bobsbullocks@Gmail.com

BULLS HEAD BOB - JUN - THE BEATLES AND APPLE - WERE THEY THE KISS OF DEATH? TERRY DORAN, GRAPEFRUIT, BADFINGER, LEVON HELM

Hi Muso's, Brummies and Brummies Abroad 

The artistic and musical revolution of the sixties, underscored by a healthy grounding in Rock and Roll was a movement more than a fashion.
The majority of the world chose one act above all to use as the yardstick and  waited like hungry dogs for every offering, that was of course The Beatles.  Largely through them, music and fashion became influenced by their connection with India.  There was a genuine feel of things being a little more ethereal with barriers of conventional pop music being broken and re-developed.  There was a tangible air of excitement and expectancy at the rapid changes and who wouldn't want to be a part of that?  The music scene was vibrant.  

Earlier, in 1964, The Beatles made their first visit to the USA.  They were asked at the airport press conference what was it that made them so popular?  John Lennon replied "If we knew that, we'd all become managers, have groups of our own, and and be rich". 

Little did he know how prophetic a statement that was.  

It is pertinent to note here that his apparent viewpoint that managers were the ones who gained more financially than the group, was probably based on the fact that, The Beatles were paid 50 quid a week in cash each.   Brian Epstein paid himself One Thousand Pounds per week.  Moreover, at one time he tried to get them to sign a contract whereby he guaranteed them 50 pounds a week each for life and he got the rest!  Things were mighty different in those days folks.
THE BEATLES AND APPLE  
WERE THEY THE KISS OF DEATH?
BULLS HEAD BOB, A ROAD STORY

Can you imagine, during the years of the late 6o's some guy drops into your dressing room after a gig or you get a phone call from someone at Apple saying that they were interested in recording your band??  Without a doubt, you would have been thrilled 'to the core' to think that we would have been joining what was the newest and trendiest, organisation run by The Beatles themselves.  It would be a reasonable assumption too, to think that because of being recruited into their company, some of that golden touch would rub off on you.   Things were going to change for you in a heartbeat and you would be propelled into stardom, wearing the greatest clothes, mixing with all the groovy people, playing all the great venues, drinking at The Scotch of St James, travel, America, lots of money - the list is endless.

In 1968 my band were playing at Alton Towers before it became a thrill seekers playground.  There were usually 3 or sometimes 4 groups playing on Saturday nights and we were on the same bill as Grapefruit, the second band to be signed to Apple.  They were given their name by John Lennon (taken from Yoko Ono's book).  They had a self penned single climbing into the lower part of the charts with "My Delilah" a record soaked in psychedelic 'phasing'.  It was flashing lights and mini skirted dancers. It was trippy and 'of it's time'.

It was given a massive amount of publicity and The Beatles, The Stones, Hendrix and others had all been at the single's launch party.  I had known a couple of the guys in the band from the circuit when they were members of the great Tony Rivers and The Castaways so was looking forward to saying hello again..   

Grapefruit pulled up at Alton Towers in their psychedelicaly painted car, I seem to remember it was a Rover 3 Litre.  They were dressed in the latest of clothes and really looked 'the biz'.  

We and Grapefruit shared a dressing room and whilst I congratulated the guys on their success, they introduced me to someone in their company.  He was in fact Terry Doran, the new manager of Grapefruit, close friend of Brian Epstein and The Beatles and was now firmly in the employ of Apple as the first head of Apple Music publishing and he had signed the first two bands, Grapefruit being the second.  At this stage the Apple label itself had not been launched and the band released their single on RCA Victor.

Terry Doran

These days, Terry Doran is known as being 'the man from the motor trade' referred to in "She's Leaving Home" once having been a second-hand car dealer in Liverpool.  I must admit that, at that time, his name wasn't familiar to me at all and I simply thought he was the bands manager.  He was a bit of a hard faced character and almost threateningly abrupt, at first, which put me firmly on my back foot.   However, it was one of those situations where, after that initial stumbling block, we both got on quite well immediately and were rabbiting away, his Liverpool manner and sense of humour delighted me. 

We did our set and as we came off stage, Grapefruit went on but Terry remained in the dressing room.   He complimented me on my playing and we got chatting again, having a laugh and a cigarette, whilst I packed away my sweaty stage clothes.  Then something very strange happened, he said "You gonna buy me a pint then?", once again in an abrupt manner, I was taken aback and started stumbling over my words, "Or do you want a free pint?....come with me".  We walked out of the dressing room, down a corridor and I found myself, along with Terry at a doorway to the back of the enormous bar that ran the length of the Alton Towers Ballroom.  He spoke to one of the bar staff for a couple of minutes, I saw her look kind of quizzically at him but then she picked up a bucket and walked along the serving area of the bar emptying the full drip trays from the beer pumps into the bucket, he gave me a wink as he picked up two glasses and we walked back to the dressing room with our bucket of mixed beers.  

The story is not so remarkable really but it gave me the idea that things at Apple couldn't be all that rosy, financially.  We had a laugh though and, later, he gave me his phone number said  "Look, come down to London and give me a call, OK?", he only meant me - not the band - and that seemed like a scary proposition for one so young, fragile and susceptible to dangerous pursuits as I.  He didn't seem like a Manager, he was just a likeable scouser, a bit rogueish.

On the drive back to Brum I kept thinking to myself that maybe I should take a chance and do it but after a conversation with another member of the group a week or so later, I made the decision that my future was still with them.  
The idea of maybe being placed into another band also crossed my mind as being something I wouldn't have liked to happen.

Grapefruit had some minor success with their third release, a cover of the Four Seasons 'C'mon Marianne" then kind of disappeared into oblivion.  I read recently that they had been offered "Across the Universe" by John Lennon but had turned it down because they were fed up being labelled as The Beatles group.  Now that was probably a huge error of judgement on their part.   Later that same year, Terry Doran actually got Grapefruit out of their Apple contract because he thought the company wasn't doing enough for them!  Evidence enough to show an incompetent approach and lack of concern for Apple signings.

This personal experience made me look a little more closely at the 'stable' of artists who thought they would get fame with Apple.   Apart from the Grannies favourite of the day, Mary Hopkin, no act ever gained any advantage or practically no success from their association with The Beatles/Apple, including James Taylor.  If anything, the majority of those acts suffered very short existences and passed on.  In actuality Apple was a disaster, dressed in fancy clothes and smoke fuelled, chic hyperbole.  It never did anything other than give the Beatles a new toy to play with for a while.  What was slightly painful was the insincerity of all that launch bullshit with Lennon saying that groups "Wouldn't have to go down on their knees to beg for a chance any longer" and he out of all of them did nothing except record himself and Yoko.  Groups who sent in demo's were never given a chance by Apple, it was just some mates playing Managers with their 'discoveries' found on the old boy net.  

I kept the telephone number for a while but never made the call to Terry Doran. In hindsight it was probably a wise move, although sometimes I think I should have gone for it.  Doran worked with George Harrison up until the beginning of the 80's and was last seen working once again, as a car salesman in London.  I liked the man and was glad to have had some time in his company.

BADFINGER - THE NIGHTMARE

I won't go through the list of Apple acts but one suffered more than any other group and that was Badfinger (formerly The Iveys).  They had been signed to Apple by Mal Evans, one of The Beatles road managers, as The Iveys and had released their first single with Apple "Maybe Tomorrow'.  They were then given the new name  'Badfinger', and a McCartney written and produced song to re-launch them in their new identity and that was "Come and Get it", a brilliant song by any standard and one that I would have liked to have heard The Beatles do themselves.  They were living the dream for a while but were so inextricably linked with The Beatles and Apple that when it all started to blow apart, Badfingers trip into hell commenced.   From then on their story was one of horrifying events.  I just can't imagine how difficult it must have been for them to continue to exist.  Fame without the fortune is a hard cross to bear and this band paid the ultimate price.

I really recommend that all bands should watch the Story of Badfinger before they ever think about signing ANYTHING with anyone..   If you think you were ever treated badly by a shit manager, agent, promoter or record company watch this!

This should be be on some Universities curriculum as obligatory viewing. 
Click Here:  THE STORY OF BADFINGER


LEVON HELM

Although out of context geographically for this Birmingham associated blog, I really feel that it wouldn't be right to let the passing of this exceptional musician go by without a mention.   Levon Helm, drummer and vocalist for The Band died last month from cancer.  I felt  sad for a couple of days and played The Band music throughout, whisking me back to the Brumbeat days playing 'Long Black Veil' in our act for a while.   The Band were the tightest group you would ever have seen with four lead vocalists, all as good as each other but for me, Helm's voice smacked with the twang of the deep south of America, real porch stuff, he gave The Band authenticity to the basic down-home approach to their songs liberally laced with clever historic references.
His vocals and tight drumming are just so good on 'Cripple Creek'.

If you have some time, put on their second LP, 'The Band' turned up to a nice volume level, sit back and just listen to the sublime quality of the recording, fantastic, tight and effective drum patterns 
matched with imaginative songs and a peerless musical performance from every member of that group.
If that's not enough please do watch The Band DVD "The Last Waltz", very entertaining.

Robbie Robertson broke that band up by saying he could never tour again, he was burned out, the road had broken him.  The Band broke up and Robbie Robertson went straight back out - on his own.  Another story of ego fuelled deceit, how well I know that scenario.   There is a Brumbeat connection though and that is that Spooky Tooth went on to have their first recording success with a cover of 'The Weight'.
 
WANTED:  BARRY CIVIL
Are you, or do you know Barry Civil, once a member of 'Extreem' and reportedly still playing locally?
Please contact me at bobsbullocks@Gmail.com if you are Barry Civil or have any information.

STEVE WINWOOD
Great news indeed, Steve Winwood back on the road playing a few concerts.
Sadly he only played one UK date at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival on 2 May with the rest of his tour being in the States.   Shame....

OLYMPICS NEWS
It's Olympics fever in the boozer and I and thought I'd share with you some hot poop from the gang.

Sue and Biff  "Is that a canoe in your pocket?"

LONDON HQ....  Lord 'Tally Ho' Coe and his toff snobs on the Olympic Committee have been pulling out all the stops to impress "Johnny Foreigner" when he and his cohorts arrive in their masses to chuck things about and run around in circles for a bit.  They've been pooling their mindsets and running some things up their corporate flagpole.  Here is what they came up with......  this is absolutely factual news.  The 'Hip' element of Coe's Crew contacted Bill Curbishley, ex Manager of The Who to enquire if Keith Moon would be available to play drums at the opening ceremony? (open mouthed amazement is permitted just here). 

I bet that was Sue Barkers idea, "She's definitely the cutting edge chick with all the wild and crazy grooves cool daddy" said a spokesperson for the Crew.  David Beckham was reported to have commented "I fink it wood be grate to av ad im on vu mannur 'nat" (awaiting confirmation and translation).

NORTH OF ENGLAND.....  As usual the Great British public are doing everything to create a feeling of welcome to the shores, that is unless you are from the Lake District where they appear to have set traps for them.  Either that, or they have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure their visitors have a time to remember!!

So that's it from me and the Gang at the pub, got my rail ticket in hand.....whoo whoo!!

A farewell to Big Eck........."I tried but I failed" - I thought he had a bit of a raw deal from everyone at Villa Park.   UTV.

Bob
copyright: Bullsheadbob
contact Bobsbullocks@GMail.com 

BULLS HEAD BOB - MAY - BOB HANSON. THE NEW 'LADIES SECTION'. WATKINS WEM HALLE CAT

Hiya Brummies,

BOB HANSON.
I think one of the first Brummies I ever saw who could actually play the guitar 'properly' was Bob Hanson from Yardley Wood.   In those days Bob had a Hofner V3 which he used with a Watkins Dominator and copicat echo chamber.  He was the lead guitarist of The 'Rockin' Dextones, and they played all The Shadows and Ventures instrumentals as well as a smattering of vocal hits, as was the norm for the day.  

(Bob Hanson - back right)

I was recently informed by Bob Styler (Yamps/Traction) that Bob Hanson
sadly passed away on 16 Apr 2012 following a heart attack. 

EARLY SPARKHILL DAYS
Bob Styler - "I used to see Bob with The Dextones nearly every week at the English Martyrs Youth Club at Sparkhill and some other local dance halls, they were a good group for their ages and were well liked.  I think Bob was a kind of local role model for the younger guitarists too.   I had recently been playing in a band with Bob, I'd gone almost full circle and ended up with one of the first musicians I'd known.  Bob had a really nice touch to his playing and I'm sad that he's no longer with us but glad that we got together". 

BULLS HEAD BOB, A FUN MEMORY
BOB HANSON'S VOX AC30

In the early 60's I was chatting to some other guitarists in a city music shop.  We were told by the owner that Bob Hanson had just bought a VOX AC 30. To own an amp like that was a big deal in those days and myself and two or three other guitarists immediately took the bus from Birmingham City Centre to Yardley Wood.  We turned up unannounced on the doorstep of Bob's family home and asked him if it was true that he had a Vox and could we see it?   

We entered the living room where his parents were watching TV.  I remember the room seeming quite small (probably because it was full of spotty youths) and there, taking pride of place, almost like a sideboard in any other home, was this beautiful Vox amp with it's own cover and standing on it's silver Vox stand.  We guitarists (and Bobs parents) all gathered around it, Bob took off the cover and we were all Oh!!-ing and rabbiting on about the gold VOX lettering, the controls, the inputs and 30 Watts!!!   

We were clearly captivated by it.   Bob was all smiles and was now sporting the proud look of someone who was truly superior to us all. "Turn it on Bob!" said one of the guitarists - "No sorry, you can't hear it" came the reply.  "Oh go on!!" we all said "No, you can look at it but you can't listen to it" - we left the house still excited, jealous and a bit disappointed that he wouldn't let us hear it.  Of course, the clever thing was that, by not turning it on, we all went to see the Dextones next gig to see and hear the amp in action - it and Bob were great, he looked to be in guitar heaven.   It wasn't long before he got his hands on a Stratocaster to complete his desired sound combination. 

Shortly after this event my life took a different direction and sadly, I never saw the Dextones or Bob Hanson again, nonetheless his diligent approach and serious dedication to the art of playing the guitar had a direct influence on me and made me work harder to get better.  I remember being impressed by him playing those instrumentals note-for-note, delivered with great pride in his ability and of course his 'gear'.  I'm pretty sure that I wasn't the only guitarist in that area of Brum who saw Bob's meticulous playing as something to be admired.   So though it's a little late, "Thanks very much Bob". 

The Dextones, like so many other groups of that day never set the world on fire but were truly representative of the sound of the early 60's when groups ruled the waves.   Bob Hanson's story didn't stop there though.  He continued to do gigs with various groups and musicians such as Johnny Neal and Mel Stanton at midlands clubs right up to his passing and although he never 'made it big' as a musician he remained true to his art and you can't really ask for more success than that.

My sincere condolences go to Bob's family and friends. 

BERT WEEDON

Well he wrote the greatest book on learning how to play the guitar for novices.  Bert Weedon passed away at the age of 91.   More of a Big Band guitarist, Bert Weedon was what we might call 'middle of the road' in his choice of music style and though he was influential for some musicians he was considered too 'straight' for others.  His fame arose at the same time as Joe Brown and Hank Marvin but Weedon didn't have the youth appeal that the other two younger guitarists had and he kind of got left behind, although he had a good career.  I recall him being on a TV chat show and he said "I'm now going to play a thousand notes in a minute" or something very similar, off he went, Diddle-iddle-iddle-iddle for a minute, I don't believe that anybody really bothered counting how many notes he played but that style caught on with a few guitarists.   I last saw him at a 60's event about 10 years back and he was still playing Hava Nagila and Guitar Boogie Shuffle.

THE LADIES SECTION
News clips from around the Globe
Sinead O'Connor has cancelled her world tour!!.....didn't know she was doing one, but myself and the Gang of Four would like to say "Thankyou Very Much" to her on behalf of the whole world.

Men are set to live as Long as Women.   This report in the press has brought sharp criticism from the BFC (Brumette Feminist Collective).   A recent statement from the Aston branch of the Radical MSL (Men are Shit League) said "This is just another example of a womans right to exist longer than the enemy coming under attack.   There is concern amongst the Sisters that DNA is being manipulated to give men the equal hand, and that is just not fair?".     

Groupie Accidentally Sleeps With Bass Player
This article was published in 2009 in Kentucky.   Gang of Four member
'Mouse' brought it into the boozer for us to read and we thought that it
only right that this should be treated as a word of warning for all concert going, female music lovers.
LOUISVILLE, KY – The day after 'The Academy Is' were in concert, Victoria Jorgensen, 22, was terrified to realize that she had accidentally slept with the band’s bass player – mistaking him for someone important in the band.
“I can’t believe how stupid I was,” said Jorgensen. “I mean, I went up to the guy and was like ‘are you in the band’ and he was all like, ‘yeah, I’m in the band’ so I did him. Then this morning I was telling my friends and I realized he was just the bass player. This happens to me all the time.”

Jorgensen plans to do more research before sleeping with another band member.  “This won’t happen again,” said Jorgensen. “If I’m going to sleep with someone, they’d better be important. I mean, I could find someone here in town as important as a bass player.”  Adam Siska, 'The Academy Is' bass player, was unavailable for comment.

Wow!!, the air here in the bloggery is electric with joy at this first issue of The Ladies Section, or as Kat Von D, that well known entrepeneur, tattooist and apparent liker of 'the older bass player' would say "I'm really stoked!!"  Go Kat Go!!!!!  She's a brilliant artist and I don't think she's from Kentucky?

WE ARE ONE?
It hasn't gone un-noticed by yours truly that Birmingham Feminists now appear to be sporting the old logo I once emblazoned across these here cyber pages, or is it sheer co-incidence that we both 'borrowed' it from the Chicago Bulls.  Could be a sign that I'm delivering the kind of information into that niche market sector that the ladies deserve.

I have to say though, I am an egalitarian so cannot support their claims to be the Master Race, oops! I meant the Mistress Race.....No, not that either!!  I meant a sort of homogenous, sexually indistinct human group who have the right to complain about men.  Whew, that's better. 
It's so easy to trip over one's use of words these days.

COMING SOON:   "Celulitis in the Sixties" - Was it noticeable in the back of a Ford Transit?  

THE 'OLD KIT' BIT.
WATKINS - WEM 'HALLE CAT'
This rare piece of Watkins kit was a four channel mixer combined with a 4 Head, copicat type echo and separate reverb unit.  I imagine that it was primarily designed for PA vocal use.  Presumably it was called the 'Halle' cat because of giving a concert hall style reverb sound.  I never saw or heard one in use to my knowledge, and only saw this model being sold on E Bay some years ago.   I don't know how efficient it was, reminds me of the controls that we used to see on Joe 90.   Perhaps someone out there has some more info??



Well thats all from ME...Me...me...me....me.....me........

TILL NEXT MONTH

Bob

Copyright: Bullsheadbob

Contact:    Bobsbullocks@ Gmail.com