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On 5th September 1966 filming began on 'The Prisoner' in the village of Portmeirion in North Wales. Fifty years on it still divides opinion - McGoohan's surreal masterpiece or overwrought nonsense? A brilliantly observed allegory or a clumsy mess? For what my opinion is worth you either get it or you don't - if you get it you'll argue it's excellence in the face of some of the most fervent criticism that something as seemingly trivial as a mere television show will ever receive, if you don't then you literally won't give it houseroom. Me? I think that if there's a better TV series then I've yet to see it - which reminds me, I must watch it again sometime soon. Many happy returns Number 6 - be seeing you...
Anyway your humble narrator was a bit, erm, fragile yesterday… actually I was asleep for most of the afternoon. And before you ask - yes, I've still got a bit of a headache… but 'twas a splendid Saturday night at The 100 Club, a very special evening to cerebrate all round good bloke and man-with-lots-of-punk-tattoos Simon 'Coppo' Copson's 50th birthday. I joined Department S for their last three songs and had a bloomin' great time. And why not?
The previous evening Big Al and The Blistering Buicks played at The Sir John Gibson in Stanwell. It was a new gig for the band, and with my fellow six-stringer Pete away elsewhere I was obliged to cover some of his parts as well as my own. We played three short sets instead of our customary two hour-long spots - matters got decidedly weird in the first interval when a cheery chappie came over and interrupted myself and Dave the bass player's chat with the words 'alright lads? Sorry to interrupt…' (he quite clearly wasn't sorry) and then asked for 'some Madness, not the obvious stuff like 'Our House' and all that, I want a b-side or an album track - yeah?' The politest response I could think of was 'prepare yourself for a disappointment…' - to which he replied with 'oh yeah, and it's my mate's birthday' (people like him always have a mate with a birthday - strange but true) 'so if you could play him a Madness b-side or two' (how did I know that he was going to say that?!?) 'he'd be well happy'. Yes, I bet that he would. We played 'One Step Beyond' in our second set - I very much doubt that he even noticed.
There are three more BA and The BBs gigs this week (in Sunningdale, Burnham and High Wycombe since you've asked) as well as more days in Balcony Shirts so there's plenty to do. And on Friday the new Ruts D.C. single 'Music Must Destroy' is released on Westworld / Sosumi Records. The promo video is finished and looks great - Henry Rollins is as fearsome as ever, and even though I say so myself, we look pretty good too. That day in the cement-filled warehouse in Peckham was worthwhile after all - but more about that next time.
Three shows in three days from Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks last week, starting with Thursday night at The Sunningdale Lounge in Sunningdale. We've played there enough times for me to describe it as a 'familiar' place, although there was nothing to familiar about this show - with bassman Terry and keyboard maestro Chris stuck in traffic our performance began with Al, Pete and myself playing a couple of songs on guitars before Dave joined us on drums. Fortunately Terry and Chris arrived after only 10 minutes or so, thus sparing the audience of anymore 'what songs can we play without bass and keyboards' moments. The rest of the show went well, which was something of a relief considering how it had all started... the next night saw the band visit The Rising Sun in Stanwell - Action Pact came fro there which has got to be a good sign if you think about it. With Dave the drummer elsewhere Howard depped (he's Shakin' Stevens's drummer - really!) in a lively show that was eventful any number of reasons, not least me being short changed by £6 during the interval (!) and someone repeatedly asking for us to play 'Won't Get Fooled Again'. By the time we were leaving thunderstorms of almost biblical proportions were erupting all around and the car park featured a puddle roughly the size of Lake Geneva. It was that kind of night. The third show of three took place at The White Horse in Longford Village near Staines - Dave returned for a show in what might best be described as a conservatory on the side of the pub, and the evening saw much jollity from all concerned. Oh and lots of parking on double yellow lines, although nobody seemed in the least bit concerned - indeed the locals that I spoke to just shrugged their shoulders and said that people there did it all the time. Strange - I wonder what other laws they regularly break around those parts?
On Sunday evening I went to The Royal Albert Hall to see the World premiere of 'Classic Quadrophenia'. Featuring The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Robert Zeigler and The London Oriana Choir and orchestrated by Rachel Fuller, it saw the hitherto unlikely sight of Alfie Boe and Billy Idol duetting on several songs (I wonder how many fans of one know who the other one is and vice versa?) as well as Phil Daniels clearly astounded by the fact that he was duetting with anyone and Pete Townshend looking somewhat overwhelmed by the whole affair. I thought it all sounded incredible - one of the best albums ever made re-imagined (I believe that's the term?) and sounding utterly astonishing throughout. Classic then - and classic now.
Monday night I joined fellow Buicks six-stringer Pete at The Three Wishes in Edgware for the regular jam night - it had been a while since I'd been along as I got fed up with some of the comments some people were making to me (I really must write that piece on jam nights one day!) although we did have the ulterior motive of drumming up support for Big Al's gig there this Saturday. Overall it was an enjoyable evening despite the odd silly moment - then again I did get to meet Osibisa guitarist Wendell Richardson so it wasn't all bad!
And last night saw the relatively rare occurrence that is an Upper Cut rehearsal; we're looking forward to 4 shows this month - that's a tour by our standards! And Ruts D.C. play an acoustic show at Rough Trade East tomorrow night - that's if any of us can get there. There's a tube strike you know...
