London and her history, 1960's culture, live music, cinema, Tottenham Hotspur in the 60's and 70's, Barnet FC in the 80's & 90's, classic formica caffs like the New Piccadilly (RIP), London Open House Weekend in September, cats, ring-tailed lemurs/Madagascan wildlife Boston, Paris, classic British comedy, offshire pirate radio 1964-75, BBC6Music, BBC7, quizzes (done OK in them over the years). And old streetlamps.
I'd like to meet:
You, if you're not negative etc., any friends and acquaintances old & new, and any bands/acts who have looked at my "favourite music" properly, someone who has any ideas how I can lose the 20lbs I've put on in the last year. If I don't know you personally, a message to accompany the request would be good!
Music:
Well, to scratch the surface......Late 50's/early 60's rhythm & blues, Joe Meek, Helen Shapiro, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, Beatles, Searchers, Hollies, Pretty Things, Georgie Fame, Yardbirds, Kinks, ZOMBIES, Who, Small Faces, Creation, EASYBEATS, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Motown, Stax, OTIS REDDING, Wilson Pickett, Billy Stewart, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Nuggets & Pebbles, Monkees, Tommy James, Boxtops, Nederbiet, PP Arnold, Move, Julie Driscoll & Brian Auger, Bonzos, MICHEL POLNAREFF, Jacques Dutronc, lots more French pop, Trojan-era reggae, klezmer, bubblegum, freakbeat, Badfinger, Raspberries, powerpop, BOLAN/T.REX, Mott the Hoople, 10CC, UK/junkshop Glam, Golden Earring, Dr Feelgood, Sparks, JAM/PAUL WELLER, Buzzcocks, ELVIS COSTELLO, Jonathan Richman, Chords, Purple Hearts, Onlookers, Prisoners, 3 O'Clock, Paisley Underground, Let's Active, Game Theory, Miracle Legion, Chesterfield Kings, Lyres, Playn Jayn, Dentists, Icicle Works, The Chairs/Sullers, The Price, Spongetones, Smithereens, Big Dipper, CAVEDOGS, Material Issue, Gigolo Aunts,
Mystreated, Mother Earth, Pulp, Ocean Colour Scene, Dodgy, Kula Shaker, (oh, not much around the beginning of this decade, was there) Hives, Felix Moment Power Trio, Magic Numbers, White Stripes/Raconteurs, Kaiser Chiefs, Ed Harcourt, Amy Winehouse (take it easy, homegirl), The Shortwave Set - which brings us up to who ring my ding at this very moment - check out, if you will, THE BISHOPS, THE PRISCILLAS, MOR KARBASI (She sings in a language you may not have heard of, and her voice is astonishing), THE SUZAN (from Tokyo), RUM CIRCUS and any other band who may become a "friend".
Movies:
Diner/Levinson's Baltimore series, 84 Charing Cross Road, Dazed & Confused, Ealing/Postwar British films, Saturday Night & Sunday Morning/Woodfall films, Big Lebowski, Cinema Paradiso, Blow Up, Backbeat, Shaun of the Dead, Blazing Saddles, Hard Day's Night, Yellow Submarine, Kes, Dragnet, The Jokers, Young Frankenstein, Head, American Splendor, Monty Python & The Holy Grail, That'll Be the Day/Stardust, Slade in Flame, The Party, Bedazzled (1967 version of course)! Melody/SWALK, Almost Famous, Let Him Have It, Silent Movie, any Swinging 60's fluff.
Television:
Avengers/Prisoner/Randall & Hopkirk/ITC stuff, Steptoe & Son, Hancock's Half-Hour, The Sweeney, Get Smart, Car 54 Where Are You, Vic Reeves Big Night Out (first series), Life on Mars, Saxondale (series 2 was a triumph)!, Look Around You, Seinfeld, Lemur Island, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
Books:
Angel Pavement - JB Priestley, Absolute Beginners - Colin McInnes, High Fidelity - Nick Hornby, Lost in Music - Giles Smith, (he got there first, dammit)! Untorn Tickets - Paul Burke, The Damned Utd - David Peace, 84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff, Dear Boy (Keith Moon biog) - Tony Fletcher, Otis! (Redding biography) - Scott Freeman, Stoned I & II - Andrew Loog Oldham, Boswell's London Journal, Kenneth Williams' Diaries, George Orwell, a lot of Dickens, any well written/researched book concerning London.
Heroes:
Marty Feldman, Dr Samuel Johnson, Allan Sherman, Lorenzo Marioni, Robert Opie, Roger Scott, Josie Lawrence, Wendy May, Julie Ann Kostas for doing all the original setting up for this page from a distance of 3,000 miles!
