Again I have failed in getting through Christmas without......

[Evans Electric]

.........hearing Slade's  Merry Christmas Everybody.   Had to go shopping and it got me in the store. 

I'll just try to get to Boxing Day without hearing  Wizard now ................bit like trying to walk to school without stepping on the cracks though .  

 

[Blue Duck]

That's why Internet shopping was invented

I must admit to not hearing the usual Christmas staples but here in London it's not called Christmas anymore it's the Winter Holidays or some such nonsense as not to upset the street furniture.

 

[Evans Electric]

You're joking !!    We went through all that nonsense here.  The B,ham council decided we have call it Winterval   for which they were decried from the rooftops .

We are still left with the  NON Christian street decoration lights though , the designs depict anything except baby Jesus , Mary, Joseph, Angels from above , mangers , wise men from the east, following moving stars and  bearing gifts we travelled so far ,  Inns with no rooms left, donkeys,  swaddling clothes,  shepherds watching flocks  ..............  all deemed to upset those who are not of the Christian faith  . :C   

 

[kerching]

I have just set my ring tone to Slade Merry Christmas

Normally it is Monty P "bright side of life" for the obvious reason

 

[Tony S]

I’m more worried my wallet won’t survive chrimbo.

 

[kerching]

I’m more worried my wallet won’t survive chrimbo.

Mine crashed and burnt a month ago 

 

[binky]

I've been listening to Absolute radio, who have mostly avoided Crimbo lettuced songs until this week, which is fair enough as it is nearly Crimbo, so only heard Slade yesterday.

 

[Evans Electric]

Ah  I noticed that on Radio WM  ......someone asked why no Chrimbo songs ...they said we have told not to play them until next week  ( This week)  

Which is a blessing .

 

[Slowhand]

A few years ago when l lived in Birmingham me and the mrs went to watch the Christmas parade in the city centre.

There was always a celebrity in a sleigh pulled by real reindeer.

This particular year it was Roy Wood, one of my musical heroes.

It was cold and snowing and Roy had a couple of scantily clad young ladies in the sleigh with him.

The sleigh stopped about 6 feet away from us for a photo shoot.

I looked at Roy and he looked at me so I said " Alright mate " ( Brummie patois for hello )

He looked at me and said the same thing back, all the time holding my gaze as if he wanted me to carry on the conversation.

I had his complete attention so not wanting to miss the opportunity of a lifetime to talk to this man I said....

" I Bet YOU Wish it could be Christmas EVERY DAY Roy"

He looked at me like I'd slapped him, shook his head and looked down at his feet and said nothing else until the sleigh moved on.

He never even said " Tara a bit. " ( Brummie patois for bye bye )

Even though he must be raking it in from this song it seems he didn't want to be reminded of it.

 

[Evans Electric]

Oh dear !   Noddy Holder said their song was his pension plan . 

Tara a bit  Slowhand  mind 'ow yer goo  and keep out of the 'orseroad .

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

I vaguely remember reading a few years back that a lot of Roy Woods chart hits made a lot less for him personally than many would imagine.

Loads of small print in contracts and stuff left him stitched up quite bad compared to some of his musical peers...

For example David Bowie was a very astute business man, as well as a damn good song writer..

He retained the rights to one heck of a lot of his material.....

and thus kept more of the money generated....

I heard that Roy Wood's management & record labels etc..   took a big percentage of money & royalties earned..

(I may be wrong.. but I'm sure that's what I heard or read a few years ago)

opcorn Guinness

 

[Slowhand]

^^^ Oh dear,  perhaps Roy was thinking about how things might have been. ^^^

He might not want to hear "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" because it reminds him of the royalties he might not be getting.

No wonder he didn't want to talk anymore. 

I

 

[Evans Electric]

I believe most of the popular singers etc. were well stitched up by their management and record labels .  In fact a lot of the pop stars in the early 1960's got nothing from record sales ....their income came from touring on the back of a hit single .   

One well known manager, can't think of his name,  had a stable of pop singers , Marty Wilde , Joe Brown  etc   who were paid something daft like £30 a week and had to play gigs like Glasgow Monday night  then Southampton  Tuesday night. 

I think I heard Gerry Marsden (and The Pacemakers) say he had re-recorded  stuff like Ferry  and Never Walk Alone in later years so they were released with a different deal attached. 

The huge difference being the increase of pop radio stations , from Radio 1 ,Radio Luxemburg  ...to .. dozens and dozens today all having to pay royalties.

I presume  with guys like The Beatles writing, performing and owning their own label made a big difference.    

 

[Slowhand]

I think that was Larry Parnes or as Tommy Steel called him...

Larry Parnes, shillings and pence.

Edit to say we saw Joe Brown at the Town Hall in Brum about 6 years ago.

For a guy in his 70's he had us rocking all night.

 

[Evans Electric]

Thats right ...Larry Parnes  ..dunno why they put up with it TBH .  

I like Joe Brown  , in the early days,visiting rock musicians were prevented from bringing their own bands due to the Trade unions here. Joe  toured with all of them , Eddie Cochran ,  Gene Vincent  et al .    He must have some stories to tell.!!

 

[Slowhand]

He did tell a lot of stories about touring with the big stars.

He told one about how the Beatles were his warm up act when he did a uk tour.

A few years later when the Beatles had achieved messianic status George Harrison invited Joe and his missus to a party.

George still rated Joe as a superior musician to himself.

After that they had a lifelong friendship and much to Georges wife's annoyance they started a Ukulele band.

 Joe played ukulele at Georges tribute at the Albert Hall.

He sang Georges favourite song " I'll See You In My Dreams "

When he told the story and played the song for us most of the audience were in tears.

 

[Evans Electric]

Thats a nice memory  .