Hello everyone ive not been blogging for a while as ive been busy in the gym and working and wait for it dating a lovely lady, but today i have to write a short blog to say well done Sam you did what was asked of you,and you did it whilst taking a load of shit from your own supporters.Sam please stand up and take a bow, and let the twitterarti who wanted you out along with Nolan, and who said Vaz Te was shit etc etc well let them fuck right off because you proved them all wrong.
Sam i bloody well salute you, thanks for making our club difficult to beat and resilliant, not like the roll over west ham of old.
And so it finally happened all Bradfords old movers and shakers finally got together at Renegades nightclub, to celebrate the times we had at Panache about 30 years ago! What started as a facebook group finally ended up as a great big reunion!
For all those that dont know Panache was the place were all the post punk ,Bowie,new romantic kids gathered in the late 70s early 80s,and a great club it was too with a fabulous soundrack to boot!
So the big night arrived and i had arranged to take my son with me firstly to show him what his dad used to get up to and secondly just for a bit of company!
After the obligitarory curry as were in bradford which was fantastic but it took TWO hours for 6 of us to get served, it was time to hit the club!
Walking across town was truly strange it was so quiet not like in our time when there used to be people everywhere,and people used to come from Leeds to Bradford as the nightlife was far superior!
And so here we were at the club, not been in a club for years , but here i am handing my £5 over and getting my hand stamped as a passout so i can go in and out how fantastic!
We entered this small dark club and in a way it was like stepping back in time, we just looked older but the soundtrack the DJ was playing was the soundtrack of those days,it was great bumping into old friends, people who you see now and again, but who you pick up where you left off even if its been 10+ years since youve seen each other.
A great night was had by all and other then a few “events” on the night a great night was had and everyone agrees that we cant wait to do it again. Bradfords old guard can still do it! I still love bradford on a night out more people should give it a go!
I enjoyed this more then the punk reunions it was more glamorous!
Cant let today pass without a quick blog about Sid, i cant belive its 33 years since he died, i remember hearing about it and being absolutley devastated,he was the first rock star i cared about that died,we laughed at the teddy boys when Elvis died and he was really old anyway,but Sid was young like us,it did not seem possible he was dead,i remember playing my way over and over again,at the time he was a big hero of mine, he just seemed to be anti everything which when your young its what you admire the most! Drugs and Nancy killed him, would of been interesting to see him 33 years later and what he may of become, but some people seem to self destruct.
Paul Anka the writer of My way always said that Sids version was his favourite!
Sid may be a bit of a cartoon punk but he and the sex pistols were true trailblazers for everything no sex pistols =no future.
Well in Bradford in the olden days in talking the 70s here there were a lot of reggae clubs which we as punks gravitated towards, as punk seems to be inexplicably linked with reggae!
I used to hang out with all the west indian kids at school, probably because i was not in the top stream at school and neither were they! (Curly,Neil,Donovan amongst others i salute you!)
I remember showing my mates in 78 i think, this single by Jah Wobble they could not belive a white man was playing reggae and called Jah Wobble!
Another big album at the time was Culture two sevens clash
Culture’s most influential record, was based on a prediction by Marcus Garvey, who said there would be chaos on July 7, 1977, when the “sevens” met. With its apocalyptic message, the song created a stir in his Caribbean homeland and many Jamaican businesses and schools,well there was chaos in the uk as the Sex pistols were around! 77 was a year i will never forget!
And then there was Bob marley with his punky reggae party.
The clubs we went to in bradford were
The palm cove venue of many punk bands and mod revival bands
perseverence the biggest illegal chemist in bradford!
Bibis
sugar cane
the mayflower club
These places introduced me to dub,red stripe smoking and killer killer headaches the next day!
im pretty sure all these have gone now mores the pity,we even had our own reggae specialist record shop,Bradford was a thriving scene then! Happy days!
Ok before i start with this,this is a simplistic view of a normal working man, who has voted labour all his life but wont in the foreseeable future and who would never ever vote tory.
There seems to be a big stink about benefits being capped at £26000 a year in real terms thats about £34000 before tax!
Is this not enough for a household? Well some people dont think so are these people for real? I dont earn this much net and what i earn i have to work long hours for, so why should a household that does not work be unhappy about getting £26k for nothing i would be pretty happy with that!
People say but they wont be able to afford the rent if benefits are capped, well rent somewhere cheaper, i would like to live in a big house but cant afford the mortgage, so i live in a 2 bedroom apartment which i can afford! Why should you live in a big house that i have to pay for when i cant afford too?
Do i also have to pay for your large flat screen tvs,sky packages,dogs,cigs,cars,smart phones etc these things are luxuarys that people work for they are not part of the cost of being on benefits.
I have never ever voted Tory and i never would but this is one thing that they have got right,the benefit system is out of control,people like me putting in and never taking anything out,i cant even get an NHS dentist FFS!
Dont oppose this cap just because the Torys have thought of it.
This is one subject that makes me and a lot of working people fume,as we go to work to support our familys, we see the benefit system milked,support the people who need it of course, but there are too many people living off benefits quite happily,these are the people this cap is aimed at.
Well as this Con/Dem nightmare carrys on with the systamatic dismantaling of the welfare system, its much abused i know but it still helps the people who need it most, i was thinking the other day who the hell would i vote for now, certainly not Tory or Liberal but could i bring myself to vote for the dream team that is Ed Milliband/Ed Balls, er no i dont think so. After they agreed with the cuts the Torys have implemented last week there does not seem to be a credibal place for my vote any more, and im a guy who voted for Michael Foot!
So where do the people like me who are not Tory or wishy washy Liberal go from here , answers on a postcard please!
Buy the queen a yacht and everything will be ok its not 1977,i wish it was though!
When did gig tickets start to get so expensive that some of them are going into 50£ plus pounds plus dont forget the booking fee and postage and packing. Why do they advertise gigs a year in advance and sell overpriced tickets for these “events” i know its cos they can sit on your money for a year but what happened to being spontaneous and planning gigs just a few months in advance and as a gig goer being able to go down on the night and pay in,its all corporate shit now turning rebellion into money!
I got a ticket to go see tune yards at the cockpit in leeds 12£ for the ticket not bad, 1.50£ booking fee fuck off!, and 50p cos i used my bank card for fucks sake whats all that about?!
In the olden days we used to see what bands were playing via the NME then decide to go on the night to see those bands like the clash FFS turn up on the night pays your money and your in, now you need to book to see shit bands a year or 2 in advance, and as for the high price of your shit festivals with the same bands playing year after year with a tired has been headliner to justify the ticket price, dont get me started!
Anyway enjoy your overpriced corporate rock events, which you dont watch anyway as your to busy filming the event on your iphone to put on facebook to prove you were there having a good time!
hello well a poor start to the year on i turned out a punk,never made it to the horse brothers, and i seem to be stuck with writers block, not much to talk about or rant about at the moment, pretty sure im suffering a bit of depression, oh well im sure the drivel will comence again at some point, on a happier note i have a ticket to go see tune-yards at the cockpit in leeds on the 13th of feb, thats one i wont miss.
i will leave you with my favourite cure song the lyrics are all if onlys,i can relate to that.
Had to add Closedown too
i’m running out of time i’m out of step and
closing down and never sleep for wanting hours
the empty hours of greed and uselessly always
the need to feel again the real belief of
something more than mockery if only i could
fill my heart with love
So here we are at the start of another new year, this is the year when everything changes for me, after taking my daughter to school most mornings since nursery,this sept she will start big school and year 7 so i will be redundent from dropping off duties!
Its something i will miss terribly but it will give me the chance to get a new job where i wont have to work such long hours, i will be able to start before 10 giving me the chance to move into corporate catering!
Thats one of my resolutions!
others are
start running
read more
compute less
go out more
drink more
work less.
All achievable i think, as for the drink more i only had about 10 units of alcohol all last year so people thinking im going to turn into a raging alcoholic need not worry!
anyway i aim to blog more this year with reviews and photos from the places i go to!
watch out for my first review from next saturdays gig at delius in bradford going to see the horse brothers at Delius in Bradford,Dave Barbe ex ant and wowser on the drums!
i leave you with 3 songs i discussed on twitter tonight!
