Footy

In truth, her name is Patti Boyd and she was a model rather than a groupie. In yet another parallel in the careers of the Beatles and the Stones, Keef nicked Brian's girlfiend when the three of them all went off on holiday together and Brian got ill.

You Don't Know Me - Ray Charles. Maybe a bit sentimental-sounding for you if you're as young as I think you are. Here are the lyrics, anyway; You give your hand to me And then you say, "Hello." And I can hardly speak, My heart is beating so. And anyone can tell You think you know me well. Well, you don't know me. No you don't know the one Who dreams of you at night; And longs to kiss your lips And longs to hold you tight Oh I'm just a friend. That's all I've ever been. Cause you don't know me. For I never knew the art of making love, Though my heart aches with love for you. Afraid and shy, I let my chance go by. A chance that you might love me too. You give your hand to me, And then you say, "Goodbye." I watched you walk away, Beside the lucky guy Oh, you'll never ever know The one who loved you so. Well, you don't know me For I never knew the art of making love, Though my heart aches with love for you. Afraid and shy, I let my chance go by. A chance that you might love me too. Oh, you give your hand to me, And then you say, "Goodbye." I watched you walk away, Beside the lucky guy Oh, you'll never ever know The one who loved you so. Well, you don't know me

I wouldn't want to condone the use of drugs especially as many of you on here appear to be quite young. [Forgive me if I'm wrong and I don't mean to sound patronising, either]. It's certainly true that we've lost so many great artists to drugs, either through death or through their having their brains fried [syd as mentioned and don't forget Peter Green, either. OK, he performs again intermittently but he's not what he once was]. It's ironic, then, that most artists of worth seem to produce their most creative and best stuff when they're smacked off their heads or tripping to God-knows-where. I mean, even Billie Holiday or Ray Charles were at their vocal peaks when on heroin, not to mention the Stones 'purple patch'. The Beatles best songs come from acid and dope and it was Dylan who introduced them to dope! Obviously, that's only a tiny few examples but the fact is that it's still the same today - even dance music stems from chemicals and I think we know about the hip-hop/r'n'b scene.........

I like alot of the British ska from the 78, 79, 80-ish period - is that what they call second wave? Specials, Selector, Bad Manners and especially the Beat [i think they had to call themselves the English Beat in the States]. I'm old enough to remember some of the good old sixties ska, too. 'Guns of Navarone', anybody? Or the Paragons version of 'The Tide Is High'? [maybe that's just plain old reggae, though].

These questions are always so difficult to answer accurately because, if you're anything like me, your opinion will change from one month to another. At any one time my favourite [which is really what we mean by 'best all-time', isn't it?] could come from a list such as the following; Bowie; Ziggy Stardust Stones; Exile on Main Street Stones; Beggars Banquet Beatles; Sgt Pepper Beatles; Revolver Beatles; Abbey Road Love; Forever Changes But ask me this month and it's Every Picture Tells A Story by Rod Stewart.

Hey Windy! My first rock gig was the Stones in 1964!! I'm still rocking today, thank the lord and I'm 52. My most recent gig was the Long Ryders two weeks ago and the Fun Lovin' Criminals the week before that.::

If you google 'disco sucks' you get quite a bit of information, especially about the Disco Demolition night 25 years ago. There's a reasonable passage here if anyone's interested. It's fairly lengthy so here are a couple of relevant paragraphs from it. "But the real animosity between rock and disco lay in the position of the straight white male. In the rock world, he was the undisputed top, while in disco, he was subject to a radical decentering. Disco was an extended conversation between black female divas and gay men.Straight men were welcome to join the party, but only if they learned the lingo. Some did, but for many, this new demand aroused a kind of "castration anxiety," as Alice Echols put it in a 1994 essay. Disco symbolized a world where straight men were not only expected to engender the female orgasm, but to incorporate it. Only by killing disco could rock affirm its threatened masculinity and restore the holy dyad of cold brew and undemanding sex partners. Disco bashing became a major preoccupation in 1977. At the moment when Saturday Night Fever and Studio 54 achieved zeitgeist status, rock rediscovered a rage it had been lacking since the '60s, but this time the enemy was a culture with "plastic" and "mindless" (read effeminate) musical tastes. Examined in light of the ensuing political backlash, it's clear that the slogan of this movement--"Disco Sucks!"--was the first cry of the angry white male. The rock/disco wars might seem silly in retrospect if it weren't for the deadly seriousness with which they were waged at the time. In a 1979 end-of-year summation, Rolling Stone,the index of cultural regression, surveyed the field of battle like military strategists: "You can say that the first six months [of 1979] belonged to disco... and that the last six months belonged to the brave young rockers." The turning point was the July "Disco Demolition" rally in Chicago's Comiskey Park. The event's original gimmick involved blowing up disco records between games of a doubleheader, but the charged-up crowd lost control and began tearing up the stadium. Comiskey turned into a giant coded gay bashing, a frightening harbinger of an enraged, homophobic America, given sanction in the mock-patriotic venue of a baseball stadium."

Paul Simon's 'St. Judy's Comet' is a very pleasant tune although the lyrics are more of a lullaby. Gotta be worth consideration, though.

When I wrote 'Disco Sucks!' above I didn't really mean it that way. I was hoping to provoke some comments or opinions on the homophobic, racist 'Disco Sucks' movement of the 70s. I agree that the Bee Gees were/are fantastic songwriters and their disco period is my favourite of theirs.

Disco Sucks!