Pompeypop's Blog

The Ray Baker Story (Part Two)

pompeypop — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:46:50 +0000

See, I told you. There’s places far worse than Pompey …

Here’s Ray:

Another very notorious gig haunt of ours was “The Shoreline Club” at Bognor Regis. New Years Eve 1967/8 saw me playing with two ex Royals, Ray Brook on Tenor Sax and Rick Semark on drums plus the “Gentle Giant” Ray Todd on Bass.

Just after midnight a huge ‘on stage’ brawl broke out between us and some drunken locals who wanted to get up on stage and sing and they demanded that we give them our instruments to play. Tenor sax player Ray Brook was quite a big guy who rode a Vincent Black Shadow motorbike and I can tell you now that it is a very unwise thing to demand of a very stroppy young guy like Ray Brook that you want his saxophone, particularly if you are standing looking up from the dance floor and he is standing above you on stage.

Ray was pleased to oblige but ”bad accidents’ can (and sometimes did) occur …… Have you ever seen the damage that the vertical flange joint under a saxophone can inflict upon a guy’s forehead if he should suddenly jump up onto the stage and the sax “accidentally” strike his head with great force? I can tell you that it’s not a very pretty sight to see a guy slowly slide down off the stage as his forehead opens right up between the eyes….. Ooooh! very nasty and in that horrible key of B flat as well !

After several minutes of bloody battle that night, I ended up with an old-style solid glass Coke bottle smashed into the back of my skull which rendered me unconscious and during which time I had my night’s earnings of about five quid stolen out of my trouser pocket. Fortunately I’d had the very good sense to put my Strat safely away before launching myself into the melee.

Further punishment of several hours at Bognor hospital emergency unit with a very unsympathetic, typically obese Matron shaving my long locks off and digging glass out of my skull with a scalpel and pick without any anesthetic brings back very nasty and painful memories. I think I got off lightly compared with the two poor buggers that were “Selmered” in the head by Ray Brook’s Tenor sax.

Fortunately there was no police follow-up at all although my Dad was absolutely furious at the theft of my wages and he swore for weeks afterwards, “ I’m going to pour 5 gallons of petrol round that bloody Shoreline Club and set light to the f*****g place”. I think it did eventually burn down a year later… didn’t it?

Oh the joys of being a young muso eh? I can still feel that scar on my head to this day.”

The Ray Baker Story (Part One)

pompeypop — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:35:58 +0000

Ray is Pete White’s pal. Pete you will probably recall is in the USA – Ray is now in Australia but he’s sent some good stories. Here’s the first one which leads to the early days of Heaven, one of Mick’s old bands:

“My old mate Ray Brook (ex The Royals tenor sax) and I put together a band with Ray Todd ( Ex Metors UK Bass Guitar ) Nobby Glover on drums and I recall a gig we did at HMS Mercury one night. ) I had an old Standard Atlas van and had picked everybody up and on our way driving through the dark country lanes to the gig when we caught sight of a mouse in the headlights. There was no chance of me stopping in time and I ran over it and killed it.

The group all called me “The Mouse Murderer” that night and somebody swore that the spirit of the mouse would come back to haunt me. We did the gig and on the way back home in the early hours of the morning we all heard a strange squeeking noise coming from under the van. Of course the boys all said it was the curse of the dead mouse haunting me. This noise went on for some time until I noticed the van started to labour and it wouldn’t progress very well so I pulled over, got out and looked underneath and to my horror saw not the mouse, but my complete front offside wheel hub glowing red hot in the darkness.

The wheelbearings had seized up. I managed to nurse the van back to Nobby’s Mum’s place at Bedhampton where we all dossed on the loungeroom floor that night. Everybody inventing songs and verse containing titles like “The Curse Of The Mouse” until we all eventually collapsed into sleep. It was my van, and I was an engineering apprentice so no guesses as to who had the job of fixing it.

So this band which contained me as an ex “Furie”, one ex “Royal” and an ex ”Meteor UK” member with the later addition of Ray King (Baritone Sax) and Dave Gautrey (Trumpet) morphed into “The Frenzy” and eventually evolved into ”Heaven”.

Hippie Entrepreneurs

pompeypop — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:32:38 +0000

From Nigel

“All this talk about the Isle of Wight festival and hippies, except the old plod, is getting me all nostalgic. In 1969 my good friend the late Roger Courtney, nice guy, photographer, folk musician and club MC and I hatched a plan to make a few bob from the holiday makers that once flooded into Southsea for the summer season by me painting a full size hippie cartoon and taking it down the sea front to entice holiday makers to stick their bonce through the ‘ead ‘ole. It worked, at 50p a time we made quite a few bob, but little old ladies who were too short to get their ‘ead in the ‘ole had to be lifted up, I wondered where that rupture came from!

The photo shows me testing out the ‘ead ‘ole in my back garden in St. Edwards Road.”

Dear BBC

pompeypop — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:03:42 +0000

Did anyne watch We’ll Take Manhattan on BBC4 on Thursday night. It told the story of David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton going to New York exactly 50 years ago (January 1962) and coming back with photos that took the USA by storm and revolutionised Vogue and fashion photography in Britain

I enjoyed it hugely – I’m a great admirer of BBC4′s regular documentaries about popular culture. HOWEVER, it opened with four statements:

In 1962, no one had heard of the Beatles

No one expected to be famous who was not born rich or titled

And there was no such thing as youth culture

But then David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton went to New York

This is of course ‘dramatic licence’ since it boosts the significance of the story that follows but it annoys me because it’s simply not the way things are. It implies that history is always the consequence of single events and individual actions and it hardly ever is that simple. Consider for example

1.Between Jan-April 1962 the first Beatles single with Tony Sheridan was released, they were playing regularly in Hamburg and at the Cavern and had already auditioned for Decca and the BBC

2. Try Gracie Fields, George Formby, Max Miller, Dirk Bogarde, Lonnie Donegan, Diana Dors, Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard (add your own)

3. “No such thing as youth culture” – this is such crap it barely warrants a response but in brief try reading Jon Savage’s Teenage: the Creation of Youth 1875-1945 - a huge book, over 500 pages and finishes well before 1962 or Adrian Horn’s Juke Box Britain: Americanisation & Youth Culture 1945-60.

The film ends with them coming back on the plane still in january 1962 and hearing “Love Me Do” playing on the plane’s sound system with Jean Shrimpton wondering if it’s Cliff Richard. “Love Me Do” was released in October 1962.

That last quibble is a little pedantic (in dramatic terms) but overall I wish people would stop making up stories about our world – the truth was sufficiently groovy wasn’t it?

Citizen 63

pompeypop — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:05:48 +0000

I have written a short paper (2,500 words, four sides A4) as an introduction to the screening of this film on 7 February (below). I won’t put it on the Website (yet?) but if anyone would like a copy just email me at the University

dave.allen@port.ac.uk

and I’ll send it to you.

I’ll also be pleased to receive any comments on it.

DIARY DATES

pompeypop — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:04:52 +0000

Thursday 2 February: Banana of Youngbloods + Reet Petite & Gone at the Eastney Cellars

Friday 3 February: I’m starting a new one hour 60s show at 3pm on Express Radio, called “The Weekend Starts Here”

Sunday 5 February: The Big Band at the Blue Lagoon, Hilsea (lunchtime)

Tuesday 7 February: 6pm at the Omega Centre, Portsmouth Film Society present Citizen 63 plus Kojak on Pompey. Check their website and book – NOT £5 (as I suggested) but £2 - http://www.portsmouthfilmsociety.org.uk/

Desert Song

pompeypop — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:28:22 +0000

Well I’m aching worse than Billie Holiday tonight but here’s a short topical thing so you don’t ‘Desert’ me. On the news I learned it’s the 70th Anniversary of Desert Island Discs. OK, don’t do the lot just imagine the last bit where she says “you get Shakespeare and the Bible” (huh?) and then you have to choose just ONE track, plus one more book and one luxury item. What’s yours? My book is simple Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 1962 so for the rest of time I can read everything about the first year Hampshire won the Championship, my luxury item will be an acoustic guitar (one day I’ll crack it!) but the record is bloody difficult isn’t it? Just one? I figure since people can pick symphonies and all that long posh stuff I’m going to have a whole album. It was almost Astral Weeks but I think to listen to the same thing everyday for maybe years it’s Kind of Blue

Incidentally Trevor got the cause – he caught me digging the garden on Sunday – I’m too old for that now as Pete says – and Albie was almost right although not radio, I spent the morning groaning on the soafa watching the Test match on Sky!

Back tomorrow

Chad asks (where’s Jeremy?)

pompeypop — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:15:16 +0000

Sorry

Hurt back – struggling to sit and type etc

Back soon

(image thanks to Nigel)

Pompey SOS

pompeypop — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:36:41 +0000

I don’t plan for this to become a football site but here’s a message I’ve received that may be of interest to some of you

The Pompey Trust and Supporters Conference have set up an independant Database to allow Fans to register and show support for all efforts to save Portsmouth Football Club. Please go to the Website below to register your support.

www.pompeys12thman.co.uk

Frank Kelly

pompeypop — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:12:12 +0000

This Comment has been added to an old Posting about Frank – it’s a very interesting message so I’m drawing attention to it in this new post (although I’m not sure that Frank reads the Blog). Many thanks Peter

“I was an alter boy with my brother Ivor and Frank Kelly at Fareham Catholic Church in the late fifties. I remember him singing ‘Send me the pillow you dream on.’ Sadly Ivor died 4 years ago at the age of 68 years. I wonder if Frank will remember me “

Peter Noot

I had a phone call last week from former Hampshire Cricketer Alan Wassell. He heard me on Radio Solent and had a similar tale about growing up with Frank. I wonder whether Peter and Alan know each other?