Alan Gordon RIP

The one sad note at the Jimmy James event was to learn of the death of local drummer Alan Gordon (2nd left below) who had a brief brush with fame in Pompey Pop group HECTOR in the early 1970s. Alan went into QA, where he died last weekend.

Fame for Jimmy

Jimmy James is now on the Guildhall’s Wall of Fame, marking his many appearances in the city – 29 alone at the Birdcage Club. It was a lovely event, Jimmy came with his family and lots of boys & girls from Birdcage days were there:

Here’s Jimmy with Cilla whose picture appeared on the cover of the ‘New Religion’ album.

And here’s Express FM DJ Geoff Dorsett, who does much of the work for these events, presenting Jimmy with a duplicate of his photo and citation.

And here’s another one, Jimmy with fans including a couple of legendary Pompey DJs!

I Remember You?

Do you? (sent by Robin Vick, thanks)

RIP x 2

Not a great week; drummer Jon Hiseman of Colosseum (etc) and guitarist Danny Kirwan of the second phase of the original Fleetwood Mac have both died. Hiseman certainly played Pompey, and I think maybe Kirwan did the Guildhall with Fleetwood Mac

RIP

Jimmy James

Over two years, from the summer of 1965, soul band Jimmy James & the Vagabonds appeared at Portsmouth’s legendary Birdcage Club, a record 29 times. Their first album The New Religion featured photos of the club and sleeve notes about those gigs, and through a career which is still going, Jimmy has never forgotten those great nights. On Friday afternoon at 3pm Jimmy will be inducted into the Guildhall’s ‘Wall of Fame’, as one of the key visiting acts to the city. There is an open invitation to attend the event – it’s likely to resemble a Birdcage reunion!