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I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions. – Dorothy Day, 1897-1980
“A walk of 1000 miles starts with the first step” – Ghandi
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The weather was beautiful yesterday and I had a number of things I had to do before going into Big FM and putting together a two hour show. Before that……….the Internet has been a pain in the backside over the past few days and I’m at a loss to know whether it’s a general malaise or whether it’s just where we live. We are near a mountain and I am told that creates problems from time to time. However, I shouldn’t get too cross as I’ve just got back from a lovely walk along the shoreline of the Mediterranean. It was beautiful and there were lots of walkers around in all shapes and sizes. Most were quite fit. Some were super fit and others were obviously breathing very heavily. However, they were at least out and about and getting both fresh air in their lungs and exercise.
I was watching the BBC news from the Midlands last night and a 92 year old lady has been attacked and assaulted badly in her own home. I am at a loss to understand how anyone would want to defend the scumbags who have done this. It’s about time they brought back the stocks for this kind of offence and let the perpetrators see how disgusted practically 100% of the population are when they read such news. These are not human beings and they have decided to live outside the rules of society. Make a show of them when they are caught. In the papers today a prisoner at Pentonville is complaining there are cockroaches in his cell. Cockroaches in the room should be compulsory!
Just in passing I’ll mention that I often listen to an old podcast as I am writing the blog and today is no exception. I am listening to a really interesting chat I had with Tommy James who had released a really nice Christmas album. Here’s the link
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Unemployment is making the headlines once again, but this time, it´s the opposite to the norm, with figures on the decrease for a change, but only just beating the figures recorded in 2008 and 2009. The figures for April from the Public Employment Services show a decline in recorded unemployment of 6,632, which is a reduction of 0.14% on the previous month. The number of unemployed people in April last year fell by 64,309. The total number of registered unemployed people in Spain currently stands at 4,744,235. It is thought that Easter may have had something to do with the figures, as service staff gain work during holiday periods.
The Valencia government sold 500 million euro of six-month bonds, but had to pay yields of 7%, which experts have noted is higher than the cost of debt for the three euro-zone countries that have come to symbolize the financial crisis, namely Greece, which pays 4.947%, Portugal, at 2.226% and Ireland at 0.988%. The move enabled them to refinance a debt that was due to be repaid, and will be followed by another two repayments of 500 million euro on May 9, and 473 million on May 27, all which are part of the 5 billion euro debt which needs to be paid for during 2012.
Meanwhile, whilst town halls and governments are looking at ways of reducing costs whilst increasing revenue, the Valencia town of Font d’en Carròs has come under fire for its latest money making scheme, by charging people a euro to enter public parks. The good news is that it will still be free on weekdays, as the move would only be implemented during times which are worthwhile, namely weekends and fiestas between March and September.
A 23 year old British girl died at the weekend, having fallen from a third floor hotel balcony in the Mallorca town of Magaluf. The incident happened at around 4:30 on Sunday morning, the circumstances of which are now being investigated by the Guardia Civil. Charlotte Faris was staying in the Teix Hotel with a friend, who was also in the hotel room at the time. Sticking with tragic news, a total of 8 people died on Spanish roads this weekend, two of them motorcyclists, in eight accidents across the country. Three people were also seriously injured and another 2 suffered minor injuries.
The town of Berga, in Catalunia, has made a brave, but democratic move, declaring the King of Spain as a ”persona non grata”, following his recent elephant hunting trip in Africa. Although largely a symbolic gesture, the notion was presented by the Popular Unity Candidature, which was subsequently approved by the council representing the 17,000 inhabitants of the town. SpanishVida: http://www.theleader.info/article/34161/
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A lady goes to her priest one day and tells him, ‘Father, I have a problem. I have two female parrots, But they only know to say one thing’
‘What do they say?’ the priest asked.
They say, ‘Hi, we’re hookers! Do you want to have some fun?’
‘That’s obscene!’ the priest exclaimed,
Then he thought for a moment….. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I may have a solution to your problem I have two male talking parrots, which I have taught to pray and read the Bible…
Bring your two parrots over to my house, and we’ll put them in the cage with Francis and Peter. My parrots can teach your parrots to pray and worship,
And your parrots are sure to stop saying.. That phrase… In no time..’
‘Thank you,’ the woman responded, ‘this may very well be the solution..’
The next day, She brought her female parrots to the priest’s house…. As he ushered her in,
She saw that his two male parrots were inside their cage holding rosary beads and praying… Impressed, She walked over and placed her parrots in with them…
After a few minutes, The female parrots cried out in unison:
Hi, we’re hookers! Do you want to have some fun?’
There was stunned silence….
One male parrot looked over at the other male parrot and says,
‘Put the beads away, Frank, Our prayers have been answered!
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Jewel in Costa Blanca Crown
Events 8th May
1433 – Sigismund was crowned emperor of Rome. Is the Sigismund Fraud?
1859 – In London, Big Ben went into operation. The name Big Ben initially referred to the bell inside the tower but later came to the refer to the tower.I thought it was the name of the designer!
1870 – E.J. DeSemdt patented asphalt. Not Irish?
1879 – New York’s Madison Square Garden opened. Seconds out!
1884 – Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented “flaked cereal.” Was it a bit each week?
1889 – In Johnstown, PA, more than 2,200 people died after the South Fork Dam collapsed. Dreadful
1900 – U.S. troops arrived in Peking to help put down the Boxer Rebellion. The seconds needed more mone for new towels
1902 – The Boer War ended between the Boers of South Africa and Great Britain with the Treaty of Vereeniging. Good
1907 – The first taxis arrived in New York City. They were the first in the United States. Were they yellow?
1915 – A German zeppelin made an air raid on London. Bad news
1927 – Ford Motor Company produced the last “Tin Lizzie” in order to begin production of the Model A. The first on the production lines?
1929 – In Beverly, MA, the first U.S. born reindeer were born. You’ll be telling us next Father Christmas doesn’t live at the North Pole
1947 – Communists seized control of Hungary. We were all on the side of the Magyars
1955 – The U.S. Supreme Court ordered that all states must end racial segregation “with all deliberate speed.” Good
1961 – South Africa became an independent republic. Good
1962 – Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel. Eichmann was a Gestapo official and was executed for his actions in the Nazi Holocaust. He had to go
1970 – An earthquake in Peru killed tens of thousands of people.
1974 – Israel and Syria signed an agreement on the Golan Heights. Good
1977 – The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was finished after 3 years of construction. Now let’s have a few pipelines for water
1979 – Zimbabwe proclaimed its independence. Good
1994 – The U.S. announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union. Phew!
2003 – In North Carolina, Eric Robert Rudolph was captured. He had been on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list for five years for several bombings including the 1996 Olympic bombing. Lock him away and throw away the key
The Day’s Music Events 8th May
1954, BBC radio in the UK banned the Johnny Ray song ‘Such a Night’ after listeners complain about its ‘suggestiveness’. Ray was famous for his emotional stage act, which included beating up his piano, and writhing on the floor.
1955, Tony Bennett was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Stranger In Paradise’. Based on a theme from Borodin’s 1888 opera – ‘Prince Igor’. The song was a hit in the 1953 Broadway show ‘Kismet’.
1964, The Beatles had held the No.1 position on the US singles chart for fourteen weeks with three No.1′s in succession. ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ for seven weeks, ‘She Loves You’ for two weeks and ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, for five weeks.
1965, The filming of the promotional film for Bob Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ took place at the side of the Savoy Hotel in London. Actors in the background were Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth. This became one of the first ‘modern’ promotional film clips, the forerunner of the music video. The original clip was actually the opening segment of D. A. Pennebaker’s film, Don’t Look Back, a documentary on Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England. In the film, Dylan, who came up with the idea, holds up cue cards for the camera with selected words and phrases from the lyrics. The cue cards were written by Donovan, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Neuwirth and Dylan himself. While staring at the camera, he flipped the cards as the song played.
1967, Gerry And The Pacemakers announced they were splitting up, recognising they could no longer keep pace with the rapidly changing UK rock scene.
1969, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr signed a business management contract with Allen Klein and his company ABKCO, but Paul McCartney refused to sign, continuing to let the Eastmans represent his interests.
1970, The Beatles twelfth and final album, ‘Let It Be’ was released, (it was recorded before ‘Abbey Road’ and originally to be called ‘Get Back’). The album came in a deluxe-boxed edition with a ‘Get Back’ book.
1974, UK keyboard player Graham Bond committed suicide after throwing himself under a London tube train at Finsbury Park station, aged 36. It took police two days to identify his body which was crushed beyond all recognition. Briefly a member of Blues Incorporated, a group led by Alexis Korner, before forming the Graham Bond Quartet, with a lineup of Bond on vocals and organ, Ginger Baker on drums and Jack Bruce on bass.
1976, Abba scored their third UK No.1 single with ‘Fernando’, the song went on to become ABBA’s biggest selling single, with sales over 10 million. And also on day Abba started a nine-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with their ‘Greatest Hits’ album.
1976, BBC Radio 1 DJ Johnny Walker announced he was quitting the station after being told he must pretend to like The Bay City Rollers.
1976, Former lead singer of the Lovin Spoonful John Sebastian went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Welcome Back’, taken from the US TV show ‘Welcome Back Kotter’.
1982, Neil Bogart died of cancer at the age of 39. Bogart was the founder of Casablanca Records, with Peter Guber, home of Donna Summer, The Village People, Kiss, T.Rex and Joan Jett.
1982, Paul McCartney scored his fifth UK No.1 album with ‘Tug Of War’. The album featured the duet with Stevie Wonder ‘Ebony & Ivory’, which was inspired by McCartney hearing comedian Spike Milligan say “black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two to make harmony, folks!”, (the ebony (black) and ivory (white) keys on a piano).
1982, Vangelis went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Chariots Of Fire’, his only US No.1. Vangelis was accused of plagiarising ‘Chariots of Fire’ from a song by fellow Greek composer Stavros Logaridis called ‘City of Violets’. Vangelis won in court by convincing the judge to allow him to bring his keyboard setup into the court to demonstrate his method of composing by improvising new music.
1984, Roger Waters released his first solo album The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking. The concept album, as originally envisioned by Waters in 1977, rotated around a man’s thoughts during a midlife crisis, and featured guest musicians Eric Clapton on guitar, David Sanborn on saxophone and Michael Kamen on piano.
1993, Aerosmith entered the US album chart at No.1 with ‘Get A Grip’, a No.2 hit in the UK. The album went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide as well as winning the band two Grammy awards.
1993, Mark Knopfler received an honorary music doctorate from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
1996, A Los Angeles judge ruled against Tommy Lee and wife Pamela Anderson in their bid to keep Penthouse magazine from publishing still photos from an X-rated home movie that was stolen from their home.
1999, Ricky Martin went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’. The song spent 5 weeks at No.1.
2005, Bruce Springsteen was at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Devils and Dust’ his 13th No.1 studio album.
2006, The Rolling Stones called off their forthcoming European tour after guitarist Keith Richards underwent emergency brain surgery. The 62 year-old guitarist
2008, American Country artist Eddy Arnold died of natural causes, one week before his 90th birthday. He sold more than 85 million records and had 147 songs on the US charts, including 28 number one hits on Billboard’s Country Singles chart. He was once managed by Colonel Tom Parker (who later managed Elvis Presley). Arnold had the 1965 US No.4 hit, ‘Make The World Go Away’.
Birthday Boys and Girls
1911, Robert Johnson, blues singer, guitarist. Influenced Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Eric Clapton, (Cream covered ‘Crossroads) The Rolling Stones, (‘Love In Vain’). Johnson died on 16th August 1938.
1940, Paul Gadd, (Gary Glitter), 1973 UK No.1 single ‘I’m The leader Of The Gang’ & 17 other UK Top 40 singles including three No.1′s. Glitter was sentenced to four months in a Bristol prison in 1999 after being found guilty of downloading child pornography from the Internet.
1940, Ricky Nelson, US singer, (1958 US No.1 ‘Poor Little Fool’, 1961 UK No.2 single ‘Hello Mary Lou’ plus over 30 US Top 40 hit singles). Played himself on his parent’s US TV The Adventures Of Ozzie and Harriet.’ Nelson died on 31st December 1985.
1941, John Fred Gourrier, from John Fred and His Playboy Band, (1968 US No.1 & UK No.3 single ‘Judy In Disguise’). Died on 15th April 2005 after a long battle with kidney disease aged 63.
1943, Toni Tennille, The Captain and Tennille, (1980 US No.1 & UK No.7 single ‘Do That To Me One More Time’).
1943, Danny Whitten, guitarist, singer, songwriter. Member of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse and writer of ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk About It’, covered by Rod Stewart, Rita Coolidge and Everything But The Girl. The Neil Young song ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ was written about Whitten’s heroin use (before he died of an overdose on Nov 18th 1972).
1944, Bill Legend, T Rex, (1971 UK No.1 single ‘Hot Love’. Plus over 20 other UK Top 40 singles).
1947, Rick Derringer, producer, guitar, vocals, The McCoys, (1965 US No.1 & UK No.5 single ‘Hang On Sloopy’), Edgar Winter Group, (1973 US No.1 & UK No.18 single ‘Frankenstein’).
1951, Chris Frantz, drummer, Talking Heads, (1983 US No.9 single ‘Burning Down The House’, 1985 UK No.6 single ‘Road To Nowhere’).
1951,, Philip Bailey, vocals, Earth Wind and Fire, (1975 US No.1 single ‘Shining Star’, 1981 UK No.3 single ‘Let’s Groove’) & solo, (1985 UK No.1 single ‘Easy Lover’ duet with Phil Collins).
1955, , Alex Van Halen, Van Halen, drums, (1984 US No.1 & UK No.7 single ‘Jump’).
1964, Dave Rowntree, drummer, Blur, (1994 UK No.1 album ‘Parklife’ spent over 2 years on the UK chart, 1995 UK No.1 single ‘Country House’, plus over 12 other UK Top 40 singles).
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1972, Darren Hayes, singer, songwriter, Savage Garden, (1998 US No.1 & UK Top 5 single ‘Truly Madly Deeply.’ Solo 2002 UK No.8 single ‘Insatiable’).
1975, , Enrique Iglesias, singer, (2000 US No.1 single ‘Be With You’, 2002 UK No.1 & US No.3 single ‘Hero’).
1976, H, (Ian Watkins), vocals, Steps, (1998 UK No.1 single ‘Heartbeat / Tragedy’, 1999 UK No.1 album ‘Steptacular’ spent over a year on the UK chart).
