Good grief - now THIS is why I paid 40 quid for my freeview. Bored of a Friday and channel hopping, we've just run into the STAX evening on BBC FOUR!

The Norway VOLT concert is a thing of joy and beauty indeed! Did you see SAM AND DAVE go for it? And what about those bored soldiers shoving the peaceful, soulful hippy folk back into their plastic chairs? And there's a fat roadie doing some shoving too!

Booker T, Mr Collins, that dippy bloke on bass, the Markays and Mr Otis Redding himself. I hope this is on the iplayer tomorrow so we can educate the kids.

Hold on I'm coming?

Bugger that - I've just come!

I woke this morning, around 0500HRS, having dreamt of Adam and the Ants performing Dog Eat Dog on TOTP...ah, did that stir some memories in the damp light of the new day? I was 14-ish and absolutely blown away by the tribal thumping and the pantomime costumery of Mr Goddard and his pals...I resolved to draw, scratch and trace the "ant logo" on all available surfaces:

ANT MUSIC FOR SEX PEOPLE - SEX MUSIC FOR ANT PEOPLE

(or was it the other way around?)

Anyway, this got me to mulling what were the best and worst performances I could remember on TOTP - my era being the 70s and early 80s, realistically..

THE BEST (in Tony's opinion)
- DOG EAT DOG by Adam and the Ants

- Anything by X-RAY SPEX - Polly was obviously so hideous to the cameramen that they overlaid the whole picture with that eye-melting colour phasing montage!

- Anything by the Buzzcocks - skinny Pete whining into his mike

- Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones

- Kate Bush with Wuthering Heights

THE WORST
- There's No-one Quite Like Grandma - St Winifreds etc etc - with the little girl with the tongue four sizes too large for her mouth

- Grandad (Clive Dunn) - horrific image of the Dunn-meister being stroked and caressed by young boys and girls in a manner that would get Messrs Glitter, King (J) and that bloke from the Bay City Rollers into great trouble in the years to come (but NOT Pete Townsend, obviously)

- Peter Sarstedt - Where Do You Go To My Lovely? (Ha-ha ha..ha!)

- Mud - Tiger Feet : with the tight-shirted dockers doing the shimmy-shimmy, pully-pushy, kicky-feetee dance thing on either side of the band. Always loved the Rob (the guitarist?'s) ear-rings and nylon flares, though

Much love etc

Tony

(edited for horrendous slanders etc)

Reading about Mr Security Services dropping his daily bread on a train and walking away reminded me of an experience I had many years ago.

I was driving myself up to Liverpool to pick up my 2nd Year exam results plus the usual luggage left after the end of term. Being without a vehicle at the time (my 75 quid Mini Clubman had expired on the road-side in Monmouth), I hired a Renault of some kind.

While packing it for the journey, I noticed a filo-fax left under the passenger seat. It belonged to a "record producer" who, evidently given this is Monmouth, had been working at Rockfield Studios. Quickly scanning through it, I noted addresses and telephone numbers for Freddie Mercury's London abode, Kate Bush's family home and many more.

*Gasp* Being a big fan of Ms Bush, I was astonished and a little tempted to give her a call - but, as you may have read in a previous post, I have all the spine if an amoeba.

So I didn't. Instead, I called the 'owners' number (located in the 'If I'm lost...' section at the front) and asked if he had lost anything...ie. his life? He was ever so relieved and asked what my favourite tipple was - he turned up 30 mins later bearing large bottles of both Jack Daniels _AND_ Southern Comfort (I was a student, remember) as a thank-you gift.

So - has anyone else made an interesting and (faintly) lucrative discovery in a "rock world" vein?

Love, as you would expect,

Tony

Inst

I recently spotted the venerable Mr DAVID QUANTICK as he was coming down an escalator at Marylebone station and, in a flash of bravado, I thought I'd curtail my escalatorary activities and go and shake the fellow by the hand and express my admiration for his body of work over the years...but then I got all sweaty and girly and nervous and returned my gaze to THE LONDON PAPER puzzle page - admiration un-expressed.

I had a similar experience when leaving the TOM WAITS gig at Hammersmith, those few years ago, the one what cost me a small fortune to attend. I was shuffling out via the back stairs when I spotted one Mr MARK ELLEN not three people behind. I turned to my brother-in-law and informed him of Mr E's presence and was about to stop for a moment, let him catch up and then express respect for past works etc when, you guessed it, doily-twirling and un-manly trepidation set in and I left, collar-drawn-up, without door-stopping our beloved Music Journalism Supremo (neither did I say hello to Mark)

Has anyone else NEARLY, but not quite, spoken to admired professionals and, I use the word inadvisedly, celebrities?

And _would_ it be possible for the Word podcast to decant to a local London hostelry for a more public, Word-subscriber fuelled, performance? I'd love to scoot along with some luncheon vouchers and a worn Oyster card...

...but then I'd probably go all pansy-ish and wilt into an alley-way, destined to skulk homewards again...unrequited.

Yours, as ever, with much love,

Tony

Folks,

The Boydell family has Just taken delivery of baby number 5 (released on all formats on Feb 15th) and we're going to be calling him ARTHUR.

Now, being an old music fan - can you wonderful group members suggest tracks with an ARTHUR, or Feb 15th, theme suitable for a celebratory birthday mix tape?

I say mix tape - of course we now should regard them as a mix mp3 hard disk backup!

Yours,

Tony Boydell

One of my enduring memories of a day spent in a hot Wembley Stadium in 1985 is that of the teddy bear incident - I'm not sure EXACTLY when it took place, but it was around about the time of Madonna/Beach Boys in Philidelphia, in the late afternoon. While the world's attention was fixed half a world away, someone took it upon themselves to launch a teddy bear (or other cuddly toy - I was in the stands, so it wasn't a detailed picture) into the air amongst their little group - this was somewhere behind the TDK tent on the pitch.

This lobbage proceeded within the private circle for several minutes before it was enthusiastically over-thrown and made its way towards the back of the stadium WHEREUPON it disappeared for a few seconds before reappearing, at high velocity, journeying further away from the original source. I seem to remember this happily occurring for 5 mins with every 'flight' accompanied by a roar from the crowd, or at least those of us who had noticed this happening!

When it came to rest in an unknown location and failed to fly any further, we all reached for (disposable) items of our own and proceeded to lob them, vigourously, in the direction of the pitch - this playful airbourne barrage coincided with the big screen flippage from Philly to Wembley where you can definitely see (I've checked the video and DVD footage) the air filled with plastic bottles, silver wine box interiors, small children and soiled underwear!

Does anyone else recall this diversion and add further detail to it?