Afternoon Strumpets,
Last Saturday I played in the "Boro Busk" Competition, in the Cleveland Centre. First prize is a professional recording session and a smartphone.
Sooo,
Could all of my lovely GNStrumpets please take time out to vote for my BoroBusk video posted here. It would be brilliant if you could, and only takes two minutes. It might be a bit cheeky to ask my fellow bloggers and Website chap`s to post something on their sites, but shy bairns get no sweets. so if you could that would be much appreciated..
I`m playing S Club 7 Don`t stop moving, in The Cleveland Centre. Feel free to ask your friends to also do it. Many thanks, Mark.
http://tfm.live.mediaspanonline.com/boro-busk/
Many thanks
Thursday 28 April 2011
Sunday 17 April 2011
Form is temporary......
Afternoon Strumpets,
Whilst Thing number one was at a party yesterday, and we had a couple of hours spare, I took Thing number 2 to a local field with a football and some bread to feed the ducks. I`ve taken the kids to this place loads of times, It`s a hidden gem, and incidentally also the site of my old Sixth Form College.
In the late Eighties as a sixteen year old leaving school, you had three options. Get a job (as this was the North East of England in the late Eighties, that was an option pretty much neutered before it began), join a YTS (Youth Training Scheme) within a company, who would then in all likelihood, get rid of you after the two year scheme, and get another fresh YTS person to take your place (remember this was the late Eighties, and Greed was good apparently), or Go to Sixth Form College.
I was of the mistaken belief whilst at School,that all I had to do to pass my O levels (Google it kids) was turn up and write my name on the exam sheet. We were constantly being told that these exams were becoming ridiculously easy to pass, and I like an eedjit believed the hype. as a result I left school with two O` levels. One in "Music", and one in "English Language (Oral)". Everybody passed the latter (it was a case of having a chat with a teacher if memory serves), and I couldn`t read music which prevented me from taking the former any further.
This meant I had to spend some time at Sixth Form. And what a time it was! The first year was notable only for me actually getting me head down to get my required O levels, so I could study for A levels to get me into Polytechnic, or even University. It was during the second year that the wonderful life of being a "student"(and at 17 student life truly is wonderful, if it`s not, you`re doing it wrong).
The Common Room was the most magical of places. It rang to the sounds of The Smiths, The Stone Roses, The Wedding Present, and The Wonder Stuff to name but a few. I occasionally brought in some Siouxsie, Ian Dury, Boomtown Rats, and Squeeze tapes I`d copied off me Brother and Sisters singles and LP collections. Card games such as "Chase the Ace", " 3 Card/Donkey Brag" and "2`s and 8`s" were played, and reminiscences discussed regarding previous nights out at such distinguished venues as "The Madhouse", "Havanah", "Blaises" and "The Mall" with it`s award winning light show on Thursdays to the music of Carmina Burana. (Incidentally I will, to my dying day, never forget the image of a friend of mine dancing alone on the dance floor to Carl Orff in the light show, whilst clutching a bottle of Diamond White).
Sixth Form formed the foundation stones which have developed (and at times hindered) my adult life.
Whilst playing footie with Hal yesterday, he asked what the building was, and asked if he could go and have a look at it. so we did. And it was then that I realised that "Acklam 6th Form College" was dead.
I`d known it was of course, as all of the smaller colleges have amalgamated into the giant "Middlesbrough College" which is situated by the River. Psychologically though there must have been a part of me which had negated this fact. As far as I was concerned, 6th Form was as healthy as ever. What a sad dawning realisation.
Windows have been broken, rooms left derelict, many with whiteboards containing last teaching notes and doodles still on them. The Common Room had chairs turned over and ceiling tiles missing. The Cricket Green, now overgrown, was merely a continuation of the field surrounding the building. Bored looking security men wandered around the premises, not realising that they were walking through a space which had at one time contained so many awakenings,experiences,devastations and jubilations to so many young adults.
No doubt in time the land will be bought and "luxury Apartments" will be developed, and soon there`ll only be a handful of ageing one time students, who remember what it really was. A place where you could aspire to be the next best thing, whilst writing doodles of crude male and female genitalia on the toilet walls. A place where you could decide where your future could lay career wise, but had no idea what you were doing that night. A place where you could be old enough to smoke, and young and daft enough to start doing so.
A place of encouragement.
A place of excitement.
A place of opportunity.
Well it could be worse, I could be sat here typing about how rubbish my YTS had been.
6th Form Entrance.
The Common Room(Right side).
The Common room (left side) (note security guards in reflection in window)
The window to be climbed out of to either smoke or play football.
Our "football" pitch
The Cricket Green.
Till the next one, learn something new,
Mark.
Whilst Thing number one was at a party yesterday, and we had a couple of hours spare, I took Thing number 2 to a local field with a football and some bread to feed the ducks. I`ve taken the kids to this place loads of times, It`s a hidden gem, and incidentally also the site of my old Sixth Form College.
In the late Eighties as a sixteen year old leaving school, you had three options. Get a job (as this was the North East of England in the late Eighties, that was an option pretty much neutered before it began), join a YTS (Youth Training Scheme) within a company, who would then in all likelihood, get rid of you after the two year scheme, and get another fresh YTS person to take your place (remember this was the late Eighties, and Greed was good apparently), or Go to Sixth Form College.
I was of the mistaken belief whilst at School,that all I had to do to pass my O levels (Google it kids) was turn up and write my name on the exam sheet. We were constantly being told that these exams were becoming ridiculously easy to pass, and I like an eedjit believed the hype. as a result I left school with two O` levels. One in "Music", and one in "English Language (Oral)". Everybody passed the latter (it was a case of having a chat with a teacher if memory serves), and I couldn`t read music which prevented me from taking the former any further.
This meant I had to spend some time at Sixth Form. And what a time it was! The first year was notable only for me actually getting me head down to get my required O levels, so I could study for A levels to get me into Polytechnic, or even University. It was during the second year that the wonderful life of being a "student"(and at 17 student life truly is wonderful, if it`s not, you`re doing it wrong).
The Common Room was the most magical of places. It rang to the sounds of The Smiths, The Stone Roses, The Wedding Present, and The Wonder Stuff to name but a few. I occasionally brought in some Siouxsie, Ian Dury, Boomtown Rats, and Squeeze tapes I`d copied off me Brother and Sisters singles and LP collections. Card games such as "Chase the Ace", " 3 Card/Donkey Brag" and "2`s and 8`s" were played, and reminiscences discussed regarding previous nights out at such distinguished venues as "The Madhouse", "Havanah", "Blaises" and "The Mall" with it`s award winning light show on Thursdays to the music of Carmina Burana. (Incidentally I will, to my dying day, never forget the image of a friend of mine dancing alone on the dance floor to Carl Orff in the light show, whilst clutching a bottle of Diamond White).
Sixth Form formed the foundation stones which have developed (and at times hindered) my adult life.
Whilst playing footie with Hal yesterday, he asked what the building was, and asked if he could go and have a look at it. so we did. And it was then that I realised that "Acklam 6th Form College" was dead.
I`d known it was of course, as all of the smaller colleges have amalgamated into the giant "Middlesbrough College" which is situated by the River. Psychologically though there must have been a part of me which had negated this fact. As far as I was concerned, 6th Form was as healthy as ever. What a sad dawning realisation.
Windows have been broken, rooms left derelict, many with whiteboards containing last teaching notes and doodles still on them. The Common Room had chairs turned over and ceiling tiles missing. The Cricket Green, now overgrown, was merely a continuation of the field surrounding the building. Bored looking security men wandered around the premises, not realising that they were walking through a space which had at one time contained so many awakenings,experiences,devastations and jubilations to so many young adults.
No doubt in time the land will be bought and "luxury Apartments" will be developed, and soon there`ll only be a handful of ageing one time students, who remember what it really was. A place where you could aspire to be the next best thing, whilst writing doodles of crude male and female genitalia on the toilet walls. A place where you could decide where your future could lay career wise, but had no idea what you were doing that night. A place where you could be old enough to smoke, and young and daft enough to start doing so.
A place of encouragement.
A place of excitement.
A place of opportunity.
Well it could be worse, I could be sat here typing about how rubbish my YTS had been.
6th Form Entrance.
The Common Room(Right side).
The Common room (left side) (note security guards in reflection in window)
The window to be climbed out of to either smoke or play football.
Our "football" pitch
The Cricket Green.
Till the next one, learn something new,
Mark.
Thursday 14 April 2011
Slim Shady!
Evening Strumpets,
With massive thanks to Northern Banjo Boy Andy, for allowing me to use this first recording.
It`s only going to get better!
Till the next one learn something new.
Mark.
With massive thanks to Northern Banjo Boy Andy, for allowing me to use this first recording.
It`s only going to get better!
Till the next one learn something new.
Mark.
Sunday 10 April 2011
Owed to Joy.
Evening strumpets,
I think that I`ve written on here before how Stephen King describes being inspired to create something out of nothing. He describes it as his "muse sh*tting on his head". I like that. You will sit for days trying different stuff, playing your favourite songs hoping some sort of musical osmosis will infiltrate your fingertips and voice. Oh if it were only that easy.
I`m sorry I`m actually sat here laughing whilst I`m typing this, because Louise is putting the kids to bed, and all I can hear is laughter and mayhem coming from their rooms. It`s a "songs about poo and wee" night. We have them once a week, where the kids and,usually me, are allowed to sing, well, you probably have already guessed. Because Louise has spent all weekend redecorating and cleaning Gracie`s bedroom, she hasn`t seen too much of the kids, so she wanted to take the lead in it tonight. Doesn`t sound like she`s doing too badly!
Anyhow, back to what I was saying at the end of the day, I can`t remember too many times I can clearly say that I set out to write a song, and had one finished neat and tidy, just like that. I generally have to sit there, and as Mr King writes, wait for my muse to dump on my head.
Well this afternoon, it did. I`m pretty sure this riff has been done before, but if it has, I haven`t heard it. It has a John Lee Hooker/Bo Diddley feel to it (and I am not comparing my wonderful middle class caucasian life to theirs, I`m just saying, that was what was in my head whilst playing it).
I originally played it in the faster tempo, and liked it a lot, but wondered what a slower blues type version might sound. The slower version takes me a little longer to find the "groove" purely because I`d only played it twice before. Don`t worry if you can`t understand all the words, a lot of them are just utterances. It`s how I`ve always come at songs lyric wise, and I`m pleased to have read in Keef`s Autobiography that it`s how Mick works (for this brackets please see previous brackets). It`s so true, you find the vowels and consonants which fit the tune and then try and find words to make sense which fit the sounds. At least I do.
here`s the original (and only the second time I`d played it) version.
Here`s the bluesier version.
Please let me know what you think, either on the ridiculously difficult way of posting on this blog( bear with it, you`ll get it posted in the end), or by being a friend on Facebook, (Mark Davies, there`s usually a picture of me or the kids on the profile pic), or by following me on Twitter (greatnorthstrum) or emailing me on the email address on my profile on this blog.
Till the next one, learn something new,
Mark.
I think that I`ve written on here before how Stephen King describes being inspired to create something out of nothing. He describes it as his "muse sh*tting on his head". I like that. You will sit for days trying different stuff, playing your favourite songs hoping some sort of musical osmosis will infiltrate your fingertips and voice. Oh if it were only that easy.
I`m sorry I`m actually sat here laughing whilst I`m typing this, because Louise is putting the kids to bed, and all I can hear is laughter and mayhem coming from their rooms. It`s a "songs about poo and wee" night. We have them once a week, where the kids and,usually me, are allowed to sing, well, you probably have already guessed. Because Louise has spent all weekend redecorating and cleaning Gracie`s bedroom, she hasn`t seen too much of the kids, so she wanted to take the lead in it tonight. Doesn`t sound like she`s doing too badly!
Anyhow, back to what I was saying at the end of the day, I can`t remember too many times I can clearly say that I set out to write a song, and had one finished neat and tidy, just like that. I generally have to sit there, and as Mr King writes, wait for my muse to dump on my head.
Well this afternoon, it did. I`m pretty sure this riff has been done before, but if it has, I haven`t heard it. It has a John Lee Hooker/Bo Diddley feel to it (and I am not comparing my wonderful middle class caucasian life to theirs, I`m just saying, that was what was in my head whilst playing it).
I originally played it in the faster tempo, and liked it a lot, but wondered what a slower blues type version might sound. The slower version takes me a little longer to find the "groove" purely because I`d only played it twice before. Don`t worry if you can`t understand all the words, a lot of them are just utterances. It`s how I`ve always come at songs lyric wise, and I`m pleased to have read in Keef`s Autobiography that it`s how Mick works (for this brackets please see previous brackets). It`s so true, you find the vowels and consonants which fit the tune and then try and find words to make sense which fit the sounds. At least I do.
here`s the original (and only the second time I`d played it) version.
Here`s the bluesier version.
Please let me know what you think, either on the ridiculously difficult way of posting on this blog( bear with it, you`ll get it posted in the end), or by being a friend on Facebook, (Mark Davies, there`s usually a picture of me or the kids on the profile pic), or by following me on Twitter (greatnorthstrum) or emailing me on the email address on my profile on this blog.
Till the next one, learn something new,
Mark.
Saturday 9 April 2011
My Favourite Year.
Evening Strumpets,
Genius = someone who changes the way things are forever after they leave.
Genius = Mr Black Francis.
Genius= Mr Joey Santiago
Genius =Mr David Lovering
Genius= The one and only KIM DEAL!!
I saw them when I was Eighteen in 1990. They Started behind a red screen with Cecillia Ann before the redscreen dropped and they launched into Rock Music. Best gig ever, if only because I was Eighteen, but more so because they encapsulated perfectly how I was feeling whilst being Eighteen..
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you,
THE PIXIES!
Till the next one, learn something new.
Mark.
Genius = someone who changes the way things are forever after they leave.
Genius = Mr Black Francis.
Genius= Mr Joey Santiago
Genius =Mr David Lovering
Genius= The one and only KIM DEAL!!
I saw them when I was Eighteen in 1990. They Started behind a red screen with Cecillia Ann before the redscreen dropped and they launched into Rock Music. Best gig ever, if only because I was Eighteen, but more so because they encapsulated perfectly how I was feeling whilst being Eighteen..
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you,
THE PIXIES!
Till the next one, learn something new.
Mark.
Friday 8 April 2011
"I`m a cult, a cult, I tell you"
Evening Strumpets,
The title of this post is a quote from Kenneth Williams, when he felt that noone was giving him the attention he craved. I have no idea why this sprung to mind, (ahem, walks off quietly looking to the sky whilst whistling a shrill vibrato.)
Talking of The Cult, here`s a rendition of one of their tunes, which I found whilst messing around on the guitar the other day. It happens every so often, you think you`ve written a classic and it turns out to already have been done before. Some might argue that this didn`t stop Mr Duffy ripping off AC/DC on the "Electric" album from which this track is taken, I couldn`t possibly comment, and besides that would hardly put him in a gang of one would it?
Till the next one, learn something new,
Mark.
The title of this post is a quote from Kenneth Williams, when he felt that noone was giving him the attention he craved. I have no idea why this sprung to mind, (ahem, walks off quietly looking to the sky whilst whistling a shrill vibrato.)
Talking of The Cult, here`s a rendition of one of their tunes, which I found whilst messing around on the guitar the other day. It happens every so often, you think you`ve written a classic and it turns out to already have been done before. Some might argue that this didn`t stop Mr Duffy ripping off AC/DC on the "Electric" album from which this track is taken, I couldn`t possibly comment, and besides that would hardly put him in a gang of one would it?
Till the next one, learn something new,
Mark.
Monday 4 April 2011
GNS on GNS
Afternoon Strumpets,
a further vid from the Doc Browns gig last week. We got really positive feedback from the crowd regarding this one. Local Heroes Bare Phut (Google them and you`re in for a treat), particularly liked it.
Till the next one, learn something new,
Mark.
a further vid from the Doc Browns gig last week. We got really positive feedback from the crowd regarding this one. Local Heroes Bare Phut (Google them and you`re in for a treat), particularly liked it.
Till the next one, learn something new,
Mark.
Saturday 2 April 2011
more stuff from Doc Browns.
Afternoon Strumpets,
Here`s another vid from the Doc Browns gig the other night. We`d only decided on the Monday night previously to play it in this format, i.e Carl on Bass rather than guitar, but it was eventually an unanimous decision and I feel the bass greatly adds to the heart of this fantastic piece of music. Duelling banjos and Cripple Creek might get all the plaudits, but this is still my favourite "genre" piece to both play and listen to.
Hope you like it, till the next one learn something new,
Mark.
Here`s another vid from the Doc Browns gig the other night. We`d only decided on the Monday night previously to play it in this format, i.e Carl on Bass rather than guitar, but it was eventually an unanimous decision and I feel the bass greatly adds to the heart of this fantastic piece of music. Duelling banjos and Cripple Creek might get all the plaudits, but this is still my favourite "genre" piece to both play and listen to.
Hope you like it, till the next one learn something new,
Mark.
Friday 1 April 2011
The Alice Charmers, live at The Sessions, Doc Browns. 31/03/11.
Morning Strumpets,
Last night was The Alice Charmers first gig proper in their hometown of Middlesbrough. As is the way of the Charmers, we arrived too late for a soundcheck, so had to blag it with the sound mixer whilst playing. There`s a brilliant clip on the accompanied YT vid, of Rikki (Mr Doolan, who`s brainchild the Sessions are, and all round good fella and lover of music)checking out the bass amp, for levels, before realising, I hadn`t turned up the volume on my bass!
On top of this, the pick ups which Carl and Andy were using were not working through the PA system, so Andy had to play my banjo, or his banjo mic`d up through a standard vocal. Carl had to play my guitar. As a result of this, and also a crammed lineup of other bands, we had to edit our setlist significantly. Rikki has told us just to let him know when we can play next, and we`re in, so we`ll be much better prepared next time.
My fellow charmers didn`t feel that they had played well, but on that particular stage it`s difficult to hear your balance from the monitors. Everyone said that the mix was pretty good, and I think this comes across in the vid (and subsequent others to be posted later).
I have to say that the population of Middlesbrough did us proud, and the place was crammed. Nerves, we`ll have none of that, and into the set we launched with this song. By the Fire is unusual in as much as it`s the only Charmers song so far which all three of us have contributed to. Andy wrote the music, and myself Carl and honorary charmer Peebee Guttenberg came up with the words.
Till the next one, learn something new.
Mark.
Last night was The Alice Charmers first gig proper in their hometown of Middlesbrough. As is the way of the Charmers, we arrived too late for a soundcheck, so had to blag it with the sound mixer whilst playing. There`s a brilliant clip on the accompanied YT vid, of Rikki (Mr Doolan, who`s brainchild the Sessions are, and all round good fella and lover of music)checking out the bass amp, for levels, before realising, I hadn`t turned up the volume on my bass!
On top of this, the pick ups which Carl and Andy were using were not working through the PA system, so Andy had to play my banjo, or his banjo mic`d up through a standard vocal. Carl had to play my guitar. As a result of this, and also a crammed lineup of other bands, we had to edit our setlist significantly. Rikki has told us just to let him know when we can play next, and we`re in, so we`ll be much better prepared next time.
My fellow charmers didn`t feel that they had played well, but on that particular stage it`s difficult to hear your balance from the monitors. Everyone said that the mix was pretty good, and I think this comes across in the vid (and subsequent others to be posted later).
I have to say that the population of Middlesbrough did us proud, and the place was crammed. Nerves, we`ll have none of that, and into the set we launched with this song. By the Fire is unusual in as much as it`s the only Charmers song so far which all three of us have contributed to. Andy wrote the music, and myself Carl and honorary charmer Peebee Guttenberg came up with the words.
Till the next one, learn something new.
Mark.
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