The Great North Strum©

The ol` Joanna.

2012-02-13T11:55:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

I`ve done a rare recording of me playing the piano in our house. i thought the song "walk with me" would sound nice on it. Not sure about the "Bohemian Rhapsody" rip off in the middle eight, don`t know where that came from, it just happens sometimes.

Walk with me (piano) (mp3)

Let me know what you think.

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

Walk with me and Patchwork

2012-02-11T09:05:00.001-08:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

Here`s a couple of rough and ready demos of a couple of songs that I wrote this afternoon. Hope you like, please let me know what you think. Ta!

Walk with me (demo) (mp3)

This one hasn`t got words yet. Please feel free to send any in, if you wish

Patchwork (mp3)

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

200.

2012-01-21T16:12:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

So here it is, The Great North Strum`s 200th Post. Well let me personalise it a bit more for you, it`s Mark Davies`s 200th post. Me. Mine.

I`ve been looking for a grand gesture for the 200th, and many suggestions have been made, most of which are inspired and will without a doubt make up the next fifty to a hundred posts, including an absolute bona fide interview with a personal legend of mine. For those intrigued, he`s probably the finest Radio 1 DJ that John Peel and John Walters shared an office with.

However, This Blog would not have ever appeared if I hadn`t run the daft idea of completing the Great North Run whilst playing a banjo, past Louise. And when I asked my beautiful wife what she thought I should do, she just said "well thank the Strumpets who have supported you over the past few years."

So in no particular order,

Andy Dalton; By a massive fluke you decided to learn to play the banjo about a year before I did. You then set up the amazing Northern Banjo Boy Site http://www.northernbanjoboy.com/and have been a source of inspiration, amazement, and let it be said, non provider of drum brushes ever since. You came up with the name of my blog and for that I will be eternally grateful. Cheers Andy.

Mark Dent; A brilliant guitarist, but a human metronome on the old drums, who has helped me to "pace it a little" for Christs sake. I am and will be forever, one of Dave`s Pups. If ever I`m getting idea`s above my station, one look from you, and I`m back down on Earth. Thanks Denty.

Mountain Spring California; I have no idea who you are, but you keep on checking the blog! if you could let me know who you are that would be wonderful.

Mr Benjamin Harrison; An amazingly talented fella who has had to put up with a lot of tragic events over the last couple of years. He designed the GNS logo that sits atop the blog. Massive thanks Banjoman.

PeeBee Guttenburg; For confidential reasons, I can`t tell you this fella`s real name, but his support, contribution, talent, and downright PUNK spirit has kept mine an so many else`s blog`s voraciousness tickling the uvula of the Muse from which we profit. (spoiler alert!!!!) Cheers Brian

Carl; My Glitter Twin. The person who made me want to play the guitar, and who has continued to do so for the last thirty years. Blood Brother (literally) and main role model (my family included) for my adult life, I can`t think of a single time we`ve been together, and not been smiling by the end of the reminiscence. You are, and always will be, Dalton. My Dalton.

Stephen; My Brother from another Mother. Mr Didlick, you and your amazing family have never ceased to surprise me in your generosity of spirit along with the support and, ahem, constructive criticism which has been a constant in guiding what I have hoped to achieve with the blog. Plus your knowledge of Springsteen and Andy Kaufmann has always helped. Cheers Dids.

Louise; She`s the absolute love of my life. She make`s it great to be me. What more can I say. I love her more than a football in the Park loves kids.

And finally Mary Lydia.

Mam bought me my first guitar. She encouraged me to go to the perceived mental places (Tom Waits, Lowry, etc), she told me "know the game before you learn the rules"

Most importantly she told me the most important thing about art, and being an artist. It`s the one rule I impart upon Harry and Grace and I implore you to teach your kids, and that rule is.......

Know when to stop!

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark

An email from a Pal O` mine.

2012-01-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

Belated happiness in your New Year strumpets,

It`s been a bit hectic round here lately, and along with various other projects I`ve not had much time to post`s things Strumtastic. I hope you had the Holidays that you deserved, and that all your strummings were ultimately fulfilling.

My really rather wonderful friend Stephen Didlick in Bedfordshire sent me an email regarding the previous post.

" Hello mark, me and Zoey have just been listening to the songs posted on the blog and really impressed with apple scrumptious, pal 'o mine and especially cowboy waltz. could you post the lyrics along with the audio? it might be my hearing, you could be a bit michael stipe-ish or it could simply be the producer."

So for Mr and Mrs Didlick here you go.

Pal O` Mine.

Music and words by myself.

Pal O` Mine, tell me why you`re so lonely?
Pal O` Mine, tell me why you`re so lonely?
wel there`s a feeling hidden deep
it`s there for me to keep
Pal O` Mine, tell me why you`re so lonely?

Pal O` Mine, tell me why there`s a danger?
Pal O` Mine, tell me why there`s a danger?
Well there`s something I can`t say
thats why I feel this way
Pal O` Mine, tell me why there`s a danger?

Pal O` Mine, tell me why you`re frustrated?
Pal O` Mine, tell me why you`re frustrated?
Well it`s all within my hands,
you wouldn`t understand.
Pal O` Mine, tell me why you`re frustrated?

Palomine (demo) (mp3)

Apple scrumpy.

Music and words by Andrew Dalton.

Sit beneath this apple tree with me sweet Ida Red,
Sit beneath this apple tree with me sweet Lilabet,
Sit beneath this apple tree and drink some apple crush,
Irish Peach, my sweet Maiden's Blush.

Lets make apple scrumpy, Lets make love tonight,
Lets make apple scrumpy, till the morning light,
Lets make apple scrumpy, right here on the ground,
Take a swig, feels alright, take your time it'll last all night.

Sit beneath this apple tree, Annie Elizabeth,
Sit beneath this apple tree ans let me taste your flesh,
Sit beneath this apple tree and curl up on the ground,
Norfolk Beauty, your Sweet Billy Bound.

Sit beneath this apple tree with russet in your hair,
Sit beneath this apple tree until the trees are bare,
Sit beneath this apple tree and hear the autumn call,
making scrumpy while the apples fall.

Cowboy Waltz
Music by Carl Dalton, words by Mark Davies

I`ve had children to various women,
none of them know my name, it`s true.
They`ve other laddies
that they call their Daddies,
You may feel this a shame I`m sure.

Not for me the childhood dream,
that`s for other folks.
Not for me the goodnight kiss,
that to me`s a joke.

I have travelled, the States have unravelled,
Too many things I have seen and done.
They are my ladies
and they are my babies.
They`ve allowed me to have fun.

Have I regretted, when all is considered,
My many splendid faults.
I can say clearly,
I`ve enjoyed it dearly,
This dance was my Cowboy Waltz.

So there you have it. Lyrics to the songs.

i`ve recently been messing about with the banjo in a ragtime/bluesy downstroke (Or as Eric Morecambe might say a "RUMCHUCKKA RUMCHUCKKK") manner. This turned up. i really am rather taken with it.

Very Demo by the way.

cherrypickin` time (mp3)

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

Pal O` Mine

2011-12-19T12:48:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

I met up with the Charmers for an end of year session the other night and we decided to have a go at playing some new/lesser played songs. Unfortunately I forgot to bring any recording stuff. Luckily as we officially live in the future, Andy`s "portable" (as my dad calls them) phone was able to capture a couple of things. Don`t be surprised if you don`t see them in a future charmin` sets.

Pal `O Mine.

A song i`ve been tinkering about with for a couple of months. Really difficult to work out which chords to play over it. What do I know, I only wrote it.

Pal o"mine (mp3)

Apple scrumptious.

Now with new 3rd verse. In my opinion the wittiest cleverest and downright bestest of the Charmers Lyrics.

Apple scrumptious (mp3)

and finally,

Cowboy waltz.

i think the first complete Alice Charmers original song. Still one of my favourites.

Cowboy waltz (mp3)

Till the next one learn something new.

Mark.

The Broken Broadcast.

2011-12-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

I`ve been lucky enough to be involved with a rather splendid band called "The Broken Broadcast" over the last couple of weeks. Don`t worry this won`t interfer with Alice Charmers and Solo stuff, but these chaps are really rather brilliant. and I`m extremely chuffed to say I played my inaugral gig with them the other night at KuBar in Stockton. We went down really well and had lots of lovely comment`s afterwards which is always nice.

James, who`s band it is, contacted me on Wednesday and asked me if I was available to play at a local BBC Radio Station show hosted by the wonderful Bob Fischer. Have a guess what my reply was? So here`s a link for all of you wonderful Strumpets to have a listen to us. We`re on from about 1hr and 4 mins, and be warned we`re on for about 45 minutes, most of which is bizarre chat. There are three "stripped bare" versions of The Broadcast`s songs on there as well though.

Here`s the link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00lyl3j/Bob_Fischer_08_12_2011/

Hope you like it.

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark

Cripple Creek.

2011-12-01T15:49:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

Here`s a vid directed and filmed by Carl, of our new favourite way of playing Cripple Creek.

Next time we reckon instead of drinking beer whilst drumming, Mr Denty could try ironing! Also please take time out to look at the different styles of banjo me and Andy love playing. Personally I think Andy is the Northern Banjo Boy Wonder! Also the more eagle eyed Strumpets may have noticed the Tron like abberation under my nose. Movember spawned a Monster again, and if you would like to donate to my furry lipped nonsense in aid of Prostate Cancer awareness and research in Britain then please visit here and pledge. Even a quid would be massively appreciated. http://uk.movember.com/mospace/

This is Post Number 196. What would you Strumpets like to be Post 200?

Let me know, and till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Village Green

2011-11-29T07:49:00.000-08:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

A Village Green 3 Song review.

http://soundcloud.com/villagegreen

I`ll be honest with you, a rainy Tuesday afternoon at the back end of November, nursing a five year old with an ear infection does not lend itself to reviewing new music. Similarly I made a decision about five years ago to just stop listening to new music (with a few exceptions, Mr Waits and Ms Bush to name a grotesquely talented few) . I`d already heard more than enough stuff in my lifetime and found myself comparing everything to The Pixies anyway. So perhaps not the best time to take a listen to the new songs by a local band called Village Green.

Except….

Except it couldn`t have possibly have been a better time. The three tracks I listened to, “Sunshine” “Carnaby Street” and “Love Will Save the world” have enough life, energy, and more importantly good tunes in them to make my child`s continuous coughs and splutters sound like they might be getting better. Through what has to be described as fantastic production, I can hear echoes of Siouxsie, The Wonder Stuff, and early Oasis in the songs, particularly stand out tune “Carnaby Street”.

“Sunshine” with its immediate hook, and wondrous “dee diddley” guitar riff has a remarkable effortless quality, which if personal experience is anything to go by, means it was probably anything but to put together. And thank the Lords of whomsoever you may look to at times of sadness, it does what it sets out to, and then leaves. Realistic ego, and possibly a lack of (ahem) happy powder, means that what could have been a twelve minute 93 bar Guitar solo “anthem”, is tight without seeming slight.

“Carnaby Street” evokes memories of Morrissey between his cartoon Bowie/Stardust imitation phase and later Caricature Karaoke years, sadly all of which I love. The verse could easily have come from any song on “Vauxhall and I”. That`s not written lightly either, by the way. Both literally and metaphorically, as my sausage fingers hammer at these keys like a gang of Woodpeckers on Speed.

“Love Will Save the World” is I suppose the most “anthemic” and “Rawk” of the three, with a post five minute running time, which if I`m honest, I could have maybe trimmed a minute or so off, but that`s more a reflection of myself and my reasoning of things since hitting Forty. Unlike most bully`s Forty got straight back up, hit me back and has been doing so ever since. If you`re young and enjoy your solid, tight, loud, guitar based music, solid, tight, loud, and guitar based it`ll be right up your cul de sac.

Now I`m off to do the ironing, but at least I`ll have something different to be listening to.

Till the Next one,

Learn something new

Mark.

waltzing down the road

2011-11-14T05:26:00.000-08:00

Afternoon strumpets,

Here`s a couple of vids from a recent rehearsal evening with the Charmers.

First a vid of a song which was one of the first things we wrote as a group. We`d never really figured out an arrangement of it though. As usual we ended up going for basics.

And here`s one of our most recent songs.

Hope you like, all comments more than welcome.

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

History of my World Part 2.

2011-10-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets.
Well the last Post concerning my earliest memory has received such positive feedback, as well as being the second most visited page since I actually completed the Great North Run two years ago. I`ve been asked to write further about my memories, so here`s one about why I not only have the best Sweetheart in the Land, but the best friends also.

The World has turned somewhat since Mark scored that amazing goal in his back alley. He`s been through School, Sixth Form College, and a couple of Polytechnics before finally with all of his qualifications and experience finding himself driving a Fork Lift truck on a sparse Dock In a "Boots" Warehouse in Nottingham, England. Mark is working permanent night shifts, and is sharing a house with a friend he met in Sixth Form called Stuey.

Stuey, who is one of the sweetest, funniest, and most loyal friends Mark has and will ever have, has just met Jane. She is beautiful, funny, and remarkably cool (for a girl) and it is blindingly obvious to Mark that all the conversations he and Stu have had regarding meeting someone are no longer pipe dreams for Stuey, but a lovely truth for him. Mark will one day be priviledged to make the Best man`s Speech at Stu and Jane`s Wedding, which everyone present will agree is the funniest thing they`ve ever heard, and to prove it, will be recorded by Stuey`s Dad. Unfortunately Stuey`s dad will then tape over the wedding video with Boro beating Aston Villa on Sky sports 1. At least that`s what they`ll tell Mark. Hmmm!

Don`t feel sad for Mark, he`ll eventually meet his own Princess. She`s called Louise. She`s the most loveliest thing he`s ever seen, and he meets her in a nightclub in Boro called "Blaises". Blaises was where "Freak" nights occurred on Thursday and saturday. This meant it played indie music, served SnakeBites (half lager half cider) and had condensation dripping from the ceiling.

When she ask`s him what does he do for a living he does something strange. Ironically, and he can still remember this, Embarrassment by Madness is playing. Ashamed that he hasn`t achieved more with his life, he has in the past lied to girls about his profession. his favourite being that he`s a Classics teacher at Newcastle University. But this time he says "I drive a fork lift truck"

Within a month it`s a relationship proper. Mark takes Louise back to Blaises and whilst there, she goes to sit down on a stool when someone from a gang of lads, pulls the stool from under her for a laugh. Louise lands flat on her backside and shocked begins laughing but crying at the same time. Mark know`s one of the lads and after seeing Louise is alright, say`s he`s going to sort this out. Louise begs him not too, telling him he`ll be battered. Mark not wanting to be a headline in the local newspaper agrees, but pride and guilt spend every minute tapping at his brain for the next week whilst he`s driving his Forklift truck in Nottingham.

Travelling back to Boro the following Saturday, Mark is symbolically a mouse. He agrees to meet Louise in The Tavern in Boro, along with all of his mates. Louise is in there and as the chaps start coming in, the mood lightens. Then Mark see`s them. The same gang of lads who`d snatched Louise`s seat. It`s no coincidence that one of the songs he loved listening to with his Mam on a morning, when younger was "Coward of the County". He asks his mate Darren to hold his pint. "You alright?" Darren say`s. "Yeah, just got to sort something out" Mark replies.

He walks over to the lads,and shouts "Think you`re funny eh? Think you`re hard. Making a lass cry." One of the lads comes over and says "what`s your problem like?" "My problem? My problem is that one of you doyles took the seat from under our lasses (Sorry Louise if you`re reading this, but you were and always will be "our lass" when I`m trying to be a bloke) arse. Funny eh? She`s got a back injury (she didn`t, I was milking it, drama queen as ever) and you could have wrecked her chances of walking" (like I said drama queen).

The group of lads, and there was a fair few, stood up and walked towards Mark. Christ, Mark thought, here comes the pummeling. But a funny thing happened. He stood his ground, and it must have worked because they all backed off. The lad at the front said "Look sorry mate, It was just a daft joke. Can we just call it a day" Amazed, Mark just said " Yeah right, just as long as you know". Mark had stood up to them. Mark had been "A MAN". Mark turned round to walk back to his mates, and saw....

Half the pub stood behind him.

Louise had told the lads about how Mark was taking the Blaises incident and asked them to look out for Mark. As Mark passed his glass to Darren, Darren had given the nod to the rest of the lads, and they`d followed him over, taking other lads who they knew with them, to where the scene was developing. Whilst Mark was shouting off about Louise`s bad back, half the pub had joined behind him and were giving it what is known in Boro as "THE EYES". The other lads seeing this had made the right decision and backed down.

I can still see the pub as I turned around, but what I can really see is Louise. Not acknowledging that I`d been "hard" and tackled the lads. As she pointed out, they would have battered me! No Louise was looking at the number of people who had come to back me up. If I could have that many people looking after me, then surely, I couldn`t be half bad.

Fifteen years and two kids later, thank Christ I went to Blaises the night I met my wife.

Till the next one, (don`t worry more banjo and guitar stuff coming soon) learn something new,

Mark.

History of my World Part 1.

2011-10-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

It`s December 1976. 07:00 hrs. Or Seven O Clock in the morning as we used to call it! The United Kingdom, and more specifically the North Eastern side of the United Kingdom is experiencing it`s worst winter in thirty years. A five year old lad wakes up in a bed which he shares with his 13 year old Big Brother.

Those words have initials which mean something to this child, and are not a reference to a pile of old nonsense C4/C5 TV bobbins twenty five years in the future. Neither do they allude to an amazing novel written 28 years prior to him waking which he will read and love and talk to his future wife about, purely because she also loves it, at about the same time C4/C5 are showing their pile of old shite. (Except for series 1. That was class! "I`m very disappointed with you Nicholas".)

The kid (Mark) has woken up and climbs over his Big Brothers huge frame (Six foot One at the age of Thirteen, can you imagine how tall he was and has always been to me) to go downstairs to have his cup of tea which as usual will be lukewarm with two sugars (remember this was the North of england in the mid Seventies). This will be drank whilst listening to Radio 2 (Terry Wogan) with his Mam, and followed by a hotter version of the same drink ten minutes later.

His pet dog Shandy is put in the back yard, and allowed to do his business. Mark has no idea, but Mam goes out and scrapes up Shandy`s business with a hand shovel. In those days, Fairies did all the work.   But this time theres something different. Mam isn`t in a rush to get Mark ready for school. "You`re not going in today" she says smiling, "The heating in the school`s buggered".

Try now to imagine, just stop whatever you`re doing and try to picture what those words meant to him. A lad who had until a year ago spent every waking moment at home. A lad who within a week of being at "big boys school" had simply walked out of class/school and walked home sitting on the doorstep waiting for his Mam to come home.

Now he knows what`s different in the house. None of his older Sisters, or Brother are making a noise. This, if Mark is being honest, well this was normal.  Differently, though, this time his Mam isn`t shouting them to get up. "Let`s just spend a minute you and me" she says, "and when you get older you`ll remember this like it was yesterday". At this point she takes his hand and gives it three squeezes. He looks at her and says "Whats that" She looks at him and says "It means "I love you"" Mark immediately gives her four shakes back "I love you too".

Big Brother (Gary) comes down stairs. Immediately eating four slices of toast, and drinking two glasses of tap water (he cannot abide milk. so that was the alternative in our house), he begins making his daft little brother and Mam laugh. He tells Mark there`s going to be a big footie game today and that he`s been picked to play! "Me?" "Yeah you Enoch (his nickname for his little brother, still to this day),and you`d better not let me down!" "Course I wont" Mark shouts and gets dressed.

The footie game was played in the "Back Alley". This was the cobbled area between the backs of houses where the bins were placed and the wagon would pick them up from. They`re all still there, but these days they`re all Gated off, due to vandalism, theft and drugs (which, ironically, if we`re being honest was a typical night out in the Seventies)! Players in the game had nicknames. Snotty Martin, Little Legs etc.  Mark was picked to be, of course, on Gary`s team.

The back alley was covered in snow. About four inches worth, and the whistle/shout went up. None them had trainers on, just hand me down black shoes from their older siblings, whether male or female. With a minute to go it was 7-7. Mark had often been told he had a "Wilf Mannion" style (Google him overseas readers).

At this point the immortal phrase was shouted by someone "Next goal; the winner"! It sounded like Marks Big Brother, but it wasn`t quite right. The ball was kicked out by the opposing team and landed at Marks feet in his own Box. His Big Brother was in goal and shouted "Go on, take them on!" Which Mark proceeded to do. He ran one way and then the other, and each time a player tried to tackle him they slipped in the snow and he took it past them. He could hear his Big Brother shouting "Go On Enoch!" and this gave him more confidence until each of his opponent`s was behind him on the floor. With just the keeper to beat, he hit it smoothly into the right hand corner.

I can still see that ball going in. I can still see the lads falling (some almost comedically) whist I "tackled" them. But most of all I can see my Mam`s face when Our Kid (which I now call the old get) told her what I`d done. That`s my earliest clearest memory, and writing it tonight has reminded me of a couple of things.

1) The past is another Country, they do things differently there.

and

2) I could have played for Boro!

Ladies and gentleman My Brother and My Mother.

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

New Charmers Stuff.

2011-10-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

The Charmers met up for the first time since the Doc Browns Gig On Thursday, and after running through our set of songs, we decided to try some new stuff, and this is what came out of it.

The first song is "Apple Scrumpy" written by Andy, and I think it has the potential to be a future Charmers favourite. It`s such a clever use of innuendo regarding the eating of apples, that you kind of think this must have been done before. To the best of my knowledge it hasn`t been, and if you know that it has, then just whisper it, because I don`t want anyone knowing.

A couple of things about the vid. You may notice that at the beginning there is chat between us regarding one of the lines in the song which Andy had written in his pad. It`s the second line of the second verse which goes "sit beneath this apple tree and let me taste your flesh". Well, the way that Andy had written it definitely did not look like the word "flesh". If he is able to send me a picture of the word as he`s written it, I`ll post it on the blog, and you can make your own minds up about what it looks like, I am far too polite to mention here what it
looked like to me, Carl, and Mark.

Secondly, I`d posted a version of this song which I`d recorded the other day previously on the blog, which had a completely different melody to the words. It was so difficult to blank that out and try and sing it the way Andy had written it, but I think I managed, and it lent itself well to a Wurzels inspired Chorus singalong!

Lastly, When we play new stuff it can be a nightmare to grab everyones attention to let them know we are coming to the end of the song. Carl is playing mandolin out of shot, and he had his head down in a Ray Manzarek styley. so I thought I should give him a whistle to let him know. Carl felt this was an affront to his human rights, so you can just about hear a profanity yelled by him just before it ends, followed by him whistling. I`ve stopped the tape there as his Tourettes kicks in and it might be painful for sensitive ears to behold.

Apple Scrumpy

Next up is a tune which Carl has written. I truly believe that Carl is an absolutely amazing guitarist and songwriter. He nails the theory of it not being the "Rock" but the "Roll" that you should tap into. I`ve played alongside carl for coming up to thirty years, and every time he surprises me with what he can do. It`s just a shame his memory is about as strong as an asthmatic turtles breath.

Carl`s tune is as good as anything we`ve played in my opinion. Great bass playing by Andy by the way. Could we be seeing a "Northern Bass Boy" website. God knows we`ve drank enough of the stuff.

Carl`s Tune

Finally we had about five minutes of studio time left so we thought we`d have a go at resurrecting a song we`d played once a couple of months ago. Shady Grove is what happened. not bad for a first proper go.

Shady Grove

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

Apple Scrumpy (rough demo)

2011-10-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

Andy from the The Charmers and NBB, has been harvesting his annual Apple hoard and is currently fermenting enough apples to keep Eve stuffed till Doomsday.

He`s posted a lovely little tune on his website, so I thought I`d do a demo of it for your good selves, and maybe it might find it`s way into the Charmers Set.

apple scrumpy (rough demo) (mp3)

Hope you like,

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Pretty Polly

2011-10-10T02:19:00.000-07:00

Morning Strumpets,

Jerome from the West Midlands in England (that`s a place and not a band) has posted this on Youtube and Google+, and I thinks it`s brilliant.

Hope you like it too, you can see more of his stuff here,

http://jerometurner.posterous.com/

And if that`s worked, it will be a first!

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

FB song

2011-10-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

Brian posted this onto my wall on facebook, and I`m rather taken with it.

Hope you like it to,

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

Happy Birthday NBB!!!!!

2011-09-29T06:40:00.001-07:00

For Mr Northern Banjo Boy.

All the best mate,,

Mark.

Bdumtisch!!!

2011-09-29T05:14:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

In the first in a (very) fleeting series on GNS, I`m going to post a joke. I`ll try and not be all Ronnie Corbett about it (not a bad thing to be Ronnie Corbett, if you`re Ronnie Corbett that is), and it`s a gag told to Robin Williams by Walter Cronkite. To quote Mr Williams Mr Kronkite "liked his humour the same way he liked his ocean.....blue"

You have been warned!

A couple are enjoying carnal activities whilst in bed one evening when suddenly they are disturbed by a creaking door. jumping up they look over to see little Timmy standing in the doorway with a look of abject horror on his face. With an almighty groan Timmy runs from the doorway. "Christ what should i do" asks the man, "follow him, and explain what was going on, he`s of an age where he should learn these things" replies his wife.

The man follows the cries to Timmys room and tenderly explains the act and function of sexual intercourse. Timmy says he understands and is soon fast asleep. The man returns to his room and reassures his wife that everything is just fine.

An hour later they are awakened by a bloodcurdling scream. The man sits bolt upright and runs to where the screams are coming from. Opening the bedroom door he see`s a sight which drags the breath straight from his lungs. Little timmy is on top of his Grandmother humping away "Oh my God" the man yells.

Looking over his shoulder Timmy shouts

"Not so funny when it`s YOUR Mother is it?"

Bdumtisch.

Till the next one learn something new.

Mark.

Billy cutting the mustard.

2011-09-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

I`ve just posted a phrase "I can`t cut the mustard like I used to", and it reminded of one of my favourite songs of Mr Connolly`s. When I first heard this I was nearly 18. That was yesterday wasn`t it?

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

First gig parts 2 & 3.

2011-09-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

It`s been a looooooonnnggg long day. Can`t cut the mustard like I used to.

Here`s the final two segments of the Gig from last night.

Hope you like.

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

Our first gig, part 1.

2011-09-23T02:56:00.001-07:00

Morning Strumpets,

Very tender this morning, much enjoyment had last night.

So here is the first of three vids from the night.

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

Fly Me to the Moon and Sun!

2011-09-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

Tomorrow night sees the first gig played by the Alice Charmers in their current line up of Andy, Carl, Mark and myself. We`re playing a set at Doc Browns in Boro, a place where i have played solo, with Carl, and with Carl and Andy. If you can, see if you can get there. It should be a reet belter.

Mr Jason Roper has asked me to post a couple of the Rat Pack songs onto the blog, so here`s my rendition of "Fly me to the Moon". More to follow over the next week Mr Roper!

I also played my first gig at The Sun Inn in Stockton. It was a really nice set up with a couple of bands (Product of Mexico, and Dinnernanny who all seem to be called Paul, hence the dedications before each song, and gave out free cake) who were really nice chaps. Unfortunately during me set a rather loud group of young chaps came in a bit worse for wear, and proceeded to shout amongst themselves and then get kicked out, so i`ve only included the first couple of songs I did, as the rest is just obscured. My particular facourite piece is where I stop for the people to join in on "All you need is Love" and for the first time that night the place is silent!

Practice tonight with the Charmers, and then tomorrow the real thing HURRAH!!

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

The Good Long Friday.

2011-09-09T03:09:00.000-07:00

Morning Strumpets,

So I`m tootling along nicely on my weekly jaunt to "the" ASDA, and accompanying me in a little Caraoke (thanks to a CD long ago compiled) are the Pixies, Frank Black, and The Breeders. All of a sudden Francis Monkman`s theme from "The Long Good Friday" blasts out. Tourettes Like just as it`s starting I shout " ERE, Howld ap, wayers Victoriaaaaah?" just as She`s seen in the other car getting driven away.

For the next two minutes, Bob`s in the back exploring the possibilities before resignedly accepting his fate. James Bond (who is now sat next to me in the passenger seat looking back at Bob with an air of arrogance yet deadly obedience) is going to shoot him. It`s at this point I have to get out the car and do the weekly shopping.

Welcome to my world.

Ironically, and this did make me laugh out loud whilst in "the" ASDA, in the third aisle, blocked in by an old woman reading at point blank range the contents of a Pot Noodle, her trolley left at a right angle. I could hear Louis Armstrong singing "With all the time in the world" through the tannoy.

Who said shopping couldn`t be entertaining.

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark

Rat pack on The Road.

2011-09-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

The past couple of weeks have been devoted to working out arrangements of Rat Pack classics for guitar and banjo following a request from a friend to play some at her "39th plus 1" birthday party last night. As little as a fortnight ago, I honestly didn`t think I was going to be able to manage it. These are big songs, and those chaps voices had a range as wide as Stretch Armstrong doing a bungee jump from the Grand Canyon. Then I got a slight throat infection. Then I tried on my tuxedo. Time somehow made it shrink. I can`t figure out how, but it`s happening a lot with my clothes lately. maybe we should change our washing powder (ahem, walks away sheepishly).

However as is (touch wood) the norm with these things, something clicked with the arrangements, the throat held out, and thanks to a little smoke and mirrors the Tux was salvagable. And what a night! 250 people in the most glamourous attire all out to have a good night. And Debi,(party lady) put on quite the evening. I went down pretty well, actually I`m stopping being modest, I went down really well. I`ll be posting the renditions of the Rat Pack stuff at a later date, though not from the night as I forgot to take me Bloggie!

Last Thursday The Charmers met up and had a really productive evening. Now summer holidays are finished with, I think we`re going to really push with getting our stuff "out there".

Here`s a first group attempt at a song I posted a month or so back.

Till the next one learn something new.

Mark.

Palomine.

2011-08-23T06:05:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

Back home after quite a few adventures in various places. Here`s a couple of demo`s of some stuff I`ve been messing around with for a couple of days.

Hope you like.

Palomine (demo) (mp3)

And here`s a vid for your viewing pleasure. Inspired by a chat between Northern Banjo Boy,Carl and myself whilst camping at this years Deer Shed Festival

Loads of stuff to do over the next couple of days, so till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

Hope And Social.

2011-07-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

I`m away for a couple of weeks, but I`m leaving you in the good hands of the North`s best kept secret. Hope and Social.

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

Wally on the Run

2011-07-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

BBC Introducing.

2011-07-17T12:15:00.001-07:00

The Road

2011-07-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

Here`s another new one which I`ve been working on for a couple of days. First version and I`m sure not how it will eventually end up (not sure I like the G7 insert) but, oh well you get the idea. all comments very welcome.

The Road (mp3)

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

Jamboree Jam.

2011-07-15T04:41:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

Here`s a vid from the other nights practice. It`s a song I wrote years ago for my other band The Nephrons.

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark

Smother Time

2011-07-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

Seeing Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers appears to have acted as a laxative to my creative muse who is emptying her bowels on my head at an alarming rate.

I played Blondie`s Sister Rag to the Charmers during a practice on Tuesday (some audio and vid to be posted over the next couple of days)and it went down really well. I`ve also written this little thing which has words of a sort but I`ll keep hold of them until it`s about right. The chaps also liked this so hopefully so will you.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Jubilation Day

2011-07-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

Here`s a bit more footage from the Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers Concert,playing my current favourite song.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Blondie`s Sister Rag

2011-07-11T05:13:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

The kids have had their annual Sports days this last week, and fantastically, in Grace`s year there were actually winners and losers. Grace got a first place in the football team, and two Silvers and a Bronze. Pretty chuffed. Amazingly I won the Dad`s 60 Metre Dash with a bean bag on head. I managed to lodge the bean bag to the top of my head with my glasses. Nothing against the rules there (I`ve checked).

Following this on the way to the Gig this weekend, Carl and I remembered our sports days. Carl has an everlasting memory, which i`m sure he will share with you if you should ever meet, and it was that along with the inspiration of seeing Mr Martin in action, which has led to me writing this.

Hope you like it,

till the next one, learn something new,

Mark

Steve Martin weekend.

2011-07-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

As a birthday present, Carl from The Charmers arranged for us to visit the City of Manchester to see Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers play at the O2 Apollo. How fantastic was that!!!I thought it might be an idea to stay over on the night so without any help from the wives we "organised" everything ourselves.

The day started well, the hotel was booked, all of my stuff was packed. Louise ran through a check of clothing. "Do you have clothes to travel home in tomorrow?" was the first question, yes, yes I did. "Are they different to the clothes you are travelling there in?" was the next question, mostly they were, so the answer again was positive. all toiletries packed, unfortunately I`d forgotten toothpaste, but there`s a marvellous thing about Manchester. You can buy things there, like stuff you`ve forgot.

It turned out Carl had some anyway. Carl picked me up, and all excitened, to quote young Harry, we set off. Neither of us felt that we would need coats as it was quite sunny. We stopped off at a local shop to pick up food and, ahem, drink for the car. As we went to leave the shop, we weren`t prepared for what we saw. Literally. It was like God was peeing through a sieve. It was bouncing eight inches off the floor, and minor flooding was already occuring. It had been glorious when we went in.

The car was twenty feet away, but it might as well have been a mile. The rain was coming down sideways. We decided to Butch and Sundance it. By the time we got to the car we might as well have just walked. Drenched. Still we had food, we had drink and we had a great evening to look forward to. I asked Carl if he`d printed off the directions to the hotel I`d sent him and he said he had and that they were behind my seat. I picked the sheet up and saw this.

Carl had been helping his son with his homework that morning.

Despite this we found the hotel. It had looked lovely from the website, but I suppose alarm bells should have rang when I realised I`d only paid thirty quid for the two of us to share a twin. Still it did the trick.

We managed to get to the O2 Apollo, which was a twenty minute taxi ride, you can guess the price! Mr Martin came on with the Steep Canyon Rangers, and Wow. I mean Wow. You know when you get the chance to see one of your heroes perform, and I`d been a fan long before I even knew he played banjo, and you`re slightly nervous because you don`t want them to be ordinary, or anything less than magnificent. Well Mr Martin, effortlessly, went past my expectations. I can honestly say I have not been more wholly entertained ever at a live concert. He was at pains to point out that the Steep Canyon Rangers where not his backing band, but that he was their host Celebrity.

Here`s a clip I managed to get on my mobile.

I`ve got a few more to post throughout the week.

So then it was a couple of pints in Manchester, and back to the room with takeaway. I was so looking forward to a good nights sleep. Hal has had a bad cough lately so sleep has been a stranger. There was a 21st birthday party going on directly underneath our room. That stopped at 12:30. Sleep beckoned. Then I heard it! Carl had obviously swallowed a Klaxon. He wasn`t snoring, he was shouting. This continued until 6am when, and I kid you not, he got out his bed, put the light on and started making a cup of tea. No sleep for me.

Back home and to the kids and wife, and an amazing memory stored. Thanks Carl mate, but seriously, have the operation, that snoring is unbelievable.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Forty Towers Before Me.

2011-06-22T03:19:00.000-07:00

Morning Strumpets,

The brief joy which was a working computer came to an abrupt halt last week. I think it`s about time I bit the bullet and purchased a new one. As a result this is being written on my lovely lady`s laptop, which I seem to have keyboard dyslexia about. I also find that I`ve been typing happily away for a couple of minutes, only to look up and find that I`m about three paragraphs backwards and in the middle of a previously typed sentence. No idea how that works?

I am forty tomorrow. I`m not complaining (much), as previously posted my life is pretty wonderful at the moment, but it has made me think about all my "firsts" I achieved in my thirties.

So, and in no particular order, here`s the, as yet unfinished, list.

Been in my thirties (duh!)
Graduated from a University course
Become a qualified nurse
Been stung by a wasp
Passed my Driving Test
Became a manager at work
Realised that being a manager at work was not for me
Won Popmaster and three in ten on Radio 2.
Owned a computer
Bought a house
Became a Dad to a beautiful daughter
Became a Dad to a beautiful son
completed a half marathon
learnt to "play" banjo
learnt to "play" Ukulele
got up and played to a group of people in a pub
Been paid to get up and play to a group of people in a pub
Played at a music festival
Woke up in a tent next to a girl

I`ll carry on with this later, after I`ve had a bit more of a think.

Till the next one,

learn something new,

Mark

Fooling Banjos.

2011-06-06T04:51:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,
I don`t often post YT clips of others due to copyright infringement, but this is such a brilliant thing that I just had too. It`s not only the "duel" which is amazing and funny, but keep an eye out for Mr Martins reply. Sheer genius!

(For some reason YT clips only ever display the left two thirds of the screen on the GNS Blogspot, so it`s worth clicking on the heading on the clip and watchin on the YT channel.)

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Kids Row.

2011-05-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

This morning whilst I was in the bathroom, the kids were playing hide and seek. It was Hal`s turn to hide, and I heard him come scampering along the landing to hide in the adjacent room. He didn`t know I was in the bathroom, and whilst he was in there I could hear him laughing to himself with the excitement of the game.

It`s these moments that I think I`ll truly remember as being a Parent. The obvious moments such as first words, first steps etc. will always remain, but it`s the unexpected things which I truly cherish.

Things like Harry sat on my lap absentmindedly scratching his head. Grace sat in her princess tent "playing" her Uke and singing along, not knowing I was stood watching her. The pair of them tucking into pizza and popcorn whilst we watch our "Saturday night film".

It`s at times like this I think, what does the future hold for them? What can I do to assist in their happiness and learning? I know I`m not the first parent to have these thoughts. The truth is, it`s a crap shoot. Better parents than we have had the most awful experiences as also worse parents have had their dreams come true.

All I know is that so far, so good. They are the two loveliest creatures which ever strolled the planet. It is true that they make me want to laugh and then want to shout in frustration. On one hand wish to hug them then equally wish to break their little legs. And all this is made worthwhile by the hope that one day, they`ll see their kids singing to themselves whilst playing arts and crafts and have the exact same thoughts.

Here`s another vid from last weeks practice. A new song to this website from The Alice Charmers. Andy wrote the music and had the chorus worked out words wise, i just threw some more words at the rest of it and looked at what stuck.

And here`s an audio of a song which I wrote in just over ten minutes. sometimes that`s what happens. Remarkably i wrote the words first and the chords and tune turned up a bit later. It`s a first recording and definitely not a finished piece, but I like it.

Listen!

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

Return to Blogsville

2011-05-27T04:01:00.000-07:00

Morning Strumpets,

So, over the last couple of weeks, in an amazingly (even for me) rhubarb turn of events, not only was Blogger playing silly buggers not allowing me to post, my computer received a virus, making it out of play for a couple of days, and then lo and behold the Sony Bloggie I purchased in order to place HD vids on here turns out to be nuthin` but a muffin. It was only allowing vids of 1 min 24 sec`s length to be posted to YT or Facebook. For example:

Which to say is rather annoying is like saying The Grand Canyon is a ditch. However due to a late night call to my Facebook buddies following spending most of the night trying to figure it out, I`m rather chuffed to say that we now have the return of posts to this blog including vids which are completed!

Massive thanks to Paul Mowbray, Neil Duddy for their advice and (as it turned out) answers, and a special mention to Paddy and Andy Brown for their invaluable, and intended, humorous efforts ("try turning it on and then off again" and "try hitting it with a hammer" respectively).

So without further a do, here`s a first attempt with the four piece at an old work in progress. Hope you like.

Till the next one learn something new.

Mark.

More stuff from last Thursday.

2011-05-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

Evening strumpets,

Here`s a couple more songs from the other nights rehearsal, featuring a headless me on guitar. Nicely there`s no swearing on these ones.

John Henry.

Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

Still a bit rusty, but the first time we`d played these together with Mr Dent, so a good benchmark from where to work hopefully.

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

In and Outtakes

2011-05-06T07:02:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets.

(CAUTION STRONG AND POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE AND PERCUSSION IN THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS)

I`ve pondered and hummed and hawed about putting these vids on, purely because in the second one there is some strong language. They were recorded whilst we were trying to get the percussion sorted on "By the Fire". They are by no means "Troggs" like, but there are a couple of naughty words, so please if you are offended by swearing don`t play them.

I`ve posted them because I have laughed so much whilst watching them, and I believe they incorporate the good nature and enjoyment of being in a band.

Hope you like them. Incidentally, I`ll post the final version tomorrow. As with most things, we went back to the original instruments line up.

MORE COWBELL!!

"Lollipop sticks in the park gates"

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

Alright foursome.

2011-05-06T04:38:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

The Charmers met up last night to have a practice and we were joined by Mr Mark Dent. Mark, Carl and I have been playing together for as long as I can remember, and I know of no person who has a better natural inbuilt metronome. He`d played with us once in February 2010, but due to family and other commitments (he likes football) it can be tricky to pin him down for regular practice.

I think he adds a dimension the The Alice Charmers which moves us up a gear. Hopefully you`ll be hearing and seeing a lot more of him on the old blog.

Here`s the first song we did, I`m messing about with some new licks on the old drum on a stick, and my banjo is slightly out of tune, but it`s not too bad.

More stuff from last night on the way soon.

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

Help needed!

2011-04-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

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

Form is temporary......

2011-04-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

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.

Slim Shady!

2011-04-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

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!

Listen!

Till the next one learn something new.

Mark.

Owed to Joy.

2011-04-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

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.

Listen!

Here`s the bluesier version.

Listen!

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.

My Favourite Year.

2011-04-09T16:51:00.000-07:00

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.

"I`m a cult, a cult, I tell you"

2011-04-08T04:56:00.000-07:00

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?

Listen!

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

GNS on GNS

2011-04-04T06:58:00.000-07:00

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.

more stuff from Doc Browns.

2011-04-02T06:02:00.000-07:00

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.

The Alice Charmers, live at The Sessions, Doc Browns. 31/03/11.

2011-04-01T02:27:00.000-07:00

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.

Apologies

2011-03-28T12:18:00.001-07:00

Evening Strumpets,
apologies but the vids posted on the previous post were saved as private, DOH!!!

You should be able to watch them now.

Till the next one, I`ll learn how to download HD vids from now on,

Mark.

Paper Scissors Stone, and a meaty guitar performance from Carl.

2011-03-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets.

The Charmers met up yesterday morning at chez Davies to practice for the upcoming Doc Browns Gig. I hope I`m not tempting fate, but we`re sounding pretty tight. Carl regaled us with a lovely little story about a type of entertainment which has been given the name "Paper Scissors Stone" in the recent profannisaurus (chaps from overseas, just google that word, be warned though, it`s not for the easily offended!)

Carl had also bitten the nail on his right index finger down to the flesh, and was in agony for most of the morning. Immediately following the Foggy Mountain Breakdown vid posted, he showed me the end of his finger, which had almost been sheared away by his playing, but then to my horror I realised he had been playing on my NEW FENDER!!!!!! I am not exaggerating when I tell you, there was bits of meat on the strings. Carl was immediately sent off to clean the instrument, which he did chuntering something about "Oh well as long as the guitars alright, never mind me finger" Don`t worry about Carl, he`s a big boy, who should know better.

If anyones interested I have both the paper scissors stone story, and my reaction to Carls digit splicing incident on tape. If I get enough requests, I may post them on the Great North Strums sister blog "The Nephrons"!

Here`s the nicer clips.

Hope you like them, till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

Introducing.....

2011-03-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

So I`ve been out and bought a new guitar and banjo. You all know I was laid off from work, and I felt like I deserved a treat. I didn`t go mad, I bought a reasonably priced Fender something or other semi accoustic, and a Kay late sixties/early seventies KB54.

If that`s a sudden intake of breath, then yes I know, i`ve read and heard about the dreaded KB54 as well. More than likely made in Eastern Germany, not a lot of people have nice things to say about them. However, as soon as I saw it in the shop, I was smitten. It looks ugly as hell, but it plays as sweet as a mars bar dipped in treacle. I like it, I actually really like it. here`s a couple of vids with the new merchandise on show. I`ll get some lovely pictures up next week.

The first one hopefully makes Shady Grove a little more understandable to any budding new musicians out there. I now realise that I am singing the chorus entirely wrong, but I`ll post it done properly next week.

I love that song.

Next up, here`s a song written last year, which still makes me laugh. man alive that`s a good pause of the Davies lad on the YT Clip.

if only eh?

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

Shady Grove.

2011-03-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

Here`s a good reason for picking up a new instrument. You find music and artists you feel you`ve known all your life, but you`ve never heard before. If I had never picked up this drum on a stick I would never have heard of Sufjan Stevens, or Patrick Costello, or the amazing Doc Watson, whom I am ashamed to admit I had never heard of before. What a performer, and who, I`m reliably informed, turned 88 last week.

Here`s a version of one of his most well known songs (I`m informed again). It`s rough as I`d only just worked it out, and apart from the, I think anyway,(ahem) Kubrickian editing style of the clip, I know it`s being played far too fast, but what can I tell you, learning new songs gets me excited, and it takes a while to get the tempo right, especially when playing solo. (Is it me or is this all sounding a bit double entendre-ish, for all the British readers FNARR FNARR)!

Anyway here it is.

Hope you like,

Mark.

jammin` jamboree

2011-03-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

The Alice Charmers are playing their second gig on the 31st of this month at Doc Browns in sunny Middlesbrough, so we met up for the first of a couple of "run through of setlist" sessions last night. We finished that in (worryingly) about fifteen minutes, with a repeat lasting (a much more appropriate) 27 minutes (with a couple of other songs included). Which meant we had a couple of hours to mess about in the room.

Carl spent about half an hour trying to get reverb from an amp which was cattle trucked and a further forty minutes (I may be exaggerating) getting a sound from another amp using my guitar which is equally cattle trucked. But it was worth it, because the sound he got was, in my opinion, tremendous.

Here`s an example which shows what I mean (it would have shown more if I hadn`t brought the wrong lead for the Camcorder and the battery hadn`t run out.)

Hopefully see you at Doc Browns,

Till the next one learn something new.

Mark.

A Smarter Future

2011-03-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

I never got around to posting the stuff that`s been happening over the past couple of weeks last night, so thanks for your patience, and away we go.

After working in the NHS for 13 years, I was made redundant on the 1st of March due to Public Health Cuts. The Condition Management Programme (of which I was a Practitioner)could only prove qualitatively that it was incredibly effective in improving peoples lives, but the Conservatives want quantitative figures. Try doing that with (predominantly)mental health initiatives.

It has been my pleasure over the past couple of years to work within a team which didn`t adopt an attitude of helping people, more so an attitude of helping people to help themselves. It also encouraged me to develop myself in a professional manner I never dreamt I was capable of.

Here`s the irony. Having spent the last couple of years working in Job Centres helping people to find work, I had to sign on last week. I must be honest, by the time I got to meet face to face with a fellow human, they were quite brilliant, and could not have gone more out of their way to help me, but Christ the amount of gumpf and telephone nonsense I had to go through just to get there was soul destroying. Still, I`ve always said you can`t fake empathy, so as far as I`m concerned it gives me another string to my therapeutic bow; although it`s beginning to resemble a harp these days more than a bow, I think I`ve got enough strings now whoever is guiding my life!

So what next? Well, as much as it pains me to write this, I`m setting up a LTD Company to continue the brilliant work CMP was providing. Yes I know it`s exactly what the Conservatives want (ie private companies sourced out to provide services previously provided by Public Health), but I`ve worked too hard and seen what the principles behind CMP can achieve. To paraphrase Rutger Hauer, if I don`t do this I`m afraid that all CMP achieved will be lost like tears in the rain.

The Company is called "A Smarter Future", and I`m not ashamed to admit provides all the things I provided within CMP, ie Chronic Pain Management, Understanding and Coping with Anxiety, Understanding and Tackling Depression, Sleep Management, Anger Management, Raising Self Esteem and Confidence, and General Activity and Pacing Techniques. Not bad eh? All I need now is a foot in the door.

I`m so busy networking and trying to find ways of funding this project, alongside providing Daddy daycare for my Kids that Posts may be few and far between, but I`ll try and let you all know how I`m getting on, as well as how the Alice Charmers are getting on also.

In the meantime.......

Here`s a couple of presents for the Strumpets.

By far and away the song which gets the most positive reaction from the old live stuff. It`s been posted before, but recorded on a rubbish Mobile.
Hope you like it.

And how good is Grace getting? Look at the different fingers being used!!!

All comments really gratefully received regarding everything, as usual, and why not follow the GNS, you can do it by clicking on the follow icon below followers on the right hand side of the screen underneath "search this blog". I have nearly ten thousand page views, and fourteen followers!

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

A lonely number.

2011-03-07T09:17:00.000-08:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

Firstly apologies for lack of posts recently but in what will be made clear later it`s been a mad couple of weeks in Strumland.

Here`s a version of a Nillson classic as requested by Melissa, and a couple of Alice Charmers recordings.

Listen!

Listen!

Listen!

And finally a Nephrons song given the Charmers treatment.

Listen!

Hope you like them, and I`ll post later this evening about what`s been going on, It miht be a long one though.

Till the next one learn something new.

Mark.

For Mr Steven Kirkbride.

2011-02-20T14:43:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

Just completed the fourth Facebook quiz, and as usual the winner gets to pick a tune to be posted on the blog. Mr Steven Kirkbride won,his vast knowledge of Modern Pentathlon and Addams family members helped a lot, and requested this.

Hope you like it mate,

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

Chip off the old block

2011-02-18T11:03:00.000-08:00

Evening strumpets,

Grace has had her pink guitar for just over a year now, and has enjoyed messing about with it, although it`s never been in tune since day 1. So this afternoon, I`ve sat down with her, and taught her about tuning the strings and what they`re called, and we`ve worked on an E Major chord.

I have to say, she`s took it up really well, and here is her first interpretation of the song she loves us to sing to her at bedtime.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Extremes.

2011-02-10T10:10:00.000-08:00

Afternoon strumpets,

So here`s a couple of examples of the sheer diversity and delight that is known as the guitar. If any of you have kids, really, really really encourage them to pick up an instrument. I worked out Magic Fly when i got in from work, it took about five minutes to do it, and this is reflected in the slightly rough around the edges playing. i`ll get better, promise. I love the fact that it lends itself to the guitar so well.

Nebraska on the other hand, is just about the most beautifully dark piece of music there is, (especially when played by Mr Springsteen.) "Well sir I guess there`s just a meanness in this land" Shivers.

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

Hope you like

Charming.

2011-02-09T09:57:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

A couple of the Alice Charmers will be playing a gig at Doc Browns in Boro tomorrow evening. Unfortunately Andy is unable to make it as he`s got work commitments he just cannot get out of.

We`re really going to miss him, and it means we don`t get to play the more enjoyable (to play anyway) Charmers songs, (Toll the Line, little ditty, and John Henry),but me and Carl will still belt out a couple of tunes which hopefully should get their feet a tapping and their eyeballs a flapping.

Here`s a late addition to the set (though i`m still trying to persuade Carl to play Jamboree). Wish us luck.

Listen!

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

Life begins at Fawlty? Or The 39 Stops!

2011-01-31T13:54:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

As I was walking along the path to My Mother in Law`s house on Christmas Day just gone, I took a moment to look around and have a bit of a reflection on what this Christmas meant to me. The snow lay on the Ground, my breath misted causing a fluorish of crystaline as I exhaled, and the Sky was the blue God saw when he breathed life into the clay.

This was to be my Fourth Christmas since Mam died, and possibly (in fact very probably) the last Christmas the kids would both really experience the real "magic" of the Day. I figured it was about the third Christmas Morning on which I had woken to discover a white Christmas in my life. Then I thought, so how many haven`t I? And that`s when it hit me.

I had experienced (in one form or another) forty Christmas Day`s in my lifetime.

Now if you`re of an age where you`re tutting and thinking, "forty, you`re nowt but a bairn lad" then apologies, but what you have to realise is that somewhere there has been a mistake. You see, I`m actually only 22. Possibly 25 at a push. I`ve only just left Senior school, about seven months ago. Nearly forty? Christ I must have missed that meeting.

As an aside, it is with great pleasure that I tell you that My Senior/ secondary school was called Hustler. Yes that`s right, I gathered my fundamental understanding of French/English Literature/Music and Maths from a School named after a porno Mag. We shared a Campus with Readers Wives 6th form, Razzle & Fiesta technical College and St Bizarre Sex Dwarves.

That`s not really true. but my school was called Hustler.

How on earth am I Forty this year? Where`s that time gone? More importantly, how do I get it back? My neighbour has a theory of time speeding up the older you get. He has a four year old Grandson. A year to the little lad is a quarter of his life. It`s a 70th of the old boys.

Somebody once described our time on Earth to me as being like a toilet roll. The nearer you get to the end, the narrower the roll, the quicker it goes. you can insert your own toilet gag`s here. Go on I`ll wait for you..........right, are you done? OK, shall we carry on.

Then of course I think about where I`m at. I`m nearly Forty. I`ll have outlived Jesus by eight years (and a fact which even the most ardent of atheists cannot dispel, I`ve helped create two miracles in my lifetime). I`ll be the same age as Lennon when he was asked if he would sign Chapman`s copy of Double fantasy. I`ll be the same age as Basil Fawlty (In the SECOND SERIES). Dad hadn`t met me when he was forty (though he didn`t know it then, I was having a ball of a time: Bdumtisch Aaaythenkyew), and Mam had known me for about a year, inside and out.

But then I think, if I could have seen myself now being forty when I was twenty, apart from thinking when did I find the time to eat all those pies, would I be happy? If I could see me with my amazingly beautiful family, doing what I do for a living, Living where I do, still in touch with my closest friends of nearly thirty years, and their equally amazing and beautiful families (well nearly as amazing and beautiful). If I could see me doing the gigs and festivals, even playing a bloody banjo, then? Well, I think I`d have been pretty damned happy.

Here`s a song which I hope sums it up. (Man I looked pretty good with that beard).

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

New and Old.

2011-01-29T10:01:00.000-08:00

Evening strumpets,

I`ve posted a version of these two "things" on here previously, but here`s a couple of updated versions.

Not at all sure how this should be spelt.

Listen!

Words and "tune" for this, previoulsy titled "Dante Wicked", but now called "Take my Hand"

Listen!

Let me know what you think.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Odds and Daft Sods

2011-01-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

Evening strumpets,

Here`s a couple of vids from the last couple of weeks adventures.

First one is The Alice Charmers, channeling a Mungo Tom and Jerry vibe.

next up a solo slot from a gig at Doc Browns on the twentieth of Jan 2011.

Hope you like.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

More Strum und Drang!!!!!!!

2011-01-17T14:02:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

Grace has passed her latest swimming grade on her first attempt! We`re so proud of her, and we were told that tonight would be a "play" night for the kids, as it was their last session, and they had all tried really hard. For the past twelve weeks myself and several other parents have sat by the side of the "learners" pool, where there are seats, and you can get a view of how your kid is doing. The other seating area, beside the "big" pool is around a corner and as a result it is not possible to see how they are getting on.

This has been fine, despite the kids having problems at times, not one parent has done anything to divert them from the swimming instructors. We have sat there for eleven weeks. Eleven. No diversion whilst lessons going on, in fact more chatting between Mam`s and Dad`s about more important things, like the snow, and Christmas, and, bizarrely but lovely too, getting dressed up as vampires for Gothic weekend at Whitby! One of the Parents is a Vicar for Pete`s sake (or whatever you want to call Him).

So we all arrived this evening, and sat whilst awaiting the instructor. I noticed two different faces there, a couple of older people with a little girl who Grace had befriended. In my most typical Northern English way, I raised my eyebrows and smiled whilst mouthing "alright?"to them, to which I got the token Northern reply of eyebrows counter raised with a smile to accompany.

It was at this point that the evening went sour. We were sat there as the session was about to start when a bloke in his mid forties, shaved head (not that`s a bad thing, just setting the scene) Local Council inscribed black T-shirt tucked into his Local Council inscribed black Shell suit bottoms (as pointed out in last paragraph, just trying to let you get a picture of him) came over. Half smiling he said "Sorry Mams and Dad`s, I`m going to have to ask you to leave this area, youre not allowed to sit here whilst sessions are on" See the important words there. "I`m going to have to ask you" as in "It`s not me, it`s just the rules" as in " we were only obeying orders" Yeah I know how extreme that sounds, but I`m still smarting, and hopefully as I go on you`ll see why, so bare with me.

When I said that we had been sitting there for the past eleven weeks, he gave a similar smile and just said "Don`t know how that`s been allowed to happen, mate" (I never crudely swear on this blog, it`s a rule I gave myself, because as daft as it sounds I like the idea that my kids and Grandkids etc can check out how the old man was, but I`m really close at the moment. "mate" "MATE!!!!!!!!", and yes I know I`m a bugger for open/close Brackets, whatchyagonnadoo) "but it`s not allowed, you`ll have to move to the designated areas" he could have gone on "where you can`t see your kids", but he didn`t.

Now it`s here where I really got upset. because the aforementioned older people were the little girls Grandparents, who the little girl had specifically asked to take her for her last session so she could show them how good she was. Her older Sister is possibly swimming for the County, and she wanted them to see how well she is doing. She`s six. They told Mr Jobsworth this, can you guess what he said? it`s even worse than that, he said nothing and just smiled that "I wish there was something I could do" smile and pointed to the designated seats.

I`d love to tell you that i stood up to him and said "let them stay, it`s only fair". I`d love to say I had a word with him afterwords voicing my disgust in his appalling interpersonal skills. But the reason I didn`t is because what I would really love to tell you is that I picked him up by his pathetic uniform and frogmarched him to the deep end and threw him into it.

But I`m a person who understands (professionally and personally) how the human body and mind works. I know what chemicals were swirling around my body at that time, just as I know that feeling the way I did would have resulted in me saying something which would have resulted in Grace probably being barred from the Swimming lessons, and getting a black mark against her name for any other Pools. And that Bastard knows that,(More brackets, i`ve allowed myself that one) and his Power trip would have been complete.

We stood on the other side of the pool so we could still watch the kids. remarkably Jobsworth didn`t say a word, but I think that`s because he could feel the rage within the group. He wouldn`t even look over at us as he sat where we weren`t allowed to.

Apparently the reason we aren`t allowed to sit there is because in the past Parents have disrupted lessons by having a go at the instructor or shouting for their kids to try harder. Of course I knew this already, I`m not an idiot, but we`d been allowed to sit there for eleven weeks, without an incident, despite a couple of times which we wish we could have.

If you`re reading this and you are a Jobsworth, go away, I don`t want you here, this isn`t the place where people like you can play. If by a remarkable twist of fate, you`re reading this and you`re the jobsworth I`ve been discussing, tough, I hope you are! I`ve done enough risk assessments in my time, I know I`ve covered myself with enough anonymity (including your appearance and my kids swimming level)to prevent any comeback on yourself. You should be ashamed of yourself.

And now I can relax. Thanks for putting up with this rant, but as a result of my profession, I know that I needed to let it out, otherwise, well, that way darkness lies.

As an example of what real humans are capable of. Enjoy!

and now I feel much better.

till the next one learn something new.

Mark

New Tunes for your perusal.

2011-01-16T12:55:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

Here`s a couple of things that I`m working on at the moment. I got a great new capo for Christmas and it`s a million miles ahead of the (basically) pencil and elastic band that i had previously been using. The capo is on at the third fret, and I just think it makes the guitar have a nicer sound.

The first one is a tune, which I currently am working on words for (got the melody). It`s a bit of a race to the end, but once I get some words in there it should calm down a bit.

Listen!

The next one is about the possibility that the person you met the night before, and were sure that would be the future husband or wife, turns out not to be quite how you remember them. there`s a couple of different verses being worked on, but it`s pretty much the way it will end up I think

Listen!

Hope you like them, you can also see what I`ve recorded at Audioboo by googling it and I`m called (surprisingly) thegreatnorthstrum. All one word.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

A Kick up the Eighties.

2011-01-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

Evening strumpets,

The other night I just could not sleep, and for why I hear you ask (not out loud, obviously, that would be a little strange). because someone had said on the Telly that the Eighties was a "shit decade".

Well Dearly Beloved, I`m here to tell you (if you`re hearing that the way I`m intending you to, you`re on my side already, if not, bear with me)They were wrong.

The Eighties were a most excellent Decade. Scorsese saw it in with Raging Bull and waved a tear stained handkerchief to it with Goodfellas, whilst inbetween introducing us to King of Comedy, After Hours, and still one of my favourites, the Last Temptation of Christ. For every Ishtar there was a Reds or Rain Man, Eddie Murphy hadn`t made Norbert yet, but he did make 48 Hrs, Trading Places (and ,quite brilliantly, there was a pause button on the Video for lads of a certain age to pause "That Scene" you know what I`m talking about ahem) and The immortal Beverly Hills Cop. Steve Martin hadn`t made Sergeant Bilko, but he did make The man with Two Brains, Dead Men Don`t Wear Plaid, Roxanne, and of Course Planes Trains and Automobiles.

It was the decade of the best two Star Wars films, and the Indy Trilogy. ET made us laugh, cry, whoop then cry again, but this time with Joy. And "Who you gonna call?" You know the rest.

Yes Mark but the music was rubbish. Cue a large Klaxon sound because YOU`RE WRONG!!!!! It saw the birth of The Cure (As goths anyway), Happy Mondays, The Smiths, REM, and of course the God like Pixies. It saw bands like U2 and Queen reach new pinnacles and artists such as Prince and Kate Bush thrive. It was the decade that saw Duran Duran, Madonna, Falco and Terence Trent Darby and Spandau Ballet give us perfect pop songs, before they disappeared up their own arses.

Boys from the Black stuff, GBH were delivered by Alan Bleasdale. Morse reinvented a tired Genre whilst Black Adder, The Young Ones, Fry and laurie, and Red Dwarf continued our Nations impeccable Comedy throughout.

It was the decade which saw us Feed the World, Run the World, set up Comic Relief, and The Wall come down. It was the Decade I met my bestest friends many of whom I still see on a regular basis, and one of whom I have dedicated the accompanying YTClip to. If you were born before 1970, or after 1985, you will not agree with anything I`ve written and i fully expect a lot of feedback dredging up dross from the Decade, but don`t go telling me it was "shit". I was there, and it wasn`t.

For Mr Bowler,

Till the Next one,

Learn something new,

Mark.

Loss, and what to do with it.

2011-01-10T13:20:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

I`ve no idea where this post will end up, but it`s on a subject which has been on my mind pretty much off and on for the past four and a bit years.

You are all aware that I lost My Mam just after Hal was born. Louise lost her Step Dad, just before Grace was born. For the health of our surviving parents we daren`t try for another one.

When I was younger I`d lost Grandparents and assorted Uncles and Aunts, But I was introduced late into my Parents lives, so I kind of expected that this was what happened. But Mam was so alive and so young in terms of looks both inward and out.

As a child of an "older" parent, I can distinctly being kept awake at night worrying that Mam and dad may die at any point. Christ, at that age eighteen looked old, so you can imagine how old a couple in their Forties looked. But I made a pact with God (mine and nobody elses, go and find your own). If he let me be an adult when they died, i`d be a good boy. I wouldn`t swear, I wouldn`t "nick off" school, and I`d make them proud. If I was grown up when it happened a) I would have had loads of time with them anyway, and b) I`d be grown up, and be able to cope with it. This made sense to me at the time.

As I`ve written many times, Mam was always much younger than her years, which was why it was so unreal when she called me (and me alone, it`s a nurse thing regardless of which speciality) to tell me that she`d noticed something unusual, and had been to see her Dr, who had advised her to have a colonoscopy. Could I drive her to the Hospital, and don`t tell anyone because "It`ll be a whole load of nowt about nowt".

It turned out it was something. Something which spread to her brain before we could cut it out of her Bowel. But she still wasn`t old, or broken by it. She`d simply say "It could be worse, what if it was one of me kids." Confined to a wheelchair, her favourite song at the time became "I don`t feel like dancing" by the Scissor Sisters. I didn`t have the heart to tell her what scissor sistors were, but she loved that song. And of course, by a miracle, she got to meet Harry.

Looking at that picture, you might see a very poorly looking old lady. I don`t. I see a woman who should have been dead three months before that picture was taken, and I see why she was still with us in her arms. Look at the pride in her eyes. Incidentally this is what she looked like three months before that picture was taken.

Quick Bastard isnt` it.

The cancer won, and at the time I will freely admit that I did not cope at all well. But Christ how are you supposed to? So to get back to the title of this post, and the main point of writing it, How do you deal with loss?

The truth is you don`t really, you just get better at distracting yourself from it. Distraction is an amazing thing. It`s the number one way to deal with any type of pain, whether it be physical, emotional, spiritual, or whatever. If you`re doing something you enjoy, or keeping yourself busy, you forget you`re in pain. it`s when you stop, or something reminds you that you remember that you`re in pain.

We use distraction all the time, If you`re reading this with a pair of shoes or slippers or socks or whatever on your feet, you didnt realise you had them on, but now i`ve told you, you have been reminded, and can feel them, you`re probably wriggling your toes in order to feel them.

But the loss never really leaves you. It`s there in your dreams when the person is talking to you, and they`re well (but in my experience you know, in the dream, that they`re dead really). Oddly I never find these dreams scary, in fact they`re,usually,quite nice.

It`s there in Birthday parties, Easter, Christmas and Sunday Dinners, where they should be too Damn it! It`s there in my childrens laughs which I swear are the exact replica of my Mam`s, and her mam`s before her. But most of all, it`s there in me. She made me who I am. I can hear her every day in phrases I use, and humour rooted from me.

I miss her. She was and always will be, My Mam.

Here`s a song, in three parts,which i hope helps and makes sense to people who have experienced loss. apologies for quality of sound, My computer is playing silly buggers.

Listen!

Till the next one, Learn something new.

Mark.

The year of the Charmers.

2011-01-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Strumpets,

I met up with the Dalton boys the other night, and it was a pleasure to play again. We rattled off five or six pretty tight tunes, and then had a mess about, which conjured up a couple of new tunes, always a bonus.

Possible highlight of the night is Andy and Pee Bee Guttenbergs song "Little Ditty". Andy`s playing and songwriting have really surged this last year (even if he needs some convincing of this). I`m playing bass, and I`m a little rusty so apologies for the couple of errors, but Andy played his Banjo through a little portable amp, which resulted in him having a good old fashioned dirty "Ry Cooder" sound. I likie likie!

We`re really going to knuckle down this year and get some sort of set out there. That`s the plan anyway.

Till the next one,

Learn something new,

Mark.

Happy Holidays.

2010-12-24T02:01:00.000-08:00

Morning strumpets,

It`s been a bit mental in GNS land recently, so sorry about recent lack of posts. Here`s a couple of festive vids to get you in the mood. I`ll be back posting between Christmas and New Year.

Have a peaceful and happy Christmas,

Mark.

One Movember Spawned a Monster!!!!!

2010-12-10T06:55:00.000-08:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

It is with great pleasure that I unveil the completed Movember Video. During the month of Movember I have been growing a moustache in aid of Prostate cancer research and awareness. I have "adapted" the lyrics to Morrisseys "November spawned a Monster", and asked friends, family, and several lovely local legends to assist. This is what happened.

Massive thanks to Harry, Louise and Grace, Anna Shannon, Lee and Lisa from Mannequin Attic, Glen Coggins, Valerie Powis, Kim Groves, Cheryl Smith, Diane Youdale, Pam Royle and Ian Payne for helping out. A massive thanks also to BBC Radio Tees DJ John Foster, who was absolutely brilliant in helping with contacts

Please donate @http://uk.movember.com/donate/your-details/member_id/912778/

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Mo Movember

2010-11-29T12:35:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets, I`ve been having a hell of a time growing the Mo for Movember, It truthfully has been a bugger, and worse than prepasring for the GNR last year. It`s just so damned itchy, all the time. But it`s for a great cause, and it`s lovely clocking fellow Mo Bro`s around the Country, and seeing people like Kevin Pietersen over in Oz sporting the gentleman`s attire.

Here`s a couple of Mo Impressions

Monkey from Monkey magic. he`s even got the headband!

Hunky Hugh Jackman as "Wolverine".

Harry Secombe as The Cyclops in 1976.

Chopper Reid!

Please copy and paste this link http://uk.movember.com/donate/your-details/member_id/912778/ and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account and support this worthy cause.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Fingerpicker Froster.

2010-11-29T12:29:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

Apologies for the length of time, but I`ve been having a few problems with me Dashboard for the Blog, hopefully all sorted now.

We`ve had a bit of a snowfall in England, and as a result it`s snowman time. However I thought me and Gracie might go for a Great North Strum type of critter, and below are the results. any ideas for a name?

Till the next one in about five minutes, learn something new.

Mark.

What could I say?

2010-11-22T14:26:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets (last time tonight, honest),

I`ve been working on the words for a tune written by Andy from Northern Banjo Boy, and today I finished it. It`s a lullaby, and it`s very much inspired by Maurice Sendak and (perhaps surprisingly) the poem read by the Father in the Stephen King Novel Cujo to help his son overcome his fear of the dark. I hope you like it, if you do, please feel free to leave a constructive comment on here. If you don`t post something on Andy`s Blog!

Listen!

Following recording that i was messing about with the guitar and this happened.

Listen!

very rough, but I honestly think it`s funny as hell! Keep `em peeled for further more polished versions of this. I really think it needs a basic glockenspiel riff over the top of it. Harry`s got a keyboard with a glock sound on it. or I could just use the upright piano in the dining room.

This is how it starts!

Till the next one, learn something new

Mark.

Live in Loftus.

2010-11-22T14:00:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets (again),

Here`s a video from the wonderful open mic nights at The Station Hotel in Loftus on a Thursday night. There`s so much talent there, but it`s so relaxed and welcoming that it`s closing time before you know it.

Mark Davies. The Riverside.

Loftus | Myspace Video

Till the next one (in about five minutes), learn something new (you`ll have to be quick though).

Mark.

Favourites part three.

2010-11-22T13:49:00.001-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

I`ve had the most delightful day with my family. I was woken at the fantastically late time of 10:15 by Louise and the kids with a fine selection of presents and cards, both bought and home made. Then I went to see my dad with the kids.

I`ve written a few things on here about me Dad, and usually from a funny slant, but going to see him this morning I thought I should let you know about the real bloke behind King Kenny.

Born in 1929, the youngest child of Billy and Hannah, Dad was raised in Cannon Street in Middlesbrough. Cannon Street has long since been pulled down, and an Industrial Estate bears its name these days. But back then it was the heart of Middlesbrough. It`s residents at the time were poor, but got by. Dad often tells me of getting Sheeps skulls from the local butchers and looking for any cavities in them so he could suck out the sweet jelly!

Kids were often shoeless and large families would reside in the two up two down buildings, a blanket separating the lads from the lasses in the bedrooms. In the late Thirties His Dad went to see a folk band play in the Princess Alice, and during the set they actually broke out into a fight between the singer and the guitarist. The band disbanded there and then, and Grandad bought the Drummers Kit for a couple of Bob. Dad was a bugger for tapping out rhythm on anything he could get his hands on.

Dad played with the kit often and became pretty good to an amateur level. He remembers going to the Middlesbrough Empire Theatre when he was eleven, and sitting in the alley alongside, with his snare and brushes, playing along to the music coming through the open door at the side.

Following a bit of trouble at home (we`ll say no more about it) Dad had to leave sharpish and decided to go to try his hand in London. He slept rough in Hyde Park for a couple of weeks, and ate from the free biscuits given out at auditions, which he would stuff in his pockets. Eventually, and after Tutelage from Max Abrahms, Dad became a professional Drummer.

He travelled the world, and played with the likes of Tessie O Shea, Tommy Cooper, The Goons, and many others. He played on the Soundtrack of "The 39 Steps" and "Moby Dick". But he never lost his love of Middlesbrough. Following a fire in a theatre (The picture above shows dad with Billy Shakespeare the day after the fire) Dad decided he`d had enough of the music world, and returned home. He got a job with BT, where he worked for over thirty years. He met and fell in love with a Blackpool girl, and between them they had four kids, eight Grandchildren, one Great Grandchild, and an absolute Ball.

After retiring Dad decided to give our Mam what she`d always wanted and moved back to the seaside, only this time in Seaton Carew, just outside Hartlepool. They lived there for a couple of years before Mam noticed a problem when she went to the toilet. Dad didn`t know what to expect, but he travelled every step of the way with her, holding her hand, and in the darkest hours still making her laugh.

Mam died nearly three years ago, and for the first time in an age, Dad was alone. He had the kids, but they couldn`t look after him like Mary. He had his neighbours, but they couldn`t give him a cuddle and a kiss before closing his eyes on a night. The strain showed.

But the old Bugger didn`t let it break him. He continued to go on the Cruises that they had enjoyed, he would go to the local social club on a Wednesday and annoy the others by shouting "house" when he wasn`t even close to winnning. His Kids visit regularly, and speak to him most nights on the phone.

I went to see him this morning, and he looks thin and old. But Christ, he is thin and old. Within twenty minutes of being there he had given the Hal and Grace their ice cream fix, and was showing Grace how to play a paradiddle on the arm of his chair. before I left we were involved in a fifteen minute argument concerning whether a musician could really be classed as a musician if they couldn`t read music.

My Dad, the man who told me "never kick a man when he`s down" and "never give them your real name or address" regarding going out with lasses.

My Dad, the strongest man I`ve ever met, a real life Hero. King Kenny.

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

Five Alive, Part Two.

2010-11-20T12:01:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

as promised here`s the second of my five favourite blogspots. with a tune at the end. scroll down, play the tune, and read the piece. Nice!

Evening strumpets,

At the weekend we took the kids into Town to have their feet measured for new shoes. Great news, they haven`t grown a bit, seventy of your new English Pounds saved for the Davies`s, woohoo! but it meant we had a bit of spare time on our hands. So what can you do on a rainy cold Sunday morning in Boro?

Surprisingly, quite a lot and relatively cheaply. In the Town Centre there has been a lot of work over the past twenty years into making it less of a place where you would avoid the dog turds, whilst simultaneously stepping over the drunks.

The kids had a play with the fountain, and from there we walked up to the bottle of notes, a huge sculpture, which like the Angel of the North either makes you think "what the..." or makes you think "Oooh I like that". This is situated next to a giant circular chessboard, and a little pond where you can feed the ducks. just over the way are the Law Courts, so often seen on the News when bad people do bad things. There`s a great sculpture outside (See above) which caused a bit of a scandal when it was first shown, as it was not long after the Cleveland Child Abuse scandal. luckily common sense prevailed and it remained.

From there it was over to MIMA, which was recently featured on "Top Gear".
This is the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, and it`s a cracking place. The kids love it, and get to really experience Art at their level. During a Bauhaus exhibition, Gracie asked what the picture was supposed to be? I asked her what did it look like, and she said "Spongebob kissing your Mobile Telephone" so that`s what it was.

Finally we have recently gathered a very large wheel. Not as large or as grand as it`s counterparts in London, or York, but lovely all the same. Great contrasting views of the Hills to one side, and the steelworks to the other, making me realise just why i love this Town.

It might be a Shithole, but it`s my shithole.

Listen!

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

Five Alive.

2010-11-19T14:55:00.000-08:00

Evening strumpets,

I`m going to post my favourite five GNS Strums written and sent over the past year and a half, finished off with a new song at the end of each one. With a visit rate of over 8,000 and a regular daily visit of 25 people(from Jakarta to California, to Bedfordshire to Wellington) viewing the blog, I can only say a massive thank you to the Strumpets spread throughout the Globe. It really means the world to me.

So, Here`s the first one.

A story which you truly could not make up.

11th April 2010.

Afternoon Strumpets,

We had the most brilliant day out in Durham yesterday. Originally we were going to go to Hardwick Hall, but in the spur of the moment we thought, as it was such a lovely day, a drive through to Durham and a picnic along the river by the Cathedral would be fun.

As we were looking around the Cathedral, the Chaplain of the Cathedral came over and began chatting to us, about where we were from, which school the kids went to etc. It turns out his wife taught at my school. He told us that there was going to be a wedding taking place at 2pm in the Cathedral, and Gracie may get a chance to see the Bride walking down the Aisle, but when we came back there was a massive crowd and, understandably, the part of the Cathedral was cordoned off where the wedding was taking place. Grace could just about make out the Groom (Harry was outside with his mother chasing pigeons, and lookingly longingly at other tourists uneaten picnics).

A Curate approached Grace and after asking me if it would be alright, said "Come with me Poppet". She took Grace down to where the wedding was taking place, and Grace got to see the wedding march perfectly. She was buzzing. I must admit from my angle it was pretty magical.

Then we went for a walk around the Market, and as we did so The Mayor Of Durham, Dennis Southwell, picked us out of the crowd, and asked if we would like to have a tour of his offices, and have a cup of tea in the Mayoral Lounge (If that`s the name)? As we were leaving, he came came up to Grace and said "I think I recognise you, are you called Gracie, and were you in the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette the other week doing a run with a pink guitar" Harry laughed like a loon, and Grace was absolutely amazed. She said that she was, so the Mayor said "Well if we`ve got a celebrity in the hall, I`ll have to open the Balcony so you can wave to the crowds". And that`s what he did. You really couldn`t make this up! He walked us through the
Chambers where people were being given guided tours, Telling people "Let us Through, this is Grace from the Gazette" and we spent five minutes on the balcony, waving at the people below. It was fantastic.

I don`t suppose Mr Southwell will have much call for reading a blog about a lad doing strange things with his banjo, but if anyone knows him, will you give him a massive pat on the back from me. It truly was the most amazing day. We`ve already got Grace and Hal writing thank you letters to send to him.

Here`s a song which I believe proves that somewhere, that fantastic day is still going on.

Listen!

Till the next one, learn something new,
Mark.

Boo Yah!

2010-11-18T13:24:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

a Couple more things on Boo.

Listen!

Listen!

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Wake up New Boo!

2010-11-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

Andy over at Northern Banjo Boy alerted me to a great recording website, where you can record directly which is really easy to use, and then put your stuff "out there".

So i`ve recorded a couple of me songs onto it, which should be much clearer.

Here`s the first one,

Listen!

Hope you like,

Till the next one, learn something Boo,

Mark.

National Elf Service

2010-11-16T10:23:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

It`s official, I`ve just seen "THAT" Coke advert. So here`s something for you to enjoy.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark

Rock Your Mind!

2010-11-13T03:29:00.000-08:00

Morning Strumpets,

More vid from last wednesday in The Alice.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Rock Me Amadeus

2010-11-12T04:04:00.000-08:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

here`s the first of a couple of clips from The Princess Alice the other night. It looks like it`s been filmed from a secret camera located on the Tie of a drunk at the bar, but you should get the giste!

Till the next one, etwas Neues lernen.

Mark.

`Tache tastic

2010-11-11T12:06:00.000-08:00

Evening Strumpets,

So here`s the Movember vid (very rough version) so far, with legendary Anna Shannon, Brilliant Mannequin Attic, and wonderful Glen Coggins featured. Many more to come.

One Movember spawned a monster in the shape of this tache
which must remain
a stranger to Mach III

Please visit http://uk.movember.com/donate/your-details/member_id/912778/ and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account .• Click this... link Or,

• Send cheques and CAF vouchers (made payable to ‘The Prostate Cancer Charity Re Movember’) directly to The Prostate Cancer Charity – First Floor, Cambridge House, Cambridge Grove, London W6 0LE. Be sure to include the person’s name on the back of the cheque.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Lest We Forget

2010-11-11T05:33:00.000-08:00

Chris sent me this via Facebook.

The Send-off

Down the close, darkening lanes they sang their way
To the siding-shed,
And lined the train with faces grimly gay.
Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray
As men's are, dead.

Dull porters watched them, and a casual tramp
Stood staring hard,
Sorry to miss them from the upland camp.
Then, unmoved, signals nodded, and a lamp
Winked to the guard.

So secretly, like wrongs hushed-up, they went.
They were not ours:
We never heard to which front these were sent.

Nor there if they yet mock what women meant
Who gave them flowers.

Shall they return to beatings of great bells
In wild trainloads?
A few, a few, too few for drums and yells,
May creep back, silent, to still village wells
Up half-known roads.

Wilfred Owens.

A Tale from a Hospice.

2010-11-03T06:20:00.000-07:00

Afternoon strumpets,

I`ve been asked by Jan in New York why I "do stuff" for Cancer Awareness and Hospices. As you are probably aware I lost me Mother to the bastard a couple of years ago, but many years before that, whilst doing my nursing studies (This was last Century) I was sent to a local Hospice for a placement. It was during this placement that I realised why nurses are called "Angels" in England. I could tell you a million stories from my placement there, but there`s one which really had an impact on me and how I chose to live my life. I won`t name the Hospice, and I`ve changed names and a few minor details, so hopefully nooone will be able to identify themselves from the following story.

A man was admitted to the Hospice, who had been found collapsed in a Bed and Breakfast room in the local area. He had been unconscious for a couple of days and was in a terrible state. He was tidied up, and given the required medication, and within a couple of days he was able (very weakly) to speak. I got chatting to him, and it turned out he was a Brummie (from Birmingham) who had moved here in the early Nineties. He had a passion for Aston Villa (A football club) which still showed in his eye`s whenever we got into arguments about which team was, at that time, the best. He had no family or what you could call friends in the Town, and his nearest relative, his Sister, lived in Kingstanding in Birmingham, but he wasn`t sure where.
"Villa" as I called him (he called me "Boro") had Prostate cancer, which had spread to his bones. he didn`t have long, but I was asked if I could keep him company, as quality of dying was as important as quality of living and noone should have to go through either alone, unless they wished to. Villa swore like a trooper, and at times was a right grumpy sod, but at no point was his anger or grumpiness aimed at his condition or staff. It was just who he was. He told me he had got in with a bad crowd and had gone from one "drinking house" to the next. It was one of these establishments where he had collapsed, but noone had noticed for a couple of days.

When I asked him why he drank he just said "One`s too many, and ten`s not enough Boro". He`d known he was poorly, but hadn`t gone for a check up because "I didn`t want to be told I might get better".

The Friday morning of the day he died I was on the early shift. I`d got there for ten to seven, to be told he didn`t have long, and would I go into his room and sit with him until the inevitable happened. Of course I would. I got in there at half past, and it was obvious he didn`t have long. He had been placed on "driver" which allowed regular analgesia to be pumped into his system. I held his hand and told him it was going to be ok.

Several times that morning I thought he had gone, and several times he would make me jump with a massive inhale. I told him to let go, but the self preservation of the human body is incredibly resilient, and he just would not allow his train to visit its final station. I sat in the room, telling visiting staff that I was fine, for nine hours holding his hand, keeping him as comfortable as I could. Then a miracle happened. i`d love to tell you he opened his eyes and said thank you, or that he got better, but that`s not the types of miracles that happen in Hospices. The miracle was that his Sister turned up.

One of the nurses had been on the case, and had managed to contact her. His sister thanked me and told me she would be with him now, and take care of the arrangements to take him back to his beloved Birmingham once the inevitable happened.

I went home absolutely exhausted. I bought a bottle of wine, and began preparing Tea. Whilst doing this, the telephone rang. It was the Matron from the Hospice asking me if I was OK. She told Me Villa had died peacefully, but that his Sister had been in the toilet when it happened.
I raised a glass, kissed my wife, and went back to making Tea.

Hope that answers your question Jan.

Please help raise awareness of Cancer by supporting things like Movember (it doesn`t have to be me, there`s loads of blokes doing it), if only so there aren`t more "Villa" stories about.

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

One Movember spawned a monster!

2010-11-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

This Movember, the month formerly known as November I’ve decided to donate my face to raising awareness about prostate cancer. My donation and commitment is the growth of a moustache for the entire month of Movember, which I know will generate conversation, controversy and laughter.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. One man dies every hour from the disease in the UK. This is a cause that I feel passionately about and I’m asking you to support my efforts by making a donation to The Prostate Cancer Charity. To help, you can either:

• Click this link http://uk.movember.com/donate/your-details/member_id/912778/ and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account . Or,

• Send cheques and CAF vouchers (made payable to ‘The Prostate Cancer Charity Re Movember’) directly to The Prostate Cancer Charity – First Floor, Cambridge House, Cambridge Grove, London W6 0LE. Be sure to include the person’s name on the back of the cheque.

The Prostate Cancer Charity will use the money raised by Movember for the development of programs related to awareness, public education, advocacy, support of those affected, and research into the prevention, detection, treatment and cure of prostate cancer.
For more details on how the funds raised from previous campaigns have been used and the impact Movember is having please visit http://uk.movemberfoundation.com/research-and-programs.

Thank you in advance for helping me to support men’s health.

Till the next one, trim something new,

Mark.

Halloween Spooky Stories.

2010-10-31T14:03:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

Thanks to everyone who entered the halloween comp. Here`s the best of the crop.

Alan in Derby sent this in

Ok, so I first heard this when I was about 12, and it's stuck with me for the many long years since. It happened to a friend of my brother, and involved a whole bunch of his other friends too, who all swear this is the truth. It's not terrifying, but something about it creeps me out...
(The actual names have been lost in my mind due to time & dementia, sorry!)

Trev was bored. Saturday night TV was rubbish for teenagers (Paul Daniels again??) and he'd much rather be out having a laugh with his mates. Problem was he couldn't get in touch with anyone, they were all "out somewhere". Without him, the rotten sods.

He was starting to doze off, when he heard some shouting outside. Not an argument, but raised voices. He ignored it, assuming it was just some bunch of lads walking past outside, but they didn't move on. The telly was loud enough to drown out what they were actually saying, so being bored (and a bit nosey), went to the window and looked out.

There he saw all of his mates - Dave and Paul sitting on the wall sharing a fag, Mark and a few girls milling about on the pavement beyond them, and Smiffy, John & Dawn right outside his front door, looking upward and shouting - "We're going to the offie for some booze then piling round Micks, you coming?"
Trev was puzzled.
"What are you being like that for?" Dawn asked, seemingly to the sky. "Stop being ignorant - are you coming or what??"

Intrigued, Trev tapped on the window and everyone looked at him, and laughed. "Oh, there you are! We thought that was you," Smiffy said, pointing to the upstairs window, "it must be your brother."
Trev frowned. "No," he said, "I'm the only one in here, everybody's out."

The three faces in front of him froze. They looked up again, then back to him, panic rising in their eyes... "Get out mate, there's somebody upstairs, there's somebody in your house!!"

Trev tipped out of the living room, down the hallway and out the front door faster than he had ever moved in his life. By that point the whole gang was at his door, every one of them saying that *somebody* had been standing in the upstairs window, in his parent's darkened bedroom, staring at them. When they shouted the warning, they had all seen the figure calmly turn and walk away.

A thorough search of the house by Trev and his 7 friends turned up nothing. All windows were secure, and the door to his parent's room was closed, as it had been all night...

Everyone was a bit rattled by the event, Trev more than most of course - but Dawn says she hardly slept for weeks. Every time she closed her eyes she could see that dark silhouette, just gazing silently down at her...

James in Middlesbrough sent this in,

I used to work with a girl called Lisa who was from down south but moved up here to be with her husband. She went back down south to her parents house where she grew up and they took their 3 year old daughter for the first time.

During dinner her daughter was talking to someone invisible, they asked her who she was taking to, she said Julie. They asked what Julie looked like and she described a Victorian lady. They all took a gasp.

It was the exact same imaginary friend Lisa had when she was three

And my favourite, this one sent in by Andy in Thirsk.

This is a true story....

Many moons ago when we where younger Sue and I stayed at a friends farm on the Lizard in Cornwall for New Year.

After a strange new year party at a pub in the middle of nowhere we arrived back at the farm and collapsed into our sleeping bags. I was woken by my wife who said 'I can her something upstairs!'. It'll be someone going to the loo i muttered and tried to go back to sleep, but then I heard it.

The noise was the sound of a large dog scrabbling across bare floorboards followed by the sound of an old latch being lifted and dropped. This sound repeated itself overhead at intervals several times. Thinking it was someone buggering about I got up and went upstairs to ask them to keep it down.

At the top of the stairs all was quiet as the grave... but downstairs again the sounds continued until we both passed out.

Next morning we mentioned the nights goings on at breakfast, only to be told 'don't mention this to my daughter'.
Apparently, she slept in that room and had repeatedly seen a man in her room in the mirror and now always kept her dresser mirror covered......

Needless to say this scared the crap out of us and we quickly packed uop and left.

Thanks to everyone who joined in, wait what`s that, over there in the shadows? It can`t be, can it?

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

Halloween Comp!

2010-10-27T16:02:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

I`m going to send out a challenge to you all.

Come up with a scarier halloween story than the one I`m about to post, and get a reward. A song of your choice, posted on the blog! There`s no losers, each scary story (within reason) will be posted anyway.

Rules: You must follow the blog. Scroll down until you see the follow
icon on the right of the screen and click on it.

It must be really scary. Scary and suitable (family friendly)
enough for me to post it on the
blog.

Send it to my email adress. markdavies23@hotmail.co.uk.

Here`s mine, told to me fifteen years ago by a good friend. I swear this is true, so come closer and I`ll whisper it, because if I say it too loud, and the wrong person hears it, they may go mad. if you are of a nervous disposition, stop reading now. Seriously, STOP....READING.....NOW......

My friend`s cousin lived in a farmhouse in Arnold, just outside Nottingham. She would often sleep with her pet dog "Rowlf" at the foot of her bed. One weekend her parents were away, and she went out for a drink with her friends.

She returned to the empty Farmhouse, and after a period of watching TV she went to bed. Sure enough, Rowlf leapt on the bed and cosied down for the evening. She fell in to a restless sleep, disturbed by nightmares, and awoke after two hours to find Rowlf licking her feet. She kicked gently at his wet nose and dozed again.

Again it was a fitful sleep, and she was awakened again by Rowlf licking her feet. A similar kick to his nose put paid to that.

Two hours later, and something made her jolt awake. But all she heard was the dripping tap (drip drip drip)from her En Suite Bathroom.

She fell asleep again and woke at 07:30, cold from an open window, she could have sworn was closed when she went to bed, but fit as a fiddle and walked into her En Suite. Except....

Nailed to the wall was Rowlf, blood dripping from the gaping wound from his neck (drip drip drip)

Written in the Dogs blood was "human`s can lick too"!

She never recovered, and is still living in the local mental health Residential Unit in Arnold.

Is this true, I`ll let you know, but until then,

post something new.

Mark

Happy Days, in so many ways.

2010-10-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

This morning we were going to pop round me Dad`s, but he rang and said he wasn`t feeling too well so could we rearrange. The weather was awful (unusual for Boro, I hear you say), so we came up with this.

Following on from that, I occasionally post quizzes on Facebook, if Louise is out drinking that mucky beer. The prize is a request for a song to be placed on this Blog. Last night There was a close match, with Karen and James Lindley, and Matthew Sibley narrowly losing out to Alan sawdon and Sarah Burnett. In memory of Tom Bosley, who passed away last week, they requested this. Hungover and in bad need of a shave and haircut, I couldn`t be any more like Arthur Fonzarelli. Harry on the other hand.....

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

FB Interviews 2. Fallen Phoenix.

2010-10-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

Following on from the Leddie and Smoggy FB interview, as promised a million years ago, here`s a Facebook interview with another of Middlesbrough`s finest bands. Andy Granville is lead singer and guitarist with Fallen Phoenix. I`ve had the priviledge to support these lads on a number of occasions, and on one special night, join with them onstage for a powerful Tolkienesque rendition of "Let it Be". Trust me, if there`s any justice in the world, you will be hearing a lot more of this band in the future. If you`re like me, you`ll press play on this YT clip, and read the interview.

GNS: So away we go, I`ve witnessed your band playing in several formats,
even occasionally joining in, but who or what is Fallen Phoenix?

FP: We`re a rock and roll band, we often get put on with indie bands and then other times we`re put on with really heavy bands, all of which is fine with us, but whenever we`re asked what we do we just say rock n roll, all depends what you want out of it in the end, we`re just 4 close friends who like to make a racket together.

GNS: What`s inspired the "racket" incidentally, I absolutely agree, you sound pure rock n roll to me.

FP: Just a love of music really, when we first started it was to make the music that we wanted to hear as we didn`t think anyone was making it, i personally felt a bit detatched from the music scene in England, still do as a matter of fact, all my influences come from 60's to the 90's so hopefully were a slice of that.

GNS: Couldn`t agree more about the English music scene, An occasional match flame in a universe of dross doesn`t mean diddly. Tell me about your first gig.

FP: Our first gig was at Libertys In Town a few years back, it was on a Wednesday night as i remember because we were all going to Leeds festival the next day. We were a 5 piece back then as we had a synth player, i just remember spending a lot of time making sure our synth player was okay as it was his first ever gig. We went on before a band called The Outlaw, we went down well as i remember. We still play about half of the set we played that night so i guess we had a pretty strong start.

GNS: You never foret it do you? synth would make an interesting dimension to your sound. Any venues you go down better in than others?

FP: We always tend to go down well in our spiritual home the Princess Alice. I like to think where ever we play in Middlesbrough we tend to go down well. We had quite a memorable gig in Coventry a few years back that we still talk about, went down a storm that night. We once had a gig in Newcastle with some glam rock band who's name escapes me but they spent the entire night slagging off the crowd, by the time we went on they were ready to linch someone, we couldnt wait to get off stage that night.
Spiral Feedback! that was their name! bunch of tools!

GNS: Probably helped that you were from Boro! Spiral feedback? My heads hurting just thinking about that. So what`s next?

FP: To be honest people from Newcastle are pretty cool about Middlesbrough bands in my experience. I`d hate to be a Mackem (someone from Sunderland "mack`em and tack`em) in Newcastle, i`m sure that'd be a different story.
We`re getting our name around as much as possible, we recorded a single earlier in the year which is free from our website, so the plan next to record the rest of our songs and take it from there. Organising it is the challenge really, cos a lot of bands stop playing live whilst they record which we really dont want to do, we want the lot.

GNS: I`ve found Middlesbrough to be quite liked in the various places, usually as an affectionate pisstake, but not hated. So what`s the Website?

FP: www.fallenphoenix.co.uk yeah you get the obligatory smoggie comment, but its all in jest, people are cool about Middlesbrough.

GNS: Nice one. Final question, in two parts, firstly, Boro this season, what prediction? Secondly sum up in five words fallen Phoenix.

FP: I think the rest of this season is damage control. I`d like to be an optomist and say if we get the right man in we'll nick our way into the play off's but i cant see that happening, for as much as Strachan tried i think his vision was way off what type of team we are, different mentality and strengths, so if we fix his mistakes for the rest of this season we'd be in a better position for next season (sadly thats what i said last season about Southgate) but i live in hope.

GNS: Unfortunately DITTO.

FP: Loud, hairy, catchy, real and anthemic, there would be another hairy in there if our bass player wasn`t fighting a losing battle with his. ;)

GNS: Brilliant! He`s a big lad though. Where can the strumpets find out more about you chaps besidesthe website?

FP: We`re on the usual places, facebook, twitter and myspace, all of which can be gotten to through the website, or in the Alice on a friday night is usually a good place to find us too.

GNS: Cheers Andy any gig`s coming up?

FP: 28 Oct 2010 Seven - Sunderland
04 Nov 2010 Billingham Symphonia Club - Billingham
17 Nov 2010 Plugged In - Sunderland
03 Dec 2010 The Princess Alice - Middlesbrough
15 Dec 2010 Bad Medicine Rock Club - Middlesbrough

thats the rest of our year at the minute, but there will be more in there soon enough.

and there you have it. Fallen Phoenix. Personally, I think they`re what picking up an instrument and getting yourself out there is what it`s all about.

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

The Riverside.

2010-10-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

Yesterday Mr Gordon Strachan left as manager of my Hometown football team. By coincidence I`d found a nice chord progression which I felt lent itself to a slice of American Gothic verse regarding a serial killer. Listening back to it, I realised it could also be about Mr Strachan`s reign.

Have a listen and let me know what you think.

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

The FB name game.

2010-10-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Strumpets,

I watched a fantastic film on Friday night called "Charlie Wilson`s War". A truly brilliant and topically brave movie. However whilst watching it, I couldn`t help but think it would have been better if it had been "Charlie William`s War". I am aware that there are many of your good selves scratching your heads, but growing up in the Seventies in Northern England, Charlie and many others were a staple diet of our television viewing lives. Here`s a taster.

So how many other stand ups could be in film titles?
I came up with:

Jim Bowenfinger, Plunkett and Don Mclean, Weekend at Bernie Cliftons, Dave Alien, Sweeney Bob Todd, Max Boyce`N the Hood, Mike Die Harding: with a Vengeance, Regarding Lenny Henry, Lionel Blair Witch Project, Phil Cool Runnings, Avatarby, Benny Hamburger Hill, 3 Days of the Tom `O Connor, and finally, Far from the Manning Crowd.

I posted these on Facebook, and the response was overwhelming. It soon began incorporating any well known name as well as TV shows. So (deep breath):

Damion posted: Richard Pryor & Predjudice, Gene Wilder - Party Animal, Les Dawson's Creek, The Benny Hill's have Eyes, Tony Hancock.

Jamie posted: conan the barbarian duncan smith, The Gary Thin Red Lineker, father ted rogers, the bruce forsyth saga, King Arthur Askey, oh chuckle brothers where art thou, shay unforgiven,

Matthew posted: Flash Gordon Strachan, Indiana Howard Jones and the Temple of Doom, Jaws Holland, Pretty in Thomas Pink, Sliding George Doors, Eddie Murphys Law, The History Boys George, Rob Brydon Prejudice, James Corden and the Giant Peach, What's Eating Rhod Gilbert Grape, EdByrneucating Rita, Do The Steve Right Thing, Russell Howards Way, Bill Hick`s and Ted Rodger`s Excellent Adventure,

Alison posted: Meet me in St. Louis Walsh, Smokey Robinson and the Bandit, What happened in Johnny Vegas, Jackie 'Chubby' Brown, Riding in Alan Carrs with Boys, There's something about Mary Shelley, The Kevin Bridges of Madison County, Jail Monkhouse Rock, The great Coltrane robbery.

Steve posted: Rita, Sue, and Bob Monkhouse too.

Robin posted: mick millers crossing

Chris posted: American Werewolf in Paris Hilton, The Beverly HillBilly Crystals, Ed Victoria Wood, Ed Victoria Wood, Lee Evans Almighty, The Harry Hills Have Eyes, The Benny Hills Have Eyes 2, Simon Peggy Sue Got Married, The Bobby BasketBall Diaries, Leaving Las Johnny Vegas, Richard Pryor III.

Laura posted: Lorraine kelly's heroes, Eamon Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles, The Full Monty Don, Harry hill and the philosophers stone (and all the other films too!), A nightmare on Elmo Grouch street, Freddie Starr's New Nightmare, Citizen Cain Dingle.

Mark posted: Pale shaun rider, Legally blondie (courtesy of the missus), Kill Bill Hicks, Boy George in the striped pyjamas, Close encounters of the thora hird kind, The martin shaw-shank redemption.

and finally Peter Squibs (aka Neil) posted: john wayne s world, Star Wars - A new bob hope. Men in Cilla Black. The Jean Claude Van Dambusters. By the light of the silvery keith moon. Full kenny jacket. Jim Platt oon. W C Field of dreams, the people Vs larry grayson flint, The Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball Run, Stuart Little and Large, Dangerous (brothers) Liasons, and Antz and Dec.

It`s been a really difficult decision, but I hereby decree the winner to be Neil with "Ron Howards End". Wrong in so many ways, but just spot on in so many others. There`s a film I would pay to see. In fact i`ll be amazed if it hasn`t already been done.

I hope you`ve laughed as much as I did this morning reading them all, and again when typing this.

Till the next one learn something new.

Mark.

The composing poser?

2010-10-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

Evening strumpets,

Chris in Boro has sent me a message asking how I write my songs. That`s a tricky one. Yoko Ono tells a story of an animal with a hundred legs which had the most beautiful walk in the world. One day a young man asked it how it walked in such an exquisite manner, and the creature replied "it`s easy, first I move this leg, then I move this one, then I...erm...." and could never again walk quite as beautifully as it had before.

Now then, let`s get one thing straight, i may use writers stories or quotes in this post. I am not, repeat, NOT placing myself in any of their standards. I`m just trying to get across how it happens.

If other people have written the chords, as in Cowboy Waltz and Longlands, I`ll listen to the basic recordings of the song in the car, and see which phrases/melodies leap out at me. In the instance of Cowboy Waltz, all I could hear in my head for the opening line was "I`ve had children to various women, none of them know my name, it`s true" That pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the song. This guy is a shit, simple as that, I had to imagine a selfish awful fella, who thinks he`s great. Fun? Like you`ve never thought of!

Longlands, I got the melody pretty much straight off as it`s there already in Carls brilliant tune. I was laughing at how catchy it was, when the words "take me along to Longlands" came into me head. That made me think that Places in Boro, could just as easily fit into an old west setting, and off I went. The next thing, we`re playing it here.

With my own stuff, I generally just sit down and wait, as Stephen King describes it, for my muse to shat on my head. More often than not, though not always, the chords will come first. I remember reading an interview with Paul Draper about how Mansun had reintroduced melodies back into songs, and that really hit home. I think this is where Morrissey has really struggled over the last couple of years, as no matter how fantastic the lyrics are, to me it`s always the hook which gets you to love a song. I do try to get a personal "Old Grey Whistle Test" thing going in most of the songs I write. As in, I never record anything immediately, so if I can remember it the next day, it might be alright.

My songwriting partners over the past almost thirty years have been Carl Dalton and Mark Dent. They`re usually my measure for if somethings any good, though recently Andy from Northern Banjo Boy, and The Alice Charmers has been a pretty good judge of what`s good and what`s not. I`ve written thousands of classics over the years, propelling me, i`m certain, to a life of living off royalties, watching telly and ordering takeaway pizza
a la About a Boy, only to realise it`s already been written. Usually by whoever I happen to be listening to at that particular time.

I love clever titles for songs. One of my favourites of my own is this one.
Not my favourite version of it (Originally a nephrons song), but it gets the point across, i think.

So there you have it, hope that makes sense Chris.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Open mic All Hours

2010-10-01T15:14:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

I`ve been thinking a lot lately about The joy that is Open Mic nights. More often than not, these are really nice nights where a pub which is finding the old recession, along with daft prices in the supermarkets a barrier in getting the "punters" in. As a result, you can find yourself in a pub, which ten years ago would have been full to the rafters, playing banjo to four blokes and a dog. And that is not necessarily a bad thing, because the actual act of getting up and hearing yourself amplified can at times be a particularly effective laxative.

I`ve had the misfortune on a couple of occasions to witness really talented musicians dry up, and virtually run out of the pub, never ever again daring to get up and display their talent. This is such a shame, because you realise really early on, that everyone pretty much in the pub is on your side. They`re willing you to do well, but the pressure we put on ourselves doesn`t allow, at first, us to see that.

I first played an open mic in The George and Dragon in Yarm on St Georges Day 2009. More than that I was playing me banjo, which I`d been playing since Dec 26th 2008. Do the maths, that is not a long time. But I`d been promised by a friend who`d heard me play that I`d go down a storm.

I practised Cripple Creek a million times. I took the banjo to work with me, and practised in me dinner break. But when the mouth is dry, the phrase "Cripple Creek" is about as simple to say as Deoxyribonucleic acid. Too many "K" sounds. That was me song. That was the one I could play, but would I dare sing?

I got there on the night and it was heaving. I was told I`d be second on. I waited with me half a diet coke, and waited, and waited. Eventually the first lad got up, and as he did the place suddenly filled with about thirty people with T-shirt with his name on, all screaming for his "songs" He was good at first, but to be honest he went on a bit and he was losing the rest of the punters aside from his fanbase. Right there I made a valuable decision. If I was ever going to have a crack at this open mic stuff, it would have to be with a mix of a song for them, a song for me.

I got up and played, and it was an absolute blast. I decided to sing, and truth be told it wasn`t too bad. Such a buzz people coming up to me afterwards and telling me how much they enjoyed it.

I`ve since played quite a few open mics, mostly at The Crown and Princess Alice. On Wednesday in the Alice for the first time I played nothing but four songs of me own, (Great North Strum, Whole, Time Less Classic, and Sick on My Shoulder) and they went down really well. Ian Swinbourne, a guy who has such a talent, was there. He has been asking me for a while to go to Loftus on a Thursday for their open mic, but it`s a heck of a distance, and I`ve always passed, purely as it would mean getting home really late.

Ian promised that if I got there he could guarantee an early slot. So I went. The first person i saw when i got there was Vin Garbutt! A real legend. Blimey, this was not going to be any ordinary open mic spot.

I got up and played "GNS" and "Sick" and had some cracking banter with the (busy and very talented) crowd. And that was that, until Mr Garbutt came over and told he`d really enjoyed me songs. How cool is that. I was smiling all the way home.

All I`m saying is, I could have gotten to this age without ever having had the joy and pleasure that is playing S Club 7 or the Stranglers on the banjo to a bunch of bemused seasoned drinkers. I strongly urge anyone with any talent to get up on an open mic night, it could lead to you driving home with the biggest smile on your face.

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

The Great british Giveaway.

2010-09-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

Evening strumpets,

You all know what i think of the modern day PT Barnum & Bailey Freakshow which is X Factor, so here`s a song which pretty much sums up how I feel.

Hope you like it,

Til the next one learn something new,

Mark.

Hope was Crosbys Partner.

2010-09-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

as many of you may already know, my day job, and the one that puts food on the table, involves working with people with health problems, and specifically mental health problems. As a result I meet a lot of people experiencing symptoms of depression.

Depression is an illness born from hopelessness. The individual finds themselves in a numb state, not necessarily crying all the time, but bereft of any emotional feelings, because there is no point. It is brutal and indiscriminant in who it picks, but like most illnesses it can be treated. The art of the therapist is to allow the person to discover hope. In discovering hope, the person can begin to appraise their thought patterns differently, and as a result begin to understand why they are feeling the way in which they do.

It is not the therapist`s role to tell them what hope is. That is for the individual to reacquaint themselves with. And there`s the rub. The therapist can use guided discovery techniques to assist, but it is far more effective in the long term for the person to find hope for themselves. This should lead to a questioning of the appraisal of thoughts, which in turn leads the person to effective treatment. I call it the "Red Mini Syndrome". You never see a red mini until you buy one, in the same way, once you begin reintroducing hope into your life, you may start to see it everywhere.

I was asked by a colleague what hope was to a person experiencing depression, and I immediately replied "Hope was Crosby`s Partner". albeit a cheap and throwaway line, I thought about it later and wrote a song, which hopefully outline the paradoxical universe a person with mental health can find themselves in.

Hope you like it.

Till the next one, learn something new.

Mark.

Time Less Classic.

2010-09-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

Time is something which puzzles me. I know for a fact that somewhere there is a ten year old version of me waking up on a rainy Thursday morning in the six weeks holidays, and Mam`s saying "away lets go and see that new "Raiders of the Lost Ark" film at the pictures". I know that there`s an eighteen year old version of me somewhere, walking up the stairs to the Madison Nightclub in Middlesbrough wondering if tonight I would meet someone. Unfortunately there`s also an eighteen year old version of me somewhere stood at the end of the night watching his mates "tap" off, and going home in a taxi, alone.....don`t feel sorry for me, I got there in the end! Besides how would I have grown such a love of the Smiths if I`d this hadn`t happened.

There`s, hopefully, also somewhere an eighty year old version of me holding me Sweetheart, whilst walking the Grandkids in the Park. What I think I`m trying to say is that time is a concept that as long as our arses point to the ground will never be clear as a general notion, but individually we can let it be whatever we want it to be. I like the idea that Mam and Dad are still laughing with each other on their first date somewhere. And if I`m wrong then, well I`m not in a gang of one, of that I`m certain.

This reminds me of a joke my Brother recently told me.

When I was older I used to love playing with me time machine.

Here`s a song what I have wrote about the whole shebang. (in 2/4 Time).

Till the next one learn something new

Rock Your Mind Festival 2010

2010-09-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

I`m very privileged to be taking part in the Rock Your Mind Music Festival taking place in ten pubs in Middlesbrough throughout the tenth of October. The Festival is the brainchild of Aaron Gray, and is to promote awareness of mental health issues.

I`ll be teeing off in TS1 at 1pm, but there`s loads of other brilliant stuff there too.

Checkout the facebook page @http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Rock-Your-Mind-Music-Festival/139607669383071

Here`s a song what I have written

Till the next one learn something new.

Mark.

Oooarr missus.

2010-09-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

Evening Strumpets,

So today was an absolute blast at Whitby, the kids were dressed in pirate Garb, the beard was effective, and may be coming off tomorrow. I can`t begin to explain how pleasurable it was playing there today. i`ve been really lucky to play at some amazing sites this year, Topcliffe, Deer Shed, but this was on a par with anything I`ve done. if you`ve been to whitby, you`ll know what I mean, but the bandstand is situated at the foot of the pier and below the Abbey and West Cliff. There literally was nowhere you could look that wasn`t breathtaking.
Whilst playing "That`s Entertainment I noticed a group of people at the top of West Cliff, so I shouted for them to wave, and blimey o Riley ace of spies, they did. incredible. The kids had their faces painted and wore their pirate costumes with pride, and had messed about throughout dads set, attempting to put me off (just occasionally)

A really lovely day day, and £570 raised for Whitby RNLI, I`ll post more pics as I can, but massive thanks to all the performers, and especially to Angie and John Taylor of North East Live for arranging it all.

Here`s me doing me best Pirate scowl.

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.

Jamboree.

2010-09-17T03:31:00.000-07:00

Morning Strumpets,

I`ve had quite a disastrous year so far when it comes to attempting to carry the drum on a stick for half marathons. I had to drop out of the Redcar Half Marathon, due to a still undiagnosed Chest condition, which literally had me dry Coughing till my eye`s looked like Arnies in the Mars scene in Total Recall.

And then this week I`ve damaged a tendon in my left foot which has put me out of the Great North Run. I am absolutely gutted. But I`ll be back, God`s know what with, but I`ll think of something. Maybe my body`s trying to tell me something, I don`t know (possibly stop eating all the pies).

However I am still going to be attending Whitby Pirate day tomorrow, so get yourselves there if you can. Eagle eyed viewers may notice I`m wearing Roland Rat`s Arse around my mouth and chin. Itchy and uncomfortable does not come into it, but I think I`m starting to like it. What do you think, on second thought`s I probably don`t want to know.

Fun and frolics at the bandstand from 10:30 till about 6.

I`m getting up at about 3pm, so if you should see me, give me a wink. Here`s an old song from a band called The Nephrons. They`re great, (of course the fact that along with Carl and Mark I`m in them has no way influenced my choice of description).

Till the next one, learn something new,

Mark.