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May 07 - issue 1

Dearly Bewlidered

Every week when we send out this newsletter we get a few "bouncebacks", as the verger puts it. These may be from people who are no longer at their work places or who have moved overseas. This week for the first time we got one which simply said "Many thanks for your email- just advising that 'Stackridge' passed away on Friday 27th April". In the same week we also heard from parishioner Brian who has been given six months to live and is keen to hear from kindred spirits who might like to suggest what he should be listening to. He blogs at http://captpancreas.blogspot.com/. In the face of such grace under pressure, our pastoral work seems more urgent than ever before. Onwards!

GROUPS OR BANDS?

Parishioner Will Birch:

One could look this sort of thing up, but from memory I'd say it was introduced in America in 1967, when improvising rock musicians started to compare themselves to jazz musicians (and refer to a guitar as an 'axe'!) I recall an Eric Clapton interview in Rolling Stone, in which he talked about Electric Flag being 'an incredible band'. This was way before 'The Band' was christened. Mind you, I think Clapton also used the term 'LP' in the same piece, quite perversely I thought, as by then they were surely 'albums'. Other 'new' terminology from this era included 'concert' or 'gig', and 'heavy' to denote musical depth. Clapton, first in print for sure, late 1967.

Parishioner Stuart Booth:

I recall distinctly reading a review of The Paul Butterfield Blues band first (Elektra) LP in the same issue of MM or NME where Eric Burdon was interviewed and was asked/commented upon same Band. It seemed to get picked up thereafter, I think - especially after US usage (like so much other abuses, even of the term "rock'n'roll") was adopted by the music biz et al.

Parishioner Steve Mainwaring:

As Your Eminence suggests, I remember the move from "groups" to "bands" as an Americanism of about 1967/8 and, I believe, contemporary with and parallel to the distinction between "pop" and "rock". After that, those who played pop were still groups (eg T Rex, Slade, Lt Pigeon) and those who played rock were bands (Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Lothar and the Hand People, etc). As Peter Simmons says, some groups will always be groups - in fact there were very few who made the transition from pop group to rock band. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Small Faces, the Who - can't think of many more.

IF U WERE THE ONLY BAND IN THE WORLD

Parishioner Gavin Hogg

It must be the letter S. Think on...

The Smiths, Sparks, Franks Sinatra and Sidebottom, The Specials, Nina Simone, The Sugarcubes, The Shangri-Las, Dusty Springield, Simon and Garfunkel, The Stone Roses, Sigur Ros, The Supremes, John Shuttleworth and The Small Faces.

Parishioner John Gannon:

Might I suggest that the letter has to be "B", if only for The Beatles and Bob Dylan, but also for:

The Band

The Buzzcocks

Captain Beefheart

Bruce Springsteen

James Brown

Jackson Browne

Buffalo Springfield

Bright Eyes

Bonnie Prince Billy

etc.

Parishioner Tim Turner:

It's got to be B, surely. Even without looking at my CDs, I'd take a collection that included The Beatles, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg, The Buzzcocks, The Beat, Chuck Berry and Tim Buckley, to name but 10. I'd mourn the loss of Nick Drake, certainly, but apart from that I could live with the restriction.

THE VICAR WRITES: I feel it's important to lay down some ground rules here and to suggest that we follow the alphabetisation system adopted in the 70s whereby solo artists go by surname. Which puts Bob Dylan in "D", I'm afraid.

NAME THAT TUNE

Still nobody has identified the Vicar's Name That Tune at http://tinyurl.com/yry4te. So in the spirit of Christian charity we offer the clue that it's a Bob Dylan song.

ROCK VIRGINS

Parishioner James Bentley:

I've never attended a festival either. And until I can do so in a land-yacht like Robert de Niro's in Meet The Fockers, that isn't going to change.

Parishioner Jonh:

Re rock festivals: In 40 years of concert going, I went in my teenage years to an LA festival one evening, found a hole under the fence and watched Jimi Hendrix play the most boring set I have ever seen. Then left. In 1976 I attended a festival at Cardiff Castle one afternoon in a professional capacity and another afternoon at Reading to watch I-Roy and The Mighty Diamonds. That's it. Does this win me a Common Sense Award? Yours etc....

Parishioner Rhodri:

I've never knowingly heard "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I probably should have done. I've spent enough time in guitar shops, enough time watching terrible bands soundchecking, enough time listening to CDs in vile Eastern European rock venues to have heard it a million times. And if I went foraging on the internet now, I'd probably hear it and say "oh, it's that one, right." But until I do, I'll continue to claim that I've never heard it. The nearest I came was when a band I was once in did an utterly pointless gig on the Isle Of Lewis, and sailing into Stornoway harbour we saw "LYNYRD SKYNYRD" painted in foot high letters on the jetty. Our drummer immediately started singing an excerpt of what was, apparently, "Freebird", but he was tone deaf, so that doesn't count.

Parishioner Matthew Morris:

never been to "glasto" ( also hate this familiar shorthand but I do advocate the Twat in the Hat when referring to Jamie Roquai) Love music but 100000 wannabe hippies in one place just seems like a missed opportunity to test all the latest doohickeys developed at Porton Down to me. I also hate the idea of giving money to greenpeace. I advocate a gig where taxpayers raise money for the french secret service.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

The new issue of Word is out now with a belting free CD featuring Fountains Of Wayne, Richard Thompson, Patty Griffin, Carla Bruni and many more. It's trailed at http://tinyurl.com/2kafkp.

THE BOY'S A BIT HANDY

Parishioner Neil

Serge and Tom of Kasabian were talented footballers in their youth and occasionally expose their skills at charidee matches. All of which is fairly well documented. Perhaps less well known are the collective footballing skills of tabloid baiting Towers of London. The recent Bravo documentary series included one episode featuring a music biz 5-a-side at which Donny in particular looked really useful, as the men with the liniment and magic sponge would say. The same TV series also highlighted their al fresco boxing skills, but that's quite a different matter...............

Parishioner Kingsley Abbott:

I believe I am right in saying that Bill Wyman is still the only person (professional sports stars included) to have bowled a hat trick live on TV (Sky) from the Oval Cricket ground. Previously, of course, he was known to have bowled many maidens over...

ACTUAL REFUNDS

Parishioner Shane: More news from Ian "refunds at the door" Gillan, whose 'Deep Purple play Machine Head in it's entirety' gig at Wembley last weekend involved a mild set list amendment. Bowing to "fan pressure", by the time the tour hit the capital they'd dropped two songs from the album as they "didn't really work". Seeings as how it's only eight tracks long to start with this seems to be a tad disingenuous bit of advertising. Still, since they'd already printed up the t-shirts (from which Ritchie Blackmore has been artfully airbrushed out) I suppose they had to go through with it, albeit abridgedly and including five songs that pretty much make it into most of their sets anyway, I'm led to believe. Rumours of Roger Glover's old rope business are, sadly, unconfirmed.

Hup Ho!

STAMP OUT MATEY DIMINUTIVES

Rev Steve Lucifer:

Obviously the most common diminutive must be Robert Plant being known as "Percy". Damn those men with huge knobs!

Parishioner Russ:

In my small circle of pals The Cure's Robert Smith has always been referred to as "Fat Bob" !

Parishioner Simon:

It always annoyed me that The Wedding Present were referred to as The Weddoes, especially as it would have made to much more sense to call them The Prezzies. TV news reporters always refer to Madonna as the Material Girl the second time they name her in any report. You find yourself waiting for it. They also make a show of calling Michael Jackson 'Jacko' - as if every Jackson in the world isn't given the same epithet.

FURTHER TO LAST WEEK'S TALE OF THE PARISHIONER WHO SUPPORTED CREAM Parishioner Mike Tobin:

I was there !!!!!!! Please remind me of the name of your band, Rodders. My lot ( The Magnettes) also played support to many a fine group ( band???) @ The Corn Exchange, Bristol. Amongst others we supported the magnificent Graham Bond Organisation when the afore mentioned Mr. Baker thundered on the drum kit. The following day I just happened to be visiting Carnaby Street in London ( probably to buy a new tie or check hipsters) when I noticed I was stood right next to the Ginger one. I piped up " Oh Hi, Ginger . We played with you last night in Bristol" He glowered at me , said "So?" & turned his back. Friendly chap , knew how to respect his fans.

 

HE WOULD HAVE WANTED IT THIS WAY

Parishioner Chris Charlesworth: With reference to that chap from Keane stumping up for a cricket pavilion in Battle, John Enwistle did something very similar for Stowe-On-The-Wold CC, or so the congregation was informed by the local publican who delivered a Eulogy at John's funeral. Evidently John paid for a new roof for the local cricket pavilion. Interestingly, the speaker failed to mention either The Who or bass-playing, confining his remarks to John's fondness for antiques, Stowe being blessed with many antique shops, and patronage of local inns.

FROM A PARISHIONER DOING MISSIONARY WORK OVERSEAS Parishioner Alun Probert:

Do stop me if I have too much time on my hands in this island paradise, but we've recently received a new CD from the Vicar's friends the Pet Shop Boys down here in the colonies. On "made my excuses and left", you'll find a trifecta of items of interest to the flock, namely "obscure words in songs", "lazy rhymes" and local dialect...all in the same song. Pull up a chair...Has the word "supplicant" ever been used in a song before? It should be, it's like a Werther's original of words. And fabulously obscure.. Shame that the word they chose to rhyme it with was "elephant". Mind you, thinking about it, it could have been worse...As for pronunciation, I notice your friend says/sings "rumm" for the word "room". Bizarrely in exactly the same way that Sarah Beeny regularly does on Property Ladder. Are they by any chance related?

NOTICES

A few events of interest in the coming week:

* Parishioner David Hepworth's Radio Four programme "Three Minute Education" goes out this Thursday at 11.30 am

* Our friends at The Word are offering parishioners a subscription to that fine magazine for just £35. That's 12 issues plus 12 CDs delivered to your door for a 35% discount. Just call 0870 442 0912 and quote code RV35.

* Auditions for The Mikado are in the scout hut on Tuesday evening.

* As ever we rely on your contributions. Please keep them coming at mail@rockingvicar.com

Pip pip!!

The Rocking Vicar

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