What's the most interesting thing you've done today?

[jackdaw version]

I don't do interesting things anymore but it would appear I once did. Two nights ago I was hunting down a short lived 1968 blues newsletter named Blues That Is and in the second issue (there were only ever two) I stumbled upon this:

We have received a very lengthy letter from Alan Balfour of Fulham, London. He ends his letter with a list of 1963 & 64 blues entries to the British LP charts. We thought that it deserved extracting and publishing in its own right.:

Jan.2, 1964 "The Blues, Vol.1" (Pye International) reached No.15
Feb.20, 1964 "Folk Festival Of The Blues" (Pye Int.) reached No.16
May.14, 1964 "Out Came The Blues" (Ace Of Hearts) reached No.19
May.28., 1964 "The Blues, Vol.2' (Pye International) reached No.16
Jun.18, 1964 "Down & Out Blues" Sonny Boy Williamson (Pye Int.) reached No.20

In 1963 Chuck Berry had three Pye International albums of 50's material in the U.K. charts, of which "On Stage" (in fact overdubbed studio recordings) stayed in the Top Ten for 6 weeks at one point reaching no. 6 (3rd October).

Howlin' Wolf with "Smokestack Lightnin'" and Slim Harpo with "Scratch My Back" - on Pye International and Stateside respectively - both made the singles top forty during 1964.

The real surprise of the above list – Out Came The Blues – 12 tracks 1930s vintage and one each from 1947 and 1953. Memphis Minnie in UK charts. The mind boggles, does it not?

To answer that, Alan, yes it does! Ed.

Wait! Is this Alan Balfour or Alan "Fluff" Freeman writing?

Des, got an opinion?

[Des]

There's more than a whiff of Tim Rice and Paul Gambaccini as well!

While we're on the subject - has there ever been a worse book cover than this?

[Dominic]

Further discussion today on Kendo Nagasaki who, my drinking pal maintains, came from Barnsley.

I was going to try to link him with Rolo Tomassi (the band, not the LA Confidental character) who come from Penistone, Barnsley, but wiki claims Peter Thornley aka Kendo Nagasaki, is from Stoke. If can wrestle any sense from the official website, you're a better man than I: http://www.kendonagasaki.org

[NormanD]

A friend told me (yesterday, but I'll write it here) that a boy in her Manchester primary school was called.... wait for it.....

Hubert Herbert Hibbert

Do some parents not think?

[Alan Balfour]

Wait! Is this Alan Balfour or Alan "Fluff" Freeman writing?

I was young and naive back then and obviously had nothing better to do with my time than scour my stash of old Melody Makers. The one regret I now have is throwing them out when I left Fulham for Clapham.

[Gordon Neill]

Des said:

There are quite a few unicyclists around Bristol.

Are you complaining or boasting, Des? It isn't clear. And what do you mean by 'quite a few'? Have you ever taken the trouble to count them? It might just be the same unicyclist. Or perhaps you think you're constantly seeing pairs of unicyclists?

Des also said:

many cyclists are amazingly selfish, arrogant and inconsiderate

So that would make them the same as everyone else then? And also, I'd suggest, people who want to live at least as long as their journey. As a sometime cyclist and most-time pedestrian, I'm extremely reluctant to cycle on any pavement, but I have experienced the fantasy world of 'cycle lanes' where there's no protection other than a faded white line painted on the road. Car drivers have an alarming tendency 'not to see' these lines or simply use them as parking bays.

btw I went to school with someone called Robert Robert Robertson. He had a slight stammer and I often wondered if it was hereditary.

[Des]

Or perhaps you think you're constantly seeing pairs of unicyclists?

Donald, where's your trouser?
It's over my underpant.

[Ted]

The Penistones

great band

[Chris P]

I took this photo today, seems quite topical. (Huge ball stands in for pavement)



Giffords Circus at Cirencester, Glos 6/09/10

[Chris P]

The steel dishes are flipped up onto head by unicycling with one leg & using the other to kick the dishes up onto the head

[Des]

There must be easier ways of getting around town.

[Gordon Neill]

Des thought that:

There must be easier ways of getting around town.

There is. The axe is particularly effective at clearing a way along any pavement....

[kas]

He's got an axe to grind with those selfish pedestrians, obviously...

There is one thing that, erm, makes me annoyed with a good deal of the cycling going on on the pavements. The cyclists tend to swhoosh by you at top speed (always from behind), without making any sound of warning. I don't hear them, so there is no forewarning - and no, I don't wear an i-pod.

I do cycle, but over here there are completely separate cycleways all the way to the centre of town. Cycle lanes I wouldn't trust either, and I never cycle in the centre. I once had a near run-in with a very large lorry. I just about escaped losing my lower limbs.

Today I am taking the bus though. I've heard it is quite safe.

[kevin]

Today I am taking the bus though. I've heard it is quite safe.

Just make sure you've paid your fare.

[Dayna]

Yesterday when I came home from the fair, I played Cornhole with my mom. Didn't do very well. I got one in the hole. It's funny how that game seems to be getting so popular here for some reason. Is it popular in UK at all?