What I’m interested in.
Well, music and words and the musicality of words. Folklore, old time music hall, allotments, tap-room tittle-tattle, gentle subversion, having adventures, libraries and trying different types of beer. Actually, a way of doing this is to tell you whom I would invite round to our house on a Sunday morning when we have kippers from Whitby. Bear in mind this is an imaginary breakfast party. Deep breath, and in totally random order, here goes:
Dusty Springfield, T-Bone Walker, Ben Webster, Marie Lloyd, Dan Leno, Desperate Dan, George Formby, Jimmy Reed, Bessie Smith, Shirley Collins, Alan Lomax, Vince Farrar who played prop forward for Featherstone Rovers, Ken Loach, Jenny Agutter, Ingrid Bergman, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Manu Chao, Ljlijana Buttler, the queen of Gipsy soul, Ike Quebec, Bela Lugosi, Che Guevara, my Auntie Alice, Clara Bow, Joseph Moncure March, who wrote the greatest piece of Jazz age poetry ever, Timothy Taylor, Joshua Tetley, the Fentimanns ginger beer family, Frida Kahlo, Elmore James, Billie Holiday, Barry Hines, Alf Tupper, Norma Waterson, Kate Rusby, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Francis James Child, Raymond Briggs, Les Dawson, Groucho, Chico and Karl Marx, Paula Wilcox, John Lee Hooker, Sabine Baring-Gould, Reverend Don Robins who founded St Georges Crypt, Hector Chumpitas who played football for Peru, Harry Tufnell, who scored the winning goal when Barnsley won the FA cup in 1912, Sainkho Namtchylak, John Prine, Karen Dalton, Tripey Dan Oldroyd who was a motorbike racer and tripe dealer from my hometown, Robert Wyatt and Alfreda Benge, Isabelle Huppert and Muhammed, Alma and Tina Salkic, my Bosnian asylum seeking friends who wanted to settle in Yorkshire and through the stupidity of beaurocrats were not allowed. That’ll do to be going on with, there will be additions.
Some films I like
The Piano
Kes
Animal Farm (Batchelor and Hallas)
A Time For Drunken Horses
Atanarjuat The Fast Runner
Witness
Matewan
Belleville Rendez-vous
This Sporting Life
Whistle Down The Wind
The Story Of The Weeping Camel
Fear Eats The Soul
Together
The Bank Dick
Jan Svankmayer’s Alice
If
Snow White
Oliver!
I know Where I’m going
The Kid (Chaplin)
I Am Cuba
84 Charing Cross Road
Ratcatcher
The Lacemaker
Way Out West
Carry On Camping
Some records I’ve been listening to recently
Joe Brown 50th Anniversary Hits Collection
Jerry Lee Lewis Live At The Star Club
Paul Pena Genghis Blues
Margaret Barry - Her Mantle So Green
English Country Music (Topic Compilation)
Karen Dalton - It’s Hard To Tell Who’s Going To Love You The Best
Iris Dement - Infamous Angel
Norma Waterson -The Very Thought Of You
Ike Quebec - Blue and Sentimental
John Martyn - One world
Ben Webster - Live at Ronnie Scotts
The Best Of Jimmy Reed
Chumbawamba - The Boy Bands Have Won
Alela Diane - The Pirate's Gospel
And some books I’ve been reading
The Cabaret - Lisa Appignanesi
Shakespeare - Bill Bryson
Sweet Saturday Night - Colin MacInnes
Positively 4th Street - David Hajdu
Rites and Riots - Bob Pegg
Country Voices - Charles Kightly
