Goodbye Boys

I try to keep things positive on this blog but am a little sad to be thinking about the passing of two greats , Dave Swarbrick , fiddle player with Fairport Convention amongst many others as well as being an artist in his own right , and Muhammad Ali , peerless boxer and human rights activist.

My Dad

I was introduced to Muhammad Ali from an early age , as he was the nearest thing to a hero for my my dad , a boxer himself who had to give up because he cut so easily. I knew him as Cassius Clay and then went the tmedia trauma of him converting to Islam and changing his name. We had Henry Cooper but Muhammad Ali was the man, my dad was dismissive of Cooper and eulogised Ali.

I was never into boxing because I was far too not liking the pain , also I remember seeing a book about Ali called GOAT , which was on Amazon with a retail price tag of £2,000 . You can now buy it here for a more reasonable , but still expensive £99.99 , but I wondered about the title, GOAT is an acronym .... Greatest of All Time.


There are so many stories surfacing , especially about his links with Tyneside , how he got married at a mosque in South Shields , raised money for a local boxing club , and basically just go on the net and you will see loads of information about the great man.

Another great loss was Dave Swarbrick who I saw at the Tyneside Irish Centre in 2014 , performing on a stage I have (dis)graced myself , my memories are here and he was incredibly funny and talented , I think I also saw him with either Imagined Village or The Albion Band at The Sage.

I first heard him on John Peel accompanying Martin Carthy on "Prince Heathen" , but remember the speed of his playing on "Fiddlestix" on Fairport Live which I still can't hear in my head , I have got to listen to the recording to hear is brilliance.

I do feel that 2016 is a year of incredible artistic departures but their legacy will endure, like Muhammad Ali's fights and words and deeds , we will always remember them, like Swarbrick's music. I'm going to include Johnny Wakelin's "In Zaire" about the Rumble In The Jungle with George Foreman and Swarbrick's live rendition of Fiddlestix.

Remember them this way.

New Years Resolution

We're more than a week into the New Year and no doubt resolution have been made and broken. There's bad things happened and the media would have us believe that Armageddon is nigh in one form or another.

My own resolution is the one I live every day tho be happy and positive and there for my friends and family if I can. There's a lot of things I have planned and that's the great fun of life, to enjoy the now, your memories and look forward to the good things that are going to happen.

My Dad

Ali

One thing that really made my New Year is finding this photo of my dad who is 80 at the end of the month.So with the boxing theme I'm goona put in Nils Lofgren's "No Mercy" . My dad was a huge fan of Muhammad Ali and boxed for the army and though he won his fights he couldn't continue as he cut too easily, but I've always been proud of him.

My friend Lynn reckons he has a look of Jake La Motta (the subject of Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull featuring Robert De Niro) , and she knows and loves her boxing.




Today we've had sun , rain , wind and snow. That's the nature of weather. On Tuesday I'm getting my roof fixed and having physiotherapy on my left hand that they had sort of forgotten to sort out for me originally but I'm doing my own physiotherapy anyway and things are working out fine.

This week is unfeasibly busy , when it really shouldn't be but it will be great doing something different and not having to get up at 5:30 am. Also I will be a bit more proactive with posting and will let you know any good news as it happens.

Have a great weekend everyone and have a happy new year again.