Friday Photo #25

It's April 1967, that's me on the right, sporting a pudding basin haircut and a Batman badge on my tie. In the middle is my cousin, she was three years younger than me then...and still is. On the left is her mum, the aunt I often mention on these pages. My aunt turned 93 two days ago and still lives alone in East London, as she's done since my cousin moved to New York in 1988. This weekend though, the family flies in for a belated birthday celebration and tomorrow evening I'll be driving down to reunite with my cousin, her husband and their three kids, all of whom have grown up considerably since we last saw them in 2017. In fact in the interim, the eldest two have graduated from college, while the youngest starts college herself later this month. Their trip was a relatively last minute affair and though they'll be staying in London for the whole week, I only have a couple of precious days with them all before I have to head back for work. It's going to be emotional.

Sparks - In My Family 

Finally, 43 Years Later - Sparks in Concert

I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard 'This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us'  in 1974. I can also vividly remember arguing with another kid in a school playground about the merits of the song - I said that it was amazing and unlike any pop record I'd ever heard, but he didn't like it at all. Funnily enough, this strange Sparks-related Marmite effect continues in my life to this day, as Mrs S reacts to their music in much the same way as most people would do to nails scraping down a blackboard.

43 years on from being blown away by 'This Town...', 'Kimono My House', 'Propaganda' and all the many great records that followed, I finally saw Sparks in concert in Norwich on Monday evening. Ron and Russell's total confidence in their new album is evident and justified. The band liberally scattered a full seven songs from 'Hippopotamus' throughout the set, where they blended in seamlessly with the older, more familiar material. Those of us of a certain age felt ourselves welling up throughout 'Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth', then threw ourselves around like we were 14 again during 'This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us' and 'Amateur Hour'. Crucially though, the new stuff was every bit as good. 'What the Hell Is It This Time?', 'I Wish You Were Fun' and the title track itself are all up there with their very best work.

I can thoroughly recommend 'Hippopotamus' and if the current Sparks tour wends its way to your town, do not hesitate - buy a ticket. I can't remember the last time I smiled so much during a gig.

All Change

The time has finally come and it really has been a long time coming. While generations are born, raise families, grow old and die, I sit and wait for a single page to load on my computer - and when it finally does, I pray that it doesn't cause the hard-drive to crash into blue screen mode. How the darned thing hasn't been thrown out of the window at some point in the past couple of years, I truly don't know. So anyway, the short and long of it is that after much emptying of pockets, rummaging down the sides of sofas and raiding of piggy-banks, I've ordered a new Dell laptop, which should hopefully be arriving at Swede Towers within the next 48 hours. I mention all this to forewarn that normal service might be even more sporadic than usual while I familiarise myself with the comparatively cutting edge technology that's currently winging its way in my direction. If I get a chance I'll schedule a couple of posts to tide me over the bedding-in period, though, as ever, time is tight at the mo'. Also, the endless waiting for, and re-booting of, this old steam driven computer is doing nothing for my stress levels.

In other news, I've nearly finished removing the jewel-cases from all of my CD's (as mentioned here). In the process of carrying out this fingernail shredding task, I've unearthed a veritable mountain of tunes that I hope to share in the future. I've also had bright ideas for a couple of potential new features that may (or may not) crop up round these parts at some point. I haven't actually written anything down yet though, so that's a worry - I might well forget it all by tomorrow.

To commemorate the various changes currently taking place in my part of the world, here are Sparks, with a favourite of mine from 1985.