Life’s a bag of Revels
And I’m looking for the orange one
from “Polar Bear” by The Charlatans
A year ago yesterday I launched “ORANGEREVELS” with the words Here goes nothing.and published my first blog post, Vladimir @ Sneaky Pete’s, a simple gig review. Well, when I say simple it is 1370 words long, which I was told was too long for a blog. It covered my journey from stumbling upon the Dundee four piece supporting Kilsyth’s very own, The Twilight Sad at the ABC Glasgow, through to seeing them play a show-stealing support role to Autobahn at Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s. On the way I may have introduced some ramblings about the American Superbowl and the former Soviet Union.
Since then this blog has seen published a further 19 collections of words, all of which have their roots in my love of music both recorded and live.
Reading back over them I can honestly say I’m proud of each one. This last year’s collection of “blogs” cover:
- my first vinyl purchase in Confessions of a Vinylist.,
- my last Balado TITP in 21st T -A Farewell to Balado;
- my earliest Stone Roses experience at a friends house party back in 1990 and the return of everyone’s favourite Mancunians with their latest offering in May 2016 in SHORES TEST ONE;
- a couple of exceptional gigs at The Barrowland Ballroom are described in Man Of Moon @ The Barrowland Ballroom and Peter Hook And the Light @ Barrowlands Ballroom, Sept 2016 (One of my favourite gigs and gig reviews I’ve ever done)
- my recent discovery of a local gem of the gigging scene, documented in Les Frites Petites @ The Purple Orange (06/10/16);
- a couple of journeys of dark discovery with Discovering The Twilight Sad and A Long And Strange Trip (No Way Back To Lunch – Review)
- seven songs which mean everything to me in The Story So Far In Seven Songs
- a fleeting glimpse of past gigs in the short poem Memories of gigs gone by.
- my only extra marital love affair in the bare, full frontal, photo shoot of This Is The Point (TITP)
- something new, something old and something blue from Electric Fields in Blueprint Blue at Tim Peaks (Electric Fields), Electric Fields – Steve Mason and The Twilight Sad – Electric Fields respectively
- my recollection of two landmark nights out with my missus in Meeting The Charlatans (Part 1) and Do you realize : Sardonic Self Deprication Makes You Smile
- my last blog, a review of a talented local acts latest release in Ganglion by Adullboy – Review
- my acknowledgement of the part Vladimir’s manager, Davie Spiers played in the genesis of this blog and a nod to his passing in “Ye man, you lived it too.”
Looking back over this last year’s contribution to my legacy on this planet and how this page got it’s name, I am reminded of how my dad used to have a rule that when a box of chocolates were being passed around, you had to make a blind pick from the box. No one was allowed to select their favourite because invariably this would result in five Coffee Creams being left over at the end. In a coincidence, in my early twenties, when sitting late into one night or early morning at an after club party, a good friend mentioned that he believed there were a huge pile of Coffee Creams sitting waiting for the Bathville Rocky’s to eat.
These days, whenever I dip into a bag of Revels, I secretly hope for the Coffee Cream as it brings back the memory of both of these characters, sadly missed but fondly remembered. The blogs in this post, may not be everyone’s idea of an Orange Revel, but if you were brought up in Bathville like me, you learn to like the Coffee Creams.
Blind pick anyone?
(Go on. Click on the embedded links. What’s the worst that could happen?)
NOTE: The page has been visited 1687 times and the posts have been viewed 2356 times by visitors from 4 of the five continents (penguins don’t have time to read apparently), in a total of 38 recognised countries. Not too shabby for a Bathville Rocky.
DACCAD (10/03/17)
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