I found this hilarious story on TimesOnline. It’s from a new book by Jon Holmes called “Status Quo and the Kangaroo and Other Rock Apocryphals“.

It’s described as “a collection of myths, legends, and apocryphal tales of pop and rock that have come straight from the mouths of those that were there, those that shouldn’t have been there and those that were there but left early and only heard about it afterwards.”

It can be pre-ordered here. I think I will.

Oasis are big. I don’t mean now, when they’re still big but past their best. I mean back when Wonderwall had just become an anthem to a disaffected youth, a youth who fervently believed that all the roads he had to walk were winding and that all the lights that would lead him there were blinding.

Perhaps to celebrate, Noel and Liam had gone to see Spinal Tap live. This is Spinal Tap was one of Liam’s favourite films ever and his little northern moptop face was beaming at the prospect of seeing them onstage, in the flesh. And of course the gig was a belter.

Two hours of pure unadulterated Tap. And then it was time for the encore. For which the Spinal Tap boys came on as A Mighty Wind. The Wind began to play a short set of their errant folk music. Liam let them get half a song in before he leaned over to his brother and said: “Who are these c****?”

Noel looked at him. “It’s them.” “What?” said Liam. “Them who?”

“Them,” hissed Noel. “Them who?” insisted Liam.

“F****** hell, Liam,” Noel insisted back. “It’s them. Spinal Tap.”

“Them’s not Spinal Tap. These are some folk c****,” eloquised Liam.

“No, Liam, it’s them. It’s Harry Shearer and the others. They’re actors. The actors who play Spinal Tap.”

There is a moment of silence from Liam. Even Noel must have realised what was coming next. “Actors?”

And with that Liam, disgusted, walked out. It is for this reason that no one has yet told him the truth about Father Christmas.

I recently discovered Continuum’s 33 1/3 series, a series of books going in-depth on “interesting” albums in pop and rock history, such as “Highway 61 Revisited” by Dylan, “Harvest” by Young, “OK Computer” by Radiohead and “Aja” by Steely Dan, you know, the classics.

I haven’t actually read any of the books yet, except for an excerpt from the “Aja”-book. But it looks really good - they’re discussing everything from Dan’s use of the sixth to their lyric obsession with drinks (Pina Colada, Scotch whisky, retsina, Coke and rum - to name a few). The books appear to be about 150 pages each - and they’re probably right up my alley. I mean, 150 pages about one rock album, to me that’s a really promising premise. From the back cover:

Interweaving behind-the-scenes revelations with trenchant musical and lyrical analysis…

Aah, seemingly brilliant. I hope I’m not disappointed when I read this. I’m going for the “Aja” book first, I think. If it’s any good there’s still about 50 more to go…

I’m reading a biography of D.H. Lawrence at the moment. He was born in 1885, the child of a miner in a coal mining town in England and of course, he went on to become a major voice in English literature.

At the same time I’ve been scanning a lot of old photos from the collection of my grandparents dating back to the early 19th century, pictures of my ancestors. It’s a treat for me to see these images. Most of them I’d never seen before; it was my mom who first showed them to me just after my granny died last November. I never even knew they existed.

Being a conservationist at heart, I immediately asked to borrow them in order to scan them on to my computer. As far as I’m concerned, my parents have no sense of history, and they don’t appear to be able to recognize the value of such things. So in order to save these photos for posterity I had to act quickly.

Really, to be fair, my parents don’t throw away photos. But, over the years they’ve thrown away a lot of other stuff, and it’s taught me always to be on the alert. Probably the most traumatic moments in my childhood (which says a lot about my childhood) is the day I realized that my parents had disposed of a fine set of old vinyl records that I loved and used to sit and admire for hours to end (we didn’t have a record player at the time). I was 8 and I was devastated for weeks.

So, what does all of this have to do with D.H. Lawrence you may ask, impatiently? Well, it’s just that I’m so fascinated by all the accounts that remain to document Lawrence’s life. Interviews, biographies - first-hand descriptions of important moments in his life - personal observations from his contemporaries that all together give a very precise impression of the man.

But when I look at the photographs of my ancestors, I realize that I don’t know the first thing about them. Nothing is ever written about them, and all who knew their stories are long gone. Most of my ancestors were simple farmers, and they probably didn’t even know how to read or write. But I can’t help but wonder how they felt about the things surrounding them. What were their personalities like? How did WW1 affect them?

I know from stories told by my granny that in the early 1920s, my great grandmother still sowed clothes to her children using fabric remnants from a German zeppelin that crashed close to their farm during the war. A few such fragments of information still exist, but by and large these people are forgotten. The only thing left after them are these images - bearded, serious and obviously hard-working men with their strict wives in black dresses and underfed children with a blank stare in their eyes. No humor, no joy.

And when I think of my own grandparents I realize that the same thing could very easily happen to them. Of course, there are many more pictures documenting my grandparents’ lives, but nothing is ever really written about them. They were certainly no writers, they just went through everyday life, paying their bills, going to work in the morning, raising kids - no diaries, no blogs. It’s the same with my parents - my dad, for instance, can’t begin to comprehend the crazy notion of me keeping this blog, considering it a complete and utter waste of time.

But of course it’s not a waste of time! Whether I’m able to get the stats for this blog up or not (10-15 viewers a day, btw), it’s good therapy for me to write, it keeps me focused and up-to-date on daily news and on my interests. As for future generations, when they discover the backup copy of this blog lying around somewhere on an ancient USB plug, they’ll be able to move inside my head and find out what I was interested in at the time. In the comments section they’ll be able to see how I communicated with people and whether I was a mellow man (which I certainly am, dear descendants) or some aggressive macho-guy.

(abrupt ending) I’m falling asleep, need to go to bed - but still, it’s enough for one entry, right?… I’m posting!

For those of you following my projects, I’m still getting up at 5 o’clock every morning, 7 days a week :)))

When I read good fiction, I get completely obsessed with it. I’m unable to put the book down until I’m finished. Because of that I’m simply not an avid reader of fictional literature. It’s too unpractical - I sit up nights, oversleep and ignore my wife and kids for days. Come to think of it, the book doesn’t even have to be that good. I’m still caught between the pages.

I’ve just finished reading “A Widow for One Year”. It’s good fiction. I’ve really enjoyed all the John Irving books I’ve read. As you may know, they made a movie out of the first part of the book, “The Door in the Floor” with Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger. I saw the movie before I read the book. Actually that’s what made me read it in the first place - I thought it was a very entertaining movie, much to my taste.

Reading the first part of the book was like watching the movie all over again. Even though it’s been a year and a half since I saw the movie, I remembered almost everything from it. I couldn’t wait to get to the part they hadn’t filmed. I wasn’t disappointed. Irving surprises you with original twists all the time. I don’t know if it’s my perception and ability to foresee things that’s poor, but I never see what’s coming in his books. I’m completely taken by surprise every time he takes his characters in a new direction. I’m thoroughly entertained.

If you haven’t read it yet, you should. See the movie, too. I highly recommend them. Head on over to Wikipedia right away and find out what it’s about.