Tribute Bands or the real thing

Got a copy of the local newspaper the other day and was really pleased when I opened it up to find one of my favorite 60's groups "The Animals" is playing at the local town hall in October.
In fact "The House of the Rising Sun" is one of my favorite songs of all time.


I'm a big fan of some of the great British 60's bands and these are one of my favorites so I read on. Actually it turns out the group is actually called "The Animals & friends". Ok I realise it wont be all the origional line up (Chas Chandler died in 1996) but surely 2 or 3 of them will be there.

Read on and the article tells me actually two of the origionals are there John Steel the drummer and keyboard player Mick Gallagher. Hang on I thought wasn't the keyboard player Alan Price so I checked and of course I'm correct, Gallagher actually replaced Price for 3 months only in 1965 before been replaced himself. He later became known as part of Ian Drury's Blockheads but thats another story.

So actually only one of the origional line up is there and thats the bloody drummer. I mean can you imagine the Animals without Eric Burdon on vocals or Hilton Valentine on lead guitar I can't. Its like The Stones without Jagger & Richards, The Kinks without the Davies brothers, The Who without Daltry & Townsend.

I reckon its actually a tribute band and at £17.50 a ticket I think I'll go to the local Karaoke instead.

And just to remember the proper line up :-

Good Neighbours & Friends

Just wanted to mention the good people in my life, lately friends have been so important to me. Since Jane's short illness and sad death which I've been quite devastated about I've had fantastic support from a number of people. So many have contacted me offering their help in any way they can. This ranges from words of support, friends offering to take me out to, to chat if needed. I've even had great support through my blog, MySpace & emails from many of you I've never met. A couple even gave me their phone numbers offering to talk.

This week I'm having it busy, my Dad is in hospital for a knee replacement and my Mum is in a care home while he recovers. I visit my Mum each morning and then its a quick Lunch before going to see my Dad in the afternoon. At the same time I've been trying to clear a couple areas of my garden that are overgrown. This is where the good neighbours come in, the elderley chap next door dug over one area and cleared a lot of weeds, on and off it took 3 days, I didn't ask but he decided to help. He's the type of person that loves gardening but he did do a good job. Ok I think it was part payment because I repaired his lawn mower at the weekend and have previously done a odd job to help him.

My other neighbours are good also another one helped me clear a lot of debri from some big bushes I chopped down. I reckon I'm lucky to live in the area I do people all help each other.

I am a bit down today it would have been Jane's 46th birthday and I reckon we should have been together.
As for getting over Jane , whats happend as changed me. Before I met her I reckon I'd settled for the single life but now I'm single again I'm not sure think I'd like to find someone else. Not just yet though that wouldn't be fair to someone else or respectful to Jane, anyway I'm not yet ready. I think by what she said in the hospital she wants me to find someone else one day, we spoke a lot after she knew the inevitable about things like that. We were so right for each other.

Getting Back on Track

I reckon its now time to get my life back on track following the death of Jane its no good sat around feeling sorry for myself. Its hit me hard because I really did love Jane but I know she would want me to keep going forward in my life. I'll never forget her, I have some lovely photos and fantastic memories, she was so special for me.

I need to keep busy

So where do I go now -

1. Luckily its the start of the TT season and I played at the weekend for my British League Club, we did ok beating Woodfield (Birmingham), drawing with Uxbridge (Burton) & Chesterfield and losin narrowly 5-3 to Drumchapel Glasgow. We were pleased with them results because on paper its a tough division for us. Personaly I won 4 and lost 4 of my games which was ok because I haven't put in the pre-season training for obvious reasons.

2. I need to get going with the weight loss, my holiday, lack of exercise and living out of hotels while visiting Jane have taken their toll. Too many full english breakfasts, Pub meals & Beer do tend to have that effect.
So now I'm watching what I eat and trying to exercise as much as possible, been also working in the garden which will help.
I'll report more about my plans for weight loss and fitness soon.

3. Next Saturday I'm out for a meal with a few old workmates, apparently 3 of them are celebrating Birthdays, it'll be good to catch up with the crowd.

4. Gotta just point out the Footie season is up and running and the Mighty Whites are on their way back, 8 wins from 8 matches, MOT.

5. Finally for awhile now I've been thinking about doing something, you know having a direction or a challenge in life. Anyway I'm planning to do so fund raising for charity, maybe organise a number of events. Thinking of doing it for Cancer Research in respect for Jane and maybe help others not have to go through whjat we have in years to come. I actually discussed this with Jane before she passed away and she thought it was a great idea.
Not yet decided on what I'll be doing yet but I'm mulling over a few ideas, first I need to contact "Cancer Research" apparently they provide a advisory pack to help you get started.
Not sure when I'll get started on this project but I will just need some solid ideas if anyone has any suggestions, lets face it everyone knows someone who as suffered with cancer.

Thats all for now but I'll try update on all these things.